DO NOT BE CORRUPTED BY THE SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN CHRIST Preached on 14th December, 2008 By THE SON OF MAN APOSTLE PETER ODOEMENA at the HOUSEHOLD OF GOD ONITSHA
If Saint Paul will resurrect this day or anytime, surely he will come and kneel at my feet. You will hear Saint Paul saying, “My Lord and my God.” If Peter will resurrect, he will do the same thing. Believe it if you can…
-THE SON OF MAN
(NOW I KNOW THAT THOU ART A MAN OF GOD)
There is no fear in love; perfect love drives away all fears. I know a to z about everybody in this faith, but I do not want you to be afraid of Me, that is why I am the Son of Man. I am a mere man like you, that is the only way we can relate with one another.
If I appear as a supernatural man, everybody will be afraid and I will not be useful to you and you will not be useful to Me. But appearing as a mere human being like you, I believe I will be useful to you and you will be useful to Me.
-THE SON OF MAN
From the Message: BEWITCHED
By
PART ONE
THE INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
This day is another day the Lord has given us to rejoice in His Presence, to praise and worship Him and also to correct some of our mistakes in life.
2. It will take a living being to correct his or her mistakes for there is no correction in the grave and I still believe that there is resurrection of life.
3. Nature speaks more than that; nature confirms resurrection. For that reason, there are too many ways the resurrection will take place. The final resurrection is still too far, yet we resurrect everyday.
4. It is very necessary for God to identify some of our mistakes so that we will try as much as we can to correct them.
5. The reason is this, if you cut down a crooked tree, it will remain crooked on the ground. If you die without amending your wrong life, on that same day you reappear, you will reappear with guilt. This is why we are afraid of it. If you die a prophet, you are coming back a prophet; if you die a criminal, you are coming back a criminal.
6. There is no change in the grave that will alter any thing in you. That is why we try to purify our hearts while we are in His Presence.
7. The state of your heart is what you are. I repeat: The state of your mind is exactly what you are. There is no deceit there.
8. There is nobody in this Faith that requires any interpreter or any prophet to tell him the state of his heart. You know the state of your heart; I know the state of my heart. If my heart is pure before God and before man, I know. If my heart is impure, I know.
9. Glory be to God in the highest. I am in this Fellowship to scratch few things.
10. Pastor Dan, go back to your seat. I would have used you as my interpreter; but you need this Message. Interpreting will not help you.
11. You know, sometimes an interpreter is likened to a preacher; he can hardly understand what he is interpreting. He is only but a vessel that is being used for that purpose to pass the message across. 12. So, we discover that the interpreter or the preacher may only benefit from the Message two, three, four days or even a week after the Message has been handed out to the general public.
13. If he can lay hands on the tape or the book that contains the Message, that is the point where he will be engrafted into the Message. Besides that, he is cut off from the Message.
11. Ngosike, you are welcome. If you love your life; if you do not want to die prematurely; if you do not want to be a disappointment to yourself, listen to the words of your father and take off your hand and your mind from your mother. Tie yourself to your father with immediate effect or else disaster awaits you from this day.
12. I thank God you are in the Fellowship and you have received my message “direct” and not that your father heard from me and he told you. You have heard expressly from My mouth.
13. If you love your life; you do not want to die prematurely; you do not want to meet disaster, don’t ever joke with the words of your father. Attach yourself to your father with immediate effect. Take off your hand and mind from your mother. Wrap your arms around your father’s waist or else disaster awaits you.
118. I intend to see all the office holders in this Faith after the end of fellowship this day.
14. I wish to be here not that I am strong enough to be here this day, but it is necessary that I should be here and I pray that the Almighty God will support my strength while I stand here. Last Sunday, it was my desire to speak to you, but I was very weak; I was more or less carrying my life in my palms.
15. In short, throughout last week, all that came in contact with Me would discover that I was not with you in this Fellowship. I was far away from everybody, but it is all for good.
16. It got to a point where my family members became afraid, but in my usual way, I continued to encourage them that there was still hope.
17. I believe God permitted it for a purpose for there is one thing that was happening within that period which I can never feign ignorance of. It continued for days. Nobody poisoned me; nobody attacked me spiritually or physically.
18. Before I made my trip to Mbaise, from there to Obiamo for the two burials, I had already fallen sick. I knew I was sick; my wife knew I was sick, but I thought I would get over it with time.
19. However, the thing continued. For four consecutive nights, I could not sleep; I was not upset; nothing ever disturbed me. I was in my right mind, but why I could not sleep was beyond my imagination.
20. There was one spectacular thing that was happening; I tried as much as I could to take my bath late, sometimes three times before daybreak to induce sleep, no way; I drank cups and cups of water, no way. I refused to take any kind of drug at all for I believed it was happening for a purpose. I gave myself over to prayers.
21. So please, follow me as I go to the Sunday school teaching this morning.
22. Last Sunday, I wanted to scratch on a Message titled, SOMEBODY IS ASSESSING YOU, but because of the weakness of the flesh, I dumped it.
23. Today, God willing, I may integrate it in whatever I have here as my Sunday school teaching. Amen.
PART TWO
THE BACKGROUND
Sometimes, you can follow a leader, and acquire knowledge to a certain level, if you are not careful, you may think you have arrived, that you have known more than the man who is leading. The tendency is there for you to desire to lead also because you believe what you now have is enough to make you a leader. THIS IS THE BASIS OF REBELLION.
When you were having very little, you felt you have acquired much; you now want to be a leader. Has the Leader exhausted all that is committed into His hands? You can never lead a people beyond where you have gone. You cannot give what you do not have.
–The Son of Man
(KNOWING THE PERSONALITY WE ARE HAVING DEALINGS WITH).
CHAPTER 1
CRITICISM IS A PART OF LIFE
Any leader that is afraid of criticism is not worthy to be a leader. Thus, you are free to write whatever you want to write concerning the Son of Man; say whatever you want to say concerning the Son of Man.
—The Son of Man
On Wednesday, 10th December, 2008, I got a text message. I read the text message. It carried no name, but the number was very clear. It said “Sir, this is rather unexpected. I have an e-mail I want to send to you. Can you please text me your e-mail address so that I can pass the mail across.”
2. I looked at the number; it carried no name. I called the number immediately and said, “Who am I speaking with?” He said, “Joseph, from Lokoja.” I said, “Oh, my friend Joseph, how are you?”
3. We exchanged greetings in a friendly way and I said, “My friend, unfortunately, I do not have any e-mail address; I am not conversant with cyber programmes and things like. Besides, you know My infirmities in the eye. I do not read on any screen that contains light.”
4. He said, “What of Victor?” I said, “Okay, let me consult him and see whether he has one.”
5. Then, I called Brother Victor’s number, it could not work. I called that of the wife, she had already switched off. I called Joe again and said, “My friend, because of the urgency attached to your message, I have called Brother Victor’s and wife’s numbers and they are all switched off. Would you mind sending the mail by surface? My contact address remains 20 Benjamin Street.” He said, “Okay.”
6. In the morning, I got Brother Victor’s number. He told me that his e-mail address has been blocked. We reasoned together: what could be this email that he would like to send to me? You will use twenty naira to give me a message and I will use two hundred naira to open the box, print out whatever the mail might look like and it may not be something that will give me joy. I said that might be his own theory, which he has written, maybe concerning me or concerning the Faith. If he feels it is important, he can use Courier Service. I will get it in less than 48 hours. So, that one is over.
7. I showed the Ministers the so-called text. Then I remembered, when I heard that they had already left the Faith; I called him to know the problem. I told him I was coming with Apostle Kelechi, he said, “It was unnecessary to come.” I said, “Okay can you please come to Onitsha?” He said, “No, concerning the Faith, it is bye-bye.” I said, “Okay, no problem.”
8. I learnt he was married to a particular lady. He has done his traditional wedding. I called him and said, “Congratulations!” He said, “Sir, I do not need it.” “Then, why are you texting me? What type of e-mail am I receiving from you then?” I asked. Well, that is by the way.
9. On Thursday evening, I was there in my house with our Pastors, Pastor Dan and Pastor Christian. Bishop Okoh called from Enugu.
10. During my discussions with him, he said that one of his boys in his office told him that he purchased one Church Magazine, THE LORD’S CHOSEN CHURCH, maybe the current edition.
11. That he read something there, that there is one of us at Abuja who has left the Faith who is now a member of the Lord’s Chosen Church; that the man wrote concerning the Son of Man, noting that the man wrote stinkers.
12. Bishop Okoh called for the Magazine. He said he did not have it in the office. He said, “By Monday I will bring it.” I said, “Okay, this could be the mail because he said it is very urgent.” I said, “All right no problem; who could be this person he said is in Abuja who left our Faith and joined the Lord’s Chosen Church?”
THE HOUR HAS COME FOR THE SON OF MAN TO BE REVEALED TO THE WHOLE WORLD
| W |
hoever the person might be, it is his right. I said, “Of a truth, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be revealed to the entire world. This is what I have been praying for.”
14. I am praying that God will use somebody who will have the money to use international magazines like Time Magazine, Newswatch and the rest of them, write whatever he may want to write about the Son of Man and put my Name there, call me Devil so that somebody will be tempted to enquire about me. You keep on writing and writing, it can get to a level where everybody will try to show interest, verifying; I mean, “Let’s try to know this person who has been hiding.”
15. There are many ways God can make Himself popular. God can make Himself popular through persecution. He can make Himself popular through write-ups. Saint Paul said that they preached the Gospel both in evil and good reports.
16. Jesus never commanded any good report to His opposers. Some said He was a nice man; some said never-never, that He deceives people.
17. Saint Paul said, “As deceivers yet true; as unknown, yet known everywhere.” If the belly is afraid, it can never be in front.
18. The highest title they gave Jesus was “chief of the devils;” that was the highest title and that did not change Him from being what He was. Call Me whatever you want to call Me; that is your right. It does not change Me from what I am. Finish!
19. For somebody that has left the Faith, he left because from the beginning he was not one of us. I do not know who the person might be. How I wish they will hasten up the mail and allow me to get a copy. The highest title I will receive there is Devil, and I will glorify God for being a Devil. So I thank God for everything.
20. This day, I want to muster enough energy to reach you in a very mild way; in a very soft way. This is because the Spirit in Me has been willing but the flesh has been very weak.
21. I do not want to speak on something you do not know. I just want to talk to you by way of putting you in remembrance of those things you have known but must have forgotten.
A LEADER MUST RECEIVE BOTH GOOD AND BAD CRITICISM
| O |
nce you are a leader, be ready to receive drastic oppositions. People must write about you; otherwise, you are not performing. Did you get the message?
