The Life of William Branham

"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660

Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; we are pleased you could join us once again in fellowship around God's unchanging Word.

You will be blessed with this week's main article taken from Volume III of Brother Owen Jorgensen's anointed book, "The Life of William Branham," which traces the three stages of the Prophet's ministry and describes its public and Supernatural vindication throughout the world. If you would like to view and perhaps order these three volumes in soft cover or hard bound please visit supernaturalchristianbooks.com and pass on our greetings.

This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.

Terrorism against End Time Message Church at Lahore

July 6, 2013 — The Mission Office of End Time Message Church in Pakistan at Bahar Colony, Lahore attacked and burnt by unknown religious extremists. Electronic equipment including computers, audio/video editing equipment, HD video cameras, studio phantom power microphones, two television sets, video projector, TV channel computer setup, air-conditioners, sound system, studio lighting system, electronic key boards, printers, scanners, building furniture, laptop etc., worth around 7-8 million rupees has been burned to ashes. . . Full story: urdubride-contactus.blogspot.com.au

Bill Gates' Porn Addict Days

July 7, 2013 — "I am sure you know this, but the BG foundation vaccines have killed tens of thousands of kids in India. [In 2011 alone, the Bill and Melinda Gates' polio vaccine campaign in India caused 47,500 cases of paralysis and death.]The western media does not cover it, but it is out there. The foundation worked to develop some "evidence based tools" that help persuade reluctant American parents to vaccinate."

"We can add this all up. He is developing technology to change the weather—you can find his lectures on youtube. He practically owns Monsanto now, so is developing crop technology (some of these crops harm fertility), and now world vaccine and population reduction programs. BG's family is steeped in the eugenics movement. [His father was President of Planned Parenthood.] . . . Full story: henrymakow.com

Comment: Thimerosal is 49.6% ethyl mercury! Mercury is a well known neurotoxin! Why would people put a poisonous neurotoxin into vaccines when it is totally unnecessary? There are many safer ways of preserving vaccines apart from using thimerosal! A study of the history of Big Pharma shows that it is owned by Illuminists ie. the Satanic Rothschild-Rockefeller bloodlines via numerous Illuminist 'charitable' foundations! Courts rule vaccines containing MMR and thimerosal caused autism and brain damage!

All information containing new and unprecedented conclusions begins by being violently opposed by those who create the prior information and those who subscribe heavily to it. This is very much the case with the link between Autism Spectrum Disorder and vaccines; mainly the MMR vaccine and other thimerosal-containing vaccines. . . The Age of Treason is a 1958 book that exposes the chemical attack on humanity.

Just a few of those who have died following their Gardasil vaccination.

Think Your Money is safe in an Insured Bank Account? Think Again

July 8, 2013 — The "bail in" of depositor funds is now being made official EU policy. On June 26, 2013, The New York Times reported that EU finance ministers have agreed on a plan that shifts the responsibility for bank losses from governments to bank investors, creditors and uninsured depositors . . . it is a global model that goes back to a directive from the Financial Stability Board (an arm of the Bank for International Settlements) dated October 2011, endorsed at the G20 summit in December 2011. In 2009, the G20 nations agreed to be regulated by the Financial Stability Board; and bail-in policies have now been established for the US, UK, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada, among other countries . . .

The EU bail-in plan, which still needs the approval of the European Parliament, would allow European leaders to dodge something they evidently regret having signed, the agreement known as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who played a leading role in imposing the deposit confiscation plan on Cyprus, said on March 13 that "the aim is for the ESM never to have to be used."

Passed with little publicity in January 2012, the ESM imposes an open-ended debt on EU member governments, putting taxpayers on the hook for whatever the ESM's overseers demand. Two days before its ratification on July 1, 2012, the agreement was modified to make the permanent bailout fund cover the bailout of private banks. It was a bankers' dream—a permanent, mandated bailout of private banks by governments. But EU governments are now balking at that heavy commitment. . . In the US, deposit insurance faces similar funding problems . . . every $10,000 in deposits was protected by only $6 in reserves. . . Derivatives claims have "super-priority" in bankruptcy, meaning they take before all other claims. . . Full story: truth-out.org

Comment: Excess reserves at the Federal Reserve. One of the biggest financial scams in history: a whopping US$1.794 trillion.

Mongrel Nation: 'As it was in the Days of Noah'

July 11, 2013 — Jesus likened world conditions in the days of His second or 'parousia' Coming to conditions in the days of Noah when miscegenation between Adam's race and Cain's descendants wrought genocide because the progeny of these mesalliances are not on the Book of Life which is the genealogy of the first Adam, and irredeemable like Cain and his kind because Jesus Messiah is the kinsman Redeemer for Adam's race, and not the last Cain (Genesis 6:1-4; Matthew 24:37).

Concerning our day the Prophet William Branham said, "The seed of the righteous is about run out. Talk to people about these things; talk to people about going back to the Bible way; talk to the people about miracles; talk to the people about that; their church don't believe it; so they're bastard children to God. The Bible said if we cannot bear persecutions and trials, mockeries and called holy-rollers and so forth like that, if you can't stand it, you're bastard children and not the children of God. The Bible said so" (Serpent's Seed, p. 32:240; Hebrews 12:7-8). Agnostic politicians and apostate clerics boast of breeding a "Mongrel Nation" not on the Book of Life with the strong delusion" of taxpayer-funded lying propaganda through multiculturalism, a euphemism for miscegenation, which is accursed of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and a repetition of the original sin. Full story: abc.net.au

Taxing Air: Facts and Fallacies about 'Climate Change'

Prof. Bob Carter explained how perception of a supposed environmental crisis has been manufactured and maintained; the real environmental crisis is one of public perception. . . The global warming crisis is, quite simply, the biggest scientific scam in history. Those creating this crisis do four things.

The first thing they do is they capture the language. And instead of talking about the issues they have raised, which was a good issue to raise in the late 1970s, which is: isn't carbon dioxide greenhouse? Well, yes it is. Aren't we putting extra into the atmosphere? Yes, yes we are. So mightn't that cause dangerous global [warming]? Yes, it might. Those were good questions to ask in the late 1970s. We've spent $100 billion, almost 30 years, and thousands of scientists looking for the answer. And we know the answer. It is: no, it's not dangerous warming. But those who asked the question are not listening to the answer. So, the first thing that the alarmists do is they control the language and instead of talking about carbon dioxide, which was the basis to the original question, they talk about carbon.

