Archived Thoughts

Paul founded the church at Ephesus about the middle of the first century. This enables us to set the date of the beginning of the Ephesian Church Age; about 53 A.D. ~ EPHESIAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  PG 74

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Have you ever wondered why the Ephesian Church Age didn’t start until twenty years after Pentecost? It is because the Day of Pentecost was a Jewish event. Bro Branham described the Day of Pentecost as “the falling of the Holy Spirit in the early church of the--in the Jewish dispensation” (Invasion of the USA – 54-0509). In this sense the Bride, the beginning of the Ephesian Age, was birthed from Israel. That doesn’t mean that Israel is Her mother, anymore than Mary was Jesus’ mother. It means that spiritually the Lord used the womb of Israel to bring the Bride into flesh. The new birth puts us back into this condition of the Word being made flesh.

See, it's Son of man, Jesus Christ, will come down in human flesh among us, and will make His Word so real that it'll unite the Church and Him as one, the Bride, and then she'll go Home to the Wedding Supper. Amen. She's already united, see, we go to the Wedding Supper, not to the marriage. "... fill your flesh... self, of all the flesh of mighty men, 'cause the marriage of the Lamb has come." But, the rapture, is going to the Wedding Supper. When, the Word here unites with the person, and they two become one. And then what does it do then? It manifests the Son of man again, not the church theologians. The Son of man! The Word and the Church becomes one. Whatever the Son of man done, He was the Word, the Church does the same thing. ~ 64-0816  PROVING HIS WORD

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“…Fill your flesh…self, of all the flesh of mighty men.” Bro Branham is quoting a portion of Rev 19:17-18 and associating it with the Wedding Supper. Interesting. Scripturally there is no table a thousand miles long and here Bro Branham puts a kink in our traditional thought of a Wedding Supper. There is a scriptural principle that the Union of Christ and the Bride is what creation is looking for (Romans 8:19) because Life will again flow as it did in the garden of Eden. If you look at Proverbs 9:1-6 you will see the Bride (the “She” of wisdom in chapter 8) inviting all to the table prepared with bread and wine (Communion) just as in Gen 14 when Melchisedec met Abraham.

4   And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. ~ REVELATION 4:4

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“Now, notice, they were twelve patriarchs and twelve apostles” (Q&A Hebrews – 57-1006). The twenty-four elders were all Jewish. This is the same thing we see in the walls of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:12-14), which surround the Throne of God, the City. If we will view the City spiritually and not as a physical city, then we will understand that for Christ and the Bride, which are One, to be manifested to the world outside, they must come through the GATES of the City, which is Israel. It was ALWAYS God’s desire to come to flesh and that is why He chose Israel.

I've never believed that heaven was a place where there's a bunch of buildings, where there's a bunch of houses up there made with mortar, daubed up with paper, paint on the wall. I've never believed that a supernatural being would have to live in a literal house. I believe, when Jesus spoke in John 14 said, "In My Father's house is many mansions," He meant, "a body, a dwelling place." For the Scriptures verify the same thing, they say, "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting." You see it? Mortal beings is the only one who lives in mortal habitations. Immortal beings live in immortal habitations. And the place that we go into until we return back, is not a place of brick, mortar, and clay, or precious stones, or jewels. It's a place, a condition, that we move out of this dimension that we live into, into another dimension. And it's a house, a tabernacle, a dwelling place. ~ 55-0403  FELLOWSHIP BY REDEMPTION

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The Bible is the story of God’s desire for fellowship with man, His creation. Man fell from fellowship, but the plan continues as God begins to unfold Himself into manifestation through a plan of redemption. The story climaxes with a parable of a great City that represents the story of God and how He came. It is a people, a special designation of Himself, brought to flesh by the womb of Abraham’s seed through a covenant, and now that God, in flesh, is walking again with His creation.

