Matthew 18 - Church leaders mess up

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The final Christians are symbolized by a little Child

Scripture has a compound meaning.

The same Scripture can refer to more than one event or situation or time period.

Various Scriptures refer to past or future events but most of the Bible also refers to our present end-time events. The revelation of the Bible mysteries at the end thus provides us with vital clues so that we can escape the final deceptions in the church. Deception will reach its climax just before the Lord returns. Our biggest problem is not to be fooled, especially by the churches that have become unscriptural distractions that are designed to mislead. Once we are fooled, we become part of the foolish virgins who are doomed to die in the Tribulation.

PHILIPPIANS 2:12    … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

We are not saved from hell by our works. We are saved from hell by grace through faith. We have to work hard to search for Bible truth in order to be saved from the Tribulation.

A woman symbolizes a church.

The apostles were the fathers who were strictly Scriptural. The reformers at the time of the Reformation and missionary age were the young men. The children were the church of the Laodiceans. The little children are the Bride at the time of the resurrection who want to return to the Bible beliefs of the apostles.

MATTHEW 19:14    But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

The little children are the end-time wise virgins who come back to the written Word. We know Jesus as the Word of God. Your attitude to Scripture is your attitude to Jesus. We must come to Jesus Who is the Word, not to some church.

But we will suffer as we come to Jesus. Even message-churches are becoming opposed to being Scriptural.

“I’ve got a quote” has replaced “It is written…”

MATTHEW 18:1   At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

Ego and pride are human downfalls.

The rulership of the church has long been the major problem area of the church.

The British Empire was the world’s biggest empire ever and was established by the English who considered themselves to be the Land of the Free. They led the way in the missionary age to enlighten unbelievers. But carrying the flame of the Holy Gospels was replaced by the search for wealth, loot, and fame. They ended up involved in the atrocious slave trade and their ships carried 3 million slaves from Africa to the Americas.

The basic problem of church leadership is the setting up of a worldwide church that comes at the cost of making people slaves to your doctrines.

The church beliefs would keep changing as new doctrines were revealed.

The old church would cling to the old ideas and bitterly oppose the newly revealed truths. How was the church to cope with these ongoing but necessary changes?

The twelve apostles were to be the main leaders of the church. But even that was not good enough for them.

They wanted to know who was to be the greatest of the 12 apostles. Basically, that would make him the Pope.

This is Churchianity at its worst. Seriously flawed with vanity, pride, and self-importance.

It is not enough that we can serve God. One person must also insist on being superior to the others as well. Not a good attitude.

That is how people mistakenly think.

The curse of the church world is “Competitive Christianity”. This is called Churchianity. It is a very subtle demon that emphasizes self and self-glorification.

“I am better than you”.  “I am more important than you”.

And the most toxic statement, “I am above you”. “I am the head of the church”.

This kind of thinking illustrates how far the church has fallen.

Jesus chose a group of disciples or apostles to launch the New Testament church. Not one man.

JOHN 17:20   Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

We can only find truth by coming back to the beliefs of the group of early apostles.

Eight men wrote the New Testament. God never left it to one man.

This New Testament, together with the Old Testament, is the foundation of our belief. Our Absolute.

MALACHI 4:5   Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

This prophecy has a two-fold fulfillment.

MALACHI 4:6   And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

John the Baptist turned the disobedient Jewish fathers who kept the Law to the wisdom of their children, the younger generation of Jesus and His disciples.

LUKE 1:17    And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just;

John pointed out the Messiah and then left the scene. Only one of John’s disciples, Andrew, became one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus.

So being a disciple of William Branham does not mean that you are a close disciple of Jesus. Jesus expects us to be obedient to the Scriptures because He is the Word of God. The way you love and reverence the Scriptures is the way you love and reverence Jesus.

When Jesus left, the apostles grew up and became the fathers of the New Testament church which they launched.

This early church in the first church age became the model and the example of what the church should be like.

Nicolaitans or human leaders would take over the church as priests and Bishops and extinguish the Scriptural flame in the Dark Ages.

God hated this and so did the early church. No Christian wanted some man as the church head.

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

This was the Ephesian church age from AD 33 to AD 170.

But slowly and unnoticed, priests and Bishops began to take over the church as one-man rulers. By AD 170 they had succeeded. People were lazy and settled back comfortably, leaving one man to run the church and tell them what to believe.

By AD 312 when the third church age started, people were used to having a Bishop of a city. They liked the idea. That is what they wanted as it was good for church growth. People preferred to “hold” onto church beliefs and traditions. Bible verses faded into the background. What the Bishop said was of most importance. People superstitiously would hold onto man-made ideas like Trinity, Christmas, and Good Friday.

REVELATION 2:15   So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

They especially held on to the idea that one man should be the head of the church.

The rot gathered speed in AD 325 when the unscriptural Trinity was forced on the church. That gave the church Bishops the excuse to introduce other unscriptural ideas as well. The people now believed what the church leader said, not what the Bible said. They became slaves to their leaders and were scared to oppose them.

Notice. God still hated the dominating Nicolaitans who ruled the church as Bishops but the people were keen to “hold” onto the idea of one man being the head of the church. The people would “hold” onto what the preacher said, not onto what the Bible says. People trusted their church, not the Word of God. The Bishops would "hold" onto their power over the people.

Human leaders thus doomed the church to follow them away from Scripture and die in the dirt and darkness of unbelief that characterized the Dark Ages.

In the end time, many human church leaders changed their title from being a Bishop and are now called pastors. They successfully split up the church into 45000 different kinds of churches and denominations. Hardly any claimed that the King James Version of the Bible (KJV) is the Absolute. If you want brother Branham as the Absolute then you must find mistakes in the Bible to prove that the KJV Bible is not the Absolute.

