Who is this Melchisedec #133

African Trip Report

June 23, 2002

 

MATTHEW 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,

 

Gracious Father, we have assembled here today to here Thy Word, and to come together in Fellowship around the Light in which You have personally come to manifest to us, Your Children. And we would ask that Your Divine Presence be here with us as we come to talk about your Word, for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s Name, Your uniquely Born Son, and our Older Brother.

 

MATTHEW 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,  He never told us that were to go forth and send tapes into all nations. He never said we were to go into all nations and talk about family. He said go and teach. Now, men have been running to Africa with gifts of tape recorders and books, and all sorts of equipment for years. But He said go and teach and I have not been disobedient to heavenly vision.

 

MATTHEW 22:1  And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, 2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and [my] fatlings [are] killed, and all things [are] ready: come unto the marriage. 5 But they made light of [it], and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated [them] spitefully, and slew [them]. 7 But when the king heard [thereof], he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13    Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast [him] into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few [are] chosen.

 

This morning I would like to give you my African Trip Report, and to do so I would like to first read from paragraph 4 of Brother Branham’s African Trip Report, where he said, “I can teach a five year old child the Kingdom of God, better that I can teach a man that's got a degree out of college. I can teach him Christ better. He's simple. He just listens to what you say. Watch coming to the platform. You'll never see God turn a child down. He don't do it. No, sir.  Because they're just simple in faith. They believe it. And when they believe it, that just settles it. God says so, and that takes care of it. The little child will believe it, but, oh, my, we know better, you know. We know all the angles, and just how could it be.

 

And you know the African people are that way. They live a simple life with a simple faith. While I was in the hotel at Jinga Uganda, where we stayed for the five days we had meetings, two young men came up to myself and Brother Erling Eriksen, (He pastors in Sweden), and these young men were very inquisitive as to why we were there. We told them about God sending a prophet in the Spirit of Elijah to introduce us to Christ the Word, and to get us ready for the second coming, and they just stood there believing every word, without question. Simple faith, yet a very precious faith. One of the young men came to hear me in the Sunday morning service in that town, and the other due to work schedule was not able to attend but wanted books and tapes. We gave the local pastor their names to follow up with them. But the African people are very different from Americans, because in their faith they are very accepting, and very open, until they’ve been burned. The American people as Brother Branham said in the quote I read, are very skeptical, and analytical in their approach to everything. Such a contrast is very evident when you have a chance to see the difference. Brother Branham continued by saying, “We got to figure out, "Now, how could this be?" But it'll be anyhow. And then he said,  What caused me to go to Africa on this trip?...

 

And that is what I want to talk about this morning. I would like to say those same words, and ask that same question. What caused me to go on this African Trip?   Now, there will be as many answers to that question as there are opinions in this message. But there is only one True answer to that question and God knows what that answer is. My answer to that question is the same as my older brother, Jesus.  He said, in John 20:21 “as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you”. Now, those words may not be for everyone, but I know that they are for me.

 

Now, I know there are many in this Message who do not believe in being led by the Holy Ghost. Now, they won’t come right out and say it, but by their own actions or lack of action, they declare it. Some may think only brother Branham could be truly led by the Holy Ghost, and others will allow the leader of their camp to be led but woe to them who are not in their camp to be led by God. But I do not care what anyone thinks, except God. And I really mean that. Some one told me that a certain brother told me a certain thing hoping it would scare me from coming to Africa, and wrote back to that brother and I told him, I fear no man but God, and that is the way it should be with every believer. Oh, the fear we have in this message. I’ve seen pastors use it to coral their flocks, and I’ve seen brothers use it to coral brothers, and I think it is so contrary to scripture. Paul said, God has not given you a spirit of fear but of a sound mind.

 

In Galatians 1:10 Paul said,  For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. And that is where I have come in my ministry. Am I led by God or by man. How God leads one man does not mean that he does the same for then next. God used visions for one man, dreams for another, an audible voice for the next, a Pillar of Cloud for still another, His Written Word for yet others, But it has been the same God who has been doing the leading, and that is what matters. 

