Answer:: Yes my precious brother. By God's grace I am set for the defense of the Gospel and as a leader to the sheep of God, and I will gladly do anything to help any honest heart enter the Kingdom of God. I will help directly from the quotations of Brother Branham that you may be certain that the things that I speak are from the message and from the Scriptures.

Quote: 107 "A call in life..."a calling." "Make your calling and election sure." See? We don't want to be just wondering if we're called…Now, there's a great trick there that the enemy can play on you. He can make you think you're not called when you are called, then he turn right back around make you think you are called when you're not called, vice versa, either way. And you have to watch it. Now, here's the way to do it. Find out first...But make sure that your calling comes from God, and then check your motives and objectives. See?" Check your motives and objectives. Your purpose "...What is your motive for preaching? Was it just... You think it was a easier job than what you have? Then you'd better forget it; it wasn't a call. A call of God burns so in your heart you can't rest day and night for it. You just can't get away from it; it's just constantly grinding at you… And if you had to preach... You say, well now, another objective, "I believe at the job I've got, if I could be a successful evangelist or a pastor, have a good set salary, have a home that I could go into and so forth, and live, then I believe that would be a good thing, much easier than what I'm doing now… Now, see, your objective is wrong to begin with. See, it's not right…Then you'd say, "Well, maybe because maybe that I'd be more popular amongst the people." See, you'll find out you're just ready for a big flop… But now, if your objective is that "I don't care if I have to eat soda crackers and drink branch water, I'll preach the Gospel anyhow." Something just tearing into you, "I'll either preach the Gospel or die." See? Then you'll go somewhere, because it's God dealing with you. God is making Hisself known to you, because it is God just won't let you rest. And usually, a God-called man never wants to do it… So if God is calling you, brother, and it keeps digging at your heart, then I'd say, "Lay aside every weight, and the sin that does so easily beset you." You see? But if it's not digging at you, and then I wouldn't think too much about it then. Just let it come to its place. (Questions and Answers 61-0112)

Isn't that a wonderful explanation?

Quote: 44 "Wait on your ministry. If you feel a call, be sure that it's God. Be sure that it's right. Be sure that it's timely of what you're saying." (Trying to do God a service 65-0718M).

Quote: E-32 "He'd talked face-to-face with God till he had his commission. I think if minister brethren today would just not take it from a intellectual standpoint; but would find them a place on the backside of the desert on those sacred sands where Satan cannot place his dirty feet of unbelief, and stay there until a message comes from God and positionally places you in the ministry, then all the devils out of torment could not shake you from it. You know you're called." (Perseverance 62-0608).

Quote: E-35 "It was God Himself. He came to the burning bush, and He spoke to Moses before He sent him out. I believe that every man, before he goes out on the field to preach the Gospel, ought to first have an experience with God before he goes" (Hear ye Him 62-0711).

There are many other quotations that speak of a divine call and a supernatural experience. They must be rightly divided. There is a call, there is a training and there is a commission to go on the field.

This precious brother who is a deacon says that he does not feel a call in his life. The simple answer to that is to travail with God until the Lord confirms that. If the Lord don't confirm that and puts that burning desire on your heart then you are not called. Check your motives and objectives. And I believe this brother's motives and objectives are right.

Similar quotation references: "Future home 64-0802, Why It Had To Be Shepherds 64-1221, Having Conferences 60-0608, At Kadesh Barnea 56-0527, The Sin Of Unbelief. 58-0517e, Why? 63-0626, Perseverant 62-0729, Why I am Against Organized Religion 62-1111e".

Question#130:  "What are the spiritual qualifications required for all the five offices in the Body? We know what Paul commanded. We need to know more in a magnified way according to the message of Malachi 4:5-6, please explain?"

Answer:This five-fold ministry is recorded in Ephesians 4: 11-15. It spoke of five different offices: "Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers". This question here is not asking me to divide the different offices or say what each office is in the way that they should operate. So I am answering this question on a broad scale, speaking of all ministers in general. A little later there are other questions that will relate to each office of the five-fold ministry that tell you their individual operation. But this is asking here about the qualifications of each man that would use the five-fold ministry. That's the point that I am making here.

The emphasis I am about to lay here is the setting of the five-fold ministry in order. If we notice very carefully, our Lord did not set the five-fold ministry in order and say to none of those men that, "You are an apostle or you are a prophet or a teacher, evangelist or pastor", when he ordained them in Matthew 10 and St. John 10, though the Bible said in Luke 6:13, "whom also he named apostles." Now, the scribe, when he was writing, long after the death, burial and resurrection and the call of these men by our Lord Jesus, he said: "The names of the twelve were such and such". But Jesus never divided the offices when he called them. Later on, after the day of Pentecost, something took place that set these office gifts in order

So we see that the Lord never called a woman amongst the twelve. And then they thought probably that they would get in on the second batch, because he was ordaining more. But instead of calling a woman now, he called seventy men and ordained them and they were all men, and Brother Paul confirmed that and he said the woman should not preach.

Now, apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher and pastor, I want to lay emphasis that the qualifications for a minister fit all of them. From prophet to teacher in the five-fold ministry, there is no exemption of the qualification that Brother Paul laid down for these offices. You could have the greatest office, you could have all five of them; the qualification is the same.

In this age in which we are living in, it has gone out so far, that there are hundreds of questions that were written to me about if the pastor should do this or do that. I would take up a little better and I would show the do's and the don'ts of the entire ministry, chiefly the pastor. So this will fulfill the requirement of this question, where this brother is requesting, "Please explain: we want the thing magnified; we are acquainted with Brother Paul's teachings of what he laid down concerning the ministers, but we want it magnified according to the message. How the prophet of God set it up. What he said that a minister should do. What he said he should not do. The things that go through the message of eleven hundred and fifty tapes. We want to hear more of it. We want it condensed together." The purpose of these messages is to bring these things together and form a compact unit, that when it falls into the hands of the minister, he knows who is true and who is false. He knows exactly the requirements of a minister. He knows the requirement of a sheep.

When a sheep finds this he must be able to read that and look at these ministers and determine who is a shepherd, determine who is a hireling and determine who is a wolf. Don't you think it's a wonderful work? [Congregation says, "Amen!"]

The five-fold ministry is called "Office gifts". There are other gifts in the Bible which are called divers gifts, and there are nine divers gifts recorded of in the Bible, but these are five office gifts that have to do with God speaking to the church by His Word. It is called 'Office gifts'. Everyone of these gifts requires the same qualification. You could be prophet, priest or king, you must adhere by the rules laid down by the Spirit through Brother Paul or you are disqualified.

Basically, this qualification is found in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. I divide it here into three categories; the three main things that qualifies any minister, regardless of his office. Firstly, the qualities which he as an individual must possess. Secondly, the qualities that his wife must possess. Thirdly, the qualities that his children must possess. Three categories. If he fails any of those and compromises with any of those things in the three categories, he is disqualified. I preached a message sometime ago on Preachers required qualifications.

"This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, (Bishop means a preacher) he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, (Drunkard)no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre…", which is money. We see a lot of money greedy spirits in the evangelists of today and the evangelists of the days of Brother Branham. They became millionaires.

"… but patient, not a brawler, not covetous…" (Greedy of gain). "… One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." (I Timothy 3:1-7).

"For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre; But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.(Titus 1:5-9).

Those are the things laid down by Brother Paul. Beloved, he laid down these things back there. He lived nineteen hundred years ago. Here we are up here today. God sent another messenger called William Branham. Now the things that William Branham had to deal with in this age is not like it used to be in the days of Brother Paul. The things that they will bring into the church and under the message will be so contrary by the millions, and that is the reason for this pile of questions that I have here.

There are numerous questions that now relates to the ministry that came from India, Africa and different parts of the world, now asking us, "Should the pastor do this? He is doing this. He is not walking right. Should he do this? Should I do that? Should I believe this? Should I say this?" Now, do you see what we are getting into? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] May the Lord give me grace. This involves people's souls. They may be very little and trifle to you, because you have been established in these things for decades, but these things are not known to beloved brothers and sisters that came in from idolatry, that came from polygamy, that came out of the world, out of the Catholic church, out of worshipping wood, idols and stone. Yes. They want to know these things. Brother Branham did not have the time to teach them those things. He went down there and healed them by the tens of thousands, but he did not have anybody trained up in the message, where he could set a minister over a hundred thousand people that repented.

