Embark on a profound exploration of the apostolic faith as conveyed by Brother William Branham, where we scrutinize the depths of doctrines that have stirred the hearts of believers. In our latest episode, we traverse the landscape of the Serpent Seed, dissect the enigma of predestination, and seek to comprehend the transformative New Birth experience. With the guidance of scriptural truths and the prophetic backdrop of Malachi 4, we venture into a theological odyssey designed to deepen your understanding of the divine.
We raise the curtain on the Serpent Seed doctrine, challenging traditional interpretations with a fresh lens on biblical symbolism and the origins of good and evil. Our discourse delves into the narrative of Cain and Abel, proposing a perspective that intersects the historical with the spiritual. The journey continues with a robust debate on predestination, where we juxtapose Augustine's and Pelagius's views with the fiery discourses of the Reformation, aiming to strike a harmony between divine sovereignty and human free will.
As we draw our conversation to a close, we reflect on the sanctity of the New Birth and the vital structure of church and home as outlined in the scriptures. We underscore the pivotal roles of elders and apostles in the early Christian church, emphasizing the Holy Spirit's guidance in the life of the congregation. Your engagement is invaluable—share your questions, insights, and personal testimonies, and together we'll nurture a community anchored in the message of the hour. Join us for this spiritual voyage and let the teachings of Brother William Branham illuminate your path.
Embark on a profound exploration of the apostolic faith as conveyed by Brother William Branham, where we scrutinize the depths of doctrines that have stirred the hearts of believers. In our latest episode, we traverse the landscape of the Serpent Seed, dissect the enigma of predestination, and seek to comprehend the transformative New Birth experience. With the guidance of scriptural truths and the prophetic backdrop of Malachi 4, we venture into a theological odyssey designed to deepen your understanding of the divine.
We raise the curtain on the Serpent Seed doctrine, challenging traditional interpretations with a fresh lens on biblical symbolism and the origins of good and evil. Our discourse delves into the narrative of Cain and Abel, proposing a perspective that intersects the historical with the spiritual. The journey continues with a robust debate on predestination, where we juxtapose Augustine's and Pelagius's views with the fiery discourses of the Reformation, aiming to strike a harmony between divine sovereignty and human free will.
As we draw our conversation to a close, we reflect on the sanctity of the New Birth and the vital structure of church and home as outlined in the scriptures. We underscore the pivotal roles of elders and apostles in the early Christian church, emphasizing the Holy Spirit's guidance in the life of the congregation. Your engagement is invaluable—share your questions, insights, and personal testimonies, and together we'll nurture a community anchored in the message of the hour. Join us for this spiritual voyage and let the teachings of Brother William Branham illuminate your path.
God sent Brother William Branham with a message to restore the elect back to the original faith of the apostles. This message was thoroughly vindicated by God. Unfortunately, we have two sides that have made a mistake when approaching this message those that take his every word as another Bible and those that reject him as a false teacher. God's purpose was to open the revelation of scripture to our hearts, not to create a new Bible, but to make the Bible that we have now new to us, so that we would have the true revelation and understanding of it. In the last podcast episode, I went through an overview of the message, a biblical overview of the message that God sent to us through his prophet, and I covered Malachi 4, parable of the Ten Virgins, water, baptism, godhead and Modesty. In this episode, I want to go through Serpent, seed Predestination, the New Birth and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, the Evidence of the Holy Ghost, the Order of the Home and the Sovereignty of the Local Church. Remember, though, that the prophet pointed us to Jesus Christ, and he didn't care if no one remembered his name, as long as they remembered the truth of who Jesus Christ. And he didn't care if no one remembered his name, as long as they remembered the truth of who Jesus Christ is. My purpose in this podcast is to give a very brief overview of each doctrine so that you would receive an understanding of what the message is all about. May God richly bless you is all about. May God richly bless you, mars.
Speaker 1:It's time to get started on another journey into the heart of God's Word. If it's your desire to grow in Revelation and see the message in the light of the Bible, you're in the right place. Today, brothers and sisters, we delve into the Scripture, guided by the extraordinary revelations that God chose to unveil through Brother William Marion Branham, a messenger with a unique calling to fulfill Malachi 4 and Revelation 10-7 and unlock the secrets of the end time message. Our purpose isn't to have another basic Bible study. We're going to dig deep and peel back the layers of prophecy, decoding the signs and perhaps discovering how the Bible resonates within the very fabric of our present day and time. In this podcast, my purpose is to help you grow in your faith through solid Bible teaching through the lens of the message of Malachi 4. So grab your Bible, a cup of coffee and let's get started. And remember that your feedback, testimonies, questions and prayer requests are always welcome. Please send them on social media or at jasondemarscom.
Speaker 1:Before we go into today's episode, I want to share something with you. Head over to jasondemarscom, where I'm giving away free books. These books have been ordered by believers around the world and many testimonies have been given about the great blessing they have been. I also want you to know that, by God's grace and provision, we are also covering the shipping costs. Free books and free shipping. My purpose is not to sell books, but to proclaim the message of the hour free of charge. I've written these books to build your faith, increase your spiritual revelation and be a witness for God's message in the end time. Here's a list of a few of them A summary of the Revelation of the Seven Seals, the end time message handbook, the mystery of the Malachi for Elijah, holiness to the Lord and foundations. Head over to jasondemarscom right now and claim your free books.
