PREACHING No.75
WE HAVE SEEN HIS STAR!
(Preached on Sunday, June 1, 2008 morning in Adjamé then in Anyama, near Abidjan - Ivory Coast)
(Note: this picture is on the last page of the circular letter of January, 1973 with the same inscription. Brother Philip said: ask, please, these three magi and they will tell you why they came there and published this picture all over the world!)
Picture taken in December, 1972, during a meeting in Sikensi, in Ivory Coast. You see the servants of God Ewald Frank, Alexis Barilier and Alex Baranowski on it, among other servants of God of that country, having recognized God's pure Word.
The original Christianity can only be a return to Eden, where man fell in order to lift him up forever! Yet in the beginning, it was not polygamy! God took only one rib from Adam and with that rib, he built only one woman and the serpent dishonoured her all the same, He did not dare to replace her or build a second one for Adam! But polygamy is mentioned in Gen.4 as one of the acts the sons of the devil did on earth. Look at these pairs of doves, these pairs of animals, all the nature teaches that polygamy has never been an original institution of God! It is a great-grandson of Cain who did that! And I said that after seven months of conjugal life, if a man lies more than three times in the week with his wife, he has to confess!
I wish to speak this morning on the subject: We have seen his star... For that purpose, I am going to read in Matth.2:1-2… "Now Jesus having been born in Bethlehem of Judaea, in the days of Herod the king, behold magi from the east arrived at Jerusalem, saying Where is the king of the Jews that has been born? for we have seen his star in the east, and have come to do him homage".
Well, the God of Israel had really used Korah, Dathan and Abiram in the desert but their error, it was to go against Moses and to think that they could be equal to Moses. Yet, to be equal to Moses and make God accept that, that is what should not be tried. And that, a prophet of the name of Balaam had not understood it! The God of Israel really used to speak to him and he knew that he was the prophet messenger of his time but as Moses approached, when he saw Moses, he had to give way and keep quiet like John the Baptist! But he did not understand that and influenced by money and by his popularity and past reputation, he went against Moses! And it is this Balaam who prophesied that a star would come out of Jacob! Balaam said in Num.24 17: " I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh: There cometh a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and he shall cut in pieces the corners of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult.". And that was taught from generation to generation! You see? When even Balaam took the wrong way, God's Word in his mouth was always the Truth. And as Balaam, apart from the African horseman who William Branham spoke of, how many Africans did not announce that the Almighty God would give one day a sign to Africa! But instead of waiting for that, they are already in Jerusalem with the chief priests. So how will they see that sign?
Now, observe this: when the magi saw the star, they let themselves led by this star as the Pillar of cloud had led the Jews in the desert. They only knew that Jerusalem was the holiest and the most spiritual place on earth and that the God of Heavens had caused his name to dwell there! Jerusalem, it was all that there was of more spiritual and holiest on earth. More spiritual and holier than Vatican City today! It is in Jerusalem that the biggest biblical institutes should be looked for and if God has to fulfill a work on earth it could not be in a city other one than Jerusalem, the city of David. When they saw that the constellation had taken the direction of Jerusalem …, at first, they had followed the star very well but when they caught sight of Jerusalem, they said to themselves: "Glory to our God! Thank you God, we have reached it!!! ". And they entered Jerusalem but the star did not get in! The star could not get in! And once in Jerusalem, when they realized that the star had disappeared, they said: "we have reached it, what remains to us, it is to find the maternity hospital!". But much to their surprise, time goes on and nothing! They do not understand any more! And they began to ask everybody so that the piece of news reached the chief priests who in turn, informed king Herod while they were at table with him. Three magi were in search of the king of Jews who would have been born under a heavenly sign! The Bible says that Herod and all the Christianity were troubled by it! You see? When the magi saw the star, they approached Jerusalem and chief priests to see what it was! They were so sure that they asked: "Where is the king of the Jews that has been born?". But all these Jews who remained in the so-called light knew nothing about it! Also, when the shepherds reported the song of the angels to them, they knew nothing about it! The shepherds could say: "Is it not a supernatural work of God? Because we have called to mind that when God created Adam, the angels sang throughout the lands of Eden! Has a child not been born in this surrounding country? ". They said: " no, none! There is one but it is the son of an illiterate farmer who does not attend any church! The name of the farmer is Kacou Daniel and the name of his wife is Assa Marie ". You see? Jerusalem went about his numerous useless businesses! And having come to the streets, the magi wanted to make inquiries but people were too much in a hurry to not be late to work, to their trade, to the meeting of prayer or to sessions of rehearsals of hymns! Exactly like their great grandparents had done in the days of Noah.
