WE ARE JUST CONTINUING ON FROM OUR LAST ISSUE. THIS IS THE FIFTH AND SIXTH SERMON OF THE SERIES.
We are on the same subject again today, “The Body of Christ.” However I want to go at it in a different way this morning, with different comments and things that will help emphasize the truth we are seeking to bring forth. Our text is the same as it was, out of the 4th chapter of Ephesians. Today is the first time I have ever stood to say some of the things I am going to say. There is definitely a time factor that we are faced with; and it is ordained of God. That is this, God is going to have some people that He has put together in unity from believers all over the world. Also, as I endeavor to bring out this fact, I just pray that I can say these things so that you will try to understand. Is this going to be some big announcement brought on by some diplomat? No. Are we going to gather all the preachers of the so-called message and everybody stand up and give his comments and say what he feels in his heart as to how this unity should be brought about? No. If that is the way it would be, some of you would never see it, because you would be in the ground before it comes about. I say that with deep respect for every human being this morning. Everything that God has ever done that was of a major thing to affect the Church, He has never done it by a committee or anything like that. Two thousand years ago Christ came, and when He had died and given His life for you and me, the apostles did not have to take a vote among all the believers, to know what to preach and teach. There were many people that followed Him in that hour. Some of the last words He said that morning as He left to go over to the Mt. of Olives and ascend into heaven, was, He said, Tarry ye in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. We realize it was necessary for them to carry out that commission, even though they did not understand what it actually pertained to. He never explained one thing to them, what to expect or anything, because His word of instruction was enough. They knew they were to tarry for something, and in due time that something did come; and those who were assembled in that upper room were never the same again. When we read about it in the 2nd chapter of Acts, it affected everyone that was assembled in that upper room. I am saying this morning, Many years ago there was a man that lived in this area. His name was William Marrion Branham. He had an unusual ministry, a ministry like no other preacher had ever had. Over a short period of time, God opened many doors for him to go and preach. God, through him, demonstrated the power of divine healing, as well as other things. Then as time came and went, a little here and a little there, there began to be some words drop that were to be important to true believers. As we began to put these words together, we begin to realize, This is the beginning of a message, that in the end affect was to turn the end time children of the Christian faith back to the faith of their apostolic fathers. The man preached many sermons through the years of his ministry. In those sermons, the very words that God wanted you and me to hear, are scattered among all the others. Many men, some of them preachers, heard those same words. Everyone sat and waited for the next opportunity to hear more. Then one day God took him off the scene through death, in a terrible automobile crash. It so shook the movement, that it startled the preachers far and near, because nobody at that time had any idea but what this man, of such a great outstanding ministry, would in all probability be here to finish the job as we imagined it, and then the rapture would take place. We could see that there had to be a Church made ready by the washing of the water of the word of God. Therefore no sooner had the man left the scene, that different voices began to rise up and say, He will return to finish his work: He has got to come back to finish the ministry he was called of God for: He has got to come back and finish the tent ministry: He has to come back to finish the third pull. All of these things were put forth by his followers. Many of those things, they had gathered out of the things he had preached, and they just assumed that he had to come back and carry on. At this time, living toward the closing of the 39th year, not one of them ever indulged into other things that he had said, things that caused them to search the scriptures. On the other hand, God began to deal outside that circle with another realm of people. We will leave that point and look back through time somewhat.
LOOKING WAY BACK
Let us go back now to the beginning of Christendom. We know that there were twelve men that were called apostles, which followed Jesus. After Judas went out and hung himself, the eleven voted and another man took his place, a man called Matthias. Then there were twelve men again, that were chosen to be spokesmen, or witnesses of all that Jesus had spoken and done while walking among them. They were called apostles, ministers of the word of God as it had been up to that hour and beyond. When the Holy Spirit fell upon them, it affected all of them: not just the twelve, but the entire body of believers that were assembled there together. Then when the Spirit of God led that element of people into the streets of the city, to begin to be a testimony and witness of the fulfillment of prophecy, all this demonstration created many questions in the minds of the people that were out there in the streets. After awhile those that began to hear these people speaking in the language wherein they were born, questions began to be asked, What is this? What is behind this? What does this mean? On and on their questions came and finally the apostle Peter arose to the occasion. God’s anointing was upon him to enable him to explain what was happening. We will begin with one point, which is, one man opened his mouth and started talking. The other eleven kept still, but agreeing with what he was saying. When I say that, I realize there may be people hearing me today that will say, Bro. Jackson, are you saying the time has come when you are going to speak and everybody else has to shut his mouth and keep quiet? No, I am not going to tell anybody to shut their mouth, but I am going to have to say this, Let him that hath an ear to hear, hear loud and clear, because I am going to say something that will make a difference. Since Bro. William Branham’s death, the world is full of preachers of every sort. For thirty nine years they have preached the prophet said, the prophet said, the prophet said, but I am saying, God sent a message to our generation through that little man; and most of those who heard him failed to see anything beyond the man himself. There is no unity among any of those who preach nothing beyond what the prophet actually spoke. Nowhere in the whole wide world, will you find unity among them. You would think such a message as was brought, that was heard by so many preachers and people, would have somehow led the hearers to make way for the Spirit of God to deal with some of them and begin to put them in a state of unity. I am sorry to say, that in almost thirty nine years since his death, the followers of Bro. William Branham’s flesh are void of unity. Every person has his own version of the message Bro. William Branham delivered to this generation. I could stand here and name man after man; and I would not be doing it to run them down, but to reveal error. I have in my files at home, booklets, sermons, pamphlets, and all kinds of tracts that have been written and printed in various ways by different preachers, as to how they saw and perceived the message up to that point, and what it ought to produce. Yes, each one of those men have a following. It matters not whether it is Ewald Frank, Perry Green, or whoever, it goes on and on and the numbers are there. I am not running their character down, just their revelation of what the message really is. If the point was asked of any of them, as to what kind of unity was Malachi 4:5-6, supposed to bring about, I would have to marvel at the response. Was it just a message to send people running? No. It was to turn the end time children back to the faith of their apostolic fathers. Did that mean Baptists, Presbyterian, Catholic, Episcopalian, or any of that? No sir. It means back to the Pentecostal, apostolic fathers that we read about in the Bible. They were all in unity. Every epistle they wrote coincides and blends together with all the others. When Peter opened his mouth that day, that set in motion the beginning of a move of God’s Spirit among a nucleus of people that were going to be the beginning of a body of Christ on earth, all the others were right there agreeing with what Peter said. When we study the scriptures and the history background, we have to begin to realize everything the body of Christ was to ever be, the potential of it all lay