WE ENDED THE JANUARY ISSUE DEALING WITH HOW THE CHURCH ASSEMBLY IN ROME ITALY GOT STARTED. WE MUST REMEMBER THAT THERE WERE JEWS FROM ROME IN JERUSALEM TO OBSERVE A FEAST DAY, WHEN THE ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DISCIPLES CAME OUT OF THAT UPPER ROOM INTO THE STREETS OF THE CITY SPEAKING IN TONGUES AND GLORIFYING GOD, AFTER THEIR EXPERIENCE IN THE UPPER ROOM THAT DAY. THEREFORE WE WILL INSERT A FEW OF THE LAST LINES FROM OUR JANUARY ISSUE, TO GET STARTED ON THIS ISSUE.
As we think of how the church got started in Rome, we have to understand, that somewhere in the weeks of time after their experience in Jerusalem, those Jews returned to Rome with the beginning of this faith of Jesus Christ burning in their soul’s; and before very long they had introduced that which they had burning in them, to those they were in contact with, and who was there to fully report the affect that had on the others? No doubt, that in Rome there were already proselytes to their belief, as it was then, but as they returned with this new faith, they began to set everything in order. Then later on, as that little group of Christians began to grow in the faith, and as they were able to gather together the revelation, that no doubt is why Paul could write the Roman letter from Corinth, when he told them he purposed to come to them as he would pass by going into Spain. He no doubt wanted to go there and give his personal testimony. However he never did get to go there as a free man. He only went there as a prisoner. When he wrote the letter to the Roman Assembly, he had heard things that the Roman believers had already been troubled with. They had been faced with the trouble-makers that came and tried to convince them that they would still have to keep the Law of Moses, in order to be saved. Paul wrote a long letter to them, and in ( Rom 1:11), we find these words, “For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established.” In that letter, he covered many things pertaining to right principles and attitudes in the lives of Christians, as well as things that bring about trouble and division; and he also spoke of how their faith refreshed him. In (Rom 10:4), we find words that should put to rest all controversy concerning keeping the Law, when he wrote, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” Then he closed out his letter with this admonition, (Rom 16:17-18) “ Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. (18) For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.” It is easy to see and understand why Paul did not hesitate to lay it on the line where necessary, so I ask you, Should it be any different in our day, when men assume authority to teach and lead believers and they themselves are found in error?
LOOKING AT THE HARD FACTS
Everyone of you know for sure, that there are not two ways to look at the revelation of God’s word. When He reveals something, that revelation stands as an unalterable truth that every true believer will see and understand alike. Therefore I call your attention to another time when Paul was correcting error that had been injected into an assembly of Christians. Go to Galatians, chapter 1 and verses 6-9. Notice his stern words here in these verses. “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. (These are not my words: We are reading them from the Bible, but let all take heed, God does not change His mind about what is right and what is wrong.) As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” In his teaching and correcting he said more than once in various writings, things that let us know that what pertained to a right revelation, taught by God’s anointed servants in the first century is still good today. You can also be sure of this, No man anointed and led by the Spirit of God, will ever go out and teach something contrary to what another man anointed and led by the Spirit of God has taught. That is why John, in his first little epistle wrote, (1 John 4:1) “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” If that was true in 90 A.D., it is still true today. I just want you to see that each little assembly in the days of Paul, was having its own problems with those anointed by an antichrist spirit. It is when individuals are wanting to elevate themselves, that Satan has a perfect opportunity to send one of his antichrist spirits to work with that individual. When such an individual would arise and assume authority to teach, no matter where it was or how small the point might appear to be, if it was contrary to what God’s anointed servants had taught, it always produced the same affect as we find in (1 John 2:19), “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, (believing and holding to the true revelation of God’s word) they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” All such go out from among the true believers, because they have lost what they had of the true revelation and have a revelation all of their own. They are using it strictly for self interest, instead of establishing a solid foundation for God’s children to build upon. That is why the apostle Paul could speak like he did in various places of the epistles he wrote; and also John, in his little epistles. They that go out from us are not kings or princes. They are just ordinary human beings; and that applies to the first century of Christendom, as well as our day, in 2004 A.D. They were supposed to have been converted by the same gospel as the majority of the body sitting present; and taught by the same anointing God places upon His true servants, but somewhere a spirit gets hold of them and begins to get them looking at something else. That is the way it is today. That spirit of antichrist is not coming down the road in a form that causes you to look up and say, Oh, look how big he is, look at the majestic power he has, when actually, he is just an ordinary man like you and me. He is someone whose mind has been taken over by an adverse spirit, so that he has an altogether different picture to present. Many times it might be a person who is very intelligent, concerning the things of mortal beings in the day he lives in; and not only is he very intelligent, he also has a wonderful, very sweet personality. You take somebody that knows how the carnal mind works, if he has a pleasant countenance and a sweet personality, people who are not solidly grounded can sometimes get carried away with his sweet smile and cunning words. (Saints, I have a reason for saying these things.) If the man coming down the road, makes you feel like crawling under a bench when he preaches, because he is shining a light that reveals your true makeup, and you say, Oh, I’ll never go back and hear him again, he is the very one you need to hear again. Then on the other hand, here comes another very different kind of preacher; and oh how sweet his words do sound, and he just makes your flesh feel so good, let me say this to you, (I am going to get down here and look you in the face while I say it.)If all you are looking for is some preacher that has a sweet personality and says things in a way that makes you just want to say, Oh isn’t that wonderful? Yet he has not contributed one thing worth two cents to your spiritual makeup, you have been taken in by an agent of Satan. As the old saying goes, You have been taken! Chances are, you never heard a thing he said, you were just overwhelmed by his sweetness and that hypocritical smile his kind always have. Yes, you are looking at all that sweetness, instead of hungering for the truth of God’s word. When I was privileged to go and hear Bro. William Branham in 1952, in the month of August, I saw a little man come to the platform in a humble way. I have always said, That little man had a very humble spirit, but when he opened up the scriptures and began to preach on the call of Abraham, he was very bold about it. There were points when he would hit the platform and drive that point home. You know, when he was hitting those points like that, I did not want to get up and run. He made the point, and I could not help but believe it. I will never forget how I felt when he was finished that night. He started out in Genesis, and ended with the book of Revelation. I have probably said it a thousand times, but I still feel that way: He made Jesus Christ stand head and shoulders taller than any doctor of divinity I had ever heard. It was not because I was taken in by sweet words or anything like that, but rather because those points he drove home so solidly, made that message so real you could not help but recognize, Right here, is scripture being fulfilled. He was really laying it on the line; and whoever did not like it was free to leave. He had no trouble recognizing an antichrist spirit in people.
HOW AN ANTICHRIST SPIRIT APPEARS IN CHURCH ASSEMBLIES
I want you to know saints, The antichrist spirit is not coming down the road as a drunk. Neither is it coming down the road as a bank robber with a gun aimed at you. No. He is coming down the road just like he did in the first age, with a sweet smile, a slick tongue and an all around lovable presentation of himself. He has a spirit in him that likes to preach, but for some reason or other, he is not willing to sit down with you and believe the same thing you believe. He is going to say, I have a deeper revelation than that: I see something a little different than what was preached to us; and I believe the people out here need to hear this. Well here we go; Does that sound familiar? Do any of you think the antichrist spirit in a man is going to cause him to pick up a club and come riding down the road, I will beat you head’s off, if you don’t listen to me? No, he is going to come on as a very sweet kind of fellow. That is why he was seen as that white horse rider. He has a crown, he wants to conquer something, but the only thing he can conquer is the spirit of the weaker Christian. He is not going to conquer the king or the magistrate of the government. How many realize that? He is after you, and his greatest joy is to cause you to doubt what you have been taught by true servants of God. That person, as I already said, could be your brother, your uncle, your own father or anyone else that elevates himself above that which he really is. That spirit of antichrist has been riding right on through the centuries. That is why, when John wrote that first letter in 90 A.D., and in the 2th chapter says, “Even now are there many antichrists, plural, he knew those characters had already risen and gone out to deceive, They have spread their rotten supposed-to-be revelation right on through this age of grace. They make it sound good, but I will say, Those that are listening, and their mind is more on the personality of the man, than the revelation he is bringing, are getting a shot in the arm and it is going to put them to sleep. Well, you didn’t have to say it that way Bro. Jackson: Why did you not make it sound a little nicer? If I had, I would also be playing right into the hands of our adversary, the devil, because that is just exactly how the antichrist spirit makes his attack. I will have to say to you, When John encountered those characters, they certainly did not get a good word from him. When he got around where those congregations were, and the antichrist preachers had been there, by the time he got through speaking with them, there were people sitting there, that got up and walked out. Then he could say, They went out from us, because they were not of us. In other words, they did not stay on our level, revelatory wise. They are made to believe there is something greater yet, and we have more than you have. That is their attitude; and to that I say, Then go, go where you would rather be, jump through the walls, show everyone how high you can jump, and we will see what you land on. Tares can dance, run, shout and run circles around others that are not trying to make a show, but when it is all over, what do they have for all of their demonstrations? I hope this registers with clarity, to anyone who may be sitting quietly, endeavoring to absorb the word of God that is being taught, when you have a thought, Why do I never feel like doing that? It is because you cherish a revelation of the word of God too much, to allow your fleshly ambitions to distract you. God knows our heart; and He knows when to anoint each of us for something that would bring great joy to everyone sitting present. Therefore it is better to cultivate those things that will add to our spiritual stature, instead of those things that please our mortal flesh.
