DEWITT TABERNACLE TEACHING SERIES

 

“THE DOMINION OF GOD’S BRIDE”

 

By C. W. Wood                     July/August 2004

 

 

          In the Eternal purpose of God, it is man, and not some other being, who is to have dominion on this Earth! We do not speak of unregenerate man, but man with God residing in his Soul. In the beginning it was to this man, Adam, that God gave dominion. The fact that Adam forfeited his God-given authority did, in no wise change the plan of God concerning the matter. God has sworn to “Restore all things” and he has already taken the necessary steps to do so. In our life time, He has come back to Earth in the body form of His Prophet, and repeated His ministry of 2000 years ago. His purpose was to restore man’s dominion, give him Rapturing Faith, and then take him home.

          This was the great mystery that had been hidden for ages under the Seventh Seal (Rev. 8:1), the return of Christ in Spirit Word-form, to bring His end-time Bride into the place of having dominion over the Earth. This would be done through the return of the revealed Word, as it was spoken in Gen. 1:26, “And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the Earth, and over every creeping thing that creepth upon the earth.” This was God’s plan from the beginning.

          We know that this first creation, spoken of in the above scripture, was a supernatural man in a body called a Theophany. These creations lived in the heavenlies with their Creator. Then came the day when God’s plan included the placing of these supernatural beings on Earth in bodies made from the dust of the ground. (Gen. 2:7) In this kind of a body, Adam was to have complete dominion over all the earth. (Gen. 1:26) His dominion lasted until the day he willfully disobeyed God.

          In the days of Christ on Earth in a physical body, He gave His Disciples the dominion spoken of in Gen.:1. The Devil, who had come down to Earth, was subject to them through the all-powerful Name of Jesus Christ. It is recorded in Luke 10:17 that the Disciples were filled with joy that the devils were subject unto them through His Name. And Jesus said unto them, “I beheld Satan as lightening fall from Heaven.” That is to say, the Lord Jesus saw Satan defeated in Heaven, and fall to Earth. And now the Lord Himself had come down, “That He might destroy the works of the devil,” on Earth. (I John 3:8) Though many may doubt that in true fact this work was accomplished, the Bride believes it. She is rising to take the dominion that was at such great cost won by Her Lord.

The failure of man in our day to have this dominion is not due to the Lord withdrawing it, but rather to man’s failure to live the life that would bring him the revelation of it. Without this revelation, the masses are subject to the dominion of an enemy who has been totally defeated. But God, not willing for His Elect to be subjected to his defeated enemy, has again come down in spiritual form and opened the Seven Sealed Mysteries.

          The truths that had been hidden under these Seals not only are giving a people Rapturing Faith, but are restoring them to the dominion once held by obedient Adam. God’s Eternal purpose is bound up in man, about whom He has said, “Let him have dominion.” God intended man to have power, to rule and reign in this earthly walk, to control Satan and his demons. For too long we have ignored one of the most powerful statements in the New Testament. Jesus said in Luke 10:19 , “Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, AND OVER ALL THE POWER OF THE ENEMY: AND NOTHING BY ANY MEANS SHALL HURT YOU.” We are now in the hour of this power being restored.

          In the Book of Revelation, John speaks of a day in the future when Satan is to be bound with a chain for a thousand years. (Rev. 20:1-4) Yet Jesus speaks of “The strong man” as already bound, so that we may, by the exercising of Faith, spoil his works on Earth. (Matt. 12:29) The writer to the Hebrews says of Born-Again Christians that they have, Tasted of the powers to come.”

We do know that there is coming a time during the Millennium when, with Christ, we shall rule and reign. But should we not wonder, and ask, what does he mean that we have “Tasted the powers of the age to come?” Is this not the dominion that God is restoring to man; a foretaste of the power to come? (Heb. 6:5)

          Heaven has no problem, the problem is on Earth and man is told to subdue it. Adam, in Eden , was to “dress and keep it.” He was to guard God’s paradise, that is, he was to keep God’s enemy at bay. But through Adam’s failure to do so, Satan gained a foot-hold, and all men were born lost and separated from God. But God cannot be defeated, and as He had planned from the beginning, He came down 2000 years ago and made the New Birth possible. Now man can be restored to his original dominion by reason of being made a “New Creature.” This New Creature is God in flesh bodies!

          Concerning this dominion, a word of caution is necessary. God has not given man dominion over other men, as far as our free moral agency is concerned! No man has power over another man’s will. Our authority can only be directed toward the enemy of men, and not over men themselves. Another truth concerning this dominion is most necessary to understand. The rule of man on Earth is subject to the plan God made before He created, and not to any thought or plan that man might have, contrary to God’s plan.

