William Branham, a man sent by God

William Branham, a man who lost his way.

I know that the title I have given this article will be a turn off and objectionable for those of you who have followed the ministry of this man and consider yourselves to be part of the group called “Message Believers”. So just to state my position concerning this man and his ministry as I see it, I will begin with a personal testimony of my own and speak from my heart as God has revealed the facts to me.

I was privileged to have personally known William Branham and his family as they were close friends with my Grandparents, Roda and Ella Cox. My Grandparents, in addition to have been close friends with the Branham Family for many years were also the Secretary and Treasurer of William Branham’s Evangelistic ministry. Because of serving in these offices they received the mail that was sent in from around the World and personally answered these letters for William Branham. While living with my Grandparents I heard about all the testimonies of healings that took place and the souls who received the salvation of the Lord around the World.

The only next best thing that could happen to anyone, other than to have been present during the ministry of Jesus, is to have been alive during the ministry of William Branham and witnessed the power of God working through his ministry. If it wasn’t enough to just believe the way God worked through His Son Jesus as He preached the gospel as it is recorded in the Bible to cause a person to believe, it became even more real in our time to witness the same thing with William Branham’s ministry. If a person had faith in God before He sent William Branham, their faith had to be multiplied many times over to see God working in our day.

Because of the testimonies about this demonstration of God in my day my faith has benefited tremendously from what I have witnessed and heard about. I personally thank God, not only for sending Jesus to make the atonement for me, but also for the opportunity to have been alive during William Branham’s ministry, who was without a doubt, A Man sent by God.

The one and only commission that William Branham received from God was to “do the work of an Evangelist” and at that time I believed to “pray for the sick for their healing”. This was how his ministry started out and because many healings being reported having taken place, he was invited to other churches to minister to the people with some supernatural gifts that were in operation. In the beginning William Branham did not preach in these churches. Only after someone else had preached a sermon, he was called to the podium to perform his healing ministry.

After a time William Branham then began to preach and because of the differences in his preaching and the doctrines that the churches had, invitations to preach in other churches stopped.

William Branham and some of his associates then began to organize evangelistic crusades and traveled around holding healing meetings on their own. Somewhere along the way, William Branham lost sight of the commission that God had given him to preach the gospel and began to teach bible doctrine, getting out of his calling and eventually lost his way in what he was supposed to have done. He was sent by God to preach the gospel, but thought his commission was to teach doctrine. That was not what God sent him to do.

William Branham realized this after a time and said, in his own words:

“I've wronged. I've done wrong. That's why I've based these sermons the way I have. 'Cause He said, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with you," and when that hand come down and pointed that very same Scripture... For a long time I've wondered, because I didn't know what the commission was. I've looked for something supernatural beyond that. God cannot get away from His commission. God give the commission; that's what it must remain.”

William Branham said: “There's the new ministry. It's just been revealed to me. "Pray for the sick. Get the people to believe you." God can never leave that. That's His commission; no matter what goes on, how much I fail. I fail miserably. I should've never went ahead with them signs; that wasn't the will of God, but God's blessed it anyhow. But I'm ready to leave this mountain. I want to go across Jordan. I want to carry the commission. "Get the people to believe you."”

But by this time, because of the success of the overwhelming nature of the supernatural occurrences during his life and ministry, it was too late to get back to the basics of his commission from God. Those who were close to him convinced him that he was more than just an evangelist. They started to promote him as a prophet and the fulfillment of many other prophesies in the bible, such as the seventh age messenger, the return of Elijah, the angel of Revelations chapter ten, etc and it had gone too far to correct these errors in belief.

Just like many preachers before and after him, he believed that God was going to reveal the secrets of the seven seals to him and preached on them, but it also was in error. He said that seven angels opened the seven seals to him and knowing that the bible said it was Christ that would open them in Heaven, before the Throne. He interpreted the receiving of the King’s sword in the mountains of Arizona as being the third pull, the revelation of the Word, but it wasn’t. He got part of it right, it was the third pull being the manifestation of the spoken Word, but he didn’t interpret it that way and the third pull was not manifested during his ministry. He misinterpreted the cloud of seven angels and the blast as being the sign for him to preach the seven seals, but it wasn’t. It was the sign of how his life and ministry would be ending instead.

It is not my intent to make William Branham look bad because he was a good, honest and humble man of God that did a tremendous work for God and many souls were saved because of his efforts. What I have described is just the result of an amazing ministry having ended so abruptly because of the influence of other people causing William Branham to get out of his calling that God sent him for.

