Who
is this Melchisedec #149
“Vindication”
This morning we will
look one more time at paragraph 175 of brother Branham’s sermon called Who Is This Melchisedec
65-0221E 175 Now,
if that was Him yesterday, and the way He acted to prove that He was among the
people, the Messiah promised, and that's the way He identified Himself as
promise by the Bible, He'd do the same thing now. Wouldn't He--wouldn't He have to do the same thing?
Now, what awe are looking at in this statement is that God vindicates His Servants with His Very Own Presence, and He vindicates His Presence by the things which only He can do. His actions are what shows He is Present.
I remember years
ago, I believe it was at the
Now the critics will
say all they want to and can even criticize brother Branham on his doctrine all
they want to, but none of them have any vindication for their own ministry to
back up what they claim as truth. Therefore their truth is not The Truth, but
simply truth to them as they see it. But that does not make it so, But when God
Himself comes along and backs up a man’s words, then you know one thing, you
are not dealing with just a man, but you are now dealing with God Himself.
Therefore what good does it do to even listen to what those men have to say.
Because all it is gobble de goop. It’s no more than a baby going because in
reality it makes no sense at all. It’s simply their own opinion based on their
own limited knowledge. But when a man comes with Thus Saith the Lord it is not
his own opinion, but God’s Opinion.
Therefore it does not matter what their opinion is, for it means nothing to God. There is an old expression that says, “Opinions are like noses, because everyone has one.” Now, just because you have an opinion, does not mean that opinion is the right opinion. And that is where vindication comes into play. Man has over the last 2,000 years so diluted the Scripture that God sent a Prophet with “Thus saith the Lord”, which means that this man is saying only what God has told Him to say. And so it does not matter what their opinion is because to the children of God are not interested in anyone’s opinion except God’s opinion. You know, critics abound everywhere. It seems to me that the rule of criticism is that those that are criticized the most are those who are trying to help people, while those who do the most criticizing are those who do the least to help anyone. That’s a rule you can take to the bank, because it plays out true almost every time.
I was looking up information on Dr. Hulda Clark the other night and when I typed in her name to do a search, I saw more websites criticizing her than I saw websites that stood with her. The same thing applies pertaining to Brother Branham. The people can criticize all they want because we have the freedom to do so in this country, but it’s not their disagreement that comes out, it is their agenda. There seems to be a large amount of wanna-bee jack the giant killers out there who have nothing better to do than to try to kill one of the giants in their field whether it be William Branham who towered above them all and helped more people with their infirmities than any doctor that ever lived, or Dr. Hulda Clark who has probably helped more people to find good health since William Branham left the seen, and yet the internet is full of these critics who get their kicks out of criticizing those who are doing something to help others. There is a website by a Self appointed quack M.D. who is so indoctrinated into drugs as the only means of therapy that anyone who would venture outside the nominal lines he has set up is considered a quack. But who is the quack? His website no doubt is funded by the pharmaceutical companies.
I will never forget an experience I had a few years ago, I was a attending a marketing conference for one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. That evening we all went to dinner and I sat at the table with one of the directors, and the discussion moved to the growing resistance among the masses against vaccinations. The question came up as to what could be done, and I recommended that if the information being stated was not true, then they should place on their own website information that would clarify and put to rest the questions being generated by the opposition. Then the director spoke up and said, why should we have to defend ourselves? These people are just a bunch of kooks. And I took umbrage at that and said, that is not the point, and that is only your opinion. They are just as qualified to make an opinion as you are. The fact is that they have doctors and researchers on their side of the equation just the same as you do, but whoever puts together their information in a way that meets the needs of the people the most is the side that is going to win in this debate. I said, it’s easy to call people a bunch of quacks just because they do not agree with you, but they have as many high caliber medical people and scientific opinion behind their ideas as you have for yours. The director said, well, that might be true but they are quacks. And I thought, you know, Who is the quack, the person who comes forth with a good argument or the one who reverts to calling names. When you have to resort to calling names it shows your quiver is empty, and you are not prepared to argue the point.
