In Jn 14 we find the main promise of our beloved Lord: “I go to prepare a place for you … and … will come again, and receive you unto myself…”

However, prior to that, His other announcement had to be fulfilled: “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” (Mat 17:11). The promise that a prophet like Elijah must come on the scene before the day of the Lord is written in Mal 4:5-6. It was fulfilled in our time. Just as Elijah took twelve stones, rebuilt the altar of the Lord, and called upon the people of Israel to make their choice, the same thing also took place through the ministry of Brother Branham, who put the doctrine of the twelve apostles on a candlestick. Elijah prayed: “Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” (1 Ki 18:37). The Lord Himself has turned our hearts back as well.

Of our Redeemer it is written: “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:21). Now is the time of calling out, of restitution and restoration of the original condition, as God has announced it. The original foundation was laid; the absolutely pure, divine message of the everlasting Gospel is being preached (Mat 24:14; Rev 14:6).

At the first coming of Christ, supernatural things happened on earth: An angel, who could say, “I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee …,” visited Zacharias in the temple and gave him the promise of the birth of John the Baptist (Lk 1:11-25). Then the Angel Gabriel came to the virgin Mary and announced the birth of the Redeemer (Lk 1:26-38). In the ministry of our Lord, supernatural things happened all the time. And also the believers in the early Church experienced the supernatural working of God. We remember the supernatural calling of Paul (Acts 9). In the first three verses in Rev 1, we read that the Lord sent His angel to show His servant John everything that would take place. In the last chapter, verse 16, our Lord testified once more: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.”

On May 7, 1946, an angel came to Brother Branham and said: “Do not fear! I am sent from the presence of God to tell you …” As is well-known to everyone in the message, it is how Brother Branham received his direct call to the ministry, by which the hearts of the children of God were turned back to the origin, to the beginning, to the Word, to the faith of the apostolic fathers. It is the Word of the Lord which remains forever and “… which by the gospel is preached unto you …,” as Peter testified (1 Pt 1:25). We are now dealing with the most important time period in the Plan of Salvation.

The message of the forerunner back then contained a very special promise. All who believed and were baptized heard John say: “… he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” (Mat 3:11) – “In you, who have heard the message, whose hearts were turned to Him, who were baptized, in you He will fulfill His promise.” In Acts 2 we read how it was fulfilled (vv. 33-41). On the day of Pentecost, initially the 120 believers who were gathered in the upper room were filled with the Holy Spirit. Then the sermon of Peter pricked the hearts of many, and they asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Thereupon came the answer, which is still valid today: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” In Acts 2:41 three thousand souls were added unto them, in Acts 4:4 five thousand. The ministry of the forerunner was worthwhile: Many hearts were prepared; they were in expectation; they believed the promise; they had a part in it when it took place. Likewise, the hearts of the true believers are now joined with the Lord and all are in great expectation of what God will do. They get baptized biblically in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and will experience the mighty moving of the Spirit.

On June 11, 1933, the following words were spoken to Brother Branham from the supernatural cloud: “As John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first coming of Christ the message that is given you will be a forerunning of the second coming of Christ!” Brother Branham quoted these words several times in his sermons and even emphasized: “Not that I would be a forerunner, but the message was the forerunning.” According to Isa 55, it is not the messenger as the bearer of the Word, but the message itself which accomplishes what God has sent it for: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (v. 11).

As an eye- and ear-witness who witnessed the meetings of Brother Bran-ham and who was personally in contact with him for ten years, I am acquainted with what he was told in reference to the message which he had to bring. Later on, however, entirely different versions were published than the original and genuine one, in which the word “message” is missing. According to the newest version, the voice is alleged to have said: „As John the Baptist was sent for a forerunner of the first coming of Jesus Christ, you will bring the second coming of Jesus Christ.” An older version asserts: “… you were sent to forerun His second coming.” But adding one word or taking one word away completely changes what the Lord said (Rev 22).

