CONTENDER: From Here To Eternity Part 9
Preached on July 19, 2020 – pm
I want to present something that is going to help people, which is what it is all about. I have some things tonight that I want to talk about. I listened to Bro. Jonathan Cahn this afternoon. He had an uplifting message concerning the coming of Christ and concerning John the Baptist when he came. Jesus came as a light, then He came as a branch, which he linked these two things together. In the way he was looking at it, it does link it together. After I had listened to him, I kept it on for a few minutes and there was a certain preacher from television that came on, he had a man with him. This man had a dream, more than one dream. I do not watch him, but I happened to see this on the same program where I had seen Jonathan Cahn. He was talking to a man, I will not mention the name, he was a black man. He was talking about President Trump, whenever he was elected, he said it did not matter one way
or another to him, he just was not that interested. But he went on to say that he had a dream, he linked it to Isaiah 45. In the dream he said that he saw all these big figures in white that were protecting Trump. He said they were guards protecting him, but they were actually angels, and looked to be about eight feet tall. He said as he watched that, the setting was not in the White House, but it was in another setting. He said there just kept on being more and more of these white figures, he said were angels. He said the President is in so much danger right now because of the stand he has made. He went on with his talk and he said then it was in the White House. There were the guardian angels there that were still watching over the situation. He went into the Oval Room, and there they were in the office of the President. He went on to say that after the dream was over, he realized that the President was in extreme danger, but the angels were the only thing that was keeping something from happening to him. He went on talking about the things going on in the country, talking about the BLM movement. He said this is a Marxist organization. He said since he has said that, some of the black leaders in this country have threatened his life. Some of those top leaders had threatened him. He said it did not start out like that. The reason for this, they go from the time of Lyndon Johnson. Lyndon Johnson was a scoundrel. I read a book on him, he took land from people in Kentucky and West Virginia. He condemned the land because it was a mountainous area, then he went in and scraped the tops of the mountains to get coal. He promised them money, but he never did give anything. The thing about Lyndon Johnson was that he was the one that started this thing to get rid of the ministry. He did not want the ministry condemning anything. This has gone on throughout time, from different administrations. He talked about the Clinton administration and the Obama administration, about their agenda. He talked about the abortion thing. According to the numbers, they have estimated sixty million babies aborted since 1975. They estimate forty-four million in the United States as
being black people. Forty-four million black babies have been aborted since 1975, that is three fourths of the total abortions. This was Margaret Sanger’s desire, to get rid of the black race. They have tried to make it where they have been the underdogs, they could not get out of their condition. That is why many of them are voting Democratic. I am not speaking against any group of people, black, white, or brown. We know in the time that we are living in, the Democratic party is trying to take over this country. I do not say that because I am a Republican. I say that because I am a Christian. They are trying to take over this country in order to make it like Venezuela. The man that said that was from Cuba. That is the same thing Castro did in Cuba, because he was bringing in socialism. Socialism is where everybody has equal. We know that is not true, it goes into Communism. As the man said, there is no such thing as socialism. They make it look like that; they try to make it look like it is progressive. But it is progressive in that they are trying to put everybody under their rule. It was said that Castro took away their guns. Castro promised people land. But when he got in power, he had enough men that would back him, to where they took over the country. The people had no more freedom. Their children had no more education. I had mentioned this morning about schooling online, how there are so many now, especially California, they are not going to open up their schools. Because they are wanting them to be taught through the Internet. If the Internet teaches your children, you cannot help it because of the way things are going. They are making this look like everything is Covid related. I am not playing down Covid, because it is dangerous. But whenever a baby is born, they let that baby go, this is a common thing, when that baby is out of the hospital, taken home with its mother and father, they write Covid on it. They want everybody to be scared. They believe that if they cannot get people to think for themselves, then that is the first thing in taking over. The Bride of Jesus Christ is awake, we must be awake tonight. I know there have been stimulus checks, thinks like that, but nothing is really free. It
all goes right back to taxes that you have to pay later. One certain man has a thing he is trying to put over that is going to cost ninety-three trillion dollars. Think about it. The only riches we will ever have like that is when the Millennium comes. Then all will be ours. All that we ever desire, all we could ever want, will be ours. This may be shocking to you, what I am saying, but some of the so-called experts are talking this way now. As I said this morning, twenty years ago Venezuela was a prosperous country, today they do not even have bread on their shelves. Some of the things that do have would cost them everything they have, just to buy a loaf of bread. Twenty years ago it was an oil rich country. They want to bring this country down to where we are a bunch of beggars. They want to stamp out Christianity, because Christianity will bring you to a better life; a better life physically, spiritually, and financially. If you give to the Lord, He will give back. The thing about it is, Jesus made that promise to the disciples whenever they were wondering what they would have. He said in eternity you will have eternal life, but in this life, you will have a hundred-fold. That was what Jesus said. I know the Lord has blessed me, and He has blessed a lot of you too. Not only with things, but with a good life. He has blessed you with a home. These things are something that will be taken away. Twenty years ago I heard that they could take ten to twenty percent out of your bank account if they wanted to, where you could not do anything about it. You may not like that I say next, but Bro. Branham said the biggest mistake America ever made was when they let the women vote. Of course those days are gone now. I am not telling the sisters not to vote. You go ahead and vote. Whenever he said that, he said they elected Kennedy, and this was one of the things that caused it. Because there had been Catholics run for president before, but none ever got it until John F. Kennedy. Kennedy, to this group of Democrats today, was a credit. He said, do not ask what this country can do for you, but ask what you can do for the country. I remember his speech. I remember him saying that. That
