Preparation #2, The prophet Messenger

Wednesday February 10^th, 1999

Sunday we began to look at the message “Preparation” which brother Branham preached back in 1953. He began this message by speaking to the people about gifts and callings being ordained of God. Now, it would not seem like a likely thing to begin a message on preparation with, but God works in mighty and mysterious ways sometimes. Brother Branham sets the tone for this entire message by first declaring God is sovereign and He has a plan.

He said, You can never make yourself something that you're not. See? You're born in this world sovereignly by God with different things to do. And then he went on to say, “either you are born to preach the Gospel or you are not. You could never go to school to learn to be what you aren’t. He said the same holds true for a singer, either you are born to sing or you’re not. And no matter how many hours yoyu may practice, if you don’t have it in you, you could never add it.

Then brother Branham switched his thought to dreams and visions, and showed how you are born to dream or you are not, and you are born to have visions or you are not. These are gifts which God has placed in the church, but the gift does not make the person.

He said, That's a gift. And trying with all of that, with all the heart and strength I have to magnify Jesus Christ... And if any time that anything that I ever say or do that's unscriptural, you owe it to me to come to me about it. That's right. 'Cause here it has to be right here first; this is God's Word. And if everything we do--or isn't found right here in God's Word... Now, it may not be according to your theology. But if it's in God's Word, and God has promised it, that's all right. But it must be found in God's Word, 'cause that's the infallible truth. Paul said, "If an angel from heaven would come preach any other Gospel, let him be accursed."..?. So we know this is the truth.

Now, I think we can see the tone which brother Branham is establishing here.

#1) He is telling us that God does certain things for certain people and we should never question why. But we should be thankful for what He does. #2) We should never try to be what we were not called to be, but we should rest in the fact that God sovereignly calls and He sovereignly gives us what we have need of. And #3) although we may have received some form of Gift from God, we must still take it to the Word of God, for even God does not go outside the boundaries of His Own Word.

We found in JOEL 2:28-29 that God promised to pour out His spirit upon all men,

¶ And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;

We further found that as He pours out His Spirit, it comes forth in the form of gifts to some, even to the rebellious, who are actually given gifts from God as well. PSALMS 68:18 thou hast received gifts for men; yea, [for] the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell [among them].

And these dreams and visions are gifts from God. But the gift does not necessarily mean that you have found Grace in the sight of God either. These things are sovereignly given by a Sovereign God who answer to no man for what and why He does what He does.

MATTHEW 5:45 for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Now, with these things in mind, we began to look at the ofice of a prophet and we began to see the sovereignty of God and God’s direct involvement in vindicating His Prophets.

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.

In other words, When I send this prophet, he is coming to cause the people to have make a choice. To judge. And with what judgment they make, they will either be saved or destroyed. Jesus said, MATTHEW 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Now, in order to really begin to comprehend what God is doing when He deals with man thorugh His Prophets, we need to turn to the Book of Deuteronomy. We hear God telling us that the reason He sends a True prophet among us is to tell us the things which, He (God), wants us to know. In other words, He will send a True prophet to prepare us for what is coming, or shall we say, for anything that the Lord is about to do, He comes to tell us in advance that we might be prepared for that event.

AMOS 3:5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin [is] for him? shall [one] take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? 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?

When God sends you a prophet, it is because God wants you to know something. This is the man that you must listen to. And He gives you a choice, you either listen and be saved, or if you choose not to listen, you will be destroyed. Not much of a choice, but I like it that way. Strait to the point. He said, “this is the way, walk ye in it.”

ISAIAH 30:18 ¶ And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD [is] a God of judgment: blessed [are] all they that wait for him. 19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee. 20 And [though] the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: 21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This [is] the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

ACTS 3:22 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.

Now, how do we know if that man is called by God to lead as His Prophet? God said, I will test you to see whether you will hearken to my voice or go after other gods. He tell us how we can tell them apart in..

Deut 18: 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.

Then if he is to speak in the name of the Lord God, it must be “Thus saith the Lord.” It can’t be just something he feels is right, or his opinion, or his leaning…. It must be what God has already said.

EZEKIEL 13:3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing.

How sad it is today when in this message we have men running around trying to be what they are not. Trying to out prophet God’s prophet, and putting on like little children that they have something which they don’t. Deceivers is all they are. These men are trying to simply copy what they saw in brother Branham and that is either on account of their shear ignorance or arrogance. One or the other. Actually, the Bible says, had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory, so it is evident that they do what they do because they are just ignorant. And yet when they are told that they are wrong, and they continue, it shows that they are arrogant as well.