23. When Obasanjo was the President, almost all the newspapers were carrying Obasanjo, Obasanjo, Obasanjo. Some were talking good of him; some were calling him devil; some were even calling for his resignation.
24. Yar’adua came in, they said, “Now, a Daniel has come to judgment; a messiah has come—a classroom lecturer, he will deliver the goods.”
25. Before we knew it, people started calling for his impeachment. Too many court cases were instituted against him. Presently, some people are still writing about Yar’adua. Some say he is leading very well; some say he is a non-performer; that he does not perform at all; he should resign.
26. Many people gave the verdict before the Supreme Court pronounced the verdict. Some had already started jubilating that Yar’adua will vacate the seat.
27. If Yar’adua vacates the seat, will you occupy it? Somebody must be there. If he should leave that seat tomorrow, will Atiku be there? Will Buhari be there? Will you be there?
28. Once you are in front, get ready. You are a leader, there is nothing you will do that people will not find fault with. Check all that led. Criticism is a part of life. Nobody goes to school to learn how to criticize. Nobody goes to school to learn how to find fault. It is a part of life.
29. Any leader that is afraid of criticism is not worthy to be a leader. Thus, you are free to write whatever you want to write concerning the Son of Man; say whatever you want to say concerning the Son of Man.
THE SON OF MAN HAS BEEN JUSTIFIED
| H |
owever, there is one good thing God has done. From what we believe, God can never listen to any accusation against the Son of Man. From what you believe, from what I believe, from all records in Holy Scriptures, in history—from anything you can lay hands on—God does not, and can never, and will never accept any accusation from any individual concerning the Son of Man.
31. No matter how right the accusation might be, you will hear the Voice, “I reject the accusation for I have purposed to bless Him.”
32. Go to the Message titled: “The Accuser of the Brethren,” as contained in the GREAT SERMON. Remember, it is your reference point.
33. Anybody that will accuse you today, you know the instrument he will use to accuse you. It is nothing but the Law.
34. If you are a child of God, you must be guilty of religious offence. Evading it means denying Christ. Anybody accusing you today will have no other thing in his hand but religion. You can never use truth to accuse truth. You will only use religion to accuse truth.
WE HAVE ENOUGH EVIDENCE CONCERNING WHAT WE BELIEVE
What is evidence? Evidence is nothing but indisputable fact—reality, something anybody can lay hand on to establish a point.
36. Judges use evidence. A Judge might not be there when an incidence took place, but he lays hand on indisputable, reliable and verifiable facts to deliver his judgment. Therefore, we have enough evidence concerning what we believe.
37. When you look at a building, you will see the structure very well, but there is nobody who can see the foundation. That building is standing upon a foundation.
38. People are seeing us as mere structures, but we are standing upon a foundation and that FOUNDATION is what we call OUR BELIEF. Faith is nothing but what you call your belief. That is where you are standing—but they are seeing structures.
39. When you see somebody who is not standing on something, he will be dangling or shaking, but someone who is standing on something that is solid, he does not shake.
40. I love Roman Catholics who will always tell you that whatever they are doing is in line with what they believe. Whether it sinks well with you or not, they can never shift their belief. That is where they have anchored their faith—they are better than some of you in this Faith.
41. Somebody who said he was with us at Abuja and left the Faith and entered Pentecostal, was he with us?
42. What is more, the person must be a minister there and he is there because of the pay; he is there because of his stomach for he is not serving the interest of Christ. He is serving his own belly. Hence, he must do something to earn his salary. If he does not do something that is meaningful, his salary will not come.
43. In this Faith, we preach Christ. We do not preach anybody in this Faith; we preach Christ. Amen.
The traditional religion believes in Amadioha and also believes in the Almighty God. The Christian Faith believes that there is Jesus and also believes that there is Almighty God. The Muslim Faith believes that there is Mohammed and also believes that there is Almighty God.
To you in this Faith, do you believe that there is the Son of Man and there is Almighty God? You have to answer the question yourself.
What is the Name of God? Is there any name God approved that He should be called? Does God have a universal Name? Is there any approved worship or practice of worshipping God? How are you sure that your own way is the right way of worshiping God?
Every group has been desperate to see the approved way so that they will be like Him: ”We will see Him and be like Him.”
–The Son of Man
(BEWARE OF ESOTERIC LANGUAGES)
CHAPTER 2
THE CHIEFEST OF ALL DEVILS
I am the chiefest of all devils; the chiefest of all the devils is on Earth. Something more than the anti-Christ is on the land and that is Brother Odoemena, the Son of Man. —The Son of Man
I am the chiefest of all devils. You know what it takes to be the chiefest? Jesus was just a mere chief of the devil, but the Son of Man in your day is the chiefest. You can say chief— chiefer — chiefest.
3. You see, remember the day Brother Frank wedded his wife in Onitsha Fellowship. His in-laws came from Imo State. Immediately I introduced Myself by saying, “The very Antichrist is here, the very Devil, the Lucifer everybody is afraid of is here—if you have never seen the Devil before, just look at him.” I pointed to myself.
4. His mother-in-law ran away; all the women followed her and they said, “Who can afford to be in this kind of Assembly where somebody said He is a Devil and He is ministering to people?”
5. Nevertheless, by the time I started ministering, those that were outside started coming in again. They said, “But what we are hearing cannot be the words of the Devil; how can the Devil speak like this? The Bible said that there is no truth in the Devil; the Devil has no truth, but this One is speaking the truth.”
6. Some “religious ones” hardened their hearts and remained outside—remained there under torment of the Devil.
7. I am the chiefest of all devils; the chiefest of all the devils is on Earth. Something more than the anti-Christ is on the land and that is Brother Odoemena, the Son of Man. He is worse than the Antichrist; even, worse than the Lucifer, I mean Satan.
9. Who could be this type of person? What are you going to call Him again which He has not acknowledged and even more? If you say you do not believe Him in what He is calling Himself, that is your business.
10. Remember the Message titled: GOD IN DESPISED PLACES. The Message said and I quote, “I believe that Satan is God in disguise.” I do not know how you see it. He said, “If you cannot swallow it, please do not disturb yourself.” Then, we continued our journey.
11. You can begin to imagine where to place me; thus, if you call me Satan, you have not called me anything at all. I am greater than Satan. Then, what am I? I am not God, I am not Satan. Do not call me God; call Me Devil. D-E-V-I-L—Lucifer. If you do not have the courage, please develop that courage.
EVERYBODY WANTS TO ANSWER CHRIST AND NOT DEVIL
If you have never seen a devil before, look at Apostle Peter Odoemena. Every man is answering God; every woman is answering God; everywhere men of God, women of God, People of God, who then is the man of Devil? Who are the people of Devil? Nobody wants to accept that one anywhere in the world—nobody!
13. Everybody, “man of God, woman of God, people of God,” yet atrocities everywhere. Who are the people committing these evils for which cause we are scared?
14. Everybody is man of God now, woman of God, child of God. Devil is decreed out of human program, yet the works of Devil are everywhere. We will know who is perpetrating these things.
15. Nobody wants to answer Cain; this day, I am Cain. Nobody wants to answer Lucifer, call Me Lucifer now. I am Ahab. If you know any name that you can remember, call me that name, so that there will be peace everywhere.
16. If there is any name you can remember which you can call Satan so that peace will reign, do not stagger any more, call me that name.
17. Nobody wants to answer devil; if you call any man devil, he will be offended. Everybody wants to answer Christ.
18. Everybody is waiting for the anti-Christ he or she has not seen before. Now, the antichrist has come; I am the anti-Christ so that there will be peace. Stop searching for the anti-Christ in any other place. I am on the land now.
WHO IS REALLY THE TRUE ANTI-CHRIST?
If you read the Scriptures, in the book of first John, it said that, “Whosoever that does not believe that God is a human being, is the very anti-Christ and there are many of them in the world today. Then we know the end has come.”
20. Can you see? This is what the Bible said. Those that believe in the Bible, do they believe that God is a human being? If you do not believe that God is a human being, you are the very anti-Christ and there are many of them in the world already.
21. We that believeth that God is a human being are in the minority; they call us antichrists.
22. What is more, wise men will compare between the anti-Christ and Christ because everywhere in the world we have Christs. Nobody answers devil in the world or wants to be associated with the Devil. Now, I am a candidate of hellfire so that there will be somebody there.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH MAN?
Do not sympathize with me. I deserve no sympathy. Let me burn in ashes; I am a candidate of hellfire. I have passed judgment against Myself; in short, I have become the judge that sentenced himself.
24. Do I need to go to another prison so that the feud will end? Yet it has not ended. What is the problem with man?
25. They were asking Jesus Christ the source of His Power with which He was doing many things that were marvellous in their eyes and Jesus replied by asking them where John the Baptist got his own power.
26. They reasoned among themselves. If they should say it is from God, people will now turn to John and will not believe the Pharisees anymore. If they say it is from the Devil, people will stone them for they knew that the Power came from God. Then they reasoned and said, “We do not know.”
27. That place called hell is not created in vain, let me be there so that there will be peace. If you know that area people are avoiding, allot it to me.
CHRIST IS YOUR PROTECTION
Yes, I remember what happened at Enugu when Brother Orjiakor was to be relocated; the people gathered and told him that he should not make the mistake of taking that building inside the bush there; that it was the den of criminals and things like that; that anybody that attempts it, that will be the end of that person.
29. But the Lord said to Brother Orjiakor, “That place where everybody is avoiding is where I want you to live so that you will have a testimony. Is it a den of the criminals? Yes! But you will be there. If you are not there, there will not be a testimony.”
30. God can save. Somebody has to get lost before the salvation power will manifest. God is a healer, but you have to be sick for Him to prove it.
31. Then he went there, God said, “I want to make it clear to you that really it is an uninhabitable place; you will see them.”
32. The wife had a dream and told me about the dream; I said, “No, it is not a dream. It is real.” He said, “Daddy, pray for us.” I said, “I will not pray.” One day they came, climbed the building, attempted to come in by all means, but they could not.
33. And the Voice said, “Brother Orjiakor, you have seen them face-to-face to prove that it is real, but that is the end of the journey. Stay there, it is for you.” Since that day, they have enjoyed peace.
34. They embarked on fencing the place, I said, “You cannot succeed; you do not have the money to do that and no matter how high the wall might be, it is still penetrable.”
35. Nobody constructs a high wall to prevent robbers from coming in unless they are not real robbers. If they are real robbers, it is a matter of using axe to construct a door. They will use axe and cut down the wall. Then you will have a very nice door, even a door that will facilitate the passage of a trailer. So, you do not build a high wall to stop them from coming. Do not do that.