was in the early 1960’s. Here we are almost sixty years later. Sixty years ago you would not have recognized the country as it is now. Some of the young people would not know what the country was like back in the 40’s, 50’s, or the 60’s. God began to bless the country after WW2. When WW2 was over people began to seek the Lord. In 1946, 1947, 1948, and 1949, I remember it, how people fell under conviction in their homes. There were Methodists, Baptists, Nazarene, they were not really looking at the denomination as being their rulers. I am talking about country people. I do not know anything about the city people at that time. Back then a tent meeting could come through and people from every denomination went to them. You could not tell the difference from one to another. The Nazarene were a little stricter because they were not allowed to wear anything of gold. They could not raise tobacco, but the Methodists and Baptists did. The Methodists smoked and so did the Baptists. I remember a preacher back then, his fingers were strained brown from smoking, he was a Baptist preacher. They did not all do that. I remember some of these things from the early 1940’s. I remember when we went to church by horse and wagon. Grown boys rode their horses to church. They hooked them up to trees outside the church. This is the generation I am from. If you had a nickel at that time, it was really important. You could get a big sized cone of ice cream with a nickel, or a bottle of pop. That is what it was called at that time, a bottle of pop. Now it sounds like ancient days to people in this hour. But we made out, we were happy. Nobody was killing each other. Somebody might steal a ham or a chicken at times. My mom and dad had a grocery store in the country. I think they stocked it on two hundred and fifty dollars at that time. Now that is somebody’s grocery list for one week. But that is what they stocked their grocery store with. My mom said at one time, I think we have bought our own chickens, because somebody picked one up running loose in the field and would bring them in and sell to them to my mom. Kerosene now is around four dollars; at that time it was
between five and fifteen cents. We live in a different time. Inflation has come, but we have been able to manage it up until this point. I have talked about things that are going on now. As I mentioned Lyndon Johnson, my people were all Democrats, but they did not make a big deal out of it. My brothers were more that way than my dad was. My dad used to count votes at the precinct, but he did not favor one party over another, except that he voted for the Democrat party, but he never talked about it. There were Democrats and Republicans that went to the church. I am not praising the Republican party because some of the Republicans are as bad as the Democrats. There are a lot of them that have backed the President up until a certain point, now they are backing off from it because he has been so blunt about telling people, whether it be the news people, or anyone else. These news people are enemies. The Democratic party is going to have their convention with three hundred people. They started out with fifty thousand. Of the three hundred people there, most of them will be from news organizations. You may not like what I say, you may not like me, but I have to look at things the way they are tonight in the country from which I grew up in. Whoever gets to be president this time, it is not going to be like it is now. The way things are going, we are looking George Washington’s vision right in the face. We better prepare ourselves for the time ahead of us. The Bible says in the book of 1st John, love not this world, neither the things that are in the world. If you do, the love of the Father is not in you. That is hard. That is as hard as I have been talking. John was speaking in 90 A.D. when he said that. He is more or less repeating what some of the other apostles had said, not just to be repeating, but to be honest. What I am saying tonight is what our brothers before, Bro. Branham and Bro. Jackson, stood for. I remember in the early 90’s before Clinton became president, Bro. Jackson showed a film on the life and brutality of the Clinton clan. Some of you here saw it. It was not pretty, the things that were shown on there. There were state police and all that he had under his control. I could say more on
that, but I will not go any further into what really happened. Even the Bible says if you hate your brother, you are a murderer. I love my brothers and sisters with a Godly love. I do not care to tell them so. We are in this together. I would be a failure if I did not tell you the things I do know, the things I have seen and heard, everything that is coming about. We are in the days which I mentioned, from Matthew 24, the days of the beginning of sorrows. Paul lived in a day of sorrow. It finally took all of the apostles’ lives, except John, and they tried to take his. He was the only one that died of old age. The rest were murdered under a government that had no respect for human life. That is what we are headed for now whenever sixty million babies’ lives are being taken in the womb, and out of the womb. Even after they are born, the governor in Pennsylvania said let them lay a few minutes, and you decide if you want to keep that baby or not. Maybe they should have had that law when he was born. No, they will not look at it that way. To me, they are pronouncing murder upon this country. You might think I should not talk like that. Well, wait until it comes. I do not want to be waiting until it comes, I want to be informed now of what is coming. I had a dream the first year that I was pastor in the Methodist Church that scared me. At times I would forget it, because it was really frightening, but it has come back to me more lately. I saw a certain group of people come to my house, soldiers, foreign soldiers that came to my house and took me. There was a knock on the door, I came to the door, they took me. That was more than sixty years ago. It was a Marxist regime. I had never had a dream before of any nature of that kind. I never had any more dreams until I began to come into this truth. But I did have a calling upon my life. I mention that this morning, I do not mean to keep mentioning it. The calling and election of God is without repentance. God does not make a mistake. I made a lot of mistakes, a lot of errors, but God never has made a mistake. I have always had the love and fear of God in my heart. When I heard truth, I had to do something about it. In 1961 I heard the tapes on the seven church ages. That was