Quote: 762-85 "What if I was in India, go back to India… and maybe a hundred thousand converted to Christ, nowhere to go. The next day take a plane and start back to Rome, then to the United States, leave them just like sheep put out among wolves. What if I had a group of men, young men trained in the Message (See?) to say, "Now, wait a minute, before I leave here, we're going to set in order these churches. I'll have a man who I've already telegrammed him, and they got the money; they're on their road here right now to take over this, a good man. There's two or three young men with him who'll be his helpers and assistants." And a church of this faith can be set there which will be a outpost in India, outpost in Germany, outpost in Switzerland. While right now, we should've had them all around the nations where I've been." (Taking sides with Jesus 62-0601).

And I am afraid that the ministers are not yet even trained. If the ministers were trained up that carry the message to them from the United States and the western world, we would not have these questions. It shows that those who are carrying the message are not yet trained up.

Ministers of Bethel

Question#131:: "Please explain if there is any office in the Bible called "Preacher?" A young man evangelizes but refers to himself only as a preacher, would not preach in his own hometown. When questioned about his office, that's the only time he goes up to the pulpit and says that "I am a preacher."

Answer:: Don't you think that these people are foolish. Don't you think that these are stupid questions. There are questions here that I never thought about and you never thought about, although we know the answer. Now friends, this is indicating something to me. It is indicating confusion amongst the ministry worldwide of who is who and what office they hold. So in order for the young man to refrain from saying that he is an evangelist or an apostle or a prophet, he goes up on the pulpit and says, "I am a preacher."

Now the term preacher is applied generally to all servants of God who preach the Word of God. The very word 'preacher' is derived from "preach". So a man that preaches is a preacher. And we could go back to the Old Testament and find this term: "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 1:2). So the wise man Solomon referred to himself as a preacher because he was preaching the Word of God. And he was the wisest man on earth, and he chose to call himself a preacher.

The Bible says in II PETER 2:5, that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. But we know very well that Noah was a major prophet. But it pleased Brother Peter because of his knowledge in the Scripture to say that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. A Prophet was called a preacher. Peter was called a preacher. James was called a preacher. So now any one of these offices could be referred to as preachers, from the major prophet come right down to the pastor, he is referred to as a preacher.

Quote: 205 "Preaching is a gift, inspired preaching. See? And the gift... Some are apostles, some prophets, some teachers, some pastors, some evangelists." (Voice.Of.The.Sign 64-0214).

Now, you will see that term used by Brother Paul again in Romans 10:15. He said, "And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"

Now we know that that one that was actually sent was an apostle. A sent preacher is an apostle. "…how shall they preach, except they be sent?"

Quote: 19 "The word "apostle" means "one sent." "How can they preach except they be sent. And why the missionary wants to be called a missionary, instead of an apostle, I don't know. The Bible order of it is, is apostle." (Word Became Flesh India Trip 54-1003m).

Quote: "…as it is written, How beautiful are the feet…" He is a traveling man. He is a missionary. "…How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" So a sent preacher is an apostle, a missionary.

Question#132:"Is there any age for becoming a pastor?"

Answer:: I guess that this came from the scripture over here in 1 Timothy 3:2, and in Titus 1:6, which says, "That the bishop or the preacher must be the husband of one wife." Now there is some controversy in and around the message of Brother Branham, because Brother Branham said that he could not ordain a deacon because he was an unmarried man. And the same scripture that Brother Branham used that he must be the husband of one wife, is the same scripture that is used over here for the minister, that he must be the husband of one wife, and Brother Branham never clarified that. So now, there are many restrictions outside there that they put upon men, to preach the Gospel, and say, "You are not a married man, so you cannot preach the Gospel. You must be the husband of one wife." I would like to give you my thoughts on this, based on the scripture.

If this understanding is right that a man cannot preach the Gospel unless he marries a wife, then Apostle Paul was wrong when he preached the Gospel, and Barnabas was wrong, because he said, is it only I and Barnabas don't have the power to led about a wife, a sister. (1 Corinthians 9:5). Alright! I will go further; then Jesus was wrong because he never married a wife.

Let's deal with things that will edify souls around the world. This is my joy. Yes my brother, from morning to twelve o'clock, one o'clock, two o' clock at night. This is my joy, to know that I could say something, or do something, or write a letter, or have a message or answer a question, to help some soul around the world. People are suffering; they want to know right from wrong, they want to know which direction to go. How can I sleep? I cannot sleep, No! Not when I get a letter like that. Brother should I preach or not. Not when I get a letter like that, not when I receive hundreds of questions, and the questions say answer immediately please. How can you sleep? Brothers and sisters you may not have the capacity as the congregation to do what I am doing, but you could pray. You could open up your eyes and pray; you could let the brethren across there here your voices, that you also believe what I am saying, that it will confirm the Truth, that they will realize that nobody is fooling them, but there are people here by the hundreds, and sometime a thousand gather, that believe the same thing. [Congregation says, "Amen!"] That they will know that there is a church that is established, upon all these things they are asking. I am not preaching this from a theorical point of view, we are preaching from a practical point of view. This is what our ministers practice, this is what is established in our congregations, and this is what is established in the ministers' lives. I don't have to go and search a book brothers and sisters, we have the thing practical. People want to know what we have practical, but I have to spend time to back it up by the quotations and back it up by the scriptures, that they will know that I am preaching the truth. And your voices are telling a certain story, they are bearing witness, they will ring out on the day of judgement. That is what the Bible says, "and multitudes of waters." (Revelation 1:15).Yes sir! Witnesses the Bible said. Oh praise him!

Then if a minister should be married to preach the Gospel, then Jesus did wrong. My answer to this question is "no", because Brother Paul was unmarried, Barnabas was unmarried, and then there was another man that was married who preached the gospel, and he was called Peter; "And Peter's wife's mother laid sick with a fever in the days of Jesus (Matthew 8:14), and he was preaching the Gospel. Wherefore, a married man can preach the Gospel, and the Pope, he lied by saying that the priest should not be married. And if they say that Peter was the first pope, then the first pope had a wife and her mother had a fever and Jesus went to her house and healed her from the fever, and she arose and ministered unto them. So the first pope had a wife and he preached the Gospel. And Jesus had no wife and He preached the Gospel. Paul and Barnabas had no wife and they preached the Gospel. And hear what Brother Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:

"I wish that all men were like me: single; unmarried." He said, "But however, every man has their proper gift; one to marry and a next one not to marry.

Don't you think that Brother Paul would have straightened that in 1 Corinthians 7, when he said, he wished that they were single, don't you think that he would have put a clause there? (He never played with words) He would have put a clause there and say, "If you remain single, you cannot preach the Gospel". But he never did.

He said that a man that is unmarried do better because he attend to the things of the Lord. But, he that is married careth for the things of his wife. Yes! You make a better preacher if you have that gift not to be married. When you leave home, you don't care to come back. You are about your Father's business.

Paul went out; he preached for six years and then came back. He served the Lord better. He reached in a certain place; the Lord told him, "I have much people in this city; stay here". He stayed there a year and a half and pastored. You serve the Lord better.