Anybody that uses the word "carbon" in public to describe this is either scientifically ignorant or they have an agenda. Or both. So, the control of the language?you don't talk about Melbourne's water supply in terms of hydrogen. Or do you? And to talk about the carbon dioxide and possible problem in terms of carbon is simply an abuse of logic, an abuse of language and an abuse of science . . .

A second thing they do, having controlled the language, is they control education. And, starting in the late seventies, motoring into the eighties and accelerating into the nineties, no Australian child now receives an education in environmental matters. They receive an indoctrination and a propagandisation.

The third thing they do is refuse to debate . . . not just in Australia but worldwide, scientists associated with the United Nations group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, will not appear on a public platform to discuss climate change with scientists of equal stature who are independent scientists. . . For 15 years they've been maintaining this ban.

The fourth point that they use is relentless ad hominem criticism. And the level of language is such that you and I would blanch at it, but if you're involved in this game, and all my co-authors know this and many of the rest of you know it, you just have to shrug your shoulders and put up with this tirade of public abuse. . . There is no scientific substantive evidence that dangerous global warming is happening or will happen. Full story: taxingair.com

Colonel's Wife Kay Griggs: US Military Brass is Homosexual

March 9, 2011 — Kay Griggs, former wife of Colonel Griggs speaks freely about the unimagined corruption and extent of the oppressive systems of deception within the leadership nexus of military intelligence with secret society internationalism. All the Red Team Navy Seals for graduation need to do a "cold kill" that means kill just anybody. All the generals, admirals, etc., in the military are bi-sexuals and do various homosexual activities on a regular basis.

No exceptions!!! Otherwise no job. Or death. Anybody who talks gets "sick" or gets murdered. She is exposing many names. They are bred this way from a young age and that's how they get into the top military. Her husband was "taken over" in high school—parents were sent away. Witness how the state department hires sexually deviant people so they can use them to do their bidding destroying this country. Full story: youtube.com Part 1; outube.com Part 2; youtube.com Part 3; youtube.com Part 4.

Comment: Luke 17:26-30: drug kingpins, murder, biological murder, implants, Zionism, money-laundering, foreign agents, spies, intelligence, Chaplains, Masonry, Opus Dei. USA becoming a modern Sodom and Gomorrah. Marines and Special Operations all bisexual like the Spartans, nudism orgies with Israelis. Albert Einstein was homosexual. Selling weapons to Israel. So "un-American." This sincere woman has been misguided by the apostate church really has no understanding of Christianity.

Pentagon orders Purge of Osama Bin Laden's Death Files from Data Bank

July 9, 2013 — The files of the bin Laden SEAL operation had to be removed to sustain the Big Lie. Osama was allegedly killed on the orders of the US government, despite ample evidence that he was already dead at the time of the attack . . . According to the New York Times, "79 commandos and a dog" were involved in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden—though other reports peg the number at approximately 24. Since the raid, SEAL Team Six—the team that conducted the Bin Laden raid—has lost several members due to combat and training accidents, though none of them have been confirmed as being specifically part of the Bin Laden raid. . . Only the CIA knows the names of the surviving members of the SEAL team involved in the May 2011 Osama Abbotabad raid. Full story: globalresearch.ca

The Jewish Strategy of occupying the Middle Ground

July 10, 2013 — The truth of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967 did not gain widespread attention in America because Israel and American Jews occupied the Middle Ground between decision makers and policy formulation and between events their reportage by the media. On June 4, 1967 [Jewish] President Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ate dinner at the home of [corrupt Jewish US Supreme Court associate justice] Abe Fortas. At the dinner was a Loeb of Kuhn and Loeb, a Rothschild investment bank. The purpose of the dinner was to determine if the President and the Secretary of Defense understood that Israel was going to start the 1967 Six Day War the following morning. Israeli generals have since admitted they had been planning that attack since 1952 which was the year Gamal Abdel Nasser led the Egyptian revolution. American troops had been sent by Eisenhower to monitor the Israel-Egyptian border for ten years but were pulled out weeks before the war began. . .

On the night the 1967 Six Day broke out Mathilde Krim was in the White House servicing the President. At that same time Arthur Krim was the head of the Democratic party's National Finance Committee.

Jeff Gates, who served as a counsel to the Senate for 7 years, said that Israel has had the idea that the land occupied by the Muslims from the Nile to the Euphrates belongs to them. He called the Six Day War a Land Grab and said the Israelis felt they were entitled to operate above the law. In 1996 Richard Perle, a dual citizen, wrote A Clean Break: A Doctrine For Securing The Realm [of The City of London's Israel colony]. It argued for taking down Iraq and relying upon Jordan and Turkey to project power. This paper was recycled as an American project after being named the Project for a New American Century or PNAC.

After Israel took down the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the Jews gave Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld a list of 7 countries they wanted the Pentagon to invade in 5 years. Those nations, as reported by [Jewish] General Wesley Clark, were Libya, Somalia, Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan, Syria and Iran. Jeff Gates traced back all five items of false information that led America to invade Iraq came from Israeli sources. And all of that false intelligence was pre-staged before 911 which reveals long term Israeli planning. But to make this work the Israelis needed a classic asset in the Oval Office who could make this work. And of course they needed to occupy the Middle Ground around the new President. George Bush was dysfunctional recovering substance abuser and Zionist Christian who never left the United States except to go to Israel. They replaced facts with emotions by taking down the WTC . . . Full story: vidrebel.wordpress.com

Comment: A whistleblower charged under Patriot Act stated Bush & Cheney knew about 9/11 Months before it happened.
Full story: youtube.com

Short and powerful questions on the 9/11 scam

[Obama's] policy makes no sense unless you understand that the real goal is for America to lose WW III. . . Hamid Gul said that America is owned by 20 or 30 families. . . He thinks American foreign policy is run by Israel and by the greed of military contractors . . . the destruction of America was intentional and systematic.
Full story: vidrebel.wordpress.com

The International Committee of the Red Cross wrote a three-volume Report of the on its Activities during World War II and published in Geneva in 1948. Contrast this to the camps run by the Jews in the Soviet Union where we know tens of millions did die. Or compare the treatment of Palestinians in Israeli prisons or Muslims in those secret torture camps run by the CIA under the control of the Zionist puppets Bush and Obama. Full story: vidrebel.wordpress.com

The Red Cross had unrestricted access each month to every German concentration camp including Auschwitz. They had inside men who reported to them in detail the activities at the camps. In a November 22, 1944 letter to US State Department officials, the Red Cross said: "We had not been able to discover any trace of installations for exterminating civilian prisoners. This corroborates a report which we had already received from other sources . . ."
Full story: vidrebel.wordpress.com

The Life of William Branham

By Owen Jorgensen

William Branham is not the first man in history to say that he talked with an angel; but few men, if any, have shown more proof such a claim is true. Between 1946 and 1954, he demonstrated the supernatural Gospel of Jesus Christ to millions of people—not through radio or television, but directly, through large evangelistic campaigns in America, Europe, Africa and India. The people who attended his faith-healing campaigns marveled at his gift of discernment, and the prophecies and miracles that followed. During these eight years he led over 500,000 people to faith in Christ. Over a million people received physical healing through his prayers. Beyond this, his ministry inspired hundreds of men to start faith-healing ministries of their own. (The above image shows part of the congregation at the service at Durban Race Track).