The reason why brothers deliberately falsify the wording of the commission is obvious: Thereby they want to say that with the ministry of Brother Branham everything came to an end. Some even believe that the Lord has already come and is now claiming His Own; others that the Rapture has already taken place; again others that the Angel of the Covenant has come on earth and has put His feet on the land and the sea; that Revelation 10 has already been fulfilled; that the mercy seat has become the judgment seat; that the seven thunders are seven special men; and many other confusing things. They cannot and do not want to believe that Brother Branham upon the command of the Lord just stored in the food by putting it in baskets onto shelves, as he had symbolically seen in a vision. But he did not yet give out the food as a prepared meal upon the table. They cannot and do not want to believe that the prophet told me on December 3, 1962: “Wait with the giving out of the food until you get the rest of it …” and “… The food is in the sermons which are recorded on tapes …”

In the past years, eight brothers from four countries travelled to Jeffersonville to speak with the two witnesses who were present at the time when Brother Branham by revelation repeated what the Lord had told me on April 2, 1962. The main witness, Brother Fred Sothman, who had clung to Brother Branham since 1948 unlike anyone else, even repeated for the last two brothers the precise words which the prophet had said. He could actually recall the sentence: “Wait with the giving out of the food until you get the rest of it.” Why have none of the brothers who publish their own theories interviewed the witnesses? The answer is self-evident: Then they would not be able to continue their slander; then they would have to acknowledge what God is currently doing through the message.

Everybody must make the decision whether he believes God and His Word or the interpretations; or, in this case, whether he believes what was really said or what falsifiers have made out of it. Nevertheless, a chaste virgin will be presented to Christ, our Lord and Savior (2 Cor 11), and the wise virgins will be ready at the Return of the Bridegroom (Mat 25:10). The preparedness of the wise virgins is, no doubt, connected with the ministry of the wise servant and the faithful household in Mat 24:45-47, because right in the next chapter it states: “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins …” This applies to our time. The spiritual famine, which was foretold in Amos 8:11, is here and the food that was stored in by the command of the Lord is being distributed, as the Lord commanded me on April 2, 1962. Later, He also told me: “My servant, I have ordained thee according to Mat 24:45-47 to give out the food …” With God, everything runs orderly and as scheduled. What He said then is still valid today: “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me …” (Lk 10:16).

In Jn 14 we find the main promise of our beloved Lord: “I go to prepare a place for you … and … will come again, and receive you unto myself…”

However, prior to that, His other announcement had to be fulfilled: “Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.” (Mat 17:11). The promise that a prophet like Elijah must come on the scene before the day of the Lord is written in Mal 4:5-6. It was fulfilled in our time. Just as Elijah took twelve stones, rebuilt the altar of the Lord, and called upon the people of Israel to make their choice, the same thing also took place through the ministry of Brother Branham, who put the doctrine of the twelve apostles on a candlestick. Elijah prayed: “Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” (1 Ki 18:37). The Lord Himself has turned our hearts back as well.

Of our Redeemer it is written: “Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:21). Now is the time of calling out, of restitution and restoration of the original condition, as God has announced it. The original foundation was laid; the absolutely pure, divine message of the everlasting Gospel is being preached (Mat 24:14; Rev 14:6).

At the first coming of Christ, supernatural things happened on earth: An angel, who could say, “I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee …,” visited Zacharias in the temple and gave him the promise of the birth of John the Baptist (Lk 1:11-25). Then the Angel Gabriel came to the virgin Mary and announced the birth of the Redeemer (Lk 1:26-38). In the ministry of our Lord, supernatural things happened all the time. And also the believers in the early Church experienced the supernatural working of God. We remember the supernatural calling of Paul (Acts 9). In the first three verses in Rev 1, we read that the Lord sent His angel to show His servant John everything that would take place. In the last chapter, verse 16, our Lord testified once more: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.”

On May 7, 1946, an angel came to Brother Branham and said: “Do not fear! I am sent from the presence of God to tell you …” As is well-known to everyone in the message, it is how Brother Branham received his direct call to the ministry, by which the hearts of the children of God were turned back to the origin, to the beginning, to the Word, to the faith of the apostolic fathers. It is the Word of the Lord which remains forever and “… which by the gospel is preached unto you …,” as Peter testified (1 Pt 1:25). We are now dealing with the most important time period in the Plan of Salvation.

