Joseph the Prophet
April 16, 2002
Melchisedec pp. 172 Now,
when He was here and was made flesh, He was called the Son of man. Now, how did
He make Himself known to the world as Son of man, the Prophet? One day... I was
telling a story of Peter and Andrew his brother. They were fishermen, and their
father Jonas was a great old believer. One day they said he set down on the
side of the boat. He said, "Sons, you know how we prayed when we needed
fish." (They was commercial fishermen.) He said, "We've trusted God,
Jehovah, for our living. And I'm getting old now; I can't stay with you boys
much longer. And I've always--with all the true believers--have looked for the
time when that Messiah will come. We've had all kinds of false ones, but
there's coming a real One someday." And he said, "When this
Messiah comes, I don't want you boys to be deceived. This Messiah will not
be just a theologian; He will be a Prophet. For our prophet Moses, of who
we follow, he said..." Now, any Jew will believe his prophet. He's taught
to know that. And if the prophet says anything that's so, then that's truth.
But God said, "If there be one among you spiritual or a prophet, I the
Lord will make Myself known to him. And what he says comes to pass then hear
him and fear him. But if it don't, then don't hear him at all." See? So
that was the vindication of the prophet.
Now, Brother Branham is
speaking of vindication here. He is quoting from Deuteronomy 18. So let’s read
it for ourselves.
Vindication is the real issue concerning our faith. Not
so much that it was God who backed up William Branham's Message, for all
Pentecostal people believe that God works out of heaven and does fantastic
things. They will even allow for God to come down to do certain things, but the
understanding that this Vindication comes in the form of God's Personal Presence
with His prophet, and that this Presence was referred to by Brother Branham
himself as the Appearing of Christ has become the central doctrinal debate
within the "Message clergy" because it comes into direct conflict
with their understanding of the Second coming of Christ as they have always
perceived it, and this is due to the fact that they do not understand Godhead
correctly.
A
close study of this principle of vindication will help us to understand better
that when it comes to the program of
God, we have absolutely no say as to what will happen. All God requires from
you and me is to get ourselves out of the way and allow God to work through his
chosen channel, which according to Amos 3:7 is always a prophet.
AMOS 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be
afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done [it]? 7 Surely the
Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the
prophets.
8 The lion hath roared, who will not
fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
And we know God is very protective of His own Words.
ISAIAH 55:10
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may
give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So
shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me
void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the
thing] whereto I sent it.
Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD thy
God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;16 According to all that thou
desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let
me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great
fire any more, that I die not. 17 And the LORD said unto me, They
have well spoken that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them
up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words
in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words
which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20 But
the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not
commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even
that prophet shall die. 21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we
know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 22 When a prophet
speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass,
that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken
it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
Now there is a difference
between the prophet of Deuteronomy 18 and Deuteronomy 13. One prophet has
dreams and visions but is not God’s mouth-piece perse’. The other is the
literal mouth of God to the people. That is the difference between a five-fold
prophet and a major Word Prophet.
Deuteronomy 13:1
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and
giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to
pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which
thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken
unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your
God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul. 4 Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and
fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve
him, and cleave unto him. 5 And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams,
shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD
your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of
the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God
commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of
thee.
Notice this type of prophet
is set forth for a test of the people. But with a Word prophet, it is
different. God speaks through their lips directly to the people.
God Identified
by His Characteristics, 64-0311 p. 2 Go, seek them out; check them with the
Word and see if they're right or not. See? And then don't take your own
theology; just take it the way the Bible is written. See, many times we
can say, "It means this; this is what It means." God
don't need any interpreter; He interprets His Own Word.
See? God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. That
didn't need--need any interpretation. He... It happened just the
way He said. He said, "A virgin shall conceive," and she did. That
don't need any interpretation. God has promised certain things
for this age that's got to come to pass. He said it;
it don't need interpretation then. God said so, and He interprets
Himself; so therefore, the Bible said It's not without any private interpretation.
God interprets His Own Word by vindicating It.
Therefore, God vindicates
His word to be true by bringing it to pass. Therefore, I believe we ought to be
a people who can sit back and just watch without so much commenting, and
fussing. We ought to have enough Holy Ghost training at this point that we can
sit back and see the alpha in this omega.