there in the fact they had all received the Holy Ghost. One thing is sure, God did not call everybody to be a preacher. Neither did He call them all to be apostles. I want us to think seriously this morning about what I am going to say. When the apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, how that He set in the Church first the ministry, you everyone know what he said, but then when we go to the Colossian letter, the apostle Paul speaks there that Christ is the head of the Church, and the Church is His mystical body on earth, and as he was the fulness of God dwelling in bodily form, by the same token the Church is to be the fulness of Christ in all of His attributes, the characteristics and things that Jesus was known by as a person which you will find in the gospels. People will say, But Christ is the head of the church. Yes, but let me ask you this question, Have you ever seen that head? How does it affect the body? That is why He set in the Church the five fold ministry. I have to say today, For thirty nine years I have preached this message around this world, we have printed it, and I have stood for the fact and for the time to be, when God would have caused these things to be put in the hearts and minds of His people, so that there will be a small element of men that God has chosen, called and set apart, with the revelation of this truth in their lives, so that they will faithfully fulfill the purpose of God in their ministry. As I say these words this morning, I have done my best to weigh very carefully through the years, the things that we have put in print. I have avoided printing anything until after I first analyzed it from recorded history, and especially from the entire Bible. I have never just settled on a verse of scripture standing alone, and endeavored to prove an important revelation from it. Every scripture must have a scriptural vindication. When I felt like there was no place where any man could tear it to pieces, I felt it was time to put it in print and let it go forth as the word of God. I will never forget years ago, when we printed the seventy weeks of Daniel. I preached it here and I also preached it in another place, in Canada, and a certain brother there, took issue with it. When he did, he wrote me a letter, how that he had went on a fast for so many days and such. He told how he had studied this and studied that. Finally he came to the conclusion that God had told him there are only three and one half years left of the seventy weeks of Daniel. I never bothered to answer his letter. I never criticized the man, but I did think, Lord, you know I have prayed over this issue for a long period of time, knowing the trouble it has already caused among the movement, and considering all the problems it has already created, and the unanswered questions that lay in the hearts of many people; and you know my true intention in wanting to get it right. I felt like I had studied the history and the time factor, and that I knew exactly what it meant. I was willing to risk my testimony and my ministry on it when I put it out to the reading public. So when it went in print, I put it in print that it was the revelated word of God because it was backed up by scriptures and history. As time passed, I came to find out later, after many months, that the man who had disagreed with me had come to the conclusion that seven years remaining of the seventieth week of Daniel was right, but he never did acknowledge to me anything about it: he just all of a sudden began to say, Well I see the light now. I am glad he finally saw it the right way, but you would have thought he would have wanted to tell me. Well be that as it is, and may God be glorified. The reason I am going at this, the way I am is because, when God sets a time frame that He intends to do a specific thing among a specific people, you can rest assured that He has a method, that He has a way to set in motion the things necessary to bring it about; and He will work circumstances to set it in motion at the proper time. I can stand here this morning and say this, From now on there is going to be unity spring up amongst God’s people, but if around this world there are people who did not catch a vision, were not interested, did not want to bother their minds, and if God’s Spirit did not take it and unction it to them, you could stand here for the next six years and preach unity, and they would be just the same as they are today. I say to you though, The time has come when there has got to be unity among the true Church. Unity does not come by the laity, yet the laity are the ones the ministry will have to lead into unity. We cannot set together and have some say, Well, I see most of everything, but there are little points here and there that I do not agree with. I have heard many people say, I don’t think we have to see eye to eye on everything. You know saints, when people talk like that, they do not know their Bible, because the last prophecy of that time, which is Isaiah 52:8, speaks very plainly about the subject. Read it! When It says, Thy watchmen, do we think it is talking about angels? No, the prophet is talking about the watchmen that are set over the body of Christ. (Isa 52:8) “Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.” It gives you a specific time frame when this would be effective, during the time that God is restoring Zion. What is going on over there across the water? Slowly, but surely, we see the gathering, though all the confusion of the terrorists, the outcome of all of this in the end, is that God is absolutely going to restore Zion right straight back to that Middle East. This morning when we look back two thousand years ago, what Peter said that day when he began to open his mouth and preach, there were three thousand people that heard what he said, and they went out and were baptized. Now what about the other eleven apostles, did they argue with him? Did they set up a debate? Did they set up a committee and a hearing to take a vote? No, because they all agreed that Peter was the main spokesman and what he was saying, they everyone agreed with. I am saying today, If God called me truly to be an apostle and to fulfill the ministry of an apostle in these last days as it has been borne witness of, then I have to say, The time has come, so there is no need of us looking to the future, wanting a great shining light to come out of heaven and shine upon us, and give us a revelation, that we all ought to get together now. It does not come that way. First there has got to be an earnestness and a hunger in our hearts. Furthermore, if I could not see unity from the scriptures, what good would it do for me to stand here and talk about it? On the other hand, if I can see an absolute requirement for unity from the scriptures, then I have got to realize who it is pertaining to and be faithful to my calling. I have to look at myself, then I have to look at my brothers and sisters. We have to come together in unity. We have to have a revelation of what it is, how it is to affect each of us, and of the things we as individuals must get rid of, the things we are to lay down forever. When we go to the Ephesian letter, it plainly says in the 4th chapter, that the ministry will be the means of our perfection. You can look up the word in the dictionary, and no matter what you relate it to, whether it is mechanics, construction, or anything else, it always involves the elimination of things not necessary, all the things that do not pertain to the object of the finished product. The Lord knows we have come through the denominational systems of this world on our way to where we are today. Sure we have heard about Jesus, sure we have heard about His second coming, but there are a lot of things we have never looked at yet, like, What can I do to make it better, that I can see my brothers and sisters from an equal standpoint of God’s grace? As long as there is a difference of opinion, like, Well I think so and so is such, there is always going to be doubt. If on the other hand we can begin to see the Spirit of God at work, and see how He begins to take these negative things of our lives and just cause them to fade into the background, we can then begin to see the reality of the scriptures coming alive in our hearts. Then we are going to get hungry for more. We are going to want to see unity, because it is the most important thing we can settle on right now. As we see the Middle East practically on fire, I have to say, Around this world, those that would dare to name the name of Jesus and believe that God is going to have a perfect Church, just remember, it is not going to be a perfect organization: (God is not in organized religion.) it is going to be a body of people that have been put together by the working of the Spirit of God as they come together in the revelation and light of truth. True revelation of God’s word will lead to unity. Individual opinions lead to disunity.
