“A
NEED THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED”DEWITT TABERNACLE TEACHING SERIES
SALVATION FOR MESSAGE
BELIEVERS
“A
NEED THAT MUST BE ADDRESSED”
By C.W. Wood
SEPTEMBER
2014
TO
OUR READERS: Fourteen
years ago, in November of 2000, we published a sermon entitled, SALVATION
FOR MESSAGE BELIEVERS. The
teaching in it was taken from the Prophet William Branham’s sermons, but at
that time, we had not understood that the falling away spoken of by scripture
and the Prophet would include some folks that are dear to our hearts!
Since that time in 2000, we have witnessed some folks leave the basic
principles of God’s Word who are supposed to be foundation stones and leaders
for others to follow. To say that we
have been shocked does not fully describe our feelings!
I can’t help but believe that some of us are feeling, to some degree,
what Moses felt when he interceded for the Israelites who rebelled against his
leadership. But, we take hope in
that God heard Moses’ prayer, and promised to hear ours also as we pray that
those we love are only being temporarily led astray!
This sermon is being republished by request.
A heart-felt thanks to our supporters that we have not had the strength
to write a personal note.
Br.
C.W. Wood
It seems fitting to this writer, that
still more emphasis should be placed on receiving the Spirit of the Lord Jesus
Christ into ourselves. The need for
this is most real and urgent, for those in whom the spirit dwells will be
Raptured and those who have failed in this doctrine will soon enter into The
Great Tribulation. The fact is that until this infilling, we only have a “form
of religion” and are no better off than the thousands of religious ones around
us.
The Gift of the Holy Ghost is the crowning proof of God’s love to a
human being. It was to make this
gift possible that the Creator Himself came to live and die in a flesh body.
His incarnation (living in flesh) the Crucifixion and Resurrection, then
the Ascension back to Heaven were all to make The Day of Pentecost possible.
Without the Gift of His Spirit all the rest would have been useless.
For it was the changing of the fallen soul (nature) that would prepare
man to live for God on Earth, then fit him for Eternity.
The outworking of this Spirit of Christ from within is what Christianity
is. How then shall we call ourselves
Christians without the Spirit of Christ in our souls?
How very necessary that we be well instructed in the Doctrine of the Holy
Spirit.
As important as our subject is and as prominent a place as it is given in
the scriptures and by the Prophet, it seems that it is met with a considerable
amount of neglect. In this late
hour, we need to be awakened from our slumber and remember the words of Jesus,
and to hear, “What the Spirit saith
unto the churches.” (Rev.
2:11) But, how shall we hear what the Spirit saith without the Spirit?
We have boasted of having the “Perfect Word,” but let it be clearly
stated, “Only the coming of the SPIRIT can enlighten our understanding.”
Many have come so far as to INTELLECTUALLY believe the Message, but to
stop there and not receive the Holy Ghost is to be a borderline Believer.
QUOTE: THE TOKEN, PAGE 32, “Like the spies, if they came right
up here to the borderland, looked over and said, “Well, I know it’s there,
but the obstacle is too great. We
look like grasshoppers.” They
perished in the wilderness, Borderline Believers.”
“Don’t just come this far, Say, “I believe the Message.”
You OBEY the Message. Come
into Christ (receive the holy Ghost). You
say, “I believe every word you said Brother Branham.
That is good, but that is just being able to read.
Take the Message. Take it
into your heart; (believe) that you must have the Token.
The very Life that was in Christ be in you.
When I see that, I will pass over you.”
Page 36, “No matter how much you believe, how much you are
circumcised (no matter how many things of the flesh you have been able to lay
down by your own willpower)…..but you’ve got to get beneath the BLOOD.
That is the Token……Now don’t just talk about it, receive it.
HEAR ME, HEAR ME, IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, HEAR ME.”….may I use His
words? ALL OUTSIDE OF CHRIST WILL
PERISH.” ….That is the Message. COME
INTO CHRIST.” (End of Quote)
Do we not realize that if we should add a thousand to our church tomorrow
and do not lead them to receive He, Himself, into their souls, we have done
nothing to prepare them for the Rapture? Even
though every one of them was sound in the doctrine and believed only the Truth,
that would not make them a member of the Bride.
They, and we, must have the Token! As
Brother Branham said, “The Message is come
into Christ. We must face the
solemn fact that, just as in denominations, our greatest need is the Holy
Spirit’s power and blessing.
Have we ministers neglected the very foundation of the Message, which is “Christ
in you the hope of glory”? (Col.
1:27) Message churches have sprung
up around our nation and we are thankful for the increasing numbers, but has the
standard of personal Holiness been advanced in them?
Are their churches less worldly today than thirty-five years ago?
Are the members more Christ-like in their daily walk?
Is there more Godliness in the homes?
Are the Message children more obedient and respectful?
Is the Sabbath Day being kept Holy as our Prophet taught us we should do?
Has our Standard of honesty in dealing with our neighbors been raised,
and are we as concerned about those we do business with receiving as fair a deal
as we ourselves?