Melchisedec 173
"So Moses was truly a vindicated prophet, and he said, 'The Lord
your God shall raise up among you, out of your brethren a Prophet like unto me.
And all that won't hear him will be cut off from the people.'" He said,
"Now, children, remember, that as Hebrews we believe God's vindicated
prophets." Now, listen close; don't miss it. And he said, "When
the Messiah comes, you'll know Him, for He will be a prophet Messiah. Now,
I said, it's been four hundred years; we haven't had a prophet since Malachi.
But He'll be. "And one day after his death, few years, his son Andrew was
strolling along down the bank, and he heard a wild man out of the wilderness
saying, "That Messiah is standing among you now." That big
eagle that raised up over the wilderness and flew over there, said, "The
Messiah's among you right now. We don't know Him yet, but He's standing among
you. I'll know Him, because I'll see a sign coming from heaven." One day
He said, "There, behold, is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the
world." Away he went--went, this man, to find his brother; he said,
"Simon, I want you come over here; we've done found the Messiah."
"Oh, go on, Andrew, you know better than that." "Oh I know, but
this Man is different." "Where is he? Where'd he come from?"
"Jesus of Nazareth." "That little wicked city? Why, he couldn't
come from a wicked, dirty place like that." "You just come and
see." Finally he persuaded him to come down one day. So when he come in
the front of this Messiah, Jesus, standing there speaking to the people, when
he walked up in front of Him, He said, "Your name is Simon, and you are
the son of Jonas." That did it. He got the keys to the Kingdom. Why? He
knowed that that Man did not know him. And how did He know him and that godly
old father who'd taught him how to believe the Messiah?
65 GOING
BEYOND THE CAMP 64-0719E
Now, we find out that in this wilderness... We notice when they token--taken
their stand and come out of Egypt into God's camp, come out of the camp of the
priest and all them saying, "Settle yourself; we're slaves for the rest of
the time."... When Moses the prophet came down and vindicated the Word of
God was at hand, that God Who made the promise was there to deliver the people,
they moved from the camp that they were in into the camp of God's promised Word
of the hour. They believed that prophet, because the sign of vindication was
proving that it was exactly the Word of God. And the things he did proved that
it was right, and the Pillar of Fire followed him along, proved that it was the
Word of God.
53 SEED
OF DISCREPANCY 65-0118
Along come Moses the great prophet to bring the children of Israel up out of
the wilderness. What happened? Moses the great prophet of God, bringing them
the absolutely Truth, vindicated Truth... He had met God. God proved that he
had met Him. How those people back there, those priests, and they had their
religions, their rituals, and rights and everything, but Moses stood as a
vindication of the interpretation of the Word. Don't forget that. Moses was
God's interpretation of His promise. He said He would do it; He was God's
interpretation.
Notice
he said that Moses was God’s interpretation for the Word for that hour. Why?
Because he came just like God said he would come.
89 LEAN
NOT UNTO THY OWN UNDERSTANDING 65-0120
Why were these Pharisees blind? What made them so blind? Because they would
not accept revelation or vindication of the Word. And that's the reason today
that the churches are blind, is because they won't accept revelation that's
being vindicated. If the Word says so, and it's revealed, and then it's
proven, still they won't accept It.
96 LEAN
NOT UNTO THY OWN UNDERSTANDING 65-0120
They would not accept it, because they would not accept vindication.
Jesus come with a--a Gospel, just exactly the way He said He would come. Even
many times...
Now,
in this hour they do not want to accept that the Message of William Branham was
actually God Himself coming forth with a Shout or a Message and vindicating it
by His own presence on earth before the catching away, but William Branham told
us, “My Ministry is to Declare Him, that HE is
Here!” And contrary to some,
William Branham did place a lot of emphasis on the Cloud Picture.
3-2 RISING
OF THE SUN 65-0418M
Well, if you'll turn the picture like this and look (and you can probably see
it from the audience), it's Christ. See His eyes looking here just as perfect
as it could be, wearing the white wig of supreme Deity and Judge of all
heavens and earth? Can you see His eyes, nose, His mouth? Just turn the
picture from this (the way they had it), this a-way, the way it's supposed to
be. And you... Can you see it? He is supreme Judge; there's none other but Him.