Paradoxically, as 1954 came to an end William Branham was not satisfied. He thought his supernatural gift should have revolutionized the Christian world, broken down denominational barriers, and brought all Christians together in oneness of spirit, purpose and doctrine. It had not. Why? Perhaps it was because too many Christians didn't understand Bible prophecy, especially as it pertained to their own lives. Worse yet, many Christians didn't even understand the basics of their faith—like who Jesus Christ is, what He promised, and how he expects people to live. To remedy this problem, Bill began preaching more doctrine in his evangelistic campaigns. This decision produced some unexpected results. During 1955, attendance at his faith-healing campaigns declined sharply. Evidently, people welcomed miracles as long as they didn't have to change their own ideas. Some people felt he should concentrate on divine healing and let people with more education teach doctrine. By the end of 1955, attendance at one California campaign had dropped so low that William Branham seriously considered quitting evangelism. God changed his mind by showing him a vision about the past and future of his ministry, and suggested that he future ministry would be even greater.

In this vision Bill was fishing from the shore of a lake. The angel told him how to catch the bigger fish. After casting his line, Bill was supposed to pull gently, which would attract the little fish to his lure. Then he was supposed to pull a little harder and scare the small fish away. That would attract the attention of the bigger fish. His third pull was supposed to be quick and strong to set the hook firmly in the jaw of a big trophy fish.

This was an allegory of his ministry. The angel explained that the first pull began in 1946 when Bill discerned sickness by touching a person's hand and detecting the vibrations of any germ-caused disease. The second pull started in 1949 when he began to discern sickness and other problems by seeing them enacted in a vision. The third pull of his ministry was approaching.

Then the scene changed. Now Bill was standing in the air, looking down on a crowd assembled inside a huge tent or cathedral. It looked like one of his faith-healing campaigns, only much larger. A little wooden building stood on the platform to the right of the pulpit. The pillar of fire descended into that little building and the Angel of the Lord said, "'I'll meet you in there. This is the third pull. Unlike the first two pulls of your ministry, the third pull won't be a public show."

During January of 1958, William Branham conducted a faith-healing campaign in Waterloo, Iowa. At a breakfast for ministers, he spoke about the day in 1933 when a supernatural Light appeared above him and a voice said, "As John the Baptist foreran the first Coming of Jesus Christ, so you are sent with a Message to forerun His second Coming." Then he told the ministers about the night in 1946 when an Angel appeared to him and told him that God had ordained him to take a gift of healing to the people of the world. Quoting the Apostle Paul, Bill declared, 'I have not been disobedient to the heavenly vision" (Acts 26:13-19). While he was still speaking, ten ministers pushed their chairs away from their tables, grabbed their coats, and walked out into a cold winter day. This incident reflected what was happening in many of his evangelistic campaigns across the country—namely, interest was declining.

As he traveled home from Waterloo, he saw a vision of a surveyor's stake pounded into the ground in front of his house in Jeffersonville, Indiana. In the vision he saw a young man driving a bulldozer recklessly through his yard. Bill asked the man why he was making such a mess of the yard. The young man tried to sass him, and tried to slap him. Bill dodged the blow, and punched him in the stomach. At that moment the Angel of the Lord said, "Bypass this. When you see that stake driven down in your front yard by your gate, then go west." Suddenly Bill saw his family sitting in a covered wagon that was hitched to a team of horses. When he climbed onto the driver's seat and took the reins, the covered wagon changed into his family car—a modern Ford station wagon.

Five years later a surveyor hammered that stake into the ground by Bill's front gate, preparatory to the city widening Ewing lane. From that moment on, everything changed.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ 1960 – 1961

On Sunday morning, May 8, 1960, William Branham had one of the strangest experiences of his unusual life. Around seven o'clock he woke from a dream that made him think of heaven. That caused him to wonder how many years he had left to serve the Lord Jesus. He was only 51, but his father had died at the age of 52. Charles Branham had been an alcoholic, which contributed to his poor health and early death; whereas Bill had never taken a drink of alcohol in his life. Still, Bill knew that at best his life was more than half over. Had he done everything God wanted him to do?

He was wondering what it would be like to die when he heard a disembodied voice ask, "Would you like to see beyond the curtain of time?"

Bill answered, "It would help me so much."

In the time it takes to blink, he was lifted from his bed and carried through the thin fabric that separates this world from the next. There he saw a paradise where hundreds of thousands of young people surrounded him, all of them shouting "Our precious brother!" Bill was astonished to learn that these people where his converts who had died in Christ and were waiting for the time when Jesus would take them back to earth—howbeit, an improved earth where peace and goodness reign. Bill didn't want to leave paradise and return to his old home, but God still had a work for him to finish on earth, so he had to go back. (William Branham had seen hundreds of thousands of visions during his life, and he said this was different from any other vision he had ever seen).

Two weeks after this experience, he spoke to his church about the contrast between these two worlds. He said, "That place is so much better. Honestly (I say this by eyewitness), that just after this life is over we enter a land that is beyond anything anyone can imagine. If there are any strangers here, I pray to God that you don't consider me a fanatic. I want to be honest and tell you the truth. What good would it do me to tell something that isn't true? Paul was caught up into the third heaven and he saw things that it wasn't expedient for him to mention (II Corinthians 12:2-4). But he did say this much: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him" (I Corinthians 2:9).

"Compared to that paradise, we're living in a dump, a rubbish heap full of smoldering filth. Even if we are not contaminated with it ourselves, we are living in it, smelling the smoke coming from the smoldering embers of sin. When I was a young man and worked for the electric company, I sometimes had to read meters down by the city dump. I dreaded that route because the smell was horrible, especially when the dump was burning. Compared to the paradise I saw, this life on earth smells just as bad as an old city dump. Sin just smells from everywhere, spiritually speaking. But over there in that other dimension the wind is blowing fresh, and everything is love, and peace, and joy, and eternal life, just across the river."