36. The high wall is Christ, for protection is of the Lord. Except the Lord of Host guards a city, all the watchmen are labouring in vain.
BE READY TO ANSWER “DEVIL” IF YOU WANT TO WORSHIP GOD
If you are Devil‘s candidate, you will pay attention to me; if you are God’s candidate, you will close your ears to me because I belong to the Devil. Since God is everywhere, the Devil is at one place. As a result, we want to erase certain things in human beings this day.
38. “I want to raise what is called cosmic consciousness in you. Cosmic consciousness; I want us to have an in depth look into the first phase of the world we are in. People lose bearing because they do not know anything about the world they are living in, they just believe things for believing sake.”
39. If you are not prepared, if you do not have the courage to answer the devil or anti-Christ, you can never worship God acceptably. Why? A slave cannot be greater than his master. Please do not forget your experiences when you passed through the “cost of discipleship.”
OPPOSITION BRINGS POPULARITY
Jesus remained unpopular until opposition came. Because of opposition, the Bible said that Herod who has been looking for a way of catching a glimpse of Him all these years was privileged to see Him dragged to his court.
41. After examining Him, he set Him free. He said, “Of all your spurious allegations against this man, I have not found any single evidence that incriminates Him of any of these offences.” Pilate said the same thing.
42. See Apostle Paul in his day bearing God’s Name. He passed through many things. Whether you are a Pastor, Apostle or anything means nothing to Me.
“DIOTREPHES” IN THE CHURCH
Demas came to a point where he got tired, he pulled out and so many others—a whole Pastor Diotrephes who always wanted to take pre-eminence over his brethren.
44. I do not know what and what he said concerning the missionaries, but John the Apostle said, “When I will come, I will tell you all the evil things he is saying about us. He not only hinders brethren from supporting missionary work, he dis-fellowships anybody that admits any of the missionaries in his house.”
45. Was he serving the interest of God? You see, all these things never started in our day.
46. Can a stranger be a Pastor in a Church? Yes! One that is opposing the work of God and at the same time claiming he is serving God. You could be the Pastor Diotrephes, I do not know.
47. Remember, “Diotrephes” is a spirit. It is a spirit that discourages Brethren from participating in the work of the Lord; that discourages missionary outings and things like that, yet it strives to remain popular among the Brethren. Amen.
PART THREE
DO NOT BE CORRUPTED BY THE SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN CHRIST
We thank God because things are happening everyday. Do you know it was not easy when Jesus the Christ appeared? Was He not called an impersonator and a liar? Was He not called a blasphemer? When they say Jesus, Jesus today, they are saying it as if it was easy or it has been easy. Even people that call Jesus, do they believe Jesus? No, Jesus is just a political name.
When they want to make money, when they want to dupe everybody, they will apply the name Jesus. Nobody ever believed Jesus. If there are people that actually believed Jesus, they are the people that are in this Faith. For we believed Him up to the end of His ministry. We believed Jesus was a man sent by God in His own day for a work. After Him, God sent another man. –The Son of Man
(KNOWING THE PERSONALITY WE ARE HAVING DEALINGS WITH)
CHAPTER 1
THE MEANING OF CHRIST
Christ means nothing but the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Saviour—that is Christ. Anointed with what? Anointed with the Spirit of God.
—The Son of Man
I want to talk to you briefly on a short exhortation titled: DO NOT BE CORRUPTED BY THE SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN CHRIST.
2. II Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3: “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through its subtlety so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (King James Version).
3. “I am afraid that your minds will be corrupted and that you will abandon your full and pure devotion to Christ in the same way that Eve was deceived by the snake‘s clever lies.” (Good News).
4. We mention Christ, Christ, Christ. Amplified Bible helped us in diverse places to know the meaning of Christ. Before then, William Branham, the prophet, had earlier explained Christ to as many as were conversant with his prophetic messages.
5. To you that have remained in this Faith till today, do you really understand the meaning of Christ?
6. Christ means nothing but the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Saviour—that is Christ. Anointed with what? Anointed with the Spirit of God.
7. You are all conversant with the Holy Scriptures. I may not have time to begin to quote and read them, for I believe once I mention them, you will acknowledge that what I am saying is the truth.
8. In Acts of the Apostles, it was written clearly there when Peter was defending the message. He said, “You know how Jesus, a man, was anointed with the Spirit of Christ; how God anointed Him with His Spirit.” He went further to say, “It was the Spirit of Christ in Jesus that made Him God.”
9. Please, take note of all these things.
DESCEND AND ABODE
Remember, when he was born, it was believed that Emmanuel was born; that is, God with us.
11. But God had not yet appeared until the day he was baptized. It became clear that He was God En Murphy, for before the baptism took place, the Almighty God had already revealed it to John the Baptist there in the wilderness.
12. While he was baptizing the people, he said, “Among you standing is a man; in your midst there is a man whom you do not know. I do not know Him also but for the purpose that He might be revealed to Israel, I am sent into the wilderness baptizing. And the Lord spoke to me, upon the vessel you will see, upon any man you will see the Spirit of God descending and abode”—it is not descending and ascending, but descending and abode—“He is the one; the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world,” and things like that.
RELIGION IS “ACCIDENT OF BIRTH”
Please take note. Remember that before then; Jesus was moving as a mere man; Jesus was moving as a religious man, for He was born a Jew and lived under the Jewish laws according to Galatians Chapter 4. He inherited the religion called Judaism.
14. Hence, we continue to say that religion is nothing but “accident of birth.” He was born a Jew. He inherited Jewish religion. He was going to the temple with his parents as it was the manner of the Jews. He was not God yet. He was not Christ until baptism took place.
15. Was He the first that was baptized? No. Too many were baptized, but when it came to his turn, that miracle took place; the Supernatural Cloud came, descended “like” a dove not “a dove.” That is what the Scripture said.
18. The Spirit descended like a dove, but it was not a dove. It is just like descending like a lightning. Is it lightning? It descended like a dove and then abode. John recognized Him immediately and made the proclamation.
17. From that time, Peter could testify how Jesus, a man was anointed with the Spirit of Christ and He went about doing good and was having favour before men and before God.
THE BODY WAS JESUS, THE CONTENT WAS ALMIGHTY GOD
If you do not know the Person Jesus was reverencing always; the Person He was quoting, that He could do nothing except what the Father commands Him to do. The Father He was quoting was the Father that emptied Himself into the Vessel called Jesus. The body was Jesus, the content was Almighty God.
19. I do not know whether somebody understands what I am saying?
20. I mean that the “mask” is Ijele mask. But who is carrying the mask? Who makes the mask lively? The mask cannot do anything on its own until something enters the mask. Then movement will start. People begin to run; people begin to appreciate whatever the mask is doing, even the beauty of the mask cannot come out without somebody inside the mask.
21. Can you catch this message?
22. God in simplicity. This is corrupting. Yes. Can a human being metamorphose into Almighty God? Yes! I do not know whether you get the message?
23. That Sovereign Spirit that abode in Him was the Spirit that carried Him through all the persecutions of life. He could carry everything along because the Spirit was in Him bearing all his infirmities.
24. However, it got to a point where the penalty was to be paid, the Spirit had to separate. The body felt the pains and then shouted, “Eloi-Eloi Lama Sabatani” (My Lord, My God, why has thou forsaken me?)
25. The Spirit had now given way; the Spirit could not associate with sin for sin was hanging on the cross. That was judgment.
26. Please follow history; follow religion.
KNOWING A MAN BY THE OFFICE HE OCCUPIES PRESENTLY (1)
Before I will talk to you, I will use something you know to introduce something you do not know.
28. We believe that Yar’adua was born a human being; a Muslim scholar; a lecturer in the university. One day, by election, he became the Governor of Katsina State. He was no longer a lecturer, but a governor.
29. At another time, he is occupying the Presidential Seat by election. We do not mention anything around him with the university or with the Governor of Katsina State. We now see him from his office as the president of a great nation called Nigeria. Did you get the message?
GOD REVEALS HIMSELF AS A HUMAN BEING IN EVERY DISPENSATION
It is His perfect Will which He purposed in Himself before the world began that in the dispensation of time, He shall be made manifest through human beings.
31. When there was no world created; there was nothing created, God existed. Whatever form God was, that is left to God alone. But immediately human beings appeared, God became part of human beings.
32. I do not want to talk about the creatures and the creators; but understand these basic facts; the basic concepts, that the person that introduced Himself to Adam was not less than the person that felt it necessary to embody Himself in a Vessel called Jesus in his day.
33. But before then, Saviours had been coming. Every saviour that appeared, appeared as a mask, but what was inside was the Saviour, for without God there is no Saviour.
34. If I fail, Glory be to God who has never left us without Saviours.
35. When I mention Saviours, I am indirectly saying that glory be to the Almighty God who has never left us without Christ.
36. The Scripture went further to confirm that all the prophets of old had the Spirit of Christ in them. That Spirit of Christ which they had, was it different from the Spirit of Christ, which Jesus had? How many Spirit had God?
37. Am I tracing it?
KNOWING A MAN BY THE OFFICE HE OCCUPIES PRESENTLY (2)
It was this simplicity of the prophets that corrupted the people they appeared to which made them never to take their prophecies seriously for it is hard for human beings to remove their eyes and minds from what they knew somebody to be. This is where many people run into difficulties even with those in authority.
39. You might have your friend as a playmate when you were in school and so on. He may have one nickname by which everybody knew him. And you continue to call him by that nickname and before you know it, he enlists in the Army and then comes out with a rank as a Colonel and you bump into him on the way one day and call him that old radical nickname, he may gun you down there. He will gun you down there. This is the truth.
40. I remember in those days, there was one Augustine Nneji from my hometown who was my friend. We were together in school until one day he joined NDA—Nigerian Defence Academy. I knew he joined NDA; we were friendly, we played together. I went home one day, went to his place to see somebody and I ran into him and said, “Austin, Austin; Nna, long time no see.”
41. This man frowned immediately. I expected the usual joke. So, I simply pulled my motorcycle to a halt and went closer. I said, “Austin, what is wrong with you?” He said, “Look, Sunny, let me just respect you for the second time.” I said, “What is happening?” Angrily, he watched me.
42. I wanted to add another joke, but I knew that that would be disastrous. So I did not. I said, “My friend, if I have offended you, I am really very sorry.”
43. He said, “Okay, thank you. I knew you never knew. Why not put the horse before the cart? Call me Captain Austin.” I said, “My friend, I never knew you had already passed out in the NDA.” He said, “Why? Must I die there? How many years have I spent there? I have my three stars.”
44. From there, he led me to his house. I saw his uniform hung there.
45. Can you see the difference? He said he respected me twice; which means if I had made the third mistake, I would have been in trouble with him calling him the same old way I used to call him.
