by Richard
Gan
In this message, we shall take
a journey through time to study the distinguishing MARK OF THE WICKED
ONES. We can trace the MARK found on the wicked ones
beginning from the first one who dwelt outside the Garden of
Eden to the last one who is dwelling in the Vatican.
I will deal mainly with
that MARK which the Lord God had set upon Cain.
Of what importance is
this revelation of THE MARK OF CAIN to a Bible Believer?
An understanding of the
MARK will certainly enable us to recognize the working of the children
of the Wicked One throughout the ages, especially in our days. Cain, the seed of the Serpent, had his own kind
which still exists today. That MARK which God had set upon Cain
can also be found upon his kind. As you take a look around you, you can
never miss his kind with that prominent MARK upon them.
EXPULSION FROM
THE PRESENCE OF GOD
After sin had entered
the Garden of Eden, the Man and his Woman were expelled from that delightful
place (Gen.3:22-24). It wasn't just a specific location from which God
had driven them away and which God had placed cherubim to guard the way
to the Tree of Life. Remember that the Bible is written in the language
of the Spirit. In many passages, the TRUTH is hidden from the
wise and prudent who are content to read the Bible casually and scratching
only the surface of it. But we, who are spiritual, do mind the deep
spiritual things of God.
The couple were actually
driven from the Eternal Presence of God. They were in that
place where they had access to the realm of the spirits. They were
actually dwelling in the Glorious Presence of the Almighty. But when sin entered their lives, they were no longer allowed to live in
the presence of the SOURCE OF LIFE (Gen.3:22). They were driven
away from God's Glorious Presence of Eternal Life. Sin brought
death upon them.
“Therefore the
Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from
whence he was taken.”
– Gen.3:23
Thus, man became
earth bound and possessed a corruptible natural body, and since then
has been denied access to that realm of the Glorious Presence of his
Creator (Gen.3:24; 1 Cor.15:42-50).
Thenceforth, Adam had to
toil by tilling the ground to obtain food for himself and his wife. In
the sweat of his face, and in sorrow, he had to labour against the thorns and
thistles which sprang up from the ground because of God's curse upon
it.
CAIN &
ABEL
In the course of time,
Eve gave birth to twins, Cain and Abel. Eve was the mother of
all living, as she was named (Gen.3:20). Although Cain
(whose name means acquisition) was the elder of the twins, the
whole Sacred Scripture bears out that he was not of Adam.
Cain was a Beast-man, the seed of the Serpent. Abel
was the firstborn of Adam.
“And Abel was a
keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
And in the process
of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an
offering unto the Lord.
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of
his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel
and to his offering:
But unto Cain and to his offering He had not
respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
And the
Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance
fallen?
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest
not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire,
and thou shalt rule over him.”
– Gen.4:2b-7
From the above account
we can see a marked difference between the twins. Like his
father, the Serpent, who was a servant of Adam, Cain was a tiller of the
ground. Whereas, Abel was a shepherd. And like his
father, Adam, he had dominion over the animals that God had created.
While Cain had brought
of the best of the first fruits of his harvest as an offering to
the Lord, he did not have the divine revelation of what God desired. Apostle Paul said his sacrifice was excellent, but Abel was
more excellent (Heb.11:4). God not only wanted the best,
but the BLOODY BEST, if I may say so, not meaning to be sacrilegious. Because of the make-up of his personality, Cain never understood that.
He was not a son of God as Abel was.
Abel offered to Jehovah
God precisely what God desired: the shed blood of the best
firstlings. That prophetic revelation pointed to the
Seed of the woman (Gen.3:15) who was to come as the Lamb of God
and die a bloody death at Mount Calvary. The Lamb of God was our
Lord, Jesus the Christ. He was God's BEST GIFT to mankind.
God was not without
mercy and grace when He rejected Cain and his offering. On the contrary,
He was, and always is, rich in Grace and Mercy. He always provides the
way for man to return to Him that man's fellowship with Him may be
restored.
Yes, even in this
generation, had God not sent to us the second 'Elijah',
prophesied in Malachi 4:5-6, we would not be found walking in the Light
of His WORD, neither would we have the REST that Prophet Isaiah had
prophesied (in Isaiah 28:8-13). We would most likely be out in the
denominational quagmire and hogwash if not for the Grace and Mercy of God. The Lord is restoring His Bride back to His WORD that He may know
her as His Own before He burns the world up at His coming. (Read Matthew
7:21-23; 25:11-12.)
Now, there are various
interpretations given to Genesis 4:7. One version states that Cain was
told to master his sin, which was crouching at the door (of his heart),
because of his wrong offering. Another version implies that Cain sinned
because he did not do well in his offering, and that he was told to go back to
his brother Abel, who would be subjected to him.
On the face of it, all
these interpretations seem to be acceptable. But the Great Merciful and
Gracious God did not just stop at showing Cain the acceptable
way, but had gone beyond that by providing him an acceptable
sin-offering.