Speaker 1:With that said, let's get into today's podcast. Shalom and good morning and good afternoon, good evening. Whenever you're listening to this. May the Lord richly bless you. Thank you so much for listening in. If you like our content and the podcast and you're blessed by it, please remember to like, share, subscribe and forward this on to your friends. We certainly appreciate that, as we talk about throughout the podcast, you can get free books and pray for us with that. We've been blessed and had an abundance of orders well over 300 orders in the month of April and thousands of book requests. And again, they're free and shipping is free. So if you appreciate that ministry and you want to help me keep that going, there's a way to support that at jasondemarscom. We certainly appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Let's go right into our subject Number one. When we understand and look at this I'm going to cover this again as I did last time there's a place, as we reviewed before, that the Bible promises that the church would be restored back to the original faith. All Protestants believe that the church fell away from the original faith. All Protestants believe that the church fell away from the original faith and that a reformation was necessary. But as this process began, we must realize it was a process that had begun and the need was to go entirely back to the original faith, not partway.
Speaker 1:The purpose was not to create hundreds of various denominations, all with a portion of the truth. Dividing the body of Christ is a sin, according to the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians, 3 and 4. God's purpose for the church was not to divide it, but to have it to be the pillar and foundation of the truth. Instead, it has become a watered-down group that continually and slowly descends into apostasy. After having had a revelation revival, every denomination is slowly winding its way into liberalism and unbelief. But god's purpose is to bring the church higher and higher into revelation so that she can come into perfection and spotlessness, as we reviewed by the washing of the water of the word in Ephesians 5, 25 through 27.
Speaker 1:Now let's go directly into the teaching on serpent seed. All right, genesis 3.15 tells us that the serpent has a seed, or offspring. Who is that offspring? The Bible clearly reveals this truth and it's really incredible. All right, but before we go there, let's look at it Eating apples. Now, in the opening chapters of the Bible, we see a curious story that to many seems far-fetched. It seems, maybe, like it's mythology. Artists and theologians have depicted a story of a literal tree that can give you immortality, apples or some type of fruit that are sinful to eat, and a talking snake. But is it possible that, if you examine this, that the truth is actually hidden in plain sight? That the truth is actually hidden in plain sight and that this story is in fact figurative or in parable format. Now, before we go there, I want to mention this is that I believe in the literal history of Genesis. I also believe that Genesis sometimes speaks in careful language that both hides or conceals and reveals the truth.
Speaker 1:Notice what the Lord Jesus says about eating. Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts. Murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander these are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone. Matthew 15, 17 through 20. It's not eating that causes us to be defiled, but the actions that come from our heart. Eating apples did not defile Eve and, in turn, adam.
Speaker 1:I want to point out to you some very interesting points through scripture, and perhaps God will use them to reveal the truth. Proverbs 30.20 says this is the way of an adulterous woman. She eats and wipes her mouth and says I have done no wrong. So here we see that Solomon, writing in Proverbs, speaks of the adulterous act as eating All right Song of Solomon, chapter 4, verse 12. A garden locked is my sister, my bride. A spring locked, a fountain sealed. Here the bride of Solomon is spoken of as a garden. A garden is the place where a seed is planted in order to produce fruit. And Solomon's bride responds to him In chapter 4, verse 16, awake O north wind and come O south wind, blow upon my garden, let its spices flow, let my beloved come to his garden and eat its choicest fruits. In this verse, the bride refers to herself as her husband's garden. In the act, the experience together is eating, and her body parts are even referred to as fruits.
Speaker 1:Now, chapter 5, verse 1, this is the husband speaking. I came to my garden, my sister, my bride. I gathered my myrrh with my spice. I ate my honeycomb with my honey. I drank my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink and be drunk with love. In chapter 6, verse 2, the woman speaking, the bride speaking, my beloved, has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens and to gather lilies.
Speaker 1:The theme is repeated Garden eating are used in reference to the bride's body and the act of sex, so we see a clear connection there in this symbolic language, in the Garden of Eden 2 Corinthians 11, chapter 2, verse 4. For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I'm afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. Here Paul compares the betrothal of the church to Christ as a pure virgin and his concern over her being deceived into spiritual adultery with the sin of Eve in the garden, of Eve in the garden. So the concept is then that the sin that Eve committed was being deceived into adultery.
Speaker 1:Now are these then? Can we speak of these trees as literal trees? Let's read Genesis 2.9,. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Notice there are trees that grow out of the ground. They're pleasant to the sight and good for food. And then there are two other trees of which nothing is said regarding being good for food or growing out of the ground. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are both in the midst of the garden. Are they literal trees?