When the priests heard that, they first looked at the sky from one end to another and having seen nothing, they said: "you should simply say that you saw a star! It is to us the priests to indicate that it relates to the birth of the king of Jews or not. In that, you have not been wise ". Other priests said: "it's nothing particular, it is by emotion that you thought so. It is just a big star. And when you were walking, you got the impression that it moves. It is nothing!".
Then the magi realized that they had made a mistake by leaving the star too early. [Ed: The congregation says:"Amen!"]. They had nevertheless well started! Like Moses and Israel in the desert, the star was their absolute! When the star went fast, they went fast, when the star turned, they turned! When the star stopped, they stopped! It was their absolute! An absolute always alive! The absolute of the sons of God is always alive! When a man is dead, whatever his greatness, he can no longer be an absolute for long! When the Jews were getting out of Egypt, including the sons of the devil, they all said: " our absolute, it is the prophet! It is Moses!" But God saw their heart. There was yet no Bible or any roll and they were thus obliged to say as the sons of God that their absolute was the prophet living amongst them! But God knew that, the same way the angels did not submit themselves to Him in the Heaven because He is an angel like them, the sons of the devil would never submit themselves to a prophet living amongst them! When they said " Our absolute, it is the prophet Moses! ", the angel of the death and the angels rose but God said to them: " No! Leave them alone! At the appointed time, they will be separated ". [Ed: The congregation says: "Amen!"]. You see? They can do it for a dead man because of their zeal for spiritualism which is much seen here in Africa. That is why, as soon as Moses died, they said: "we are of Moses! Our absolute, it is the roll of Moses "that is to say the five books of Moses. And this devil has worked on earth until today! When Isaiah was speaking, they said: " our absolute, it is the Bible. We do not believe in a man! We believe in the Bible! ". When John the Baptist was speaking, they said: " Our absolute, it is the Bible (the Old Testament). We don’t believe in anything else!". And the sons of the devil who were there shouted: "AMEN!" And John the Baptist did not know what to say! Oh the prophets have so suffered! I would like to read here the words of the jailor M’bra Parfait [Ed: an Ivorian branhamist] and his chains of prayers and penitences about which I spoke in "the meaning of priesthood ". Well, I am going to read that … It is a little bit long! Be attentive! [Brother Philip reads … "Beware! If you find a church built on two or three biblical verses. We do not build a church on a biblical verse! No! The Christian life is built on all the Bible [the congregation answers Amen]. From Genesis to Revelation… that’s all!.
If you say that you have brother Branham's message, that means you returned to the Bible, that it is the Bible which became your ABSOLUTE. It is not William Branham, it is not brother Franck; it is the BIBLE! [The congregation answers Amen] … There is no man of God ABSOLUTE, that does not exist in the Bible … Brother Branham said: " my ABSOLUTE, it is God's Word, me, I can make mistake because I am a man …". It is the way of saying to us that all that he says must be returned to the Bible. It is necessary to return to the Bible … Listen to me, please! God gave mandate to servants to write the Bible,… their names are in the Bible here: Paul.. I am speaking of epistles at first, I leave the prophets. Paul, he wrote epistles… that is here. It is because God gave him a mandate that his writings are considered as the Bible. Jude, John, James, Peter, so on. Those, God chose them so that they write what we call the Bible today. Their names are written here in the Bible. The rest, us, errors can be found in our writings [the congregation answers Amen!] Errors can be found, own thoughts, own convictions; but those God chose to write the Bible; they have already written… it is locked up. So, you cannot take the WRITINGS of a brother to make your ABSOLUTE with it. Never on your life!... Brother Branham made many errors … But he is an authentic prophet. I do one hundred percent believe it, he is an authentic prophet. So we who do not have our name among those who wrote the Bible… everything we produce, there is God's Word in, there are our inspirations in, it is not the Bible, it is not the Bible and there is not any person who is going to convince me that it is the Bible. I cannot listen to that ".] [Ed: extracted from a preaching of M’bra Parfait, entitled: GOD'S WORD]. If you have been born and if in all your life you have never heard the voice of the devil, this man is the voice of the devil! [Ed: The congregation says: "Amen! "]. And this is the mentality of the branhamists in general. It is true that Matth25:6 says that the star would appear but if the magi took for absolute the same Bible which told them that a star would come out of Jacob, they would never find the purpose that they were looking for! But their absolute, their guide and reference point, it was the star! They walked with the star, they spoke and the star answered them and the presence and the atmosphere of the star were very good! [Ed: The congregation says: "Amen!"]. The Bible is the testimony of the absolute because it is the prophet who is the absolute that God gave to men! 2 Chr.20: 20, Hosea 12: 14 and Amos 3: 7 do not say to trust a Bible or in the prophet of a past generation, a prophet who died more than forty years ago.
