Questions & Answers
Questions 79 (COD Page 375)
Question. Now! Brother Branham, is it true that Satan was once in Heaven and was cast out, he and his angels come down to earth, or is it a vision like John saw on the Isle of Patmos? Why I ask this, is, I was told that it was a vision.
66 John saw it as a vision, but it was a literal happening. If you’ll turn to Isaiah 14:12. Now, these go slow, but to me, they’re-they are lessons. And it’s something that... Maybe you think, “Well, I don’t have no need of that now.” You just don’t know how that Holy Spirit feeds on the Word of God. It’s got to have the Word to-to feed on, because the Holy Spirit feeds only, and only on the Word of God. You believe that? The Bible said so. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” All right! The 14th chapter of Isaiah, and I believe here now we’re going to begin at the 12th verse. Let’s read now about Lucifer.
How art thou falling from heaven, O Lucifer,... (Fallen from Heaven)... son of the morning!... (An
angelic being from the Heaven.) How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst walk-weaken the nations!
For thou did say in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, and I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will set also upon the mount of the congregation, in the side of the north:
I will ascend above the highest of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
67 So you see it wasn’t a vision. Absolutely, Lucifer was cast out of Heaven.
68 Now, let’s turn to the New Testament to Luke 10:18, just a minute, and see what Jesus said. In the Book of Luke, you have your Bibles now, that’s trying to get on these questions, Luke
10:18: And he said unto them,... (Jesus speaking.)... I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven.
69 See, Satan was the original archangel of God. He once dwelt in the Heaven. He once was the greatest person in the heavens outside of God. He was God’s right-hand man to fellowship, and he got puffed up in his heart.
70 And isn’t that just the way that people get today? Let God just bless a fellow and put a little confidence in him, and he gets to be a know-it-all. He gets to be... He’s got to start an organization, or he’s got to do something that’s different. “Why art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer!”
71 It’s... God has a hard time trying to get somebody that He can deal with, that’ll stay humble, and meek, and stay in the place until God calls him to do something (you believe that? See?), a man that God can bless and he’ll still keep hisself a man, not be an angel or a god. As soon as man gets blessed and has a little something given to him, he wants to become a god; he wants to become a-a angel. He wants to become some great person. “What I do, what... Me and me and mine... ” all that. That’s the wrong attitude. God’s hunting for somebody who He could bless and pour out the blessings, and-and more He blessed, the littler the man will become.
72 And you’ll never get more of God until you become nothing. You’ve got to belittle yourself. He that will exalt himself, God will bring abase. He that will humble himself, God will exalt. You’ve got to get little before you can get big. And you’ll never be big in your own self; you’ll only be as big as God will be big in you. See?
73 So Lucifer is on earth today trying to work in the church to accomplish the same purpose that he started before the foundation of the world. Lucifer was kicked out of Heaven. All right.
74 I believe there’s another thing on here, Ezekiel the 28th chapter, the 12th verse. Let’s see what that says in Ezekiel 28:12. And I’m sure that by studying this, and looking into it, seeing what THUS SAITH THE LORD, then we know whether he really fell from Heaven or whether he was just a vision-28 and 12. All right. I believe that’s what I got wrote down, 28:12. All right. Here we start. Now, this is a great thing here; I wish we just had time to preach on just a little (see?), for it’s really something.
75 Now, as I just got to basing up to this, that Lucifer in Heaven tried to exalt himself and even be just a little higher than his Boss. And he betrayed Michael, and made hisself a great kingdom in the north, and come down. Now, and he and his angels was cast out. The person asked of the Revelation... That’s on Revelation 12, on the Isle of Patmos. But now notice this here, at the 12th verse, and watch how he sets in the kingdom of man.