LOOKING AT WHAT GOD HAS ESTABLISHED
As I stand here this morning, it is not just here at Faith Assembly that I am concerned about coming into unity. This is going out over the Internet and I want every home, every preacher, every person that hears this, from now on until Jesus comes, to know this, God, by His Spirit, is going to be working with a people to get them out of their individual ideas, and get all of this and that laid aside. God has people in every nation under the sun; and this message of unity applies to every last one. There has got to become a hunger for the reality of God’s word in these last days, and that will cause each true bride saint to say, I want to see unity, I want to see God’s people come together, I want to see people looking at each other and being thankful we are no longer where we used to be, but we are something that God has washed and cleansed and put together by the washing of the water of His Word. I realize as I speak this morning, that this is a slow process, so I am trying to take things slow and easy. Unity will not come to us like a streak of light and change everyone suddenly. I know also, that there are still a lot of people that might say, Well who does that Jackson think he is? These are the things that have negatively jabbed at me through the years as we have endeavored to print certain things from the Bible. I have to say also, I have read many articles by other men, but in doing so, you read the articles, you read the message, you read the end results of it, and you cannot help but have the idea he has written this and printed it as a finished object, thinking, This is right and anything else would have to be wrong. Then it makes you wonder, How in the world can God take all these negative pieces, sermons with no revelation, booklets that mislead, and things that express personal feelings, and bring unity among those who embrace such? Are we suddenly going to have a great big get together one day and settle all our differences? I realize there are a lot of preachers that have the idea, Well I believe most of what I preach is truth, but I leave it up to the Lord, if somebody else has something better, then God can eliminate the wrong and put that part of that man’s teaching in. This idea is like rendering lard from fat meat. We are going to put all the sermons together in a kettle and build a big fire, all the grease will come out, but everything else that is rind, we will not use. Brothers and sisters, God never did put anything scriptural together like that. You know it as well as I do. Look what Catholicism has done in the time of its existence. Eventually, as it got its doctrines out there and changed the foundational faith of the apostolic fathers, and got things carnalized to their liking, slowly that Catholic Church became the largest universal, dogmatic body of what is called Christendom on the face of this earth. They traditionalized, they ceremonialized, until it all became a system of ceremonies and rituals, with very little truth. No voice raised against it to any effect for hundreds of years. However when there came the time that God wanted to again show a little bit of truth, right in those Dark Age hours, what did He do? Did He move on a committee? He did not. He had already began to move on the heart’s of individual men. Each one of them would get so far with what God had showed him and they would cut his head off or cut his throat. Then one day a certain little man, who was also a Catholic, one that had studied for the priesthood, but in all his studies, it left him empty inside. He was so hungry he felt like there was something out there that he had to find. That is what he began to do through all kinds of penance and sacrifices, putting himself through all kinds of physical torture, trying to find that unseen thing that could give him satisfaction. Then one day as he was climbing the steps to humble himself, humiliating himself, climbing to the second floor to kiss the foot of a statue that had been kissed until it was almost worn away, by thousands and thousands of others before him, Martin Luther, there in that position, received inspiration, but one lone man, what can one lone man do? This is the way God ordained it to come about. All of a sudden an audible voice said, Martin Luther, the just shall live by faith. What a small message, but what a powerful message when that little man took it and proclaimed it. It turned Europe upside down. I believe the time has come that the message which was brought by Bro. William Branham, which has laid here and been abused by many, should be proclaimed loud and clear by all who have a true revelation of it. That would be those who are in the unity of the Spirit, and the unity of the faith. No others are able to fulfill that ministry. I believe the hour has come, that if we can hear the Spirit of God, He would say to every one, The hour has come that unity must prevail. I know there are ministers that are hearing my voice, and I know that some will oppose it, because it is going to bring about broken fellowship that they cherish more than the truth. It will bring about broken fellowship in homes, because not everyone in every home are believers. Nobody wants to do that, but the word of God will do it. I certainly do not want to set anybody’s son or daughter against dad and mother, but I will say to everyone of you, you are no more exempt from that, than I was, when God began to deal with me back there in the 1950’s; and I had to make a choice as to whether I would follow the Spirit of God, or just follow fleshly desires. When God put that hunger in my heart and I came to the knowledge of what a little man that lived here in this area was preaching, I determined to follow the truth he was used of God to reveal. He was right in the area where I had been raised up, and I did not know anything about him, but when I first saw and heard that little man preach, something began to ring a bell inside me. I loved my family, my dad and mother, but that man had something real and I wanted it. It would probably cost me, in having to leave the Methodist Church, but whatever the cost, I wanted what he had. The same thing happened with my wife. We both agreed we would never preach to our parents or our relatives: we would just go on down the pathway of life minding our own business, living our lives the best we could as we appreciated this truth. God brought about the time and the means, for us to be able to bear witness to our parents. As I look back, I thank the Lord for the way He worked things out. We never aggravated them by trying to tell them things they were not ready for, and we tried never to do anything that would turn them against us. We kept those things to ourselves until God had time to prepare them. The reason I am talking like this, is because, when people begin to think about unity, they have got to realize there is going to come a time when they are going to lose some friends. As you begin to pull away, you might find yourself walking in another direction than what you had planned. As I stand here this morning, I thank God that I have stood for this truth. I have done everything I know under the sun, to support, and to encourage other men who were ministers with a potential to stand for a true revelation. Along the way, I have also come to the realization, that there are some who have come into this fellowship hoping that eventually they can outrun you, and be more important than you. Do you think I do not know that? God laid it upon my heart, years ago, to stand for the truth this man brought to us. He never did tell me to run a race with anyone though and I have never been guilty of doing that.
A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE
I have in the back of my Bible, a prophecy that has meant much to me through the years since I received it. One night when I went to pray, I was praying, Lord, help me to understand this word, help me that I might be able to break it down to the understanding of your people. (This was long before the seals were preached, and before the church ages were preached.) All of a sudden something came over me and I stopped praying. Suddenly words came to my mouth, “My son, I will be with you to direct thee and thy pathway, and to guide thee in all the ways wherein I would have thee to walk. For the day will come, that you will be looked down upon by men and be rejected by many.” Brothers and sisters, at that time I thought everybody loved me. Bro. William Branham was still alive. We were going to the Tabernacle every time Bro. William Branham was there. But oh my, when Bro. William Branham was gone, I began to see how many men there were, that really looked down upon me and rejected me, We don’t want you here, was their attitude. I will never forget one time in 1965, in the month of February, when Bro. William Branham was preaching at the high school building, preaching Marriage and Divorce, and Perry Green was there. He got to talking to me. He said something to me about coming out and preaching for him sometime. Well I had preached a message something about the Millennium somewhere and he had heard about it. I remember when I preached that there would be little babies born in the Millennium, some immediately found fault. They said, Oh but he is not a prophet, and the word of the Lord comes only to the prophet. Well since I am not a prophet, what business do I have sticking my nose into such subjects? Several weeks later Perry’s father called me, Bro. Jackson, I am Perry Green’s father. I greeted him. We understand you plan on coming out here to Tucson some time. I said, Yes. Well I understand you said there would be little babies born in the Millennium. I said, Yes sir. Well, where do you get that idea? I said, Out of the Bible. Then I quoted Isaiah 65:20 “There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.” Also (Isaiah 11:6) “ The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” Saints: you will not find that setting anywhere except in the Millennium. I said to him also, I believe there will be a lot of little babies in the Millennium. To that he replied, Well Bro. Jackson, I don’t believe that is the way we interpret the scriptures. I said, What do you mean? Well, you see, when Bro. William Branham’s little girl died, I believe it is very possible little babies like that will stay babies in the Millennium. I thought, you poor man. Bro. William Branham’s own testimony was, that he was very discouraged when he went to bed one night, and so depressed. He had a dream; and in the dream he was out on the western prairie and heard the old western song, wagon wheels keep on turning. As he was riding along, all of a sudden he saw a little log house in the distance. As he rode close by, he saw a nice looking, lovely lady come rushing out of the cabin. She addressed him, My daddy. I think some of you have read it. She addressed him, I am your little girl. She had grown up. He saw her as she would be in the Millennium, and not in a way that fulfilled some man’s fancy idea. How many realize that? Regardless of what some may say, the Bible speaks loud and clear on what the Millennium shall be like.
