Matthew 01, part 2 - The bad can be erased

We update studies as the Lord Jesus leads us. You can find the latest update of this study at ChurchAges.net

Matthew sets out to establish Jesus as the King

Jacob had 12 sons.

But Matthew picks up the lineage from Judah so that he can trace the history of the future kings that will end with Jesus.

This is the opening lesson from Matthew's Gospel.

Only the events that move on to establish Jesus as King are of any real value.

The same applies to our own lives. If we cannot accept Jesus as the supreme King of Heaven and earth then our faith is of little value to God's Big Plan.

That is why this is the first Chapter of the New Testament as it immediately puts the emphasis on Jesus.

"Judah" is the Hebrew spelling.  "Judas" is the Greek spelling.

The disciples were Jewish but God was looking into the future where He would turn to the Gentile church. Thus the New Testament was written in Greek, not Hebrew.

MATTHEW 1:3   And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;

MATTHEW 1:4   And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;

MATTHEW 1:5   And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;

MATTHEW 1:6   And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;

God was building up His Old Testament masterpiece, like a living statue, as the prophets guided the Jews into God's plan for them.

The original four-cornered Jewish foundation stone should have been Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

This represented God's plan for New Testament individuals: Justification, sanctification, the Holy Spirit baptism, and then the placing of the son in the father's will.

But Joseph, as the firstborn of Rachel, had a double portion.

So, his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, each got a portion of the Promised Land.

But Ephraim lost his portion and his birthright when he turned to idols.

HOSEA 4:17   Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.

Levi produced the priesthood.  So perhaps he should have been chosen instead of Ephraim.

But the Levitical priesthood produced the awful High Priest Caiaphas who tore his garments and ended the priesthood and the Law.

LEVITICUS 21:10   And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head,

nor rend his clothes;

The High Priest was not allowed to tear his clothes.

Then Caiaphas tore his garments when questioning Jesus.
MATTHEW 26:65   Then the high priest rent his clothes,

saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy.

So, God never chose the priestly line of Levi as that came to a sad end.

God chose the line of Judah.

Not because they were great people, though some of them were. But some were not.

He chose the line of Judah even though some of them were bad people.

It was not the quality of the people that mattered.

The fact that this line ended with Jesus is what mattered.

The first man to get saved by the blood of Jesus was a miserable criminal hanging on a cross.

But did he get a great revelation!

The beaten up and mangled Man hanging next to him was actually Messiah. God in the flesh.

That a sinful nobody, a corrupt man in his pain-wracked body could see that truth, was totally amazing.

Because of idolatry, God rejected Ephraim who had the firstborn blessing. That ended Joseph's claim.

PSALM 78:67   Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:

Joseph lived an incredible life but his descendants fell into idolatry.

As a result, we must not necessarily be too impressed with the children of a great man. They can turn out to be a disappointment.

Father-to-son ministries are more about keeping the money in the family than understanding God's truth for our day.

Ephraim's success at getting the firstborn privilege, when he wasn't the firstborn, did not make his tribe better people.

Success can be dangerous, often making us egotistical and ungrateful.

Believing error makes a church materialistic, arrogant, and corrupt, having more conceit than the capacity for truth.

Thus Joseph, with his most spectacular ministry, was not the line that produced Messiah.

We sadly become aware that a spectacular ministry that God uses does not continue in his family after that man leaves the scene.

Eli was a great servant of God. But his sons were not of that calibre.
I SAMUEL 2:12   Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.

So, God chose the tribe of Judah for one reason only. That was the tribe that would produce the Messiah.

PSALM 78:68   But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.

God will only choose us if we can surrender our self-will to Jesus and let Him control our lives.

God will only choose us if we totally believe His Word. Then God’s plan can take us on a totally unexpected path.

We must believe that the King James Version of the Bible is our Absolute.

The Bible is to be obeyed and never ignored, nor contradicted, nor changed.

Illegitimate Jews were outside until 10th generation

What can we learn from this list of names in Matthew Chapter 1?

Lot, the nephew of Abraham, produced an illegitimate son Moab from one of his daughters.

So, Lot's illegitimate son Moab would be of the same generation as Isaac, and could only come back into the Jewish camp in the 10th generation.

DEUTERONOMY 23:2   A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

:3    An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:

Forever means to the vanishing point.

Illegitimacy amongst the Jews only vanishes in the 10th generation.

That is how much God hated illegitimacy.

It is essential that we must be very careful not to live immoral lives. God hates that.

Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born, within a year after the destruction of Sodom.

Why is the birth of Isaac important?

Because God made a covenant with Abraham and his seed.

Isaac was Abraham's natural seed.

