Bible Believers' Newsletter 421
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's good to see you.
One of our brethren sent us a letter that is doing the rounds. It concerns a book whose author claims to have discovered a secret computer code whereby he is able to confirm recent worldly events in the Bible, although some of this "history" is untrue. The book has long been exposed by competent computer professionals as another fraud designed to prey upon gullible and unstable souls and mislead genuine seekers of truth unskilled in the Word of God. The ridiculous claims of this book were allegedly commended from the pulpit of the oldest tabernacle in the circle of this Message, and this letter written by a minister was circulated by someone claiming forty year's experience in the Message.
Two virulent responses to our note and invitation to subscribe to this Newsletter whose revelation was denied by the 'elder' of forty years study confirms "they are not all in the Message who are of the circle of the Message" (Romans 9:6) My purpose in sharing this matter is to demonstrate that in the time of the "squeeze" the enemies of the Church will include those of our own household (Zechariah 13:6; Acts 1:16-17).
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.Your brother-in-Christ,
Anthony Grigor-Scott
The Most Powerful Weapon in the World
March 8, 2006 – In a world where the perception is the reality, all countries need to have the capability to manage their own perceptual alignment—otherwise someone else will. We live in a global village, which is reliant on communication and perception.
Every country needs the tools to be part of that game.
George Orwell was right on the money when he envisaged the coming 21st century as a battle based on the PERCEPTION of reality. In "1984," his classic warning to the world, Orwell told us that we would have to face this threat. . . "The Party said that Oceania had never been in alliance with Eurasia. He, Winston Smith, knew that Oceania had been in alliance with Eurasia as short a time as four years ago. But where did that knowledge exist? Only in his own consciousness, which in any case must soon be annihilated. And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. "Who controls the past," ran the Party slogan, "controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." And yet the past, though of its nature alterable, never had been altered.
Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. "Reality control," they called it: in Newspeak, "doublethink" (George Orwell, 1984, Chapter 3).
Formed in 1993, SCL's customers include NGOs, police departments, military forces, municipal authorities, and the UN. According to the website, funding for SCL has been provided by a number of "private high net worth individuals" all based in the UK.
The company has invested nearly $20 million into research at what they call the Behavioural Dynamics Institute (BDI), the world's leading authority on persuasion, communication psychology and public diplomacy. Given that they are the "World's leaders" it is strange that they do not have a website.
SCL is about selling to the military and Governments, or those that wish to control the military and the Government, the tools that they need to fight and win the information war for people's minds. Full story: infowars.net
Comment: II Timothy 3:13, "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived".
The Holographic Universe: Does Objective Reality Exist?
March 12, 2006 – Physicist Alain Aspect and his team discovered that under certain circumstances subatomic particles such as electrons are able to instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating them. It doesn't matter whether they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles apart . . .
University of London physicist David Bohm, for example, believes Aspect's findings imply that objective reality does not exist, that despite its apparent solidity the universe is at heart a phantasm, a gigantic and splendidly detailed hologram . . .
The most mind-boggling aspect of Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram's holographic model of the brain is what happens when it is put together with Bohm's theory. For if the concreteness of the world is but a secondary reality and what is "there" is actually a holographic blur of frequencies, and if the brain is also a hologram and only selects some of the frequencies out of this blur and mathematically transforms them into sensory perceptions, what becomes of objective reality?
Put quite simply, it ceases to exist. As the religions of the East have long upheld, the material world is Maya, an illusion, and although we may think we are physical beings moving through a physical world, this too is an illusion . . .
Full story: rense.com
Bush Orders DHS to create Center for Faith-Based Aid
March 8, 2006 (Washington Post) – President Bush ordered the Department of Homeland Security yesterday to create a center for faith-based and community initiatives within 45 days to eliminate regulatory, contracting and programmatic barriers to providing federal funds to religious groups to deliver social services, the White House announced last night. . . Full story: truthout.org
Comment: Revelation 13:15, "He had power to give life to 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".
US Monitoring Israel's Iran Options
Washington, March 14, 2006 – The Pentagon is looking into the possibility of Israel launching a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. In the past months there were several working-level discussions trying to map out the possible scenarios for . . . an Israeli pre-emptive attack against Iran . . . One of the main questions presented in these discussions was whether Israel would inform the US in advance in case such an attack is to take place and when would such an advance notice be given.
Full story: jpost.com
Comment: God set "enmity" between the Warmongers of the City of London and the children of the first and last Adam, including the remnant of Israel (Genesis 3:15; 27:39-41; Isaiah 11:11).