SATAN’S SNARES
I want to show you how Satan designed his great traps of deception, enabling him to lead gullible souls into places and actions that are certainly not inspired of God. The King James translation of the Bibles used by many of us, was translated by Trinitarian translators that saw nothing wrong about translating certain scriptures to line up with their personal beliefs, so we are able to find many scriptures in that are contrary to a true revelation of the Godhead. Therefore 1st John 5, verse 7, is a good example of that fact. Let us read it. (7) “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.” The translators that translated the Bible into English, shows you that sixteen hundred years after the beginning of Christendom, the revelation of the Godhead had already been changed to suit carnal interpretations by those doctors of divinity in England that thought they knew so much. However when you take that verse to the Aramaic version of the Bible, or to the Hebrew version, you do not find it in either of them. That goes to show that the doctors of divinity that were translating were trying to show you that there are three persons in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: In other words, in their mind God is three distinct persons, yet all agreeing as one, but I say to you, There is no such thing as that in heaven! Do you understand what I am saying to you? The reason I bring this out, when you go back over here to the 2nd chapter of 1st John, (written in 90 A.D.) the same antichrist spirit that is working today, was already at work back then. No it did not come off of the king’s throne, and neither did it come out of the legislature of that day: it came right out of the very ranks of the supposed-to-be believers themselves. That goes to prove without the shadow of a doubt, that the antichrist spirit sent forth by Satan can use anybody, from anywhere it finds people more interested in being recognized as something important, than gaining a true revelation of the word of God. Wherever that spirit finds a person that will give their mind, their thoughts to it, you have an antichrist spirit working there. That spirit, when given a place, is definitely going to work on that mind, “I can make you be recognized: you have the same ability to receive a revelation that any other person has. He pumps a lot of ideas into the mind of such a person and down the road they go. It will not be long until you hear, But the Spirit has revealed to me such and such. I say to you brothers and sisters, That was not the Spirit of God that showed this great revelation: it was the spirit of Satan. It sounds good to those who are weak in the faith, simply because, if you do not know enough about the scriptures yourself, you are going to listen to what is poured into your mind, thinking, Well it could be that way: It sure sounds like it is from God; and I have known Bro. So and So for a long time, and I just cannot see him as a deceiver, so you begin to meditate on what you are hearing, not bothering to search the Bible and pray for God to help you; and pretty soon you are working on your friends that will listen to you, saying to them, I have known this brother for twenty years: He has always been a fine example. I have never seen or heard of him being anything other than a fine person, and certainly never heard of him doing anything wrong. Well maybe in carpentry he is always right, and maybe in farming he is always right on the dot, but when it comes to that of being a believer and handling the true gospel message of Jesus Christ, there is where the devil uses him. If we do not know enough about it ourselves, then we are a good candidate to be deceived, misled and used by that deceiving spirit. Brothers and sisters, I am trying my best to get you to face reality. We are living in a crucial hour of time; and Satan has his evil workers all around you, just looking for a chance to outshine someone else. A true man of God never tries to outshine another man of God. Those who are called of God to minister to the body of true believers have one thing as their main goal; and that is to seek to be led of the Spirit of God in everything they do or say. Any man who is otherwise minded is heading for a spiritual wreck. We, as Christians, always want to give proper respect and honor to those who we believe to be God’s true servants, but if we do not have the deep indwelling of the Holy Spirit ourselves, we are subject to be brainwashed and led astray. That is exactly what went on in Paul’s day. Let me finish reading this scripture. (1st John 2:18) “Little children, it is the last time: (Now what was he talking about? Yes, the way it was appearing, it had the appearance of these last days that we are living in right now.) and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many (plural) antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” Now think, this was an apostle of the faith of Jesus Christ writing back there in the first century of Christendom; but the words he was writing, carry right straight on through to our day. On the basis of what he was seeing, he had every reason to believe he could be living in the last days, simply because of the tactics of that antichrist spirit that was already working back then. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: (In other words, something came along and put a thought in the mind’s of certain ones and they began to think, I have a deeper revelation of something than you have, and I will just wait till the day when I can break this news to you. Then if you don’t know for sure where you stand, because you do not know how to look at what you have been hearing, then nine times out of ten, because you have always had a love for Bro. So and So, and you have never known him to be wrong about anything, you just have to go along with what he is spreading around. I am just using that as an illustration: If I used somebody’s name you would condemn me immediately. I have to say to you though, The day and hour has come, that you have got to be able to know in your own mind, whether what you are hearing is truth or not. You cannot open up your heart and mind to something just because it sounds good and say, Well it could be this way you know. If what you have is not a deep, solid, revelation, you can be traded off for most anything. That is what went on back in that day and hour of time, after the old guards of the faith began to leave the scene and others that were not solidly settled, began to step into places of responsibility. That is why that condition was portrayed as it was, with this white horse rider. He definitely came with an objective, and he looked to some like the real thing, but to those who had a solid revelation he was a bluff, because he had no arrows, just a bow and a crown. The purpose of that white horse rider was not to deceive kings and magistrates or a mighty army, but to deceive individual believers that were not totally settled on what they believed. He was and is a bluff. What makes him a bluff? It is because he thinks he knows more about the scriptures, and has a better revelation than you do. He can use that bold, conquering tactic; and by the time he gets through explaining his great revelation, if you do not know exactly where you stand concerning the revelation of truth, and how to relate to it, then nine times out of ten, you begin to say, I believe Bro. So and So is right. What he says sounds wonderful, and I have never known him to be wrong in anything before, so here you go. You are hooked. That is exactly the way we see Christendom today. We see them today, going down the road by car loads, going to hear this certain brother preach and support him. I am not saying these things to try to stop anyone from going to visit people, but if you run here and there just for the thrill of hearing something that soothes your itching ears; and you are not settled upon a pure revelation of the word of God, you are like a duck sitting on a barbed wire fence. There is somebody out there with his sights set right on your soul. If you do not know how to look at that thing, nine times out of ten, you will accept it on the merits of the personality of the person speaking, rather than knowing how to acquaint what you already know with what you are hearing. That is why I say, In this day and hour we live in, be sure your feet are firmly planted on solid spiritual ground. Know what you believe. Know why you believe it; do not believe it with reservations, thinking, Well it is possible there are other things out there that I can believe. Brothers and sisters, there is enough of Satan out there in carnal minds that are looking for glory, and all they are waiting for, is to use you for their purpose. Every time they are able to get someone, it makes them feel good. See, I got another convert. That is why John could write like this, They went out from us, because they were not of us. In other words, spiritually speaking, they were not of us. They sat in our midst, but they had another frame of thought all along. If they had been of us, or in other words, if they had the same revelation and were solid with it, determined to let nothing deceive them by any means whatsoever, they would have listened and said, I know what you are up to: I recognize your little game, but I am not about to follow you, even five feet. Then you can go on down the road, knowing you have not been deceived. Let me say to everyone within the sound of my voice, Regardless of where you are, You have got to get to the point where you know why you believe what you believe, before you are able to avoid those Satanic traps entirely. When you are at a place where you will lay aside what you have, because you want to go hear somebody with a nice smooth spirit, and a nice personality, what in the name of common sense are you trading yourself off for? Is your spiritual soul not precious to you? I have to say, The day has come, that every child of God must purpose in his or her heart, that they are going to be extremely cautious about what they allow themselves to be affected by, because the bride of Christ is making herself ready to meet her Bridegroom; and there is no time left for a lot of foolishness. Know what you believe and why you believe it and do not let the devil slip anything in on you that would cause spots, wrinkles or blemishes to mar your appearance before your Lord. You must purpose in your heart, you are not going to let anybody this side of heaven, take that out of your soul, because that is what you are going to stand for. That is the entrance, the gateway to everlasting life.
