REVELATION 03 Part 2 The English Reformer

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The Open Door to the Missionary Field

REVELATION 3:7   And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

Philadelphia means Brotherly Love.

The angel or messenger to this church was John Wesley in Southern England. His stress on salvation by grace through faith followed by an emphasis on holy living, focused the lives of people on outreach and helping the poor. Wesley did not get involved with all the hatred and strife caused by political opposition to the British king, like the French did. Historians say that his influence saved England from a similar French revolution and military dictatorship. The French Revolution was viciously bloodthirsty and atheistic. It was followed by the military dictatorship of Napoleon who fought about 60 battles that caused the deaths of around 1 million French soldiers. Wesley’s spiritual guidance calmed the British people and spared them from that senseless bloodshed.

Martin Luther and John Wesley both had an incredible impact on the two church ages in which they lived. Luther’s church age was Sardis, the Escaped Ones. Luther’s incredible bravery enabled Protestants to escape from the dominating and extremely politically powerful Roman Catholic church.

Wesley’s age of Philadelphia or Brotherly Love saw him enable people to focus on God and thus be able to love people more and put up with their differences in a gentler manner. This enabled the missionaries to cope with a wide range of different behavior which they encountered overseas.

Philadelphia means Brotherly Love. That is what gives Christianity its strength. It made a man give up his work and head off to some heathen country to get souls saved and living holy, despite the many dangers involved. Missionaries being killed by the heathens just inspired more men to become missionaries.

The King James Version of the Bible had been translated between 1604 and 1611. It was then checked and edited for almost 160 years until it was finally published in 1769. At last the Word of God was true in a language that would spread around the world.

The true Bible has substance rather than shadow.

Only the perfect Bible can give the perfect realization of an idea.

The King James Version is our Absolute and it became the foundation of the Missionary Age that began in the 1790s. The British Empire would cover one quarter of the world. By 1750 the Industrial Revolution was happening which became a key to the spiritual success of this age. Steamboats would take missionaries overseas. Steam engines and railway lines would take them inland. Machinery greatly increased the supply of goods and wealth. People could support more missionaries in foreign countries. Tens of thousands of missionaries left the British Isles. The dedication and self-sacrifice of these people wrote a golden missionary-age chapter into church history. Their example still continues to inspire us.

What God opens or shuts is final.

This just proves that God is in total control. The King James Bible was the vital key as English would spread around the world more than any other language.  Satan could not stop the widespread tide of truth that was carried around the world by this magnificent Jewel of English literature and absolute truth. In the next age, the age of the Laodiceans, the American Technical computer giants would dominate and the internet would reach the ends of the world. God knew that 60% of the internet websites would be in English. Russian would be next at only 9%. Thus, Satan cannot stop the spread of the King James Bible on the internet. Hebrew and Greek are each about only one-half of a percent of the internet web sites. Thus, Hebrew and Greek cannot spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. They are too limited in cyber space.

The open Door starts to reveal Jesus as Almighty God

REVELATION 3:8   I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

The missionary works of this church age were incredible. Holiness became a way of life. John Wesley preached against drink one day, standing on his father’s grave. Fifty years later travelers could still find no alcohol being sold for forty miles in all directions from that tomb. Such was the spirit of conviction that struck the people.

“An open door”.

II CORINTHIANS 2:12   Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,

Paul described his new missionary endeavor as an open door.

An open door for the Philadelphian church age signified the greatest spreading of the Gospel that the world has ever seen.

The Nicolaitans who had one man as the head of each church became the open door for the false vine. Once this was backed by the power of the state it spread like wildfire.

But the fifth church age of Luther gave us exploration overseas, colonization, and the printing of books. This laid a foundation for the missionaries to work on.

“Thou hast a little strength”.

The great missionary age did not have the open door of Pentecostal power that it should have had. They also did not have a deeper understanding of the mysteries of the written Word. They still believed in Roman Catholic doctrines like Trinity, Good Friday, Christmas, and one man as the head of a church, etc. The apostles never set up one man as the head of a church.

The truth of the Godhead starts to return

Jesus is the Door. An open door also means that the revelation of Who Jesus is, was returning.

JOHN 10:7   Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

As the Father, Jesus was ABOVE the Jews in the Old Testament,

As the Son, Jesus was God WITH us , Emmanuel.

MATTHEW 1:23   Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

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

JOHN 14:17   Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him;

for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

The Holy Ghost is God IN us.

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost means God above us, God with us, and God in us.

All the Old Testament names of God like Jehovah and Elohim are never used in the New Testament.

God became a Man and took on the human name of Jesus.

Jesus Christ is the human name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Thus, Jesus Christ is the human name of Almighty God.

