WE ARE JUST CONTINUING ON FROM THE APRIL ISSUE. THIS IS THE THIRD AND FOURTH SERMON OF THIS SERIES.

Last Sunday I read from the book of Ephesians, I want to keep that as my text again this morning. You can read it yourself. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, only one God and Father of all, who is above all, and in you all. But in the 11^th verse of the 4^th chapter it says, “And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints.” I would like to ask, What is perfection? If we were talking to a mechanic that was taking a car that has been run down, the motor has blown up, but it fell his responsibility to take this car and put it back into running shape. I know this, that mechanic will go to the motor and there will be a lot of things he will replace, such as old burned up bearings and such. But he will not go and get just any kind of bearing or any kind of piston to replace the burnt ones. There has got to be precise things that will actually work properly in that motor, things that were designed for it. When he gets finished, he is going to enjoy being able to touch the starter and see if that thing will actually start up. If that thing turns over three or four times, and bingo, she is off, he is going to smile. It has a good sound to it, because he did the work right. First, he knew what to use, he knew where to put it, and he did not depend on some old broken down thing that had already been worn out. Saints: I beg of you this morning, Regardless of what some may think of me, I am not standing here to try and be a Hollywood actor or entertainer. I have been watching something for almost forty years though; and it is a shame what I see taking place. I am referring to the things that have been said by people who spake as though they heard a certain man in this hour, bring a message. I have in my files some of the things that have been taught as though this is what God is going to use to put His Church back on track. Well the people that are going to make up that true Church, as far as being in unity, they are not in unity yet. They are just parts scattered here and there, but I look at people, knowing there is a potential laying in every heart, that can make that life be a part of the Church of the living God. Each life has got to come to an understanding of what truth for the bride really is, and how they themselves are to actually function in their part in the body of Christ. When we look back to the first age, it was not a million people that the Church started out with. There were several thousands that had followed Jesus through the three and one half years of His ministry, but getting closer to the end of His time on earth, it only refers to about five hundred of the brethren that evidently followed Him. Then when you look to the day of Pentecost, in the Upper Room, there were only a hundred and twenty that had followed His instructions. In that hundred and twenty, there were eleven of the original apostles chosen by Him. The eleven prayed and asked God to help them select another one to take Judas’ place. When they did, then we can say there were twelve apostles that were destined to be witnesses of all that Jesus had said and done in that three and a half years. Those apostles were the carriers of the message that Jesus had conveyed to them. Brothers and sisters, when the Holy Ghost fell that day and they all began to speak in other languages, finally that Spirit they had received caused them to go from that Upper Room down into the streets below. When those of that multitude in the streets, began to hear certain words in the languages wherein they were born, this began to stimulate a curiosity, and a question was stirred. After awhile some began to say, What is this? Something started that day that never stopped. Do you know brothers and sisters, had the same spirit been on some of those people in that day, that is on a lot of people of today, especially they of the message followers, the Church would never have gotten out of the first age. You would only be reading about Christianity in a book somewhere, but it would only be history, taken from a library. No sooner had Christendom got started, the devil went to work with his evil devices. My point is, In the beginning it was not a nucleus of voices submitting their ideas and their feelings about Christianity. There was in the hearts of that hundred and twenty a unison of agreement. Only Peter opened his mouth and said something. The others stood with him in agreement. That was not because Peter thought himself better than anyone else, but we do know from the scriptures, that he had a revelation, and Jesus commended him for that revelation, and said because of that he was given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, meaning the authority to unlock it and set it in motion. When I look at the age we now live in, over this earth there are literally hundreds and thousands of people that have heard about God sending a messenger to this age. Thousands of them never saw the man, but this person, that person and others have gone forth and said something about the man. They know about a man, a messenger; and they know about a message, but very few have any revelation as to what really transpired in those days. My point is, That message was the beginning of God starting to call sincere believers out of denominational systems of religion in these last days. It was to call people out of the confusion and sit them together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, where we can learn the importance and even the necessity of the true Church becoming one in unity and purpose. Eph 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, (5) Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (6) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (7) That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” He methodically called us out of the mess we had all been in, and put together a body of people that can function in unison, agreement and oneness of purpose. I realize there has been a lot said in the last few days. Some of you probably received a long e-mail letter yesterday. Do you not know that I would not have opened my mouth if I had not known what I was talking about? I look at things very carefully before I make a decision as to how to go about dealing with it. When I am sure about my stand, I do not take a vote on what I should do, I look to the only ONE I can always depend upon when I must make a decision. Therefore I am going to look everyone of you in the eye this morning, knowing where I stand. The letter was more or less addressed as though, when I referred to a certain woman prophesying about my death, that maybe I did not know it all. Well I want you everyone to hear my words clearly. I did not know about that until about two and a half years ago. When that was first told to me, I though, That would have put them about eighteen years back, so what is a person up to, going around talking like that? You do not read anything like that in the Bible. What is such a woman up to? It sounds to me like she is trying to project herself as something very vital and important in the Church. It was said in that e-mail letter, that it was only her opinion. That makes it even worse than ever, because it did not start that way eighteen years ago. My daughter was one of the first people she went to with that. What are people up to, what are they trying to accomplish? The woman has stated how she has studied psychology. Well I ask you, What has that to do with anything? I have sense enough to know how to watch these people who conduct themselves like that and study them. They know how to place their words to cultivate thoughts in the mind’s of others. They can say something to one person, but behind it is a motive, like, I want to make myself look to you very important. I have no animosity for the person, but when people will take a person like that and esteem them as a great mouthpiece of prophecy, or as an instrument of encouragement, what in the name of common sense are you doing anyhow? Why do you not go back to the Baptist church? You would be better off out there. I just have to say, as I think about the gross deception in the ranks of organized religion in this hour of time, Just look at the thousands of people in TV stadiums every week, thousands shouting, singing, tears streaming down their faces, but they have no more revelation than a bunch of stray dogs. They do not know a bit more about the coming of Christ than people who never darken a church house door. Do you know what it is? It is a religious spirit. They have religion, but they know nothing about a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior. They feel good in doing what they do, but they do not know why they are doing it. Even though they know nothing about the coming of Jesus Christ, they want the world to believe they are on fire for God. They are not on fire for God. It is a shame that the world in the past one hundred years has been able to hear what was supposed to be the gospel in so many different ways, as to become so weak minded and sold out to the wrong thing. All many of them want is to be entertained, like, just make me feel good: I don’t want to face hardships, I don’t want to have to climb up hills. Well in this world you will have tribulations and persecutions if you serve the Lord. The wonderful thing is, in Him you can have eternal life. Then the question is, Can you take the hard knocks the way He took them? Those first age Christians were able to. Whether it would cost them their lives, was not as important to them as being found faithful to the Lord in all things. I have always been encouraged, when I read in history what price some have paid to be faithful to the God that saved them.

