We greet you in the wonderful Name of our Lord Jesus Christ and appreciate your fellowship. This newsletter serves those of like precious faith and whosoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
This letter is the transcript of a recent sermon.
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 spake as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost."
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 the Bible? ...it was written by prophets. Sure, much of the Bible was written by scribes who recorded the history of kings and events. Its mostly "filler", demonstrating for our admonition, how to apply God's Word. But that Word, the faith or doctrine, comes only to a prophet; others receive It second-hand as it were.
Who told us God is a Trinity? ...certainly not prophets! There's 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 christen Him 'Jehovah Savior', or , 'Jesus' for He shall save His people from their sins".
Likewise the Pillar of Fire that appeared in the burning bush, and in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement and in the form of a dove on Jordan, was a MANIFESTATION of God. The glorified Bride of Christ, the true Church of all ages, is the MANIFESTATION of God. MANIFESTED Word! In this Form the "saved" will worship God through Eternity.
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.
Now God didn't 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 to Eden. He revealed a portion of the faith here, a little over there, and some hundreds of years later, more revelation over there.
He started man's instruction in the faith gradually by instructing him in simple things he could comprehend, and which symbolized and foreshadowed the reality to come.
Hebrews 8:1-7, "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an 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," saith He, "That thou make all things according to the pattern (or TYPE) shown to you in the mount."
But He has obtained a more EXCELLENT ministry than Moses, by which He's 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 the 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. 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, obeys her husband in every thing, 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 holyday, 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'd see the concept and look forward to these things with joy, expectation and worship. And He sent prophets to foretell these things.
You'll remember when God met Moses on Mount Sinai in the Pillar of Fire in the bush that was not consumed, He promised that after he had delivered Israel, Moses would worship Him again in the Pillar of Fire on that mountain. God vindicated Moses when He met him on top of Sinai in the Pillar of Fire and Cloud, and spoke lip to ear before the assembled congregation. And the people were afraid.
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 any more, 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 unto thee, 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 always spoke through prophets, and He never changes His ways.
The key to understanding Scripture is Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever". God never changes, and His Word must come to pass precisely as He inspired It to is prophets. Anyone can declare himself to be a prophet. But there is a test in our Bibles whereby one can prove a prophet.
Numbers 12:6, "If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream (or interpret the meaning of dreams to him)".
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 unto 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, which 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 thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like me; unto Him you shall heed; 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 any more, that I die not'.
And the LORD said unto me, 'They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like you, and put My words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not heed My Words which He shall speak in My Name, I will require it of him.
But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in My Name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that 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 hath not spoken?' When a prophet speaks in the Name of the LORD, if his prophecy does not happen, it is something the LORD has not spoken, but the prophet has spoken presumptuously: you shall not be 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 It was 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 had 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. He's creating Himself a part of His creation. Jesus Christ is the beginning of the creation of God - less than 2,000 years ago. The 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. The fullness was sealed by Seven Seals to the time of the end. But God 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. Last 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 fulness 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 but He is 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 where the priests cut 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).
"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 unskilful 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 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 diskettes of faithnow.exe, a computer slide show illustrating the PRESENT Truth - what Jesus is doing NOW. Finally, he sent an e-mail 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. He has never been weaned from the milk of Brother Branham's Message, and does not realize his Message is but the key to unlocking Scripture. What Jesus called, "finishing 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 they condemned themselves to the Trumpet judgment.
Today the PRESENT Truth or 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 the minister who rejected FAITHNOW demonstrated).
"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.
In Acts 3 we have the account of a lame beggar Peter and John met at the Beautiful gate, and perceiving he had faith to be healed, exercised his faith in the Name of Jesus Christ. Peter then had an opportunity to witness 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: yea, 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".
(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 lampstand. 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 which in Revelation 4:5, after the Church Ages, have departed the earth and are back before God's throne).
Ephesians 1:10 and I Corinthians 13:10 describe Christ's second or "parousia" Coming. Let's paraphrase these Scriptures:-
"In the dispensation of the fulness 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 living saints on earth in the end-time." And,
"When the Seven Seals have been revealed, that which is perfect is come, bringing Christ, the Fulness of the Word, back to earth. And because His Mediation is over, partial revelation 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, 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". Where is that Light coming? In the evening time. In the West: America! Just before the Sun 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 "parousia", not an "erchomai" Coming. In other words, not physical like His return with the glorified saints (after Armageddon has destroyed all life on earth). This Coming is universal. Man can't appear universally. But Light on the Word or faith can be world-wide. The Gospel Light that arose in Jerusalem in the East will be restored in the West in the days of His parousia. And those able to rise above worldly things and see the things which are to come will gather around the living Body Word of the PRESENT Truth. Paul said, that at Christ's "parousia" these would be gathered together to the 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, which is taken up into heaven, shall come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven'."
He did. His parousia was signified by a Cloud of Glory in 1963. This Sign was the Pillar of Cloud that appeared over Arizona on February 28, 1973 as foretold here in Acts, Matthew 24:3, 30 and Revelation 1:7 - "Behold, He cometh with Clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen."
This is not a natural cloud but the Shekinah or Pillar of Fire and Cloud. Every 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 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 - USA and the Protestants (so-called). 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 of 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 calls Israel to their Feast of Trumpets at the end of the Gentile dispensation, and is yet future. But Christ has indicted the Beast and its Image, and prevents their union until the Bride is taken from the earth.
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 claims the Book, opens the Seals, and here he descends to reveal its mystery to His end time Bride by the angel to the seventh or Laodicean Age. The Book is open.
This is not the return of the glorified Prophet of Nazareth. This time He came in WORD Form, through the mouth of William Branham, a prophet and sinner saved by grace, the angel to the seventh Church Age. The revelation of the Seven Seals brought the fulness of the Word, "that which is perfect", back to earth. That's why Jesus and Paul were adamant we should not look for a Man.
The denominations expect a Man to descend from the sky on a cloud, 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 comes in Word 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 sware by Him that lives for ever 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, and the mystery of God is finished, 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 mystery is who made-up the true Church 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 lost. He was a Mediator for their ignorance 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).
Acts 3:22-23, "For Moses truly said unto 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, which 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, because they'll have rejected Christ's "parousia".
Furthermore, the ministry of the seventh angel warned God's people to come out of Babylon (Revelation 14:9-12; 18:4; Matthew 25:1-13; I Thessalonians 4:16). Those who do not receive his Message, "the sayings (or revelation) of the prophecy of the Revelation", won't be in the unity of the Spirit but adding to and taking from Christ 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 same man.
What we must ask ourselves is: Was there a prophet promised to our generation? And what was his mission? If we can discover who has fulfilled these things, we will have discovered whom this man was.
Was!!! Yes, "Was, past tense". Jesus clearly taught us in Matthew 24:32-34, 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
Brother Anthony Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister. He has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations in various countries. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to minister in your church.
This newsletter is in the public domain and may be freely copied in full and quoted in context.