PREACHED on 23rd JUNE, 2002 by the SON OF MAN (APOSTLE PETER ODOEMENA) AT THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD ONITSHA
Let me tell you; He that is teaching you has no need of someone teaching Him because He is the source of knowledge and wisdom; the beginning and the end. In Him lies the totality of what God is made up of. Believe it if you can…
— The Son of Man
(GET RID OF YOUR COMMUNITY SPIRITS)
Marriage teachings stabilize the Church, so that if you are a Brother or Sister, you will know your stand in the Church, lest you take the Word of God in vain. If you are married, you know you are married; equally, if you are not married, you are not married.
-The Son of Man
(Marriage-The Oldest Institution Ordained By God(Vol. 1)
MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE (Volume 1) by the SON OF MAN (APOSTLE PETER ODOEMENA)
PRAYER
Our Holy and Righteous Heavenly Father, Thou that created the universe and the fullness therein, Your people have come this day to learn of You, to behold Your Majesty that it might be well with them at the end.
2. They have come from diverse places expecting, O God, to receive your blessings.
3. I pray Thee, Thou that knoweth all things, understandeth all things; meet the desires of Your people today. Lord, remember the covenant we made. There is no other time this covenant should be real than this hour. All eyes are on You.
4. I am rejoicing that You have never disappointed Yourself and the expectation of your people before. Today, make it a glorious and wonderful day to them.
5. Make the weather a mild one that we may enjoy a very nice weather. In any way Satan will try to distract the attention of Your people or to distort the truth or to incite people, O God, making them to be impatient to Your Word, may he never succeed in his plans.
6. Prove Thyself to be the Almighty among Thy people. Let every flesh here young and old feel the impact of Thy presence.
7. At the end of today’s service, may we all rejoice exceedingly and say: Didn’t our hearts burn within us even when he was talking to us on the word of truth.
8. Father, to You be all glory, honour and praise through Christ our Lord. Amen.
PART ONE
THE BACKGROUND
PROLOGUE
Be seated everybody. Make sure that you are comfortably seated. Please Deacons, help them to get quietly seated. My greatest undoing today is going to be time again. Make sure that you are comfortably seated where nobody will disturb your peace because we are in the Fellowship for a purpose this day.
2. Those young men at the back, make sure you do not disturb Me there. Mothers, lay hold on your children. Please do not allow them to run around the Fellowship hall again. Time is not on our side. I do not want to notice any reckless movement at the back.
3. Wherever you are, you are still in front. Even if you like hide in the bush; you are still in front. Thus, if I pick you from the pulpit, I do not think I will pardon you so easily because the whole forces in Heaven and on Earth are all watching Me right now. All the spiritual forces are fixing their eyes on Me.
4. Let me tell you; we are shaking the powers that hold the Universe. This is because we are treading on the most dangerous ground.
5. It must take gods to worship God. This is because whatever God has produced must be god. And I say you are gods. Do not call it blasphemy; it is the truth.
6. Every tree must produce fruits after its kind. So, the Almighty, being the Great Tree must produce after His own kind—God must produce god.
7. Whether you believe it or not, whatever comes from God must be god. Any child that is of God heareth God’s Word; but the rest will not hear Him. Then how can you be of God if God is not your Father?
8. This day is one of the happiest days in the history of the Bridal Faith.
9. You see, I have to tell you so many things in this Message, but you have to be spiritually awake.
10. First of all, I do not want to be a wicked man. Let me first appreciate a good thing. I appreciate your presence in the Fellowship today—all that have come here from East, West, North and South. I am very, very happy.
11. Deacon Dan, give way from here. Find your own seat from where you can operate. Let no man deceive you there. You need today more than tomorrow because you may not have tomorrow.
12. Forget about yesterday; yesterday is gone and today is a new day with new, new things.
13. I am happy that, He that owns the Universe; who programmed us to be in His Presence this day will take care of the weather. He will equally take care of every other thing in the Fellowship.
14. I am still your Brother in the Lord. I am not in tribulation anymore. I am still your Brother in Paradise. Yes, I am saying it because my home is Paradise.
15. Hence, if your home is Paradise, my home is also Paradise. Like I said before, I am your Brother in Paradise. I am enjoying the present stage of the Ministry greatly.
16. You see, today is My day. Who are those people walking down there? Deacon Joshua, be very careful that I do not ex-communicate you today.
17. If you are manningthe gate and you are allowing people to move about anyhow, it shows that you are not doing your work. You see, Satan has cheated you there.
18. You see, looking at you, you are all with very high spirit. You are in a very high expectation. And I am happy I will meet your expectations. I am not boasting.
