Bible Believers' Newsletter 987
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; we welcome your fellowship around God's unchanging Word.
May this week's study prove edifying, strengthening your faith by confirming your place in the Word and your position in Christ's Body while renewing your hope in the things that are to be. Our feature article is 'The New Creation of God-men' which has been growing for almost two thousand years and only marginally more than 144,000 are outstanding. The news items are definitely signs of the times with emphasis on the failing fractional reserve fiat money racket and the declining power of the united States outside her blooded military.
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
Your brother-in-Christ
Anthony Grigor-Scott
Ignoring Ignorance can be Costly
August 11, 2017 � The capacity to borrow today brings consumption forward from tomorrow. The world is awash with more than US$220 trillion of debt . . . future consumption that's already been consumed. Now we have to pay for it.
To make servicing this historically high level of debt a little easier, central banks have taken interest rates to historically low levels . . . wilfully persisted with an economic model . . . utterly dependent upon debt-funded consumption to produce growth . . . there's a limit on how much debt this world can service before we trigger another (and more catastrophic) debt crisis . . . taking us headlong into a Greater Depression.
This chart traces out five different market valuation measures on the S&P 500 index since 1947. The 0% line represents the 70-year fair-value average. Note the market spends most of its time . . . between under-valued and over-valued.
Since 1990, the market has spent most of the time in overvalued territory. This coincides with the time the Fed�led by Alan Greenspan�began . . . creating the so-called 'wealth effect' . . . A sharp fall back to the 0% line requires a correction of 65% . . . the coming market collapse could revisit the lows of the early 1980s . . . US market fall over 80% . . . Full story: marketsandmoney.com.au
Comment: The Babylonian fractional reserve banking system creates money by debt . . . Jesus is prudently saves. Nations have been transformed into corporations controlled by the Money Power through debt, an ancient scheme for peaceful conquest of the whole universe employing every endeavour to subdue countries by an economical conquest. The Cloward Piven Strategy seeks to hasten the fall of capitalism by overloading bureaucracy with a flood of impossible demands, thus pushing society into crisis and economic collapse . . .
Avoiding Nuclear War: Why Kim Jong-Un's Strategy makes Sense
August 11, 2017 � [T]he direction in which North Korea's nuclear program is headed ensures an important regional deterrent against Japan and South Korea, and in some respects against the United States, which is the main reason for North Korea's development of ICBMs. Recent history has repeatedly demonstrated the folly of trusting the West (the fate of Gaddafi remains fresh in our minds) and suggests instead the building up of an arsenal that poses a serious deterrence to US bellicosity.
It is not a mystery that from 2009 to date, North Korea's nuclear capacity has increased in direct proportion to the level of distrust visited on Pyongyang by the West. Since 2009, the six-party talks concluded, Kim Jong-un has come to realize that the continuing threats, practices, and arms sales of the United States to Japan and South Korea needed to be thwarted in some way in the interests of defending the sovereignty of the DPRK . . . The reason the United States continues to raise tensions with Pyongyang and threaten a conflict is not out of a concern for the protection of her Japanese or South Korean allies, as one may initially be led to think. The United States in the region has a central objective that does not concern Kim Jong-un or his nuclear weapons. Rather, it is driven by the perennial necessity to increase forces in the region for the purposes of maintaining a balance of military force (Asian Pivot) and ultimately trying to contain the rise of the People's Republic of China (PRC) . . . Full story: globalresearch.ca
Comment: The 2014 Ukraine coup by the US and EU was as much about China as Russia, Eurasian trade and the New Silk Road. North Korea is ahead of the US in health, education and literacy.
Roth$child'$ Commonwealth Bank of Australia
August 3, 2017 � The Australian Transactions Reports & Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) today launched civil proceedings in the Federal Court alleging that the Commonwealth Bank failed to comply with the law on 53,700 occasions . . . The maximum penalty for each of the 53,700 contraventions is up to $18 million . . . IDMs can accept up to 200 notes per deposit, or up to $20,000 per cash transaction, with no limit to the number of transactions made per day . . . The transactions in question had a total value of around $624.7 million . . .
Full story: abc.net.au.
