the BRIDE IS COMING

*William Branham - A Forerunner Ministry February 2009*

William Branham-A Forerunner Ministry*
*By Paul Keith Davis

During the early 1930s an extraordinarily gifted prophet began to
emerge as a spiritual leader of a new ministry model.
His name was
William Branham. He was a very simple, uneducated man raised in the
hills of Kentucky and ordained as a Baptist minister.
Even so, God
wonderfully graced this humble man with a revelatory gift and
supernatural power not seen since the early Church.
Not only were
the miracles and healings that accompanied his ministry astounding,
but he was also shown numerous future events with remarkable
accuracy that now are a matter of historical record.

Following a series of evangelistic meetings,
Branham held a
baptismal service on June 11, 1933, for new converts.
Some four
thousand people lined the banks of the Ohio River to observe and
celebrate the service.
While baptizing the seventeenth person, a
whirling amber light descended from Heaven and rested directly above
Branham.
Virtually all the witnesses present could see this
supernatural sign.
Many eyewitnesses ran in fear, while others fell
to their knees and worshipped because they recognized this was God
doing something truly extraordinary.

In this experience God gave William Branham a forerunner message for
his life and ministry.
I believe he was a token or prototype of an
entire body of people who will emerge as Jesus' bridal company.
By
his own acknowledgment,
Branham was a harbinger of something new and
fresh the Lord planned for the last days.
This supernatural
dimension will be commonplace in end-time life and ministry.

Numerous news organizations picked up the story and circulated it
around the U.S. and Canada.
One headline read, /"Mysterious Light
Appears over Baptist Minister While Baptizing in the Ohio River."/
The Jeffersonville Evening News reported the incident with the
subheading, /"Mysterious Star Appears over Minister While
Baptizing."/ Though many may debate the full meaning of the event,
its authenticity is not disputed.

This public display of God's awesome power framed a heavenly
intention.
No design of Heaven is ever administered futilely.
Every
word and demonstration that proceeds from the mouth and hand of God
will return fruitfully.
A Kingdom message for today's Church was
sent to that prior generation-and we are responsible for its
consummation. The Living Word desires to rest in His bride. Jesus
wants to become flesh once more and demonstrate His Kingdom power
and redemptive virtue.

*Early Supernatural Models*

If that episode on the Ohio River was just an isolated incident then
we could be thrilled by such a display of God's power and move on.
However, that was only one of many expressions of God in the life of
this forerunner.

During his early ministry, Branham had several supernatural
experiences for which he had no frame of reference or ability to
understand.
Neither he nor those with whom he was in ministry
relationship comprehended the revelatory realm of God.
Only the
Bible provided any source of enlightenment; very few people had
personally experienced this supernatural dimension of God.
Unfortunately, most Christians at the time believed those kinds of
expressions had happened in the Bible but did not any longer.
Words
like /trance/ and /vision/ rarely existed in the spiritual
vocabulary of that day.

The years after World War I were difficult.
Few people had access to
libraries or Christian material. Branham, raised in extreme poverty
in the hills of Kentucky, certainly had no way of researching how
God's supernatural power had manifested throughout Church history.
Nonetheless, the Spirit showed him things that would occur in the
future.
He shared those encounters openly with those around him. To
everyone's amazement, the events came to pass in precisely the
manner he predicted. Tremendous healings frequently accompanied his
revelatory experiences.

It wasn't until an angelic visitation on May 7, 1946, though,
that
Branham came to understand more fully the purpose and validity of
the supernatural dimension into which he had been thrust. This
minister of God was desperate to understand the spiritual realms he
was witnessing or he would die trying.
He set his intent on
discovering whether his visions and trances were from God or from
the enemy. He loved the Lord too much to allow deception to rule him.

Branham withdrew to a secluded wooded area in rural Indiana. There
was no food, electricity, or other provision.
All he did was lay
before God in humility and sincerity. Wonderfully, the Lord answered
the cry of His servant.

An angel was sent to Branham and told him about his life and calling
in a face to face encounter. This heavenly messenger came to impart
spiritual understanding and a divine commission.

*The Commissioning*

According to Branham's personal testimony which he often shared
publicly during the late '40s and throughout the '50s, something
supernatural occurred late that night after many hours of prayer.
A
heavenly light appeared; it looked like an amber or emerald star of
fire, illuminating the room around him. It was the same
manifestation that had appeared over the Ohio River thirteen years
earlier. At that moment Branham heard footsteps walking toward him
and saw someone standing in the light.