19. I can keep you in this Fellowship even till next week. I can keep you in this Fellowship, polish you up until you look fresh, but I will not do that this day. A day will come when we shall gather and will not part again. A day is coming; we shall gather and will not move back again.
20. That is why we are preparing ourselves so that we can dwell together in unity because Paradise starts here. If we cannot stay together in peace here, we can never stay together in Paradise because no other person is going there except you.
21. So, the person that is sitting by your side is the person that is by your side there also. For that reason, we must make sure that we are transformed in all respect. Anybody that will not be patient with Me today is the one that does not appreciate a good thing. But I believe you appreciate a good thing.
22. Do me a favour and do yourself a service. Bring out your brand new exercise book or jotter and your pen. Jot key points that will help you as constant reminders.
23. How I wish I had received this type of audience or this type of crowd from the very beginning of this Message till now. This would have saved Me the trouble of touring from one Local Assembly to the other to help you understand what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.
24. If today is your first day of being in this Church, maybe you have not fully identified with us as one of us, I am appealing to you to be patient with us. Hold your peace; follow my little encouraging advice.
25. I have told people wherever I go to be very careful. Do not call anything God or Devil so quickly. Be patient, time vindicates all things.
26. Here, we do not claim to be what we are not. We try as much as we can to be sincere to God, to all men and to have consciences void of offence before God and man; hence, we do not win anybody with flattery or claim to be your friends so that you can give us money.
27. But by manifestation of the truth, we confirm in the hearts of all that we are able ministers of the New Testament.
28. To you that is an old timer, do not allow Satan to fool you into thinking that you have known everything. Any knowledge that is acquired is never a waste. It must be used one day by and by.
29. Within these two months now, I have tried my best to lay a solid foundation for the truth. This matter we are going to approach today, is the Son of Man’s version of the Message. Amen.
CHAPTER 1
EVER LEARNING AND NEVER COMING TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH
Every Tom, Dick and Harry needs this Message. If it is possible or if it was possible, I would have allowed the heathens to be in the Church this day.
2. You know, a time came when we invited the devil to bear witness against this world that they do not know their God. They have been praying all the while waiting for God, but when God appeared, they called Him Beelzebub; they called Him a mad man; they called Him all sorts of names but the Devil recognized Him and called Him the Son of the Most High God, but the people He came to save, who said they knew God called Him Devil.
3. It is repeating again in our day. They have been fasting and praying, having their vigils; everyday you will hear: “Thy Kingdom come; Thy Kingdom come; Thy Kingdom come.” When will that Kingdom come?
4. Watch, they said they believed Christ, but they did not believe His Word. He told them: “Lo, the Kingdom of God cometh not with visible signs that can be observed by human beings, but I say unto you, the Kingdom of God is already here and with you,” yet people are still praying: “Let Thy Kingdom come. As it was in Heaven, so shall it be on Earth.”
5. Where is Heaven? They say it is in the sky. Well, I thank God. Since the world began, no being has ever lived in the sky. Even the Almighty never lived in the sky and will never live in the sky.
6. That is religion and there is no truth in it. They do not know where God has made His dwelling place.
7. From the beginning of the world, Zion has remained the dwelling place of God and Zion is not in the sky. Did you get the Message?
8. How I wish I am to thrill you again on that. The same people will come and say, “Abraham’s blessings are mine; I am blessed in the morning; I am blessed in the evening, Abraham’s blessings are mine.”
9. They will still quote Scriptures that if you are in Christ, that you are Abraham’s descendants and heirs according to the Promise. So, you cannot be heir outside the Promise. You must be heir according to the Promise.
10. Hence, anybody waiting for anything which God never promised is waiting in vain. Then, the great questions arise: “What and what did God promise Abraham which you are co-heirs to if you belong to Christ? Did He promise Abraham any place in the sky?
11. He told Abraham: “Come, let me show you your inheritance; look towards the East, look towards the North, the West and the South; from this land down to the Nile valley, they are for you and for your descendants through out all the generations.”
12. And you are a descendant of Abraham. Do you want to live in the sky? I wish you good luck.
INHERITED RELIGION IS A DISEASE
You see, people are crazy, ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. They do not know that from the beginning of Creation, the first human beings God created were Africans.
14. I said, ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. They do not know that the Garden of Eden is located in the Eastern part of Egypt, a little across the Mediterranean Sea.
15. They were enjoying the Mediterranean climate and for that reason, they failed to understand that the headquarter of God has been in Africa. God has been an African, yet they do not know: “Out of Egypt, I called my son.” They do not know what is taking place.