THINGS WE WILL EXPERIENCE
Through the thirty some years we have been publishing The Contender, I have read what other men have put in print, and I have seen where they missed the mark. Therefore I have to say, The time has come, when God is going to take somebody’s message, and He is going to take some men that have a revelation, and they are going to start putting spiritual things together according to God’s word. It is going to form a picture that the Bible will vindicate to true believers. There is a nucleus of people around the world that are going to believe what these men will teach. They are not going to refrain from believing the truth, just because people they love get their feelings hurt, because they will know that what they are hearing is the truth. God will not start with a group of men, He will start with the voice of one man that will lift up the word strong enough, and loud enough, that those men will know that God is in it. Then when you follow this all through the book of Acts, you will see how it worked in that hour. Peter and John were on their way to the temple. They passed by where a cripple man lay. He had been laying there many other times as Jesus came by, no doubt, but Jesus did not touch him. He looked to Jesus for help, but did not get it. On this particular morning though, as Peter and John came walking by, I can just see him reach out his hands for some help. They said, Look on us. They spoke the word and God made him whole. From then on you begin to see where other men began to come into the picture. That is what I am saying this morning, If there is ever going to be unity among true the bride saints, there has got to be the voice of one man, who all the other men will get in line with. I realize that sounds odd to some people, because they have thought, Well that is not the way I thought it was going to be. In other words, that is not the way you want it to be, but this is according to the New Testament pattern, as seen in the ministry of the apostles of Christ in that first age. Some may say, That is just not the way I see it. Nevertheless I have to say, What we have put in print for the past thirty five years, God is going to confirm it to true believers, and I have to say also, It is a framework, and people around this world have built their faith around it. Always remember this, In the birth of anything, you get the head first. You get the head first and the rest follows. I have helped horses and cows, sheep, all kinds of farm animals bear their young into this world. When you get an animal with breech birth, you have problems. When you get feet first, nine times out of ten you get death. How many know what I mean? I say that with respect. The head has got to be set in motion first. That head does not have to be just one man, but it starts with one man. As that one man speaks, other components of the head join with it. Then when the body begins to see that the head is taking shape, the people can begin to say, As for me and my house, we are going to go that way. Brothers and Sisters: I say to you this morning, It is not a case of big I and little you, because God positions whom He will, to take the lead in holding true to His WORD. It is not a doctor of theology with many degrees attached to his name: it is a brother that God has known to be true to His revealed word. God first gets the head in shape, because that head has got to speak in a way that others will recognize as the word of God. I thank God the army is run different than the church world. When a general steps out on the parade ground, whatever command he gives, that is heralded on down through the colonel, or the major, or the captain, through the lieutenant, to the sargent, to the corporal, right on down to the ones who will carry out his word. If you are in the army, you are usually assigned to a platoon. You cannot say, Well I don’t want to be in that platoon, I don’t want to stand with him, and you start to move around. What do you hear? Get back there where you belong. I use that as an illustration, because the body of Christ cannot be a nucleus of people running here and there with their own ideas, Well I don’t like to hear him preach, he is too rough. Let us follow Jesus, come on, let’s follow Jesus. Jesus said something one day, about the time was going to come when they were going to kill Him. That hot headed Peter spoke right up and rebuked Him, saying something like, No such thing will happen to you as long as I am alive. Did that sweet, soft spoken Jesus say, Now Peter, you are such a nice little fellow: I really appreciate you feeling like that? No, it was not like that at all. (Mat 16:23) “But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” That is exactly how He spoke to Peter, but some people just jerk out of the word what they want and ignore the rest. I am not talking like this to be mean, but I know a lot of people get their mind’s crossed up. My point is this, God has some men on earth today, that are parts of that head from which the true revelation comes. That head is not chosen by the body: God chooses it. When that head starts speaking, God knows there will be reaction from the body, unity that works toward development into a unified body. I have seen people come through the doors of this building through the years, stay for awhile and then depart. I asked myself many times, Where in the world are they going? What are they looking for? When the body of people collectively begin to come together in earnest, and see the scriptures alike, and begin to say, I want to be in unity with all of God’s people, then conditions begin to arise that causes focus to expand. As you study on through the book of Acts, you will find that as the body collectively began to be added together, and they believed the same thing, here came the evangelists for the outreach. Philip was an evangelist. Stephen was an evangelist, but he did not live long. Enemies of the faith bashed his head in with rocks. Did they not? My point is, When the body collectively began to come together in that first age, necessity demanded that other ministries begin to fill their God ordained quota. It was not long until there was Agabus. He was a prophet. Then it was not long until there was Judas, and Silas, all prophets. Then as the body of Christ began to grow and spread, little fellowships began to spring up. Since the body is to be the embodiment of the Spirit of Christ, necessity demands that the gifts will be cultivated and exercised. You talk about gifts operating in perfection, it was not somebody standing up, trying to prophesy and tear your revelation down. Do you know what I mean? Gifts, in the original, were always God’s investment, where He put His mind and authority to confirm what is truth. However after everything got scattered through all the different denominations, I grant you, gifts have been exercised in many different Pentecostal ways, but that does not mean they were being exercised to bring unity to a body of people. They were exercised to confirm what God was doing in that immediate hour of time, but as He brings people together in unity, you are going to see the Spirit of God speak and manifest in a way as to cause unity to become more binding, and we are going to see God do some things that is going to startle this world. It will not be repeats, something done in other movements: It will be for this present hour. I believe God has some things today that He will do, but He is waiting for the right people, and the right time to confirm His word to them, then people will know that God is on the scene to fulfill His purpose. We have to keep in mind, that it is God’s purpose that we each and every one are here to fulfill.
ANSWERING QUESTIONS
I want to take the opportunity at this time to answer some questions I have received from different people lately. The first question I will answer, is from a man that just read our last Contender. We are getting a lot of e-mail in regards to the Contender. When we first started printing it, I had no idea at that time, that my name would ever amount to a dime’s worth of anything, or that I would ever travel out of our area to go anywhere to minister. I just felt like there were some things on my heart, that I would like to put in print as a testimony, and leave it in the hands of God to do with it whatever He would. In 1969, we started printing it, five years passed, then seven years, then ten years, twenty years, then thirty years. Now we are in the 35th, year of printing it and sending it free to all who request it. This man read in a Contender, where we mentioned the seven thunders, so his first question was, Will the seven thunders be seven men who will also have individual five fold ministries, or will they be exclusively outside the five fold ministry? Let me say this, The Bible declares, and Bro. William Branham said it also in the Seals, when the question was asked him, Will the Bride have a revival? Read what he said. Yes. The revival will consist of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. What do you think the message was to do? If it was to return the end time children back to the faith of the fathers, that faith consists of the same kind of ministry that wrote the Bible in the first place. So I have to say, When God sets these five fold ministries in the Church, around this world, they do not all come out of one nation, so around this world these men God will delegate as He lays His hand upon their lives, and He will begin to show them the prophetic things that are necessary in relationship to the thunders. I have to say brothers and sisters, There is no need for God to have a five fold ministry, then go somewhere and pick out independent men just to be the voices of the thunders. That is inconsistent with scripture. The thunders will be men right out of that chosen element that is to make up the five fold ministry. I have another question that I will answer at this time. What is meant by the tent meeting Bro. William Branham spoke of? Was he able to carry out this aspect of his ministry, or has it been left out? Let me say this to you, About a year ago they had a large gathering at the Branham Tabernacle. Somebody, and I have forgotten who: I just know he was a young man that was there for the whole thing, called me and said, (I think this was on a Monday night.) Are you the Bro. Junie Jackson that Bro. William Branham mentioned so much in his preaching? I said, Well I am what is left of him. Well Bro. Jackson, how do you feel about this? Don’t you think Bro. William Branham has to come back and finish up his ministry? I said, No! Absolutely not! Well why? Do you think his ministry was finished? I said to him, Brother, let me ask you a question. Let me take you into Egypt, when the children of Israel were still in bondage there . When God spoke to Moses to go down and get things ready, that he had called him to lead the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, did He not tell Moses that He would take them to a land that flowed with milk and honey? Did He not tell him that? Yes. Then I said, Can you show me anywhere else that God ever spoke to Moses and said, Now you will go so far, then I will change the picture and another will take the people to the promised land? Can you find that anywhere? He said, No sir. I said, When Moses left Egypt, he left with the assurance that he was leading those people out of Egyptian bondage and slavery, and he was going to take them through the wilderness journey and take them to the promised land. But did he do that? No. I asked if he knew why? Then I said, I will tell you why. There came a time that the rock no longer put forth its water. The people got to grumbling and complaining to Moses. They wanted more water. God just allowed it to be that way to test the people. So when the people began to complain and grumble, wanting more water, God spoke to Moses. (I want you to notice how I say this.) Moses at that time, had listened for forty years to all this grumbling and complaining of people who had been drinking from the abundance of water, and been eating from the manna. They never had to go looking for anything: it was there for them. Notice what happened. Moses was disgusted with them. I said to this man, It is absolutely a fact that we can all get disgusted through certain trials and tests and the way people act, but do not forget this, Moses knew those people were God’s people, but look what Moses did. When God spoke to Moses, He said, Speak to the rock. He did not tell him to hit it. It had been hit forty years before at God’s command, but this time God said, Speak to the rock. Well when Moses got the peoples’ attention and said, Come here all you rebels. Notice that he called them rebels, which he should never have done. Then he took the stick and hit that rock, twice. Yes, it brought forth water: God kept His word, but no sooner had Moses done this, and God said to him, Let us read it, Num 20:11, “And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. (20:12) And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.” Now let us look at Bro. William Branham’s tent vision. No, it is not that Bro. William Branham did a similar thing. I do remember though, when that tent vision was given to him. I also remember when he was hunting rabbits one day down by our home and I was with him. It began to drizzle rain. Finally we stopped along the edge of the woods where there were some trees. It was in the fall of the year, the leaves had not all fallen off yet. He sat down on an old log there and began to tell me about this tent vision. He said, Bro. Jackson, I believe the day is coming when God is going to let me have a tent. When He does, I will no longer be bound by any organization like Full Gospel Businessmen. I will have a campaign manager and when I feel led to go to a certain city, I will be able to go. We could go there and acquire the facilities of a ball park, maybe for two or three weeks. We would move in with this tent, and I feel like I could stay there as long as God wants me to. That was in the early years, as he was telling it, but it was never allowed to become a reality.