An angelic messenger greeted him as in the Bible:
"Fear not, for I
am sent from the presence of Almighty God." The angel, according to
Branham, was six feet tall and weighed approximately two hundred
pounds. He had an olive complexion, with dark hair that touched his
shoulders, and he wore a white robe that reached to his feet.
As
soon as Branham heard the greeting, he recognized the angel's voice
as the one he had heard throughout his youth and early ministry.

An appointed juncture in Church history had arrived.
The Lord was
looking for a messenger to fulfill a divine mandate and to introduce
the supernatural dimension of Heaven to a new generation.
Clearly
the humility and devotion of Branham captured Heaven's attention and
opened the door for this man to be used in significant ways. A plan,
initiated before the foundation of the world, was set in motion for
him. The time had arrived for destiny to be fulfilled.

The angel informed Branham that he was called to take a message of
divine healing around the world. The angel promised him that if he
could get people to believe, nothing would hinder the fulfillment of
his prayers-not even cancer.
Branham introduced his generation, and
ours, to the revelatory realm of Heaven.
These signs and wonders
acted as a platform to birth faith in the supernatural power of God.

Notable supernatural impartation was released during this
visitation. The angel told him that just like Moses, he would be
given two gifts as signs of this impartation.
Whenever he took a
person's right hand with his left,
he would by revelation perceive
the person's physical condition.
This was the first spiritual gift:
it allowed the minister to detect through revelatory insight the
specific illnesses, demonic oppressions, and deadly diseases
afflicting the people.

Whenever Branham prophesied a precise illness or condition, his
listeners' faith in God was elevated, allowing incredible healing
and miracles.
His first public healing meeting after his
commissioning took place on June 14, 1946, in St. Louis, Missouri.
Immediately creative miracles and phenomenal demonstrations of
healing were generated on such a massive scale that theologians
termed it an unprecedented event in Church history.
As Gordon
Lindsay once said, "there were no hard cases." No matter how severe
the malady, the Lord was present to heal.
The angel promised Branham that God would give him a second gift if
he used the first with humility.
The next gift gave him discernment
of thoughts and secrets of the heart and would take people to an
even deeper level of faith.

As Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well had, the
unfolding of personal history and intimate secrets ignited faith.
People rose above shame and unbelief and engaged the revelatory
realm of Heaven.
Their response is a prophetic model for our
generation.

The Bible declares that the living Word is alive, active, and a
discerner of the thoughts and desires of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).
The gift of discernment offers a far greater dimension in God than
the expression of a simple "word of knowledge."
It is a reflection
that the Lord has removed the veil dividing soul and spirit, and all
things are open and exposed to Him.

When operating in the gift of revelatory discernment, Branham would
stand before the people and communicate, by supernatural insight,
their name, illness, history, address, private prayers and desires,
and many other secrets known only to the Lord.
Those present in
those meetings testify that this dimension of God generated a
tangible expectation of faith.
People believed that anything was
possible in such an atmosphere of heavenly anointing.

The messenger from Heaven shared many things with Branham during
their lengthy conversation.
Branham's ministry introduced a
different dimension in God, not seen or demonstrated on such a scale
at any time throughout Church history.
'Its foundation was a union
with Christ, with the Lord living in the midst of His people and
doing, through them, the same works that He did while on earth.

Gordon Lindsay, founder of Christ for the Nations, wrote of this
spiritual experience: "The results of the angelic visitation to
William Branham have been a steadily rising tide of revival that has
sounded out throughout the world, and the end is not yet."

*Igniting Revival*

Following his angelic encounter, Brother Branham emerged with a deep
anointing of revelation and power that directly or indirectly
touched millions of people and launched a worldwide revival.
'
Countless thousands were miraculously healed of the most hideous
infirmities and deadly diseases during the ministry of this man and
others who followed.

Naturally God puts His great treasures in earthen vessels.
Like all
human beings-with the exception of Jesus Christ-Brother Branham made
mistakes and missteps along the way.
Even so, his revelatory
encounters were marked with uncanny accuracy.
It is the revelation
of Heaven that is of paramount importance.
But just as important is
the proper stewardship of the treasures of insight and wisdom with
application today; we must carefully unfold God's blueprint.

