There's no Gentile 'successor' to William Branham

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Joseph was a prophet who predicted the famine in Egypt

Joseph predicted 7 years of plenty and then a 7-year famine that came to pass in Egypt.

The 7 years of plenty enabled them to save up grain and thus survive the 7 years of famine.  Such is the value of a prophet.

In 2020 the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic struck the world causing profound economic and health devastation.

We had no warning and our churches closed down. Where were our prophets?

There was no prophetic warning from a modern-day Joseph.

Closing down the churches showed us what God thought of our churches. Only fit to be closed down. Christians huddled safely in their homes while brave medical staff fought the virus.

It was a brutal reminder that we have no prophets today and thus were caught totally unprepared.

MATTHEW 24:7    For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

Since 1914 we have seen two world wars and wars in Korea, Iraq, Vietnam, Afghanistan, etc. At least 70 million people have died from famine in the last 100 years. The pestilence of Spanish flu in 1918-1919 killed about 100 million people. Since 2020 the coronavirus has been a worldwide pestilence with huge economic consequences. Next in line are savage earthquakes like the possible sinking of Los Angeles on the San Andreas earthquake fault line. Scientists have predicted this for many years.

64-1227 WHO  DO  YOU  SAY  THIS  IS
And the world again is just about to come to pieces. Look at the earthquakes over here in California. I predict, before the coming of the Lord Jesus, that God will sink that place.

I believe that Hollywood and Los Angeles,

and them filthy places over there, that God Almighty will sink them.

They'll go beneath the bottom of the sea.

And it's so much sin, you see, it's the barrier.
Civilization has traveled with the sun,

and it started in the East, going west. And now it's at the West Coast. If it goes any further, it'll be back East again. So that's the barrier.

And sin has traveled with civilization, and it becomes the cesspool of all ages.

Things they do that human beings in any other age wouldn't have thought of such a thing. Woman has throwed theirself to such a filth, till no woman in any age would've ever thought of such a thing as we do today. And then still call ourselves Christians. What a disgrace!

2020 revealed our sad lack of accurate prophets.

So these earthquakes and their consequences will probably also strike without warning too.

Then the Sixth Seal, which represents the 3.5 years of great Tribulation, also opens up with a massive earthquake.

REVELATION 6:12   And I beheld

when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake;

and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

:13   And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth

The stars are the preachers who should be showing us the way to heaven.

DANIEL 12:3   And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

This is what the preachers should be doing. Turning people to Scripture.

But today's preachers display alarming Bible-ignorance and get so much wrong.

Many even try to turn the antivirus vaccine into the Mark of the Beast. As if an injection in the shoulder has got something to do with the forehead.
Their prophetic ignorance will simply drive people further and further from Scripture. But they cannot escape the sudden and unexpected tidal wave of hatred and destruction that will be unleashed after the rapture or catching up of the church. The elevated preachers will fall to the ground with their reputations in tatters as nobody will want to listen to their man-made ideas and fake news anymore.

Anyone claiming to be a prophet, who cannot accurately predict the future,

has a toothless ministry which indicates that he is an uninspired person

trying to impress or intimidate others.

To be useful to us, a prophet must be able to see the future in advance. He must see visions that come to pass.

TB Joshua in Nigeria, claimed by many to be a prophet, saw a vision of Hillary Clinton winning the 2016 American presidential election. She did win the popular vote, but did not become president, and thus lost the presidential race. So that prophecy was a time-wasting, pointless exercise as Trump won the actual political power. Hillary is now just a relic of the past. Her sad face after the election revealed that she had actually won nothing of value, but lost heavily.

So T B Joshua's prophecy was not necessarily false in terms of the popular vote, but it was useless.

Denominational leaders and Message pastors also predicted that Hillary would win. All they proved was that they are out of tune with God's thinking.

But we need useful prophecies.

60-0417M  GO  TELL

There never was nobody on earth, no prophet, no great man, no sainted person could ever conquer [death]. They could conquer sickness by the Spirit of God.

They could conquer the time by the Spirit of God, and foresee things that was coming.

Time is a great enemy as we cannot see the future.

Time also puts limits to our stay on planet Earth.

The real evidence of God’s power over our enemy called 'time' is His ability to foretell future events. Then we can prepare.

62-0607  PUTTING  ON  THE  WHOLE  ARMOR  OF  GOD

… an apostle, a prophet, a seer. Foresee, before Satan ever gets to it, done told it. What is it? God dressed up in His church. These offices is God's dress-wear. When you see those offices, pastors, teachers, evangelists, what is that? That's God's dress-wear, God's Presence, God's Spirit …working through man.

And if that office denies any of this Word, then it's not God-dressing... 

No, not that.

That's that wolf in sheep's clothing. Watch that fellow. Beware of him.

But when he just takes what the Word says, remember, that's God,

'cause He's speaking His Word.

A prophet must tell us in advance what will happen.  Every office or ministry of God must stay with the full Word, the whole Bible.

53-1112  DEMONOLOGY

Jacob begot Joseph; we know, the perfect type of Christ. Well, when Joseph was dying, he said, "Don't bury my bones down here." Why?

He was a prophet. He foresaw things that the rest of them didn't see.

This Joseph, spoken of in the Bible, was a genuine prophet.

Why? He could accurately forsee things that would happen.

56-1001  THE  MINISTRY  EXPLAINED

… or Nathan being a real prophet of God... But you know, prophets are just men that's anointed time after time by the Spirit. They're eagles who go up and foresee things. They can't go up on their own power.

A eagle can't go up on his own power; the wind has to pick him up.

And it takes the Holy Spirit wind to pick the prophet up. It take him away in yonder to see things, see things back this a way, or things back that way.

A prophet gets caught up by the  Holy Spirit into a higher spiritual dimension of dreams and visions.

Then he can see beyond the curtain of time, and come back to tell us about those future events.

There are four categories of prophets

1. First, a Word prophet who actually wrote Scripture,                                                                                                from Moses in Genesis to John the revelator in the Book of Revelation. The Bible was then complete, with nothing more to be added. Thus there are no more Word prophets.

2. Secondly,

a New Testament prophet who is part of the five-fold ministry.

53-0609A  DEMONOLOGY  RELIGIOUS  REALM

Now, you said, "Well, the prophets are the Old Testament." Oh, no. The New Testament had prophets.

