<TITLE>08. Par 63-72</TITLE>L-63 But when he walked up into the Presence of Jesus, when Jesus said, "Your name is Simon, and you are the son of Jonas." Now we know that Jesus told His apostles that He knew them, and he, "before the foundation of the world." They were the attributes of His thoughts. Therefore, being that seed laying in him, and he knew that the Word said and had been promised that the Messiah would be a prophet. And when he seen that, he was through with fishing. He knew then that he would drop his nets, because he would go--go and become a fisher of men. For...

L-64   Now, there stood others standing there, who seen the same thing done, and classed it a "evil spirit." That was the theologians, because it wasn't in the taste of their theological teaching. And they turned it down, because they leaned to their own understanding, by their doctors; when, Jesus Christ came in the fulfillment of the Word of promise, and they were too blind to see it. They leaned upon what the priests said, and upon what the church said, instead of upon what God said.

L-65 Now Jesus rebuked them for it. He said, "Search the Scriptures, for in Them you claim you have Everlasting Life. And They are They that testify of Me. These Scriptures that I'm asking you to search, they tell you who I am."

L-66 But they wouldn't lean to what the Word said, but they leaned to what their understanding was. They leaned to their own understanding. And the Scripture tells us that they were veiled. The veil of their own theology had them blinded.
You say, "Brother Branham, what are you getting at?"

L-67   I'm just getting to this. That thing is occuring again, till, man and women and people will lean to a certain church that they have joined and belonged to, no matter what the Word of God says about it. They go right on with that, leaning to their own understanding, and ignoring the Word of God, as if It hadn't (never) even been written. It's un-germitized seed of human life. It's got the physical life, but no spiritual life in it to be quickened. The veil was over their face.

L-68 Now notice, they had their own thoughts of what God should be, they had their own ideas of what Messiah should be. But the Word said what the Messiah should be! Now, see, they had their own understanding of what He would be. No doubt but what the high priest said, "All my priests under me, now when the Messiah comes... We've built a great temple here. We've done all this. And the Bible said, 'He'll quickly come to His temple,' and all these things. When He does, the Messiah will come right up here and recognize Himself with us, and say, 'I am the Messiah. I have arrived. I am that Messiah that you've been looking for.'" Well, when He did come, He come in such a different way from what they thought it was, they didn't recognize Him. They didn't know Who He was. But His...

L-69   And what if some hypocrite would have walked up there and said, "I am the Messiah. I am Doctor So-and-so"? They would have accepted it.

L-70 But when you come to a Man that was born with a darkened birth behind Him, no education of any school He ever went to, to learn, no seminary did He have, no fellowship card; but He was the interpretation of God's Word, made manifest. "The works, that I do, tell you Who I am. If I do not the works that was promised I'd do, then believe Me not."

L-71 And could we not apply that to this day? When the Holy Ghost comes, that they want to apply to some other age, when He comes in the action and the demonstrations of His power of Eternal Life, the people want to call it a--a "wild fanaticism." Why? They are leaning to their own understanding, and not to the Word of the Lord. And you know that's right.

L-72   The identification, that God, Own interpretation is the manifestation of the promise.


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