GOD EMPTIES HIMSELF IN A VESSEL—A MAN
The book of II Corinthians 5, verse 16: “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh, yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” (KJV).
47. “From now on, we estimate and regard no one from a purely no human point of view in terms of natural standards or value. No, even though we once did estimate Christ from a human view point and as a man yet now we have such knowledge of him that we know him no longer in terms of the flesh.” (Living Bible).
48. Can you see what the Scripture said about Him? There was a time He was a mere human being until something supernatural took place and that thing that took place did not happen in secret; it happened before many witnesses.
49. From that time, as many as belonged to God, their attitudes and visions about Jesus changed. Nobody ever came to Him seeing Him as a mere human being anymore. He became an entirely different fellow.
50. He could be your friend before, but from that time, He was no longer your friend. He had become an entirely different fellow bearing a new name. He has assumed a height above all human levels; not by merit but by election.
51. As a human being, He had His pitfalls; He had His human imperfections and inadequacies like others. Moreover, watch, for that reason, they were just seeing Him as a mere man. The people that were bearing these testimonies concerning Him were the people who were eyewitnesses of His Majesty when the Spirit descended on Him and abode.
52. From that day, supernatural occurrences started happening around Him. His Words became effective and authoritative. Hence, He could say, “If you do not believe that I am He, you are going to die in your sins.”
53. As many that wanted to see the Father whom they could not see, He said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father for I am in the Father and the Father is also in Me.”
54. The Father you have been expecting miraculously before many witnesses allowed Himself to be seen and He emptied into a Vessel; not all vessels. He emptied into a Vessel. It now behoves upon that Vessel to co-opt; to select those that will carry out that assignment with Him.
55. The totality of what the Almighty is made up of was emptied into Him, hence the Scripture recorded that the Spirit of God was upon Him without measure.
56. It was in His simplicity that His parents, relations, brothers and sisters came looking for Him. Even those that knew Him came saying, “My friend, your parents, brothers and sisters have been outside for a long time and are looking for you.”
57. You see, the man now replied, “Who are my parents, brothers and sisters other than these people that are hearing My Word? Some people said it was an insult to the parents.
58. These were people that were judging Him from human standard. This is because from human standard, no matter what you are doing and you hear that your parents are around looking for you; you must excuse yourself for a moment. That is human standard; but for ignoring them and even being unwilling to go out and see them afterwards was an offence. He even made a defamatory remark indicating that He had no regard for them.
59. That goes to show that something supernatural had taken control of Him. The life He was living was no longer His, but He that was in Him was dictating to Him what He could do and what He could not do; hence He could say, “As human beings, you have every time to yourself, but for the Son of Man, a man born of a woman, He has no time of His own.”
60. His time is under strict check; He cannot do as He wishes, but the wishes of He that is in Him. Amen.
Is there any true son or daughter born in the family that does not know his or her father? You see where the problem lies. Blindness is what is killing everybody. If Christ is the Head of the BRIDAL FAITH, He cannot make us human beings and remain a Spirit.
If He remains a Spirit and made us human beings, can He govern us? Can He meet our needs physically? We cannot benefit from Him. Can a spirit feel your infirmities?
Christ must pass through the same experiences we are passing through, so that He can be in a position to help us out when we have need of Him. If He is not passing through the same experiences, can He show sympathy? He does not know how painful it is. – THE SON OF MAN
(NOW I KNOW THAT THOU ART A MAN OF GOD)
CHAPTER 2
GOD IN SIMPLICITY
Can God be a friend to somebody to the point of being received in simplicity as mere human? This is why the Scriptures said that the ways of God are too high and passeth all human understanding.
—The Son of Man
Do not be corrupted by the simplicity that is in Christ. If you watch Abraham and Sarah, when God appeared to them, He appeared in simplicity.
2. In Genesis, when God appeared to Abraham, although Abraham recognized Him as the Almighty God, yet, watch the instruction or the conversation.
3. Abraham pleaded that God should allow his wife to prepare food. God, according to Scriptures pretended He was not hungry. He pretended He never needed the food.
4. I am using the Living Bible language.
5. God was hungry. He needed the food; but He pretended He did not need it. He went further to say that He tested the faith of Abraham to know whether Abraham really wants to offer Him food.
6. Abraham mounted pressure upon pressure and He said, “Go and prepare the food. I will wait.” That is simplicity.
7. In that same simplicity, the Supernatural was still there. He could monitor what Sarah muttered in her heart. Sarah never uttered a word. Sarah was in the kitchen, overheard the conversation between God in human form and her husband.
8. Remember in that same simplicity He called Abraham “My friend.” Abraham received a friend in his house.
9. Can God be a friend to somebody to the point of being received in simplicity as mere human?
10. This is why the Scripture said that the ways of God are too high and passeth all human understanding.
THE ENCOUNTERS OF GOD WITH PEOPLE IN SIMPLICITY (1)
Ecclesiastics said that whatever God is doing in time past, that is exactly what He is doing today. He is recycling it so that men will fear before Him, for He is not doing any new thing again. All those things that were written in the Scriptures aforetime were written for our learning.
12. What have we learnt from the encounters God had with human beings in simplicity?
13. In simplicity, He sat down, ate bread and drank with Abraham. In simplicity, He came as an old man with a walking stick and appeared to Manoah’s wife the first day; second day, He came again.
14. In simplicity He waited for food, and food came. In the supernatural way the food was eaten. If that supernatural thing did not take place, Manoah and the wife would not have believed that what came was God.
15. Yes, human beings only believe God when He comes with flaming fire; when He comes in earthquake; when He comes in thundering; when He comes blinding people; I mean naturally blinding people. That is when they believe God. But when He comes in a simple and humble way, many people can hardly believe Him to be the Almighty.
16. Watch, in simplicity God visited many people.
17. When I say simplicity, I mean in a very common human way; in a natural form that is peculiar to all human beings; not supernatural form now but natural.
18. If you watch all the Prophets and Messengers God used, if you really believe that the God I am talking about has revealed Himself among you, what you saw and bowed down to was exactly what your fathers saw and also bowed down to. Do you believe that? Not more, not less.
19. That has been the way He has chosen to reveal Himself.
20. In that Sovereign Estate, He will hover. And at the end of it all, He will circle around an individual.
21. After revealing Himself in the Pillar of Cloud, He encircled Moses. Miriam was surprised. Aaron was also surprised. The people of Israel were shocked at what they witnessed knowing very well that the Supernatural Cloud hovered and hovered until it vanished into Moses.
22. It was that Spirit that emptied itself into Moses that made Moses God over the people of Israel.
23. When God said, “I have heard the afflictions of My people in Egypt and I have come to deliver them.” He said, “I am sending Moses to you as God.” And Moses went there, confronted Pharaoh as God.
24. The Scriptures said, “With a mighty hand, God delivered His people from Israel.”
25. Who was the mighty hand? Moses.
26. Each time the people felt they had sinned before God, who did they go to? Moses. This was because He placed Moses before them and said they should fix their eyes on Moses, for He was the Messenger of that day.
27. When Jesus appeared and the Spirit came into Him, the Spirit pointed everybody to Jesus in that day as the Author and Finisher of their Faith. He said, “Fix your eyes on Him.”
28. When Paul took over, He pointed the people’s eyes to Paul, hence Paul could say, “If you do not believe our message, you count yourself unworthy of everlasting life for so the Lord had appointed us Saviours.”
29. So it is not one person, it is not two; but God had been sending them intermittently; from time to time.
PEOPLE MISS GOD BECAUSE OF HIS SIMPLICITY
Please take note. I am hitting something somewhere,
31. “Do not allow yourself to be corrupted by the simplicity that is Christ.”
32. If you watch Moses as God, praise God for that. Remember that Abraham was God. Abraham married and had children. Moses married also and had children. Did his marriage remove God from Moses?
33. What can you say about the prophets because from the Scriptures, we do read about the children of the Prophets? Tell me any prophet that never married and tell me any prophet that never had the Spirit of Christ in him.
34. If Peter was sent to the Jews while Paul was sent to the Gentiles, what was Peter sent as? Was Peter not married with children? That was why Paul was angry and he said, “Have we no right to pick sisters like the rest of the Apostles? Is it only I and Barnabas that are exempted from marrying?” By that statement, others married, lived normal lives and yet they were Christ.
35. Do not allow yourself to be corrupted by the simplicity that is in Christ. Christ has always appeared in a simple way and that is why people miss Him in all the ages.
36. Please take note of it.
37. If they missed Him in all the ages, this is another age and they will miss Him again. What blinded people in all the ages is still blinding them now: “How can God be a man?”
38. You do not blame them; after examining everything the Lord created, the whole Universe, the firmament, the rivers, the birds in the forest, fishes in the sea and things like that, how God placed all the orbits and heavenly bodies in their places without any one clashing with the other, to credit such great achievement to a human being is very difficult for man to consider. It is beyond human conception: “How can an entity called a human being create all these things?”
39. You see, they are seeing an entity; but they are not seeing what is in the entity. They are seeing the creature and not the Creator.
40. For example, nobody has ever come out to declare that he came in contact with Brother Odoemena and he saw something like a rainbow blocking him or separating Brother Odoemena from him. Has anybody ever said this? Or he came to my house and saw Me sitting down with another person by my side whom he could not describe. Nobody can say that.
IT WILL TAKE GOD TO REVEAL HIMSELF
It will take God Himself to tell the whole world where He is tabernacling. The Prophets knew that God will tabernacle in a human being in these last days.
42. Job knew that God would stand upon the Earth in these last days. But who is adequate to fill that position? Who is that human being upon the Earth that is adequate? Is it by merit? If it is by merit, nobody will merit it. If it is by striving, nobody will get it.
43. It will take God Himself to make His own selection for He does not live in a temple made with hands; a body has He prepared for Himself, hence, He could say, “He is a chosen Vessel unto Me to bear My Name.”
44. Remember that St. Paul was injurious to the Faith; he was a persecutor, but one day, he became a chosen Vessel bearing God’s Name in that age. What was the Name of God in that age? Paul.
45. How many acknowledged it? How many saw it? I am telling you that this has been the guilt of all; it was only Jesus who was courageous enough to introduce Himself as the Almighty God before every Tom, Dick and Harry—ready to bear the consequences. The rest knew what they were but for fear of being-misunderstood, they ran around it and then hid themselves.
46. Why? They themselves never believed that they were qualified for God to use them. They were having the same views others were having about the Almighty God until that thing took place. Recognizing the consequences of making such proclamation, they shrunk.
