Matthew 08 - Jesus turns to the Gentiles

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Going to church does not make us right with God

MATTHEW 8:1   When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

When Jesus "was come down", He was symbolizing that the Jews would reject His higher expectations of them that He had preached in the Sermon on the Mount. The Jews would not come up to His standards, so He had to lower Himself down to their dismal level. Jesus was now down at the low level of the Jews who were so devoted to their religious leaders, that they simply could not believe the written Scriptures and thus accept Messiah.

They could not accept a Messiah who opposed their religious leaders.

They were so convinced that they were right and that they only needed to follow their leaders in order to make Heaven.

They thought their safety lay in regular Saturday attendance at the synagogue.

Their biggest mistake was believing that they did not need correction. Just like today's church-goers who think being right with God depends on their regular Sunday church attendance.

That is why the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic was a shock to them in 2020-2021. God closed down their churches, their so-called places-of-safety. There are 45000 different kinds of churches and denominations today. Church-goers obviously believe in their different churches far more than what they believe in the Bible. The churches are all different yet they all think that they are right. Self-delusion on a grand scale.

Big churches are taken as a sign of success today. But big crowds that followed Him were a circumstance that usually did not impress Jesus. The crowds who welcomed Jesus on Palm Sunday were the same ones who yelled, “Crucify Him” on the next Thursday. Crafty enemies and false friends with their plastic smiles ensure that a mob is easily swayed. Jesus knew of His future rejection by the Jews.

JOHN 2:24   But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,

:25     And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

Jesus knows that many believers are easily swayed by their leaders. They will happily reject the Word of God in order to believe what their leaders say. Today, people belong to their church rather than to Christ and the Bible.

Up in the mountain, Jesus had preached the deep truths of God’s Kingdom which are very different from what humans expected. We need this higher vision to uplift and inspire us to reach beyond and above the level of greedy and selfish human wants. We need to realize that God thinks differently to us self-centred humans.

Healing two lepers both involved a seven

Healing leprosy in the Old Testament was linked to seven church ages.

Jesus now gives the Jews clues as a warning to them that their unbelief will drive Him to turn to the Gentiles.

MATTHEW 8:2   And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.

Leprosy, a deadly disease, symbolic of the deadly spiritual disease of unbelief. Believing things that are not written in the Bible.

However, this leper realized the basic fact that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is God in the flesh with great power.

The leper, despite being rejected by Jewish society, recognized what the Jewish priests could not recognize about Jesus.

This gave a future clue that the Gentile pagans, whom the Jews rejected, would accept the Gospel that the Jews rejected. The Jews considered the Gentiles to be spiritual lepers.

Only twice before had lepers been recorded in the Bible as being healed.

NUMBERS 12:1   And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

:10   And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

:15   And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.

Miriam opposed Moses for marrying a black Ethiopian woman as she was also a Gentile. This was racial discrimination and God struck her whiter than white with leprosy. Miriam was shut outside the camp for 7 days. She represented the Jews that opposed God's Plan by rejecting Messiah. The Jews then opposed God turning to the Gentile church. Black absorbs light best. The Gentile church was prepared to accept and absorb the Light of the Gospel.

As a result, during the time of the 7 church ages, the Jews would be cast out of the camp and stricken with the leprosy of unbelief. White reflects light best, symbolizing the Jews reflecting away or rejecting the Gospel light. Only after 7 days, when the 7 church ages are over, will the Jews return to God’s plan in the Tribulation.

The second leprosy healing was when the king of Syria had sent the leper Naaman to Israel for healing. Leprosy was a dread disease.

Elisha the prophet took this as an opportunity to prove that there was a prophet in Israel.

II KINGS 5:14   Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Naaman, a Gentile, dipped in the River Jordan seven times and was healed. This symbolized the Gentiles during 7 church ages that were washed free from sin by the water of the Word.

EPHESIANS 5:25   Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

:26   That he might sanctify and cleanse it [the church] with the washing of water by the word,

Christ sees the church as His wife.

The number 7 appears in both healings. Very significant.

Healing a leper gives a prophet great credibility.

II KINGS 5:8   … let him [Naaman] come now to me [Elisha], and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

Jesus used a leper to prove to the priests that He, like Elisha, was a powerful Prophet with power over disease.

The Jews would reject His power but the Gentiles, like Naaman, would accept His power during the 7 church ages.

MATTHEW 8:3   And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

This Jew needed a physical touch from Jesus in order for him to believe.

The leper was cleansed of sickness. Everyone honoured Elisha for getting a Gentile leper cleansed.

