For nearly two thousand years, the believers have waited for certain Scriptures to be fulfilled, but “the time was not yet.” According to God’s laws, all things must come to pass in His appointed time and season. When the fullness of time had come for Christ to appear, His forerunner, John the Baptist, cried out: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” The time they had so long waited for had finally arrived. The predictions turned into reality.

The Lord Jesus Christ started out His teaching ministry in saying: “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” While the Apostle John witnessed the unfolding of the plan of salvation on the Isle of Patmos, he wrote: “Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things, which are written therein for the time is at hand.” After he had seen and heard all these things, he was told, “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand!”

With great expectation, all the saints of God throughout the church ages have longed for the fulfilment of prophecies concerning the end-time. Time has certainly moved on and all is pointing to the fact that the coming of Jesus Christ is at hand. Many events connected with that great event have already taken place or will transpire in the imminent future. There can be no further delay, for the time is at hand, wherein God will fully vindicate His Word. The elect of God will realise that the time is at hand for something to take place and search the Scripture diligently, waiting with great anticipation for the realisation of the promises.

Whenever God does something on earth, the people must make their decision. Religious leaders bear an extra great responsibility because of their influence amongst the people, and should think twice before they speak once, less they misjudge the Word of God and His works.

In the days of the first coming of Jesus Christ, the Jews were unable to see the promised Word fulfilled because the priests had taken their stand against Him. They resisted Him and opposed His ministry because they were blinded to the very Truth they preached about. The Lord performed great signs and wonders before their very eyes, did all the things the Scriptures spoke of, but because it was contrary to their understanding of the Scripture, they declared the Lord of Glory and His works to be of the devil. History always repeats itself at times of special visitations of Almighty God. Whenever He performs something on earth, Satan does his utmost to discourage the people and keep them from having a part in it.

Religious leaders of today may refer back to Moses and Abraham, Peter and Paul and other great men in the history of the Church, yet fail to see what God is presently doing. Renowned men preach the Gospel in our day, but are ignorant of what is actually taking place in the kingdom of God according to His promised Word now.

After the New Testament Church was established on the Day of Pentecost, Almighty God sent many revivals upon the earth, but now we find ourselves in the midst of the final move of God. It is sad to have to say that many who are involved in the evangelistic and international missionary outreach in this generation either belong to a Christian denomination and are obligated to it's doctrines, or they themselves have formed their own missionary organisations.

It is a well-known fact, however, that the Lord has sent His man, who represented no denomination, not even himself, but God and His Word. He had a confirmed ministry that was unrivalled by any other up to this time. As the prophets of old, he too received a direct divine call. His ministry was outstanding and the closest to that of Christ. His whole life was so Christ-like, that the carnally-minded were perplexed, others diverted into fanaticism; the spiritually-minded, however, praised God for such a visitation, for the Word of God took on a new meaning for them. As in all other ages, so it is today. Some are for and others are against; some understand, others misunderstand.

You may question, “What is all the commotion about?” Those who know the infallible gift of discernment in the life and ministry of this humble vessel God has chosen, are quickly leaning towards overemphasising the man. As a result, sincere people have been put off or have become wary because they saw the fanaticism of those claiming to believe the message God has given. It has reached the point in which the one whom God has used so mightily has become the main object of controversy, but in spite of the confusion, God has a people; the Bride of Jesus Christ. She believes in a real experience of salvation, she recognises the moving of the Spirit of God and because she is led by the Holy Spirit, she will find her way through. She is feeding on the Bread of Life and abides in the Word.

From the Old and the New Testament, we can clearly see that whenever God does something on earth, the enemy will not rest unless he causes upsets amongst the people. Therefore any foolishness later done by the followers should not be attributed to the true men sent from God. The actions of individuals only bring to light whether they follow Christ or are just taken up with a man. The blame goes to those who do not have the spiritual understanding of the plan and purpose of God, and “walk with hob-nailed shoes, where angels fear to trod.”

There are only two sources of inspiration, and in every age there were the spiritually- and the carnally-minded. Individuals and movements have fallen into error by following unscriptural teachings caused by seductive spirits. It is therefore needful to apply the only measuring-rod, the written Word of God. The time is at hand to speak up plainly, whatever the consequences may be. Those who have an ear to hear, will do so.