Jesus was the spiritual Seed of Abraham.

GENESIS 15:18   In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

The following map shows the actual Promised Land that extends all the way to the Euphrates River. This will be occupied by the Jews during the Millennium, the thousand years of peace that starts after the battle of Armageddon.

The Jews only occupy part of their Promised Land today.

But many of God's promises apply to the future.

So Jewish history covered the 2300 Bible years (of 360 days) from the birth of Isaac, the natural seed, until the death of Jesus, the Spiritual Seed.

The sanctuary was cleansed at Calvary. Wiped clean by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

DANIEL 8:14    And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

A day can represent a year in prophecy.

Consequently, from Isaac to Jesus is the crucial part of Jewish history.

Lot was Abraham's nephew and his illegitimate son Moab was also born within a year after the destruction of Sodom.

Thus, Isaac and Moab were virtually of the same age.

1.  Isaac.                                                        Moab.
2.  Jacob
3.  Judas (Judah)
4.  Phares
5.  Esrom
6.  Aram
7.  Aminadab
8.  Nassoon
9.  Salmon                                                    Rahab
10.  Booz                                                         Ruth.

Booz or Boaz was the 10th generation if we take Isaac as the first generation. Then Ruth was the 10th generation from Moab.

Consequently, Ruth was free from the stigma of Moab's illegitimacy.

Ruth was thus able to enter the Jewish congregation.

God did something very unusual.

He brought a righteous woman into the line of Messiah who was not even Jewish.

We learn a strong lesson. No nation has a claim on God. If God wants to, He can bring in someone from outside your favoured group.

The father of Boaz was Salmon.

Salmon had married a reformed harlot Rahab from Jericho. Surprisingly, Rahab was also not Jewish.

In this way, God indicated that He was prepared to work with non-Jews, even if they had got off to a bad start in life.

But God never compromised on His law against illegitimacy.

An illegitimate person could not be accepted into the Jewish faith for 9 generations. They had to stay out until they got up to the 10th generation. Scripture has to be obeyed.

Ending in Jesus made the bloodline important

The importance of the bloodline was that it ended with Jesus.

Matthew picks up the lineage from Judah so that he can trace the history of the future kings that will end with Jesus.

The important point is not the people who are involved.

The important point is where the line ends, in Jesus.

Our faith must be based on Jesus and the Bible, not on some church or church leader.

JOHN 12:32   And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Jesus must be uplifted, not some great man.

The secret of spiritual success is looking unto Jesus, and Him crucified.

Then no man is worth anything in comparison to Jesus.

Judah is the Hebrew name ending in -ah.  Judas is the Greek name ending in -s.

The famous line of Judah or Judas starts with a great man.

But it took only one disciple, Judas Iscariot, to betray Jesus and totally wreck that famous name.

Today, nobody wants to be called Judas.

Betray the Word of God by denying, or contradicting, or rejecting verses, and your name is wrecked in God's Book.

From this, we learn that even apostles, driven by the love of money, can cause massive ruin.

Being a church leader or apostle, like Judas, does not make one immune to deadly spiritual errors.

Abraham met the first real King, Melchizedek. (Hebrew spelling).

He was God Who created a body for Himself out of a handful of dust. God spoke to Abraham and then returned to Heaven and allowed His body to revert back to dust again.

Look how Paul describes Melchisedec. (Greek spelling).

HEBREWS 7:3   Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

Melchizedek was never born and never died.

Consequently, He was God, briefly visiting the earth in a created-from-dust Body.

This reveals that the flesh is temporary. It is the Spirit of God that is important.

So, if Matthew is to introduce Christ as the King, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, then Matthew starts with Abraham who was the first man to meet the real King, God in a body of flesh. Melchizedek.

God simply created an adult body for Himself.

Then that body returned to the dust when God had no more use for it.

God can create a body for Himself just like we put clothes on ourselves.

Next time around, in Jesus, God would be born in the body of a Baby and grow to be an adult Man.

ISAIAH 9:6   For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: ... The mighty God, The everlasting Father,...

A Kinsman Redeemer who lived life the way we do.

Only then could He offer up His sinless Life for our sinful lives.

If we now start with Abraham, as Matthew did then:

1.  Abraham
2. Isaac.
3.  Jacob
4. Judas (Judah)
5.  Phares
6.  Esrom
7.  Aram
8.  Aminadab
9.  Nassoon
10. Salmon
11. Booz
12. Obed
13. Jesse
14. David

David is the 14th generation from Abraham.

This reminds us of Jacob working 7 years for Leah and then 7 years for Rachel.

The Jews also went through seven ages

Jacob worked 7 years for Leah to represent the 7 stages of the Jews.

