Desperation
no 36
20th
Century examples of Biblical Desperation
July 6, 2016
Brian
Kocourek, Pastor
This evening we
will continue in our study of brother Branham's sermon, Desperation and we will
read several stories tonight about certain believers who through desperation we
made whole. These stories he tells us were not to build up his own legacy, but
rather they were given us as examples of people who through desperation, their
faith was completed by the manifestation of their revelation.
87
Look. If Florence Nightingale, the great-granddaughter of the late Florence
Nightingale that founded the Red Cross...
Let me just say something here for the record. Her full name is
Florence Nightingale Shirlaw, SHE WAS BORN IN 1915 and passed away in 1992.
Some unbelievers are trying to make an issue of this quote we just read, and
this testimony of Br. Branham in this sermon. But she was named after her great
grandmother Florence nightingale, and to me that is the thing brother Branham
was telling us in this sermon.
You never hear br. Branham calling Billy Paul Branham by his full name.
He always called him Billy Paul because that is the way of the South. When
people speak of George Walker Bush, they don't call him that, they call him GW
as distinguished from GH his father.
We as believers in this Message know br. Billy Paul as just that name,
but actually his birth name is William Paul Branham. But for people to make
issues on such shows they are not interested in the facts namely, Florence
Nightingale was healed by God through the prayer of William Branham. Rather
they try to find someone else's testimony that was there to see if there are
any variations to it, and then strike at the variations to try to prove the
testimony as false.
If they wish to play that game then they must do so also with the
Scriptures, and I can give them many testimonies in Scripture where Matthew or
John testified of certain things they saw one way and then we see Mark or Luke
having some things in their testimonies that were not in the testimonies of the
others. Does that negate those records, and make them lies? Is not then why
would they try to do that with the testimony of William Branham.
It shows they are not believers, and are not looking at the record, and
the fact that yes, the woman was dying with cancer and was extremely thin, and
yes William Branham prayed for her and she was healed.
One version of Scripture says when Paul was met by the Pillar of fire
that they all heard the voice and saw the light. Another version tells us no
one saw the light or heard the voice but Paul.
Acts 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the
synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women,
he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. 3 And as he journeyed, he came
near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice
saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it
is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what
wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told
thee what thou must do. 7 And the men which journeyed with him stood
speechless, hearing a
voice, but seeing no man.
Acts 22:6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my
journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from
heaven a great light round about me. 7 And I fell
unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? 8 And I
answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am
Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. 9 And
they that were with me saw indeed the
light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
Then again in
the same book of Acts we hear it somewhat a different way.
Acts 26:13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the
sun, shining round about me and them
which journeyed with me. (So Paul says here he saw the
light and them that were with him saw it as well) 14 And when we
were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice
speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
Now, the make believer which is nothing less than an unbeliever who
hangs around long enough to find fault, will have a real problem with this.
What apparently seems to be contradictions in the Scripture. Yet both of these
instances are written by the same person Luke who wrote the Book of Acts. One
instance he is telling the story of what happened, and another he is quoting
Paul who is telling the same story but with some facts slightly different.
Does that mean we should take the Book of Acts and through it out? NO!
it means that the details are not important, but the Message is important, God
stopped Paul and knocked him from his horse and spoke to him. Now, whether
others heard that voice or not doesn't matter, what matters because God was not
talking to them, he was talking to Paul, and Paul heard it.
But if you really want to nail this down, look at the words Paul used
when he spoke of the others not hearing in Acts 22:9 And
they that were with me saw indeed the
light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.
The word hear was translated from a Greek word "akou" which
means not only to hear but to understand what they hear. Apparently Paul is
saying they heard but did not understand what they heard. We hear Jesus explain
this phenomena in Matthew 13.
Matthew 13: 10 And the disciples came, and
said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He
answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to
know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not
given. 12 For whosoever hath, (echoes) to him shall be
given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath (echoes)not, from him shall
be taken away even that he thinks he hath (echoes). 13 Therefore speak I to
them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. (notice Jesus is
telling us it is not that they don't hear it, but what they hear they don't
understand. Hear means to understand.)14 And in them is
fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye
shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see,
and shall not perceive: 15 For this people's heart
is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of
hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand
with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
So let's read Acts 22 from another translation where they chose to
place the right translated word for "akou" which the KJV translated as "hear"...