WHY SOME THINGS CAN NEVER BE FULFILLED
I said to the man that had asked the question about the tent vision, Listen to me: you are a young man, (I could tell that by the tone of his voice.) Here is what happened. No sooner did Bro. William Branham tell it, (He told it a time or two openly.) and certain ones began to say, I want to be a truck driver, I want to set up the tent. I heard them say that. No sooner did he tell it, many were saying, I want to work around the tent. By that time, here they are getting the false revelation, He is the Messiah. Then they start baptizing in His name. I ask you this, What would have happened if he got that tent and all those characters that were going to drive trucks, set up chairs, handle equipment, are harboring this little secret revelation that he was the Messiah? When the meeting would start, here they would stand in the tent doorway greeting the people. In comes strangers; and what do you think they would have heard first? You are going to see the Messiah. (I happen to know some of those characters that would break their necks to tell you, You are going to see the Messiah.) They are idolaters, worshiping a man instead of the great God that man served. When in Canada, what did Bro. William Branham run into, when he saw some of them wearing that medallion, and baptizing in his name? He only had one or two nights of meetings, then he quit and came home. We expected him to be gone two or three weeks. We got a call one night, Bro. Jackson, we have heard Bro. William Branham is going to be at the Tabernacle in the morning. I thought, What? We went, not knowing what to expect. Here came a little man, and when he came to the front, he was crying. It was the very men that were gathered around him that had created that spirit of the snake he saw in a dream, that he was supposed to have shot, but only wounded, and it only crawled into the water. He told it that morning, and some of you here today might remember. The point is, What if God would have allowed him to have that tent? Look at the mess that would have been associated with his ministry. We just have to say, God is a just God. He knows exactly what He is doing. I have to say also, God was not wrong in giving the vision, and Bro. William Branham was not wrong in telling it, but it is what some people want to jump and do that makes a big mess if allowed to go forward, I want to be this, and then start projecting that rotten mess of idolatry. No, it is not for anyone else to fulfill that tent ministry: it was just for him, and it was carnal minded people that ruined the whole thing. There is one more question, but let me say first, Through thirty some years now, the things that I have heard preached by men that are supposed to be followers of Bro. William Branham’s message, are a disgusting disgrace to the man’s image. The things they have preached, and the things they have propagated as revelations are abominable, but every one of them have some followers that believe what they say. One thing is sure, Those followers are not in unity with anything else, only that. That kind of foolishness has not been a part of my ministry: I have done my utmost to stand for the truth Bro. William Branham delivered to our generation, for the thirty nine years since his death. I have done my best to uplift this truth, to give people a chance to hear the real truth, instead of what others are presenting as truth. I believe God has honored what I have done. I am thankful for it and I believe the hour has come that there is going to be unity among God’s true Bride people. As we are talking about the true body of Christ coming together, being restored back to originality as the scriptures bring it out so clearly, I pray that I can say some things that can be understood in that way. I certainly want to say these things in a way that will not cause any confusion. This morning we talked about the body being healed and coming together. I realize we live in a church world, with denominational Christendom numbering into the multiplied thousands. When you look at it the world over, it runs into the millions. There is nowhere in the Bible that says God is going to bring all of that together. That is not it at all. They have their own agenda. They call it the charismatic revival. They can get together and sing and cry, but the truth of God’s word is not there. When you see them on TV stations, it looks like thousands are gathered in those auditoriums. Then when you see the way the people are dressed and what they look like, it is as though they just came in from the ball park, the golf course, the tennis court and you name it. You have to wonder, Do these people understand anything at all? Do they see anything that can really stabilize them? You have to come to the conclusion, Yes, they are supposed to be worshiping Jesus, but it is just a program put together to make them feel good. None of that is going to affect the Bride of Christ at all. I had something told to me a short while ago, something that was said, but I want to say this in a proper way. We know that when I say Bro. William Branham was God’s servant to this age and time, and that he brought a message that was so simple, to the people that were to benefit by it, they know it is the absolute truth. It is truly a shame, that when God took him off the scene, many of those preachers who followed him from place to place, grabbed hold of the idea, and went about projecting it, that God would have to raise Bro. William Branham from the grave to finish his ministry. Through all the years since his death, there are thoughts and ideas put together in the minds of hundreds, maybe thousands of people, that God has got to bring him back again. In the eyes of the denominational world, they look upon that and laugh, because they can see it is the next thing to paganism. When anything is said about what has been said, what has been interpreted, words like these can be heard, Well his words, his message was not supposed to be interpreted. Brothers and sisters, let me go on record as saying this, If I thought for one minute the things I heard that man say, were not to be interpreted to give me an understanding as to why God sent him in the first place, I would not even refer to him in any way. Why would the Bible say that God would send that spirit of Elijah, to do a certain thing if He did not intend that he do it? What was he to do? To turn the hearts of the end time children, back to their fathers. That is referring to the apostolic fathers we see in the Bible. If we are not to understand what was said, then how do we know that there was even a message brought? I hope you understand my point. Words like that can be spoken by people who do not know any better. They do not even realize, that they themselves do not have the authority to interpret, but what the man brought is going to be rightly interpreted in the heart and mind of men that God has called, because those men will have to have a vision and an understanding of what he said, what it meant, what is to be done with it, and how to apply it to obtain the end results. We will soon be coming to forty years since his death. That covers a generation, almost like the Israelites coming out of Egypt, so tonight I am saying, God is going to heal His Church. It is never going to be a denomination, but it is going to be a people brought out of all the systems, out of all the confusion, to a revelation of God’s word. Their minds, and their lives have been submitted to all kinds of traditions, ideas, cultures and rituals in the past, but delivered from all of that to walk in light. This man’s message is going to be rightly interpreted by God’s chosen ministry. I will say to you, What that headship, the ministry to the Bride will speak, is not another message: it is just an extension and a furtherance of what was already spoken, picked up and delivered to those who want to hear it. When you apply that to Revelation 10:7, which is the end of this time, when the perfection of the Church is made ready, and is based upon the message of the seventh church age messenger, you see the plan of God coming together. Do you understand that? No matter what I have preached through these thirty some years, it is not a different message, it only appears different to those that have applied their own interpretation to what was preached by Bro. William Branham, and they still do not know what was meant. A true revelation only confuses that kind of people even more, simply because they are not open to a true revelation. They would rather quote something from one of the sermon books.