Warmongers admit they were Wrong
It has taken more than three years, tens of thousands of Iraqi and American lives, and $200 billion – all to achieve a chaos verging on open civil war. But, finally, the neo-conservatives who sold the United States on this disastrous war are starting to utter three small words: "we were wrong". Full story: truthout.org
The Devastation of Iraq by War and Sanctions
The reasons for US actions in the Middle East and Gulf are no mystery. The British withdrawal from the region, beginning fifty years ago, left up for grabs the vast oil resources and strategic area where southwest Asia and northeast Africa front on Europe. The whole region began to be shaken by anti-colonial nationalist movements. US policy makers, as an excuse for intervention, used the argument that it was exposed to Soviet seizure, with Israel unprotected on its eastern flank. . . Full story: iacenter.org truthout.org
Comment: Still a proud American, British or Australian? Read Revelation 13:11-12. Do you still doubt the apostasy of the denominational churches?
Reflections on the Situation in Iraq
Pseudo-transcript of Prime Minister John Howard's Address to the "Deakin Society".
Melbourne, March 12, 2006 – On May 19, 2004, after my return from a visit to Baghdad, I told the Institute of Public Affairs in Melbourne that the situation in Iraq was rapidly improving. . . I said then that electricity, water, telephone and sanitation were gradually being restored to pre-war levels or above. Sadly, this did not happen. As of February this year, 125 projects to provide electricity have been cancelled. Of the 136 projects that were originally pledged to improve Iraqi water and sanitation, only 49 will be ever finished.
I said then that six major water treatment plants had been rehabilitated. Perhaps I should have pointed out that these plants had previously been destroyed by British and US bombs during the 12 years of UN sanctions against the Hussein regime. Today, the water situation in Iraq is dire. Billions of dollars have been shifted from rebuilding vital infrastructure to guarding the borders of Iraq.
I said that all 240 hospitals as well as 1,200 health clinics were fully operational, which was the advice we had received from the then administrator, Mr. Paul Bremer. Unfortunately, this turned out to be overly optimistic. On November 2004, at the start the coalition's pacification of the city of Fallujah, the city's General Hospital was occupied by US troops and—I am sorry to say—that hospital staff were handcuffed and some patients were dragged from their beds; perhaps for good reasons. Snipers were posted on the roof of the building and ambulances were strafed. On November, 6, the BBC reported that US air strikes had reduced the newly built Nazzal Emergency Hospital to rubble.
One doctor reportedly told Reuters, and I quote: "There is not a single surgeon in Fallujah. We had one ambulance hit by US fire and a doctor wounded. There are scores of injured civilians in their homes whom we can't move. A 13-year-old child just died in my hands". . . Full story: johnhowardpm.org news.independent.co.uk guardian.co.uk
Comment: The alter ego of George II's Deputy Sheriff reporting genocide.
They don't want You to remember the Oil
March 1, 2006 – The USA and our British partner cannot pull out because the industrial companies our leaders have placed in charge of the oil fields all over Iraq cannot hold the territory without our troops.
Our 200,000 soldiers have to keep 15 million Iraqi's imprisoned in big city gulags so the people don't bother the folks who control and guard the oil field.
If our leaders withdraw our military, Halliburton, the Seven Sisters, and hundreds of their illegitimate brats who are profiteering in Iraq, would all have to go home. The people of Iraq have shown that they are willing to die for what they consider theirs; the Warmaker's private armies do not have the stomach for such a conflict without our full military support. Full story: whtt.org
Comment: Once "the City" used troops funded by the tax and blood of Englishmen to control her Empire. Today she spends the tax and blood of Americans.
Autopsy shows Milosevic died of Heart Attack
The Hague (New York Times) March 12, 2006 – The UN war crimes tribunal here said tonight that preliminary autopsy results showed that Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, had died of a heart attack. He was found dead in his cell Saturday.
But the day after his death, speculation remained about what might have caused the heart attack. Mr. Milosevic, 64, was believed to have taken medicines not prescribed by his physicians, including an antibiotic known to diminish or halt the effect of the medicines he was taking for his heart and blood pressure problems.
The autopsy was performed by Dutch pathologists in The Hague and two pathologists from Belgrade, Serbia, attended the procedure. Their report identified "two heart conditions" that Mr. Milosevic suffered, which they said might explain the heart attack. A toxicological report will be available later this week . . . Lawyers close to Mr. Milosevic said the autopsy could reveal substances in his blood that might have contributed to his death. . . Full story: truthout.org
Comment: Newsletter 068 reported: "NATO Secretary-general, Javier Solana, ordered his forces to attack Yugoslavia WITHOUT United Nations' Security Council approval. . . It was the Bilderbergers who planned the Kosovo War as early as 1996. . .
Christian Radio Host fired for Criticizing Israel
March 14, 2006 – The un-American thought police operating on American soil have struck once again. This time their victim is veteran Christian evangelist Dale Crowley, Jr. who has been the host of two popular radio programs broadcast over WFAX 1220-AM radio in the Washington area for the last 20 years.