Speaker 1:Well, let's notice the tree of life in Revelation 2.7. He that hath an ear, let him hear in the midst of the paradise of God. If we take this absolutely literally, then we know that somewhere there's a tree of life. That's just the same that God planted it from the beginning. We can go somewhere in the earth, and maybe in the vicinity of the Middle East, and find where this tree of life is. However, let's look further Genesis 3, 22 through 24.
Speaker 1:Then the Lord God said behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat forever. Therefore, the lord god sent him out from the garden of eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the tree of life. So again, if this is a literal tree that's on earth, we should be able to find this setting someplace on planet earth. Adam was driven out of a geographical location. God placed a cherubim there to guard the tree of life, to prevent us from eating it and having eternal life. However, look at it this way, adam was created with immortality. We know this because he was told that if he did eat from the tree of knowledge, he would lose that immortality and be subject to death.
Speaker 1:Sin caused the separation from God. Now, because of sin, god was in enmity with man and we need a mediator to make peace through the blood of his cross, to join us together again with the presence of God. We cannot come into the presence of God without that blood. In Genesis 3, through sin, man is separated from a holy God, but in Revelation 2.7, we're told that through the blood of Christ we have access to immortality and eternal life. We can come into the presence of God and live for eternity.
Speaker 1:Now, the true trees that are in the midst of the garden are not literal trees in a literal garden. Rather, they're principles of God regarding the reproduction of life. They're placed in the midst of the garden of the human body. Man is no longer immortal and his children who are born are not immortal anymore either. We're all born from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and we need redemption through the blood of the cross so that we can have access to eat of the tree of life again by the new birth. We cannot produce children with eternal life, but through the grace of God we can be restored to immortality. So being refused from eating of the tree of life meant that God stripped from Adam his immortality. This tree is not a literal tree. These trees are not literal trees. They are figurative of God's principles of eternal life and of death. Now let's look at the actors in this situation.
Speaker 1:Genesis 3.1,. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said unto the woman Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of every beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said unto the woman Yea hath God said Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. So this word serpent is nachash in Hebrew. It's translated in many ways throughout scripture. It doesn't have one simple meaning. Sometimes it is brass, other times it's various animals dragons, sea serpents, snakes, crocodiles, etc. Other times it's translated as adultery. Sometimes it speaks of a soothsayer, some type of wizard. The meaning of nachash is assigned by the context that it's in. Here the nachash is more subtile than any other beast of the field. Subtile means crafty, cunning, prudent. It's clear from the context. This is not a snake.
Speaker 1:Distinguished Bible scholar and commentator Adam Clark writes in this account we find one, that whatever Nachash was, he stood at the head of all inferior animals for wisdom and understanding. Two, that he walked erect, for this is necessarily implied in his punishment On thy belly, ie on all. Fours shalt thou go. Three, that he was endued with the gift of speech for a conversation, as he related, between him and the woman. Four, that he was also endued with the gift of reason, for we find him reasoning and disputing with Eve. Five, that these things were common to this creature, the woman no doubt having often seen him walk, erect, talk and reason, and therefore she testifies. No kind of surprise when he accosts her in a language related in the text and indeed from the manner in which this is induced, it appears to be only a part of a conversation that's passed between them on this occasion. Yea hath God said, etc. Serpent was clearly the closest related animal to the human, so close that it could speak and reason and walk upright like a man, but clearly not made in the image of God.
Speaker 1:All right, now we got to our point where we started, genesis 3.15,. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring or seed and her offspring or seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. The offspring of the serpent and the offspring of the woman will have enmity between each other. The serpent has an offspring. Who is the offspring or who are the children of the serpent?
Speaker 1:First let's look at the offspring of the woman. And Adam knew his wife again and she bore a son and called his name Seth. For she said, god has pointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him, genesis 4.25. So Abel here is referred to as the offspring of the woman. Therefore, who was the offspring of the serpent? It was Cain that had a fight and murdered Abel. Ultimately, this was a prophecy of the Messiah. Jesus is the future and prophetic offspring of the woman. Who did Jesus have difficulty with? Was it boa constrictors or perhaps rattlesnakes? Of course we know from John 8 it was Pharisees. Jesus referred to them as being children of the devil. Who, then, is the offspring of the serpent?
Speaker 1:Genesis 1.11,. And God said let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. Each seed brings forth after its kind. This is a genetic fact both in botany and animal life. The parentage of the new seed is the source DNA for its descendants. Therefore, when we examine the case of Cain, we find an anomaly. God did not change the DNA of Adam and Eve after the fall. Adam was a son of God and Eve a daughter of God, both with genetics coming directly from their father.
Speaker 1:Cain manifested an evil and wicked nature, contrary to the nature of God. If Cain was a seed after his own kind, then where did this evil nature come from? 1 John 3.12 tells us not as Cain, who was of that wicked one and slew his brother, and that wherefore slew he him? Because his, his own works were evil and his brother's. Righteous Cain, is spoken of as being of or from the evil one that he was after the nature and produced by the evil one. In the genealogy of Jesus Christ in the book of Luke, each son is referred to as being of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, etc. Cain was of the evil one, the son of the evil one. Adam was not the evil one, satan is the evil one. Notice the nature of Cain. Cain was very angry. Cain murdered Abel.