16. You do not know that the first human being God created did not live anywhere in the sky. He lived on Earth; walked on Earth and even tilled the land for he was a farmer and God was there with him, fellowshipping with him everyday here on Earth. They do not know that.
17. They are ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of truth. Why? This is because of religion. They misinterpreted Theology. Inherited religion is a disease. People inherit religion without taking time to investigate, to ascertain the truth thereof. They just inherited it like that.
18. That is why the Bible said, “Our fathers inherited lies and falsehoods that contained no truth and they passed them unto their children and their children’s children even till today.” That is why God’s children have remained few; very few.
19. I will touch on that as we continue in this Message.
20. If you had sent your representatives this way from the time I started the Message on MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE which is the bane of our society, where Satan has defeated the entire world and then rendered the Church ineffective and powerless, it would have benefited you better.
WHY PEOPLE COME TO CHURCH
The moment the families are destabilized, the society is destabilized, the Church will be defeated for the Church is the aggregate of families. No one came from the sky. We all came into this Fellowship from families.
22. If your family is bad; mine is bad and we come into the Fellowship to worship, this Church must be bad by and by. If your family is good, mine is good and we all come into the Fellowship to worship, this Church will be a good one. It is applicable to the society.
23. You see, let Me say few things here. People come to Church for many reasons. I will touch on the most annoying reasons. It annoys Me and the Spirit that is talking to the Churches, that people come to Church for social interactions.
24. It is very wrong, and because of this wrong notion about the Church, they cannot make any headway. They just want people to gather on the day that they will die and give them what they call: a befitting burial. Satan has cheated such people.
25. They do not know that if the whole world will gather to bury a man, he does not know anything about it and by and by, the dead must be buried by all means. If you cremate the body like Bakassi Boys or throw it into the river like some countries do or, you bury it in the ground, no matter the way you bury the corpse, it has no other name than “burial.”
26. There are some countries that do not bury in the ground. They cremate dead bodies. Is it not burial? So, I am saying that even if my corpse is abandoned on the streets, just give it four days, decomposition will set in. Scavengers will come and give me automatic burial.
27. If I am abandoned in my family by my relations because of my Faith (Church), surely, six days, I will scare all of them away. I will even cause them to be arrested by the Police for allowing Me to pollute the air. Hence, I will be given a forced burial by and by.
28. Even if they bury me in anger, because, to them, they claim I am useless, I would not know. I do not care how you bury Me—whether in anger or in mockery, burial is burial.
29. Thus, anybody coming to Church for that type of social interaction where you will be given a “befitting burial” when you die, you have missed it all.
30. Another annoying side is this: People come to Church just to make some business contacts; to advertise their businesses. That is why you see them exchanging complementary cards in the Church, turning the Church into a business centre. They miss the whole idea.
31. If you are a seed of God, the essence of your coming to Church is basically for your “spiritual uplift.” This is because when you come face-to-face with God in His sanctuary, in the congregation of the Saints, you can never remain the same anymore. You can never go home the same.
EVERY TRUE SEED OF GOD IS PART OF GOD
You see, it is my habit to give you the Word first. If you gladly receive the Word, then in appreciation, you can gladly give your offering.
33. But if when the Word goes forth, you say: “Tufiakwa” (God forbid it), you have no right to give your offering. This is because if you do that, it simply means that you are supporting an evil cause.
34. So, you must hear the Message first. If it is the truth, then you must appreciate it by giving your offering to God. However, if it is not true, you just pocket your offering. This is because you are not supposed to be found guilty of supporting evil.
35. God helping Me, I will try as much as I can to cut the Message short. Once I PASS THE REVELATION across, I will halt it there.
36. Looking into the Church, I can see different faces. Some have come to see the Man that is claiming to be what He is not; a blasphemer; a madman; an anti-Christ. Some have come to see whether the buildings will shake when He speaks; whether He will be performing miracles, signs and wonders to convince them that His claim is not false.
37. Some are in the Fellowship even to confirm their faith that they have not believed in vain, while some are in the Fellowship because they are already a part of Him.
38. Let Me explain what I mean. Every true Elect of God is a part of God; and he is always a part of whatever God is doing in his day. I have always told you and I will repeat it: Every true Elect of God in every dispensation must be positionally placed where he will not only recognize what God is doing in his day, but he will also be a part of what God is doing in his day no matter how far he is located.
39. A young Pentecostal man was talking to Me the other day—well, I respected his views. He talked and talked and talked and talked. As My manner is—you know every man is entitled to his own opinion and as far as I am concerned, I believe strongly in criticism.
40. Criticize Me if you can; it is your right. If you are wise, you will engage in “constructive” criticism and not in “destructive” criticism. Destructive criticism means speaking evil of things you do not know. This is because if you do that, you are in danger of condemnation.