. . . his Saturday morning broadcast, "Focus on Israel," was terminated immediately. . . because supporters of Israel had complained to the radio station about Crowley's criticisms of Israel. . . Full story: rense.com
A Closer Walk with Thee
This little ministry can only be of value if you prove and believe the Message we preach is the truth. And if you do believe, you will certainly see the Glory of God.
When the Angel of the Lord visited Brother Branham in 1946 he told him he would have the gift of divine healing, "And if you will be sincere and can get the people to believe you, nothing will stand before your prayer, not even cancer." His responsibility was to be sincere so the people would be confident he was speaking God's Word by commission and believe for its fulfillment. He was a servant delivering the promise of his Master. The responsibility of his listeners was to believe his Master's Voice and have faith that what God has promised He will perform.
Hebrews 11:1-6, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of unseen realities. By faith men of God in days of old received Divine approval. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear."
"By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts by accepting Abel and his revelation: and though he died, through his faith he is still speaking."
"By faith Enoch (our type) was translated so that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had the testimony that he pleased God (our testimony). But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he who draws near to God must believe He exists, and that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him".
I Corinthians 12:1-11, "I do not wish you to be ill-informed concerning spiritual gifts. You will recall that when you were heathens, you were led astray from one idol to another, not one of which could utter a single word. But now you are meeting people who claim to speak messages by the Spirit of God, so how can you know whether they are really inspired of God or fraudulent? Here is the test: no one speaking by the Spirit of God can say "Jesus is cursed:" neither can anyone say "Jesus is the Lord" except by the revelation of the Holy Ghost."
To the natural mind the testimony and ministry of a Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Tommy Osborne and the tele-evangelists should convert the world en masse. Healings do take place: miracles too, in spite of human showmanship; but if their testimony and life is not according to the present truth, you know that ministry was not sent for God's elect.
"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are different kinds of service to God but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are many ways in which God works in and into our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us who are His. To each saint is granted the evidence of the Holy Spirit for the mutual benefit of the entire Church. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another different kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these abilities are inspired and energized by the selfsame Spirit, who distributes to each individual as He pleases".
He who draws near to God must have faith, believing that He exists and that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. This world and everything in it is the manifestation of God's faith in His spoken Word. You turn on your computer by faith in its hardware and software; you connect to the internet by faith in the lines of communication through the telephone network and i.s.p's. just as you are reading this Newsletter in the expectation of an unseen reality.
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of unseen realities." It's an unseen substance that is real, not something you think you have, but something you actually possess and can use with confident expectation. When you turn on the tap for a glass of water, or walk. You do so in the confident expectation that unseen plumbing will deliver water, or unseen muscles, bones and ligaments will coordinate your limbs so that you walk.
There is a gift of faith just as there is a gift of healing. You may have a measure of faith and pray for the sick who are healed: that is not the gift of healing, it is exercising a measure of faith. For the gifts and calling of God are foreordained from the foundation of the world, and being irrevocable, they cannot be withdrawn. Gifts of healing, faith, miracles, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, speaking with unknown tongues, interpretation of tongues, discerning of spirits, and prophecy, are gifts given by the Lord to particular individuals for particular circumstances.
The gifts are not callings. For instance, someone with the gift of prophecy is not a prophet, and their pronouncements must be judged by two or three spiritual judges, but God's prophets have THUS SAITH THE LORD and can never err when speaking in the Name of the Lord. It may happen that the gift of prophecy in a person is used of God only once in their lifetime. The gifts of the Spirit can all be impersonated, just like the fruits of the Spirit, and all too often we find man exercising God's gift without authority instead of God operating His gift through a saint under preeminence.
In praying for the sick Brother Branham encountered genuine Christians with insufficient faith to be healed yet a sinner would request prayer and his faith would make him whole. The gift of faith has nothing to do with how well you serve God, it is a gift you possess, like a photographic memory, an ability with figures, the talent to draw, paint, sew, or to understand and speak fluently in six or eight languages. These natural and Spiritual gifts are all sovereignly given of God. The three gifts that will remain after these others have all passed away are faith, hope and charity; but the greatest of these is charity.
Our word "charity" is the Greek 'agape' from 'agapao,' which means to esteem, and is a love of preeminence or high regard and high moral purpose. The verb 'agapao' is the love of intelligence, reason and comprehension, coupled with the corresponding purpose; in this it vastly outranks the other type of love. The Greek 'phileo' is the love of mere personal affection or liking, including even the passions where the context requires, and no intelligence or high purpose is involved. This content places the verb on a low level. So the greatest of the gifts is that which we have in the Caagsone Bride. It encompasses all seven virtues or Church Age "tokens" and completes the Body of Christ. So without us the Church Age saints cannot be made perfect or glorified.
Charity or 'agape' love requires faith or a clear understanding of the object of affectionate esteem, rather than sincere emotional appreciation.