Speaker 1:Cain calls the punishment of God unjust and unfair. John 8, 44, you are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. All right. So Jesus speaks of the Pharisees and Sadducees and the religious leaders who reject his message, says they're of their father, the devil. Satan was a murderer from the beginning. But remember it wasn't Satan directly who murdered, it was Cain who murdered. Thus we hear again see that Cain is the son of Satan. And the Pharisees have a curious response to Jesus you do the deeds of your father. Then said they unto him we be not born of fornication. We have one Father, even God. They are ultimately referring to the original sin that produced Cain as fornication.
Speaker 1:Now let's look at two historical references. Early church father Tertullian stated in the third century having been made pregnant by the devil, she brought forth a son in reference to Eve and Cain. Been made pregnant by the devil, she brought forth a son in reference to Eve and Cain. And in Jewish tradition you can read where Philo, the rabbi Eliezer, the Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan, asserted that Adam was not the father of Cain. Rather, eve was subject to adultery, having been seduced either by Samael, the serpent, in the Garden of Eden, or by the devil himself. And just to clarify this is that Satan entered into the spiritual creation, entered into the physical creation called the serpent that was one of the beasts of the field, as we talked about earlier, and deceived and committed adultery with Eve. The punishment for sin further proves this point.
Speaker 1:We read of the curse of the serpent. He was changed from being at the head of the animal kingdom to being the lowest, and then he was taken from walking upright to being on his belly, and his faculty of speech and reason was also removed and enmity was placed between the woman and the serpent and their offspring. And then he was taken from the head of the animal kingdom to being the lowest. Let's read the curse that comes upon the woman, genesis 3.16. Under the woman, he said I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Speaker 1:If Eve ate an apple, wouldn't it be strange that God punished her conceptions and her pain in giving birth to children? Of course it would be. It would be a contradiction. God says an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. She sinned in her allowing her body and womb to be polluted by adultery, and thus God cursed the organ and the process that she sinned, with Genesis 3.17, and the process that she sinned with Genesis 3.17. Unto Adam he said because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying thou shalt not eat of it, curse it as the ground for thy sake, in sorrow, shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Adam was to have dominion over everything, but instead he allowed his wife to be deceived, then took her back to himself, had relations with her outside of God's plan and timing.
Speaker 1:In the book of Deuteronomy it speaks about this in chapter 24, verse 1 through 4, when a man has taken a wife and married her and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, then let him write her a bill of divorcement and give it in her hand and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house she may go and be another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate her and write her a bill of divorcement and give it her in hand, send her out of his house. Or if the latter husband die, which her took her to be his wife, her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife. After that she is defiled. For that is an abomination before the Lord. And thou shalt not cause the land to sin which the Lord, thy God, gives thee for inheritance. The Lord, thy God, gives thee for inheritance. So here, taking the wife original wife back to you is causing the land to sin. So Eve had relations with the serpent. Adam had relations, took her back to himself with Eve and it caused a curse to come upon the earth all of creation, which was the dominion of Adam, all of creation.
Speaker 1:Now you say how is this possible for Adam to produce a child and Eve to produce a child, and them to be twins? Cain and Abel were twins. How is this possible? Well, there is a process and you can find it if you look up the term heteropaternal superfecundation. This is two fathers producing twins. It would be like on the same day they knew the woman and she got pregnant by both men, producing twins. All right, continued more evidence we have regarding this topic Genesis 3-7, the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked.
Speaker 1:And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons After eating from the tree of knowledge. Even this is proof. The act of sex is often referred to as knowing your wife. So suddenly they realize they were naked. They cover the body part that they sinned with. They didn't cover their mouth, they covered the body part that they sinned with. Genesis 5, cain is never mentioned in Adam's genealogy. In Genesis 3.20, eve is referred to as the mother of all living, but Adam is never referred to as the father of all living.
Speaker 1:In Matthew 13,esus, tells the parable of the sower. He speaks of two seeds sown in the world. In chapter 13, verse verses 38 and 39, he explains that the weeds are the children of the wicked one and the enemy that sowed them is the devil. Genesis 5 1 to 3 adam refers to Abel and Seth as in his own image and likeness, but never Cain. All right, so then we fast forward to the next part about the sons of God and the daughters of men. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Speaker 1:This verse is used by various theologians to state that angels came down from heaven and had sexual relations with women and produced the giants of verse four. This is taken from the pseudepigraphal book, the book of Enoch. It was literally written by Enoch. However, this contradicts the words of Jesus in Matthew 22, 30. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. What this verse shows us is two seed lines mixing together the genetic line of Seth intermarried with the genetic line of Cain, the sons of God who came through the son of God, adam, and the daughters of men that came through the genetic line of Cain mixed together, since the seeds produce after their kind, there's a combined genetic line of Cain's nature and Adam's nature. For those that accuse us of having a strange doctrine, I want to point out that it's much less odd than the idea that angels came down and had relations with women. We're merely stating that an animal so closely related to the human was used by Satan to breed with Eve and bring sin and corruption to the human race. This is backed up by over 20 points of scriptural evidence.
