As we go into this part of our message dealing with the life and ministry of Bro. William Marrion Branham who we believe to have been the prophet messenger to this church age, I just want to say this; If it were not for the grace and mercy of God, I would probably still be sitting in an old cold Methodist church some place. There are an awful lot of people in the world that are content just to believe what daddy and mother believed, or what Grandaddy and Grandmother believed; they just simply do not have anything within them that reaches out for more of the reality of God. Therefore I say, It was only by the grace of God that I did, and that my family is all with me in the revelation of God’s truth revealed for our time. Oh, how I thank God for that. Satan uses every trick in his book, trying to sidetrack the people of God that know the truth, and you need not expect that sort of thing to let up; it can only get worse as we approach the end. Only the Holy Ghost in your life can enable you to stand the pressures that are to come upon us; everything else will fail.
Bro. Branham lays the cornerstone of the Tabernacle on Penn Street, in Jeffersonville, Indiana 
Bro. Branham and his first wife Hope (Broy) Branham 
Bro. Branham at a campaign meeting. 
Bro. Branham’s 1947 campaign meeting in Tacoma, Washington 
Bro. Branham 1953 Chattanooga TN meetings, from Voice of Healing Magazine 
Bro. Branham’s 1950 Kansas City meetings from Voice of Healing Magazine
HOW GOD PREPARES US
As I sat and listened to Bro. Branham preach, I became completely convinced that a person would absolutely have to have the Holy Ghost in order to understand what he was saying, and why. I then realized that without the Holy Ghost a person does not even have eternal life, for He is that gift of eternal life. He is your eternal security. It is Him in you that will a lot of times let you know things in advance, giving you an opportunity to be prepared for them when they come. Just like the time back in 1954; we had been to the Branham Tabernacle for the Sunday services, and early on Monday morning something inside me said, If you go to the Branham Tabernacle Wednesday night, you will be asked to preach. We had not been out of the Methodist church very long; and to me, that was the pulpit of what I considered to be the greatest man that ever walked in shoe leather. Apart from Jesus Christ Himself, I knew of no one else like him; so I thought, Oh, No. Not me. Yet I could still hear that voice within me saying, It you go to the Branham Tabernacle this Wednesday night, you will be asked to preach. So all during that time before Wednesday night, I found myself wrestling in my mind, Lord, what am I going to preach? Lord, you will have to help me. Then down behind the barn, I was even rehearsing what I thought I would preach, if I was called upon. But when Wednesday night came, I deliberately planned to get to church late. I knew exactly when the service would start, and I knew pretty well the general pattern of how Bro. Neville conducted the services; so I deliberately planned to be just late enough getting there, that he would not have the opportunity to speak to me about preaching. We left home later than usual, and I deliberately drove slow, giving Bro. Neville plenty of time to be in the pulpit before I arrived. It was a hot summer night, so the church doors were standing open when we drove by on our way into the parking lot, and we could hear them still singing. I took my time parking, and when I went in the front door they were praying. I thought to myself, I will just slip in while they are praying and take a seat all the way in the back, so that is what I did. When I got to the seat I felt that I would not be seen there; but I was wrong, and that voice inside of me was right. When they finished praying, Bro. Neville arose from the chair where he was kneeling, looked straight back to where I was sitting, pointed his finger toward me, and said, Now, Brother Junior Jackson; I am going to ask you to come and preach for us tonight. Right there it was; just like the Holy Ghost had warned me ahead of time, that it would be. Praise God! Brothers and sisters, I want to give all glory to God; for it is He that is worthy of all praise and thanksgiving. He is the one that allows us to be forewarned and prepared for many of the things that come upon us in this life. If we can just learn to follow His leading, all the guesswork is taken out of our endeavors, and what we do will be right, every time, for He makes no mistakes. On the other hand, there is not one living soul upon the face of this old earth, that is not subject to human faults and failures, and furthermore, there never has been, except in the person of Jesus Christ Himself. Many people refuse to acknowledge the fact that Bro. Branham was just a human. He was inspired and anointed by the Holy Ghost to fulfill his calling that God placed upon his life, but he did not walk under that anointing twenty-four hours a day; therefore he was subject to human weaknesses just like the rest of us.
NOTHING HID FROM GOD
God knows that I would not say anything with the thought or purpose of just throwing off on Bro. Branham, but I do feel that by telling some of the things I know about him, it will help some folks to see his life and ministry in a proper light, and dispel any thought of deity they might have previously had toward him. It is for this reason that I wish to relate a certain incident that took place while Bro. Branham and another brother were riding along in an automobile. Bro. Branham was mentioning some of the things that have caused the downfall of many preachers, as they rode along, and said, Some preachers have women problems, others have drinking problems, or a lust for money, and some go too far just trying to be popular with people. Then he said, But I am thankful not to be bothered with any of that myself. Right at that moment, the other brother thought to himself, But you exaggerate things. He did not speak; it was just a thought, but Bro. Branham looked at him, and said, What was it, the Lord said to you? That startled the brother, and he replied, Nothing. Yes, He did. Tell me what He said to you; He was afraid to say, but Bro. Branham insisted that he tell him, and the brother finally admitted, It was that you exaggerated things. Bro. Branham replied, That’s the truth; you just pray for me Brother. Will you do that? I need your prayers. Does that sound like God speaking? If he was God, as some claim, Why would he need anyone to pray for him? I realize certain ones will be upset with me for saying these things, but they are not the ones I am speaking to. I am speaking to those of you that have been kept under a cloud of fear because of certain characters like that. Those characters do not have any more of the Holy Ghost in their lives than a jack rabbit, or they would know better than to do what they do. They talk about Elijah, yet they know very little about Elijah. Most of them can quote Bro. Branham for hours, but the only thing they can quote from the Bible is a few select verses they use, trying to give a scriptural foundation for their false doctrine. Well I have news for them. There is no scripture that will justify idolatry. If Bro. Branham was still alive, and could hear some of the things that are being taught about him, he would probably do like old Elijah did, when he grabbed his sword and cut off the heads of Baal’s 450 prophets while that anointing of God was still upon him. The only difference would be that Bro. Branham would use the sword of the Spirit.
HUMAN FEELINGS
Another little incident that revealed deep human feelings in Bro. Branham took place at his home after church one Sunday, back in the year 1954. My father and I were getting ready to go deer hunting out in Colorado, and Bro. Branham had a particular rifle that I thought I would like to take with me. He had told me a few days earlier, when he was down home rabbit hunting, just to come on up to his house after church Sunday, and get it, so after the Sunday morning service was over, and I knew he was at home. I went on to get the rifle. He had just finished what seemed to me like a wonderful healing service, for the gift of God had worked so beautifully, but he met us at the door, and when we were back in his den room, he said to me, Bro. Junie, I’m never going to pray for the sick again. I’m never going to have another healing service. I said, Why? What’s wrong? He said, It just wasn’t any good this morning. It just didn’t go over. I’m just never going to pray for the sick again. I just thought to myself, Now there is the human side of this man, the anointing is gone and now he is listening to that old accuser. But did he stop praying for the sick: How many of you did he pray for between the years 1954 and 1965? How many of you were healed during that time? Do you see my point? He allowed human feelings to take control of his voice, when he was saying those things to me there that day, but I saw him stand and pray for the sick and diseased, over and over, again and again, through the 11 years that followed that occasion. No doubt, in his own spirit he just did not feel quite right about everything in that particular service. Something disturbed him, and that was his human way of expressing it, but as far as I know, that never happened again. I remember one particular Sunday morning when there was a huge crowd of people present, and about three rows back from the front, there was a man sitting in a wheelchair out in the aisle. At a certain point while Bro. Branham was praying for the sick, he stopped, and looked back toward that man and said, Sir: You’re not from around here; you’re from down near St. Meinrad, and the man said yes. His wife was right behind him, and as Bro. Branham continued, saying to that man – The reason you can’t walk is because of your balance nerve. In other words, when you try to stand up, you can’t get your balance, tears began to roll from her eyes. Then Bro. Branham said, Push him up front, and she immediately did so. Then Bro. Branham said, In order that you may know that the Lord knows all about this, I had a vision of you this morning, before I came to church, that you would be here, and that the Lord would heal you, and make you well. He then prayed for the man, and the man got up and pushed his wheelchair out of the church. Therefore I say to you, Whatever his human feelings might have given in to, on that other occasion, it did not diminish one thing from his calling, nor from the gift that God worked through him. I will say this also. Many times, as we would sit and witness the power of the Holy Ghost working through him, it made us feel as if we were actually living back in the days when Jesus walked among men upon the earth. I have actually thought, Sitting at the feet of Jesus would not have been much different than this.