Thus, the Jewish leaders should have honoured Jesus as a great prophet for curing a Jewish leper.

MATTHEW 8:4   And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.

Miriam and Naaman the Syrian were the only recorded cases of leprosy being healed.

So, Jesus sent this healed leper to the priest in order to make them aware that a great healing ministry of a great prophet was in their midst.

In the end, the priests would deny that Jesus was the Messiah. But then they had to deliberately overlook this evidence of a healed leper. None of the priests had ever healed a leper and thus they now knew, from this definite testimony, that Jesus had far greater power than what they had.

This testimony of His power was for the priests, not for the people.

Why not for the people?

Because people get very stirred up by the supernatural and huge crowds gather and crowd around Jesus which hinders Him from doing what He wanted to do. Big crowds have short memories. When the excitement is over, they go back to what they were.

The leper represented the Jews. He did the exact opposite of what Jesus said he must do. This increased the problems of crowd control.

MARK 1:45   But he [the healed leper] went out, and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places: and they came to him from every quarter.

In addition, the Jewish hatred of the Romans meant that they wanted a Messiah Who would throw the Romans out of Judaea. The Jews would willingly follow Jesus if they could force Him to go down these uncertain paths of political violence.

They made the fatal mistake of merging politics and religion. That produces a macabre dance of death.

JOHN 6:15   When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

Big crowds think that they serve God by trying to force God to do what they want to be done. Modern crowds love disco beat-music so they bring drums into the church and insist that God wants that kind of praise and worship. The Bible never mentions drums.

A Gentile produces much more faith than the Jews

MATTHEW 8:5   And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

Jesus had lived in Capernaum for a while after leaving Nazareth.

MATTHEW 4:13   And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:

A Roman centurion is a Gentile.

Capernaum can mean a “village of comfort” or else a “disorderly accumulation of objects”.

A fascinating name as scientists have discovered that the level of disorder in the physical universe keeps increasing as time moves on.

The disorder cannot get less and thus time cannot move backwards for us. We do not really know what time is, but it can only move forwards into the future.

So the Jews in Capernaum had to recognize their time with Jesus and accept Him. They did not. So Jesus moved on to the Gentiles. The church of the Laodiceans does not recognize the revelation of the Bible mysteries in our day, so Jesus will soon move on to the Jews. You have to recognize God's move in your day as God keeps moving on.

Great miracles had happened in Capernaum but that did not inspire the Jewish people to seek the truth.

We have the same problem with the ministry of William Branham. Great miracles happened but that has not inspired his followers to prove his quotes from Scripture so that they can be restored to the beliefs of the first church age that was established by the apostles.

Many revere brother Branham but few understand the Bible mysteries that he sought to reveal.

“I have a quote” has replaced “It is written…”

People have become church-goers in one or other of the numerous different message-churches that have arisen around the various misinterpretations of quotes.

As if this is how the first church operated.

The disciples in Berea set the true standard as they searched the Scriptures daily to check what Saint Paul said.

ACTS 17:10   And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

:11     These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

The early church never tried to interpret the unwritten mysteries of the 7 Thunders, nor the new name of Jesus, nor the 7^th Seal.

Being the church age of the Laodiceans, what attracts people today is a comfortable lifestyle in the social security of a complacent church group that needs no correction.

People want to be rich and increased with goods as they endlessly collect objects to demonstrate their financial success. Conspicuous consumption is the defining feature of Western capitalism. People can never have enough and accumulate a disorderly collection of objects and junk that their children have to dispose of when that person dies.

We buy things we do not need to impress people we do not like with money we do not have.

Money and possessions are now staus symbols. We are admired for what we own, not for what we are.

“Silver and gold have I none” said one of the greatest apostles. This statement is seldom made by modern church leaders.

MATTHEW 11:23   And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

Jesus lived and ministered in Capernaum with much supernatural power but the city missed its calling and was doomed.

The supernatural is a temporary stirring of the water that soon subsides when it is all over.

The greater the miracles that you saw and rejected, the bigger your punishment.

Having Jesus living in the city did not make it a great city of faith. In the same way, having been involved with brother Branham does not necessarily make a person a fountain of Bible truth.

America saw the great ministry of the “voice of the seventh angel” but somehow that got mutated into the “Voice of God”.

The Catholic spirit of an infallible man called the Pope also mutated and crept into the message-circles by claiming brother Branham as an infallible prophet. Despite his prediction of America being destroyed by 1977. Despite him saying that he stood under the 1963 cloud when he was at Sunset Peak on 8 March 1963. The cloud was photographed on 28 February just north of Flagstaff which is 200 miles north of Sunset Peak. The cloud never was at Sunset Peak. Brother Branham was not in Flagstaff when the cloud briefly moved over for 28 minutes just after sunset.