Pastors do not allow any opposition to their viewpoint. If you dare to disagree with them you are not welcome in “their” church.

JEREMIAH 23:1   Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

Bible believers have to leave the church and are scattered as individuals or small groups.

JEREMIAH 23:2    Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people;

Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away,

and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.

Leaders love their pre-eminence in the church. They allow no opposition to their viewpoint.

III JOHN 1:9   I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes,

who loveth to have the preeminence among them,

receiveth us not.

:10     Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would,

and casteth them out of the church.

Notice this ugly spirit of Churchianity.

They did not want the apostle John who wrote Scripture. Thus, they were not interested in being Scriptural. Then they threw any dissenters out of the church for daring to disagree with the church leader. You have to agree with the head of the church or leave. The antichrist spirit enters the church.

The Catholics insisted that the Pope is infallible. The consequence is that most Catholics are now rather Bible-illiterate and can prove very little of what they believe from Scripture. This spirit then jumps onto the message churches that stress quotes and become more Bible-illiterate in the process as they focus on quotes, not on Scripture. Again, they are turning the Catholics into their mother church by following that example and claiming that brother Branham is infallible, as the Voice of God. A dangerous Nicolaitan doctrine of elevating a man above everyone. Just like the Pope rules as a dictator who cannot be corrected or questioned. Same spirit.

Infallible means he cannot make a mistake. You cannot correct him. So why bother to read the Bible? Just listen to quotes and interpretations of quotes.

But the early church searched the Scriptures 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.

By not checking the quotes with Scripture, the message groups have also become increasingly Bible-illiterate and cannot prove much of what they believe from Scripture either.

Thus, very few of brother Branham’s disciples will become disciples of Jesus Christ, Who is the Word of God. Very few people who claim to learn from brother Branham’s quotes will be able to prove what they believe from Scripture. They have been successfully fooled and join the foolish virgins on their march to the Tribulation.

John the Baptist made a big mistake. He doubted that Jesus was the Messiah.

The two disciples of John, who believed all his quotes, carried this wrong quote to Jesus and as a result, they are never heard of again. Why? Those two disciples, just like the serpent in Eden, expressed doubt about the Word. That means they doubted Jesus, Who is the Word.

If you hold onto brother Branham’s mistakes you enter the ranks of the foolish or fooled virgins and become Tribulation fodder. Then you will try to find faults in the King James Bible.

But the end-time Elijah, William Branham, was to turn the hearts of the end-time children back to the Bible beliefs of the original apostles who were the fathers of the early church.

So, the Bride in the closing days of the 7^th church age will be the little children.

The last ones to be born-again before the Lord Comes.

I JOHN 2:18   Little children, it is the last time:

and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

“Many antichrists”. Much deception in many different ways. Deception means believing something that is not written in the Bible. The most subtle deception is that found in the message groups because they came closest to the truth.

Virgins are clean women representing saved people in the churches. The foolish virgins are the saved people who have been fooled by their beloved church leaders and their much-loved church beliefs.

Only Christ can be the Head of the church

Realizing what a mess human leadership would make of the church, Jesus stepped in to resolve the whole leadership of the church problem.

The main point is that no man is the head of the church. Only Jesus can occupy that position.

EPHESIANS 5:23   For the husband is the head of the wife, even

as Christ is the head of the church:

and he is the saviour of the body.

The body of Christ is the church. Only Christ can save the church. Thus only Christ can be the Head of the church. As the body obeys the head, so Jesus must be obeyed by the church.

MATTHEW 23:9   And call no man your father

upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

We all have a physical father from whom we were born.

But we are not born-again from any physical man. We can only be born-again from God as our spiritual Father.

“Call no man your father”.  Man is singular. No individual man is the spiritual father of another person.

The Catholics call their priests, “Father”. Which is totally wrong.

The word Pope comes from Pappas which means Father. Very wrong.

Do not elevate any physical man above you to stand between you and God.

Schoolmasters teach us when we are children and the schoolmasters are above the children.

But this must not apply in the Gospel. No Christian today is above any other Christian.

MATTHEW 23:10   Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

But those who teach the spiritual little children (the end-time Bride) must not be called masters as if they are above them. Everyone meets as equals.

No person is above another person despite the differences in ministries and abilities.

I PETER 2:9   But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,

We are all part of a spiritual priesthood. But no priest is above another priest. Only the High Priest, Jesus, is above us.

LUKE 17:10     So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.

God is not impressed with us. We do more harm than good. We make more mistakes than what we get right.

JOB 15:15   Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints;

yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.

God cannot trust us as we are all obsessed with self-will, self-gain, and self-importance. Each individual thinks that the church they belong to has the truth and everyone else must agree with them. Personal ego means that people cannot believe that they could be wrong.

But when elders debate with each other as equals, then out of the opposing views a more insightful truth can emerge. We can learn from those who disagree with us. A group of local elders becomes the best way of running a local assembly.

The word “elder” or “elders” is used about 30 times in the New Testament. The word “pastors” is only mentioned once in the New Testament. When the apostles sit around the throne of God in heaven with the patriarchs of the Old Testament, they are called elders and not apostles.

PROVERBS 27:17   Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Never shut off the exchange of ideas.

Two people, disagreeing on a topic, can discuss and develop a deeper truth than either could think up on their own.

This is the value of elders. People meet as equals, as brothers, and can thrash out ideas until they line up with Scripture.

Never banish and avoid people if you are unable to prove their ideas wrong from the Scripture.

Do not ignore someone if they disagree with you on one point. You can still learn from them on other points.

PROVERBS 27:18   Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.