          There is only one plan that is going to come to pass, and be completed in the final end of all earthly things, and that is the plan God made in the beginning. The plan of Satan has already failed in the lives of true Believers. The plans of unbelieving men will also come to naught. The dominion, of which we speak, is being restored, not to bring to pass the thoughts of men or devils, but to complete God’s perfect plan. What Born-Again Christian does not long to see this work completed, for at its completion, there will be a Resurrection of the Dead in Christ, and a catching away of both the living and the Resurrected Dead.

          For this greatly to be desired end is the Bride of this hour seeking the dominion that was given in Genesis:1, and lost in Genesis:3. What God did not do in the first Adam, he has done in the second. That second Adam is now on the Throne. Adam and Eve could fall, but they could not change God’s plan that man should eventually be restored to dominion over the earth, and all that is on it. His purpose remains unchanged! When will it be known? We have a Prophet’s word that we are in the hour now!

          QUOTE: CHURCH AGE BOOK, PAGES 170-173, “What ever seed started the church will come forth and be like the original seed because it is the same seed. In these last days the true Bride Church (Christ’s Seed) will come to the Headstone, and she will be the super church, a super race, as she nears Him. They in the Bride will be so much like Him that they will even be in His very image. This is in order to be united with Him. They will be one. They will be the very manifestation of the Word of the living God.

          CONT. QUOTE: “The first son (Adam) was the spoken seed-Word of God. He was given a bride to reproduce himself. That is why the bride was given to him, to reproduce himself; to produce another son of God. But she fell. She fell by hybridization. She caused him to die.

          The second Son (Jesus), also a spoken Seed-Word of God, was given a Bride like as was Adam. But before He could marry her, she also had fallen. She, like Adam’s wife, was put to the test whether she would believe the Word of God and live, or doubt the Word and die. She doubted. She left the Word. She died.

          From a little group of true seed of the Word, God will present Christ with a beloved Bride. She is a virgin of His Word. She is a virgin because she knows no man-made creeds or dogmas. By and through the members of the Bride will be fulfilled all that was promised of God to be made manifest in the virgin.

          The word of promise came to the Virgin Mary. But that Word of promise was He, himself, to be made manifest. God was made manifest. He, himself, acted at that time and fulfilled His own Word of promise in the virgin.

          CONT. QUOTE, “The Word is in the Bride (as it was in Mary). The Bride has the mind of Christ for she knows what He wants done with the Word. She performs the command of the Word in His name for she has ‘Thus saith the Lord.’ Then the Word is quickened by the Spirit and it come to pass. Like a seed that is planted and watered, it comes to full harvest, serving its purpose.

          Those in the Bride do only His will. No one can make them do otherwise. They have ‘Thus Saith the Lord’ or they keep still. They know that it has to be God in them doing the works, fulfilling His own Word. He did not complete all His work while in His earthly ministry so now He works in and through the Bride. She knows that, for it was not yet time for Him to do certain things that He must now do. But He will now fulfill through the Bride that work which He left for this specific time.” (End quote)

          David, in Psalms 8, sets forth God’s original plan for man to have dominion on earth. David was very aware of the fall that had robbed the first Adam of his dominion, but in his song, he did not mention the fall, he only stated again the plan of Genesis 1:2, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” (God does not need a mighty military army to stop the power of Satan. His little Babes (Children) are enough to stop all the hosts of Hell, once God take up His abode in them.)

          Ps. 8:6-8, “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy Hands; Thou hast put all things under His feet. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea.” God has not given this dominion to Angels, but rather to Man! Heb. 1:13, “But to which of the Angels said He at any time, sit on My Right Hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?” In Heb 2: 6-7 the Holy Ghost makes reference to the testimony of David in Psalms 8, “But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the Angels; Thou crownedst him with Glory and Honor, AND DIDEST SET HIM OVER THE WORKS OF THY HANDS.”

          Far from God’s plan for man’s dominion being lost, or changed, we have lived to see its fulfillment in our day! What a powerful and glorious thing to know that the One who made the promise, has Himself, come down on Sunset Mountain , and has set in motion the plan (Message) that is reinstating the Bride to her God-ordained position of authority! We can say that Christ has come, and by His revealed Word, has secured the Bride’s position. The purpose of God, which was the complete overthrow of Satan’s power, is now in progress. Not to glorify man, but to prove God’s supremacy!

          By the binding of the strong man, through His Word in the mouth of the Bride, God’s work on Earth is in the process of fulfillment! God’s sovereignty is even now being exercised on Earth through His Bride! She has now regained the spiritual authority over God’s foe, and has reclaimed the Earth from Satan, and turned it back to the God who created it. By man, this authority was lost, and now by man, it is regained! The Bride’s duty is to deal with Satan himself, evict him from God’s territory, and set God’s captives free.

          Man cannot save man; the Bride cannot save another Bride member. Man cannot heal man; the Bride cannot heal another Bride member. But we can bind the strong man who is blinding their eyes and keeping them from salvation and healing.

