Deception
Spiritual Building-Stone No. 115

II John 7-11: "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son."

Let us hear what God's Prophet William Branham said about it:

You take any of these false baptisms, false so-and-so-and-so's, I don't care how real it sounds, how much they try to impersonate, it's a lie if it's contrary to God's Word of this hour. That's exactly. You say, "Well, we did this, and we did this; and our church is this way, and..." I don't care what it is; if it's contrary to the written Word for his hour, it's a lie. God will have nothing to do with it. No matter how sincere, how educated, how smart, how true it sounds, how rea-sonable it sounds, if it's contrary to the Word of this hour...

No matter how forceful a preacher can preach, how well he can make it look, if it's contrary to the Word, leave away from it. Stay away from it, clear. It's the Word that's God's program, the complete revelation of what He was, what He is, and what He will be. It's a continual revelation of Jesus Christ. And the com-plete revelation of Jesus Christ is this Bible. Anything revealed contrary of Him, telling what He would do, what He is now... "Oh, that was in days past." Don't you believe it! It's got to be the same Jesus, see, and that's the Word.

Today's so confused about the evidence of the Holy Ghost and so forth. Satan can impersonate any kind of a gift that God's got, but he cannot bring that Word, word by word. That's where he failed in the garden of Eden; that's where he's always failed. The tape on false anointed ones or anointed ones... They can be anointed with the Spirit, speak in tongues, dance, shout, preach the Gospel, and still a devil. It's the inside. Now, remember, Jesus said. "All the Father has given Me, will come to Me. No man can come except My Father draws him first" (St.John 6:37,44).

Now, the same thing is this: If you are a son of God, and if I am a son of God, or a daughter of God, we were in God at the beginning. And when Je-sus became the Fullness of the Word, then we were in Him, germ form. When He was crucified, we was crucified in His body (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20). When He rose from the dead, we rose with Him. And now, since we have recognized it, now we set together with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. See? For if we are sons and daughters of God, we are God's children; then we're attributes of God. Then we got Eternal Life. And God is the only Eternal Life there is. Then we were in Him from the beginning. And when Jesus became all that Word, then we were part of Him then. Amen. There you are. When that's in there, there's no devil, no powers, no nothing can ever move it. That's the tie post of the soul.

You can be anointed out here in this spirit, and desire, and do all these other things, but when it comes to this tie post to that Word, you'll never move from there. It'll hold right steady and true to that Word as it can be. Outside of that, regardless of what you do, you're still lost.

That Laodicean church age, naked, blind, miserable, don't even know it... See, it's got anointed, anointed with the real Spirit. See that Holy Spirit can fall upon a man in his spirit, but his soul is his germ. That germ is the Word. See? I don't care how much you preach, how well you do this, and how much you love... That's one of the inlets the spirit. You can't love with your body; you love with your spirit. That's one of the inlets. And you can love and even love God, and still not be right. You can cast out devils, and preach, and do these things, still not be right. Jesus said so; said many would come in that day. That Word settles it (Matt. 7:21-23).

You say, "Well, my, I'm Pentecostal; I belong..." If you don't line with that Word, there's something wrong. See? Then you see, your real father ain't God, because that real start in your soul, before there even was a spirit, it was your soul. That soul didn't come from God, then it wasn't a germ of God to begin. You're deceived. You're in a patch of weeds and bearing the world's record of the weeds, coming forth acting like the world, loving the world, is because the love of God's not in you.

The messenger Martin said, Satan appeared to him one time, great golden crown on, three or four decks of stars in it like that, glistening and beautiful, great big fellow, nice, handsome, correctly combed and groomed, a great beautiful robe on, and his shoes on his feet was gold, walked out and said, "Martin, do you know me?"

Now, people that don't see visions, you might not understand it, but how things come to you in different spirits, and how deceiving they are. The Bible said they would deceive the very elected if it was possible (Matt. 24:24). See? The elected, that's those who are predestinated and born for that purpose.

So he come to this elected; he said, "Martin, do you know me? I am Christ." He said, "Will you recognize me?" Martin hesitated: seemed strange, he waited a minute. And he said again, he said, "Don't you see me? I am Christ. Do you rec-ognize me?" He said it three or four times to him.
Christ said, or Martin said, "Satan, I know you. My Lord is not crowned yet, but His saints shall crown Him." There's the Word back.

So just because we can be emotional, don't mean that we're saved. Be-cause we go to church don't mean we're saved. Don't believe those enticing spirits. A real Spirit of God, a real Word of God is the Truth of God which is the Seed of God will produce God in your life. You'd be godly, saintly, holy.

