The Promise Of
A Prophet In
The Last Days
The Book of Malachi in chapter 4:5-6 declares great mysteries. However, they have been hidden to the wise and prudent and revealed to babes as would learn. Let us read the scriptures and study them:
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. (Malachi 4:4-6)
Can we see in them we have a dual prophecy? Well if you can’t at this point I hope the word will provide some eye salve as you read further. Many believe the scriptures are pointing to John the Baptist alone. Many Christians have this believe by pointing to the answer that Jesus gave to His disciples:
Mat.17:10: And His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?
11: And answering, Jesus said to them, Elijah indeed comes first and shall restore all things.
12: But I say to you, Elijah already came, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they desired. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer by them.
13: Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them about John the Baptist.
But despite the confirmation by Jesus that John the Baptist was Elijah, when the Jews sent priests and Levites to asked John if he was the Elijah, he refused. Read. (John 1:19-27) It appears contradictory from what Jesus had said but it is not. John the Baptist knew he was not the Elijah prophesied for the restoration all things. It will be another man with the Spirit of Elijah. When John the Baptist came preaching, saying, repent the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, the Jews believed he was the one to restore all things for Israel. But John died when Israel was still under the control of the Romans and many of them too were still blinded spiritually and scripturally. His ministry couldn’t have included restoring all things for Israel but to introduce the Messiah. This is clear in the following scriptures:(Matt. 3:3; Luke 1:17; Mal.3:1) John the Baptist was a Messenger of Christ Jesus with a message of repentance to prepare the way of the Lord.
John the Baptist did indeed fulfill the prophecy of Malachi 4:5-6, but in part. It can be seen from the words of the angel to his father, Zacharias.
“And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, 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.” (Luke 1:17)
The main religion in Israel was Judaism and even still today. John the Baptist preaching of the Gospel caused many Israelites became follower of Christ who will later be called Christians. The religious fathers in Israel held strongly to their traditions and the transition from Judaism to what will be called Christianity (Christ followers) was not an easy ride. But the Message of John the Baptist was powerful and bore fruits making many converts. It did turn the hearts of the Fathers to the Children. Some of the Fathers of Judaism became Children of the Christian Faith as followers of Christ. They became Children of this new faith so to speak as they were still not mature in it. It obviously takes time to grow in a new religion and milk not solid food is recommended in the beginning; spiritually speaking. (cf. 1 Cor. 3:2)
[Note: The New Testament record shows at least two of the religious fathers by name, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, being converts to the Gospel that was first proclaimed by John the Baptist.]
William M Branham Defends His Ministry
“When I was born in a little Kentucky cabin up there, the Angel of the Lord come in the window and stood there. There was a Pillar of Fire.”
And in there, in this little log cabin, that morning on April the 6th, the midwife opened up the window so the light could shine in to let Mama and Papa see what I looked like. Then a Light about the size of a pillow came whirling through the window. It circled around where I was, and went down on the bed.
Several of the mountain people were standing there. They were crying.
The next time I seen It, It’s a whirlwind in a bush, going, “Whew!” And It spoke to me. I was seven years old. Said, “Never smoke, chew, drink, or defile your body in any way. There’ll be a work for you to do when you get older.”
I can hear the water splash yonder on the Ohio River, when I was a little old boy preacher, about twenty-two years old, singing that there. And I heard, looked up above me, and heard a Voice, said, “Look up.” Here come that big Light hanging right yonder, come moving down over me, and said, “As John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first Coming of Christ, you’ll have a Message that’ll forerun the second Coming of Christ.”
Rev. William Marrion Branham: Read More Here
For a long time, Israel had the Law on tablets of stones but God had promised, “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jer.31:33) To turn a heart of stone to that of flesh is a common allegory. It is what the Gospel came to fulfill for the Jews as well as the gentiles. But we are dealing now with the Jews. As can be seen, John the Baptist clearly fulfilled only a part, not all, of Malachi 4:5-6 – “he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children”.
But we should understand that the converted Fathers of Judaism didn’t remain just children in their Christian faith. Many became Fathers of the faith with time. (1 Cor. 4:15) We know about the Apostolic Fathers in the Acts of the Apostles. I want us to take note about this as we deal with the other part of the prophecy. The Apostle Paul lashed out on Hebrew Christians who were slow to become mature spiritually. ” You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.”(Heb. 5:12) Yes, it took some time when the Gospel was first preached to the Jews to become mature in the faith. The Lord Jesus even rebuke His disciples for lack of faith. However, many of them became our Apostolic fathers after the Lord ascension to Heaven. But when these Apostolic fathers died the Church will enter into a different Phase.