Even now exists a blind following of his teaching that in part is not in harmony with the original scriptures being circulated around the World and the people holding him up as an idol with his picture above their mantels with the light shining above his head. Here is a man that had very little in the way of wealth during his life as he practically lived out of a suitcase, while his family is raking in millions of dollars each year selling books and tapes all over the World as they distribute a large amount of false teaching that is against God’s Word.

All of William Branham’s teaching was not in error, but he started off with two doctrines that formed the basis for much misinterpretation of scripture. The first enormous error that he started with was that the bible was in its entirety the Word of God and error free. That is absolutely not true. The bible contains many errors that contribute to false interpretations and even though the bible does contain the Word of God, it is not completely God’s Word.

The second very important misinterpretation of scripture was his teaching that Jesus and Jehovah God the Father was the same person. Many scriptures deny this fact that he taught, but some are interpreted to infer that Jesus might have been. Although, the preponderance of the scriptures states that Jesus and the Father were not the same person, but Jesus was the SON of God and not God Himself.

On Saturday December 29, 1962 William Branham had the vision of the angels coming for him and the blast that was to end his life and thought it was his end being shown to him. The next day on Sunday December 30, 1962 he preached two sermons at the Tabernacle in Jeffersonville Indiana. The two sermons were “The Absolute” and “Is this the sign of the end, Sir”. You can’t believe how appropriate these were.

I believe that he expected his death to be very imminent and attempted to set the record straight by preaching on “The absolute” before leaving on a trip that he might have thought was his last time being in the Tabernacle. During this message of “The Absolute” he made it clear that the absolute in our lives should be “The Word of God” and only that.

The Word of God is the only absolute and exists in the original scriptures before man has polluted it with his incorrect interpretations and translations. The true Word of God is the absolute and is not dependent on anything else including some preacher’s interpretation.

We must get back to the basics just like William Branham knew he had to get back to what he believed at that time was his one and only commission which was to “pray for the sick”.

Back to the Bible is the word for this day as the time is short.

Accept this from a Watchman on the wall sounding the alarm.

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William Branham, The Gift of Divine Healing?

The bible tells us that certain gifts are given to members of the body of Christ by God. Among many other gifts which are given are the gift of healing and the gift of the working of miracles. What we are going to examine for the most part is the gift of healing, but since they are so closely associated, we must also touch on the working of miracles at the same time.

The difference between the gift of healing and the working of miracles is such that healing is something that takes place over time and the working of miracles usually takes place instantly. A person who has the gift of healing can expect the person who is to be healed to improve over a period of time and if the gift is truly a gift of God, the person will achieve their healing regardless of their belief in the gospel of Christ. By the same token, the gift of the working of miracles is an instantaneous occurrence and requires no belief on the person’s faith.

The bible tells us that Jesus healed all the people who came to Him of all their sicknesses and all their diseases wherever He went. Although Jesus had the gift of healing, the healings that He performed should probably be classified as miracles since the bible infers that these healings took place instantly. Nowhere does the Bible infer that that any of these healings took place over any period of time.

There was one instance pointed out in the bible where Jesus did not perform any mighty miracles in His home town because of the unbelief of the people in Him. The scripture says in Mark 6:5: “And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.” This being the opinion of the writer of this passage, I would take with a grain of salt, as I cannot believe that Jesus could not do any miracles, except He probably chose not to because of their attitude.

We are going to examine the healing ministry of William M. Branham that began in 1946. I’m sure that there were other healing ministries before and after his, but since I am more familiar with his ministry than any of the others, we will comment on his only.

According to William Branham, he received a visitation of an angel from God to advise him of a commission from God to proceed out on a ministry of Divine Healing that would take him around the World. Following is what the angel was reported as saying to him:

 "Fear not. I'm sent from the Presence of God to tell you that this peculiar life of yours, peculiar birth... that you’re to take. a gift of Divine healing to the peoples of the world." And said, "If you'll be sincere, and will get the people to believe you, there will be no disease stand before your prayer, not even to cancer."

I know that when I heard William Branham many times over and over, I just accepted what the angel told him and accepted it without giving it a second thought. It really grieves me in my heart to even question what the angel told him, but something about it really didn’t make a lot of sense to me and the truth is all that I want to understand, hopefully without grieving the Spirit of God.