Americans have led the way in elevating brother Branham as the Absolute and the Son of Man. They use his quotes to replace Scripture. This corrupts his ministry which was to reveal the mysteries of the Bible and make us Scriptural.

Brother Branham's quotes are meant to explain the Bible verses, not replace the Bible verses.

In 2020-2021 America got hit harder than any other country by the mutating COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. God is trying to tell us something.

In Revelation 13 America is represented by the beast rising up out of the land. The native Americans had been decimated by smallpox which the Spanish had brought to Mexico. Thus there were few of them living in the vast, open plains. A thinly populated country.

American money produces the image of the beast which is the organized religion of the Protestant denominations and churches. The beast from the sea, the teeming masses of Europe, is Roman Catholicism. That system has one man, the infallible Pope, as their Absolute truth. One man as the head of a church is simply the spirit of Catholicism as it produces a smaller Protestant image, run on the same organizational principles, as the massive Catholic church with its 1.4 billion members.

REVELATION 13:15    And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

Money is the lifeblood of an organization. America has the money and uses it to spread their version of the quotes and their desire to elevate brother Branham as the Voice of God (which was never promised in the New Testament). So the message groups keep mutating like a virus as they get further away from the written Word. People happily believe in an unscriptural error as long as they can receive American money.

"Killed". The character assassination of those who do not believe in the manipulated and cherry-picked quote-doctrines because they prefer to stay Scriptural.

The best faith rests on Speak the Word only

A warning from God that we need to “speak the Word only”.

Only say what is written in Scripture.

We must not mutate clever doctrines based on personal interpretations of quotes.

The numerous different message-groups cannot all be right. They know about brother Branham in the same way that Capernaum knew about Jesus. Capernaum knew of Jesus but missed the reason for His ministry. Brother Branham kept telling us to be Scriptural. The purpose of his quotes was to reveal the Scriptures so that we can understand the Bible mysteries. The need to interpret Scripture with other Scriptures has been missed by many.

65-0801   THE  GOD  OF  THIS  EVIL  AGE

… so that the peoples that has believed the Message that the Lord Jesus has given me for this hour, might know what's taking place, and placing it in the Scripture.

64-0614  THE  ODDBALL

That's what the Angel told me, "Get the people to believe you."

And if I tell the Word of God, it ain't "believe me," it's "believe the Word."

63-0630   THE  THIRD  EXODUS

Listen to the Bible, the Voice of God calling to you in this day.

60-0804  AS  THE  EAGLE  STIRRETH  UP  HER  NEST

We know the Bible is right; that's not my voice; that's God's voice, speaking

The people of Capernaum turned away from Jesus. The message-groups are using brother Branham’s quotes to turn away from proving their beliefs in Scripture. Thus the message-groups are becoming increasingly Bible-illiterate.

The Jewish leaders were busy turning away from Jesus.

The Roman Centurion looked for Jesus Who is the Word

MATTHEW 8:6   And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

This Gentile knew the truth. Jesus Christ is Lord.

Palsy is paralysis with involuntary trembling.

Jesus, keen to indicate that the Gospel would turn to the Gentiles after the Jews rejected Him, was keen to go with Him.

MATTHEW 8:7   And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

The Gentile gave an amazing answer.

MATTHEW 8:8   The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

“Speak the word only” and all will be well.

If we Gentiles can just get to the stage of only speaking the Word of God. Only believing what the Bible says. Whatever we believe must be proven by linking various relevant Scriptures together. That way we explain the meaning of a Bible verse by referring to other Bible verses.

The secret of the future Gentile faith. Explaining Scripture in terms of other Scriptures.

The success of the Gentile church in each age would depend upon how close they got to Scripture. Their failures depended on how far away they got from the Bible verses.

We must get a revelation from the quotes and then run that revelation through the Bible until the revelation is proven just from the Scriptures.

MATTHEW 8:9   For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

The army runs on the leader having authority so that what he says is obeyed.

The church will only have Bible authority when the people only believe and obey what is written in Scripture.

MATTHEW 8:10   When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

Jesus marvelled. This was the recipe for His future church.

The New Testament would be written as the Word of God and then the believers would “speak the Word only”. The early church would only say and believe what is written in Scripture. No deviations.

At each temptation, they would simply say. “It is written …”.

MATTHEW 8:11   And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.

The East is the first church age where the sun rises. The west is the last church age where the sun sinks at evening time.