Now, the Lord giving a wife to a man is a great favor and asset. He cuts his ministry to suit that gift. Now, the mighty Elijah today, William Branham, he had a wife and he preached the Gospel. Now, I will have you to know that Brother Branham was also preaching before he was married. Brother Branham was our example in our age and he was a Gospel minister before he was married, and he never gave no such commandment concerning a minister. But Brother Branham said something about a deacon. Now, in my understanding, when the Bible said that a man must be the husband of one wife, I simply believe that the man could not be a polygamist, because there were those under the Jewish religion who had two, three and a thousand wives, and when one came to the Gospel, and he was a polygamist, he could not be a bishop, because he would not represent the true Gospel which commands one wife and one man, therefore he would be a poor example. So the man, in my understanding, could not be a polygamist. There are other questions on polygamy which I had to answer for these brethren in Africa. They like a lot of wives. And we have a hang over right here in the Caribbean. They also like a lot of wives. So they write and ask, "Brother, what do the polygamist do with these wives? He came to the message; the message is against polygamy;

There are laws in many countries, you could marry how many wives you want, but the day you cannot mind them, run for your life. They will put you in jail. And contrary as this may sound, I said, "If you came to the Gospel as a polygamist, let every man abide in his same calling wherewith he was called.(1 Corinthians 7). Keep your wives, but don't marry another one. Together with that, you cannot preach, because the Bible said, you must have one wife, not a dozen. So we still have the same problem today. Man is the same kind of man. And whether there is a law in the land or not, we have plenty polygamist in this country. We call them adulterers. It's just the law that is keeping them down from having a dozen wives.

Do you notice something that out of these hundreds of questions there is no opposition? These are not opposing questions. These are questions that are coming from humble hearts, sincere hearts; our associates around the world. Men who were fooled by the Western people. These people want to come out of their deception. There is not one opposing question in all these hundreds of question that we are answering. Everybody wants to know what is right or wrong. A hundred questions came from India alone. These tapes have to go; I spend much time in writing these exposition books. Then we have to pay thousands of dollars when we send them into the printery. After that, we have to pay three times the amount to post one book to certain countries. But it's blessing people. If it is blessing people, why stop? It is sowing a seed. It's laying a foundation for another outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that people will be trained up, people will be ready, people will be clean, people will be established in the doctrines of Brother Branham, in the plain message. When that outpouring comes their hearts will be clear, clean and ready. The church set in order. It's the doing of the Lord.

Question#134: "Do pastors require ordination by laying on of hands? Please explain ordination of pastors in the message churches?"

Answer:Ordination is scriptural. Jesus ordained twelve apostles and he ordained seventy. (Matthew 10, Luke 10). Titus was left in Crete that he may appoint elders in every city. That he may ordain them even as Brother Paul appointed him. He was to follow the same pattern.

So, we read there that it was to be done by the laying on of hands of the Presbytery. Presbytery is another word for elder. The Presbyterian church took that word and called themselves the "Presbyterian organization", there was a certain way to ordain these men. Now, whether this is compulsory, is the question. Although it is scriptural, is it compulsory? That's the question. "Is ordination by the laying on of hands compulsory?" I want to let you know that no man laid their hands on me yet. Don't you think I am doing well? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] So, there is a middle line there then?

Now, who laid hands on Jesus and ordained him? I am seeing something in the Scripture, that there were men who had hands laid upon them, and men who had no hands laid upon them. Now, when God called Brother Paul in the ninth chapter of Acts, did you read anywhere in the Scripture that the Lord sent him down to a certain man that he might lay hands upon him and ordain him? No, He sent him to a man that he might pray for him and baptize him. In the same ministry of Brother Paul, after a long time at Antioch, after Brother Paul was preaching the Gospel everywhere, they were assembled together and there were prophecies in the church (nine divers gifts operating in the church; fasting and prayer was going on, five fold ministry in almost every local body), and somebody arose and prophesied (that is the thing we want to see). Maybe a little sister just rose up under the Spirit and said, "Separate me Barnabas and Paul for the work whereunto I will send them. Thus saith the Lord". They knew very well to obey that. They called Brother Paul and Barnabas. They said, "Brothers come, the Holy Spirit has just spoken". The Bible said, "And when they had laid hands upon them, they let them go".

Now, there we learn that the ordination and the laying on of hands was not making a man a minister. And Brother Branham made that very clear. He said that there is a group that has arisen, thinking that they can impart gifts by the laying on of hands. That is contrary. He said the laying on of hands sanctioned the call of the Lord.

Quote: 5-1 "Now, we do not believe that gifts comes by laying on of hands. We believe that laying on of hands is a sanction to what we've already seen. See? It's a "amen." See? Now, when they laid hands upon Timothy and upon those brethren, they had noticed in them men was the gift. Remember, "stir up that gift, which was in you, come from your grandmother Lois." And they seen this in Timothy; and therefore, the elders laid hands upon him, ordaining him, not put hands upon a man that nothing has ever been showed forth. You see? And they just asked the blessings, and we all believe that. So we don't impart spiritual gifts; we only recognize them and lay hands upon them to sanction them, that we believe that God has done such things for the people." (The Indictment 63-0707).

So now, we can see a display of sanctioning the command of the Lord at Antioch. Because they believed that was the Spirit, they called Brother Paul and Barnabas and said, "Yes my beloved brethren, we recognize that the Lord has called you to send you ought to a great work." I will tell you something; Paul was not ignorant of that. The Lord had already spoken to him on the road to Damascus, telling him where He is going to send him and how he will make him a light to the Gentiles. Yes!

So now this was a sanction. The ministers that were gathered there, the spiritual men, they were gathered there to say "Yes, we believe that, we accept that." That was not ordaining Paul or Barnabas. That was sanctioning the call to the field, and they laid their hands upon them and they prayed for them. They said, "Lord, prosper these brothers' ministry. We recognize that this is a move of the Lord." And they sent them out there, and they went out there for years, and they won millions of souls in a given time, to the Lord. So it was not an ordination but a sanction.

Now when Brother Paul told Timothy to lay hands upon the elders and ordain the elders in every city, these men were already preaching. They were already functioning. These men had received the Holy Ghost. These men received the Token; it had fallen at Pentecost. These men were living the lives; they were preaching. But then, Brother Paul told Timothy to tie down the thing. Let the whole congregation see that I Paul told you, the overseer in Crete, to sanction these men's gifts. It's more a sanction, instead of imparting a gift. That is what an ordination is.

Brother Titus, the overseer in that age, that time, and in that region he had many churches under his care, and he went there and called the elders, he said, "Brethren you had been preaching for the past couple years here, but I want you the congregation to understand that I sanctioned that, and Brother Paul, my pastor, he sanctioned the same. I have his letter right here written to me; I am going to read his letter right out to you to let you know that this is the doing of Brother Paul, and I have come to lay hands upon you, together with these other men, called the Presbytery, we will lay hands upon you and we will identify ourselves with you." That is ordination. But I will have to read another scripture and you heard it before. This is where the ordination took place. The ordination never took place when Brother Titus laid his hands upon them. He sanctioned the ordination.

"Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." (Jeremiah 1: 4-5).

The ordination was before the foundation of the world, but the sanction of that ordination was done by Brother Timothy, Titus and Brother Paul in many places. So when is a man really ordained? You were ordained before the foundation of the world to preach this Gospel. And then if I recognize your call, and I recognize your ordination and I recognize that your motives and objectives are right, then the system ordination is that, after I recognize that there is some kind of gift in you that could be used of the Lord; an ability to preach the message, then I sanction it.

Now a call is not all. I have to watch for the man's qualifications within three categories. These are the guidelines of ordination. I could recognize that a man could preach, he has an ability, he has the right motive and objective, but his wife could be his stumbling block. She might have a long tongue. She might be a busybody. She might have committed adultery with somebody in the church. Now that will hinder that man and hinder the ordination. He could have children but they are unruly. Then I cannot sanction the ordination of that man. Now do you see the stumbling blocks? Although the man is called he must meet the required qualifications.

So, the next part of the question is how is this ordination done? What is the system? It's very simple, if all is clear, I am convinced, with other ministers; that there is a calling in that brother's life, even though he never came face to face with a Pillar of Fire, but there is a calling. Then we watch the man's life and see how he conducts himself. He manifests that kind of care for the sheep; and as he manifest that quality then we take into consideration his wife, if he is married. Then we take into consideration how he rules his house, and then after all these things are considered, we allow him to use the pulpit. No ordination took place as yet, but he is preaching. Then, as he preaches the Gospel, that overseer sits down and he is listening to see how this man is handling the Word of God, he is watching for pride, he is watching for self, he is watching for desires of the flesh and is letting him use the pulpit under training. In my case, I will ordain him when he is found blameless.