"But now we're in a battle. Let's not lie down and say, 'I'm in a hurry to get over there.' Let's bring every one with us that we can bring."

Inspired by his experience beyond death, Bill preached four consecutive sermons dealing with a Christian's inheritance: "Ephesians Parallel's Joshua," "Manifested Sons of God," "Position in Christ," and "Adoption, or Placing of Sons." His emphasis was not on the future. He emphasized the resources God has given his children in this world to prepare them for their future home. He also stressed the safety and assurance the believer has in Christ. He delivered all four of these messages in May of 1960 at Branham Tabernacle in Jeffersonville, the only place where he felt at liberty to teach on the deeper points of Christian doctrine. He said, "I want you people listening to these tapes to remember, this is to my church. When I'm out preaching evangelistic sermons amongst all kinds of people, I try to be a gentleman and I baby them along in their skimmed-milk ideas. But when it comes to really laying down the truth, here I'll lay it down."

In July of 1960 he began a series of long campaigns in the Pacific Northwest region. He spent eight nights preaching in Klamath Falls, Oregon; four nights in Lakeport, California; then he drove 400 miles north to hold an eight-day campaign in Yakima, Washington. Since God had now given him more strength to hold up under his special gift, he was discerning more people in the prayer line each night. Consequently, he was pushing himself harder than he had for years. Each night he sank a little deeper into a pit of weariness. Sometimes he couldn't even remember in what town he was ministering. By the end of this strenuous tour of the northwestern states, he had sunk so deeply into exhaustion that he wondered if he could ever crawl out.

Gene Goad and Leo Mercer, who had come with him to tape-record his meetings, took turns driving on the way home so that Bill could sleep. But he had trouble sleeping. Somewhere in eastern Washington State, he asked Leo to pull over and stop. Getting out of the car, Bill walked away from the highway a little ways, knelt under a tree and prayed, "Lord, if You'll just let me shake back to myself, good and strong again, I promise I'll reexamine my ministry. Help me to know what is truth so I can get my commission straight with the people."

As usual, when he returned to Jeffersonville, he couldn't rest at home because of all the people who wanted him to pray for them. So, the next day Bill drove 200 miles southeast to Elkhorn City, Kentucky, to spend a few days with his friends Charlie and Nellie Cox. Charlie Cox was Banks Wood's brother-in-law, Ruby Wood being Charlie's sister. The Cox family lived in the country just a few miles from the Kentucky-Virginia state line. Bill spent several days wandering over the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, hunting squirrels, relaxing, thinking, and praying.

He thought about that night in 1946 when the angel of the Lord first met him face to face and told him he was ordained to take a gift of divine healing to the world. The angel told him he would be given two signs to prove he was sent from God. He soon discovered that the first sign was, by its very nature, physically taxing—holding the hands of sick people, feeling the vibrations of their deadly diseases traveling up his arm to his heart. In those early days he would pray for hundreds of people a night until he felt dizzy and would almost faint from exhaustion. But the second sign turned out to be more physically tiring than the first sign. When the anointing of the Holy Spirit began to discern the troubles of people, each vision drained so much of his energy that he could only pray for about 15 to 20 people a night. Over the years he often asked God to remove this hindrance and give him the strength to pray for more people each night in his faith-healing campaigns. In February of 1955 God showed him a vision of a woman wearing a brown dress who was holding a dying baby. The vision showed him that the baby would be healed. Then the Angel of the Lord said, "When you see this come to pass, your ministry will change."

In the spring of 1959, during a faith-healing service Bill conducted in Chicago, that woman in her brown dress came through the prayer line exactly the way the vision foretold. As soon as her baby was healed, Bill felt a surge of energy. The next vision did not sap his stamina as much as before, and from that moment on, he was able to pray for more people each night in his meetings.

This godsend did not turn out as he had hoped it would. True, with greater stamina he could pray for more people on any given night. But there were endless numbers of people wanting prayer. At some point in each meeting his physical strength had to fail. During his last campaign in Yakima, he had seen as many as fifty visions per night! Fifty supernatural discernments—and every one of them precisely correct. Did fifty miracles build the peoples' faith in God's promises more than fifteen miracles would have? No, they didn't. When he finally ran out of strength to continue the prayer line in Yakima, there were still hundreds of people asking for more supernatural discernment.

Now, as he sat on the side of a hill in Kentucky watching the sun rise above the Appalachian Mountains, he realized he had erred concerning his original commission. God had originally commissioned him to pray for the sick. The angel said if he could get the people to believe him, no disease could resist his prayers. When he had protested that people wouldn't believe him because of his lowly status, then God had added the two signs for proof of his commission. But a sign is not a destination; it only points toward a destination. Now he could see his mistake. He had been emphasizing the signpost instead of the commission. It was time for his emphasis to change. Bill prayed, "God, forgive me. Let me rise and try again. Help me, Lord. Let me lead this people and set them in the Word, so we can cross Jordan into the Promised Land, where the great ransomed Church of God will be saved to sin no more."

Bill spent the rest of the day wandering over green hills and through patches of woods. He would walk for a while, and then sit a while, walk some more, then sit some more, praying, thinking, relaxing. He got back to Charlie's house around the time Nellie was putting supper on the table. Bill planned to go home the next day.

That night he had trouble sleeping. About three o'clock in the morning he got up to pray. In the soft glow of an electric lamp he walked slowly back and forth in the room. Suddenly he shivered. Looking up, he was startled to see a hideous dark man standing in front of him. He was not dark like a Black African; his skin was more like a charcoal gray, and it was wrinkled like wrought iron. The man lunged at him with great clutching hands that locked around his throat. Bill struggled against that iron grip, but he couldn't break free. Slowly he felt his life being choked away. Then he realized he had a knife in his right hand. Desperately, he thrust his blade at the dark man's stomach, but his little blade couldn't penetrate that metallic skin. At the last possible moment, when it seemed like he could only survive a few more seconds, a bright light flashed in the room, causing the dark man to draw back. Somehow (Bill didn't know exactly how) the Lord Jesus intervened and saved him.