In 1 Thessalonians
And so we see that God even gets to the place where people won’t even take Him at His Own Word. Therefore, He is willing to go the extra step, and He does things to vindicate His Word by bringing it to pass. That’s how God actually interprets His Own word, is by bringing it to pass. Look, even Jesus had trouble getting the people to believe that God had sent Him, and was with Him, doing those great and mighty miracles.
JOHN 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father,
and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself:
but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. 11 Believe me that I
[am] in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very
works' sake.
NUMBERS 14:2 And all the children of
Understanding vindication is
perhaps one of the most important things we can do as a Believer in God and His
Word. Today, in the Christian world, every man does what he thinks is right in
his own eyes. It does not matter what
denomination, or even if they claim to believe this Message. The proof of
whether they truly believe is in their understanding of vindication. So then,
what is vindication and why is it so important? Vindication is the Presence of
God on the scene backing up His Own Word.
Jesus said in JOHN
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.
God vindicates His
Own Word, because he is not a man that he could Lie. God could not lie even if
He wanted to. For it is impossible for Him to Lie. For He is truth.
HEBREWS 6:17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed [it] by an
oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to
lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before us: 19 Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul,
both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
31-5 THIS
DAY THIS SCRIPTURE 65-0219 if you preach
anything and it's the Gospel Truth, then God's obligated to vindicate that.
101 EVENTS
MADE CLEAR BY PROPHECY 65-0801E when a man stands for what is Truth, then God's obligated to vindicate
that man the truth.
Brother Branham used the term Vindication to explain: "God has a One man Message and He
deals with One man only". But men do not
like this, for they seem to want to have their own say as to how God is going
to do things.
WHO DO YOU SAY THIS IS? 64-1227
128 That
one-man message, they didn't want it. No, they didn't want It. And God never
did deal but with one person at a time. It's always a one-man message. When did
ever He deal with the people, outside of just one person? It's an individual.
It ain't a group.
Vindication is
the real issue concerning our faith and understanding vindication comes in the
form of God's Personal Presence with His prophet, and that this Presence is the
verification of God’s vindication. Vindication simply means that God is on the
scene and He is in control. And when it comes to the program of God, we have
absolutely no say in how He is going to do it. Or what will happen. All God
requires from you and I is to get ourselves out of the way and allow for God to
work through His Own channel which according to Amos 3:7 is
always a prophet.
Now, we have already read this
morning how God exacted punishment from those who doubted His Word through
Moses. In the Book of Deuteronomy, we find God spelling out the same rules.
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, God set
forth an order that has very strict consequences for those who will not adhere
to it. He said, I will require it from you. You will pay for your unbelief. Notice the question
came forth from God's own mouth. He said, how will you know what is right and what is not
right? And then He tells us, the one
that is not right will not be vindicated. I will not bring his words to pass,
because they are not my words.
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.
JOHN
PROOF OF HIS RESURRECTION 136 There He stood, and made
Hisself known. He said, "If you can't believe Me, believe the works that I
do. They testify the Father sent Me." He said, "And My
education..." In other words, like this, "If My education doesn't
satisfy your longings, if My degree, which, I have none, but My degree, My
diploma, is not from your seminaries. My diploma is the works that I do, that
the Father sent Me. They are My diploma." That's the best diploma I know
of. God, give us more of those diplomas. "The works that I do are a
vindication that the Father sent Me. If that isn't sufficient, believe them
then instead of Me.
E-15 Jesus
Christ the Same 55-0603 But Jesus come by not preaching so forceful as John, but there
were signs and wonders accompanying Him. He said, "If you can't believe Me
believe the works that I do. If you can't believe Me believe the a
vindication that the Father has given of Me, for the works that I do, the
same testify that the Father has sent Me." What a statement. Think of it.
"The works that I do testify that the Father has sent Me." Man can
make any kind of a statement, but if God don't back that statement up, you've
got a right to say it's wrong. But when God comes around and confirms that
statement to be the truth then it's sin to disbelieve it. For what is sin? Sin
is one thing: "unbelief." That's right. You couldn't say how much of
that is night. It's all night. And in the daytime you couldn't say just this
much is day. It's all day. Jesus said, "He that believeth not is condemned
already." Faith in God and unbelief that's the two things. One is sin and
the other one is salvation.