Now that ordination represents that I sanction, together with all the ministers that we are identified with this man as a Gospel preacher. That's the system of ordination, and Brother Branham did that, and you could find some of that on the Book called "The Indictment". I want to bring something to you that is very important, and that is, in that, there was a brother who was married before, I think, and his wife had some problems, and this ordination was after Marriage and divorce was preached. And Brother Branham laid hands upon him and ordained him a minister.

Quote: 33 "How many here knows Brother Ben? How many believes him to be God's servant, worthy of this blessing that we'll ask of God for him? … When he heard the other day on "Marriage and Divorce"... He and his wife was ready to separate, because that he loves her, and she loves him, but they want to cope with the Word of God... I pray that God will bless Ben and his wife to His service. Let's lay our hands upon the brother… Bless you, Brother Ben. The right-hand of fellowship we can give you as minister brothers. God bless you." (Does God Change His Mind 65-0418e).

There is a big doctrine outside there that if a man's wife commits adultery, then the man cannot remarry. It's a lie of the devil! It's contrary to the Word of God. If that was so, Brother Branham did wrong when he ordained that man who was married twice. But he had faith in what the Lord had told him on the mountain, and he said God forgave this brother, therefore we will ordain him as a minister.

Question#135: "I was a pastor in denomination, received the message, and got baptized. I want to continue to be a pastor, but my wife is still in denomination. What should I do?"

Answer:There is a qualification for any minister; not only a pastor, but anybody that will handle the Word of God, and part of that qualification has to do with his wife and his children. As long as they're living under his roof, they must be in the faith. That is according to 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. His wife must be in subjection. It is written over in Genesis 3: 16 when the Lord commanded the woman, He said, "… thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." That is the commandment. If she breaks that commandment, she cannot go in the rapture. It is a serious affair. I quote the prophet:

Quote: E-45 " And then all the holiness in the Bible that's been preached and what you've been taught, you still, you women strip yourselves and go half naked. You men do just as contrary. You set around, let your wife act like that, and dress like that, and say nothing about it. Well, you puppet. How would you ever make a preacher? How would you make a deacon? If you can't control your own house, what are you going to do in the house of God? That's the reason the house of God's in the shape it's in today. We need men with brass knucks to preach the Gospel, to uncover sin and show where it's at, not some little petty thing"(Door to the heart 58-0302).

Quote: 316-157 "And you men that'll let your wives do those kind of things, I've got little hopes of you as a man. And that's right. Any man that'll let his wife get out on the street and act like that, brother, you ought to be wearing her clothes. That's right. I won't say my wife won't do it, but I have to be changed and perverted to what I am now if I ever live with her while she's doing it." (Hebrews.chapter.7.pt.1 57-0915e).

This precious brother, he was a pastor in denomination, received the message, got baptized and desires to continue to be a pastor, but then his wife is still in denomination. He's asking; "What should I do?" The very reason that a brother will ask such a question is because he has doubts, if he should preach or not. Then the scripture that I will refer this brother to is 1Timothy 3, it is absolutely necessary that your wife be in the faith. If she is in organization, that is not the faith, because organizations teach contrary to the faith of Jesus Christ.

Question#136: : "I believe the message and desire to be a pastor. People used to appreciate me, is this a calling or should I wait for a supernatural call like Samuel?"

: There are many who desire to be pastors, and there is no problem with that. The Bible said that, "This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work." (1 Timothy 3). But there are qualifications and requirements in the Scripture that must be met. And the very reason that this person asked this question, because people appreciate him and appreciate his preaching, shows that he has doubts on his calling. And the question is, "Should I wait on a supernatural call like Samuel?" We know how Samuel was called. The Lord called him three times; "Samuel, Samuel, Samuel", and then the Lord called him and sent him. But the idea is that a desire to preach is a long ways from being called to preach. A man could desire to preach for many reasons. These precious brothers said that they came out of organizations and that they preached in organization. Now sometimes a man could be in organization and get so accustomed to preaching, to be recognized as a minister, treated as a minister, paid as a minister and live in a certain way, until when he receives the message and comes out of his organization, he do not want to turn loose of that. He wants to be appreciated as a minister, looked upon as a minister and then that man must pay the price of humbling himself. And this could be playing out here, because here is a desire, a man gets baptized, he belongs to the message and he wants to continue to pastor.

There is something here that is most important. This first brother has a problem with his wife. He came out and his wife never came out; she is yet in organization. Being that his wife is in organization, he is disqualified from using the pulpit. He may have a call but he must make his calling an election sure. He must have his house in order which is one of the qualifications. In organization they dress dirty, live dirty, act dirty and believe dirty. So under no condition could this brother have control of his wife. Therefore if he cannot control his house and cannot control his wife and his wife is not in the faith, this has disqualified him. "One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?" (1 Timothy3 :4-5).

Alright, so this next brother wants to know if he could continue as a pastor because people appreciated his preaching and he wants to know if he must wait on a supernatural call. Now we must first check our motives and objectives, and that simply means to ask a sincere question way down in your heart, "Why do I want to preach?" There are many men who arose and desired to use the pulpit. They desired to be looked upon as prophets, even as Elijah the prophet, even as Noah the prophet and even as Michael the Archangel. Now it's a desire that a man has, to use the pulpit. To be honest with them; we took them and put them on the pulpit here, and let them tell us all about their ministries. We came to find out that they had a self-exalted spirit, antichrist spirits, their motives and objectives were wrong. We cast them out of the church because they didn't want to repent, and they never amounted to nothing. Some became mad, some became sad, and some are in the world and they amounted to nothing. Your motives and objectives must be right. It must be right. That means that you've got to have one desire and that is for the salvation of man's soul; it doesn't matter if you get a penny or you are recognized or if you are popular or people appreciate you or don't appreciate you. So now the best way to approach any kind of a desire to preach is to take that desire that comes to you, and with an honest and a sincere heart-I am not talking about lip service-I am talking about honesty from within the soul; and take that desire into consideration with your salvation, and put that desire on the altar. That means to go to prayer. Don't tell anybody about it. Go to prayer, and say, "Lord, if this desire to preach is selfish and for a natural reason, please take it away from my heart."

Now that's the way we must approach God for anything in this life: a husband, a wife, a building, a motorcar, a dress; don't matter what it is, anything that you desire and you are not sure about it, the thing for you to do, to find God's will is that you put it on the altar and go and travail with God. Don't matter how much you desire that, want that, crave that and long for that, never be a slave to your desires! Anytime you become a slave to your desires, affections and emotions, you cannot fulfill the will of God. And you take that and put it on the altar and say, "Lord, my interest is eternal life. I don't want anything to take me away from eternal life". Here is a certain desire of my heart; not my will but thine be done." And you take that and put it on the altar. God is big enough to remove that desire if that desire is just coming from your own affection and own desire. And then, if it is the Lord, that desire will get stronger and it will burn into a certain place, until you can no longer bear it. Then you will have no selfish motives and no natural reasons whatsoever for preaching. You just want to do that because you feel that it is pleasing to the Lord.

It must not be because you were a minister in organization and want to continue, or because somebody said that you preach well or because people loved you at that time. No! It must be a burning desire, which is one of the first indications of a supernatural call. That burning desire goes before the supernatural experience; you were born with that. That call was in you when you were born. That is going to show up some time in life and it's going to start troubling you. That is before any supernatural experience and is even more sure than a supernatural experience, because I have seen people who had supernatural experiences and some spirit spoke to them and told them that they are a prophet, and they are this and they are that, and gave them a vision and gave them a dream and they went out there and were pierced through with many sorrows. Come to find out it was a selfish motive behind that and the devil got a hold of it and really made havoc. However, I believe in a supernatural experience to tie down a call that a man will have.

Quote: 37-1 "No man has a right to preach 'less he like Moses, meets Him out there in that sacred grounds, that Pillar of Fire hanging there, where he knows where he's at." (Future Home 64-0802).

Quote: E-36 "There is no preacher, by God, has never been ordained to stand behind the sacred desk until first he's had a conference with God, and come upon those sacred sands where him and God alone stand." (Having Conferences 60-0608).