LIVING ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF GOD

The true body of Christ started out with the headship first. That is a Bible fact. Now let some hypocrite say, Oh he is just bragging now. No. I don’t have to brag, I just try to exercise some common sense. The thing that put the Church in unity in the book of Acts was the voice of a few men that knew when to talk, what to talk about, and who to talk to. Bro. Jackson, we would like it better if you would speak more kindly. Let me say to you, You don’t know what I am looking at. I will first read a few verses of scripture to you. This is what the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, (2 Tim 4:2) “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; (4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” Do any of you recognize that spirit? That is the spirit that causes people to say, Your words are too harsh: Tell me another nice little story that makes me feel good, and I can go to bed and have a wonderful dream. The apostle Paul said to the Galatians, I marvel, that you are so soon removed from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. It is a dangerous thing, just to sit back and find fault with what God anoints His servants to bring to you. It is just as the apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, “There be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” In other words, Paul said, Let the man, or those who trouble you be cut off. I have always wondered what he meant by that. There comes a time though, when you see a people divided, some are sitting on a fence, some are hanging this way, some are hanging that way, so when you can see in the word of God, that there has got to be unity in the true Church, and you realize you do not have another twenty five years to play around and wait for everyone to find their place in the body of Christ, you know you have a responsibility before God, to faithfully fulfill your calling. I stand here to fulfill what God called me to do. I love all of you, but my name has been dragged through every mud hole and rats den there is anywhere and I have just left it in the hands of God, knowing that I have not been guilty of the things I have been accused of. Oh Bro. Jackson, don’t talk like that. I have to. When Bro. William Branham passed away, at that particular time I had no idea why God had given me the dreams I had, and what my ministry was to actually be. I was content to take the little congregation I was pastoring back then, and just be a pastor to them. I had no ambition to travel. I did not want to stand before big congregations: I just wanted to minister the truth that I knew, to the congregation I felt God had given me. In those early days, I was that little hill billy from Harrison County. Even though I sat here in the Jeffersonville area and saw the prophet, I was not esteemed as anyone of importance. There was Perry Green. There was Paul Lawry of India. He had come to the Tabernacle and was baptized. There was also Ewald Frank of Germany. All these were universal, big name men. The day the man landed on the moon, Paul Lawry sat in Chicago in a friends home and watched the landing on television. He suddenly got the supposed-to-be revelation, that as man landed on the moon, the Son of Man landed on earth in “him.” I have his own words for that. He then went back to India carrying a message, that he was the continuation of what the prophet messenger had said, but was to be understood now that the Son of Man was in him, and that everyone had to listen to him. Ewald Frank of Germany had come over here a couple of times; and I must say, That man had a wonderful ministry at that time. He did a wonderful work. Berlin was divided. The Iron Curtain kept it closed. He risked his neck many times, going behind the Iron Curtain to take the message of the hour to them in the German language, but then he had a vision; and in the vision, he saw the glory of the Lord leaving America, coming back east. He was saying, America will no longer have any preeminence: it is coming back to Europe. He did a great work, but I have always said this, When you start out on the wrong foot, out of step with reality, and out of tune with the scriptures, you are going to get yourself in a mud hole somewhere. You will get by with it, up to a point, then when your objective is not really to do it God’s way, but your way, you have got to be ready for trouble. That is when Ewald Frank started having marriage trouble. I have the article he wrote about his wife, condemning her as nothing, when it was not her fault at all. Anyhow he married another woman. When we put this in the Contender, about five or six years ago, right in the church of the man that was here last fall, in the September meetings, the church of John B. Taye. I believe it was the fall meetings that he came to. They asked Ewald Frank about the article I had printed, that he had married again. This is the way he answered them, I don’t know Junie Jackson, I had heard of him, and I met him in Norway. Well the truth is, he asked me to come to Krefeld Germany and preach for him and I did. He came to the motel where my wife and I were staying, and then took us to his house the next day, and his original wife had fixed a wonderful dinner for us. Nevertheless when he was asked that question, he claimed he did not even know me, simply because his separation came shortly after that. I did not publish that for the purpose of running him down, but simply to show and illustrate what a lot of people are letting themselves get hooked into. I only say these things because of the fact that there has been an untold number of men since the death of Bro. William Branham, that have risen on the scene and seemingly had a good potential to carry this message, but it was not long until they had taken on a completely different attitude. In New York, there were two black brothers that had been here in Faith Assembly years ago. They were good brothers as far as we could tell, but after a period of time, they too got their own message, which was that the seven thunders was none other than the revelation of the stature of a perfect man. Those fellows went everywhere preaching that. They went to Africa. I ran into it over there in 1979 when I was there. I am bringing these things out to say, None of that ever brought unity among true believers anywhere. It only brought unity to people who wanted to follow the flesh of a man. Out in Arizona, there were four brothers, Mosley brothers. They had been in Bro. William Branham’s meetings. Then when Bro. William Branham passed off the scene, they also got a revelation, which was this, they were going to buy an old DC3, that was much like the C54 cargo plane. They had a revelation that William Branham was going to raise from the dead and when he did, they were going to have that old plane sitting there, cranked up and ready to go. They were going to pick him up and he would go to different places and call for the dead to come forth, and they would haul them all to Jerusalem, to get ready for the rapture. What a revelation! Did it produce unity? Only among a few people that were scripturally ignorant and foolish enough to go along with that kind of spirit. I just talked to Bro. Saucedo the other day. He said the two brothers that were pilots are dead, but the old plane still sits there. There was another Mexican brother, which settled in Arizona. He got the message and started going to Mexico. His name was Bernie Garcia. In the years to come, he preached nothing but quotes, quotes, quotes. I think it was 1982 when Bro. Saucedo and I, along with some others, went in there. That was the first time in my life I was privileged to meet some of those people that had been under that spirit. I said to myself, May God have mercy on men who are supposed to be educated, well learned, and yet will grab what that man said and put an interpretation on it, and then they are ready to spread the message to the world. That kind of thing never produces unity to any spiritual benefit. From 1982 on, to the last time I was privileged to be there, five different preachers from that element of people made their way, at different times, and said Bro. Jackson, I am sorry I spoke evil of you. I said, Brother, you were already forgiven before you even approached me because I am not going to hold a grudge against anybody. You did it out of ignorance. Then I met a man in Singapore about 1978, Richard Gan, a good man. He will probably read this. He has taken a lot of good things to the world, but he preached everything as though he was right, and I just happened to be wrong on some things. Why are you talking like this, Bro. Jackson? I am slowly building up to a point I want to make. I am putting my life on the line. There are preachers around the world that will stand here and say Amen to what I am saying, and will say, We are with you, but there are others that just want to play around and pretend that they are in agreement. I know they are not in agreement with me any more than a stray dog is. It is because they are looking for an opportunity for themselves. I don’t have to look for an opportunity, because, if God would say to me today, Jackson, you will sit down now, I will sit down. It is a shame that people all over this world have got ideas and attitudes as to who they are going to listen to. Well I certainly do not want you listening to me just because you like my flesh. If I am not preaching the truth to you, then don’t follow me: don’t even waste your time listening to me. I just ask that you search out what I have preached, and see for yourself if it is in the Bible; and if it adds up the way I am presenting it. If it does not add up to something that is right, I would not want anyone following it. That is all I stand for, the true revelation of God’s word. Richard Gan has gone all over the world, and especially Africa, preaching his version. He has published a lot of his sermons, and some of them are good. However he left everything with a potential, like, we are all servants, we are all preaching the message. The trouble is, he can have a few things right and a few things wrong, and I can have a few things right and a few things wrong, and others can have a few things right and a few things wrong, according to his way of seeing things. That is scriptural ignorance. God has never called any man to preach like that. Those original twelve in the book of Acts did not behave like that, having a few things right and others wrong. They only spoke on the things they knew they were right in. That is why the Bible was written like it was. Why did Paul have the opportunity to write so many things? It was because God had given him a message that far superceded what Peter and the others had preached. Peter’s ministry was to the Jews; and God took Paul aside and gave him a revelation about the Gentiles. He wrote half of the New Testament, the biggest number of epistles in there. I say these things to help us see this one thing, that on the face of this earth, unity will be brought about by a key spokesman. Oh you just want to make yourself somebody special. You who say that, are the kind of people I have been pointing out. That is the first thing some people think, You just want to be something special. Well I say this, The less you try to make yourself, the more you find God pushing you to get the job done. I love every last one of you, but through fifty years of preaching, I have seen some that are so cheap in their attitudes, that it just plain stinks. It is an abomination how they want to live a life that please nothing but flesh, just always tickling the ears, and then go to sleep, waiting for the coming of Jesus. Then I can mention in a few more, closer to our own area. Out of the state of Georgia, there were many different men. I will never forget the Canada brothers. They were the ones that came to the Tabernacle years ago; and had rewritten the little course of the song, “If I Were You, I’d Make a Change.” If I were you, I would make a change and be baptized in Jesus’ name. That went everywhere on the tapes of Bro. William Branham. When Bro. William Branham was dead, those same individuals, all they ever wanted to do was quote, quote, quote. You could quote and quote what the prophet said, but if you did not have a revelation of what he said, you will never put anything together to the benefit of the bride Church. Why? Because God will not honor it that way. Then we come to the local area. We had a brother who went to the Tabernacle a lot. I am sorry to say, he is dead now. His name was J. T. Parnell. I will not say all that happened, but he had his day. Howard Capps also had his day, but nothing he ever did brought unity: he just had some people that followed him. He has this two soul doctrine, that only a devil would teach. By the grace of Almighty God, He has kept me from getting myself off into those ruts. From 1969 until now, we have printed nothing but the gospel truth in our publication, The Contender. In every bit of it, we have done everything to magnify the Lord and the scriptures. Where it tied in with something Bro. William Branham said, we made it fit. I am thankful for that. I realize it had to be that way. I saw back then, when he brought a message, that there was not going to be another message to the age. There could only be a continuation of what was already brought, but with further light, which would show how to take that and put it back together and make it fit, and bring life bact into the Church of the living God.