HOLY GHOST DISCERNMENT
I will never forget one particular Sunday morning when a family from down near Elizabeth where we live, was present in the service. It was the first time I could recall ever seeing them there, but we all knew the young fellow had heart trouble, and the young fellow was sitting in the chair directly in front of me. There was also a man from the state of Missouri present, that some friends of mine had told me about, and had told me what was wrong with him. Bro. Branham prayed for that man, and told him everything that was wrong with him, just exactly as we knew it to be, and the man just broke down and wept, and the Lord healed him right then. While that man just stood there on the platform crying, Bro. Branham turned and pointed straight toward the young fellow in front of me, (I actually thought he might be pointing at me, at first) and said, You, sitting right there, Do you believe that Jesus Christ knows all about you? The young fellow nodded his head, and Bro. Branham said, You’ve got heart trouble. Do you believe Jesus Christ can make you well? That was one of the times I felt just like I was sitting at the feet of Jesus Christ Himself. Actually it was the same Spirit doing the work, just a different vessel. Furthermore, did Jesus not say in John 14:12, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I DO, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I WILL DO IT!” What we witnessed in Bro. Branham’s meetings was exactly what Jesus was referring to when He made those statements; believers filled with the Holy Ghost would have the same potential, for it was the Holy Ghost that performed the miracles both in Jesus, Peter, Paul, Bro. Branham, and any other man that has ever had a miraculous ministry. The only difference was, that Jesus had that Spirit in Him without measure, and all the rest have had their limitations. No matter how much power any other man may have had, Jesus Christ is the only man that anyone has any scriptural authority to refer to as God. God is a sovereign Spirit, and even though He has always been omnipresent, He also became incarnate in the man called Jesus who was known as the son of Joseph and Mary, but was truly the Son of God. (We will deal with a message on the humanity and deity of Christ a little later on.) Many people have trouble reconciling the fact that the Son of God could actually be called God, and some conclude that if He could be God then Bro. Branham could be God, but that is wrong. We will not take the time to deal with that subject while we are on the message about the life and ministry of Bro. Branham, but if the Lord permits, you may look for it a little later on when we can devote the complete message to the humanity and deity of Christ. Then perhaps some of you who have been in question about certain things, can see why Bro. Branham could not by any stretch of the imagination be called God by right thinking people. If some of you think that I say too much about this, then perhaps you do not yet realize just how strong that old spirit of idolatry is, among those who claim to follow the message of Bro. Branham. Some of them need to go back and read the 3rd chapter of 1 Corinthians and see how the apostle Paul talked to that bunch of carnal thinking people. Notice – verses 4 and 5 in particular, “For while one saith, I am of Paul ; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?” Who was William Marrion Branham then, except a prophet messenger to this Laodicean age, and filled with the same Spirit that was in the apostle Paul? (The Holy Ghost which is the Spirit of God.) The Holy Ghost in him did for me what the Holy Ghost in Paul did for Gentiles 1900 years ago. We saw the same dynamic gifts manifested, that were manifested through Jesus Christ when He walked among men upon earth. Then, as a result of this unique ministry, people begin to come out of denominational church systems and come regularly to the Branham Tabernacle, especially when they knew Bro. Branham was going to be there. This, of course, caused their denominational leaders to be very critical of his teaching, for their tithe paying members were leaving them. Many of those Assemblies of God and U.P.C. people would drive for hours just to be in his services, and many of them had tremendous testimonies of how God had dealt with them to bring them to truth, and how they had been forced to literally battle with family and friends in order to follow God.
MOVING WITH GOD
One favorite phrase coming from the critics was, If he was a true man of God, he would not go around proselyting. Do you know who some of the main ones that used that phrase were? Assemblies of God and U.P.C. leaders. They do not even stop to realize that their very organizations were made up of come-out people, people that came out of Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of God, Nazarene, and even a few Catholics, because God had called them to follow more light. When the Spirit of God was poured out at Azusa Street, there was no such thing as Assemblies of God. There was no such thing as the United Pentecostal Church. Those people at Azusa Street were all trinitarians; therefore your United Pentecostals were people that had come out from them because they had received more light, so why think it so strange when people leave those ranks because they have received more light? That is what following the Spirit of God is all about; moving when He says, Move. How many of you have ever had to move for this same reason? Those that have refused to move have been left behind, void of the Spirit of God, just going through certain rituals of their denominational programs. The very reason we started this message with the history of Pentecost, was to condition your minds for the various remarks that the critics will always make. Just remember this, The church of the living God has always been a people coming out of some system or condition of man. Whenever God does something to give man a little more light, it seems that the beneficiaries of that new light will only go so far with it, and then they are ready to stop and build a fence around what they have, draw up a set of by-laws and articles of faith that actually has the effect of locking God out. That is why all the organized systems are dead; they have locked God out. It is just as well that they lock Him out, for He would not remain within the confines of their little fence anyhow; He is always on the move, and He always has a little flock of sheep that are ready to move with Him.
IDOLATROUS SPIRIT AT WORK
In April 1955, the Lord spoke to me about opening up this little church. At that time, I did not have any idea whatsoever about what this church was to be in the overall plan of God. I just perhaps thought the Lord might have some purpose whereby He would school me a little, by allowing me to pastor a little mission, and as you have heard me say many times, Those first four years were very discouraging for me. I got so tired just looking at the same faces week after week, until many times, I would set a certain date to lock the doors, and every time, there always seemed to be a certain urging just to carry on a little longer. We have now been a church for 27 years, and we have seen many faces come and go, but it took a long, long time to get past those same faithful few faces that stayed with me during all those years of testing. During those years, we maintained our fellowship with the Branham Tabernacle. Their midweek service was on Wednesday night, so we had ours on Thursday so everyone would be free on Wednesday, to attend their services. Also, during those first four years, we never had a Sunday morning service, for we wanted to be able to attend the Tabernacle, especially when we knew Bro. Branham was supposed to be there. I went there for the purpose of sitting under the ministry of that anointed man of God, but I could not help but notice a lot of those other men that came, how they would pass out their own little tracts, and preach their own little doctrines every chance they had. This helped to create the conditions that led up to the time when Bro. Branham was forced by those conditions to put in effect what was called, church order. During those same years 56, 57, and 58, there also began to be another Spirit coming into focus. At first, it was just among a small minority, but around 1958, it began to come out into the open, and you could hear certain ones make statements like, Bro. Branham is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. It was presented to me personally during that time, when I was in the process of building the house where we live. A minister friend that had moved here from another state, came out home one day, supposedly just to see how we were getting along, but standing there talking, he began to ask certain questions like, Bro. Jackson, do you think people today would know who Jesus Christ was, if He should actually come among us in our day? I said, I believe those who were definitely foreordained, like those in the first century, would recognize Him. Then He said, But, what if he should come today, and dress just like us, and carry on the same basic lifestyle as the rest of us, do you still think we would recognize him? I said, What exactly are you talking about? Then he said, What I mean is, Do you think it is possible that Bro. Branham could be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ? When he came out with that, I knew something was wrong, and I said, Absolutely not. Brother Branham is none other than Malachi 4:5-6, for this last day fulfillment, and he is the angel of Rev. 10:7, but he is no more, and no less, and I dropped the subject right there. But it wasn’t many months after that, when Bro. Branham came back to Jeffersonville, from a meeting somewhere and preached the message titled, “The Bruised Serpent.” I have never felt so sorry for anyone as I did that little man, while he stood there trying to say something in defense of what God had called him to do. There he stood, having to rebuke a people that was deifying him, and expose the evil spirit that was in back of it all.
RETURNING TO SPIRITUAL CAPTIVITY
I still remember watching that element that promoted those deity ideas, how they would push and shove and do whatever they could to get the choice seats. They wanted the number one place in every meeting, and seemed to care little about proper Christian attitude and principles, so God just let that spirit settle on them and take them over. Many of them were financially able to just drop everything and follow Bro. Branham around wherever he went for a meeting, but they exerted all their efforts trying to be important, and it seemed that they could not have cared less about trying to be a believer and cultivating a love for the truth. Then you could hear them say, I was with Bro. Branham when such and such took place. Brother! Listen to me! It matters not how many meetings you were in with Bro. Branham, nor how many times you may have gone hunting with him; What do you have deep down within your soul today? Is it leading you into a true revelation of the word of God, or will it only feed upon words that the prophet spoke? Your eternal destiny will be determined by what spirit you have within you, and I will go one step further, If the Holy Ghost is in you He will cause you to hunger for the word of God, not just for another statement or quote from a Spoken Word book. Furthermore you did not know the prophet just because you were in a certain number of his meetings; you only know a man when you are able to see him for what he is. In other words, those that really know me are those that have seen me in dirty overalls smelling like a horse. If you come by my place during the week you may find me exactly like that, for that is a part of my life. I have always believed that if you know a person well enough, you can actually catch his thought when he is speaking, and know why he says certain things the way he does. If more people had known Bro. Branham as well as they claim to, we would not have so much deity talk floating around everywhere they go. It is no wonder that denominational people tend to look upon the followers of Bro. Branham’s message as a cult, for certain ones have left that stench in their nostrils, simply because of the carnal way they have spoken of Bro. Branham. On the other hand, the biggest cult upon the face of the earth is the Roman Catholic church, and you never hear them referred to like that except by a very few who really do know the truth. The Bible had her branded as a whore, and the mother of harlots before she ever became a church system: yet those that call us a cult run after her seeking her favor upon the things they do. It just serves to show the spiritual blindness of this age. Instead of returning to the apostolic faith of the scriptures, they are returning to the spiritual captivity of the Dark Ages. It is just like it was in the days of Jesus’ earthly ministry; John came upon the scene, mightily anointed of God to prepare the way for, and to introduce Jesus to those of that day, yet a short time later here are two of John’s disciples asking Jesus, Are you the one we have been looking for, or should we look for another? Jesus answered them, from the scriptures, and sent them back to John. Then he began to vindicate John to those that stood by; all of which should have completely convinced them of who He truly was; But a short time later, most of them had turned back from following Him. Do you not see that same pattern being followed in our day? The dogs are returning to their vomit, and the hogs to their wallowing in the mire. Those that thought they had everything sewed up so tight that God could not do anything without first going through them have been bypassed, and their pride will not allow them to repent and move on up to where God is, so they are going back, back to something they can manipulate to suit their own traditional idea. I do not have to name them all; they know who they are.