 

AT IS THE HOLY GHOST  59-1216 54 The Spirit of God in His church, what for? What did He do it for? This is a little on tomorrow night's subject, but what did He do it for? Why did He... What did the Holy Spirit... What did He come for? What did He come in you for? What did He come in me for? Was to continue the works of God. "I always do that which is pleasing to My Father. I come not to do My own will, but the Father that sent Me; and the Father that sent Me is with Me. And as My Father has sent Me, so send I you." Oh, my. The Father sent Him, went in Him. The Father that sent Jesus came in Him, worked through Him. The Jesus that sends you goes with you and is in you. And if that Spirit living in Jesus Christ made Him do and act the way He did, you'll have some general idea how It'll do when It's in you; 'cause that Life cannot change. It'll go from body to body, but It cannot change Its nature, for It is God.

 

HEAR YE HIM  56-0611  E-10    Jesus our Lord, as He walked here on earth, He did not just go about from place to place with great entertainments, and the applause of men, and the applauding of the audiences, and of the great flowery things that the men of this world, or the teachers, would praise Him by. But every footstep that He made was ordered by the Lord. Oh, I just love that, when He said even at twelve years old, "Know ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" How that brings us then to shame when we're so all the time gadding around. And the Bible said, "That the footsteps of the righteous is ordered of the Lord." We should walk in His ordination for us. Walk like a Christian; talk like a Christian; live like a Christian. And we see Him meeting with the councils of men. Oh, He meets sometime with great councils of men. One time we see Him meet with five hundred, again with seventy, one time with twelve, once with three. And He even promised that "wherever two or three were gathered, I'll be in their midst." It's God's ordination for Him to meet in the council. No matter how small, it's His duty, and His privilege, and His love to keep the commandments of God to meet with you wherever two or more are gathered in My Name. He will meet with one in a secret closet, and there where their hearts are poured out God promised to meet.   E-11    So you see that it doesn't take great big things to bring Christ; it doesn't take great organizations; neither does it take great churches, great gatherings; but it takes the sincerity of one heart to bring Him.

 

This trip to Africa, and particularly Uganda, has been in the making for the past three years. I remember so vividly standing outside in the parking lot of this church talking with several of you brethren, about overseas travel. I was getting ready to go to Norway for their summer convention, and I remember saying to you brothers, “There are two places in this world I do not ever wish to visit, and one is Asia and the other is Africa.” Not that I do not love or respect the brethren in those places, that has nothing to do with it. But the conditions in those places are very harsh and extreme. There are lots of diseases and poisonous insects, snakes, and a lot of disease from mosquitoes, like yellow fever, dengue fever, Malaria, Typhoid fever, etc.

 

The weather is hot and humid, and the sleeping conditions are difficult at best. At night you lay in bed as your sheets stick to your body and you feel like you are wearing a shroud that has been glued to your skin. You lie awake in your bed as you hear the sounds of lizards scampering along the walls in your room, and you see the rats roaming freely darting into passageways, near your room, and you lay awake at night waiting for one to nibble on your toes. You see cock roaches the size of a mouse you wonder if they will climb into your bed while you are asleep. That‘s in the night when you should be asleep, but you can’t sleep because of what you hear in the night scampering about your room or just outside your room. And then there is the day time when you are to travel, usually in a vehicle that has so many passengers crammed in that you have no elbow room, nor air to breathe, and you travel by transit not knowing if the person next to you has TB or some other communicable disease, and they cough and sneeze into the air, and then that is not the worst of it. The roads are not modern, they are not built to last and when the weather changes, so do the roads. The asphalt is only 1-2 inches think and if the African or Asian people had a dollar for every pothole, they would indeed be among the  wealthiest people on earth. And the potholes makes the travel very unsafe. The drivers seemingly would rather face a head on collision than hit another pothole, and so the death toll for travel in these countries is very high. Travel is not an easy thing. Sleeping is not an easy thing. And might I suggest eating in some of these countries is not an easy thing, especially in Asia where many things are eaten raw. Raw fish, fish entrails, and raw sea urchins are among the things eaten by the masses.  If you travel to these places you must know the phrase, “Boil it, Peel it, or forget it” and you must live by it if you are to make it through without getting sick.  Why anyone would want to put themselves in such a state willingly was beyond my comprehension.

 

And so a few days later I was on my way to Norway for the summer convention in July, and as I traveled all night across the Atlantic, I could not sleep. I was restless, and felt a need to pray and ask God to forgive me for speaking so matter of fact about my disdain to go to Asia and Africa. I then reflected back on how Jesus, my older brother said to Our Father, “Not my will but Thy will be done”, and I realized how self centered and un-Christ like my words had seemed. So I asked my Heavenly Father to forgive me and I told Him I would go wherever He sent me.  I told him that I still would not seek out these places, but that if He opened the Door, I would be obedient to go. I did tell Him that I would need to know without a shadow of doubt that He was in it, because my own personal desire is not to go. I do not enjoy the difficulties associated with traveling to these distant places.