John 21:15-17, "After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love Me ('agapas' esteem Me and comprehend My office and mission) more than these others? He said to Him, Yes, Lord; You know that I love You ('philo' or love you as a dear Friend). He said to him, Feed My lambs. A second time He said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love Me ('agapas' or truly understand Who I am)? He said to Him, Yes, Lord; You know that I love ('philo') You. He said to him, Feed My sheep. A third time He said, Simon, son of John, do you love ('phileis') Me? Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, Do you love ('phileis,' or have affection for) Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love ('philo') You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep".
It could never be said of God that He 'philise' or befriended the sinful world. As far as 'phileo' is concerned, He could only abominate the foul world. Jesus never asked us to love our enemies in the sense of 'phileo'; He never Himself loved His enemies in this way. But 'agapao'—yes, with this love, God did love the world, and we can love our enemies, comprehending all that is wrong, sanctifying the world, reconciling our enemies. Compare John 3:16 and every other passage in which either of the verbs is used in this Gospel. Only in a few cases, where either type of love would apply, might either verb be used; but even then the great distinction would remain—the two are never equal.
What went to Peter's heart was this verb 'phileo' in the final question, "Do you have affection for Me?" When Jesus twice asked about the higher love, once as to its degree compared with others and then about its very presence, Peter with all due humility ventured to assert only the lower form of love. But now in this third question Jesus probed even for this lower love, of which Peter felt so sure of its presence in his heart he could appeal to the discernment of Jesus. This grieved Peter so deeply (German Bible Scholar, Richard C.H. Lenski).
Many people think they believe when in actual fact they do not believe. They said, we will believe when we see Jesus rise from the dead on the third day. But after 2,000 years they still have not believed despite the fact it was foretold by vindicated prophets they acknowledge as their own. Brother Branham prayed for a man who was pronounced dead by three doctors and laid out in the morgue. He said, "He's driving a Pennsylvania locomotive tonight," and still they don't believe.
People are so blinded by the world and the things of the world they cannot recognize the Presence of God, although He is in their midst, and they pass Him by as it was in the days of His flesh.
Brother Branham went to pray for a seventeen year old girl who was to be operated on the next morning. It was feared she would not survive the trip to the other hospital as her appendix had ruptured and was ready to burst. Brother Branham knew she would die before she got there.
Looking at the Prophet, she asked, "Oh, Brother Branham, do you think I'll live?"
"I believe you will. Now, do you believe?"
"Oh, yes, yes, I believe. I don't care what my church says, but I'm scared of the operation,"
The girl thought she believed, just like many who come down the prayer line think they believe, but she did not believe. She was an emergency case. Her life was at stake. Something had to be done. So he said, "Sister, I do not mean to hurt your feelings, but you do not believe."
She had hope, but faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of reality unseen. You see what I mean? Her hope was not founded upon the unseen substance of faith. "Sister, ordinarily I could let you have time, but you've got to have immediate attention, right now. For to be honest with you. You'll not live to see the hospital."
Her parents didn't appreciate that very much at the time, but he was not wrestling with flesh and blood. Now Brother Branham is going to explain something for our benefit: "I want you (Bride) to be real careful now and take up every word so you can divide it, of a little something that God permitted there. And I'll see if you've got faith".
"Sister, you do not have faith."
"Oh, Reverend Branham, I have faith to believe anything."
I want to show you (Bride) that you do not have faith. Now, listen and catch every word of this.
Hanging from a light fitting in the room was a string on the end of which was a little bracelet which a child had probably been playing with.
I said to the young lady, "How far are you away from that bracelet?"
"Approximately fifteen feet."
"Something has to be done immediately. Now, you parents, you just turn your back."
I said to the young lady; "Now, you tell me you've got faith to believe for all things."
"I have, sir."
"How long has it been since you've eaten?"
"About three days," said, "I can't even keep water on my stomach."
"Now, if you believe with all your heart, you will prove to me now that you've got faith. Look directly at that bracelet, and you make that bracelet swing around and around in the room. Then you make it swing back and forth in the room, and then stop it, and I'll believe you have faith."
"Oh, Brother Branham, why ask me something like that?"
"I wanted to see if you had faith. Jesus said, All things are possible if you believe."
Now, that's just pure faith. Magicians use it many times to play pranks, burst glasses and so forth, which it will, if you believe. They have the gift of faith which they misuse just as genuine mediums misuse the gift of prophecy and impersonate a prophet, which is blasphemy. Brother Branham is trying to explain faith so you, Bride, will know what he is talking about and be able to separate the gift of faith, which is without repentance to sinner or saint, from faith that is a clear understanding of God's Word by grace to you who are Christians (I Corinthians 12:1,3).
"Why, Brother Branham, no one could do that."
"Anyone who believes can do it."
"Well, I don't believe that anyone could do that."
"I thought you said you believed for all things." See how she was caught right there. "You said you believed all things. I want you to prove it."
"I don't believe there's anyone can do that; that's material, Brother Branham. Could you do it?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Well, could I see it done?"