MATTHEW 24:27   For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

A worldwide Gentile church will rise up in the resurrection at the end of the church ages. These Gentiles would have come to Jesus during the 7 church ages and believed His Word. They will be caught up to Heaven for the Wedding Feast of the Lamb where they will meet the Old Testament saints who got resurrected just after Jesus rose from the dead.

MATTHEW 8:12   But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But the Jews that Jesus had come for would reject Him and pay bitterly. Over 1 million would be killed in AD 70 by Roman General Titus as he destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. Another 580000 Jews would be killed by the Roman Emperor Hadrian when he crushed the Bar Kochba revolt in AD 135 and exiled the Jews into all parts of the Roman Empire. They would endure almost 1900 years of persecution, expulsion, being robbed and dispossessed, and murdered.

The gloomy future of the Christ-rejecting Jews is offset by the success of the believing Gentile centurion who symbolizes the Gentiles who would choose to believe in the future church ages.

MATTHEW 8:13   And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

As you believed, so it will happen. The servant was healed at a distance. The future church would be healed from unbelief in faraway places and far into the future centuries of time.

All the Gentiles had to do was believe. Physical contact with Jesus was not necessary.

Believing in what we have not seen, and if we have not been physically touched, is the highest form of faith.

Being able to believe in the Word of God when there is no physical evidence to justify your beliefs. That is an amazing faith. Gentiles have this ability.

Peter was not a Pope

MATTHEW 8:14   And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.

Peter was a married man. Thus, he could not be a Pope.

Forbidding priests to marry is a Roman Catholic doctrine.

I TIMOTHY 4:1   Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; …

:3     Forbidding to marry,

Jesus is giving a very clear cut warning. This Chapter deals with Him turning to the Gentiles in the future.

Those who “speak the Word only”. In other words, they remain strictly Scriptural.

But the major enemy to the Gentiles will not be the pagan Roman Empire that would destroy and scatter the Jews. The major enemy to the Gentile church would come from within the church. The pagan Roman Empire was destroyed by the barbarians in AD 476 but it then resurrected on the ruins of the Roman Empire as the Roman Catholic church. The Catholic church is the only Roman institution that survived the breakup of the Roman Empire and thus is the ancient enemy of truth. The only enemy that was present in all seven church ages.

The succession of Popes is the longest line of rulers in the world. Their authority comes from falsely claiming Peter as their first Pope and also falsely claiming that Peter was in Rome. When Paul wrote to the Romans he greets about 27 people at the end but never mentions Peter. So, Peter was never in Rome. He was the apostle to the Jews and went to Babylon to preach to the Jews who remained in Babylon when Cyrus freed the Jews to return to Israel.

REVELATION 17:9   ... when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

The succession of Popes. Their claim that Peter was the first Pope means that there always "was" a Pope since the beginning of the church.
"And is not". The Pope dies.

"And yet is". A new Pope is elected.

The Popes are the longest line of rulers that still have worldwide authority today.

MATTHEW 8:15   And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

Jesus had this effect on people. She got off her sickbed and immediately began to prepare something for them to eat and drink. In the presence of Jesus, people wanted to do something for Him.

It is the same today. When we genuinely repent and accept Him as Saviour then Jesus inspires in us a genuine desire to serve Him in some way.

A great healing campaign in the evening time

MATTHEW 8:16   When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

Evening time. A great healing ministry.

This will reflect in the seventh and last church age. In the evening time as the last church age drew closer to its end, so William Branham was gifted with an incredible supernatural healing ministry.

Isaiah spoke of the Messiah who, like the scapegoat, would carry our sins and sicknesses far away.

MATTHEW 8:17   That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

ISAIAH 53:4   Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:

What was alarming in 2020 was the frightening speed with which the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic closed down all our churches which were helpless in the face of this mutating virus. We had to rely on medical staff to bravely fight the battle for us. So, what does this say about our churches?

They failed in the face of the enemy. There is no great healing campaign against the virus pandemic.

Is this a sign of God rejecting us Gentiles and turning back to the Jews?

Big crowds do not necessarily impress Jesus

MATTHEW 8:18   Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.

"The other side". His interest was no longer on the Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee but with the Gentiles on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus again turns away from the multitudes. Big groups are fickle and easily manipulated.

When all the show and the spectacular is over, people fall away and very few remain to search earnestly for the truth.

MATTHEW 18:20   For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Jesus turns away from big groups but is in the midst of tiny groups.

LUKE 12:32   Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

MATTHEW 7:13   Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Lots of people want the broadway of entertainment and popularity.

MATTHEW 7:14   Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The true way is hard and will be followed by a few. The more a church compromises with Scripture, the bigger it grows. People want salvation and then an easy and popular life.