Agabus was a New Testament prophet. Look at the Spirit of prophecy falling down there and telling Paul about... Then here come Agabus down from Jerusalem, and found Paul, and tied his girdle around him, and turned over, and said, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, the man that wore this will be bound in chains when he gets to Jerusalem."

Agabus, who stood up and told, foretold what would take place, he was a prophet, not a man with the gift of prophecy.

ACTS 11:28    And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

Agabus made a prophecy and it came to pass. There was no fooling around here.

He was not trying to impress, or usurp a leadership role.

He simply predicted the future, and the disciples were able to prepare for the famine.  This indicates the vitally important and useful aspect of prophecy.

Prophecy was there to help the church, not to elevate the man.

Accurate prophecy is sadly lacking in today's churches.

3.  Thirdly,

a gift of prophecy which is part of the local church.

This is one of the gifts of the Spirit whereby God can anoint any individual to predict events that will occur.

I CORINTHIANS 12:4   Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

:10     To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy;

God may use a person often or seldom in this ministry.

      4.  Fourthly,

there is a special prophetic ministry which is very difficult to define.

Why?

Because this ministry only applies to three men. Two of whom are the future prophets to Israel during the 3.5 years of great Tribulation - Moses, and Elijah.

The third one is William Branham, the final prophet to the Gentiles.

The Bible predicted that these three would rise on the scene,

but they cannot add anything to the Bible.

So what is the purpose of their ministry?

The Gentile Elijah must turn Christians back to the Word of God,

which is Jesus Christ in Word form, as he clears up the mysteries in Scripture applicable for the Bride of Jesus Christ, and reveals to us Jesus walking through the pages of the Bible. The Bride who are restored to being Scriptural will then be caught up to meet the Lord in the flesh as a Person.

Then the two Jewish prophets must turn the 144000 Jews back to this same Word, and then introduce them to Jesus Christ in the flesh as a Person while they are still on earth.

II THESSALONIANS 2:3   Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

So, during the church ages, the truth got lost in the Dark Ages. Then an Elijah (Elijah is the Hebrew name, Elias is the Greek name) must come along to restore the church back to the original New Testament church doctrines as laid down by the apostles.

MATTHEW 17:11   And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

A mealie or corn seed cannot be harvested unless it looks identical to the seed that was planted. The Church now cannot go to be with God until she believes the same as what the apostles believed in the book of Acts and the New Testament.

60-1211E  THE  LAODICEAN  CHURCH  AGE

Now, watch! What kind of a nature will Elijah have? First, he'll be a mighty prophet true to the Word of God, for Elijah was true, and John was true. That's right.

Doing signs and wonders, will turn the hearts of the children back to the faith of the Pentecostal fathers.

William Branham, as Elijah, had a fabulously powerful ministry of signs and wonders.

But this was not his main ministry.

Revealing the mysteries of the Bible, to turn us back to the New Testament church, was the real purpose of his ministry.

63-0318 THE  FIRST  SEAL
Takes the Book of Seals and breaks them and shows the seventh angel,

for this alone, the mysteries of God, is the ministry of the seventh angel.

The revelation of the Bible mysteries is the main purpose of the eagle-age, the fourth beast around the throne.

REVELATION 4:2   And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

REVELATION 4:6   ... and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

:7   And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

The lion-age was the true Gospel that was written by Paul and the apostles.

The calf-age was 1200 years of Dark Ages and murder where the truth was destroyed and lost as the calf grew into a strong ox that survived the slaughter of tens of millions of saints.

The man-age was the Reformation of Luther getting saved by faith. The King James Bible was translated. Then John Wesley preached holiness and outreach that led to the great missionary age that was based on the King James Bible.

The eagle-age saw the Pentecostal power restored in 1904 in Wales and in 1906 at Azusa Street in Los Angeles. The church lost direction by producing over 100 different translations of the English Bible. It became a morass of confusion. William Branham in America between 1947 and 1965 restored a deeper insight into the Bible mysteries by revealing the patterns that are hidden in the King James Bible. The eagle-eye requires us to see and understand the written Word. This restoration has to take us back to the basic Bible beliefs of the first apostles.

William Branham revealed those Bible mysteries to restore the Church in this last age back to the beliefs of the first church age.

MATTHEW 17:11    Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

If he restores "all things" then there is absolutely no need nor purpose for a successor, as there is nothing for such a "successor" to do.

If a "successor" is needed to reveal some new mysteries, it would simply mean that brother Branham did NOT restore all things, and then he would not be the promised Elijah.

All we can do today is understand the different Scriptures by referring them back to the basic patterns and symbols that brother Branham revealed.

Let us follow the Bible patterns.

John the Baptist was the forerunner of the First Coming. There was no successor between him and Jesus.

William Branham's message is the forerunner of the Second Coming.

To fulfill the Bible pattern, there must be nobody between him and the Second Coming of the Lord.

61-0316 THE  CHURCH  CHOOSING  LAW  FOR  GRACE

"As John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first coming of Christ, your message will forerun the second coming of Christ."

If we study his message and prove it from Scripture then we will be ready for the Coming of the Lord. There is no other person that has to come after him.

64-0823M  QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS.1

But those who can accept the Word in Its fullness,

not me preaching It, because It's the Bible says so.

Those who accept that is free, because the Word's already been judged.

Another Bible pattern is the idea of a messenger to each church age. Each age had its own messenger.

Thus it is unscriptural for the 7th age to have two messengers.

There were 7 stars in the right hand of Jesus, not eight.

Joshua was the successor to Moses because Moses was the Law and the Law could not take them into the Promised Land. So Joshua represented the grace of the Holy Spirit.

But the Gentile church is already in the covenant of grace. There is nothing that follows after grace.

God's grace is sufficient for us to understand the Scripture now that the Seals have been revealed.

II CORINTHIANS 12:9   And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee.

Leaders bind people to themselves by fear

Leaders bind people to themselves by using their fear of the prophet William Branham.

The Catholics have a succession of Popes who are claimed to be the successor of Peter. This makes them the beast.

Message people, copying this spirit, look for a "successor" of the prophet.

A person trying to be the successor will only deceive the people like Saul did. Saul used the fear of Samuel the prophet to force the people to follow him, as he pretended to be following Samuel when he was actually out for his own gain.

Modern-day Sauls say, "Follow William Branham and me".