The message of the forerunner back then contained a very special promise. All who believed and were baptized heard John say: “… he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.” (Mat 3:11) – “In you, who have heard the message, whose hearts were turned to Him, who were baptized, in you He will fulfill His promise.” In Acts 2 we read how it was fulfilled (vv. 33-41). On the day of Pentecost, initially the 120 believers who were gathered in the upper room were filled with the Holy Spirit. Then the sermon of Peter pricked the hearts of many, and they asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Thereupon came the answer, which is still valid today: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” In Acts 2:41 three thousand souls were added unto them, in Acts 4:4 five thousand. The ministry of the forerunner was worthwhile: Many hearts were prepared; they were in expectation; they believed the promise; they had a part in it when it took place. Likewise, the hearts of the true believers are now joined with the Lord and all are in great expectation of what God will do. They get baptized biblically in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and will experience the mighty moving of the Spirit.

On June 11, 1933, the following words were spoken to Brother Branham from the supernatural cloud: “As John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first coming of Christ the message that is given you will be a forerunning of the second coming of Christ!” Brother Branham quoted these words several times in his sermons and even emphasized: “Not that I would be a forerunner, but the message was the forerunning.” According to Isa 55, it is not the messenger as the bearer of the Word, but the message itself which accomplishes what God has sent it for: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (v. 11).

As an eye- and ear-witness who witnessed the meetings of Brother Bran-ham and who was personally in contact with him for ten years, I am acquainted with what he was told in reference to the message which he had to bring. Later on, however, entirely different versions were published than the original and genuine one, in which the word “message” is missing. According to the newest version, the voice is alleged to have said: „As John the Baptist was sent for a forerunner of the first coming of Jesus Christ, you will bring the second coming of Jesus Christ.” An older version asserts: “… you were sent to forerun His second coming.” But adding one word or taking one word away completely changes what the Lord said (Rev 22).

The reason why brothers deliberately falsify the wording of the commission is obvious: Thereby they want to say that with the ministry of Brother Branham everything came to an end. Some even believe that the Lord has already come and is now claiming His Own; others that the Rapture has already taken place; again others that the Angel of the Covenant has come on earth and has put His feet on the land and the sea; that Revelation 10 has already been fulfilled; that the mercy seat has become the judgment seat; that the seven thunders are seven special men; and many other confusing things. They cannot and do not want to believe that Brother Branham upon the command of the Lord just stored in the food by putting it in baskets onto shelves, as he had symbolically seen in a vision. But he did not yet give out the food as a prepared meal upon the table. They cannot and do not want to believe that the prophet told me on December 3, 1962: “Wait with the giving out of the food until you get the rest of it …” and “… The food is in the sermons which are recorded on tapes …”

In the past years, eight brothers from four countries travelled to Jeffersonville to speak with the two witnesses who were present at the time when Brother Branham by revelation repeated what the Lord had told me on April 2, 1962. The main witness, Brother Fred Sothman, who had clung to Brother Branham since 1948 unlike anyone else, even repeated for the last two brothers the precise words which the prophet had said. He could actually recall the sentence: “Wait with the giving out of the food until you get the rest of it.” Why have none of the brothers who publish their own theories interviewed the witnesses? The answer is self-evident: Then they would not be able to continue their slander; then they would have to acknowledge what God is currently doing through the message.

Everybody must make the decision whether he believes God and His Word or the interpretations; or, in this case, whether he believes what was really said or what falsifiers have made out of it. Nevertheless, a chaste virgin will be presented to Christ, our Lord and Savior (2 Cor 11), and the wise virgins will be ready at the Return of the Bridegroom (Mat 25:10). The preparedness of the wise virgins is, no doubt, connected with the ministry of the wise servant and the faithful household in Mat 24:45-47, because right in the next chapter it states: “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins …” This applies to our time. The spiritual famine, which was foretold in Amos 8:11, is here and the food that was stored in by the command of the Lord is being distributed, as the Lord commanded me on April 2, 1962. Later, He also told me: “My servant, I have ordained thee according to Mat 24:45-47 to give out the food …” With God, everything runs orderly and as scheduled. What He said then is still valid today: “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me …” (Lk 10:16).