In a run-down mall in one of Sydney's biggest Chinese neighbourhoods in 2015, 29-year-old Jizhang Lu showed up at the top-floor offices of a meat export company carrying a carrier bag stuffed with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash . . . eight times over three weeks . . . as much as A$530,200 ($416,840) at a time. reuters.com. Graphic on accusations against CBA
Comment: Rothschild's CBA made A$9.9 billion profit last year. Once "the people's bank," this "too big to fail" bank is protected by government that would have to borrow from Roth$child$ to meet its foolhardy commitment.
Commonwealth Bank & the 'War on Cash'
August 16, 2017 � We may look back at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia money-laundering scandal and realise that it heralded the end of cash in Australia . . . UBS analyst Jonathan Mott pointed at the start of this month that this breach raised 'critical questions':
- Is the root of the problem the outdated high denomination cash notes? Should Australia move to phase out cash given its role in the black economy (including: proceeds of crime, money laundering, tax avoidance, welfare fraud)?
- Benefits may include reduced crime (difficult to monetise; increased tax revenue (fewer cash transactions) and reduced welfare fraud (claiming welfare while earning and hoarding cash).
- From the banks' perspective there would likely be a spike in deposits�if all the A$100 notes were deposited into banks (ignoring hoarded A$50s), household deposits would rise 4%. This would likely fill the banks Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) gap and reduce reliance on offshore funding.'
At the end of 2016, UBS was the first private group to make the case for banning large-denomination notes in Australia. Unsurprisingly, politicians are warming to the idea. Kelly O'Dwyer, the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, suggests the $100 note's place in the Australian economy should be reviewed. Pretending to defend the $100 note, the Reserve Bank of Australia has said criminals much prefer to use $50 notes instead. In one fell swoop, the case was made to remove two large-denomination notes from circulation . . . Full story: marketsandmoney.com.au
Why Elites are Winning the War on Cash
August 16, 2017 � Visa is offering certain merchants a $10,000 reward if they refuse to accept cash in the future . . . Visa and MasterCard exist side by side with official efforts to eliminate or discourage the use of cash coming from governments in India, Australia, Sweden as well as the United States . . . But the so-called "cashless society" is just a Trojan horse for a system in which all financial wealth is electronic and represented digitally in the records of a small number of megabanks and asset managers.
Once that is achieved, it will be easy for state power to seize and freeze the wealth, or subject it to constant surveillance, taxation and other forms of digital confiscation . . . The US got rid of its $500 note in 1969, and the $100 note has lost 85% of its purchasing power since . . . The real burden of the war on cash falls on honest citizens who are made vulnerable to potential wealth confiscation through negative interest rates, loss of privacy, account freezes and limits on cash withdrawals . . . If the power grid goes out due to storms, accidents, sabotage or cyber attacks, our digital economy will grind to a complete halt. That's why it's a good idea to keep some of your liquidity in paper cash (while you can) and gold or silver coins . . . money good in every state of the world . . . Full story: dailyreckoning.com
Russians should urgently repatriate their Assets from the West
August 8, 2017 � The new law of sanctions on Russia is not just economic war�it is a war on the Russian people and now the millions of Russians who have assets in the West are on the frontline . . . These sanctions are no diplomatic squabble. They will get very personal for Russian businesses and professionals working with Russian companies. Any sector of business can be targeted by the US for such crimes as "closeness to elites," "oligarch" . . . reminiscent of Stalin's terror and kangaroo courts in which anyone could be charged, tried and convicted, property seized and banished without a right to appeal . . . Full story: russia-insider.com
Global Deception: 'The War on Terror' is a Campaign for Permanent War & Terror
August 8, 2017 � The "War On Terror," an outgrowth of the crimes of September 11, 2001, was never a war on terror. It has always been a campaign for permanent war and terror . . . terrorists in Syria, including al Qaeda, are proxies for the West's dirty war on Syria. They are aided and abetted by illegal sanctions and every tactic used by the West to destroy the country and its institutions. Any action that the West takes against the Syrian Arab Army or the Syrian government aids the terrorists, since the SAA and the Syrian government are the dominant forces fighting the terrorists.
The veil of confusion drops every time the official narratives change. The terrorists who reportedly flew into the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon were, reportedly, al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is the supposed enemy. But the West supports al Qaeda and all the terrorists in Syria, so whereas al Qaeda is one of humanity's enemies, al Qaeda is the ally of those who control the levers of power. The enemy consists of the neo-con "power elites" who are orchestrating the terror, the globalized war, and the globalized poverty beneath their public lies and deceptions. The enemy consists of publicly-financed warfare states, like the US, and increasingly its allies, which endanger and impoverish humanity for the perceived benefit of the elites and corporate profits. Whereas the public presumably believes that it is somehow benefiting from the carnage and mass murder, it is actually being fleeced . . .