fifty-nine years ago. Before I had finished all seven tapes, I had to be baptized. It convicted me that much. Before I had finished all those seven tapes on the church ages, Bro. Branham was the Elijah of our day. After that, another thing that was a shocker was hell is not eternal. That put a little shock in me, but I had always heard that hell was eternal. But the way Bro. Branham explained it, he said that you would have to have some sort of eternal life for hell to be eternal. We realize that everything in hell is all burned up, and the spirit that God has given to man will go back to God. God does not lose anything; He is not on the losing side. If we are on His side, we are not on the losing side. We have eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I read in a place in the scriptures I have written down, where God gave his life, how did that happen? He gave it through His Son because the Son was a part of Him. That does not confuse me, because I know that God does not make mistakes. He knows exactly what He is doing in this hour of time we are living in. It behooves us all to pay attention to what God is doing. We can get so entangled in the things of the world, that it blinds us to the truth. Some horses, when they run, they have to put blinders on them so that they can only see in front of them. God has let us see every way. What did He say? Watch and pray. Jesus told His disciples to pray, lest they entered into temptation. I have not read any scriptures yet, but God did love this world, He so loved it that He gave His only begotten Son. As I said this morning, that whosoever would believe would not perish, but have everlasting life. God is calling out believers. If there is anybody out there tonight that hear the voice of God, you should feel fortunate, because one day the door is going to close. There will be nothing I can do to open it. Whenever the flood came, it said that God closed the door. He made it to where it had never been closed before. He made it to where it was so tight and so snug, where nothing could get in it and no way to get out of it. Noah had people outside that he cared about, but he could not help them. It is better to be inside looking out, than outside looking in. I heard today
in the news, that England and Canada, it looks like the way things are going, we are not going to be too far behind, that England and Canada have laws now that gay couples can adopt babies. If you oppose it, then you can be fined and arrested. This was on the news this morning. England, as a country, and Canada, as a country, we have brothers and sisters in England and in Canada, they are tightening the screws to where they are making it impossible for a Christian to live in the country. I believe there are enough good people here in this country, that some of these things will never happen, but it is going to take George Washington’s vision for that flag to stand. You can get so close to the edge, then you are in danger of slipping. I will read a scripture now from 1st John. Some want to make John out to be as a Sunday school teacher, just a little fellow, all he knew to talk about was love. But Bro. Branham said that love is corrective. Chapter 2, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (It is sufficient for that.) And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” He is not talking about the ten commandments there. Jesus said, I give a new commandment to you, to love your brother as yourself, love God, then love your brother as yourself. “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” He is talking about Jesus Christ. “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true
light now shineth.” We are children of light. “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. I write unto you, fathers, (He is including young Christians all the way up.) because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” You have been overcomers. I want to go from there to the 3rd chapter, starting with verse 11. “For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, (He is hitting on the same thing that Jude hit on there. Not as Cain…) who was of that wicked one, (He is talking about Cain’s daddy, that wicked one, which was the one that deceived Eve into having a relationship that brought forth Cain. These men knew something, did not they? Whenever they call them brute beasts and such, they know something. It is not hidden from them. Cain, who was of that wicked one…) and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.” Well, he just sacrificed pumpkins and things like that, what is evil about that? He sliced up some watermelon, some kind of fruit. My, that was a beast. But it had no blood. The old saying is you cannot get blood out of a turnip. “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” That goes for Faith Assembly, it goes for every place everywhere that would hear this message. If we cannot love our brothers and sisters who we have seen, how can we love God whom we have not seen. “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: (That is what I was talking about a while ago. God cannot die. But He laid down His life in His Son, for us. I remember where it said, Jesus gave up the ghost. He said, into the Father’s hand I commend my spirit, His life, because He knew His body was going to die for a few days. He gave His life there to the Father. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down His life for us…) and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” As I said a while ago, do not get it mixed up, God did not die. But He had a Son, His own seed, His own natural seed. Jesus was placed in the womb of a virgin as a seed, just as much as any other man, yet placed in a virgin which was all a creation of God. You are a creation of God. Even the wicked are creations of God because that baby does not grow on its own. Nothing grows, nothing has life without God. Even the viper has life that God has given it, and it is for a purpose. You can say, I cannot stand snakes. If it were not for them, we would be overrun by rodents. Do not bring a snake to me, for me to handle, because I do not aim to do that. “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” I will go to other verses here in the 4th chapter. Verses 1-6. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits (This is the natural man, try his spirit. You can tell by his talk and by his actions. Try the spirits…) whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” Brothers and sisters, a few years ago, God weeded out a lot of the things that were not of Him. He did. Today the things that once plagued us is not a bother anymore. There had to be a separation. “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: (We have to
