Dear Friends, beloved Brothers and Sisters,
this is Brother Frank speaking to you from the Mission Center in Krefeld, Germany. It’s a grace to know that God is reaching out in love to all peoples in all nations, into all colours, wherever you might be. The Lord has opened a way, so that we can share His precious Word to you. You might not estimate the quality of the ministry, but we just call it “apostolic-prophetic ministry”. But the moment the Holy Spirit will reveal to you the importance of the original Word of God, then you will understand why we place such an emphasis on the Word of God only, and we reject any and every interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. God watches over His Word to fulfill it, and He is His own interpreter by letting coming to pass what He promised in His holy Word. In Ephesians, chapter 1, from verse 3–5 we read, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus …” Beloved, the Lord gave me a teaching ministry. For so many years I was more in the evangelistic ministry, looking to over 40 years in the international ministry, travelling from continent to continent, and from city to city, from country to country. But in recent years I am led to speak about the return of Christ, about the fulfilment of Bible prophecies, showing that God has a plan of salvation, and as at the first coming of Christ there was a time of preparation, a way was prepared for the Lord, so all the earth could see the salvation of our God, and Christ, the Saviour, was introduced. So it is now. You might not have heard about it, but there is a promise. Well, in fact, there are a number of promises which must come to pass in the Church of the living God, before Christ returns. We can look to Israel, where promises are being fulfilled, as we find written in Isaiah, chapter 14, verse 1, that God would bring them back from the different countries and plant them again into their own soil. We can read it in Jeremiah, chapter 31, from 1–10. It speaks about those who escaped the sword, who escaped the persecution and would be gathered again into their homeland. Also in the Prophet Ezekiel, it says in chapter 36, verse 24, ”I will gather you from all the countries whereunto I scattered you.” And now they have returned from 143 countries as a direct fulfilment of Bible prophecies. And then in the Prophet Hosea in chapter 6 we have the promise, “After two days He will revive us; in the third day … we will live in His presence.” After 2,000 years God brought them back into their homeland. One day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. It’s a prophetic scripture and we must always understand the Scripture by divine revelation. But coming to the Church of the Living God, it’s so important to know that God promised to send the Prophet Elijah, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord would be. First we see John who came 2,000 years ago, just before the day of salvation broke forth. And now we have the promise that before the day of judgement, when the sun will loose its light and the moon will be turned into blood, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord would come and the end of the time of grace God again would send a prophet to bring us back to Himself, to His Word, to bring us back again into the ways of the Lord. It says here further on in Ephesians, chapter 1, in verse 5, “… having predestinated us unto the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will …”, and then in verse 9, “… having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself.” Beloved, there is a great plan of salvation, and if we go into the Old and the New Testament we understand by divine revelation that we now live at the end of the endtime. As we have already mentioned the scriptures from the Old Testament in reference to the Jews who would return to their homeland, our Lord also said it in Matthew 24, verse 32, speaking in the symbol of the fig tree: when we would see the fig tree come back to life again, then that generation would not pass till all things would be fulfilled. “Heaven and earth would pass away”, our Lord said, “but My Word will not pass away.” And there in Matthew 24, verse 33, our Lord said, “When you see all things come to pass, then you know it’s near, even at the door.” And in Luke 21, verse 24, our Lord speaks about the Jews being scattered among all the nations and being killed by the sword and also that Jerusalem would be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles would be finished. And we all know, since 1967 Jerusalem is united, but the contention is still the Temple Mountain, because the Jews know that the Temple must be rebuilt, according to Bible prophecies of the Old and New Testament. But coming a little further to the situation of the New Testament Church, before Christ returns there must be a total restoration, not a reformation. We had reformations all along since the breakthrough 500 years ago, when the reformation actually began. Many things were reformed, but now it’s not the time of reformation – it’s the time of restoration of all things, as our Lord confirmed the promise from the Old Testament in Matthew 17, verse 11. Maybe I should read it, “And Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things.’” Beloved, this is not my promise, it’s not my word; I am not saying this, no man says it – our Lord said it! And He confirmed the promise from the Prophet Malachi, chapter 4, that He will send the Prophet Elijah – a man like Elijah to restore us back to the beginning, to the teachings of the apostles. Beloved, if God doesn’t open your spiritual eyes, you will never see the difference. But as soon as by divine revelation God shows unto you all the deviations, all the man-made interpretations, how the Scripture was misunderstood and misapplied to this day … Beloved, every Word of God was interpreted, was misunderstood, was misplaced. You can go to Matthew 28: 19, how church fathers misinterpreted that scripture, because they did not have the same divine revelation that Peter had, that Paul had, they just took it in the way that men would do without divine revelation. Also about John 20, verse 23, “To whom you remit sins, they are remitted, and to whom you retain sins, they are retained.” How this scripture was misunderstood and misapplied! I always like to go to a number of Bible references, so that you will know what the Scripture actually says. In Luke 24, verse 47, our Lord said that in His Name should be preached the remission of sins to all the nations. In Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 22, we read, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” So, Beloved, the remission of sins is by the precious blood of the Lamb, not by the clergy performing something like a sacrament. No, we do preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified! When He shed His blood on the cross of Calvary, that is where the price was paid, that is where redemption took place, that is when our sins were forgiven. God was in Christ reconciling the world with Himself