VARIOUS EVENTS EXPLAINED
We have prepared a chart to try to illustrate some of the things we will be talking about. Therefore looking at the chart, right here is where the scroll is actually referred to as being taken by the one out of the hand of another and the seals are broken. We have also put in here the different groups of people that are mentioned in this setting. At the time the seals are revealed, we see here that the fifth seal talks about the souls under the altar. Then we come here to a point around the beginning of the week of Daniel and see the Bride in heaven. That is the rapture we have spoken about, and Revelation 19, lets us see that the bride is in heaven. Then we look over here and see the great multitude that John saw, that have come out of great tribulation through all time; and over here at the end, we have the souls that stood on the sea of glass. These are the ones that are actually killed in this last half of the 70th week of Daniel’s seventy weeks. They are the first ones that are brought up in the resurrection, because these are the ones that are going to speak and bear witness against the mortal realm of people that pass on before the King over here, at the separation of the sheep from the goat-like mortals as the millennial reign is about to be introduced. These are the ones God is going to judge those mortals by; and that judgment will be according to how the various ones treated the brethren of the Lord in that time of tribulation. Their testimony determines, as to whether these individual mortals will live in the Millennium or not. As for the seals we are dealing with, I remember how thrilled we all were when Bro. William Branham brought the revelation of the first, the second, the third, and fourth seals, but I have done some research this week, and I want us to go back and take a good look, because if we do not, some are liable to be deceived. There are scores of people over this world today, that just sit in their seats of complacency, with only what Bro. William Branham said, and they think that is all they need. Please listen closely, because I am not talking about what he said; I am talking about the way people want to perceive what he said, what was meant, and how they want to apply it to their lives, not even knowing where they are in time, today. To think, that since the revelation of the seals was brought by him in 1963, we have covered forty one years of time. I just have to say, There has been an awful lot take place since then. I am just praying, Lord help me bring out the things pertaining to these seals the way I feel I need to, and I ask you who are hearing this, Go with me into the 6th chapter of Revelation at this time. Right here, is where the seals begin to be broken. We realize this, the first seal was about a white horse rider, the second seal was a red horse rider, the third seal was a black horse rider, but then we find that the fourth seal was showing a pale (or gray) horse rider. Therefore every one of these first four seals point our attention to something different, but not really different after all, as you will see when we have covered all of them. Here on our chart, is the white horse, the red horse, the black horse and the gray horse. That covers the span of time through this age of grace. I will say this, Right about this time, just before the Church is raptured, this ends salvation for any of the different groups that He (Jesus) has interceded for. All foolish virgins still remaining alive will absolutely already have been foolish virgins before the time arrives for Jesus to leave His intercessory throne. The Bride is raptured, the foolish virgins go into the week of Daniel that is yet left to be fulfilled; and those that go into the tribulation part of that week are the ones that are killed to seal their faith during that time, which is in this group right here (pointing to chart). The point is, Salvation for Christians starts by the redemption of those whose names are written in the scroll, but it ends right here, when Jesus leaves the mercy seat. God turns His attention back to the Jewish people in that last week of Daniel; and everyone else that lives on in here, are dealt with as mortals. How many realize that? (Now if you have questions, write them down. When we get through with this series, we will spend a little time trying to answer any questions you might have, in case you have misunderstood something I have said.) Right now though, I want to try to get this white horse rider understood, what it really pertains to. I had never realized the importance of it until I did a little research in the writings of the anti-Nicene fathers, compared it with what is written in the book of Acts and so forth. In the 6th chapter, 1st verse, the Lamb starts breaking the seals, “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, (It was the first one.) and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.” Now this had to be this first beast; you just could not haphazardly say, Well it could have been any of them. No saints, we cannot do the scriptures that way. It had to be the beast that was related to that particular time; this one right here (Lion, shown on chart). How do we know that? Because each one of these beasts characterized how the Spirit of God worked during a certain period of redemption which is related to that era of time. (We will explain all of that.) These different beast that are spoken of, represent how the Spirit of God dealt with, or worked with, or through the believers of each particular era, for their salvation, or for their deliverance and such as we will speak of. We presently live in the eagle age. The reason we can say this, is because only in the eagle age, does the revelation of these things even come to the people that are to make up the end time Bride. “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” I think I have explained that sufficiently already, but let us take another look at this white horse rider. Who is it he is trying to conquer? It is not the man of the world: it is the man that has come into the knowledge of soul salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ in that era of time. He is just a big bluff, because he comes forth to conquer, but has no arrows for the bow he is carrying. He is absolutely going to do everything he can to mislead believers of God’s word, and his goal is to conquer, defeat, scare, and make people cow down. That will only work, with those that are weak in their spiritual attitude and outlook, whose understanding of the things pertaining to the gospel of Jesus Christ is already on shaky ground. I have made some further research on this spirit we are talking about in this message, that causes me to have more insight. What kind of person does this spirit play upon. Does this antichrist spirit go out into the taverns trying to deceive the drunkards? That is not his target. Neither are the bank robbers of very much interest to it. Its primary goal is not necessarily to deceive the politicians, but it does have its affect on them. When I get through explaining this picture, I hope you can understand how sinister and deceptive this devilish white horse rider can be. It is a fact though, that in that first age, he had taken a great toll. That is exactly why in 1st John, the 2nd chapter, we find John writing the words we will now turn to and read. In 90 A.D., six years before the letter of the book of Revelation was written, John wrote these words: We are in the 18th verse. He is not writing to the mayor, the magistrate, nor the governmental figures; He is writing to believers of a congregation. “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard (so it had been preached to them) that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” Then it tells how they went out from them because they were not of them. In other word, they were not really true, dedicated, Holy Ghost filled believers. I just pray, God help me to say the things today that I am to say, especially when I get into the Catholic Church period. I want every person that has ever been a Catholic, to pay close attention, but do not ever think I am talking about you: that is the last thing on earth that I want you to think. There is nobody, regardless of what particular denominational background you have come out of, that I am talking about as a person: I will be dealing with systems of religion, not specific persons that may have at one time been among them. All through this series, I want to prove to you that as we live right here in the end time, all those denominational systems you see out here in every direction, are now a part of the overall antichrist system, from Catholicism right on down to the very last one of them. The fact that it is organized religion, and those still within it will not change, because they had been founded upon a revelation that was, we will say, new to their time, but when God moved on and they refuse to move with Him, then over a period of time, what at one time was precious, eventually became nothing but dead weeds. I will not condemn anyone that at one time was a part of those systems of religion, because I used to be in the Methodist Church myself. I cannot say it was the best one of the bunch, but it was the one I was brought up in, even though I was baptized in the Church of Christ denomination before that. I was just content to be a Methodist the rest of my life, until the Lord got hold of my life in a different way. One thing I have to say, is that when God really did began to deal with me from the standpoint of genuine salvation, I had to come to an understanding, that it is not just being a member of a system of religion that makes you acceptable to God. You have got to have a heartfelt experience with the saving grace of God through His only begotten Son, Jesus the Christ.
