"Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and for ever"

(Heb. 13:8)

CIRCULAR December 1989

Special greetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For reflection I chose the following statement of the Apostle Paul:

"Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain" (Phil. 2:16).

A man of God does not expect any praise from others, as it is written, "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (1Cor. 1:31). His part is the fruit of his ministry, the souls which have been led to Christ and are ready to see His face at the return of the Lord Jesus. It is not sufficient to preach anything, but you have to preach the Word of Life – the original Word, as it came forth from the mouth of God. All believers must hold to it until the day of the return of Jesus Christ to make sure that the labour and effort have not been in vain. We can see from what happened in the Garden of Eden how serious, yes deadly, the smallest deviation is. The proclamation of the pure Word as the sound doctrine cannot be esteemed high enough. Every alteration and private interpretation are deceptions, they bring spiritual death and plunch one into destruction without people noticing it. In the contrary, they think to be wise, because they have eaten from the tree of knowledge. The enemy has led the first couple into this deception. The tree of knowledge brought deadly wisdom and left them thinking to be wise but separated from God. We must partake of Christ – the tree of life—which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev. 2:7). He is our life.

Of his co-worker Timothy Paul writes in verse 20 and 21: "For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he has served with me in the gospel." The same applies right to this day. Only those who are truly concerned with the things of God without having extra thoughts will serve in brotherly fellowship and unity for the edification of the Body of Christ.

Whoever thinks of himself cannot be of service to Christ, but rather of damage. In this way misunderstandings, divisions and separations happen. The notion to do a service unto the Lord without being commissioned by Him is useless. Men who fall under this category even think they are something special and can accomplish more than their brethren. There are only very few who truly serve the Lord and His own. Most of them think about themselves and not about the welfare of the Church of the living God. The Lord searches for faithful, self-denying laborers whom He can send into His harvest.

I am overwhelmed by the proclamation of the Word, the doctrines, and the prophetic part of the Scriptures pertaining to the divine plan of salvation. After giving myself sincerely the Word-test I am finding that everything is perfectly dovetailing with the written and revealed Word of God. Over and again I stand the judgment of the Word and ask myself because of the direct responsibility before God whether everything is right. If then the Holy Scripture itself gives testimony that we believe and teach as the Scripture says, it causes a deep thankfulness in us.

I wish to repeat here what I said many times: I would preach in the presence of all the prophets and apostles, yes, in the holy presence of my beloved Lord, what I preach and teach. This does not speak of a failable being, but of the divine calling. No man has anything of himself, except it is given to him from the Lord. I don't hesitate for a moment to place everything Brother Branham taught properly in the Scriptures. In spite of what many think and one Brother has written: "We don't need someone to place all things biblically for us…", we certainly need it. Only if the infallible Word itself, founded on more than one place, teaches what we teach, we can rest assured in it and proclaim it to others. Satan can turn and twist one verse, but not two or three.

There cannot be another Gospel, no other message except the one which was proclaimed from the beginning (1Pt 1:12 + 25; 1J 1:1-5). Nothing can be added to it; nothing can be taken from it.

Of course God can reveal, as He has already done, give more light and clarity, but the thing itself must remain the same. If the Lord ordains someone to proclaim His Word, it is normal, when the Spirit of God in him is against all those self-made teachings which were arbitrary fashioned from some of the quotes of Brother Branham. Whoever asserts the man of God of this hour to teach or to preach something else instead of what is clearly witnessed and taught in the Bible makes him a false teacher and false prophet.

Repeatedly Brother Branham emphasized, "I'm just a man, my words can fail," then he lifted the Bible and said to the congregation: "This is God's infallible Word. That is my absolute." There are fanatics who exchange this role; they don't hesitate to question God's Word or even to

put it aside and emphasize that every utterance Brother Branham made was thus says the Lord. They even misplace and dislocate it. He was a prophet, also a preacher and evangelist and was led from light to light and from revelation to revelation. Such people who are wrong in their thinking give special glory to a man which belongs only to God and actually don't care for the well-being of the Church of the living God. They compare quote with quote and build one upon the other instead of putting all of it upon the unshakable foundation of God's holy Word.

