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COMMUNION
Questions Nos. 526 to 533B


CHAPTER SIXTEEN


Question # 526: "Please, what are the elements used in preparing communion bread?"


E.O.D.H. Answer: Communion bread should be unleavened bread. Brother W.M.B. referred to it as the 'kosher bread' which the Jews still use as they did in Egypt. No yeast or leaven should be added. We add no salt, only a little olive oil to keep the bread soft. The following maybe of help to you:
"Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it." (Matthew 26:26-27).
This bread represents, or symbolizes, the Body of Christ, and it must be unleavened (baked without yeast), and made by holy hands, and the excess or remainder of bread, after communion is finished, needs to be eaten or burnt by morning, because the Body of Christ did not see corruption, so you cannot allow the bread to remain and rot or decay. The Word will not see corruption.

Quote W.M.B.: 933-54 "The Bible said when you're taking the communion, what's left over of it, don't even let it lay till morning; burn it." (Questions & Answers 64-0823M).

Wine must be made by people who are dedicated to God, and must not contain any leaven (yeast). All the wine that is poured into the cup must be used-all that God was, He poured into Christ, and all Christ was, He poured into the Church, the Bride.


WINE & UNLEAVENED BREAD MADE BY CHRISTIANS

Quote W.M.B.: 374-64 "I do not believe that kosher bread should be substituted for a cracker. I believe that it should be a holy unleavened bread, the type of the unleavened bread that was made in Egypt. And I believe that the Blood should not be grape juice, but it should be wine. Grape juice sours and spoils as it gets old. But wine gets better and stronger as it gets old; it never loses its strength. And the Blood of Christ doesn't sour and spoil; as it gets older, it gets stronger and better as the days goes by to the believer. And it is a literal wine and bread. Communion bread should be made by people who's dedicated themselves and consecrated themselves to God. (Questions And Answers 59-0628e).

Quote: "It isn't the bread that matters; it isn't the wine that matters; that's the kosher bread and the wine." (Remembering the Lord 62-1209)


Question # 527 : "What are the ingredients to be used in the preparation of the dough for making communion bread?"


E.O.D.H. Answer: Concerning the communion bread, I think the emphasis is on the leaven, that should be kept out of the bread, as leaven is an agent of fermentation. Another factor that is considered is that Daniel said he ate no pleasant meat and they kept the Passover with bitter herbs, so the salt is excluded to fulfil the Scriptures of making it unpleasant. We use wheat flour, and if it becomes necessary, we may use another type. We add a little olive oil so that the bread is manageable if it gets cold; it doesn't get stiff and hard and unbreakable. Personally, I don't have any information, if Brother Branham allowed oil and what kind, (I don't think that it matters very much), because the emphasis is on the YEAST, which blows up the bread by fermentation. We only do our best, and try to work within our conscience, and close to the Scriptures as possible.
"And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it." (Exodus 12:8).


Question # 528: "This question about the communion is so special to me, because I fellowship with a church which believes the communion bread should be made of water, oil, flour and salt."


E.O.D.H. Answer: I understand how you feel about the communion and wanting to do right. Since there is no specific instruction of Brother Branham about all the details of making the communion bread, I guess different ones may vary in preparation of the bread. But the main thing is that it should not have yeast (leaven), and if a church makes a certain preparation, I would not contend with them. I will go on and take the communion bread and wine, and ask no question for conscience sake, as the Scripture said. If I were in your position I would go on and take the communion and ask no question.


Question # 529: "The Lord's Supper, should it be celebrated in the night or evening? What did the Prophet ordained concerning it? What time of the night did Jesus and the Apostles celebrate it, and or what are the Biblical connections between time of celebration, constituents of the bread and other truths concerning this ordinance?"


E.O.D.H. Answer: Communion: Matthew 26, 1 Corinthians 11, Exodus 12, is a type of the Passover. The feast was kept at evening time. Jesus was betrayed that night which followed the evening. A general study of the three sacraments is included on E.O.D.H. Book 10, pages 335 to 345.