Speaker 1:Now people often refer to Genesis 4.1 and say this verse proves your idea to be wrong. Let's read it. And Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and said I've gotten a man from the Lord. Now, in original Hebrew these two actions are separate. Adam had known Eve a completed action. The conception of Cain is not complete in this verse. Thus the two actions are separate. Cain's conception was not a result of Adam's act with Eve. What it is is an Adam had known his wife, period next thought, and she was conceiving and she was bearing a son, etc. Etc. This is different in Genesis 4.17, and I think in chapter 5, verse 1, where Cain had Cain known his wife, it's the same tense of verbs. And Cain was knowing his wife and she was conceiving and she was bearing a son. And Adam was knowing his wife and Eve was bearing and she was and she called him his name, seth, seth, etc. See, in the case of Seth and in the case of Cain producing his son, both the tenses are the same because it's showing connection between the father and the conception. But in the case of Adam and Cain the verb tenses are the same because it's showing connection between the father and the conception. But in the case of Adam and Cain the verb tenses are different, showing a disconnect between the act of Adam knowing and the conception of Cain.
Speaker 1:All right, now it seems like this is a strange new doctrine that maybe William Branham made up, but it's not. Strange new doctrine that maybe William Branham made up, but it's not. The evidence is clear in Scripture that the writers of the Bible understood it this way. In the New Testament it's also clear through the types of Scripture of God being married to his people, them committing adultery, being called a prostitute and the process of redemption, etc. It's clear. Not only that, but many believers in history, in the early church and also Jewish people to this day believe in a form of this doctrine of Cain being the serpent's offspring. It's believed through. History might seem out of the norm, but it takes a revelation from the Holy Spirit of God to help us to understand these things. If you can't see it now, pray over it so God will guide you and lead you into all truth.
Speaker 1:Another doctrine we want to look at is predestination. Through church history you can look and see that many held, especially one of the early church writers that was so strong on it that opened Martin Luther's eyes to it is Augustine wrote extensively about predestination, wrote extensively about predestination. But there was the argument between Augustine and Pelagius and this idea of exalting man's free will above God's free will. This battle went on and you saw from the Reformation produced two different theological backgrounds Calvinism and Arminianism, from Jean Calvin, the French-Swiss reformer, and then Jacobus Arminius and then Jacobus Arminius. They battled against one another and especially the followers who systematized these doctrines battled against each other and there's still this battle going today between the Reformed and the Pentecostals and holiness groups. Traditionally, pentecostal and holiness groups are Arminians.
Speaker 1:And so the doctrine of Arminius is that God foreknows our choices because he's given us free will, and so, by this free will, he foreknows our choices because he's given us free will, and so, by this free will, he foreknows our choices and therefore elects us and predestinates us based merely upon our choices. And in the Calvinist doctrine, the belief is God is totally sovereign. We're unable to affect our salvation through our own free will. By our own will, we would reject God. So therefore, god, by his sovereign grace, chooses some to be saved, and those ones that he chooses to be saved are the ones that he opens their hearts and minds to receive the gospel. Our free will is in bondage to sin. Therefore, it is not our free will that we choose God, but rather that God chooses us.
Speaker 1:And so, looking at these two doctrines of Calvinism and Arminianism, both of them often go to an extreme. With Arminianism, the idea is almost that we basically save ourself by our choice and we can choose, and then we can fall away from the faith and come back. We can fall away from the faith and come back, and that's one extreme of the free will, arminianism and then Calvinism. The extreme of Calvinism is that God chooses who is saved and therefore we can live any way we want to, because it's merely based on God's salvation and even to the point of the gospel is not necessary, because God merely chooses who will be saved and who will not be saved. That's an extreme Calvinism, and so the Bible brings us to a balance.
Speaker 1:Let's look at some of the scriptures Ephesians 1, 3-9,. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before we're born. If we look and see that I'm going to come back to this, he is in Romans 9, we see that God chose Jacob, says Jacob, I loved Esau have I hated. So verse 11 says for the children Romans 9, 11, children not being yet born, neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. All right, so it's not of works, but of him that calleth, because the purpose of election must stand, not the purpose of our free will. The Bible says in verse 16, so then, it is not of him that willeth free will, not of him that has free will, nor of him that runs, does works, but of God that shows mercy. Because he says I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and compassion on whom I will have compassion. He also says whom I will I hardens. So this is speaking of double predestination compassion on whom I will have compassion. He also says whom I will I hardens. So this is speaking of double predestination God predestinates those to eternal life and he predestinates those to damnation. Now, for those who he predestinates to damnation, he simply leaves them as they are and they receive what they deserve. To those that receive eternal life, he intervenes.
Speaker 1:The Bible says in the book of Acts that he opened Lydia's heart, that she would hearken under the things that Paul had spoken. In John 6.44, it says no one can come to. Jesus said no one can come to me unless the Father draws him first. So we, by our own free will, cannot choose God. Jesus said you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. So it is God's choosing so that his purpose of election might stand.