The fig tree represents Israel. The Jews who return to the Promised Land are doing the right thing. There they await the return of their Master, the Messiah, in the Tribulation.

The lesson is that we have to wait on God for His next move. We cannot manufacture the fulfillment of Scripture.

The Bride has to wait for the resurrection of the New Testament saints.

We cannot understand the 7 Thunders that are not written. We have to wait until they utter after the resurrection. They will show us how to change our bodies so that we can gain rapturing faith. We cannot be raptured in these present bodies. If you had rapturing faith today, you could not be raptured. Not in this body. Rapturing faith can only help you when you are in an immortal body.

A little child is totally dependent on his or her parents and the child tries hard to please the parents.

They learn the language of their parents.

A little child is keen to learn about this strange world by copying the parents. A little child does not try to be the boss because the child is very ignorant.

Jesus is our Father. We must learn His language, the written Word. We try to follow the examples of Scripture as best we can. We try hard to please Jesus and learn from Scripture.

65-0429   THE  CHOOSING  OF  A  BRIDE

While, the true Bride attracts the attention of God, by keeping His Word.

The church can only be the Body of Christ if He is the Head.

62-0211 ONENESS
And say, "Our pastor said it's all right to do this."

I don't care what your pastor said. If it's contrary to God's Word, let his word be a lie,

and keep God's Word.

In the end time, we will understand that God the Father dwelling in a human body is none other than Jesus Christ. Thus Jesus is our heavenly Father.

MATTHEW 18:2   And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,

The little child is a symbol of the Bride right at the end time,

which is where we are now.

MATTHEW 18:3   And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Only Matthew speaks of the kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew Chapter 13 deals with 7 "kingdom of Heaven" parables that describe the 7 church ages.

To enter into the Kingdom of heaven as a little child is to find your place in the Body of Christ at the end of the 7 church ages. What must we learn in order to be in the right position at the end of the 7^th age?

To find Jesus you must go outside the church

The correct position is to be outside the church if you want to come to Jesus.

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

REVELATION 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:

Jesus stands outside the church door knocking.

MATTHEW 17:11   And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

When you leave the church and find Jesus He gives you the direction to move in.

The key idea in your life is to be restored back to the Bible beliefs of the first church age.

Conversion means a change of heart.

In the end-time, we must cease to be tradition-followers and church-followers and start to search the Scriptures daily to see what is expected of us for our present day. We must become Bible-followers.

Jesus represents the spiritual Father of this little child. The child has total trust in Him and would never contradict Him but would rather learn by copying Him.

That means we must have total trust in Jesus as the Word of God. So much so that we would never dare to contradict the Bible but believe every word that is written therein. The Bible is the language of Jesus.

At the end of the First Coming, Peter's speech exposed his deception when he denied that he was a follower of Jesus.

This was just before the resurrection of the Old Testament saints who arose after the resurrection of Jesus.

MATTHEW 26:73   And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.

Bewray means to expose a deception.

If we are not strictly Scriptural in what we believe then when we speak to the resurrected saints,  we will simply expose the fact that we are deceived and are not part of the Bride. They will immediately become aware of this.

Worse still, if they speak from Scripture and message-people disagree with them because there are over 100 different variations of the message-groups, then it means that the message-people are opposing the truth.

MATTHEW 18:4   Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

What is the greatest task for the Bride in the 7 church ages?

It is not what you did or achieved. Martha was endlessly serving. But Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to His words. Mary had the better part. We are saved by faith not by our good works.

The greatest task in church history is for the end-time Bride to come back to the beliefs of the New Testament apostolic fathers. The end-time of church history has the greatest deceptions in church history.

The white horse of religious deception, the red horse of political power, and the black horse of Big Money demonology are all uniting today in the church world. Each church is ruled by one man which is unscriptural.

The King James Version of the Bible is no longer regarded as the infallible Voice of God, the Absolute Truth.

Never has there been such a concentrated attack of spiritual deception.

There are 45000 different types of churches and denominations as well as over 100 variations of the English Bible. There are over 100 variations of the end-time message. In this spiritual swamp, it is almost impossible for the spiritual little children to return to the doctrines and beliefs of the apostolic fathers.

The greatest achievement in the church ages is for the end-time Bride to get back to proving what they believe, just from the Bible.

That will produce the latter rain or harvest rain.

The harvest is when the seed is pulled off the plant. The seed is only pulled off the plant, or reaped, when the final seed that ripens is identical to the first seed that was planted.

The final aim of the little children at the end-time is to only believe what has been revealed from Scripture. Then we become part of the Word, rather than part of one of the many churches.

MATTHEW 18:5   And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

Receiving a Bible-believing end-time Christian is the same as receiving Jesus because He is the Word.

But end-time Bible-believing Christians will be hugely unpopular. They will be strongly opposed both by the churches and the message groups.

MATTHEW 18:6   But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Opposing the spiritual little children who are the end-time Bible-believing Bride is a serious mistake. Almost everyone is against the revelation of the Bible mysteries that can be proven just by using Scripture.

Church people from the denominations and from the message-groups will ridicule and condemn those who are being strictly Scriptural. For many years the denominations and message churches have got away with condemning the truth that establishes the quotes in Scripture. But their time is starting to run out.

The second-to-last-vision that brother Branham saw in 1933 was of a cruel woman ruling America and ruining the country. Probably the Catholic church. In 2021 Kamala Harris, a woman, became Vice President. The new President was Joe Biden, a Catholic. The last scene is getting prepared. Catholic Biden and a woman Vice President are a sign of the times. The Catholic church grows inexorably in power as Protestant churches and Message churches adopt Roman Catholic beliefs and organizational methods. A man in charge of a church, then the church tells people what to believe, not the Bible.

