“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” Heb. 13:8

CIRCULAR December 1986

Special greetings to all of you in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ with the scripture found in Phil. 3:12-15, “Not as though I had already attained, ei were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded; and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.”

In this short portion of scripture very deep thoughts and truths are being found. Whoever is called of God through a heavenly calling, has started to follow Christ and has a definite goal before him. Nobody can claim or be convinced to know everything or to have experienced all, but we can stretch ourselves out to receive new and greater blessings while keeping the goal before our very eyes. Not the blessings are our end, not experiences but to reach ow God-set destination.

Small differences can come up in the knowledge, but the goal remains the same. In view of these differences, Paul writes, “… in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.” Our salvation and our eternal destination do not depend upon teaching or knowledge, but they are founded exclusively upon the finished work of redemption and upon the complete reconciliation with God through the death of Christ on the Cross of Calvary.

It is not in arguing with one another, but in a real walk with God, that we go from clarity o clarity and from knowledge to knowledge “… till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13). To the measure in which we obey and practise the Truth, we grow in love in all things into Him, until we reach the perfect image of the perfect man, and then we are not tossed about by the doctrines, but in the contrary, are taken away from all misleading interpretations. It is not possible to grow in the Spirit with false doctrines, because the Holy Spirit can only connect and work according to the Word of God. Behind every false doctrine there are wrong spirits.

In general, someone who is called by God should not look back. As an example for this, the scripture refers to Lot’s wife. The apostle Paul has also referred to this thought and stated that we should forget the things which are behind us and have our eyes set upon the goal which is before us and go forward. We have to believe that through Calvary, as far as God is concerned, everything was settled. A complete justification was given to us. That handwriting which was against us was torn to pieces. Our sins were thrown into the sea of forgetfulness, where it is the deepest. In addition to this, there are things which God has done for us, and there fore, they are worth of being mentioned.

Spiritually speaking, nobody should return to where we came from, because God has called us to come out. A good example for this is Abraham, who because of the Word of the Lord, forsook his homeland and moved into a strange country Most of us are acquainted with the history of Abraham. God called him and gave him promises which he believed and saw fulfilled. In Hebr. 11:9-10, we read about him, “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign country, dwell ing in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

The true believers are called “Abraham’s seed”. They put up their tents as he did here on earth, but know that they are only guests and pilgrims here. They look for the city Abraham looked for and know that on that day in the great feast they will sit together with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the heavenly glory (Mt 8:11). In Gal. 4:28, Paul writes, “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” Whosoever is truly born again of that seed of God, wifi believe and experience all the promises God made.

This circular letter is more or less an exception, because in this we shall mention a few things which occurred in the twenty years of this great work. We shall look back with gratitude toward God and see some of the high lights and emphasize them. All in all, it is now 33 years that I have preached and served the Lord as good as I could. Already in 1953, I spoke at the International Pentecostal Conference in the city of Kassel, West Germany. I still remember very well that I used then the text on Rev. 3, from verse 14, where it speaks about the message to the Laodicean church age. At that time I had never heard the name “William Branham”, and never knew of his special calling or ministry. But already then, I was being led to understand by the Spirit of God that we are now living in the last of the church ages, which is Laodicea.

If I look back on the direct leading of the Holy Spirit and consider the many times when I received the Word of God divinely revealed, then it fills me with deep gratitude and thankfulness. They were not dreams and imaginations, not something that one would make up, but were fundamental and concrete illumination that led into the Word, the will of God and finally into the whole council of salvation, which was taken and decided from eternity and is now coming to its completion.

The love towards the Word of God was already placed into my heart, when I was a child. At home the Bible was lying always on the table; it was only taken off for the meals. And as soon as one of us six children in the family could read, we had to share in the daily devotions, which my father conducted, and everyone took turn to read two verses.

My father, who also ministered the Word, was a real friend to me and also a great help in every way. Right until his last day I paid him the due respects.

All who knew my mother can confirm that she was a woman who had taken her f place. Never was she loud nor was there any fuss or fight. In reality she had the character of a God-fearing wife of which the Holy Scripture speaks and requires.

As far as I know, I have kept the fourth commandment, “Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother.” I cannot remember to have ever withstood what my father or mother said. But by the grace of God, I could respect them with all my heart. For me, whatever they said was like a commandment. Surely, it was the Lord who had placed this attitude and willingness into my heart. He was the One who gave the grace to do accordingly. Of my own, I would never have been able to do this.