PENTECOSTALISM
UNDER THE MESSAGE:
SPIRITS MAKE
MANIFEST BY TRIALS
CHAPTER TWO
{And
have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove
them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in
secret. But all things that are reproved… Rebuked, corrected:…all things
that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make
manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from
the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk
circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days
are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the
Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the
Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ.} (Ephesians 5:11-
20).
{He
that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil…}
It’s the same thing.
{For
every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest
his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that
his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.} ( John
May the Lord add a blessing to the reading of
His Holy Words. These are wonderful scriptures that we should read over and
over again. Paul was saying over here, in the Book of Ephesians in the 13th
verse,
But
all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever
doth make manifest is light.
REBUKES MAKE MANIFEST SPIRITS
He was typing the natural with the spiritual.
If there is a dark place here, a dark room and you want to know what’s in the
room, the only way that you will know what is in the room is to shine the
light. Now, Brother Paul was typing out that. He said, “Whatsoever doth make
manifest is light.” In other words, there is only one way to see and understand
what is the object in that dark room is to shine the light on it. You could
say, “I feel it,” but then you have doubts. You could walk into that room and
feel it and you say, “It feels like a dollar bill or it feels like a ten dollar
bill, it feels like a hundred dollar bill.” But then, you are in doubt. Yes.
You could say that it feels like a piano, but then if you want to be certain
about it, shine the light.
So now, Paul was taking that little topic
there and typing it to the natural light and the objects that you see. If you
lose something in the yard, and then you search, and search and search and
cannot find it, you may say, “In the morning I will find it when the sun is
risen.” Even because the light is going to make it manifest. Yes. Now, you got to
understand the thoughts of the writer, the scribe, because it is so brief with
so much revelation in there. So now, he is taking that same natural light and
typing it to the spiritual. He said, “The only way that you will know what is in a man is to let the gospel light
shine upon him and reprove him.” Isn’t that the correct understanding? [Congregation says, “Amen!”] He said,
Ephesians
In other words: rebuked, corrected.
{…are
made manifest by the light.}
Now, that light is the spiritual light, the
gospel light. So, he’s telling you that if you really want to find out what is
right, what is wrong, what is in a person, shine the gospel light. And when you shine the gospel light in rebukes and
reproofs then it got to manifest itself. Now, that’s the truth.
Now,
Jesus confirmed the same over in the book of John; He said that they would not
come to the light lest their deeds
be known. People that are in the wrong they are afraid of the light and they
would not come to the light lest their deeds are made manifest. In other words,
lest they cannot face the Word, they cannot face the truth, they cannot face
reproof, and they cannot face a rebuke. When you touch that sin in their life
they go to pieces. My! They turn into a beast overnight because you touched
that spirit.
We do
not know people. You may think that you know, but we do not know people until
the light shines upon their sins, until the light shines upon their unbelief,
until the light shines upon their heresies and then you see what they manifest. Wait and see how they respond
to that rebuke, that correction and then you will have a better idea of who
they are. If they walk away like a sheep and are obedient, even with tears in
their eyes, and maintain a humble spirit, and promise to try again and overcome
that, then you know that is a sheep of God, that is the Spirit of the Lord;
that is a soul that had been touched by the Spirit of the Lord. But if it
rebels that soul is not touched and
it could very well be a Cain seed.
Many
times you take people for granted as
the apostles took Judas for granted and they had him elevated on top a
pinnacle, because the man was anointed, he had a wonderful personality, and he
was a man with such an influence and seemed to be so spiritual that none of the
apostles ever blamed Judas or was suspicious of Judas as the betrayer. No. They
were not suspicious about Judas in the least. So you say, “How you came to
that, preacher?” Beloved, when the showdown came for the exposition of Jesus,
the apostles blamed themselves and not one man asked if it was Judas. If they
had suspicion, and they had doubts in Judas and if he had a bad personality,
one of them would have asked, “Is it
Judas, Lord?” Now, that picture of the last supper, that is only a mental
picture. They showed you the apostles but Judas with a different kind of
feature, like a spy, and like some kind of a fellow pulled in like and watching
suspiciously, Judas was right in the front line. Nobody could have suspected
him by his countenance or by the way that he spoke or the love that he showed.
Only Jesus could have exposed Judas. And only the Spirit of the Lord could make
manifest the spirit upon a man when the right time comes. Notice, how long
Jesus took, in order to expose Judas’s spirit. You say, “Why did he allow him
there?” He had a part to play.
Every one of us has a part to play and that part is either good or bad. You are either a
vessel of honour or a vessel of dishonour and you must know what is down in
your heart, you must know what is your intention, you must know what your
ambition is, you must know if you want life one hundred percent at the cost of
everything then you know yourself. I may think differently of you but you know
your heart, and if your heart is right you will manifest that.
Matthew
You will manifest that and when the Word
comes and corrects you, you will not be a rebel; but woe be unto you when you
become rebellious as we have seen the example. And it is an example that we
should never forget. And I am looking at this in different angles, friends. The
Lord could be using this here for a great purpose and that is, that every man
pinch himself and I believe it has that kind of effects upon the church, to
pinch ourselves. Boy, I tell you, woe be unto me.