The Church, which began on the Day of Pentecost, started to decline after two decades. The spirit of antichrist crept into the assembly. The Church was conquered by the Clergy and will become subjected to traditions of men. It started as the deeds of the Nicolaithans and became full blown doctrine. The Apostle Paul the first gentile Messenger had warned that grievous will come and will not spare the flock.
The Church became an organized religion and many biblical truths were lost. There was spiritual darkness. These were the dark ages of Christianity. Of course you don’t expect believers to grow to maturity in such a spiritual atmosphere. The reformers like Martin Luther and John Westley came to restore some basic truths. Of course there were many other reformers. But it will take Elijah the prophet to turn the hearts of the children to their fathers. (Mal 4.5b) This brings us to the fulfillment of the second part of the prophecy. This has to happen before the Great and dreadful day of the Lord as it is stated in scripture. The “day of the Lord” is mentioned several times in the Bible. It refers to the day when our Lord God will come to reveal Himself to the world. This also throws more light as to why it had to be another man with the Spirit of Elijah and not John the Baptist to fulfil the second part of Mal. 4:5-6 prophecy. This is because this Elijah had to appear before the “day of the Lord”, and that is before the second coming of Jesus. But John died more than 2000 years ago. His Message will also come in the tune of preparing the way of the Lord as John the Baptist’s during Christ Jesus first coming.
His Message will wake up the Church from her Lukewarm state. It is supposed to bring the children out from darkness of the traditions of men. Yes, from the bondage of spiritual Egypt to the promised land of the Word of the Apostolic Fathers.
ELIJAH:
Let us take a look at spirit of Elijah. The Bible declares to us that the spirit of Elijah will appear 5 times on earth. It will be as follows:
1) Elijah the Tishbite: (1 King. 17). He lived in Israel during a period of Israel’s great apostasy. King Ahab had even sanction the worship of Baal as Israel’s official religion. It was a very serious situation. It is said out of a whole nation only 7000 Israelites were faithful to Yahweh and had not bowed to the worship of Baal. Israel had lost the truth of God and Elijah was sent with a prophetic ministry to restore what the Israelites had lost. He boldly spoke against the entire priesthood of the religious system. The nation was spiritually and politically corrupt.
2) Elisha: (2 Kings 2:9) He was called to take Elijah’s place. He was given double portion of Elijah’s spirit.
3) John The Baptist. (Matt. 3; Luke 1:17; Mal.3:1 & Mal. 4:6a)
The Old Testament ended with the Book of Malachi. The Israelites had returned from their captivity in Babylon to resettle in the land of Israel. The temple had been built under the leadership of Zerubbabel. Ezra, Joshua, Haggai and Zechariah helped to build the spiritually condition of the people. They were faithfully guided to the truth. However, Israel will start to backslid again after a period of time. When John the Baptist came into the scene about 450 years after the Prophet Malachi, Israel was all messed up in traditions. The Pharisees thought they were keeping the Law. But his message helped to turn the hearts of many of these traditional staunch Jewish people(fathers) to become children of the Christian faith. (Mal.4:6a)
4) End Time Elijah: (Mal. 4:6b). [I call him the end time Elijah because He is prophesied to come before the “day of the Lord”. Of course there are other scriptures but this one is sufficient for now. It is normal that as God sent a prophet to forerun His first coming, He will send a prophet in the spirit of Elijah to forerun His second coming. The spiritual condition of churches has become Lukewarm and can be compared to the Laodicea church in Rev. 3:14-18) But this end time Elijah will, “turn the hearts of the Children to their fathers.” We see in the Book of Acts that they were people of faith; mature and grounded in the word of God. This Elijah will come with a Message to get the people out of Babylon and to reveal many hidden truths to the Church. Satan will not be able to hide. The eyes of many will be opened to the Apostolic doctrines and caused a mass spiritual exodus from mystery Babylon to the Apostolic faith of the fathers. But who is this Elijah? Is he here on earth or has come and gone?