Then he worked 7 years for Rachel to represent the 7 Gentile church ages.

Leah's 7 years represented the seven ages that God dealt with the Jews.

Abraham. Joseph. Moses. Elijah. Ezra. Nehemiah. John the Baptist. Seven great men from Jewish history.

These men match the seven church ages.

1. Ephesus.  Abraham left his first love Sarah three times. In the process he produced Ishmael and the Arabs, still the major thorn in the side of the Jews. The early errors come back to bite us.

REVELATION 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

We lose the love of Scripture and accept a human head for the church.

Nicolaitans. Elevating a holy man above the congregation or laity to stand between them and God as the human head of the church. This human leadership will eventually drive Christ out of the church.

REVELATION 2:6    But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

2. Smyrna.    Joseph was put in prison.

REVELATION 2:10   “the devil shall cast some of you into prison”,

3. Pergamos.    Balaam, the enemy of Moses, was mentioned in the third church age.

REVELATION 2:14   But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

4. Thyatira.    Jezebel was mentioned in the fourth church age, the Dark Age.

REVELATION 2:20   Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

5. Sardis:    Ezra returned the treasure to the Temple. Luther restoring salvation by faith.
6. Philadelphia:  Nehemiah restored the wall of Jerusalem making the city strong. Philadephia is the strength of brotherly love that combined with holiness and outreach to launch the golden missionary age.
7. John the Baptist condemned the religious leaders as snakes at the First Coming of Jesus.

MATTHEW 3:7  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism,

he said unto them, O generation of vipers,

who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Things have not changed. It is no wonder that the last

church of the Laodiceans

(they make up their own church beliefs) is described as blind and lukewarm vomit.

REVELATION 3:14And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans

write;

:16   So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,

I will spue thee out of my mouth.

:17   Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

The Bible has been pushed out of the churches. Jesus as the Word of God, is not wanted in the church.

Again, Jesus appeals to individuals, not to groups.

REVELATION 3:20   Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

The history of the Jews follows the same history of the Gentile church.

Going back to Leah and Rachel as the wives of Jacob.

Rachel represented the seven church ages that God dealt with the Gentile church.

Thus 14 is the number to represent both the Old Testament Jewish nation and the New Testament church.

14 means Jesus is King of Jews and the Gentile church

The Jews used letters of the alphabet as numbers.

D =4    and  V= 6

Hebrew had no vowels in their writing.

So, they wrote  DAVID as DVD.

Then DVD = 4 + 6 + 4 = 14

With David being the 14th generation from Abraham and 14 also representing the 7 Jewish ages as well as the 7 Gentile church ages, Matthew now divides all the rest of the Jewish kingly line into two more groups of 14.

This means that his groupings into 14 are to illustrate the Big Picture, the Jews, and the Gentile believers.

God is aiming at the future church ages.

Starting with king David, Matthew lists king Jeconias (Greek name which would be Jeconiah in Hebrew) as the 14th generation that went into captivity in Babylon.

MATTHEW 1:11   And Josias (Josiah) begat Jechonias (Jeconiah or Coniah)  and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:

Matthew's line of kings follows the order given in Kings and Chronicles until it gets to Joram (or Jehoram).

MATTHEW 1:6   And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;

MATTHEW 1:7   And Solomon begat Roboam (Rehoboam); and Roboam begat Abia (or Abijam or Abijah); and Abia begat Asa;

Matthew gives the Greek names. The Hebrew names are in brackets.

MATTHEW 1:8   And Asa begat Josaphat (or Jehoshaphat); and Josaphat begat Joram (or Jehoram); and Joram begat Ozias (or Uzziah);

The list should read  Joram   then  Ahaziah,  Joash, Amaziah,  then Uzziah (or Ozias)

Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah have been left out as a warning to us.

What lesson can we learn from them?

Between David and Jeconiah (Coniah) when we look up the list of Jewish kings in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, we find that Matthew has left out SIX kings.

This is a scary thought. Six men's lives just blotted out of Matthew's record as if they never existed.

This is the warning that God gave to the fifth church age of Sardis (the escaped ones) that describes the Reformation.

REVELATION 3:4   Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

:5   He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life,

When people profess to follow God but then deviate from His Word, God ends the relationship. Their names are obliterated. There is no place for them in Heaven.

Ahaziah was scared to disagree with his parents' beliefs

MATTHEW 1:8   ... Joram begat Ozias; (Uzziah)

3 names missing.   Ahaziah,  Joash, and  Amaziah.

Joram (or Jehoram) was the husband of Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel

Joram did something very evil. He married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel who together were the evilest king and queen in Israel.