What they are trying to do is use the people's fear of brother Branham to force the people to follow their personal interpretation of what they think brother Branham meant.
60-0515M The Rejected King
So then when they did that, when the great defeat come, then Saul cut up two great ox and sent them to all the people. And I wished you would notice here. When Saul sent the pieces of the ox to all Israel and said,

"Let every man that will not follow Samuel and Saul, let him, this ox be as this." Do you see how deceitful he tried to represent Himself with the man of God?

How unchristian it was. The fear of the people was because of Samuel. But Saul got them all to follow him, because that the people feared Samuel.

"Let them come after Samuel and Saul."
1 Samuel 11:7
And he took a yoke of oxen, and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying,

Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel,

so shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.
An example is therefore Saul that used people's respect and fear of the prophet Samuel to get the people to follow him.
Candidates claiming to be a "successor" of William Branham fall into this category.

AN EXPOSITION OF THE 7 CHURCH AGES. CHAPTER 9.  LAODICEAN CHURCH AGE

Now in every case you will notice that a false prophet is one who is outside the Word. Just as we showed you that 'antichrist' means 'anti-Word' so these false prophets come perverting the Word, giving it a meaning that fits their own devilish ends.

Have you ever noticed how the people who lead others astray bind them closely to themselves by fear?

They say that if the people don't do what they say, or if they leave, then destruction will follow. They are false prophets,

for a true prophet will always lead one to the Word and bind the people to Jesus Christ and he won't tell the people to fear him or what he says, but to fear what the Word says.

Notice how these people like Judas are out for money.

This spirit that binds people to follow some man is often easy to spot as it aims to accumulate big money.

David was the king of the Jews but he was a man of war symbolizing Jesus at Armageddon. Jesus gets crowned at the Wedding Supper and then wears His crown to Armageddon for the first time as the King of War.

REVELATION 19:11   And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

:12   His eyes were as a flame of fire,

and on his head were many crowns;

Solomon, as the son of David, was his successor in order to be a man of peace that would symbolize the Millennium or 1000 years of peace with 300 wives and 700 concubines. Symbolically, 300 + 700 =  1000.

Son of David refers to Jesus in the Millennium as the King of Peace.

So it took two men to act out the two different roles of "war and peace" that Jesus had to fulfill.

But David as king was a political appointment. A political king is followed by his son as another political appointment.

Nathan the prophet in David's day was not followed by his son as a prophet.

Elijah had no son to follow him.

Samuel was a great prophet but his sons were a disaster, partly ruined by their love of money.

I SAMUEL 8:1   And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.

I SAMUEL 8:3   And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.

But neither of these roles as King of War at Armageddon or King of Peace for 1000 years are part of the 7 church ages as Jesus only gets crowned King during the Wedding Supper which is after the 7th age.

The danger of the love of human importance

65-0221M  MARRIAGE  AND  DIVORCE

People has called me a prophet.

I don't call myself no prophet, because I would be daresn't to say that,

but I can say this,

that the Lord has let me foresee things,

tell things that has happened, will happen, is happening, and not one time has it ever failed,

in the tens of thousands of times.

Brother Branham, in the last year of his life, would not dare to call himself a prophet despite often foreseeing the future and producing great signs and wonders.

So he had a different ministry. His ability to predict the future qualified him as a great prophet, yet he did not accept this honour. Why not?

He knew what the Scripture prophesied of him. He knew what the main thrust of his ministry was.

William Branham was not sent to impress us with his prophecies (which were most impressive) and the signs and wonders in his ministry (which were also exceptionally impressive).

He was sent to undo errors, and reveal the mysteries of the seven Seals that would unlock the mysteries in the Bible that had been lost during the church ages. Only then could the church return to the original Bible teachings of the New Testament.

63-0318  THE  FIRST  SEAL

... for this ALONE, the mysteries of God, is the ministry of the seventh angel.

Now, we just come through the church ages with even history and prove that. See? It is the angel's message of the seventh church.

All right, reveals ALL the mysteries that's been in the past, all the things in the past:

Revelations 10:1-7. That's to be.

The revealing of the mysteries is put into the future tense.

It is not William Branham revealing the mysteries from Scripture. It is when we, the Bride individuals, are able to prove those mysteries from Scripture.

William Branham had a unique ministry which was to clear up the muddled denominational thinking and restore us back to the teachings of the first church age.

1965-1204 THE  RAPTURE
Therefore, the Message calls the Bride together, see, the shout.

The message or "shout" was not brother Branham revealing the mysteries from Scripture.

The "shout" is when the individual bride members are able to prove the truth from Scripture.

One month before he died and brother Branham was still waiting for the "shout" to happen in the future.
1965-1127  I  HAVE  HEARD  BUT  NOW  I  SEE
Dear God, in this solemn moment, it's going to be a time like this when there really will be a clap of thunder someday,

and the Son of God SHALL descend from the heavens with a shout,

with the voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God, the dead in Christ shall rise.

For “this alone”, the revealing of the mysteries was his Scriptural ministry.

Everything else in his ministry played a supporting role to vindicate him and attract attention to him, so that people would listen when he revealed the mysteries of the Bible.

To say that there is someone to follow him as a Gentile prophet is totally unScriptural.

This claim would simply be someone seeking his own preeminence.

The apostle John warns us against men who loved pre-eminence in the church.

III JOHN 1:9   I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.

:10   Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would,

and casteth them out of the church.

Some things do not change. This is typical "pastor behaviour". Throwing out those who dared to disagree with him. Those who wanted to stay with the Bible that the apostle John helped to write.

Nicolaitanism is elevating a holy man to a position of pre-eminence above the people of the church. God hates this.

Brother Branham never claimed that his ministry made him important or that he was the leader of the church.
63-0324E THE  SEVENTH  SEAL
May you always bear that in mind: to be a gem in the crown of Jesus Christ. Paul said to the church, "You are the jewels, gems of His crown." We want to be the gems of the crown of Jesus Christ.

We don't want never put a man in it.

You forget anything about me. I am your brother, a sinner saved by grace, not fit to live; that's exactly the truth;

and I ain't saying that to be humble; that's facts. There's nothing in me, not one sound thing at all.

But the grace of God has let my poor dimming eyes look beyond the curtain of time and see those things yonder, and I come back...

"We don't want never put a man in it".

This means we must stop looking for a human leader. If the Holy Spirit cannot guide you then you have missed the whole point of the Gospel.

A prophet gets lifted up by the Holy Spirit to see future events.

Then he describes those events in the vision as they happen. We then have a revelation of what is to happen.