Full story: globalresearch.ca
Polls: US 'Greatest Threat to Peace in the World Today'
August 9, 2017 � On August 1st of 2017, Pew Research Center has issued results of their polling of 30 nations in which they had surveyed, first in 2013, and then again in 2017 . . . On page 3 of their 32-page pdf is shown that the "major threat" category was selected by 35% of respondents worldwide for "US power and influence," . . . on pages 23 and 24 of the pdf is shown the 30 countries that had been surveyed in this poll, in both 2013 and 2017; and most of these 30 nations were US allies; only Venezuela clearly was not. None of the 30 countries was an ally of either Russia or China (the other two countries offered as possibly being "a major threat"). And, yet, nonetheless, more respondents among the 30 sampled countries saw the US as "a major threat" than saw either Russia or China that way . . .
[T]he trend, in those 30 countries, throughout that four-year period, was generally in the direction of an increase in fear of the US�increase in fear of the country that had been overwhelmingly cited in 2013 by people in 65 countries in WIN/Gallup's poll, as constituting, in 2013, "the greatest threat to peace in the world today." Perhaps people around the world are noticing that, at least since 2001, the US is wrecking one country after another: Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, and Ukraine. Which is next? Maybe Iran? Maybe Russia? Maybe Venezuela? . . . the US has just increased its 'defense' spending, which already is three times China's, and nine times higher than Russia's. Do the owners of America's military-industrial complex own the US government, and own the US 'news' media, to permit this rabid military to control the government's budget, in a 'democracy'? Is that how it happens? Full story: globalresearch.ca
Comment: "You live in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see, and sees not" (Ezekiel 12:2). The (once Protestant) United States is "the image to the beast" (Revelation 13:11-18).
Australia begins questioning its Geopolitical Alliance with the US
August 7, 2017 � With all the disastrous wars the US has led her into over the last 20 years, this should come as no surprise.
'[For us] it is one thing to remain a good friend, but too close an embrace will lead Americans and others to resurrect the "deputy sheriff" tag. The Americans have always put their own interests first and will continue to do so; we should follow their example. American interests will not always be the same as Australian and vice versa. The bottom line, however, is the domestic political one. Australians are afraid of the outside world and convinced of their inability to cope with it. Any Australian government which suggested that we do without a great and powerful friend to look after us would have to consider the electoral implications.' Source: Cavan Hogue�former Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative when Australia was last on the UN Security Council. He has also served as head of mission in Mexico, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow and Bangkok, along with other posts. He is an Adjunct Professor in International Communication at Macquarie University, Sydney . . . Full story: russia-insider.com
Comment: If you are an Australian or an American, you should read the Full story.
If America was trying to start a World War, this is how it would Happen
August 8, 2017 � America continues its unilateral policy of bullying non-compliant states, further isolating itself from its traditional post-WWII allies . . . American-led sanctions push these defiant countries into the open arms of one another . . . If the US continues to use its global stranglehold over the financial markets as a tool to weaken other countries, these countries will also have no choice but to ditch the dollar and to seek alternative currencies through which to complete transactions . . . the US is at the crossroads of its dying status as a global superpower. In order to stay afloat, it has only one real option�to continue down the warpath it has set itself on and confront those countries that seek to rise up in the post-American led international order. The newly signed sanctions regime is just the beginning . . . It will be almost impossible to sell these wars to the American public and the international community at this stage considering the evidence shows the US is acting rashly and out of order with the rest of the world. However, if the US can provoke Iran or North Korea into doing something regrettable first, the US may finally reward itself with the justification to go to war which it so desperately needs . . . Full story: theantimedia.org
Scientists discover 91 Volcanoes below Antarctic Ice Sheet
August 13, 2017 � Scientists have uncovered the largest volcanic region on Earth�two kilometres below the surface of the vast ice sheet that covers west Antarctica . . . Geologists say this huge region is likely to dwarf that of east Africa's volcanic ridge, currently rated the densest concentration of volcanoes in the world. Volcanic eruptions may not reach the surface but could melt the ice from beneath and drastically destabilise it . . . These newly discovered volcanoes range in height from 100 to 3,850 metres. All are covered in ice, which sometimes lies in layers that are more than 4km thick in the region. These active peaks are concentrated in a region known as the west Antarctic rift system, which stretches 3,500km from Antarctica's Ross ice shelf to the Antarctic peninsula . . . Full story: theguardian.com
The New Creation of God-men
Amos 3:7, "Truly the Lord God will do nothing, without [first] revealing His secret counsel to His servants the prophets".