"If you desire."
"I desire."
Then of course, putting my mind on it, and having her to watch that and not me. As many times in a meeting, I can take any cross-eyed child without even praying for it. Just let me look at it straight in the eyes and I'll make its eyes come straight. But when I turn my head those eyes will cross again. However, when God heals crossed eyes, they become perfectly normal. That's the difference between your faith and the faith of God working through you.
Of course, fastening my eyes on that bracelet, which you can do yourself if you don't doubt in your heart, it started moving around; then it moved back and forth, around, crossways, and stopped.
"Brother Branham," she said, "that's spiritualism."
"I thought maybe you'd say something like that." Isn't it strange how people who profess to know God, know so little about Him?
She said, "You know, we belong to the Church of Christ, we speak where the Bible speaks and are silent where the Bible's silent. There's no such a thing can be found in the Bible."
"Sure, that's in the Bible."
"Well, I don't believe it."
"All right," I said, "You don't believe it?"
"No. You show me where that's found in the Bible."
"One morning Jesus came to a fig tree having leaves hoping to find some fruit. As it was fruitless, He cursed the tree and it began to die from the roots. Passing that way at evening, Peter remarked how quickly the tree had died. Jesus replied, Have faith in God. For I assure you, That whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be removed, and cast into the sea; and not doubt in his heart but believe that those things which he said shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he said." Did He say that? Sure, He did."
"I know your unbelieving pastor, trying to justify his unbelief, said that was a mountain of sin. I went to school myself. Jesus was kneeling by the Mount Olives. If you'd say in your heart for it to be moved and don't doubt . . ." And He said, "If you had faith, the size of a mustard seed . . ."
"Now, if faith the size of a mustard seed would move that mountain, how little faith would you need just to move that bracelet?"
A mustard seed is small, but its importance in this story is that it cannot be hybrid. Nothing will mix with mustard seed. It's all mustard. If you have that much faith, though it is small, so long as it is not mixed with unbelief, you may ask what you will and it will be given to you. But it must be unwavering, genuine mustard seed faith.
She asked, "Did God move that or did the devil move that?"
"Neither one moved that."
"Then how in the world did it move?"
"I moved it."
"Well, you're fifteen feet or better away from it."
"No, it's my faith that moved it. If you ask anything and don't doubt . . . See what I mean? . . . faith, but you're a free moral agent. If you resent it in your heart, faith cannot touch you. Jesus could not do many mighty works because of people's unbelief."
See how little people know about faith?
Then she said, "What part does God play in that?"
"An Angel told me that I was foreordained to have the gift of divine healing, and that it was for the people. And if I could get the people to believe me (believe me), and would be sincere when I prayed, that nothing would stand before the prayer."
"I spoke face to face with this supernatural Being, so I believe it with all my heart. And if I can get you to believe me with all of your heart, that's what moves God, and then you're healed. Your faith has saved you. You see what I mean? Your faith to believe has saved you. Not what you worked up and thought in your mind, but what you really know, the very evidence of things not seen. You see what I mean?"
Christian faith, rapturing faith, is not one of the Spiritual gifts, it is grace: unmerited favor with God through your Spiritual understanding of and agreement with His revealed Word for the hour. Therefore Christian faith is God's mind in you.
Then the girl said, "Brother Branham, I truly know that there's something above where I have ever reached. I'll try with all my heart and God have mercy on me. Let me believe."
I took a hold of her hand then. There was a vibration pouring from that ruptured appendix, I prayed for her and it stopped immediately. I said, "God bless you, sister. Your faith now has saved you."
A moment later Brother Branham fell asleep in the chair, and as he slept they cancelled the ambulance. When he was woken by one of the family, the girl was out of bed and had eaten a pint of ice cream.
Our lesson is not that we should aspire to the gift of faith to move the bracelet because most of us will never possess that gift which is not necessarily associated with salvation or new birth, for God's gifts are sovereignly given to sinners as well as saints (Matthew 5:45; Acts 2:17). We must own faith to believe that God is able and will do what we ask, provided we are abiding in the Vine (John 15:1-8).
In I Corinthians, Paul was laboring to remove the misuse of the gifts, particularly in public worship. Brother Branham found the same abuse among the Pentecostal people, which is why he set rules for conduct, order and doctrine of the Church like Paul before him. For the Pentecostals, having turned aside from plain, practical Christianity, were using the gifts of the Spirit without regard to Church edification, putting the greatest value on their most striking features, and prizing most those best calculated to impress the senses. Like Paul, he instructed them in the true and proper use of these gifts and warned against confounding a genuine inspiration with fanatical excitement.
There are five senses that control the human body. See, taste, feel, smell, and hear, but none of them declare faith. Faith is the sixth sense. Six is the number of man, who is the only creature endowed with faith. Faith is the only sense that cannot be touched by the body or influenced by material circumstances. Faith is the sense by which man touches God. Faith is more than sight. Faith is more than feeling. You do not feel faith. You don't taste faith. You don't smell faith. You don't see faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of unseen realities.