Let me paraphrase
Genesis 4:6-7:
And the Lord said to
Cain, "Why are you angry? And why do you look so downcast?
If you had done well, would you not be accepted? And if not,
there is a sin-offering crouching right before you. He is subjected
unto you, and you can do with him as you please.”
There is a somewhat
similar situation in Genesis 22. When Isaac asked Abraham about the lamb
for the burnt offering, Abraham replied that God would provide Himself a lamb
(vv.7-8). And right at the moment when Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac as
a burnt offering, God provided him a ram for the purpose. And Abraham
went and took the ram under subjection and offered him up for a burnt offering
unto the Lord (vv.13). See also 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Well, Cain was not like
Abraham. He was of Satan, the Wicked One and the Adversary of
God. He was too proud and too lifted up to accept God's Provided Way
of Worship, especially seeing that God had favored his younger brother and
his offering. Like many today, he felt that his religion was as
good as Abel, and that God should accept it. To Cain, even God's gift
was not good enough, compared to what he had to offer. He spurned the
Grace and the gift of God, and walked out on Him. (Can you see the same
thing being committed today by thousands and thousands of people who just have
no desire to accept God's Gift at Calvary and His Provided Way of
Worship in that Blessed Name of Jesus Christ?)
Some time later, being
filled with envy, jealousy, emulation, wrath, and other works of the flesh,
Cain took his (half-)brother Abel to the field, and argued with him about
religion. ('Religion' has always been the greatest cause of bloodshed. Read 1 John 3:12.)
And Cain murdered Abel and buried him good and
proper, that he might not be found.
Well, he didn't realise
(or did he?) that the blood could cry out. Life is in the
blood. And God heard the cry of Abel's blood. He
questioned Cain concerning his brother's death.
Cain's reply, as
recorded in Genesis 4:9, was not merely a soft spoken denial of guilt which
many Bible readers think so. On the contrary, Cain was insolently
violent. He literally shouted at God.
THE CURSE ON
CAIN
The Lord God then cursed
Cain:
“And He said, What
hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from
the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath
opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee
her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.”
–
Gen.4:10-12
Notice the shock
reaction of Cain when he heard the punishment God had pronounced on him:
“And Cain said
unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou
hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face
shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and
it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.”
–
Gen.4:13-14
Now, why would “every
one” (excluding the sons of God, the Sethites) want to kill him? As
he had protested, his punishment was already too much for him to bear. Was it because his iniquity was too great to be forgiven?
Not only
was he under a curse and rejected by the earth which received the blood of
Abel, but Cain was also banished from the Presence of God to live a nomadic
life as a fugitive and a vagabond.
The answer to the
earlier question lies in the first part of Genesis 4:12. The ground
would no longer yield its strength for everyone's crops no matter how hard they would
work on it. That was the cause for the other ill consequences which
would befall him.
The people who would
later come into existence in his lifetime would surely rise up against him to
kill him. They would not just merely curse and swear at him, they would
want to kill him; not because he was a murderer, but because he had caused the
ground to be cursed that they would be unable to reap what they had sown no
matter how hard they would work the field. Vengeance would be the
natural reaction of the unregenerate to someone who had caused them all those
troubles!
THE GROUND:
TWICE CURSED
The ground was cursed
twice. The first curse was the judgment of God on the sin of Adam. Although the ground would bring forth thorns and thistles, its strength
to produce abundant crops was not removed (Gen.3:18). The second curse
was the penalty of Cain's sin for shedding the righteous blood of Abel. The Lord had heard the voice of Abel's blood (which denotes his
posterity) crying out from the ground unto Him (Matt. 23:35). And Cain
was placed under a curse in which the ground was no longer able to yield its
crops as it used to be. The harvests which were once plentiful had
become barely sufficient.
THE MARK OF
CAIN
“And the Lord said
to him, It shall not be so; whoever slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on
him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, so that anyone who
may find him may not kill him.”
– Gen.4:15
[Lamsa]
The El
Shaddai had once again shown His Mercy and Grace unto Cain upon
hearing his plea. Cain had feared for his life because of the curse on
the ground as a result of his sin in shedding Abel's blood upon it. But
God promised him that he would not be so easily killed by any person who
sought to kill him, and He further added that a sevenfold vengeance would be
upon anyone who took Cain's life. And the Lord set upon Cain a
mark which made it impossible for anyone to kill him.
What was that
MARK?
Some Christians believe
that the mark was either a visible sign, indelibly inscribed upon Cain's
forehead, similar to that which is described about the Mark of the
Beast as recorded in the Book of Revelation, or that he had black skin. There are others who do not even bother to find out what it was.
A
true Bible Believer should never adopt such an attitude towards the Word of
God, but is enjoined to “study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman
that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth” (2
Tim.2:15). For “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto
all good works” (2 Tim.3:16-17).