60-0716  FROM  THAT  TIME

In 1933, this is a woman's nation. It's the number thirteen. It appears in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation: thirteen stars, thirteen stripes, thirteen... Everything's a thirteen. Everything is a woman. And remember,

THUS SAITH THE LORD there will be a woman rule before the end time. She'll either be President, Vice President, or it'll be the Catholic church as a woman.

I've seen her: A great woman, the nation bowed to her. It'll be one before the end time. THUS SAITH THE LORD.

Jesus will only return for people who believe the Bible

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.

65-0429   THE  CHOOSING  OF  A  BRIDE

The true Bride attracts the attention of God, by keeping His Word.

We have to be Scriptural.

But one day Los Angeles will sink violently into the sea and that will spell the financial ruin of America. Around that time the little children will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and the saved foolish virgins who were fooled by their pastors, as well as the world, will go into the Tribulation. Then the Vials of God’s wrath will be poured upon them. The anguish and agony of the Tribulation will be far worse than a quick drowning. They mocked and opposed the few Bible believers but these mockers will die a dismal death in the Tribulation.

MATTHEW 18:7   Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

The world and the churches have to oppose the truth of the revealed Word in order to set up the conditions for the Tribulation. The truth will get beaten down until there are very few of the true believers left.

MATTHEW 10:22   And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Saved from the Tribulation as long as you insist on remaining Scriptural.

Another meaning of “little children”. Very little in number. Very few.

THE EPHESIAN CHURCH AGE

I said that the True Church would always try to be like it was in the Book of Acts.

That is exactly right. But we have discovered that the Word also teaches

an invasion of the error until there is a complete blackout of truth in the last day when the Lord is about to appear.

The Bible truth will die out at the end in all the churches, including the message-churches.

God only accepts the quotes that you can prove from Scripture.

The Bible is God’s Voice.

64-0823 QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS.1
But those who can accept the Word in Its fullness,

not me preaching It, because It's the Bible says so.

Those who accept that is free, because they--the Word's already been judged.

We must only listen to brother Branham preaching on a tape?

64-0830   QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS.3

"Do you teach that the Bride must not attend any other church unless you are preaching or else, otherwise, the Tabernacle?"

No. I don't teach that.

Interpreting quotes introduces subtle changes and leads to a blackout of the truth.

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

For they can hear plainly the God's Voice, calling, through His Word

...  Listen to the Bible, the Voice of God

calling to you in this day.

MATTHEW 18:8   Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

Feet represent the 7 church ages in the Gentile image that Nebuchadnezzar saw.

Salvation and Truth were outside the Gentile nations as they ran through the Jews. Then salvation crossed-over to the Gentile church as it entered the feet of Daniel’s image which represents the seven church ages.

You must know your place in the 7 church ages. The only place for the little children at the end time is to return to the beliefs of the apostolic fathers of the New Testament. Are you returning to the Scriptural beliefs of the first church age?

Stay away from church beliefs that elevate a man and produce doctrines that the first church age did not believe. To be part of the feet you must not walk in error.

If you are promoting brother Branham to the Godhead by calling him the Son of man or the infallible Voice of God, then you are not going back to the beginning. Then you are saying that everyone must be forced to bow down to the prophet’s quotes as being the Absolute.

1963-1201  AN ABSOLUTE
That's the way it is in Christian life. There is a stopping place, and there is a going place.

God's Word is that absolute.

62-1007  THE  KEY  TO  THE DOOR
That's what gets things scrupled up, you see. That, they claim in here that some brethren up there that said that I sent them up there, 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.

Just like Nebuchadnezzar forced everyone to bow down to the image of a holy man. The three Jews who refused were thrown into the fiery furnace. That symbolizes the persecution of the true believers, the little children cast out of the message churches for not bowing down to worship the end-time prophet. In the end time, there will be a fiery condemnation from message-people against those few who insist on being Scriptural.

Hands represent the huge centrally-controlled organization of the first world-wide empire set up by the Medes and the Persians. Churches are all coming under centralized control. One man at the head of each church system can dictate what people have to do and believe. This efficient but unscriptural model of church-growth has spread all around the world. Efficiency increases the number of people in the church as well as the wealth that is collected. But efficiency does not restore the truth.

Cut off that hand. Stay away from any church organization that is centrally controlled by one man. That is a Catholic spirit. You must not “hold” onto the error of one-man-church-leadership like the church of Pergamos did. That is the Nicolaitan spirit that God hates.

56-0902  THE  HANDWRITING  ON  THE  WALL

Now, I want you to notice. As soon as the king saw this vision and he made it, he forced every person in his Kingdom in his domain to worship this image. He made an image. And it's believed by scholars and which, I do believe that a Spirit-filled person would see it that that... He worshipped Daniel is what he did.

And he made an image to Daniel. And he called it Belteshazzar. He called Daniel, Belteshazzar, which was the name of his god. And he made an image and forced every person to worship that image.

I want you to notice that the beginning of the Gentiles, when God dealt with them, they got haughty in their heart and forced every man to worship the image of a holy man.

And the Gentile age was issued in with that; it will go out in the same way.

The same way a boycott of the mark of the beast that will force people to worship images and to do the things that we've been taught that was contrary to the Word of God.

And, brother, it'll be so slick and sly until it will deceive the very elect if possible. So you better purpose in your heart tonight and be filled with God's Holy Spirit, that you'll be able to discern the right and wrong thing when the proclamation is issued. Hallelujah.

So, message people are forced to promote the holy man William Branham to the Godhead as the Voice of God, the Son of man. Then we have to bow down to all his statements, whether they are right or wrong. That makes absolutely no sense.

