Prophets
II Peter 1:20-21, "No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost."
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II Timothy 3:16, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
Who wrote the Bible? . . . It was written by prophets. Sure, much of the Bible was written by scribes who recorded the history of kings and events, and it is mostly "filler" demonstrating for our admonition how to apply God's unchanging Word. But that Word, the faith or doctrine, came only to a prophet; others receive it second-hand as it were.
Who told us God is a Trinity? . . . Certainly not prophets; there has never been a Trinitarian prophet. A Trinitarian would fail the test for a prophet.
Who told us Jesus Christ IS God—Jehovah, manifested in flesh? Prophets! Jesus is a manifestation of God. I Timothy 3:16, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: GOD (not some second or third person, but God), was MANIFEST in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."
Gabriel told Mary, "He shall be called 'Emanuel' which means 'GOD with us.' You will name Him 'Jesus' meaning 'Jehovah Saviour' for He shall save His people from their sins".
Likewise the Pillar of Fire that appeared to Moses in the burning bush, in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement and in the form of a dove after Jesus' baptism in the River Jordan was a MANIFESTATION of God. The glorified Bride of Christ is the MANIFESTATION of God. And throughout Eternity the "saved" without New Jerusalem will worship God MANIFEST in the flesh of His glorified Family, Jesus Christ and His Wife, the true Church of all ages.
The Bible is the sum of God, ALL of His thoughts or attributes in paper and ink, as Jesus was the sum of the character and nature of God MANIFEST in the flesh of a virgin-born Man.
God did not back up in a huge Oshkosh or Euclid truck, tip out the sum of faith, and say, "There, brethren, feast on that"! Oh no, He took man through "Law" school which foreshadowed the reality of Christ, redemption and restoration from Eden. He revealed a portion of the faith here, a little over there, and some hundreds of years later, more revelation over there.
God began man's instruction in the faith gradually by employing natural things he could comprehend with his ten senses to symbolize and foreshadow unseen spiritual realities to come.
Hebrews 8:1-7, "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: we have such a high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is necessary that He have somewhat also to offer. For if He were on earth, He should not be a priest, [He wasn't even a Levite] seeing that there are priests that offer the gifts according to Law: who serve unto the EXAMPLE and SHADOW of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, "See," said He, "That you make all things according to the pattern [or TYPE] shown to you in the Mount."
But Jesus has obtained a more EXCELLENT ministry than Moses, by which He is also the Mediator of a BETTER covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant were faultless, there should have been no necessity for a second."
The Old Covenant was a SHADOW or TYPE of the New Testament.
Hebrews 10:1, "The Law having a SHADOW of good things to come, and not the very image of those things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered annually, make the comers thereunto perfect".
Paul taught that those of us who are born of God are dead to the things of the world and alive to Christ; those worldly desires were crucified on Calvary where we died in Christ. What!!!
Yes, if you are born-again or IN Christ now, you were IN Him when He was crucified on Calvary, and taken out of His side in the Form of the Holy Spirit AFTER He died, as Eve was taken from Adam's side AFTER God put Him to sleep in the Garden. And as Eve was one with Adam's flesh and bone, Christ's Wife is Word of His Word, Spirit of His Spirit. And like any good wife, she obeys her husband in everything, for He is the Word.
The Law and ordinances were nailed to the cross. So we are dead to all those things which were merely a SHADOW of things to come.
Colossians 2:16-17, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a SHADOW of things to come; but the Body is of Christ".
As we said, God didn't burden man with the sum of faith. He showed the reflection or shadow of approaching reality so that over time we would see the concept and look forward to these things with joy, expectation and worship. And He sent prophets to foretell these things.
You will remember when God spoke with Moses on Mount Horeb from the Pillar of Fire in the bush that was not consumed He promised that after he has delivered Israel, "you will worship Me again on this Mountain." God vindicated Moses when He met him on top of Horeb in the Pillar of Fire and Cloud, and spoke lip to ear before the assembled congregation. And the people were afraid.
[It is interesting to note that Mount Horeb is not in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as shown on our Bible maps but in Saudi Arabia (Genesis 2:15; 3:1-3, 12; Galatians 4:25)].