THIS GENERATION IS WITHOUT EXCUSE
Let us go back to Matthew 11:12, and continue with the thought we were dealing with earlier. After saying in verse 11, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he,” Jesus begins to reveal something else. In verse 12, He says, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and I the violent take it by force.” Now a lot of people read that verse and think Jesus was referring to a great span of time, but actually it was a very short time. There is no reason to believe that John was upon the scene for a long time [ before Jesus appeared there at the Jordan to be baptized of him. Furthermore Jesus is not saying, From the days of John until 1982, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence; it was from the days of John until that very moment, that He was referring to. “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” Now the kingdom of heaven is a span of time in which the kingdom of God is being established in the hearts of His foreknown children, and there is much resistance and persecution involved. Traditional religion is fighting and opposing every effort, and becoming ever so violent with their opposition. But the hungry heart that is receiving a revelation is just as determined to take what God is offering, and they will not allow anything to stand in their way. This is what Jesus meant, the violent take it by force; you have to be aggressive; you have to have your mind made up, and be determined not to let anything stand in your way. John was a preaching prophet opening up the way for a new dispensation. That is why Jesus said, “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” In other words he was an interlinking messenger, not sent to preach against the law and the prophets, but actually to introduce what the law and the prophets had prophesied about. Now we are living almost two thousand years beyond the ministry of John the Baptist, and we would have to say, We are living in the closing days of the kingdom of heaven dispensation of time, or the age of grace as it is commonly called. God’s messenger to this age has already delivered his message to prepare the hearts of God’s people for another change; Therefore this generation is without excuse if they miss out on what has been revealed for those that love truth. That Elijah anointing upon John revealed and identified Jesus Christ in his day. Then that same Elijah anointing upon Bro. Branham revealed and identified Jesus Christ in our day, and it is almost time for that same Elijah anointing to appear upon someone else for the same purpose, to reveal and identify Jesus Christ. This next time it will be just for Israel, so any Gentiles who have refused to hear what the Spirit was saying through Bro. Bran-ham will find themselves over in the great tribulation with no hope to cling to. Satan has fought this gospel truth right on through the Dark Ages, down through the years of reformation, and right to this present how, and he has succeeded in turning many people from it. As a matter of fact the multitudes follow his perverted version of the gospel message, and actually scoff at revealed truth. But God has always reserved to Himself a few hungry souls in every generation, that He could fellowship with in truth, and that could be led by the Spirit. These are they which hear the message of their hour and do not solely depend upon Grandma’s religion to carry them through. Therefore I can honestly say, From the days of William Branham until now, the Spirit has been dealing with people in a new way, and all those that refuse to be led out of their traditional systems will surely be left behind to face the Antichrist when Jesus calls His bride to the marriage supper. You just simply cannot fight truth and walk with God both at the same time.
UPON THIS ROCK — DIVINE REVELATION
Through the years, I had heard many doctors of divinity preach over the radio, but never did I hear one that truly had a message ordained to lead captive souls out of Mystery Babylon until I heard William Marrion Branham. Moses was ordained of God to lead His natural people Israel, out of bondage, and back to Jerusalem, and that was a perfect type of what Bro. Branham’s message was ordained to do with God’s spiritual people, lead them out of spiritual bondage to a revelation of perfecting truth. In spiritual Babylon it was always believed that the rock of Matthew 16:18 was Jesus Christ Himself, but when you have been delivered from spiritual Babylon it becomes clear that it is UPON THE ROCK OF DIVINE REVELATION THAT JESUS IS BUILDING HIS CHURCH. That is why the gates of hell cannot prevail against it, a divine revelation becomes such a part of you, that Satan cannot possibly rob you of it. Jesus Christ is the Rock of Ages, and any revelation that the Holy Ghost brings forth from the word of God to your heart, is absolutely the Rock of Ages Jesus Christ, in His word form, being enlarged in your heart. You do not see the physical man Jesus, but you see a more clear spiritual image of Him through every true revelation from the word of God. I will never forget, one of the first things we began to hear Bro. Branham bring forth out of the word of God what that original sin in the Garden of Eden was. Tradition had just accepted the thought that Adam and Eve ate natural apples from a natural apple tree, and that caused them to realize they were naked, and they became ashamed, but when I heard Bro. Branham by the unction of the Spirit, dealing with what that original sin was, it cleared my mind on why it was absolutely necessary for the Savior to be born of a virgin. Now anyone who has a proper attitude toward the scriptures will believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ simply because the Bible says He was born of a virgin named Mary, but you cannot possibly understand why it was necessary unless you understand what happened in the Garden of Eden, that caused man to need a Savior in the first place. When Bro. Branham brought out the fact that the eating of the forbidden fruit was a sex act first between Eve and the serpent creature, then between Adam and Eve, purely for pleasure, rather than for the purpose of replenishing the earth according to God’s command, I said, That makes more sense than anything I have ever heard. Brothers and sisters, it does make sense! It makes sense to a spiritual mind, but the natural mind will never accept it, for their scientific knowledge tells them that it would be impossible for a woman to conceive seed from an animal. Basically they are right, but what they fail to realize is that God is able to allow whatsoever will accomplish His purpose. Therefore God allowed this thing to take place whereby Eve would have a dual conception and bring forth to life what appeared to be twin boys, when in fact they were not twins at all. Cain was the son of the serpent creature, and Abel was the son of Adam. “But since we have already dealt with this subject in a complete message, I am not going to go any further with it at this time. (The article can be obtained by writing for a free copy which we will gladly send.) This is just one of the many things that God ordained Bro. Branham to bring forth to this generation, and for every one person that received by divine revelation those things, there were scores that did not. Now it isn’t so bad not to receive a revelation the first time you hear a thing taught, but when you get mad and upset, and begin to fight against it; that is bad. Nevertheless that is what most of the great doctors of divinity and their natural minded flocks have done. They called Bro. Branham a devil, they said his doctrine was from the pit, and they warned their people to stay away from him, and most of them did. But praise God, there were a few that did not stay away from him, and I was one of them. Naturally I am referring to the doctrinal side of the picture, for from the natural side thousands hung on to him for what natural benefits they could derive by doing so. Beyond that, there were a lot who claimed to agree with his doctrine who have proved by their very actions that they had no revelation at all of the things he taught. Some of them are self appointed preachers who run to and fro quoting statements from the sermons of Bro. Branham, but you nail them down, and ask them to explain certain things and see what happens. That old serpent nature will flare up, and they will accuse you of being against the prophet. They will put you out of the message, and try to black-ball your name throughout the world if you even dare to question one of their quotations, yet they are quoting statements that are actually contradictory to other statements that were made. Well you just have to accept it; he was God’s prophet. You have no right to question a prophet of God. How many of you have heard excuses like this? They cannot explain what they are trying to carry, so they cover up their own spiritual ignorance by trying to make you look like an enemy of truth, when actually it is the truth that you are seeking. Any sane person knows that an object cannot be both black and white at the same time no matter what anyone may say. As for those who fight against what we call serpent seed in relation to the Garden of Eden, they have no answers themselves, they just simply do not believe it could have been a sex act. I have always felt that unless I could supply a better answer, I have no right to criticize someone else for theirs. If you have nothing to fill the gap, then leave it alone.
WHAT SPIRIT MOTIVATES YOU?
Brothers and sisters: What we must be aware of is that God himself is the revealer; and that He does not work through hostility. He reveals His word to those that hunger and thirst after righteousness, just like Jesus said in Matthew 5:6. Anything that is truly revealed to us is revealed by the Spirit of God, and any hostility that we may have is from the spirit of Satan; therefore I believe it would behoove some who fight so hard against certain things, just to stop and analyze themselves, Is this God, causing me to act like this? God does not inspire wrong attitudes and motives. Some people get just as hostile when they hear you say what the tree of life is, as they do about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Do you know why? Simply because it tears down all their traditional theories. Their libraries filled with books about snakes and apples, and beautiful fruit trees are good for nothing but burning if Eve did not eat a natural apple. I remember how as I thought upon this thing I said, If the forbidden fruit is an act, then the fruit of the tree of Life would have to be an act also, but at that time, I did not have the understanding to put it together. It went along like that until 1966, or 1967 when the Lord gave me a dream in which I was led to read Genesis 3:15-16, and when I read those two verses, I saw exactly where it all lay. Since then, we have printed articles which have caused many to oppose me, but nevertheless, I feel that a true revelation even though it may bring opposition and ridicule, should be made available to all who would receive it. Bro. Branham laid the groundwork by showing what the tree of knowledge was, but it was the Holy Ghost alone that showed me what the tree of life was. Furthermore what the tree of life was then, it is still that today. Neither of those trees that were in the midst of the garden were plant life trees; they were two spiritual laws. If God had wanted the natural minded man to understand these spiritual truths, He could have just said to Adam and Eve, The sex act is strictly for the purpose of filling the earth with sons and daughters that will have eternal life abiding in them; therefore if it is ever used just for pleasure it will bring death to you and your children; This is my command. When you read between the lines this is actually what you see there, “In the day that thou eatest thereof (or partakest ) thou shalt surely die.” Of course I realize that there is no argument that could ever cause some people to accept truth, for the spirit in them is the adversary of truth, but perhaps we can say something that can be helpful to those who are still open to truth. Convincing an unbelieving person that he has no revelation is harder than making the needle on a compass, point west. That thing is designed to point north and there is no changing it.