II Peter 1:20-21, "No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not by the will of man: but holy men moved by the Holy Ghost spoke from God".
Jesus came to apostate Israel preceded by the prophet John (Malachi 3:1; Luke 1:11-19); but when they rejected the Baptist and his Message they also refused the Logos and fullness of the Word he introduced, and thinking they were doing God a service they crucified Messiah. In these last days Christ came to the apostate Gentiles preceded by the Prophet William Branham (Malachi 4:5, 6b; Revelation 10:7); but when he was rejected along with his Message the world church system refused the Logos and fullness of the Word he introduced. "And because they rejected the love of the Truth, that they might be saved, God has sent them a strong delusion, that they should believe the lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the Truth, but took pleasure in unrighteousness . . . seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh" (II Thessalonians 2:11-12; Hebrews 6:6).
A vindicated prophet is a sign warning of imminent judgment. The Word of God comes only to a prophet, so if God has vindicated a prophet as His spokesman it means He has a Message to deliver. Multitudes witnessed and benefited from the miracles and healings of Brother Branham's vindication and believed Him to be God's prophet, yet scarcely any waited on the Message, and most who heard or read his 'third pull' walked away because it disagreed with their human understanding. Yet they acknowledged his vindication.
Please follow me in your Bible, beginning with Revelation 1:1. "The Revelation (Gk.) apokalupsis or unveiling of Jesus Christ, which God gave to Him, to show unto His servants the things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel [William Branham] to His servant John: who bore witness of the Logos of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw [in the visions on Patmos Island]."
The angel of Revelation 1:1 who spoke with and directed John throughout The Revelation of Jesus Christ was William Branham (Revelation 3:14; 10:7; 22:6-10). Jesus Christ broke the Seals and revealed their mysteries to his seventh angel in 1963, and from 95 to 96 John was caught up in the Spirit into the Lord's Day which is yet future and communicated with Brother Branham per medium of visions as he revealed these mysteries from 1963 to 1965. Jesus revealed the mystery of the Seven Seals to His Prophet after Christ's mediation, redemption, and the Laodicean Church Age were over. Since he revealed his Message only to John and Christ's end-time Bride we know that throughout the Book of Revelation John represents the end-time Bride just as in chapter four of Ezekiel, that prophet represented first the House of Israel and then the House of Judah.
"Blessed is he who reads aloud, and those who hear the Logos of the prophecy [in public worship in the days before printing, private ownership of Bibles and literacy], and heed the things which are written therein: for the (Gk.) kairos [opportunity or decision] time is at hand" [for these prophecies to be revealed as they unfolded through successive Church Ages].
There is an emphatic present blessing on the reader and upon the listeners whose mutual duty is to strive to understand these eschatological prophecies and observe what they have understood. It is not intended that all will attain to a full and complete understanding of all prophecies, but all are duty bound to study: much important understanding will be withheld from the negligent. Those who understand and become written epistles of "the present Truth" for their day will be born-again. Jesus rebuked the Jews and His disciples for not understanding prophecies relating to His first Coming (Matthew 16:3; Luke 24:25; John 5:39, 46).
Revelation 1:4-8, "John to the seven Church Ages: Grace to you, and peace, from Him [the ever-present (NOT omnipresent) I Am] who is and who was and who comes; and from the seven portions of the Holy Spirit that are before His throne (Revelation 5:6; Zechariah 3:9; 4:6-10); and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first born of the dead (Colossians 1:18; I Corinthians 15:20, 23), and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and loosed us from our sins in His own Blood (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:7; I Peter 1:19; Revelation 5:9), [this was not human blood for Jesus was not born of human intercourse but was the Logos manifest in flesh as "the beginner and author of the new creation of God-men" (Revelation 3:14). [As the continuation of the same creation begotten by the Spoken Word] He has made us [New Testament saints a continuation of Himself] a kingdom, priests unto His God and Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and into the ages of the ages. Amen."