 

The conditions are not easy. Your family is not close by to comfort you, and you are all alone in a foreign land with foreign customs, and foreign foods, and foreign languages. NO, it is not an easy thing to do. And so when I finally arrived at the Oslo airport, brother Erling Eriksen was there to meet me, and he told me that a Brother from Uganda Africa had felt led by God to come at the same time. How God, has an answer even before we begin to pray.  The man was Joseph Wasswa, and he came by a leading from God. Brother Erling allowed him to come but had told him that he would not be able to preach but had told him that a brother from the states is coming to teach and he would be wise to come and hear this brother, for he would learn many things. And so he cane and he heard.

 

Now, I do not know the thoughts and intentions of the heart because I am not God’s Prophet, nor do I pretend to be what I am not. But neither do I believe in circumstances. I believe that the footsteps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord.

 

And if God led me to pray that prayer, then I believe there is a God who already had the answer for that prayer. Where there is a deep calling there is a deep to respond. You see, I believe God doesn’t sow His own seed into unfertile ground if he expects it to bring forth. Therefore, God allowed me to speak presumptuously and then He moved upon my heart to make it right with Him, and then He gave me the thoughts to say, because He had the answer already on it’s way.

 

During those meetings in Sweden, I met brother Wasswa from Uganda and he showed much excitement concerning the Message Doctrine, especially the Godhead and Presence. He asked me to come and share these things with the people in Uganda and I said I would pray about it. Now, this was in July 1999, and for the next few months I received several letters and faxes from him requesting me to come in December of that year. I still did not have any desire to go, but I had promised God that if HE opened the door I would go. But I felt in my heart that it was not yet time, so I was able to convince brother Wasswa that we should first sow the country with the books and then if the brethren still wanted me to go after they had read the Godhead and Parousia, then I would come.   Wse sent about 40 sets of books to 40 ministers, and as it turned out those brothers made copies and copies were made of copies until about 2-300 sets were distributed in several countries in Central and Eastern Africa, including Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Congo, Berundi, and Tanzania.  Within several months after the books were sent I received nearly sixty letters from the African Pastors urging me to come.

 

The next year, 2000, I went to Peru and the  Philippines which is in Asia, which I had never desired to do, but being obedient to My heavenly Father, I went and that trip opened Asia to the Message Doctrine. I fully expected God to send me to Africa that year, but I fell deathly sick on my return from the Philippines, and miraculously recovered after 7 weeks of fever, fighting fatigue, muscle ache, severe head aches, chills, and a low grade fever. I was in no shape to travel to Uganda that year, and so when Ebola broke out, I had my excuse not to go. The next year came, year 2001, and I again traveled to Lima Peru and then to the Philippines in Asia.   I also began planning for Christmas meetings in Uganda that very same year. But then 911 took place and that changed everything. I felt best not to travel so soon after that incident not knowing what other things might soon happen. Finally this year, 2002 I traveled to Peru and Bolivia, and now to Africa, and with that I would like to tell you of the country and the believers that I met over there.

 

A few days before I was to leave for Uganda, I was informed that a certain brother who had opposed my coming had taken ill and died suddenly. This bothered me much, but I also knew that there are no coincidences in Christ. The footsteps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord.  This upset me because I know how opposed to going I had been, and seeing first hand how God deals with those who would oppose him, it made me to anchor in and I realized God was doing something here to show the brethren that He meant business. This then gave me more confidence knowing that if God would take a man off the seen that opposed the meetings, then this could be no circumstance, and I felt assured of God’s presence in those meetings. And So I traveled knowing He would not leave me nor forsake me. Though I truly feel so unworthy to be his servant, yet I know that no man has been willing to take the doctrine to the needy, and so I must go.

 

Now, Look, I do not go to these very poor nations for any motive other than because My God wants His Children in those countries to have the same treasure that we have had in this country. And yet in those countries it means a lot more to those children than here. 

We talk the talk over here but we do not walk that walk. We use the phrases such as to live or die, sink or swim,” and yet we do not live as though we mean it. But when you go to Uganda, or Kenya, Rwanda or Congo, or the Philippines, or Peru and Bolivia, and you see how the people treasure the Message and now the Message Doctrine, and you realize that most of the people who claim to believe it in the Western world really do not, or at least their lives do not testify to the same thing as their mouths. And so you have to wonder, do they really believe it.