Yes, the Bible should be
our most precious Book of all books on our book shelves. And we would
gain by receiving the revelation of God's hidden mysteries within It.
The mark set upon
Cain was something which could protect him from being killed. Therefore, it was neither an indelible visible sign on his forehead nor
the black colour of his skin. How could a mark upon Cain's forehead (the
Bible does not state so) or being a black person ever protect him from being
killed by other men?
The mark was
certainly a visible protective sign which was able to generate
fear in his opponents. Any would-be killer would think twice before
making any attempt on Cain's life lest he be overpowered by Cain.
Believe it or not,
the MARK set upon Cain was his SIZE.
This is the revelation I
have received from the Holy Spirit according to His Scriptures. That
same MARK was upon some of his kind, as we shall
see by following the trail of the Serpent.
SAGACIOUS GIANT OF
A MAN
The Prophet of God to
this age, William Branham, told us that the Serpent was a BIG
fellow. Let's say he was 1 foot taller than Adam who was
perhaps 6 foot tall based on the average height of mankind. Remember, he
was created to be Adam's servant to work the field. Being a Serpent's
seed, Cain must also be a BIG fellow like the
Serpent according to the law of reproduction. When God set the
MARK upon Cain, He actually further increased his PHYSIQUE and his INTELLECT.
Now, would any of his
descendants, who stood about 7 foot tall and weighed 300 pounds, dare to look
upon a giant like Cain, who stood, perhaps between 9 and 10 foot tall (may be
even taller) and
weighed some 800 pounds, and say, “I am going to kill you, you
trouble-maker!”?
Undoubtedly, no man in
his right mind would dare make that attempt.
At this juncture, let me
say that though Cain was the father of the Cainites, his descendants
were not giants until they intermarried with the Sethites and produced the
hybrids.
Genesis 6:4 states that
there were giants in those days before and after the Flood. The giants were a result of the intermarriage of the two
lines of people, the Sethites and the Cainites, which probably began
some time before the generation of Enoch. This can be
determined by looking at the two genealogies of Cain and Seth.
According to the record
of Genesis 4:19-22, the line of pure Cainite people ended with
the three sons of Lamech — Jabal, Jubal and Tubal-cain. They belonged to the same generation as Enoch, a descendant of Seth
(Gen.5:18-24). The hybriding between the two peoples most likely took
place two or three generations prior to this period. It brought an end
to the totally PURE Cainite race. But as the seed is traced to the male
sex, the Cainite race continued even as the male descendants took to
themselves wives of the Sethite race.
As the two peoples began
to intermarry among themselves, the pure descendants of Seth
continued for another three generations until the generation of Noah who was
the last of the pure Sethite race (Notice, like Jabal, Jubal
and Tubal-cain, Noah's father was also named Lamech.)
Giants, both
physical and intellectual, were born as a result of genetic disturbances in
the hybriding. However, not everyone who was born of
such inter-racial marriages was a giant. But the majority of them
were by nature more wicked and evil (Gen.6:4-5). And so, by God's
foreknowledge of that condition, Enoch was born and raised up to prophesy
against that wicked and evil generation. His son, Methuselah, was the
living testimony of his faith in Jehovah God. He was also a faithful
testimony to his God-given prophecy concerning the impending judgement of God
upon the earth (Jude 14,15).
Intellectually, Cain was
as smart and cunning as his father, the
Serpent. He had not only inherited the evil traits from
the wicked one, the devil, but was also full of worldly
wisdom. When God increased his BUILD,
the SIZE of his BRAIN also increased
proportionately and his mental capacity and reasoning power were
thus enhanced. Should a group of men come against him, Cain
might not be able to overcome them with his build alone, but with
his INTELLECTUAL SHREWDNESS he would be
able to escape unscathed.
Whether you are hunting
or being hunted, you have to be smart and cunning in order to get your prey or
to stay alive. With the MARK set on him, Cain must have been more subtle
than his Serpent father. His intellectual and sagacious
mind must have helped him to outwit his pursuers in many
situations when he was being hunted.
“A fugitive and a
vagabond shalt thou be in the earth” —
as the Lord God had said to Cain,
and so was he. As he was being hunted, Cain constantly had to run from
one place to another to hide himself from his pursuers.
'SPIRITUAL'
DECEIT
Remember, Cain was
also spiritually religious.
But he did not worship God in
TRUTH. He rejected GOD'S PROVIDED WAY OF WORSHIP. He killed the
righteous Abel out of jealousy because his own deed was evil. After God
had judged him, he set off towards the land of Nod and led a wandering life.
Genesis 4:16-24 is a
record of Cain's descendants who were as carnally and intellectually
minded as Cain. The Bible records that they were either great
builders of BIG or PROMINENT monuments and cities, or great
artificers and inventors of BEAUTIFUL metal objects, musical
instruments, tools and weapons. They were also as RELIGIOUS as
they could be.