I
Peter 4: 18. {And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly
and the sinner appear?}
So, if you are a sinner here this evening, repent
brethren, repent. Yes. If you are a backslider, cherishing certain things in
your heart you are coming to this place that you saw manifested in that church
there. You are coming to that place. It may not be today, may be not tomorrow
but you are coming down to that place where that reproof is going to cause you
to make manifest your spirit.
Jesus
said that one of you shall betray me. And I guess that the apostles went
through with a fine teeth comb and tried to guess who that fellow was. I guess
that they looked at Peter in his eyes; I believe that they peeped through the
door to look at James to see if he had some kind of a weapon hiding, they tried
to figure out because Jesus was singing that kind of gospel song way out there,
“One of you shall betray me.” Now, you could imagine how the apostles looked at
one another and tried to figure it out, but none of them could have figured
that out.
Now, Pentecostalism is very deceptive because a person is anointed,
they are gifted. Do you understand what I am saying? [Congregation says, “Amen!”] And I will put in something here: they
are a blessing to the people: in their singing, with the gifts, I’m telling
you, in their preaching and it’s very deceptive. So now, if you follow that and
say, “But, when the man preaches, I just feel it in my heart; when the man
sings, he takes me up into glory.” You would be deceived Friends, the only way
that you could know is when the reproofs come. When the reproofs come it will
make manifest, not the singing, not the preaching. No, no, no! Not the kind
heart, not this, not the next, no, not how much he put’s his arms around you
and say, “Brother, I really love you.” Not that at all.
Now,
Judas had such a personality that the apostles were never suspicious about him.
But do you know they were suspicious about themselves? It goes to show what a
superior personality that fellow had that they were willing to blame themselves
and asked the Lord, “Is it I? Is it I, Lord?”
But, the only one that knows that spirit of
antichrist is the Lord and you are not going to know that spirit of antichrist
unless the Lord reveals it. Many sit under the spirit of antichrist and
heresies around the world, but then brothers and sisters, until Jesus sent
forth a sop in the E.O.D.H. books they could not identify Judas. They were like
the apostles: afraid to judge. They knew that something was wrong, but when the
Spirit of the Lord revealed and send forth the Word of God, they were not
afraid anymore, they sprang to life, they came out from Doctor Frank, they came
out from
Now, I believe that the apostles became
defiant when they got that dose of Judas.
That’s a dose of Judas they got and when I say a dose of Judas, it put them into
shock. In other words: “Who? Who? Brother Judas? You mean Judas who used to
sing like an angel? You mean Judas that used to preach? Judas that seemed to be
so friendly and so loving and everybody loved Judas?” Yes, that was the man.
What I am saying, friend, is Brother Paul was
saying that when you reprove a spirit that is what makes it manifest; and we
could see that right around the supper table. The Lord said, “He to whom I give
the sop, he is the betrayer.” And he took the sop and gave him, and let me tell
you something: that was an exposition,
that was reproof, that was a light shining upon the antichrist spirit and when
the light shone upon the antichrist spirit by giving the sop, the Bible said,
John
It changed him into a different man all
entirely. It changed the man from a loving brother, from an anointed man, from
a gifted man and changed him overnight, and he became a traitor “You see that
fellow who rejected the Word? He’s a different man.” Even because he had a
change of spirit and the spirit that came upon him was the antichrist spirit.
Conviction will leave them, their consciences are about dead. And Jesus said of
Judas,
Matthew
26: 24 {…it had been good for that man if he had not been born. }
Beloved, to betray the Word of God in such a
fashion it’s better for a man that he had never been born. For you to follow Parham and such an
influence or come under trial and fail, you are without excuse. To follow a
mouth that speaks negative things and support that spirit, it is better for you
that you had not been born. That will never stand up at the judgement: “You
cannot tell the Lord that I was being persecuted and I had to go that way.” There
is no excuse whatsoever. So now, you don’t know who is who but you could know
yourself, and beloved, you must know if you are determined to stand for the
Word one hundred percent. I know it; the ministers know it; why shouldn’t you
know it? And if you are a half way Christian; I am not talking about your
mistakes; I am talking about a made up mind and if down in your heart you say,
“If I get too much pressure I will just quit.” Beloved, there is no Life down
in there yet; and you come under this same
basis: Pentecostalism under the message.
BASIS OF PENTECOSTALISM UNDER THE
MESSAGE
We spoke about Pentecostalism from 1906 to
2006, I am using this opportunity of the latest development in that church,
which God allowed, to lay emphasis, that you could be under this message but
you are still a Pentecostal: with
the same characteristics, and the same traits and one day you will manifest it.
You could be under this message and depend upon that anointing of 1906. You
could be under this message, friends, and have all those traits there with your
soul untouched. Now, Judas heard all that truth, seen all the miracles, was
anointed, he preached the gospel, I guess he worked signs and wonders but
beloved, his soul was not touched, and that is the basis of Pentecostalism. Now, if you could find the same basis
under the message, then friends, it’s Pentecostalism under the message. I
believe that is abc’s, that if you could find the same traits under the
message, it is Pentecostalism.