JOHN 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he
seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise. 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that
himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may
marvel.
E-71 Be
not Afraid 60-0609 You believe on the Lord Jesus? Have faith in
God. It's all over, brother. Just believe it now. We are strangers to one another. Now,
that ought to settle it for the whole group of you. Does that confirm that I'm
preaching the truth? How would God let me tell something wrong, and stand up
with my very message. These things are only to indicate a Divine a vindication
that my theology is right.
E-24 BLIND
BARTIMAEUS 60-0713 And
in Praying for the sick, tonight as we pray for the sick, the Lord may come to
us and give the visions. And if He does,
remember the vision does not heal people. The vision is only a vindication that
the Word is right. How many knows
what the word "prophet" means? Sure you do. A "prophet"
means "a one that foretells or forth tells." And it is a Divine sign from God that this person that's speaking has the
right interpretation of the Divine Word,
because the Word of the Lord came unto the prophets. And the prophet
foretold and done those signs, which is
a vindication that he had the interpretation of the divine Word.
JOHN
This let's us
know that there will be a showdown. God speaks of this in Deuteronomy chapter
13.
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.
HEBREWS 2:1 ¶
Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we
have heard, lest at any time we should let [them] slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was
stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence
of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if
we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the
Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard [him]; 4 God also bearing [them] witness, both with
signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost,
according to his own will?
E-36 SIGN
OF HIS COMING 62-0407 A
vindication of God's Word being true, God bears record of His Word by His signs. God's Word is a Seed, and that Seed has to
bring forth of Its kind (Genesis
HEBREWS 1:1 ¶ God, who at sundry times and in divers
manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3
Who being the brightness of [his] glory, and the express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
41 GUIDE
A 62-1014E It was a vindication
there, that there was a living God inside of Him. What He testified, "It's not Me that doeth the works;
it's My Father that dwelleth in Me. Verily I say unto you, the Son can do
nothing in Himself, but what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son
likewise. The Father worketh, and I worketh hitherto." In other words, God
showed Him what to do, and He went and just acted it out; He didn't do anything
until God told Him to do it. Amen. That's the real frank facts of it. If we'd
just move and wait till the Spirit moved us to do it... That's it. And then be
so completely lost in Christ that He don't have to shove you around like He
does me, but the first little nod of His head, you're ready and nothing's going
to stop you, because you know that it's the will of God
23-5 Why
Cry Speak 63-0714M Now, Moses' great eye, his eagle eye looked
beyond the glamour of
23 Desperation 63-0901E The Token, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, is
among us. We should reverence that. We can't humble ourselves enough. Taking
off your shoes or getting on your knees wouldn't expel it, it wouldn't satisfy;
it wouldn't suffice us, but a life that brings forth the fruit of the Spirit... Now, what is the fruit of the Spirit? See?
Love, joy, peace... Remember this
morning? Preparation, sent the messenger with the message. Next thing He done after He sent the messenger with the message, He
sent the Pillar of Fire for a vindication. Next thing was after that, was
consolation. See? You knew that it was right; you was at peace. We have
peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. See?
From the 20th
century Prophet Book we read, " There are always two men or
two groups who demonstrate power, but one has a wrong source of power. The
spirit of Antichrist is here as well as the Spirit of Christ. The spirit of
Antichrist in Satan's prophets is so close to the real and true Spirit of God
that only the VERY ELECT will escape the deception. Matt. 24:22-24 "And
except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for
the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto
you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false
Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch
that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." These true
elect ones take the Word. When these true Elect Ones see the prophet and his
acts of power, and see that he is right with the Word and never deviates, they
know that he is of God and receive him. All that prophet says and does leads
them closer to Him Who is coming soon. They look for no other vindication. This
is the vindication".
Now, we are told
in the New testament that God will once again send forth another prophet and
those who do not hear him will be cut off. God does not play games with us. He
says what He means and He means what He says.