Deuteronomy 18:16-18, "According to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great Fire anymore, that I die not. And the Lord said to me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a PROPHET from among their brethren, like you, and will put My Words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him."
This is a compound Scripture that speaks of the coming of Messiah. God has always spoken through prophets, and He never changes His ways. The key to understanding Scripture is Hebrews 13:8 (Malachi 3:6), "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever." God never changes, and His Word must come to pass precisely as He inspired it to His prophets. Anyone can claim to be a prophet. But there is a test in our Bibles whereby one can prove a prophet.
Numbers 12:6, "If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream [or interpret the meaning of his dreams]".
Deuteronomy 13:1-5, "If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams should arise and his predictions come to pass but he says, Let us follow and worship the gods of other nations. You shall not hearken to the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love Him with all your heart and all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and serve only Him, and cling to him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he has spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt, and to cause you to rebel from His ways. Thus shall you put the evil away from you".
If a man is a genuine prophet, what God inspires to Him in visions and dreams will come to pass precisely without alteration and will be in wholehearted agreement with the prophecies of all previously vindicated prophets.
Deuteronomy 18:15-22, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, of your brethren; you shall listen to him. This according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, lest I die. And the Lord said to me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like you, and I will put My Words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not listen to My Words which he shall speak in My Name, I Myself will require it of him. But the prophet who shall presume to speak a word in My Name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, How shall we know the Word which the Lord has not spoken? When a prophet speaks in the Name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen, it is something the Lord has not spoken, but the prophet has spoken presumptuously: you shall not regard anything he says."
When God says something, He means precisely what He said. His Word will come to pass. It was delivered by His vindicated prophets, so every jot and tittle must come to pass precisely as spoken in its designated, decreed season and time.
As I said, God did not just dump it all out at one point in time. And it is not coming to pass all at once, but according to God's appointed seasons.
Now the Gentile dispensation has within it nine sub-dispensations. The Gentile dispensation is the period wherein God is changing His Form from the Holy Spirit alone with His eternal thoughts to their MANIFESTATION in the glorified flesh of His Family, hereby creating Himself a part of His creation. Jesus Christ is the beginning of the creation of God—less than 2,000 years ago (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; Matthew 1:18-23; Revelation 3:14). His true Church is the continuation of the same creation and in the new heavens and new earth God will be worshipped through Eternity in the Form of His glorified Family—Jesus Christ and the elect New Testament Church.
The Gentile dispensation is therefore the revelation or unveiling of Jesus Christ in the Form of His true Church, as we read in the Book of Revelation. This tells us how God is MANIFESTING His Word, which is Himself, writing it by faith in the hearts of those able to receive it. As under the Old Testament God did not deliver the fullness of the revelation which was sealed by Seven Seals to the time of the end (Daniel 12:4; 9; Revelation 10:4) He has revealed a specific portion by the angel sent to each Age, making seven distinct Church Ages by seven baptisms of the Holy Spirit.
The nine sub-dispensations were, Pentecost, or the Alpha Age, when the saints held the one and only faith as inspired by the Spirit. Seven Church Ages of part-Word followed, when the mystery of God's Word was sealed, and Christ mediated in behalf of their ignorance of His Word. After all seven Church Ages were fulfilled came the present Omega Age when God sent us a prophet who restored the apostolic faith, finished the mystery of God, and is calling His people out from all man-made systems into the fullness of the Word for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation.
Jesus is Alpha and Omega, the Word at the Beginning and the Word at the End, not the PART-Word in-between. Isaiah foretold how the Gentile Church would rise from the apostasy of Jewish denominations and end in apostasy of the Gentile denominations.
Isaiah 28:8-13, "All tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean." [Isaiah was referring to the marble slabs in the temple on which the priests flayed the flesh of the slain animals in a diamond pattern so they may be inspected for disease, bruising, or any blemish that might render them unacceptable for sacrifice to Jehovah. The sacrificial beast represented Israel's faith. As the beast had to be without spot or blemish, the faith we offer to God must be His mind without spot or blemish of human reasoning in order to find acceptance. Isaiah was prophesying that at the close of the dispensation of the Law, even the tables where Israel's faith was examined would be polluted. Today the Gentile churches are in the same condition—what they offer to God is a stench in His nostrils (Romans 11:32)].