CARNAL REACTIONS
In December 1960, Bro. Branham was led to preach on the seven church ages. Not only did he identify the 7 periods of time, he also identified the man that he believed was God’s messengers to those first 6 periods. During that time he kept stressing what helped him, select those individual men as being messengers to their particular age of time. As he read the historical accounts of their lives and ministries, it was the accompaniment of the supernatural in their lives that made the difference. Seeing how these men’s ministries were vindicated by supernatural manifestations convinced him, and he kept stressing the fact that the church was definitely ordained to believe in the supernatural, and have the gifts of the Spirit in operation. It was Satan that stripped her of these, but through the various phases of the Reformation God restored those gifts to her in order that she might be just like the church in the book of Acts. I will always remember the effect it had on a lot of the people during the time he was preaching those messages. You could hear them say, I will sure be glad when the Lord anoints me and places His gifts in my life. People were expecting God just to start pouring out a lot of supernatural things, just because Bro. Branham preached like he did. Preachers especially would say, I will sure be glad when God puts me into my ministry. They thought it was going to be just like an avalanche. There stood a man obviously anointed to be the messenger to this age, vindicated by the supernatural, and it had their heads in a spin. When the meeting ended, various one’s began to talk about moving to this area, and a lot of them did. Many of them were honest God fearing people, truly desiring to be found in the will of God, but there also came a lot of counterfeits; just trouble makers, looking for a handout. I could call a lot of names along this line if it would be of benefit, but I do not believe it would. They claimed to believe the prophet, yet they would run up a big grocery bill, heat bill. gasoline bill, and every other kind you could mention, and think nothing of just leaving town without a word to anyone. Where the Bible says, Owe no man anything: this is exactly what it is having reference to. Some think it means that a Christian should not borrow at all, but it simply means, If you do borrow or get credit, be sure you pay your debts. You should never borrow nor go in debt beyond your means of meeting your obligations. In those days the tabernacle was forever having to help some of those people out of financial dilemmas, and even our own little congregation had to bear some of that burden. One such family moved, and moved, and moved until the tabernacle finally told them, This is the last time we are going to move you. They just simply would not pay their bills. Not long after that, one of the sisters right here in our assembly heard a knock on her door, and when she opened it, there stood that sister, and she said, Well where do you want us to put it? She looked out to the street, and there sat a trailer loaded with their personal things, and they were just going to unload all of it on them. They called me, and I had them to store the things in one of the prayer rooms at our church building until we could find out what course of action was required. The next day when we met with the man to find out what he wanted to do, all we could get out of him was, I am just waiting upon the Lord. Now Saints, I believe that we ought to be led by the Lord, but while people like that are waiting upon the Lord, they expect to be sitting at your table for three meals a day sleeping in your beds, having you cater to their every whim, and they do not care the least hit whether it is three days or six months. Furthermore, don’t expect them to help you do anything, for they have to spend all their time seeking the will of God. Having dealt with this kind before, I finally said, I will be back in the morning, and I expect an answer. Otherwise I am going downtown and rent an old house of some kind, and put you in it. The apostle Paul never did teach that a man should move his family in upon someone else to feed and support while he waited upon the Lord. Let me read you a few verses from 2 Thessalonians 3, beginning with verse 6. “Now we COMMAND you. brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after I the tradition which ye received of us. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought but wrought with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an EXAMPLE unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we COMMANDED you, that IF ANY WOULD NOT WORK, NEITHER SHOULD HE EAT. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. But ye brethren, be not weary in well doing. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he I may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” When I came back the next morning I said, What is the answer? Where do you feel that the Lord wants you to be? Well, I have always felt that if there was any other place I needed to go, it would be Jacksonville, Florida. I said, Is that where you want to go? At that time they still had a train going out of Louisville, so we went over and bought them a one way ticket to Jacksonville, Florida, and put them on the train.
TRUE LOVE IS CORRECTIVE
Brothers and sisters. I am sure that some of you are wondering why I tell things like this in a message about Bro. Branham; therefore let me say this, there are a lot of people running here and there claiming to believe the message of the prophet, but they do not follow the message of the prophet, nor do they follow after his example. Therefore I believe you should know scripturally how to deal with them. It is people like this that have contributed to the reproach that has been heaped upon the name and image of Bro. Branham. The world of denominational religion will always judge people of this following by the dead-beats that are among us. They look at the whole following of William Branham as though we were all a bunch of ignorant, unscriptural fanatics, mainly because they have never gotten dose enough to find out what we truly believe and stand for, and all they know, is what they have heard from certain self centered characters that claim to be of this message. Therefore it is necessary that we know how to conduct ourselves properly, and that we know how to deal with those who do not. Many times, you will be accused of not having any love when you deal with a situation according to the Bible way, but if you allow it, the devil will push you back into a corner so far, every fanatic that comes by will take advantage of you until you are so disillusioned and confused yourself, that you cannot even follow true principles. Having genuine love is more than just accepting abuse without speaking up for right principles. Love is also corrective, but correction must be kept scriptural.
ENTERTAINMENT SPIRIT
After those church age messages were preached the whole world soon knew where Bro. Branham stood doctrinally for that kind of news travels fast. As denominational leaders learned where he stood on the Godhead. water baptism, serpent seed. evidence of Holy Ghost, and no eternal hell, they one by one began checking him off of their list. He would never be invited to speak in their churches again. Some of these same men had sat on Bro. Branham’s platform with tears streaming down their cheeks as they witnessed the power of God being manifested through him, but they felt that his doctrine was of the devil. They would have gladly followed him, if he had just left doctrine out of his preaching. Many more of those Jews would have followed Jesus if He would have just held to their traditions also, for it was what he said contrary to their traditions that got Him into trouble with them. That is why gospel singing groups are so popular in the churches any more; especially in the Pentecostal churches, they have lost the revelation of the word of God. They have no spiritual vision any more, therefore the only way they can keep their people coming, is to keep them entertained. When they run out of anything to preach, they start bringing in singing groups to keep their people entertained, and keep them coming. Of course we realize that there are times when God desires to do something out of the ordinary in a service, and in that particular service preaching might not be necessary, but that kind of service will not be repeated Sunday after Sunday, year in and year out. There are many things that God can do in a service different from usual practices, but He will never lead anyone to depart from preaching altogether. Furthermore I want you to be aware of this; There are times when true worship and entertainment lay so close together that it actually requires a spiritual mind to detect the difference. It is a natural thing for people to enjoy music and singing, but when it gets to the point where they require just that, and they no longer care to hear the Word of God preached, there is something seriously wrong. Singing evangelists are in great demand in our day, but you let a man dare to say, Have Bible, Will Travel, and they will say, What kind of nut is that? Saints: Do you know what I am talking about? I am talking about the same thing that the apostle Paul was talking about when he wrote his second letter to Timothy, chapter 3. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own shelves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” We do not mean to insinuate that this scripture applies to everyone that enjoys gospel singing, but the apostle Paul did say that it would be like that in the last days, so just let the application. of it rest where it belongs, and beware, lest you also be taken over by an entertainment spirit. You hear a lot about the Holy Spirit in our day, most of which is either related to speaking in tongues, or some supernatural manifestation, but what the Holy Ghost really wants to do, is get down deep within your soul and give you a genuine hunger for the word of God, and reveal that word to you. He will break up that old concrete that your traditional ideas are set in, and lead you into a genuine walk with God. He will lead you out of darkness and into light. John said, This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Do you think that verse applies only to the old drunk out here in the gutter? What kind of light do you suppose he is talking about? He is talking about the light of truth, and it applies to anyone who would rather walk in traditional darkness than the glorious light of truth revealed through Jesus Christ.
MY DREAM OF THE ROCK
I still remember something Bro. Branham said to me one time when he was down home rabbit hunting. He said, Bro. Junie, the big meetings are not like they used to be. There was a time when you could not get an auditorium large enough to hold the crowd, but now you can rent a 10,000 seat auditorium, and you will do well if you see 3,000 people there at any one meeting. That was after they began to find out what his doctrine was. Those that did not agree with his teaching would not honor him unless they needed healing in their body or something like that. It was in February 1961, that I had the dream about Bro. Branham breaking the top off of that rock. I know most of you have heard it, or read it, for we have included it in other messages, but for the sake of this message I will tell it again. Like I said: Bro. Branham had just preached on the seven church ages, in December 1960, when I had this dream in the month of February 1961. Bro. Branham himself, told the dream a number of times, but never in full detail, as I told it to him. As I look back now, I can see that perhaps it was not meant for him to tell all of it at that time.