With his heart still pounding from adrenaline, Bill sat on the edge of his bed and pondered this vision. He believed the dark man with hideous metallic skin represented the government's tax case against him. The federal government said he owed personal income tax on all contributions to his campaigns, even though every dollar of that money was used for campaign expenses and none of it went into his personal bank account. Although he hadn't done anything unethical or illegal, federal investigators kept trying to prove he had. By now the case had dragged on for five years, and (spiritually speaking) it was constricting his ministry. Now he knew that somehow the Lord would deliver him from the government's choking grasp.

As summer moved into fall, September seemed reluctant to let the heat of August go. One hot, humid night Bill tossed in his bed for hours, unable to fall asleep. About 3 o'clock Tuesday morning, September 6, 1960, he got out of bed and went to the kitchen to get a drink of water. Then he slowly paced the floor of his living room, praying, watching his feet as he walked. As it so often happened in his life, he felt something supernatural enter the room before he saw it. A shiver passed up his spine. This time he looked up and saw a Man who glowed like a brilliant white light. This was not the Angel of the Lord who usually came to him when he prayed. Bill did not know who this Man was, but his presence scared him as much as the dark man had scared him two weeks earlier—only in a different way. In the presence of this Man, Bill did not feel threatened. The room shook as this divine One spoke. Bill was so stunned that he didn't catch the words exactly. Either the Man said, "In seven more days you will stand as Moses stood," or else he said, "You will be as Moses was," or something concerning Moses.

The next Sunday (September 11, 1960) Bill delivered a sermon he called "As I was with Moses." He had wanted to preach this sermon ever since 1952, when he saw that disembodied hand come down in his room, divide the pages of his Bible to Joshua chapter 1, and point out verses 2 through 9. In the following years Bill read these verses often, believing that they had special meaning for his ministry. But this Sunday was the first time he had ever used them as text for a sermon. He read: "Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, and go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them. . . There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I sware to their fathers to give them".

"Joshua knew that the command was great," Bill said, "but with this assurance he could be fearless (we would call it reckless) as long as he was pointed in the right way. So can the church of the living God be reckless and fearless in faith, if we are pointed the right way. God said, "As I was with Moses, I will be with you. I'll not fail you nor forsake you." He didn't fail Moses or Joshua. He will not fail us. He'll be with us."

Bill taught that Joshua actually had more to do than Moses. Joshua had to conquer the Promised Land in steps, and at the same time divide it fairly among his people. When Moses led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, he typed Jesus Christ delivering his children out of the bondage of sin. When Joshua led the Israelites across the Jordan River into the Promised Land, he typed the Holy Spirit leading Christians into a spirit-filled life, where they can live victoriously, according to God's Word despite all of Satan's efforts to defeat them. The Promised Land that Joshua entered was not a type of heaven, nor was it a type of the millennial reign of Christ; it couldn't be, because the Israelites had to battle for it step by step. Conquering the Promised Land was a type of Christians struggling to inherit all the promises of God, from the baptism with the Holy Ghost to the rapture of the Bride of Jesus Christ.

Bill mentioned how Moses made mistakes, yet God still used him because he was ordained for his task. Then Bill confessed his own mistake, telling his congregation how the Lord had revealed to him that he had been emphasizing the signpost more than the destination. God had given him three specific commissions during his years of ministering the Gospel. The first was to take a gift of divine healing to the people of the world. His second commission was to do the work of an evangelist, with an emphasis upon sound doctrine. His third commission was to show the church her spiritual inheritance. The addition of this third commission did not alter the other two. Somehow he had strayed slightly from his original commission, which was to pray for the sick—simply pray. Bill said, "God can never get away from His commission. I have now had 14 straight years of discernment around the world until I have seen tens of thousands of visions, perhaps a million cases; and I ask you, did you ever see it fail? No sir. And if the signpost won't fail, how much more will the commission never fail. The sign is the minor part. So if the sign pointing to the city never fails to tell you the city is there, how much more will the city be there if you go to it. There is the commission!"

"Now my ministry is changing. It's already changed. I will still use the discernment as I feel led of God, but more and more I will just lay my hands on the sick and pray. I want to carry out my commission. I've waited a long time for this, but now I believe we are ready to take the Promised Land."

"Believe it and live! Believe it and get well! I can't make any one believe it. You have to believe it yourself. I have told you the truth. God has testified that it is the truth: by His Word, by His Angel, by His signs and wonders for 14 long years. If they aren't going to believe it now, they will never believe it. But the hour has come when I'm tired of staying on this mountain. I want to go across the Jordan River. I want to enter into the full promises of God."

Later that fall William Branham and Banks Wood drove to Elkhorn City, Kentucky. Charlie Cox had invited them to spend some time at his house. Bill wanted to hunt squirrels a few more days before the 1960 hunting season ended. One morning Banks dropped him off at a patch of trees about four miles from Charlie's home. As Banks drove away in his car, Bill heard a dog barking at the far edge of the woods, moving away from him, the harsh noise getting fainter as the minutes passed.

"If someone has been through here with a dog," he thought, "there is no need of me hunting for a while. The squirrels will all be hiding in their holes. I'll just sit down and wait until they come out."

He pulled his Bible out from his game bag and sat in the dry grass with his back propped against a fence post. Before he could open his Bible, he heard a voice say, "Rise, and go to the place you call Sportsman's Hollow. There I will speak to you."

Obediently he got up and walked toward Sportsman's Hollow, which was about a mile away. It wasn't called Sportsman's Hollow on any map. He had named it that himself. Once when he was hunting there, he saw sixteen squirrels sitting in one tree. He shot the legal limit, and left the rest of them untouched, which was the sportsman-like thing to do.

On this day when he reached Sportsman's Hollow, he couldn't find any squirrels. Bill stood under an oak tree, expecting the Lord to speak to him immediately. Minutes passed, but he heard no sound except the wind whistling through bare branches and stirring the dry leaves on the ground. His ears stung from the cold. Prostrating himself on a mat of leaves, he prayed. After half an hour, he sat up with his arms and propped his back against the oak. Around him the woods remained strangely quiet and somewhat mysterious. He could feel the Holy Spirit in the distance, walking in tune with nature, resonating like a perfect equation:

Two . . . . times . . . . two . . . . equals . . . . four
(coming closer;)
Two . . . times . . . two . . . equals . . . four
(intensifying;)
two .. times .. two .. equals .. four;
two times two equals four!

Bill heard that voice again, as clearly as he heard the robins and meadowlarks singing in the trees around him. It was a deep voice, perfect in its resonance. It said, "Read Malachi chapter four."

Bill opened his Bible to the fourth chapter of Malachi, pressing his thumb tightly on the page to keep it from flipping loose in the chilly breeze. It was a short chapter, containing only six verses. He read verse six out loud. "Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And He will turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse".