The angel told him that he was being given the gift of Divine Healing, but then the angel said there was a condition attached to it. Now if this was a gift of Divine Healing, then it should have been a gift that William Branham could have used at will and it would have been effective every time because it was a gift from God. If there were conditions put upon the use of the gift, then it really wasn’t a gift.

The angel told him that it would be necessary for him to get the people to believe him that he did have this gift from God in order for it to work. If it was going to require the faith of the people in him having this gift for it to work, then it was based upon the people believing him and it no longer was a gift that he could put in operation at his will.

Then the angel said something about prayer. He said that when William Branham prayed for the healing of the people, not even cancer could stand before his prayer. Now came another condition for his gift of Divine Healing to work, he had to pray to God before the gift would work. If this Divine gift was really a Divine gift from God, it shouldn’t have been dependent upon getting the people to believe him and not upon him having to offer prayer in order for God to do the healing. So it really wasn’t a gift that he could use at will.

Time and time again during his services, William Branham would tell the people that he couldn’t heal anyone, that it was God who did the healing. If so, then he didn’t have a gift of healing. So, why then would the people have to believe in him having this gift of Divine Healing if all he was to do was to pray for the sick and God would then heal them?

Were sick people healed during his services? I was not a first hand witness to any, but reports from others said that people were healed and some instantly. If so, then those instant healings should have been recognized as healing miracles as was some that were reported. For the most part the healings that did take place were as a result of their faith. These would be called faith healing and not Divine Healing. Again, faith healing would take place over a period of time and divine healing would be instantaneous, thusly a miracle healing.

Just another thing that we need to touch on is two signs the angel told William Branham would be in operation to get the people to believe that God has sent him for their healing. Here’s what was said:

He said, "You'll be given two signs, as was the prophet Moses." He said, "One sign will be that you're to--you'll detect diseases through your hand. When the people contact you, well you'll be able to tell them what diseases they have through a supernatural discernment." And then said, "If you'll be sincere, then it will come to pass that you'll tell the people the secrets of their hearts, and the things that they've done in life that might've hindered their healing, and so forth."

So, the angel said that these two signs would build up the faith of the people to accept that God has sent him with a gift of healing and believe that God will heal them. The first sign was very effective in building up the faith of the people and when healings began to take place, he started receiving calls from many places for him to come and minister to them.

I would like to reconcile what the commission really was in light of what the angel said to him, but the statement was very confusing as it appeared that he was being given a gift, but it had conditions associated with it, so the gift really wasn’t a gift. The real commission, as I see it, was to get the people to believe that God had sent him to pray for their healing and with the vindication of the two gifts convincing them, their faith would bring on their healing from God.

So to conclude, this did not appear to be a gift of Divine Healing for William Branham, but a ministry to draw the people to God through their faith to believe the Gospel and receive their salvation.

The success of William Branham’s ministry caused many other ministers across the land to startup their own faith healing ministries. Many of then attempted to copy the signs that Branham used to buildup the faith of the people, but never worked for them because it wasn’t the real thing. 

There are some, who for their own reasons disputed the success of William Branham saying it was all trickery and false methods were used to fool the people. These people continue this day some 50 years after William Branham died by writing books and using the Internet to dispute that God used him.

Although, they can’t argue with success and dispute the untold number of souls that were saved Worldwide.

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A Family of Prophets

Does God ordain everyone in a certain family to be a Prophet? Now we all know that is not true because it doesn’t happen that way. Even so, William Branham thought that his son Joseph would become a prophet after his ministry ended. He said that he wished his spirit would come on Joseph in a double portion of what he had.  William Branham said “I'd like to live long enough that I could see my little Joseph setting there become a minister; take the spirit that I shall leave him.

What a thing to say that he wanted his spirit to come on Joseph in a double portion, his spirit not God’s Spirit. He said that when he dedicated Joseph as a baby, "Joseph, my son, you are a prophet." Later on he stated that God had spoken through him and was the one who pronounced Joseph as a prophet. That amounts to “Thus saith the Lord” saying that God spoke those words.

While William Branham was praying he said: “God, when my days are done, I'd like to see little Joseph be a man that I could place this Bible in his hand. Because the day of his dedication, You spoke (God spoke) Said, "Joseph, thou art a prophet." I pray, God, that You'll let double portion of the spirit on my boy

Well, this was one time that God did not speak those words through him, even though it amounted to “Thus Saith the Lord” and he was mistaken, because his son Joseph is not a prophet. Joseph must have thought that his father’s words would have come to past, because when he got older he began to promote himself as a prophet, but it didn’t work and his assertion was repudiated by many in the church.