47. Moses knew himself. He knew what he was; but he could only say it before his people. He dared not say it outside. Moreover, his people knew that he was not an impersonator for when they doubted him, God brought His people together and then vindicated Moses.
48. That was when they said, “Whatever you will tell us, that we will hear; that we will do. It shall come to pass. If anybody will rebel, he shall die.” Was it like that to the people outside?
49. The human Vessel remains the Almighty God to the people He is sent to. But to the rest, He can be anything. God is God to His people, but He is a Devil to the world.
THE ENCOUNTERS OF GOD WITH PEOPLE IN SIMPLICITY (2)
Look at this humble encounter in simplicity. We want to trace it a little.
51. In the book of Joshua, Joshua saw Him as Jehovah man of war. When we call Him Jehovah Man of war; Jehovah Man of battle, God is a man of battle; He is a Centurion; He is everything. Nobody could believe it. Israel knew that their victory in the warfare was given to them by God.
52. When God said that He was the one driving away the people from the land and they were occupying, they believed, but not all. Until one day, Joshua came face-to-face with a Man wearing Army uniform and that uniform was exactly the same kind of uniform Joshua wore; but the rank was higher than that of Joshua.
53. Joshua inquired, “Are you for us or against us?” He pulled his sword for whatever that was against the people of Israel was against Joshua’s leadership.
54. Look at the way the man disarmed Joshua. He said, “Drop that useless sword; I am the Captain of the host of Israel.”
55. Tell me; who could be the Captain of the host of Israel that Joshua never knew? Who could be that person that Joshua never knew?
56. “How can you introduce yourself as the General, GOC, commanding the Army of God when I am GOC? Besides me God never put another person.”
57. God said, “Joshua, son of Nor, arise. Moses my servant is dead; arise and take up the mantle. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.”
58. Then in the war front, somebody comes up taller than I am and even heavier than I am wearing the same uniform I am wearing with a higher rank, maybe Field Marshal, to tell me that He is the GOC when I am the GOC already. Can you see simplicity?
59. Joshua looked at the man, examined Him and the man smiled. One statement He made, “Drop the sword; I am the Captain of the Army of Israel. I am the One that has come to give you the victory.” Joshua fell flat, worshipped Him and embraced Him.
60. Who can believe that the person standing before Joshua was the Creator of the whole Universe; standing as an entity in a being Joshua could touch and have conversation with?
61. Can you see? If Joshua was not an Elect, the simplicity would have corrupted him. Can you see God in simplicity?
WHY PEOPLE MISS GOD
It is at this simple stage that you see people get corrupted. Before the Word of God starts failing in your ears, your heart has already been corrupted by the simplicity. The moment your heart has been corrupted by the simplicity of God in your day, His Word becomes of null and void.
63. You can never take His command serious anymore. If He gives you any command, you just go your way, “That is how He usually talks.” You just do what you feel. The only time He will become God to you is only when you fall into trouble. Then you would start looking for Him. The only time you will start looking for Him is when what He told you has happened. That is when He becomes God; but before then, he is no longer God. Everything around Him is human.
64. That is where people err. THEY EXPECT GOD TO SOUND SUPERNATURAL AND ACT SUPERNATURAL. BUT BEFORE THEIR EYES, HE WILL SOUND SUPERNATURAL, YET ACT NATURAL.
65. Since the world began, God has been appearing in a simple way. Whatever you call hardship is a part of the world; whatever you call sickness or death; they are all part and parcel of the world.
66. God decreed it. The same way you feel air; you see darkness; you see light, so these things exist. Human beings by estimation believe that if a human will appear and say He is God, He will eradicate poverty, hardship, death and sickness. They believe He will ban hospitals, ambulances will not be seen any more, mortuaries will not be established.
67. You see their human conception? Has there been any age God appeared and it happened? Why are you expecting something that God never promised? Why are you expecting something God has not done before? Whatever God has done before, that He is doing again.
68. Tell me any age where people did not die because God appeared? Even those that prepared food and God ate, at the end of it all, they all died. People that even carried the messages about, like John the Baptist, also died. Some were killed by their fellow human beings. Some of them were even sick near unto death.
69. Do you know that St. Paul was working for God and armed robbers attacked him many times? He had shipwrecks many times. Human beings flogged him many times. Persecution caused him to run for his dear life even to the point that he was descended from a building in a basket.
70. Jesus the Christ Himself who told them He was the Almighty God, when they wanted to arrest Him, He simply hid Himself. So, He was afraid of death. How can God be afraid of death? Can you see the simplicity?
71. I want you to see things that happen around a Vessel that God uses that stumble many people. What stumbles you is not what He is doing, but what you are having as your feeling. For your feelings run contrary to the wishes of God.
72. Whatever anybody is thinking about God, what God will do; what God will not do—mere human thinking; it is not God’s way. It is not what God ordained. It is what you are thinking for yourself; it is too far away from God’s plan.
73. God has never planned to eradicate death. He never planned that everybody will be rich. If everybody will be a leaders, who will be the followers? If the whole world will become rich, will money be valuable again?
74. If Jesus is God, why could He not provide for His comfort? Why must He borrow? Whatever He needed He borrowed. Why was it so?
75. At a time, He was suffering hunger and was borrowing fish and bread. At a point, He even plucked corn from somebody’s farmyard. And He said He was God. Can you see the simplicity? They queried all these things; hence, they could call Him, “Saviour, save yourself! You saved others. Now it is your turn, save yourself!”
WHEN GOD FINISHES WITH A VESSEL, HE CALLS THE VESSEL HOME
Saint Paul caused many to resurrect even with his handkerchief, but when he was arrested, nothing delivered him. His handkerchief was there in his pocket. His Bible was with him; all his books were there with him, yet St. Paul was killed. Where then lies his claim of being Christ—saviour who could not save himself?
77. This is simply because you do not see God. When God has finished with a vessel, He calls the vessel home anyhow; but God will continue His journey. The same Spirit will leave that Vessel and find another convenient body where he will enter and then continue His work.
78. I am saying that your own dispensation is not an exemption. When you listen to a man bearing God’s Name speak, you think He will not die. He will die. A man bearing God’s Name dies.
79. William Branham in his day got to a point where people started calling him immortal and he said, “No, I am mortal, for one day, these stammering lips will lie silent in the grave.” Did they lie silent? Yes, even till today, yet his hand touched on the dead and they rose up.
80. Do not allow your minds to be corrupted by the simplicity in Christ. Amen.
If you leave this Faith, it means nothing to Me. You stay in this Faith, it means nothing to Me. I believe all that will abide are those God sent Me for.
If God did not send Me for you, no matter how you rejoice, when your time is over, you go, others will remain.
God has been sending men. Now, this is our own time. The same Spirit of Christ that was in the prophets who lived before Jesus was born; the same Spirit is resting in others.
The same Spirit rested in Branham for his own day. –The Son of Man
(KNOWING THE PERSONALITY WE ARE HAVING DEALINGS WITH)
CHAPTER 3
THE SIMPLICITY OF GOD 1
If God does not come in a simple way, nobody will approach Him and He will be useless to everybody. In His simplicity, He becomes easily accessible.
—The Son of Man
There was a Message God gave us some years ago: GOD IS IDENTIFIED BY HIS CHARACTERISTICS.
2. There, it is stated that when somebody appears in any dispensation, we watch not only what He is claiming to be but also watch His characteristics—these are things that are unchangeable in God that will be carried over from one messenger to the other; things we will see and then acknowledge that God is with the person or that God sent that person or that fully God has appeared in human form.
3. In simplicity many saw God.
4. Genesis 16, verse 7-10: “And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
5. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
6. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
7. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.”
8. If you want to be ignorant, you remain ignorant.
9. You see, a time came when Hagar, the second wife of Abraham, felt she had been persecuted too much that she ran away from the house. On her way, Hagar met God face-to-face and God stopped Hagar and said, “Hagar, why are you running? Where do you want to go? Will you go back to your husband and to your mother Sarah?” Hagar fell down and worshipped God. Gently, she carried everything back to Abraham’s house.
10. You called her a maid, yes; you called her a wife, yes; but she met God face-to-face; in a simple way, no argument. If her mind was corrupted by the simplicity that was in Christ, because she heard or she was there when the family prepared food and the so-called God sat down and ate, do you think she would have paid attention?
11. In simplicity, the Almighty God became a human being, sat down with the seventy Elders of Israel eating and drinking with them, the Scripture says, “Making merriment with them.” What can you say about it? Those who were blind could not see His Lordship; but as many as were wise, although He was there with them, they saw the whole thing as a wonderful privilege they cannot afford to abuse. They kept their eyes on the Lordship.
GOD GOES OUT TO THE WORLD IN HIS “GREATNESS” AND COMES BACK TO HIS PEOPLE IN HIS “SIMPLICITY”
That the president is too far away from you, there is somebody serving him tea every morning. There is somebody that is cleaning his office everyday. A woman sleeps with him everyday. However, when we hear he is coming to Imo State or Anambra, the whole State will set agog preparatory to his coming.
13. Do you think if he is going home the wife will prepare that way? What do you say about the driver who drives him about? Do not allow yourself to be corrupted by the simplicity that is in Christ.
14. I have shown you many places and I will still show you more where God appeared in simplicity to meet human beings solving their needs and blessing them. In all those places, He appeared, tabernacling in a human being.
15. There was not even one place He appeared using a goat. When He was talking to them using thundering voices and earthquakes, the people could not go near, but when He started using human vessels, the people embraced Him.
16. Well, from that time henceforth, God stopped using thundering voices, earthquakes and lightning to meet His people.
17. William Branham said, “He does not use the agency of any mechanical device; He uses a man.”
18. St. Paul spoke to the Jews. When he was talking to them, he said, “Of all people on Earth you are the most privileged; privileged in the sense that you even have Christ as your townsman; you are blessed that the person the entire world is fixing their hope on happens to be your townsman, your own kindred. That is where it pleased the Almighty God to land.”
19. What can we say about it? What makes a prophet not to be honoured in his own town is nothing but his simplicity, for the people will always fix their eyes on his human side: “We know his father, we know his mother, we know his office, and we know what he is doing to sustain himself. How can he come now and begin to tell us that he is God. It will take a fool to believe this.”
20. Do not allow yourself to be corrupted by the simplicity that is in Christ.
GOD APPEARS IN SIMPLICITY TO BE ACCESSIBLE
The Scripture recorded that it does not yet appear what we shall be. When He shall appear, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.
22. When He shall appear, we will not see Him as a goat unless we are goats. Whatever form we are, that is the same way He will appear. If we are human beings, He will be a human being with us.
23. In the book of Philippians, it was recorded clearly. It said, “Since God’s children are human beings God also became a human being with them for only as a human being can He save them.”