Many Christians know these are the days of Elijah. And the Ministry of Elijah should be sounding as we are in the last days. But with many false prophets too predicted everyone wants to be careful. Therefore, search the scriptures for in them we have eternal life. Look at the lyrics of the song of this Artist from Ireland called Robin Mark:
These are the days of Elijah
Declaring the word of the Lord
And these are the days of Your servant Moses
Righteousness being restored
And though these are days of great trial
Of famine and darkness and sword
Still, we are the voice in the desert crying
“Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”
The scripture doesn’t give an uncertain sound. Many believe this ministry has come but some are still to find it. I came to learn of one Christian organization many years ago called the Trumpets. The group believe that Rev. Herbert W. Armstrong was the end time Elijah. The man of God wrote many Books and gave many prophecies that came to pass. You can read more about the man here in the Trumpet.com
I also watch a video on YouTube several months ago. The title of the video is Pope Francis Sends Video Message to Kenneth Copeland-Lets Unite. The message was sent through Bishop Tony Palmer- a friend of Pope Francis. Bishop Palmer explained in the video the humility of Pope Francis and how they became friends. He also said all those who are born again are Catholics and he said God has brought him to speak to the congregation in the Spirit of Elijah. He said he made a covenant with Pope Francis to work for the unity of the Church.
I watch another video on YouTube some months later titled, Evangelical Pastor, Close Friend to Pope, Dies After Motorcycle Crash:
Sadly, it was referring to Bishop Tony Palmer. We can see that the Ministry of the End Time Elijah is well anticipated in Christendom and it has come but whether they will recognize it is another story. Bishop Tony Palmer was an ecumenical, charismatics preacher and did work in South Africa and other Countries in the world. I admired his desire, passion and zeal to reach out to the world. It is always good to seek the will of the Lord.
MY DREAM:
I had this dream in the year 2000.
I found myself besides a building; out of a corner came a demon trying to follow me; I kept saying ”I bind you in the name of Jesus” the demon kept going backwards until I could see it no more.
Then an angel of the Lord appeared; I turned around and said, ‘Are you for Jesus” He said ”Yes”
He told me he has a message for me from Brother Branham. He then opened a little book and was showing me something-stressing that I understand it. I then asked him if I could keep the book, he said ”yes”. Then we entered a hall like that of a restaurant. I saw many people holding plates with food inside. He said ”Is there no body here to be baptizing this people?
The Bible tells us to be wise as a Serpent and harmless as a dove. We are living in the last days. Pray without ceasing and let the Bible be your guide.
Try to plant a seed in darkness and deprive it from adequate light and water. You can be sure that the plant won’t mature. It will continue to look a young plant, weak and even die. Well, that was the kind of spiritual environment the deed of the Nicoliatan provided for the Church. Many of the believers couldn’t grow to maturity because they were starved from adequate light and water of the unadulterated word. But God sent Reformers like Martin Luther and John Westley to help to bring some flickers of light and word to the Church. Believers started rejoicing as they turn to the Bible. But the flickers will not be enough as the Church has been in gross darkness. God will have to send a prophet to turn the hearts of the Children to the hearts of their fathers.
Note: The message Is not to TURN THE HEART OF A BROTHER AGAINST A BROTHER. But it is to Turn the Hearts of the children to their fathers. I have explained already what this means. If you need more eye salve, read: Elijah the Prophet in the Ministry of Redemption
I always like to share the God’s word with others. God has given gifts unto men and so when I learn a new thing from other God Called men, I like to share. I arranged a conference and sent invitations many years ago. Just because William Branham was mentioned a Church leader spread lies that I belong to a sect. There were new truths I read in Rev. William Branham Messages that I thought it was good to discuss with other leaders. But this Pastor just went ahead and started to condemn me. I wanted to write back to him but I had this feeling to keep it in prayers. The Pastor is rich and has a big church. He feels that he has the command of the word and over church leaders to decide for them. O! may be he has PHD in Divinity and he is very wise. But wise people at least want others to speak. Rev William Branham explains for example why to baptized according to Matt. 28.14 is an error and the right Baptism is found in Acts. 2:38. There are few other things I would have liked us to reason together with these leaders according to scriptures. But I was condemned by the self-proclaim High Priest.
A few years later the Pastor fell into adultery. He could not preach in his own church as the pulpit was not to be defiled. But how can someone without the fruit of the spirit wants to be a fruit inspector? Puzzling. This man can condemn, judge and persecute me without knowing where he is standing himself. SAD. However, I still keep him in my prayers. God hath committed unto us the Ministry of Reconciliation.