Jesus turned away from that. He wants quality, not quantity.

Following Jesus demands hardship and sacrifice

MATTHEW 8:19   And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.

This man was ready to follow Him anywhere until he discovered that it meant a life of hardship and no sure dwelling place. There was no worldly security in following Jesus. Thousands of missionaries would go out to Asia and Africa and perish from awful diseases or be killed by violent tribes. Christianity is not for sissies. Only the apostle John would die of old age. But even he had to spend two prison terms on the island of Patmos.

MATTHEW 8:20   And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

Jesus had no sympathy with funeral arrangements.

MATTHEW 8:21   And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.

Disciples were supposed to get souls saved and spread the Gospel, not worry about funerals and their usual prohibitive expenses.

MATTHEW 8:22   But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

We must not think we can follow Jesus if we live by our cultural requirements.

MATTHEW 8:23   And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

Getting into a ship symbolized how the disciples would be confined in their movements as they followed Him. They had very little freedom of movement.

Jesus crosses the stormy sea to help two mad Gentiles

Jesus leaves the Jews to cross a dangerous sea to help 2 demon-possessed Gentiles

Jesus was now going to sail away from the big crowds at Capernaum and go to rescue two demon-possessed Gentiles on the other side of the lake or Sea of Galilee.

Two is the smallest group that you can get.

Such is the interest of Jesus in individuals.

They lived in the unknown region of the Gergesenes. This spot was so remote that scholars are still debating where it is.

The only evidence for the red spot (on the above map) is that it is the only place where a steep bank runs down into the sea.

So, Jesus was leaving a big crowd of Jews to sail to the other side of the Sea of Galilee in search of two unknown Gentiles who were in a bad way and also had no certain dwelling place that we can find today.

That was His answer to the Jews who would reject Him. He would rather go look for two reject Gentiles.

The church of the Laodiceans (the Laodiceans make up their own clever doctrines) has Jesus standing outside the church.

By rejecting the written Word in favour of quotes, the Gentiles are rejecting Jesus.

So, it is time for Him to cross over to the Jews to pull the 144000 out in the Tribulation. With about 8 billion Gentiles, the 144000 Jews is only about two-thousandths of one percent of the world’s population. A literal drop in the ocean. But Jesus is a Gleaner Who hunts for the few.

He leaves the big crowds to find the few rejects that nobody wants.

MATTHEW 8:24   And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

Now the emphasis is on the sea which represents the restless Gentile peoples and nations.

It was a stormy sea.

REVELATION 17:15   And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Dealing with the Gentiles has been a big problem for God because of great tempests or storms that represent war and strife. Gentile history is full of war and murder. A mass murderer like Alexander the Greek is referred to as Alexander the Great. Gentile history is often written in buckets of blood.

The pagan Roman Empire killed 3 million Christians between AD 64 and AD 312.

The Roman Catholic Church encouraged the killing of tens of millions during the Dark Ages.

The French Revolution and Napoleon’s wars killed about 3½ million people as the nation-states of Europe were born. Europe then formed worldwide colonies or empires which French President Macron in 2017 admitted was a crime against humanity. Looting and killing with machine guns as well as starving over 30 million Indians to death by stealing their food to pay for the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain.

Then the empires of Europe turned on each other in the First and Second World Wars. As a result, they lost their colonies. Civil unrest and terrorism ripped many of these independent nations apart.

One historian claims that in the last 3400 years only 268 years had worldwide peace. This means that only 8% of the last 3 millennia (a millennium = 1000 years) has been peaceful.

Gentiles do not seem to know the meaning of peace.

MATTHEW 8:25   And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

The dangerous winds and waves threatened the disciples in the same way that future wars would threaten Christians. Jesus was asleep because nobody was talking to Him. That is the big mistake that Christians make. We ignore Him.

Jesus controls nature and the sea

Jesus has full control over the sea and the restless nations (the spiritual sea)

MATTHEW 8:26   And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

Being fearful is a sign of little faith.

But once they woke Him up then He spoke and produced calm. Gentiles will indulge in wars until the final battle happens at Armageddon. Then Jesus will finally be able to set up world peace for 1000 years.

Final peace will only occur when Jesus returns to earth and destroys the Beast Pope and his armies. Jesus has to stand up and take control of the earth as supreme King for 1000 years. Satan will be bound by a chain of circumstances in the bottomless pit and peace will reign on earth. The heathen survivors of Armageddon who had never heard the Gospel will be peaceful and walk very humbly after that great slaughter.