Back in so-called Pentecost, friends, men
preached the gospel, they worked signs, they worked wonders, they raised the
dead, I tell you, mass healings, and then they found them in sodomy. The very
father of the thing called Parham. Then, they found these people as adulterers
and fornicators. Women preached contrary to the Word of God: they were not
called to do so but yet they were mightily used in signs, and wonders and
miracles. And that spells out Pentecostalism. Those people who were deceived by
Pentecostalism they were greater than anybody that is now sitting under the
message, because they had something that the people under the message do not
have today, except for the message of a true prophet called William Branham.
Those people worked signs and wonders, spoke
in tongues and manifested gifts. When I say Pentecostalism: Pentecostalism
means to be used of God in signs and wonders, anointing, singing and preaching
but the soul is yet dark as
So that old, carnal nature was in these men
of so-called Pentecost, and then if we could see the same things under the
message it is the same problem, that men received what they called the baptism
of the Holy Spirit and the prophet of God said,
Quote
W.M.B. 162 You can have the baptism of the Holy Ghost every hour in your life
and still be lost and go to hell. (Leadership 65-1207).
Yes. Anointed of the Spirit, gifted men; we are not doubting the gifts of
so-called Pentecost; we are not doubting the anointing of so-called Pentecost.
No sir! We are saying that their souls were not touched because if their souls
were touched they could not have manifested the fruits that they manifested. To
prove that fact, when God sent a man called William Branham to correct them and
reprove them they rebelled.
Revelation
When the light came by William Branham,
Malachi 4: 5&6 and he reproved the church, then what happened? They
rejected the messenger even because their souls were not touched.
And when a man rejects correction and the
truth of God’s Word his souls is not touched. As a young man you could be
seated here but then your heart is in the world, but you enjoy the singing and
you like to hear the Word preached. I’m telling you. And then, you could feel
the anointing on your body and you could enjoy it, but then friends, you are
worldly, and your spirit is not yet touched, your soul is not yet touched. Yes.
And as long as you stay in that condition without getting desperate to go
further with God you are going to manifest something one of these days, and
that is, you are going to make up your mind for the world or the Word of God. I
say, don’t wait until that moment:
make up your mind now, and it is so easy to cross that chasm. Friend, all you
have to do is to say, “Lord, I am a helpless man, help me. My heart is in the
world and Lord; I am thinking of the world, I am between the Word and the
world. Lord, I am a helpless man, please help me Lord. If you don’t help me
I’ll be lost. I will do the same thing like other men under the message that
are in so-called Pentecost I will do the same thing.” Brethren, there is no
other way; you got to manifest it; you will be corrected.
It’s a terrible thing when you get corrected,
friends, and you start rebelling. It could spell out two things. That is why
you got to be cautious. It could spell out one thing on one side: your soul is
not yet touched and you are a rebel down
in your heart. And then on the other hand, friends, if you continue with that
rebellion without being corrected then you are a seed of the serpent. Now,
that’s the truth of it. Now, get that middle line that somebody could be
corrected in a certain way and they get real angry. Now, they are yet in their
evil nature but they are a child of God. But, if they continue to resist that
correction over and over again, and they don’t care what you have to say, they
are wrong and strong, it may be a serpent seed that you are dealing with.
Anybody
that you see sit under the Word of God, walk out, has their own plan, keep what
they want. To do what they want, live what they want and they do those things
right in front of the brethren, the ministers, and the deacons. In other words,
they indicate that they do not care anything.
Their soul is not yet touched by the spirit. If you get hard upon them, and
they start fighting, start carrying on, they are making manifest something
else. It is one of two things that you could manifest and that is: you could
manifest that your soul is still dark or you could manifest that you are a seed
of the serpent.
Why can’t you hear my voice? Even because ye
are not my sheep. I say, but my sheep hear my voice and a stranger they would
not follow. (Ref. St. John 10: 25-27,
Now, these are lessons for us. And sometimes
the Lord gives a lesson by an example because some people do not understand the
Word and when they see such an example from another church, another place, and
you acquaint them with it then they start pinching their consciences: “I don’t
want to get like that man. I don’t want to get like that woman. I don’t want to
get like that girl that ran away from the church. I don’t want to get that way.
I don’t want to be rebellious. I don’t want to ever fight against the
ministry.” As much as you desire that and have the right intentions, if you don’t go further with God you will manifest
that.
Do you know what Parham said just a few weeks
ago? Even though he backslides he will never turn against the Word of God.
Friends, you don’t know what next you will do when you get demon possessed. And
that was what I told him. I said, “You will get demon possessed and you don’t
know what next you will do tomorrow.” When a man becomes demon possessed, what
happens to him; is that he is not his own, he is bought with a price and that
is the price of sin, the price of lust, he sold his soul for sin.
And Jesus confirmed that in John 3:19. And this is the
condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil.
MEN LOVE
DARKNESS OF SIN
Let us stop for a moment and consider the master’s words. Why would a man reject the light? Why would a man fight the light? Why would a man turn down the Word of God after he sat and heard it? Why would a woman do the same thing? Why would light come into the world? Because friends, they love sin. This is the condemnation. Now, you are going to be condemned for that because you know what is truth, you know what is light and for the desire and pleasure of sin, you rejected the Word for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and say, “I want the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I want. I settle out for this.” Light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.