HOW A LITTLE LEAVEN MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE

When Christendom was first started, it was started among the Jews in Judaism, all of which were very religious. They had the scriptures of that hour, so it took a man like Peter to deal with them. There was James, John and the others, but Peter was the main spokesman to the Jews. When God raised up the man, Saul of Tarsus, and then changed his name to Paul, He gave him a revelation of grace for the Gentiles. Paul never preached a thing until he first went into Arabia and spent three years out there, studying to know why God had called him. He gave him a revelation. He began to write the scriptures of justification, faith, bypassing the Law. The opposition in that hour was all those converted pagans, that came out of paganism into Christianity. As they began to try to learn the revelation of truth, the godhead was their first snag. First of all, right there, is where that little leak occurred. I will call it a leak because it is how the devil would use that pagan spirit to feed in a trinity thought. You could never get the trinity thought in among the Jews, because they all knew God is one Spirit; and not three persons. Therefore that could only get established in the minds of Gentiles. Therefore by the time we come out of the first age in our study, all the apostles of that first age beginning are dead, and without some of them on the scene, Trinitarianism was on its way. Five hundred years later, paganism was swallowing up the godhead. For a thousand years, through that long Dark Age period, the trinity held the sway in Gentile Christendom. Then, coming back out of the Dark Ages, and through the Reformation, first this certain man, and then this man, began to receive a truth from the word of God and they are known as the reformers, which God brought on the scene in time to restore a truth, which was God’s way of giving back a little light and understanding. Then when God raised up Bro. William Branham in the 1940’s, he was just at the right time to start proclaiming a message that would eventually pull a number of people out of the many systems of religion and deliver them from confusion, putting them on track of beginning to seek and search the word of God. In so doing, it would lead us back to the One God revelation, plus many other things we find in the scriptures. I will say this, For thirty some years we have done our best to print in the Contender something that would be beneficial to people who are hungry for a true revelation; and God has caused that little publication to go all over the world. I never even expected it to be used as it has. God put it there. I never thought when we started out printing it, that we would be printing it this long. I just said in my heart, I feel like there are a few messages I would like to get out to people. Well God took it from there and it has continued on for thirty five years. I get many letters thanking us for what we have stood for, and telling how it has helped them find stability. On the other hand, when I look back here at home, I see a spirit working, because I know we are facing the hour that God is going to bring a people together and lead them into unity. He is going to wash us by the washing of the water of His word. It means He is going to eliminate everything that is negative, both out of my mind and yours, everything that is of our flesh. Some people follow the preacher just because they like his flesh. Shame on you. That is not following Jesus Christ. There is no more revelation in that than you would find out here in any old dead denominational church. I never followed William Branham just because I liked his flesh, but I saw a little man that made Jesus head and shoulders taller than any doctor of divinity I had ever seen and I have seen my share of them. The simple way he could take Genesis, the call of Abraham, and when he was finished, he had you in the book of Revelation and you could see none other than Jesus Christ portrayed in those Bible characters. God does not need these highly educated big shot preachers to proclaim the truth of His word, He just needs humble hearts that are willing to let God put a revelation in them. If you think my name has not been dragged through the mud, I wish you could read some of what is out there. I was sent this book, and there is another one we will bring tonight. A brother in the Netherlands sent me this book and said, Bro. Jackson: I have been getting your Contender for so many years now, and I want you to know I appreciate it. I do have in my possession certain books that some preachers have used to drag you through the mud. He told me what pages I would find my name used, so Bro. Bud, you can come on and read it at this time. (Bro. Bud) The man that wrote the book, his name is Dalton Bruce, apparently, for that is the way it appears here. “That is a living gospel friends, I want you to see a living church like that. How many want to see a living church like that? (The congregation says Amen.) I want to see living apostles, living prophets, living evangelists, living teachers, living pastors, and we are going to see it by another outpouring of the of the Holy Spirit. I am not talking about apostles like Richard Gan, who believes in a dead gospel, apostle Jackson, with all his heresies, apostle Coleman, apostle Ben Dahl (spelling ?), they are all dead, apostle Santiago, who claims to be God himself manifested in human flesh. He is demon possessed. Can we send our questions to Santiago? No. Can we send our questions to Richard Gan? No. To Junior Jackson? No. We don’t recognize them. But even the heretics recognized the apostles in Jerusalem in that day, and they forced Paul, they said, go up to the apostles to rectify this question which they argued concerning. Oh glory. There is nothing to straighten this confusion but the apostles of God that will be sent to straighten out the mess around this message. It will take a short time.”

There is another place here, I am going to go back and read a little portion so you can get the thought. “Bro. Branham caged all those unclean spirits when he set the church in order. He was a wise man. He knew that the gifts were traveling down from 1906 under the message. He wanted to cage all those unclean spirits. He said, now I have a little room and you must go in there. You talk about the wisdom of God, he said, make your prophecy and I will send in three men to judge whether they are right or not. If the three men pass it as right, bring it to the pulpit and we will put it here as ‘thus saith the Lord.’ If it doesn’t come to pass, you have a devil in you. You have to go and get that devil out of you and don’t prophesy again. I doubt that lasted for many services. He caged all those spirits and they left and ran down to Junior Jackson. Now one fellow was too outspoken. He said they went down among the dead birds, the reason of it because when I set the church here in a certain order, when I come back to see if I could get the manifestation of the gifts, half of them pulled away from it. How could you be following a message and a prophet of God stand up and tell you what to do, and you have a better idea than the prophet. You have an evil spirit.”