The background for all things is found only in the Scripture. The prophet Moses rose under a divine commission; Jannes and Jambres were sent by the enemy to confuse the people. They tried to do the same miracles, but without divine commission. Because they didn’t have the promised Word of the hour, they could offer no deliverance nor a blessing to God’s people.

After the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God, Korah and Dathan were wrongly inspired and did their utmost to upset the people within their own camp, stirring up resentment in their midst that Moses was claiming too much for himself. Even Aaron, Moses’ brother, committed a dreadful sin by making a golden calf, saying, “These are our gods, who delivered us out of Egypt.” (Ex. 32:4) It was the same Aaron, who was to bear the names of the children of Israel in his breastplate upon his heart, whenever he went into the holy place. (Ex. 28:29–30)

After all that turmoil within the camp of Israel, Balaam came forth to curse them. God, however, did not permit to curse what He had blest. But watch the shrewdness of the enemy’s approach! How was he able to deceive them? He caused Balaam to be a stumbling block in the way of the redeemed and thereby, idolatry was brought into their ranks, blinding their eyes to the actual leading of God. Later, when judgement struck them because of their murmuring and sinning, God commissioned Moses to erect the brazen serpent. Those who were bitten were healed immediately when they looked upon it in faith, realising that one day the Redeemer would be lifted up to bruise the serpent’s head.

The serpent has never symbolised Christ or the redemptive work, but has always represented the devil. Hezekiah, the king of Judah, of whom it is written, that he walked in the ways of the Lord, destroyed the very serpent Moses had erected. You may ask: How could this have been pleasing unto the Lord, when it had originally been erected under the direct commission of the Almighty? – The very thing had turned into a curse because a seductive spirit was motivating the people to worship it.

Any outsider could rightfully point to the many upsets in their midst, yet in spite of it all, there was still a remnant of God’s people, who looked upon the things that God was doing in their midst. We all must make our choice whether we are going to thrive upon all the enemy does, or whether we are going to look upon the things God is doing by His holy Word. A true believer will always keep his balance and go on with the Lord.

As we are living in the time just prior to the return of Jesus Christ, my thoughts go back to His first coming. It was not easy for the people of that day to find their way through. The Bible mentions two men, who rose to upset the minds of the Israelites. One was Theudas, the other Judas of Galilee. (Acts 5:34–39) Such men always gather a close circle of followers around themselves and promise great things which never happen. Religious leaders then take advantage of such occasions and focus the attention upon the situations and warn or caution the people.

When John the Baptist or even the Lord Jesus began His ministry, the priests no doubt classified them in the same category as the men who had risen in the past. They could have minimised or ridiculed those following the ministry of John the Baptist, saying, “There is your great prophet John, who is now beheaded! His great ministry is over and his followers will scatter.” They could have referred to Judas, who had betrayed his Master and then took his own life. How right their arguments may have seemed when our Saviour was crucified on Calvary! To the bystanders, including the critics, it all seemed to be a just a confusion.

Many things that accompanied the beginning of the New Testament era appeared to be unbalanced and confusing, but those who saw the fulfilment of God’s promised Word, looked upon the same things differently. They could see the Word of God come to pass amidst all the apparent confusion. The Apostle Paul then warns of false brethren, who would rise up from amongst them and preach perverse doctrines and draw disciples after themselves (Acts 20:30). The Apostle John even warns of the anti-Christ spirit, which began to work amongst the people then and also does in our present time.

I don’t find it necessary to concentrate on those men who have obviously gone astray, who have fallen into the snare of the enemy and have thus brought a shameful reproach upon Christ and His Word. Their foolishness is already made known or will be soon. We must be on guard, as there are still those who hide themselves under the cloak of the end-time message and promote their own doctrines. The enemy does not always come as a roaring lion; no, he always comes as cunningly as a serpent and deceives those, who give ear to his arguments. There is no space for tolerance here. Jesus Christ used very strong language and spoke forcefully against the onslaughts of the enemy, when something was said under false inspiration and was contrary to the Word. “Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee. But He turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offence unto Me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” (Matth. 16: 22–23)