And that is a perfect identification again, a vindication that this Message is
the truth. It is true. And making Him, not a third person, but the only Person
with the white... See, you see the
dark, His face, His beard, and His eyes? And notice, He's looking; from Him
comes this Light shining on the right-hand side to which He's looking to. And
on the cross that's where He looked, to the right, where He pardoned the
sinner. In the light of His resurrection we still go forth in His Name.
180 I
HAVE HEARD BUT NOW I SEE 65-1127E Like if you was pouring--taking a match and striking it, if the match
hasn't got the sulfur right on the head of the match, it cannot strike. And you
can rake and rake and rake, but if some chemical has killed the sulfur on
there, it will not strike, there'll be no light. But if that chemical, the
sulfur to strike against the metal will--it's still on there when it strikes,
it'll light. And when the true,
genuine vindication of the Scriptures of this last-day Message, and you see the
Presence of Jesus Christ, that you had heard what He done in His life, and
hearing the Scriptures say He's the same yesterday, today and forever; and
just before the Sodom condition is fired-over with the wrath of God, see Jesus
return amongst His people, formed in human flesh, and do the same thing He
done, my. It ought to spark our souls to glory. It ought to do something to us.
Why? It's dropping on that.
And the same thing applies to
you and I. God has ordained that there will be a people who believe and are
caught up into His Presence. And our own actions show whether we believe or
not.
233 GOD'S
ONLY PROVIDED PLACE OF WORSHIP 65-1128M My action,
and the vindication of God's Word in my life shows whether I'm a child of God
or not.
107 RAPTURE
THE 65-1204 And everybody
wanted Him in his church, but when He set down one day and said, "I and My
Father are One," that was different. That was different. That was
different. "And except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His
Blood, you have no life in you." "Why, he's a vampire." See,
see? That was different. He didn't explain it. They'd already seen the
manifestation, the a-vindication of the Word of God for His age made real and
proved to them that He was that Messenger of that age. And He didn't have to
explain nothing. Those disciples
might not have been able to explain it, but they believed it whether they could
explain it or not. They set right still and believed it. How could they tell if
they was going to eat His flesh and drink His Blood? Why, it was impossible for
them to do it, but they believed it, because they were ordained. Jesus said He
chose them before the foundation of the world. See? They believed it. Whether
they could explain it or not, they still believed it.
62 MODERN
EVENTS MADE CLEAR BY PROPHECY 65-1206
But as it's been in every age, people let men put their own interpretation to
It by theology, and will not believe God's Divine vindication of It. That's
God's interpretation; not what I say, what somebody else says. But what God
has promised and what God does, proves that it's God doing His own interpreting
of His Word.
177 HARVEST
TIME 64-1212 Watch now as
we hurry up through. "When the Spirit of Truth is come, He will teach you
all things, whatever I taught you," oh, my, "bearing all remembrance
to you, what I've said to you, bringing to you, all remembrance. And He will
show you things to come. He will vindicate every Word, confirming the Word
with signs following." Everything that He promised, that God promised
in the Bible, if you'll turn loose from every creed and everything else, and
hold onto the Word, God is obligated to take care of His Word. And so
when they did this, the Word vindicates Itself.
31-5 THIS
DAY THIS SCRIPTURE 65-0219
Now, to preach it... As I said awhile ago, if you preach anything and it's
the Gospel Truth, then God's obligated to vindicate that. Is that true?
Now, if that be so, let the God that wrote the Word, let the God that made the
prophecy, let the God Who is God of the Word come forth and prove that He's
still God.
101 EVENTS
MADE CLEAR BY PROPHECY 65-0801E How
he knowed where he was standing. He knowed exactly. He'd heard from God, and it
was exactly with the Word, so he didn't care what people said. He preached It
and prophesied It anyhow. And watch, when a man stands for what is Truth,
then God's obligated to vindicate that man the truth.