A divine presence distinguished Branham's life and ministry.
The
living Word discerned, and communicated through Branham, the
thoughts of the heart with profound precision.
He was given glimpses
into the plan and destiny of Heaven for individuals and corporate
bodies.
His ministry was a forerunner model that foresaw the impact
of a body of believers who will emerge in our day and embody the
living Word.
The signs and wonders that follow will release a bridal
revival that will be identified according to
John 14:12
-a "greater
works" generation.

*Extracting Understanding*

It is always wonderful to recount stories of God's goodness to
people. However, there is much more for us to understand about God's
dealings with Branham's generation.
A platform had been established
for heavenly truth, and we must comprehend the significance of this
type of ministry for our generation. These events were much more
than revival; they were the beginning of end-time ministry; they
pointed to a generation of destiny prophesied in Scripture.
As with
Moses, these signs were given so that the people would believe.

The time has come to revisit the awesome visions given to this godly
man, along with the other pieces of the divine puzzle entrusted to
other Christians. Like Daniel studying the prophecies of Jeremiah,
we should meditate upon these supernatural encounters to extract
their application to both Branham's time and our own. We can learn
from past mistakes and extract the seeds of God, replanting them in
the soil of our honest and sincere hearts.

As in the days of Moses and the Lord Jesus, the enemy recognizes
times and seasons that mark the appearance of spiritual deliverers.
Rampant abortion, murder, and suicide should be a clear indication
of the efforts used by the enemy to stop the emergence of mighty
spiritual warriors.
'He wants to snuff out those endowed with the
virtue of Heaven to carry out the plan of God.

A day of destiny is upon us. The "victorious ones" mentioned in the
prophecies of Joel are being prepared to emerge as an army, the
bridal company joined to the Bridegroom.

*Ending an Age*

With that brief history in mind, we should revisit a trance given to
William Branham in June 1933.

On that day he was taken in the Spirit and told of Mussolini's
impending invasion of Ethiopia and eventual death in 1945.
Branham
was shown that an Austrian named Hitler would rise as dictator of
Germany and lead the world into another war.
He was also shown that
America would be drawn into a Second World War under Roosevelt's
leadership and likewise saw a specific location where many Americans
would die in battle-a prophetic picture of the place known as the
Siegfried line.

Furthermore, the vision emphasized that there were three
"isms"-fascism, Nazism, and communism-to watch for. The first two
would come to naught, he was told, but communism would continue to
flourish after the war.
He was specifically informed that Russia
would play a prominent role as a world power in the future.

Along with the political events, other insights were given
concerning science, the moral decline of the nations, and the
spiritual compromise and confrontations of the Western Church.
All
these spiritual forecasts were shared publicly years before they
actually occurred.

In one insight, Branham was given the year 1977 as a pivotal time.
Although he acknowledged that he didn't understand the full
implications of that year,
Branham predicted that something major
would occur in 1977 to mark the end of the Laodicean church age.
He
was careful to note that the prediction was not a "thus saith the
Lord"
like the other world events revealed in the trance, but rather
a calculation based on the insight from the revelations.

As the years passed, this personal prediction prompted a lot of
misunderstanding.
Many people believed that he was foretelling the
rapture of the Church or the return of Christ.
However, that was not
what he had stated and, furthermore, the Bible plainly declares that
we will not know the day nor the hour of those events.

Something spiritually profound did occur in 1977, though. God had a
grand design that was meticulously falling into place for a future
generation through the numerous supernatural wonders He was
performing. Great spiritual investments were being made to position
us for an inevitable day of destiny. The transition into our day had
begun.

*1977*

In 1977 Roland Buck, a dearly beloved pastor of an Assembly of God
Church in Boise, Idaho visited Heaven's throne room, initiating a
string of visitations from the angel Gabriel.
On twenty-seven
separate occasions,
this archangel,
often accompanied by other
ministering spirits and warring angels,
visited with Buck.

In October 2002 Wanda and I had the privilege of spending a morning
with Roland Buck's widow and daughter in Boise, Idaho.
They shared
with us some of the highlights of Buck's encounters with the
messengers from Heaven, and unquestionably something of notable
prophetic consequence occurred during those few years.
An appointed
time, set by the Father Himself, had arrived, for in Buck our Lord
found the qualities He desired.