65-0725  THE  ANOINTED  ONES  AT  THE  END  TIME
…"the seventh angel's Message, opening up the Seals."
What is it?

Not the angel is the Son of man; but the messenger is revealing the Son of man.
Can you get it separated now?

Brother Branham came to reveal the mysteries of Scripture by showing us how Jesus walks through the pages of the Bible.

Brother Branham was revealing Christ as the revealed Word of God.

Making the Word of God understandable to us.

Very cleverly, the attention has been taken away from the Word that was revealed and focused on the prophet who did the revealing.

Remember, John the Baptist had disciples who stayed with him, even after Jesus had come on the scene. But those disciples faded off the scene. We do not even know their names.

MATTHEW 18:9   And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Your eye enables you to see. If you see brother Branham replacing Jesus and you see quotes replacing Scripture your eye is corrupted. If you see interpretations of the quotes that you cannot prove just by using the Bible, then your eye has been twisted askew by the preachers you listen to. Get rid of those ideas. You are playing with fire.

You must not look through the distorting lens of another man’s eyesight.

Prove your beliefs for yourself from Scripture.

Rather see with the eye of an eagle that can understand all the details of the deeper mysteries of the Bible.

MATTHEW 18:10   Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

The end-time little children will suffer rejection and verbal abuse on earth but there are angels in Heaven that are dedicated to looking after them. We may lose down here but we will win up there.

The battle is tough. Keep praying for help. The angels are on the side of the Bible truth. Make sure you stay on that side.

Churches kick out people for wanting to be Scriptural

MATTHEW 18:11   For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

Jesus is very concerned about saving isolated individuals. Those isolated individuals believe in Him. They do not have a herd instinct of just following the group.

Today the dissenter is kicked out of the flock or the church. That is a big mistake.

Jesus put all His care and attention on the lonely individual who is not part of the flock.

Pastors meanwhile prefer to condemn those who are not part of the flock.

MATTHEW 18:12   How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

The mountains are higher ground that gives a bigger view. This one sheep had the instinct of an eagle as it strove to get higher. It got lost in its own efforts as we cannot interpret Scripture with human wisdom. But by trying to get higher and thus gain a deeper insight into Scripture, and by not just being part of the big flock, this lonely and isolated sheep attracted the attention of Jesus.

The one rejected sheep at the end represents the minority who form the Bride. The 99 sheep in the herd represent the foolish virgins. The one sheep that forms part of His Bride is closer to Him and more important to Him than the 99 saved members of the foolish virgins.

MATTHEW 18:13   And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

The rejected sheep that was not part of the big flock is the aim of the Shepherd at the end. He catches that one sheep up to Heaven and rejoices at the Wedding Supper.

The other 99 stayed safely in the flock but there was no rejoicing over them. Saved people stay safely in their churches as they are addicted to human leadership. Jesus left them. He stands outside the church of the Laodiceans looking for the rejects, that the churches condemn as “lost”.

Little children thus can refer to little scattered groups or individuals.

Those are the ones He rejoices over because only they understood the revealed mysteries of Scripture at the end.

I JOHN 2:18   Little children, it is the last time:

and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

DANIEL 12:9   And he said, Go thy way, Daniel:

for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

The last time is when the spiritual "little children" are alive.

This is the time of the end when the mysteries of Scripture, as promised to Daniel, will be unsealed.

Brother Branham was able to reveal the mysteries of six of the seven Seals. We should understand those mysteries well enough to gain an understanding of the deeper details.

DANIEL 12:10     Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand;

but the wise shall understand.

This refere to the wise virgins of Matthew Chapter 25.

We cannot claim to be wise unless we can prove our beliefs from Scripture.

The seven dominant colours in the rainbow unite to make white light.

When you can combine all the mysteries from all seven church ages together then you will be clothed in the white robe of God’s righteousness.

REVELATION 19:7   Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

:8   And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

When we understand all the Scriptures as they combine together to reveal the Bible patterns, only then is there white light that reveals the mysteries.

White means you can see the complete mysteries of all the seven church ages and how they mix together with the 7^th age flowing back to the first church age.

Your righteousness is not your good deeds, it is your faith that enables you to believe all the Bible and understand all the mysteries. You have to combine many Scriptures together to understand the pattern that is revealed in Scripture.

Only the wise virgins, the Bride or the little children, will understand the Scriptures.

They have enough oil in their lamps to burn brightly enough with enough white light to illuminate the written Word. In the end there is a full restoration of truth from the Dark Ages that began in the 5^th church age with Martin Luther’s Reformation.

The foolish virgins look at many Bible verses but cannot produce enough light to read with understanding. To them, they see no deeper details in the written Word.

Only the Bride in the seventh church age will have enough light to go back to the first church age.

The next diagram shows the candlestick in terms of how the foolish virgins (called the church) have a limited understanding of Scripture.

They all go off into different directions in the 7^th church age according to their various clever human imaginations.

Thus, they cannot get back to the beginning or first church age because their errors dim out the truth. They lack the oil that can burn to illuminate the Bible mysteries.

Notice.

The foolish virgins, who call themselves the church, are not interested in being restored back to the first age.

They make up their own church beliefs. That is why the 7th age is the church of the Laodiceans. It is not the church of God. Nor is it the church of Ephesus that the apostles founded.

They prefer their clever interpretations of quotes that the first church age knew nothing about.

They have to gather in a church and be told what to believe by a human head-of-the-church. Forgetting that there are so many other church leaders with so many different ideas. So, they simply ignore everyone who is not in their church. And condemn everyone who wants to leave their church.