Vindication today is not properly understood,
because the Word of God has not become a reality to the people as should be. To
these people it is still something to fuss over and debate. But God vindicates
his word by bringing it to pass. That is his interpretation of what He
meant. Even in this message, we have
people who are very confused because they do not understand what vindication is
all about. Brethren are running scared right now because Joseph Branham has
declared somewhat of a war on them for sending out the message without his
permission. I would like to ask the question, “why is anyone afraid of any
minister? God said if they speak my word then hear them, and if they do not,
then you don’t have to hear them, period.
If the man is simply a Five-Fold prophet then all he
can do is say what has already been said. If a man is a messenger prophet, then
he will come with a message. Since God Himself came down with a shout, and the
Message is His Message, I do not see what all the fuss is about. Joseph Branham
is not a Messenger Prophet for we have seen our last sign, and a prophet is a
sign to the people. That then leaves one thing. He is a prophet in the realm of
the five-fold.
Now, There are brothers out there who are attacking
Joseph Branham and I do not believe that is right. On the other hand, he has
done his share of attacking publicly and that is not right either. Brother
Branham told us to do our fighting in the back yard.
If Joseph Branham is a Prophet of God, and I believe
he was called to be a prophet of God, it doesn’t necessary mean that he has to
preach, contrary to what some might think.
Joseph in the Old Testament was not a preaching
prophet. He had dreams and could interpret dreams, but he was not a preacher-prophet.
Now, some have tried to publicly destroy him, and I am here today to defend him
as my brother in Christ.
Let me first say this. Brother Branham had a great
love for Joseph in the Old Testament and wanted so much to have a son like him.
At one point he even thought it might be Billy Paul, but that notion was
dispelled when Joseph was born. Now in order to better understand what is
happening now, let’s look at this man Joseph of the Old Testament and let’s
compare his Alpha with today’s Omega.
What was Joseph noted for? What great accomplishment
did he do that he has gone down in the annals of history for? Was it for
dreaming and interpreting dreams? No it was not. That was only a part of the
picture showing that God was with him. The focus of his life, and why God
brought him into the position he had was not for his preaching ability, because
when he did tell his brothers about the dreams and visions he had it only
caused an alienation between him and his brothers.
Was it his relationship with his father? No, not
really, because His father loved his other brothers and loved Benjamin even
more. Then what was he so noted for? It was for putting together a plan to
develop and fill storehouses with food for a time of need. You see, Joseph in
the Old Testament was a tribulation prophet.
His entire life’s work was for the purpose of saving lives during the
great famine of 7 years. Now, that does not mean Joseph Branham will not be Raptured
and have to go through the Tribulation. Some would try to get you to believe
that, but I believe He will be Raptured, just as I believe he is fulfilling His
predestinated role. Besides, it is not for anyone of us to put a brother in or
out of the Rapture. That is God’s Sovereign choosing that does that. But Joseph
Branham is Predestinated by the very
fact that God showed His father he was coming before he came. Now, brother
Branham told the Five-Fold to break the bread and give it to the children, just
as Jesus told the Apostles to do the same. However, when the Rapture does come,
the True Five-Fold will depart from the earth and there will be no one left to
break it down for the people. I believe then the people will be completely
dependent upon having those store houses that Joseph is currently filling. His
work will remain when the True Five-Fold have been Raptured away and the only
manna left will be the Tapes of William Branham. Then the only food available
will be those tapes, just like the only food in Joseph’s day was the wheat seed
that Joseph had laid up for that time.
Another similarity I see is that Joseph taxed the
people 20% during the times of plenty in order to have food in the time of
tribulation. So don’t complain about the price too much. Although I personally
believe the price structure has alienated many, there may be legitimate reasons
for it.
I believe that Joseph Branham is doing what he has
been called to do. One man has
criticized him for being a pencil-pushing prophet, and made the statement, “Show
me one prophet that was ever a CEO of a company?” Well, I can show you
several, but we will just take two because that is a witness. There was Daniel,
and there was Joseph. Both men were in an executive position within their
governments. Before Joseph was pardoned, he had been the Chief Financial
Officer or (CFO) of Potiphar’s holdings. Afterwards, He was raised up to a
position of CFO of Egypt, and acting
CEO in the absence of Pharaoh.