Even though, Joseph continues to perpetuate this idea that he might be a prophet by including the words of his father on his profile on the Voice of God website saying: “Joseph my boy, I give you to God and may your life be a blessing. May you be a prophet Joseph”. Why else would Joseph include these words of his father other than to perpetuate the false assumption that he is a prophet? That is the reason.

On one of the “Message Believers” websites this person wrote the following statement: “The word has been spoken, Brother Joseph Branham is God's prophet. You can't change it. He made himself know as he is running his heavenly father’s business according to his call into the office at the headquarters where the food has been stored by the major prophet in this age for the bride of Christ. He founded VOGR and acting as a business man in 1981, some call him the C.E.O others call him president of VOGR. God call him his prophet, thus the main thing.’

Who will it be next? Will they promote one of William Branham’s grandsons to be the next in line for the office of a man made prophet also?

God put five offices in the church for the “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, for the unity of the faith”. They were apostles; prophets; evangelists; pastors and teachers. The last true God sent prophet was Jesus Himself. The last Apostles were the twelve that Jesus ordained and now the church has only Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers to fulfill God’s plan for the last days and there is still no unity of the faith as God planned for it to be.

The “Message believers” who follow William Branham’s teaching say that you must believe everything he said if you are to be taken in the rapture and that his messages must be preached in all the nations of the World before the end comes. This is not according to what the bible teaches us. These are all lies of the devil and are not according to God’s Word.

In closing I’ll state this; the bible is the only thing that contains the truth of God’s Word. False teachers and false prophets in these last days are deceiving people just as Jesus predicted.

Return to the Bible and be on solid ground, or sink on the shifting sands of the time that remains.

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Whose Voice do you hear?

We sometimes call it our conscience that tells us what is right and what is wrong that we are deciding on in life, but it could be something else. There are two outstanding powers on this Earth that influences our life and the decisions that we make, the power of good and the power of evil, two opposing forces.

The power of good is obviously God and the power of evil is the devil. Both of these speak to each of us on a daily basis and influence our thoughts and actions in some extent according to how we submit to these two voices that speak to us. The result of which of these voices influence our life depends upon what is achieved by how we respond to them.

Back in the beginning of life on this Earth, the first man Adam heard the voice of God for the first time. Adam recognized who God was and followed God’s instructions and commands. Then along came the first woman Eve. There is no indication in scripture that Eve had ever heard the voice of God, so the first voice she heard outside of Adam’s voice was the voice of the serpent. It appears that Eve may have thought the serpent was God since it was the first time she heard another voice and spoke almost the identical thing that Adam told her that God said to him. From that fateful day until this time both of these voices are speaking to us and influencing our behaviors.

God has an advantage over satan today insomuch as He not only speaks to us from His written Word and speaks directly to our spiritual heart. This is something that satan does not have access to, is a person’s spiritual heart and he doesn’t have his word written in a bible like God does. Satan does though speak to our mind and through other people that he uses for his own pleasure.

So, who are we going to accept? Are we going to accept God speaking through His written word and directly into our inner heart, or satan speaking to us through our mind and other men? We need to determine which voice that we hear has the most influence on the good that we could do and which voice that we hear is for the destruction of other people’s lives.

If we find that we are serving man, we just might be serving the devil instead while we think we are serving God.

Do you desire to hear the voice of God? If so, then listen to that still small voice that speaks to your heart and not from a tape recording. Do you want to read the Word of God? If so then read it in the Bible and not from a book with a name of “The Voice of God” or “The Spoken word”.

Jesus said “blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”

And further He said: “there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

In this day that Jesus said there would be false teachers we need to be certain that we understand the true Word of God contained in the Bible, listen to God as He speaks to our heart and believe HIS WORD above any man’s word.

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The Divinity of Jesus

One of the worst things that can happen to the church is for a bunch of preachers to get together to determine what bible scripture actually means. Each one will come to the meeting with an understanding of the scripture as a result of their own interpretations which have been developed on their own, or as a result of what someone else has taught them. This is what happened when the First Nicene council convened in the year of 325 AD.