know who is leading us.) Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” Does that mean that everybody that says Jesus is Lord, does that mean everybody that says that, that makes them all right? You have to listen to the words to see what He is talking about. Let me read that verse again. “Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.” We have preachers in pulpits today that do not even confess to blood, or anything else. “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” That was then, 96 A.D., it was already sticking up its head. You see that as you go into the book of Revelation, into the seven churches, which was started by the apostle Paul. Here in 96 A.D., some of them do not even resemble truth. Most of them had something wrong with them, except the second church age and the sixth church age. God put any open door under the sixth church age. The second church age was the one that suffered under the red horse rider, all the way down to 316 A.D. Then Constantine made Christianity a world religion, along with his other little gods. He put Christianity in the same category as he did the others. Because he had a vision where he saw a cross in the sky. He painted it on the troops armor, by this ye shall conquer and by this ye shall overcome. He was still a warrior; it did not do anything for him in that way. But just to put a cross on the armor, that do not mean anything. You could not go into a Catholic church without seeing Mary standing there by a cross, everywhere they could put it. They put in on their stained windows and anywhere else they could. They do it for beauty. “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” When you look at that, then take the 6th chapter of Ephesians, where it says take to yourself the whole armor of God, we do that. We take these scriptures and apply it to our lives. Ye are of God, little children, and have
overcome them. Have, past tense. Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. “They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.” I am going to close with that. May the Lord bless you. Prayer
Preached on July 26, 2020 – pm
This message is being scattered throughout the world; it is getting to the ones it is supposed to get to. We see the problems in our nation. Different ones are raising up to cause havoc. There was much going on this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a shame what goes on in the streets of America. It sounds more like China, or Russia, or some country like that, because it is the same spirit in this move today against America, against the flag which we salute. The man who was speaking on the steps of that building in Louisville, said this problem has to be fixed. The attorney general had said it would take four to six months to find the solution, but this man said if it is not fixed in four weeks, we will burn this place. I do not know why a threat like that can go on. If you threaten some individual, or if you threaten the governor, then they will lock you up. But if you make a threat against the city or against the nation, they let it go. This is not the America I grew up in. It is not the same people that I grew up with. You had little crimes where I grew up, mostly it was one certain man, about every week or two you saw him in jail because he had been drinking. But that is the normal thing now with politicians and everything else. You just do not know how drunk they are when maybe they are giving a speech or whatever they might be doing. There is evil going on in America today that we have never seen before. The Bible speaks of it, but I do not think we had the full grasp
of it. We read in the Bible, as it was in the days of Noah, as it was in the days of Lot. Those two are combining themselves together today, the Sodom condition that Lot saw, and the violence that Noah saw. In Luke, it tells us that. Today we are living in perilous times. The Bible said perilous times will come, this was in Paul’s letters. Paul went through a lot of perils. He was acquainted with a lot of what we are looking at today during the Roman Empire. But we are not under the Roman Empire today, but we are under a rule that is just as evil. I am not only talking about the leadership, but I am talking about what is going on today, where people are putting forth their voices to words that we have never heard or experienced before. That men and women will stand and listen to somebody curse, swear, and say all their vulgar words. One time I preached a message saying that people have lost their blush. They used to blush at words that were wrong. Especially the women, even women that never went to church. But back then, whenever words were said, that are said in the streets today, it is something that would not have been tolerated at that time and they would have blushed about it. But they have lost all that now. They are even teaching their little children the same thing. They are holding them in their arms while listening to some vulgarity, and cursing of the nation, things of that nature. We wonder how long God is going to let that go on until something does blow. There was opposition at that event in Louisville, that they had to keep apart, to where they could not get together. There was opposition there that had their guns also. The assault rifles, they try to make it is though they are machine guns, but I am sure there were machine guns among them. We are living in a dangerous time today. I want to keep my nose out of the situations that are going on, because I do not belong in that mess. You do not belong in that mess. But sometimes you have to work in places that do bring
you into contact with some of that stuff. I am sorry my brothers and sisters have to work in conditions like that. But God is a great protector. I was talking to a brother yesterday, talking about taking the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand. To be able to know all these things, this brother was looking at the Roman soldier to see how he was dressed up for the battle. All the things mentioned in the 6th chapter of Ephesians, all those things were what the Roman soldiers wore. But it said we are not fighting against flesh and blood, which we are not today, we are not out there marching. We are not out there doing all the things they do, because this is no place for a saint of God. It is nothing a saint of God should be taking up for, something like that, you just as well would become a part of it, if you take up with something like what is going on in America today. It mentioned all the different places that were rioting yesterday. Somewhere in Texas, there were nineteen policemen hurt during riots there. They are taking PC pipes, things like that, sharpening them, throwing them into the police. Somebody is going to pay for something like that, and it may be with their lives. There was a shooting on the expressway last night. Someone shot into a car, five people were wounded, one of them died. The driver died and wrecked the car. The others were injured. So it is not just on the streets now, it is getting on the highways and everywhere else. We are better off to keep our sights upon the road in front of us, not looking at everything on the sides. Just keep our eyes looking forward in the time we are living in. Because you never know what somebody has in their mind when you turn and look at them, because there may be something they do not want you to see. So America is armed today, and as I talk about that, I am for the second amendment. But I am for the second amendment to be done right, not as it is today in a lot of places. Crimes are going up in Chicago, in New York,
