Sample Bible Believers' Newsletter

Signs of the End of the Ages

The prophetic list of signs foretold in relation to the end of the Christian dispensation and the Coming of Christ for His Bride in the prophetic office Son of man (Matthew 24:37; 25:6; Luke 18:8; 17:28-30; John 5:27) is quite lengthy, including a search for knowledge (Daniel 12:4; Amos 8:12), repetition of the conditions of the days of Noah—miscegenation in a prosperous and technologically advanced but a-moral and violent society, and the apostasy and homosexuality of the days of Lot; the rise of anti-Christ, a flourishing global economy, wars and earthquakes. These conditions plus the instability of world affairs have convinced scientist, economist, politician and psychic, as well theologians, that a major catastrophe is imminent.

I wish to alert you to one more vitally significant sign which, likewise, has found its fulfilment in the present day. This sign is unique in that it is God's essential warning before any major, scriptural happening. It is at once His most vivid yet most overlooked and misunderstood sign.

Amos 3:7, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing but He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets." God's pattern of dealing with His people has always included sending prophets. Amos states emphatically that God does nothing without a prophetic forerunner.

History also reveals that seldom was a prophet greeted without scepticism and abuse. No matter how great their divine vindication, they suffered at the hands of those to whom they were sent. Before His murder Jesus told the Pharisees their forefathers were guilty of the blood of all the prophets from Abel to Zechariah (Matthew 23:31-36).

Maintaining the consistency of His Word God promised us a prophetic messenger to announce His second Coming. Only one ministry in our lifetime could qualify as that messenger. William Branham was vindicated by God, and recognized by his contemporaries as a major prophet, then rejected by that wayward and arrogant Laodicean generation.

It is commonly considered that since the first advent of Jesus Christ God no longer uses prophets to minister to His people. A carnal interpretation of Scriptures such as Luke 16:16, "The Law and the prophets were until John," and Hebrews 1:1, "God, who at sundry times and in various ways spoke in time past unto the fathers in the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us in His Son . . ." is taken as proof of this. However these Scriptures do not point to a cessation of prophets. They state only that the partial Word of each Old Testament prophet was fully expressed in Christ, the Logos (or Word), when He appeared in flesh.

The New Testament abounds with prophets after Christ, aside from the prophetic ministries obviously manifest in the apostles Peter, Paul and John. Let's consider Ephesians 3:1-5:

"For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles. If you have heard of the dispensation of God's grace which was given to me for you; how by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read you may understand my insight into the mystery of Christ [is because I am a vindicated prophet]). Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, (or prophets—Ezekiel 2:1; Hebrews 11:32-41; I Peter 1:10-12), as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." The Church is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 2:20).

Paul shows that New Testament prophets not only exist but are ordained to carry the mysteries that the Old Testament prophets (sons of men) under the Law saw as a shadow. "In these last days God has spoken unto us in His Son," defines the first advent. The Son is still speaking through His ordained messengers.

The Scriptures are equally clear that a prophetic ministry would be focal at the end of the ages; first, to restore the Gentiles to the true Message of the Son, (the Logos or Word), and second, to deliver the Message of the Messiah to Israel during the great tribulation (Revelation 11). The following Scriptures together point to this Gentile forerunner:

Amos 3:7, "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets."

Remember—before any significant, scriptural event, God always speaks to a prophet. For example, Noah before the flood, Abraham before the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah; Moses to deliver Israel; John the Baptist before Christ's first advent, Paul to the Gentiles, the two witnesses of Zechariah 4, Matthew 24:31 and Revelation 11 to the Israelites.

Malachi 4:5-6, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful Day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."

The Spirit of Elijah is here prophesied to precede the Day of the Lord. Any Bible student understands the great and dreadful Day of the Lord is the end of the age when plagues of God's judgment are poured out upon the Christ-rejecting Gentiles (Isaiah 2:12, 19; I Thessalonians 5:2-3; II Peter 3:10). Notice this twofold prophecy, Elijah will come:

1. To turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
2. To turn the heart of the children to their fathers.

In the following Scriptures we will see where this prophecy was PARTIALLY fulfilled.