Now, let us take the circular letter of January, 1973, on the back page, there is a picture. And beneath the picture, it is written: "Picture taken in December, 1972, during a meeting in Sikensi, in Ivory Coast. You see the servants of God Ewald Frank, Alexis Barilier and Alex Baranowski on it, among other servants of God of that country there, having recognized God's pure Word." What is it? The same three magi here in Jerusalem with the branhamist chief priests and having for absolute the rolls of a prophet who is already dead! [Ed: The congregation says: "Amen! "]. Like the magi of the East, they were so close to the purpose but they confided in priests who knew nothing themselves.
Now, notice this: the song of the angels was heard outside the city of Jerusalem by shepherds who came to inform the chief priests! Also, the star appeared to magi instead of appearing to the priests! Why did God do that, to the point of despising his servants, the priests! And when it is so, the priests are quick to reject that! And on April 24, 1993, the Angel of the Lord comes down! The Lamb of God descends and comes to speak to a small pagan who has never opened a Bible! But does it happen to God to change his way of acting? No because the Bible says that He is the same yesterday, today and to the ages to come! [Ed: The congregation says: "Amen!"].
Well, how many of you believe that God's Word in Brother Philip's mouth is as infallible with the same values as those of Isaiah, Jeremiah and all the other prophets of the Bible? Even if I had to say "E" and that I read "S" and again… and that now comes "E", did I fail? [Ed: The congregation says: "no!"]. The revelation is very hard but God gives precursory signs to those for whom it is destined. Well, why were these magi progressing? They were progressing because they had a guide, a living absolute! And we want a living absolute for Amos 3:7 does not say that God does nothing without having first revealed his secrets to the priests who are the ministries of Eph.4:11 today but God does nothing, but he reveals his secret to his servants the living prophets [Ed: The congregation says: "Amen!"]. And no prophet being on earth to speak to the magi, God sends them a star! Even if there is no longer prophet on earth for five hundred years, God will never reveal his Word to a priest, an apostle, a prophet, a doctor or evangelist! [Ed: the congregation says: "Amen!"]. When a prophet leaves the earth, it is the star that stopped and as long as you stop there, you are in the will of God and God is with you. When a prophet leaves the earth, stop there until you see his star again! [Ed: the congregation says: "Amen!"]. The absolute, it is his star! You see? How can the absolute of a man who is alive in 2008 be a dead man? You see? How can the absolute of a man who is alive in 2008 be a book of Isaiah who died 2800 years ago? But the absolute of these magi was a star in motion! If tons of rolls were given to the magi, they would not be able to take a single step forward and all their effort will only take them away from God! That is why, in spite of the rolls that were there, God sent them a star, an absolute! [Ed: The congregation says: "Amen!"]. When you want to get it without the prophet, you will read books of all kinds, you will fast a lot and pray a lot but each one of all these things is only filling you with demons of divination and you will have ten times more dreams than a prophet!
Well, to end, let us read the verses 9 and 10 of Matthew chapter 2. I read… "And they having heard the king went their way; and lo, the star, which they had seen in the east, went before them until it came and stood over the place where the little child was. And when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.". [Ed: The congregation says: "Amen!"]. The Bible says that they went their way and when they went out of Jerusalem, they saw the star again! And the Bible says that when they saw again the star that they had seen in the East, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And they no longer lost sight of the star until it comes to stand over the place where the child was. Brothers, keep always your eyes on the star and you will never get out of God's will! Have all the rolls of the prophets that you want and read them but let your absolute be the living star of your generation! If the star goes on the right, do not say: "but Isaiah says this, Paul said that!". Like in the beginning with Moses, we were numerous to come out of the East but there are here the wise who follow the star and those who do not follow it! It is true that they got happy when they saw the child but the Bible says that when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy! And I may imagine myself this great joy that they felt. Here is the joy that Ewald Frank, Alexis Barilier and Alex Baranowski would have felt in December, 1972 in Sikensi if they had not confided in the chief priests as we see it on this picture. Here is the joy the branhamists would have felt if they had not moved forward when the star stopped on December 24, 1965. And that he that hath ears to understand let him understand.
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