CANDIDATES FOR THE ANTICHRIST SPIRIT
After saying what I have said to this point, I will ask you a question: What kind of person is this antichrist spirit going to play on first? Let me just say, Your human nature can be one factor in how the devil looks at you. There are some people that accept Christ on a very weak basis, doing only what they feel will be good enough. As long as they can feel that they have done all they are supposed to do, then they just hope for the best as they get on the bandwagon and ride. That is why there are very few times you really hear them talk about it, or hear them say, I thank God for saving my soul, much less, I thank God for the light of the truth He has put in my pathway. They seem to just be content to ride along with only what they received initially. I am not condemning anyone, but I have got to bring out the facts as I see them. If the experience you had with the Lord, did not put a certain hunger in your soul, there is a good chance an antichrist spirit is already out to bluff you out of what you received, like, Are you sure you really got saved? How do you know you did? When you go to the dictionary, one of the definitions of antichrist is, “An enemy of Christ.” He is out to conquer, to defeat, and to scare the daylights out of you, if it is possible. It is all in the Bible, but the fact that it has been hidden to the casual reader, does not mean he is exempt from the consequences of not feeding his soul the right thing. When you have a genuine Holy Ghost experience of salvation, you know something has taken place in your life. Therefore there should be the beginning of a desire in you, to want to know more of the truth of God’s word. That truth is the bread of life that sustains us. We cannot just get to the place where we are familiar with a few scriptures and we just keep quoting them. We will wind up eating old bread, week old bread and six months old bread, and think that we are alive. The devil knows the Church of the living God does not live on old stale manna. Now please do not misunderstand me: God’s word and God’s purpose does not change, but we are talking about a condition like the apostle Paul described in 1st Corinthians 3:1-2, when he said to some of them, “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. (2) I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.” There has to be something in every one of us, that cannot be satisfied just by quoting John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” and Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Those scriptures are stating a fact, and that is where we get our start, but that is what Paul referred to as the milk of the word of God. We have to get beyond that stage; and many who profess to be Christians never do. The bride Church feeds on fresh manna. That is of course on a revelation of the scriptures some can quote so well, but have no understanding of what they mean. That is why Jesus said, Upon this rock I will build my Church, because Peter had just demonstrated that he had a divine revelation. The devil knew Jesus the Christ was the Son of God, as he demonstrated way back there just after Jesus was baptized, but it takes a lot of people a long time to really get the Godhead straight in their mind. That rock of revelation, is what the Church is built upon; and in order to attain unto spiritual stature, each individual must have a hunger in his or her soul that can only be satisfied by what God will reveal to a hungry soul. Some faithful church members constantly say Jesus is the second person of the Trinity. There is no second person of a trinity. God is ONE; and He is not a person. A person has a physical form, but God is a sovereign Spirit that has no physical form. The scriptures declare it, but some professing to be a Christian, never do get that revelation. That is just an old cold, dead, denominational concept, this idea of a trinity of persons in the Godhead. It is of this antichrist spirit, that can be found in every congregation. He works in any congregation, if he is given a chance. You may say, How is that possible? My answer is, He sees my attitude, he sees your attitude, he knows your personal nature, how you look at things, how you look at people, how you look at preachers, how you look at and digest what you hear; and he takes note of what it takes to thrill you. That spirit examines every person who claims to be a Christian; and when he learns what it takes to make you feel contended in yourself, he makes his move. In all these things, he is observing your mind. If in your heart you are sitting in a congregation, and you begin to cultivate the idea, Oh I just wish I had that position. I just wish I had something to say that would make people sit up and take notice. You are hooked: he will begin to put an idea in your mind that will seem like such a good idea; and the first thing you know, you begin to exalt yourself. Saints, I am using these things to stir your mind, because, as you are all sitting here today, you are being observed; and I am being observed. That is exactly why I want to make sure I say everything right: not to hurt anyone, but to try to get everyone to open your eyes and take a good look at yourself, and ask, Why am I here? Do I want to hear the truth from God’s word, and do I want to know how to guard my soul and spirit, or am I here just to try and find fault with the preacher, or someone in the congregation? Brothers and Sisters: This is examination time. We have to get it settled in our own mind, whether we want to hear the unadulterated word of God and what anything different can lead to, or whether we just want to hear something that will make our flesh feel good. Why am I being so plain with all of this? Because, when I look back through the ages of time, I see what the dirty devil has done, and the untold numbers of people that have been deceived, misled, gone off with bitterness in their heart’s, and see how some have gone out of this world not even knowing whether they were in the Bride of Christ or not, it makes me very sad. Let me ask you, Who were those people John was writing to when he said, Little children, it is the last time? They were a group of believers. Why did he say, It is the last time? He thought it really was, because of the way he saw that spirit of antichrist working. As ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know it is the last time. How did John know there were many antichrists working already? First of all, he could see that what was being taught in various places was not according to the gospel of Jesus Christ the way he knew it to be. As long as they sat there and never said anything, how would you know what they were? How many understand my point? He recognized them by their fruit. In other words what those individuals began to believe showed what spirit was leading them. Sooner or later, whatever is in the mind of a person will begin to be made known. If what they are believing is the same as what you believe, then it is not questionable, but if there is some little something that is a shade off, that begins to show that such a person does not have the revelation straight. I am speaking from the standpoint of the ministry that has the revelation straight. You cannot delegate the task of detecting an antichrist spirit to just anyone who comes along. You could have a half a dozen different one’s, each believing some little something different than the others. The tested and tried that have walked in the truth will not have any trouble recognizing that which is a shade off, and will know to reject it, but this apostle that had walked with Jesus, recognized that spirit working in such a way that it caused him to believe the end of the age was at hand over 1900 years ago. He could see that there was something working on the mind of many that professed to be believers. I just have to say, When God gives someone the Holy Spirit, that Spirit is in him or her to teach them all things. Is that not what Jesus said in John 14:26? “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” The Holy Spirit is not given, just to leave a true believer in ignorance, nor to leave them in doubt. He will teach the true believer all things. Does that mean you do not need to sit under a teaching ministry? Not at all: The Holy Spirit in you says Amen, to truth when you hear it, and if what you hear is not true revelation, He will cause you to know it. If I hear the truth and wind up not perceiving it the way that others have, then I have to ask myself, What state was my mind in, when I heard what I heard? What caused me to think like this? Now if you don’t understand what I am saying to you, then let me take you back through the years to the time when Bro. William Branham stood there night after night, during that week of teaching the seals, describing those things, coming right on down to the seventh, and then saying the seventh seal was not yet opened. Many of you know how it was, but when God took him off the scene, look what those hundreds of people have done to and with what they heard. They have come up with multiple of ideas about what they heard taught; and all they ever bother to do is search what he said. That is why some of the major ones that sat there will say, Well it is already revealed: we just don’t know what it is, but we will find where it is written one of these days. Brothers and sisters, that kind of talk is nothing but foolishness: that seventh seal never was revealed, so there is no need for you to stand on your head, searching, searching and thinking you are going to find it written some place. I tell you for sure, It is not written in there, or anywhere else. It is yet to be revealed; and God will not have to resurrect Bro. William Branham to reveal it. I use that to illustrate what caused all those people to begin to get the kind of attitude they have. It is because they are minus the leadership of the Spirit of God in their own personal lives. As long as Bro. William Branham was alive, that was the object, or that was the target they were focused on. Then when God suddenly took him from them, their attitude has been, Well if there is anything more to be revealed, he has got to come back and do it. That is deception: Satan’s demon helpers have totally deceived all who believe like that. I have to say to everyone who values their soul, Let us be absolutely sure of ourselves, that what we are believing and looking forward to, we are ready to stand upon as time for Gentiles runs out. You do not want to carelessly cast aside your last chance to get your revelation in line with the word of God. The dirty devil is going to come down the road one day soon with a hurricane storm of some kind, and knock our legs right out from under us, if we are not properly grounded. God is going to require us to be able to stand and testify and give an account to Him for what we have been taught, and why we believe it. If a people are to be made one, and in total unity, then it literally means the true ministry has to speak the same thing: There cannot be any variance whatsoever. I want to show you something by the grace of God. The major thing in the first age, and only the Lord knows how many, but there were many antichrists, which meant there were different individuals in all those major, apostolic congregations, that began to rise up with an opinion. No, they did not all have the same revelation of the different picture the antichrist spirit was promoting. This one would have a little picture of something, this one would have a little something different. Over in another congregation, there was some other fellow with another picture. It was just like it is today: where we have all come out of different denominational backgrounds. I will say this, There is no way in this world, that you can take a hundred out of every one of these different denominations, put them all together and find that they are in total unity, all believing alike. It will not work, until after each one has submitted his or her will totally to the Spirit of God and been able to sit under proper teaching. Otherwise each one will say, Well this is what I believe, because that is what I have been taught. If we have not a spiritual appetite and a genuine hunger in our heart, we are not going to open our heart’s and mind’s to anything different than what we have already been taught. Such a person will just sit there, nonchalant, going on down the road to who knows where, spiritually speaking. I will say also, Even when we have a genuine hunger, we have to have a hunger and thirst for the things that are right; and not just sit somewhere listening to those who have not themselves come fully into the right beliefs. The only way we are going to know that they are right, is that we spend time on our knees and allow the Spirit of God to teach and vindicate that what we are hearing is what we are ready to commit our lives to totally. There is no time left, that we can just be careless with the things we allow to be fed into our spiritual makeup. When the aged apostle John wrote this, time had already lasted long enough since the birth of the early Church, that the old white horse rider had been able to ride through every apostolic congregation in existence outside of Jerusalem and inject his own version of everything the apostles of Christ taught. Remember, this was written in 90 A.D., so John had no doubt been watching that spirit work for a long time already, when he wrote this epistle.
WHAT THE APOSTLE PAUL TAUGHT
Let us go now go back to how Paul looked at what he saw taking place during his life as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Any time you read an epistle written by Paul, you find he is writing it to correct an error of something that somebody has been teaching, something that has believers in confusion. Last Sunday we said that when Paul came back to Antioch, he found that congregation all disturbed, because some had come from Jerusalem saying that they had been sent by the elders, meaning Peter, James and those other apostles, and saying that except they be circumcised after the manner of the Jews, they could not be saved. Paul took his buddy with him and went to talk to those elders at Jerusalem. When they got to Jerusalem, they found out none of those fellows had been sent by Peter, James, or anyone else: They had gone there on their own, just using the story that they had been sent, as a slick tongued excuse to get the people to listen to them. They had their own supposed-to-be revelation and they wanted desperately to find someone that would fall for it, giving them a following of their own. Does that sound familiar? Well saints, no matter whether he was writing to the Romans, the Corinthians, the Galatians or whoever, Paul wrote every one of those epistles, because, behind the writing, there was a reason that went beyond just a greeting. Those particular congregations had been invaded by an antichrist spirit, that had been bringing an anti true revelation to them, trying to disrupt them from following the truth. That is why so much of it is about meats, Sabbath days, new moons, this and that, always something of the Law. Paul’s last testimony of the Law was, that Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to him that believeth. Go with me now and we will look at the 20th chapter of acts, verse 27. Paul was on his way back to Jerusalem, after having been through Asia and different places. He had come to the place where he was calling the elders of the various churches, wanting to counsel with them. I am starting in the 27th verse, to save time, but you can go back and read what built up to this point. I just want to drive this point home to all of you, because you still have these same conditions today. “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. (28) Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. (Notice how Paul says this so firmly.) (29) For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. (30) Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.”