65-0220  GOD'S  CHOSEN  PLACE  OF  WORSHIP

They think you have to belong to that certain church or you cannot go to Heaven. That's wrong. To believe that, is antichrist.

I'll say this:

if you believe such a spirit, you're lost.

That's a good sign you are lost, because it's taking away from what God did. God never put His Name in any church. He put It in His Son, Christ Jesus, when He and His Son became One. That's the genuine place of worship. No other foundations was laid, no other rock.

Then we see the Bride gain direction by moving from the 7^th church age that is darkening out, on to the first church age.

Only when we believe what the first church age believed do we know that we are on the right track.

We must all be careful. Everyone thinks that they are right but most are fooled.

JOHN 16:13   Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:

The evidence of the Holy Ghost baptism is your ability to understand the mysteries of Scripture.

The churches will miss the Wedding Supper

The parable of the Wedding Supper, which happens after the church is caught up to Heaven, has all the saved Christians in the various churches getting an invitation.

LUKE 14:16   Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:

:17   And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

But none of these saved church-goers were Scriptural. None of them did what the man (Jesus) asked them to do, which was simply to “Come”. Jesus calls us to follow the Bible.

When you come to Jesus you actually come to the Bible.

LUKE 14:18   And they all with one consent began to make excuse.

"One consent". All of them agreed that you did not have to come to the Word. Agreeing with the church was good enough, so they mistakenly thought.

They all had different excuses. Their churches had their own traditions and interpretations of quotes that did not follow the Bible. But that is what they loved. They did not want to search the Scriptures.

One had a wife that he was married to. Married to his church and would never dare to disagree with his church. So, he only says what his church says. Despite all the other churches that disagree with his church.

As a result, right at the end, God has to drag in the ruffians to become Bible-believers because only they have the courage to stand up against unscriptural church traditions. Sadly, the good, saved Christians do not focus on being Scriptural. Being popular in a church is where they find their security.

LUKE 14:23   And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

Then comes a very chilling statement.

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

None of the saved Christians in any of today’s churches will make it to the Wedding Feast.

Why? Their first mistake was not to regard returning to the beliefs of the first church age as their main priority.

They attempted to interpret quotes into clever speculations rather than be strictly Scriptural.

Their second mistake was worse. Having ceased to prove their beliefs just from Scripture, they condemned and rejected those who sought the Bible truth.

In Bible days, a local church was run by elders, not one man.

But having taken over the church, the one-man-head-of-the-church regards being strictly Scriptural as a threat to his own position, and thus he opposes the move to be Scriptural.

MATTHEW 18:14   Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

Not one person who has been rejected from the churches will be lost.

God is now able to spread the truth through the internet which enables individuals anywhere to be in contact with others.

If you disagree you are forced to leave the church

Forced to leave a church for believing differently is wrong.

A one-man church leader has the bad habit, based on a power complex, of telling an individual to leave their church and be shunned by the congregation because they no longer agree with one or more of the leader’s doctrines. But this is wrong.

Telling a person that they have to leave the church is a very abused aspect of unscriptural pastor-power. A person can only be removed from a church if they have sinned badly in such a way as to give the church a bad name in the eyes of all the worldly citizens of that area.

MATTHEW 18:15   Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

Expelling a person from a church is a very serious issue and should only be done if that person has committed a very serious sin against you, personally.

Remember, Jesus told us to focus on forgiveness.

So, you must first speak to the person and expose his grievous sin to him. Hopefully, you may get him to repent of what he has done.

MATTHEW 18:16   But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

If he does not repent, then take one or two impartial witnesses with you. People who are prepared to listen to both sides before making a judgement. Not someone who has pre-judged him already.

The person or persons who are witnesses must be equally convinced, after a fair hearing, that the person is guilty. The accused person must be given a fair chance to defend himself.

MATTHEW 18:17   And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

The decision to reject a man is not made by a church leader.

You, the person who was badly sinned against, must bring the issue in front of the church. The whole church must be convinced that he is wrong and that he has badly sinned against you. The whole church must then send one or more representatives to him to tell him to repent and change his behaviour.

Only when the whole church has agreed, can he be regarded as no longer part of the church.

Telling somebody to leave the church is a very severe step.

What he did against you had to be extremely bad and the whole church had to be convinced that he was completely in the wrong.

This whole issue had nothing to do with a doctrinal difference. It was a personal sin committed against you.

Nobody can be forced to agree or disagree with a doctrine.

You should never believe a doctrine unless you have followed it through the Scriptures and found no Scripture that contradicts it. Doctrine can only be taught by persuasion, not by force or compulsion.

Expelling somebody from the church over a doctrinal difference is what the Pope did to Martin Luther in 1520. That is a Roman Catholic spirit. Luther was in the right, but the Catholic church rejected him.

So, rejecting people over doctrinal differences is a dangerous game for the church to play. They usually reject the revealed truth and thus become even more established in their errors.

MATTHEW 18:18   Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Jesus gives all the disciples the power to bind and loose, not just Saint Peter.

Repentance for the remission of sins will loose everyone from their sins.
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.

Baptism in the name of Jesus binds John's baptism as no longer valid because John never mentioned the name of Jesus. Baptism in the name of three titles is also not valid because the name of Jesus has to be mentioned.

You can only bind something on earth as being the truth if you can prove it from the Bible.

You can only loose or free people from a wrong belief if you can prove that what they believe contradicts Scripture.

If a person can prove their point from Scripture then they are perfectly entitled to their belief and should never be discriminated against.

But churches today do not want to tolerate a different viewpoint. Everybody is expected to believe what the church leader believes, which is simply a form of dictatorship. There is no democracy in the church where people can have their own opinions, and thus there is no real freedom of belief in the church. People are scared to disagree.

