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The Message: Difference between revisions
→Is the "Bride" a special category of Christian?
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==Is the "Bride" a special category of Christian?== | ==Is the "Bride" a special category of Christian?== | ||
Some today use the parables of Jesus to split the Church into various groups, such as the bride, the friends of the bridegroom, the virgins, the guests, and the servants. But this is pressing the analogy too far. We must be careful that we do not become like Nicodemus when he pressed the analogy of birth too far by asking how we could go back into our mothers’ wombs and be born again (John 3:4). | |||
Another common teaching is that the Rapture will be limited to a special group of “overcomers” (the Bride), and that the main body of the Church will be left behind to go through the Tribulation or to go up in later raptures. If we examine what the Bible has to say about overcomers, however, we see that only those who overcome will eat from the tree of life, they will not be hurt by the second death or the lake of fire, and will not have their names blotted out of the Book of Life (Rev 2:7, 11; 3:5). | |||
To overcome means to conquer, to win. If we do not win, we lose. These verses in the Book of Revelation indicate that those who do not overcome lose out forever. | |||
Who then are the overcomers? First John 5:4 tells us, “''This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith''.” All the born-again believer has to do to overcome is to believe (be an obedient believer and keep on believing) that Jesus is the Son of God. Then God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:57). He makes us winners.<ref>William W. Menzies, Bible Doctrines: A Pentecostal Perspective, ed. Stanley M. Horton (Springfield, MO: Logion Press, 1993), 218–219.</ref> | |||
===What William Branham taught=== | |||
William Branham taught that all denominational churches were false and that only by following William Branham would a person be truly in the church: | |||
:''The church natural, that's in Sodom. But remember, '''there was one church spiritual, that wasn't in that denominational outfit''', either. Called-out group, '''and they received a message, also, and a messenger'''. And what was it? Discerning the thoughts that was in the heart. God always proves His Word.</ref>PROVING.HIS.WORD LA.CA 65-0426</ref> | |||
:''I want to ask you something. In all of the ages, since the church first began, they have never had a messenger to them that his name ended with h-a-m, till now, G-r-a-h-a-m. Right. Down there, calling them out, Oral Roberts, and a Billy Graham, see, h-a-m. There's been Moody, Sankey, Finney, Wesley, Billy Sunday, all them, see, international church like that, world church!...?... There's never been one ending to h-a-m till right now, and that's Billy Graham. See? And that's '''six letters, G-r-a-h-a-m''', six, meaning... Man was born, created on the sixth day. Six is man's number. '''There he is, to the church natural'''. | |||
:''Abraham was '''A-b-r-a-h-a-m, seven letters'''. See? Look at the setting of today, and look what's taking place. Abraham had seen many signs and wonders, and everything that God had done. So has the Church. You've received the Holy Ghost, spoke in tongues, done all these signs and wonders. But you're promised, "As it was then, so shall it be again." "It shall be Light in the evening time." Jesus Christ, the same; same Son will appear again on the scene, in His Church, and will do the same thing that He did then, showing that He is the Word made manifest. See? Knowing the secret that's in the heart, revealing and doing the things that He is supposed to do. That's exactly the Word of God.<ref>CHRIST.IS.IDENTIFIED.THE.SAME.IN.ALL.GENERATIONS TAMPA.FL 64-0415</ref> | |||
And then the church natural is just a bunch of people in denominations, that joined. It's no more... I don't even no more call it "church." I don't like to refer to it. I like to refer to it as a "lodge," Methodist lodge, Baptist lodge, Pentecostal lodge. But the Church is the borned-again that's in Christ Jesus, that's new creatures. And so we still see that, that God keeps His Word.<ref>DOES.GOD.CHANGE.HIS.MIND LA.CA 65-0427</ref> | |||
=What do followers of William Branham think that the message is?= | =What do followers of William Branham think that the message is?= | ||