II KINGS 8:18   And he [Jehoram] walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the LORD.

I KINGS 21:25  But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the LORD, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.

People are stirred up by their churches to believe unscriptural ideas.

What is baffling is the airy nonchalance with which the churches make up their religious details as they go along.

Their ideas are just shamelessly invented. We marvel at the richness of human gullibility. Plunging into the fathomless abyss of self-delusion and fantasy.

The religious leaders of the Jews also stirred them up to demand the death of Jesus.

The daughter of Jezebel was a cruel and ruthless and a killer.

REVELATION 17:5   And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

“Mother of harlots”. Out of the Roman Catholic mother have come her Protestant daughters with the unscriptural Catholic doctrines of Trinity, Christmas, Sunday is the sabbath day, Easter eggs, Easter rabbits, one man is head of the church, and completely unable to tell us what the NAME of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is.

So, marrying or joining into a Protestant denomination means a person, even if saved from hell, is simply heading for an awful death in the time of ghastly great Tribulation. The churches, symbolized as women, successfully kill our ability to understand Bible truth.

Take the parable of the rich man who first invited saved church-goers to his supper. Jesus will only invite saved Christians to the Wedding Supper.

Luke 14:16.   All the saved people who were invited turned him down as none of them wanted to do what he asked them to do. Jesus wants us to be Scriptural as He invites us down the Bible path, the narrow way, to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. But the saved church-goers all had alternative, non-Scriptural ideas that they wanted to follow: Trinity, Christmas, God the Son, Pastor is in charge of the church, Sunday is the sabbath day.

Another big stumbling block was marrying a wife. Joining a church because a woman symbolizes a church.

LUKE 14:20   And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

The wife, or church, requires them to do something different from what the rich man required of them. Thus, their church has a one-man pastor or apostle who tells them what to believe. A man who reveals the seven Thunders to them even though they are not written in Scripture. And they are gullible enough to fall for this.

Message people cannot tell the difference between a revelation of an event and the actual event.
AMOS 3:7   Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

The event must be revealed before it actually happens.

Brother Branham came to reveal the opening of the first six Seals. Then, when the Bride is in Heaven, the Lamb will actually open the six Seals in all their deep details.

62-0601 TAKING  SIDES  WITH  JESUS
Now, do you know, when those early men went out, sometimes there were only about six or eight of them, together? And they shook the country. Well, you know, when Aquila and Priscilla, that great revival that Apollos was having over there, there was only about six or eight men and women in that bunch. That whole church, meant six or eight. You got five or six, seven times as many here tonight as they had then.

So, the small local church, which was a place of safety when it was ruled by elders, became a trap of deception when it grew too big and was dominated and spiritually bound by a human leader.

South Korea, with the biggest megachurches, was first to be hit with the 2019 coronavirus when it spread from China. In 2020 the megachurch was a death trap that had to be closed down. What was God trying to tell us?

Then the rich man made a chilling statement.

LUKE 14:24   For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

By not understanding Bible truths, the saved Christians are heading for great Tribulation and not the Wedding Supper.

At times God said that three generations would be lost before the truth would be restored.

This can be represented by the three missing kings.

GENESIS 15:16    But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

After Joram (or Jehoram) we see three generations wiped out: Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah.

The fourth-generation came back in, Uzziah in Hebrew (or Ozias in Greek). Also called Azariah.

Having married a bad wife (joined a church that is run by a man instead of being strictly Scriptural) Joram produced a bad son, Ahaziah. A son who also had no desire to be Scriptural.

II KINGS 8:27   And he [Ahaziah] walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab.

What do we learn from Ahaziah?

Children are all too easily influenced by their parents and parents-in-law and simply follow the errors of the parents’ generation.

So Ahaziah got wiped out of the Book of Life.

So be careful of what your parents and in-laws believe. Truth marches on. Parents usually believe in yesterday’s truth and have failed to grasp where God is today.

They tend to drive looking through the rearview mirror at what is past.

God sent a reality check on Message people.

Parents, or the older generation,  mainly believed that Hillary Clinton would win the 2016 presidential election because they had misinterpreted a vision of brother Branham concerning a cruel and beautiful woman who would rule America one day. This vision has been written and they got it wrong. Hillary lost and this showed that the older generation of Message people had completely messed up.

And these are the Message preachers who think that they have interpreted the unwritten 7 Thunders and the silence of the 7th Seal!

Joash was too influenced by others

Joash could not think for himself because others influenced him.

The next generation was Joash.

This is a scary example of how people who start well still manage to lose out with God.

Joash, as a young person, did very well and cleaned up the mess of his grandmother Athaliah.