"Yes," he mused, "I believe that. But what do these two phrases mean, 'turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers'?"

He turned to Luke 1:17 and read the angel's prophecy about John the Baptist: "And he [John] shall go before him [Jesus] in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and. . . and . . . (He felt the excitement rising inside him) and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. . ." There was his answer! Like flowers opening their petals to reveal their beauty, these verses revealed the truth. John the Baptist did turn the hearts of the fathers to the children—that is, he directed the attention of the Jews beyond the faith of their fathers, toward a new, liberating faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But in Luke 1:17, when the angel quoted Malachi 4:6, the angel stopped in mid verse. He didn't finish the verse because the remainder of Malachi 4:6 didn't apply to John's ministry. It was reserved for a future Elijah, who will turn the hearts of the children back to their fathers—that is, this latter—day Elijah will turn the attention of the end-time Christians back to the faith that the Apostolic fathers established in the New Testament church.

That would explain why, when the Pharisees asked John if he was Elijah, John said he was not (John 1:19-23). John meant he was not the Elijah of Malachi 4:6b. He was not the Elijah who would forerun the second coming of Christ. That Elijah would come just before that great and dreadful day of the Lord, after which the earth would "burn like an oven."

Jesus also spoke of these two separate comings of Elijah. "And His disciples asked Him, saying, 'Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished.' Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.' Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist" (Matthew 17:10-11). When Jesus said this, John was already dead. So, when Jesus said, "Elijah shall first come and restore all things," He was speaking of a future event. Besides, John didn't restore anything. He was a messenger, announcing the coming of the Messiah. This future Elijah would have a ministry of restoration, right before The Second Coming of Christ.

For the final time that day, he heard that distinctive Voice echo through the hollow. It said, "Read Revelation chapters one, two and three."

Turning to the last book in the Bible, Bill read as he was directed. Verse by verse, new insights seemed to jump off the pages at him. It was like the sun had suddenly risen high enough to burn away the fog, and now he could see the meaning of each verse clearly.

Returning to Jeffersonville, he scheduled a week of special meetings for early December so he could share what the Lord had showed him. During the intervening weeks, he reinforced his grasp of history by reviewing the writings of Josephus and Broadbent, as well as Hislop's Two Babylons, Fox's Book of the Martyrs, Hazeltine's church history, How Did It Happen?—and many other books on Christian history, such as The Ante-Nicene Fathers, The Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, and the Catholic treatise, Facts of our Faith.

On Sunday morning December 4, 1960, at Branham Tabernacle, he began this series by preaching on Revelation chapter one, mapping out the background and purpose of John's vision. The rest of the week he preached on Revelation chapters 2 and 3, every night explaining another church age.

Bill taught that Jesus Christ was the author of the Book of Revelation. John merely wrote down what he saw in a series of visions that came to him in the years AD95-96. During this time, John was imprisoned on Patmos, a small island in the Aegean Sea near the border between modern-day Greece and Turkey. John said, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day . . ." (Revelation 1:10). Bill explained that the Lord's Day in this context is not referring to the seventh day of the week. Rather, the Lord's Day is that point in human history when Jesus Christ comes and takes physical dominion over this world, fulfilling Revelation 11:15, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever."

In his first vision, John, the disciple of Jesus, saw Jesus Christ like he had never seen him before. John saw Jesus walking amid seven lamps, and in His right hand He held seven stars. His white hair and face dazzled with the brightness of His purity, but His tongue looked like a sword and His eyes burned with fire. John collapsed in fear at the sight of Him.

On Sunday evening Bill said, "This morning we took the subject of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, who God revealed to us as the Supreme Deity, the great 'I AM,' always. We notice this in the first chapter of Revelation. What is the revelation of Jesus Christ? What's the first thing He reveals about Himself? He reveals that He is the God of Heaven—not a triune god, but one God. He says this four times in the first chapter so there will not be a mistake. The first thing you've got to know is: Jesus is not just a prophet; He is not a junior god; He is not a secondary god—He is God! Therefore the revelation came forth, and we still continue with it tonight as we study the sevenfold personage of His being. May God help us as we teach on these words. I've studied it from a historical standpoint, but wait until I get in the pulpit here for the inspiration."

"The greatest of all revelations is the Supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can't get to first base until you believe that. Peter said, 'Repent, and then see the Deity. Be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and then you're ready to go in the Spirit' (Acts 2:38). The first thing you have to know is the Deity of Christ. Jesus said, 'I am Alpha and Omega. I'm from A to Z. There's no more but Me. I was at the beginning; I'll be at the end. I'm He that was, which is, and shall come—the Almighty' (Revelation 1:8). Think of it! That is what the trumpet said. Be careful, John. You've entered into the Spirit. Something is going to be revealed to you. What is it? The first of all revelations is, 'I'm Alpha and Omega.' (O sinner, bow, repent now before the time is too late). First He let John know who was approaching. Is this King Jesus? King God? King Holy Ghost? He said, 'I'm all of it. I'm from A to Z. I'm the beginning and the ending. I'm the Immortal, Eternal One!' Just a little later we'll watch Him in His sevenfold personage. Watch what He is then".

After Jesus revealed His supreme deity, he told John that the seven lamps were seven churches, and the seven stars in His hand were angels to those churches. Then He dictated a letter to each church. These were Gentile churches in Asia Minor. The conditions in these particular churches would match the seven distinct periods Christianity would go through before the end. Consequently, these letters prophesied seven ages for the Gentile church. Jesus addressed His followers in each age, giving them encouragement and criticism where needed. He also addressed the people in the false church in each age, those who claimed they were Christians but were not.

Jesus began his dictation by saying, "Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus, write. . ." That meant each church age had an angel. The word angel means messenger. These were not heavenly messengers. John the prophet wouldn't need to write a letter to a heavenly angel. No, these angels were men, one messenger for each age. Bill set the church ages and the messengers in their historical order:

Revelation 2:1-7	Ephesus	53 - 170	Paul
Revelation 2:8-11	Smyrna	170 - 312	Irenaeus
Revelation 2:12-17	Pergamos	312 - 606	Martin
Revelation 2:18-29	Thyatira	606-1520	Columba
Revelation 3:1-6	Sardis	1520-1750	Luther
Revelation 3:7-13	Philadelphia	1750-1906	Wesley
Revelation 3:14-22	Laodicea	1906-1963	'Elijah'

The messenger to the first church age was Paul. Right after his conversion to Christianity, the Lord said about Paul, "He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles" (Acts 2:38). First Paul preached to the Jews. When they rejected his message, he said, "It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth" (Acts 13:46-47). Paul established Gentile churches all over Asia Minor. He also defined the Christian faith through his letters. In his letter to the Romans he said, "I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office" (Romans 11:13).