Amongst a lot of people we find, where emotions and so forth, there be-comes tattlings, and backbitings, and all kind of ungodly things. Brother, that's sulfuric acid in the church; it's demon power. Spirit of men and women who get among one another and try to push off and say, "This one's not right, and this one's not right, and that's not right." If you'll chase it down, nine times out of ten, it's the very person making the stir that's not right. Amen. God hates discord among brethren. Be reverent. Be holy. Love God. Stand by Him. And as long as you know your life is divying up with the Bible with purity of heart, purity of thought, love towards your brother, trying your best to upbuild the Kingdom of God and doing those things, dressing right, living right, talking right, going to right places; then you can have all the emo-tions you want to, and everybody will believe it.

Jesus said, "You're the salt of the earth, if the salt lost its savour, it's henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trod under the foot of man." (Matt. 5:13). If you're just salt alone, it's no good. But if you got the savour in it, you'd be salty and the world will be thirsty. You get salty; they'll be thirsty. Oh, my.

Enticing spirits going forth, demons under disguises... Look, we're in the last days. We're in the end time. The world is just about ready to come to its head, like a sore boil somewhere that's going to explode one of these days, and the core jump out of it. It's become filthy. There's no salve can heal it. They've rejected the serum. They've rejected the treatment. You take a boil a-rising yonder, and if you don't take penicillin or something to knock it out or something another, it'll just keep rising till it'll burst.

That's what the world's done. It started not long ago to letting down. They got off on a great big ideas. False spirits come in and begin to tell people this, that, or the other. We've broke up into nine hundred and some different denominations, every one with a different view. They say, "We believe this. Period. That's all we believe." They can't let the Holy Spirit come in. They can't have the right of way. God's got a bunch of people that can shout; then everybody had to shout. They got some to speak in tongues; then everybody had to speak with tongues. They got it all like this till it become what? Absolutely contaminated with enticing spirits, enticing people to do these emotions when there's no God in it at all. Then they go out and live any kind of a life they desire to live and then call it Christian (I Tim. 4:1-5).

You know, that's been the trouble. I'm speaking to Christians and ministers, and I want to be honest about these things. And just that's where many ministers even make a mistake. We've heard so many times about the ministers, the acts that they do, and the things, some of them maybe to doing things they should not do. I think sometimes, them are good men, a wonderful Christians that's been used of the Lord. And then finally they get a little kingdom built around them, or a lot of influence, many people attending their meetings, until they get careless, and they get kinda lifted up. The people applaud them and stand up, and we shouldn't really do that. We, remember, we're just all...

There's no big people among us. Why, we're all just God's children. You see? If God made some of us one thing and some another, why... He made me with a finger and an eye, and so forth. Well, we got to appreciate each other, and then not try to feel big. Because we're all connected together to one God and we all come off of one tree.

No matter how long you've been a Christian, do you still got those little old spirits that talk to you, makes you fly loose, makes you talk about somebody? When somebody comes up and goes to speaking about somebody else, you join right in with them and oh, just run them down? That's wrong, brother; don't do that. That'll finally keep you out of the promised land. If you just got that little old things that you oughtn't to have, if the love of God really isn't in your heart, won't you be lady and men, walk up and say, "God, right here I'm going to dump it out this morning, right here." Would you come? (I Tim. 6:3-5).

That's what's the matter with the people today. They can't wait for the real Holy Spirit to take the church in position. They've got to manufacture some-thing, work up something: initial evidence, speaking in tongues to get more members in the church, all these kind of tommyrot instead of waiting upon the Lord for the real manifestation of the resurrection of Christ making Himself known among the people. They can't wait.

Yeah, no matter where you belong, if you're not borned of the Spirit of God and receive the Holy Ghost... And the reason... If you don't believe all the Word of God, you haven't received the Holy Ghost yet. That's right. That's exactly right. The Holy Spirit... When you hear the truth, and the Holy Spirit don't lead you to it, then there's another spirit in there keeping you away from it. So the spirit you got in you ain't the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).

Now, we find out as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, how that these things would be in the last days. Now, and the last quotation we had was that God made every seed after its kind; that's His (Genesis 1:11-12,26-27). See? Then when He made His Man in His image, was a seed of His Word. And when Jesus was made flesh, He was the flesh of the Word of God (John 1:14). And when we receive the Word of God, then we become God's Word in our flesh. See? The church should be in that condition.

He was the Word, and the Bride will have to be the Word, Word added to Word added to Word. Luther's justification, Wesley's sanctification, Pentecostal's baptism with the Holy Spirit, restoration of the gifts, and all the rest of it goes with it. It's got to be Word on top of Word, germ on top of germ, life on top of life, to bring out the full statue of the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, you remember, you was a attribute. And now the thing of it is, after we find out these things, that Christ is coming for His Bride, now how do we get into that Bride? Now, that's the question. Many say, "Join our congregation." One of them wants a certain type of baptism. One wants to do this or that. One said you must speak with tongues or you haven't got it; the other said you don't have to speak with tongues. This one says you must dance in the spirit. And this says you must shout. This has got a sensation. It's all all right, and then still it's all wrong. How could a man or a woman, or a child of God that's borned of the Spirit of God deny the Word of God, when God Himself interpreted it and say, "This is it. I promised it; here it is," showing it just as plain as they can. Why, they're bound to see it. See? How could Christ deny His own Word? If Christ is in you, He can't deny His own Word.