A noted Brother of the Englisch language told me on 12th November 1989 straight into my face, "Brother Frank, you don't even believe the message." Astonished I said, "Beloved Brother, I did more for the spreading of the message throughout the world than the others did together." He replied, "I don't care what you have done, if you don't believe the seven thunders you don't believe the message, because the seven thunders are the message." He added, "You don't even believe that Christ came down to earth and is now judging and that Revelation chapter 10 is totally fulfilled." Such men emphasize the statement that the Lamb left the mercy seat to take the book and open the seals, but don't mention what also was said, that only after the last one has come in the Lamb will leave the mercy seat. Satan used one Scripture when he tempted the Lord, but our Saviour replied, "It is also written…" That much I can say without being presumptuous: in my presence those gentlemen would not preach as they do before congregations who easily believe, as they think special revelations are presented to them.

It seems there is no end of the various interpretations which they call the revelation of the seven thunders. The actual tragedy of such people is described in the following Scripture: "Because they received not the love of the truth (which is the written Word of God), that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie " (2Ths 2:10-11). Only if we have the true love of God for the Word of truth, we are able to reject and discern all the errors.

I declare before God and all man that I do not believe a single one of all the "thunder-teachings" or the "parousia" and others which are falsely called the message. I further don't believe that the Lord already came. Such coming is not a reality but an illusion in the heads of some people. The return of Jesus Christ will be exactly accompanied by all the events the Scriptures clearly show and speak of. As far as I am concerned the message is the eternal Word of God with all the promises for this time. In fact, the hearts of God's children have been turned to the original faith of the fathers. More I don't wish to declare here, because the time is too precious to be wasted. Whoever is born by Word and Spirit believes the original Word which is Spirit and Life.

Signs of the end-time

In the past weeks and month' much has happened, more than many have expected. The West coast of the U.S.A. did quake again. The world listened attentively to the news about the earthquakes, as the mass media reported about them. In the Holy Scriptures among many other things earthquakes are predicted. Brother Branham repeatedly spoke about the judgment that will come by an earthquake. He predicted that the United States, namely the West coast, will be struck heavily. Wherever the Lord did special things and offered Grace and Mercy, which was spurned, there the judgments followed upon those who did not believe Him. The following quotes of Brother Branham concerning this subject are very clear:

"Look at the earthquakes over here in California. I predict, before the coining of the Lord Jesus, that God will sink that place. I believe that Hollywood and Los Angeles, and them filthy places over there, that God Almighty will sink them. They'll go beneath the bottom of the sea" (Who do you say this is?, 27th December 1964).

"Thou city, who claims to be the city of the Angels, who has exalted yourself into Heaven and sent all the dirty filthy things of fashions and things, til even the foreign countries come here to pick up our filth and send it away, with your fine churches and steeples, and so forth the way you do – remember, one day, you will be laying in the bottom of this sea! Your great honeycomb under you right now. The wrath of God is belching right beneath you. How much longer He will hold this sandbar hanging over that, when that ocean out yonder a mile deep will slide in there plumb back to the Salton Sea. It will be worse than the last day of Pompeii. Repent, Los Angeles! Repent the rest of you and turn to God! The hour of His wrath is upon the earth. Flee while there is time to flee and come into Christ" (Choosing a Bride, 29th April 1965).

"They said, 'God bless America, it's a nation, it's a Christian country.' It's a million miles from being a Christian country! I don't even pray for it. How can I pray for it, and it won't repent under the mighty powers of God demonstrated before it, and denying, and closing the doors to it, and walking away? I commit it to God. And she's going further away, and now she's going to sink. Just watch what happens." (Doing God a Service Without His Will, 18th July 1965).