In 325 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine called together representatives from all the churches under his rule. This occurred because some of the Bishops complained to him that many of the churches were teaching heresy. So Constantine summoned all the church representatives together in an effort to have them come to a consensus about their different beliefs. Well there is no way anyone can get any church preacher or bishop to admit their teaching is wrong and agree to change, but Constantine did. Or at least they finally agreed to change, whether or not they really did after they returned home.

The way Constantine managed to get these church leaders together and agree to a consensus on their beliefs was to command them to remain there with him until they do. Well, you know how that went, it didn’t take long for them to come together and agree to a common set of beliefs.

The most important subject that was causing conflict between the different churches was the subject of the divinity of Jesus. Some of the churches believed that Jesus was God incarnate and some didn’t. Of course it is evident that this difference of opinions resulted because of their interpretations of Bible scripture. The understanding of some scripture leads to a belief that Jesus was actually God who came to Earth in the body of Jesus that He made for Himself. The others held to the opposite belief also as a result of many scriptures indicating that Jesus was only the Son of God and not God Himself.

It would be beneficial to take a look at some of the scriptures that pertain to the establishment of the relationship between Jesus and God the Father to see if the consensus of scripture can determine in either way where the truth lies. If we were to embark on this study, we could find many statements in scripture that could be accepted as proving one way or the other that Jesus was and/or was not in fact the same person as God the Father. In doing so, we would end up determining that a consensus among us was not possible.

In light of this we see that even before the convening of the Nicene council there was not a consensus among the churches and now in this day the churches are still divided over this same  issue and many other doctrines.

Most of the scriptures that indicate that Jesus was in fact God the Father can be explained for various reasons to indicate that the scriptures really don’t prove the point. Although there are some scriptures that appear to be unquestionably about Jesus and God the Father being two different persons, if you would refer to God as a person. Some of those that appear to leave very little if at all no doubt that the Father and His Son were not the same person are as follows:

The following scriptures all state that God raised Jesus from the dead and it was not Jesus that raised Himself. Galatians 1:1, Ephesians 1:20, Acts 2:24, 2:32, 13:30 & 17:31, Colossians 2:12, First Peter 1:21.

Just to point out a few others:

 Mat 20:23  And he said unto them, to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Mark 13:32 But of that day and that hour knows no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

John 5:19 Then Jesus said The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do:

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 14:28 you have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

Now these are some of the same scriptures that the Theologians who were part of the Nicene council considered and still they agreed to come to a consensus that Jesus was God. Why did this happen? It happened because they were forced to, or they could not return home if they didn’t.

There are many things in our bible that people have divided opinions about. Some of these differences are due to the way certain events and statements were written down by the original authors or scribes. Some of these differences have occurred because the bible translators have not used the best English words while making their translations from the original languages. Last, but not least is the result of preachers and bible teachers interpreting the scriptures without regard to determining if their interpretations agree with the original beliefs that were accepted by the first church leaders in the time of and immediately after the Earthly ministry of Jesus.

The true meaning of scripture cannot be decided by coming to a consensus by any group of people, but must be decided by each individual person as God reveals it to them.

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Is Everybody Wrong but Me?

I had formally published this article and felt a need to add something to it just recently. Just an explanation about why I have taken the stand on everything I have written. I do not consider myself to be a preacher or a teacher of the Bible. Instead, I consider myself to just be a person who has been ordained to bring a message to believers in these last days. Now I ask the question, why in the World would God chose me for the task that was set before me, but the answer did not come to me except that God does whatever He chooses to do and uses whoever He wills. There are certainly better men than I am who are more qualified, more lovable and have more of a humble caring spirit for others than I do, but my love for God’s Word and devotion for doing His work cannot be questioned because of the sacrifice I have made to accomplish what He has given me to do.

If there was absolutely any doubt in my mind that what I write is without question the truth of what I have written, I would never write another word. If there was any doubt whatsoever in my heart that I was jeopardizing my chances for obtaining eternal life, I would immediately stop publishing my articles and destroy everything I have ever written. So there is no doubt in my heart. I have begged God to show me if I am in error and stop me from doing any damage to His church, and He hasn’t. Just the opposite has occurred. On several occasions God has demonstrated to me that I am doing His work and no matter what the cost might be, I should continue for His glory.

One of the most difficult things I have ever encountered was when God first ordained me and sent me to write a weekly column for a local newspaper. During the course of preparing some articles to be published in the paper, I discovered that some of what I had accepted from previous preachers to be true was not according to the bible. Even worse than that, it was revealed to me than a preacher which I loved and had utmost respect for because of his devotion to God’s work and unquestionable successful ministry had erred in some of his teaching. I immediately balked at accepting what I had seen and on my knees, I begged God to not show me what was before me. I didn’t want at all to accept what God had revealed to me. So, what choice did I have, but to accept what God had shown me and proceed to do the work that had been given me.