76 How many people here understand that the devil controls every nation under Heaven? The devil controls the United States. The devil is government of the United States. The devil is the government of Germany. He’s the government of every nation under heavens. The devil controls every nation, the Bible says he does. Read Matthew the 4th chapter. When Satan took Jesus up to the top of the mountain, and showed Him the kingdoms of the world, and claimed them to be his, and said, “I’ll give them to you if you’ll worship me,” Jesus never said, “You lied, Satan.” He knowed they belonged to him. But over in the Book of Revelation, said, “Rejoice, you heavens and you earth, for the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. And He shall reign on earth.”
77 Jesus knowed that in the Millennium that all the governments and kingdoms will be broke down, and He’ll be God and Ruler over all of them. He knowed He fell heir to all of it, so therefore, He told Satan, “Get thee behind Me, Satan!” for He knew what He had to do. Now, listen to this, the Spirit of the Lord on this prophet Ezekiel, speaking, not to this king, but to the spirit in the king. Watch this now.
78 JYou remember this morning when I showed you how in the Scriptures that the church got off the wrong track by taking man’s organizations. Same thing, Israel got off the track by denouncing God as their King and wanted Saul for a king. And when their real King come, Jesus, they didn’t know Him, because His-His preaching and His teaching was so much different from the earthly kings, till they didn’t know Him. And today, when the King of the Church, the Holy Spirit, when He’s here, and He comes into the Church to make the people to be regenerated, to give them new birth, it’s so different from these organizations and denominations till they say, “Aw, that looks like holy-rollers to me.” See?
79 It ain’t what It looks to you, it’s what God’s Word says about it. Look on the day of Pentecost, what’d that look like? Look at other times when they received the Holy Ghost; what’d it look like? Women and man, the virgin Mary, and all of them, staggering like drunk man, just reeling, screaming, stammering lips, and other tongues, carrying on like a bunch of idiots. But they were dying to themselves, and the Holy Ghost was coming into them. And they set the known world afire. What we need today is man who’ll die out to themselves, and rot out to themself, and burn every bridge behind, and surrender everything to Christ.
80 Watch the Holy Spirit speaking now to the devil in this king. Look who this fellow was that’s governing this king. You remember what I said this morning, my wife said about the woman up there, all them bunch of women with them dirty-looking, vulgar clothes on? See? Said, “They must not have their right mind. A woman that’s got her right mind wouldn’t expose herself like that.”
81 I said, “Honey, she’s just an American; that’s all. That’s custom here. They’ll do it, because it’s a custom.” See, they go by their intellectuals. But your intellectuals, if you go by your head, your controlled by the devil. The devil took a man’s head, God takes a man’s heart. The devil makes you look at something you can see. You say, “Well, that’s right, that’s right, reason, reason itout.” But the Bible lets us cast down reasonings, and by faith we believe things that we do not see. That’s what God does when He comes upon the human heart.
82 In the garden of Eden the devil took the man’s head; God took his heart. And that’s the throne of God, where God dwells, in the human heart. And now, if it’s intellectually... Sure, then a man or a woman that’s borned of God will act like the Kingdom they’re from. Hallelujah! That would make me shout. Why? Because when you know that you’ve passed from death unto Life, because you hate sin, and you love God; and you’ll stand regardless if you die or don’t die. You’ll stand that it’s wrong, and call wrong wrong; walk upright before God. It shows that your Spirit, the Life that’s in you is from another place, where it’s holy, and pure, and virgin, and undefiled.
83 And you say, “Divine healing?” Sure! My Spirit come from a place where the Divine Healer is. We’re from a land of Divine healing. Amen!
84 Say, “You believe that God is.” Sure, it’s from the land where God is. And we’re pilgrims and strangers like Abraham and Isaac. When just the-the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit hit them, they went through the land and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers. They were seeking a City whose Builder and Maker was God. And now, after we’ve got the Evidence of it living in us, how much more should we be pilgrims and strangers, walking through the world, turning our head from the evil things, because we are of another nation, another people. Certainly!
85 Now watch the evil controls of this world now, as we read from Ezekiel 28:12.
Son of man, take up a lamentation unto the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD;... (Now watch; He’s speaking to the spirit in the king. See?)... Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sun, full of wisdom,... perfect in beauty. (Satan, see there how Satan was the most beautiful of the archangels?) Thou hast been in Eden...
