QUESTION:
How Is God’s Bride Identified?
ANSWER:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” [2 Corinthians 5:17]
“That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” [Ephesians 5:27]
“Now I said a moment ago that the false vine came into full fruition in this age. Her fruit would mature and ripen. That is correct. This evil-spirited church, full of iniquity, will be revealed as the mustard seed that grew into a tree wherein lodged the fowls of the air. At her head will be the antichrist, the mystery of iniquity. All this is true. And if this is true, then it must also be true that the Bride Church will mature, and her ripeness shall be an identification with her Lord by means of the Word, and her Head Who will come to her is the Mystery of Godliness, Which indeed is Christ. And as the false church with all cunning and diabolical power made up of political force, physical force and demons of darkness come against this true vine, the true vine with the fullness of the Spirit and the Word will do the very acts of power that Jesus did. Then as she nears her Headstone, becoming like Him through the Word, Jesus will come that the Bride and Groom may be forever united as one.” [Church Ages Book 363]
“The thing of it is, after we find out these things, that Christ is Coming for His Bride, now how do we get into that Bride? That's the question. Many say, "Join our congregation." One of them wants a certain type of baptism. One wants to do this or that. One said, "You must speak with tongues, or you haven't got It." The other one said, "You don't have to speak with tongues." This one says, "You must dance in the spirit." This says, "You must shout." This, "Got a sensation." It's all all right, and then, still, it's all wrong. How could a man that's... or a woman, or a child of God, that's born of the Spirit of God, deny the Word of God? When, God Himself interpret It and say, "This is It. I promised It. Here It is," showing It just as plain as It can. Why, they're bound to see It. See? How could Christ deny His Own Word? And if Christ is in you, It can't deny His Own Word.” [65-1204 The Rapture, Yuma, AZ]
“In Saint John 15, never pruned the Vine out, now. He took the branches off, cut them out, because they wasn't bearing any fruit. And--and we... Jesus wants fruit of, for Hisself. His Wife must bring forth the kind of a children that He is. Then, if it don't bring forth children, Bride children, Word children, then it's the denominational child. Then, her first love, for the world and denomination, she's gone back to that. And it can't bring forth a real, genuine, born-again Christian, 'cause there's nothing there to bring It forth.” [65-1204 The Rapture, Yuma, AZ]
“Dear God, You know what's behind that hand, down there under the heart. I pray, dear God. There's only one thing I'm responsible for, that's, to tell the Truth. And, dear God, they want to be saved. They want to, really. They--they don't want this something that's just some emotion, some work up, some denominational system, some creed, some dogma that's been added. They understand, Father, that it takes the pure, unadulterated Word of God. Everything else will pass away, even heavens and earth, but It won't. And if we be that Word, the earth will pass from beneath us, but we can never pass away, because we are that Word, the Bride of the Groom.” [65-1204 The Rapture, Yuma, AZ]
“Remember what, What Time Is It, Sir? How many ever heard it? Say, "Amen." [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Was it exactly right? ["Amen."] Then we've got the revelation in this last days, for the Message of the Lord God to gather His Bride together. No other age has it been promised. It's promised in this age: Those promises is just exactly like John the Baptist identified himself in the Scripture.” [65-1125 The Invisible Union Of The Bride Of Christ, Shreveport, LA]
“He can't choose It by a denomination, when He didn't choose Christ by a denomination. Did Christ come to a denomination? Did He come by a denomination? No. They rejected Him. Well, that's what the denomination done then. Then when He chooses a Bride, can He come any other way? How did He bring Christ here? By the Word of the prophets. Is that right? How will He bring His Bride here? By the Word of the prophets. How did He identify Him when He come? By a man with the spirit of Elijah upon him, come out of the wilderness. How will He identify His Bride? He promised in Malachi 4 the same thing, before He destroyed the earth, like it was in the days of Sodom.” [65-0718m Trying To Do God A Service Without Being The Will Of God, Jeffersonville, IN]
“We're living in the age that His Coming will be in. She must be identified in Him. Any woman must be identified with her husband, for the two are one. And Christ's Bride has to be identified with Him, for the two are One; and He is the Word, not the denomination. The Word! We are to be the children of the Light, and the Light is the Word which is made Light for this age. How do we know Light except It comes from the Word? All right. The Word made flesh is the Light of the age; when you see It, and the Bible said so.” [64-0719m The Feast Of The Trumpets, Jeffersonville, IN]
“Israel, in that exodus, as they come out that time, they had to have the token, to prove that they was identified with their sacrifice. And, tonight, God requires the baptism of the Holy Ghost, for a proof that we've been identified in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is nothing short of it. The Bible teaches it, plain, and we must believe it. It's God's Word. God is requiring it. We're having an exodus, again. We all know that. Israel was marching to the promised land, so will the Bride go to her Home, pretty soon.” [64-0208 The Token, Bakersfield, CA]
“Paul was a Nazarite unto the Lord. He was separated from his orthodox church, to the Word of the living God. Aaron was a Nazarite unto the Lord. He was separated from among the brethren, to bear the birthstones and to be the high priest. It is a total separation. We're not to go back into the world no more, or have anything to do with the world, but cleave only unto God.