GOD IS DWELLING AMONG MEN
When a man comes to a point where he sees himself as a repository of all knowledge, that is where he starts dying and this is the problem of the society. They have religiously come to the point where they think that they have known everything about God and even what God is going to do in the future.
42. Thus, if you declare to them whatever God is doing in their day, as long as it beats their imagination, they will not say they do not believe it; they will say it is devilish. This happens that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, for the Almighty said, “Lo, I will work a work in your day which even if it is explained to you, you will not believe.”
43. He went further to say, “I will do a new thing in your day; no matter the way it is explained to you, you will never believe it.” Did He say what that new thing will be? Can God do a new thing without using a human being?
44. We have to be very careful while following this God lest He turns round to destroy us for Joshua told the people of Israel: “This same God you claim to serve, this same God will destroy you if you are not careful.” They call God Omniscient and yet they limit Him by saying, “God cannot do it; I know my God; my God cannot do it.”
45. If God does it, will you slap Him? God specializes in doing those things you think He cannot do. God is an expert in doing unimaginable things and in giving unimaginable instructions. So, you must be very careful while following this God that is revealed in our day.
46. It has been like that in all the ages. See the foolishness of man; he was told, “Behold, I will show you a sign; a virgin shall conceive and give birth to a child. Ye shall call His Name not only Emmanuel but also, Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Son of God, Everlasting Father.”
47. The same man was called Emmanuel which when interpreted means: GOD IS WITH US. Therefore, He is no longer in any place they were thinking that He would be. He is now among men. GOD IS DWELLING AMONG MEN.
48. In other words, “Lo, the Kingdom of God is among men. God is now in His Kingdom and the same Scripture says, “At a time they know it not, suddenly, He appeared in His temple.”
49. Do you know that He came suddenly in the temple and was having fellowship with His people? The religious Jews, instead of recognizing Him, carried the Scriptures and searched it everyday to know what the prophet said will be the sign of His coming when He was already fellowshipping in the temple. That was complete blindness.
50. Before they knew it, they heard, “He has come, He has gone.” It was the same thing that happened in the days of John the Baptist. They came to Jesus and said, “The prophet said Elias must come first.” Jesus replied, “Truly, Elias must come first, but I want to tell you that he has come and he has gone. Believe it if you can, John the Baptist is Elijah.”
51. He did not say he is “like;” it is not spirit and power. He said, “is.” But they were waiting for a man with a white dress. Even John the Baptist buttressed it. When they were coming to the wilderness, he said, “What manner of person have you come to see? A man dressed in white raiment?” He discerned their hearts.
52. If he came resembling Elijah with the mantle of Elijah, bearing the name Elijah, all of them would have bowed down, but he came contrary to their expectation. They could not understand what took place. What they heard was: “He has come and he has gone.”
53. Just a little while, all eyes will see, all ears will hear; every tongue shall say, “Son of Man, Lord, how wonderful is your Name.”
54. Just a little while, time will vindicate us. Time vindicates all things. That is why we do not speak to win the approval of anybody or to command anybody’s respect; no. Even your membership in this Faith is even hateful in the sight of God.
55. That you are in our midst is a problem to Me because I will remain guilty until I translate you into the Kingdom of His Dear Son.
EVERY MAN MUST GO THE WAY HE IS ORDAINED
Like I was saying earlier on before I digressed, the Pentecostal young man was talking to Me and he said, “Sir, I respect your vision. You see, it is written in the Holy Bible that in the last days, many false brethren shall come and deceive many. They shall perform many signs and wonders that if it is possible the elect will be deceived.”
57. I said, “Sir, wait a little there. Underline that sentence, ‘IF IT IS POSSIBLE, the elect will be deceived.’”
58. Then he said that the Bible said, “When you shall hear: ‘Lo, He is there, do not go. Lo, He is the other way, do not go. As lightning flashes from one end of the Earth to another, so shall be the sign of the coming of Son of Man.”
59. I said, “Yes, have you finished quoting the Scriptures? I can understand the spirit that is talking to Me. It has never changed. I can hear him clearly, but can you give Me a little patience to pick your Scriptures.”
60. He said, “Speak on.” I said, “Okay. If it possible the Elect will be deceived. Thus, from that passage, every other person in the world must be deceived except the Elect. So, it is impossible to deceive the Elect.” It hooked him.