Quote: E-34 "And what we need today in our seminaries, it's not so much theology to be taught, but a burning bush experience." (At Kadesh Barnea 56-0527)

Quote: E-9 "And every man that goes to the field to preach the Gospel should never leave until he has that back-of-the-desert experience." (The Sin.Of.Unbelief. 58-0517e).

Quote: E-12 "God trains His men then anoints them, gives an experience." (Why.Cry.Speak 59-1004e).

Quote: E-29 "You can have a call of God on your life; you can know that you're called to the ministry, but you have no right to preach the Gospel until you've had an experience with God." (From.That.Time 60-0302).

Quote: E-35 "It was God Himself. He came to the burning bush, and He spoke to Moses before He sent him out. I believe that every man, before he goes out on the field to preach the Gospel, ought to first have an experience with God before he goes." (Hear.Ye.Him 62-0711).

Quote: 52 "No man has the right behind this pulpit to preach the Gospel unless he has come face to face with It. Like Moses on the backside of the desert." (An Absolute 63-1201m).

Quote: 116 "Don't preach until you go up to the city of Jerusalem and receive power from on high, then you shall be witnesses of Me." (Looking.Unto.Jesus 64-0122).

Other similar quotations can be found on the messages entitled: "Why? 63-0626 77, Perseverant 62-0729 E-45, Why Am I Against Organized Religion 62-1111e 229, and then of course, each one of us knows, (Trying to do God a service without His will 65-0718M) there, are five must." That was properly laid out. And my advice to these precious brethren who desire to use the pulpit; I come to find out that in many poor countries, that many a man wants to go to the pulpit to make that a form of job. Yes. When you speak to them they say, "I am doing the ministry, my son is doing the ministry and my next brother is doing the ministry", because jobs are very hard. So you find that they get about five or ten people and open up a little church and from that little church they live, and they get a hand out from an evangelist that passes by or from foreign lands, and try to work with that. Now that is a dangerous thing. You will be better of digging dirt, as a poor man, than to enter the pulpit of God in order for a job.

Question#137: : "I am a minister of the message. I was married before I came. I want to obey every commandment of God. My wife is worldly and don't want to hear the message, what must I do: separate from her for the ministry or leave the ministry?"

Answer:: Now do you see the kinds of problems that exist around the world, and do you see that 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 just cannot take care of all these questions? It can only be the basis, that we can form our thoughts upon, but it cannot handle these things that are rising in this age.

There is an answer in the Bible for this question. First of all I would advise, be certain that you are called! To leave your wife for the gospel sake, it takes a burning call, and that call must be burning more than your heart is burning for your wife. When God puts a burning to preach the gospel and serve his people, beloved, that is so much stronger than the affection for your family and affection for your wife, that such flame burns lower than the flame that God puts into the soul for the preaching of the gospel.

So now the first thing that is involved here, my brother, is to be certain of your calling! Make your calling an election sure. And it seems to me that your desire is right. It seems to me that you are a believer. The very reason that you are asking this question is because you want to make a decision between serving your wife and serving God. You say that you want to keep every commandment of God and your wife is worldly. There is something in your question, and that is that you are saying that you are a minister and you wife is worldly and you came to the message. That means that you were preaching all along while your wife was worldly. So, from what I am reading here, you were a minister all the time with your wife worldly and you spoiled her, and this cannot be corrected in a day.

Now if God has really called you to preach His message, He will put that burning in your heart and, no doubt, you will have some sort of a supernatural experience, and it seems to me from your expression that you love God, you want to keep His every commandment, and you want to follow the instruction that the Lord gave you, since you heard the message. Now, it is even wrong for a believer to allow his wife to be worldly in his house and continue to live with her, and much more so for a minister. A wife must live under certain conditions if she will continue to live with you as a believer! That woman, when you embrace the faith, you just don't throw out the woman, burn up her clothes like some crazy fellows, and get a piece of wood and beat her to come to church. Remember that you were drinking rum too, you spoiled the woman, you bought the pants for her, you put on the mini dress, you gave her a bath suit, you carried her down to the beach, you took her to the dance hall, and now the Lord convicted you and brought you to the Word of God. So you don't behave like an angel that fell from heaven and want a change over night by force.

So now, after hearing the Gospel; I am talking about a believer, and even more so a preacher here; you need to go home and discuss matters in the most humble way with your wife, explain to her your new findings, let her know what you have embraced, let her know the different commitments that you have as a husband, as a brother, and beg her to help you to be qualified as a son of God. Let her know that you are not going to force your religion up on her. "Lady, in order for me to qualify as a son of God, my house has to be in order, you will have to give up the pants, we will sell the television, the girl children will not be wearing any pants, we won't have any alcohol or rum in here, you would not be wearing any more mini skirts, you would not be chopping your hair again and you would not be wearing any more high heel shoes". And you could expect some resistance, and maybe some cuffs on your head. You cannot command her. Let her know that these are the requirements to qualify you. And she may say, "Mister gentleman, if I don't do that, what is the decision?" "Well lady, if you will continue to walk as you walk, in the process of time, I may have to separate in order to qualify as a Christian. I don't expect you to change overnight; I am inviting you to church, would you please go with me and see where I am going, see what I am hearing and what I am believing?"

One precious brother, very desperate for the Word, he embraced this faith. I tell you, he was so desperate, his wife said he had gone mad. She got a hold of him and said, "I want to take you to the psychiatrist, that is the only way I will prove that you are not mad?" And he just said, "Yes, I am ready to go, but you have to pay the bill". So he went down to the psychiatrist, the psychiatrist put him down there, asked him all kinds of questions, and the psychiatrist looked at his wife, looked at him and said, "He is okay, nothing is wrong with him; go home". O yes, so she chose to go on and believe what she believes as a catholic and gave this man freedom to serve the Lord in the message. Listen, if a woman really loves you and a man really loves you, I believe they will come to some kind of agreement, knowing you are not drinking, you are not smoking and you aren't coming to beat them. I believe any sensible woman would want to do that, and anybody that loves their husband ought to listen to a voice like that.

So my friend, if you are really called of God, that desire is burning in your heart and you have no selfish motives for preaching or getting rid of your wife to marry another, then you need to put her to sit down and say, "Lady, I am a minister of the gospel. Things I did not know before, I now know, and I want to discuss matters with you; I have a decision to make. It is either that I go along with you and I choose you, give up my preaching and lose my soul." The question is, "What should I do, give her up, or give up the ministry". If you are called my brother, it is a sin to give up the ministry! The Lord called a man one time. He said, "You, come and preach the kingdom of God with me". He said, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.". "And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.". (Luke 9: 59-62).

Putting your hand to the plough as a minister, my friend, is actually to take up the responsibility of preaching the gospel, and that man was called, but he was studying his relatives back home. In other words, "Don't let the living nor the dead stand before you when God calls you to service. Neither the living nor the dead must stand between you and God if he has called you to service.

Alright, is there a scripture for that? "Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you… every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. (St Matthew 19: 27-29). So now there is a scripture here that if you are a minister that is called of God, and that woman becomes a problem, that house becomes a problem and children become a problem, your choice must be to preach the gospel! Here is a scripture that is saying that you must be separated if those children, mother, father, or that wife become a stumbling and you already put your hand to the plough, don't look back. Yes, we will have supernatural experiences, sure, but that burning desire is a great thing.

Question#138:"If a man gets baptized, say he is called, wants to become a pastor, what must we do? Is there any vindication?"

Answer:We have these kinds of things that will come up in the House of God. We will have people who desire to hold the office of a preacher, evangelist, apostle, prophet, but then every person must be proven. "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

"Is there a vindication that when a brother just got baptized, and then he rises up and says, 'I am called! I want to use the pulpit'?" Now I don't have very much confidence in that. "Is there a vindication? Is there a way to know, these things?" This is why the Lord set his servants over the church. The minister, after speaking to that brother, must have that discernment to discern his motives and objectives, number one, look and see if he is qualified for that job, and then look and see the ability, that he has. So you cannot depend on a vindication that the brother said that he went to the woods, he was praying and a ball of fire fell from a tree. Like one man told me he is a prophet. I said, "How do you know that?" He said, "I went down to the river and the whole bamboo patch caught a fire, and that was the burning bush of fire like Moses". May be it was crop time (Dry season), and some fire got away from the cane fields. So we have to be careful with these kinds of vindications.