In Jesus, God became a Man and dwelt amongst us.

REVELATION 1:1   The Revelation of Jesus Christ,

REVELATION 1:8   I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Church leaders want power and money

REVELATION 3:9   Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

“The synagogue of Satan”.

The Jews always called themselves the children of God to the exclusion of everyone else. This sectarian spirit that boosts one church or denomination as the elite of God, saw the development of competitive Christianity. My church is better than your church. My pastor is better than your pastor.

Having separated from Catholicism, the Protestants then began to splinter up into many different denominations and types of churches. Then the focus became the size of the church and the amount of money that was collected. As their worldly vision grew, their spiritual vision shrank.

Churches got involved with political issues. Politics is an endless source of conflict as it is based on human opinions and traditions. But churches that gained government support would prosper financially and benefit from their increased political influence.

They developed a culture of religion and conformity.

Churches can do a good job of getting people saved. They refer to the Scriptures where God will forgive us if we freely repent of our sins. They refer to Scripture that says we can only be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Who died in our place on the cross. That is an incredible start as it is all Scriptural.

Then they expect us to join a church.

“Join a church”. “Belong to a church”. “Go to church”. “Who is your pastor?”  All these are unscriptural statements. So, as soon as the church is involved, things start to go wrong.

Jesus is perfect but the church is not.

Then we are taught “Good Friday”, “Christmas”, “Christmas tree”, “25 December”, “Lent”, “Sign of the cross”, “Pastor is the head of the church”, “Trinity”, “God the Son”, “Divorce and remarry”, etc.

We are not allowed to dispute these issues despite the fact that they are not written in Scripture.

Believing in the church or the church leader has now replaced believing in Scripture.

Instead of being a haven of truth, the church becomes a trap of deception.

But just as the Jews thought that they could take refuge in the synagogue form of worship, so in the Philadelphian Age the Christians were taking refuge in the church. They thought that joining a church is what counted. They submitted to the church doctrines and traditions rather than submitting to the Bible. Each church had an unscriptural head that was called a vicar, or minister, or reverend, or pastor, or bishop. The only head of a church is Jesus Christ.

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

Men in the ministry feel that they can take an unwarranted leadership over their ministering brethren.

Bishops were set up over the elders in districts. Then the church married the state and with the power of the state the church was literally physically invincible. The children of organization build on their own creeds and unscriptural doctrines. They prefer their human counsels to Scripture.

But church leaders have accumulated much wealth. They follow the example of Judas who sold out for money.

But on Judgement Day, when the Bride is judging, today’s church leaders will stand at their feet and know that they were wrong.

It is not Jesus plus works. Jesus alone can save us, if we repent and believe.

Luther restored salvation by faith in Jesus alone but the Roman Catholic church and its eastern counterpart, the Orthodox church, still clung to works for salvation. But it is the perfection that is all found in Christ that we must seek. Everything else fades into insignificance beside Him.

The Jews had an Aaronic priesthood that had failed miserably by killing Messiah because He threatened their income when He chased the moneymakers out of the Temple three times. The priesthood served God in order to make money, not in order to preach truth.

The Aaronic priesthood ended when Caiaphas ripped his garments, which broke the Law.

LEVITICUS 21:10   And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;

MATTHEW 26:65   Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy;

Thirty seven years later in AD 70, the Romans destroyed the Priesthood and the Temple.

Then the church foolishly wanted to be governed by a hierarchy, an unscriptural New Testament priesthood that put the government upon men. Let a person in the congregation rise up and they are brutally suppressed or cast out. Every denomination has the same spirit. They reject any correction from an outsider.

The Jews crucified Jesus and turned on the true believers.

The nominal Christians or churchgoers crucify Christ afresh today by rejecting the revealed Word of God. Then they turn on the true Bible believers to destroy them by character assassination.

The world is tired of seeing Christians act ungraciously toward one another when they disagree. We are free to disagree over doctrine, but that should not influence our behaviour towards each other. Denominational infighting has been part of the Reformation that began to restore Bible truth. Today, social media has added to the carnage. Christians routinely block each other on Facebook because of doctrinal disagreements. The world watches the blood-letting, and the Christian witness is tarnished.

Church deception united with politics and Big Money.

Churches start combining to tempt us to leave Scripture

REVELATION 3:10   Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

PHILADELPHIAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.8

What does He mean by the "word of His patience?" Hebrews 6:13-15. "For when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.

And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise."

You see the Spirit is speaking about the Word of God which is given to us. To wait for the fulfillment of that Word required patience even as it did in the case of Abraham. He endured as seeing Him Who is invisible. He was patient and then the Word finally was fulfilled. This is the way God teaches His people patience. Why, if He fulfilled His Word in physical manifestations the very instant you prayed, you would never learn patience, but would become even more impatient with life. Let me show you this truth even more fully set forth.