The first age began about AD53 when Paul established the church at Ephesus, teaching basic Christian doctrine to twelve converts, beginning with water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, and spiritual baptism with the Holy Ghost (Acts 19:1-12). The name Ephesus means "relaxed and drifting." Initially, the first church age followed the Gospel that Paul received by revelation from Jesus Christ; but later Christians strayed, listening to other teachers who preached a different Gospel (Galatians 1:6-24; 2:1-10). That is why Jesus said to the first church age, "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love" (Revelation 2:4). He does commend some qualities in them: "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate" (Revelation 2:6).

The word Nicolaitane is a composite of two Greek words: Nikao, which means to conquer or overthrow; and Laos, which means the laity—that is, the regular Christians, those who are not official ministers. These Nicolaitanes were gradually subjugating the laity by replacing the leadership of the Holy Spirit with the leadership of men. How could such a change take place in a church that was started by God Himself? To answer this question, Bill used the Book of Genesis to show that in the beginning every move of God produced brothers with different agendas—like Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, Isaac and Ishmael. In each case one brother was a true seed of God, while the other was not; yet both brothers claimed to love God. The ministry of Jesus produced both Simon Peter and Judas Iscariot. Likewise, the first church age gave birth to whole congregations of brothers with different agendas.

Whether you call them "believers and make-believers," or "spiritual and carnal Christians" or "true and false vines," or "wheat and tares," or "wise and foolish virgins," it all comes down to the same thing: one brother is born-again by a spiritual experience; the other is persuaded by an intellectual idea. Putting it another way, one brother is filled with the Holy Ghost and the other brother is not. That is how the Nicolaitane spirit snuck into the church. Instead of having a spiritual experience, some people became Christians for intellectual reasons or for political convenience. Some of these people set up a hierarchy of leadership to control their brethren. Satan used these carnal Christians and their political system to worm his way into the church.

Prayerfully studying history, Bill identified the messengers to the other six church ages. Paul was his Biblical criteria. Since Paul was the messenger to the first church age, the man whose ministry most closely matched Paul's ministry in deed and doctrine must be the angel for the church age in which he lived. By this standard, Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, was clearly the messenger to the second church age. Irenaeus was a Pauline scholar. His book, Against the Heresies, influenced many Christians of his day to stay with the teachings of Paul, rather than stray after contrary teachers.

During the Smyrnaean age, (AD170?312) Satan attacked the Christian church from two directions—persecution from without and deception from within. Deception was by far his greatest weapon. In spite of the efforts of Irenaeus and others, the false vine grew stronger until it finally received a champion in the emperor Constantine, who embraced Christianity for political gain, making it the state religion.

What began as deeds of the Nicolaitanes in the first church age had become a well-formed doctrine in the third, or Pergamos age (Revelation 2:15). Now the state church was organized into a hierarchy of clergy: a pope, cardinals, bishops and priests. Constantine called this state religion the Catholic Church. Beginning with the Nicene Council in 325, church doctrine was legislated from the top down, using all the state's power to make it law. Worst of all, Constantine influenced the church to mix Christianity with Paganism, trying to make a religion that would appeal to everyone in his empire. Catholicism is actually a pagan form of Christianity. Martin of Tours, who was the messenger to the Pergamean age, gallantly withstood this hybridizing of the church. Because the Catholic Church controlled the centers of learning, it became increasingly difficult for the true vine to preserve the teachings of the Apostles. The stage was set for the dark ages.

The Thyatirean church age began around 606 and lasted over 900 years. Historians aptly called this period "the Dark Ages," for the light of God's Word waned so dim, it almost blacked out completely. The Roman Catholic Church developed itself into a tightly knit organization and dominated Europe, remaining powerful by keeping the Word of God away from the masses, using dogmas, superstitions, and fear to rule people. Yet, even this darkness fit into God's master plan. Jesus said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies it produces much grain" (John 12:24). The seed of God's Word that was planted in the first church age, had now died and corrupted, but from that original seed an underground church had sprouted and was establishing roots. Columba of Scotland, the messenger to this fourth church age, proved that even amid gross darkness, the true church, the true seed of God can and will persevere and overcome against all odds.

Finally this kernel of truth buried underground poked a tender green shoot into the air. The age of Sardis began around 1517 when its messenger, a young Catholic priest named Martin Luther, wrote down his complaints against the Roman Catholic Church and nailed them to the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The public debates that followed rocked Christendom. For centuries the Catholic Church taught that people earned their salvation by doing certain deeds. Luther protested. He read in the letters of Saint Paul: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Luther agreed with Paul, that salvation came through faith in Jesus Christ alone (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38). Unfortunately, Luther's followers made the same mistake that doomed the Catholic Church: they organized themselves into a system of leadership that excluded the Holy Ghost. Consequently, Jesus said to the age of Sardis, "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead" (Revelation 3:1). Eventually the Lutheran church age became just as spiritually dead as the Roman Catholic Church, strangled by the politically motivated leadership of men.

The Philadelphian church age began around 1750. Its messenger was John Wesley, a minister in the Church of England. In 1738 Wesley listened to someone reading Martin Luther's preface to Paul's letter to the Romans. Paul and Luther inspired Wesley to embrace a "saving faith" in Jesus Christ. Wesley spent the rest of his life passing on this "saving faith" to thousands of people in England, and to other parts of the world through missionary programs. That is why Jesus said to the Philadelphian age, "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it" (Revelation 3:8). However, Wesley added a further dimension to Luther's message. Wesley preached that after salvation comes to the individual through faith in Jesus, the individual must move on into sanctification. In other words, people who really accept Jesus Christ as their Savior will live sanctified, holy lives (John 17:12; I Thessalonians 4:3-4; 5:23; II Thessalonians 2:13; James 2:17-20; I Peter 1:2). Because of Wesley's systematic approach to Godliness, his followers called themselves Methodists. Eventually they too adopted a variation of the Roman Catholic system of church government, squeezing out the Spirit of God.