Los Angeles, and some of the southern states. Shootings is going up; all this stuff is happening because we are living in the days of Noah. It is exactly like it said. It says that God repented that He made man upon the earth. But in Genesis it says, “but” but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So there is grace out there for you today if you are a believer. If you hear this message and you are not satisfied with your life, and you feel you need something in your life, what you need is Jesus Christ as your Saviour, as your Redeemer. He is the only hope that we have in this hour of time. We do not know about tomorrow, but we do know that day by day the Lord is with us, and He is watching over us, to give us peace of mind in the time of trouble. We live in a world of our own today, a world that is not of this world. They are talking about sending a spaceship to Mars, which will get there, I think they said the 18th of February 2021. That is a long time, but they are going to try to prove whether there is life there or not. They claim there was probably an ocean there at one time. Well, how are they going to know? How do they know there was an ocean on there? They are going to try and come back with something. Someone told me this morning, that somebody got up to the place where they were taking a test for the virus, and they shut it off before they got there, because they had either run out of tests or it was time for them to close. So he came back and was not tested, but he got a message that said his test said he has the virus. So you wonder just how much of that stuff is going on. We are not scared this morning, but we are careful. There is a difference in being careful and being scared. We are not scared because we have the Lord on our side, but the Lord expects us to be able to know what is right and what is wrong whenever the time comes to that. If these things did not come, if the beginning of sorrows did not come, we would not know where we are at. The
scripture tells us, when you see these things begin to come to pass, this was Jesus’ own words. I am not making Jesus’ words different than what the apostles was, because He gave them the same authority that He gave himself, and the same authority today still lingers to that true ministry that is called, to be able to bring forth something out of the word that is going to edify the people. As I read the 4th chapter of Ephesians, I see the responsibility of the ministry. It tells you the responsibility of the ministry, to get the saints ready. We are doing our best in this hour to do that because our preaching is not for ourselves, for glory, or some name, something of that nature. It is for the glory of God and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope, which is our peace, our strength, in God the Father. He gave himself; He gave His own seed for a propitiation for our sins. In the 2nd chapter of 1st John, he talks about Him being the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, which was talking more or less about the Jews, but for the sins of the whole world, which is talking about the Gentiles. We know that only certain people are added in that group, because Jesus said, I pray not for the world, but for them that you have given me out of the world. It was hard for some, even of the apostles, to understand the deepness, the fullness. Paul talked about the height, the depth, and the breadth of what the grace of God was to the people, meaning there is no limit to that grace that He gives us, to be able to follow Him in the newness of life. I will go to Ephesians 4 now and we will see just what he is talking about. “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” Vocation is talking about a calling. The word vocation is used for many different things. But this is talking about the vocation you are called in, the vocation of the ministry. That is what he is speaking of here. As we go along, we are going to
find out just what he is meaning by that. “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Paul, at this time, is in prison. But you would not realize it in the letters he writes, except when he speaks of it. He does say, I am the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ, at other times. So he is talking about his imprisonment in Rome, when he says that. First in Caesarea, then in Rome, where he spent his last six years. 66 A.D. the last scriptures were written, either by Peter or by Paul. Both of them end about that time, so we feel their lives have ended about 66 A.D. Paul said, I am now ready to be offered up. Here we are in 64 A.D., as he is looking at this, two years before the time he writes 2nd Timothy. Paul is always upbeat in the message that he has. He does not show any shadow of despondency, or anything of that nature, all the way up until the end when he said, I am now ready to be offered up, and the time of my departing is at hand. That is what he says in Timothy, the 4th chapter, when he is speaking of his demise, which he is expecting in a short time. He knew that when this time came, he would be better off. He said he would be. He said, for me to die is gain, but for me to live is for your gain. He was realizing that his ministry, even from the time of 60 through 66, was some of the most important part of his life that he would spend upon the earth, in order to get a message out to mankind, that they would be able to live for God. In that, he is including the Jews and the Gentiles, he makes no difference. It is hard for some of the apostles to realize that. But as far as Paul is concerned, he brings both into one category, when you go into the 2nd chapter of Ephesians. He is talking about the ministry when he is speaking here, he is getting them ready for what he is going to say. He takes this a long way. In the later verses he is talking about Christ being
raised up, and so on. “There is one body, (We know that. We must present a message that is uplifting and upbeat. I am talking about the gospel. Whatever goes on in Louisville, or other places, does not hinder the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is a duty laid upon the ministry to be able to speak things that will be encouraging, uplifting. It will get people ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what the ministry is for. We are servants. We are not the ones edifying ourselves, we are the servants of the Bride of Jesus Christ. This is laid upon us to be that. There is one body…) and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.” One body, one Spirit. He is talking about the Spirit of God. In the 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians, he goes ahead to make up what the body is, which was about ten years earlier than this time. He had spoken that, but the message is still in line. He has not veered off the message. He has not changed his mind. He has not changed his thought. When he was in Arabia, the time he spent there, he was looking at the Old Testament scriptures to be able to bring out of them the things that pertain to this hour of time, in the hour they were living in. Because the message is the same always. There are not two different messages, one for one generation, and another for another generation. It is like they are now, trying to change and get rid of all the history here in America. It is still there. They cannot get rid of what is in there by tearing down statues, and changing names of ships, names of the bases where soldiers are at. They cannot change the history of what has happened by trying to put up something new to take its place. They want to erase all history, just like they want to erase the Bible. Especially the words that speak against their lifestyle, things of that nature, they want to get rid of that. They want to get rid of the blood and the crucifixion. In China today, Christians are being rounded up. Whatever they believe in Jesus Christ, they are being rounded up in