Luke 1:17, "And he shall go before Him in the Spirit and power of Elijah; to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

This speaks of course, of John the Baptist, but notice: the Holy Spirit divided the prophecy of Malachi and showed John fulfilling the first part only; John did not precede the great and dreadful Day of the Lord who has not yet "smitten earth with a curse" and the saints of all ages have not yet "walked out on the atomic ashes of the wicked" for a thousand years of peace (Malachi 4). Moreover, in the days of John and Jesus "the fathers" were the patriarchs of the twelve tribes so he could not have "turned the hearts" of dead men. Neither could he have turned anyone to those "fathers" without denying Moses and the Law. John preceded Jesus' earthly ministry as the Good Shepherd; he "turned disobedient Israelites to the wisdom of the just One [Jesus]" (Acts 3:14; 7:52; 22:14) and baptized them "with water unto repentance" (Matthew 3:11). Then almost four years after John's death his ministry turned the heart of the apostolic fathers from God's servant nation Israel, to an election from every nation, tribe and tongue of Adam's race.

Matthew 17:10-12, "Jesus' disciples asked Him, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things, But I say unto you, That Elijah is come already and they knew him not . . ."

Notice how Christ maintains the continuity of the previous Scriptures, also dividing the prophecy concerning the Elijah ministry. Jesus indicates that PART of the Elijah ministry was already fulfilled and part remained to be fulfilled 2,000 years hence. In this further aspect of the Elijah ministry, He declares he will "restore all things" whereas John "laid the axe to the root of all trees [spiritual principles]" (Matthew 3:10; Luke 3:9).

II Thessalonians 2:3, "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall NOT come, except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition."

Paul was stating that the Lord's Day would not come until there was a "falling away." The Greek word is "apostasia" and means a forsaking of the faith. If we continue through II Thessalonians 2, noting particularly verses 12 to 15, it becomes evident that Paul was warning of a falling away from the Word of God as delivered by the Apostles. This is precisely what ensued from about the fourth century, when Roman Catholicism gained pre-eminence, replacing the authority of Scripture with the authority of church dogma, and marrying Christianity with paganism.

Acts 3:20-21, "And He shall send Messiah Jesus who was appointed unto Israel: whom the heaven must receive until the times wherein all things will be restored, which God has spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old." This will follow the ministry of Israel's two prophets who will minister after the resurrection and translation of Christ's Bride of all Ages, and heralds the millennium after the consummation (Daniel 9:27; Malachi 4; Matthew 3:12; Revelation 1:1-19; 19:20).

Notice the similarity to Matthew 17:11. Peter agrees that before the physical return of the glorified Jesus there must be a restitution or "restoration of all things spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets." The spoken Word must first be restored before the material substance of the Word can be restored for the millennium. As the Word comes only to a prophet, God must send us Gentiles a prophet to bring His end-time Bride to maturity in the unity of the faith for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation (II Peter 1:20-21; Ephesians 4:13; Romans 8:19; I Corinthians 15:45-57). Without us the Church Age saints cannot be resurrected and the Body glorified; and God cannot anoint the two Hebrew prophets for their ministry to the 144,000 elect Israelites until we are caught up to the Wedding Supper in the sky.

Let us now apply this Scriptural picture to our concluding text to establish:

Elijah is to restore "ALL things" (Matthew l7:11).
All things are to be restored BEFORE the second PHYSICAL Coming of Christ (Acts 3:21; Romans 8:21).
All things refer to God's Word as it came through His prophets (Malachi 4:6; Acts 3:21; Ephesians 2:20; II Peter 1:20-21).

Revelation 10:7, "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He has declared to His servants the prophets."