61. I continued, “I will talk to you about Election, Calling, Adoption and Predestination. Then, I will finish it with Eternal Security, but time will not permit you to give Me audience. But let Me keep it aside. If you were present when Jesus Christ appeared and He was there in Nazareth, if you were in Egypt and you heard that Christ appeared in Nazareth, you would not have gone there. You would have stayed in Egypt waiting for Him to crossover to Egypt.”
62. I said, “Now, let Me help you; the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. Jesus Christ said that the Queen of Sheba will rise up in judgment to condemn this generation; that when she heard about the Wisdom of Solomon, she did not relax. She travelled a long distance down to Israel to behold the wisdom of a man called Solomon. but I tell you, greater than Solomon is here. GREATER THAN SOLOMON IS HERE and yet people find it very difficult to travel long distances to come and behold His Glory.”
63. Do you know that people are foolish? They are ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. Now, let me throw something out to some of our newly baptized believers and our friends that are in this Church to investigate the truth.
64. You see, it is in accordance with our Faith. We tell people wherever we go: “Don’t just believe because we are saying it; take your time; investigate it, scrutinize it, find out for yourself whether it is true or false. And until you are convinced, do not show any concern.”
65. Do not allow anybody to intimidate you into believing that you are going to Hell. You cannot go to Hell unless you are ordained to go to Hell because every man must go the way he is ordained.
66. If you are not ordained to Hell, you cannot go to Hell. That you do not believe today does not mean you will not believe tomorrow. Maybe your own hour has not yet come. Then you will be behaving like Saul of Tarsus who was persecuting truth temporarily, waiting for his own hour. At the appointed time, rebellion stopped.
67. When he was teaching, he told everybody that God ordained him, called him, chose him even from his mother’s womb for the sake of the preaching of this Gospel. Was he not the one persecuting the truth? Yet God chose him from his mother’s womb for the sake of this truth.
68. Everything has time. You could not have come in before the time you came in. If you rush into this Faith when your time is not yet come, you are going to leave us. Until your own time comes, you will not come and abide.
69. Some people come into the Ministry to examine us and feel very happy that we are still in the Faith. They want to make sure that we have not left. They are monitoring strictly. Something is telling them that they are a part of this Family.
70. Thus, from time to time, they will come, nose round and then go away to continue in whatever they are doing. Their time to come and abide is not yet come. Once the time comes, nobody will bring them into the Faith; you see them gently coming in.
71. What am I trying to say? This young man believes that Jesus Christ is coming again in a corporal body and all eyes will see Him. Fine! In the First Advent, He came in a corporal body; did all eyes see Him?
72. I gave the man a little illustration. I said, “My friend, if you cannot understand physical illustration, I will not talk to you on spiritual matters for that will destroy you before your time. Let me use what you can see.”
73. I continued, “If an aeroplane is landing in Enugu now, can you see that aeroplane from Onitsha? If it is landing in Lagos, can you see it?” He paused a little.
74. I took off again, “I want to ask you one more question; do you know that when we are greeting ‘Good morning’ in Nigeria, some countries are greeting, ‘Good night?’ Some are saying ‘Good afternoon?’”
75. He said, “Yes, it is true.” I asked again, Assuming Jesus Christ is coming down now in Israel—maybe in Judah—do you think somebody in Samaria will see Him?” It was there that the discussion ended.
“LIGHTNING”—EXPLAINED
Let me tell you something about the lightning. Once you see lightning, you anticipate rainfall. The lightning does not exceed the zone for that rainfall. I am saying that it is the lightning that draws the barrier for the rainfall. That is why it can rain in Onitsha, it may not rain in Benin; it can rain at Ore, yet it will not rain in Lagos. People in Ore will see lightning, but people in Lagos will not see lighting.
77. Thus, there is no lightning that crosses from one end of the Earth to another. You err not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God. You will keep on holding the Bible until you hear: “He has come, he has gone.” It has always been like that; holding the Bible, yet missing God.
CHAPTER 2
GOD IS A MAN
The Lord God will do nothing but He revealeth His Will to His servants, the prophets,” according to Amos chapter 3 verse 7.
2. Believe the prophets and ye shall be established. By a prophet, the Lord brought His people out of the land of bondage; by a prophet, He preserved His people. And the Church is built upon the foundations of the Apostles and the Prophets, Christ being the Chief Corner Stone.
3. No other foundation can any man lay than that which is laid already who is Christ. Hence, God is revealing to His Church in these last days things He never revealed to our fathers through His servants, the Apostles and the Prophets in accordance with the Holy Scriptures as we can see in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 5.
4. “Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.”—Ephesians 3 verse 5 (KJV).
5. Things that were not revealed in the days of our fathers are being made known to us in these last days. God really loves us.