their churches. They are breaking all their stained-glass windows that have the picture of Jesus in them. Any church that has a cross, anybody wearing a cross, they are taking them down. This was in the news this week. That leader there is putting his name and names of other leaders, and their pictures in place of Jesus Christ in those churches today. He does not want the Christian religion there. In Turkey, the great building that was built in the third century for a tabernacle, now the Turkish leader is making it a Muslim sanctuary. It had been more or less an international building. The name of Jesus Christ and God himself is being erased from society today. It has to be that way in order for them to get what they want. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” This is something that must be realized and hoped for. “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” That is a great thought. It is the Spirit of God in you that came by Jesus Christ. This is a three-way thing, and I am not talking about the trinity. It is a three-way thing, God was in Christ, Christ is in the church. I am not talking about a trinity there. It is a trinity in how God worked, that is what I am talking about. Do not ever try to erase what I am saying and make it look like I believe in a trinity. I do not believe in a trinity. I believe God is our Father and Jesus Christ is our Saviour. “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.” He is talking about the ministry there. I know there are spiritual gifts given to other people. But this is talking of the ministry, because he explains this in the next verses. “Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” He did that, He descended to the lower parts of the earth, even into hell. Jesus went to preach to those people that were lost in the days of Noah, whenever they had the opportunity to do things different. It was not through the seed of Noah that sin came, but it was when the seed mixed. We see a pattern of all that today as we look at the world. Because of the judgment that is coming upon this earth. We know all things have to match, of what was in that hour of time, for God’s judgment to come, because it says, as it was in
the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some, (See? He is talking of the ministry. He gave some…) apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” He did not say that he gave some teachers. This had to be done. In all, it may come through another ministry. But there had to be teachers that would raise up, it did not say some teachers. It said and teachers. So there had to be a ministry that would come forth of teachers, that would be someone that could deliver the Bible, which they did not have the Bible at that time but deliver the word unto the people. The Bible teaches about learning. But we would not know it if there was not a preacher. Every member of the ministry of Jesus Christ has to be able to have some teaching experience, whoever they are. Because they have got to know the same thing. They have to know the same, but it is not in every minister, the same gift, but it is in every ministry the same thing as teachers. They have to be in order for us to be edified and learn. “For the perfecting of the saints, (Paul said, how can we hear without a preacher. It is telling us here, for the perfecting of the saints, there has to be a ministry. He goes on to talk about that ministry in the verses to come.) for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, (This is still the ministry, till we all come in the
unity of the faith. Some have said, I do not need any man to tell me what to do. If you do not need a man to tell you what to do, then you do not need a ministry, you are on your own if you do not have anybody to tell you what is truth and what is error. Because God raised up a ministry that would be able to teach right from wrong. You see that God is able to separate ministries. Some think there has to be forty-eleven preachers in order for perfection. But if you have this ministry here that Paul is speaking about, that will perfect the saints. That is what it is all about. Till we all come in the unity of the faith…) and of the knowledge of the Son of God, (I had to have a ministry before me. I would not have known what hour we are living in, if God had not raised up someone to be able to tell me what hour we are living in. I thank God for being able to hear the truth, because I had been baptized in trinity baptism. But when the preacher came to my house that one time and went over Matthew 28:19 where it says for us to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He said that is not names, it is the name. I saw that immediately. I understood what it was, and when I did hear baptism, when I listened to the church ages in June and July of 1960, I realized that the name that was mentioned to me, was the name of Jesus Christ. It gave me understanding. If I had not had a preacher, I would not have been able to understand. Coming on down to around 1970, I heard much talked about that Jesus was God, even the songs that were sung pointed out to that. It was a Pentecostal song that was sung in Pentecostal, it came through the Pentecostal move because they believed that Jesus was God. This was not something that was explained in 1961, 1962 or 1963, until either 1969 or 1970 when Bro. Jackson took that little glass of water and held it up. He said, this is not the ocean, but if I dipped this glass into the ocean, then I have all the elements from the ocean in this one glass. He was talking
about Jesus Christ. The ocean was God, then God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto God, or himself. This gave me understanding. When we read in the word where Jesus said, straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, there will be few that will find it, straight is a water way. The water way is the light today, baptized in Jesus Christ, is the song that goes on to say that Jesus is God. I do not sing that song. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God…) unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” This is what we are striving for, coming into the unity of the faith. There are not two faiths. I read a while ago, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. “That we henceforth be no more children, (He is talking to young people, he is talking to old people, he is talking to middle aged people. This is the same message I am preaching today; it is speaking to all of us. There has to be a means where we come from, where we get our perfection from. God has set up a ministry to do that. I am not talking about you not studying the word. I am not saying that God will not show you some things. He will, but there still has to be a ministry for the perfecting of the saints. It has got to be this group of men that will lock hands together, lock arms together, can walk down the aisle together, and say, this is it. It takes that evangelist, it takes that prophet, it takes that apostle, it takes the pastor and teacher. It takes that in order to fulfill the whole ministry of God. That we henceforth be no more children…) tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” To all our brothers and sisters out there, it may be that you are living among unbelievers and are all by yourself, or you are with just