The cost of service has been great and caused me to suffer much persecution. My friends and family who have known of my less than perfect life believe that I not only am wrong in what I am doing, but have allowed myself to be a pawn of satan. I have been faced with a choice of putting my family first or continuing to do what I am certain that God has given me to accomplish. With much heartache and tears for those I have lost, I must push on for the High calling of God, believing that what I have lost on this Earth will be replaced with rewards waiting for me in Heaven.

The above part was added to this article, but please reread the following which I have written because it contains important information about what God has revealed to me.

The World is full of Ministers of the Gospel, who most of which have been called by God to preach His Word, but error in their preaching of the truth of the Bible because of their own interpretation of what it tells us, or their acceptance of another person’s interpretation of what it says.

Because of the errors of the teaching by these ministers, God does not vindicate their ministries with supernatural signs and wonders, similar to those signs and wonders that were present during the ministry of Jesus Christ and those who came after Him as are described in the Book of Acts.

The ministers of today teach that the greatest miracle is one of the conversion of a new convert accepting Christ as their Saviour. This concept is taught from the pulpits of most of the Churches because God’s vindication of their teaching with signs and wonders is not manifested through them. Many even go so far as to say that God does not need to do miracles today since we have His Word in the Bible. That could be no farther from the truth, because if miracles were necessary during the ministry of Jesus and His Apostles, to prove that their teaching was from God, how much more are they needed today with all of the different teaching that we have in our churches?

I don’t accuse today’s ministers of intentionally teaching in error, I believe most of them are teaching what they believe in their hearts is true. The one to put most of the blame on is satan. Satan has been a liar and a deceiver from the beginning and is responsible for what is happening today.

Satan doesn’t bother with the non-believers in the World; he already has them where he wants them. Instead, he attacks those who can do him the most harm, those who are attempting to teach the people the way of God and the truth of the Bible. A good example is the difference in the teaching between the different churches in the World. Just having a difference in the beliefs between the churches is a result of the deception of satan, causing those ministers to believe that what they are teaching the people is the truth of what the Bible is saying. Some defend their position by saying that as long as they all believe the basic doctrine, that Jesus was the Son of God and paid the price for our sin, the other differences don’t matter. But that is just another lie of the devil, for the Bible tells us that we have ministers appointed by God to bring us all into the unity of the one faith. Look around, do you see unity between the churches?

Paul the apostle says to us in the tenth chapter of the Book of Romans: “How shall they preach, unless they are sent?” That’s one of the major problems we have today, keeping us from being in the unity of the faith, most of our preachers have not been sent by God. If they all have been sent by God, they all would be preaching the same thing and there would be no differences between the churches.

There are three stages for a person to go through before becoming a preacher or teacher of God’s Word. A person must first be called of God to do a specific work, prepared by God to successfully do that work and finally sent by God to accomplish that work.

Using the Lord’s apostles for a biblical example, we see that each of the apostles was first called to be disciples and follow Him. During the Earthly ministry of Jesus, the apostles were prepared for the task by watching and listening to what Jesus taught them. Finally, on the day of Pentecost, they all received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and were completely prepared to be sent out on the ministry field. Even the apostle Paul went through these three stages. He was called on the road to Damascus, prepared for a period by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and sent by the Lord after receiving the Holy Spirit. Without completely going through these three phases of preparation, no person is properly prepared to minister God’s Word to the people.

In this day, many persons are called by God into the ministry, but fail in the preparation stage and are never sent. Many feel as though they are prepared to preach by attending a theological seminary or bible school, or are prepared by a period of sitting under another preacher, but all they learn is someone else’s interpretation of scripture and consequently are never really sent by God to preach. When God sends a person out to preach, He baptizes them with the Holy Spirit, just as He did the apostles, and supernatural signs and wonders will then be prevalent in their ministry. We must use the examples in the scripture as the pattern of what God will do because His ways are constant. There are no cases in scripture where God sent someone to preach without vindicating their ministry with supernatural signs.