6. Religion has been the greatest instrument in the hands of Satan to deceive the world. The greatest deceit the world is passing through is religious deceit and that was what took place in the Garden of Eden; Satan subjecting the woman in an argument, holding the subject, but neglecting the truth.
7. So, run away from somebody who will draw you into long arguments with the subject abandoning the truth. We are not in the Ministry to argue with anybody. I will preach the truth and you will behave the way you want.
8. All the while, I have used the prophetic utterances or predictions of William Branham, the prophet; the Seventh Angel Messenger that foreran this Message. I have used some of his prophetic messages to build up your faith. I have used some verses of the Scriptures to confirm the Faith.
9. Now, I am talking to you face-to-face in accordance with the Scriptures that God at sundry times, in diverse ways, spoke unto the fathers using dreams, visions, prophesies and similitude, and often times, face-to-face.
10. In these last days, He is now talking to us face-to-face using the Son of His pleasure. And we are wondering: “Who is this Son of Man that He is mindful of Him, that He has committed into His hands, all that made Him God? Who is this man?”
11. As Jonah was a sign to Nineveh, so shall this Son of Man be a sign to this generation; God in human form; God in a badger skin before the fire falls. It has been like that. I am talking to My people; I am not talking to foreigners. You can be a foreigner in this Faith.
I AM HANDING OUT A VINDICATED MESSAGE
I am not referring anything to you, but if you see it as truth, it is okay. If you see it as a lie, no problem. But to my people, what I am going to say, it is not negotiable. They know more than that because they know the Source of the Message.
13. I am not preaching a Message that is going to be confirmed. I am preaching a VINDICATED Message.
14. When the Angel came down, the whole world saw the constellation of the Pillar of Cloud descending and ascending and it was photographed before so many witnesses and the Voice said something which the Bride is rejoicing with.
15. In your own day also, you were privileged to hear the same Voice: “Come this day; bring your cameras and you will see He that has been dealing with you all these years to banish unbelief.” And when you came with your cameramen, were you disappointed?
16. I am handing out a vindicated Message. That is why I preached a sermon titled: BECAUSE I AM INVOLVED. I am not pointing you to the Pillar of Cloud there neither do I point you to the Shekinah Light because I am the One there.
17. I am pointing you there because you know it is the truth and you can cast your minds back to that great day you beheld His Majesty. Then you can flash you minds back to events that culminated into that invitation. Too many things happened before innumerable witnesses.
I HAVE WON THE BATTLE
Let me tell you; I am indebted to the whole world. I am a debtor to the world, especially to the Elect who have pinned their hope on Me. Believe it if you can; in Me, all the Gentiles must pin their hope. I said, believe it if you can. If you cannot, call it an empty boast. It is only time that will vindicate all things.
19. So, I am a debtor until I have finished my cause and end it with joy which I am doing this day. What I am going to say in this Message has taken the lives of so many people. Many prophets died because of it. This is because you can never run from the Presence of God and get away with it.
20. Where are you going to run to and the Lord will not catch you? Nowhere. I thank God it behoves on Me to finish the race. And I have given My opponents a very big distance. If I look behind, I do not see any sign of any other person coming and no other person is coming. Hence, I am now entertaining everybody.
21. I have won the battle. The angels are rejoicing because I did not disappoint them. I am sure and certain about it. All the while, I have used Prophetic Messages; I have used the Scriptures the much I know that you will agree with Me; because I have brought you to a fanatical composition.
22. I have brought you to a fanatical level where I should be in trouble if I say things that you know you cannot believe. I know what I am saying.
THERE IS NOTHING A MAN CAN CONTRIBUTE TO HIS SALVATION
The way they were holding the Bible made Me to understand the way they esteemed the Bible. But I know very well that whatever people esteem very highly is an abomination in the sight of God—I know that.
24. The highest book in the whole world that is highly esteemed is the Bible. The greatest abominable book in the whole world is the Bible. Nothing hinders the people from believing God more than the Bible they met in their day.
25. When Jesus Christ appeared, the Bible Moses left could not allow them to believe Jesus Christ; hence, they could come to Him quoting the same Bible. Jesus Christ wanted to tell them the truth, they retorted, “We are Moses’ disciples; concerning this man, we do not know him.”
26. They would come to Jesus Christ, open their mouths: “Moses told us; the Law said, but what do you say?”
27. The same Bible said that they would ask the question tempting Him. And Jesus Christ knowing more than that, fired them back with questions: “Are you the only lawyers that know the Law, that does not know about the Ten Commandments? Thou shall not kill; thou shall not steal; thou shall not commit adultery; why did you call me here now? Okay, go and sell everything you have and follow me.”