Speaker 1:So before the foundation of the world, before any of us have done anything good or bad, he chose us in Christ. It was first God's design to make you. And when he decided to make you in his mind before the foundation of the world, and understand this, god's thoughts are real, they're a part of himself and understand this. God's thoughts are real, they're a part of himself. So when he decided to make you, you were a part of his life because you're going to be his son and daughter. Son and daughter speaks of coming out of. So he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. So we were chosen in Christ. The bride is a part of the groom, so we were chosen in Christ. The bride is a part of the groom, so we were chosen in Christ.
Speaker 1:The life of Christ was in the mind of God, a part of his being, before the foundation of the world. We were a part of Christ, so we were in him. So we were chosen before the foundation of the world so that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand. And then, as he works that out in life, we come in to this world. Born in sin, shaped in iniquity, come into the world speaking lies. Our heart's desire is set on evil, but God, through his sovereign grace, his choosing before the foundation of the world, so that his purpose of election might stand. It's not of him that willeth or him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy, says I will have mercy on you. He opens our hearts to the gospel, he draws us to Christ and then fills us with the Holy Spirit. And so we read that that he chose us, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. He chose us to apply the blood to us so that we would be in his sight holy and without blame. So the merits of Christ are placed upon us, so that we are perfect in his sight. All right. Verse 5 of Ephesians 1,.
Speaker 1:Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, so we are predestined. Predestined means to, before it happens, fix out our destiny. So our destiny is fixed beforehand. That's why there is eternal security, because he's fixed our destiny. What is our destiny? The adoption of children.
Speaker 1:This word adoption does not speak of taking those who are not children and baking them, your children. No, it speaks of the placing of children, adoption, huiothesia, and it means the placing of sons, and this hearkens to the Jewish ceremony that they would have, where they would take out a son. He grows up, he's a child in the home, he's under tutors and guardians, but he has no right over the property. So there's a ceremony that's held once he graduates this process of being under tutors and guardians and he's taken out and he's shown. This is my beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. He now is an executor of the property. He is now placed as a son or a daughter of God, and that is God's destiny and the ultimate.
Speaker 1:We know that adoption from Romans 8 is speaking of the redemption of our bodies. It's the body change. If we die in Christ, it's the resurrection. If we're alive and remain, it's the body change. If we die in Christ, it's the resurrection. If we're alive and remain, it's the body change.
Speaker 1:Verse 6, to the praise of the glory of His grace so it's the purpose of election might stand. It's the praise of the glory of His grace, not the praise of the glory of our free will, but the praise of the glory of His free giving, of the glory of our free will, but the praise of the glory of his free giving, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself. He didn't purpose this according to the good pleasure of our will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself. He didn't purpose this according to the good pleasure of our will. He purposed it according to the good pleasure of his will. It's his choosing, it's his purpose, it's his plan.
Speaker 1:All right Now again, not only for those who are saved, but also those who are lost. Jude 1.4,. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old, ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men turning to the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So those vessels of wrath are fitted for destruction so that the riches of the glory of his mercy would be manifested to us. So they were ordained to condemnation when, before the foundation of the world, they were ordained to that. All right, all right, and I think we can continue on from that portion. So now, looking at another aspect of it, we talked about being in him, in his mind. But God's thoughts are real. They're not like our thoughts, where we can change them. God's thoughts are real and God's thoughts are eternal. God's thoughts are real and God's thoughts are eternal. So you, being a part of his thoughts, as that predestinated seed, you are in him before the foundation of the world.
Speaker 1:Hebrews 7, 9, and 10 shows that Levi was in the loins of his father, abraham, and it was accounted unto him as though he had paid tithes to Melchizedek. Hebrews 2, 11, from the Weast translation, says for both he who sets apart for God in his service and those who are set apart for God in his service are all out of one source. So Jesus Christ and the bride are all out of one source, for which reason he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Christ came forth from God. He's a part of the life of God, and the bride, who is sanctified, also comes forth from his life. We're a part of his life, amen. Now, we're from. The Bible says the genes of God. So in our soul there is the genes of God. That's a part of his life, there in our soul. All right.
Speaker 1:Now let's look at the new birth and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The new birth and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Brother Branham shows us, and the Bible is clear, that this is one and the same thing. Being born of the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit or baptized in the Spirit is one and the same. In John 3, 5 through 8, jesus calls it being born again, also calls it being born of the Spirit. All right, in the book of Acts we don't find two different comings of the Spirit that Peter and Paul and the apostles teach the people. You have to be born again and then go on to receive the Holy Spirit. But there's one receiving of the Spirit Acts 2, 38 and 39,.
Speaker 1:Then Peter said unto them Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For this promise is unto you and to your children, to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord, our God, shall call so again receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. This is one way it's spoken of. Being born of the Spirit is another way. Acts 8.15, who are then come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. This is the promise of the new covenant them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. This is the promise of the new covenant that we are to receive the Holy Ghost.