Hebrews 11:17,

"By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises (the Word of God) offered up his only begotten son."

There it is: Abraham was tried AFTER he received the Word of Promise.

Most think that as soon as we pray in Jesus' Name over the good promises of God that there could not be a trial. But here it says that Abraham was tried after he received the promise.

That is exactly correct according to the Psalmist referring to Joseph, 105:19,

"Until the time that his word came: the Word of the Lord tried him."

God gives us exceeding great and precious promises. He has promised to fulfill them. He will. But from the time we pray until the time we get the answer we must learn to receive patience into our souls for only in patience do we possess life. May God help us to learn this lesson even as we know the people of this sixth age learned patience. We read the history of the lives of these great Christians; what a contrast we see between their lives and ours for

they were so patient and quiet, and today we are all but overcome in over-impatience and haste.

He goes on to say to them, "Because you have taken my Word and lived it and thereby become patient, I will keep you from the hour of temptation which shall come upon the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." Now here again we see the overlapping of the two ages; for this promise has to do with the end of the Gentile period which culminates in the Great Tribulation.

"I will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." This verse is not a declaration that the true church will go into and through the tribulation. If it meant that it would have said that. But it said, "I will keep thee from the hour of temptation."

This temptation is exactly like the temptation in Eden. It will be a very inviting proposition held up in direct opposition to God's commanded Word, and yet from the standpoint of human reasoning it will be so very right, so enlightening and life-giving as to fool the world.

Only the very elect will not be fooled.

The temptation will come as follows. The ecumenical move that has started on what seems such a beautiful and blessed principle

(fulfilling Christ's prayer that we all might be one) becomes so strong politically that she bears pressure upon the government to cause all to join with her either directly or through adherence to principles enacted into law so that no people will be recognized as actual churches unless under direct or indirect domination of this council. Little groups will lose charters, privileges, etc., until they lose all property and spiritual rights with the people.

For example, right now unless the local ministerial association approves in many, if not most cities, one cannot rent a building for religious services. To become chaplains in the armed services, hospitals, etc., it is now almost mandatory to be recognized as acceptable to the trinitarian ecumenical groups. As this pressure increases, and it will, it will be harder to resist, for to resist is to lose privilege. And so many will be tempted to go along, for they will feel it is better to serve God publicly in the framework of this organization than not to serve God at all publicly. But they err. To believe the devil's lie is to serve Satan, even though you may want to call him Jehovah. But the elect will not be deceived.

Furthermore, the elect will not only be kept, but as this move becomes the "IMAGE ERECTED TO THE BEAST," the saints will be gone in the rapture. And this little delightful, winsome movement that started out in fellowship at Ephesus will become the monster of Satan that defiles and deceives the whole world. For the church system of the Roman Catholic and the Protestant in coming together will control the whole wealth of the world system and force the whole earth into its religious trap, or will kill them, by refusing them the privilege of buying and selling whereby they would make a living. This will be accomplished simply, for the harlot's daughters are all but gone back to her. In the meantime, Rome has acquired nearly all the supplies of gold. The Jews have the bonds and all the paper. At the right time, the harlot will destroy the present day money system by calling in all the paper, and demanding gold. With no gold, the system falls. The Jews will be trapped and come into the alliance, and the harlot church will take over the whole world.

This age was mainly focused on belief in the King James Bible. They produced great preachers like Spurgeon and D L Moody. George Mueller's prayers established and fed thousands of children in orphanages.

As the seventh church age began around 1906 with the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, so Satan shifted people’s thinking towards replacing the King James Bible which had defeated Satan on the mission fields. Freethinkers, liberal theologians, and the originators of communism began to rise up. New Bible translations undermined the faith of many during the last church age.

Endure to the end and do not give up

REVELATION 3:11   Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

“I come quickly”.

The Coming of the Lord draws ever closer. God does not want complacency. Each generation must believe that they are the last in order to speed up their efforts to serve God. If people felt that the Lord’s Coming was far in the future, most would become lax and indifferent.

“Hold fast”.  Believing the truth and living holy was never easy.

The Industrial Revolution developed machines and mass production in factories. Wealth accumulated and money always opens up new doors to distract us.

God wanted them to keep on keeping on. They had set high standards of dedication and morality.

“No man take away your crown”.

What fools us is when people think that they have arrived and know enough. There is no need to search the Scripture for deeper understanding. The bluff themselves that being a good church member is all that is required. Going to church and believing whatever the pastor says is all that is needed to prepare for the Lord’s Coming.

