“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” (Heb. 13:8)

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I greet you most cordially as the year 2011 draws to a close and wish you God’s blessings for the coming year 2012. May God’s Word speak to us in a mighty way:

“But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (2. Cor. 1:18-22).

“For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself …”

“Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath …” (Heb. 6:13+17).

God became the guarantor for all the things He planned, all that He promised, that He said, and that He proclaimed through His messengers. Indeed, God is also my guarantor that His Word is the absolute truth in my mouth, the way it was with Elijah (1. Ki. 17:24) and with Paul (1. Ths. 2:13) and with Peter as well (1. Pet. 1:25) – exactly as it came forth from His mouth (Isa. 55:10-11). In the more than eight thousand sermons that I have preached in the past half-century of my ministry, I never said, “It could be this way or that way,” but God’s Word was always “Yes and Amen!” It was never “Yes and No.” The guarantee for all of God’s promises is in Him – our LORD, the central point of our proclamation: Christ, our beloved Redeemer. Therefore, we emphasize it once again: “For all the promises of God in him are yea …” so that through us the Amen – the fulfilment – can come to pass. Amen means: So be it.

The entire plan of Salvation is founded upon promises, beginning with Gen. 3:15 where it states that the seed of God would come and bruise the head of the serpent. In the completed redemption, the following promises were realized: “… when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.” (Isa. 53:10) and “A seed shall serve him …” (Ps. 22:30). Every promise of God is fulfilled through the true believers who are His seed, for the glory of God.

Abraham believed every promise that the LORD God gave him, whether it was in regard to the land of Canaan, or the blessing of the nations (Gen. 12:2-3; Gen. 15:5), or the special promise concerning Isaac: “And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life, and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.” (Gen. 17:21; Gen. 18:10).

After every promise it could state in capital letters: “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS COUNTED UNTO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3).

Paul summarized it in Gal. 3:8 as follows: “And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.”

“They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.” (Rom. 9:8).

In Christendom over two billion people believe in God in their own way. But the question is: Who believes God? Who believes what God has said? What He has promised? Who believes every Word? Only when the LORD speaks to us personally through the proclamation of the Word, which brings forth faith, and reveals the promises unto us, then we have a living connection with Him and the communion in the Holy Spirit. That is when we truly believe Him because our faith is anchored in His Word, in His promises.

Paul continued on in 2. Cor. 1 and included all of the true believers: “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us is God …” (v. 21). The anointing is the confirmation. So the promise comes first and then faith, which through us leads to the fulfilment. The absolute firm foundation on Christ and the anointing by the Spirit, which teaches us all things, belong together (1. Jn. 2:20-27).

Here we are not dealing with an anointing, the likes of which has by now taken hold of 550 million people in all denominations through the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement and is considered to be a genuine moving of the Spirit. Brother Branham spoke in the sermon “The anointed ones in the end time” about the three realms of body, spirit, and soul and emphasized that people can receive the Holy Spirit in the second realm without being born again in their soul and without being saved. In this context, he referred to Mat. 5:45 where it states that God makes the sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. The Spirit of God was indeed poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28) and has been moving upon mankind since the day of Pentecost, the way It also moved upon the face of the waters in the natural creation (Gen. 1:2). The decisive factor is the seed, and the spiritual seed is the Word (Mk. 4:14-20; Lk. 8:11). The Word seed is not planted in the spirit realm but in the soul. In the Word is the germ of life that comes up. Every seed of course brings forth after its own kind. The good seed are the children of the kingdom of God (Mat. 13:36-39), and they are born again by the Spirit of God, filled and taught by it, and led into all truth (Jn. 16:7-15).

In reference to Mat. 24:23-26, Brother Branham explained very clearly that it is the Holy Spirit that is at work now, and even the false prophets and Christs are laying claim to it. The anointed ones in the end time will convey such a biblical impression that the LORD had to give this warning: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” (Mat. 24:24). The legitimate question is: Are they begotten of God? Are they born again (1. Jn. 5:18-21)? Or are they false in their nature and in their teachings? Do they follow the wrong path with their traditions and misinterpret every Word arbitrarily? In this regard, the words that the LORD addressed to the scribes back then are turning out to be true even today: “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. … He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” (Jn. 8:43+47).

The true Church of Jesus Christ, which He Himself redeemed (1. Pet. 3:18) and which He Himself builds (Mat. 16:18), returns to the beginning, to the Word that has been proclaimed since the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), to the teaching that came forth from Jerusalem, from Mount Zion (Isa. 2:3; Acts 2). It must be emphasized anew each time: In the Church of the firstborn (Heb. 12:23), the first and the last sermon, the first and the last water baptism, the first and the last baptism by the Spirit, all the gifts of the Spirit, all the fruits of the Spirit, and all of the ministries will truly be the same. All things will be restored to their original condition. Every doctrine and every practise recorded in the Bible collectively are forever the pattern for the New Testament Church (Acts 2:42), for the Word of God remains forever (Isa. 40:8; 1. Pet. 1:25).