24. The simplicity of God is corrupting the minds of the unbelievers. For your mind to be corrupted by God’s simplicity, you must be an unbeliever. Once you are a believer, His simplicity will only encourage you the more. Yes, for His simplicity will give you access to Him.
25. If God does not come in a simple way, nobody will approach Him and He will be useless to everybody. In His simplicity, He becomes easily accessible.
26. Assuming that there is a place called Heaven in the sky and that is where God is living, who will go there to consult Him? Assuming He made Moses God and He placed him in the uppermost part of the sky, who will fly there to see Moses? But they had access to Moses because Moses was a human being. They had access to Joshua for He was a human being; even the Apostles, Jesus not left out of them.
27. Even the last prophet of the age, William Branham was a human being, married and had children. The first wife even died prompting him to marry a second one. Can God’s wife die? Yes, Abraham’s wife died; Jacob’s wife died. Were they Gods? Yes. The simplicity of God has always corrupted the mind of the unbeliever.
TESTIMONIES, WITNESSES, EVIDENCES AND SUBSTANCE
Once you are a believer, His simplicity will help you the more, especially when you can say that you were an eyewitness; that you were there and you heard the Voice that came from excellent glory; that with your eyes you saw.
29. When the invitation was made, you were there and you honoured the invitation. When He moved about, people heard the noise of the legs but could not touch Him, you were there. In other words, you are bearing the testimony of a true witness.
30. When you look at the book of Hebrews, you will see striking words that will help you. There you will see testimonies, you will see witnesses and evidences; you will see substance. Whatever you believe so far, I believe it is a substance. It is real.
31. What is a substance? Something you can feel, you can handle and you can touch; oh no! Paul said, “Christ Himself was in the world and I myself have seen Him and He was seen by over five hundred people which even, many of them are here today.”
32. Peter said, “That which we saw with our eyes, handled with our hands and touched, we proclaim unto you. We were eyewitnesses of His Majesty; we were there when the Voice came from the excellent glory, thus it behoves the Son of Man to fulfil all righteousness.”
33. Tell me what God did in time past which He has not repeated in your time; tell me? Many have died; many have left, but a greater number of the people are still in this Faith. Therefore, we do not believe mere human imagination. We believe in substance.
34. What is faith? Faith is evidence of substance and testimony.
35. St. Paul said, “Believe our testimony for our testimony concerning Christ is true.” Do not allow yourself to be corrupted by the simplicity that is in the Anointed One who is Christ, the Messiah and the Saviour.
36. Remember that all these things you are hearing are not meant for people outside this Faith. Outside our circle, they sound like thundering voices. “Who can stand to hear them? “Tufiakwa” (God forbid). They are unbearable sayings to the unbelievers; but to us, we are satisfied.
37. Whatever manner of people we are, whatever shape we assume, anytime He will appear, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him just as He is—substance, evidence and testimony.
38. We are not telling you something we are not sure of. We are not telling you to believe something that is yet to come. No. We are trying to explain to you; to your understanding what is already happening now; how God anointed our Brother Peter Odoemena with the Spirit of Christ and we were there when it happened.
39. So, I can say, “Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness for God appeared as a human being.”
40. What is evidence? Evidence is nothing but something that is dependable, reliable and verifiable. That is sure evidence upon which a sound judge rests to deliver a sound judgement on any matter.
41. It is information that is reliable, dependable and verifiable. Anybody can verify it. Even if we deny it, the pinhole camera verifies it all round. When we trace it historically, we will trace it to its origin. How He has been appearing and disappearing since the world began, choosing vessels for Himself. Your own day is not an exemption.
OUTSIDE THIS FAITH IS SUBTLETY: INSIDE IS CONFIRMATION
Your mind must be corrupted by His simplicity before you can be seduced away from your belief just like Satan seduced Eve by his subtlety.
43. Outside this Faith is subtlety; inside is confirmation. We are in this Faith to confirm the truth. No more, no less. For we know we can do nothing against the truth. We are for the truth. The truth of God reacheth unto the clouds. We do not preach any human being. We preach Christ, finish.
44. Somebody who has no part, no covenant with God, he does not know what God is doing in his day; he is outside the “commonwealth of the people of God.” He does not know what is happening. If you should go out and proclaim this truth, will he understand you? He has the right to call you whatever he wants to call you. He has the right to say whatever he wants to say.
45. For you to be seduced away, the simplicity in the Anointed One must have corrupted you and then, you cannot balance yourself to know that when He created everything He became a sovereign Human Being and surveyed all He created and said, “Behold, they are all good.”
46. God only appeared in human form to admire His creatures and for His creature to admire Him. Finish.
47. That is why the whole duty of man is to fear, worship and honour the Almighty God.
48. I do not care who the vessel is, provided I am sure and certain of what tabernacles in the person. That is what settles the matter for the choice is His.
49. The tribe where He makes the choice has nothing to do with it; the personality He has decided to use is nonsense to me; but that is His choice. My duty is to follow. Amen.
We are not in the days of Branham. Are we? No! If Branham could say in his own day that we are no longer in Pentecost, that Pentecost is far away from us, and he said that we are not in Paul’s day; that we are not in Peter’s day. And Peter’s days, Paul’s days, all have passed.
We are not in Branham’s day. Branham saw a ministry coming, and he said, “You know, one of these days I will leave the scene, and HE will be here.”
He does not want to fool anybody. Do not expect Him everywhere; expect Him in one of the jungles in Africa as a great stumbling block. Are they not being stumbled?
-The Son of Man
(KNOWING THE PERSONALITY WE ARE HAVING DEALINGS WITH)
CHAPTER 4
SIMPLICITY OF GOD 2
People are expecting a big God, a very big God: “I have a very big God He is always by my side. Do you know how big my God is? He is so huge that Heaven and Earth cannot accommodate Him.”
—The Son of Man
Luke chapter 8, verse 1-4: “Twelve Apostles were with Him and also some women who have been cured of evil spirits and diseases; Mary called Magdalene from whom seven demons have been expelled and Juana the wife of Chuza, Herod‘s household manager and Suzanna and many others who ministered to and provided for him out of their prosperity and personal belongings.” (Amplified Bible).
2. Can you imagine this type of God? Even women were privileged to minister to Him all round with their personal belongings and things like that. How can God lack something to the point that even women will now be the ones to provide? Can you see the simplicity?
3. But you say, “He is the God that created the Heavens and the Earth, the fullness thereof and they all belong to Him. How can human beings now minister to His needs?” Can you see the simplicity? Was He God? Can God ever come to a point where He has needs?
4. You see, that is the corrupting side. Jesus could even beg water from the Samaritan woman. He could even beg bread from His disciples: “Do you have bread and some fishes there?”
5. He could even send someone to go and borrow a colt for Him to go where He wanted to go.
6. Today, it is a vehicle. It could be motorcycle: “Brother, I do not have, can you please give me your vehicle let me drive down? Please, give me your motorcycle.”
7. That time it was a colt. I think you said He had everything. Even when He was caught because of non-payment of tax, He had no money, he had to send somebody to go and look for a big man, “Tell him I am stranded; that the Master needs some money to pay His bills.”
8. What can you say about these things, the human side; natural side, it can corrupt an unbeliever.
THERE IS NOBODY WITHOUT LACK
Who is an unbeliever? An unbeliever is somebody that imagines greater things God can do which God never promised He will do. If God can do all things, what and what do you think constitute all things?
10. St. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me.” It then means you can commit crime; you can hang yourself, “Hey, I am doing everything.”
11. Yes, you can do all things also. Why are you suffering lack? Why are you in want? You are in want because God is also in want. There is nothing that God has that is sufficient except His Grace. Only the Grace of God is sufficient, finish. All of us are sustained by His Grace.
12. Tell me that thing which you think God has which is sufficient. Even the rain is not sufficient. I will tell you many countries that do not experience rain from year to year. I will tell you countries where some rivers have dried up and they are now begging food from Africa— from Nigeria.
13. Even light is not sufficient; otherwise, the whole countries in the world would experience night at the same time. The moon is not sufficient. The sun is equally not sufficient. He rations it. Some will get sun at this time; some will get it in the evening; some will get it at another time to make sure it goes round. What can you learn from it?
14. There is no human that will say that he is self-sufficient. You must lack one thing or the other. Everybody must have one type of problem or the other. Everybody’s problems differ. Some lack water and that is their problem; some lack sunlight; some need darkness (night); some need daylight. Even sickness that we keep condemning, there are some people who are praying for sicknesses to come their ways. Some are merely existing, living in agonizing pains. Such people pray for death to come.
15. Some are also praying that God will give them long lives; in short, if it were possible, God should make them immortal.
16. Let me tell you something. One man came to us one day while I was discussing with my master somewhere. The man is a rich man in Onitsha; but the troubles that are coming to him from his relations and from the community are too much.
17. This man said that sometimes he regrets why God blessed him with wealth; that if he had been a poor man only providing for his family, he would have enjoyed life.
18. Now he has become wealthy and the troubles have become too much that he cannot sleep and the money he has cannot go round. If he gives some and refused to give some, they will call him a wicked man; that it would have been better for him to remain a simple man taking care of his family than to come out where people have known him as a rich man and the money cannot go round.
19. I then said to myself, “There is no condition a man would find himself without complaining.” You see his own headache; he does not have enough to go round so as to make it reach those he wants it to reach. For that reason, he is in trouble.
20. Yours may be that you do not have enough to sustain yourself. I thank God for everything.
GOD’S SIMPLICITY MADE HIM ACCESSIBLE TO PEOPLE
What am I saying? The simplicity that is in Christ can be corrupting. Look at the simplicity. He was so close to Peter that Peter could even alert Him that his mother-in- law was sick.
22. He said, “Peter, are you sure?”
23. Peter replied, “Yes, she is terribly sick. If you can permit me to go and see her, I will be grateful.”
24. Jesus the Christ said, “I will go with you.”
25. All of them followed to the place. When they got there, they met the woman, met Peter’s wife and the children. All of them sat down and discussion ensued to know about the health of the woman.
26. In the process, Peter’s wife ran to the kitchen and started preparing food. The Scripture said she brought the food, both Jesus and the disciples ate; the mother-in-law ate and the headache vanished. Can you see simplicity?
27. It got to a point that that notorious prostitute came to Jesus—Jesus went to the notorious prostitute. He went to His disciples and said, “Let me go and see my friend Mary Magdalene.”
28. Yes, He identified with her. It was His social life; His human life that made Him accessible to both criminals and non-criminals, hence the people said He was a friend of prostitutes and sinners. He saw nothing wrong with it.