a few. Maybe you are around some of the people that have parted or around some of the message people, if you have to live among them, brother and sister, it is expedient for you to get the word in your heart, that you listen to a ministry that is going to direct you the right way, in the right path. We are not confused. We are not preaching confusion. We are preaching truth, that if you listen, you can be perfected. We are perfected as we go on and grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. “But speaking the truth in love, (This is a battle for some, to be able to speak the truth in love. You cannot hammer it out, you have to be firm. You have to live as though Christ lives in us, and He does. He rebuked, but He knew who He was rebuking. He spoke against the ministry of that hour, the hierarchy in the church, He spoke against it. But to the saints of God, to those believers, He walked among apostles that did not have the message in their heart, they spoke sometimes. Peter spoke out of unction when Jesus asked him, after they had said some say you are this, you are that, you are Jeremiah, Elias, and so on, but He asked, who do you say that I am? Peter spoke by inspiration and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Others had said that before. When Philip came to Nathaniel, in the book of John, he went and told Nathaniel, we have found the Christ. He goes and tells him that. So this was not the first instance where this had come up. But it was a profound minute when Jesus asked the apostles, who do you say that I am? There is a true understanding. The apostles understood who He was. Every one that spoke understood who He was. It was not some that believed this and some that believed that. He was walking among people that believed in Him, but they did not understand Him. You see this in their lives as you go on down to the end when Jesus made His last journey to Jerusalem. James and John’s mother asked Him a
favor. He said, what would that be? She replied that my sons may sit on your right hand and left hand in your kingdom. He said, this is not mine to give. But the other disciples got jealous because of this request coming up, they did not want anyone to be favored above them. You can see the carnality in them at that time because they did not have the Holy Ghost. This all changed on the day of Pentecost when Peter began to speak. What happened? The eleven stood with him. He was the one who preached the message, but the eleven understood what he was saying when he said, repent every one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. There they stood, the same thing in their hearts. They realized that they had truth. It was vivid to them then when the Holy Ghost came. We have to have the Holy Ghost, there is no other outlet. Speaking the truth in love…) may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.” Grow up in Him, in all things. “From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted (He is talking about the whole body, so he is expecting the ministry to be able to pull this thing together. The dream I had which I have told before, about the numbers and all, I do not know if I had woken up and went back into it, or whatever, but I was aroused when the voice said “Gabriel.” I know I was aroused, but then went into another dream and seen myself walking through a field. By the time we get to the end of the field, it was like a V-shape of people coming together, they were all in one unit. That means that something has come together. It represents an arrow. An arrow is something that spreads out and comes together at the end. The point is what makes the kill. Fitly joined together and compacted….) by that which every joint supplieth, (That is talking about the whole body. He is talking about the body supplying. We are supplying words of encouragement. Whoever you are, you are
encouraging someone to be able to walk on in faith, walk on in truth, walk on in the way that is right. Every joint supplieth…) according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, (every part in measure, every part of the body) maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” The end of this verse, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself. That is talking about the body edifying itself. We are part of one another. When you look at that, when you look at what Jesus talked about, in the 24th chapter of Matthew, He talked about the body when we are gathered together, as the eagles are gathered together. We are in a place this morning that God has raised up. The Tabernacle is where Bro. Branham was at, but the Tabernacle did not go on. It stayed where it was in 1965, with their believing that Bro. Branham was God. I have said before and will repeat again, being at the post office one day, a man was standing there and said to me, Bro. Branham gave us a beautiful day, did not he? That was years ago. These people believe that. They have been made to believe it. It is not that maybe somebody said it, but that they did not correct it. There is a sister that comes here, she had gone to a prayer meeting. When they got ready to dismiss, they asked whose name should they pray to. So they prayed in Bro. Branham’s name. Bro. Branham would have rebuked that thing with all his heart. I remember him talking about it when he came back from Canada. He came back with a broken heart because people were baptizing in his name. He was a person that was despondent. He said, I would walk off the field as a quitter than I would be an antichrist. I will go to 1st John now, 2nd chapter. “My little children, these things I write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of