But the actual happening will only take place in the future.

Do not be fooled by

the difference between the present tense revelation of the vision and the future reality of events

that it describes. A prophet foresees. He tells us now what is going to happen in the future.

Elisha had double the supernatural of Elijah

Jesus prophesied of Elijah coming at a later date, but He never mentioned Elisha.

There is no need for an Elisha, because brother Branham, as Elijah, has already revealed the mysteries of the Bible patterns. So there is nothing left for Elisha to reveal.

William Branham’s only real ministry was to reveal the Seven Seals which unfolded all the mysteries needed by the Bride to be ready for the Second Coming of the Lord.

63-0318  THE  FIRST  SEAL

Now, remember, in the days of the seventh angel, his sounding forth, blasting forth the Gospel Trumpet,

he is to finish all the mysteries of God.

Also, remember that Elisha had a double portion of Elijah’s ministry.

So who can stand in the shoes of William Branham and do twice what he achieved? No Gentile of today.

Many Gentiles have claimed to be the Elisha who followed Elijah, but compared to the phenomenal supernatural power evident in brother Branham’s ministry, they are a very poor reflection. But Elisha is supposed to be twice as powerful.

However, there is a future Jewish prophet to Israel during the 3½ years of great Tribulation, who will speak a worldwide drought into existence for three and a half years and also use all manner of plagues and disasters to hold back the Beast and his armies from defeating Israel. Now that will be real supernatural power on a grand scale.

All the unScriptural, self-promoted Gentiles who claim to be Elisha will end up in great Tribulation because they hold an unScriptural modern-day ministry. Thus they will be part of the fooled or foolish virgins.

In the 3½ years of great Tribulation they will be able to see for themselves what real supernatural power is like.

The feeble follies of the self-promoted Elishas will then be made manifest.

Kings are politicians. God never wanted a king over Israel.

Kings led to the father-and-son concept of rulership.

Look at the awful track record of Jewish kings. Very few were worth anything.

I SAMUEL 8:6   But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.

:7    And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee:

for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me,

that I should not reign over them.

When people reject God, then they settle for a family succession.

A father-and-son pastor-succession. But "successors" are based on the Catholic spirit of the Pope being the successor of Peter.

Note that of the true spiritual successors, Elisha was not from Elijah’s family, and Joshua was also not from Moses' family.

Father-and-son as pastors is used by modern churches to keep the money in the family.

At the start of his ministry, Elisha's first opposition were the sons of the prophets who did not fully believe the fact that Elijah was taken up into heaven ("raptured") by God. (Read this in 2 Kings 2). We also read how the "wild" gourds that symbolize doctrines of these sons of the prophets put "death in the pot" to all who partook of their pottage. The solution was to put meal, as a symbol of Scripture, back into the pot. We always have to come back to and stay with the Word of God. The only way to be sure that you will not have "death in the pot" is to stay with Scripture. Even if a son of a prophet says anything "wild" that contradicts the Scriptures, you have to stay with the Scriptures. Gourds have hard shells like pumpkins or squash.

2 Kings 4:38 And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets.

39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage:

for they knew them not.

The sons of the prophets were ignorant of the harm they were doing with their "wild" unscriptural ideas.

40 So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O thou man of God,

there is death in the pot. And they could not eat thereof.

41 But he said,

Then bring meal.

And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot.

God told Elijah to anoint Elisha as a prophet

so that Elisha could start his ministry immediately after Elijah left, not many years later.

There was no gap of many years because Elisha had never backslid.

If Elijah represented the catching away of the church up into Heaven, then Elisha would reflect the 3½ years of great Tribulation events.

Salt prevents decay. So salt speaks of Christ who is the antidote to sin and corruption.

The Gospel of Christ returns to the Jews in the Tribulation. The 144000 will receive eternal life. This will remove all the error and unbelief that the Jews had accumulated in their Old Testament faith.

II KINGS 2:21And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.

:22     So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.

:23     And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth

little children

out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

:24   And he turned back, and looked on them,

and cursed them in the name of the LORD.

And there came forth

two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

50-0821  THE  ANGEL  AND  THE  COMMISSION

You remember Elisha? Young fellow went baldheaded, was young, when he was young man. Some little children begin to holler, said, "Old bald-head, old bald-head, why didn't you go up with Elijah?" Remember that?

That angered prophet now, turned around angry, and cursed those children in the Name of the Lord, and two she bears run out of the woods

and killed forty-two little innocent children.

Is that right?

That's not the nature of the Holy Spirit.

You know that. But that prophet was angry. See? You have to be careful what you do.

The number of children is forty-two. This is a clue that links this event to the forty-two months of the Great Tribulation.

The little children are the end-time believers who should be restored back to the original apostolic fathers. Elisha represents the prophet Elijah to the Jews in the time of great Tribulation. There is no Holy Spirit in great Tribulation as the Holy Spirit took the Bride up to Heaven as great Tribulation started. Thus these saved foolish virgins who end up in great Tribulation are doomed to die. They are cursed by their rejection of the end-time revelation of the Bible mysteries.

Rejecting the revelation of the end-time mysteries is an exceptionally serious sin as far as God is concerned.

A woman represents the church. She-bears are strong representing strongly religious groups. The Russians are strongly religious Orthodox believers. The Muslims are grimly devoted to Muhammed.

REVELATION 11:2   But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city

shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

This final Elijah-ministry to Israel will clear up the waters of doctrine for the Jews during great Tribulation by turning them to Christ.

But there is no Holy Spirit for the Gentiles in great Tribulation time.

This is a time of God’s wrath and anger towards the sleeping virgin. The little children represent the saved end-time Christians of this age who should have been turned back to the first church-age fathers who are the apostles. But they rejected the revealed Bible truths of the Gentile Elijah who is the seventh angel or messenger. During the 3.5 years of Great Tribulation they will be aware that they have missed the catching up of the church, which is why they raise the issue.  The human conscience dwells on the point that troubles it. They will know that they are in the wrong because they have been left behind, to die.

Russia has a bear for its national symbol. The Medes and Persians whose empire stretched from Turkey to Afghanistan (today we call them Muslims) were also symbolized by a bear in Daniel’s prophecy.

Two she bears.  A woman symbolizes a church or religious group. The Orthodox Russians and Muslims are very religious, but have many wrong beliefs. Muslims are devoted to their hatred of Israel and America. We serve God in love, not by hate.