29. The woman started lavishing Jesus with perfume and Peter frowned at it.
30. He said, “Peter, abeg oo; when I came to your house, you never behaved this way; but since I came here, watch what this lady is doing. Allow her.”
31. At another time, Judas was offended; “Ah, ah why lavishing this money on perfume alone? The money you could have given us so that we will give it to the beggars.”
32. Jesus said, “Oh, now you remember we have beggars on the streets because somebody gave me perfume that is expensive?”
33. Did he use perfumes? Did people dash him perfume? You see, these are the corrupting side of Christ. If you are an unbeliever, that is where you will stumble.
34. “I do not believe his claim that he is God. How can he be God? Look at what he is doing; look at what he did the other day.” You are an unbeliever. Your mind is being corrupted and seduced by the simplicity that is in Him.
35. In the same manner, Satan seduced the heart of Eve.
36. There are too many ways Satan can seduce your heart. Watch all that were with us and later left. Go and crosscheck, their minds were corrupted by the simplicity in Christ. Who can escape it?
WHAT MAKES PEOPLE MISS GOD: PEOPLE EXPECT A “BIG GOD”
This is a delicate matter. The Apostle Paul who was Christ in that day saw it and then began to raise alarm. He began to warn his people, “Don’t just because I am here. You see me as ordinary Apostle Paul.”
38. Like some people used to say, “When he is not with us and we read his letters, they sound somehow; we fear and quake, but each time he comes to us, he is just a small man. We cannot believe that this small boy is the one harassing us with this kind of letter.”
39. When they read his letters, they saw a big stature, a colossus, but each time he appears, they see him as a very humble and gentle young man.
40. Isaiah 53 verse 1 to 4: “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord is revealed?”
41. Who has ever believed our report? Who has ever believed our testimony? To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
42. “For he shall go up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground, he hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were, our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely, he hath borne our grief and carried our sorrows.”
43. Stop there. When we read another Scripture, you will hear about His commission. We will see where it was stated that He does not even have the power to quench a smoking flax; that His voice cannot even be heard in the streets (see Isaiah 42:3).
44. In other words, He will only be identified by the elect.
45. He will make a quiet move; a quick work and a quiet move. Many might not hear about Him until He vanishes away for He will not make noise on the streets.
46. If when He appears and everybody accepts him, it goes to show that He is the very antichrist. But it said He must be despised and rejected by all men.
47. People do not know when they fulfil dangerous Scriptures. Why? What will make them despise Him? There is no comeliness in Him and there is no beauty in Him that anybody will desire and nobody will know how He springs up.
48. “Where did this man come from? Who is this man?” Check the genealogy; you will not have anything to lay hand on. Why will they despise and reject Him? This is because of His simplicity.
49. Somebody who will not make noise in the streets; He does not join in the crusade ground; He does not identify with them in their noble assemblies; He does not go to radio or television; a quiet and humble move. When you read His write-ups, you think He is a colossus. When you come near Him, you see an ordinary lamb. You see the simplicity.
50. When God was describing Him, He said that people were expecting a lion from the Tribe of Judah that was supposed to come to open the scroll. While they were waiting, a little lamb—not a sheep—with feeble legs came.
51. He said, If you were around, would you not chase the sheep away saying, “This little lamb, go away, a lion is coming; it will devour you. Please lamb go.” Yes, if you were there, surely you will be sympathizing with the lamb.
52. People are expecting a big God—a very big God. “I have a very big God He is always by my side. Do you know how big my God is? He is so huge that heaven and earth cannot accommodate Him”.
53. To crown it all, people that need money by all means use their so-called songs to kill the whole world. Both the whites and the blacks sing to make money; things they include in their songs do not exist and will never exist for they are not in the plan of God.
54. Do you know that some even quote those songs as authorities? Some of the words of the songs, people quote as authorities.
55. Well, the God that has been revealing Himself since the world began is so small in appearance that people even liken Him to a guard; I say people liken Him to a watchman, a night watchman.
GOD REVEALS HIMSELF IN A WAY THAT BEATS ALL HUMAN IMAGINATIONS
This is a God that has been revealing Himself. If there is a place where He revealed Himself in an honourable way, I will say it was when He revealed Himself to Joshua wearing army uniform. Apart from that place, He has always been revealing Himself in a way that beats all human imaginations.
57. Do you know that it was in His simplicity that somebody slapped Jesus? “Why should he bear the title of a king looking like this?” In simplicity another person slapped Paul; in simplicity they flogged him; in simplicity they dragged Him to judgement. And wherever they carried Him to, He closed His mouth, yet that was the Creator of the whole Universe, suffering deprivation in the hands of His creatures. Amen.
Remember, the first Voice we heard, we were asked to follow the man God has placed in our midst and fix our eyes on Him; that we should not go to the left or to the right; that we should remember that we have never gone this way before. We heard this Voice.
We were also commanded not to provoke Him, that He has been placed before Him as an Angel of Judgment. That He will not pardon us any provocation. We heard things like that in the beginning.
However, as we continued, we started seeing many things happening.
–The Son of Man
(KNOWING THE PERSONALITY WE ARE HAVING DEALINGS WITH)
CHAPTER 5
DEDICATE YOURSELF TO GOD
Dedication is not enough if you really know the meaning of dedication. Dedication means surrendering what you have to God. However, how can you surrender what you have to God when you have not surrendered yourself?
—The Son of Man
Over-familiarity they say brings contempt. I say this true to a foolish man. If because you are familiar with your parents you do not respect them, are you not foolish? The greatest over-familiarity in life is the one we see between parents and their children. If because you are too familiar with your parents, their words mean nothing to your ears, that means destruction.
2. You heard the Holy Ghost indicting Ngosike, the son of Brother Orjiakor. If he is stupid, he might be thinking that he did evil and his father reported to me. That will be his doom.
3. If he is wise, he will be the happiest man on Earth for if he did not come to the Fellowship, the next thing will be his obituary.
4. Do not say, “Huu!” Do not say, “Haa!” After all, the neck of a small goat is also sold in the market. All caskets do not have the same size. You see caskets meant for infants, they are there; caskets meant for adults, they are there. Caskets meant for kings are also there.
5. Is there anyone that will die and the world will change? The world will not crumble.
6. The worst thing that will happen to a young man or young lady or any human being is to assist the devil in destroying himself or herself.
7. Who can believe that one of our parents in this Faith, a notable figure who started with us from end-time message even till now, proclaiming godliness, could be under threat in the hands of his son who is less than sixteen years of age?
8. The son wandered away from the family, joined with hoodlums and then sent telephone calls to the father giving him five (5) minutes to fulfil their demands or face death. The man just slumped down and fainted.
9. Recently, he called Me, his breath very fast. I said, “My Brother relax, nothing will happen. It is even better you die in the hands of your son than to die in the hands of a stranger.”
9. And this was the boy that was born and brought up in this Faith. Can you believe this? Somebody might be thinking that what I am saying is too far. It is in this Faith.
10. I know Brother Onyema is dedicating his child. Yes, the father of that child I was talking about also did dedication.
11. Dedication is not enough if you really know the meaning of dedication. Dedication means surrendering what you have to God. However, how can you surrender what you have to God when you have not surrendered yourself?
12. It is when you surrender yourself to God that you can surrender your family. You cannot stay away and dash God your children. God can never accept it. This is the problem people are having. They think they are dedicating their children to God, but God is turning His back against them.
13. You cannot dedicate your children to a God you do not serve; you do not reverence and obey. You are unfaithful in all your ways before Him. Your sacrifice is even an abomination before Him for God does not delight Himself in such sacrifices.
DO NOT ALLOW THE WORD OF GOD TO SOUND COMMON TO YOUR EARS
Obedience is better than sacrifice. Somebody is monitoring you, watching and assessing you. But the greatest person that is monitoring and assessing you is the supernatural God whom we are having dealings with; in whose eyes everything is naked.
15. There is no variableness in Him and there is no way you can hide yourself He will search you out. Run into the grave, He will search you out. Run into the sea, His hands will reach you there and bring you out. Fly to the sky, He is abiding there.
16. Do not allow yourself to be corrupted by the simplicity of Christ. William Branham warned and I will like to repeat it, “Do not ever come to a point where this message will sound common to your ears. Any day this message of Christ; this message of eternal life begins to sound common to your ears, you will perish.”
17. Watch children that allow the instructions of their parents to sound common in their ears normally end it all up in disaster. Is it not true? A fly that has no adviser often follows the corpse into the grave.
18. What am I saying? God saw it ahead of time. In every dispensation, it has been like that. It was the simplicity that was in Moses that made Miriam and Aaron to rise up against him.
19. Aaron said, “You are my younger brother”; Miriam also said, “You are our younger brother; how can we begin to worship you?”
20. Before they knew it Korah, Dathan and Abiram rose up, “You are taking too much.” Why? It was because of the simplicity. It corrupted them.
21. There are too many examples if you begin to line them up.
GOD IS NOTHING BUT THE MESSENGER OF YOUR DAY
It was the simplicity that was in Samuel that made Saul to kill him and even tore his dress. When the people thought that they were having dealings with a man called Samuel, what happened? They said he was old and they rejected him.
23. The Almighty God said, “Samuel, they did not reject you, they rejected me.” Is it not true?
24. When you reject the person God sent in your day, you have rejected God. When you receive anybody that God sends in your day, you have received God in your day for God is nothing but the messenger of your day. He carries the message of your day. Your life is tied to his message.
25. How can you say you believe God; you love God; you obey God, but you disobey the messenger? Is it true that you love God? “Anybody that rejects He who God sent,” the Scripture says, “rejects He that sent Him.”
26. How does the Word of God sound to your ears in your day? How do you receive the instructions from the vindicated messenger? Not an ordinary messenger, I mean a messenger you have substantial evidence about. You believe that he is not an impersonator. You were there and can tell the story of how the whole thing happened.
27. When St. Paul saw the whole thing, he told the people clearly, “We have not come here to seduce your hearts with great eloquence of speech, but by manifestation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience.”
28. By the manifestation of truth, over-familiarity, the simplicity of Christ in every dispensation has always corrupted the minds of His followers.
29. If you watch Barnabas, as long as he tied himself to Paul, God approved of him. But because of Paul’s simple and humble way of doing things, Barnabas found fault with him. He thought it was an easy thing to rebel against him. What happened? God pulled Paul away and Barnabas perished. That was all.
30. Do not allow yourself be corrupted by the simplicity that is in the Anointed One. It has always been like that since the world began. Whoever that bears God’s Name in every dispensation has always been drawn from among the people of that day.