Speaker 1:Acts 10.47,. Can any man forbid water? That these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? Acts 19.2-6,. And he said unto them have you received the Holy Ghost? Since you believed Paul speaking? They said unto him, we have not so much as heard was whether there be any Holy Ghost. He said unto them, unto what? Paul speaking? When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied All right, again, this was the important event spoken of in the book of Acts is receiving the Holy Ghost In.
Speaker 1:John the Baptist, when he speaks of Christ, says there's one coming after me whose shoelace I'm not worthy to tie. He'll baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire. So it's spoken of as the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. Galatians 3.2,. This only what I learned of you. Received you the Spirit by the works of the law or the hearing of faith, to be a part of the new covenant is receiving the Spirit. There's one event, it's not two events being born of the Spirit and then receiving the Spirit. When you receive the Spirit, you are born again. You are a new creature in Christ. And Paul says have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? You believed, you've accepted Jesus as the Messiah, but you have to go on and receive the Holy Ghost. Peter preached the gospel to them. They believed it. He told them to do what? To repent and then be water baptized and then spirit baptized.
Speaker 1:All right, let's continue on and look at the order of the home, with leadership in the home, leadership in the church, leadership in society. 1 Corinthians 11.3,. But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man and the head of Christ is God. The design of the home is the headship of the man. The design of the church is the leadership of men. Women are not to be in leadership in the church. It says.
Speaker 1:I suffer not a woman to teach or usurp authority over a man, but she is to learn in silence. As also sayeth the law, men, the woman is to be under the headship of man Ephesians 5, 23 through 28,. Husband is the head of the wife. The wife is to be subject to her own husband in everything. And the husband is to love his wife in a self-sacrificing love, even unto death, just as Christ did, sacrificing love even unto death, just as Christ did. And the man should love his wife as his own body, should provide for her, as he provides for himself. If he loves his wife, he's loving himself. She's a part of him. So the woman is to obey her husband, to respect her husband. The man is to love and cherish and nourish and provide for his wife spiritually, naturally, emotionally, all right, naturally, emotionally, all right. Secondly is, as Brother Branham said, I'm not much of this modernistic taste of women working.
Speaker 1:Paul teaches this vision as well, both to Titus and to Timothy. He's telling them this is what you should teach Titus, 2, 3 through 5, that the aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things. That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet chaste keepers at home housekeepers, homemakers we should say at home housekeepers, homemakers, we should say good, obedient to their own husbands that the word of God be not blasphemed. And in 1 Timothy 5, 14, I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give an occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. All right, the word guide the house speaks of managing the home or the household manager. So basically, paul is telling Timothy teach the young women. This should be the vision that is taught for young women Marry, bear children, guide the house. Again, both places that if this isn't what is done, it will give occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully or it would blaspheme the Word of God.
Speaker 1:In our modern day and age we don't teach young people, young women, this. We're teaching them go to school, go to college, find a career and after that get married. Right, this is not what Paul taught. He didn't teach go to university, get a degree and find a career. He didn't give that vision to the church and he didn't preach that to the church. The original faith was not that and the faith at the end time should not be that as well. We must be clear in the order of the home. Young men are to be taught and trained, to find work, to have a trade, to learn how to work. The Bible commends and recommends working with your own hands to provide for your own, and if you don't do that, you're worse than an infidel. So young men should be taught to work and provide for a wife and a family. That should be the vision. Young women should be taught to marry, bear children and guide the house. This should be our vision. This should be what we're teaching.
Speaker 1:You say we live in the modern age. Things have changed. The Word of God doesn't change. The commands of God doesn't change. The commands of God doesn't change. It's impossible. You say it's impossible. The way the world does it is dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. We don't say that about going to church. It's impossible to go to church. No, we say, as Christians, we go to church, we obey the word. We don't change the word based on our culture and society. We change the world, one home, one person, one family at a time, by obeying the word of God.
Speaker 1:Now let's go into our last subject of the message, and that's the sovereignty of the local church Acts 20, 17. And that's the sovereignty of the local church Acts 20, 17. Now it's clear that there is a fellowship, a global fellowship of all churches, but that doesn't follow that there's a global leadership of all churches. Now we know in the book of Revelation that there's the golden candlesticks right, that's the church, that's speaking of the church, and that the Son of man walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks. That's the great high priest walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks, and in his right hand he has seven stars. These seven stars are seven angels to the seven churches. So they are prophetically. They are seven messengers, human messengers sent by God to speak to the seven distinct church ages. Now, those seven messengers bring a message from God. They are the ones that are only ones that have a global impact. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. What is the Spirit saying to the churches? It's what the letter is written to that angel that it's bringing to that church. Therefore, any other ministers that call and come afterwards should be faithful to the message that the star messenger brought to that age. All right, now that's the global leadership of the church. However, that person is not a pope, that person is not a bishop. He is a tool and a means for God to communicate his revelation to the individual churches.
Speaker 1:I want you to see how Paul acted and behaved Acts 20, 17. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. So this is Paul's operation. Then verse 28,. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock of God, over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. So the process was Paul and Barnabas went and ordained elders.