"Whom shall He teach knowledge; and whom shall He make to UNDERSTAND doctrine [or receive faith? Christ's Church is built on the faith or revelation of the apostles (Matthew 16:13-19; Ephesians 2:20)]".
"Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts." [Paul said, "Every one that feeds on milk is unskillful in the Word of righteousness: for he is a babe" (Hebrews 5:13)]. So only those who are weaned from the basic doctrines of God's Word, such as the true Oneness of the godhead and Scriptural water baptism, and are growing to maturity will be able to receive understanding or faith in the written Word.
Applying Isaiah's prophecy to the present, the only ones to whom God can reveal the faith are those who have been weaned from the letter of William Branham's sermons, to a clear understanding of what they mean. (William Branham was the Elijah of Malachi 4:5-6 and Revelation 10:7, the angel to the seventh Church Age whose Message finished the Mystery of God).
I sent a minister faithnow.exe, a computer slide show illustrating the "present Truth"—what Jesus is doing NOW. Eventually he wrote criticizing the faith revealed therein and self-righteously protesting that whereas he could direct people to what Brother Branham said, I could not. By God's grace I can, and this is what "faithnow.exe" does. Sadly, this minister has the "letter without the Spirit" or revelation to understand what the Prophet means. He had never been weaned from the milk of Brother Branham's Message, and does not realize his Message is but the key to unlocking Scripture to "finish the mystery of God" (Revelation 10:7; Acts 3:21).
God can't make such men understand doctrine. They can't see "the parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ" or "our gathering together unto Him"—the Word, as distinct from her, the church (Ephesians 1:10; II Thessalonians 2:1; Revelation 18:4).
"For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another [or foreign] tongue [of Nebuchadnezzar and his armies whom God will send to punish and carry away captive the citizens of Judah, and those among whom they will live through the "times of the Gentiles"] will He speak [in a foreign tongue] to [chastise] this people".
[Yes, sir, not one jot or tittle shall pass away. Heaven and earth will change, but God's Word must be fulfilled. And faith, if it is faith will run in continuity from Genesis to Revelation.
God spoke to Israel in each division of the Gentile dispensation as each Church Age Messenger heralded Christ's Coming. Individual Israelites have received the Word for their Age and been baptized into the Body of Christ. But to most, whose ears were not attuned to the Word of God, it was a foreign tongue, and their unbelief condemned them to the Trumpet judgment of that Age.
Today the PRESENT Truth, faith or understanding of God's Word is a foreign tongue to most who call upon the lovely Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, as demonstrated by the minister who rejected FAITHNOW].
"To whom He said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear."
[The revelation of the PRESENT Truth is the baptism with the Holy Ghost (or new birth) to those who can receive it in their day. We must recognize our day and its Message and become written epistles of that part of the Word. Or to paraphrase I John 1:7, "UNLESS our lives are MANIFESTING what God is doing NOW, we are not and cannot come under the blood, or be born-again"].
"But the Word of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; [to the intent] that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken." And the Gentile denominations, in their apostasy, are returning to Rome.
In-between the Alpha and Omega, the faith, which was in the hearts of the saints, was lost, going to the grave when they were slain. And because the Bible was sealed until the time of the end, the faith was lost until after the Church Ages, when Christ opened the Seals and revealed them through His prophet.
God's Work is the manifestation of His expressed thoughts or Word. And as the faith was lost, it had to be found and restored to His people in order for Him to complete His Work.
Acts 3 is the account of a lame beggar whom Peter and John met at the Beautiful Gate, and perceiving he had faith to be healed they exercised his faith in the Name of Jesus Christ. His healing provided Peter with the opportunity of witnessing to the astonished bystanders. Acts 3:14-23, "You denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of Life, whom God has raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And His Name through faith in His Name has made this man strong, whom you see and know: yes, the faith which is from Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Now, I know that through ignorance you did it, as did your rulers. But God was fulfilling the prophecies that Christ should suffer these things. So repent, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the TIMES of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord".