"Here, in my pocket, I think there's an old Barlow knife I've carried for years. Now, I do not see that knife. I do not feel that knife. I do not taste that knife. I do not smell that knife. But I know that knife is in there. How do I know? Because I believe it's in there. Now, if it is not in there, faith will put it in there."
"That is true. If you believe, all things are possible. Do not be afraid to take God at His Word. Now, I might have left that knife laying on the dresser where I changed clothes. But just as sure as that knife is on the dresser right now, if I believe it with all my heart, it will be in my pocket. And God is able to put it there if you believe it."
"Here, I want to show you something. Come here, Reverend Kidson. Sister Marse, would you stand up just a moment?"
"Now, look friends, I want to show you something. I believe there's a woman standing in front of me. Could you tell me I'm wrong?"
Brother Kidson replies, "But you don't hear any woman?"
"No, I don't hear any woman."
"You don't feel any woman?"
"No, sir."
"You don't taste any woman?"
"No."
"Then how can you tell there's a woman there?"
"Because the sense of sight tells me I see a woman."
"Well, are you sure?"
"I'm positive there's a woman standing there. Do you believe that I'm right?"
"Yes."
"Audience, you think I am right? Now, is it possible I could be wrong? Yes. Every one of us may be deceived by our eyes. That might be a vision. Remember the five senses of the body are not infallible. Only faith is absolute."
"Now, I know there's a woman standing there because the sense of sight tells me there's a woman standing there. You see what I mean? Now, you think you could persuade me otherwise? You think you could out-argue me? No, sir, because I know this sense of sight is direct, and I'm looking at that woman, and I know she's standing there. Yet the only thing that I know is the sense of sight. Now, I want you to notice. Now, I'm going to close my eyes."
"Now, I feel a woman's hand. I can tell it's a woman. She has a woman's hat on. She has a woman's hair; it's a woman's hand. I know it's a woman, because I feel her. You think you could out-argue me?"
"No."
"I know that was a woman. I've got my back turned to her, but yet I know it's a woman. Because the sense of feeling tells me there's a woman there. You see what I mean?"
"Now, sight told me there's one there now. I don't feel her. That's the sense of sight. I know she's standing there, because I'm looking at her. I close my eyes. I know she's standing there now, not because I see her; because I feel her hand. I know she's standing there. I don't see her, but yet I feel her. The sense of feeling declares there's a woman standing there. See what I mean?"
"Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the positive evidence of things not seen, just as positive as sight or feeling. You see what I mean?"
"So many people try to work themselves up and say, "Oh, I've got faith." But, friends, it's not there. If it was, it would react. See? You know what I mean?"
"I saw the woman and I knew she was there by the sense of sight. I closed my eyes; I didn't have sight. Then I felt her, and the sense of feeling said she was there. The sense of feeling was just as positive as the sense of sight, because it was a direct evidence. Now, faith is a direct evidence of things not seen, felt, tasted, smelled, or heard. Now, look here. I'm going to close my eyes now. Watch."
Brother Kidson says, "Drink this."
"That was orange juice."
Brother Kidson says, "You don't see any oranges."
"No, sir."
"You don't hear any oranges."
"No, sir."
"You don't feel any oranges."
"No, sir."
"You don't smell any oranges."
"No, sir."
"What makes you think that is orange?"
"Because I tasted it."
"Are you positive?"
I'm positive that was orange juice. That could not have been lemon; it could not have been grape. It could not have been grapefruit. It was orange juice, because the sense of taste told me that was orange juice. You think I'm right?"
"You are right."
"Why, the sense of taste proved that it was orange juice. Now, no matter how much you tell me it was water; I know it's orange juice. I tasted it. See? You could taste it too, and if you have a sense of taste, you will know it was orange juice. And if you have got faith you will know what I am talking about. Now, watch here again."
"I smell perfume. That's perfume."
Brother Kidson says, "You can't see any."
"I don't see any perfume."
"You don't hear any."
"I don't hear any perfume."
"You don't taste any."
"I don't taste it."
"You don't feel any."
"I don't feel it."
"What makes you think that it's perfume?"
"I can smell it. The sense of smell tells me that was perfume before my nose. I didn't see it, did I? Did I see it? I had my eyes closed. Did I taste it? No, I didn't have it in my mouth. Did I feel it? Never had my hands about it. How did I know it then? Did I hear it? No, I smelled it, and that was the direct evidence that that was perfume. I know it."
"Watch again. That's music!"
Brother Kidson says, "You don't feel any music."
"No, sir."
"You don't taste any music."
"No, sir."
"Well, what makes you think that's music?"
"I hear it, and I know it's music."
"Are you sure about that?"