The dissenters, as individuals or small groups, are pressured subtly or aggressively until they feel unwelcome and find it better to leave.

A church can be a small group

Small groups are fine. You don't have to be a big church.

Individuals or small groups, once they are out of the church, feel useless because of their small numbers.

What use are people to God’s Big Plan if they are only a few in number?

But it is the amount of revealed Bible truth that counts, not the number of people that are involved.

MATTHEW 18:19   Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

This Chapter deals with the little children at the end time.

Thus, only two people can form a church if circumstances turn out that way. God is not interested in big groups as He stands outside the church anyway. It is the one or two people that have been rejected by the church that he focuses on.

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

Again, Jesus puts the stress on small groups. Just two or three is enough.

Little children. “Little” means a few.

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.

You know,

Jesus only had twelve apostles.

We always thinking for something big.

But God don't deal in them big numbers. It's in these little groups is where He gets it.

See? Look all down through the age, at any time He ever met with men. It was in small groups, see, and spoke with them, and ordained them. It's God's good pleasure to do that. That's the way He likes to do it. And now we just want to keep God in our midst, and go, doing these things.

LUKE 12:31   But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

We, as the little children, must first search for our place in the kingdom by returning to the beliefs of the apostolic fathers.

Then God will add to us what we need.

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

Only a small flock will make it. Why?

A little child was the example. Only a little flock gets God’s promise.

People in a church are complacent and comfortable today, and lazy. They do not search the Scriptures daily. That is too much like hard work. They do not think for themselves because that is also hard work. It is much easier to pay a man to tell them how to think. Even easier if he just speaks from quotes. Thus, they learn to ignore the Bible more and more.

MATTHEW 7:14   Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life,

and few there be that find it.

You can only find something if you search for it. The harder you search, the more you find. But it is a difficult search because few people are interested. Bible truth will not make you popular, it will make you shunned.

Church people regard it as a big sin if you disagree with them.

There are 45000 different types of churches that are all different. Pastors readily disagree with each other which is why so many different types of churches have developed.

Despite all these vast differences that exist between the churches, do not make the fatal mistake of thinking that your church grants you have the right to disagree within your church. Churches, very unfairly, deny you that right.

A church claims the right to be highly indignant if one or more of its members disagrees with them.

This leads to the dissenters being criticized from the pulpit and cold-shouldered and shunned by the church members who were told to avoid them. People can even be told to leave or resign.

Such is the perceived sin of somebody who dares to oppose one or more of the church doctrines.

Churches become very harsh in the defense of their beliefs. Their attitude becomes, “See it our way, or else”.

To disagree in a church is rated by the church as being a cardinal sin. Really bad.

Seventy times seven

What does "seventy times seven" mean?

Peter raises a practical question.

MATTHEW 18:21   Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

If a brother does something to me that I feel is wrong or believes something that I think is wrong because he objects to what the church believes, how often do I have to forgive him?

MATTHEW 18:22   Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

A strange answer. Seventy times seven. What is Jesus getting at?

DANIEL 9:24   Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city,…

Seventy weeks is 70 x 7 days which is 490 days.

In prophecy, a day can mean a year. A Bible year has 360 days.

Look what Laban said to Jacob.

GENESIS 29:27   Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.

So, the Jews had a total of 490 Bible years left to them,

then it would be the end of great Tribulation

and they would be restored back to God.

God did not count the years of the church ages as he was not dealing with the Jews.

The church ages would come in between the two halves of the 70^th week.

Thus, seventy times seven means right to the end.

Jesus knew that in the end there would be much error and few finding the truth.

Accordingly, He advised a policy of forgiveness. Do not throw the dissenter out of the church because maybe he has the truth and then you will be in trouble with God.

If a person leaves the church do not shun the person or vilify him or her, because maybe you are vilifying the truth.

Remember, in the end, Jesus stands outside the church of the Laodiceans. That means that the Word is no longer in the church so there is not much emphasis on Bible truth in the church.

So, the people in the church who cast out the dissenters actually do not know much about the Bible themselves.

As a result, what you say against the dissenters is very likely what you are saying against the Scripture if you have not proved them wrong from Scripture.

Church-goers should be far gentler and more forgiving when it comes to rejecting dissenters. One day there is going to be a reckoning and God is very angry with those who offended the little children, who against all odds managed to find the truth in the end.

Look at an engagement ring that the Bride wears just before she is married.

Christ is the Diamond. He was revealed to the first New Testament church age as the Word of God by the apostolic fathers.

Then the church, under their one-man human Bishops led the church far away from the New Testament into the Dark Ages of the fourth church age of Thyatira.

The Reformation of Luther turned the church back to the Bible as the truth began to be revealed. The little children in the end-time of the 7th church age must be totally back to the Diamond, the Word of the first church age.

That means that they will be right back to the first church age of the apostles.

These are the believers who are espoused or engaged to Christ.

Only those who are engaged will get married.

The church rejects newly revealed Bible truths

How does the church adjust to newly revealed truths?

Chapter 18 ends with the big problem that has faced the church since the Reformation of 1520.

How can the church adjust as God keeps revealing new truths at different times?

Some truth was restored and the church accepted and defended this, thus claiming to be the established or official church. The leaders set up their power base over the people and made sure that they collected all the tithes. Then they had their empire to defend and demanded that the people become slaves to the leadership of the centrally organized church. You cannot disagree with the church leader. So, the church-goers had to stop thinking for themselves and just parrot the quotes and opinions of the leader.

Then comes the grim irony.

The church leaders who had rebelled from the former church when the new doctrines were revealed, then banned all dissent against their own beliefs.

