PICK UP YOUR PEN AND WRITE from William Marrion Branham
One night
as I was seeking the Lord, the Holy Spirit told me to pick up my pen and write.
As I grasped the pen to write, His Spirit gave me a message for the church. I
want to bring it to you... It has to do with the Word and the bride.
"Here
is what I am trying to say to you. The law of reproduction is that each specie
brings forth after its own kind, even according to Genesis 1:11, "And God
said, Let the earth bring forth grass, and the herb yielding seed, and the
fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the
earth: and it was so." Whatever life was in the seed came forth into a
plant and thence into fruit. The very same law applies to the church today.
Whatever seed started the church will come forth and be like the original seed
because it is the same seed. In these last days the true Bride Church (Christ's
seed) will come to the Headstone, and she will be the super church, a super
race, as she nears Him. They in the bride will be so much like Him that they
will even be in His very image. This is in order to be united with Him. They
will be one. They will be the very manifestation of the Word of the living God.
Denominations cannot produce this (wrong seed). They will produce their creeds
and their dogmas, mixed with the Word. This mongrelizing brings forth a hybrid
product.
The first
son (Adam) was the spoken seed-Word of God. He was given a bride to reproduce
himself. That is why the bride was given to him, to reproduce himself; to
produce another son of God. But she fell. She fell by hybridization. She caused
him to die.
The second
Son (Jesus), also a spoken Seed-Word of God was given a bride like as was Adam.
But before He could marry her, she also had fallen. She, like Adam's wife, was
put to the test whether she would believe the Word of God and live, or doubt
the Word and die. She doubted. She left the Word. She died.
From a
little group of the true seed of the Word, God will present Christ with a
beloved bride. She is a virgin of His Word. She is a virgin because she knows
no man-made creeds or dogmas. By and through the members of the bride will be
fulfilled all that was promised of God to be made manifest in the virgin.
The word of
promise came to the virgin Mary. But that Word of promise was He, Himself, to
be made manifest. God was made manifest. He, Himself, acted at that time and
fulfilled His own Word of promise in the virgin. It was an angel that had
brought her the message. But the angel's message was the Word of God. Isaiah
9:6. He fulfilled at that time all that was written of Him because she accepted
His Word to her.
The members
of the virgin bride will love Him, and they will have His potentials, for He is
their head, and all power belongs to Him. They are subject to Him as the members
of our bodies are subject to our heads.
Notice the
harmony of the Father and the Son. Jesus never did anything until it was first
showed Him by the Father. John 5:19. This harmony is now to exist between the
Groom and His bride. He shows her His Word of life. She receives it. She never
doubts it. Therefore, nothing can harm her, not even death. For if the seed be
planted, the water will raise it up again. Here is the secret of this. The Word
is in the bride (as it was in Mary). The bride has the mind of Christ for she
knows what He wants done with the Word. She performs the command of the Word in
His name for she has "thus saith the Lord." Then the Word is
quickened by the Spirit and it comes to pass. Like a seed that is planted and
watered, it comes to full harvest, serving its purpose.
Those in
the bride do only His will. No one can make them do otherwise. They have 'thus
saith the Lord' or they keep still. They know that it has to be God in them
doing the works, fulfilling His own Word. He did not complete all His work
while in His earthly ministry so now He works in and through the bride. She
knows that, for it was not yet time for Him to do certain things that He must
now do. But He will now fulfill through the bride that work which He left for this
specific time.
Now let us
stand like Joshua and Caleb. Our promised land is coming in sight even as
theirs did. Now Joshua means "Jehovah Saviour", and he represents the
end-time leader that will come to the church even as Paul came as the original
leader. Caleb represents those that stayed true with Joshua. Remember, God had
started Israel as a virgin with His Word. But they wanted something different.
So did the last day church. Notice how God did not move Israel, or let her go
into the promised land until it was His own appointed time. Now the people
might have put pressure on Joshua, the leader, and said, "The land is
ours, let's go and take it. Joshua, you are all through, you must have lost
your commission, you don't have the power you used to have. You used to hear
from God and know the will of God, and act quickly. Something is wrong with
you." But Joshua was a God-sent prophet and he knew the promises of God,
so he waited for them. He waited for a clear cut decision from God and when the
time came to move, God placed the full leadership in Joshua's hands because he
had stayed with the Word. God could trust Joshua but not the others. So it will
repeat in this end day. The same problem, the same pressures.
Take the
example we see in Moses. This mighty anointed prophet of God had a peculiar
birth, being born at the right time for the deliverance of Abraham's seed from
Egypt. He never stayed in Egypt to argue Scripture with them, nor fuss at the
priests. He went to the wilderness until the people were ready to receive him.
God called Moses to the wilderness. The waiting was not on Moses' part but
because of the people who were not ready to receive him. Moses thought the
people would understand but they did not.
Then there
is Elijah to whom the Word of the Lord came. When he got through preaching the
truth and that group back there that is the forerunner of the American Jezebel
group would not receive the Word, God called him off the field and plagued that
generation for rejecting the prophet and the message that God had given. God
called him to the wilderness and he would not come out even for the king. Those
who tried to persuade him to do so, died. But God spoke to His faithful prophet
by vision. Out of hiding he came and brought back the Word to Israel.
Then came
John the Baptist, Christ's faithful forerunner, the mighty prophet for his day.
He did not go to his father's school, nor the school of the Pharisees--he went
to no denomination, but out to the wilderness called there by God. There he stayed
until the Lord sent him out with the message, crying, 'The Messiah is at hand.'