Question # 291"Should communion be taken in the morning, evening or night?" : 


E.O.D.H. Answer: In the case of our Lord, He served communion to the disciples at supper time, the same night that He was betrayed. Communion is a type of the Passover which was observed at evening time (Exodus 12); it is to remember the Lord's death on the cross. He died at evening time; therefore the Lord's Supper (Communion) should be taken at evening time. The Lord served supper to the Apostles at evening time and washed their feet.


IT WASN'T THE LORD'S DINNER; IT WAS HIS SUPPER

Quote W.M.B.: E-2 "I can't never get used to having dinner at supper time… It's always it's breakfast, and dinner, and supper, and they try to tell me my dinner now is over at six o'clock… Some of them said, "Oh, Brother Branham, you just don't have it right." I said, "Oh, yes. We do too. The Lord... wasn't the Lord, He taken His supper. It was called 'supper." (Show us the Father 53-0907A).

Quote: E-3 "Light breakfast, and then a good-sized dinner along about...See, to me I know it's lunch to you all, but to me it's dinner. See?... We just had dinner, breakfast, or breakfast, dinner, and supper. And I can prove we're right. It wasn't the Lord's dinner; it was His supper." (Hear Ye Him 58-0209).


COMMUNION TABLE ON THAT EVENING OF THE LORD'S SUPPER

Quote W.M.B.: E-69 And in that great day, may we have the privilege of meeting one another again around that communion table on that evening of the Lord's supper, in the Kingdom again with Him." (God Has A Provided Way 62-0728).


HE TOOK IT IN THE EVENING, IT WAS HIS SUPPER

Quote W.M.B.: 2 "Now, tonight is our closing night of this certain service, and I want to let you out in time so you can have your supper. I know a lot of you call it your dinner… I was talking to a fellow, he said, "Oh, Brother Branham, it's dinner." "Oh, it is?" I said, "I want to prove you you're wrong." I said, "We don't take the Lord's dinner; we take His supper." So we like to think of it as our supper, the Lord's supper that night, not morning or afternoon. He took it in the evening, it was His supper." (Once More 63-0804).


EVENING THE LAMB WAS KILLED- TYPE OF COMMUNION

Quote W.M.B.: 84 "Now, He said, "In the evening it was killed." The Lamb was brought to the inside of the house, roasted: type of communion, of course." (Israel At The Red Sea53-0327).

"For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me." After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come." (1 Corinthians 11: 23-26).
Brother Branham served communion in his evening services, and he stated that the Branham Tabernacle served it once a month. We here at Grace Covenant Church take it once a month, in the evening service.
Many times weather conditions are involved in scheduling communion service. The pastors and church may need to take communion during an early evening service to try to be ahead of a prevailing storm, such as a hurricane, or a coming snowstorm.


Question # 530: "In Book 10 regarding communion in one place, it stated that Grace Covenant Church conducts it in the 'afternoon', it is totally against the Word. Please go through that and send needful correction."


E.O.D.H. Answer: Quote EODH Book 10, page 345: "Brother Branham served communion in his evening services, and he stated that the Branham Tabernacle served it once a month. We here at Grace Covenant Church take it once a month, in the afternoon or evening service."
"And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words." (Mark 12:13).
"And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor." (Luke 20:20).
"Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk." (Matthew 22:15).