I saw myself in this dream walking through a vast, rolling countryside. In my mind, I was aware that I would meet a large element of people at a certain point. I could see myself walking down through little grassy valleys and up grassy knolls one after another until after a while I could look off into the distance and see on the horizon a vast circum-ference of people converging from all directions. It was like a gigantic wagon wheel. Each time I would drop down into a valley and come up again, I could see this great crowd of people getting closer and closer together until I finally got to a place where I could look down into a valley where I saw a little man standing by a rock that protruded from the ground. The people were crowd-ing in close around him, and I knew in my mind that the little man was Bro. Branham. I kept walking toward him until I was approximately 150 feet away, then I could hear myself say in a real loud voice, Listen to what he says, for he will not always be here. I kept walking toward him, and when we were all crowding in close around him, he just stood there like he was waiting for everyone to get quiet before he spoke. Then I made a second statement saying, Listen to what he says, for he will not always be with us. I looked toward the rock, and lying on top of it I could see a giant crowbar like they use in rock quarries. In my mind I knew that Bro. Branham was the only man that knew how to use that bar for the purpose that it was going to be used for. I noticed that the top of the rock was about the size of a dining room table, and about six inches down. I could see that there was a hairline crack just barely visible, and upon the rock words were engraved, just like upon a tombstone, “THE ROCK OF REVEALED TRUTH.” He picked up the large bar, stepped to the left hand corner from where he was, and rammed that bar into the hairline crack. That broke the whole top of the rock completely loose. Then he began working the bar until he slid the whole top back exposing this previously unexposed rock. (True limestone looks like it has little glistening snowflakes in it when the sun strikes it.) When he slid the top off of that rock, he then laid that bar on top of the piece he slid off, turned, and said, Stand by this. Then he began to elbow his way through the crowd, and something inside me said, Watch him. I turned just a little to one side so I could watch him out of the corner of my eye, and I could see him start walking westward. He would go out of sight over a little knoll and then I could see him going up over the next one as he walked westward over that rolling countryside. Each time he would come up over a knoll, I could see his little silhouette in the evening sunlight, because the sun was getting low on the western horizon. I watched until he was completely out of my sight, and in my heart I was saying, I will never see him again. I turned back toward the rock, and in just moments the people began to look up saying, Where is Bro. Branham? Where is Bro. Branham? This seemed to cause the rest of them to look up, and as they did, they began saying the same thing, Where is Bro. Branham? Where is Bro. Branham? Many of them just literally started running back into the direction they came from screaming and yelling, Oh, Where is Bro. Branham? This is all you could hear as they ran back across the valleys and up and down the little knolls, Oh, Where is Bro. Branham? Only a very few still stood by the rock, and it seemed that each one knew in their hearts that they would never see him anymore.
DREAM TOLD
I told the dream to Bro. Branham in the month of October, 1962. Our church was over here in Clarksville at that time, and I had asked him to preach for us in our midweek service on Thursday night. I had never had the opportunity to tell him the dream until that night. After the service, while we were just standing around talking, someone stepped inside and said to Bro. Branham, I have a sick lady out here in the car; would you come out and pray for her? He said. Sure. Then he turned to me and said, Let’s go pray for her. When we reached the car he just reached through the window to lay his hand upon her while we prayed, and immediately after that, the people left, and I mentioned the dream to him. He said, Let’s go sit in the car. (It was a station wagon.) We entered the station wagon from the drivers side, and he put me in the front seat with Billy Paul in the seat directly behind me. I told him the dream just as I have told it here, and when I had finished, he said, Bro. Jackson, that is getting ready to take place. Right now we are making preparations to move west. He then reached over to his Bible that he had laid upon the dash, and said, When this has come to pass, stick with this word. They will go after everything; teaching everything, but stick with this word, I said, Brother, I will do my best.
BRO. BRANHAM MOVES WEST
Right toward the end of 1962, he made known his plans to move west. These plans were brought on because of a vision he had. some time prior to that. In the vision, he saw the gate markers (large rocks like gate posts at the entrance of his driveway) pushed over, and some kind of engineering surveyor doing it. I believe there was a fight involved, and possibly he knocked the man down, or something to that effect. But he refrained from that, for in the vision the Lord had showed him that he was to get ready to make a move. He saw the whole street where he lived, being widened, and the Lord saying, When this comes to pass, move west. Then he saw himself in an old prairie schooner like the early pioneers traveled west in, but in his particular case; the prairie schooner was his station wagon. He moved west along about the end of 1962, and that is when he preached the message, “Sirs, Is This The Time,” in which he gives reference to the dream I had about the rock of revealed truth, but he did not tell all the details of it. He just told about breaking the rock open, but never mentioned one thing that I had said in the dream. Therefore I accept the fact that it was just supposed to be that way, and I will say no more about the dream, for I believe time itself has pretty well established what the dream pertained to. He did go west at that time, but by the middle of March he was back in Jeffersonville, preaching on the seven seals, because of an angelic visitation to him in Sabino Canyon out there. I will not go into the details of that visitation, for he has told it himself many times, especially during those seals messages. During that time the first six seals were revealed, but the seventh seal was not broken, and to this day, still has not been broken, no matter what some may say. Certain men have tried their best to prove that the seventh seal was broken and revealed, but to the revelated person all their efforts have been in vain. They just merely catch hold of a little statement or question and built it up into some great, (supposed to be) revelation. Just like when Bro. Branham read the scriptures right at the beginning of that series pertaining to the Lamb coming forth off of the mercy seat, he merely asked the question, Could it be that He is off the mercy seat already? Could it be? He did not say that He was, but certain ones began to run here and there saying. There can be no more grace; Christ is off the mercy seat. When in fact. Bro. Branham only said, Could it be? Then he said, I pray that He isn’t; But did that stop them from saying that? They are still saying it, even after some of their own family members have been convicted, repented and baptized. I simply do not see how anyone can be so blind spiritually. It just simply proves that they do not know God themselves, for if they did, they would know better than that. Then to you who are always so quick to criticize Bro. Branham when you hear these strange things, it would behoove you to find out what Bro. Branham really did say, before you start ridiculing him. Some of you even scoff at the mere mention of him being a prophet of God, when if you would take the time to investigate a little, you would not be so careless with your words.
VINDICATED PROPHET
There were so many things that vindicated Bro. Branham as a prophet, people who still reject the idea that he was are without excuse. One such instance was when he came back to Jeffersonville for a meeting after he had preached the seals messages. Cards were sent out announcing the meeting, and people came from far and near like always. One man drove from down south someplace, to be present in the meeting, but when he arrived at the tabernacle all available parking spaces had already been taken, so he had to park his car several blocks from the tabernacle and walk back. When he went back later to get his car, it was gone; someone had taken it. The man became so upset over it, that some of his friends took him to Bro. Branham’s house, to tell him. Now here is what I want you to catch, for things like this are a vindication of his true calling. The man started relating his story to Bro. Branham and he stopped him, saying, Sir, your car was such and such, and the man that took it was such and such, (He described the car and also the man that took it.) but the man got under conviction and left the car in such and such a place. He said, If you will go down to, (he told a certain street,) you will find your car; everything is alright. The man found his car in exactly the place where he was told it would be. This to me, is vindication, and please do not tell me that the UPC and the Assemblies of God had this sort of vindication. I know better. Like I said earlier, there were enough such instances, it would take many volumes of books to record them all; therefore what you are reading in this series Is just little fragments which we feel should be sufficient to help sincere hearted people come to a true understanding of what God has truly done in our age. In other words, he was much, much more than just a healing evangelist, as some have called him. He was a vindicated prophet, with a message from God to the church age, and those who refuse to accept that fact will miss God. As I have said over and over, You cannot refuse to walk in God’s true light, and still be in the perfect will of God both at the same time.