(Back to Bro. Jackson) Now that is why I said a few weeks ago, I never realized when church order was made and I heard it, what it would turn into. They played the tape of it at the Tabernacle on New Year’s night, the beginning of 1964, and my wife and I went to hear it. We sat and listened to it, but when I went home, I said, Whenever we are at the Tabernacle, I will honor church order there. I will sit there quietly. But I cannot see it in the scriptures. I realize he has a right to make an order to correct a disorder any way he sees fit to do so, but that is not for Faith Assembly. The next Sunday, I will never forget, I didn’t even stand in the pulpit. As I said earlier, I got down on the floor up front and said, People, I am speaking from my heart to you today. I have heard the church order and I know what is in the making, but I cannot and will not put it in here. If God wants gifts to be operated, they will operate in the open, because that is the only way I can see it in the Bible. There were certain individual people that got up and walked out. You don’t know how that hurt to see people walk right out, because it made it look like you were taking a slap at everything Bro. William Branham said. For several weeks and months, I was under such a deep depression over it. I have said this before, I was in Missouri in a meeting. The place where we were staying, the man and his wife, they wanted to take us out to dinner. We drove into a little town. I got out of the back seat on one side, my wife was getting out on the other side, the minute I got outside, it looked like the whole outside began to go around and around. I grabbed hold of the car and held on. I thought, Lord, what is going on. I stood very still until I felt like I had my balance. I worked my way across the street into the restaurant. Sitting in the restaurant, I ordered my dinner, but I still felt inside like something was just going around and around. In my mind I thought, Am I getting ready to have a heart attack? I went back to their house and laid down that evening and took a nap. When I woke up, I felt better. I was able to finish that meeting and come home. I went to my doctor the next Monday morning. I told him how I had felt. This is what the doctor said, Have you been under some kind of stress, or depression? I said, No, but I had. I had been under that spirit for weeks on end, because I thought I had lost all my friends. Everywhere I would turn, I was a black bird. The doctor gave me some little pills, I don’t know what they were, but he told me to take one before I ate and I did. That condition went on like that until we came into February 1965, when Bro. William Branham preached in the school building, on the subject of Marriage and Divorce. That night on the platform, when Bro. William Branham, with his back towards the area where we were sitting, suddenly said, There is a man sitting behind me, (He called out Bro. Billy Cox and told him about his daughter and the heart condition she had.) Sitting a few seats away on the opposite side of the aisle, it was just like the Lord looked at me and said, How long will you doubt my word? I said to myself, Lord, I can’t doubt your word. It was like a big pair of snips went down my back, and clipped that band that I felt like I had wrapped around me for many months. I felt a release come into my spirit that very moment. From then on I said, I don’t care what they say, if it takes all my friends leaving me, let them go, because they are only trying to cover up for flesh and not standing for truth itself. I will say to you this morning, Had I not stood for the fact that the gifts have still got to be in the open assembly, it would have been a dead issue, and around this world, others would have never known it. I do not say that God would not have done it some other way. He would probably have used some Pentecostal people, but I would have had to say, That is a shame, that it had to be like that. Then, on toward the end of 1965, just to show you that Bro. William Branham never meant to make that an eternal order to change the scriptures, I will repeat this, He called the Wright family, (They were friends of ours.) and left these words with them, I am coming back to Jeffersonville at Christmas time, to do two things. Number one, to preach The Trail of the Serpent. Number two, to do away with church order. Well as you everyone know, he never lived to do either one. My point is, No preacher from that day until this, knew exactly the leading of God, what to do about that. As for myself, I knew it has all got to go back into the scriptures. It has got to fit in the scriptures, or there is something wrong. The end time Bride will have every gift working; and they will be working in the open assembly. No one will have to have a prophecy approved by a anyone before it is presented to the assembly. God Himself is the source of approval. If a prophecy is of Him, it will come to pass; and if a prophecy is given just in fleshly zeal, it will go as many others have and nothing will come of it.

SCRIPTURAL MANIFESTATIONS

As the genuine believers make up their minds as to how to serve God, we will begin to see that unity is a must, a necessity, and as unity becomes a reality, we will begin to see those gifts functioning just exactly the way God wants them to function in His Church. The apostle Paul said, in the 12^th chapter of 1^st Corinthians, verses 7-11 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. (It will profit all who receive it and use it wisely.) (8) For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; (9) To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts (plural) of healing by the same Spirit; (10) To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: (Notice this next verse.) (11) But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.” The gifts are distributed by the Spirit of God; and the manifestation of those gifts are by the anointing of that same Spirit. When he says, But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man, that means the public demonstration of the Spirit, has been given, past tense, to every man, or woman. Potentially, it is there, but until you see the Church meeting in unity, in harmony with the scriptures, where it is a true functioning body, and not just a nucleus of gifted people, only then will you see those gifts just exactly the way the Bible portrays them. There will always be a nucleus of believers used to minister various gifts of the Spirit, but once the Church reaches that point of total unity, she has reached her realm of perfection. God will not leave it here very long after that. He will take it out of here, simply because there is no need of leaving it here and letting the devil have the opportunity to do through it, what he did to other movements in days gone by. God will bring it to perfection and when He does, He is ready to take it to glory. I am saying all of this, because, through the years of time there has been a lot of things done by carnal, attention-getting people, some things were very evil, and people in general have just followed after this and paid no more attention to the spirit that manifested those things than they would of a dog barking, just thinking, Oh well, I love him: I do not believe he would do anything wrong. Brothers and Sisters: I am going to get down here and walk among you this morning: I realize I am not the most handsome man in the world, and that I am eighty years old, but do you know what? I am not ready to die either. When this shoulder was hurting me, it was Bro. Skip that talked to me about getting it operated on. When I went to the doctor, my blood pressure had gone up. He started me on a more potent pill. The doctor that operated on me, told me what it was. I asked him, Do they not say, that when you have pain in your body it always makes your blood pressure rise? He said, Yes. That is right. That is when I made up my mind to have this arm operated on, because I was getting tired of all that misery. When I took my blood pressure this morning, it was 118 over 71. The next reading was 127 over 72, and the last one 127 over 68. I am not under depression anymore. I say to you, The Lord is wonderful. I want to say also, I have no desire whatsoever, to deceive anyone, nor to mislead anyone in any way. Neither do I have any desire for you to give me a name that makes me shine like a star. On the other hand though, I pray that I can say something from the scriptures this morning, that can cause your heart to rejoice and you can say, I have heard truth. I will say also, I would rather have God take me right now, and put me to sleep, than to have something on my mind that I have failed to tell you the truth about, when I lay down to sleep at night. I have said many times in prayer, Lord, I do not ever want to be guilty of deceiving anybody, or of trying to deceive anyone, so I ask you to give me something that I can give them, the truth from your scriptures, regardless of what anyone may think about me. All I want to know Lord, is, have I pleased you? Young people, old people, and to those that hear my words whoever you may be, I am ready to lay my life on an altar if need be. How many others want to come and lay with me? I have but one desire, to have truth, and to preach truth, knowing that truth alone, will set a person free. I am not looking for followers of my flesh: I just want to be an instrument that leads believers to follow the truth of God’s word. I did not ask God for any certain ministry: I just wanted to be acceptable to Him in whatever I might do, but God just keeps pushing me on. When He keeps pushing me along, all I know to do is preach what He gives me. I can read the many letters we receive, to show you how so many are thanking us for what we have put in the Contender. Nobody else has ever done that. I have never asked people to follow me, and I still refuse to do that, but I do pray that you will follow what I present to you from the word of God. I do not owe anyone a debt that I have not paid. I have been honest with people and never cheated anybody; and neither have I lied against anybody. That is just a little testimony to let you know I am not shot at because of anything like I mentioned: All my enemies are because of spiritual differences, and mostly because I have refused to conform to their idolatrous beliefs.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TAKING A STAND

