Questions & Answers
Questions 281 (COD Page 1001)
Dear Brother Branham, I have been baptized in Jesus’ Name. The Word says you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Does this–does this mean the baptism, the Holy Spirit, or does it mean I should receive the gift–definite–I should receive a definite experience with the baptism? I am anxious to be–to be filled with the–the Spirit. Please excuse the long note as I have been wanting to ask you this question for a long time. Thank you. And the person has their name signed. They’re out-of-town people.
40 Now, there’s a good question. Now, the baptism with the Holy Spirit is a definite experience that a person must receive. Now let me kinda clear that up just for a minute. See? Now, many people have the–the idea...I believe it’s twisted. And maybe right here to the church and to the church that’s listening, there might be a question. Now, when I speak of not believing the initial evidence of the Holy Ghost is speaking with tongues (I–I do not accept that) I believe with God’s help I can prove it in the Bible that that’s wrong (see?), ’cause the speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Ghost. How many knows that? Divine healing is a gift of the Holy Ghost, and here Beatles are doing it. See?
41 Satan can impersonate any of those gifts. Witches, wizards can speak in tongues and interpret it. The jungle lands, many times a wizard will speak in tongues, drink blood out of a human skull, and interpret unknown tongues.
42 Out in Arizona when they have the old festival dance of the corn dance, the Indians wrap these bull snakes around them when they’re trying to pray to God to send them rain for their corn. They call it the corn dance. They take the tassel of the corn, place it around them, and make a little cloud, and they dance. And the witch doctor comes out with horns on his head, buffalo horns. And they dance with these bull snakes around them, and the wizards and many of the pipe smokers and things around the place...They won’t let a white man around at that time, but I’ve watched them through binoculars, and have Indian friends who’s went to their dances; that’s the ones that not Christians, of course. And they dance this corn dance holding these snakes. And the wizard comes out, and cuts hisself with knives, and everything else, and finally they get into the spirit, and speak in tongues and interpret it.
43 I have–could take you right within three or four hours from now, where a medium will lay a pencil on the table, and go into a trance and all kinds of things, and wave their hands; and that pencil will raise up and write in unknown tongues, and the wizard will stand and tell you what it says.
44 Now, that’s no evidence of the Holy Ghost. See? You can’t rely upon that. You can’t rely upon the fruit of the Spirit, because the first fruit of the Spirit is love. And the Christian Science exercise more love than anybody I know of, and they even deny Jesus Christ being Divine. See? There’s only one evidence of the Holy Spirit that I know of, and that is a genuine faith in the promised Word of the hour!
45 Now, those Jews come; they had more religion than the disciples had. They were better trained man in the Scriptures than the disciples was, because they were fishermen, tax collectors, and so forth. And they had real faith and genuine faith in what they were doing. Now, listen closely now; don’t miss this! See? When it come to being fruits of the Spirit, kind and gentle, I guess there wasn’t a one of those priest but what could outshine Jesus Christ in it. He went to the temple, plaited ropes, looked upon them with anger, and turned over their tables, and run them out of the place. Is that right? The Bible said He looked upon them with anger. The Bible said that. That’s exactly right.
46 So see, those priest were gentle, meek, understanding man. When it come to the fruits of the Spirit, they could show more fruits of the Spirit than Jesus ever could. When it comes to theology, they didn’t know–have a school that He come out of. “Whence cometh this man? Where did he come from? What fellowship card does he have? What organization does he belong to? We don’t know where he come from. He was just absolutely an outcast guy that was borned a illegitimate birth. Why, we could down him here in a few minutes and show you by the laws...” They had a right to do what they did when it come to that. Why? Because they failed to see that He was that promised Word of the hour. The only way they recognized it, when Jesus performed the Word by being able to tell them what they had in their hearts, what they had been doing...He was a Prophet according to the Word of God. What He said come to pass, every word, word by word.