CHURCH ORDER
On through the months during 1963, I began to see conditions building up around the tabernacle, that gave me a troubled feeling, and sometimes caused me to cringe a little as I realized that sooner or later something would be done to bring all of that to an end. I will hold to my policy of refraining from mentioning names of individuals, but many of us do know who the main leaders were, that brought about a lot of that nonsense, and created such an environment. That year was a year that will be long remembered for both good and bad, among the followers of this message. But along toward the end of the year, I had a dream in which I saw Bro. Branham come back to the tabernacle, and I could hear him addressing the people in this way, I have come back to give you a spanking. Then I saw myself ready to enter the door, and the people turned to look at me as if to say, You do not belong here, and I closed the door, turned, and walked away crying. I could still hear him speaking as I slowly walked away. Then six weeks after I had that dream, he came back to Jeffersonville, got with the church board, and made the church order tape, stipulating exactly how a worship service was to be conducted, all the way from the pulpit to the very back seat. He gave instructions on how the song service was to be conducted, how long to preach, how the gifts of the Spirit were to be controlled, and not be allowed to operate in the regular part of the service. In other words, those that were gifted were to meet in the prayer room at least one hour before the service, and if the Spirit spoke anything, it was to be written down and read from the platform. There was to be no more special singing unless by written request that should be brought to the platform and laid upon the Bible stand. When he ended his church order tape, he said these words, Now when you have done this, then we will see what the Lord would have us do. Brothers and sisters, that tape was played for the church on new year’s night Jan. 1, 1964. When I sat there hearing that tape, I knew that I could never put an order like that into effect in my congregation. Neither would I allow anyone to teach it in my church. I was there with several of those of my congregation at the time the tape was played, and we left that night realizing that this could well be the beginning of a broken fellowship between us and the tabernacle. The following Sunday morning, I just made a little talk to my congregation, telling them that I could not put it in my church, because I could not see it as a doctrine in the New Testament scriptures. I could accept it as a means of correcting an out of control situation in the tabernacle, and I would respect it when I was there, but to me, it was just for that, and nothing else. For me to put that in my church, I felt, would be going completely against the will of God. Naturally though, it put me under a great pressure for many weeks after that. My spirit was under a great strain, knowing that by making a verbal statement concerning this thing, many people would literally accuse me of being against the prophet, and cause them to accuse me of thinking that I knew more about the plan of God than he did. Nevertheless I did what I felt that I must do, and tried to prepare myself to face whatever came because of it. One thing is sure though; it caused me to seek the face of God in the matter. I prayed, and I studied, and prayed and studied, and nowhere could I find anything in the scriptures that caused me to even suspect that the apostle Paul ever advised a congregation to conduct their services like that. I finally settled it in my heart, that this was done strictly to correct a situation in the tabernacle, and that as soon as it was corrected, he would probably do something else. I still feel that my judgment on why he did it was correct, but most of you know by now how it turned out. Bro. Branham was taken from the scene with that thing still in affect, and there is not one among them that would dare change it, so you can see just where they have been for the last 18 years. That thing has become a doctrine of death to a lot of congregations that at one time had life in them.
NICOLAITAN SPIRIT
In the month of May, 1964, I was in another state, in a church that I had been to just a year before. The other time I was there, they had tambourines, guitars, banjos, and accordions, and they worshipped God like we feel that people should, according to the scriptures. But on this occasion, I noticed that they had done away with the tambourines and banjos; they were no longer in the picture. I was asked to play a special number on my violin, as I had done before when I was there, so I played a fast song; I do not remember what it was, but I did notice that the guitar players were trying their best to slow me down for some reason. So when I finished, the pastor said. Now play us one of those good old slow ones. I thought to myself, Yes Sir, I can smell your church order. I do not mean to be sarcastic, but that church order creates a stench in your nostrils, and causes severe nausea wherever you run into it. Now please understand me. I do not say that to belittle Bro. Branham; for I believe he did what he felt he must do, but these poor carnal souls that carried it back to their own congregations, and allowed it to crowd God out of the picture, fall into a different category as far as I am concerned. They have no right to call themselves ministers of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The true gospel is supposed to set souls free from spiritual bondage, yet what they preach places people under more bondage than the Catholic Church. It is almost like plunging Christianity back into the Dark Ages again, and making all the Reformation efforts vain, and void of purpose. It is truly a situation where the blind are leading the blind. I remember two brothers that came from the state of New York, and worshipped with us over in the little church in Clarksville, before church order was made. We invited them to sing that night, and sing they did. They stood one on each side of the Bible stand, and when they started singing and clapping, the people of the congregation just got right in with them. It kept building up until all of a sudden one bounced one way, and the other one the other way, and when they came together again, they really turned loose. Since church order, those same people would crucify you, if you would dare worship God the way they did that night. They could get their feet higher than their head, but the minute church order was introduced, it was just like someone had stuck a pin into a balloon, they became completely deflated. Not only are they deflated, they and a lot of others have been trying to deflate this church ever since I refused to accept church order in my congregation. Therefore in defense of the scriptures, and in defense of proper spiritual conduct, I say, God will allow a man to take the necessary steps to get an out of control condition under control, but He will never allow that man to make a doctrine out of whatever methods he uses. They may do it, but God will not sanction it. That is exactly what the Nicolatian condition was over in Revelation, chapter 2. In the first letter reference was made to the DEEDS of the Nicolatians, which God hates. But then in the third letter we see. that what had been only deeds in the first age had become a doctrine in the third age. It seems that there is always an element of people, supposedly Christians that are forever trying to kill the Spirit of God in any place they find it. Seeing what so many were doing with church order, and knowing how they felt about me for not accepting it, caused me to actually live a year of discouragement and depression. Through the whole year of 1964, I carried that burden, not just concern for the spiritual condition of those that were subjected to it, but it was very discouraging to be treated as though I had blasphemed, and like a misfit. Nevertheless I reached the place where I said, I would rather serve God and know that I have done His will than to have the favor of men, no matter who they are, nor how important they may be, and I still feel the same today. My revelation of God’s word and my convictions of right and wrong are not for sale.
WHITE HORSE DREAM
God closed that year out by giving me another dream, the I dream about the white horse. Most of you have heard it already, but I feel that it should be included in this message, so I am going to tell it again, but first I want to relate what I had on my mind when I went back to sleep that night after being awakened by a telephone call. It was in the month of December 1964, that we were awakened by a telephone call from Sister Wright, Bro. George Wright’s wife, telling us that little Edith had passed away. Sister Edith was their invalid daughter, confined to a wheel-chair, I suppose as a result of polio when she was a small child. Sister Wright was crying when I answered the phone, and she said, Bro. Junie, little Edith has just passed away, and it was her request that you conduct the funeral. When I went back to bed, I said to my wife, Just imagine, exactly seven years right to this very month when we were in Cuba, I had that dream about little Edith, and now it is being fulfilled. While in Cuba, in December 1957, I saw myself in a dream walking into the funeral parlor to view little Edith Wright’s corpse. I was the only person there at that time, and I was greatly surprised when I picked up one of those little cards lying there by her casket, and read where the funeral was to be conducted by Rev. Raymond M. Jackson. Bro. Branham was always a close friend to the Wright family, and he still lived in this area when I had that dream in 1957, therefore I was always under the impression that when such a service was necessary, Bro. Branham would be the one to perform it, for I had heard him say that if the Lord ever showed him that he should go and pray for little Edith, he would drop everything to go, no matter where he was. It just so happened that Bro. Branham had already moved to Tucson, Arizona when Edith died in Dec. 1964, and when word reached him of her death, he was in a meeting, so he just sent some flowers and his condolences, and did not come for the funeral. Therefore I conducted her funeral exactly seven years to the month, after I saw myself in that dream concerning her death. My wife and I lay there discussing her death, and the dream, and I dropped off to sleep and had the white horse dream. This was in December 1964, just one year before Bro. Branham was killed in that automobile accident, and I actually did not tell him the dream until August 1, 1965, but here is the dream. I saw myself and my wife in the car traveling down the highway. I was going somewhere for a meeting, a place where I had never been before. My wife was driving the car, and I just sort of had my head lying back relaxing, as I sometimes do on long trips. Just then, I glanced out of the window and saw a speck in the sky. I kept watching that speck as it seemed to get closer and closer to me, Then as it came closer, I could see that it was a man on a horse moving very rapidly, and it was obvious that he meant to intercept us. But you know how human reaction works, immediately I thought, What is wrong with you? You just simply do not look up into the sky and see a man riding a horse. I turned my head away immediately, saying to myself, I must be crazy. I kept my head turned a little, but finally thought, I will just take another quick glance in that direction. When I did, there it was, descending to earth right in front of us. I then said to my wife, Pull over and stop right here, quick! There is a man on a horse in the sky, and I want to see it better, but I wouldn’t even look again until the car had been completely stopped. When I looked then, the horse was further off the shoulder of the road, standing at attention just like an old Cavalry horse would do, and the rider was turned in the saddle. I immediately recognized the rider to be Bro. Branham, dressed like a range rider. He raised his hand and snapped his finger toward me saying. You, get ready, there is a job for you to do. Then he raised his hand again and said, Prepare yourself for the work that you have been called to fulfill. Again he raised his hand pointing to me and said, If you believe these words, a powerful horse will be given to you to carry you in the calling whereunto you have been called. At that moment he just lightly touched the reins, and the horse wheeled around and headed right back into the sky. I sat there watching as that horse just got faster and faster rising into the sky, and he rode right off into the sun. When I looked back toward the ground, there stood another horse just exactly like the one Bro. Branham was riding, only smaller. It was standing right in the same spot as the other one, saddled, bridled, and ready to ride. I said to my wife, Honey, I am going to get out of the car, and try him out. I got out and walked over to the horse, and he stood perfectly still, and at attention. You know how it is many times, when a stranger walks up to a horse they will shy away, but he stood perfectly at attention. I got up in the saddle and found that everything was adjusted perfectly for me. I touched the reins to the right and immediately, the horse just made a right angle, took a few lopes, and headed right into the sky toward the east. We kept getting faster and higher, and I could not help but notice with what ease he ran. I thought to myself, He runs with such ease, there is just no end to where he would take me if I would just let him go, but I am only trying him out, so I must go back. Then with just one light touch on the reins, he turned and brought me right back to the very spot where I mounted him. I got off the horse, and back into the car, and when the car door was shut, I was wide awake. Now that was in December 1964, following the telephone call about little Edith’s death.