Saints there is one thing I do know, When I heard a little man say one time, This is truth, I accepted it, but the world in general did not like him for preaching it. Look at all these other evangelists, big time operators, which have all just about ran their course. Most of them are already gone. Well I am still here; and still standing for the truth that little servant of God presented to us forty some years ago. When I heard Brother Branham preach the first time I said, That man sets an image and pattern for me. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Do not ever think I have sat somewhere and cried a lot because my name has constantly been dragged through the mud. The Lord has given me grace to bear the criticism and stand for the truth of His word in the midst of it. When I had that experience in Missouri and came home, I began to realize, from that time on, Jackson you are destined to be shot at. You are destined to be hit at, but you have to have a backbone to stand up under it. Otherwise, how will unsuspecting people ever know what to stand for, unless somebody is standing for it in front of them. I gladly stand for truth, knowing that God’s word says, Love suffereth long and is kind, “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.” The truth of God’s word makes my soul glad; and my greatest desire is to share it with others that are hungering for the word of God like I do. Whenever I am privileged to stand before you, I always pray that I might be able to say something that will be helpful and encouraging to all who hear. I will say to my brothers and sisters, You may not realize how many there are that listen in on our internet broadcast, and a lot of them are ministers, Christian people that appreciate this ministry. While we were in the morning service, someone sent an e-mail asking questions. I have read them; and if the person that sent them is listening tonight, it is my desire to be able to answer your questions in this message as we go along. I will be on this subject for a period of time now, because there is so much that needs to be said, concerning “The Body of Christ.” God is going to have a body just like the early Church that was established on the truth of His word by the apostles of Christ that had heard it straight from Him. There is no need for people to think that this will not happen, because it definitely will. I realize, when you look at the obstacles, and the many things that seem to be in the minds of people, it almost looks impossible, but God knows exactly how to bring it all about. I am thankful tonight, to know we serve a God that knows how to lead His people. As I stand here to try and present another thought along this line, I want to say this as humbly as I know how, I know, that through the years our name here has been mud to a lot of people, but God is able to cause those who seek truth, to be able to receive it. When I look around and see the evidence of all this opposition, I want all of you to know, it does not bother me one bit. God is bigger than all the opposition of the truth of His word. What does bother me though, is to learn that many people that have sat in these pews through the years, people that I have been close to here in the assembly, and people that have had an opportunity to look at things through the scriptures and see the reality of what has been presented to them, still sat there with an expression on their faces that I was able to discern, which was, Are we sure he knows what he is talking about? I don’t think God would have let me print something for thirty some years, If I did not know what I was talking about. I never asked Him to give me this ministry: He just worked circumstances to bring it about and because I love His word so much, it has been a great joy for me. As I have already said, When the first publication became available, I just felt I had five or six things in my heart I would like to see published, and anything beyond that has been up to the Lord. Nevertheless for thirty some years, we have published something that has helped many people find their way out of confusion. The questions that came in today, mention the Contender and the things he read in it. I do not say these things to bring any glory to myself: I just want to stand here and be able to say some things a lot of you people may not have been aware of, which is how our name has been used through the years in other nations. Bro. Bud has another one of the booklets that was sent to me by this certain brother in the Netherlands. When he sent these books, he said, Bro. Jackson, I want you to know I have been getting the Contender, and he told how many years he has been receiving it. He said, I am thankful to God for your ministry and what it has meant to me. I am sending you these books, because these individuals have used your name and put it down, as though you are irrelevant, unimportant and all washed up in some way. When it comes to the right time for me to have it, I will have Bro. Bud read what the man overseas has written. I do not know what country he is from, my name is included in a very slanted statement. I have to say, Lord, thank you for your grace that gives us the ability to stand steadfast; and thank you Lord, for allowing me to have a body of people to preach to. I pray that we are able to present enough truth that you might be able to get a glimpse of something that God is doing and desire to be a part of it.

LOOKING AT GOD’S PERFECTING WORD

I used the text this morning in, Ephesians 4, where the apostle Paul was writing, stating that these ministries God set in the body are for the perfecting of the saints. These ministries, God will use in the end time, to perfect and bring to complete unity, all who are of the bride Church. He will eliminate all the imperfection of the things that has kept us divided through these years. That five fold ministry will come into full operation, precisely and exactly the way God ordained it to. God is going to bring about some conditions in people’s lives to bring about the fulfillment of His purpose. We are entering an era of time, when not only will the body of Christ be brought into unity, but we are entering an era of time when we are going to see God begin to deal with individuals in a manner and in a way they never expected Him to deal with them. People are going to begin to learn what it is to be led by the Spirit of God and not just to be led by human personality, or human desires. When people begin to have a real knowledge of what truth is, and how important it is, and that it is something worth standing up for, then they are going to begin to be very grateful to God for the leadership that He places in their lives. I would like to refer you to the Colossian epistle written by the apostle Paul. Paul brings out explicitly that Christ is the image of the invisible God, meaning the God you never can see is demonstrated through His only begotten Son. Some people have trouble understanding that the God they serve, which is invisible and cannot ever be seen with the human eye, was actually manifested in the person of His Son, and all the divine attributes of His being were characterized, or put on display and manifested before the eyes of the people of that first age. As the apostle Paul brings these things out, he brings out how the Church becomes the mystical body of Christ, not the literal body of His physical body, but each one of us, no matter what our racial background is, or what language we speak, if we have truly been brought into the same revelation and understanding of what the scriptures say and what they do not say, our spirit, sooner or later, becomes submissive to the Spirit of Christ. We begin to say yes, Amen, that is right, to the things of truth. The further we go along, and the more we begin to sit and agree, simply because we see the beauty of what we are to be in agreement on, the more glorious our expectancy becomes. We then desire the things of God above the things of this natural life. The days will be gone forever, when we had people sitting among us that were not really of us, because they had an agenda of their own. I will say this to all such, with as much respect for you as I am able to, Where have you been living? What have you been doing with your life? Why would you even expect that God would honor such an attitude as some of you have displayed? The Bible does not present any such picture among true believers.

