Is the message a denomination?: Difference between revisions

Line 34: Line 34:
==Denominations carry a single name==
==Denominations carry a single name==


''This is the first denomination of repute that came out of the harlot, but when Luther died it was not long until it had a hierarchy like the one it had fought. This move of God, by the time the second generation came along was right back under the wing of her mother. She had gone back and did not even know it. '''They had taken on their own name above His Name.''' They were living their own name, too. And all the denominations are doing that very thing today. '''They are living their own name, and not the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.''' That is easily seen for every church is known by the way it worships but none are known by the power of God. There is your test. And I want you to notice right here that this era did not have the signs and wonders amongst them. They gave up the power of God for the power of the state. They clung to their own name; they made their names great. It was that old spirit of getting everyone into its fold. Today the Baptists want the Methodists to come over to the Baptists. The Methodists are out to proselytize the Presbyterians. And the Pentecostals want them all. Each claims to offer the most and to hold out the greatest hopes—a sort of door to heaven, or at least, the way to a more abundant entrance. How tragic it all is.<ref>William Branham, An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages - Chapter Seven - The Sardisean Church Age, para. 256-2</ref>
The followers of William Branham refer to themselves as being in the "message", a unifiying single name:
 
:''This is the first denomination of repute that came out of the harlot, but when Luther died it was not long until it had a hierarchy like the one it had fought. This move of God, by the time the second generation came along was right back under the wing of her mother. She had gone back and did not even know it. '''They had taken on their own name above His Name.''' They were living their own name, too. And all the denominations are doing that very thing today. '''They are living their own name, and not the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.''' That is easily seen for every church is known by the way it worships but none are known by the power of God. There is your test. And I want you to notice right here that this era did not have the signs and wonders amongst them. They gave up the power of God for the power of the state. They clung to their own name; they made their names great. It was that old spirit of getting everyone into its fold. Today the Baptists want the Methodists to come over to the Baptists. The Methodists are out to proselytize the Presbyterians. And the Pentecostals want them all. Each claims to offer the most and to hold out the greatest hopes—a sort of door to heaven, or at least, the way to a more abundant entrance. How tragic it all is.<ref>William Branham, An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages - Chapter Seven - The Sardisean Church Age, para. 256-2</ref>