"I'm positive. The lady's playing "Only Believe." You think I'm right?"
"You're right."
"Try to argue me out of it. I don't see it. I don't taste it. I don't feel it. I don't smell it. But I hear it. Was I positive? Do I know that I'm right? Why?"
"Now, there are the five senses of the body. They are a positive first-hand experience, aren't they? You know when they happen. You know I'm looking at an audience. You know you're looking at me. And faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It's positive. You know it. There's no need of anybody telling you anything more about it. It's declared just as certainly as any of these five senses of the body."
It isn't what you try to make yourself believe. If, for instance I try to make-believe I'm hearing music, I wouldn't hear it. Or try to make myself believe I'm smelling perfume. It's just not there. I have to actually do it. You see what I mean? And faith is that positive. It is an act of positive reality. You know it.
It's the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You don't see it. You don't taste it. Somebody might say, "I don't feel any better."
"Well, what's the matter? Why don't you feel any better? If you have faith, according to your faith be it unto you."
"No matter how you feel, you're healed anyhow. No matter what you see, you're healed anyhow. Do you see what I mean? You know it. There's nothing can take it out of your heart. You know it."
"If you could only know what I'm talking about, something would react right now. See? It's a positive. It's right there, just as positive as these other five senses. These five senses are of the natural man. Faith is of God. The natural man can be wrong but God cannot be wrong."
Think of it. And people tell me they have faith and say they can't believe in divine healing? If you don't believe in divine healing, you're lost. If you can't have faith enough for God to patch up this body to glorify Him in, how are you going to have faith to believe that God will take this old mortal and make immortality out of it to take it up. That's a direct divine healing. Oh, my, there's going to be some awful disappointments at the first resurrection.
"We have to have faith that pleases God so we can be translated like Enoch was. "Without faith it's impossible to please God." You've got to have the same kind of faith; faith whereby you believe, and know."
It's nothing you can work yourself up to. Faith is something that's already in your heart. You just come and believe.
"God testified of Abel's gift." God always testifies of His gifts.
Joseph led Israel into Egypt but after four hundred and twenty years there raised up a pharaoh who did not know Joseph. He put Israel under bondage and they began to cry to God for a deliverer. After their God-ordained deliverer had come to maturity he saw an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew: Moses slew and buried the Egyptian. The following day when he interceded between two Hebrews striving with one another, they said, "Will you kill us as you killed the Egyptian?"
Moses was their deliverer, God's gift to the people, but they did not recognize him. Moses thought they would surely understand that he was their gift to deliver them. But they did not understand.
Today thousands of people are missing their gift. They look and say, "Oh, he's just a man." That's true. Was it God or Moses who delivered the people? It was God in Moses. See? They cried for a deliverer, but when God sent the deliverer to them, they failed to see it, because he was a man. But it wasn't a man; it was God in the man. And it was not Brother Branham, but God veiled behind the flesh of Brother Branham.
John 14:10, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The Words that I give you are not spoken on My own authority: the Father who dwells in Me does His works." Jesus was God's Gift to the world. God gave Him for you and I.
Those who believe that God gave Him can be saved. But those who do not believe cannot be saved. There is no other way to enter the Kingdom than by the kinsman Redeemer who voluntarily gave His Life as an acceptable sin offering in substitution for your unacceptable, sinful life. If you believe that, you can be saved. But if you don't believe it, you can't be saved because He is God's Gift.
John 3:2, "Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, visited Jesus by night so he would not be seen, and said, Rabbi, we Pharisees know You are a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that You do, except God is with Him".
God was testifying by the spokesman for those hypocrites that He was in Christ. God was testifying of His Gift. Matthew 3:17, "This is My beloved Son in whom I am pleased to dwell in."
Jesus said, "If I do the works of My Father, though you don't believe Me, believe the works: that you may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him" (John 10:37-38).
John 5:31-34, "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is Another who testifies of Me; and I know that His witness is true. You inquired of John, and he bore witness of the truth. However, I do not rest My claim upon human testimony, I say this in order that you might be saved."
And if Brother Branham tells us about a gift of divine healing and God doesn't testify of it, leave it alone, it is false. But if God testifies of it, believe it for it is God's gift to you.
Jesus prayed for many people who saw no results because they did not believe. They didn't believe that He was God's Son. They said, "He makes Himself God. He forgives sins on earth. He's a blasphemer."
They said the same thing about Moses. "We would rather have died in Egypt, than be brought out here to starve in the wilderness." They said the same thing about Elijah. God's messengers have always been rejected.
When Israel was in need of a Saviour. God sent Christ into the world. When He was taken Home, many of the people of God were sick and afflicted, and God gave Peter the gift of divine healing. People were healed because God testified through Peter of the gift of divine healing. Just as He testified through Elijah's office by vindicating his Words, through Moses as a deliverer, through Christ as a Son. He testified through Peter as a healer. There was such a crowd Peter could not pray for them all, or shake their hands and bless them. But they knew this apostle was God's gift to them and they laid their sick and afflicted in the street, believing that even his shadow passing over them would make them whole. And it did because they knew that Peter was the gift of healing sent from God to them.