ACTS 3:19 Repent ye
therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times
of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which
before was preached unto you: 21 Whom
the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God
hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
22 For Moses truly said unto the
fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you
of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he
shall say unto you. 23 And it shall
come to pass, [that] every soul, which will not
hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Notice the
requirement at the hands of an angry God, destruction. Destroyed from amongst
the people. This is exactly what we see in 2 Thessalonians 1: 8-9. This speaks
of those who are cut off from the presence of the Lord, and they will be left
for the burning.
59 TOKEN
THE 64-0208 He sent a prophet to them, Moses, with a message identifying God's Word.
And to identify Moses, He sent a Pillar of Fire that hung over him. Amen. Then
to give him the perfect assurance, He required a token. Amen. There's a
messenger, the message, and the vindication, and the token, the perfect
assurance that they had nothing to worry about. No matter how many plagues
strike, what everybody else says they are sealed away
E-16 Expectations 50-0405 Gifts and
callings are without repentance. There is spirits that's in the Church. That's
true, such as gifts of prophecy, healing, and so forth. But they're in the
entire body. They may fall upon one person tonight, a prophecy, and It might
not never fall on that person again; It might be somewhere else in the body.
And those spirits are supposed to be judged. "Let one speak and two or
three judge," said Paul. Now, those are the spirits of the gifts that's in
the Church. But the only person that has
a right to say, THUS SAITH THE LORD, is an a vindicated prophet. You never seen anybody judging Isaiah, or
Jeremiah, or those people. They were prophets, foreordained and borned in the
world to be prophets. And they foresaw the thing by a vision, and then said,
"THUS SAITH THE LORD," for the Lord had already said it. So what the Church needs today, is a good old
fashion teaching of the Gospel. That's right. To know where they... I don't
mean just educated teaching; I mean spiritual teaching. Some people speaks
about God, and--and knows nothing of Him.
E-16
Obey
the Voice of the Angel 50-0713 He's sent His Spirit to vindicate that His
Presence is with His Church.
E-13
Hour
is Come 51-0415E And I pray that
Your Spirit, the Angel of God, Whose servant I am, may come tonight and vindicate His great Presence to be here
and make it an outstanding time, that the people may never fear no more; but to
know that the supernatural great God of Heaven is here among people, and is now
working among His children, that they may...
189 Lord
Just Once More 63-0628A The
denominations will not take the
a-vindication of the Word.
37-1
Indictment
The 63-0707 And
the Holy Ghost today is not no third person; It's God Himself manifested in
human flesh by the Blood of Jesus Christ to sanctify a life that He might
reflect Himself through. And they crucify that same Word made manifest. You
understand? The crucifixion of Christ
today is the people who will deny the vindicated and manifested Son of God
among the people by His things that He said would take place in this day by His
Word. See? Now, the same vindication
would have to be the same if He's the same Son of God, 'cause He said in
E-70 FAITH
ONCE DELIVERED TO SAINTS 53-1129A
But we're not judged by fund--being how fundamental we are, how orthodox
we are to our belief. We're
judged by God's election and a vindication.
E-5 Have
Faith in God 54-0900 But now in this way, it's no more than just a sign to you people, that Jesus Christ is a vindicating that
what's been preached to you is the truth.
See? God... Hebrews 11:2 says, "God testifies of His gifts." God
makes manifest. Now, what Brother
Baxter has told you tonight and other nights, in the afternoon services the
instructions and so forth, then the Holy Spirit comes into the meeting as
another demonstration or vindication that what's been preached to you is the
truth. There's no shadow at the judgment
for us to have a way of escape at all, because God in every way has combed
everything to make us believe. The first thing is His Word. Seeming it to me if
some one wouldn't believe my word, well, I wouldn't have much confidence in the
person, but God is different. Though
you do not believe His Word, He's yet willing to come to you in some other way
to manifest His love to you.
Isn't that wonderful? How unworthy we creatures are of such love. Brother, sister, that's what the world needs
today is some more love of God. That's what the world's hungry for today is
more love of God. If we'd show a little more love to one another, little more
love towards God, how much better our churches and individuals and how much
better we'd be if we'd just love one another. If we love one another then we
can love God, for God is Love.