The angel to the seventh or Laodicean Church Age is identified as the messenger who would preach the mystery of God that has been declared to the prophets. This mystery is how God incarnate and gained pre-eminence of Christ, how Christ redeemed His Bride in each age, and is gaining the pre-eminence of His end-time Bride, and how He will restore us back to Eden. This incarnation of God in Christ and Christ in His true Church is the whole Message of God's holy prophets and apostles. This seventh angel then will reaffirm this same Word or Logos to the end-time Gentile church. The "end-time" began when Jesus opened the Seven Seals and revealed them through this prophet (Daniel 12:4, 9; Revelation 10:4).

The first three chapters of the Book of Revelation describe the natural characteristics and condition of seven Gentile cities and churches in Asia Minor which type the spiritual nature and condition of Seven Church AGES to come. It is erroneous to presume that this discourse only had an application to John's day. The first verse of Revelation describes its contents as "things which must shortly come to pass" (in the future). Thus the entire Book is prophetic, beginning with the immediate future and continuing through the Gentile dispensation to the calling of 144,000 Israelites, the millennium, the White Throne Judgment and even the New Jerusalem.

These seven churches then were also prophetic and their characteristics applied to seven AGES within the dispensation allotted by God to the Gentiles. From Ephesus to Laodicea, each Age had an angel who would bring it a Message from God. These "angels" are NOT heavenly but to earthly messengers through whom "the Spirit speaks to the churches." Over the past two thousand years God has raised up a succession of great spiritual leaders such as Paul, Irenaeus, Martin, Columba, Luther and Wesley to preserve the faith from age to age.

After the Dark Ages, reformers were anointed to begin a restoration. God blessed the ministries of Luther and Wesley with mighty revivals as the Light of His Word was reopening to them. The followers of these messengers, however, refused to keep on walking in the Light as God continued to unveil it, stopped at a partial restoration, organized, denominated, then died, assuming the formalistic characteristics of the organization whence they were once delivered. Revelation 10:7 states that the ministry of the seventh angel, or the angel to the Laodicean Church Age, would be to finish the complete mystery. This final messenger will declare all the Word, from which the church apostatized, and reveal the mystery surrounding the rapture and the second or (Gk.) 'parousia' Coming of the Lord Jesus, first to us Gentiles, then to Israel.

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I'll warrant those who know only what organized religions teach know nothing of the prophet Jesus promised God would send us in this day. The majority is always wrong in Spiritual matters. So unless we're constantly in the Word, we won't be familiar with what God is doing NOW?

Unless we're constantly in the Word, we'll have to rely upon what others say. If those others are denominational ministers and priests, they're beholden to organizational creeds and the educated guesses of dead men, not free to follow the leading of the Spirit.

Nations assume the authority of a god over their citizens because they have the power to take their lives. Denomi-nations have power to destroy their soul. Those who refuse to submit to their authority are branded heretics or "the enemy," and excluded from certain privileges reserved for those who yield allegiance and accept their mark. This happened to Elijah, Jesus, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and William Branham. Throughout history, all men who have been signally used of God were rejected by organization. Organized religion is NOT of God. In Isaiah 8 God calls it accursed; in Revelation 2 and 19, Jesus says its end is the Lake of Fire.

At the end of this Gentile dispensation, all the organizations will unite and agree to give their support to the Beast. There'll be a boycott against the faith and the non-elect will receive their teachings and do their bidding or be killed. But following a brief and powerful display of the Spirit—unknown to anyone except the end-time Bride, or true Church—God will take us Home for the Wedding Supper—so few we will not be missed in the unprecedented convulsion of nature at that time.

Faith is spiritual revelation, a clear understanding of God's Word. As God's Word comes only to a prophet, the unchanging God sent us a prophet to restore the apostolic faith, finish the mystery of God, and call His elect out from all man-made systems into the unity of the faith for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation. While to the majority it remains a mystery, His Sheep receive that revelation.