If we cannot honestly answer “Yes” to these questions, then the fault
can only be laid to one main thing: our people are not receiving the Spirit of
Christ, for He never fails in His office work, and the things listed above are
some of the things that He ALWAYS produces in those He inhabits.
Until the Holy Ghost is given His rightful place in our souls, there can
be no improvement. Until we
recognize that we are entirely dependent upon His operation for our spiritual
blessings, we have not reached the root of the trouble.
Until it be recognized that it is “Not
by might (of education in the Message, nor by intellectual argument, or
persuasvise appeal), but by MY SPIRIT
SAITH THE LORD”, there can be no deliverance from the fleshly zeal that is
now paralyzing many of our Message Churches.
Until the Holy Spirit is sought, received and honored by our leaning on
Him, the spiritual drought will continue!
Since in our Message there has been a trend toward believing that
KNOWLEDGE of the Message and its many Mysteries are proof of having received the
Spirit, it seems urgent that we list other leading things by which this
transformation may be identified. We
would respectfully ask the reader to compare himself with each one.
Where the Holy Ghost has come in and changed the soul (nature), there
will begin a RENEWING OF THE MIND in its attitude toward God’s Divine Law.
It will be received as a rule of life, gradually by some and sooner by
others, but it will for sure be received by all.
Nothing so clearly shows true conversion from a false one, as seeing one
who was an enemy to God’s Laws brought to the place of heartily loving and
obeying it. 1 John 2:3, “Hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.”
When we are born-again, we are given a new appetite so that we now
love the things that we once hated. We
now agree that the happiest way in the world to live is to seek and to walk in
our Lord’s commandments. Our
heart’s desire will be to become Holy as He is Holy and to give our lives
completely over to Him. The
regenerated person will start down the very different road of hating himself.
Whereas, before conversion, he felt that he was not really a bad person,
and in fact considered himself better than most, he is now made to see himself
in a very different light. Before he
has walked the road of Salvation very far, he will begin to see what the Apostle
Paul meant when he said, “I am carnal, (present
tense) sold under sin.” (Rom. 7:14)
There will come a self-loathing and a Godly sorrow for the breaking of
God’s Holy Law Standard. With a
broken heart for his many failures, he will hunger and thirst after
Righteousness.
Please do not confuse the teaching at this point.
We are not saying that the born-again person will seek to keep the Law
for his Salvation’s sake, only that he will strive with all that is in him to
keep it out of love for his new Master!
In the born-again person, there will begin to take shape a genuine
humility. An unregenerate man never
having been, “Slain by the Law” (Rom.
7:9-11), but who is nevertheless religious, will be proud and conceited because
of his role in the Church. With the
true Saint, it is just the opposite, because when the keeping of the Law becomes
his rule of life and he is constantly made aware of his every failure, he cannot
but have low thoughts about himself. This
will result in lowliness of heart. It
is then that he is walking God’s planned road of humility.
Pride is of Satan and is always God’s enemy.
That is not to say that our Lord would have us remain in this low state,
but we do say that we must first be made to see what we are without God’s
Grace. The first revelation, which
is that we are totally unable to keep God’s Perfect Law Standard, is
meant to drive us to the foot of the Cross, and from there we will be shown what
we are in Christ.
To see what we are in Christ without
first seeing what we are without Him, would
lead to no good, as we would be lifted up in pride.
The blind Pharisee, who was without Grace, felt no qualms about thanking
God that he was not a sinner like other men.
But, the repentant Publican, seeing himself in God’s great spotlight,
dared not lift up his eyes to Heaven. Some
who claim to be Christians love to speak of their consecration, their victories
and attainments, but Paul said, “I
count not myself to have apprehended.” (Phil. 3:13)
The more the changed soul sees himself in the Light of God, the more he
discovers how much there is in him that is unlike his Lord.
He sees how many times he daily offends and how unlike Christ he is in
character and conduct. This
“seeing” of itself is the result of the changed soul, the New Birth, The
Token, and it always leads to humility! Humility
then is a true sign of conversion.
We are speaking of the sign, or fruit that will follow a true conversion.
Of course, revealed knowledge will be a part of the fruit, but the
intellectual knowledge, being alone without other corresponding fruit is surely
a danger sign. Our merciful Father will first set out to show us what wretches
we are in our natural man. He will
show us that none but One who is “Mighty
to save” (Isa. 63:1) can redeem such as we are. “Worthy
is the Lamb” is a statement that will become most real to us.
Ps. 115:1 will also become a reality to us, “Not unto us O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give Glory, for
Thy Mercy and for Thy Truth’s sake.”
When we have the Spirit of Christ in
us, He will continue to apply the Law to our conscience, not to cause us to
doubt our Salvation because of our failures, but to keep us at the foot of the
Cross where we are to remember that Grace takes over when the flesh fails.
Once our minds have been renewed and we are convinced that God made a
plan that involved us in sin so that His mercy could be extended to the most
forlorn, wretched, guilty and hell-deserving of us, then we will throw down all
our weapons that were formed against Him and open wide the doors of our hearts.
It is then that He begins to “Sup
with us.” It is then that we
begin to return His love “Who first
loved us.” It is then that our
trust in Him rises to new levels.
