- Dec 31, 2010
- 5,184
- 2,387
- 113
- Faith
- Christian
- Country
- United States
I was brought up Baptist by a Catholic dad and a Pentecostal mother and born in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Mom and dad obviously quit going to church after being married in a Catholic ceremony.
As a boy I use to enjoy the times my parents would drop me off at my grandmothers and I would take in all the beauty of their small Virginian farm. The people on mom’s side of the family were very poor, but lived very well, almost like a visit to the old Walton’s home. We as a family moved from place to place until we settled down in the Ann Arbor Michigan area in the 1970’s. My parents bought me a Yamaha dirt bike and I would have tons of fun riding both winter and summer.
One Sunday, while riding my bike in the early AM a church bus stopped and the driver yelled at me that I needed to be in church. The man’s name was Rod Moxely and the church was called the Fellowship Baptist church in Whitmore Lake, Michigan. To make a long story short the whole family ended up getting saved, the church expands, and attendance skyrockets from 80 to over 400. During this time as a teenager I would go on youth trips where the Holy Spirit would touch my heart. I went up for salvation many times as it always produced a spiritual sensation joyful and clean. We did have a revival at that time in which an evangelist really convicted the hearts and people would pray earnestly in the prayer rooms after church. I must say the Baptist had a whole lot going on for the children, lots of fun events that left me with a spiritually clean feeling every time and very challenged. All of the events were decent and well organized.
All I knew growing up was the Baptist church. I was convinced very young that the Baptist doctrine was the most superior. I am afraid I was rude to fellow Catholics and honestly believed that speaking of tongues was of the devil. The only thing I knew of Methodism was that they did not believe in drinking or playing cards, so I was not interested.
It came to pass that Rod Moxely passed away, the church experienced political trouble and the deacons would end up getting a guy nobody liked. So, the attendance plummeted, the congregation fell into natural things, and I would spend the rest of my teenage years working at a restaurant. On referring to the lost generation, I basically fell in with them. I then began to experience a growing lost feeling and instability of Spirit. Which is not a plus in this ‘lost generation,’ especially when folk are unstable as Christians! As Christ is our rock we should have a spiritually strong spirit as well as mind!
After graduating high school I decided to stay the summer with my Grandmother here in Virginia. I would get a job washing dishes in the morning and would put up hay in the evening/afternoon. There I began to get a taste of a totally different lifestyle. The people would work hard Monday-Friday, go to town on Saturday morning, some kind of constructive activity Saturday afternoon, and we had Saturday night prayer time at the church during the nights. Sundays were a day that the people would go to church, they would not work on Sundays, and return to church Sunday night There were also blue laws keeping places of businesses closed on Sunday. You could set your watch on their righteous routines, which I would later discover were Methodist ways handed down from the mid-1700’s. The area seemed to fit the old Tina Turner song “Nutbush City Limits:”
That summer I would put up hay with a QC analyst who kept the joy of the Lord alive in his heart all his years. He would shout in church, shout at home, and shout out in the hay field. I have never seen such joy in all my life. Not only was there a joy, but there was a richness in love as well. The people would really let you know that they loved you. In the old TV show the Waltons the family would talk to one another before going to bed. I have since learned that this was because the houses were so small. But despite the houses being small the people lived decently and in great love, joy, and peace.
Dallas kept the joy of the Lord alive in his heart all his years!
So I fell in with them. I would go to the revivals and prayer meetings and live among the people. The services at the Pentecostal Holiness church were at this time very lively. People would shout, run the aisles, fall out in the Spirit, speak in tongues, and then wait for an interpretation. They would have prolonged alter services and would crowd the petitioners and encourage them to tarry and wait upon the Lord. There were times that the old guys would sit back in the pews weeping, and if they made eye contact with you they would declare, as souls around the alter fell out in the Spirit… “The Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost!” There were souls who would fall out in the Spirit and would have to be carried out of church.