This same Jesus still opposes anything that goes forth under the wrong inspiration. He did not say, “Peter, get thee behind me!” He addressed the actual source and spoke directly to Satan. Therefore if the Spirit of Truth is in us, we are going to stand against all unscriptural teachings. Far be it that I try to find fault with any brother, but I charge every Christian to discern the things instigated by the enemy to upset and confuse the believers. Unless we do that under all circumstances, we are in danger of sliding into those things ourselves. If we tolerate false teachings, a wrong spirit is corrupting our minds. The time is at hand to speak the Word boldly. We may be shocked at the moment, but the Truth shall set us free. When error is brought to light, it is judged by the Light, and the enemy loses his stronghold. Responsible brethren who have deviated from the Word, should be left, for God has already left them. They will cause others to be led astray by another spirit as well. If we could only say what the Scripture says and remain silent, where the Scripture is silent, much trouble could be avoided. The slightest deviation from the original Word is most dangerous. The enemy is behind all false theological conceptions, but God is in His Word.

Satan puts the emphasis on extra knowledge. If the precious sincere people could only detect the lies and sense the poison of the old serpent in the many interpretations they would flee from the tree of knowledge and return to the tree of Life, fully believing God’s holy Word. The Word is Spirit and Life; any private interpretation is death and separates us from God. God will do all He has promised, when the time comes. We need the true discernment of the Holy Spirit now more than ever before. It has become obvious that people who claim to believe the revealed Word for our time actually disregard the Scriptures, pick out their pet quotations from Bro. Branham’s sermons instead and make them fit their own doctrines. Some have lost their balance because they have not lined all things up with God’s holy Word. They have left the plain teachings of the Scripture and have made another Gospel without even being aware of it. The time has come for the Lord Jesus Christ to have the pre-eminence not in words only, but in Truth and reality.

Of course, we’re grateful to God for all His servants, but we preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Has it not become apparent that the cross has been set aside and the great conqueror dethroned in the heart of many a believer in the end-time message? God is looking for a people fully committed to His Word, who receive His Life and bear His fruit. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away,” said Jesus our Lord. He did not explain His power or ministry, but He overcame the enemy by using the Sword of the Spirit – THE WRITTEN WORD. That is the only way we can overcome the enemy. Our experiences, our teachings, whatever it may be, amount to nothing, if they are not based upon God’s holy Word. May the Lord Jesus Christ have the first place in our lives, so that He can manifest his victory through us.

For nearly two thousand years, the believers have waited for certain Scriptures to be fulfilled, but “the time was not yet.” According to God’s laws, all things must come to pass in His appointed time and season. When the fullness of time had come for Christ to appear, His forerunner, John the Baptist, cried out: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” The time they had so long waited for had finally arrived. The predictions turned into reality.

The Lord Jesus Christ started out His teaching ministry in saying: “Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” While the Apostle John witnessed the unfolding of the plan of salvation on the Isle of Patmos, he wrote: “Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things, which are written therein for the time is at hand.” After he had seen and heard all these things, he was told, “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand!”

With great expectation, all the saints of God throughout the church ages have longed for the fulfilment of prophecies concerning the end-time. Time has certainly moved on and all is pointing to the fact that the coming of Jesus Christ is at hand. Many events connected with that great event have already taken place or will transpire in the imminent future. There can be no further delay, for the time is at hand, wherein God will fully vindicate His Word. The elect of God will realise that the time is at hand for something to take place and search the Scripture diligently, waiting with great anticipation for the realisation of the promises.

Whenever God does something on earth, the people must make their decision. Religious leaders bear an extra great responsibility because of their influence amongst the people, and should think twice before they speak once, less they misjudge the Word of God and His works.

In the days of the first coming of Jesus Christ, the Jews were unable to see the promised Word fulfilled because the priests had taken their stand against Him. They resisted Him and opposed His ministry because they were blinded to the very Truth they preached about. The Lord performed great signs and wonders before their very eyes, did all the things the Scriptures spoke of, but because it was contrary to their understanding of the Scripture, they declared the Lord of Glory and His works to be of the devil. History always repeats itself at times of special visitations of Almighty God. Whenever He performs something on earth, Satan does his utmost to discourage the people and keep them from having a part in it.

Religious leaders of today may refer back to Moses and Abraham, Peter and Paul and other great men in the history of the Church, yet fail to see what God is presently doing. Renowned men preach the Gospel in our day, but are ignorant of what is actually taking place in the kingdom of God according to His promised Word now.