The little children in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation represent saved denominational Christians at the end-time who reject the revealed truths of the Bible. "Little children" means different groups,  including the saved Message believers who splice quotes together from various messages, instead of taking the quotes back to Scripture. Thus the Message believers end up believing things that the first church age Christians never believed. (“Denomination” and  “Message believer”  are both unScriptural terms that will save no one.  The early church were called Christians. We must follow their example.)

Because today’s church groups had a chance to learn truth, but rejected the idea of proving the truth from Scripture, they will be torn to pieces in great Tribulation.

This will be done by the very religious Russian and Muslim people who suddenly wake up to the fact that they have been fooled by their religious leaders and thus they are lost. They will be furious towards those sleeping virgins who had a chance to learn and teach the truth but threw their chance away. The Russians and Muslims are so wrapped up in their enforced beliefs that they have very little chance of finding truth today.

Christians today reject and insult brother Branham but will not pay any price immediately. They will pay in great Tribulation time. They also promote his quotes above Scripture and thereby cannot make the Bride who have to be in complete subjection to the Husband, Who is the Word of God.

But however wrong they are, Christians are still under grace until the Coming of the Lord. But once they are in great Tribulation they will get the shock of their lives. Mercy is over. Insulting the Jewish prophet will earn immediate retribution.

They will discover that they are cursed by God to die for their faith. Every saved foolish virgin will be killed. They are all doomed to die.

REVELATION 13:15   And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak,

and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

It is not the beast (the Roman Catholic church) that kills them. It is for refusing to worship in the Protestant churches that are the image of the beast.

The anti-virus vaccine cannot be the Mark of the Beast because nobody was killed by the government for refusing the injection. Also, no worship was involved with the vaccine.

Social media have become a powerful platform for fake news and misinformation.

This is helping to develop the true mark of the beast which is to be brainwashed with unscriptural ideas. That is the main function of today's Protestant churches.

The 2020 coronavirus pandemic closed down all the churches, leaving the battle to the brave medical world. Then, when the dedicated medical researchers developed brilliant vaccines that could slow down the spread of the virus and lessen its deadly effects, the Protestant churches turned on the medical world by claiming that the different vaccines in the shoulder were the mark of the beast in the forehead.

It is as if insanity has been unleashed in the Protestant churches. Condemn the vaccine that alone can save you from an awful death and being hospitalized in overburdened intensive care units. Exactly what the Jews did to their Saviour.

No wonder Elisha cursed the little children, the foolish virgins in great Tribulation.

The son of David became too rich for his own good

Brother Branham was a prophet. He was not interested in making a profit.

Solomon was the son of David and David’s political successor.

But money helped to ruin his reputation.

He was a very clever man,

but all the money he earned was tainted

by its association with the number or mark of the beast, 666.

The first mention of 666 in the Bible is associated with the money that the son and successor of David got in from people, each year.

This accumulation of money was the first clue that something was going wrong and that he would eventually forsake the ways of God.

I KINGS 10:14   Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold,

A score is twenty. Three score is  3 x 20 = 60.   So the total income per year was 666.

Gaining big money is not the secret to success.

Jesus said

LUKE 6:24   But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.

MATTHEW 19:24   And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Some claim that Peter was the leader of the apostles. This is not actually true, but look what he said.

ACTS 3:6   Then Peter said,

Silver and gold have I none;

but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

Peter was a true prophet, unconcerned with making a profit out of religion.

Peter was focused on supernatural power, not money.  William Branham shared that attitude.

49-0718  I  WAS  NOT  DISOBEDIENT  TO  THE  HEAVENLY  VISION

When I was a minister, a Baptist

preacher in my church for twelve years, I never even received one red penny of salary…

Not long ago in California, some of the Armenian people, who had all sold out of their winery and things, sent me a check that amounted to more than a million dollars. And I wouldn't even put my hands upon it.

I sent them back.

I'd rather be poor and live in a shack and have favor with God, and the feeling that I had the satisfaction I love Him, than all the wealth the world owns.

50-0820A  MY  LIFE  STORY

… and try to live just as cheap as I can.

When I go to the cities, I don't look for big hotels. The cheapest one I can find, that's what I want. See? I want to be just as poor as everyone that comes to me to be prayed for. That's right.

If I'd accepted the money that's offered me, I'd be a multimillionaire.

… and sent me a check, bank draft for a million, five hundred thousand dollars.

And I refused to put my hands on it and look at it. The Baxters had brought it to me. I said, "No, sir, I don't want to see it."

Said, "Well, Reverend Branham, it was sent to you."

I said, "I do not want to see it. I don't want nothing to do with money."

When a man gets his mind on money, he loses God. That's right.

We humans only pretend to serve God when we have too much money. Why? Because wealth opens up too many opportunities for us and we lack the wisdom to know which opportunity, if any, is God's will in our lives.

51-0729E  THE  SECOND  MIRACLE

In Texas and Dallas there, a rich oil man flew his mother in there; she was in a wheelchair. She'd been there two or three days now, I was preaching. I said, "I see an elderly woman coming in a wheelchair, gray headed, shaky." I said, "I see her rise up and go." I said, "Where is she?" Here she set out there; I said, "Woman, Jesus Christ has healed you, come to your feet."

And away she went running down through the building….

He said, "Here's a check, a little check I want to give you."

I looked on there,

twenty-eight thousand dollars;

I said, "Oh, no, no."

He said, "Here," said, "not for saying the prayer for my mother; that isn't it," said, " I'm worth it."

Took that check and tore it up,

I said, "No, sir, brother, no, sir.

God never sent me to take money; He sent me to preach the Gospel."

52-0715  FAITH  IN  THE  SON  OF  GOD

Brother, sister, I had a million five hundred thousand dollars give to me at one time, and refused to put my name on it, and told them to take it back. That's right. I had twenty-five thousand dollars give to me in one check at the platform in Texas, where a man from the Texas oil owner there that come said, his mother was healed out of wheelchair. They just flew in there. I said, "Sir," and I tore the check up before him. That's right. I'm a poor man.

Then Solomon, who lacked something that his father David had,  allowed foreign women to lead him astray.

I KINGS 11:6   And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD,

and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.

So Solomon, the son of David, took over his father’s eminent and respected position but because he did not seek God with the dedication that his father did,  this succession ended up as a disaster.

The son of the famous father did not have his father’s spiritual strength and talent.