the whole world.” The same John that wrote this, which was written in 90 A.D. the same John that wrote these words is the same John that wrote the prayer that Jesus made in St. John 17, where Jesus said, I pray not for the world, but I pray for those that believe on me through their word. He is speaking of the apostles as He is talking to them, because these are who were with Him. He knew they were going to carry on the message. I thought about, when this message is over, taking what Jesus said, and lead right into the book of Acts, and into the other scriptures, because Jesus’ ministry did not stop when He was raised from the dead. His ministry still went on. It starts out in the book of Acts, there at the beginning of miracles and teaching of the word. This was the same Spirit that was in Christ. God was in Christ, Christ in you, the hope of glory. He is looking at that, but here it says He is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. When John is talking here, he is not saying the message has changed. But if man had listened, if he had done the things that should have been done, then the whole world could have been saved by Him. It is that strong. The blood of Jesus Christ is strong enough to save the world, but it is not going to be accepted by the whole world, because there is predestination. There is adoption. We are adopted into the family of God. It will show up after the Millennium is over when Jesus becomes our elder brother. These things I have learned from a ministry that God raised up, that said that Jesus would be our elder brother in the Eternal Age. In the Eternal Age, the Bride that will go through the Millennium, will never go back to a normal state of being as those that go through the Millennium and live on the other side. We will never go back to the natural man that we are now. We will still be spirit beings with a body that is spiritual. I know Bro. Jackson got this from reading the Bible where Jesus ate with the
disciples. The question was asked Bro. Jackson, will people eat during the Millennium? He said, they can, but they do not have to, it will not be a necessary thing to keep themselves alive. The Bible said, we are as angels. “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandment.” John is talking about the commandments that Jesus gave. You see them scattered throughout His ministry. He is under the Law, but Jesus is not a teacher of the Law. As Paul said, we have people that read Moses every sabbath. That is the first five books of the Old Testament. We know in the book of Genesis; this was the book of beginnings. Genesis is a little different than what the other four books are, because Genesis is telling you the beginning of creation, the beginning of a newer creation under Noah, then another beginning of a generation under Abraham. God raised up Abraham as an example of the believers. Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. As we go through the scriptures, we read the same thing about David in the book of Psalms. It is not a book of David, but there are plenty references to him in the book of Psalms, much written by him, but not all of it. I have heard preachers from Psalms, and they will say, the psalmist David said this, but in reality, a lot of it was written after David was already gone. “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, (keepeth His word,) in him (in Him, not just to know it, but to keep it,) verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” This is the same thing Paul said, this is the same thing Peter taught us. They are the major writers of the New Testament, mostly by Paul. Look into the book of Peter, and John also, when you look into
these books, you see no variance in what they taught and believed. “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.” From the beginning of the gospel. “Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, (this is tuning it down) is in darkness even until now.” That speaks volumes. Does not the Bible say in the Commandments, we shall love our neighbor as ourselves. Our neighbor is that Christian person that we have to deal with. The Bible says not to love the world. Do you think I love what is going on in America right now? Absolutely not. But it all had to happen because the first president of the United States had a vision. There were three parts to that vision. One part of it was in 1812. The next part was in the 1860’s during the war between the states. Now we have another part coming up. No matter who is elected in this next election there is going to be trouble in this country. I see it coming in my mind’s eye, not in a vision. This country is going to be in trouble. We are sitting here now, but we can see storm clouds on the horizon. “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.” Then he goes ahead to tell the different categories he is writing to. He goes from one category to another, and then to another. He is wanting to help each category of people, of believers. He realizes there are people being born into the family of God in 90 A.D. “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.” That can be from ten years
old, or as old as anybody is when they are born into the kingdom of God. “I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have know the Father.” He speaks of the Father there, concerning the little children. “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, (He is speaking of fleshly desires.) and the lust of the eyes, (what people can see. When Bro. Branham preached, he said these three categories are the things that will get a person, will take them under. All sins rest on these three categories.) and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” He already had said, love not the world. “And the world passeth away, (He is not talking about the earth. When Peter talked about the world burning, he was not saying that it was going to be burned up. When the children of Israel went into the land of Canaan, they were to kill everything, beasts, all humans from babies on up. You might think that is very cruel, but all of this, even the animal kingdom that they used, carried that spirit about them. Can it be in the animal kingdom? It was in those hogs that Jesus cast the spirit into. These spirits, whenever they talked to Jesus, they begged Him, do not send us off into the deep, or do not send us off into hell. That is what it was talking about. Let us go into this bunch of swine. He gave them leave and told them to go on. So the spirit that was in that man went into the herd of swine and they ran off a cliff into the Sea of Galilee. We saw the place where they say it happened.
Somewhere, just as it was in the days of Noah, God said, it repents me that I made man. It repented Him because He had made the animals and everything else. So He got rid of the whole bunch because He saw the spirit about them. So He is saying here, love not the world. Because there is a spirit that goes into this world, goes into every facet of it. That is why the light sticks out. That is why our lives stick out to the world. So on this next verse it goes on to say…) Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” What he was seeing then is multiplied now. I heard one prophetic preacher; we have all kinds of prophetic preachers today. He was talking about the building of the temple, he said, I have my idea about that. He did not express too much about his idea, but he was saying it is not necessarily for them to build the temple there, because we are the temple of the Holy Ghost. He was dismissing the temple that will be built on the temple mount. This was a prophecy preacher. Somewhere they mess up. “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: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.” I will stop with that. Ye know all things that are necessary for this hour, for the perfection of the saints. Prayer
To be continued in next issue…