In the NIV we read this story as this. 9 My
companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
Now although it is nice to hear testimonies from people who attended
Br. Branham's meetings, of what they saw take place in those meetings, yet when
there is a conflict in details between what they saw and what brother Branham
saw occurring in those meetings, I would rather side with a voice that has been
vindicated than any other voice that tells the story. "Say what is on the tapes and only what is on those
tapes."
That is why God tells us in Psalms 103:7 He (God) made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.
Now, this tells us that although Moses
and the people may have seen the same supernatural things take place, Moses knew
and understood what they were all about where as the people only saw what took
place but were left without an understanding as to what they meant.
And that is why you see God's vindicated prophets have one testimony
while the others who were also there saw the same thing but some details were
not important to them and so they leave them out when telling the same story.
Let's look at another example of what looks like
it could be a discrepancy in the Scriptures but really isn't if you understand
the Godhead properly.
In
Exodus 33:20 God
said, : for there shall no man see me,
and live.
Now, this tells us that no man can see the face of God and live,
right? And who is being quoted here by Moses? It is God is being quoted.
And in the new testament we hear the Apostle John also say
in John 1:18: No
man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared him.
And yet there are several Scriptures that
definitely tell us that certain ones actually saw God.
Let's
take for example Jacob. Genesis 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life
is preserved.
Exodus 24:9-10 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and
Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: 10 And
they saw the God of Israel:...
And
verse 11 And upon the nobles of the children of
Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and
did eat and drink.
Judges 13:21 But the angel of the LORD did no more
appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD. 22 And
Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen
God.
And
in Hebrews 12:14 we
are told that it is possible to see God, but there are conditions which first
must be met to see him. "Follow peace with all men, and
holiness, without which no man shall see
the Lord:"
And we see again
by the writings of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 that it is possible to see God.
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face: now I know in
part; but then shall I know even as also
I am known.
Therefore, If God said "no man can see Me and
live", and John said "no
man has seen God at any time", and then the Apostle Paul
comes along and says, "we will see Him face to face", therefore
is Paul contradicting Scripture? Was Moses contradicting what God said when he wrote
in Genesis the Story of Jacob, and of Aaron, and Nadab, and
Abihu, and seventy of the
elders of Israel, that they
all saw God and lived?
By using the theology of those who try to make William Branham out to
be a liar because his testimony of what took place with sister Florence
nightingale was more full in detail than another man who was there and had
written about, according to their theology, Paul then had to be wrong, and
therefore a liar and so was Moses wrong and a liar as well. And therefore according
to their theology we should not listen to these two men because their
testimonies were contrary to God's testimony and the Apostle John.
Or maybe they have chosen to believe Paul and Moses against John and
God. or maybe they just don't understand their Bible.
You see how ludicrous these people are in their attacks of God's
vindicated prophet? But you can always tell a liberal mind when they have rules
for themselves and change those rules for ones they do not like.
Now, let's move on now with our reading from Desperation, and we will
pick up where we left off.
"You seen her picture in
the book, weighed about thirty pounds.
Cancer had eat her up. In London, England... They brought her from Africa to London,
England. And there in despair... Brother Bosworth wrote back and told her,
said, "We can't come to Africa."She just wrote back, had the nurse to
write and said, "I can't be moved. I can't do it." Showed the
picture... You seen the picture. Only we had to put a little piece over it.
It just had a small cord around. I
thought maybe somebody, put in the book, might criticize because her body was
so exposed there, and we put a little thing across her here. She just had a
little a rag or towel laying across her hips, but up above there was nothing.
And even... But we thought we'd put a little piece 
of paper on there and
photograph the photograph back. Keeps the people who's not got
right kind of a position in their mind of thinking, that they
wouldn't criticize me putting that picture in the paper.
He knew there would be people criticize this story,
so they made a paper cutout and placed it over her picture to cover her
privates and give her some dignity.
88 And
then, when the doctor said that she can't be moved, and she knowed I was going
to visit England, she had them to put her on a stretcher, and pack her to a plane,
and bring her to London, England, and send a guard out to the plane before
going down to Buckingham Palace, sent a guard out there to come pray for her.