At the end of that summer we had a good revival in which the Lord seemed there in a mighty way. On reading the book, “Run Baby Run,” by Nikki Cruise, I felt a voice telling me to put the book down. I paused, and then continued again to read. The voice said again… “Put the book down.” I slept in my Grandmothers living room on an old fold away cot by the open living room door. The Katydids seemed to be singing very loud that night. There in my Grandmothers clean linens I heard the Spirit speak again, “Where is all the stress, worry and hatred?” In which, upon examining my heart, there was nothing there but pure beauty. I thought to myself. “Oh my! I got exactly what those people got!” I would spend the rest of the summer rejoicing with the people and in revival until I went back to Michigan later that September.
On returning to Michigan the people would want to sit next to me so “a little of that would rub off on them.” I am afraid, with no revivals or revived churches to attend that precious light and energy abated big time. Not knowing any better, I picked a church to attend that spent too much time quarrelling around about doctrinal issues. Having enough of that I moved back to Virginia hoping to pick up spiritually where I left off.
It seemed, as time went on, that the fires of revival in the Pentecostal Holiness church began to abate. It also seemed that with the emphasis on education that the ministry of the evangelist began to wane as the older generation died away. The blue laws were abolished and the old ways began to vanish away as the hearts of the people seemed to turn away from that which was handed down. Complicating matters was the fall of Jimmy Swaggert. It seems like the southern gospel moved in the fill the void with ‘valley music’ which seemed to increase the spirit of darkness that was invading the church. This ‘falling away’ seemed to accelerate ‘the great falling away’ that was befalling the generation.
About this time I got a library card from the Virginia Tech Library and began to study the history of the church. My gosh! What times! Kind of like studying the histories of the Kings of Israel in which so few followed the first covenant as intended by God the Father. I was more than relieved to get into John Wycliff, The Anabaptists, John Bunyan, The Nonconformists, and finally to John Wesley. I learned that the Wesleyan ways were the foundation to the revival that I had just experienced.
About that time I met a 'Branhamite' who gave me the tapes on the church ages. It was then that it was like... Bingo! I could see how the church ages would flow down time through history!
1. Ephesus – Apostolic – Leaving the first love… “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me…” – II Timothy 1:15
2. Smyrna – Martyrs – Persecutions ten days… Foxes Book of Martyrs describes ten Roman persecutions.
3. Pergamos – Orthodox – A pyrgos is a fortified structure – Needed for the dark ages.
4. Thyatira – Catholic – The Spirit of Jezebel is to persecute, control, and to dominate. This spirit can invade any church!
5. Sardis – Protestant – A sardius is a gem, elegant yet hard and rigid. Doctrine in the head, little in the heart.
6. Philadelphia – Methodist – To obtain sanctification was to do so with love.
7. Laodicea – Charismatic – Rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing?
To be continued... (I am not a follower of William Branham by the way)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
God's Generals | Christian History
(from another source... Not my point of view)
William Branham get's mixed up with the Oneness Pentecostals...
While Branham was on a fishing trip, he came across a camp meeting of the “Oneness Pentecostals” (a denomination often referred to today as “Jesus Only”) and was asked to minister there. Shortly after he started to speak, the power of God engulfed him and he ministered for the next two hours. Pastors from all over the country invited Branham to speak at their churches so that he completely filled his calendar for the following year.
Deviating from the Call
Branham remained very influential in the ministry of divine healing for nine years. During this time healing evangelists began to surface all over the country. In 1952, at the height of the Voice of Healing revival, forty-nine prominent healing evangelists were featured in The Voice of Healing magazine. The revelation of divine healing had reached an all-time peak across the world. But from that year on, the healing revival fires began to dwindle. By 1955, Branham began to experience difficulties, and his ministry took a radical change.
Branham had a falling out with Gordon Lindsey, who was forced to leave the ministry. Without Lindsey, his organization was mismanaged and fell into financial ruin. He also began to err in doctrine without the balanced voice of Lindsey who brought stability not only to his administrative affairs, but also kept his teaching sound and bible-based.