REVEALING ERROR

I have here an old letter that I wrote to Bro. Gan years ago. He wanted to come to our convention that year. I had read many articles that he had printed. He had gone to India, to Africa, and different places preaching his version of what was presented as revelation truth. Some of the articles I read were very good, but I could begin to see in him, what I had seen in many other men, like, Well God has given us all a revelation. I will say this, Anything that is not a true revelation is just our human interpretation and that is not acceptable with God. Over a period of time, he would say it like this, The truth I have, and the truth you have, and the truth that somebody else has, we just put it all together. Saints, listen to me, You cannot look at the Bible the right way and say that. Paul did not look at it like that. How many know what I mean? Peter was the spokesman on the day of Pentecost, because this was the starting of the Church; and the Church started out with Jewish people who had believed the preaching and teaching of Jesus. We know those Jews that became converted, already had a grasp and knowledge of the salvation that was purchased at Calvary. While it is true, that many of them were hung up on the demands of the Law of Moses, not knowing how to interpret it in the light of Grace itself, they were still believers that could be taught. It was many years later when God brought Paul upon the scene with a true revelation. He was another Jew, a well educated one, that had been converted to accept salvation by grace apart from the keeping of the Law. God led Paul into the desert, where he stayed for three years, probably in a cave, spending time on his knees weeping and crying and praying, wondering what all of this was about, and why God was dealing with him in such strange ways. The beauty of that experience is, when he came out of there, he had a revelation of what it is, to be saved by Grace through faith, not through the keeping of the Law. That upset that bunch of Jews at Jerusalem so much, they tried their best to kill him, but God had a plan for his escape from them. God honored that man wherever he went among the Gentiles. He always went among the Jews of dispersion first, and would get his first converts from among them. Then when they began to close the door of opportunity to him, that is when he would turn to the Gentiles. He could see how his ministry was the very means to take out of that pagan world of Gentiles a number of believers, and bring them into the family of God. It took the apostle Paul to write in Ephesians, how God would take believers from both jews and Gentiles and make of them one new man, or one new body. Let us read that. Turn to Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 13. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. (14) For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; (15) Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; (16) And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.” He broke down the middle wall of partition, the Law, and put in them an understanding of Grace itself. I have to stand and say to you tonight, There were men that began to raise up and contest Paul’s teaching , but the more they tried to contest it, the more bold Paul became, just getting louder with the unadulterated word of truth. If the apostle Paul had not been listened to and believed in his day, by the time we come to the closing of that first church age, Christianity would only have been written on scrolls and recorded in a library somewhere. I just noticed in the past few days, the Palestinians have taken a strong stand now, as Sharon has agreed to deport the Jews out of the Gaza Strip and bring them back on the other side, to open up the Gaza Strip for the Palestinians. An educated Palestinian has now taken it upon himself to take the Jewish Bible and say these words, The Jews of today have no relationship to the Jews of yester years. The Jews of yester years were Arabs, they were the ones that built the temple, but he brings it out that they were Arabs and of no relation to the Jews of today. If you could read the article, you would wonder, How can anyone read the Jewish scriptures and see such as that in them? I just thought, Right here the Palestinians are getting bold, and now from the ranks of the Palestinians, one of their official spokesmen has said these words to the Palestinians on the other side of the river that have been living in refugee camps in Jordan. All of this has been on the diplomatic table for years now, as the Jews have agreed to vacate the Gaza Strip, yet they have never agreed at any time to let the Palestinians from the other side immigrate back to the West Bank, neither in the Gaza Strip. This educated Palestinian has said to the Palestinians in the refugee camps in Jordan, Get ready, because when the time is right, we want you to start coming back to the land and we want you to march. If it means the Jewish army will stand up and shoot at you, then we want this to be a display before the whole world. I thought, Yes, (please bar my language) if that is what they are planning, then hell will break out in the Middle East. I have to say, this thing has gone on for months and months and the political man of the world, both Jew and Gentile and whoever else, think they are going to trade off the lives, the future of the Jew, to some New World Order picture and development. Brothers and sisters: It will not work! We are getting close to the end, the wind up of all of this. I believe with all my heart, somewhere in a few weeks or months ahead of us, there is something going to begin to develop in the prophetic realm, and at the same time there will be something develop within the body of people, that eventually are to become the true body of Christ. I believe that as one element gets closer to a fulfillment of Bible prophecy, the other element will get more mature and ready for their fulfillment of a departure from this world according to prophecy.

WHAT WE ARE ALL LOOKING FOR

The present condition of things all around us, is at a point where God cannot let it continue on and on for the carnal minds to fuss over. He is going to bring Bible prophecy about in reality. Once God starts putting His body of people together and in unity, do not ever think it is going to take years, because those that have a hunger, God is going to put that hunger in there, and He is going to put an inspiration within their minds, so they are going to want it. Their spirits are going to reach out for that spirit of unity. They are going to hunger for it. There is going to be an agreement that will cause a chosen people to begin to move together. True headship is essential in that sense, but that does not mean the ministry is to be worshiped like Christ. It literally means this, He, who is the mystical head, will definitely inspire the visible head that is the living ministry to the Bride; and their word will be the word of God, because He will give them what they are to speak. Keep in mind, when Paul wrote about this five fold ministry, he did not take that off the top of his head. He saw that as a development of a true ministry that started on the day of Pentecost. When he wrote this in 64 A.D. he could look back through the years from the Upper Room, down into the streets, through all the conflicts, Paul could see exactly how God began to raise up men that fulfilled these other ministries. As they did though, not one of them pushed himself beyond that main spokesman, which was Paul. You everyone know that. I do not say these things to make people think I am trying to be something beyond what God has called me to be. However when I see things from the writings of Bro. William Branham, how they have been developed and how they have been laying there for a number of years without being fully understood, and then see how God has used the Contender through the years to help people get straightened out on what the prophet had said and how it is presented in the Bible, I bow my head and have to say, Thank You Lord. I love my brothers and sisters, but I also believe it is foolish for people to play church. When they begin to say, Well I think So and So ought to have as much importance as Bro. So and So, I just want to remind you of this scriptural fact, The laity has never put anything together. It is just the opposite. It is God putting the laity together through His anointed spokesman, because, from the head comes the inspiration of the thoughts and things to engraft into their thinking. It is only when those carnal minds begin to rise up with differences of opinions and different revelations, that they begin to go off and draw away disciples after themselves.