At times Scribes, Pharisees and Herodians followed the Lord Jesus Christ to catch Him in His words. They even asked sly questions to trap Him. These persons had an ear but they could not hear and their understanding was darkened.
I quote: "We here at Grace Covenant Church take it once a month, in the afternoon or evening service." The extended part of the quotation "or evening" has been left out here. Only afternoon was seen. We have to understand what is meant to be said and just not take the word by itself literally to be critical. The term 'afternoon' is sometimes used for 'evening'; it is past noontime and not meant to be understood as midday. Being associated with Grace Covenant Church {GCC}, communion service is conducted at late evening or generally at night. At certain times it is pulled back an hour or two because of weather conditions. Instead of having no communion, I think it is fitting to adjust the time a little bit.
There are no Scriptures that bind us to a law to keep communion service after sunset or night. Communion is to bring into "remembrance the death of the Lord" (I Corinthians 11). For those who want to be legalistic about the time of taking communion and tie it down to the night etc, we should ask them, what time of the day our Lord was crucified? Certainly it was not at night. They may want to use I Corinthians 11 to specify that communion was served at night. But take notice that, that was before the Lord was crucified and never became binding to the Christian Church.
If they want to type it to the Passover, and follow the Old Testament, the first Passover was about midnight, when the Death Angel saw the blood and passed over the Israelites.
The Church must get away from such legalism and always look for a direct commandment in fulfilling the Word instead of looking for types and experiences of others. Example: they received the Token on the Day of Pentecost and they 'spake in tongues', so called Pentecost made that the evidence of the Holy Ghost.
I believe that evening or night is appropriate for the Lord's Supper, as our Lord was crucified and died in the evening, pass noon. I have no objections if some will want to serve at midnight or after sunset. We employ that some times but then it is fanatical to tie the church down to a commandment which none of the Apostles established.


Question # 531: Is it possible to give me clarity on the use of the amount of glasses allowed to be used when serving communion? Is it wrong if more than one container is used? What if you are a big congregation? I believe that Branham Tabernacle makes use of small containers. Are we out of the Scriptures? And what is the Message view about this?


E.O.D.H. Answer: According to the Scriptures, it always refers to one cup; Matthew chapter 26, from verse 26 and also 1 Corinthians 11:23 to the end of the chapter. However, there is a little difference with serving sick people communion, and you would observe in our extract such reasons. Brother Branham allowed the sick people to be served in small glasses in certain tent meetings, and he himself always served communion in the Tabernacle and other places, wine in one cup, and one bread (not round) was broken.


Extract from E.O.D.H. Book 10 - COMMUNION: Questions 289, page 341:

"Another important factor that should be considered is the problem of contagious diseases. These should be reported to the ministry or pastor, especially in the case of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases), AIDS, or herpes, for the welfare of others. These people with oozing sores on the lips, mouth, or tongue may have to be served in a private room, separately from the other saints. These are cases and things that we now have to deal with that Brother Branham did not deal much with while he was with us, for we are now living in a time of a Sodom and Gomorrah condition. These conditions, or problems from these conditions, have a way of coming into the church, and we want to try to use wisdom in dealing with God's sheep, and those who have given their hearts to Christ, yet with a medical problem, or contagious social disease."



Question#532:  
 Heretical Article No. 529: 

"There is a pastor in an End-time Message church in our area who preaches like this: "we can take communion without living holy. We should be ready to bear the punishment from God for this. "


E.O.D.H. Answer: 1Corinthians 11 is sufficient to clarify this heresy. It needs no interpretation. Only if a man wants to die and go to Hell he should choose that way or preach that doctrine. The soul that sinneth shall surely die.
"For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come." (I Corinthians 11:23-34).


Question # 533: "Communion taking in another Message church."


E.O.D.H. Answer: Yes, if you can find a genuine church, or even one that teaches a little differently, you can have communion with them, because you are doing that in remembrance to the death of the Lord and not unto the pastor or the people. They all should examine themselves and you examine yourself. 1Corinthians, Chapter 11.


Question #533B : "If the Kingdom will be established on the Earth, during the Millennium, why did the prophet say that the Lord's supper or the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelations 19:9) is in Heaven, when Jesus said in the Gospels, "I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come?"


E.O.D.H. Answer: He was dealing with three different subjects and three different scriptures and we cannot mix them together. The millennium is a thousand years reign with the son of David. The marriage supper is spiritual. It goes to Heaven. The Bride is in Heaven before the millennium for the last part of Daniel seventieth week, to escape the judgment on earth. There will be no eating and drinking of chicken, beef and throwing of garbage in Heaven. It's a spiritual fellowship between the Bride and Bridegroom. Drinking of the fruit of the vine in his Father's Kingdom is also a spiritual fellowship and not drinking of the natural communion wine. That happened on the day of Pentecost and continued. It's a fellowship, communion. Notice the phrase drink it "new", in a new way.

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