As the glory days of the Voice of Healing revival began to wind down toward 1958, Branham searched for other ways to make his mark. He began teaching from his visions rather than from the Word of God. Not called to be a teacher, Branham began to veer off in extreme directions regarding his interpretation of truth. Disturbing doctrines were taught and emphasized throughout the remainder of his ministry.
God Removes a Prophet
On December 18, 1965, Branham and his family were traveling home to Indiana from Texas where William had preached for the last time at Jack Moore’s church. His son was in the car ahead of theirs when a drunk driver swerved and missed the son’s car but hit William’s car head on. Mrs. Branham was immediately killed. William was still alive when his son found him. He asked about his wife and when he was told she was dead, he instructed his son to place his hand upon her. His son picked up Branham’s bloodied hand and placed it on Mrs. Branham. Instantly a pulse returned and she revived.
Branham remained in a coma for six days before he went to be with the Lord on December 24, 1965. Though saddened by his death, his ministry colleagues were not surprised. Gordon Lindsey wrote in his eulogy, “God may see that a man’s special ministry has reached its fruition and it is time to take him home.”
Lindsey also accepted the interpretation of Kenneth E. Hagin—father of the Word of Faith movement—who had prophesied two years before that the Lord was “removing the prophet” from the scene. Branham died exactly when the Lord told Hagin he would. According to Hagin’s prophecy, William Marrion Branham, the “father of the healing revival” had to be removed from the earth because of his disobedience to his call and the creation of doctrinal confusion.
My point of view on the seven churches is that William Branham was close to the interpretation, but let ego get in the way. He also thought of the seven stars as messengers meaning a specific individual would lead the church age. He then sought in his ego to make himself the star of the Laodicean age. I have come to believe that the seven stars are actually constellations, in which you and I who have come to know Christ are part of whatever cluster we fall in.
Concluding thoughts, Augustine once said that, "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." In which my thoughts are that Man's extremity is God's big headache! In which Branham is to the Laodicean age as Calvin is to the Sardisean age... Two big headaches!
As a boy I use to enjoy the times my parents would drop me off at my grandmothers and I would take in all the beauty of their small Virginian farm. The people on mom’s side of the family were very poor, but lived very well, almost like a visit to the old Walton’s home. We as a family moved from place to place until we settled down in the Ann Arbor Michigan area in the 1970’s. My parents bought me a Yamaha dirt bike and I would have tons of fun riding both winter and summer.
One Sunday, while riding my bike in the early AM a church bus stopped and the driver yelled at me that I needed to be in church. The man’s name was Rod Moxely and the church was called the Fellowship Baptist church in Whitmore Lake, Michigan. To make a long story short the whole family ended up getting saved, the church expands, and attendance skyrockets from 80 to over 400. During this time as a teenager I would go on youth trips where the Holy Spirit would touch my heart. I went up for salvation many times as it always produced a spiritual sensation joyful and clean. We did have a revival at that time in which an evangelist really convicted the hearts and people would pray earnestly in the prayer rooms after church. I must say the Baptist had a whole lot going on for the children, lots of fun events that left me with a spiritually clean feeling every time and very challenged. All of the events were decent and well organized.
All I knew growing up was the Baptist church. I was convinced very young that the Baptist doctrine was the most superior. I am afraid I was rude to fellow Catholics and honestly believed that speaking of tongues was of the devil. The only thing I knew of Methodism was that they did not believe in drinking or playing cards, so I was not interested.
It came to pass that Rod Moxely passed away, the church experienced political trouble and the deacons would end up getting a guy nobody liked. So, the attendance plummeted, the congregation fell into natural things, and I would spend the rest of my teenage years working at a restaurant. On referring to the lost generation, I basically fell in with them. I then began to experience a growing lost feeling and instability of Spirit. Which is not a plus in this ‘lost generation,’ especially when folk are unstable as Christians! As Christ is our rock we should have a spiritually strong spirit as well as mind!