Brother Branham taught: "Since it is the Blood of God, it is perfect blood; and if the perfect blood is loosing us from the power and bondage and defilement of sin, then the loosing is perfect and complete. There is now therefore no condemnation. "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies (declares us righteous). Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died . . ." (Romans 8:33-34). There it is, His death gave us the Blood. The Blood has loosed us. There is now no condemnation. How can there be? There is nothing to be condemned for, because the Blood has loosed us from sin. We are free, guiltless. Don't listen to man, listen to the Word. You are loosed by the Blood.
"Now don't get tied down again by traditions and creeds and organizations. Don't be led astray by listening to those that deny the power of the Word and deny that Jesus saves, heals, fills with the Holy Ghost and power. You are God's free men, loosed by His own Blood. If you still hold your faith to creeds and denominations, it is certain by the evidence that you have lost your faith in the Word" (An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 34:3 � 35:1).
The whole of divine Revelation, whose goal is "the restitution of all things [in the renewed heavens and earth] which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21) is sealed in the earthen vessel of "the faithful witness, the first born of [the NEW CREATION]," our virgin-born kinsman Redeemer Jesus Messiah as typed in Jeremiah 32 where the prophet took his right as kinsman Redeemer (The Revelation of the Seven Seals, p. 91:1-93:1; 117:4-119:2; 231:5-235:4; 282:1 - 283:5).
"Behold, He comes with the clouds; and every eye [all mankind] shall see Him, and they who pierced Him: and all tribes of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen" (Zechariah 12:10; Ezekiel 39:29; Daniel 7:13; Joel 2:28-30; Matthew 16:27; 24:30a; 26:64; Mark 14:62; John 19:37; Acts 1:9-11; Revelation 1:7).
Brother Branham taught: "He is coming. Jesus is coming. God is coming. The Prophet is coming. The Priest and King is coming. The ALL in ALL is coming. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen."
"He is coming. He is coming in clouds, clouds of glory as when He was seen upon the Mount of Transfiguration, and His garments were shining as the power of God enfolded Him. And EVERY eye shall see Him. That means this is not the Rapture. This is when He comes to take over His rightful place as World Ruler (Zechariah 14:9; Revelation 19:11-21). This is when those who have pierced Him with their creeds and denominational doctrines shall mourn, and all the people shall wail in terror because of Him Who is the Word."
"This is the revelation story of Zechariah 12:9-14. [Israel's recognition of Christ's parousia (Revelation 14:1-5)]. Zechariah prophesied this about 2,500 years ago. It is just about to take place. Listen."
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:9; Revelation 11:18-19). And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced . . ."
"Now, when is the Gospel returning to theJewsIsraelites? When the day of the Gentiles is finished. The Gospel is ready to go back to the Jews. Oh, if I could just tell you something that is about to happen right in this our day. This great thing that is about to happen [the former or teaching rain of Christ's parousia through the Message of the Elijah of Malachi 4:5, 6b; Revelation 10:7] will carry over to Revelation 11 and pick up those two witnesses, those two prophets, Moses and Elijah, turning the Gospel back to theJewsIsraelites. We're ready for it. Everything is in order. As theJewsIsraelites brought the Message to the Gentiles, even so the Gentiles will take it right back to theJewsIsraelites [in Gentile apostasy after the close of the Gentile dispensation Romans 11:21-32], and the Rapture will come".
"Now, remember what we have read in Revelation and Zechariah. Both come right after the tribulation. The Church of the First-born does not go through the tribulation. We know that. The Bible teaches that."
"At that time it says that God is going to pour out His Spirit upon the house of Israel. It is the same Spirit that was poured upon the Gentiles in their day. "And they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for his only son, and they shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart . . ." and each one of the houses apart when He comes in clouds of glory at His Second Coming. Those Jews that pierced Him shall see Him as it says in another Scripture, "Whence did You get those wounds?" and He will say, "In the house of My friends." Not only will it be a mournful time for the Jews who rejected Him as Messiah, but it will be a mournful time for those left of the Gentiles who have rejected Him as the Saviour of this day" (An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 36:3 � 37:2).