Another man embraced the message of the hour, was trying to preach it, and he came to my house and said that he is a prophet, and he wants to preach the seals to me". I said, "The seals are already opened". So he went up to another preacher friend of mine and he "broke the seals" in his house. After a little while he came back and said, "Do you know I'm not following this message anymore?" I said, "Why?" He said, "I was lying on top my bed, I had these 'Branham books' a little way from my bed, and all the books fell and hit me on my head, and from that time I knew that this message is wrong." Now we have to be careful with these superstitions. We are filled with superstitions in the Caribbean here. These superstitions came from Africa and from India, and we have a big hangover here, but in India and Africa you have the original, so you must be careful with any kind of supernatural.

The greatest way to find the will of God is to lay on the altar of sacrifice, put your will upon it and seek Almighty God. That is more sure that a vindication and any kind of supernatural experience. O we could go on and tell about all these kinds of superstitions and things that people depend upon.

That is why the Lord set a leader, he set a pastor, and if the pastor don't have that discernment he needs to consult with somebody that has more discernment, then they'll speak to this fellow, examine him by the Word, check his motives and objectives, and number one and very important, the Bible said that he should not be a novice (one young in Christian faith) to hold an office of any kind in the House of God, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. (1 Timothy 3:6). He must be mature enough. He don't just go and get baptized and come back and say, "I want to preach". There is something wrong with that motive and objective. When a man sees the Word of God, he came and met people who had been there for five, ten, fifteen years sitting and waiting, and for a man to just come in for six months or one year, and come and ask the pastor to preach, something is wrong with the man senses, something is wrong with his head to begin with; something is definitely wrong, and any time you allow that to get away in the House of God, you will have problems. Here is Brother Branham's advice to people:

Quote: E-16 "But God, and for the perfecting of the Church, has set in the church, apostles… So there's apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelist, and so forth. Them are selected by God alone. No matter how much you go to school, how well you're educated, how well you want to preach, if God hasn't called you to be a preacher, you'll never make it. That's right. You'll just be a stumbling block in a real preacher's way. That's exactly. "Gifts and callings are without repentance." Correctly. I'd rather my boy be a preacher than anything I know of, but God will have to do that. No one else can do it. That's right, God will have to do it." (Jesus Christ the same 56-0225).

Preaching is a serious affair, and when we talk about preaching, and we talking about a pastor or an apostle leading a congregation, that's a different thing. It is very easy to stand up and preach a message from the pulpit, but when you talk about having people's souls in your hands, where they trust your every word as the oracles of God, you'd better know what you are talking about. God is going to hold you responsible.

Quote: 40 "Ministers... the things that you say, God holds you responsible for them. So you must come, praying and asking God what to say, and then depend on Him when you get in the platform for something that will help the people." (Influence 63-1130B).

So more than likely, when a fellow just got baptized, and comes up to this place and he has a desire to preach immediately, there is some selfish motive involved.

There is a great danger whenever a man comes from organization, denomination, the world, a Hindu religion, Muslim religion, or comes from an African religion and he gets baptized. This baptism dose not take away all those seeds of discrepancy from the man's soul. He needs to sit down until every seed of discrepancy is taken away from his heart. And that is where the people made the biggest mistake in this message. They came straight from organizations, with those organizational seeds, took the message, started preaching and hybrid the message with their denominational seeds. Right now we have hybrid Baptists under the message, hybrid Presbyterian, hybrid Catholics, and you could very well hybrid the Hindu religion into this message because you never laid on the altar until all those seeds of idolatry leave your heart, and that is what happened to that great man called Paulaseer Lawrie. That is why he made himself the tenth incarnation of the Hindu god called Krishna. You've got to pluck up those seeds.

When a man comes to this message from organization and from the world, he should go under a purging, listen attentively, pray, repent, sit and hear the Word of God that you could understand right, and give up those old conceptions, those old thoughts, those old seeds, and if you don't give them up, when you hear the message, what will happen is that you will hybrid it, and you will actually think that you are preaching the message, but you have a hybrid message and if you have a hybrid message you will produce hybrid and perverted members, then an evil spirit will follow you.

So there are many in India and in Africa who are very ambitious to preach and many times it is motivated by poverty, where they get little congregations together and they recently come out from their old religion of idolatry, both Africa and India, idol worshipers, and then they bring over those seeds, have the same spirit from their religion, hybrid the seeds with the message and then they make something like the message, and then they would produce members like that. The greatest thing you could do when you come to this message is to sit down and learn at the feet of Jesus Christ; find somebody who could teach you the Word of God.

So under this condition here, you are yet a novice, one young in Christian faith, you've just come from the water, just came from the organization and from the world, and you cannot use the pulpit. Your motives and objectives must be discerned by the leaders. You could say what supernatural vindication that you have, I am looking at your motives and objectives; that is where we ought to look.

"Can a pastor ordain his son?"

Answer:: Yes. If his son is proven to be genuinely called of God and he meets the qualifications of the scripture, [1 Timothy, Titus], if his life is correct, if his motives and objectives are correct, then his father, it doesn't matter what office he holds, can ordain his son as a gospel preacher.

The question continues, "Can a pastor ordain him as his successor, to take over the church?"

Answer: Now this here is becoming a popular heresy, around the message, right here in the western world, right here in Trinidad, and I have heard of this heresy around the world. Now this is a selfish motive. Look at the difference with a man who was sent of God, and love God.

Quote: E-16 "Gifts and callings are without repentance." Correctly. I'd rather my boy be a preacher than anything I know of, but God will have to do that. No one else can do it. That's right, God will have to do it." (Jesus Christ the same 56-0225).

That prophet had no selfish motive to make Billy Paul his successor or make his son Joseph be successor of his message, his ministry, or the tabernacle in which he preached. He was an emptied vessel and has set the example for every preacher in the message. Billy Paul became a big man, and Brother Branham said in another quotation:

Quote: E-2 "I was thinking maybe Billy, my boy would be a minister, but looks like he isn't." (Abraham's Seed 59-0423).

Quote: 297 "I thought maybe Billy would preach the Gospel. God never called him." (Is your life worthy 63-0630e).

Now that is honesty friend; that is the right motives and objectives. This is an example for every minister in the message to follow.

There is something in man that any time a man starts behaving like that, he reveals that he has selfish motives and that he is working for a natural kingdom. He is trying to protect the tithes in the church, he is trying to protect the offering, he is trying to protect the building, and he is trying to protect the people and keep it in the family. That is kings' succession. Kings and queens does that, and that's a natural kingdom.

We have that going on right now in Africa. I heard of tribal problems in the message that certain people would only go to church where their tribesman is preaching, and they have kingship in the message. These are some of the heresies that I have to deal with a little later. So they follow the message according to their tribe and you have a king over there and he has a big church, running. He is a king of a tribe, so this here is tribal affair. When a man wants his son to take over the church, on a natural basis, it is heresy. He has a successor that he wants to put there. Now this is in the religious realms also that here Billy Graham is going out, and first he wanted his son to be his successor, and something happened, I read in a magazine, that his daughter would have to succeed him now, and he was Bush's religious advisor. So this woman would be, no doubt, the president's religious advisor. So you see the kinds of selfish motives.

Right in Venezuela here, there is a man over there who ordained his son to take over the church, and his son is halfway backslidden. I heard of a story, way over in New York, another man's son is not walking right and he ordained him to take over the church soon after he dies. It goes to show that the whole thing has become organizational, natural and satanic. My beloved, if a man's son fits the office, and he is called of God, then a pastor is right in place to ordain that man. If Billy Paul had fit the qualification, Brother Branham would ordain him, but then Brother Branham being an honest man, he said, "God never called Billy Paul to preach". I don't care what anybody says and anybody do, my brother, if the prophet says it that way it stands that way.