After graduating high school I decided to stay the summer with my Grandmother here in Virginia. I would get a job washing dishes in the morning and would put up hay in the evening/afternoon. There I began to get a taste of a totally different lifestyle. The people would work hard Monday-Friday, go to town on Saturday morning, some kind of constructive activity Saturday afternoon, and we had Saturday night prayer time at the church during the nights. Sundays were a day that the people would go to church, they would not work on Sundays, and return to church Sunday night There were also blue laws keeping places of businesses closed on Sunday. You could set your watch on their righteous routines, which I would later discover were Methodist ways handed down from the mid-1700’s. The area seemed to fit the old Tina Turner song “Nutbush City Limits:”
That summer I would put up hay with a QC analyst who kept the joy of the Lord alive in his heart all his years. He would shout in church, shout at home, and shout out in the hay field. I have never seen such joy in all my life. Not only was there a joy, but there was a richness in love as well. The people would really let you know that they loved you. In the old TV show the Waltons the family would talk to one another before going to bed. I have since learned that this was because the houses were so small. But despite the houses being small the people lived decently and in great love, joy, and peace.
Dallas kept the joy of the Lord alive in his heart all his years!
So I fell in with them. I would go to the revivals and prayer meetings and live among the people. The services at the Pentecostal Holiness church were at this time very lively. People would shout, run the aisles, fall out in the Spirit, speak in tongues, and then wait for an interpretation. They would have prolonged alter services and would crowd the petitioners and encourage them to tarry and wait upon the Lord. There were times that the old guys would sit back in the pews weeping, and if they made eye contact with you they would declare, as souls around the alter fell out in the Spirit… “The Holy Ghost! The Holy Ghost!” There were souls who would fall out in the Spirit and would have to be carried out of church.
At the end of that summer we had a good revival in which the Lord seemed there in a mighty way. On reading the book, “Run Baby Run,” by Nikki Cruise, I felt a voice telling me to put the book down. I paused, and then continued again to read. The voice said again… “Put the book down.” I slept in my Grandmothers living room on an old fold away cot by the open living room door. The Katydids seemed to be singing very loud that night. There in my Grandmothers clean linens I heard the Spirit speak again, “Where is all the stress, worry and hatred?” In which, upon examining my heart, there was nothing there but pure beauty. I thought to myself. “Oh my! I got exactly what those people got!” I would spend the rest of the summer rejoicing with the people and in revival until I went back to Michigan later that September.
On returning to Michigan the people would want to sit next to me so “a little of that would rub off on them.” I am afraid, with no revivals or revived churches to attend that precious light and energy abated big time. Not knowing any better, I picked a church to attend that spent too much time quarrelling around about doctrinal issues. Having enough of that I moved back to Virginia hoping to pick up spiritually where I left off.
It seemed, as time went on, that the fires of revival in the Pentecostal Holiness church began to abate. It also seemed that with the emphasis on education that the ministry of the evangelist began to wane as the older generation died away. The blue laws were abolished and the old ways began to vanish away as the hearts of the people seemed to turn away from that which was handed down. Complicating matters was the fall of Jimmy Swaggert. It seems like the southern gospel moved in the fill the void with ‘valley music’ which seemed to increase the spirit of darkness that was invading the church. This ‘falling away’ seemed to accelerate ‘the great falling away’ that was befalling the generation.
About this time I got a library card from the Virginia Tech Library and began to study the history of the church. My gosh! What times! Kind of like studying the histories of the Kings of Israel in which so few followed the first covenant as intended by God the Father. I was more than relieved to get into John Wycliff, The Anabaptists, John Bunyan, The Nonconformists, and finally to John Wesley. I learned that the Wesleyan ways were the foundation to the revival that I had just experienced.
About that time I met a 'Branhamite' who gave me the tapes on the church ages. It was then that it was like... Bingo! I could see how the church ages would flow down time through history!