As we read Genesis 4:26,
it appears that this people in the generation of Enos had begun to call upon
the Name of Jehovah God to worship Him:
“And to Seth, to him
also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men
to call upon the name of the Lord.”
Generally, the verse has
been misinterpreted by most people. It is preposterous to believe that
the Serpent's descendants, the Cainites, had suddenly turned to the Lord God
to worship Him in spirit and in truth. There are two obvious
reasons why it could not have been so. The first is that
Cain, being religious, would doubtless have a form of worship of his
own, and that he would have passed it down to his descendants. And the second is that the Serpent seeds might claim to
worship God in spirit, but certainly never in truth.
On the other hand, they
are those who teach that this verse refers to Divine worship being
practised only from the time of Seth's descendants. This is even more
ridiculous. Before Seth, both Cain and Abel were worshipping God. There's no doubt about
it. They were brought up to do so by Adam
and Eve. When Seth was born, he too learned to worship Jehovah in the
same manner. He would in turn teach his children who would also learn
about the true form of Divine worship even from their grandparents, Adam and
Eve. As such, it is indeed absurd to say that the Sethites only began to
worship Jehovah after Enos was born. As it was only a short span of time
between the two generations of Adam and Seth, how could they have forgotten
how to worship God? True worship could not have begun only
after Enos was born. It began when Adam was created and has continued
ever since.
Ancient Jewish records
rendered that the “men” refers to the Cainic race who “began
profanely to call upon the name of the Lord”. That is right. They had desisted from that little knowledge of the true spirit of
worship that they might have learned from Cain, although they might not have
the truth. They had turned to make themselves idols out of precious
metals, wood and stones, and surnamed their idols after the Name of Jehovah
God in their worship.
The profanation of
God's Holy Name started from Enos' time to and beyond the Flood.
All
the time, they got even more evil and more wicked, especially when they later
co-habited with the Sethite women and produced giants who were “mighty
men”, “men of renown”. (Read Genesis 6.)
After the Flood the
serpentine nature was more markedly manifested in Ham and his
descendants. One of them was Nimrod, a son of Cush. Nimrod was the
builder of Babylon and the Tower of Babel (a name
which means `the gate of the god' and also `confusion'). He was also the one who introduced the worship of Baal.
Enos' name, in itself,
was a revelation that the Cainites were spiritually 'incurable, sick, frail
and weak', especially when they profaned the Holy Name of God. Seth
gave his son that name 'Enos' as a witness to that generation of evil people. Moreover, Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was raised up to prophesy
of the Lord's judgment upon their ungodliness (Jude 14,15.)
The third feature of
Cain's MARK was his ability to deceive the people spiritually,
making them religious. Always bear in mind that Cain was of the
Evil and Wicked One, the Adversary of God and His people. Satan has
always been a DECEIVER. He is good at transforming himself into an angel
of Light to hoodwink the spiritually weak worshippers. For those
who enjoy sweet talk, he is a great guy. He is good at tickling those
who have itchy ears, too.
Well, how could that
ability further help protect Cain from those who sought to kill him?
It certainly facilitated
him to spiritually deceive the people into believing that he worshipped the
same God and had the same faith as them. (Do not for one moment think
that they did not have had as many different `faith' as Christendom today.) He would appease them by deceptive talks. “Why killest thou me,
a believer of the same God Whom thou also believe? Let it be known that
I also am a worshipper of the same God that thou worship. Don't you see? We are of the same family, same `church'?
Let's love one another
as real brothers in the Lord God.”
Deceit? Sure!
Why, haven't we often heard `Christian people' say, “Come on, we
believe in the same Bible and the same Jesus. We should not be splitting
hair over doctrines. We should be more concerned about the Great
Commission of Christ. We should be united together as one, just as Jesus
prayed”? Very religious, indeed!
Yes, butter it up with
sugar! Top it up with icing! Then give it to any `Tom, Dick or
Harry' Christian: they will certainly grab and gulp it down! But not so
with an elect of God: he will not even come near nor touch it with a ten-foot
pole! Amen!
Brethren, remember,
serpents do not die easily. And Satan, that old Serpent, whose head was
bruised at Calvary, had revived himself through time and has come up riding on
a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse. Yes, he has
gone through all the Church Ages, deceiving, killing, blackmailing and leading
mankind into a spiritual WORD-less death within the RELIGIOUS REALM.
Today, 'The
Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man' is the theme of the
religious World Council of Churches which seeks to bring about a unity
of all the organised churches around the world. This is the fulfillment
of the Scripture as spoken by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 13:30. The TARES
are now gathered together and bound up ready for the burning soon.
DEATH OF ALL
PURE SERPENT SEEDS
We know that Cain and
his descendants built a great empire in those days before the Flood. They were great people who were very imaginative and inventive
(Gen.4:16-24). And their intermarriage with the Sethites produced even
greater, but more wicked, people whose entire imagination, desires and
purposes of their hearts were only evil continually (Gen.6:1-5).