[Applying this Scripture from a Gentile perspective there were seven times of refreshing, or seven baptisms with the Holy Spirit through the Church Ages]. In Revelation 1:20, Jesus said that the seven stars are the angels to seven Ages signified by the golden lamagsand. These men were anointed by a portion of the Spirit of God to reveal the Word predestinated to the elect of their Age. Seven baptisms of the Spirit divide the Ages or "TIMES of refreshing brought from the Presence of the Lord" by seven portions of the Spirit that departed the earth after the close of the Laodicean Church Age back before God's throne (Revelation 4:5).
Let's paraphrase Ephesians 1:10 and I Corinthians 13:10 which describe Christ's second or parousia Coming:
"In the dispensation of the fullness of TIMES He might gather all the "loose ends" not resolved by the Reformers into the unity of the faith, both the MANIFESTED Word which is already in heaven, and the MANIFESTED Word living in the saints on earth in the end-time." And,
"When the Seven Seals have been revealed [the Fullness of the Word], that which is perfect or complete, has come bringing Christ back to earth [in W_O_R_D Form. And imperfect revelation of PART-Word and Christ's mediation for ignorance of the fullness is done away"].
Acts 3:20-21, "And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of RESTORATION of ALL things, which God has spoken by the mouth of ALL His holy prophets since the world began." Or FINISH the mystery of God—that which is perfect—Christ, the Fullness of the Word. And as the Word comes only to a prophet, God must send us a prophet to restore His Word.
How is Christ coming? According to Zechariah 14:7 (Matthew 24:27), He's coming as Light. And Light is a clear revelation, or faith. He's coming in a day of moral and religious confusion, when the distinct black and white of right and wrong has merged into the humanist idea of "If it feels good, then it is good."
When and where is that Light coming? In the evening time. In the West: America! Just before the S_O_N-Light of the Gospel sets and the Gentile dispensation ends. Matthew 24:26-28, "If they say, He's in the desert; don't bother to look: or, He's hiding in a secret place; believe it not. For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines to the west; so shall the 'parousia' of the Son of man be. Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together".
Jesus is telling His disciples this will be a (Gk.) 'parousia,' not a (Gk.) 'erchomai' Coming. In other words it will not be a physical manifestation like His (Gk.) 'erchomai' return with the glorified saints after Armageddon has destroyed all life on earth. This Coming is universal and no man can appear universally but Light on the Word or faith can be worldwide. And in the days of His parousia the Gospel Light that arose in Jerusalem in the East will be restored in the West. Those able to rise above worldly things and see the things which are to be will gather around the living Body Word of the PRESENT Truth. Paul said, that at Christ's 'parousia' Coming the wise and foolish virgins will gather together to His revealed Word.
Acts and Revelation also instruct us not to look for a Man but for the Fullness of the Word. Acts 1:9-11, "While they beheld, Jesus was taken up; and a Cloud received Him out of their sight. As they looked toward heaven, two men stood by in white apparel and said, You men of Galilee, why stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up into heaven, shall come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven."
He has; His parousia was signified by a Cloud of Glory. This Sign was the Pillar of Cloud over Arizona on February 28, 1963 as foretold here in Acts, Matthew 24:3, 30 and Revelation 1:7—"Behold, He comes with Clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also who pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen." This was not a natural cloud but the Shekinah or Pillar of Fire and Cloud. Every natural eye can no more see Him than every eye can see you. This speaks of the eye of faith in His Bride or true Church. Three and a half years after our translation, 144,000 elect Israelites will see Him by faith, and the foolish virgin and other classes of the "saved" will see they've missed the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or full atonement, and must lay down their lives for the faith.
Revelation 10:1-7 describes Christ's parousia. "And I saw another Mighty Angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and the rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as it were the sun, and His feet as pillars of Fire: And He had in His hand a little Book open: and He set His right foot upon the sea, and His left foot on the earth".