They love the deeds of sodomy, they love the
deeds of adultery, and they love the deeds, of perversion. They love the deed
of money, they love the deeds of marijuana, so they rather sell their soul for
that marijuana, that money, that woman, that vice. They could have a bedroom problem and they don’t want to
give that up at all. Perverted! They will even sell their soul for that. I
could go into some stories which I would not go. But, I dealt with men,
personally who sold their souls for that kind of bedroom perversion, yes, and
they tell you out flat, “That if my
wife don’t do that she don’t love me.” They are like corbeaux, vultures, nasty,
unclean spirits the Bible called it.
Jesus said, “And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil.”
All right! They cannot face the light. Now, such people cannot face the light because they have secret sins in their lives that they don’t want to give up. Why does a man sell out the Word? After hearing the Word of God like in the case of Judas, why did his soul still remain unanointed? We could find the problem right here. I will stop for a moment and I want you to catch this real good.
The reason why Pentecostalism reached thus
far with the anointing and the gifts of the Spirit and everything that they
manifested, and they could not go further was even because when they came up to
certain things in the Word of God from the prophet they did not want to give it
up.
Now, Judas was a dead Pentecostal. If there
is a type of Pentecostalism, we have it in Judas. And now, we have it in men
that are behind the pulpit today. Yes. Pentecostalism: anointed the same way.
They brought over their anointing from Pentecost and they brought over their
gifts from Pentecost. But, I want to tell you something, beloved, they brought over their deeds also. And do
you know what they are trusting in? They are trusting in the fact that: “I’m
anointed, and gifted, I could sing, I could preach so maybe that is all right
with God.” No, friend. That isn’t all right with God.
Every time you resist correction when you
hear the Word of God calling for that thing in your life, your space of repentance closes just a
little bit. “Is there a space of repentance, preacher?” Yes. The Bible said,
“And I gave that woman Jezebel space to repent and she repented not of her
fornication and all those other things.” (Revelation 2:22) Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with
her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. Every man
has a space of repentance and the space is not the same space of time. It does
not have the same dimension. That is why you see thirteen year old boys die:
their space closed. Do you think that these things are happening by chance? No.
Do you think that’s an accident? Their space closed: eighteen years, twenty
years, thirty years, forty years a man dies. And man comes right up to
ninety-five years, one hundred years and friends, his space was so big that on
his dying bed he heard the gospel, and he said, “I believe, pray for me.” The
man took a dangerous chance to come right down to the closing space but God
still had mercy upon the man. Now, every day that God spares the lives of people, it is really for them to repent.
You have one purpose upon the earth, and that is to repent and be saved that
you would be given eternal life. You don’t know when that space is closing.
That little fellow, thirteen years of age;
that "animal" dealt with him, and broke his back and sodomized the
little fellow. It’s beyond comprehension. He broke the little boy’s back,
mashed up his teeth. My God! We live amongst beasts. But the fact is, that
little fellow’s space of repentance closed that day, and I hope that the little
fellow accepted the Lord even prior to that, and that criminal’s space had not
closed. The man is thirty-four to thirty-five years of age and how long he will
be in jail: his space is not closed. Every sinner could repent. Now, that is
how it goes.
And
this is a fearful thing that I’m talking about. Young men, young women, I’m not
trying to scare you, friends, there is a space of repentance and then when you
hold these things in your lives, you take it for granted, tomorrow, next week,
next month, next year; you don’t know when that space will close. Meanwhile
these secret sins that you are cherishing in your heart are preventing the
Word, and the Spirit and the anointing from coming down in your soul while the
door is closing everyday.
A man came in here riding a motorbike,
several years ago, poor fellow! And he came and enjoyed the meeting so greatly,
oh friends, I tell you! He came over: what a great excitement the Word of the
Lord was and the next day he died. Something knocked him down and he died.
Another man came in here, and he heard the
Word of God, he sat right there in the library where it used to be. In a few
weeks time after baptism he hanged himself. The man went on with the Lord. His space
was going to close and the Lord led him.
SPACE TO REPENT
Now, man has a space of repentance; and when
you have these things in your life, the Lord is trying to deal with you to get
those things out because he knows you cannot enter the
Brother Branham sent a message by somebody,
to a relative and said, “Come and get baptized in Christian baptism or the
undertakers will come and get you in the morning.” He said, “Tell Branham, I
don’t have time with that, such, and such, and such, mind his own business, so
and so.” The funeral agency picked him up in the morning; dead. Come when you
are called. You got counsel, you heard the Word of God, beloved; you have heard
preaching more than anybody on the earth. Yes. Repent!
The prophet of God looked out upon a woman
and said, “Young woman, the Lord is calling you tonight.” She stomped out of
there, and she met him outside and let him have it: “Never you embarrass me
like that again, Billy.” After a little while he met her coming down the road,
she said, “Billy, you know that night you called me? I am gone, I am lost, and
there is no hope for me again.” And that woman knew that she was lost; and she
was drunk.
Another woman came in and Brother Branham was
a young preacher.