86 Now you know the King of Tyrus at that time could not have been in Eden, for it was four thousand years before that. See? “Thou has been in Eden,” who’s He talking to? He’s talking to Satan in that king. Hallelujah! Brother, I feel religious. When...
87 And then, what’s these people going to do that blasphemes and makes fun of people under the demonstration of the Holy Ghost? When they make fun of those people they are blaspheming the Holy Ghost which is absolutely unpardonable. You’re not talking to that man, you’re talking to the Spirit that’s moving in that man. We ought to honor one another, and love one another, and exhort one another, talk good of each other. That’s what we should do. Now listen to this. All right.
... Thou sealest up the sun, full of wisdom,... perfect in beauty.
Thou was... in Eden, the garden of God; even precious stones was thy covering, sardius, topaz,... diamond,... beryl,... onyx,... jasper,... sapphire,... emerald,... carbuncle,... gold:... workmanship of the tablets... of the pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created.
88 There’s Lucifer. He once dwelt in Eden. Now, we’re going to come back to that question in a minute, Lucifer in Eden, because we’ve got the seed of the serpent down here somewhere which is a very ticklish thing. I thought I’d just hope that’s about last.
89 But he was, and the devil was kicked out of Heaven. And the very purpose that he tried to purpose in Heaven, he came right down here on the earth and is trying his best to fulfill that what he purposed. He goes to the kings and to the rulers, and when he can get them, then he comes right down to the church and gets the people-or gets the preacher. Then from the preacher, he goes right into the congregation and get in the congregation under the same influence, the same devil doing the same things. “You know, you’re a Presbyterian, you’ll never be a holy-roller. You are this, that, or the other; you couldn’t afford to disgrace yourself to be amongst them. Why, you know better than to set in one of them little old tabernacles or missions on the street. Why, them people’s off at their head.” No, they’re not. No, they’re not; they’re just on at their heart; that’s all. They’re not off at their head; they’re just controlled by their heart. God lives in their heart, and they are peculiar people, a royal priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifice; that’s the fruits of their lips giving praise to God, whether they feel like it or not. “At times I do not see Him,” said the song writer, “I trust and give Him praise.”
90 Say, “Well, I’d go the church, and I’d praise the Lord if I felt like it.” Well now, a priest is to make a sacrifice. And you, the congregation, are high priests of God, to make a spiritual sacrifice; that’s the fruits of your lips giving praise to God.
91 You go down and say, “Well, if I felt like it, I’d go over and testify to somebody.” Well, do it anyhow! If you’re a high priest, brother, It’s burning in your heart, whether you feel like doing it or not. Go do it anyhow, because you’ve got to make a sacrifice, something that’s hard to do. Go do it anyhow, you’re a spiritual priesthood, a royal people, giving praise to God, because God lives in this heart.
92 Now, if you are of Satan, you feel that you’re just a little better than that class of people. Now, how you going to know which one’s right? Take it by the Scriptures. If a man’s borned of God, he believes every Word God wrote, and says He’s just as great today as He ever was, and He never changes, and He’s just the same yesterday, today, and forever. If he’s filled with the Holy Ghost, he got the same Holy Ghost He give on the day of Pentecost, and makes him act the same way and do the same things. If he’s borned of the Spirit of God, Mark 16, Jesus said, “These signs shall follow them that believe.” It’s true! So he says, “I’m a believer,” and them signs don’t follow, then he’s a make-believer, not a believer.
93 There’s three classes of people, a believer, a make-believer, and a unbeliever. And that’s the only three classes there is. A lot of make-believers; there’s a lot of real believers; and there’s a lot of unbelievers. But if you’re a real believer, Jesus said, “These signs shall follow them that believe. In My Name they shall cast out devils, speak with new tongues. If they should step on a snake (Brother Evans) it would not harm them. If they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover!” Oh, that’s just as true as God’s Word’s true. We’ve got no business taking anything away from That. The Bible said he that’ll take away or add to this Word, the same will be taken out of the Book of Life, for him. God is so perfect, that every word must be perfect and must run from Genesis to Revelation the same, every word, every commandment of God. Now, you can make It say something here and twist It up over here.