And she was so far gone until she couldn't even speak to me. They had to raise
her hands to put it in mine.
89 You know how London is, some
of you soldiers been there. It's always so foggy. And I knelt down there by the
side of a window, and she, the tears was running off. She wanted to... I don't
know how she even got enough moisture to let tears come. It was just only
bones, skin over them; and her legs up here at the hips wasn't over about,
looked to me like about two inches across, or three inches. Her veins was
collapsed. How she was living, I don't know. You seen her
picture later. I knelt
down by the side of the bed. Now, she was desperate. Whether I could come
or not, they're going to bring her anyhow.
90 And I got down there; my heart was
a-bleeding within me of the faith of that poor, little, dying creature, and I
prayed with all the heart that I had. And while I started to pray, a little turtledove come flew on the
window, begin to walk up and down, cooing. I thought it was a pet. I hadn't
been in England but about an hour, just coming from the airport down there. And
I thought it was a pet, and when I
raised up and said, "Amen," it flew away. And I started to ask
the brethren, did they hear that dove. And they were talking about it, and when
I started to say, "Did you see... what
that dove mean?" It come out, "THUS
SAITH THE LORD, you'll live and not die." And she's living today. Why? Desperation. Desperation drove the woman
to take a stand, live or die. Desperation arranged it that she got there at the
same time I did. And a token from God, He sent a dove to give THUS SAITH THE
LORD: desperate.
Now, those who
are criticizing brother Branham's testimony here show the record of a certain
man that was there and that man confirmed that brother Branham prayed for
Florence Nightingale Shirlaw and she was healed, but her full recovery took
some weeks. And this person although vouched for what he saw of William Branham
praying for her and her being healed, never mentioned the doves or the
"Thus Saith the Lord" in his rendition, so these unbelievers say it
never happened, and brother Branham gave false testimony.
You see how
polluted with evil from Satan their minds have become? Since when does one
telling a story and leaving out a detail or two, throw out another person's
version where the details are in the story. In Fact what this man's testimony
does is to confirm brother Branham's testimony.
Now, let's
continue reading from brother Branham' sermon Desperation. 91 When Sister Hattie Waldrop of Phoenix, Arizona, she
was coming up the sidewalk in my first meeting... The intern and her husband
was bringing her: cancer of the heart.
She'd made her stand to try to get there to the meeting, but she was so bad she
couldn't breathe no more; the blood was dropping back through her heart where
the cancer had eat into her heart. Now, cancer
of the heart... That's about eighteen, nineteen years ago, maybe twenty;
1947 is when it was. Now, she said to her husband and the intern, "If, though I die in this line, take me up
there." Desperation; she
lost conscious. I don't think she was
dead; she claims she was. Now, she
might have been. She may hear this tape. You see? Now, she claims she was dead; I don't know. They told me, "There's a dead woman coming up the line."
And when the woman come by, she was
lifeless. And when they brought her
up there, the Word of the Lord came; and I went and laid hands upon her, and
she rose up and went home walking. This has been about, I'd say, safely,
eighteen years ago, and she's just as healthy and hearty... She'll be at Tucson
to meet me when I get down there. Desperation: "Though I die in the road,
still, but get me down there. He healed others; He will heal me."
Willing...
Now, let me read the testimony of sister Hattie
Waldrop of Phoenix Arizona.
"Last
September I went to Dr. Weldon Baker, North Second Street, Phoenix, Arizona. and
he made two x-rays. He found that I bad a bad case of colitis, that my heart
was enlarged from poison, that only one-fifth of my liver was active, and that
there were several stones as big as my thumbnail on the right side. of my
liver. I started on a six. week treatment, but became very sick.. Dr. Anderson
attended me and said I had cancer, but had waited too long before getting help.
I became very sick and couldn't take any more treatments. My colon had to be
opened up to permit the waste to pass through. I had a very bad spell. Dr.
Baker came, and the saints were praying when he got there. He told me later
that I had been dead two minutes, but that Jesus had heard the saints' cries.
I was in bed nine
weeks and lost 40 pounds. At times I was so bad that I could not swallow water
for five days. Then came the announcement that William Branham was coming to
Phoenix the second of March to pray for the sick and afflicted. My husband was
at church early that first Sunday night, but Brother Branham was unable to get
to me. Nor was he able to get to me the following night, although I witnessed
many miracles of the healing of others. The next day I was taken again, but
when I reached the church I became very sick. They brought a cot for me, but I
don't remember when I laid down.