If the angel Gabriel is sent as a messenger, it behooves us to
discover the heart and strategy of the Father in that endeavor.
The
Bible records that universal transitions and transformations occur
following visitations with this particular angel.
While we only
desire Jesus Christ and the life He gives us, history clearly
indicates that significant world events occur when we encounter
high-ranking spiritual beings like Gabriel and Michael. That pattern
continues today.

*Heavenly Directives*

The angelic messenger told Buck many of God's plans in preparation
for the latter-day confrontation with darkness.
Gabriel highlighted
emphatically the power of redemption purchased through the blood of
Jesus Christ.
He stressed that very few Christians fully comprehend
or appropriate the power imparted to them through heavenly grace.
Many walk well below their allotted provision because of deceptive
and seductive spirits that steal their heritage in Christ.

Buck was also informed of Heaven's concentrated efforts to bring
workers into the Kingdom in preparation for a great harvest.
He was
shown how angels are assigned to labor together with the saints.
When believers pray earnestly for loved ones' salvation, angels are
empowered to awaken the lost in their cooperative work with the Holy
Spirit.

Throughout the visitations,
Gabriel emphasized the importance of
communion with Christ and intimate fellowship with God.
The Lord
Jesus is looking to sanctify wholly the spirit, soul, and body of a
company of believers and take up residence in them to do greater
works.
Yet Heaven's endowment for these greater works will only be
unleashed by radical intimacy and friendship with God.
Waiting on
the Lord will be the key to launching many into the mystical realms
of Heaven.

Gabriel also highlighted the prophetic implications of the feasts of
Israel.
The careful and meticulous plan of Heaven is being carried
out. The Lord has provided the blueprint through His Word, and now
revelation and insight are being apportioned and authority delegated
to actualize that Word.
Clearly the visitations of the archangel
Gabriel were addressing the maturing of the times and the emergence
of the saints.

Buck's experiences marked a transition from what has been known as
the Church ages into a more complete revelation of the Kingdom
realm. Most importantly, it marked the passage into a day when the
fullness of the overcoming King will be introduced.
We are entering
the days in which we will taste the good word of God and the powers
of the age to come. Fresh releases of power and authority are being
entrusted to an overcoming body of believers. We must claim this
revelation of Heaven and walk in the destiny ordained for this season.

Prophet Steve Sterling
CALL FOR PRAYER 469-335-3356
OR GO TO www.blogtalkradio.com/stream-star
or www.tagged.com/miraclefaith
or http://www.stevsterling.ws/