After the New Testament Church was established on the Day of Pentecost, Almighty God sent many revivals upon the earth, but now we find ourselves in the midst of the final move of God. It is sad to have to say that many who are involved in the evangelistic and international missionary outreach in this generation either belong to a Christian denomination and are obligated to it's doctrines, or they themselves have formed their own missionary organisations. 

It is a well-known fact, however, that the Lord has sent His man, who represented no denomination, not even himself, but God and His Word. He had a confirmed ministry that was unrivalled by any other up to this time. As the prophets of old, he too received a direct divine call. His ministry was outstanding and the closest to that of Christ. His whole life was so Christ-like, that the carnally-minded were perplexed, others diverted into fanaticism; the spiritually-minded, however, praised God for such a visitation, for the Word of God took on a new meaning for them. As in all other ages, so it is today. Some are for and others are against; some understand, others misunderstand.

You may question, “What is all the commotion about?” Those who know the infallible gift of discernment in the life and ministry of this humble vessel God has chosen, are quickly leaning towards overemphasising the man. As a result, sincere people have been put off or have become wary because they saw the fanaticism of those claiming to believe the message God has given. It has reached the point in which the one whom God has used so mightily has become the main object of controversy, but in spite of the confusion, God has a people; the Bride of Jesus Christ. She believes in a real experience of salvation, she recognises the moving of the Spirit of God and because she is led by the Holy Spirit, she will find her way through. She is feeding on the Bread of Life and abides in the Word. 

From the Old and the New Testament, we can clearly see that whenever God does something on earth, the enemy will not rest unless he causes upsets amongst the people. Therefore any foolishness later done by the followers should not be attributed to the true men sent from God. The actions of individuals only bring to light whether they follow Christ or are just taken up with a man. The blame goes to those who do not have the spiritual understanding of the plan and purpose of God, and “walk with hob-nailed shoes, where angels fear to trod.”

There are only two sources of inspiration, and in every age there were the spiritually- and the carnally-minded. Individuals and movements have fallen into error by following unscriptural teachings caused by seductive spirits. It is therefore needful to apply the only measuring-rod, the written Word of God. The time is at hand to speak up plainly, whatever the consequences may be. Those who have an ear to hear, will do so.

The background for all things is found only in the Scripture. The prophet Moses rose under a divine commission; Jannes and Jambres were sent by the enemy to confuse the people. They tried to do the same miracles, but without divine commission. Because they didn’t have the promised Word of the hour, they could offer no deliverance nor a blessing to God’s people.

After the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God, Korah and Dathan were wrongly inspired and did their utmost to upset the people within their own camp, stirring up resentment in their midst that Moses was claiming too much for himself. Even Aaron, Moses’ brother, committed a dreadful sin by making a golden calf, saying, “These are our gods, who delivered us out of Egypt.” (Ex. 32:4) It was the same Aaron, who was to bear the names of the children of Israel in his breastplate upon his heart, whenever he went into the holy place. (Ex. 28:29–30)

After all that turmoil within the camp of Israel, Balaam came forth to curse them. God, however, did not permit to curse what He had blest. But watch the shrewdness of the enemy’s approach! How was he able to deceive them? He caused Balaam to be a stumbling block in the way of the redeemed and thereby, idolatry was brought into their ranks, blinding their eyes to the actual leading of God. Later, when judgement struck them because of their murmuring and sinning, God commissioned Moses to erect the brazen serpent. Those who were bitten were healed immediately when they looked upon it in faith, realising that one day the Redeemer would be lifted up to bruise the serpent’s head.

The serpent has never symbolised Christ or the redemptive work, but has always represented the devil. Hezekiah, the king of Judah, of whom it is written, that he walked in the ways of the Lord, destroyed the very serpent Moses had erected. You may ask: How could this have been pleasing unto the Lord, when it had originally been erected under the direct commission of the Almighty? – The very thing had turned into a curse because a seductive spirit was motivating the people to worship it.

Any outsider could rightfully point to the many upsets in their midst, yet in spite of it all, there was still a remnant of God’s people, who looked upon the things that God was doing in their midst. We all must make our choice whether we are going to thrive upon all the enemy does, or whether we are going to look upon the things God is doing by His holy Word. A true believer will always keep his balance and go on with the Lord.