It grieved God at His
heart to see the prevailing condition on the earth. So He sent a great
flood upon the earth by breaking up the fountain of the great deep and the
floodgates of the heaven to destroy every living thing upon the face of the
earth.
Except Noah and his
family, and pairs of every kind of animal, bird and creeping thing, all the
rest of the living things upon the face of the earth were destroyed in that
deluge. All those who survived with Noah were in the ark for about a
year.
The Flood had
destroyed ALL the pure Serpentine people.
No literal Serpent seed
exists today, as some believe otherwise. But the evil and beastly
serpentine nature is present in the whole of human race. For we
are all of the same blood. We are descendants of either Ham, Shem or
Japheth, who carried a mixture of the blood of righteous Noah, a Sethite, and
his wife, who was either a Cainite or a hybrid.
SERPENT
NATURE
It was not long after
the Flood that the serpentine nature began to manifest itself. Among the three sons of Noah, the serpentine nature was more
predominant in Ham. It had so dominated him that he committed
incest with his mother while his father was drunk in his tent
(Gen.9:20-23; cf. Lev.18:8; 20:11).
When Noah came to know
about it, he cursed Ham and said, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants
shall he be unto his brethren” (Gen.9:25). Canaan was the fruit of Ham's
incestuous act with his mother.
Canaan was the
last of the four sons of Ham. He was the father of the Canaanites; all
giants, like the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgasites, and many others,
which dwelt in the land of Canaan.
CUSH &
NIMROD
Yes, the Mark of
Cain was upon Ham and his descendants, too. They were people of
great stature. Ham's firstborn, Cush, the ring-leader in
the building of the Tower of Babel and the city Babylon,
was also a great big fellow. In Pagan Antiquity he was known
by several names, two of which were Bel — 'The Confounder', and
Chaos — 'God of Confusion'. Cush gave birth to one of the most
controversial politico-religious figures in history — Nimrod, who was a
mighty man and a tyrant in the sight of the Lord God
(Gen.10:6-12).
Nimrod took over his
father's unfinished work. He came to be known as the founder and builder
of the great city of Babylon. He also built several other great cities. He was literally the founder of the religion of Papal worship.
Parallel to Ham's incest
with his mother was Nimrod's marriage to his own mother, Semiramis. According to historian Alexander
Hislop, author of 'The Two Babylons', Nimrod was killed by his great uncle, Shem, who could not
tolerate his evil practices of the occult and baby sacrifice. Then his
evil mother-wife deified him. In fact, he was the first human to be
deified. Hislop stated “that Nimrod was the actual Father of the
gods, as being the first of deified mortals”. His mother was later
deified based on the argument that if Nimrod was a god, then his mother-wife
must also be a goddess.
That was how Papal Rome
founded their worship of mother Mary and child Jesus.
Hence, we see the same
Mark of Cain upon the Hamites: big physically, great intellectually. And their religion?
As 'great' and 'beautiful', but full of
deceit, evil and wickedness to the core.
ESAU &
JACOB
Now, let us skip the
pages of history and look at Esau and Jacob.
“And Isaac entreated
the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was entreated of
him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
And the children struggled together
within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to
inquire of the Lord.
And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy
womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one
people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the
younger.” – Gen.25:21-23
“…and Esau was a
cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in
tents.” – Gen.25:27
This brief record
clearly shows us that Esau and Jacob were twins of the same father. But the twins that were conceived in the Garden of Eden were of
different fathers. Cain was a seed of the Serpent and Abel was of
Adam.
We have noticed that,
after the Flood, of the three sons of Noah, Ham possessed a very dominant
serpentine nature, the mark of which was also manifested in his direct
descendants.
Therefore, even by
the same father, different kinds of seeds can come forth out of the same womb.
It will either be a spiritual seed of God or a religious
seed of the devil. One will believe every WORD and PROMISE of God, the
other will despise God's WORD and make His PROMISES of none effect.
The twins of Isaac and
Rebekah showed a type of what could come forth out of the 'womb'
of the Church.
Now, like Abraham, the
True Worshippers would be called of God out of their so-called kindred
— the denominationals. They would hear the 'Call' in the
'SHOUT' Message of the 7th Church Age Messenger, William
Branham. They would obey and walk out of their 'homelands' to claim the
Promised Word. And like Abraham, they would hear the VOICE OF THE
ARCHANGEL and receive HIM — THE PROMISED SON (THE WORD OF GOD), which
is THE TRUTH for their day.
As Isaac loved
Rebekah,
so Christ Jesus loves His Church. And as the womb of Rebekah
produced two different people, so has the Church today. It
has also produced its 'Esaus' and 'Jacobs'. The spirit of that religious
Serpent seed has truly crept in.