Matthew
And that woman sat down there half naked and
the prophet of God took his jacket, and threw it on her and said, “Cover
yourself!” And then she pitched the jacket away, and stomped out of there and
said, “I wouldn’t even give my cow that kind of a doctrine to eat.” She left,
and went home, screamed for Brother Branham until she died. Before she died she
said, “I’m lost. I’m lost. Tell that preacher to forgive me. I’m lost. I’m
lost.” My beloved, the space closed that very moment that she did that thing in
the face of the prophet. And don’t matter how much she called for Brother
Branham, and how much she prayed her space was closed. Brother Branham in love
ran down there and before he could have gotten there, her husband said, “She
cried, her bowel gushed. She cried and she died with her eyes open wanting to
see the preacher. The husband said, “Brother Branham, say a prayer for her.” He
said, “That wouldn’t do any good now.” That woman had crossed the line. (Hebrews:
6: 4-6).
Beloved, we have to really watch our
attitude. Secret sins were what Judas had in his life. I may not be able to
justify that but Judas was a thief, and he used to thief the money from the
bag, and being in love with money he was not willing to give up that spirit.
And he was anointed, he had gifts; and men today preaching that message they
brought over those traits from them, that prosperity gospel, and they love
money and they are behind the pulpit for money. Pentecostalism under the
message!
So now, these people, they fear the light,
they live in fear that somebody will tell on them. People that have those sins
in their lives, friends, when they see you talk to the minister or deacons they
tremble, because they cherish those sins and they don’t want anybody to know.
They are hypocrites in their hearts. They do wrong things at home and threaten their children, threaten their
wife: “Whatever you see in this house, keep it here otherwise I will burst your
face! I do what I want, I could look at my television, and I have my
television. I don’t want this to go to the ministry; I don’t want my business
to go to the church.” You sound like a
devil, you sound like a rebel. They are afraid for the wife to come to the
office, they are afraid for the children to come to the office, because their
deeds are evil and that minister has the light. And they will sit down quietly
there, and they will listen to the Word of God coming down against those
things, and they will act normal as though they are not guilty of them, and
clap their hands too and say, “Amen!” You are a dead hypocrite.
Brethren, didn’t Jesus preach a lot about
thieving, and covetousness, and a greedy spirit and the possessions of this
world? [Congregation says, “Yes!”] Why
Judas did not repent? He was a covetous man, and he became so covetous and in
love with money that he was willing to sell Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.
Now, you see why people go to hell? Jesus said, “And this is the condemnation...”
There is no two ways about it. This is the condemnation. This is why a man is
going to hell, this is why a man is going through the tribulation, that is why
a man is not going in the rapture, that
is why a man is going into the lake of fire, because when light comes to
him he chooses the things of the world more than he eternal life. Don’t forget
this. The scriptures are plain. This is the condemnation. In other words, this
is why a man is condemned at the end of the road to go through the tribulation,
hell and the lake of fire. This is why. “Why, Jesus?” Because men love the
darkness of sin, the darkness of unbelief, the darkness of heresies more than
they love eternal life and more than they love the truth. You are not going to
hell because you are a sinner, because you are a Christian and are making
mistakes and are trying to overcome? No! You are going to hell because you
rejected the light and you chose instead darkness. “This is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light.”
And it has a reason behind it. “…because their deeds are evil.”
Any man that sits down and hears the Word of
God year after year, month after month and he cannot believe it, he cannot
comprehend it, he has a thousand questions, friends, his deeds are evil. That is why he cannot get revelation. And on top of
that he wants to keep his deeds down in his heart, and figure out the Word. He
then gets an intellectual understanding. His deeds are evil.
I dealt with two big
people, smart people, university graduates and everything. They came right
here, oh, they were around the message for several years and they belonged to
the States. And friends, I tell you, those people had a list of questions, and
questions, and questions and questions; they were trying to prove the Word by
their intellectualism. I took them out a little bit and they asked me about my
testimony, which I don’t boast about and I told them my encounter with God, and
the pillar of fire, and God’s voice speaking to me and such and such. And oh
my, the husband was elated. Now, the wife became a detective and she came back
afterwards to ask me the same thing. I said, “I spoke to your husband but if
you want to hear it I am going to let you know.” Little did I know they were
investigating my story with their intellectual mind to see if it was
consistent. I came to find that out afterwards. But, that’s a story in my mind,
and a picture in my mind and I don’t speak contrary to it. I had be speaking
about that for many years; maybe one of these days the picture might go a
little dull because of age, but then, how can you forget such an experience with God.
And those people after sitting, every time
they met me they had one list of questions, the wife used to have a list of questions
and those people will sit right there in the meeting and take notes. I looked
around there and thought: they are not getting what I am saying. If you get
what I am saying you will take very little
notes, because you are caught up in the Spirit. It went on like that; and I
was watching those university graduates. She had one problem and that was: she
was a woman’s liberation woman. They concluded one day that it’s a cult. They
were found in two shorts: he was wearing a short pants and she was wearing a
shorts walking down the road. Why? There were some deeds that were evil in
these people, that all what they heard, they were too busy with the things of
the world, too busy in their own program and never stopped to listen to the
Word of God and get it down in their souls.
When trials
come, you are going to show who you are; and because you never got the Word
down in your soul what will happen to you, is that you will become confused
when heresies arise, when certain things go wrong in the church. You’ll be
confused: “Who is right?” You will become an investigator: “Let me investigate. Let me go and hear the enemy.”