This trust, or faith, is a sure sign of our conversion.
It cannot be hidden; it will show up in our daily lives.
Then the lack of such trust is a danger sign.
When God’s Spirit dwells in us, then He becomes “Our
Portion.” The knowledge of His
perfect character becomes our “Hope and
Stay.” We understand that He
is “Ordering our steps” (Ps.
37:23) We understand that “All things
are working together for our good.” (Rom. 8:28) A sickness may come,
trouble may arise on every side, friends may forsake us and family may put us
out, yet the One who has placed His Spirit in us is controlling it all.
This we know by the Spirit that is in us.
By His Spirit we are receiving a growing realization (revelation) of His
Perfection, of His inability to make a mistake or to do a wrong thing.
We learn to not be dejected as He brings into our lives the exact things
we need to bring our inner man to perfection.
We know His goal for us is a body change where the flesh will be changed
and lose its downward pull on us. With
the great Apostle Paul, as well as with our modern Prophet, we are learning to
say, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and
again I say, Rejoice.” (Phil.
4:4)
While we wait for this body change there is an increasing appreciation
for the Grace of God and for the provision He made in that He, Himself, came and
died in our place. There is a great
longing to be done with this flesh, this body of death, and be back in the
Supernatural Body in which we had our beginning (Our Theophany).
But Friends, the Message of the Hour is this, “Without the Token, we
will never see, by faith, the all-wise Hand of Father God in our afflictions and
we will never say from the heart, “Thy
will be done.” Without the
Token we will never seek Grace to patiently endure the trials, still less will
we believe that “Afterwards, they will
produce the peaceable fruits of Righteousness.”
(Heb. 12:11) Without the Token, we will chafe and kick like “A bullock unaccustomed to the yoke.”
(Jer. 31:18) We might even at times, “Curse the day of our birth.” (Job 3:1)
Without the Token, we will have no faith that our sufferings are among
the “All things”
working together for our good. Without
the token we are unable to “Glory in
our infirmities that the Power of Christ may rest upon us.” (11 Cor. 12:9)
Such faith as we are speaking of is not the product of the carnal mind,
but of one that has been renewed by the Spirit through the Word.
They are the fruits of the Holy Ghost Token, gracious, lovely fruits
produced in our hearts that were beforehand set against the giver of all Grace.
When we are at our wit’s end and
ready to wring our hands in despair, when we feel so dead in our emotions and
the skies have turned to brass when we pray, what do we do if the token does not
abide within? The answer is this:
We often hear of terrible backslidings and even suicides, when the Spirit
is not in us to make, “Intercessions with groanings
that cannot be uttered.” (Rom. 8:26) Yes,
it is the Spirit of Christ that keeps our frail ship from sinking.
It is He that keeps our heads above the waves until we can reach solid
footing again. It is He that grants
us a fresh surge of Faith just before our spirits are completely overcome.
He it is that pours oil on our troubled waters, quiets, at least to some
degree, the storm in our minds as He shows us over and over that He will not
allow us to be overcome, but with the trial shall “Show
us a way of escape, THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO BEAR IT.” (1 Cor. 10:13)
It is our prayer that we are all beginning to see why Brother Branham
said, “This Message of the Token is the most important message I have ever
preached.”
QUOTE: THE TOKEN, SEPT. 1, 1963 JEFF. PAGE 23, “Any Bible
student knows that Israel was a type of the Church….exactly (traveling) to the
Promised Land…. But when the evening time came and the journey was on, THERE
WAS ONE SOLEMN REQUIREMENT. No
matter much Jew you had been, how well he kept his crops, how well he had taken
care of the neighbors, how much he had done, how good a member he was, how much
tithes he had paid, all these things were fine, that was okay; He was a good
man; recognized among his people as a good man….but without the Token of the
Blood, he perished.
CONT. QUOTE: “Oh may
God help me, both present and in the tape to pin that down…..You might have
preached the Gospel, you might have cast our devils, you might have spoke with
tongues, you might have shouted, danced in the Spirit, but without the
Token…You say can I do it? (Can I do those things without theToken?)
Paul said you could, “Though
I speak with tongues like men and angels, though I give all my goods to feed the
poor, my body to be burned as a sacrifice, I have faith to move mountains and
these things, I am nothing yet.” DON’T
RELY UPON THAT. It is the Token (It
has to be the token.) No matter how
much you done, how good you are, when the wrath of God flashes, it’ll only
recognize the Token.”
PAGE 28, “Oh apply it Church, Don’t fail!
Will you not? Don’t…..Don’t…Don’t
let the sun set. Don’t rest day or
night. Don’t take no chance.
It won’t work Children. It
won’t work. YOU MUST HAVE THE
TOKEN. You say, I believe, yes….I
believe the Message. That is all
right. That is good.
But, you must have the Token. Do
you hear Branham Tabernacle? Without it, all your believing is in vain.
You live a good life, you listen to what the Word says, you go to Church,
you try to live right, that’s fine. But
that’s not it.” (End of Quote)
Our prayer is, “Oh Lord, take your Words and the words of your Prophets
and reveal to us our desperate need of the true Holy Ghost!”