E-8 Separation
from Unbelief 55-0228 Well
now, if you have never seen It, here's a greater vindication of it being the
truth, just to look at the picture of It.
And it's not my picture, brother, sister, His picture, isn't mine. And
He's with the church, not just with me; He's with all of the--every Christian, everywhere. He knows It's
Christ, same Pillar of Fire led the children of
E-5 Junction
of Time 56-0115 And I
believe that the church is now standing on the threshold of the greatest
vindication of omnipotence that the world has ever known.
E-56 Spiritual
Inspiration 56-0128 And
tonight the Holy Ghost is the vindication that He's here, that His power is with
the believer
207 It
Becometh us to fulfill 61-1001
We're at the end road, the
Laodicean church age; a message; the rejecting of the message; the vindication of the message; and the Presence of Christ proving
He's the same, yesterday in the days of
Lot, as in the days of His flesh, and in the days of today: yesterday, today,
and forever.
187 YOU
MUST BE BORN AGAIN 61-1231M When you're borned again, God vindicates you. That's how God
vindicates all of His nature. What?
By their fruits. That's the way He vindicates His ministry. That's right. All of His servants are vindicated the same
way He vindicates nature. How do you know it's a peach tree? 'Cause it
bring peaches. How do you know it's an apple tree? Bearing apples. How do you know it's a Christian?
Christian signs bear from it; Christian life comes out of it. How do you know
he's a teacher? The Word comes from him. How do you know he's a prophet? The
Word comes through him, bears record,
vindication. It proves itself. How
does it become that? When it dies and becomes one. That's right. When we die
and become a new creature in Christ Jesus, it gets us with our calling; we stay
with our calling. The fruits of the Spirit follow us when we are His servants. When we are borned again, the fruits of
Christ's Life follows us. That's right. How do you know it's a peach tree?
It's got peaches. How do you know he's a
Christian? He acts like Christ; he walks like Christ; he talks like Christ; he
lives like Christ, above sin, victorious. What does he do, say, "See
what I done"? Christ didn't do that. He gave all praise to the Father.
That's right. That's how you know it. By their fruits you shall know them. What
must... "Verily, verily, I say unto
you, except a man be born again he
cannot even understand the
108 IF
GOD BE WITH US 61-1231E How can He be the same yesterday, today, and forever, and still
Divine healing gone? How can the power, how can... The Bible set in order,
"First apostles, prophets teachers, evangelists, pastors, for a vindication that the Gospel still
lives." And God sends them
right among us, and we turn our back on it. God doesn't fail, it's the people's failed. "Where is the
miracles then among us? Where are they at?" God was talking to this man,
getting him ready to go out. Move the
clouds out, the sun's always shining. That's right. When doubts are gone, and things are made right, miracles will be there
just as sure as the sun's there. The
sun, by the command of God, shines every day. It's there because God commanded
it there. And as long as there is day and night, the sun will hang there. Sure.
Not all the time you see it, because
clouds has it covered up; fog, clouds, low or high, covers it up. But it's
always there.
E-71 Presuming
62-0117 Yes, that's it.
You're not presuming then. You know where you stand. That's right. Oh, don't
presume about it. There's so many different ways. Just don't presume. But God has give an a-vindication of His
promise. See? We don't have to presume about it. God's vindicated it.
204 ONENESS 62-0211 Look what happened. Why? The same God that
separated and come to Abraham and showed
him the vindication of his separation... Hm. O God. How I wish I
could--wish I could just could do something to let you see it. God showed
Abraham, being that he had separated himself, He showed him the a-vindication of it, that He was with him and
right in his midst. And Jesus said the
same thing will take place in the last days. Not a nation was Abraham; he
was in the minority; but God was with him. He'd separated him then. We're
supposed to separate ourselves in this last days.
E-64 ALL
THINGS 1124E It's a vindication that He's here. Oh, can't we come in sincerity now, after His Word, after His Presence?
That's the very God that'll judge you on the judgment day.