The Prophet continues, "Now getting back to the story of Joseph meeting his brethren. You recall that not all the brethren came. Joseph knew that and insisted that all the brethren appear before him, or he could not make himself known unto them. Finally they brought the one that was missing, little Benjamin. It was little Benjamin, the full [blood] brother of Joseph, that set his soul on fire. And when our Joseph, even Jesus, comes to the people who have kept the commandments of God and gone back to Palestine, His soul will be set on fire. Little Benjamin typifies the 144,000 Israelites from all over the earth who have gone back to Palestine for their redemption [not Jews, Edomites, Khazars or proselytes but sons of Jacob]. They will be standing there ready to receive Him, Whom to know aright is Life eternal. They will say, "This is our God for Whom we have waited." Then they will see Him Whom they have pierced. And they will cry out in dismay, "Where did these awful wounds come from? How did it happen?" And they will wail and cry, every family apart, each one apart in the agony of sorrow".
"Now where will the Gentile Church be while Jesus is making Himself known to His brethren? Remember that the bride of Joseph with the two children were in the palace, for Joseph had commanded, "Let everyone leave me; put them all out from before me." So the Gentile bride was hidden in the palace of Joseph. Where will the Gentile Church go in the rapture? Into the palace. The Bride will be taken off the earth. She will be caught up before the great tribulation to meet her Lord in the air. For three and one-half years while the retributive wrath of God is poured out, she will be in the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:1-9). Then will He return, leaving His Bride in "His Father's house," while He makes Himself known to His brethren. At this very time, the antichrist covenant that the Jews have made with Rome will be broken. Rome and her allies then send their troops to destroy all the God-fearing, Word-abidingJewsIsraelites. But as they come against the city to destroy it, there will appear in the heavens the sign of the Coming of the Son of Man with His mighty armies to destroy them who have been destroying the earth (Revelation 19:11-14). With the enemy repulsed, Jesus then comes and presents Himself to the 144,000. Having seen His mighty acts of salvation, they have come to know His power. But also seeing His wounds and knowing that they had rejected Him even to that moment, causes them to cry out in the agony of terror and fear, even as did their brethren of old when they stood before Joseph, being sore afraid that they would be killed. But as Joseph said, "Don't be angry with yourselves. It is all right. God was in it all. He did it to preserve life." Even so will Jesus speak peace and love to them (ibid, p. 40:1-2).
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who comes, the All-ruler [Supreme Deity]." He is the principle and the final goal, the Logos at the beginning and the Logos restored at the end; He was not the PART-Word in-between.
Revelation 1:9-11, "I John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation [throughout the Christian dispensation (I Thessalonians 2:14-16; Matthew 24:21-22; Luke 11:52; Revelation 1:9; 2:9; 7:14; 20:4)] and kingdom and endurance in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the Logos of God, and for the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit in the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a voice loud as a trumpet, saying, What you see, write into a Book, and send it to the seven churches; to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea".
In accordance with prophetic form, John begins his Book with the announcement of his calling and commission. His companionship with us has its foundation in Jesus, in fellowship with Jesus as a partaker in present tribulation while the Kingdom is only in hope, patiently enduring affliction in a hostile world for His name's sake, looking forward to the glory of the Kingdom (Acts 14:22; Colossians 1:24; II Timothy 2:10-12).
John was on the Isle of Patmos when he heard a loud Voice with the urgency of a trumpet sounding an alarm for Israel to break camp as Revelation 18:4 called us to "break from the denominational camp" for the end of man's day; and John was caught up in the Spirit of the Lord to "the Day of Vengeance of our God" (Isaiah 61:2b). Indeed the vision is set after the Seventh Trump announced the close of the Christian dispensation and with both feet firmly on Patmos Island John was caught up in the Spirit into the visions of the apocalypse in the Lord's Day. Behind him (as he looked back through time) "loud voices in heaven declared: The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever" (Matthew 24:31, I Thessalonians 4:16; I Corinthians 15:52; Revelation 11:15).
The Voice that spoke with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, with Moses on Mount Sinai and to the three disciples on Mount Transfiguration was now speaking to the seven Church Ages with a complete and final revelation of Jesus Christ for John to record for posterity. Of the many churches in proconsular Asia (such as Miletus, Magnesia and Tralles), the natural characteristics of the churches in these seven cities were representative of the chief spiritual characteristics of seven future universal dispensations of the Church, or Church Ages.