"As Jesus cried, 'Blind Pharisees,' the Holy Spirit in my own heart tonight cries, 'Blind Laodicea, how often God would've give you a revival, but now your time has come. It's too late now. How did you laugh and make fun of the people that God sent to you? But now your time has come. Oh, United States, United States, how that God would've hovered you as a hen does its brood, but you would not.' Now, this Voice is going from coast to coast, from North to South, and East to West. How God would've hovered you, but you would not. Now your time has come. Nations are breaking; the world is falling apart. Fifteen hundred miles chunk of it, three or four hundred miles wide, will sink maybe forty miles down into that great fault out yonder one of these days, and waves will shoot plumb out to the state of Kentucky. And when it does, it'll shake the world so hard that everything on top of it will shake down!" (A Thinking Man's Filter, 22nd August 1965).

Brother Branham did not only pronounce the judgment upon the West coast of America through the mighty earthquake, he clearly stated that the United States as a whole have missed the hour of the merciful visitation of the Lord. He said that he even didn't pray for his country any more. One can imagine what it means if the Spirit of God in a prophet must go to that extend. That should open our eyes and make us to examine ourselves.

We never gave room to the thought he expressed. But if we wish to give honor to the truth, then we have to admit with deep pain in our hearts that all the wrong interpretations and false doctrines within the message have their origin in the U.S.A. and were exported into all the world. If the American brethren would have stayed in the U.S.A., as it should have happened, because not one of them can point to a day he was called or commissioned to the ministry, then in all of Europe and the rest of the world it would look differently within the ranks of the called-out believers.

Of course those who have plenty of dollars at their disposal had an easy going exercising influence. As the scribes in the days of our Lord set themselves on the seat of Moses, so they have placed themselves into the seat of the prophet sent and vindicated by God. They themselves did not comprehend what it is all about. Everyone more or less works for the furtherance of his own cause, for his own message, and God's people are divided into various camps. These same gentlemen prevent that the truth is preached in their own churches through the God ordained ministry of the Word. But be comforted – the Lord Himself will have the last word and bring all this chaos to an end, and as the shepherd He will take care of His own sheep who will not listen to any other voice except to His, and for ever His own Voice is His own Word.

Break-through-time

The big majority was taken by surprise as a "new spring" broke forth in Central Europe. This time the powerful church was behind it, and therefore it could not be stopped. The developments in the Eastern European countries are moving with unbelievable pace. We are overwhelmed, in fact I have foretold these developments for many years, based on Math. 24:14; 1Thess. 5:1-3 and many other Scriptures. "Glasnost" and "perestrojka" – transparency and reconstruction – are moving forward with a terrible speed. The "European House" with open windows and doors is being erected before our very eyes. This is a direct fulfillment of bible prophecy, the reviving of the old Roman empire, described in the Revelation as the beast- power which was, is not, and will be again. It is this beast-power upon which the world church, the great whore of Revelation 17, will ride and exercise her power to reach its long awaited goal. The talk is no more about a divided Europe, East and West, but of one United Europe from the Atlantic to the Ural. General de Gaulle already made the same statement in 1957 when signing the Roman Treaty. Today it is the General Secretary Mr. Gorbatchev who is using the same vocabulary. And now every politician involved in this process speaks the same language. All become part of it, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled before our very eyes.

Peace and safety gain momentum; the European Community – European peace order will have Germany imbedded right in its center. The two blocks, East and West, have already lost their might. All the mighty must "… give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled" (Rev 17:17). Actually the U.S. troops could go home today, and the Soviets also. They are no longer needed. In June this year 1989 Mr. Michael Gorbatchev made the statement in Bonn, the provisional capital of West Germany, while paying a visit as the head of state: "The wall can also disappear." Everyone understood what he meant by that. It's the Berlin-Wall which actually is a memorial of separation of East and West. This wall certainly will come down. In 1944, at the "Jalta conference" the three politicians Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill divided Europe, and now in December 1989 at the "Malta conference" the two heads of state, Mr. George Bush and Mr. Michael Gorbatchev held talks about the united Europe. We certainly have entered the last phase.