Consider the two
persons, Esau and Jacob.
Esau was a
strong man, perhaps big. He married three wives, two of whom
were Hittite giantesses (Gen.26:34). Though polygamy was permitted then, he was unequally
yoked with the unbelievers. He was also a
cunning hunter, an
intellectual man who was
knowledgeable about the things of the world.
Jacob, on the other
hand, was merely a plain man. He was a
shepherd, living a simple
life. He married four wives: Leah, Rachel,
Bilhah and Zilpah — believers within 'the
family', so to speak.
Being the firstborn,
Esau was heir to all his father's properties. He had the
birthright. But when he was put to a test in
a dire situation, Esau despised THE PROMISE OF THE WORD. To deal
with his then famished condition was more important to him than his birthright.
He said, “I am at the point to die: and what profit shall
this birthright do to me?” So he despised his birthright for a piece
of bread and a bowl of vegetable soup.
Is not this the
confession of some of the 'Esaus' today? “I need natural bread.” “What is the use of preaching this Endtime Message if I am not
financed?” “I am being ridiculed for the Truth.” And away they
go, back to their 'homelands' like “a dog returneth to his vomit”.
And when Esau lost his
blessing to Jacob, did he not seek to slay Jacob? (Gen.27:41).
Now, Jacob was a
spiritual person. He knew what the birthright meant. All
the PROMISES and BLESSINGS were attached to it. His heart was set upon
obtaining it. And when he got it, he held on to it until the PROMISES
and BLESSINGS came. So, ought not we, who possess the birthright
TOKEN for this hour, do the same?
PARADOX
Elect does not
persecute the elect. It is true. But notice a paradox. Weren't Esau and Jacob related?
Weren't they from the
same womb? Weren't they of the same father — bearing the
same surname? If so, why did Esau persecute Jacob?
Naturally, the answer
lies in the serpentine nature in Esau. As I have mentioned,
'religion' has always been the main cause of bloodshed. Hence, as the
religious Cain had spurned the Grace of God and killed spiritual
Abel, the religious Esau had also despised his birthright, lost
his blessing and finding “no place of repentance, though he sought it
carefully with tears” (Heb.12:17), he sought to kill spiritual
Jacob.
But the Church is
SPIRITUAL, not natural. The 'Esaus' in the church are not
spiritual. They are only religious. They are the
'serpent seeds'! Like Esau, they are truly showing that Mark of Cain
in their lives. Do I have to say more?
Now, let's see another
group of 'elects' that persecuted the elects in their generation.
THE PHARISEES, THE
SADDUCEES & THE SCRIBES
All of us, Bible
believers, know that the Oracles of God were committed unto Israel. The
Oracles were the channels of Truth through which true worship could be
rendered unto the Lord God. But ever since they were given, many
false anointed ones had crept in in every generation to proclaim
themselves as prophets and leaders. All these sprang forth in the name
of worship.
In the days of Jesus
Christ and His Apostles, the common people were led religiously in
their worship of God by three BIG RELIGIOUS
ORGANISATIONS or DENOMINATIONS of 'Rabbis' — the
Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Scribes. All those
groups of religious people claimed that they believed Abraham, Moses and all
the prophets — the Old Testament gospel. Yet when the Gospel,
introduced by John the Baptist, came among them, they ridiculed
Christ and His messenger. As religious as they were, those
people were not even the least spiritual to recognise the hour
of their visitation.
Read the New Testament
Gospel Books and you can see that those Rabbis were
INTELLECTUAL people. They were scholars, and very
traditional. They would confront anyone who was opposed to their
traditions or views. For that reason, they confronted John the Baptist,
and the Lord Jesus many times.
Being what they were,
they dressed themselves differently from the common people. That
was an outward show of themselves in public that people would call
them 'Rabbi'. The Lord Jesus called them “whited sepulchers,
which indeed appear BEAUTIFUL OUTWARD, but are within full of dead men's
bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matt.23:27). They appeared
righteous unto the people but were actually full of
hypocrisies and iniquities.
John the Baptist refused
to baptize them and called them 'vipers', for so they were (Matt.3:7). Our Lord hit out against them, calling them 'names' such as blind
guides, fools, hypocrites, murderers, DECEIVERS, and many others
(Matt.16:1-12, 23; etc.).
Yes, beware of their
leaven! Jesus warned His disciples. They claimed as
religiously as they could that they believed the WORD, but they despised THE
TRUTH, THE WAY and THE LIFE. They were INTELLECTUALS in the
field of traditional religions. They were BIG, STRONG and
VERY DECEPTIVE. Without a shadow of doubt, they had the Mark
of Cain upon them.
Did they not also
persecute the disciples and the Lord's Christ just like Cain and
Esau did their blood brothers? And did they not DESPISE THE WORD
and CUNNINGLY put Christ to death on Calvary.
THE MARK OF
THE BEAST
“And I beheld
another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a
lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
And he exerciseth all the power of the
first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell
therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was
healed.