          God has commissioned His End-Time Bride to take dominion over the power of Satan, breaking his hold on the people and opening the door for the Holy Ghost to minister!

QUOTE: OLD DEMONOLOGY BOOK, PAGE 14-15, “A sinner come to the altar and say, ‘Brother Branham, I--I... Say, I want you to pray for me. I--I want to be good, but I just… You pray for me,’ and go back in your seat.

Next night, say, ‘How many wants to be saved?’ Here he stands up. ‘You want to be saved, young man?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Well, why don't you get saved?’

‘I don't know.’

Said, ‘You're just...’ The Devil's holding that boy. That's all. He wants to do right, but there's a spirit, a power that won't let him be right.

Now, hallelujah, there it is. No wonder, if God will never ever prove, man, that God never said he could heal somebody. Christ done that when He died. I couldn't save nobody, or no one else can save anybody, but God.

And the only thing that kept me from being saved when I was twelve years old, because a spirit hung over me, a devil, saying, ‘Wait a little while longer.’ That's the reason you wasn't saved when you become the age of accountability. A spirit, you got with a crowd, and that hung over you and kept hanging over you. You wanted to do right. There's not a man that's got his right mind but what wants to do right, but there's something won't let you do right. Is that right? That's the Devil. Hallelujah. Christ paid your healing and your salvation.

 Now, here it is. You get ready. He commissioned His Church to cast them devils out. There you are. ‘In My Name they shall cast out devils.’ You ain't going to heal nobody, but you're going to cast the devil away from them so they can accept the healing I've already done.’ That's right.

Preachers stood on the platform and preached the Gospel; devils scatter. The man come to the altar under conviction, say, ‘I want to get saved.’ He never saved the man; he cast out the devil (That's right.), and the man got saved. He come, accepted his salvation.

It’s the same thing by Divine Healing. You sick people here this morning, believe that, and have been born again, and are sons and daughters of God, Christ has already healed you. The only thing keeps you from being well this morning is a spirit hanging over you that won't fully let you go out yonder and believe God's promise that He's done it. That's right.

Now, that's my commission. That's what God gave me; it's what He give every Gospel preacher who'll believe Him: the power and authority to break that spirit.” (End quote)    

If we take the above statements of the Prophet to the scriptures, we find they are “Thus Saith The Lord.” John 14:12,“Verily, verily I say unto you (Surely, surely I say this to you.) He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto My Father.” Luke 10:19, “I give you power to tread on serpents…..and over all the power of the enemy.” Mark 16:17, “In My Name shall they cast out devils…..”

In Matt. 9:28 is the story of Jesus healing the man with palsy. In Verse 8 there, is a strange statement, “But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto MEN.” This verse seems to point out the humanity of Jesus, as He ministered by the power of the nine gifts of the Holy Ghost. We were taught that He laid down His Divinity (His Godhood) and ministered as a man filled with the Holy Ghost. In so doing, He became our example, and therefore could say, “The works that I do shall you do also.”

          Over and over in the scriptures we find God’s purpose for His saved ones to have dominion on Earth. Satan was allowed to spoil this authority in Eden , but only so that after he had done his best (worst), God could prove His Lordship, by restoring what had been lost. For almost forty years now we have been in the time of the “Former Rain.” This was the TEACHING RAIN. Now we have entered into the time of the “LATTER RAIN.” This last rain consists of the Spirit of God ANNOINTING the Word that has been received into the minds and hearts of the Elect.

          This word that has been received, but has been laying dormant in us, is now being quickened by the Holy Ghost Spirit. This amounts to the Bride Revival that was promised. Reports are coming in from around the world about the mighty works of God. The dead are being raised, the power of Satan is being broken over the lives of demon possessed people, and they are turning to Jesus Christ! Crippled bodies are being restored, and tormented minds are finding refuge in Christ.

          It is this writer’s firm belief that God’s End-Time Revival is now in progress. Remember friends, it’s almost over when this revival starts. It will be a short, quick work. The world will not receive it; there will be no announcement of this true revival in the news media. We have reports of false revivals, false because the message they bring is false, but remember, the Prophet said, “Before there can be a counterfeit there has to be a real.”

          This is no time to grow slack. We must not fall by the wayside at this late date. It is not those who started out to serve God years ago who will make the Rapture, but those who are fully serving Him on that day. My heart is grieved as I receive reports concerning those who were once in the front line of God’s Army, but are now fallen back into some ways of the world. The Word of the Lord to those is, “Repent, confess your sins, receive His unfailing Grace and be restored. In a spiritual sense, He has risen from His Throne and is ready to run to meet you (Luke 15:20 ). As you read this sermon, we have prayed for you and have loosed you from the snare of the enemy. Come home to Father, in Jesus Name. Amen!

 

 

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