This is the spirit of dictatorship.

In Russia, Lenin rebelled against the dictatorship of the Tsar and then promptly imposed a far crueler dictatorship whereby he expelled or killed his opponents. He brainwashed and enslaved Russia to his cruel atheistic Communist philosophy that turned out to be a big failure anyway, after about 70 years. But if you argued with him, you were eliminated or exiled. Trotsky opposed Stalin and ended up with a pickaxe in the back of his head. After that people preferred to obey Stalin.

The churches had established a similar system of brutal centralized control. Fortunately, after the Thirty Years War that ended in 1648 with Germany devastated, they did not murder so much anymore. But the focus moved to character assassination of those who disagreed with the church leader. Everyone in the church had to believe exactly the same, which was fine until God opened up a new deeper revelation.

Immediately the established church felt threatened. They then became the main opponents of the newly revealed truth which could only be preached outside the “official” church.

Look at a rose bush. It produces a beautiful rose that dies after a while. Like a church that cannot accept a new revelation. Then another rose blossoms, but in a slightly different place.

So, God moves on to a new group of believers until they repeat the same mistake of putting one man in charge. And then a new blossom has to arise in a different place while the old, dead roses insist that they are the only official true churches.

The problem that has continually arisen is how does the “official” church, with its certain wrong and unscriptural ideas, react to somebody who comes up with a new Scriptural revelation that contradicts their man-made ideas.

The standard response is a denial of the deeper revelation. Denial easily develops into anger.

We live in a physical world that depends on money.

We believe in a Heaven which depends on faith in Scripture.

The Lord used a parable dealing with money to explain how the church leaders would deal with doctrinal differences.

Only Matthew speaks of the kingdom of heaven parables, which represent events in the seven church ages.

MATTHEW 18:23   Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

MATTHEW 18:24   And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

This man was important to be involved with so much money. This was a huge debt that the servant had no hope of repaying.

This represents the debt we owe to Jesus for saving our souls from hell. A debt that we could never repay.

MATTHEW 18:25   But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

The man is doomed. Signifying that all unsaved souls are doomed.

MATTHEW 18:26   The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

MATTHEW 18:27   Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

So, Jesus saves this servant from hell and does it for free.

All the wealth on earth could not purchase eternal life, and this servant got it for nothing.

MATTHEW 18:28   But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

Grabbed him by the throat. A disagreement easily leads to anger.

A far lesser debt, but still a significant amount.

But it represented opposition to the first servant. He was angry that he was not instantly obeyed or listened to.

In a slave-dictatorship centralized system, we have learned from history that there is no room for dissent. Everyone must immediately obey and agree with the man-in-charge.

MATTHEW 18:29   And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

In a centralized church system, there is no mercy for disobedience to the one-man-leader.

In Revelation Chapter 6, the white horse rider set up the centralized system of religious deception.

The red horse set up the system of a leader having power over the people.

The black horse introduced the demonology of Big Money into the church. All empires require the efficient collection of taxes. When Jesus chased the money-makers out of the Temple on Monday, the Jewish “church” leaders killed Him on Thursday. Do not threaten the income of a church leader.

MATTHEW 18:30   And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

This servant, despite being very wealthy, could not handle it when money that was owed to him was not paid.

Giving money to a greedy person is like putting sticks on fire. It just makes the fire burn more intensely.

The point of this parable is that the wealthy servant (symbolizing the leader) despite having been forgiven of his sins is so power-conscious and money-obsessed that he cannot handle anyone who is not completely subject to himself. He must be in charge and requires others to be in total submission to him.

As the leader, he could not tolerate any disobedience or difference of opinion. His words are to be obeyed.

He regarded that much smaller debt as a dangerous threat to his personal church empire.

That is how church empires are built up and survive, long after they have ceased to be able to understand the revealed truth of Daniel’s and John’s end-time mysteries.

The rich servant wanted the poor servant silenced and separated from everyone in prison. This symbolizes being kicked out of the church and shunned and never spoken to by any of the church-goers.

But that issue was never discussed in a public meeting, nor was the attacked man ever given a chance to defend his viewpoint in front of the church. All the punishment was heaped on him by one man, the church leader. The church-goers had no role to play other than not daring to oppose the church leader lest they suffer the same fate. Cruel power politics. But there will be repercussions in the future.

MATTHEW 18:31   So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

MATTHEW 18:32   Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

MATTHEW 18:33   Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

Jesus again mentions forgiveness. Allow people the right to disagree. Not agreeing with the head of the church is a far smaller sin than not being saved. And if Jesus forgave us so that we do not have to pay for our sins in hell, then forgiving those who disagree with us over doctrine is a much smaller sin.

Those who are wrong in their doctrines are part of the foolish or fooled virgins and will go into the Tribulation. That is bad but not nearly as bad as going to hell.

So, a difference in doctrine is an important issue but is one that should depend on debate not on ex-communication. A debate in a friendly manner has more chance of establishing truth.

Violent condemnation merely protects vested interests which usually involves the demand to collect the tithes. Pay me or else.

MATTHEW 18:34   And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

The domineering, intolerant, and demanding man ended up in the torments of the Tribulation. That is where God will settle the score with the church leaders.

MATTHEW 18:35   So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Do not persecute people who believe wrong. Feel sorry for them. They will pay a heavy price in the Tribulation for their errors. But if you discuss your differences in a friendly manner and only accept what is written in Scripture, then you have a chance to change a person’s mind.

Condemnation and character assassination make poor-quality converts.

Please remember, with so many different beliefs floating around, both persons in the dispute may be wrong.

This person has errors in what he or she believes. You kick him or her out of the church.

But what about all the errors that you have?