Thus the son could accumulate money on an impressive scale, but what he ended up achieving was spiritually evil.

This succession from father to son did not work well.

Many men today claim to be the leader of the church. Humans love power and importance. But modern leaders also love money and a luxury lifestyle, and they accumulate as much as they can.

When God needed the successor of Moses to be effective, He did not choose a son of Moses, nor any relative of Moses.

Moses and Joshua had a special role to play as they had to symbolize a deep truth.

Moses symbolized the Law that leads us to the Promised Land. Joshua symbolized the Holy Spirit that takes us over Jordan (dying to ourselves) into the Promised Land.

60-0713  BLIND  BARTIMAEUS

See, Moses didn't bring the children into the Promised Land. He was the law-giver, but he didn't bring the children into the Promised Land. Joshua took them over. See? And the Holy Spirit's the One that's taking them over now.

Christ made the way and the plans, and was the giver of the law and so forth. But the Holy Spirit takes the Church to the promised land, the rapture, taking it up, the Holy Spirit in the rapture.

Joshua, as the successor of the powerful Moses, also had to demonstrate great power.

He dried up the river Jordan when it was in flood. This was an incredible act. He brought the huge walls of Jericho tumbling down, except for the precise section of the wall where Rahab dwelt. Such was the enormous supernatural power of this man who was the successor of a great prophet.

Even as a young man, Joshua was always dedicated to the service of God.

Joshua never lost a single battle. (The lost battle of Ai was when others sent a small group to conquer that city, but there was sin in the camp.)

Joshua never backslid, even when he was young.

Human leadership of the church is not the plan of God

The Roman Catholic church claims that Peter was the Prince of the apostles. The Bible does not state that. Peter had an important role to play. He was a fisherman, and God used him to pull in the Jews on the day of Pentecost. Then he pulled in the Samaritans that Philip had preached to. After that he pulled in the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius. When Paul became the apostle to the Gentiles,  Peter became an apostle to the Jews, especially those in Babylon.

When there was a dispute the apostles met with the elders for discussion.

Acts 15: 2    When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

ACTS 15:6   And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.

: 7       And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

ACTS 15:12   Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

: 13   And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:

: 19     Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

Peter, Barnabus, and Paul all mentioned how God has turned to the Gentiles.  Then James did the final summing up but never claimed to be the leader. They all spoke as equals.

When Paul was starting out, he describes James, Peter and John as pillars. He does not describe Peter as the leader!

GALATIANS 2:9   And when James, Cephas [Simon Peter], and John, who seemed to be pillars,

GALATIANS 2:6   But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man's person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:

Some seemed more important than others but this supposed importance did not impress Paul because

God regards no person as being important.

GALATIANS 2:7   But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;

: 8     (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)

Paul dealt in basics. God was obviously using Peter to save Jews, and Paul to save Gentiles. So they all simply recognized who God was using and they did not get in each other’s way. There was no attempt by anyone to be classified as leader or head-apostle.

II CORINTHIANS 11:5   For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

Note that the term “chiefest apostles” is plural!

Some had more influence than others but no one tried to be the chief apostle. And Paul, coming in from the outside, was just as good as any other apostle.

But Paul, being a tentmaker, used his 14 letters or epistles to sew together the Old Testament law with the New Testament grace. His explanations were so deep and so far-reaching as far as spiritual things are concerned, that Paul ended up having the most influence amongst the early church.

His widespread travels amongst the Gentiles also spread the influence of his teachings far and wide.

He never claimed to be the chief apostle, but he was the most effective and most influential apostle amongst the early church.

Each local church was run by the local elders

Nicolaitanism, which is the elevation of a holy man above the people, would only start after the death of the apostles.

The rank that would be used was that of "bishop".

The Christian church downfall started when they agreed that one man would be elected as the (single) bishop of a city.

PHILIPPIANS 1:1   Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

There were many bishops in Philippi.

So there was not one man who dominated the city.

The word “pastor” is only mentioned ONCE in the New Testament and condemned six times in the Old Testament.

So, there never was a pastor in charge of a New Testament church.

A priest or bishop or pastor being the head of a church was a tradition that crept in later.

But pagans always had a priest who was in charge of their congregations.

No certain man, in the Bible, was ordained to carry on as a successor to Peter or Paul.

Both Paul and Peter handed over the authority of guiding the church to the local elders of each area. Never did they ordain one man to succeed them.

Paul established the Ephesian church this way.

ACTS 20:17   And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.

:20   And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly,

and from house to house,

The early church had meetings in houses. They did not have to put up a building and get a large congregation that could be dominated by one man. All the Christians in the city did not have to meet at the same venue.

ACTS 20:27   For I have not shunned to declare unto you

all the counsel of God.

:28   Take heed therefore unto yourselves,

and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God,

which he hath purchased with his own blood.

The full counsel of God involved the local elders overseeing the local assembly. This was not a "one-man leadership".

One-man human leadership would sneak in during the second church age of Smyrna. The name Smyrna means bitterness and death.

Elevated human leadership then dominated the cities as each city appointed a bishop to be in charge.

God then sent endless persecutions to scatter them so that Christians could stay alive in small groups that did not have a human leader.

Peter said the same thing towards the end of the New Testament. He refers to himself as an elder, and thus makes himself equal to the other elders, rather than calling himself an apostle which would elevate him above them.

I PETER 5:2   The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

:2   Feed the flock of God which is among you,

taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

:3   Neither as being lords over God's heritage,

but being ensamples to the flock.

No-one should regard themselves as being above the people.

53-0614A  EARNESTLY  CONTENDING  FOR  THE  FAITH  THAT  WAS.  ONCE  DELIVERED  TO  THE  SAINTS

But let me tell you, the Church of God is led by the Spirit of God. They move as the Spirit moves them. God didn't promise just to move with bishops.

Elders is what's the head of the church, every church.

57-0126B  INDIA  TRIP  REPORT

… Now, remember the reason that I just kind of stuck with the Baptist church was

the sovereignty of the local church what I think is apostolic....

According to the Bible, the highest office in the local church is the elder.

57-0908M  HEBREWS  CHAPTER  FIVE  AND  SIX  1

But I believe in the supreme authority of the local assembly.

Yes. Let each church be its own, choose its pastors, its deacons, its, whatever it is. And then, that way, the man in there has no bishop over him. The Holy Spirit wants to speak something to that church, they don't have to ask anybody about whether they could do this or do that. It's the individual in contact with the Holy Spirit.