And now, there'll be false anointed ones in the last days, not false Jesus; they wouldn't stand for that, but false anointed. They are anointed. Yes, sir. But they are antichrist. They are anointed with the Spirit to do the signs and wonders that Christ did, but won't line up with His Word. See? "Many will come to Me that day and say, 'Lord, have not I prophesied and cast out devils in Your Name?'"

He'll say, "Depart from Me, you that work iniquity, I never even knew you." - "I was Pentecostal, Lord. Glory to God. I shouted; I spoke with tongues; I laid hands on the sick and healed them, cast out devils. "Depart from Me, you that work iniquity, I never knew you." See what I mean? (Matt. 7:21-23).

Oh, little children, do you feel the need of that vitamin tonight, that some-thing... There's a body waiting yonder; there's a body waiting to be received. Peo-ple, don't be deceived. Don't be deceived. The devil is a deceiver. Even the wedding garment, you must wear it. It must be (Matt. 22:1-14).

Eve had the Word. Satan's against the Word. And look. Almost ninety-nine and ninety-nine hundredths of It, Satan admitted was right. So close, the Bi-ble said, "In the last days would deceive the very elected if it was possible" (Matt. 24:24). See how it comes in? How it's always been? How it's going out? The same way: united of unbelief in all the full Word of God. You got it? That's what brought death is uniting unbelief with the Word. Unbelief: just a little bitty part of it, little bitty, teeny bit, one hundredth of one percent. But It must be one-hundred percent. That's all.

The prophet speaks about David bringing the ark back:

Notice, by doing this, he caused the death of sincere man, putting his hand on the ark when he shouldn't have done it. A great, sincere man, think the anointing and everything was just right, but the ark was moving in its wrong way. "The oxen," the Bible said, "stumbled," not the Levites (II Sam. 6:1-11). The oxen stumbled and the cart was being pitched over; and a sincere man, with his heart full of love, put his hand upon the ark to hold it back, and was stricken dead, be-cause no man could touch that ark but a Levite. See how God keeps His Word, keeps His channels, keeps His order? Uzziah was smitten with leprosy (II Chron. 26:16-21). There's David, altogether caused the death of a man, and a great disaster; being anointed with the Spirit, both of them, but out of God's channel. That right? He died. Oh, it scared David to death; it called the name of the place, as Brother Jack read it. He marked him there.

How many times denominations has done the same thing to sincere believers. The Catholic church, the Methodists, the Baptists, Church of Christ, even the Pentecostals, has caused many spiritual death by that same thing. When It come, with these things, they found... And they can't go no further, because that's what their denomination believes.

Look today, the big crusades, same thing. They don't do nothing but make them more a twofold child of hell, worse than they was in the first place. Makes them harder, really, come to the truth. Have one of these big reviv-als, and all of them come in, carry on a little while, and go back out and they start all this sin again. Hear of another revival, say, "Ah, I had so much stuff; I tried it; there's nothing to it." See? They don't know the channel. God speaks...

In the world today, we find that there is a people (the Bible predicted it.), three classes of people. One of them is the cold, starchy, formal, indifferent. They just go ahead, no more than belonging to a lodge. They go to church, talk a little about this, that and the Lord, and so forth, come back, but no actual borned again experience.

Oh, some of them claim it, but their live proves that it isn't. See? Now, that's over on one side, way away. And now, down here on the other side, the fanatics... And a real, true church... Jesus said so, "Will be so close together, it would deceive the very elect."

Now, many people, as soon as they see the fanaticism mixed up with the real, "Aw," they say, "there's nothing to it. Go on." See, that's the same thing the Pharisees done. Satan doesn't fool with trying to pervert that. He's trying to pervert this Truth, and this fanatic here is trying to impersonate that Truth. See? There's where your danger line lies, right there. Now, it behooves us to stay spiritual. Read the Word and anything that rises outside, contrary to the Word, then cast it aside.

Satan will make you all kind of promises, but he has nothing to give you, because he don't have nothing. He don't have no salvation. What is Satan? Anything contrary to the Word. He doesn't have salvation. He doesn't have Light. His kingdom is darkness; the end thereof is death. Darkness and death is Satan's kingdom. "Brother Branham, repeat it again. What is Satan's kingdom?" Anything contrary to the Word of God.