31. Nobody has ever descended from the sky bearing His Name. All were drawn from among the people of that day.
32. Look at how God introduced Joshua. He said, “Joshua the son of Nor.” Any one God called, He usually added his origin; “Elijah the Tishbite.” He will tell you the name of the family and the tribe he came from to show you that they were drawn from among human beings.
33. Every prophet comes from a place, but in terms of his ministration, the place he comes from becomes immaterial. Sometimes, most of them are drawn from places that have bad records to stumble the unbelievers.
34. Your major concern is not even the Vessel bearing the Message, but the Message itself.
YOU MUST HATE GOD BEFORE YOU HATE HIS MESSAGE
However, in truth, the Message and the Messenger are one. You cannot reject the Messenger and accept the Message; for once a student hates a teacher, he must hate his subject.
36. You must hate God before you reject His Message. If you love God, you must love His Word. You will love and appreciate everything around God. You will always support everything about Him.
37. But once you hate God, you hate everything associated with God. You can be the one in this Faith that is already corrupted by the simplicity that is in Christ. Christ has become your equal. You now talk on equal terms. You can challenge Him. You can have your own reasoning different from His. You can behave the way you want; talk the way you want. He has no Lordship over you.
38. If he has Lordship over you, His word will be final in all matters pertaining to life and godliness. This is because you now know that you can do nothing without Him.
THE FEAR OF GOD IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM
The moment your heart is corrupted, the reverential fear for Him will vanish from your heart.
40. How many in this Faith still have the fear of God in them? What is the fear of God? The fear of God is to depart from evil. The fear of God is to take side with God. How many in this Faith today are rejoicing because the fear of God is still in them?
41. The moment the fear of God departs from a human being, he becomes a beast. He becomes uncontrollable.
42. Who is a child of God? A child of God is no other person than one that can be controlled by the word of God. Finish. This is because the word of God is the spirit of God. Anybody that is not controlled by the Spirit of God is not a child of God. Is it not scriptural?
43. He that is not led by the Spirit of God is not a child of God. The Spirit of God is the Word of God: “For the words I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life”, said the Lord God Almighty.
44. Then, how many people in this Faith can say that they are being controlled daily by the Word of God; that their activities are being regulated by the Word of God?
45. How many in this Faith can say that they had the opportunity to do this and that but they could not because of the fear of God? Not even one person.
46. When God says that He is not happy with the development in the Bridal Ministry, He is justified. The fear of God has left many, yet they come here paying lip service to the ministry. They come here giving the impression that they are serving God when they have not served God for one day and they are not willing to serve Him.
47. I am saying that the face of God has turned towards many for evil and not for good. The Hand of God is lifted up and who can bring it down? Who will calm down the anger of the Lord?
48. One person, two persons that will prove worthy of their calling in Christ, the anger of the Lord will calm down. Who can calm down the anger of the Lord? Who can withhold His judgement?
49. It is not coming in here and jumping up and down that matters. Tell me your problem if not the simplicity that is in Him.
50. Tell me that Sister, that Brother, whose heart is not corrupted? Are you convinced enough to say that you are the one that will hear God mention your name and you shiver and quake, kneel down and say, “God, I will never try it again?” Rather, everybody is continuing in his or her wicked ways.
CALL YOURSELF TO ORDER
Stop calling evil pleasure. Evil is pleasure to anybody that is destitute of the truth. You can do every kind of evil without restraint since the fear of God is no longer in you.
52. Even if your attention is called to the thing you are doing, you will say, “It does not matter.” You will always be ready to use others as example, “Doesn’t Brother A do it; what about Brother But”?
53. A wise man does not follow the majority when they are wrong.
54. Why not call yourself to order? Can’t you discover the extent your heart has been corrupted by the simplicity that is in Him? The same way you were raising queries against the messenger, the same way God is raising queries against you.
55. God gave many over to the spirit of corruption. You get to a point where the Almighty God Himself will hand you over to the spirit of corruption and you begin to corrupt yourselves, among yourselves.
56. God is looking for one or two persons that will calm down His wrath; that will stand in the gap.
THE NEED TO DEDICATE YOURSELF TO GOD
Have you dedicated your life for one day to Christ? Have you as a father, as a mother dedicated your life, your time to Christ for one day; or you are just coming here with your lips telling us you have dedicated your life to Christ and things like that.
58. Do you dedicate your life to Christ with ordinary mouth? Your character bears eloquent testimony that you have dedicated your life or that you have not.
59. When somebody dedicates his life to God, he is no longer the same. All his actions will tilt towards pleasing the Lord. He can never be on the way of the Lord to obstruct or to cause His Name to be blasphemed. All his desires will be to do God’s pleasure while he lives.
60. Do not allow yourself to be corrupted by the simplicity that is in Christ. Amen.
You know your problem, there is a way I will behave towards you and you will attribute it to the human-side because of what you know human-side to be. But do you know what God-side is? If you know, who taught you? If you think you know, who taught you?
You see why we try to hold our peace, but sometimes it is very difficult for man to hold his or her peace. I pity many in this Faith; especially those who come to Me and are fully acquainted with Me. If you are not careful, you can use your hand to sign your death warrant; you use your hand and sign it only for Me to confirm it.
-The Son of Man
(THE REVELATION OF LATENT POWERS)
CHAPTER 6
CHRIST IS IN YOUR HANDS TO BE TRIED
Christ is in your hand to try. The truth is that God has always vindicated Himself as a human being since the world began and the world has not ended. This is our turn. —The Son of Man
I want to show you something. There are too many Scriptures I want to show you.
2. The book of Revelation chapter 1 verse 7: “Behold He cometh with clouds and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced him and all kindred of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so Amen.”
3 Was He making reference to the world? You see, that is where they make their mistake, “Every eye will see Him.” They now believe that all human beings will see Him.
4. “Every eye” was referring to His own people. Whatever promise God makes, He makes to His people. But the emphasis is this; The Cloud will reveal Him.
5. “Behold he is coming with the cloud and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him and all the tribes of the earth shall gaze upon Him and beat their breasts up and mourn and lament over him. Even so must it be.”
6. Who could be those that pierced Him? Those that died many years ago? You are piercing Him everyday for Christ is nothing but the Word.
7. Oh, you think it is those that gathered to crucify Him in Calvary? They will be the people that will see Him and mourn? No, you are the ones. You are the one.
8. If you go to the message William Branham called COURT TRIAL, you will see where he said that Christ is in your hand. Even in the message INDICTMENT, Christ is in your hand to try. That is the Word of God.
9. What do you call Him? You pierce Him with sorrow. You pierce Him everyday because you come to Him seeing His simplicity. If not for his simplicity, nobody can approach Him, let alone piercing Him.
10. In the supernatural kingdom or estate, can anybody pierce Him? However, when He took flesh, He became an object of ridicule. He was made a caricature. He became an object of mockery because He took flesh.
11. Their minds must be corrupted by His simplicity. They could even look at Him and call Him Beelzebub; they called Him a deceiver. They said He was worthy of death.
12. Yes. Pilate said, “Look at Him; He is your townsman. I have examined; I have investigated and found out that He is innocent. According to your Law, in a feast like this, a criminal must be set free. Look at the man you brought and Banabbas, who will you like me to release to honour your Law?”
13. They said, “Release Banabbas.”
14. “What will you do with this man?” They said, “He must die.”
15. “What is your reason? “He is a man and He makes Himself God.”
16. The man said, “Okay, I will put something there: Jesus Christ, King of the Jews.” They said, “No, do not write it that way; write there that He said He is the King of the Jews.”
17. The man said, “Wot scripsi, scripsi:” what I have written, I have written. In other words, Pilate acknowledged by revelation that He was the King of the Jews; the Messiah; an innocent man that committed no crime.
18. Even if He said He is God, He is still right. “What saith the Scriptures concerning those that received the word of God? Were they not gods? Why do you then say that I am a blasphemer?”
19. They err not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God (see Matthew 22:29).
20. All those things happened so that the Will of the Father might be made manifest, for so the Father had already appointed Him before He was sent.
WRONG EXPECTATION
Luke chapter 21 verse 27: “And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”
22. They shall see who? The Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And the type of power they were interpreting was the type that will command the mountain to move; commanding River Niger to dry. Maybe the glory is commanding a great wind that will blow off this roof.
23. James and John thought that was the power. They said, “Ah! Ah! Give us the authority to bring down fire from Heaven to devour them.”
24. Jesus said, “No, this is not the spirit you received. You never received a spirit of destruction. You never received this type of worldly spirit where you will be bragging with it. You received a humble and meek spirit; a lowly spirit; a spirit that is always willing to render service; a spirit that will always say, ‘I forgive; not this destructive spirit.’”
THE SON OF MAN IS THE SUPREME DEITY
Luke chapter 21 verse 27 again: “And then they will see the Son of Man in a cloud with great transcending and overwhelming power and all His kingly glory, majesty and splendour.”
26. To God be the glory.
27. WHETHER I AM HE OR NOT, THE TRUTH REMAINS THE TRUTH.
28. What is the truth? With my eyes, I have seen the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and with great glory. With my eyes, I have seen this picture fulfilled. Whether they will believe it or not, to me it means nothing and it is upon that FOUNDATION that my building stands, by day or by night.
SATAN’S SUBTLETY
It will take somebody to go and tell Nathaniel, “We have seen the Lord; we have seen Him whom the law and the prophets foretold. We have seen Him.”
30. And when the people rushed to see Him, they saw a young man begging water from a Samaritan at the well. Tell me what you think happened afterwards.
31. There was only one thing he did that marvelled the woman. He revealed her sinful past and then she ran to the village, “Come and see the person that has told me my sinful past; is this not the Messiah? If another Messiah will come, will He do more than this?”
32. Did He remove hardship? Did He stop death? Did He give the woman husband? He only revealed what the woman did in time past and the woman queried, “If another one will come, will he do more than this? Just come and see.”
33. When they came also they saw a man waiting for water. Why couldn’t He jump into the well and then carry water and come out? That is Satan’s subtlety.
34. “If you say you are a Son of God, jump from the cliffs. After all, angels will hold you and you will not break your ribs. Why are you complaining of being hungry? Why not turn the stone into bread and begin to eat?” Can you see the subtlety that is in Satan?
35. These are the things you listen to, “If He says He is God why this, why that? If He says He is the Almighty God, why can’t He do this? Why can’t He do that?” That is the same subtlety which Satan used to seduce people in time past and each time God appears in human form, Satan will repeat the same subtlety to seduce people away from the truth.
36. The truth is that God has always vindicated Himself as a human being since the world began and the world has not ended. This is our turn.
37. In conclusion, I still repeat, “Do not allow yourself to be corrupted by the simplicity that is in Christ.” Whatever a human being is, that is what God is, plus.
38. Remain blessed in Him eternally.