CIRCULAR December 1985

Special greetings to you all in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This year 1985 is coming to a close. Together it is our privilege to have part in whatever God does in His Kingdom at this time. He makes His promises known to His people before their fulfillment. The New Testament began with the accomplishing and realization of Bible prophecy. It will end in the same way, as the· divine plan of salvation with humanity comes to completion.

Through the whole Bible we can trace the promises and their fulfillment. True faith is anchored in them and becomes a living revelation to the individual. The best known example is Abraham, who believed the promise of God and experienced the same. Isaac was not a doctrine, he was not an explanation, neither was he an interpretation. He was the literal result of that promise! Amen. The same applies for all of God's children who are not converted by the will of men, but are born again through the everlasting seed of God's Word.

Paul writes in Gal. 4:28, „Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.“ Isaac was a promised son, John the Baptist a promised prophet, Jesus the promised Messiah and Redeemer. So was Brother Branham a promised prophet. What about us? Who are we? It is important for us to recognize our position and penetrate into the direct fellowship with God. We must not only ask to know the ways and the will of God, we must be ready to walk with Him and to do whatever He said.

Again Abraham was our example in regards to receiving the promise, to believe and to obey. He left everything to reach the place the Lord showed Him. No one could stop him. So it is with the spiritual seed of Abraham at this time. We have received the promised Word for the hour, we believe and walk in obedience to the Word. Abraham's final goal was the promised land. The same is with us: We shall see the last promise fulfilled at the moment the Lord returns to take us home to the place He has prepared (John 14). That again will not be a doctrine or an interpretation, it will be reality.

In Gal. 3:29 we read, „And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's children, and heirs according to the promise.“ There is always a condition connected to a promise. Christ must be in us, only then we can be in Him. That again should not be a doctrine but reality. It must come to pass as it is written in I John 4:13, „By this know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit.“ The claim „Christ is in us“ will not suffice – it has to be so. The sincere question is, whether we are truly in Christ. We can test ourselves according to John 8:31, „If ye continue in my Word, then are ye my disciples indeed.“ Faith in the promised Word gives us access to our inheritance. Therefore we read in Gal. 3:18, „...God gave it to Abraham by promise.“

We must always watch the promises which were given and recognize them in their fulfillment. Only if the promised Word is in us, we can be in the promised Word and obtain our inheritance. Only if the love of God is poured into our hearts, that love will be manifested. Only if we have received the Holy Spirit, we can bear the fruits of the Spirit. A tree is not known by the outward appearance, but by the fruit. We need no artificial imitation, nothing self-made or manufactured.

In Gal. 4 we read about the placing into the sonship. In verse 6 it says, „And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts ... and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.“ The Kingdom of God is not theoretical or philosophical, but it is divine reality. If we are in His Kingdom, then His Kingdom is in us.

To know what God is doing now right in the end-time, we have to contemplate on what He did right from the beginning. Everything that originates with Him is perfect and leads us back to Him. Our connection with Him is through the Word and the Spirit under the shed blood which is the blood of the New Covenant.

The Lord had predicted and spoken through His servants, the prophets. With the commencing of the New Testament one promise after the other was being fulfilled. In John the Baptist and his ministry the prophetic utterances of Isaiah 40:3 and Mal. 3:1 became a living reality. He preached the Kingdom of God; at the same time he was part of the Kingdom. The Lord testified of Him, „The law and the prophets were until John; since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.“ (Luke 16:16)Commonly this verse is being used to undermine the validity of the Old Testament. But that is not meant at all. This Scripture informs us that whatever is promised in the Old Testament now was being fulfilled to the letter in the New. Right in the next verse we read, „And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one title of the law to fail.“ Every Word of God is perfect and has its place. It is necessary at this time to have a complete balance. In the preaching all Scripture must be considered.

The ministry of John the Baptist needed no interpretation but had to be recognized and placed scripturally. As already stated, John was not an interpretation, and there was no doctrine made about him. Through him the promised Word for the hour became a reality. He pointed all to the Lamb of God. Only where God acts according to His Word, there is His kingdom. John preached in the wilderness; at the same time he prepared the way of the Lord. It did not happen through might or power but through the Spirit of God resting upon the prophet who had the promised Word for the hour. With this we hit the main target of all revelation. We have to recognize that all has to be done according to the Word at the appointed time.

Hundreds of years it was a written promise, then it was a walking and talking, a living reality. We have to realize that God's eternal plan and purpose is being accomplished in His Kingdom. All promises pertaining to the first coming of Christ were fulfilled to the letter. So it has to be now before His second coming. Every promise given to us must not be discussed or interpreted, but has to become a living reality through fulfillment. God has ordained it thus, so we can check and prove all things and see whether promise and fulfillment agree. Also the events which have to take place are clearly set in order.

In the sermon «Doing God a service without His will», preached on July 18th, 1965, Brother Branham gave a solemn warning in the name of Jesus Christ, „Don't you add one thing. Don't put your own ideas in it ... Don't take some new thing. They're flying everywhere, and there'll be more than that come. But don't take these new things.“

Who has heeded to it? How many new things were introduced! If one thing doesn't pull, something else is being invented. But if we have come to our rest in God, we shall patiently wait for the realization of every promise God gave. He always keeps His Word. Whosoever believeth Him, will not be disappointed.

Jesus Christ, our Lord, was the promised Messiah. In Him the Word was made flesh. All prophecies, including those which spoke of His sufferings and death, resurrection and ascension, were fulfilled. As our Redeemer He had to walk this way, and overcame death and hell and rose triumphant. All the redeemed will also overcome through Him who made it possible for us. Brother Branham said, the Word of this hour would be crucified. This could not happen as long as it only was said or written. There had to be those in whom that Word became reality. A corn of wheat must also die before new life comes forth. The seed of God goes through the dying-process but does not remain in death, because the germ of life comes forth.

If we are in the Kingdom of God, we don't plan our own programs. We only have one desire: to find ourselves in God's plan. All our own efforts will cease. First we come to know the will of God through the Word of God. Then we must be prepared to obey and do accordingly. In the Holy Scriptures everything to the last events pertaining to the plan of salvation is clearly foretold. At the right time He sends a prophet to announce to His people whatever is to take place (Jer. 1:5, Amos 3:7).