Let me tell you, friends, when the spirit of antichrist arises in any church,
let me speak to you far and wide, in
There arose a battle in 1974 and Brother
Sookdeo made a wise decision. He had now come to the Word and the split took
place: a division this way, a division that way. And it had a liar on the
pulpit spreading lies right through and they joined with a whole team of
churches, and ministers, ninety-five percent against five percent. All those
preachers from here back to
When a sheep cannot figure out something and
they don’t know which way to go they come near to the shepherd. The shepherd is
set there to guide them into green pastures and still waters. But, if you have
an intellectual mind: you want to listen to Tom, Dick, and Harry. You want to
say, “What you think about this, boy? Sister, what do you think about this?
Brother what do you think of that?” I say, away with it and stand with your
shepherd!
Now, we have seen that displayed in a
wonderful way. Beloved, if those brethren had not taken that line, and followed
the corrections given, and listened to their shepherd they would have been
confused but they are sold out. And they listened to their shepherd, and read
between the lines, they listened to all the corrections for one year. I went by
preaching there and said, ‘Soul devouring
offences.’ What was Brother Bruce preaching? I said, “There are some
offences in here that will devour your souls if you get caught up with it.”
That spirit is still moving through the telephones and different mediums. It is
soul devouring offences. Now, it happened that those beloved brethren took
heed, and they took what I said there seriously and with fear and trembling.
Thus when Mr. Parham showed his colours, Judas showed his colours, they stood
firm and said, “Judas is wrong; Jesus is right.”
MENTAL BELIEVERS – TRIALS
Now brethren, mental believers act in a different way. Now, if you don’t have
something down in your soul, in the time of uprising in the church, when an
assistant pastor wants to take over, when some kind of a prophet rises up in
the church, when you get opposition from your neighbour in the faith: a mental
believer becomes confused because
they did not take enough time to put the Word down in their soul. So then, they
start wondering: “Who is right?” Do you know how much of that we have seen,
Brother Sookdeo? “Who is right?”
Look at a man sitting there. He is a lovely
brother. I never thought he would have gone the wrong way, but friends, when
that thing hit, and those spirits started to move, and ninety-five percent
fought against five percent, that man got carried away. As much as he loved me;
and the man of God said unto him, “Brother Bruce is the man of God, stay with
him.” Not even that held him. He went way back until he completely backslid and
went down to
When things go wrong in the church, like in
the days of Jesus: a big scandal came out of the church. What was the big
scandal? Well, a man manifested himself, and betrayed Jesus and sent Jesus to
jail. Was that a scandal? He sent Jesus to jail, and beside that they sent Him to
the cross and they killed him as a thief. Why did the Lord allow that? That was
to make manifest what people had in their hearts.
When things like that goes on in your church
there; in India, in Africa, and wherever it is and even in Bethel or wherever you
are, friends, these things are to make
manifest how serious people are after Life and if they have this thing up
in their heads or they have it down in the heart. After years of hearing the Word
of God are we not supposed to have all those things in our hearts? And if you
don’t have it in your heart there is some blockage where you love this world
more than Life? And God will send a trial to test you with it, and He will
raise up trouble from inside of your house, from inside of your bedroom. He
will raise up problems from your neighbour, He will raise up somebody in the
church with heresies and then if you cannot discern that spirit you are gone.
But, let me tell you: if you love the Lord, and your purpose is Life, and you
understand the Word of God you don’t guess who is right and who is wrong: “The
Word is right, my shepherd is right and everybody is wrong. I am called to
follow my shepherd.” Yes. So now, the Lord uses some of these things to test the souls of men.
Any kind of development in any assembly that
arises in that way is not by chance. Do you think that God don’t know these
things? Why would He allow it then? He has a purpose. Why had He allowed that
to happen in the days of Jesus? Did it have a purpose and did it have a great
purpose behind it? [Congregation says,
“Amen!”] Why did He cause Judas to manifest? Because there was a purpose
behind it and the purpose for that thing was, the Lord preparing our salvation.
Do you see how great that was? So now, these things don’t happen by chance. It
happens for a purpose. In every church these things happen for a purpose, yes,
but be sure that you are on the right side, be sure that you are standing with
the truth, be sure that you don’t take the wrong side. If you take the wrong
side the earth will open up and swallow you as it swallowed the leaders in the
days of Moses. Don’t take the wrong side.
Now, when people fall in the house of God,
whom the congregation looks up to. Now what happens, it become a great trial to
them around the message, we heard of stories around the world, we heard of
stories in this country, we had these Pentecostal spirits preaching behind the
pulpits and when those men fell in adultery, and sodomy, and they pregnated
certain sisters and had children with them, there were people that almost
destroyed themselves, even because they were ashamed of what happened. Friends,
they lost courage because they did not put their trust in God and His Word. But
that is not the case here and that is not the case with our brethren who we are
dealing with. No, friends. They put their trust
in the Word, they know that this Word is true, they know that this message
is true and that’s the way that everyone of us must stand. We must stand with
the Word of God. The foundation is the Word of God. We are not based upon a man
called William Branham, a man called Dalton Bruce. We are based upon the Word,
we are based upon the message that God sent to William Branham just like the
church was based upon the message that Brother Paul brought. And I believe that
those brethren had loved Brother Paul, that they would talk about Brother Paul,
and everything was “Brother Paul” even because Brother Paul was representing
Jesus Christ. He led them out of darkness into the marvelous light, so they
loved him. And jealous preachers in that time might have said, “You worship
Paul.” Do you know why they were saying that? Because they wanted worship, they
wanted the fame and they wanted the glory without having the Word.