Who are the grievous wolves he is referring to here? Are they a bunch of bank robbing bandits on the loose? Are they fellows who have had too much to drink? No, they are these preachers who have been anointed by an antichrist spirit, coming along with their very own version of the word of God, instead of a pure revelation by the Spirit of God. They always have a new revelation. Oh it is so thrilling to listen to the man preach. I have to use these illustrations, because of how many times through the years we have heard said, Oh I like the way he preaches, or I like the way he says things; and he has such a pleasing tone to his voice. Well there is nothing wrong in saying that, but have you really heard what was said? I caution you, Remember brothers and sisters, you are human beings just like I am, and there were different people from various places that heard Bro. William Branham through the years, but I ask you, How did those who heard him, come out with so many different ideas about him and his ministry? They did not all hear it the same way. Likewise, when you go back two thousand years, you find that there were different elements of people that did not all hear what was preached, exactly the same. Many of them got a different picture of the things being preached and taught; and they wanted to be known for what their revelation was, so here they came with it. They came into the different congregations so enthused, Oh I am so anointed. Well you everyone know what came next. It was always confusion and squabbling in those assemblies after such visits. This is exactly why Paul could write, in (1 Tim 4:1-2) “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;” and that is why John could write, Even now there are many antichrists. Let us go on and read some more from this 20th Chapter of Acts. (Verse 30) We find Paul saying, “Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (31) Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.” Yes. Faith Assembly: Be assured, That can happen right in here, especially if we are not listening to the things that are presented to us, the right way; and with the right attitude and motive. Well Bro. Jackson, how do we know that you are preaching the truth? Well I have been preaching for fifty years, and I have not changed my revelation yet. God has graciously added to it, but I have not had to go back and apologize for anything I have taught in the past. Furthermore I never have asked God for a halo over my head, but I have asked Him to help me make certain I have it right before I teach it. That goes for everything else also: I do not just suddenly get an idea and start running with it: I make sure I know what I am talking about, before I make a move. I will confess to all of you, that there have been many times in my life, that God has had to propel me, and almost force me, before I would do certain things. Since the death of Bro. William Branham, which is going on close to forty years now, we have traveled around the world preaching the things God has put in my heart. I have letters from those places, thanking us for the truth we have stood for during this time. I have to say, I am not going to back down, nor sit down for any man that may think he has a better revelation this late in my life. Let us continue on here, because I want to emphasize what Paul said, Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, For what reason? to draw away disciples after them. They want somebody to know, I have a revelation. May I say this? I have seen a lot of that kind of maneuvering in the past forty years. They are not content to be part of a congregation and learn something. No. They are burning up inside, with a zeal to be important, Oh I just wish God would send me. Sure they do, but God is not going to send that kind. That is why they have to make their own way, with flattering words and smooth tones. They are just burning up with a new revelation, but Oh how pitiful it is. That is why I have said many times, If you do not know that God has called you, then for goodness sake, do not make an all out effort trying to fulfill something that you do not even know for sure that God even wants done. The devil can get on your shoulders and say, Young man, do you know what you ought to be doing? You ought to be out here preaching the gospel, rather than sitting there listening to someone else. He may even say, There are thousands of people going to hell out there, so you ought to get up and go do your part to save them. Yes, if God can speak to your heart and put a calling upon your life, then the dirty devil can get on the other shoulder and drive you down the road with a wrong motive and another revelation; and cause you to end up in shame and disgrace, instead of doing what you were actually called to do. I have to say these things, because through the years this has happened right here in Faith Assembly. Listen carefully to what I am saying, because I am not pointing the finger at anyone in here at this time.
BEING LED BY AN ANTICHRIST SPIRIT
Several years ago, when we were building this building, we had a young man with us for a while. That young man had indulged in sin; and his testimony was, that he had just about done everything a person could do. Then, when the grace of God got hold of him and saved him, he was so thankful that God had saved him from the alcohol and this and that. He sat here in this congregation for a while. Then, through the years, as we would preach about the prophet to this age and things pertaining to his calling, it was not long until this fellow began to get a different revelation. (He does not live very far from here.) He wrote an article stating that God had given him the revelation that William Branham was the antichrist. He came down to my home one day, wanting to talk about that, but I would not even bring him into our house. I sat out in the driveway for a while, but when he insisted on explaining his revelation to me I finally said, Look, I am not going to waste my time listening to you: I am going into the house. I just left him sitting there. That same fellow went on through the years allowing his mind to be fed strange things, and finally he tried to make a come back. I will never forget, One morning he was sitting about half way back there. Finally he stood up and said this certain man was supposed to do such and such, and this other man is supposed to do such and such, and another one is supposed to do such and such. Finally I said, Sit down and hush! Or get out! I am just using this as an example of how anyone who is not grounded in truth can be maneuvered by an antichrist spirit. That was what we would think of as a major spirit that had gotten hold of his life, but I will say to you, There are other lesser ones that can get hold of anyone who will allow it. All along the line, the small ones like to go around and have their particular clique working in a congregation and following them around. When you get a church made up of nothing but a bunch of cliques, you have a house that stinks like a hog pen, spiritually speaking. Those who are subject to being deceived will sit in your assemblies talking about how much they love the Lord, not even realizing how much junk they have allowed the devil to implant in their mind, because he deceives them by planting a little twisted supposed-to-be revelation in their thoughts, and pretty soon, here they go with it. Oh, they love it, because to them it is a revelation. They feel it is a revelation that is going to make them recognized as really anointed of the Lord, and anything that is going to make them noticed, they fall for it hook, line and sinker. The reason I am talking about this, is because this spirit has been working in Christian assemblies for two thousand years, through all ages, and under all kinds of conditions. Every time there has been a revival, we will say, like coming out of the Dark Ages, that spirit has run parallel to the Holy Spirit, because it is out to counteract any move of God that is sent forth to restore truth. Therefore when Paul said what he did here in Acts, he was not talking to the congregations, he was talking to the elders of congregations, that they should take heed, how men of their own selves would rise up, drawing away disciples unto themselves. Brothers and sisters, that spirit has been working among believers of the gospel of Jesus Christ for two thousand years. Even though we go to the red horse rider in our teaching, we must keep in mind, that the spirit of the red horse rider, is the same as the spirit of the white horse rider, because it has been here all through time, but the red simply speaks of the bloodshed brought about by the effects of the spirit of antichrist under the second seal era of time. When we go to the second century, that same antichrist spirit that had been trying to destroy the true revelation of the Godhead, just kept right on working, trying to destroy every Christian as well. It was not what was coming out of the government back there in the closing of the first age, but on over here, where the antichrist is riding the red horse, the devil is going to use the Roman government to kill the Christians by the thousands. Even though this phase of the antichrist attack is represented by a red horse, we cannot take our eyes off of the white horse rider, because it is still lurking in the background in every congregation, still deceiving all it can of the new generations coming on. Those spirits do not die, nor cease to do their dirty work in every generation. Every man such a spirit gets hold of, goes forth seeking converts that will follow him. As we study these first four seals, we must keep what Paul said in mind, because all of that remains the same. “Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, For what reason? to draw away disciples after them.” Who are the “THEM?” That was, and still is those of the Christian ranks that always seem to get what they think is a better revelation; and by deceptive means they set about to gain a following. In that second century of Christendom, the godhead revelation really took a beating. The older ones of the original revelation had died; and as we have already said, Those who stepped up into their places of leadership had already been affected by the deceptive spirit on the white horse. They had already been deceived, we will say, by this new revelation someone who rose up and out of their midst came up with. Oh my, his revelation was much stronger. I have read in the books of the anti-Nicene fathers, that in the second century, Christianity had spread all across North Africa to Morocco. It spread like a house afire, but the antichrist spirit had gone to all those different churches and done his work. Coming to the close of the first age, going into the second, one of the men that really counteracted the godhead revelation, actually came out of Alexandria Egypt. I bring in these various examples to show you, that yes, we are already entering the era of the red horse rider, but the affect of the white horse rider still lingers right on into that one. Yes my brothers and sisters, that dirty devil is out to get every human being that professes to be a believer of the gospel of Jesus Christ, sidetracked, and actually deceived by some little revelation he thinks they would like to hear. I will say this, and the Lord knows why I say, God help me say these things the right way, because only the true ministry in these last days, those that will really make up the five fold ministry, are the men that have a revelation of what that antichrist spirit is, how it works and that know how to detect it. They know how to discern it, and how to do their utmost to protect their congregation from it; and portray a right image with a true revelation of the truth to the people that look to them for leadership. That is what will bind true believers together and enable them to function as one true body.