So, all seemed well. But that was an illusion.

Joash only stayed on the right track while Jehoiada the priest was alive.

II CHRONICLES 24:2   And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

Once Jehoiada died, Joash allowed other people to influence him and he started down the wrong path.

Lesson 1:  It is not how you start. It is how you finish.

Lesson 2:  You have to think for yourself. If you are influenced by a good man, that does not really help if you are just repeating what he says. One day he is gone, and then someone else will guide your thinking and you will repeat what that man says. That makes you a parrot. You are only capable of repeating what somebody else has said.

You have to believe in the truth of the Bible for yourself. Not because somebody else said so.

You must take what brother Branham said and then prove his revelation by following it through the Bible verses. Then you believe it because the Bible says so, not because brother Branham said so.

1965-0725  THE  ANOINTED  ONES  AT  THE  END  TIME

So we'll know, to prove this, back and forth, by the Word; not by some man's idea, some theory.

I don't care who he is; any other man, myself or anybody else, "If he speaks not according to the law and the prophets, there is no Light in him." See? That's what the Bible said. "Let every man's word be a lie, and Mine be true," regardless who it is.

When a great man leaves the scene then there are many pretenders to fill that gap.

II CHRONICLES 24:17   Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.

Joash had never learned to think for himself. He just parroted what Jehoiada told him. Repeating the truth like a parrot because a great man of God had taught him, did not make Joash a believer.

Joash never had a personal conviction about these beliefs and thus he would quickly fall away from them when Jehoiada died.

Jehoiada died and Joash was like a ship without a rudder.

He just went whichever way the winds of opinion blew.

That is why churches have a rooster on the unscriptural steeple as a weathervane. It just points in whichever way the wind blows.

II CHRONICLES 24:18   And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

:19   Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.

Once Message-people have been taught to build their faith in brother Branham’s quotes then they will not listen to anyone who tries to establish the quotes in Scripture.

Quotes are rated more highly than Scripture by them.

II CHRONICLES 24:20   And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath also forsaken you.

:21   And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.

"In the Temple court" is right there where the Word of God was kept in the Temple.

Such was their dislike of anyone who tries to remind them of the Word of God.

Despite their misinterpretations of the quotes (like Hillary winning the 2016 presidential election),  Message-people still prefer to character assassinate anybody who wants to be Scriptural.

“You cannot know the Seventh Seal. You cannot know what the Seven Thunders utter nor what they are. You cannot know the new name of Jesus".  Why? Because these mysteries are not written in Scripture.

But the people who thereby stay Scriptural are verbally stoned or abused.

Proving something from the Bible is now dismissed by Message-people.

Yet brother Branham warned us to only believe what was written in Scripture.

The name Joash sounded good. His name meant “Given by Jehovah”. But money was his downfall. He collected the wealth of the Temple, just like modern-day pastors collect all the tithes.

But Joash did not use the money for spreading the truth.

It all went to the enemy.

II KINGS 12:18   And Jehoash [“Jehovah-given” another name for Joash] king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat, and Jehoram, and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and in the king's house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria: and he went away from Jerusalem.

A few of the enemy came and conquered many Jews.

II CHRONICLES 24:24   For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.

Message-pastors thought up the strange idea that the supernatural Cloud of 28 February 1963, photographed north of the city of Flagstaff in Arizona, was actually a photograph of seven angels leaving brother Branham eight days later when they had met him near Sunset Peak on 8 March 1963. Sunset Peak is 200 miles south of Flagstaff city.

Sure, they had some quotes. But brother Branham had those facts about the date and the place muddled up.

The wrong date. The wrong place.

The Cloud was moving from West to East. When photographed as it approached Winslow, it could be seen that there were two clouds. The big supernatural Cloud and the smaller cloud from the smoke debris of a rocket explosion.

James McDonald, the astronomer who took the main photograph of the Cloud, said he could not explain the Cloud because there were two clouds that were present.

But somehow, with a sad disregard to the actual facts, the seven angels going up at Sunset Peak became the mighty Angel of Revelation Chapter 10 coming down to perform the resurrection. And this Cloud event, 42 kilometers up in the sky which is far above natural cloud formation, somehow became the Coming of the Lord or the coming of the mighty Angel. Unfortunately, most of the Message-people fell for this.

1964-0119  SHALOM

But, remember, if it goes plumb into the shadows of death, "I am the resurrection and Life; I'll raise him up again." And when the great Director comes down and bears that stick down, then, "time shall be no more." When that Angel, of Revelation the 10th chapter, puts one foot on land and one on the sea, and a rainbow over His head, He swore, "time shall be no more." When that time comes, you will rise up from among the dead. While the rest of them lay there, you will go in.