MATTHEW 8:27   But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

The sea represents the restless nations. Winds represent war and strife. Even all the Gentile wars are under God’s control. For 10 years Syria has been ripped apart by civil war, but that has stopped them from attacking Israel. Napoleon was a military genius but his destructive wars forced the people of Europe to unite into various nations in order to oppose Napoleon. The First World War bankrupted England and the Second World War made them lose their worldwide Empire. India gained independence and could then emerge as one of the world’s biggest economies. The two Gulf Wars against Saddam Hussein stopped him from rebuilding Babylon. The Bible prophesied that Babylon would never be rebuilt. The recent civil war in Syria forced them to ask for help from Hezbollah, the terror group in Lebanon, and thus Hezbollah, with most of their army fighting in Syria, was also not able to threaten Israel. So God keeps pulling the strings to make sure Israel survives.

Gentile wars are very destructive but God uses them for His purpose. Jesus has control over the winds of war just like He calmed the tempest. Between 1939 and 1945 Hitler killed 6 million Jews during the chaos of the Second World War. This aroused a brief worldwide sympathy for the hated Jew and the United Nations gave them a small homeland in 1947. In 1967 Egypt threatened Israel and lost the Six-Day War.  The Jews fought for 6 days and were able to rest on the 7^th day. Their army leader was Moshe (Moses) Dayan. Moses gave us the 6 working-day week and resting on the 7^th day about 3½ thousand years ago. Such name accuracy over such a long time span shows us that Jesus is in control of the war.

Abram paid tithes to Melchizadek and asked for Eshcol to get his portion.

GENESIS 14:18   And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

:19   And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:

:20   And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

:23   That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

:24   Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

Abram's great-grandson Levi collected the tithes as the Levites formed the priesthood.

In 1967 the Six-Day War tripled the size of the Promised Land. The President of Israel who annexed this far larger portion was Levi Eshcol. This is name accuracy over a time of about 4000 years.

Jesus has full control over the winds of war. Abram thus taught us that paying tithes is a good idea. Tithes payers have been blessed for 4000 years, showing the endurance of Bible ideas.

But in 1967 the Jews also took the Sinai desert that was outside their Promised Land. So, in 1973 they took huge losses from Egypt’s Russian SAM missiles around the Red Sea. President Nixon sent them the Wild Weasel fighter planes that were designed to neutralize the SAM missiles. Israel won the war but handed back the Sinai desert to Egypt in exchange for peace with Egypt. The Jews were back within the limits that God had given Abram. The lesson to us is that we must never try to live outside the limits that God expects from His church.

Always be strictly Scriptural in what you do and believe.

With the Jews back inside their limits, they have now made peace with Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates which is a union of 7 Emirates or countries. Staying within our Biblical limits is a good idea.

Jesus left the Jewish crowds in Capernaum to find two bad men in the country of the Gergesenes. A remote Gentile area that modern-day scholars still debate about.

MATTHEW 8:28   And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

They lived in tombs like so many of today’s spiritually dead churches with their unscriptural ideas. The deader the church and the more unscriptural it is the more fiercely its members defend it. With 45000 different kinds of churches and denominations, there is obviously much error in the church world.

These two men are Gentiles.

Jesus turned to the Gentiles and His initial problem was the intense demonology that saturated Gentile’s thinking.

Demons can only develop unscriptural doctrines as they are unable to live within the limits of Scripture.

That is why Gentile nations endlessly break out of their national boundaries to attack and conquer another nation or people.

Look at the unscriptural ideas that are rife in the Gentile churches.

Trinity. One God in 3 Persons. Three Persons in the Godhead. Jesus is in the Godhead. Eternal Sonship. God the Son. God the Holy Ghost. Father and Son are co-equal. First Person of the Godhead. Second Person of the Godhead. Third Person of the Godhead.

The major problem of the Trinity. The Triune God has no name. You cannot find one name for three People. You cannot replace a name with three titles. Thanks to Trinity, God loses His name.

The Gentile churches first broke the Bible limits by putting a Bishop in charge of the church. This was a Nicolaitan spirit whereby the clergy were uplifted and responded by conquering the people. Then at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 they forced the Trinity doctrine onto the church. By AD 350 they were even ready to accept Christmas on 25 December even though the Bible never asked us to celebrate Christ’s birth.

Ask yourself, what spirit inspires Gentiles to believe Roman Catholic doctrines that are not written in the Bible?

MATTHEW 8:29   And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

These mad Gentiles were honest. They admitted that what they believed came from paganism and had nothing to do with what was written in the Word of God. Jesus is the Word of God.