FALSE BRETHREN IDENTIFIED
I will say to all who will receive it, Please, brothers and sisters, if you should be a person that is always looking for something new, or you are guilty of saying, Well what Bro. Jackson is saying, I have heard ever so many times before: I could even quote most of it. Well maybe so, but do you have a revelation of what it pertains to? Please brothers and sisters, I know I have preached various messages touching on the seals of Revelation, chapter 6, but I have a reason for saying to you, Please listen. I have a love for your soul. I am not asking God for a halo over my head, but I am standing here seeking to uphold a truth that will stand the test around this world. I have to say, God help me say all of this right, because I know there are men out here on the highways today, who want to say or do something that will cause them to be recognized as someone important. They are ready to rip and tear things to pieces, to prove, Well I have a revelation to preach: I don’t have to sit down. Brothers and sisters, if a man cannot preach the vindicated truth, he had better sit down. I say that as humbly as I know how. If you are not ready to stake your life on what you are preaching, and let God make a living example out of you by striking you dead before people, you had better be sure of what you are saying. It is one thing to get your feelings hurt at someone, but it is an all-together different thing to preach something God will vindicate. It is a dangerous thing, to stick your head out to make people think that you are going to stand for a revelation, when what you have is just an idea. I will say to you this morning, I will stand with every minister, every pastor, that sees what I am talking about with a spiritual understanding. I know I have precious brothers from around this world, that have corresponded with me saying, Bro. Jackson: we are with you; and that is because they have not found fault with what I have been presenting. I do not ask anybody to make a god out of me, or an idol of any kind, but I do ask that you give credit where credit is due: For fifty years, I have preached the truth, and I have kept my mouth shut until I was sure I knew what I was going to be talking about, then I would say it. I say that also as humbly as I know how; and I am asking that you everyone have confidence in what I am stating right now. Paul never had to back down from any man that felt like he knew more than the anointed apostle. Neither did John. Neither did William Branham. I do realize though, that this antichrist spirit enables his servants to speak so sweetly that even the very elect of God would be deceived if it were possible. What did Jesus say, in (Mark 13:22)? “For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.” Oh he is so sweet; and what he preaches is so wonderful. Have you heard that before? Sure you have: An awful lot of gullible souls talk just exactly like that. The antichrist spirit does not play on men that know what they are looking at, because they will say, Satan: I recognize your tactics, get out of here! Saints, why do you suppose I am talking like this? It is because I see what the devil is doing to some of you; and I am praying that I can say something that will cause you to wise up. An antichrist spirit always plays on those who feel like, I Just don’t get to say enough around here: I wish he would give me a chance to say something once in a while. Bro. Jackson, do you really think there are people sitting in here thinking like that? Oh yes, these thoughts do go through peoples’ mind. Do not try to tell me they don’t. That is why that dirty devil can come along and use certain ones, because they do have a mind like that. He seeks out those who have a desire to be recognized. Then, when he has them all softened up, he begins to put a false revelation in their mind and make it sound like something everyone ought to hear right away. Before long, the chest of that person begins to swell up, and the first thing you know, he is thinking, Now I know what I believe, because God has given me a revelation. He convinces a few and says, Are you with me? He hits the road with as many as he has been able to convince, and pretty soon you have a split in the congregation, and it is over a crazy revelation that is not worth two cents, spiritually speaking, because such a person is not willing to risk his life for what he is preaching. You may say, Brother Jackson, Why are you spending so much time on this? Well my answer is, I want to spare a lot of innocent souls a lot of heart ache and trouble. You can sit in this congregation and look at me any way you want to, but if there is someone out there that you would rather hear preach, what are you doing sitting here? I am interested in trying to help those who sincerely want to enrich their soul by listening to a true revelation of God’s word. I know I cannot say anything that would change the destiny of a tare, but there are always some young Christians that have not grown enough in the ways of the Lord to discern an evil spirit in some slick talking fellow that may be sitting among us, so I want to help them as much as I am allowed, while endeavoring to feed the entire flock. I would say to some, What brought you here? I never put a dollar in your hand, or offered you anything of the natural to get you to come here. I never ask for anything from people that come here. Neither is it my desire or aim to say something to abuse people or hurt them in any way, but I do have to take a stand for what is right. I certainly do not beg people for money. No one can ever justly accuse me of that. We had two visitors last week: They asked, How do you take up an offering? I said, There is a hole in the wall back there: that is the way it has been for years. I say these things to let you know, Truth is truth, and truth is all we should be concerned about. It is not always easy to present truth and have everybody going along with it and liking it, because somewhere along the line there is going to be some flesh that is going to get disturbed, even hurt when truth is spoken. It has always been like that, but every child of God that is hungry for truth and that wants truth preached, because they are living for truth, they are going to be glad when they hear it, regardless of whether it comes with a loud voice or whether they have to use a hearing aid to hear it; and they will not complain if they have heard it before. How many know what I mean when I say that? I used to go and hear Bro. William Branham preach; and I cannot tell you how many times he would talk about women cutting their hair off, and how many times I have heard people say, Can’t he preach anything without talking about women cutting their hair? People who would say those things were not the people who would listen to the rest of what he was saying: They were more interested in finding fault than they were in hearing something that would enrich their soul. Brothers and Sisters: we are too far along at this point, for me to spend time worrying about the scoffers. I know there are precious people hearing these words today, that are more interested in hearing something that will help them along in their Christian lives, than they are in finding fault with the one who is earnestly trying to help them. They are the ones I am commissioned to preach truth to. All the rest can easily find what they are looking for: The roads are full of them. There is always an element of people hanging around, that have to get their apple cart upset at times; and I am not saying this just for the sake of hurting anybody: I am talking like this because we are not here just to play like Christians: We are here to learn how to conduct ourselves in a right way before our God; and to learn how to become one true body of believers, all seeing the same picture. Of those who do not see the same thing you can hear, Well I would like to go to church there, if they would just preach something else. Well I say to them, What is that something else you want to hear? Those who are only willing to listen to a man who will preach what they want to hear, are not interested in their soul at all: They are only looking for excitement. I would ask such a person, Do you mean that you learned it all in one sermon? Or do you mean you learned it all in three sermons? I heard Bro. William Branham preach the same thing in different ways, over and over and over. I enjoyed it every time. How many times did I hear him say, Eve did not eat an apple? Go back and play the old tapes of Bro. William Branham’s messages, and see how many times he said different things. All through those years I sat there and listened, I said, I know what the fruit was that the tree of knowledge bore back then, but what is the fruit of the tree of life? He never did explain that. That is why I said what I did after the Lord had taken Bro. William Branham off the scene and I went different places to preach and was asked, Bro. Jackson, when are you going to preach on serpent seed? I would just answer, When God leads. I had never heard, nor did I know what the revelation of the fruit of the tree of life was, so I said, I am not touching that subject until God shows me that.
SOME RESULTS OF PREACHING WITHOUT A REVELATION
I remember, when years ago there were some new characters that came to the Tabernacle and heard Bro. William Branham preach on the seed of the serpent that one time. They went to Florida, and the word came back that they had preached on the serpent’s seed down there, and it upset a whole bunch of people. When I heard that I said, God have mercy, I don’t want to go around preaching about something I do not know what it is all about. That is why time went on until 1967 or 1968, when I had that dream that settled me on that subject. When I came out of that dream, I knew Genesis 3:16 held the answer. I knew then, that the fruit off of the tree of life was absolutely the perfect way, and the perfect time for a man and woman to have a relationship to bear children. Every child that would have been born under that season and time would have been a perfect son or a perfect daughter of God. However because the devil was allowed to introduce the same act, merely for pleasure, then God stripped out of the woman’s mind the ability to know exactly when the intimate relations could be carried on for the purpose of replenishing the earth with sons and daughters of God according to His perfect plan. Oh yes, the earth became populated, but it was off of the tree that God had commanded Adam not to partake of, saying to him, (Gen 2:17) “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” God was not talking about eating apples when He commanded Adam not to eat (or partake) of that tree. I say these things realizing I am before a mixed congregation, and desiring not to be crude in speech, but at the same time wanting to assure you, that not a doctor or a nurse can tell a woman at what time she can conceive. Think seriously now brothers and sisters, If you knew that for sure, you would never need any kind of birth control pills or devices. Do you know what I mean? You would not need contraceptives if you knew exactly when the female cycle for conception would come around. Because you do not know that, you are living under the penalty of the law of pleasure, that God put into effect the moment Adam and Eve went against His commandment, as is stated in Genesis 2:16-17. I have to speak with a certain amount of plain language, in order to make sure everyone knows what we are talking about. Now I say to you, As a result of that disobedience, all mankind is living under the penalty passed upon the first male and female couple; and now look what the dirty devil has done to the human race just before Jesus comes back. Forty years ago, he moved upon some God-haters to start a process of removing the mention of Christ from the public institutions of America. First they set about to take Him out of the schools, and now we have a young generation that has grown up here in America under the influence of the devil’s devices. They live like the devil, creating a condition like hell on earth, and you therefore have a society of criminals walking our streets every night. Demons of every description have invaded our society; and there is very little anyone can do about it at this juncture of time. I just have to say, Come Lord Jesus. Take us home. Think of little children whose lives are warped and twisted, but how can they help themselves, when the public figures that were delegated the responsibility of teaching them and watching over them, took Christ away from them? America used to be a nation that had proper respect for God, even though many were not professing to be Christians. When you see today’s society living like this, it lets you know we cannot have many more years like this. This is the conditions the Bible describes as being those of the end of the age. Brothers and Sisters: We are getting close to our gathering together unto Him. The signs are all around us. If we are ever going to get serious about a true revelation, now is the time.