28. Anybody He does not want to save, He gives him “cost of discipleship.” But to the Elect discipleship costs nothing; salvation costs nothing.
29. There is nothing a man can contribute to his salvation. You contribute nothing. If He does not give His enemies cost of discipleship, all of them will follow Him. So, to trim down the crowd, He will give them cost of discipleship.
30. When he met Zacchaeus, did he give him any cost of discipleship? What about Mary Magdalene? What about others that came to Him? Maybe you do not know that Baptism is for unbelievers. It is hard to believe. That is not the reason for this Message.
31. Who baptized Peter? In whose name? Who baptized John, James, Nathaniel, Bartholomew, Andrew? In whose name was Mary Magdalene baptized? Who baptized Zacchaeus? Let me stop there.
32. Salvation is the same. Hold your peace. Let Me go straight away.
THERE IS NOTHING YOU ARE HEARING NOW THAT IS NOT FORETOLD
All of you from other Local Churches, do yourselves a favour. Any money spent in dubbing your tapes is not a waste. Be very sure that you are up-to-date as far as this Message of MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE is concerned.
34. After this Message, I am only holding just one mystery, and that mystery will not be revealed until all the families are fully ransomed; until the whole Churches are fully ransomed.
35. In that mystery, is all that you have been dying for—just one little thing and once it is revealed, you look around yourself; you may be wondering: “What is taking place? What is this all about?” You will say, “That is what they were saying now. One thing, little thing.” It is stage by stage.
36. In the year 2001, I told you in this Faith, “Do not destroy yourselves because of the Message of Grace. Something sweeter than Grace is on the way; something more enjoyable than Grace is on the way.”
37. Today, all that have believed the present stage are testifying that something sweeter than Grace is here already. I was discussing with a Sister and that Sister was weeping the first day she heard this Message; she wept badly.
38. I said, “This thing that is making you weep, will make you laugh, but be patient.”
39. So, the Sister came to Me and said, “Sir, how I wish I am a man. If I have my way to the pulpit, I will announce it and say, ‘Brethren, with what are we going to thank the Son of Man? Are we going to buy a cow or a horse? He has settled the battle. This is because He brought this Message at a time when almost all the families had become hopelessly hopeless.”
40. The wine in marriage was completely finished. Every family was making a noise. Exactly that time, the Wine Presser stepped in, in fulfilment to His Message which he preached in 1993: WHEN THE WINE IS FINISHED, INVITE THE WINE PRESSER;it wason a Tuesday. Then on Thursday, He crowned it with a Message titled: FOLLOWING CHRIST IN TIME OF CRISIS.
CALL ME BAD
There is nothing that you are hearing now that was not foretold. You remember the day I went into evangelical message titled: CALL ME BAD.
42. I am bad; call Me bad. I mean am bad. I know more than that because I am raising the worst radical boys, radical girls and women in this Faith and I am making them hostile to every false religion; making it impossible for any of them to be associated with anything evil. I am bad.
43. That is why I watch over My flock everyday with Godly jealousy, not willing that any of them should be snatched out of my hand and I make sure that I inject something into everyone of them that will make it impossible for them to kiss another Faith.
44. There is nobody in this Faith that can commit fornication; nobody.
45. I am challenging everybody now. Let me show you few things from the prophets. I believe you will agree with Me that the Message will not be too long. There is no way I can speak on MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE and exhaust it without taking my time to give you the picture of what a godly home is all about; so that when you arrive at it, you do not need a prophet to tell you that you have arrived.
46. A Brother was telling us something at Owerri; he said, “I have to say this; what is happening in my home now between me and my wife, there is nothing to be compared with it. The only time, I have been privileged to experience it was within the first two weeks of our marriage. I can say now that what I am passing through now with my wife is better than that experience because what is happening now is what we are doing by revelation; but that time, we were doing it without revelation.”
47. I said, “Brother, do you know what you are saying? You are rejoicing that God has restored you back to your first love. That is what you are enjoying.”
48. I will say something there. Please, do not kill Me, but take note. Amen.
PART TWO
CHAPTER 1
A WOMAN IS DESIGNED FOR SEX ACT
Let us go into the message of William Branham titled: MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE, page 38. Remember, this Message, the prophet said should not be preached until it is revealed.
2. Let me show you something first on page 43, paragraph 4: “Now, on the marriage and divorce, see, it has to be revealed. Until it is revealed, you do not know. But He promised in these last days, in this age, that every hidden mystery in the Bible will be revealed. How many know that? Until it is revealed, no man knows anything about it.”