Show me by the Bible what's greater, in the Bible, than A LOCAL ELDER to a local church?

That's right, yes, sir, the sovereignty of the local church, each church in itself. Now, brotherhood, that's wonderful. All churches ought to be in a brotherhood like that, together.

But the sovereignty of local church!

CHURCH AGES BOOK  CHAPTER 5  -  DOCTRINE OF NICOLAITANES

But no, the bishops did not stick to the epistles of Paul, but rather they went to Paul's account of the time he called the elders from Ephesus to Miletus in Acts 20. In verse 17 the record states, "elders" were called and then in verse 28 they are called overseers (bishops).

And these bishops, (no doubt political minded and anxious for power) insisted that Paul had given the meaning that 'overseers' were more than the local elder with official capacity only in his own church.

To them

a bishop was now one with extended authority over many local leaders.

Such a concept was neither Scriptural nor historical, yet even a man of the stature of Polycarp leaned toward such organization.

After the apostle John died about  AD 100, a move started to make one man, a bishop, the leader of the Christians in a city.

The first to introduce this idea was Ignatius, who died around AD 140, in the Colosseum.

He wrote “Take care to do all things in harmony with God,

with the bishop presiding in the place of God”.

Irenaeus (130 – 202) was a great man but he believed that “Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church". He claimed that "the apostles instituted bishops in the Churches”.  There is no record of this in the Bible.

He wrote five books against heresies. This is an extract from his third book.

Irenaeus wrote: “the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and

organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul;

as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which

comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops.

For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should

agree with this Church, on account of its pre- eminent authority”.

Irenaeus was a great man, but here he made one fatal mistake. Peter never was in Rome.

Peter never ordained a successor at Rome.

The Roman church was wrecked when they accepted the idea that the Bishop of Rome was the successor of Peter.

Peter died about 60 years before Irenaeus was born. Thus Irenaeus was already repeating the local Catholic legends instead of Scripture. The Roman church was not too far wrong in his day, but just over a hundred years later they would impose the Nicene Council and its Trinity doctrine on everyone. Trying to set up a human system of control, instead of just staying with scriptural elders, Irenaeus pointed the people to Rome and its succession of bishops who would later, around AD 400, be called Popes.

The Philistines is on thee Branham Tabernacle

Making up man-made rules to control the church by means of human leadership was the first big step along the downward path into the apostasy of the Dark Ages.

Irenaeus lists 12 bishops in succession, as they followed each other in Rome. The apostle John was alive during the reign of the first four bishops of Rome. So if these Roman bishops had authority over all Christianity, then even the apostle John was supposed to be subject to them. That of course is utter nonsense. But it just indicates how far wrong Irenaeus was going with his personal opinion of a "perpetual succession of bishops".

So the desire to prove a "succession theory" opened the door to the errors of Rome, which was the great enemy of truth.

Irenaeus said, “Polycarp (who died in AD 156) also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna,

whom I also saw in my early youth”.

But the apostles never appointed anyone as the bishop of a city.

Irenaeus only saw and heard Polycarp preach when he was in his early youth.

There is no historical record that Polycarp appointed the very young Irenaeus as his "successor".

60-1206  THE  SMYRNAEAN  CHURCH  AGE

But there's where the Roman Catholic Church was formed, out of a group of people that were converts of Saint Paul, and Irenaeus, and Saint Martin, and on down. They were converted from paganism over to Christianity, but wanted to pull the church back into an Old Testament form of ministry,

like having high priests, and apostolic successions,

like one pope to another pope, another pope. If we could go on down through this Bible, you'd find out that that's just exactly the truth and how

God condemned the thing

from the very beginning; and last night's church age, said, "I hate it!" and so did the Church.

60-1206  THE  SMYRNAEAN  CHURCH  AGE

God never intended the Church to be run by men.

Many think that "being in the Branham tabernacle will make us safe". But that is not true.

59-0628M  A  DECEIVED  CHURCH  BY  THE  WORLD

Stay true to God.

"Samson, the Philistines is on thee."

Branham Tabernacle, worldlyism is creeping in among you. What about it? Have you exposed your secret? Have you exposed that secret that God give you

when you were wallowing there in the sawdust a few years ago? Have you let it creep out by social, formal worship? What's happened to you? God can come down and perform a miracle, and go right down through the audience, and tell people the secrets of their hearts, and everything, and heal the sick and afflicted, and do signs and wonders, and preach His Word as hard as they can by the Holy Ghost, and people say, "Well, I guess that's all right. We enjoy listening to it once in a while, if we're not too tired."

That's Branham Tabernacle. The Philistines is on thee.

When, used to be when the preaching of the Word, and the old saints with the tears in their eyes, would rise to their feet and walk, sobbing, maybe not saying a word, just walking around, two or three times, and set down, so filled with the Holy Ghost

... The Word fed them. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Philistines is on thee, Branham Tabernacle.

Philistines is on you, Pentecostal.

Philistines, the ancient enemy of Israel, are a symbol of demonology.

Worldliness creeps over the people. Every year the dresses get shorter and the heels get higher. If the dresses are long they lose their sleeves and more gets cut away from the tops of the dresses.
56-0128 INSPIRATION
Anybody's that's borned again knows that's wrong.

Why, it's only the devil that makes you strip your clothes. There never was nobody in the Bible, but just demon powers that does those things.

And the world's just full of it. And it's even religious to do so. Why, certainly that's the devil.

Demon power also makes us get away from Scripture.
61-1119 PERFECT  STRENGTH  BY  PERFECT  WEAKNESS
Oh, my, talk about the lid off of the kettle: demons going around,

powers of the devil under the name of Christianity, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men, theological seminary doctrines, leaving the Bible alone.

Hallelujah. Who's able to... Who's strong enough, who's wise enough?

Who's powerful enough to tame this legion stripping the clothes off of our women

in the name of preachers, Methodist, Baptist, and even Pentecostal? Painting their faces like Jezebel, and bobbing their hair, and wearing pants just like men,

our preachers, not enough get up about them to tell them about it: devil-possessed...

It was the legion that tore his clothes off of him. Who is this roaring devil?

May you be a prophet Joseph

This was brother Branham's original prayer. It was a request, not a prophecy.

Finally, let's look at claims that some make, saying that brother Branham, at the dedication service of his baby son, claimed that God said that Joseph Branham would be a prophet (and by implication his "successor").