GODHEAD CONTROVERSY
Well I keep getting away from my main point, so let me get back to it. We have to look at every congregation the way Paul did; when he said to the elders, “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” The grievous wolves he spoke of, were not the drunks staggering out the saloon doors. No saints, That refers to these slick haired, well dressed characters sitting in the congregation with you. These fellows have been studying a long time. They think they have a revelation, because an evil spirit has been feeding things into their mind. That first age had antichrist preachers running east, west, north, and south, just like we do today; and the only way you can detect them, is to have a God-given revelation of truth yourself. Back then, the confusion got worse and worse as time went by. That is why, by the time we do cross into the second age with our study, the red horse rider was riding full blast ahead and the government was out to kill Christians by the hundreds and thousands, thinking they would get rid of them. On top of what the government was doing, that little antichrist spirit was still working in every congregation, saying, Brother, do you know what God has just showed me? God has showed me a new revelation, and I must get it out to as many as I possibly can. Remember saints, the Jewish apostles brought the revelation of ONE GOD. They taught that the anointing, (which is what the word Christ means) was manifested in the person of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. That is why John could say, (2 John 1:10-11) “If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: (11) For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” Don’t even invite him into your house. There never has been any such thing as a trinity of God’s. Trinitarians will tell you there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, mainly because Jesus said in (Matthew 28:19) “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Well saints, let me ask you, What were the first words Jesus spoke concerning baptism in that verse? He said Baptize them in the NAME of. Then He mentioned three titles, not three names. The word Father, is not the name of a person. Neither is the word Son, the name of a person. What about the Holy Ghost? Is that a name? You everyone know we are looking at three titles, which identify three office works of the ONE and ONLY GOD, the CREATOR, REDEEMER, and TEACHER. When you consider a name that represents all three of those titles, what name do you have to settle upon? There are many places where one can find the answer to my question, but the first one I will mention, is in (Col 3:17). This is Paul speaking, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.” Now if that does not satisfy you, I will ask you to go back and read the entire book of Acts, and see what NAME those apostles of Christ used when they baptized new converts, or instructed them. Of course there is a Father, but the Father is not a person. How many realize that? He is a sovereign Spirit, He is everywhere. He is the source by which all living things derive their existence. The Son was a person, and He was and is the only PERSON of the Godhead. He was conceived in the mind of the Father before all time, and He lay there in the mind of the Father (as a thought) until it was time for the great Creator to speak into existence, and into the womb of a virgin girl, a cell of life that eventually brought forth a Son of God: who in every way displayed all the attributes of His Father for a full three and a half years, after He was baptized in Jordan by John the Baptist; and the anointing of His father came fully upon Him. Some have called Him God, Others have called Him the second person of the trinity, and both are wrong, because it is all a concoction of that antichrist spirit we are talking about, because there is no trinity of persons in the Godhead. Go to (Matthew 16:13-17), and you can get the answer to that for yourself “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? (14) And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. (15) He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? (16) And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. (17) And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” The Father, being omniscient, before anything was made, had already planned the way of redemption. Why? Because He knew sin would eventually come; and that it would pass upon all mankind. He knew also, that it would have to be paid for, because His ultimate goal was to have this earth populated with true children of His. Therefore He knew the time to bring forth the perfect sacrifice for man’s sinful nature. When He separated the thought from His mind, then there eventually, in due process of time, came the birth of His only begotten Son. The birth, just as the scriptures declare, brought forth God’s only begotten Son. From birth to thirty years of age, He grew like any other man child born upon the earth, He ate like a man, He walked like a man, He had to wash his hands and feet like everyone else. He never preached a sermon, did a miracle of any kind, nor any of the other things the Catholic Church has Him doing as a child, yet He knew that He was the divine Son of God. When it came time for His baptism and anointing, no one had to tell Him to go to the river and get baptized by John. When He went to the river that day and submitted himself for water baptism, then the Holy Spirit, which is the Spirit of God, descended from the heavens as they were opened and came down upon Him in the form of a dove; and that is when God, the Creator and His Father took up His abode in the person of His only begotten Son; and it was in the fullness of all His divine, majestic attributes. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself; and the ultimate results are expressed in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian Assembly. We will read in chapter 15, verses 20 – 28, that you may get the complete picture. Paul writes, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming. Then cometh the end, (after the Millennium) when He (Jesus the Son of God) shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He (the Father) is excepted, which did put all things under Him. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him (the Father) that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”
That is a short, but beautiful explanation of what God is doing upon this earth. It was not the Son reconciling the world: It was the Father through the Son, because it was not God that died, it was the Son of God that died for our sins. God cannot die: He is from eternity to eternity, ever the same. When the Son died, the spirit that is life, which came from God, just simply separated from the body of flesh. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit that came back to the disciples waiting in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, was the same Spirit that came down from the Father and dwelled in the person of His Son, and that is the Spirit that dwells in all born of the Spirit believers, but we only have a measure, where Jesus the only begotten Son, had that Spirit in the fullness of all the divine attributes of the Father. I just want to say, When the dirty devil went to work on the godhead revelation, by the time the second century rolled around, that false spirit was in a predominant role wherever believers were found. It was traveling from church congregation to church congregation, and it got worse and worse as the years passed. Even while the government, as you can read in the books of the anti-Nicene fathers, was out to kill all the Christians, and did kill thousands of them, that spirit of antichrist was still galloping along on the red horse, all because certain men were wanting to be seen and recognized as something special. They were pulling out all stops, wanting to be known and projected forth as having a great revelation. By the time you come to the break of the third century, Christendom was more than two thirds under the influence of a trinity spirit. That is why, when you come to 325 A.D., over six hundred bishops from all over the ranks of Christendom had gathered at Nicaea, an ancient city of Bithynia in northwest Asia Minor. It was a city that flourished during the Roman times. That is where the emperor Constantine called the famous Nicene Council meeting to settle the godhead question. What is referred to as The Nicene Creed was adopted at that ecumenical council gathering. From there, the trinity gained acceptance; and you can see what the devil has done with it right on through the centuries. The oneness of the godhead, as they had it back then, was voted out and a trinity was voted in. The antichrist spirit did every bit of that in a little over three hundred years; and it did not come from the government. How many realize that? It came from characters in the congregation, the kind the apostle Paul warned the saints about, those that have risen up and projected their revelation right in the midst of an assembly. Once they got going, that trinity supposed-to-be revelation became the predominant revelation concerning the godhead. As time passed out of the third century, into the fourth century, it just kept getting worse, more compelling. The only thing that can stop that spirit of antichrist from tearing up congregations, is a genuine revelation from the Holy Spirit. I thank God for such a revelation.