The first I knew,
Brother Branham was talking to me, saying: "Look at me sister." At first it was just a
faint whisper, but the third time he repeated it I tried to open my eyes. After
a while I could see him and he asked me if I believed what he told me. I said,
"Yes, because I
could gee the angel standing beside you." Brother Branham then
said, "Sister,
your faith has saved you. That cancer was all over your stomach, but God has
healed you. Every root is cursed and you will be well if you continue to
believe, although it will take a month or six weeks for this to rot away".
In 72 hours from now you will be very sick and in great pain, but just believe
through it all."
Then the Lord spoke through Brother Branham, and a warm oil started through my
head outside and inside and went to my feet. As it went down, the pain left
entirely and I felt very strong. I got off the cot shouting and dancing and was
able to attend Five other services Brother Branham held in Phoenix.
When the 72 hours
were up, I became very ill, and hurt so badly I couldn't even cry. I was
terribly sick for a little over two weeks, then I began to eat anything I
wanted, where before I had been living on fruit juices and soup. Seven weeks
after I had been prayed for, I had several more x-rays taken and these showed I
was entirely healed. Dr. Baker told me that I might tell all of this, and he
would gladly show the x-rays to anyone who would like to see them, or he would
talk to them personally. I am praising Jesus for it!"
MRS. Hattie
Waldrop Adams Street Phoenix, Arizona
92 Let our hearts be filled with love in this
day, and be earnest, and in desperation. After while it
may be too late. Jairus one time had a little daughter that was
dying. He was a borderline believer.
He believed Jesus, but he was afraid to confess it, because they'd put him out
of the synagogue. But the doctor come one morning and said, "She's dying now." Desperation set in. He couldn't afford, as his position, to
be caught with Jesus of Nazareth, because he'd lose his position as a priest.
But I tell you; when emergency come, it
threw him to desperation. I can see him hunting for his little preacher's
coat and hat, and slipped it on. Here he comes down through the crowd, pressing
around, where there was a woman just touched His garment, and so forth, and
they was all shouting. But he went in and said, "Master,
my little girl's laying at the point of death. Master, Master, my little girl's
laying at the point of death, and if You'll just come lay Your hands on her,
she'll live." Oh, my. Desperation makes you say things
sometimes, makes you do things, and puts you into action. His daughter was saved by the
desperation.
93 Let's be desperate, like that little woman with the blood issue.
The Bible said she'd spent all of her money with the physicians and yet they
couldn't help her. She'd started time of menopause to flooding, and a blood
issue, and it wouldn't stop. They'd maybe sold the farm, the mules, the horses,
and whatever it was; and nothing could help her. And the priest had told her
never to go around such as that. But one morning she looked down. She lived up
on the bank, up there where her farm was; she seen a great bunch of people
gathering around a Man down there, and they said, "What is
that?"Said, "That's Jesus of Nazareth." Desperation set
in. She said, "I'm kind of insignificant... But if I can
only touch the border of His garment, I'll be made well." And she passed by every critic and everything else.
But then she got to the spot; she touched His garment, and desperation... And
when He did, He turned and said, "Who touched Me?"
And they all denied it. But He looked around. He was possessed with a great
gift of God. He was God; and He found the little woman and told her blood issue
had stopped. Desperation drove her to do
that.
94
It was desperation that drove the Queen of the South. She heard that the gift
of God was working through Solomon. Desperation
drove her to that. Desperately. That's human beings, like you,
like me. They wasn't any different from you and I. They had five
senses. They eat, and drink, and so forth like we do, live and die. They were
human beings. It drove her into such
desperation till she took part of her kingdom. It drove her to a place till
she didn't think about the Ishmaelites who'd rob her on the desert, her ninety
days on the back of a camel cross the Sahara Desert. Desperation, she's going
anyhow. And when she got there, there was nothing held from Solomon but what he
told her the things that she wanted to know. Desperation. Jesus said she'll rise in the day of the judgment with this generation and
condemn it, 'cause a greater than Solomon is here. Desperation.
Let us pray.