Circular Letter April 1983

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

CIRCULAR LETTER APRIL 1983

I greet you all cordially in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Since we have already translated and published all the sermons that Brother Branham preached in Jeffersonville after the opening of the seven seals, we now want to publish sermons from other years. We believe that since the opening of the seals, many secrets have been revealed. But every sermon Brother Branham preached serves to build up the Church. We have received profound instruction through the prophetic Word. Now our personal life of faith must be brought into harmony with God. 

In the sermon "The Church and Its Condition", we are called to undergo a thorough test. He personally addresses each of us and places the mirror in front of us from all sides. Using examples and comparisons of a sheep and a goat, a lamb and a wolf, a dove and a crow, Brother Branham shows everyone what they are like. Light and darkness, life and death, the divine and the diabolical cannot be in one person at the same time. Man cannot have the nature of a sheep and a goat at the same time, one cannot be a wolf and a lamb at the same time. They are either one or the other. Not our words, but our nature shows who we are. 

A sheep can't bark, they can't bite, can't even growl, it is gentle and good-natured. The sheep does not fight for its rights, but turns silent even before the shearer, who takes from it the only thing it has, i. e. wool. Nor does the sheep come to tear, destroy and scatter – it belongs to the herd, remains in it and is grazed. If the sheep gets lost, it will not find its own way back, but will let itself be guided back. The comparisons of a lamb and a wolf, sheep and goats, and doves and crows are very apt. 

As our Lord spoke in parables, so Brother Branham was guided by the Spirit of God to help us understand many things through examples from everyday life. May we all understand what a deep meaning lies in these simple comparisons. 

Our opening Word reads: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation…” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)

The apostle Paul presents the transformation of the believer into a new man as a divine reality. He writes: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature…” There is no one who is truly in Christ while retaining their old nature. That is not possible. Whoever is born again and baptized into Christ by the Spirit is a new creature, in which the old would not only pass away, but has already passed away, as it is written:

“… old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new…”

If, on the basis of biblical criteria, we really test ourselves and let ourselves be examined by the Spirit of God, we recognize whether there is still the old nature in us or whether we have really become a new person. It is not enough to refer to the revealed Word if the blood and the Spirit have not accomplished in everyone what was originally planned through the Word. All that the New Testament contains and was available in the time of the apostles must now be revealed again in the Church of the Lord. 

In the letters, the apostle addresses various admonitions to the churches. They are not only about instruction, but also about a personal life of faith, personal connection with the Lord and mutual relations with one other. Through the prophetic message at this time, the entire counsel of God has been revealed to us. We are very grateful for that. But now it is our soul that must fully experience what happened on Golgotha before God can reveal Himself through His Spirit and confirm His Word in the perfect way. The gospel must become God's power again. The covenant was rightfully concluded on Golgotha. At the moment when the Lord cried out, “It is finished!” the new covenant was established and reconciliation was given through His blood. The old enmity that had lasted since the Garden of Eden was removed. Since that moment, the blood-bought multitude has had a legal claim to all the promises God has made in His Word. There is no irreconcilability between the reconciled, as it would mean that we would convict God of a lie. 

Our Saviour began His ministry on the basis of Luke 4 by reading a passage from the prophet Isaiah in which it says: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Thus began the day of salvation, the Year of Jubilee for the New Testament Church. At the end of the time of grace, the voice of the last angel sounded like a trumpet, and the mysteries of God come to an end. The gospel will be preached once again to all nations, tongues and nationalities, the Year of Jubilee will be declared and the work of reconciliation will be announced. Whoever hears the trumpet of God and believes the gospel of Jesus Christ, the crucified, can come out free once and for all. In the Scriptures in 2 Corinthians Paul emphasizes that the ministry of reconciliation is entrusted to God's servants. By virtue of God's authorization, we are allowed to proclaim full salvation to people and to communicate to them all that we have become partakers of through the redemption. The apostles were appointed by God to the biblical ministry and administered the manifold graces and mysteries of God. There were no estate administrators. They spoke and acted with God's authority and had at their disposal everything that belonged to God's kingdom. They held no empty lectures, but preached the full gospel, through which the power of God was revealed in the spirit, soul and body in those who received it in faith. 

Even today, true believers do not form any religious associations in which people gossip and slander, but the Church of the living God, in which the Lord speaks and acts. The called-out Church stands under the blood of the Lamb, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and under the Word of God. In this Church, God places His ministries. Where such ministries are missing, there is no Church of Jesus Christ. God does not change His Word. He appointed apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists to the Church (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4 from verse 11). Through the ministries, the saints are made capable of performing ministries in the Church, for the edifying of the body of Jesus Christ (v. 12). That is God's order, which is now restored. The promise of restoration given by God in His Word must now become a reality. With God, words and deeds are always in harmony. 

This is the hour in which God's people, with whom the Lord has truly made a covenant, gather under the voice of the whole Word. The Spirit of God is at work in His Church. Deliverance is now proclaimed to every individual – the acceptable year for the Lord. We are called not to harden our hearts if we hear His voice. When the great trumpet sounded on the day of reconciliation in the Year of Jubilee, they did not blame each other, they did not quarrel with each other, no one blamed each other – it was a year of grace and exultation! All those who had trespassed immediately understood that God's hour had struck and set out to reclaim their original property. Whoever now recognizes the all-embracing gracious visitation will act in the same way. The cross and the crucified one stand at the centre, the absolute victory is certain for us. Biblical truths must no longer be the subject of arguments or discussions, but must become experienced and achieved facts in us. 

The enemy would want to thwart God's intentions with the Church at all costs. He is the one who brings confusion, causes enmity, stirs up hatred, and brings about chaos so that people lose their bearings and bite and devour one another (Gal 5:15). That does not happen with sheep. Never! The enemy does not hesitate to slander, even up to the most vile murder by lies, intrigues and slander, and leaves nothing untried to attack those in the front line as hard as possible. However, the true believers are familiar with the enemy's intention, they recognize his attacks, turn back to God and place themselves under the biblical order. 

Where there is no vision, the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18) Where there are false revelations, the devil brings all the confusion. Where God appears, everything goes according to the original order. At the crucifixion, everything went one way and also the other. So it is now. At first they were all scattered, but then, after the resurrection, the Lord appeared to them and they gathered again to pray single-mindedly. In the same manner now all who have truly experienced the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ can now find their bearings, enter into prayer and gather single-mindedly so that the Holy Spirit can fall even now as it happened then in the beginning. 

The following scriptures are to serve us to test ourselves based on God's Word to see how God places us. 

“But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” (1Peter 4:7; Proverbs 10:12)

“Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.” (1Peter 3:9)

“But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.” (Colossians 3:8)

“Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.” (James 5:9)

“But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.” (James 3:14)

“For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” (James 3:16)

“If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” (James 1:26)

There are no empty words in the Scriptures. Sweetness and bitterness will never come out of the same spring. We should read the sermon “The Church and Its Condition” several times until the Lord, through His Word, through His blood, and through His Spirit, can accomplish what He has purposed.