Telling unscriptural Gentile churches the Bible truth torments them and inspires them to anger as they reject not just the Scripture that you speak, but also reject you as a person.

These men wanted nothing to do with Jesus Who is the Word.

Today Gentiles promote William Branham to the Godhead by calling Him infallible as the Voice of God.

The New Testament never promised us the Voice of God, only the voice of the seventh angel.

63-0630   THE  THIRD  EXODUS

Listen to the Bible, the Voice of God calling to you in this day.

62-1007  THE  KEY  TO  THE DOOR
… and they're preaching that men should leave their wives and hunt for their spiritual mate, and that I am perfectly infallible. That there's nothing... And, oh, some of the awfullest things you ever heard.

Calling brother Branham infallible is just as awful as adultery.

Message people have really lost the plot.

Gentile demons are at home in a sea of restless humans

Even the pigs had enough sense to stay far away from these demon-possessed Gentile men. These unscriptural claims should scare us into running away.

MATTHEW 8:30   And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

This was Gentile territory. Jews were not allowed to farm with pigs.

MATTHEW 8:31   So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

MATTHEW 8:32   And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

Swine are pigs or unclean animals. The demons that possessed these two Gentile men had an obsession with the sea and forced the pigs to drown themselves. This illustrates the future history of the Gentile people who are by nature subject to the demonology that drives them to drown themselves in the restless sea of popular opinions, doctrines, and habits. They destroy themselves as individuals as demons addict them to the common sins of smoking, drinking, drugs, pornography, and the endless distraction of the mass media.

Then come the deeper and more dangerous spiritual sins where Gentiles feel that they have to belong to a church for the social benefits. As if “going to church” makes them safe. Too lazy to seek truth for themselves, they become addicted to the doctrines of a church.

They copy the beliefs of their church leader and catch the spirit of the pastor.

Then they cease to be an individual and are simply second-hand copycats. They celebrate the birthday of the pagan Roman sun god on 25 December although we were never asked to celebrate Christ's birth in the Bible. Unscriptural Christmas trees enter the church. From then on, the quotes of a man replace what is written in the Bible. That dooms the church-goers to be thrown into great Tribulation as that alone will shock them out of the error of their ways.

With Jesus standing outside the door of the church of the Laodiceans and the church being described as vomit, the church is in trouble at the end. No wonder the Gentile churches were closed down by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in 2020. God was trying to tell us something.

We all have to wear masks. Robbers wear masks.

MALACHI 3:8   Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me.

Many rob God by not paying tithes. But far worse than that, by believing in a Trinity God the church has robbed God of His name. You cannot find one name for three Persons.

With the virus pandemic we have to keep washing hands. Pilate washed his hands when he asked, “What is truth?”

We ask the same question today. Is the truth some quotes or some interpretation of quotes?

People say, “The 7 Thunders have uttered”. But brother Branham never said that.

Brother Branham never told us what the new name of Jesus is.

1965  Church Ages   Philadelphian Church Age

My New Name. When ALL becomes new, then He will take upon Him a new Name and that Name will be the Name of the bride also. What that Name is, none dare conjecture. It would have to be a revelation of the Spirit given so conclusively that none would dare deny it. But no doubt He will leave that revelation to the day when He desires to give that Name forth. Suffice it to know that it will be more wonderful than we could ever imagine.

REVELATION 19:12   His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

No man knows the new name.

So church-goers keep washing their hands as an admission that they do not know what truth is.

Real truth is to be Scriptural. But message-people cannot prove their interpretations of quotes from Scripture. They compensate by condemning those who want to be Scriptural.

Fierce men were these two Gentiles. They attack and overcame all except Jesus, the Word.

Fierce and angry Gentile church-goers will demolish anyone who is not strictly Scriptural.

EXODUS 15:1   Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

Pharaoh, who had killed Jewish babies, and his army drowned. Their demonic influence, represented as a horse rider, found a home in the sea, representing the restless peoples and nations. Pagan demonic spirits easily enter and control the Gentile masses where these demons feel at home. Today there are about 50 million abortions a year so the spirit of killing unborn babies is running rampant amongst the Gentiles.

People die. Demon spirits do not die, they mutate and rise up to exert religious, political, and financial power and control over people.

John the Revelator would see in Revelation 13 these Gentile demons rise up out of the sea as a 7-headed beast, the pagan Roman empire with its headquarters on the Capitoline Hill, one of the seven hills that Rome was originally built on

This was the original Servian wall (blue line) around the 7 hills

Then the pagan Roman empire would be destroyed by the barbarians but it would resurrect as the Roman Catholic church on the ruins of the pagan Roman empire. In Revelation 17 John saw the beast had a scarlet colour. Scarlet is the colour worn by the cardinals who run the Catholic church, represented by the woman who rides on and controls the beast. The spirit of pagan Rome is now in the Roman Catholic church.