THE SECOND BEAST
I want to get away from what we have been looking at and look back at the second seal at this time. This is in the second century, (Rev. 6:3) “And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.” Which beast is this second one? It has to be the one portrayed as the head of the ox or the calf. What kind of animal is that? We know such a beast is not known for his wisdom, but rather is know for his submission to sacrifice. As we leave the first century, yes, many Christians were martyred in it, but when we come to the second century, this is where the dirty devil began using every facet of government, of the empire to get rid of the Christians. When you read the early books of the anti-Nicene fathers, those that covered the period from the second century into the third century, which would cover the era of Clement, Polycarp, and those men we have heard of, men that stood out in their time, we realize the revelation of Christians by then was becoming terribly weakened by all the adverse factions, but their determination to hold true to God, was still just as persistent as any. Great numbers were slain, crucified with such vehemence, tortured by the thousands to entertain the blood thirsty crowds, yet God gave them grace to die. I will use the illustration of Polycarp for an example. They had already been arresting people of the faith of Jesus Christ, but Polycarp had been given a dream one night, giving him an insight as to his fate. In the dream, he saw his pillow on fire. He knew then, that death by burning at the stake, was going to be his lot. When the day came that the legislators, or the authorities were going to carry out the ordeal, it was getting late in the day when they finally decided that they would get rid of Polycarp. They had already put the animals away for the night, those that they would have fed him to. Therefore the authorities said, Let us just wait until tomorrow, but others said, No, we have got to do it now. That is when they made a pile of wood and tied him to a stake in the center of it. The story goes, that they tried to get the wood to burn, but for some reason it was burning too slow. Regardless of how hard they tried, it would not burn like they wanted it to. Finally they got tired of waiting, and in anger, one stuck a spear in him; and every time his heart would beat, the blood would squirt out and put out the fire. I use these various things to show you how Christendom has suffered through many centuries of time. That is why, in the second century, the antichrist is shown riding a red horse, because the red is speaking of the blood that martyrs shed for their faith in Jesus Christ. We can call the riders of the different horses the antichrist spirit, but in that second age, we know the devil was actually working through the old Roman system, trying to completely abolish Christianity. An antichrist is an enemy of Christ, so that antichrist spirit sent forth of Satan, worked in the mind’s of whoever was available, trying to pervert the truth, to somehow defeat God’s plan of redemption. We have already described many of the tactics that have been used; and that are still being used; and those the devil is so successful in using, did not necessarily start out to deceive or mislead anyone. Satan has many tactics, when it comes to maneuvering someone into a place of actually becoming an enemy of Christ and a servant of his own. Many have started out full of zeal and enthusiasm concerning their new found experience as a Christian, or at least in what they believed to be a genuine experience. The bottom line is this, If a person is not genuinely hungering and thirsting for the truth of God’s word; and they are just wanting to do something for God, they are prime candidates for the devil to use. How many realize that? The antichrist spirit is still working here every day, but we have been looking at how the devil has used the Roman system to try to kill the Christians of prior centuries.
THE THIRD SEAL
When we take that same situation we have been describing and come on over to where we have the third seal introduced, there is where we begin to have a mixing together, because it is a black horse rider. This black horse rider corresponds exactly with the parable of Jesus in Matthew 13. In the fourth parable of that chapter, it says the kingdom of heaven is like unto a woman, that took leaven and mixed it in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened. That is what Jesus said. Now that was spoken a long time before the book of Revelation was ever even written, so He was telling the people way back then, that there would be a time when the kingdom would be made up like that. What it was, you and I know, meal is speaking of the stable food of life, bread. What then, is the leaven? It is how Catholicism mixed in with the word of God, all these creeds, ceremonies, and man made traditions, that they presented to people as the word of God. She fed that to the world all through the era of time known as The Dark Ages; and the results of feeding on nothing but that perverted word of God, is what caused the dark age condition. The unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ, had been turned into a watered down concoction that could not possibly produce what God was looking for in Christians. Let us read about this third horse, (verse 5) “And when He had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” When Roman Catholicism began to take her creeds and mix it all together, here came the mass and all that Hail Mary stuff you hear so much about. That is exactly what you are looking at all through that long Dark Age period. She (the Catholic Church) sold the word of God to their people through the traditions of her rituals and ceremonies. However when it says, “See thou hurt not the oil and the wine,” that is referring to the Holy Spirit, which has no part in anything like that. There was no revelation in any of that mess: It was just an old dead creed. From 500 A.D. to 1500 A.D., a thousand years of time, that black horse rider rode all over the whole known world. The world was fed spiritual death by the diet that old antichrist system had put on the table for her. I do want to say to any person that has ever been a Roman Catholic, I am not pointing my finger at you as an individual person. That old system had people in spiritual ignorance until such time as the Spirit of God began to shine His light upon all that old tradition. Do not ever think I would throw off on anyone that had come out of that old system of religion. I realize of course, that there are times when people do get their feelings hurt, simply because they misunderstand my reason for mentioning what I do at times. Then, because they do misunderstand, they have been heard to say, Well I was in the Roman Catholic Church myself. Dear Brothers and Sisters: That has nothing to do with why I speak of that old system. I am preaching a revelation of something we find written about in word of God; and it has nothing whatsoever to do with what you were before the Spirit of God got hold of your life. It would not matter if you were in the Vatican: that is not what I am talking about. We are talking about the spirit of that old system of spiritual death. Keep in mind, it is the spirit of that system, that makes it a death sentence for anyone that is completely sold out to it. Thousands of people perished in the dark hour, because they were just fed the rituals, confirmation, various forms of mass, but no bread of life. They totally eliminated any mention of anyone being born of the Holy Spirit. People who have been born and raised in America, and never known anything but the Catholic Church, would have to go back and indulge in studying some ancient history, in order to really understand what we are talking about when dealing with some of what is written in the Bible. That is why I am going to tell you some things I know for a fact.
A STRANGE SITUATION
Back in 1957, I took my wife and children and we spent one month in Cuba, holding gospel meetings. That was just before Castro went into power. It was in the month of December. We were having meetings in this certain little town; and my interpreter that was with me, and I went down to a barber shop one day. While we were in the barber shop, two men came in and sat down; and began conversing with the interpreter about what we were doing there. Finally the interpreter said to me, These two men want to know if we are preaching Catholicism. I told them we were not. They were telling him what had gone on in Cuba for many years. (I tell this to be the truth, because I believe what was told to me.) Not too far from that town was a large Catholic church, a place with a lot of nuns. At one time the government officials had suspicioned there was some immoral things going on inside this church house. They went in with government officials to investigate; and here is the story. Running between where the nuns lived, to another building where the priests lived, they found a tunnel that connected the two buildings together. When the government officials went into this tunnel, they found the skeletons of little babies lying along on the flood of it. It was the skeletons of new born babies that nuns had given birth to, having been made pregnant by the priests. As soon as the babies were born, the infant was killed in the tunnel and quick lime was put on them to eat up the flesh right quick. Through the interpreter I told them, Indeed, we are not preaching Catholicism. That same thing happened, I believe in 1912, by American troops in Mexico. The same identical thing as we just described, took place. All over this world, that Catholic spirit has ruled and dominated, and actually held millions of people captive. That is exactly what ruled through that thousand years of what is called, The Dark Ages. Wherever that black horse rider rode, it was death, no life. I do not mean to say that no Catholic was ever saved. I believe with all my heart, somewhere in the process of time, there were true, sincere, faithful individuals, that somehow or other let their God given conscience be their guide. Therefore I believe that somewhere along the line, God was able to show mercy to them. At the same time, I realize you cannot write articles and try to prove anything to the people in those systems, so I just have to say, Let us not get our feelings hurt just because we have been associated with this kind of spirit in the past. I have had Catholic neighbors, good people, that I have lived close to for several years. I have picked corn on their farms, baled hay on their farms, they have come and helped me pick corn, helped me put hay in the barn and so forth. They have eaten meals at my table, and I have eaten at their table. They have even asked me to say grace at their table. I could not ask to be treated any better than they have treated me. They were Catholics; and I will never judge the standing of any individual, as far as how God sees him or her: I only preach what God has revealed to me about Roman Catholicism as a system of religion. Please be assured, that I am not talking about any individual person when I stand preaching: I am talking about the spirit of the thing that has kept souls in captivity, how it has ruled and dominated the world. Do you not know, that this is exactly why history refers to that Dark Age period as “The Dark Ages? There were no inventions, no scientific progress, nothing to advance civilization, because that Catholic spirit held the whole world under almost total domination. Maybe what I have said does not sound too good to you, but I want you to know we are dealing with an antichrist spirit, how it has gone through these different stages, showing no mercy. Saints: There is much to be learned about all of this, but someone has to buckle down and do some studying in order to get to the real facts. You cannot just sit back and twiddle your thumbs and expect the Holy Spirit to fill your mind with everything there is to know about a subject. I have gone back into history, and especially into the writings of the anti-Nicene fathers, and I have found vindication for what others have just lightly mentioned without going to the trouble of studying it through. I always want to make sure I know what I am talking about, before I lay it out there for your ears to hear.
In our next message, I want to get into the Reformation, how it started and what it accomplished. God had a purpose in everything He led certain men to do through time; and even though their followers later turned their efforts into what became just systems of religion, God’s initial purpose was fulfilled: We just have to look at all those prior efforts the right way. God is not working on a schedule like man is so prone to do, trying to beat the clock with His projects. He has everything worked out precisely, so that it will all come to His projected conclusion. That is why we need to be so careful about how we look at all these things we have been talking about, because God is going to have a genuine Bride Church when all this winds up. He is going to have a Bride people that all believe the same thing; and what they believe, is not going to be just some man’s opinion, because what they are taught, is going to be by anointed servants of His, men who themselves have been led and taught by the Holy Spirit. What they teach, will meet the final inspection.