1. Ephesus – Apostolic – Leaving the first love… “All they which are in Asia be turned away from me…” – II Timothy 1:15
2. Smyrna – Martyrs – Persecutions ten days… Foxes Book of Martyrs describes ten Roman persecutions.
3. Pergamos – Orthodox – A pyrgos is a fortified structure – Needed for the dark ages.
4. Thyatira – Catholic – The Spirit of Jezebel is to persecute, control, and to dominate. This spirit can invade any church!
5. Sardis – Protestant – A sardius is a gem, elegant yet hard and rigid. Doctrine in the head, little in the heart.
6. Philadelphia – Methodist – To obtain sanctification was to do so with love.
7. Laodicea – Charismatic – Rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing?
To be continued... (I am not a follower of William Branham by the way)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
God's Generals | Christian History
(from another source... Not my point of view)
William Branham get's mixed up with the Oneness Pentecostals...
While Branham was on a fishing trip, he came across a camp meeting of the “Oneness Pentecostals” (a denomination often referred to today as “Jesus Only”) and was asked to minister there. Shortly after he started to speak, the power of God engulfed him and he ministered for the next two hours. Pastors from all over the country invited Branham to speak at their churches so that he completely filled his calendar for the following year.
Deviating from the Call
Branham remained very influential in the ministry of divine healing for nine years. During this time healing evangelists began to surface all over the country. In 1952, at the height of the Voice of Healing revival, forty-nine prominent healing evangelists were featured in The Voice of Healing magazine. The revelation of divine healing had reached an all-time peak across the world. But from that year on, the healing revival fires began to dwindle. By 1955, Branham began to experience difficulties, and his ministry took a radical change.
Branham had a falling out with Gordon Lindsey, who was forced to leave the ministry. Without Lindsey, his organization was mismanaged and fell into financial ruin. He also began to err in doctrine without the balanced voice of Lindsey who brought stability not only to his administrative affairs, but also kept his teaching sound and bible-based.
As the glory days of the Voice of Healing revival began to wind down toward 1958, Branham searched for other ways to make his mark. He began teaching from his visions rather than from the Word of God. Not called to be a teacher, Branham began to veer off in extreme directions regarding his interpretation of truth. Disturbing doctrines were taught and emphasized throughout the remainder of his ministry.
God Removes a Prophet
On December 18, 1965, Branham and his family were traveling home to Indiana from Texas where William had preached for the last time at Jack Moore’s church. His son was in the car ahead of theirs when a drunk driver swerved and missed the son’s car but hit William’s car head on. Mrs. Branham was immediately killed. William was still alive when his son found him. He asked about his wife and when he was told she was dead, he instructed his son to place his hand upon her. His son picked up Branham’s bloodied hand and placed it on Mrs. Branham. Instantly a pulse returned and she revived.
Branham remained in a coma for six days before he went to be with the Lord on December 24, 1965. Though saddened by his death, his ministry colleagues were not surprised. Gordon Lindsey wrote in his eulogy, “God may see that a man’s special ministry has reached its fruition and it is time to take him home.”
Lindsey also accepted the interpretation of Kenneth E. Hagin—father of the Word of Faith movement—who had prophesied two years before that the Lord was “removing the prophet” from the scene. Branham died exactly when the Lord told Hagin he would. According to Hagin’s prophecy, William Marrion Branham, the “father of the healing revival” had to be removed from the earth because of his disobedience to his call and the creation of doctrinal confusion.
My point of view on the seven churches is that William Branham was close to the interpretation, but let ego get in the way. He also thought of the seven stars as messengers meaning a specific individual would lead the church age. He then sought in his ego to make himself the star of the Laodicean age. I have come to believe that the seven stars are actually constellations, in which you and I who have come to know Christ are part of whatever cluster we fall in.
Concluding thoughts, Augustine once said that, "Man's extremity is God's opportunity." In which my thoughts are that Man's extremity is God's big headache! In which Branham is to the Laodicean age as Calvin is to the Sardisean age... Two big headaches!