47 He was God’s Prophet, Servant, God the Prophet. Not... It was–was–was before there, the prophet of God, and this is God the Prophet, not the prophet of God. That was Malachi, Jeremiah, and Isaiah, and Elijah, and so forth, but this was God the Prophet, not the prophet of God. You get it now? All the prophets that portrayed His life in portions, played their part, but in Him was the Fullness of all the prophets. The prophets, the Word of the Lord came to them, the prophets, but This was the Word and the Prophet, the same Person. See?
48 Now, now, when a man receives Christ in the manner that He is in, you can’t accept it as being...See? Now, some of them say, “Well, I’m a Lutheran.” Well, there’s nothing against that, but the Eagles don’t feed on that. See? That was as far as it was; that was fresh food of that day.
“I’m a Wesleyan.” That’s all right, but you’re living in the past. See?
Now, those people said, “Why, we have Abraham unto our father.”
That prophet said, “God’s able of these stones to rise children to Abraham.” See?
“We belong to this. We belong to that.” That had nothing...He said, “You generation of snakes, who’s warned you to flee from the wrath? Don’t begin to say,
‘We have Abraham to our father,’ ’cause God’s able of these stones to rise children to Abraham.” See?
49 So being a well-trained theologian had nothing to do with it. Being meek and gentle had nothing to do with it. What made Him different? He was the Word made flesh, not the Word for the day of Moses, Moses was that day–Word; not the Word for the days of Noah, Noah was the Word for that day; not the day–the Word for the day of Elijah, Elijah was that Word for that day; but He was the present tense Word, and they were living in the back.
50 The same thing repeats! That’s the evidence of the Holy Ghost, when God reveals to you and you see it, THUS SAITH THE LORD and accept it. Not what you are, what you was, or nothing about it, it’s what God has done for you now. There’s the evidence.
51 Jesus said...He give us the evidence of the Holy Ghost, John 14. He said, “I have many things to tell you. I haven’t got time to do it, but when the Holy Ghost comes, He will tell you, bring to your memory the things that I told you about, and will also show you things that is to come.” Don’t you see? There’s the evidence. That’s forthtelling and being–having the Divine interpretation of the written Word. Now, isn’t that the evidence of a prophet?
52 A seer in the Bible was a man that could forthtell and it’d be perfectly, exactly, not somebody laid hands on him, that’s a gift. A prophet is predestinated and borned to be a prophet. See? All the whole life it was a prophet, that’s a office. That’s where the people...
53 Many of the questions here on: “Well, will the Bride...?” “Will this...?” “The church and...” See? You–you can’t divide what they are. The Bride is the Elected of God. The church goes through...That’s the ones It says, “Whosoever will, let him come.” But the Bride is the Elected of God.
54 There is five offices elected of God. “For God has set in the Church apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists.” God did that. Man has deacons and so forth, and everything else, but you see, but God set in the Church for the perfecting of the Church–can’t divide it.
55 Now, the Holy Spirit, when It comes, It is a witness unto you (see?) that this Word is right, the Word for today, not the Word for Luther, the Word, not for Moses. We witness It’s the Truth, but it’s another day.
56 Now, what if Jesus would come and said, “Now, as Moses come taking you all out of Egypt, I’ve come taking you somewhere else”? What if He said, “Let’s go to work and build an ark. I–I’m the Lord God, I–I’m going to float the world away now. I’m going to drown the world, all of them”? Why, He’d been out of the...See, the Scripture never said He’d come like that. See? He wouldn’t have been the Messiah. No matter how much ark He’d built, or whatever He had done. He’s still not–He’d have not qualified the Messiah. Hallelujah! There you are! It’s qualification! Yes, sir!
57 First Corinthians 13 says this: “When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away with.” So all these little things of jumping up and down like a kid, trying to talk in tongues, and all these other things, when that which is perfect...And we do have today, by God’s help, the perfect interpretation of the Word with Divine vindication! Then that which is in part is done away with. “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child; but when I become a man, I put away childish things.” Amen! I go to preaching and then don’t get to these things.