The Laodicean church age began in 1906 when God restored the gifts of the Holy Spirit to a group of people at the Azuza Street Mission in Los Angeles, California (Acts 2:3; 19:6; I Corinthians 12:10). Starting with that little group of Christians, the gifts of the Spirit spread rapidly from church to church, causing a worldwide revival that became the modern-day Pentecostal movement. Alas, what began with such promise eventually followed in the footsteps of the preceding ages by denominating. These Pentecostal people organized their movement, erected their doctrinal fences, imbedded their fence posts in concrete, and closed all the gates so the Holy Spirit could not take them farther on to higher ground. Jesus rebuked the Laodicean church age, saying, "Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. You say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,' and do not know you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:16-17). The seventh church age is so tightly organized that Jesus portrays Himself on the outside, wanting in. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20).

Laodicea is the last church age before Jesus Christ returns to earth, this time in judgment. God said through Malachi, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn . . . the heart of the children to their fathers. . ." So the messenger to the seventh church age will have the spirit of Elijah, just as John the Baptist did.

Bill taught, "When this great Elijah comes at the end of this age, he'll be taking the Message of Pentecost to turn the children to the faith of the fathers. He'll be rebuking Christians in Laodicea because they didn't keep the same faith that was back there at the beginning."

"I often wondered, 'Would this man just be a preacher, then?' Elijah did all miracles and no preaching. But when his spirit was upon John, It did all preaching and no miracles. Why? Jesus was going to follow him and He would do the miracles. Malachi said, "For unto you that fear My Name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings." John had no need of doing miracles; he just announced the coming of the Christ".

The inference here is that Elijah will both preach and do miracles. Bill continued to describe his personality.

"Like John, this end-time Elijah will be misunderstood. He'll be such a great, powerful man before the Lord that some people will mistake him for the Messiah (Luke 3:15; John 1:19-20; 3:28). What kind of a nature will Elijah have? First, he'll be a mighty prophet who will stay true to the Word of God, for Elijah was true and John was true. Doing signs and wonders, he will turn the hearts of the children back to the faith of the Pentecostal fathers. He will hate fancy women. Elijah disliked Jezebel, and John disliked Herodias. Both men, prophets with the same spirit, hated organized religion, like these Christian denominations. Something in their Spirit cried out against the thing".

"Like Elijah and John, this end-time prophet will be a lover of the wilderness. He will not be a learned person. Elijah the Tishbite was not a learned person; neither was John the Baptist" (Luke 1:80).

This prophet will also be a moody person. Elijah and John both had moody spells: Elijah felt discouraged after he fled from Jezebel. John felt discouraged when he sat in Herod's prison" (I Kings 19:1-4; Matthew 11:2-3, respectively. Note: Before John had his doubts in prison, he had already declared Jesus to be the redeeming Lamb of God (John 1:29-36).

"The first Elijah came when Israel was ready to be delivered from the hands of paganism. John also came at a time of deliverance. John said, "I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, rejoices greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:22-30). John preached and made himself known just before the coming of the Lord, right at the time of the Lord's manifestation".

seven Church Ages

During this week Bill used a blackboard and white chalk to illustrate the amount of Light (Spiritual truth) that was present in each church age. Drawing seven circles in a row across the blackboard, he divided each circle with a diagonal line and shaded the upper part of these circles with his white chalk to represent the light in each age. The first circle, representing the first church age, was three-fourths light and one-fourth darkness. The second circle was about half and half. The third circle contained one-fourth light and three-fourths darkness. In the fourth church age the circle was almost all black, except for a thin strip of white on top. The light increased a little in the fifth age, and a little more in the sixth, but in the seventh church age it decreased again until the line of circles ended in complete darkness.

On Sunday morning January 8, 1961, Bill preached his third sermon on Revelation Chapter Four, a sermon he called "Throne of Mercy and Judgment."He had just finished his Message and was about to pray for the sick when the Pillar of Fire appeared in the air at the back of the room, shrinking into a ball of Light, looking like a miniature sun. Because Bill was facing his audience, he saw it first. There were approximately 350 people sitting in the pews. They stirred and murmured uneasily, feeling the presence of something supernatural. Then some of them saw a light appear on the wall behind the pulpit. Gladys Dauch screamed.

Bill turned and looked behind him. This Light on the wall behind him was not as intense as the Light at the back of the room, but clearly the same in all its features. Bill explained to his audience that the light on the wall behind him was the reflection of that supernatural Light at the back of the room. He said, "You're seeing one and I'm seeing two".

A series of visions followed. Bill spoke as he watched the visions reveal things. He said, "There is a man sitting on the outside here, under this line looking over towards that Light. It struck him. He's from Seymour, Indiana, and he's had a stroke. Sir, if you'll believe, God will heal you of that stroke. Amen! Believe now".

"Lady, do you believe with all your heart? If the Lord God, Creator of heavens and earth, will let me do something to prove to you that it is God, then will you believe with all your heart? You have a nervous condition caused by menopause. Jesus heals you".

"The lady sitting next to her . . . you're not from here either; you're from Somerset, Kentucky. Even though I'm a stranger to you, I know it's not you who wants to be made well—it's your son. He's in Virginia. He has ulcers, and there is another thing wrong with him—he's unsaved. You're praying for him now. Mrs. Baker, return to Somerset and believe with all your heart, and Jesus Christ will make your son well".

He continued in this manner for about fifteen minutes, going in and out of visions regularly. Between each vision he watched that supernatural ball of Light at the back of the sanctuary change. Gradually it was darkening like an eclipse of the sun. Its reflection on the wall behind him underwent the same progression, looking like an eclipse of the moon. Every time Bill came out of a vision he saw that more of the disk had darkened. By the time he came out from his third vision, that little sun at the back of the room was almost totally covered by a shadow, it's Light only a tiny fraction of what it was at first. After two more visions, it lightened a little, but after the next vision it darkened and faded completely away. Each of its seven phases had looked exactly like the circles of the church ages Bill had drawn on his blackboard.

Many people in the congregation, including Gladys Dauch, watched the eclipse of that Light on the wall behind the pulpit. They saw all seven stages, the last stage being the darkness of a total eclipse. Bill explained that symbolically, the sun represents Christ and the moon represents the church. The moon has no light of its own; it merely reflects the light of the sun. Likewise the church merely reflects the Light of Christ.

Many people in the congregation, including Gladys Dauch, watched the waxing and waning of that Light on the wall behind the pulpit. They saw all seven stages, the last stage being the darkness of a total eclipse. Bill held this incident in his heart as a confirmation from God that what he taught about the seven church ages was true (The Life of William Branham, Volume III, p. 11-38). nl792.htm

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Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.

Bible Believers' Newsletter 792