Notice, Lucifer comes in cunning like he did then, and by temptations, and false promises of power out apart from the Word of God. He did the same at Nicaea, Rome. He's doing the same today at the World Council of Ecumenical Churches. "Let's all unite together," the pope says. "I want all my ecumenical brethren out there to unite with me. We're one." That's right. In organizations you are one. But that has nothing to do with the Bride of Christ, not a thing, Brother. You'll never wash Her in anything like that.

Oh, you say, "But wait a minute; we preach the Word." Look back here at my text tonight. Satan was the one preached the Word to Eve first. "God has said." (Gen. 3:1-7). See? It's that misconstruing that part of the Scripture that applies to the day. He will let you know all that Jesus did was perfectly well. He will let you know all that Moses did was perfectly well. But when you take the promises that they gave for this day; then that was applied to another age. That's just all he has to do is to get the people to believe it that way, and that's all. For you cannot take one word away from It, or add one word to It, but that's what he does.

There's always twins. And that's the reason... Don't forget this, little flock. The church in the last days is going to be twins, so close that'd deceive the elected. See? The church is going... It's a Pentecostal move. It's so much like the real thing, till it would deceive the very elected if it was possible. And a little later on, if I get the chance, I want to explain what, how that election comes. See, it's going to deceive them, because it's almost like the same thing. See, just two fathers, that's all; same mother, same church, same movement, same thing. The bedding ground is the same, where the Word falls; but one of them, like here, is perverted. You understand? Say "amen" if you did see. See, one of them is a perversion, because it's the wrong father. Which, I will prove someday, if God will let me, that denomination is the mark of the beast.

See, it's a wrong father. He's steering people to an organization instead of to the Word. See? It's the wrong father. It's a Cain move. When I go home this time, I'm preaching on the subject, "The Trail of the Serpent": the beast at the beginning, and the beast at the end, and trail him right through the Bible, and show how he heads up.

And now, just watch how cunning that fellow is, how he's just exactly in his... Why, they're just like Judas and Jesus there, both brothers in the tribe, just like Esau and Jacob. And like the crow and the dove setting on the same roost. And everything is a twin and--in this great warfare that we're in.

The enemy uses deception, like he did to Eve, "Oh, God has said? Surely, but surely..."

See? Trying to reason it beyond what God said originally, "Thou shalt die."
He said, "Yes, God said that, but surely..." See that spray over it? See? But what God says, God keeps; He don't need any help from Satan. He keeps It. So don't never be deceived by that.

Church natural, church spiritual... There is a church natural that these women here type, and there's a church spiritual also. So the natural church and the spiritual church cannot be heirs together. They're two different, separate times, two different separate people, under two different separate covenants (Gal. 4:19-31).

Many sincere persons go join an organization, or a group, or a cult of some sort, and there they die spiritually. You can't tell them nothing. They get that stuff drilled into them: "Why, these bishops said this, and this said this; this said this." You show them right here in the Word of God where it's THUS SAITH THE LORD, "But our pastor..." I don't care what your pastor says, don't care what I say, or anybody else says. If it's contrary to God's vindicated Word, the hour, the time, the Message, and so forth, forget it. Stay away from it. And I've got to stand before every one of you in the day of judgment, and you know that. And little would I say that, knowing I'm an old man now. It ain't that I know something, but He knows. I just follow what He says.

Reference: "The Anointed Ones At The End Time", par.91 / "Christ Is Revealed In His Own Word", par.23-30 / "Things That Are To Be", par. 113-115 / "You Must Be Born Again", par. 161-164 / "Enticing Spirits", par. 89-93, 135 / "Influence" (63-1114), par. 39-40 / "The Spoken Word Is The Original Seed", pg. 5, 69 / "The Rapture", par. 91-92 / "What Shall I Do With Jesus", par. 130 / "Trying To Do God A Service" (65-1127B), par. 294-296 / "Per-fection", par. 33-39 / "Oneness", par. 55 / "Christ Is The Mystery Of God Revealed", pg. 82 / "Satan's Eden", par. 55 / "Power Of Transformation" (65-1031M), par. 135-139 / "The Seed Will Not Be Heir With The Shuck", par. 62 / "Trying To Do God A Service" (65-0718M), par. 137

Spiritual Building-Stone No. 115 from the Revealed Word of this hour, compiled by: Gerd Rodewald, Friedenstr. 69, D-75328 Schömberg, Germany
Phone: (+49) 72 35 76 13, Fax: (+49) 72 35 33 0

There's coming one with a Message that's straight on the Bible, and quick work will circle the earth. The seeds will go in newspapers, reading material, until every predestinated Seed of God has heard It.
[Bro. Branham in "Conduct-Order-Doctrine", pg. 724]