Now because of this natural way of thinking, there are a lot of fears in people's hearts, that many times the pastor may put his son to run the church after him. You don't have to suffer any fears like that over here, beloved. Who is qualified, is qualified, and who is not qualified, is not qualified. A post must not be given and a man must not be ordained upon the basis of race, society or upon money that he might have. It must be all the by will of Almighty God and it must be in the Spirit. Who is qualified must use the pulpit, and who is not qualified don't use the pulpit. These are our standards here, and this is what we have practiced for all the years at Bethel, who is not qualified, sit down.

Loans are not given here by race. Help to one another is not given by race. No sir! We never had that here, and we won't have it here, and we thank God for this bond of love, bond of unity, and we thank God for this bond of fellowship that only the Word can produce. So this is a terrible heresy that is arising around the world where men want to turn over the pulpit whether or not that son is called, and put the whole church in the hands of that backslidden son. It comes just as if I bring my backslidden son and shape him up a little bit because I am going to die, and then say now, "I am going to ordain him to take care of the flock". Brother, that is selling the birthright of the church. That's damning souls. Any sensible man would not sit under that because the pastor has revealed his unfaithfulness.

Question#140: "Is it unscriptural for one to be a minister if his previous record in the world was bad-criminal activities, adulterer, fornicator, or gambler?"

Answer:Wonderful question. A question that probably we never thought about because we have no such problems here. We have a bed of roses. Yes! You come to church in sweetness and go back in sweetness. You take the ministers for granted. They never had to repent for adultery in twenty-five, thirty, thirty-five years, so you take it for granted that every church is the same thing and there are nice people everywhere. It is not so nice out there. No!

This is a sincere heart. Alright, "is it right for such a man to be ordained or desire to preach the gospel?" We go right back to the first answer my beloved, when you come to the gospel, you repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins. Your sins are forgiven you alright. But when you name yourself as a Christian, go back home in your village and start living, people don't believe it, especially if you had a bad record, they don't believe it, and they will tell you to your face, "I give you one month, three months, or one year". They don't believe it. Since they don't believe it, then you cannot jump up on the pulpit as yet. You should not ordain a novice (one young in Christian faith). Brother Paul was right.

Before that man could ever do anything in the House of God and hold any office in the House of God, he must first be proven. He must convince the doubters concerning his salvation that this thing that I found is real, so he would prove to them that he stopped drinking rum, he's no more an adulterer, he's not a fornicator, not in any more criminal activities. Time must be given for the unsaved to be convinced that this thing is real. It may take a year, it may take two years, it may take three years according to the criminal activities that you were involved in, until he develops a good report of them that are without. "Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil." (1 Timothy 3:7). That is one of the qualifications to be a bishop. That means he must have a good report amongst the unsaved. Now, none of us had a good report and we cannot depend upon the good report when we were unsaved. The good report is when you become a Christian. So before that man uses the pulpit he must have a testimony that he established.

According to how bad his record was, it may take some more time than a fellow who was not involved in many things. A fellow who came from organization may not have to wait that long, but this man, everybody knows him around the country as a terrorist. They just got to take time to believe that because this terrorist could be trying something through religion.

Then, after that, in your district now, everybody is surprised and they will start saying, "That man is a changed man". They will evil speak you too because you're no longer drinking rum with them, you aren't stealing with them and you aren't beating anybody for them, but behind your back they will say, "He's really changed. I'm telling you, I used to steal with him; he isn't stealing anymore". Now you have a good report of them that are without. If the Lord wants you to preach now, He will put that burning desire in your heart, call you, train you and then send you to preach the gospel into all the world.

Alright, you say, "Give me an example in the Bible of a man who had criminal activities and then came to the gospel and preached?" I know of a man called Dr. Saul and he was consenting to criminal activities in stoning Stephen and then he was forcing the Christians to blaspheme. He was in religion and had a good testimony amongst the Pharisees. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, and after he came to the gospel, he became one of the greatest and the most renowned preachers of the Bible. Up to now we are following his instructions. He changed so much until the Lord called him Paul. Saul means "Big one", but Paul means "little one". So he humbled himself on the road to Damascus.

So a man who comes from such a background, the Lord could call the man, gift him and let him preach; and don't you think that Peter was an easy man. You could see what kind of fellow he used to be. Just before the outpouring came at Pentecost, that fellow displayed some things. He was a violent man, he was a warrior, and he chopped off a man's ear with a sword. The Lord said, "Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him." (Luke 22: 50-51). O! We're looking for that power! I don't know how people could settle down for something dead after they read about all the miracles, all the signs, all the wonders and want to think they we are going away in the rapture just like this. It's blasphemy! My brother we are going to see signs and wonders greater than all that is written in the Bible.

Quote: E-3 "But if all of the full Gospel people would come one heart and one accord, there would be a revival that would shake the whole world. And every spiritual gift would be in the Church within a hour's time after it took place. Signs and wonders that was done by the apostles would be a minor thing to what would be if we could just get the Church together. It's got to happen. It will happen. It may be after I've passed off the scene. But I want to put my word in this that you might know, that my voice is this." (Angel of God 48-0304)

So the Lord is going to pour out his Holy Spirit, and signs and wonders done by the Apostles will be a minor thing. I am looking for that! The prophet of God said that it may be after he's gone, but it's going to be here. Yes, it's going to be here! Children of God, when you talk about the supernatural, something from the inside raises up, because we are a supernatural people, we came from heaven and we are going back to heaven. We are children of the kingdom. But when people believe "all is over", it goes to show where they belong. When a man preaches that doctrine, all is over for him. It's a doctrine of the devil. Oh yes!

Quote: 185 "Men and women, God promised in this last days that He'd pour out His Spirit upon all flesh. He promised He'd send the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and He'd call a Bride without spot or wrinkle. He promised to do it; He'll do it. Don't listen to these hireling shepherds; they'll lead you astray. The Holy Spirit is the Shepherd to feed you sheep food from His Word. It always comes by the Shepherd. He is our Shepherd. Listen to Him; you are the sheep of His fold; if you are, you hear His Voice, not what somebody else says; you hear what He says. A strange voice, you know nothing about it." (Why It Had To Be Shepherds 64-1221).

So the Lord could call anybody. Peter wasn't a joking fellow and I don't believe that those other fellows were either. The Lord called two fellows, "Sons of thunder". I will tell you why those fellows were like that. They were brought up under the law and it was hard for them to turn the other cheek. It was "Eye for eye and tooth for tooth". They heard from little children that if a man digs out your eye, dig out his eye, if a man chops off your arm, chop off his arm; blood for blood. How could you change that mind.

Here is a man called Jesus talking to the Jews; He said, "Forgive seventy times seven". Boy, I tell you, they were brought up under a certain system and it isn't easy to change all of that. So, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son cleanses us from all unrighteousness. A man is called, he is sanctified, he obtained a good report from the unsaved, he lives a new life and he holds the Word of God in his heart, then he is qualified to preach; it doesn't matter what life he lived back there, God has called him.

Question#141:"How to know if a minister is called and failure of his ministry. This is an important question, please answer?"

Answer:Well, again we go back to the same quotation that we just read. Your motives and objectives must be right; see what the man is aiming at. If he is aiming for hire he's a hireling, and if he is aiming at the sheep he's a shepherd. So you go back to St. John the 10th chapter and study what the Lord laid out there concerning the hireling. The hireling is after the hire, the shepherd is after the sheep. You see any minister climbs up on the pulpit and ask you to give a pastor's love offering to buy a motor-car, he is a hireling! He is not called of God. And they have a pastor's wife's love offering. He is a hireling! He is working for hire. And then they have an offering for the pastor's family trip to the next country for vacation. He's a hireling! Yes. They have passed hireling now. They are a bunch of butchers! Yes! They cause the people to pay their tithes and offering, and, on top of that, there are all kinds of building offering, love offering, pastor's love offering and pastor's appreciation day. A sick preacher seeks attention.

Quote: E-30 "It's only the sick that demands attention... And when you see a preacher… that wants attention: "I'm somebody," just remember, there's a spiritual sick person." (Images Of Christ 59-0525).