The woman who rides on and controls this vicious pagan spirit is the Catholic church whose nerve centre of power is the Vatican City in the city of Rome. Around AD 370 the pagan Roman emperor built the bigger wall (shown in red) which was later connected to Vatican City.

But the official headquarters of the Roman Catholic church is the Lateran Palace on the Caelian Hill.

Thus the biggest church in the world is actually the resurrected Roman Empire as the demons who made them brutally crush the world have risen up out of the teeming millions of Europe and then spread around the world thanks to the Portuguese and Spanish empires.

MATTHEW 8:33   And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils.

The keepers of the pigs ran away when Jesus appeared. Error is always uncomfortable in the presence of the written Word. Unscriptural preachers are experts at evasions and dismissals of the Scriptures that contradict them.

They say, “It is not important”. “It is just a detail”. “Must we know?”

Those evasive answers actually mean that they are not honest enough to admit their ignorance. They also have no desire to learn the truth.

MATTHEW 8:34   And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts.

The entire city did not own those pigs. But the entire city supported the pig owners who had lost much money. They wanted to get rid of this Jesus who had cost people money.

So, the Gentile people would unite to oppose the Word, especially if it starts to affect their income. Those who stand to lose money because of Scripture will whip up the anger of all the people to oppose Scripture.

Try telling people that we were never asked to celebrate the Lord’s birth and they immediately contemplate the financial aspects of the world’s biggest festival, Christmas.

Try telling a pastor that nowhere in the New Testament was a pastor put in charge of a church and immediately he is fighting for his financial survival. No Scripture says that the pastor is the supreme authority of the church. No Scripture says that the tithes belong to the pastor.

Gentiles reject the Word and chase it away when it interferes with their income.

What do the two mad Gentile men represent?

Two men who would accept Jesus when the rest of the Gentiles in that area rejected Him.

One man represented the Gentile believers of the first church age who would accept the full truth from Paul and the apostles. After that Bishops or human leaders took over each church and led them astray into the Dark Ages. Then there was a slow recovery of truth during the Reformation despite much error staying in the church. Then finally, in the end, in the last church age, there would be a small group of Gentile believers who want to be strictly Scriptural and be turned back to the beliefs of the early church.

That was represented by the second mad Gentile man. So the last Gentile age is also in a bad way.

There were a lot of bad spirits that had to be chased out of us by the Word of God.

We will be considered to be mad for wanting to be strictly Scriptural. "It is written". When there is an overwhelming flood of those who claim, "I have a quote".

Not one prophecy nor one parable says anything good about the end-time church.

Thus, we need to be “zealous to repent”. We have been taught a lot of errors by churches and message-churches. Our Bible-ignorance is vast. Our understanding of so many Bible verses is dismal.

We need much correction.
REVELATION 3:18   ...  and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

:19   As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

We need to have our eyes anointed with eye salve.

We need to see our beliefs reflected in Scripture.

We need a fresh vision that Jesus is Almighty God and no other person can be compared to Him.

ISAIAH 46:5  To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?

When the sun rises, the stars fade away. The sun then rules supreme in the sky.

In the last church age Jesus stands outside every church, including message-churches.

REVELATION 3:20   Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice,

God wants us to hear His voice, the Bible.

64-0614  THE  ODDBALL

That's what the Angel told me, "Get the people to believe you."

And if I tell the Word of God, it ain't "believe me," it's "believe the Word."

63-0630   THE  THIRD  EXODUS

Listen to the Bible, the Voice of God calling to you in this day.

The Voice of God is the Bible. Brother Branham is the voice of the seventh angel.

The voice of the seventh angel came to reveal or explain the Bible, not to become the Bible.

Keep that process clear or else you will be fooled, O foolish virgin.

Saved but destined for the Tribulation.

Nowhere in the New Testament were we promised the Voice of God at the end-time. We were promised the voice of the seventh angel.

Please note.

The only time that two groups of Scriptural people will be on earth will be after the resurrection when the first church age and the living Bride are together.

Not what happened when the Gentiles rushed out of their city to confront Jesus.

Then when all the people rush out to chase away the Word, there is no mention of the two changed men. They have disappeared. That symbolizes their changed bodies. They have been caught up to Heaven for the Wedding Supper.

The pigs rushed down a steep bank to their doom where they would go faster and faster.

The Tribulation hits with sudden destruction.