56-0304  MAKING A WAY

Oh, brother, as you see the--hear the ambulance screaming. Every time you hear one, it's a marker that you're going that way. Every time you pass a graveyard, it's a marker you're going that way. Every time a wrinkle appears in the face and a gray hair in the head, it's a marker you're going that way. No wonder then Paul could say, with that real hope rooted and grounded in him, when he got down to the end of the road, he said, "I fought a good fight; I finished the course; I've kept the faith: henceforth, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day: not only me, but all that love His appearing."

When you're sick and tired of this whole life, and you love the appearing of the Lord Jesus better than you love your food at the table, or your wife, or your children, then there's a crown laid up for you,

not a crown, a gold crown they put upon your head, but a body free from pain.

Crowned in the glory of God, crowned in the immortality of Jesus Christ.

God and the King James Bible must come first in our lives. Not the church and the pastor. As the church leads us away from the King James Bible, so we miss out on having our bodies changed. A sinless, immortal, and pain-free body is the great reward or crown of Christianity.

With their emphasis on holiness and their great love of missionary work, this age had moved closer to the original example of the New Testament church that the apostles had established.

Trinity lost the name of God as 3 Men each have 1 name

Each Person in the Godhead must have a name. Thus you cannot find one name for the Trinity God.

The name of God is vital

REVELATION 3:12   Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

A pillar carries the weight and burden of a building. It is only strong when it is connected to the foundation. We can only be a pillar in the church when we are connected to the New Testament church that was established by the apostles.

We must bear the pressure of intense opposition.

Then, we will baptize in the name of Jesus Christ like Peter did on the Day of Pentecost.

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.

“He will no more go out”.

God wanted a church that was established on the King James Bible and would never go out from It in pursuit of all the many New Translations that would emerge in the 1900s to corrupt the faith of many.

The missionaries, in order to get people saved, had to focus more on the name of Jesus as He alone can save.

Thus, their willingness to devote their lives to converting the heathen, inadvertently kept them closer to the truth while ambitious men back at home fought for position, power, and wealth in the church. If you preach salvation, you present Jesus as God Himself.

The Trinity God has no name as you cannot find one name for three people.

Around the year 1900 it was emerging in people’s minds that Jesus Christ is the name of Almighty God.

But the churches would fight bitterly against this revelation. Those who feared the wrath of church preachers then bowed down to the Trinity God and its unscriptural statements.

The fear of man is greater in the churches than the fear of God.

Consider some unscriptural statements which are used to proclaim the Trinity.

“One God in three distinct Persons”.

“Jesus Christ is in the Godhead”.      (COLOSSIANS 2:9   For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.)

“Eternal Sonship”.    (HEBREWS 1:5   For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?)

“God the Son”.

“God the Holy Ghost”.

“Three Persons in the Godhead”.

“First Person of the Godhead”.

“Second Person of the Godhead”.

“Third Person of the Godhead”.

“Father and Son are of the same substance”.

“Father and Son are of the same essence”.

“The Son is God”.    (NUMBERS 23:19   God is not a man,) (JOHN 4:24   God is a Spirit:)

NOTE. As a Man, Jesus is not God. What makes Him God is that the fulness of the Spirit of God dwells in Him bodily. Thus, Jesus is Man and God.

Two points about “God the Father” that Trinitarians cannot explain and thus they do not tell you:

“God the Father” is mentioned in the New Testament but is never mentioned in the Old Testament. Why?

As the Father, God had many names in the Old Testament like Jehovah, Elohim, etc.  But none of these names appear in the New Testament. Why?

New Jerusalem is our final home

“And the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God:”

That name will describe the great pyramid-city that will dominate the world when It comes down after Judgement Day.

This is the home of the future Bride. This is the final reward for those who sacrificed their lives to live for God and His Kingdom.

“And I will write upon him my new name.”

1965   PHILADELPHIAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.8

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.

This Church Ages book was published in the last year of brother Branham’s life. He still did not have any idea of what the new name was. So, it is pointless going through all his quotes and trying to find something that you claim is the new name of God.

If you did find the new name then you would have to stop using the name of Jesus.

Without the name of Jesus you have no forgiveness for your sins. Then you are in deep trouble.

So, you will have to wait until your body has been changed into a new body that is sinless and immortal. Then you will no longer need a Saviour. Then you will be able to use His new name.

REVELATION 3:13   He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

The urgent plea at the end of each church age. Do not be persuaded by church beliefs. Do not be persuaded by men and their clever ideas. Do not be persuaded by message-preachers and their clever manipulations of the quotes to produce new ideas that are not written in Scripture.

The voice of the Spirit is all that counts, and He always guides you back to the Scriptures.

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

for he shall not speak of himself;

Beware of men today when they brag about themselves.