I have taken a stand against that spirit, because it always leads to confusion. That helps no one.
WHAT IS GOD’S ULTIMATE PURPOSE?
I believe with all my heart, the time has come that God has raised up many people who did not ever see or hear Bro. William Branham, but they are going to live to hear what the headship says to the Bride about how to put this entire picture together. It will be simple, and it will only come by simple understanding. When I look at these things tonight, it tells me here in the 5th chapter of Ephesians, the 26th verse, the end results of what we are talking about. This is not the end time picture of the apostolic hour. This is the end time picture of the hour you and I are living in. This was not exactly like the beginning when the Church was set in motion: this is the ending and finishing of that which He is coming back after. Notice now, “That He might sanctify and cleanse it (the Church)with the washing of water by the word, That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church.” Therefore no matter how we look at ourselves, in our unbelief, or disbelief, and in our disagreements, God already sees the end before it ever gets here, that it is going to be a glorious Church. He has got a way to perform it, a way to bring it about and it is going to be done precisely the way He says it is to be. “Not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” That is the end picture, after He has put it together. As I speak these things to you, try to keep this in mind, I do not envision this perfecting condition to just be here in Jeffersonville. This has got to be a universal thing, wherever there are people around this world, that have heard this truth and determined to benefit by it. They are everyone going to hear this, and they are going to be dealt with in God’s way, and they will be just as eager and earnest to become a united people, as anyone else is. That will be all over this world. The end result is, it will be a perfect Church. As I speak these things tonight, I want to bring in a few little illustrations. As I said this morning, On the day of Pentecost, there was just one lone man that did the talking, but look what was accomplished. Three thousand souls were added to the ranks of believers. We are not living in the day of harvesting people, we are in the day of gleaning, and sifting and sorting, and cleaning a people that have already heard in some way, things about the salvation of the Lord. As we look at this tonight, I hope I can bring my point out clear enough that every hungry soul will understand. The Bible tells us that He will have certain kinds of ministries within the body to obtain this perfection, until we all come in unity, till we all come in agreement. I have to say, When we leave the office of the apostles, we go to that of new testament prophets, then the evangelists, and pastors and teachers. When we read the book of Acts, and see what began to develop after the day of Pentecost, five thousand more were added: a miracle took place that day. From then on the body of people began to grow. Then we notice that there began to be certain problems arise over a period of time. When Peter was shown the vision on the house top, God was showing him what He was going to lead him to do. I want to use this tonight because I believe with all my heart, as we are living in this day of uniting, coming together, being washed by the word, getting all the spots and wrinkles out, God is going to bring us into an era where He is going to begin to show us as individuals, that He has certain dynamic ways to lead us, to use us, to show us what to do and what not to do. It will not be repetition as it has been in the denominations. Each little thing, maybe it will appear small, but the people or the individuals involved, are going to begin to realize, God knows exactly what He is doing. He knows exactly how to lead us and direct us, when we learn how to follow His leading. I hope we can all begin to realize, God has got some things in His plan that He has never let mankind see yet. I believe it behooves us to keep our hearts and our spiritual minds open to God. I believe just as Paul wrote in Romans, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. It is one thing to grow up, wanting to do something, chewing the bit, oh I just feel like I am not getting enough done, but if we earnestly pray and really learn to present ourselves to God and say, Lord, I put my trust in you, because I have no plan of my own, we will see Him move on our behalf. If we can just put ourselves in the hand of God, God can bring about many things in our lives that will begin to show His leadership for us and how He wants to lead us.
NEW TESTAMENT PROPHETS
When we look through the book of Acts, time began to add what was called new testament prophets. Those new testament prophets, if we study the history background of it, they were not necessarily pastors. They were individuals, no doubt situated in different local areas, but they did have an outstanding ministry as we can see in the way God used them. A prophet in the New Testament Church is not like an Old Testament prophet. There would be two things that could verify that. Let me bring it out in this way, We will just say for instance, Here is a young man, and all of a sudden God would give him a dream or a vision and he sees a certain family or a certain situation, that a family or a person will become involved with. In this experience, the Lord can show him exactly, as the person he is, what to do or what to say. If there is something detrimental involved, and it is necessary that the person or family be informed, then it becomes necessary for him to make his way there and tell them. The reason I bring that out is this, as the months came and went, the Church continually grew. In the book of Acts, there was an establishment of Christians at Antioch. It tells us, that in those days a prophet by the name of Agabus came from somewhere in the Jerusalem area, and went to Antioch. It does not tell how long it took him to get there. It does not say that he was invited, but he came to Antioch when Paul and Barnabas were there. All of a sudden he stood up and by the Power of the Spirit began to explain something that had been shown to him, which was, that there would come a great drought. In other words, there would be a drought over a certain part of that area in the Middle East. That was God’s way of letting all those Christians know ahead of time, that there was something coming that would affect their very lives, and that they should begin to store up and make preparation for their own existence. You can read what resulted because of that prophecy. It was the Jerusalem saints that would be so deeply affected. The reason I use that in this manner, we never read anymore about Agabus except for his time in Antioch. That does not mean he did not minister somewhere else in other areas, but maybe it was not as outstanding until the days when the apostle Paul was on the scene. The years have gone by. Paul is on his way back to Jerusalem. For some reason, after having been gone from Jerusalem for so many months, having established so many Gentile churches, he just feels that he must go back to Jerusalem. He just wanted to see those Jewish saints, but everywhere he went, in every little assembly, some person would stand up and prophesy, or maybe relate a vision or dream. Paul, stay away from Jerusalem, bonds and afflictions are waiting for you. Nevertheless, it plainly said that he was bound and determined that he must go to Jerusalem. This is where Agabus comes into the picture. When he came to Caesarea, where did Agabus come from? I have to say, He was led by the Spirit, because somewhere he had a feeling to go there. He might have heard through the grapevine that the apostle Paul was on his way back to Jerusalem. Nevertheless he came to the place that night where Paul was assembled with believers. When he went in, you know the words: he did not say good afternoon my brother. He walked in and saw the cloak that Paul had laid down when he came in. He walked over, picked it up, sat down in a chair and bound his hands and feet and said, (Let us read it.) Acts 21:10, “And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. (11) And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.” Any true prophecy inspired by the Holy Ghost will always be fulfilled, but God has no obligation to fulfill those given by overzealous human instruments that just want to make a name for themselves.