94 I was setting one day under a tree with Brother Charlie up there and Brother Wood here; we were hunting down in Kentucky. We were hunting with a rifle. And I... Brother Charlie and Brother Wood had shot their sights in that morning. At about fifty yards they was hitting a spot about that big around, big as the squirrel. They said, “That’s all right.”
95 And I went out there... I’d been driving tacks at fifty yards. And I missed the squirrel’s eye and hit him down on the cheek. I said, “That’s not right; my rifle’s out.” And then I worried all day long. The next evening I went in early. I shot boxes of shells. I’d... It’d hit just a little bit, half inch, to the right. Why, it’d hit the squirrel in the head anyhow.
96 So Charlie and them, the next morning was up there, and the rifles just buzzing, just hitting squirrels, and me setting behind a tree just rubbing my hands, saying, “Oh, what’s the matter with my rifle?” I got so ashamed of myself, till I got down on my knees, I said, “Lord God, I don’t know what’s the matter with me. Why did You make me, a little, nervous worry wart? Why would I be this? There is them fellows up there shooting squirrels, just as hard as they can shoot. They got a mess of squirrels already; and here I am, sitting behind a tree, rubbing my hands, and wondering, ‘My-my gun is not driving a tack, at fifty yards.’” I cried, set there by the side of a log. And then the Holy Spirit came, not in a Voice, but in the revelation, said, “I made you that way for a purpose.”
97 Why? I can’t take the Bible saying something here, like the church says, “The Holy Ghost was for just that group back there,” the church says so; and the Scripture says, “Whosoever will.” I can’t make that hit the target.
98 I can’t make Calvinism-just believe on the Lord and you got eternal security-and Arminianism, “That if I just touch not, handle not, taste not, I-I’d like to do it, but I can’t do it!”... Arminianism is too far away from Calvinism, and they both are wrong. I’ve got to see where... They both got Scriptures, but it’s got to hit the target. Now, if God said one thing in this Bible, it’s got to hit the target; it’s got to make every ring in that Bible come right straight down to that bull’s-eye. It’s got to do it, because It’s God’s Word; and He’s infinite, and It can’t change. Amen! I love that, ’cause then you can rest perfectly satisfied that It’s God’s eternal Word. And therefore, I try to study It from different Scriptures to make It-see what It would say. All right.
99 Satan was literally cast out of Heaven by Michael the Archangel and God. And he was cast to the earth, come to the earth, got into the serpent, deceived Eve, and then has got into man, women, all down through the age on the same thing he started at the beginning-a great big kingdom, prettier than the other fellow’s, be governor over all, know-it-all. “Our denomination is the biggest; it’s-it’s-it’s predominant over the others.”
100 You’ve heard them say, “Why, we have so many hundred preachers in our organization. We got the biggest churches there is in the city.” The only one thing that spells is S-a-t-o-n to me. That’s right. That means the devil to me. When you get man that’ll break up and organize, and break up brotherhood, and say they’ll have nothing to do with the little church...
101 I’ve never seen a person too low yet, or I’ve never seen a person too far in sin yet; I’ve never seen one-a woman too stooped or a man too stooped, but what I would go to him, and put my arms around him, and bring him out of that if I can. I’ve never seen a bunch of holy-rollers, or whatever you want to call them, rooting, and jumping, and hollaring, or what ever they might do, but what I’d get right in there and root, and jump, and hollar with them to glorify God (that’s exactly right!) whether he’s black, yellow, brown, white, or whatever he might be. Yes, sir!
102 The Holy Ghost comes on one level; that’s you meet God’s requirements. If you ever get It, you’ll come on God’s level and not your own thoughts about It. Satan tries to make it classical, some great something, some big something, intellectual. You have to cast down that reasoning and believe what the Word says about it. Amen!