So, when we hide our sins, and we don’t
adhere to the Word of God and give ourselves to the Spirit as we ought to give
ourselves to the Spirit something will come down the road to try us. You may be
a child of God, but friends, it will come to try you because God tries all His
sons (Hebrews 12), He tries all His
sons that He receives, and He’s going to try
you.
And when that scandal came out of some of
these message churches around the country a lot of people backslid: you heard
the testimonies here. They backslid, went back into the world, do this and do
that. You see, they were not founded on the Word. These things are to try us.
Someone may say, “I can not belong to the message again because the message has
too much of scandals.”
Jesus’ church had a scandal. Come on. What
was the scandal? The scandal was that one of the fellows sent him to jail. And
not that alone: they sent Him to the cross because: “He was a bad man, that’s
why He went to jail. It’s good for Him even the apostle Judas sent Him to jail
and sent him to the cross. That shows the nasty man that this fellow was.”
That’s the same spirit, the exact same spirit. All the backsliders rejoiced,
all the Pharisees rejoiced, my, they mocked from one side, and wet their
tongues on him.
There was a church in
John
Now, that is how the mental believer thinks. And
you have the devil’s mouth out there to reproach you. “Hello, that church that
you belong too, you know a man took away his own father’s wife? What kind of
church are you going to?” And then if you have some pride and you thought it
was a social gospel. You are offended in the gospel. This is not a social
gospel, friends.
This is a gospel of battles; this is a gospel
where three kinds of believers are sitting and hearing. This is a gospel where
the devil sends his agents to nasty up the name of the message. They come in
and sit down quietly and then be sodomites, adulterers, and fornicators in
order to nasty the name of the message. We are big people and we need to have
some kind of sense to understand that the devil will send his agents in here to
nasty the name of the message.
And everybody hung their heads in shame: “Oh
my, look at what happened to the Corinthian church; I thought that it was a
famous church and everybody heard about it. Oh mercy, I’m ashamed.” My brothers
and sisters, the real believes lifted their heads; and there were some who were
compromising with that in the church there and hiding it, maybe they were
afraid of the shame if they exposed it. You know what happened? One brother
wrote to Brother Paul and said, “Brother Paul, such and such thing is going on
in the church, you know.” God bless that little fellow. Brother Paul said, “I
learned that there is something inside of your church there, a sin there, that
is not even amongst the gentiles, that a man should take his father’s wife!
Listen to me, I’m a good distance away but I have already judged that he that
has done this deed should be taken away from among you. Put him out of the
church; put him in the hands of the devil. If he is a child of God he is going
to repent before he dies.” The Corinthian church! That is only one case that
was recorded in the Bible. How many other cases that was recorded in
Well, those kinds of Pentecostal traits are under the message right now. Sodomites are
surfacing, adulterers have surfaced for years; they could preach with great
power. But then these kinds of wicked spirits surfaced right through
Pentecostalism and they are surfacing right now around the message. The amount
of complaints that I received about adulterers behind the pulpit, fornicators
behind the pulpit, and nobody can handle them, nobody can tell them anything,
ministers around the message with nasty spirits, some of them are sodomites
preaching behind the pulpit and nobody can remove them. Some of them have a
bunch of wives because they believe in polygamy, and then blames Brother
Branham and says that Brother Branham preached polygamy so they have a right.
They preach and tell the people that Brother Branham said that. No. When these
books go out we give them the sop: exposed all the polygamy, exposed all the
adultery, and exposed all the homosexuality.
We had a man from the south here; we have him
right on the Book 9, under the topic called “immoral missionary”. We had him in
a meeting; some of the brothers were there. Oh, he was a great missionary to
Because you cleansed the leaven before he
sodomizes all the young men. A little leaven leaventh the whole lump. Before
you know it Parham would have sodomized all those young fellows, but it had a
So now, people look for a social gospel.
Those who were looking for a social, Roman gospel, when they heard that nasty
report. “My I tell you, I can not belong to that church.” Mental believers! And
when such situations arose in those churches then those who had their foot in
the world, what happened was they grabbed the opportunity to go out into the world. They said, “You see, the
minister fell, the deacon fell and who am I?” Your heart was in the world all
the time, you were serving tables so you are glad for that encouragement. So
now, you were looking for an excuse to go and the excuse is, “If he is so great
and he fell and he did those wrong things who am I?” You will answer for your
own soul, brother, you will give an account for the wicked deeds that are in
your heart, you will give an account for the wicked deeds that you are keeping
down in your heart, that you cannot grow and get born again.