FALSE BRETHREN CAUSING CONFUSION
On one occasion, there came confusion in that assembly at Antioch, so when Paul came back to the Antioch church, he found that in his absence there had been some brethren that came up from Jerusalem and preached contrary to his preaching. They claimed to be sent by the Jerusalem elders. Well, I did not live in that day, but it would not be surprising for that day to be repeated, like, Well I believe the same thing Bro. Jackson preaches. Do they? We will wait and see. There is always somebody wanting to get their two cents in, but are they preaching a true revelation? How many understand what I mean? When they came to Jerusalem, this goes to show how the apostles were used. It was the apostle Peter on the housetop that was shown how to go to Cornelius’ household. Then when all those Jews at Jerusalem heard that Peter had gone to the uncircumcised, the first thing they did was begin to complain. You went where you were not supposed to go. Then we find when Peter and the brothers did come from Caesarea, and came to Jerusalem, There was another apostle that came into the picture. Here is James, who up until this time he has been a very quiet person. When you read in the book of Acts, as this subject has been laid out openly, who was it that spoke up and seemed to have the inspiration? It was the apostle James. He said, Brethren, to this the prophets agree, so he took the 9th chapter of Amos and began to explain to them how it agreed. When he was finished explaining, the whole Church at Jerusalem was in total agreement, that God had definitely led Peter to Cornelius’ household. It did not matter what the other weak minded fellows wanted to say, he was in the perfect will of God by going. With that in mind, we pick up the picture in Acts and continue on. There were two prophets, Judas and Silas, young men that stood out. The reason I am bringing these things in tonight, is because of this collective body from around this world, beginning to come together in unity around the scriptures, and how the ministry will minister. Because of the ministry being in unity on what they preach and teach, all the believers are going to believe the same thing. When I say this, I fully realize what I am saying. I have to say it again, The Bride of Christ is not just coming out of Jeffersonville, as some may believe. How many understand that? If the message Bro. William Branham brought to us forty years ago was according to the scriptures, the end result has got to be this, It has got to be for a universal Bride, including some from out of all the nations around this world. Only God Himself knows how many preachers around the world from Germany, from India, from Mexico, the Caribbean, Africa, and so forth, have risen up with their two soul doctrines, this and that. None of that is going to put a Bride together. They get followers, but it does not bring glory to God at all. It only confuses a picture that ought to be without confusion after all these years. God has allowed those men to carry the letter of what was brought forth, and certainly it has served its purpose, but not for the true bride. It has been spread all over the world, and the confusion is out there, but God will still bring bride saints from the midst of all that mess. At the same time they are spreading their ideas, God has chosen vessels scattered around this world, that have a revelation of that man’s message; and they know it is to produce an end time picture that will not be abominable to the God that called them. They will all get their vision together and unity will prevail. It is not a matter of coming together with their own private revelations and putting them all in one pot, then saying, We will draw one out, and whoever we draw, that is the one we will all agree with. I tell you, Christianity was not started out like that: Those apostles of Christ all had the same revelation. It will not be any different here at the end time windup. Through the years since the Reformation started, professing people from every generation have had some of the most carnal ways that the human mind could ever imagine, determining what to believe and follow. They would go at it like, Well I have heard him say some good things: I think we at least ought to consider what he teaches. That is not the way God is looking at it. If God calls somebody to be a spokesman, like He did Peter on the day of Pentecost, then there will come a time in the plan of God, when whoever that person is, the opportunity will be laid open, and God will require that person to speak according to His leading. That is the part that sometimes hurts, because the more you try to be humble, and stay in the background, there is always somebody that has his eye on you, ready to shoot you down, ready to show the world how little you are, and how big he is. Well saints that kind will continue to pervert the truth, but for the last forty years, I have dedicated myself to upholding a true revelation of the Word of God. I am thankful for what God has put in my heart to preach. I am willing to base my life on it. Therefore, no matter whether it is Richard Gan or anyone else around this world, I have seen the things they have preached and put in print; and none of them present a clear picture. Some of what they preach is good, so I am not condemning everything that has been said, but a lot of those fellows have the idea, God will take the good out of every man’s preaching, and put just that together for the true Church. That is not the way He ever did do it, not even the Reformation was done like that. As I brought in Martin Luther this morning, no other man stood in that time and wrote the ninety five thesis that he did, pointing the finger at the Catholic Church and condemning it publicly. He tacked them on the church house door at Wittenberg Germany and said, Look, see what I have done, now here I stand. Then it behooved other men to catch the vision and step up by his side. It was not long in the months that followed, that what Martin Luther preached, “The just shall live by faith,” had spread all over Europe. It produced a following. That is the way every reformation has gone forth. Well, if in the Reformation move, each one was started by one man, then I have to believe that the end time has to be set in motion by the same means. I realize there are people in this world that always have the idea, Well who do you think you are? They are so carnally minded and jealous, they will not listen to you, and if they do see that you are making a difference, they will set about to destroy you. That is all they look at. Nevertheless as the true body of believers collectively, universally, begin to identify itself, and enthusiasm begins to spring up, that is when the people begin to rejoice and hunger for more of the word of God. They begin to feel that God is doing something with them, and necessity is going to create, wherever there is a ministry that is to rise and fulfill what the scriptures say, exactly what they need. Just as those prophets came among the believers in the new testament because necessity was there, so will they do also in this end time. When Judas and Titus went to Antioch, they expounded the scriptures to them, and confirmed it, I have to say, God will minister to the bride saints in like manner. How long they stayed there I do not know. Titus did eventually wind up going with Paul. I say these things because I am looking at a situation in America right now. We have an element of people, that think they know what is to be done, how it is to be done, who is going to do it and so forth. Brothers and sisters, I have waited a long time for this hour to come, I cannot tell you what tomorrow will bring, but I can say this, A year from how you are not going to be, spiritually speaking, sitting in the same spiritual capacity that you are tonight. God is going to do something among a universal body of people. No emperors, no presidents or anything else like that will be included in it, but around this world there is a people with a vision, a people that God will deal with in a special way. In the first age of Christianity, there were first New Testament prophets, then here came the evangelists. Look at these two, Philip and Timothy. It is a shame that Stephen had his head bashed in. No sooner was he put in a certain position, then they stoned him to death, and Paul was in the crowd that did it. Among those Christians, was a man by the name of Philip. He was an evangelist. We do not read much about Philip, only years later when Paul came back and came to Caesarea, something had happened to Philip, that he had changed his dwelling and he is now dwelling over here. It plainly stated that he had four daughters, virgins, and they prophesied. I believe the reason that is written in the chronology of the book of Acts is because, when this man called Paul came into that local area, the Holy Spirit moved upon those young ladies to prophesy. Each one of them opened their mouth and said something as a confirmation that God was warning this man Paul, Stay away from Jerusalem. Yet he did not take heed. There is a lot said about new testament prophets, and we cannot look at all of those scriptures at this time. However I do want to give a description like this, No, the prophet is not a pastor. Please understand me. He could just be any little fellow out of any little assembly. He has a hunger and desire to really serve the Lord, so God could show him in a dream, exactly how to look at a situation that is affecting a person, a family, or a little church assembly. He will not get out in the street the next day and blab about it. If it is something he sees is vital, he will keep it to himself until he has made his way to the area where this people, or this church, is located. How many understand me now? He will wait the opportunity that the Holy Spirit gives him. He might go in there and explain the dream or a vision, and as his ministry begins to grow, it will not be an every day thing. It will be a fulfillment of something that has its vital place to fulfill, when there is an area or a person or a family somewhere that is to benefit by it. I pray you understand what I mean by that. Necessity prevails, as the body collectively, more and more comes together in unity, and little things will begin to develop that glorifies God. Questions will arise, that will deem it necessary for God to begin to use these gifts as a confirmation of truth, and as a way of ministering to the individual members to really help them understand how they are to be a part of that body.