In Acts 3:21 Peter prophesied, "Heaven must receive Jesus Christ until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." Paul explained, the revelation of the Seven Seals will bring Christ, the fullness of the Word, back to earth in W_O_R_D form (I Corinthians 13:10).

This matches the prophecy of II Peter 3:2-4, "Remember the Words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own creeds, and saying, "Where is the promise of His [parousia] Coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation".

As Ishmael scoffed at Isaac, so these men of reprobate minds concerning the one and only faith scoff at the righteous. Peter said they would. His prophecy is coming true today. Denominational children of the bondwoman will not be heir with the Son of the free woman, or true Church. That's why Jesus promised faithfully in God's unchanging Word, to send US a prophet in these last days to restore the apostolic faith, finish the Mystery of God, and call His people out from the sin of organized religion.

Can you see it? The Bible promised us a genuine, vindicated Word prophet in the Spirit and power of Elijah to restore our heart to the understanding once delivered unto the saints?

Peter prophesied the destruction of our world by fire "as it was in the days of Lot." The destiny of denominational believers in THIS day is the Lake of Fire (Revelation 2:21-24; 19:20; 20:10).

Revelation 10:7 promised that "in the days of the Voice of the seventh angel"—before he sounds his MESSAGE, Jesus will open the Seven Seals, unfolding the mystery God has already declared through His holy prophets. The "Voice" now speaks louder than ever it did in the prophet's lifetime because it is THUS SAITH THE LORD, Christ the Word. If you can receive it, the revelation of the Seven Seals in 1963 brought Christ back to earth in W_O_R_D form.

The Message of this prophet was the "Shout" of I Thessalonians 4:16 which is the "midnight cry" of Matthew 25:6 that awakens the virgins from their denominational dreamland. It calls both wise and foolish to "trim their lamps" or circumcise their understanding of manmade religion, which Jesus calls sin so that in His visible absence they may walk by the Light of faith. Whereas the "foolish" are slothful and dilatory the wise receive the fullness of Light and are gloriously born-again.

Revelation 18:4, "I heard another voice from heaven"—the "Voice of the Archangel, Christ" in the heart of the Bride, confirming the "shout" of the Prophet's Message from Genesis to Revelation saying, "Come out of her My people, that you do not partake of her sins [unbelief] and receive not of her plagues [in the great tribulation]".

The "Trump" will mark the end of the Christian dispensation, calling the Bride to the manifestation of the Sons of God during the resurrection of the Church Age saints, and the 144,000 to their Feast of Trumpets and Atonement.

Now don't imagine Brother Anthony told you not to go to church. You must attend church, especially as you see the Day of the Lord so close, but seek out a real CHRISTIAN Church that believes and preaches "the present Truth" of this end-time Message. Our objective is not to 'join church' but union with Christ the Word. If you can't find such a Church, live your Life a testimony to the hope within your soul and spread the Message (Revelation 10:8-11).

Don't accept what I've said just because I said it. Prove it in your own Bible (Acts 17:11). Make absolutely certain it is what God said and meant. I want you to be resting on God and His promises for this day and to know so by faith.

God is only writing epistles of "the present Truth." We must recognize our day and its Message because Christians can only manifest the Word God is fulfilling now (I John 1:7).

When we can see the present Truth coming to pass in our lives, we have found our position in the Body of Christ. We know we are born again and sealed to the day of our redemption.

Pass it on . . . please send this article to someone you know
Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.

Signs of the End of the Ages

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Bible Believers' Church
Gunnedah NSW
Australia 2380

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Signs of the End of the Ages

* * *

Bible Believers' Church Gunnedah NSW Australia 2380

e-mail Bible Believers URL Bible Believers' Website Subscribe Unsubscribe

Bible Believers' Church
Gunnedah NSW
Australia 2380

e-mail Bible Believers
URL Bible Believers' Website
Subscribe Unsubscribe