The self-appointed experts of bible prophecy do not only bypass the doctrines, they are also caught in the net of their own explaining of the prophetical part. They try to find an empire which has ten horns and seven heads and simply don't get it together. It doesn't mean ten nations here or seven nations there, because it is one and the same beast. The head is not laying here and the tail over there. Certainly not. It simply signifies that the old Roman empire comes into existence again. At this moment we have seven countries in the Warsaw-pact, twelve belong to the EC, fifteen are in the NATO, twenty-three in the European Parliament, thirty-five signed the KSZE document in Helsinki, but all these facts are not as important as some may think. The main object is the coming forth of this "power" in Europe on which the great whore of Revelation 17 rides. The borders between the different nations in the 20th century are totally different to what they were at other times of the existence of this Roman empire since 31 B.C. But the power itself remains the same and that is what we have to watch. We are not perturbed, in the contrary, we are confident because we see in actuality the fulfillment of bible prophecy in every way at this time. The end is near, very near.

From the Mission field

All over the earth the Lord performs great things. Especially in the 3rd-World-Countries people come by the thousands to hear the Word and have their experience of salvation with the living God. I shall never forget the 9th of July 1989. When I arrived at the compound of the Hall of the people in Kinshasa, Zaire, I saw a multitude outside thinking the doors had not been opened yet. Quickly I came to know that the Hall with 3,500 people was already filled. Thousands heard the message through the loudspeakers outside.

Thanks be to the Lord that we have His revealed Word as the fresh food, the spiritual manna, to feed God's people with. The harvest is ripe and must be brought in quickly. Many new doors are opening up in various denominations. Much could be reported what happens throughout the world. At this time we are expecting a spiritual awakening right here in central Europe. Those nations which were deprive of hearing the gospel freely are now hungry for the Word of God. We have already sent several loads with bibles and New Testaments from West Germany directly to Russia. Now it is even possible to have open-air meetings in the so-called Eastern-Block-Countries. The same God of heaven who made the iron curtain to fall, the same God will let the purple and bambus curtains fall as well. The calling-out time is upon us and only those who are truly called out by the Lord can be used to give the same call to others.

With great confidence we are moving into the year 1990. Only few would have thought that time would be with us for so long, because we are counting with the return of the Lord. Also in this regard the Scripture gives us the proper teaching: "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2Pt 3:9). The Scripture must be fulfilled in every way: with Israel, the church and the nations. The political and religious developments are moving into the last phase, also the bride church is getting ready for the final work. The promises are clear, and as Brother Branham expected there will be a short and mighty work right before the coming of the Lord. I also wish to express my deep gratitude to the Lord God who brought this ministry into existence and has looked after us in a most marvelous way. Please remember me in your daily prayers and also all the brethren who do their part of ministry as faithful co-workers in the different countries and languages. A special "thank you" goes to our dear Brother Alexis Barilier who is responsible for the French work and to Brother Etienne Genton who is responsible for the work in the Italian language, also to many others with whom right from the beginning a friendship, fellowship and co-operation has been through the years. May God grant that all the brethren who are called by the Lord will work together and go forward in the same Spirit. Only together we can accomplish the great task that lays before us. The Lord God bless you all and be with you all.

By His commission￼

Special announcement

God willing we shall have special Easter meetings 13th-15th April 1990 and also during pentecost, the first week-end in June 1990. A typical ministers' meeting will not take place. We had enough discussions, this time we shall hear the Word of God and be blessed abundantly. Of course there will be question and answer sessions, especially with the ministers. All are cordially invited. The meetings will be translated in English, French and other languages. All visitors need to pay their own return-tickets, but we shall take care of food and lodging for the visitors during the few days of meetings here at the Mission-Centre.