Now, his ability to wield that pencil and his
integrity, made him a very trusted employee. Therefore he was a pencil-pushing
prophet, contrary to what some might think.
Joseph Branham is doing the same thing today.
Whether one might think he should be out there preaching is not for us to
determine. That is between God and Joseph. Personally I think he is doing
exactly what God wants him to do. If you had purchased tapes before he took
over the Spoken Word, you will have noticed quite an improvement in the way the
tapes are made. Before they were produced sloppily and with little concern for
quality. Today the quality is excellent.
Now, in getting back to these comparisons, let it
also be known that there was not only fussing going on between Joseph and his
brothers, but it got to the place that the brothers almost wanted to literally
kill him. But Ruben stepped in and thus prevented his death. Now, can you
imagine brothers being so mad at each other that they were willing to sell one
of their brothers into slavery?
And why was that? Were those brothers descendants of
Cain? Were they serpent seed? No, far be it from God ordaining serpent seed to
have a place of honor in the New Jerusalem.
These men were not bad men, just angry brothers. But their anger and
what they did to their brother did not displace them from the Kingdom of God,
nor did it knock them out of their election. But God did use it for a purpose.
I believe it was the flaunting of his position with
his father that made the brethren so angry with Joseph. Now, God didn’t help
make it any better. Joseph didn’t have his dreams by himself. God gave him
those dreams. But I do think the way he approached the telling of those dreams
had something to do with the resentment and anger that built up in the
brethren. Joseph wasn’t entirely innocent, and yet we do know that it was all ordained
for the purpose of keeping souls alive during the tribulation that the world
was to go through in that hour.
Even Joseph, wondering all those years while in
prison, why it had all happened, never lost faith in God, and when He was
exalted to the right hand of the Pharaoh, it became clear to him what it was
all about.
But He wasn’t through with his brothers yet. He
could have simply told them who he was the first time he saw them after all
those years, but he had a little getting even in him yet. And so he kept up the charades for a few
months, and finally one day he revealed himself to his brethren, and I can
imagine the relief it was to them to know that he was still alive and God did
use him.
In the message Influence, Brother Branham tells us a
story that happened with his son Joseph when he was a little boy. And He also
tells us the advice he gave to his son Joseph, and we should take this story as
advice for what is going on today.
Influence 63-0112 pp. 16
And you know, the right... There's two ways to do anything: that's right and
wrong. I had my little son Joseph on my lap the other day, and I said to
him... He's eight years old, and some little boy stepped on his toes. And he
and the little boy had a fight. So I said, "Joseph, don't do
that. "He said, "But, daddy, he did such-and-such." I said,
"But that doesn't matter (See?), what he did. Just remember, Joseph,
that... You love your father?" He said, "Yes, daddy." I said,
"Then remember, that people are going to look at your life as a minister's
son. And then if you do anything wrong, then they're going to say, 'Does this
minister permit his child to do such?'" Now, we know they do it anyhow.
But we know that. As Christians, we know that we try to bring up our children
right. But it's a good thing to keep that before them all the time--to do
what's right. Don't--don't never take that other side. So I said,
"Because, you see, that doesn't only reflect on you, Joseph, but it
reflects on your mother, reflects on your sisters; it reflects on your father,
and the very cause of the family, what we're standing for. And then what we
stand for, it reflects on that, on Jesus Christ. You don't want to do
that." I said, "Our Lord told us if somebody smites us on one cheek,
just turn the other." And of course, that's kind of hard for a little
boy with a hot temper to begin with to think of such things. But place it
before him anyhow (See?), that he should not do it
Now, we could continue with our comparing Alpha with Omega, but I
think enough has been said to show that there are two sides to this issue that
is currently causing so much strife between brethren in this message. Yes,
Joseph in the Old Testament did give the brethren their money back, but not the
taxes of 20% that he had first collected during the times of plenty. So let’s
just pray for him and for each other, and I think everything will work out all
right, because after all, we do have a promise that “All
things shall work together for our Good, those who Love God and are the Elected
according to HIS purpose.”