Man began to introduce translation errors into the sacred writings as early as when Jerome translated the writings into Latin about 404AD. Some of the non-scriptural wording contained in his translation even made it into the Authorized King James version. But in the year of 1550, a man by the name of Robert Stephens published the “Textus Receptus”, a word for word transition of the original Greek scriptures into English, which clearly pointed out the words which had been added to the scriptures. This Textus Receptus, also know as the “received text” was the basis of which the Authorized King James translation was based upon.

When the Authorized King James translation was developed, the translators and the editors added words to the text necessary to improve the readability of the work. During this process was when some of the non-scriptural wording was added from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate.

Every person who is called by God to preach must be aware of these wording additions, as some of them changed the meaning of the text as it was meant to be understood by the original authors as they were inspired by God. So many of our preachers hold up the Bible and announce that “this is the Word of God” not taking into account that man has added words to it and it should be considered to only contain the Word of God. Any person that does not prepare themselves to preach by studying the Bible from this perspective, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to them, will never be sent by God with the necessary vindication of their ministry.

There are very stubborn men, who in defense of the Bible being the complete Word of God who will say that God would never allow His Word to be polluted. How can you possibly believe this knowing that it is God’s way to give man a free will to do right or wrong. God does not micro manage everything man does. If He controlled man in that manner, we would be no better than robots. God does not want robots that do everything as He directs them, He wants men and women who with their free will choose to do what’s right.

So far we have covered two things that are the most important to consider when a person has received a call from God to preach the gospel. First, a person must be called by God, secondly, prepared to preach by learning just exactly what the scriptures are saying and thirdly, the person must accept the fact that the Bible contains not only God’s Word, but it contains errors that were introduced by the translators.

The final thing that is necessary is that the person must be sent by God to preach. When God sends a person out to preach, that person must receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, just as the apostles did before they were ready to be sent. Without the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a person’s ministry will not be vindicated by God with supernatural signs and wonders being present.

One important thing that must be avoided by preachers of God’s Word is putting their own, or someone else’s interpretation to the scriptures. We are told that the scriptures are of no private interpretation. A preacher should just say what the original scriptures say and not add anything to it.

One example that I will give is the scripture that says: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.” This scripture from Hebrews 10:25 simply exhorts believers to gather together and not separate ourselves from other believers. It does not say how often this should be done, but certain preachers teach their congregations that this exhortation means that a believer should attend church every time the doors are open. If services are scheduled three times in a week, they say that it is the obligation of members to attend every service. See how some go beyond what the scripture actually says.

The scripture gives us an example that the early church gathered together one time, on the first day of the week. Almost all of our churches schedule services on Sunday morning, Sunday evening and on Wednesday evening. This is man’s tradition and not supported by scripture. I sometimes wonder if all the churches follow this same schedule of services so their members, who feel obligated to be at their regular church, cannot attend services at another church.

Then there is the matter of taking communion, known by some as the Lord’s Supper. A few churches restrict the taking of communion to their members only, excluding this part of the worship service from other believers who may be visiting during their services. Most churches open this celebration of communion to all believers regardless of membership in a certain church.

There are no scriptures in the bible that addresses any qualification of membership in order to take communion. As I inquired of one pastor as to why only their church members were permitted to take communion, his response was: “I can make a case for this from the scripture”. What he was saying was, I can interpret the scripture in this manner. Continuing with his position on this he said: “holding this celebration for members only allows me the opportunity to restrict members from taking communion as a matter of discipline if a member gets out of line.”

The scriptures tell us that communion was a part of the worship service every time the early church gathered together and it was up to each individual to judge themselves as to whether they should participate, not the pastor of a church.

Now let’s address the practice of tithes and offerings. Tithes were historically a part of the Mosaic Law setup for the tribes of Israel in the Old Testament to provide sustenance for the tribe of Levi which was part of the nation of Israel. All of the other tribes received an inheritance of land in which they could raise cattle and grow crops to provide for their families, but the tribe of Levi received no land. The service of the Levites was to take care of the temple of God and serve as priests for the nation and had to depend on the offerings and or tithes from the other tribes to provide for their needs.

Nowhere in the New Testament, under the new covenant of God is anything said about the obligation of anyone to pay tithes to anyone else. Offerings are mentioned in the New Testament to provide for the needy and those engaged in the work of the ministry.