My brother, you take St. John 10 and just watch those two spirits: one in the shepherd, and the other in the hireling. Thank God for good shepherds in our midst. In all thirty-six years of ministering, not one time did they ever beg this congregation for a penny. We never had an appreciation day for them; we never had a pastor's love offering or nothing like that. These men have proven themselves that they want to be honest with the sheep; never quarreled for a salary here nor never grumbled yet for a penny at no time. If something is given to them they are thankful for it. They never demand anything even because they are not hirelings.

This message ought to put faith in your heart; St. John 10 ought to help you recognize what you have in your midst. We have lovely men of God, we have gallant servants of God and many times I know that they could use that money, they will never open their mouths and even ask for it, some brother something has to be real distressful for they to even ask for one penny. You aren't going to get this better than what you have. I'm telling you the truth. God is leading us. So this is how you know a shepherd from a hireling.

A shepherd that is after the sheep, if they are going wrong he will tell them about it; he will correct that sheep, he will chastise that sheep and he will break the leg of that sheep. But a hireling would pamper them because he wants the hire. He don't set word standards in the church. No! Every standard that is set in the church is to protect his hire. So that is how you know whether a minister is called of God; and the failure of any man's ministry is to love money like Judas, to love money like Balaam. The prophet of God said that Balaam was a hireling prophet. You see he went out after Balak for hire. He also said that there are many hirelings around the world today for hire.

Quote: 208 "Balaam, a hireling prophet, one that loved money more than he loved God… .. Wonder how many Balaams is in this world tonight? Methodist ministers, Baptist ministers, Catholic priests." (Pergamean Church Age 60-1207).

Things that could fail a man's ministry is a love for money, popularity... A man wants to be popular, known, he wants to be recognized, he wants everybody to know who's leading here. Anytime you see that spirit, the man is not called and he is not born again. There is pride in his heart and pride goeth before destruction. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18). So the man is not called of God. So money, popularity and women, those three are the downfall of any man's ministry. All three have thrown down the ministers around the world, and all three are throwing down the ministers around the message of the hour.

Quote: E-19 "Here's three things that I've noticed in reading of other ministers. If this ever gets ahold of a minister, it's got him. And there's a weak spot: money, women, popularity. That's right. Dodge the very appearance of it." (Life Story William Branham 50-0820a).

Quote: E-20 "There's three things that I've watched in my life, in the reading of other ministers, when God blesses a minister just a little bit above maybe someone else, or give him an opportunity to do a little more work for Him or something, the first thing that Satan goes to working with that minister is three things, major things. The first thing is money, women, popularity. He will work on him with money, or if he can get him to... Like his first bait, that's like in the garden of Eden. Well, or if he can get him to thinking he's something when he ain't nothing, he's got him right then. (Second.Miracle 51-0729e).

"Should there be any positions in the church like president, chairman or directors?"

Now, this is a heresy. Anytime you want to bring under the message, president, chairman or directors, we are getting like the Catholic Church, and the organizations. These are man-made inventions. You may be a director of a company, certain countries, churches must be registered under a company act to be functional. Those directors are in a different category and should not be used, as a superior office to that of the five-fold ministry.

Now the reason that people want to be called president is to receive honor. "Do you know who is standing behind the pulpit there? President Bruce." And he wants to share that honor a little bit so he don't want Mr. Jones there to be jealous. So, he says, "Now I want to acknowledge chairman Jones, and its nice to have you cardinal Chandler and international evangelist Patrick Peniston; and I would have you to know that I am the president of the whole thing." There is one who is our president and that is Jesus Christ. He said, one is your master and Lord, and we serve President Jesus. "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren." (Matthew 23:8).

So, now the Catholic Church is responsible for making up all these titles from popes, to cardinals, to bishops, with a different meaning than the Bible and then come right down to priest, the Jesuits, all these kinds of mother superiors and father superiors. And hear the organizations "Reverend". Hear the priest: "Father". The Bible says to call no man father upon the earth. "And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." (Matthew 23:9). So there is no room for none of these titles. All that we have in the Bible are Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, Evangelists, Pastors and we have elders, deacons, helps and a few other things. Humble and simple. The nicolatians anti-Christ spirit, prevalent around the message, is trying to socialize the ministry. Ministers and their families fellowship with the rich, educated, and professional church members. They have made the office of pastor, evangelist etc. equal titles to that of worldly professions, doctors, lawyers, judges and politicians etc. Although such titles such as Popes, cardinals, superintendent etc, are not verbally used, the spirit of organizations and the Catholic church dominates many ministers.

This spirit has separated the clergy from the laity. Jesus ate and drank with publicans and sinners, but such ministers have exalted themselves greater than him and the early Apostles. These have proven to be gentiles in their spirit, without the Holy Spirit, therefore they are not spiritual Jews who are circumcised inwardly, they seek honor instead of the spiritual welfare of the sheep; such are hirelings and not true shepherds. The gentile seeks honor one of another. "But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all." (Mark 10:42-44).

So we don't we don't have these kind of titles here. And they have the president of the Sunday school. All these titles are given to them as long they could get a little pride out of it. People belong to that church and will turn down the truth to be in that assembly because when they walk in there, people would say, "Do you know who goes there? That's the president of the Sunday school and that's the president of the library". Yes, everybody gets a little pride and satisfaction.

Question#143: "Should minister's meetings be held often?"

Answer:: There is no commandment nor instructions given by our Lord concerning keeping ministers meetings, yet there were minister's meetings kept in the Bible, but it was not a rule and regulation. It was simply held when the need arose. That's the important thing. But around the world, they have gone the way of the organizations and in the organizations they have minister's meetings every two weeks, because it's a business. Most of the time they are talking about how to make money or who rob who and who did not get enough, and that occupies most of the time.

So, now in organization they have minister's meeting convened every two months, and the president's got to be there, overseers, the assistant overseers and the general overseers, they get together; and then the president, the chairman and then the pope and then the cardinal. Now this is the pattern of Babylon, the catholic church; this is the pattern of organization and that is what they want to bring into the message today, and when we don't attend they have that against us and say that we don't attend minister's meetings, and use it as a carnal weapon of war against us.

Yes, that was held in the scriptures in the Old and New Testament. The first ministers' meeting that I know of was when the Lord ordained twelve, then he ordained seventy, then a wonderful ministers' meeting took place and that is he gathered with the twelve for communion. That was a ministers' meeting. And then the church went on and we never heard anything about a minister's meeting until there arose a problem between the Jews and the gentiles. That's the fifteenth chapter of the book of Acts. And Paul and Silas and others came to Jerusalem and met the apostles and there was a ministers' meeting. They wrote a letter, signed their names and send it back down to Antioch and established that there were only certain things needed for the gentiles. That was a ministers' meeting.

Another ministers' meeting was convened in about Acts the twentieth chapter where Brother Paul reached into a certain place and he sent for the Deacons and the elders of the church of Ephesus, and told them that they are not going to see his face anymore and he warned them about evils spirits, false brethren and wolves coming in to destroy the flock. Those are ministers' meetings, but to say there was a ministers' meeting every month and like an idolatry, that was out. So now all these ministers' meetings that they are having to share their doctrine and argue doctrines in the message is Baalamism, and we don't attend none of them.

Santiago's agents went to Africa, I think it was in Zambia there, called ministers together to put over their devilish doctrine of him as "the covenant angel, Christ manifested in human flesh." That is what is going on in the ministers' meeting. Then a next fellow wants to put over his doctrine and he goes and presents it to the ministers and perverts some of these people.

I got the questions that the ministers asked and the answers on the same paper that Santiago's agents gave. You talk about heresies. It was about twenty to twenty-five questions, and then because the ministers sent it to me, and asked, "What do you think about this Brother Bruce?", I took that and I re-answered those questions and showed that most of the answers that Santiago's agents gave are heresies and are of the devil. You will find that on Book nine - "Exposition of damnable heresies."

So all that comes out of these ministers meetings are divisions, confusion and heresies! Fighting like dogs and cats about the message. I don't believe in them. Yes, but we had true ministers meeting here, for all the years, where we had a spirit of harmony, love and union. Yes sir! I believe in that kind of ministers' meeting. We don't come here to argue, we come here to edify one another, as we feel led of the Lord.