PAUL’S INSTRUCTIONS TO THE ELDERS OF EPHESUS

Paul said this to the elders of Ephesus, when he spoke to them the last time, I know that after my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. In Acts 20:17, We see that Paul sent for those elders of Ephesus. “And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.” Now we will read his words to them, starting in verse 27. “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. (28) Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. (29) For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. (30) Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (31) Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. (32) And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Those grievous wolves were not town drunks. No, they were converts to the Christian faith, they had been sitting there, contemplating, calculating, What can I do to get a little bit more attention, to create more interest in what the Lord has shown me? When they thought Paul was gone for good, they were not long in shaking the bushes and showing themselves. That is why I want to say this, That same spirit is still lurking around the Church even yet today. As I read from the different things this morning, look what men have done with what Bro. William Branham said. God have mercy. From nation to nation, people sit waiting for him to raise up from the dead. I have said many times, He will not be resurrected until it is time for all the other saints to be resurrected. It is mighty easy to say, Bro. William Branham is going to raise up and finish his ministry, but only scripturally unlightened people still look for that. People who have been enlightened by a revelation of the word of God, know that he has already finished his preaching and prophesying ministry on earth. Therefore I ask you who believe that, Where is the reality in such an expectation? What is it supposed to accomplish? To think, that many of his followers have sat in the middle of the road for almost forty years, waiting for Bro. William Branham to come back alive, and knowing they do not know a bit more right today than they did forty years ago, is almost overwhelming. It is because they refuse to listen to anything other than his forty year old tapes. The Holy Spirit cannot speak to them, because they are deft to anything else. They just read and assume and settle it like that. Well the time has come, God is raising up a new generation. He is raising up a ministry that will not be repetitionists and quoters, but will be honest, sincere and upright men that have allowed God to teach them, lead them, and direct them and use them to help people. Now they come to a strategic hour in time that God can begin to put into them a picture of what the body of Christ is going to look like and she is going to come into unity. A brother and I were talking awhile ago, if everybody that has come through these doors and sat in these seats and been on this platform, were here tonight this building would not hold them. Through the years they have come and said, Oh we are with you Bro. Jackson, and in a year or two they are gone, because they ran into a snag of something they could not agree upon. I did not create the situation that caused them to depart. I just preach the truth God reveals to me, and naturally those who have an agenda of their own, would disagree, because that is how they pull away others that are not true believers. I could go back and get some of the old tapes of some men twenty five years ago. Things that they preached on my platform, taking advantage as if I did not know any better, but I respected them and did not create an ugly scene. Out of respect I ignored the things they preached, knowing that I had taught the people from what God had revealed to me from His word. However there has to be an end to that kind of relationship as time is running out. That is why I said, I sent word to Richard Gan, months and months ago, when he wanted to come back to Faith Assembly, that it would not be right for him to come. I wrote him, and I still have the letter showing that I plainly told him, I know some of the things you have published and put out there among the people, and Ben Howard did the same thing. Ben Howard from Georgia, only a few times did he come here to share himself with us in the convention. He wrote a lot of good things through the years. We are not talking about the good things he wrote. It is the other things that do not even make sense spiritually, but it looked good to him, that I must look at. Those things actuality made him feel like he was the one big important figure to take the message out here, believing that God will use his message to bring about a finished product. Well it never did that; and it never will. When he went to the Philippines at the end of 1996 and into 1997, disagreeing with me to the people over there that we had already ministered to, and the minister that had worked with us through the years fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. I am thankful to God, that the people had a better knowledge of the truth than the minister did. When they realized he was not going to stay with what we had said and printed, they left him. Through the months since then, I have been told that he deteriorated to nothing. It is a shame, because he had told me of the sacrifices he had made when God told him to move from one of the islands in the Philippines, to move to Manila to start a work there. He went through all of that to get it started, then we went to minister with him and sent Contenders to support him, only to learn that he had let somebody else come along with a revelation of his own that derailed him, sidetracked him, and it took the people themselves to rise up and say, We will not go along with that. I am saying these things today, because God has a people on earth today that He is going to deal with, and true believers will rejoice in what they hear from God’s ordained ministry. We are not a people that can go down the road of life listening to everybody and his message, and believing that God is going to accept all of this. You just as well get that out of your mind. God does not work the way many of these supposed-to-be anointed ministers try to make people believe He does. He did not honor anything but truth two thousand years ago, and neither did He in the Middle Ages, and therefore you can be assured that He is not going to be any different now. He is going to wash us with the washing of water by the word, just like the apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian assembly. Go with me to Ephesians 5:25, and we will read a few verses. He said, “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” When God gets through washing us, we will be free of every carnal idea of our human mind; and He is going to replace all of that with understanding of the scriptures. No matter how small, it is still important, or it would not have been written. Those things are going to stand out vividly, and we are going to meet the conditions of every bit of it. To some people it will bring about hurt feelings. Bro. Jackson, why did you handle Tim McKay like you did? I wish some of you knew half as much as you think you know. I will look all of you in the eye and say to poor Bro. Tim, You have never put anything together yet, and you are not going to put anything together for me. There are other men that have put something together that is acceptable with God. I am looking for men who know how to take truth and put something together and stand and be faithful with it. There are a lot of things I could say, but for the sake of respect of other men, I keep a lot of it to myself. I have traveled this world over for years. I have sacrificed my time and my energy to go and speak truth. Never have I went to Norway and worked against Bro. Strommen with anybody. When I began to see in him something that I felt like he could be a benefit to people, I wanted to do my best to support the man and bring him here to share it with you in the states and Canada. It was not you who brought him here, I am the one that chose to bring him here. The man had every opportunity to stand with me one hundred percent, in line with what I had stood for those number of years. I realize I have gotten older, but do not ever think I got dumber also. I know what I am looking at. When it became obvious that he wanted to change a few things I had stood for, even though it was done very slowly, I knew they wanted some things to be changed. I began to see things that most of you did not see, or if you did, you did not care. I did not go to Norway for twenty some years and waste my time, spending God’s money to establish an idea and attitude like that. I also want to say this, The poor sister at Bloomington, that wrote about how I was supposed to die, I want that poor sister to understand one thing, that I know this was not started out two and a half years ago: That started eighteen years ago. In her e-mail she said, It was only an opinion. Well, eighteen years ago it was not an opinion; it was stated very plainly. Let me tell you something, I believe that true sisters can be used of God in a spiritual way, but they are not blabbermouths and run-arounds, with their nose stuck in everything, everywhere, wanting to be a big “I” and everyone else a little “you.” There will be no preacher used by God, who is nothing but an influence for a few women. I will never go anywhere to listen to him, now that I know where he stands. They may think the sun rises and sets in him, but I don’t have time to listen to him. There are men who have been here; and only God knows the turmoil they have gone through to stand for something that is truth. I have time to be patient with people, but I have not the time to back off and give myself into sentimentality for a few minds that want to play with certain issues. I know what I have preached through the years; and I still stand firmly for every bit of it. Bro. David Brumley said to me the other day, Bro. Jackson, when I first met you in 1964, down in North Carolina, I never will forget this. On the platform there was a chart you had put there. To the left hand side you had Adam and Eve, in the beginning of time, but you had that chart broke down into eight days. Over here at the end was the eighth day, that is the eternal day. You were teaching it back then, and you have still taught it, only added more light to it. Brothers and sisters, I never had to change it. I have to say tonight, I am not the only one that can teach these things. I will say this, If God has used me to lay the groundwork of it, then He will use some other men to come along and take the pieces and draw a specific picture of it, so that it will sink into your heart and you will have to say Amen. That is right. The Bible was Amen, two thousand years ago, and it is still Amen. It means the same thing. God does not require us to back off and give place to human flesh. I will say this to any man, Look back through the years at how many that have sat on this platform. Some only sat there, hoping they could find an opportunity to get into a position of authority or something to promote themselves. I say this again, Eighteen years ago when that sister first said that about me, it was not just an opinion then, it was supposed to be a revelation from God. Then as time comes and goes, and the pressure comes on, then you can always change the meaning, Well I did not mean it that way. I will