KEEPING THINGS STRAIGHT
I want to say something to all of you, and I want you to listen very carefully. I remember what Bro. William Branham said about the gift of prophecy when he made church order. I listened very carefully to what was said; and I want you to listen very carefully to what I am saying, because I am not going to change a thing he said. I am going to put something in your mind to help you shut the mouths of these miserable critics that think they know everything. The gift of prophecy is not just somebody standing up and foretelling you, Yea I say unto thee, Your house will burn. That could be a part of it, but even though when you look at the word prophecy, and it sounds like it is just foretelling, have you ever stopped to think about all the prophets and how they spoke? They spoke more in the past tense than in the present tense, and in the future tense. I just read in Isaiah, Jeremiah, how many times God said through those prophets, as that prophet would be writing and speaking to the children of Israel, have I not brought you out of Egypt by my mighty hand? Did I not sustain you in the wilderness? He is speaking in the past tense in those cases, so what is wrong with somebody getting up and saying, Yea I say to you, how many times have I spoken to you, and you did not listen? Just think on this, a true prophecy is not always fore telling, it can be spoken in the past tense or the present tense. How many understand that now? That is why Paul said, That you may comfort one another. Some people will have that anointing to speak certain dynamic things, such as warnings. Somebody else’s gift may not go to that extent. It may only be, My child, take courage, for I have seen the tears on thy face as thou hast sought me: walk with me and I will walk with thee. What is it? It is comfort. You have got to read the prophets to see how they prophesied, what they wrote about, then how God today can speak by the same means. There is not any one of us that has the right to determine what God does for any other person. He will give to one person a certain type of gift and he will minister on the basis of that portion of faith that he has. It may never sound like it is a great prophecy, but somewhere along the line, the words can be very comforting and uplifting to some. You just have to compare it with how the scriptures are written. When you read the scriptures of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and those men, you will find there is more scripture that speaks of the present and the past, than you find speaking of the future. You must understand that. If God is breaking this thing down and putting it in the Church, we have got to see and understand it the same way. That is why I said, We have never seen it in the Pentecostal world, but God is going to have every gift restored to the Church, just exactly the way He wants it. Everything is going to be cultivated and set in motion just exactly the way God has ordained it to be. Even tongues and interpretation, at times the interpretation can be just as much of a prophetic insight as a prophecy itself. Let me use a little illustration that happened to me several years ago. Bro. William Branham was still alive back then, and I went to the Lord in prayer one night, I believe it was on a Wednesday night. I do not know how long I had prayed, but all of a sudden the anointing came upon me. I hear myself speaking words directly to myself. I remember the words just as clear as if it were yesterday. “My Son, prepare thyself, for in a moment of time when thou art the least aware, thou shall be called upon to give an account of that which I have put within thy heart.” I thought, What in the world is that all about? Well brothers and sisters, in the 3rd chapter of Daniel, you can read it, Nebuchadnezzar made a great image and raised it up out on the planes. On a certain day, he sent word to the whole province, Let every man, and every woman bow and worship it. Well the three Hebrew children did not do it, and they were put in jail. Daniel did not, and he did not get put in jail. I looked at that, and many times I had wondered, Who was this the image of? Then I finally realized, It had to be an image of Daniel. Why? Read the previous chapter. Daniel was the one that went to Nebuchadnezzar and interpreted another dream he had. Well that rocked his boat. That made Nebuchadnezzar say, Hey, the gods of the heaven are in this man. Well, that old pagan idea was, we will make an image to this man. He wanted everybody in the whole province to worship this image, because he believed (as he said) that the gods of heaven were in him. No, he is not going to ask Daniel to worship his own image. How many have the picture now? The Lord had laid that message upon my heart. Well Sunday morning we heard that Bro. William Branham was going to be at the Tabernacle. Here we are sitting there, everybody is waiting for Bro. William Branham to come to the pulpit. The song service is over, but no Bro. William Branham. After awhile, Bro. Doc stuck his head through the prayer room door and said something to Bro. Neville. Bro. Neville came to the platform and said these words, I know we have all been waiting for Bro. William Branham to come to the pulpit. We all wanted to hear that great man of God, but we just received word that he is at home sick: he had driven all the way from Arizona back to Jeffersonville: He had worn himself out and was at home sick. Everybody then thought Bro. Neville would preach, but instead he said, You know, though the prophet cannot be with us, we have to believe that God is still with us. He then looked over and said, I feel led to call upon Bro. Junie Jackson to minister this morning. I could have declined, but the prophecy had said, Prepare thyself, for in a moment of time when that are the least aware, thou shall be called upon to give an account of that which I have put within thy heart. Well I didn’t get up there and stammer and stutter, what am I going to preach. I said, Well, since it is my lot, I am going to title this message, Why did Daniel not worship that image? I heard later, that Bro. William Branham used it and said the image was the image of Daniel, and that is why he did not worship it. Of course I realize that was just hearsay. I just wanted to say though, These are some of the things that have taken place in my life in days gone by. Many times when God has led me, I did not even realize then, that was what was happening. Brothers and Sisters: He is still the same God today. Down the road somewhere, God only knows the conditions and circumstances that can come about, but regardless of what, He is still going to put a people together in unity.
NECESSITY PREVAILS
Over the last two years, as it was necessary to deal with certain situations, I no sooner started the first sermon, when already, certain dreams were told to me, and I said, Here, is evidence that the body of Christ is functioning for the good of all. It was not all just in the local assembly, it was from all over the country. Through two and a half years, they kept coming. There is a God in heaven that is fulfilling His word. He knows what His word declares; and He knows exactly when to bring about certain things. He knows you and me and knows what He has in mind for each of us. I believe with all my heart, He has a people on this earth, that when this is all over, they are all going to be sitting, and saying, I see that and agree with it. They are going to be in agreement with the revelation and with each other. Necessity will demand that the gifts be restored to the true body, and they will be cultivated, and will function just exactly the way God has ordained them to. It is not a question, Well why does God not do something for me? Get in the right place and you will not have to ask that. Get in the right place, have the right frame of mind, and just as sure as you are sitting here, that body of His is going to come alive. Every little part of it is going to function. As it plainly says in the 4th chapter, each little part will be ministering to the body that which he or she has the capacity to. Verses 15 and 16, make that perfectly clear, so notice, “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: (16) From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” It is just that the necessity is laying there and the body cannot help but function in the way God wants it to. Somewhere in the different areas of this world, God will have a ministry that will be used to cause this truth to go around the world. If what God has led me to preach and publish for the past thirty five years is the truth, and I believe it is, we are going to see the hour when God will take it off the paper and put it in the hearts of His people. I get letters from different places throughout the world, Bro. Jackson, we thank you for what you have stood for, and for what the Contender means to us. I never said those things years ago, trying to get a lot of praise: I just wanted to do what God wanted me to do. As a result, I can see that slowly and surely, it has began to put together a picture of something that has a solid foundation. Some people can live in confusion all their life, but I cannot. When I began to sense a little confusion, I begin to take a good look and ask myself, What can I do to knock this thing in the head before it goes too far? Confusion can bring spiritual death, but unity will cause all to speak the same thing. I cannot tell you how many people I have heard, say, Well I don’t think we have to see eye to eye on everything. Well I do, if we are talking about the word of God. I believe the hour is coming when we are all going to see eye to eye. We see in the book of Acts, after the day of Pentecost, that they all continued steadfastly in one accord. What does that mean? Unmovable, unchangeable. In what? In the apostles’ teachings. Doing what? Going from house to house, breaking bread, fellowshipping, all in one accord. That cannot happen when you have a situation like, Well, I am a Methodist, and you are a Baptist, you are a Presbyterian. What a mess! It stinks, regardless of how much perfume people are wearing, that kind of thing still stinks in the eyes of God. I have one more question to deal with, but I am going to save it for later, because I want to go into this body in a little more amplified way, and try to show the necessity of some things that need to be explained, things that this letter brought to my attention. As I have read from the different messages that Bro. William Branham brought, God only knows the things that I have read. If you take the things you have read, verbatim, just exactly the way it was said, you would come to a conclusion, none of this is ever going to be straightened out. Well I know tonight above all things, that God has a plan, and He has a time for each thing to be manifested. Every little iota is going to be straightened out precisely. The only ones that will never understand are those that want to live in the past and just play with the word. As long as they just play with the statements, they will never know a bit more ten years later than they did twenty years ago. May God bless all who love the truth of His word.