And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from
heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
And deceiveth them that dwell on
the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the
sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they
should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword,
and did live.
And he had power to give life unto the image of the
beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause
that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be
killed.
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and
bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their
foreheads;
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the
mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of
his name.
Here is wisdom, let him that hath understanding count the
number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his
number is six hundred threescore and six.” – Rev.13:11-18
The trail of the
Serpent will lead to the Antichrist in the end. Here is where we see
the Mark of the Wicked One taking the form of the Beast — ROMANISM.
Yes, it all began with
the Serpent, a BEAST. He fornicated with the woman, Eve, and
brought forth Cain, a Beast-man. And it will all end with a
monstrous BEAST which, by fornication with the woman, 'Mystery
Babylon', will bring forth the Beast-man known as the
Antichrist.
In his days, Prophet
Daniel had a vision concerning that beast before it changed its
form to become that First Beast as seen by the Apostle John in
his vision, centuries later. He witnessed four beasts (see Daniel
7) which foretold the changing empires from Babylonian to Medo-Persian to
Grecian and finally to Roman. This fourth beast was
“dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron
teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet
of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had
ten horns” (Dan.7:7). That was Pagan Rome under the
Caesars.
However, Pagan
Rome came to an end and gave way to Papal Rome. Since then, the Roman Catholic church has been sitting on the
Beast (Rev.17:3-5). Papal Rome is Romanism in another form,
a blending of politics and religion. It is power in the guise of
religious holiness to conquer and to control the souls of men.
And the First
Beast (of Revelation 13) grew stronger each day by the power of the
Second Beast which gave life to the Image which
the people had made to it.
The Second
Beast is today's so-called PROTESTANT-AMERICANISM. It is
no longer as benevolent with its two lamb-like horns that it once was when the
early Protestants from the Papal-controlled land of Europe first came and
settled in the great continent some 200 years ago. Now it is a
freak Beast which has two horns like a lamb and a mouth that
speaks like a dragon! Under the Republican and Democratic
parties, the Church and State have been blended as one which speaks with
authority!
Yes, religious
giants and false prophets have been sounding a deceptive voice to
the people, and an Image to the First Beast, the WORLD COUNCIL OF
CHURCHES, has been formed! Yes, today practically every Protestant
church has sold its birthright when they bind themselves to make this
Image to the Beast. Does not the Bible specifically call
them daughters of that Mother Harlot which is none other than that
Roman Catholic church? As harlot daughters, they will
naturally act like their Harlot Mother. (Read Revelation
17).
What deception!
Just look at the MARK. They have everything BIG. They
have BIG buildings. Notice the religious practices of
the Serpent's seed seen in such buildings — flowers and idols. On the outside, do you not notice the pagan obelisk in the
form of the spire pointing heavenward? Yes, that's Nimrod's
horn, a horn that represented his power, sexually and religiously. Even his tower (of Babel) was built that way as a symbol.
Then they have BIG
programmes, many Hollywood-styled, which are conducted in the name of the
Gospel, to draw BIG crowd. They have BIG names for their
organisations, even BIG names for their preachers, too. That's
right. They are called by such high-sounding titles as
Archbishop, Cardinal, Right Honourable, Very Reverend, Holy Father,
etc., etc.. They are an INTELLECTUAL lot with letters after their
names to denote the strings of university degrees they possess in Bible
Theology and such like. But they are truly the children of DECEIT
who are full of dead men's bones.
Like the Pharisees,
Sadducees and Scribes, they have let down the bar of the Word of God and
have subscribed to creeds and traditions of man. Instead of a
phylactery, they wear a BIG hat, or a BROAD 'holy' garment with
the collar turned inside out, to be seen of men and be recognized as
someone who is holy and religiously intellectual. And so they are!
Furthermore, they
seek to destroy those who are spiritual enough to disagree with their wrong
interpretations of the Scriptures; just as religious Cain did to
spiritual Abel; and as the religious Pharisees, the
religious Sadducees and the religious Scribes did unto
the spiritual Christ Jesus.
Yes, the true Christian
Faith of the Bible has been replaced today by a 'big' bunch of
creeds, dogmas, traditions of men and so-called
fundamental truths. As in history where 'big' men built
empires to their names, so it is today. They have replaced God by
their 'Bigness'.
MARK – NAME –
NUMBER
The nominal Christians
may be looking for a literal Mark of the Beast to appear in the
period of Great Tribulation. Little do they realise that it has
already appeared since the 4th Century. It is religiously visible to the
eyes of the spiritually discerned.
The Four Horsemen of
Apocalypse (Rev.6) symbolise the reign of the Beast
beginning with the Antichrist spirit which crept into the Church around 54 A.D.