 

It seemed as though we took pride in the fact that no one in the world was seeing what we saw,  and yet that was only because we hid it so well. We hid our treasure so well, that no one knew we had it. But there are children of our God and Father everywhere that must have this Revelation of Christ, and so when the Spirit says go here, I go here, and when He says go there, I go there. I do not claim to know the most. I do not claim to be the best person God has for the job.  But I do think I have been the only one that has been thus far obedient to do what our Heavenly Father has told him to do, and yet there are now others who are beginning to take the doctrine out to the streets and byways, and as one brother put it, “this looks a lot like that eleventh hour call.” I certainly hope so.

 

MATTHEW 20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man [that is] an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2    And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, [that] shall ye receive. 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them [their] hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9 And when they came that [were hired] about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 11 And when they had received [it], they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought [but] one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13    But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take [that] thine [is], and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

 

Now let me tell you a little bit about the brethren in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, and Congo. These brethren without exception are very poor at least in the standards by which you are accustomed. The small villages, have one central well, like in the days of Jesus. Mostly I would see women and children at the well pumping the water into 5 gallon plastic yellow water containers. Many a woman would balance it on her head and return to her home with the water or food in a basket upon her head. I saw little children no larger than one of our 4 or 5 year old children, carrying the family water container to the well and dragging it back home. Water is central to the existence of the African home What we take for granted coming through the faucet in your homes, these people must walk into the center of their village to get.. Your water has been purified, and their water comes up from some well that has never been treated.

 

You sit in a nice chair or couch and fellowship in the privacy of your own homes, in all the comforts that money can afford, and yet these people, your brothers and sisters in the Lord, sit on concrete or dirt floors, and if by chance God has blessed them they might have a woven rug on the floor, to separate them from the damp concrete floor. You have air conditioning, and gas heat, and these brethren must warm themselves by an open fire outside there hut, or cool themselves in the shade of a tree.

 

You have garbage pickup once a week, and you never have to worry about sewage disposal, and I have seen the ditches in front of the homes where the garbage is tossed and the dirty water is tossed and the sewage has been tossed. You have the comforts of indoor plumbing, and these must find a bush, or if blessed, walk to the little communal outhouse.

 

But in all of this the believers of Uganda, and Kenya, and Rwanda, and Congo, have such a love for this Message and now for the Doctrine, that it would put the American Message Believer to shame. We do not know what it means to hold this treasure of treasures.

 

Paul said, II CORINTHIANS 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.   8 ¶  [We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12  So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13    We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; 14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present [us] with you. 15 For all things [are] for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward [man] is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen [are] temporal; but the things which are not seen [are] eternal. 

 

TESTIMONY OF A TRUE WITNESS 61-1105  251    May we consecrate our little frail boats this morning, this little tabernacle of shameful flesh that we think so much of, to work so many days to keep it a comfortable place, and we live in fine homes and nice cars... And, O God, and then we get our eyes on that, and off of this great re--ransom. O God, let us lay aside these frail little things to know that we leave them here on earth. Let us seek that heavenly Treasure, that Holy Spirit, that true Witness of God. Success never bears witness of God. The Spirit bears witness of God. Whether our denominations grow, or whether our church grows, or whether we have very many members, or whether we dress good, or drive good cars, or eat good food, what difference does that make? We must leave it. What good would that have done my own mother the other day, struggling along there? And I realize, Lord, those things count nothing. And may our eyes be fixed on Jesus, on the Holy Spirit, and let Him come into our hearts and be witnesses. May we be His witness, Lord. May we stand in that condition, Father, and bear witness.

 

MATTHEW 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

 

MATTHEW 13:44  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

 

LUKE 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:  17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, [and] be merry. 20 But God said unto him, [Thou] fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So [is] he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. 22 ¶ And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. 23 The life is more than meat, and the body [is more] than raiment. 24 Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? 25    And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? 26    If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? 27    Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more [will he clothe] you, O ye of little faith? 29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. 32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 35    Let your loins be girded about, and [your] lights burning; 36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. 37Blessed [are] those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. 38    And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find [them] so, blessed are those servants. 39  And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. 40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. 41 ¶  Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? 42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom [his] lord shall make ruler over his household, to give [them their] portion of meat in due season? 43 Blessed [is] that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 44    Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. 45    But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; 46    The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for [him], and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 47    And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not [himself], neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many [stripes]. 48    But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few [stripes]. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.