Revelation 1:12-20, "And I turned about to see the Voice that was speaking with me. And having turned about, I saw seven golden lamagsands" [as described in Zechariah 4:1-6] whose Light is eternal Life to those who can receive and become "written epistles" thereof. And in the midst of the seven lamagsands One like unto the Son of man, clothed with a [festal or priestly] garment reaching to the foot, girt round at the breasts [not as a working dress, about the loins], with a golden girdle" signifying Christ glorified in the midst of the Churches, He is no longer a mediator in the office Son of God; it is the Day of the Lord and as Son of man He is the coming Judge (Isaiah 11:1-5; Daniel 7:13; John 5:22; 12:48; Revelation 4:14; 15:6).
"His head and His hairs were like white wool, as snow [signifying experience, maturity, and wisdom (Daniel 7:9-14)]; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; [the day of mercy is over; He stands as Judge with flaming eyes to mete out judgment]; and His feet like unto a stream of molten brass as it had glowed in the furnace; [His brazen feet have withstood the test of the fiery furnace, a test no other has gone through. Brass signifies divine Judgment, a judgment God decreed and brought to pass (John 3:14-19). Judgment was already passed on Him when in God's foreknowledge He was slain from the foundation of the world when as yet there were no sinners]; and His voice as the sound of many waters [multitudes of witnesses, who by the Holy Spirit all through the ages have testified to Christ and preached His Gospel]: and having in His right hand seven stars [which are the angels to the Church]: and going forth out of His mouth went a two-edged sword [which is the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 19:11-16)]: and His countenance as the sun shining in its strength" [He is the glory of God, and God is Light. New Jerusalem will have no need of the sun or moon to lighten it, for the Lamb is the Light (Revelation 21:23; Malachi 4:2; Matthew 16:28; 17:1-13).
"And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last and the living One; and I was dead and, behold, I am living unto the ages of the ages, and I have the keys of hades" (the grave, death).
"What is there to fear? The judgment that fell upon Him at the cross, at the grave, and when He descended, was for us. He absorbed the full brunt of the wound of sin and there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus . . . He is both "Attorney" and "Judge." As Judge the "case is settled"�it is finished. There is now therefore no condemnation. Why should the church fear? What promise has He ever failed to manifest before us? Why should it fear punishment or death? It has all been overcome. Here is the mighty conqueror. Here is the One Who conquered both worlds of the seen and unseen".
[A man fully surrendered to God is omnipotent. Jesus said, "All things for which you pray, believe that you have received them, and don't doubt in your heart, and they shall be granted you" (Mark 11:24). When God and man meet through omnipotence it creates a power that brings things to pass. Brother Branham described the vision of "one like unto the Son of man" in verses 14-18 as "the sevenfold glory of His Person," and "His sevenfold Personage" because it is Christ's elect Bride drawn out from the world to become His Body and His Voice to judge the world in righteousness (I Corinthians 6:2). Through our invisible union we are One with our Lord and as His image we are His glory].
"Write therefore the things which you have seen [in the vision (Revelation 1:11-20)], and both the things which are [the Seven Church Ages], and the things which are about to happen after these things [the breach between the Church Ages and the Seals, the birth of Israel in one day, the consummation and "restitution of all things" to wit the images, symbols and truths which are yet be disclosed]. As to the mystery of the seven stars which you saw upon My right hand, and the seven lamagsands of gold: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven lamagsands are the seven churches".
Brother Branham divided the Book of revelation thus: "Now, Revelation, the first three chapters, deals with the Church, then the Church disappears. We see it no more until the end time. From Revelation 1 to 3, is the Church; Revelation 4 to 19, is Israel, a nation; and 19 to 22, is both together, and the plagues and the warnings, and so forth, at the end! Set in three parts" (The Revelation of Jesus Christ, p. 13:24).
"He stands amidst the lamagsands, with the stars under pre-eminence in His right hand. God's power and authority are behind His messengers who go forth in the fire and power of the Holy Ghost with the Word to every Age. It is night, for that is when we use lamps for light, and that is when the stars are seen shining and reflecting the light of the sun. The church is walking by faith in the darkness. Her Lord departed this earth but the Holy Spirit still shines out through the Church, giving Light to this old sin-cursed world. And those stars reflect His Light also. The only Light they have is His Light. How dark it is�how spiritually cold. Yet when He comes into the midst it is light and warm; the Church is empowered and through Him she does the works that He did." (Brother Branham's teaching on Revelation chapters 1 � 3 may be studied in An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 43-65).