and also giving us all the forgiveness of our sins. Let me read it to you. In 1 Peter, chapter 1, in verse 10 the Scripture says about the prophets, “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come upon you.” Searching – they were searching, searching, because the time of fulfilment had not yet come. And then it says here further in 1 Peter, chapter 1, verse 18, “… forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life received by tradition from the fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot …” And then it says in verse 20, “… who verily was foreordained from before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for you …” All things were foreordained: the Son of God to die for us and all the sons and daughters of God were also foreordained from before the foundation of the world. God does not decide things when time begins, He decided things in eternity and performs the counsel of His own will throughout time. Coming to the point, Who is the man that thinks to be in the position to forgive sins? God alone forgives sins. No man can even forgive his own sins, leave alone the sins of others. How did Peter forgive sins? He preached the forgiveness of sins on the day of Pentecost! He preached Christ. He showed that God was in Christ, forgiving our sins. And then to those who believed he could easily say, “If you believe in Christ, your sins are forgiven. If you don’t believe, your sins are not forgiven; they are retained.” Because the Blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. And if you don’t believe it, you simply don’t receive the forgiveness. You must believe God, otherwise you make him a liar and you deprive yourself of eternal life! Beloved, it’s so important to believe as the Scripture says. Here in 1 Peter, chapter 1, in verse 23, we read, “…being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” Beloved Brothers and Sisters, dear Friends, in this apostolic-prophetic ministry we like to share with you the original Word of God. There are especially three aspects that we have to take care of: First it is the evangelistic part, showing Jesus Christ as our Saviour; second it’s the teaching part, showing unto us the teachings of the Bible, the teachings of the New Testament Church; and then thirdly, the prophetic part, showing unto us what prophetic scripture contains and what was foretold that happens right now. We need to put all the three things together. We must tell you that only in Christ Jesus God met with us, and only in Jesus Christ we can meet with Him. And that is in the cross! Because only when Christ died and His blood was shed that was the moment that we were reconciled with God. And now we receive His Word as the divine seed into our soul and the Holy Spirit comes upon us, because we receive Christ as our personal Saviour, we acknowledge that the blood of the new covenant was shed for the remission of sins. As our Lord and Saviour stated in Matthew 26, from verse 26–28, that He shed His blood for the remission of sins. So, Beloved, we must put things right, we must come back to the original teachings of the Word of God, we must find our way back to God and His Word. And then, of course, not only the evangelistic part, but also the teaching part: If you go into the letters written by the apostles, especially by the Apostle Paul, he was almost every time addressing the churches or the individuals he wrote to in the same way, “Peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ …” Did you know that 36 times the same terminology is used by the apostle, addressing to the churches, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”? Always the term “God, our Father”. 36 times in the New Testament, but not a single time “God, the Son”. The Son is the Lord. I know it comes by divine revelation, and divine revelation cannot be handed on. I cannot give to you divine revelation. That comes from God alone. But I can tell you that if you believe what God said in His Word He will reveal Himself unto you! Our Lord said, “The world sees Me no more, but you will see Me, because I will reveal Myself unto you.” And He said to Peter, “Flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
Touching quickly on the subject of the Godhead: the Son was not born in heaven by the Father somewhere in eternity, as the church teachings go, as the “Apostolic Creed”, so-called, states, the Son of God was born in Bethlehem. In the Old Testament He was the I AM, the Lord, the Logos, that in the beginning came out of the fulness of God, manifesting Himself in a visible form of appearance. You can read it and also that we shall be changed and transformed and also appear in the same image. Just like Adam was made in the image of God, Christ is the image of God. Maybe I just give you the reference, so that you will know the plan of salvation. Finally we shall stand in the presence of God as sons and daughters of God. Just as Christ, the Saviour, became as we are, took a body of flesh and blood, was born into this world, suffered and died for us in our stead, so that we get the adoption, so that we get the possibility to be placed again into our original position as sons and daughters of God. Why don’t you once read 1 Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 49? Why don’t you read 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18? Why don’t you read 2 Corinthians 4, verse 3 and 4? Why don’t you read Romans 8:29? Why don’t you read Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 3? Why don’t you read Colossians 3, verse 10? Beloved, we must search the Scriptures again. We cannot go by what things are said from the pulpit. We must go back to the things which come from the Throne of God. And the Word of God comes from the Throne of God and holy men under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit spake as the Spirit spoke through them. So, Beloved, let us summarize what we try to say here today in this apostolic-prophetic ministry: The return of Christ is very near, in fact it is imminent. The signs of the time speak clearly about it. And Friends, I am in the Kingdom of God since 1949. And since 1953 I am preaching. And then from the early sixties I am in the international ministry. I knew the man sent from God, William Branham, personally, whom God used after World War II to spearhead the last healing, salvation revival. I saw Bible days with my own eyes. I came to know the promised Word for today. And therefore I have to share it with you that God has sent someone now before the return of Christ, as He sent someone to prepare His way 2,000 years ago. We must know the promised Word for today! We must know the message of the hour! We must know the plan of salvation and be part of what God is doing right now! I can only say, May the blessings of Almighty God rest upon you. May you find grace in His sight. May His Word and Will be revealed unto you in all His fullness. May the glory of God and His blessings rest upon all of you in the precious and holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.