When the Angel comes down he will resurrect the dead.

This message "Shalom" was one year after the Cloud was photographed and brother Branham was still waiting for the Angel of Revelation 10 to descend sometime in the future. The Cloud was obviously not the Angel.

Those Message-people have obviously messed up the quotes. They forget that brother Branham never saw the cloud and thus he tried to imagine what had happened. He knew the seven angels  had formed the cloud but he never realized that he had the wrong place(Sunset Peak) and the wrong time (8 March 1963). The cloud was actually photographed north of the city of Flagstaff on 28 February 1963. Nobody checked the facts at that time.

The Message-people have also split up into numerous different Thunders camps. Clever people coming up with different interpretations or mutations of what is not written in the Bible. A mutation is a spiritual virus. A spiritual disease. An unscriptural idea that cannot be proven just by using the Bible.

II CHRONICLES 24:25   And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.

Josiah got off to a good start but never got around to believing the Old Testament for himself.

He always relied on what others said. When the great Jehoiada died and left the scene, then the quality of the leaders declined and led Josiah into error. He ended up destroying those who wanted to be Scriptural. Then Josiah died a sad death. Rubbed out of the Book of Life.

A good start does not mean a good finish

Parrots are not mentioned in the Bible. They are not wanted in Heaven.

Jesus was not interested in parrots who repeated what other men said.

Look how Jesus valued a man who thought for himself.

Simon Peter did not go with the flow.

MATTHEW 16:13   When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?

Jesus was asking them to be parrots. To repeat what others said. The disciples replied energetically as it is easy to repeat what other people have said. A sort of safety-in-the-herd mentality.

MATTHEW 16:14   And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

Then Jesus got to the heart of the matter. What do you, the individual, think? Stand on your own feet.

MATTHEW 16:15   He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

A deafening silence.  They, like ourselves, did not think for themselves. We are used to other people telling us what to think.

Then one, only one, brave man spoke up.

MATTHEW 16:16   Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Peter. He had a personal revelation of Who Jesus was. God Himself in the Son, the human Man in Whom  the Spirit of God dwelled.

MATTHEW 16:17   And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

No man had told this to Peter. He knew, from what he had personally seen of Jesus, that Jesus had to be God in the flesh.

MATTHEW 16:18   And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

The rock is the revelation of Jesus Christ. This revelation must be fixed in your mind by God. Not because some man has told you. You must be able to follow this revelation through the Bible and know that it is true because it fits in with all the Scripture verses.

MATTHEW 16:19   And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Acts 2:38 was the key that unlocked the Door to Heaven.

ACTS 2:38   Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

:39     For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

Repentance. Water baptism in the name of Jesus. Receiving the Holy Ghost.

Being Scriptural is the result of passing through the Door to Heaven.

Jesus, as the Word of God, is the Door or Gate to Heaven.

What door to Heaven did Peter bind or close so that it no longer applied?

The water baptism of John was no longer relevant because it did not involve the name of Jesus Christ.

So the baptism of John the Baptist no longer was valid.

Any water baptism, not done in the name of Jesus, is not relevant.

Jesus said we must baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

But Trinitarians do not know what that name is.

So they repeat what Jesus said, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.

But they have no clue what that name is.

Why was Jesus concerned with Peter’s personal revelation rather than the disciples’ “group thought”?

Because behavioral scientists claim that humans are finely attuned to monitoring what everybody else is doing, even subconsciously.

Most of us use “what other people think and do” as a mental short cut to decide on appropriate behavior and beliefs when we are unsure.

Simply because we are too lazy to think for ourselves and too scared to disagree with the group.

Being part of the group is the main reassurance that we are right.

We fear to stand alone because the nail that stands up is the one that tends to get hammered.

What Jesus was looking for was courage.

The courage to disagree with the crowd and be unafraid to speak the truth. The courage to cope with the possibility of rejection. Peter had that courage. He was going to need it on the Day of Pentecost when he opposed a crowd of thousands.

Then there is a third type of person who got blotted out of the Book of Life.

Amaziah. The son of Joash.

He did much right but kept certain errors

Despite doing much good he was scared to change certain wrong beliefs.

Like modern-day church-goers.

They do many things right but then are scared to disagree with the pastor when he preaches unscriptural things.

So, they get saved and do good works but accept Trinity, God the Son, Christmas, and hero-worship the pastor as the head of the church.

II KINGS 14:3   And he [Amaziah] did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father: he did according to all things as Joash his father did.

:4     Howbeit the high places were not taken away: as yet the people did sacrifice and burnt incense on the high places.