As we have taught on the Church Ages in earlier Newsletters and since all seven Church Ages are fulfilled we will proceed to the holy convocation of the antitype of the fiftieth day of Israel's Pentecostal feast in which we live. The Laodicean Church Age ended in apostasy at Revelation 3:22 in March, 1963, "and knows it not." Fifty-four years later the Pentecostals plod around a spiritual wilderness behind Baptists, Methodists and Lutherans impersonating earlier Church Ages chasing a mirage of the Word for a day gone by. Christ's mediation for the ignorance of the Church Age saints on the fullness of the Word ended, and redemption was over at Revelation 3:22. The Church Age saints are made up and the Church will not appear until she returns with her Lord in Revelation 19, gloriously washed in the Blood.
Revelation 4:1-2, "After these things I . . . (insert your name here because throughout the Book of Revelation John represent's Christ's end-time Bride) . . . . saw, and beheld Jesus Christ�the door standing open in heaven [after the PART-Word saints had entered]: and that first voice which I heard as a trumpet speaking with me [Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:10, 13)]; said, Come up hither, and I will show you things which must be hereafter. Immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne stood in heaven, and One sat on the throne".
If you are in Christ's end-time Bride your name was in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world, and you were represented by John, caught up in the rapture, for we are all one Body. It is possible you were not even conceived when Laodicea ended, and you almost certainly did not hear the "shout" of Brother Branham's Message until many years later (I Thessalonians 4:16; Matthew 25:6). We know this is so because "I saw, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing" (Revelation 5:11-12). You were one of those elect angels or theophanies, as you were "called according to His purpose," reckoned crucified in Christ on Calvary where you paid the wages of sin and justified when "He was raised for our justification" (Romans 4:25; 8:28-33; II Corinthians 5:13-18). There is no 'double jeopardy'.
"For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies".
Revelation 4:3-11, "He who sat upon the throne was in appearance like a jasper and sardine stone [the birth stones of Reuben and Benjamin, Jacob's first and last as Jesus is Alpha, Omega; the beginning and the ending; He that was, which is and shall come; the Root and Offspring of David]: and there was a [full 360�] rainbow encircling the throne, in sight like an emerald. Round the throne were twenty-four thrones seating twenty-four elders, clad in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. Out of the throne issued lightnings and voices and thunders: and before the throne burned seven lamps of fire, which are the seven measures of the Holy Spirit [that anointed the Messengers to the Church Ages; having finished their work on earth they stand before the throne which is now a judgment seat]. And before the throne was a sea of glass as clear as crystal [typing the laver in Jerusalem's temple and signifying that the sins of the Church Age saints were remitted]."
"Around the throne on each side were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first living being was like a lion; the second living being like a calf; the third living being had the face of a man; and the fourth living being like a flying eagle. They each had six wings, and were full of eyes round about and within: and neither by day nor by night do they cease singing, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God All-ruler [Supreme Deity], who was, and is, and who comes".
"And whenever the living creatures render praise and honour and thanksgiving to He who is seated on the throne, Who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and dominion: for You have created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created." Even the camp of Israel bore the sign of the Cross.
The Bible is the story of God changing His form or unfolding Himself from the eternal Spirit alone with His thoughts to their manifestation in the flesh of His glorified Family (Ephesians 1:3-23). Jesus Christ is the Author and Beginner of this new creation of God-men.
I Corinthians 15:22-28, "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own rank, regiment, or dispensation: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His (Gk.) 'parousia' Coming. [Christ's end-time Bride and the 144,000 elect Israelites. After the 144,000 elect Israelites are born-again and martyred "in the great and dreadful day of the Lord" in the latter half of Daniel's Seventieth Week when Israel's two Witnesses have fulfilled their commission "the Son of man will come in His Kingdom" (Matthew 16:28 � 17:10, 13). Then God will smite the earth with a curse for the consummation of life and we will "step out on the atomic ashes of the wicked into the millennium" (Malachi 4; Matthew 3:11-12). The general resurrection and White Throne Judgment will follow]. Then comes the end, when He delivers up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign, until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For He has put all things under His feet. But when He says, all things are put in subjection, it is manifest that He is excepted, who put all things in subjection to Him. And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will be subjected to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all". nl987.htm
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Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
Bible Believers' Church
Gunnedah NSW
Australia 2380e-mail e-mail Bible Believers
URL Bible Believers' Website
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