a very present help

Scofield Reference Notes (1917 Edition)
Chapter 3
3:5 But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)
righteousness
(See Scofield "Romans 3:21") .
3:6 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?
world
kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield "Matthew 4:8") .
3:7 For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
sinner
(See Scofield "Romans 3:23") .
3:8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
damnation
i.e. condemnation.
3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
sin
Sin. (See Scofield "Romans 3:23") .
3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
righteous
(See Scofield "Romans 10:10") .
3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
become
be brought under the judgment of God.
3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
sin
Sin. (See Scofield "Romans 3:23") .
3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
righteousness of God
The righteousness of God is neither an attribute of God, not the changed character of the believer, but Christ Himself, who fully met in our stead and behalf every demand of the law, and who is, but the act of God called imputation Leviticus 25:50; James 2:23, "made unto us . . righteousness" 1 Corinthians 1:30.
"The believer in Christ is now, by grace, shrouded under so complete and blessed a righteousness that the law from Mt. Sinai can find neither fault nor diminution therein. This is that which is called the righteousness of God by faith."--Bunyan.
2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 4:6; 10:4; Philippians 3:9; Romans 3:26
3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
sinned
Sin, Summary: The literal meanings of the Heb. and (Greek - ajlektorofwniva sin," "sinner," etc)., disclose the true nature of sin in its manifold manifestations. Sin is transgression, an overstepping of the law, the divine boundary between good and evil Psalms 51:1; Luke 15:29, iniquity, an act inherently wrong, whether expressly forbidden or not; error, a departure from right ; Psalms 51:9; Romans 3:23, missing the mark, a failure to meet the divine standard; trespass, the intrusion of self-will into the sphere of divine authority Ephesians 2:1, lawlessness, or spiritual anarchy 1 Timothy 1:9, unbelief, or an insult to the divine veracity John 16:9.
Sin originated with Satan Isaiah 14:12-14, entered the world through Adam Romans 5:12, was, and is, universal, Christ alone excepted ; Romans 3:23; 1 Peter 2:22, incurs the penalties of spiritual and physical death ; Genesis 2:17; 3:19; Ezekiel 18:4,20; Romans 6:23 and has no remedy but in the sacrificial death of Christ ; Hebrews 9:26; Acts 4:12 availed of by faith Acts 13:38,39. Sin may be summarized as threefold: An act, the violation of, or want of obedience to the revealed will of God; a state, absence of righteousness; a nature, enmity toward God.
3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Redemption
Redemption, "to deliver by paying a price." The N.T. doctrine. The N.T. records the fulfilment of the O.T. types and prophecies of redemption through the sacrifice of Christ. The completed truth is set forth in the three words which are translated redemption
(1) agorazo, "to purchase in the market." The underlying thought is of a slave-market. The subjects of redemption are "sold under sin" Romans 7:14 but are, moreover, under sentence of death ; Ezekiel 18:4,; John 3:18,19; Romans 3:19; Galatians 3:10, and the purchase price is the blood of the Redeemer who dies in their stead ; Galatians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Matthew 20:28,; Mark 10:45; 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Peter 1:18.
(2) exagorazo, "to buy out of the market." The redeemed are never again to be exposed to sale;
(3) lutroo, "to loose," "to set free by paying a price" John 8:32; Galatians 4:4,5,31; 5:13; Romans 8:21. Redemption is by sacrifice and by power (See Scofield "Exodus 14:30") Christ paid the price, the Holy Spirit makes deliverance actual in experience Romans 8:2.
(See Scofield "Isaiah 59:20") . See Scofield "Romans 1:16".
grace Grace (in salvation), Romans 4:4-16; 3:24. (See Scofield "John 1:17") .
3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
propitiation
Lit. a propitiatory sacrifice, through faith by his blood; (Greek - iJlasthvrion , "place of propitiation)." The word occurs, 1 John 2:2; 4:10 as the trans. of hilasmos, "that which propitiates," "a propitiatory sacrifice." Hilasterion is used by the Septuagint, and Hebrews 9:5 for "mercy-seat." The mercy-seat was sprinkled with atoning blood in the day of atonement Leviticus 16:14 in token that the righteous sentence of the law had been (typically) carried out, so that what must else have been a judgment-seat could righteously be a mercy-seat ; Hebrews 9:11-15; 4:14-16, a place of communion Exodus 25:21,22.
In fulfilment of the type, Christ is Himself the hilasmos, "that which propitiates," and the hilasterion, "the place of propitiation" --the mercy-seat sprinkled with His own blood-- the token that in our stead He so honoured the law by enduring its righteous sentence that God, who ever foresaw the cross, is vindicated in having "passed over" sins from Adam to Moses Romans 5:13 and the sins of believers under the old covenant (See Scofield "Exodus 29:33") and just in justifying sinners under the covenant. There is no thought in propitiation of placating a vengeful God, but of doing right by His holy law and so making it possible for Him righteously to show mercy.
remission passing over of sins done aforetime, i.e. since Adam. Cf. Hebrews 9:15.
3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
righteousness
"His righteousness" here is God's consistency with His own law and holiness in freely justifying a sinner who believes in Christ; that is, one in whose behalf Christ has met every demand of the law Romans 10:4.
3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Justification
Justification, Summary: Justification and righteousness are inseparably united in Scripture by the fact that the same word (dikaios, "righteous"; dikaioo, "to justify") is used for both. The believing sinner is justified because Christ, having borne his sins on the cross, has been "made unto him righteousness" 1 Corinthians 1:30. Justification originates in grace ; Romans 3:24; Titus 3:4,5 is through the redemptive and propitiatory work of Christ, who has vindicated the law ; Romans 3:24,25; 5:9 is by faith, not works ; Romans 3:28-30; 4:5; 5:1; Galatians 2:16; 3:8,24 and may be defined as the judicial act of God whereby He justly declares righteous one who believes on Jesus Christ. It is the Judge Himself Romans 8:31-34 who thus declares. The justified believer has been in court, only to learn that nothing is laid to his charge. Romans 8:1,33,34.
3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Do we then
The sinner establishes the law in its right use and honour by confessing his guilt, and acknowledging that by it he is justly condemned. Christ, on the sinner's behalf, establishes the law by enduring its penalty, death. Cf. Matthew 5:17,18.