As we are living in the time just prior to the return of Jesus Christ, my thoughts go back to His first coming. It was not easy for the people of that day to find their way through. The Bible mentions two men, who rose to upset the minds of the Israelites. One was Theudas, the other Judas of Galilee. (Acts 5:34–39) Such men always gather a close circle of followers around themselves and promise great things which never happen. Religious leaders then take advantage of such occasions and focus the attention upon the situations and warn or caution the people.

When John the Baptist or even the Lord Jesus began His ministry, the priests no doubt classified them in the same category as the men who had risen in the past. They could have minimised or ridiculed those following the ministry of John the Baptist, saying, “There is your great prophet John, who is now beheaded! His great ministry is over and his followers will scatter.” They could have referred to Judas, who had betrayed his Master and then took his own life. How right their arguments may have seemed when our Saviour was crucified on Calvary! To the bystanders, including the critics, it all seemed to be a just a confusion.

Many things that accompanied the beginning of the New Testament era appeared to be unbalanced and confusing, but those who saw the fulfilment of God’s promised Word, looked upon the same things differently. They could see the Word of God come to pass amidst all the apparent confusion. The Apostle Paul then warns of false brethren, who would rise up from amongst them and preach perverse doctrines and draw disciples after themselves (Acts 20:30). The Apostle John even warns of the anti-Christ spirit, which began to work amongst the people then and also does in our present time.

I don’t find it necessary to concentrate on those men who have obviously gone astray, who have fallen into the snare of the enemy and have thus brought a shameful reproach upon Christ and His Word. Their foolishness is already made known or will be soon. We must be on guard, as there are still those who hide themselves under the cloak of the end-time message and promote their own doctrines. The enemy does not always come as a roaring lion; no, he always comes as cunningly as a serpent and deceives those, who give ear to his arguments. There is no space for tolerance here. Jesus Christ used very strong language and spoke forcefully against the onslaughts of the enemy, when something was said under false inspiration and was contrary to the Word. “Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee. But He turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offence unto Me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” (Matth. 16: 22–23)

This same Jesus still opposes anything that goes forth under the wrong inspiration. He did not say, “Peter, get thee behind me!” He addressed the actual source and spoke directly to Satan. Therefore if the Spirit of Truth is in us, we are going to stand against all unscriptural teachings. Far be it that I try to find fault with any brother, but I charge every Christian to discern the things instigated by the enemy to upset and confuse the believers. Unless we do that under all circumstances, we are in danger of sliding into those things ourselves. If we tolerate false teachings, a wrong spirit is corrupting our minds. The time is at hand to speak the Word boldly. We may be shocked at the moment, but the Truth shall set us free. When error is brought to light, it is judged by the Light, and the enemy loses his stronghold. Responsible brethren who have deviated from the Word, should be left, for God has already left them. They will cause others to be led astray by another spirit as well. If we could only say what the Scripture says and remain silent, where the Scripture is silent, much trouble could be avoided. The slightest deviation from the original Word is most dangerous. The enemy is behind all false theological conceptions, but God is in His Word. 

Satan puts the emphasis on extra knowledge. If the precious sincere people could only detect the lies and sense the poison of the old serpent in the many interpretations they would flee from the tree of knowledge and return to the tree of Life, fully believing God’s holy Word. The Word is Spirit and Life; any private interpretation is death and separates us from God. God will do all He has promised, when the time comes. We need the true discernment of the Holy Spirit now more than ever before. It has become obvious that people who claim to believe the revealed Word for our time actually disregard the Scriptures, pick out their pet quotations from Bro. Branham’s sermons instead and make them fit their own doctrines. Some have lost their balance because they have not lined all things up with God’s holy Word. They have left the plain teachings of the Scripture and have made another Gospel without even being aware of it. The time has come for the Lord Jesus Christ to have the pre-eminence not in words only, but in Truth and reality.

Of course, we’re grateful to God for all His servants, but we preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Has it not become apparent that the cross has been set aside and the great conqueror dethroned in the heart of many a believer in the end-time message? God is looking for a people fully committed to His Word, who receive His Life and bear His fruit. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away,” said Jesus our Lord. He did not explain His power or ministry, but He overcame the enemy by using the Sword of the Spirit – THE WRITTEN WORD. That is the only way we can overcome the enemy. Our experiences, our teachings, whatever it may be, amount to nothing, if they are not based upon God’s holy Word. May the Lord Jesus Christ have the first place in our lives, so that He can manifest his victory through us.