3. Let me show you another thing he said about the hour we are in, in the same message. Page 49, second paragraph: “It wasn’t so from the beginning; that’s right. It was not so and it will not be at the end. But under modern conditions, as God’s servant, I won’t call myself His prophet, but I believe that if I won’t be sent for that, I am laying a ground for Him when He does come.”
4. “Now, that is a true woman. A true woman, virgin, that marries her husband and leaves and she is a blessed thing to the man, If God should give His son any better thing than a wife, he would have give that to him. But she is designed to be a sex act, and no other animal is designed like that.”
5. No other animal is designed to be a sex act than a woman. In other words, a woman is the only thing God created to have sex for fun and not necessarily for procreation. Other animals meet for procreation but a woman is designed to have it anytime she desires.
6. You watch other animals, once they become pregnant, the sex stops, but it is not so with the woman.
7. Remember I told you in my Messages that the most beautiful female God created is a woman. You check other animals, the male is beautiful, but the female one is very ugly. When it comes to human beings, the woman is more beautiful; well designed.
8. Why? She was formed. She was not created. She was not in the original creation. A woman is not the original creation. A woman is formed, but the man is the original creation. That was why Satan could not act on the man, but Satan found it convenient to act on the woman because of her weakness. She was a by-product; not the original creation.
9. Do not worry. I told you that we would rehearse a few things.
10. Because a woman was a by-product; not the original creation, she was found in transgression. The man never committed any sin. That was why the Lord never cursed the man. But God cursed the woman and cursed the land because of the man.
11. Man could not commit sin. That is why God said, “I do not permit a woman to speak or to usurp authority. She should learn in silence because the first time she spoke, she turned things upside down.”
12. The first time a woman became an evangelist she was deceived. That was why the Bible said that the woman was found in transgression and not the man. For that reason, God stopped the woman from speaking.
13. Remember I told you that by nature, nothing stoops so low as a woman. God made a woman to stoop very low—physically and otherwise. By right, a woman can only walk erect when she is walking in the midst of her fellow women. But, if she is walking in the midst of men, she must stoop low for that is her position.
14. Every woman is created with shamefacedness. Any woman that can look at a man with menacing eyes, focusing on his eyes, is a Jezebel. A woman is created with shamefacedness, with sobriety. She is to learn in silence.
15. When I explained stooping low, I touched on so many areas, the Holy Spirit bearing Me witness with your spirit that you are not deceived.
GOD OPERATES IN NATURE
Nature speaks more than any other thing.
16. You know, one of the crimes Jesus Christ committed as recorded in the archaeological parchments and the Talmud of the Sanhedrin recorded by Caiaphas, the high priest, was that His message was suited to human nature and that He used nature in His message more than any other thing.
18. Yes, the first Bible that God sanctioned was NATURE; which is ZODIAC. If there is any perfect Bible, it is nature.
19. Recently, the Holy Spirit differentiated three things: The Bible will give you a habit; religion will give you a culture; worshipping God reveals your nature.
20. God operates in nature. God does not operate in habit; He does not operate in culture; God operates in nature.
21. Thus, the woman God gave to man is just a sign for something: sex act—that is all. She is well suited for that.
22. Look, I am teaching mature children of God. I am not playing in this Message. You have to be very careful in this Message.
23. I am not speaking on this Message for a child’s play; I am speaking on this Message for something serious. You must hear a little from the prophet before I will speak on the Message.
24. Remember, this is your own day and you must recognize your own day and its own Message. The Message of your day is in the Messenger of your day.
25. “If God could give his son any better thing than a wife to his son He would have give that to him, but she is designed to be a sex act.”
26. This is what I have confirmed before. The next thing God gives a man after his salvation is a wife.
27. After your salvation, the next valuable thing God gives a man is a wife. Remember some weeks ago, I told you what a wife is all about: As expensive as a wife; as enjoyable as a sister; as loving and caring as a mother.
28. Any wife that does not play the role of a mother to the husband, a sister to the husband and a wife to the husband, is not worthy to be married. She is not marriageable.
29. Every virtuous wife fulfils these three very important roles. Who would not be happy with that type of wife? Somebody you look at, you see your sister; you cherish her. You turn the other way, you see your mother, and she says, “Darling, what is wrong with you today? Are you having headache? Let me go and bring some drugs? What type of food do you need? Is it Ofe nsala? Okay, do not worry, it will be ready”—that is a mother.
30. If you look around, you could see vehicles, or even a ship. But you watch and ask: “What is the most expensive thing I have purchased in life? I think it is this machine that is raising these children: this machine, this treasure, this is my highest investment.”
31. The highest treasure I have in my house is my wife. People abuse their marriages because they do not know the importance of marriage. They do not know what a wife is all about. Amen.