Speaker 1:When they ordained elders is they selected out men that were qualified and they appointed them to the church and then the church would vote upon that. And Paul says the Holy Ghost made you overseers of the local church to feed that local church. And that is the leadership of the local church, the elders who are ordained to be overseers bishops plural, be overseers, bishops plural to feed that church of God and take oversight of it. All right, philippians 1.1,. Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops, the overseers and deacons plural, not with the bishop and deacons, but bishops plural, elders plural Acts 14.23,. And when they had ordained them elders plural, presbyters, elders in every church and had prayed with fasting. They commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
Speaker 1:1 Peter, 5.1, the elders which are among you, I exhort. I'm also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, not willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples of the flock. You take oversight of the elders, take oversight of the local church. Oversight speaks of Bishop, bishop Rick. So, oversight, they take oversight of the local flock by feeding them the word of God, not by lording over them and showing them you have to do this, do this, follow this, follow this, buy this car, buy this home, make this decision, go on this vacation, et cetera, et cetera. No, they feed them the word of God so that they, as individuals, can make their own choices based on the leadership of the Holy Spirit. But again, it's elders, plural.
Speaker 1:3 John 1, 9 through 11. Now, this is an apostle. Now apostle is sent to many local churches, but his leadership is through the channel of the elders, as soon as the elders are there, of the elders, as soon as the elders are there. Now, that's the position where the apostle acts as a mentor to the local elders, pastors of that local church. 3 John 1, 9 through 11, I wrote unto the church, but diatrophies who loveth to have preeminence among them receives us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words. And not content therewith, neither did he himself receive the brethren and forbiddeth them that would and casteth them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil was not seen of God. Now John writes he doesn't say I'm going to go and kick him out of the church, kick him out of a leadership position, but I'm going to come there and I'm going to remind you all of what they've done. And that's an important point because they should act on it. It can't be just the leadership that acts on it, the apostle outside the church, but it must be the local church that acts upon it. And we'll see that in 1 Corinthians 5.
Speaker 1:Paul speaks about this. He says it's reported among you commonly that there's fornication among you, and then types of fornication that not even the heathens do, that one should have his stepmom, and they were proud of themselves. They were puffed up and they did nothing about this. And Paul says since you haven't done anything outside of what you've done here, where I am writing to you from, I am going to deliver this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit might be saved in the day of Jesus Christ. But the reality is, what is he telling them? He's telling them you should have done this, purge the leaven from among you. And he writes to them don't you know that the saints will judge the earth? Don't you know that you should be able to even judge in these matters? You should set someone up in the church to make a judgment about this. You shouldn't go to court about this. This is a fault. You have to make these decisions in the local church. And so this is what Paul is telling them this is a local church matter and a local church decision. You've done nothing about it. You haven't followed the teachings that I've brought you. When I come to you, I'm going to make this right, the teachings that I've brought you. When I come to you. I'm going to make this right.
Speaker 1:Well, paul, in the meantime, based on his writing, his apostolic advice to them, they act upon. What he says and Paul writes back is now the brother has repented. Good, this was the point of doing that. You weren't supposed to eat with him, you were supposed to cast him out of the church, hand him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so his spirit would be saved in the day of Jesus Christ. But the man repented of his sin, so bring him back and count him as one of your brothers because he's repented. You've achieved the issue.
Speaker 1:So this, as we see by these things, is in the early church there was an apostolic oversight, because these were the men that planted the church. But further, paul is the messenger to the age, so he has, by nature, that oversight. And the oversight is not control, like you see so many church people, but the oversight is advising. Advising and directing, and so any apostolic ministry that would raise up now is the same idea. There's that aspect of church planting where there is an oversight, but it's not as though it's separated from the local church leadership.
Speaker 1:Paul calls the elders together to speak to them about what's going to happen and give them an idea of what's happening. He operates through the local leadership of the local church, right? He writes to Philippi, to their bishops and deacons, and then they're to deliver it to the churches, see, and so the local church is sovereign to itself. They have their own vote over that. Even the apostles didn't come in and say you're the pastor, you're deacons, you're this. No, they operated. They said here's a man.
Speaker 1:The word ordaining elders means to single out by the raising of hand, and so they might, as the people that planted the church, point out here's an elder, qualified man, qualified man, qualified man. But the local church had to vote and accept those people as the elders and deacons. And so when they did that, then that became the leadership of the local church and they were then responsible for the spiritual oversight and the natural oversight of the finances, of tithes and offerings and if there's a building, et cetera, et cetera. And there's no overarching bishop authority over those churches that manages those people. They are their own entity. What they did have was fellowship by the word amongst the churches, and missionaries went out and visited and preached, and evangelists went out and ministered and preached there amongst the churches, teachers, prophets etc. But it was all in operation with the leadership of the local church.
Speaker 1:So that finishes the broad overview of the message. I hope that helped bring an understanding of what the message is all about. If you have any questions once again, prayer requests, testimonies please contact me at jasondemarscom. And also appreciate those who support the podcast on a regular basis those listening in. Please also go into Apple Podcasts. Give me a review there. These things all help with the algorithms and help spread the message of the hour. God bless.