LOOSED FROM BONDAGE
The year of 1964 closed out, and the next part I wish to tell will bring us into the month of February 1965. Bro. Branham was coming back to Jeffersonville to occasion. We were there every night for the meetings, but I was still walking under the great pressure because of the people’s attitude toward me, for not accepting the church order into our congregation. I sat there every night praying, Oh Lord, will you somehow or other just take this thing away from me? So much of the time I felt just like I had a steel band around me, and I had been like that for over a year at that time. Then the very last night of the meetings, we were sitting on the gymnasium side and Bro. Branham was standing looking toward the auditorium side with his back toward us, when he motioned back over his shoulder and said, You back there, Brother Billy Cox, you have a child, a daughter that has something wrong with her heart, a hole in the heart. Do you believe Jesus Christ knows all about your concern? Of course I do not recall his exact words, but Bro. Cox’s little daughter was healed, and she is still healed today, a teenager here at Faith Assembly. As I sat there that night, it was as though the Lord was asking me, Are you going to walk with me according to my word, or are you going to let people influence you all through life? I said, Lord, I have already come to the conclusion that this is worth more to me than all of the voices of the people who feel that I am going against a man of God. Then I said, Lord I do not care anymore, what they say, I am sticking by your word. At that very moment, it was just like someone took a pair of scissors and snipped that steel band that was around my chest. From that day on, I have not allowed their criticism, and their attitudes to get me into such a shape again. Inside I had a feeling of peace and freedom and joy that I had been void of during all that time, just the joy of knowing that I had taken a concrete stand for the word of God. Since then, I have lived to e see the day that many of them have become discouraged and drifted either back to the world, or back into denominational churches, and I have to thank God often for keeping me true to His word during all that time. It was Him that put something deep down within me, that makes me love and appreciate His word. If I had listened to a lot of people back then, I could have ruined my life, and my ministry, and be out here somewhere now just drifting with whatever might happen to be the most popular version of the message.
THE GIFT IN ACTION
Before I get to the time I told that horse dream to Bro. Branham, I want to go back into the summer of 1964 with our story, and relate to you an incident that I had reference to earlier, when I said I would give personal testimony of how I watched the gift in Bro. Branham’s hand, work. My wife had been suffering for several months with acute pain from a bladder infection. It would flare up just over night, causing her to have to go to the family physician, and each time he would treat the condition with antibiotics that would cause it to subside for a few days, and then it would be right back again. That started during the winter months, continued right on through spring and into the summer until it finally got to be constantly severe. We knew that such a condition might well lead to something even more serious if I allowed it to go on, so we finally decided to drive all the way to Topeka, Kansas where Bro. Branham was holding a meeting, hoping to be able to get a prayer card. We left home that morning and drove until late at night, and just slept in the car for a while, and started out again for we wanted to be in the service there that night. We arrived there and got a hotel room, and then met up with a lot of different people we knew, and in all the time we were there it seemed like we were always detained just long enough to prevent us from seeing Billy Paul, to get a prayer card. Therefore the meetings ended, and we had to return home without getting Bro. Branham to pray for her. The following week when the condition forced her to go back to the family physician again, he gave her a different kind of antibiotic, and said, If this doesn’t work, we will have to send you to a specialist. That very night, I dreamed that I saw my wife and myself go to Bro. Branham’s house, and I saw Bro. Branham himself meet us outside and lead us into the house. I saw how he seated each one of us in the living room, and how he took a seat across from her and began talking to my wife. Then he asked her to meet him in the middle of the room where he took her by the hand and prayed for her. In the dream, I could hear him telling her that everything was going to be alright, and not to worry. After that, we just sat back down and fellowshipped for a little while. When we later were going out the door, He said, Don’t worry; everything is going to be alright. Through the week my wife took the antibiotics given her, but the condition did not seem to let up, and I began to get a little concerned. I figured if we waited until the weekend, and she had to return to the doctor, she would surely be sent to a specialist, so I decided to contact Billy Paul for an appointment to see Bro. Branham, and get him to pray for her. The appointment was made for Friday afternoon, and when we arrived at his house, Bro. Branham was out in the garage doing something, so he met us in the yard and escorted us into the living room where he seated my wife on the couch, me in a certain chair, and he sat on the piano stool just across from us, exactly like I had seen it in the dream. But we had been there quite a long while before he ever even mentioned praying for my wife, and then he said, I guess you wonder why I have been talking like this; but I have just been waiting upon the Lord. Then he stood up, and stepped over to the middle of the room and said, Sister Jackson, step over here. When she did, he began to say, You spend too much time worrying, and he went on to explain to her just what worrying does to your digestive system by causing excess stomach acids that the waste in her body had to cope with. Then he took off his watch and said, Let’s pray. (He always took his watch off before praying like that, for he had forgotten to one time, and the power of God just crushed the crystal.) When Sister Branham had laid his watch up on a little shelf, he took my wife by the hand and immediately said, Yes, I can feel the spirit of that condition working in your body. It is even more than just an infection, it has already become ulcerated, and that can be very serious. While they stood there like that, the whole underneath side of his hand looked like it just broke out with blotches of colored circles. (That is the best I can describe it.) Even his wrist changed, and he told what the noise sounded like, as the gift of God came against that spirit. Then after he had asked me to take a look at his hand, he said, Now let’s pray. He bowed his head and prayed, and when he finished praying his hand had returned to normal; it was perfectly clear. Just as he had started to pray, the telephone rang and Sister Branham left the room; so when she returned, he began relating to her what had happened in her absence. Then after we had talked for a little while, he again stepped over to the center of the room and said, Sister Jackson, step back over here for a minute. He took her by the hand and said, Let’s check this; and this time his hand remained perfectly clear, so he said, See there, it is all gone. Then he said to my wife, You’ve got more faith than I thought you had. Don’t worry; Everything is going to be alright. He put his watch back on, and we prepared to leave, but as we were going out the door he told my wife to go back to the doctor in about three days and let him check her. Leaving there, she began speaking of how good she felt; and throughout the weekend she continued to feel good, so we just simply did not see the need to return to the doctor. I believe it was Tuesday morning though, that she awakened with those same symptoms, feeling just as bad as she did before prayer, so we got ready and started to the doctor’s office, being conscious of the fact that Bro. Branham had instructed her to go back in about three days. (We had just decided that since the Lord had already healed her, there was no reason to pay the doctor another $4.00 just to check her, but those symptoms on Tuesday morning caused us to change our minds and head for the doctor.) On the way to the doctor’s office, all the symptoms left her and she began telling me how good she was feeling, but I said, Then we are supposed to go on, anyhow and let him check you. The doctor checked her, and everything was clear; she was healed. So that just let me know that God has His ways of dealing with us, and we need to follow instructions given by the instru-ment He chooses to use, in this case, Bro. Branham. This was God’s way of preparing us for future days when certain preachers would take the attitude that one was not even a Christian if they ever went to see a doctor. Some of them will even send you to hell if you even take an aspirin for a headache, so to speak. I have heard my share of this kind of preaching, but not one of those men ever had a message for the people of God.
GOD IS NOT A BEGGAR
I would never speak against a person’s own convictions; for I consider that to be between them and their God, but any time I hear one of them trying to make a doctrine out of their own personal convictions, and shove it off on someone else, that is a different story, I am ready to speak out against that. Many of these that claim to have so much faith, and are ready to condemn anyone else who may not seem to have the kind of faith they talk about, will spend 30 minutes to an hour of a service just taking up an offering. They will beg and plead, and try to make you feel like you are failing God if you do not make a sacrificial offering to their program. Yet the real truth is, if they had faith to believe that they were called of God for a particular ministry, they should have faith enough to believe that God would support them without them begging. God is not a beggar, and He is well able to supply every need without it. I have always said, The day I have to start begging for money to support my ministry, I will quit preaching and go back to farming. I do not believe we have any business trying to tell someone else how to have faith if we do not have it ourselves. That was another thing that I admired about Bro. Branham; In all the years I sat under his ministry, I never heard him beg for that first dime from anyone, yet I do know that other preachers would take advantage of him. We were visiting in his home one time, and while his wife was busy preparing some refreshments, he just stepped over to the china cabinet and pulled out a little book and said. Bro. Jackson, I want to show you something. (He did not show me the particular names.) He just showed me random figures most of them preachers) of people that had called him up and said, Bro. Branham, I am just passing through town on my way to a meeting. I am Rev. So and So, from such and such a place, and my car has broke down. Could you loan me $$0.00, $100.00, until I pass back through on my way home? He said. They still owe me. He was never a man to complain, and he was not complaining then; he was just simply stating a fact of life, how some people are.