Now let us
take a Scriptural warning here. Was it not in the days of Moses whom God had
vindicated that Korah rose up and withstood that mighty prophet? He disputed
with Moses and claimed that he had as much from God to lead the people and that
others shared in the Divine revelation as well as did Moses. He denied the
authority of Moses. Now the people back there, after they had heard the true
Word and were well acquainted with the fact that a true prophet was vindicated
of God, I say those people fell for Korah and his gainsayings. Korah was not a
Scriptural prophet but the people in great numbers with their leaders went for
him. How like the evangelists today with their golden calf schemes like
Korah's. They look good to the people as Korah looked good then. They have
blood on their foreheads, oil on their hands and balls of fire on the platform.
They allow women preachers, let women cut their hair, wear slacks and shorts,
and by-pass the Word of God for their own creeds and dogmas. That shows what
kind of seed is in them. But not all the people turned on Moses and left the
Word of God. No. The elect stayed with him. The same is happening again today.
Many are leaving the Word but some are staying with it. But remember the
parable of the wheat and tares. The tares have to be bundled for burning. These
apostate churches are getting bound closer and closer together, ready for the
fires of God's judgment. But the wheat is going to be gathered to the Master.
Now I want
you to be very careful here and see this. God has promised that at the end time
Malachi 4 is going to be fulfilled. It has to be for it is the Spirit-quickened
Word of God spoken by the prophet Malachi. Jesus referred to it. It is just
before Christ comes the second time. By the time Jesus comes all Scripture must
be fulfilled. The Gentile dispensation will be in its last church age when that
messenger of Malachi comes. He will be right with the Word. He will take the
whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation. He will start at the serpent's seed and
carry on to the messenger in the latter rain. But he will be rejected by the
denominations.
He has to
be for that is history repeating itself from the time of Ahab. Israel's history
under Ahab is happening right here in America where the prophet of Malachi
appears. As Israel left Egypt to worship in freedom, pushed out the natives,
raised up a nation with great leaders like David etc., and then put an Ahab on
the throne with a Jezebel behind him to direct, so have we done the very same
in America. Our forefathers left for this land to worship and live in freedom.
They pushed back the natives and took over the land. Mighty men like Washington
and Lincoln were raised up but after awhile other men of such poor caliber
succeeded these worthy men that soon an Ahab was set in the presidential chair
with a Jezebel behind him to direct him. It is at such a time as this that the
messenger of Malachi must come. Then in the latter rain will come a Mount
Carmel showdown. Watch this carefully now to see it in the Word. John was the
forerunner of Malachi 3. He planted the former rain and was rejected by the organizations
of his day. Jesus came and had a Mount Transfiguration show down. The second
forerunner of Christ will sow for the latter rain. Jesus will be the showdown
between the denominations and creeds, for He will come to back up His Word and
take His bride in the rapture. The first showdown was Mount Carmel; the second
was the Mount Transfiguration, and the third will be Mount Zion.
The strange
behaviour of Moses, Elijah, and John withdrawing from the people into seclusion
left many confused. They did not realize that it was because their messages had
been rejected. But the seed had been sown, the planting was over. Judgment was
next. They had served their purpose as a sign to the people, so judgment was
next.
I believe
according to Revelation 13:16 that the bride will have to stop preaching for
the beast is demanding the mark in the hand or forehead if permission to preach
be granted. Denominations will take the mark, or be forced to quit preaching.
Then the Lamb will come for His bride and judge the great harlot.
Now
remember that Moses was born for a certain work, but he could not do that work
until he had received the gifts which would enable him to do the work. He had
to go out in the desert and wait there; God had an appointed time. There was to
be a certain Pharaoh on the throne, and the people had to be crying for the
bread of life, before God could send him back. This is true for our day.
But what do
we have in this our day? Multitudes are working signs until we have a
generation of sign seekers that know little or nothing about the Word, or a
true move of the Spirit of God. If they see blood, oil and fire they are happy;
it matters not what is in the Word. They will support any sign, even
unscriptural ones. But God has warned us about that. He said in Matthew 24 that
in the last days the two spirits would be so close together that only the very
elect could tell them apart, for they alone would not be deceived.
How can you
tell the spirits apart? Just give them the Word test. If they don't speak that
Word, they are of the evil one. As the evil one deceived the first two brides,
he will try to deceive the bride of this last day, by trying to get her to
hybridize herself through creeds, or just plainly turning from the Word to any
sign that suits her. But God never placed signs ahead of the Word. Signs follow
the Word, as when Elijah told the woman to bake a cake for him first, according
to the Word of the Lord. When she did as the Word said, the proper sign came.
Come to the Word first and then watch the miracle. The seed Word is energized
by the Spirit.
How can any
messenger sent from God believe only a part of the Word and deny some of it?
The true prophet of God in this last day will proclaim the whole Word.
Denominations will hate him. His words may be as harsh as John the Baptist who
called them vipers. But the predestinated will hear and be ready for the
rapture. The Royal Seed of Abraham, with like faith as Abraham's will hold to
the Word with him, for they are predestinated together.
The last
day messenger will appear in God's appointed time. It is the end time now as
all know, for Israel is in the homeland. Any time now he will come according to
Malachi. When we see him, he will be dedicated to the Word. He will be
indicated (pointed out in the Word. Revelation 10:7.) and God will vindicate
his ministry. He will preach the truth as did Elijah and be ready for the Mount
Zion showdown.
Many will
misunderstand him because they have been taught Scripture in a certain way
which they consider truth. When he comes against that, they will not believe.
Even some true ministers will misunderstand the messenger because so much has
been called God's truth by deceivers.
But this
prophet will come, and as the forerunner to the first coming cried, "Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," even so will he no
doubt cry out, "Behold the Lamb of God coming in glory." He will do
this, for even as John was the messenger of truth to the elect, so is this one
the last messenger to the elect and Word-born bride."