call you a hypocrite, because whatever I teach from this pulpit, it will be the same next week and next year. I say to my brothers and sisters, Do not get hurt at me: I have to preach this way. God is going to have a people put together by a group of men that know what they are talking about. You can think whatever you want to about their flesh, but that revelation of truth that bears heavy in their heart, God is going to use it to put us together in unity. I just have to say, God, put me together with other men who stand for truth. I do not mean to deliberately be abusive or harsh, but when I think of the number of hypocrisies that have gone unchecked through the years, I realize I have a responsibility to look into some of it. Twenty years ago there was a dear brother that lives in another state, came here. I do not know why he came up here. He was going to stay at Paul & Naomi’s house. After he got here, he called my house and asked to come and talk with me. I said it would be alright. You can come on up. He came in and sat down; and then he said, Bro. Jackson, I had a dream. In the dream, you had died. That was twenty years ago. He made some comments about something that he had to say when the funeral was over. At that time, twenty some years ago, I said, Brother, I don’t know when God is going to take me out of this world, but let me tell you something, Do not sit around contemplating, hoping that somebody dies to get out of your way. If you are just burning up and want to get in front of something and try to show the world who you are and what you are, I say to you, God does not lead that way. How many understand me? I respect people for whatever good I see in them, but God has never given me a dream of somebody dying. As I said a few nights ago, There were some older people in the congregation through the years, and when they took sick and went to the hospital, there was an impression that came over me, and it was just like saying, That brother, or sister will never come out of the hospital: this is their end. I never told anybody, but I knew I would preach their funeral. Every case was just like that. I will never forget a dream I had one night, concerning Bro Glenn. In the dream I was taken into a hospital. I was taken into a delivery room where babies are born. Laying there on a table was two little newborn babies. I thought, Why am I in here like this? That night his wife had given birth to twins, but they were born dead. He called and told me about it. I had to preach their funeral. I do not remember what I said, because that was my first experience with anything like that. I am saying these things people, to let you know, if you want to have the mind of God on something, learn to take some things and keep them in your heart. Don’t go blabbing down the road of life how much you know, when you don’t know what it is going to lead to. I am not John Dillinger, so don’t be afraid of me, I don’t have a gun in my pocket, but when I talk, I have no intention of hiding in a corner somewhere and saying, Now I hope you will all listen to me. Do you know, I think it could be thus and so. Men of God do not present themselves like that. That little sweet talking stuff, I have no time for it. I will say it again, A true man of God does not conduct himself like that. I love people, but nobody is going to sell me for a cheap mess of junk when I have stood here for years to give people something worth having, and then have some of them come along and think they know more than I know. I realize we are living in a very trying time, but out in this world of religion there are thousands of spirits getting hold of peoples mind and drawing them into a mess of foolishness. To be a Christian is the first thing in my heart. I want to live Christ-like in every way. That is why, when I first saw and heard Bro. William Branham I said, I saw a man that made Jesus of the Bible so simple. I saw in that little man a life style that exemplified Christlikeness. I never said I wanted to comb my hair like him and shine my shoes the way he did. No Saints: But there was a character portrayed by him, that made me want to live like that. I wanted something in his life to pass off onto mine. I learned one thing, when I watched that man, he could carry on a conversation with a sinner and never embarrass the sinner. In watching other preachers, it seemed like the first thing they wanted to do to the sinner was condemn him or her and remind them, I am a minister. Not William Branham. I will never forget one time when he went on a hunting trip in the mountains. As the day came and went, he wound up with a bad headache. When night came and they all came back to camp and fixed supper, he had gone into his tent to lay down. His head hurt so bad, he did not feel like eating. The business men that were with him had invited a doctor to share the hunting trip with them. When the doctor heard that Bro. William Branham was not eating, the doctor asked permission to talk with him. Bro. William Branham told me, that doctor came into the tent and knelt beside the cot. He asked me, Do you have any reserved ideas about a doctor or anything like that. Bro. William Branham said, Absolutely not. Then the doctor asked, Would you allow me to do some therapy on your muscles. Bro. William Branham said, Anything you want to do that would deliver me from this headache, is fine with me: please do. He was a chiropractor. He started along his spine and gave him certain adjustments, then wound up taking some muscles and massaging them. He said, Bro. Jackson, when he got done, my headache was gone. He sat up and began to talk to the doctor. As the doctor had ministered to him, now Bro. William Branham was going to minister to the doctor. He said to him, You have never killed a deer, have you? He said, No sir. He said, If you believe what I am going to tell you, tomorrow at a certain place, and he described how the place would look and said, When you come to that place, you stay there, and don’t change your position. There will be a deer come out from a certain angle, that will be your opportunity to shoot it. That is the way it worked out. I saw in that little man a pure motive and a Christ-like attitude, that can make sinners sit up and take notice. I believe, if we are really true Christians, we are not going down the road of life putting on a show. We are going down this road of life doing our best to live like Christ every day. It is not preaching every day, but it is living Christ-like every day in our conduct and in how we treat our fellow man. I believe as a body of people, the hour is soon coming, when we will get closer and closer together in unity, because everything that is described in this Bible is going to be restored one hundred percent. Every gift is going to be in operation. By God’s grace, we have had to deal with this situation in the past two and half years, but I never did it to be mean or excessively rough. I know how things were going, and had it not been dealt with, some of the sisters, maybe two or three of you, would have been following that character around in your automobiles, wearing your tires out, giving glory to him rather than glory to God. You would never have been worth a dime to this, or any congregation. I am not looking for special, elite people. How many know what I have said? I said elite people, specialists, commandos or whatever. You are what you are by the grace of God, that is all you will ever be, so do not try to be a commando, a super duper somebody. God never had that kind, and never will. Only the world produces that kind of stuff. He gives you a measure of His grace, and He never gives you a short measure of anything. He gives you exactly what you have the potential to use properly, so you should live and be just exactly what He wants you to be. When we all begin to grow and learn to have respect for one another, we will not look upon each other to brag, like, I have more than he has, I have more than she has. You cease to see anything like that, you just give thanks to God, that you are a part of a body of believers that have been saved by His grace and the shed blood of His only begotten Son, knowing it takes us all together to demonstrate the true body of Christ. It is my desire that Faith Assembly can be seen by the world, through the internet, that we are saints of God and not just a bunch of Charismatics sitting here like we just came in from the golf course, in all sorts of attire. We are saints that God is dealing with, to get us molded into a functioning body that will think and act Christ-like, at home, at work, at church or wherever we are. I realize correction is distasteful, but it is scriptural and very necessary. Some will say, Oh Bro. Jackson, it would be wonderful, if we did not have to deal with things like this, so that we could just come together and not have all this opposition. Yes. That would be wonderful, but if we did not have this, we would have something else. Did not Jesus say in John 16:33, that we would have tribulation? “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” In Him, we have eternal life. We do not have to do anything to bring tribulation upon us, we just determine to live for Him each day and say, Lord, help me today to be what you want me to be. You never know what is coming up the road that you might have to meet and pass. Regardless of what comes our way, Jesus is present to help us. When it is all said and done, we might have to stop and help somebody fix a flat tire, not out of obligation, but willingly out of generosity. I have to say tonight, God is going to mold us as He puts us together, and there is not going to be any one of us seen as a super duper person. Each one of us is going to be exactly what we are supposed to be. As we become more and more in unity, willingly and enthusiastically and not grudgingly, we will see the disagreements going away, we will see the flesh side of our makeup going away. We will begin to get to the place where we enjoy seeing each other more and more. We will not be looking for the short comings of our brothers and sisters, we will rather begin to look at each other and say, What can I do to help that brother, or what can I do to encourage that sister? Those gifts of the Spirit are going to come just as easy as it clouds up and rains. Well Bro. Jackson, how can that be? If you have the Holy Spirit in your life, the potential is already laying there. That is a scriptural fact. I am going say this, then I am going to close for tonight. A week ago tonight, a brother who used to be here years ago, but now lives about six hundred miles from here, told me a dream he had. In the dream, he appeared in front of me, and I called him by name and said, Brother, get ready, there is something coming. He said, Bro. Jackson, all day Monday, I could not get that off of my mind. He does not know what I have been dealing with, he does not know what we have been dealing with in the past two and half years. I said to him, Brother, that is an absolute fact, there is a move coming from the presence of God, and it is not going to knock people down to where they will shake, twist and yell. It is going to be something that will knock some sense into us. It is going to give us a willingness to learn something. From here to yon, the body of Christ is going to come together. We are going to do it willingly and enthusiastically, because we are all wanting to get out of this miserable world and be with our Blessed Lord Jesus.