Amaziah did not fully clean up his act. He served God but left the high places where idolatry was practiced.

We ignore errors in order to be accepted by the church. We cling to the idols of sex, money, and fame which easily replace God in our hearts.

High places. The real errors of the church that everybody is scared to speak against.

Like woman's dress.

We condone things that are wrong in order to remain popular and acceptable.

Worse still. We condemn things that are right just to remain popular with the church.

We condemn and avoid those who try to correct us from Scripture.

Joram, as the father, married Athaliah, and her unbelief infected the next three generations.

EXODUS 34:7   Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Three generations disappear after Joram before Uzziah was mentioned. A warning to us.

Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah got wiped out.

If we want to serve God we must clean up our act.

If we serve God we must endure to the end.

We must not rely on some man. When that man is no longer around then we collapse.

And the human leader that we follow is actually stopping us from thinking for ourselves.

MATTHEW 1:9   And Ozias (Uzziah) begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;

MATTHEW 1:10   And Ezekias (Hezekiah) begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;

MATTHEW 1:11   And Josias (Josiah) begat Jechonias (Jeconiah or Coniah) and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:

Josias in Greek is Josiah in Hebrew.

Another three names disappear after Josiah.  All three of his sons.

II KINGS 23:25   And like unto him [Josiah] was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

Josiah was a great king but then he decided to oppose the Egyptian Pharoah in battle.

He went to a battle of Megiddo.

This is the first battle that historians have found written evidence of.

Megiddo is also the place of the last battle, Armageddon. A time of much bloodshed.

So, Josiah was killed. A sad end to a great king.

II KINGS 23:29   In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him.

However, much we have done for God, we still need to seek His guidance for what we plan to do. If we get out of God’s will, we will pay the price.

Preserving the bloodline of Jesus

Only Jesus can be King of the Jews. All other competition will be eliminated.

Nobody can compare with Jesus in any way.

62-1230   IS  THIS  THE  SIGN   OF  THE  END  SIR

And, then, God will not share His glory with nobody. He is God.

And when a servant becomes a place that he tries to take the place of God, then God takes his life and moves him away somewhere, or something.

We must remember that.

If we do anything that in any way threatens God's Big Plan, God will remove us.

II KINGS 23:31  And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father's stead.

A good father must produce a good son?

Not at all.

Josiah’s sons were a disaster.

The oldest son was Jehoahaz.

II KINGS 23:31   Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

Before the Egyptian Pharaoh imprisoned him in a Syrian town and then took him to Egypt where Jehoahaz died.

Egypt symbolizes the world.

Like Jehoahaz, we are easily captured and held prisoner to worldly influences of dress and behavior.

II KINGS 23:32   And he [Jehoahaz] did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

The next son of Josiah was Eliakim. Pharaoh changed his name to Jehoiakim.

Egypt and Babylon loved this name change doctrine.

The person who made you change your name thereby acquired a degree of power over you as you were subservient to him in this matter.

Notice how a Pope changes his name when he is elected. The influence of the Babylonian mysteries.

Jehoiakim ruled 11 years until killed by Nebuchadnezzar.

II KINGS 23:37   And he (Jehoiakim) did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

II KINGS 24:6   So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah were the three worthless sons of the great king Josiah.

These three are left out of Matthew’s chronology.

The clue here is that if we do evil in God’s sight then He simply wipes us out of the Book of life.

It is as if we never existed.

Only the worthless grandson of Josiah, called Coniah, went into captivity in Babylon.

But this was for a special reason.

It was necessary to wipe out the bloodlines of all of Josiah’s other children so that only his one son Jehoiakim could have a son Coniah or Jeconiah.

Only Coniah was left of those who had the royal blood and yet Coniah was to be cut off from ever being king.

JEREMIAH 22:28   Is this man Coniah a despised broken idol? is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure?

wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed,

and are cast into a land which they know not?

JEREMIAH 22:30   Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days:

for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David,

and ruling any more in Judah.

No descendant or seed of Coniah could ever be king.

II KINGS 24:8   Jehoiachin (also called Jeconiah or Coniah) was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months.

II KINGS 24:9   And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.

II KINGS 24:15   And he [Nebuchadnezzar] carried away Jehoiachin (Coniah) to Babylon,

The following names in red were left out by Matthew.

II KINGS 24:17   And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

Zedekiah, Jeconiah’s uncle, ruled for 11 years and was then taken captive to Babylon.

II KINGS 25:7   And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes,

and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.

The descendants of Zedekiah were wiped out.

Leaving only the bloodline of Jeconiah in captivity.

