Archived Thoughts

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”.

Now if all the things that the Spirit is crying out against are true of this age, we need someone to come on the scene as did John the Baptist and challenge the church as never before. And that is exactly what is coming to our age. Another John the Baptist is coming and he will cry out exactly as did the first forerunner. We know that he will because of what the next verse says. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore and repent." (Revelation 3:19) ~ CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT 9 Pg 353

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Have you been challenged? The challenge is not a code of conduct or dress. The challenge is not a doctrinal belief. The challenge is similar to Mary’s challenge. We are to walk into something that has NEVER happened before. We are called to believe the Bride is the Voice of God. We are called to believe we are eternal beings with the eternal Life of God Himself born in us. We are called to believe that we are walking IN God as Enoch did.

4   And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?      5   And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.     6   And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. ~ ACTS 9:4-6

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Paul did not receive the Holy Ghost in his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus, but he did show true repentance. In his response to the knowledge that it was Jesus that struck him down, he showed true repentance. He said, “What wilt thou have me to do?” A lot of people who come to Christ only desire whatever blessing they perceive that drew them to being saved. Their desire is to immediately ask for blessings of their job or life conditions, when the true disciples leave all their own ambitions to follow what He wants us to do.

I'd hate to try to get to Heaven on the merits of, "I was born five minutes ago, and going out of the world right now." I'd be lost. If I never had an evil thought in my life, if I never spoke a bad word in my life, if I never looked at anything evil, never thought anything evil, or nothing, I'm just as rank and black as the smutty walls of hell. I'm a sinner. I could come through life and stay locked up in a room, and like some of the Carmelite sisters or something, and never see the world, stay in there and pray all my life, do good, born a multimillionaire and give to the poor everything I got, and I'm still a sinner and will go to hell. Yes, sir. ~ 57-0908M  HEBREWS CHAPTER FIVE AND SIX 1

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True repentance has nothing to do with turning over a new leaf or trying to become a good person. It is the turning of your mind, a changing of your purpose, the thing that controls you. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon is not calling out sin. He is calling out this whole life, telling you that it is empty and without purpose. We strive our whole life, doing good things, accumulating wealth or prestige, and then you die just like the poor, unknown person. When we are born again, we are transformed into an eternal Kingdom, with a redefined purpose. We are not just renovated, but we are a brand new creature.

37   Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?     38   Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. ~ ACTS 2:37-38

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This is a very familiar scripture, but we are dealing with the aspect of repentance, because of our study on Ecclesiastes, which represents true repentance. Repentance has nothing to do with quitting sin. The quitting of sin is a result of repentance. The word “repent” means to change one’s mind. The mind in the Greek is nous, which is not only the seat of our affection, but deals with the meaning or purpose that we understand for ourselves. As in Ecclesiastes, repentance is a sorrow for a condition, not necessarily of sin by itself. Solomon faced extreme sorrow for the whole world in general and not just “bad” things. He saw everything in this life and called it ”vanity”, or empty and without substance or even purpose. It is because God has placed eternity in the heart (Ecc 3:11) to make us realize there is another condition that was present before the fall. It is our hunger for that condition, whether we are conscious of it or not, that brings true repentance.

Now, the foundation of all Bible teaching is begin in Genesis, everything. The word "Genesis" means "the beginning, or the seed chapter." And I have studied Genesis now for two years constantly. I've read every commentator I know of, of Arthur Pink and MacIntosh, and those. And I got so sick and tired of reading them, I just laid them back, and I said, "God, this is Your commentary." And I--I'm a person just with one Book, and that's the Bible. I just believe what the Bible says and--and don't try to take other's word. ~ 53-0830A  WHY I AM A HOLY ROLLER

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There is nothing wrong with reading commentaries or other Christian writing, but I believe Bro Branham is saying that the Author of the Bible needs to be the One to reveal the Book. We can get inspiration from great men, or even fellowship with our peers, which we need, but THE revelation comes from the One Who lives IN YOU. We forget that He is in us and WE ARE IN HIM. He doesn’t just talk to us through others, but IN US. We should be constantly in His Word, experiencing His Life.

13   Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:     14   Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.      15   For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.  ~ JAMES 4:13-15

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The word “vapour” expresses the same thought as the word “vanity” that Solomon uses thirty-six times in Ecclesiastes. Everything in this life is like smoke. It looks like it has substance but when you go to grab it, it flows through your fingers. The thought is that there must be a life that has substance, which is faith (Heb 11:1). There is a God that controls all things and there is a purpose behind all that happens. The life around us may seem like a vapour, but there is a reality that redemption has claimed for us. It is only by born again eyes of faith that we are privileged to see, or perceive, it.

4   Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,     5   Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;     6   Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;      7   Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. ~ I CORINTHIANS 13:4-7

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Charity “believeth all things”. If I focus on one thing, say a picture in my home, it blinds me to everything else in that room. If I look only at the floor, then I cannot see the ceiling. Charity, the presence of God Himself in your life, doesn’t look at one thing. He sees the whole, all of it, everything. What if you could step out of time and see everything as a panorama? What if you could look at where you are standing today, but also see tomorrow and the next day and the next? You would understand the plan and the purpose for where you are today. Maybe we are not privileged to see that clearly, but we can have a faith that brings joy and peace to every situation, just as if we already know the outcome of our trial. When in a desperate situation I often think, “what will this be like a week from now or even tomorrow?”