[The Archangel or Angel of the Covenant is Christ placing judgment on Rome, the beast from the sea, and on the beast from the earth—the apostate (once) Protestant USA. Paul said, "The Lord Himself shall descend with a shout [that's the Message of the angel to the seventh Church Age, calling both the wise and foolish virgin out from Babylon], and with the Voice of the Archangel [Who is Christ in the heart of the Bride, confirming the Message from Genesis to Revelation], and with the Trump of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first, then the living saints shall be caught up with them." The seventh Trumpet will call Israel to their Feast of Trumpets at the end of the Gentile dispensation, and is yet future. But Christ having indicted the Beast and its Image will prevent their union until the Bride is taken from the earth (Daniel 9:27; II Thessalonians 2:6-9; Revelation 13:11-15; 17:11-18).
We know this Angel is Jesus, because in Revelation 4 the Book Adam forfeited was closed, sealed with Seven Seals, and in the hands of an angry God. In chapter 5 Jesus claimed the Book, opened the Seals, and here he descends with the open Book to reveal its mystery to His end time Bride through the seventh angel.
This is not the return of the glorified Prophet of Nazareth. This time He came in W_O_R_D Form through the mouth of His prophet William Branham, a sinner saved by grace. The revelation of the Seven Seals brought the fullness of the Word, "that which is perfect," back to earth. This is why Jesus and Paul were adamant we should not look for a Man.
The denominations expect a Man to descend from a cloud in the sky, backed by an angelic Louis Armstrong on trumpet playing, "When the Saints come marching in." At this Coming, His precious feet won't touch the earth. We meet the Man in the Air. This time He came in W_O_R_D Form to incarnate His Bride for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation].
"And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars: and after He'd cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the Angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up His hand to heaven, And swore by Him that lives forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, there should be no further delay for intercession. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he begins to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He has declared to his servants the prophets."
[Since the Seals were loosed, the mystery of God is finished, and the fullness of the Word is here. Christ is no longer a Mediator for the ignorance of the saints.
Here's a little something special from the Grace of God. When the seventh angel began to reveal His Message, the mystery of God was finished. Christ is the mystery of God revealed; the true Church is the mystery of Christ revealed in a manifold Form requiring redemption. So that the mystery is who made-up the true Church in each Age and how they were redeemed through the Ages. Jesus could not fully redeem the Church at Calvary because so many would live while the Book was sealed and the faith was lost so He was a Mediator for their ignorance of "that which is perfect" until the last saint predestinated to the Laodicean Age was baptized into the Body. Thus the mystery of God was finished when the last saint was baptized into the Body in Laodicea and could be revealed to His end-time Bride].
Acts 3:22-23, "For Moses truly said to the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall you hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, who will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people".
This Scripture is taken from Deuteronomy 18 which we read before. It's a compound and refers to our Lord Jesus Christ who said, "The Elijah of Malachi 4:5-6 will precede My second physical Coming and his prophetic ministry will RESTORE the apostolic faith." All who reject it will be destroyed from among the people, since they will have rejected Christ's 'parousia'.
The ministry of the seventh angel warned God's people to come out of Babylon (Revelation 14:9-12; 18:4; Matthew 25:6; I Thessalonians 4:16). Those who do not receive "the sayings [or revelation] of the prophecy of the Book of Revelation" will not be saying what the Spirit says and must anticipate the consequences (Revelation 22:11, 16-20).
Closing now we see from Daniel 12:4, 9 and Revelation 10:4 that the Book was sealed until the time of the end. "But in the days of the Voice of the seventh angel it should be open, and its contents revealed" (Revelation 10:7). Therefore the angel of Revelation 1:1, 3:14, 10:7, 22:6 and so-on is the man William Branham.
Was a prophet promised to our generation? And is so, what was his mission? If we can discover who met these requirements, we will have discovered who this man was.
Yes, "WAS" past tense. In Matthew 24:32-34 Jesus taught, the generation that sees Israel restored to the Promised Land will not die out through old age before the millennium.
God bless you brethren. When you catch the revelation, pass it on. Take-up Christ's suggestion and study Genesis 18, because in Luke 17:28-30, He foretold the last sign before the end of the Gentile dispensation would reveal the Son of Man veiled behind the flesh of a sinner saved by grace, discerning the thoughts and intents of people's hearts "as it was in the days of Lot". bb970709.htm
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