NOTE: The topic under discussion here is whether Joseph Branham could be the "successor" to William Branham as some claim. It is not looking at whether Joseph Branham has a ministry or not.

This is what was actually said at the dedication service for Joseph Branham in 1955. There were a group of babies and brother Branham wanted prophets (plural) and teachers to be raised from them.

He wanted many prophets to be raised up. Not just one prophet as his successor.

This was simply a prayer request.

Parents always want the best for their children.

55-0724  ENTICING  SPIRITS

God,

we pray that You'll raise preachers and prophets and teachers out of this group of babies

that's around the altar this morning. And when we're old and can go no farther, someone has to take us from place to place, may we be able to stand

and hear the Gospel preached by these that's here today….

In a little closet, way yonder in the north lands You promised this child to me. Father, may Your blessings rest upon him. Joseph, my boy, I give you to God, and may your life be a blessing.

May you be a prophet, Joseph;

may God's grace rest on you. May the God of your father, the Lord Jesus Christ ever bless you and make your life a blessing to others. In Jesus Christ's Name I bless this child. Amen.

Brother Branham prayed that prophets (plural) would raise up from this group of babies, not just Joseph.

He then prayed that Joseph may be a prophet.

He did not say that Joseph was a prophet.

That was 1955, but 2 years later in 1957 when he referred to this dedication service,  he changed the wording of this prayer.

57-0728  THIRSTING  FOR  LIFE

Somehow, when I was in our church. Many of you sprinkle them in baptism, infant baptism; that's all right. We try to follow the Bible. Jesus picked up little children and blessed them. We dedicate them. And in dedication of the little boy at the altar, somehow,

I was inspired to say, "Joseph, thou art God's prophet."

And maybe when I leave,

I pray that a double portion of the Spirit will come upon Joseph

for the age to come, if there is one.

But in 1955 at the dedication of Joseph,  brother Branham said “May you be a prophet Joseph”, he did not say “You are God’s prophet”.

Joseph Branham has never demonstrated a supernatural ministry at the level of William Branham, and has never demonstrated a double portion, twice as much as his father.

Brother Branham, as any father would, desired to have his son in an important role.

59-1129  LET  US  SEE  GOD

When I dedicated him to the Lord the morning, there was many little babies standing up, and had mothers with them along the altar. When I picked up Joseph in my arms, not thinking of what I was saying, I said,

"Joseph, my son, thou art a prophet." That's my prayer anyhow,

and I believe it'll be someday; God will take everything that He ever give me, and

double it times double,

and put on that boy, then when I leave that he'll take my place.

1959. Four years later. "May you be a prophet, Joseph" changes to “Joseph, my son, thou art a prophet”.

He is trying to remember the 1955 dedication event and words are changing.  The last statements are different from the original which said, “ May you be a prophet, Joseph”.

Then he states that “That is my prayer anyhow”.

This was a prayer request, not a prophecy.

William Branham’s next prayer request is for Joseph Branham to get a ministry “double it times double” greater than his own ministry. This is a fourfold increase.

This has never transpired in the 55+ years since brother Branham left the scene.

Elisha had double Elijah's supernatural ministry.

The Elisha that will follow our Gentile Elijah (brother Branham) will be one of the two Jewish prophets in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation. That will see a massive outpouring of the supernatural as he interferes with nature.

Until then, there is no Scriptural successor for the end-time Gentile Elijah because Jesus said “Elias shall restore all things”.   Brother Branham revealed the hidden patterns of Scripture. The work has been done. The deeper Bible patterns have been revealed.

Human memory fades and we all struggle with recalling facts accurately. So just stay with this original statement from 1955.

Brother Branham wanted to see Joseph in the pulpit preaching. There is no mention of playing tapes.

60-0522E  ADOPTION  4

I want Sarah on the organ, Becky on the piano;

I want Joseph in the pulpit.

(As a typical parent, brother Branham wants all his children involved in God’s work. How much of this has come to pass?)

…see my boy standing there anointed with the Holy Ghost,

preaching this same Gospel. I want to take this old Book

and say, "Son, here It is; It's yours. You stand with It. Don't you compromise on one Word. You stay right with It, honey. Don't you, don't care... I don't care who's against you, who's against; God will be for you.

You preach every Word just the way It's wrote in There;

daddy will see you across the river.

William Branham wanted Joseph Branham to take his

Bible and preach on every written Word.

No mention of playing tapes.

63-0323  THE  SIXTH  SEAL

Now, they may be present, some Mormon brethren or sisters, and they may be some get these tapes now. And I don't want to say that... Some of the finest people you would want to meet would be in the Mormon people, very fine type of people;

and then their prophet, Joseph Smith,

that the Methodist people killed here in Illinois, on their journey over...

And so then that fine man...

And the vision, I don't doubt at all but what he had the vision. I believe he's a sincere man, but the vision he had was contrary to the Scripture; therefore, they had to have a Mormon Bible to make it.

Here brother Branham calls Joseph Smith a prophet.

This Joseph changed the Bible in Isaiah so that America could also be a Promised Land in addition to Israel.

Changing what is written in the Word is not what a prophet should do. Brother Branham is just being very polite towards this Joseph because many people look up to him as a prophet.  But what brother Branham says is not the truth in the Biblical sense. A true prophet can only stay with Scripture.

When he praises Joseph by calling him a prophet, in the interests of politeness,  that is not to be taken as a definite statement of truth.

58-0328  HEAR.YE.HIM

…prophet stumbles the people.

I don't claim to be a prophet.

Brother Branham modestly understates his own ministry at times. Being self-effacing is a typical characteristic of talented individuals.

So when he downplays his own ministry, out of humility, that is also not to be taken as a statement of truth.

We cannot just repeat his quotes like "parrots". We need to know what we are talking about.

There is no Scripture that says that there are "parrots" in Heaven.

God wants you to have Scriptural understanding, knowledge, and wisdom.

Be very careful when you speak of a "successor".

Roman Catholicism is based on the false claim that the Bishop of Rome is the "successor" of Saint Peter.

A "successor" is a Catholic spirit.

The Protestant daughter churches came out of the mother Catholic church.

EZEKIEL 16:44   Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.

Protestants are no longer original as they keep going back to the beliefs and ideas of the Catholics.

Hence, Rome, the mother harlot is also the mother of harlots.

REVELATION 17:5   And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,

THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS

AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.