I have witnessed one pastor who told the people that the giving of tithes was an obligation of all church members and by giving regular tithes you prove that you are not a thief. Saying, if you don’t tithe, according to Malachi 3:8, then you have robbed God and you are a thief. What a pressure tactic to persuade the people to give their money to the church. Then this pastor went on to say that your offerings, over and above your tithes, prove how much you love God. Here is what he is saying: if you don’t give offerings to the church, on top of your tithes, you don’t love God. Shame on any minister using these kinds of tactics to get money out of the people. They will certainly get their reward on the Day of Judgment.

Now you have my testimony, showing what God has revealed to me over the years. How do I know that it was God? I know because of the fire that burns inside of me that drives me on to learn the truth of God’s Word and continues to drive me on to publish it for others to see the truth and stop believing those false teachers that have not studied the Bible to show themselves approved of God.

With my past experiences in attending many churches and listening to preaching on radio and television or reading their books, I can truthfully say that:

Everyone else is wrong but me

How do I know?

Because God told me so.

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A Message to the End Time Church

There are/will be three comings of Christ

1.      His first coming was to the Jews

2.      His second coming will be for the Gentiles

3.      His third coming will be for the Jews at the end.

The first coming of Christ to the Jews

In the beginning of Jesus’ ministry here on Earth, one of the first things that He did was to announce the fulfillment of a prophecy that the Prophet Isaiah made as is recorded in Isaiah 61:1 and part of verse 2.

Luke 4:16-21 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them,

“This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

The second coming of Christ for the Gentile Church

The First Resurrection and the Rapture

1^st Thessalonians 4: 15-17 for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we forever be with the Lord.

1^st Corinthians 15 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Matthew 24:37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

The third coming of Christ for him to be revealed to the Jews.

Revelations 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Revelations 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.

Many believe that God sent a Prophet to the Church in the 20^th century. His name was William Marrion Branham and his ministry lasted from 1933 until 1965 when God removed him from the scene. God sent this man for the purpose of calling His people out of spiritual Babylon, the organized religions that had polluted His Word and blinded His people from the truth.

William Branham was called to be an Evangelist with a gift of Divine healing to draw the people out of where they were in bondage. God gave this man two supernatural gifts to aid him for the purpose of getting the people to believe his message to the church. Along with these two gifts God also gave him the gift of prophecy which was in operation throughout his ministry.

The message that William Branham brought to the people was that God’s Word had been misconstrued so much throughout the years that the truth of the scriptures had been obscured and the people had to return back to the understanding of His Word that had been given to God’s prophets and Apostles in the beginning.

During the ministry of William Branham, he spoke of God sending an anointed Messenger who would be commissioned by Him to reveal the errors that man had polluted the scriptures with and disclose the truths that had been obscured for centuries. In William Branham’s own words he prophesied that this person would come on the scene after his ministry ended. Following is what William Branham prophesied.

"We believe that there is to be a coming of the true spirit of Elijah. It's predicted it would be, see. And we must remember it'll be here in its own season and time. We may be laying the foundation for it now. The last age is a prophetic Message to the Church, calling them back to the original word. If that isn't exactly what the second Elijah is supposed to do when he comes to this Church in this day ---restore back to the original faith.....turn back to the true Word. When the man arrives on the scene, he'll be a Prophet just as certain as I'm standing in this pulpit; and he'll stay right with that Word. He will not take down for nobody's creed or nothing else. That's right."

"It may be time. It may be the hour now that this great person that we're expecting to rise on the scene may rise on the scene. Maybe this ministry that I have tried to take people back to the word has laid a foundation; and if it has, I'll be leaving you for good. There won't be two of us here at the same time. If it is, he'll increase, I'll decrease. I don't know. But I have been privileged by God to look and see what it was... unfold to that much. ..Now that is the truth."

Just one month before William Branham died, he made this statement: "The very word prophet means that " he is a revealer of the Word of God," And that's why today we're in such a need of this great person that's supposed to be sent to us in the form of the prophet Elijah,"

Let me ask you who are followers of William Branham’s Ministry. If you believe him to be a God sent Prophet then why don’t you believe what he said? Please don’t give me that excuse of “that wasn’t a prophecy because he didn’t say “thus Saith the Lord”” He said what he said and meant what he said. Prophecy or not he said it.

Jesus stated, as it is recorded in Matthew 17:11 that the spirit of Elijah would return and restore all things. This restoration of the original Word of God has come to His anointed Messenger for the 21^st century restoration and preparation for the 21^st century second coming of Christ for His Bride.

For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear

And hearts to understand

This day, this scripture (Matt 17:11) is being fulfilled in your eyes and ears.

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