HORSE DREAM TOLD
In the summer of 1965, I received a telephone call from a preacher in a certain area. asking me to come for a meeting. It was an area that I had not preached in yet, so I just said, I will pray about it and let you know. After receiving the call, I began to wonder, Could this be the begin-ning of the fulfillment of the horse dream? Then I decided that I should get an appointment to tell the dream to Bro. Branham, so I called Billy Paul, and he set up an interview for the following Sunday morning at the tabernacle. Bro. Branham met us in the prayer room. and I hurriedly related the dream to him. When I finished speaking, he said. Something is about to happen. When it does, you have a work to do. Then he said, I do not know what is going to happen, but I do know what the horse represents; it represents the power of the word of God. Then he picked up his Bible, patted it and said, Stick with the word. I said, Bro. Branham, I’ll do my best to. From there we went ahead talking about other things, but just before the interview ended, he repeated what he had said before. Bro. Jackson, something is getting ready to happen, I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is, you have something to do. I don’t know what it is, but I do know that the horse is the power of the word of God. Again he patted his Bible and said, Stick with the word. That was August 1, 1965, on Sunday morning.
TROUBLEMAKERS REPORTS
What I am going to tell now in relation to the dream was not made known to me until about two years ago. We have a certain man in this area that at one time was a good friend of mine. He hardly even goes to any church at all, because somehow he got the idea or conviction that Ichabod is written over every church house door, and therefore God could not possibly be in such a place, nor in any people who want to worship in such a place. This man claims that on the Sunday following the Sunday I told Bro. Branham the dream, they were in the same restaurant Bro. and Sis. Branham were in, and that Bro. Branham stopped by their table and said, Do you know what Bro. Janie Jackson’s dream is? I know what it means. (Now I am going to tell you what he says Bro. Branham told him that day, even though a lot of people think I should not repeat it, lest it make things worse for me. Nevertheless I have reached a place that I am completely convinced that honesty is the best policy at all times, for God will work on the side of honesty every time, and besides that, I have nothing to hide, regardless of what men may tell on me, or about me. If this whole thing has to go before God in judgment right now, I am ready to stand there, so as we put this in print, let everyone who reads it, know assuredly that I have nothing whatsoever to hide. So I will now relate to you what he says Bro. Branham told him. He even had mimeographed copies of this, that he distributed to people of this message.) He says Bro. Branham told him that the horse represents the message, and that I left my wife to go with the message for just a little distance, but then turned around and came back to my wife, leaving the impression of course, that I have gone back to the old denominational system. Anyone who knows me, knows better than that, so I do not even have to defend myself against something like that. Then, you who do not know me, just examine what I teach, study your own Bible, and talk to the Lord about it. If you will do that, you will not have to depend upon what some troublemaker says about me. Another brother that came in here from Wisconsin, related a little something else that I had not heard before. He said, Do you know what they are saying up my way, about you? They say also, that you left the message and went back to your wife, which to them represents the old system, but they carry it a little farther saying, the fact that his wife was driving the car in the first place, shows who runs things in his house. Do you see why I would not even waste my time trying to defend myself against such carnal childishness? For to do so would put me on the same carnal level with them. God is my defense; so anyone who desires to dig into my life, let him do so; I have nothing to hide. Furthermore I will not even belittle that man that has tried so hard to destroy my image, by telling you the things that he has taught, for I am convinced that he will have to meet God in judgment, to answer for those things, and I am willing to let it rest in the hands of God. People in Africa tell us that they strictly do not want the man back over there, after the things he has tried to teach over there. To anyone who reads this article, I will just say, Someone lied, or someone did not tell the truth, and God knows who it is. To him that has an ear to hear, let him hear, I believe anyone who has the Holy Ghost will know what to believe in this hour of time. I will just assure you that I have not gone back to the denominational system, and could not do so, even if I had a mind to, for there is nothing to go back to. I have already burned all the bridges behind me. As for my wife, she helps me, not only in driving the car, but in many other ways, but I can tell you this also, She seldom ever knows what I am going to preach, until she hears it along with the rest of the congregation. It just comes down to the fact that there are an awful lot of people in the world that can only make a place for themselves by tearing someone else apart all the time. These are the sort that are actually heard the most, and the loudest, and therefore they are the ones that the rest of the world judge the rest of us by. This is why the Lord laid it upon my heart to preach and print this message, so there would be another side for people to consider, before they judge Bro. Branham to have been a devil. The world has seen the spirit that accompanies these troublemakers, but many of them never had the opportunity to witness the honesty, the sincerity, the humbleness, the love for God’s word, and the love for God’s people, that Bro. Branham had. He left no memorial, he had no radio program, no television program, and no free gifts that required a sizable offering to obtain. But he did have a message from God to the age of Laodicea, and those that reject that message have rejected God, and their religion is vain. But let me go on with my story.
WHAT 1965 BROUGHT
The year 1965 closed out very rapidly, it seemed. In the month of November, Bro. Branham preached in Shreveport, Louisiana, where we were privileged to attend his services for three i nights, because of a dream I had. In those three services, I saw a little man preach to, and pray for people as though he would never see them again. When we left there coming home, little did we realize just how short his time I would be before God called him home, but I wondered for days after that, just what the dream that caused us to go there, really amounted to. After he left Shreveport, Bro. Branham went to Yuma, Arizona, to preach, and then on to two different places in California, before he went back home and started making preparations to come to Jeffersonville for the Christmas holidays. He had already announced a sermon topic he wished to preach on during the time he was in Jeffersonville, “The Trail of the Serpent,” but he never did get that opportunity. On the trip back here, he was involved in a terrible automobile accident and rushed to the hospital where he died later. His death was soon made known around the world, and immediately, a certain spirit began to work among some of the people, for as soon as they brought him back here, to Coots Funeral Parlor, and we went to view the body, I was approached with that certain question, Jackson, are you with us? Don’t you believe he must rise from the dead? He has just left too many unfinished things; he must come back. I never said anything at that time, for it was very evident that a certain element of people were going to follow that spirit and I just wanted to keep a safe distance from it. Eventually the newspaper reporters began to pick up on that, and then it really became a conversational thing. You could just see that thing building up among that certain element of people right on up until the day of the funeral, so much so, that it was almost frightening. It made me feel like I wanted to just withdraw myself from it all. Nevertheless the day came for the funeral, and I was privileged to be one of the speakers, to give a little talk. That was very hard for me, for I had a very soft spot in my heart for that little man that had been such a great example, and had influenced my life much. I said, “This man has led me out of the darkness of religious confusion, and has given my feet something to stand upon. I thank the Lord for that.” His physical stature was small, but he sure made Jesus Christ stand tall. He never tried to make himself anything more than what he was, but there were always those around him that tried to make him more than what he was. These are they that have brought reproach upon the Lord, upon Bro. Branham’s name, and upon all that have tried to follow the truth that Bro. Branham stood for. Even the very Sunday afternoon that Bro. Branham’s body was taken back to await burial, that same preacher that had approached me in the funeral parlor, drove Into the Jerry’s Restaurant parking lot with some other people just as we were leaving, and called to me, Bro. Jackson: Are you with us? I said, What do you mean? He is going to rise, was his reply, and I just merely answered, In the resurrec-tion, he will rise No. He is going to rise before that. I said, No he won’t. He will not rise until Paul, Peter, James, and all the rest of the dead in Christ arise, and I just kept walking toward my car. But he would not give up as long as we were in hearing distance. It just made me wonder, Where will people go? What will they do? Will they stick together, or will they scatter to the four winds. Sixteen years of time has provided the answer to all those questions. There are dozens of different versions of the message delivered by the messenger, and the people who claimed to believe the message have scattered into every imaginable direction, some even going back to the very systems they were called out of.
HUMAN FEELINGS EXPRESSED
3As I began to go different places to preach, I always preached from my Bible what I felt the Lord had laid upon my heart to preach. But before very long, these certain men began to hear what I was preaching, and they began yelling, The prophet didn’t say it like that. Jackson is off of the message. So my answer to them is this; I have heard every sermon he preached in the Jeffersonville area, and I have studied them from the standpoint of the scriptures, and found that Bro. Branham, like every other man, was subject to give his own opinion from time to time; therefore every statement he made could not be treated as Thus saith the Lord. That does not detract anything whatsoever from the fact that he was the prophet messenger to this age. The apostle James wrote that Elijah of old was a man subject to like passions with every other human. He simply meant that Elijah had emotions, affections, and other human feelings just like the rest of us. So did Bro. Branham likewise. Naturally those who try to make him God, could never accept the fact that he was subject to human feelings, but those who know that he was not, and is not God, have no trouble at all facing facts when they hear them. I would certainly hate to be in such a place that I could not even express my opinion without someone making something out of it. But that is exactly what some of these characters have done with Bro. Branham; they just will not accept the fact that he ever spoke anything except Thus saith the Lord. As I have already stated over and over many times, There has been no other man this side of early apostolic days that ever had any more of the power of God in his life than Bro. Branham did, but that still did not keep him from expressing his own human feelings about certain things from time to time. Brothers and sisters, I realize that we have made this message quite lengthy, but I also realize that trying to shorten it might defeat our purpose for bringing it in the first place, therefore I ask your indulgence, and your prayers as we try to conclude our remarks in yet one more issue of the Contender. I feel that there are a few more things that should be cleared up before we conclude and I also want to include the dream that caused me to go into this message from this standpoint. Watch for part 4, which will be our July issue. Amen.
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