At the end of our introductory Scripture, Paul once again placed the emphasis on Him, our LORD: “… Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” Whoever has been sealed is thus not anointed in the second realm but has received the Spirit in his soul, in his heart. The sealing can only take place if we have received the Word of truth by faith:

“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” (Eph. 1:13). It is valid for all eternity and is irrevocable.

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth …” (Jn. 16:13). So it is not only about the anointing but about the guidance into all truth by the Holy Spirit.

“And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” (1. Jn. 5:20).

And only by this do we recognize what was said in Jn. 3:34: “For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.”

Whomever God sends does not proclaim interpretations but God’s Holy, infallible Word in the original form, and all who are of God hear and believe what and how the Scripture says. They take the final warning seriously and do not add to the completed testimony of God and do not take anything away from it (Rev. 22:18-21).

Abraham believed and obeyed God and received the circumcision (Gen. 17:10-13) as the sign of the covenant, as the seal of the righteousness of his faith (Rom. 4:11). At that time it was a circumcision on the body; now it is circumcision of the heart: “… circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter …” (Rom. 2:29).

In 1. Cor. 9:1-3 Paul defended his apostleship as someone who had seen the LORD Jesus, and he called out to the believers: “… are not ye my work in the LORD?” He had proclaimed the Word unto them according to his commission and further wrote: “If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the LORD. Mine answer to them that do examine me is this …” This is also my justification in answer to those who sit in judgment on me.

A seal is placed on a document, a certificate. It was not just some random church but the Church of Jesus Christ that came into existence through his God-given apostolic ministry and that was allowed to bear the seal.

In 2. Tim. 2:19 the apostle spoke about the inscription of the seal on the foundation upon which the Church is built: “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The LORD knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

Only the elect are sealed and bear God’s seal. Only they accept the ministry that God has put in place; only they walk in obedience of faith the whole way with God until the end.

Thus saith the LORD: “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” (Isa. 8:16).

The mysterious book in Rev. 5:1 was sealed with seven seals: “And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.” The seals were opened, and the content was made known by revelation. However, only the ones who are sealed understand all things correctly through revelation of the Spirit. They are the true disciples. That is the remarkable thing in our time, and in this connection the calling out, separation, preparation, and restoration take place. This is also the time of the sealing with the Spirit of promise while the last prophetic message goes forth.

This message is now going forth, and all who have an ear will hear what the Spirit has to say to the churches. They are the overcomers who shall inherit all things and even sit with the Redeemer on His throne and rule with Him during the Millennium (Rev. 3:21). Also this promise is yes and Amen.

First the Word of promise is addressed to the children of promise, then the Spirit of promise carries out its purpose, and finally the sealing takes place.

Already in the Old Testament, God fulfilled His promises with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and with Israel. In Deut. 9:5 we read: “Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

In Jos. 23:14 Joshua admonished the people when he departed: “… and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.”

At the consecration of the temple, Solomon called out in his prayer: “Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which spake with his mouth unto David my father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it … And the LORD hath performed his word that he spake, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel.” (1. Ki. 8:15+20).

The main promise of the Old Testament, however, was the announcement that the Redeemer would come. It is for instance written in Isa. 7:14: “Therefore the LORD himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” When the time was fulfilled and Mary received the announcement that she was the chosen vessel to fulfil it, she said, “Behold the handmaid of the LORD; be it unto me according to thy word.” (Lk. 1:38).

Elisabeth, the mother of John, confirmed it, inspired by the Spirit of God: “And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the LORD.” (Lk. 1:45).

At first Zechariah could not believe that he and his wife Elisabeth were supposed to be the parents of the preparer of the way when the angel brought the message to him. But he, too, eventually recognized that the Word of God was being fulfilled and, filled with the Holy Spirit, he spoke these prophetic words: “As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began …” (Lk. 1:67-80).

On the founding day of the New Testament Church when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit took place, Peter explained the event to the assembled multitude: “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams …” (Acts 2:16-17).

Indeed, “the promises of God remain; forever unwavering: Jesus sealed with His Own blood what He promised in His Word” (Hymn by Levi Pethrus, Stockholm). All the promises of God are yes and Amen, and now we may partake in what God has promised unto us. The main promise is the Return of Jesus Christ, as announced to us in Jn. 14:1-3. After the completed redemption, Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, where He prepared a place for us, and He will return in the same manner as He ascended (Acts 1:9-11).

The Return of Christ and everything that is connected to it, therefore, also is our main subject. Led by the Spirit, Paul wrote these words, and today they are addressed to us: “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” (1. Ths. 5:23-24). Amen.

However, the following serious admonition is also addressed to the true believers, those who are sealed and who are waiting for the changing of the body: “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Eph. 4:30-32).

May the faithful LORD and Saviour grant it to all of us so that we may thus experience the completion, in perfect unity and harmony with God and His Word as well as among one another and together in the perfect love of God, and partake in the Rapture.

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.” (Rom. 16:25-27).