Isaiah 9:6, It said--said, "Unto us a Child is born, Son is given; name shall be called Counsellor, Prince of Peace, mighty God, everlasting Father. And of His kingdom there shall be no end. And the government shall be upon His..." What? That's part of His Body. My! That's His Body. Is it? "His shoulders" is His Body. Where is the government on the earth at? In His Body. "Saints shall judge the earth." That right? Paul said, "I dare you go to court with one another, and not take it before the church." Right. See? "Saints shall judge the earth." Where is the government going to be upon? Upon the shoulders, His Body. "The government upon His shoulders," that's a part of the Body. What is it? His earthly strength. God's earthly strength is His Word made flesh in His Body here on earth, bringing to pass. ~ 62-0318  THE SPOKEN WORD IS THE ORIGINAL SEED

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Isaiah 9:6 is a scripture about Messiah coming to flesh. How can Messiah come to flesh unless His Body is part of Him? His Body is the part of Him that does the action of the mind. His Body is the Word, Logos, made flesh, not only for this day, but for all eternity. How was that flesh going to come to manifestation. It would have been the same way that Jesus came except there was a fall. Redemption restored our original condition and THAT is why we must be born again.

4   And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.     5   And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.     6   And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. ~ GENESIS 15:4-6

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Why was Abraham chosen? Deuteronomy 7:7-8 tells us it was because the Lord loved him. He was not just chosen to be a great nation on the earth, but he was chosen to bring forth the Messiah, God in the flesh (Gal 3:15-16). It was ALWAYS God’s desire to come to flesh for fellowship with His creation. Israel was the womb through which He was to come. Abraham’s Royal Seed. And this Seed was to be the firstborn of many brethren (Rom 8:29). This is why Israel has such a special place for the Bride, and also why when the Bride has come to Her position, Her full maturity, that the Gospel turns to restore Israel.

He wants to come into your flesh; he wants to come into my flesh and manifest Himself. Sent His Son to die, and He become a propitiation for our sins, and in that He could forgive our sins, that He could cleanse His tabernacle, and He could live in us. ~ 60-0609  BE NOT AFRAID

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Paul tells us in Romans 8, that we are predestined to be conformed to His image, that He might be the firstborn of MANY brethren. What image? He was God in human flesh, predestinated to be born of a woman, Mary, of the lineage of David. If there had not been a fall, how would the Bride have been manifested? Israel was chosen to be the womb that brought God to flesh. New Jerusalem, the City of God, represents the Bride, and around that City there is a wall with gates. Why does the City of God have walls? Think spiritual. The wall has twelve foundations, the twelve apostles, and twelve gates, the tribes of Israel. For the Bride to be manifested and walk among man She must come through the gates. Think on these things.

19   And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.    20   I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. ~ HOSEA 2:19-20

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Many times, in the Old Testament, Israel is referred to as being “married” to God. It is hard to understand, and many have assumed that Israel must be part of the Bride. That is not true. I often wondered why Israel was God’s “chosen” people, but considering the Royal Seed of Abraham being Christ, the Messiah, and THAT Seed was the “firstborn among many brethren”, it puts Israel in a unique position of being the means that God would use to come to flesh. It explains Israel’s closeness to God. It explains the great woman in Revelation 12, that represented the Jewish Church that brought forth a Manchild that was caught up to heaven. After THAT child was caught up the woman fled to the wilderness for forty-two months. This event was not at Christ’s first coming. It is at this day.

5   Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.    6   That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.    12   If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?     13   And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. ~ JOHN 3:5-6, 12-13

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There is a Kingdom of God that we call heaven. Jesus was standing on the earth and in heaven at the same time, because He was the King of that Kingdom. Wherever He was He was the King. He was the Seed of the woman but was NOT of the woman. Mary was given a Seed with no human instrumentality, showing exactly how ALL the royal seed was to come. If we are born of THAT SEED, then we are as eternal as Christ was standing with Nicodemus. The born again experience gives you an awareness of a Kingdom, a spiritual Kingdom, that you are right now King of because of the Spirit of Christ in you.

You're going to find out, one of these days, that when you go to Heaven, you don't fly off somewhere else. You're still right here, too, just in another dimension faster than this. ~ 65-0822M  CHRIST IS REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORD

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There is a spiritual dimension right here, right now. It is all around us, but we cannot see it with our human eyes. When we are truly born again, we have a spiritual perception that “sees” the Kingdom. That doesn’t mean that we can see things that are there, but there is an awareness of something beyond this realm. Bro Branham said, “When you see a tree struggling, pulling, trying to live, that means there's a tree somewhere that doesn't have to do that”. This is what Solomon couldn’t understand in Ecclesiastes. He had no awareness of the purpose for anything he saw in this life. The tree struggled and died, and it was over. When we are born again, we “see” purpose, whether it is chastening or blessing. It all works together for the good, or can we say as God said, the “very good”.