MATTHEW 1:11   And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:

Jeconias or Jeconiah is the grandson of Josias (Josiah).

Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, the three ungodly sons of Josiah are missing.

Josiah was godly. Often the children of a godly father can turn out to be ungodly.

A godly father cannot save his children.

MATTHEW 1:12   And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;

Now we come to a list of unimportant people whose names we would not know except for Matthew’s list.

Of the 14 names only Jeconiah (Coniah), Joseph, and Jesus are known to us in terms of what they did.

This is mainly a list of unimportant people. But they are never-the-less necessary as the bloodline that Jesus would inherit when Joseph adopted Him as his Son.

These unknown people link Jesus back to king David, which gives Jesus the right to call Himself the King of the Jews.

So, God works his will over the years through unimportant and unknown people.

As the Coming of the Lord to Israel was approaching, God used completely obscure people.

Joseph, the husband of Mary, was unknown to history but obedient to the promptings of God.

He should be our role model.

Pastors assume that God uses them because they are important.

Not so.

A long list of unnoticed men carried the royal bloodline that they themselves had been excluded from by Coniah’s sin.

History tells us nothing of these men. They lived secluded lives. A line of nobodies and yet they formed the vital link that connected king David to King Jesus.

MATTHEW 1:13   And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;

:14   And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;

:15   And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;

:16   And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

MATTHEW 1:17   So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.

Why had these last 14 men been cut off from the royal bloodline?

Because of the sin of Coniah (or Jeconiah or Jehoiachin).

Of the three sons of Josiah, only Coniah had descendants and none of his descendants were allowed to be king.

No natural-born Jew could be king of Israel.

(So, Herod as an Idumean (non-Jew) could be declared king of Judea by Rome).

This was a mistake that the Maccabees made. They kicked the Syrians out of Israel which was good. Then in their flush of success, they conquered Idumea and forced them to live like Jews. That was bad because Idumea was south of the Dead Sea and not part of Abraham’s Promised Land. Herod killed thousands of Jews.

Christians must not go outside the boundaries of the Bible. If we do, do not be surprised when death and destruction strikes.

Coniah’s descendants were cursed.

The virgin birth bypassed the curse on Coniah

Only a virgin birth could bypass the curse on Coniah’s bloodline.

MATTHEW 1:18   Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Espoused means engaged. They were engaged but did not live together. There was no sex before marriage. Mary had to be a virgin in order to give birth to the virgin-born Son.

The engagement was binding. It was not something that you broke off and then got engaged to someone else. An engaged man was regarded as the husband of his engaged wife.

MATTHEW 1:19   Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.

“Put her away” means divorce. To break an engagement means to divorce.

The New Testament does not allow for divorce and re-marriage with a living spouse as the lawful marriage vow is until death.

MARK 10:11   And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her.

:12   And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery.

MATTHEW 1:20   But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife:

for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

They were engaged. They had never lived together. Yet in God’s eyes, Mary was the wife of Joseph.

The Holy Ghost is God the Father.

The man who places the seed of life in a woman’s womb is the father of that child.

Thus, the Holy Ghost is the Father of Jesus.

There is no mention of “God the Father” in the Old Testament.

God could only become “God the Father” when there was a suitable Man, the “Son of God” for God to fully dwell in. Only Jesus could be this Man.

COLOSSIANS 2:9   For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

So, God was manifested in the flesh and took on a human name, Jesus.

MATTHEW 1:21   And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

From Coniah to Jesus was a link of unimportant people.

Thus, human effort and fame are not important to God. What counts is the fulfillment of Scripture.

MATTHEW 1:22   Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

:23   Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

God revealed this great truth to Joseph in a dream.

Being asleep, Joseph could not argue with God.

The best attitude we humans can show towards God is complete obedience to His Word. No arguments.

MATTHEW 1:24   Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

:25   And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

“Her firstborn son”.  Joseph was not mentioned as the father of Jesus.

Mary was pregnant before she married Joseph. Thus, there was a stigma of illegitimacy that people could throw at Jesus and Mary.

The truth always comes with a price. The pain of rejection.

It takes courage to be involved in God’s plan for humanity.

The stigma of illegitimacy meant that everybody knew that Jesus was not the son of Joseph.

This was essential to show that Jesus was free from the curse of Coniah.

Consequently, Mary had to endure all the scandal. Christianity is not for sissies.

When Joseph adopted Jesus as his son, then Jesus gained the inheritance of Joseph.

Part of the inheritance of Joseph was the right to be king because Joseph was of the royal bloodline.

Not being of the actual seed of Joseph meant that Jesus was not of the seed, or descendants, of Coniah.

Thus Coniah's curse does not apply to Jesus.