So now, you have a lot of things that happen
and God allowed certain things in the church like that in order to manifest
many things: to bring a trial, to see and give that fellow a chance who really
loved the world. He wanted to go and he wanted an excuse for that. So, you find
that when these things come up, and they get a little encouragement and some
serpent is there telling them, “You don’t see that church? You see what came
out of that church? You see that man fell in adultery? Don’t you see that Jesus
was charged and the police held him? You still have the guts to go to that
church?” Brethren, the Word is true. I am not following Parham: I am following
the Word of God. And every man shall give an account for his own self. So,
mother, father, unsaved people that wants certain people out, when they get
those kinds of little things from an assembly they pump that, they keep pumping
it and pumping it. Now, if you are a mental believer you’re going to cow down.
“So, what do I do in such a time like that?” Don’t listen to the unbelief. If you have to separate from the
unbelief, separate yourself from unbelief. The prophet of God said,
Quote
W.M.B.: …Total Separation From Unbelief." (God's Word Calls For A Total Separation From
Unbelief 64-0121).
And who is vex, please yourself. That’s the
mistake that Eve made, by listening and said, “Let me hear what the serpent has
to say.” Brother Branham said, that’s the mistake she made.
Quote
W.M.B.: 23-1 Listen. It can batter against you, but it can't get to you until
you accept it. When Satan walked up to Eve and said, "You know, the
fruit's pleasant," she stopped for a moment. Oh, that's when she made a
mistake, when she stopped for a moment. Don't stop for nothing. You've got the
message. Jesus lives; God's a Healer; that's the message. Don't stop for
nothing, no reasonings, no nothing else.
But
she stopped for a moment. That's when Satan walked right into that mind. Said,
"Well, it sounds reasonable." Oh, don't do that. Just take what God
said. (The Greatest
That anointing that was upon that serpent
jumped upon her and convinced her. Tell them flat, “I don’t want to hear that!
I know what I believe: if you believe that go ahead and believe that. I know
what I believe, I know what I want: this is my soul. I have a free will to
choose what I want.” “But you cannot live here.” “Then, I will go.” “He that
forsaketh not father, and mother, and wife and brethren cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14: 26,33 {If any man come to me, and hate not his
father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and
his own life also, he cannot be my disciple… So likewise, whosoever he be of
you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.}
“Well,
I had no where to live, I had nothing to eat, I had nothing to drink, and I
didn’t have this and I didn’t have that, so Lord, I had to cow down to the
unbelief.” Will that stand on the day of judgement? [Congregation says, “No!”] It will never stand on the day of
judgement. Beloved, we got to stand up
for the Word.
SOUL DEVOURING OFFENCES
And that message that I preached, ‘Soul Devouring Offences’, friends, it
lived on and it devoured those souls in that church even because they failed to
take heed. People got to take the Words of God seriously. All that took heed
came out and the few that failed to take the Word of God were swallowed up.
Now, that spirit is still trying to devour. Anything that comes within range of
that spirit it is going to devour it
because the lies are serious, very convincing. The spirit of antichrist is very
powerful; and it is going to devour a few more. It’s very sad. And that
devouring could come right here amongst us. Yes. Listen to what your shepherd
is saying: ‘Soul Devouring Offences.’
You got to settle your disputes, settle your offences. And those soul devouring
offences back there, friend, is that those women took offence and they started
bearing malice, and hatred, and variance and contacted other women by phone.
Yes. Soul devouring offences! Now, if it destroyed them would it not destroy
those that have taken offences? And say, “She don’t love me, she only love my
husband. She don’t love me, she only love the next sister.” Those are soul
devouring. “I know they don’t like me so I have a stand off. Watch that spirit. That is the spirit
that destroyed Parham’s family. I am telling you the truth. And I had been
following that for one whole year and tried to deliver them out of that. And
that is the spirit: “They like me and they don’t
like the next one. They like my husband but they don’t like us.” And they
started saying blasphemous things, terrible things that they never repented for
and then they found company with people who had the same problems. It devoured
them and it is going to devour a few
more. I hope it’s not many.
Anybody who was looking for an excuse to
prove that it was a cult and the message is a cult, friends, they will find the
perfect man called “Parham” and it will actually confirm that: “Yes, it’s a
cult.” You will end up in hell for your assessment! The message is the truth;
the Word of God is the truth. So now, when an antichrist spirit starts moving
you have to brakes for your life, brakes for your children, brakes be careful
of what you’re hearing, be careful who you are talking to, of what telephone
conversations you are having, and what mouth is talking to you. Parham himself
would not come to you but he works through another medium who got that
anointing and who developed a hatred for the ministry, and the Word and the
message. The Bible said,
Mark
So now, in all the effort
of the devil, wherever you are brethren, there’s a devil trying to smite the
shepherd and he knows that if he could smite the shepherd he could come for the
sheep. Yes. So now, it’s your soul in danger when you allow the enemy to smite
the shepherd. That is why any person that you hear opening up their mouth, and
spreading heresies in the church, and carrying on against the ministry, and
spreading rumours you need to get a-hold of them and put a back bone in your
back and stop them because they are coming for the shepherd. And the strategy
of the devil is to first get the shepherd and then he has the sheep. I hope you
understand this little message about Mr. Parham, in line with Mr. Judas and see
how these spirits move. So, the Lord bless your hearts.