It was God's gift, not Peter that was doing the healing.
God is not in material things, and the Holy Ghost never fell on organizations; it fell upon individuals. One person said, "Should we be baptized over now in order to be prayed for?" No! You must have faith in God; you don't need to belong to any church. But if you are healed and sin again, that sickness will return far worse than it was in the first place. You go to church somewhere and serve God. God heals you for His glory.
God honored the gift of Abel. He honored the gift of Moses. And Moses thought the people would understand. But they did not understand, it still goes over the head of the majority.
Elijah the prophet was God's gift and in his days Satan raised up false prophets, but God testified of the prophecy of Elijah. If it's of God, God will testify of it. Elijah was God's gift to Israel. He was Ahab and Jezebel's pastor. She didn't want to admit it. She hated him, yet he was God's provided gift to let her know her sins; and she failed to see him.
Jesus was God's gift to Israel, and to the world. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." He said, "It's not Me that does the works, but My Father who dwells in Me." It was God in Christ. That's why Martha said, "I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God who should come into the world." She believed it. And there all the people believed on Him.
If you will just believe and show respect, God will testify of His gifts. That's right. He did for Abel. He did for Elijah. He did for Moses. He did for Peter. He did for Paul. He did it for Brother Branham, and He will do it for you, whatever your gift may be.
Brother Branham went into a pharmacy wearing his ranger's uniform, and as he left with his purchase a man touched him on the shoulder and said, "I see you are an official. I would like to ask you a question. You may think I'm kind of crazy."
"What's the matter, sir?"
"I live in Paducah, Kentucky. I've been failing in health for about two years, and last week I dreamt that I should come to Jeffersonville, Indiana, to get somebody by the name of Branham to pray for me. Do you know whether there are any Branhams who live here?"
I thought, "Oh, God's testifying." And I said, "Yes, sir, I know Branhams live here."
He said, "Do you know if there is anybody who prays for the sick?"
I said, "I'm the one."
He just looked at the Prophet, and tears began to roll down his cheeks.
"He just took me by the hand. I held him by the hand, took off my hat, laid my gun down in my hat, knelt down on the side of the street and began praying for him right there. When I raised up there were mothers standing, holding the little children back, and men with their hats off. Many things have been done in Jeffersonville, and they knew what was going on. When we raised up, they were all standing with their heads down listening to the prayer. I raised up. And the brother put his arms around me, commenced to patting me. I've never seen him from that day to this. God healed him.
One morning Brother Branham was taking a meeting in Houston, Texas, with hundreds of people about four abreast in the prayer line, when all at once a lady ran in holding a little boy in her arms. She called, "Just a minute, just a minute." And everyone stopped. "I don't like to stop that prayer line, but I want to tell you, I live over on the west side of Houston. . ."
"This morning my neighbor, the mother of this little child, said her father was an old Methodist preacher. He's been dead twenty years. And he used to go around preaching, saying someday God would restore the gift of healing to the church for the Gentiles before the end of our dispensation, as He did for the Jews."
"This is his daughter's sick baby. This morning after cleaning house, she was lying down resting and in a dream she saw a big black cloud rising, and out of that cloud came her dead father who said, Rise and take the child and go to the Houston Gospel Tabernacle. The gift of Divine healing is there."
She had never heard of Houston Gospel Tabernacle and thought it was just a dream. After a little while she fell asleep, and she saw the dream a second time. She got up and did some more housework, lay down and dreamt the same dream a third time.
The baby had infantile paralysis and its little legs were crippled. And the lady was weak so her neighbor brought the child. Brother Branham said, "Bring me the baby," and God testified of His gift.
God will testify and vindicate your gift if you let your Token shine before men. Don't hide your Light under a bushel, invest the gift the Lord has given you so that others may be blessed. Your gift is given that He may be glorified. Let it be seen. There is no need for self-promotion, your gift will declare itself so long as it is not hidden.
Now is the time to discover and exercise your gift, while grace remains. Know your gift and how you may edify and build up your Brothers and Sisters in the Body. Discover their needs. Pray for them. God will vindicate your gift, increase the intimacy of your relationship with Him, and make clear the path before you.
If you will be sincere with God and get Him believe you, nothing will stand before your prayer, not even cancer. It is the "third pull." If you are one with the Lord as Jesus prayed in John 17, you can ask what you will and He will do what you said for you are expressing His thoughts in your words for His glory: asking for what you are. nl421.htm
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Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
Bible Believers' Church
Gunnedah NSW
Australia 2380e-mail Bible Believers URL Bible Believers' Website
PowerPoint presentation The Second Coming of Christ
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