Jesus is coming after a Bride, a Woman, a Church that's separated from the things of the world, or the cares of the world. She is separated from the fashions of this modern age that we live in. She is separated from the--the cares and the traditions of churches. She is separated only to God, and God is the Word. And as husband and wife is one, so does the Bride and the Word become One, for the Word is living through the Bride. That's how. That's her credentials. That's her identification.” [64-0121 God's Word Calls For A Total Separation From Unbelief, Phoenix, AZ]
“God guided those gifts because they were the gifts to identify Him. Wise men, today, who can look away from church-anity and all the things of the world, to the Living Word of God! And God will identify His Son by His Word, because That's what He is. "I and My Father are one." And, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." And the same Word today, He's the same yesterday, today and forever. And a wise man follows That, because That's what God takes care of to identify Himself by It. Amen! A gift! A real, identified gift of God, God brings that to the earth, a thing like that, to identify Himself by.” [63-1222 God's Gifts Always Find Their Places, Jeffersonville, IN]
“Notice then the preparation for His promised-land people. Notice what He did. First, He had a people that He had made a land for them. He had prepared a land for them. And now He sent down there a preparation for it, for the promised-land people. It was only for those who were predestinated to that promised land, Bride day. And how He done it, He sent a prophet with a message, identified it by a Pillar of Fire, and gave a token that they could rest assure that it was right. That's right. It was her consolation. Israel, coming out of Egypt then, was a--a type. This is the antitype, of the Church coming out of the denominations. Now, not all denominate. I mean the Bride. See? Some people, there is some of the independents just as bad as the denominationals, sometimes worse than. I'm talking about the applied Token. The Token agrees with every Word. See? It's got to, because It is the Word. It's the Life that was in the Word. "My Words are Spiritual; They are Life," said Jesus.” [63-0901m Token, Jeffersonville, IN]
“But the Church (the Bride) is united by one God, under one Spirit (the Spirit of God), in one holy Union of God, to be one holy Bride to God. That's right, all together; unity of the Body. The Body waiting as a Bride; as--as it is the Bride, as we call ourselves the Bride. For the uniting time of the Bride, the Church is so coming together. It should create such a love among us that we could hardly be away from one another. That's right. We just... you don't have to beg people to pray, you don't have to beg them to worship God, you don't have to beg them to do what's right. They're just so in love with Him, till there's nothing else.” [63-0818 The Uniting Time And Sign, Jeffersonville, IN]
"He is the first fruits of the resurrection." Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Watch. Then, what is He? "He is the Head of the Body, which is His Church, Bride." Uh-huh. Then, the Bride-Body must follow the Head, for it is part of His resurrection and part of the mystery. It's impossible for it not to go. Oh, my! It's part of God's mystery, how God revealed Himself here and raised it up by the Word, so He reveals His Church and raising it up by the same Word. It's a part of His threefold mystery. As the Head was took from the grave, so must the Body follow Him back to Eden. Where, the Head of the family, the Man, the Bridegroom; the Bride being the Body of the Bridegroom, must follow, the Bride, because that's the Head. And the Head is revealed, and come back with Eternal Life; and the Body must follow that, because it is Husband and Wife again. Amen! And as long as you're pregnated with the same Word, which is His Body; you've took His Body, become in Him, when you took the Word. Not the creed; the Word! Oh, my! Wouldn't that make a text for this afternoon, to go on? Huh? My, wouldn't that be wonderful? See? Just think of it now, what it is. Therefore, the Body cannot recognize... Don't you fail this. The Body, therefore, cannot recognize any other headship but the Word. Cause, the--the Head is connected with the Body, and the Head is the Word, and it's the same Word, one Headship! Therefore, denominations, and holy fathers, and everything else, is dead dung. There is one Headship, that's Christ. The Body only recognizes one thing, the Word!” [63-0728 Christ Is The Mystery Of God Revealed, Jeffersonville, IN]
“Now, keep those things in mind. The Church must believe every Word, every promise, every iota, and claim It for themselves, and exercise themselves in It. If I was engaged to a girl, and I was a single man, and I'd send her something, an engagement ring, and she wouldn't wear it, then that shows she doesn't believe me. She--she--she doesn't want to be my bride. And if Christ sends His church the gifts that He promised, and they refuse them and say "they're not so," they don't want to be the Bride of Christ. They are espoused to some other lover, and not to Christ, the Bridegroom. So the real Church keeps the promise, and keeps all, and accepts the gifts that God sends them. All right.” [62-0211 Oneness, Jeffersonville, IN]
“But did you ever notice what the real Church is supposed to do? In the Old Testament, when they had the--the sacrifice, they killed one bird, and put the blood of one upon the other, the dead mate; and it flew across the earth, spreading the blood of the dead mate. When the Church becomes the real Bride of Jesus Christ, she'll carry the Blood of Jesus Christ with her, sprinkling it upon the ground, calling, "Holy, holy, holy, unto the Lord." Her atmosphere, her every bit of her will be of God. Her whole makeup will be of God. You can't expect nothing else.” [62-0121e The Marriage Of The Lamb, Phoenix, AZ]
“And until the church of the living God, that's called the bride of Christ, gets herself connected with God like that, she'll still wallow in the world, in the miry clay of sin, until she's connected with God in such a way, till her heart is so filled with glory and power of God, until she can't see nothing else but Christ. That's right.” [62-0121e The Marriage Of The Lamb, Phoenix, AZ]
Bible References: 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 5:27
[Answer provided by Bro. Ken Andes, Minister, Blaine, Washington, USA]