History shows how it conquered the people by its
religious authority. That's NICOLAITANISM. Then it
made WARS and caused BLOODSHED. After that it brought upon
the people a state of FAMINE of the Word of God. And what did it
produce? Indulgence, mass, lottery and every conceivable beastly
nonsense to keep the people from the WORD.
The result of all these
is DEATH.
Papacy, the Beast, the
great Roman ecclesiastical power, has continued through the centuries 'strong
as iron', the unchanging and uncompromising rock in a turbulent and transitory
world. She had exalted herself above all that is called God and made all
nations drunk with the wine of her false doctrines (2 Thess.2:4; Rev.17:1-6).
Can you see the
MARK, even the Mark of the Beast? Can you
see its NAME and recognise its NUMBER, the number of a man?
It has been manifested since the time of Cain, who was a Beast-man.
And right after the Flood, his kind built the kingdom of
BABEL (BABYLON), which means CONFUSION. That's the NAME. And 'Mystery Babylon' spells
CONFUSION! It's the gate of the god of
hell!
As for the
NUMBER, Nimrod, the first god of BABYLON,
bore the number 666 in his name in the Chaldee
language. And the man who sits in his throne at St.
Peter's (in Rome), overlooking an
obelisk, and receives reverence and worship, also bears
the number 666 in his
NAME — 'VICARIVS FILII DEI'. Surely
this is no coincidence. Even the NAME 'ROMIITH' which
is 'ROME' in the Hebrew language, adds up to 666.
Then again the title: 'LATEINOS' or
'LATIN MAN', of which Julius Caesar was
first to claim, gives another 666. The
title belonged to the man whose seat is now occupied by a politico-religious
figure, the Pope.
GIVEN FOR
PROTECTION OF LIFE BUT ENDS IN DEATH
The Mark that God set
upon Cain was to protect his life, but the devil had taken advantage of it and
twisted it into a form of death at the end of its trail. You are marked
for death if you believe the words of the Beast or give your right hand
of fellowship to it, or pledge allegiance to it or its Image
(Rev.14:9).
Many churches have
pledged their allegiance to this Beast and its Image. And God's warning to all true Bible Believers is
this:
“Come
out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean thing.” – 2 Cor.6:17
“Come
out of her, My People, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues.” – Rev.18:4
God does not want
you to stay put in the organisation and try to improve the situation.
To stay
in these 'churches' today spells
DEATH. They have become “the habitation
of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and
hateful bird” (Rev.18:2). And they can be identified by the
Mark of the Wicked One upon them. There is
now darkness throughout the hold and cage, for
the LIFE and LIGHT had moved out beyond that
camp. It's death in there. The LIFE is on the
outside (Rev.3:20).
Unfortunately, DEATH
still stalks many who have come out for they are still being deceived in one
form or another by the evil one who, by that Ecumenical
Octopus, is holding them with his many ugly tentacles. Some of
them, while staying independent, are still holding to the traditions and
dogmas of the churches they had come out of. Others drift into the
hold of the Charismatic Movement where Truth is
substituted and sacrificed for freedom of worship and expression. It's today's great deception.
And of those who have
come into the last day Message of the 7th Church Age
Messenger, William Marrion Branham, but holding on to his STATEMENTS as
The Absolute, they are just as deceived. Because they are simply
holding to some 'creeds'. The Spoken Word of any true servant of
God is only made meaningful by the revelation of the Holy Spirit according to
the Written Word of God. And whosoever adds anything to or
takes anything away from the LOGOS of God is
accursed.
MESSAGE OF LIFE FOR
THE HOUR
It is imperative that we
know the Word of the Lord, see the hour that we are living in, and
recognise our days of God's visitation. We should give an ear to
what the Spirit is saying unto us in this day. “Surely the Lord God
will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the
prophets” (Amos 3:7). Yes, God has sent His Messenger with a
message. And this is the message:
“Return to the
Word! Back to the Faith of the Apostolic Fathers! Back
to the Original! Away with religious creeds and dogmas! Contend
for the Faith once delivered to the saints!”
Yes, this is
the hour of separation from things which defile. This is the hour of preparation.
It is
the hour of reconciliation and intimacy with THE WORD; it
is an invisible union of the Bride with the Bridegroom. This is the hour
of the Voice of the Archangel (1 Thess. 4:16). The
True Word Bride must make herself ready, for
the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will soon become a reality
(Rev.19:7). And how can she prepare herself unless she first hears the
message of God's Messenger (Matt.25:6; Mal.4:5-6; Rev.10:7). Amen!
THE WORD is the only
safe ground for us. We have to be sealed
by His Holy Spirit of
Promise unto the day of our redemption (Eph.1:13; 4:30). We must have
the Mark of God upon us.
Be ye therefore
established in the Present Truth of the hour provided for
the perfection of the Bride of Christ through Christ's Own Gift of the
Five-fold ministry. (Read Ephesians 4.)
CHRIST, The
Revealed Word for this generation, is our answer to LIFE.
