DEWITT
TABERNACLE TEACHING SERIES
THE
TRUE
RETURN
MINISTRY DOCTRINE
By
C.W. Wood December
2005
As most of us know, there is a teaching in the land, here as well as overseas, that says our Prophet Messenger, William Branham, will resurrect before the general resurrection of the dead in Christ and continue his teaching. Some of the brothers that believe and preach this are personal friends of mine and I would like to say that I certainly respect their belief. They are my Brothers and love the End-Time Message the same as I do. I believe in a Return Ministry also. With all my heart I believe that there has already been a return of the ministry of Jesus Christ!
It was not the return of our precious Brother Branham; but rather the return of the MINISTRY OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE PROPHET, WILLIAM BRANHAM. I fully agree that there has been a Return Ministry, and with the Lord’s help, I would like to respectfully present the evidence that has convinced me. This sermon is not to prove some of my good friends wrong and myself right, but rather to show forth the Gory of the Lord in that He has fulfilled His own prophecy. It was given in Luke 17:22-30 where He stated that The Son of Man Ministry would be repeated when the earth was again ready for destruction, as in the days of Noah and Lot.
I believe that a prayerful study of these Scriptures will reveal the promise of Jesus to return to Earth in the last days, and repeat His ministry of 2000 years ago. Not that He would do so in His own nail-scarred body, but through the body of a flesh and blood prophet of our day. I also believe that an in-depth study of the ministry of William Branham will show that he was the person God chose to use. As the Prophet himself stated, this does not make him more than a man, he was just standing close by when God did His mighty works through him. This being so, it is easy to understand why some of our precious brothers think that Brother William Branham himself was “The Christ.”
I have often said that I had rather stand before God having thought that Br. Branham was Christ, than to face God having called him a devil. But let me go on to say that both of these beliefs are wrong. Brother Branham was neither Christ nor the Devil he was exactly what he told us, he was our Brother! It cannot be denied that he was in the highest office that a man could hold, that of repeating the Ministry of Jesus, but the Scriptures says God will not share His glory with any man! What we have seen was God, not man.
If you will take your Bible and turn to Luke 17, we will read Verse 22, and on down. Remember, these verses are a prophecy given by the Lord Jesus Christ. They are not the thoughts of man, but rather a preview of future events given by our Lord!
VERSE 22, “And He said
unto the Disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the
days of the Son of man (ministry),
and ye shall not see it.”
In this verse, we see the Lord standing in the midst of His Disciples
2000 years ago. He had been, and was, performing His ministry for that age. But
notice that He said His ministry for that day was coming to a close. “Ye
shall not see it (for much longer).”
VERSE 23, “And they
shall say to you (After My ministry is finished for now, and I am gone) see here, or see there, go not after them nor follow them.”
In essence He was saying, “When I am gone, many will rise up claiming to have the Truth. Many different groups and denominations will seek your membership, but don’t join them; they will not have all the Truth. It will be shown you which message to follow. I will leave no doubt in your minds!
VERSE 24, “For as the lightening that lighteneth out of the one part under Heaven, shineth unto the other part under Heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in His day.” Jesus said, “You won’t have to worry about which message to follow in the last days because I will make what I will do in that (future) day as plain to see as the lightening that flashes across the Heavens. When the Son of Man Ministry RETURNS TO EARTH AGAIN, I will announce it in the Heavens. Many will see it, but only the Called will believe it. (The Cloud on Sunset Mountain will make the World News, but they won’t understand it.)
VERSE 25, “But first must He suffer many things and be rejected of this generation.” (Jesus was saying, “My ministry will be brought to a close for now, they will reject Me and kill Me. You, My Disciples of this generation, will not see The Son of Man Ministry after that, but it will come again in the End-Time.”)
VERSE 26, “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man.” (Jesus said, “When the world is again in the spiritual condition it was in, in Noah’s day and ready for judgment again, the Son of Man Ministry will return.” This is a prophecy given by Jesus, Himself. Can we believe it? He said His ministry would return, and it did!)
VERSE 27, “They did eat,
they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that
Noe entered the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.” (Here
Jesus tells us what the reaction of the people was to Noah’s Message. They
continued with their unspiritual, sinful lives, ignoring all that Noah had
preached for 120 years. Nothing Noah said changed their life style, and one day
Noah and his family entered the Ark and the flood came. Every human on Earth was
killed. Did we think the tsunami that killed 250,000 people was bad? Can we
imagine the millions on Earth in Noah’s day, all dead? The Bible said all but
eight died, and so they did! Can we imagine teeming millions on Earth today
burned alive? It’s about to happen to the unrepentant! (II Peter 3:3-10) God
keeps all His promises, including those of Judgment! The return of the Son of
Man Ministry was the winding up of God’s End-time work.)
VERSE 28, “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded.” (Again, Jesus gives an example of how the people reacted to the warnings of coming judgment. They were so caught up in their sins that they desired to commit their sin of sodomy with the two angels that came to take Lot out. As they tried to break Lot’s door down, they knew not that they were but a few hours from being burned alive! It makes us to wonder how many days or hours America has before the fire falls on her! It will come. It’s on the way now. It was a God-sent vision to His End-Time Prophet. Again the people are eating, drinking, building, buying, selling, planting and giving in marriage. For most of them no amount of warning will change their sinful life. When the days of warning are over, America too will burn!)
VERSE 29, “But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, It rained fire and brimstone from Heaven, and destroyed them ALL!” (Terrible things are in store for this earth after the Righteous are taken out. It has been spoken and so shall it be. No unbelief of man can stop it. What a warning Jesus gives here.)
VERSE 30 is the climaxing statement by our Lord, “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” (Remember, He had already been revealed in Verse 22. As he spoke with His Disciples 2000 years ago, His ministry was in full force. But here He says, “When the world is full of evil again, when the majority will refuse to acknowledge God, or serve Him, in THAT DAY I WILL COME AGAIN. I WILL REVEAL MYSELF AGAIN AS SON OF MAN!” He would not come again in His own nail-scarred body, but would raise up a mighty prophet and use his body. After that, judgment would start on Earth. And it has!)
QUOTE: THE TRIAL, PAGE 16, TAMPA FL. 1964, “The church now has served the term through the church age, in the baptism of the Holy Ghost, but Jesus said here, to make Malachi 4 and the rest of the Scriptures real to you, see, that “In the last days, just before the Coming, the world setting will be like the Sodom, and the Son of man will reveal Hisself as the Son of man like He did in the days of Sodom.”
“Blind prosecutor, can’t you see that? His Words are true. Not nail scars and prints and thorns.”
“It’s the Son of God impersonated in His Church, as Son of man. It has to fulfill Malachi 4 and the rest of the Scriptures. I call to the court’s attention, look at that real good, “Son of man!” Like God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost; it’s the same God, three different attributes of the same God. Now, this is Son of David…Son of man revealed then as a Prophet, Son of David, the King. And now the Son of God to the church age as, God isn’t man, God is a Spirit, and the Spirit’s Son is the Holy Ghost, which is revealing the church age. But promised here, “In the last days, that the Son of man would be revealed!”
“Blind prosecutor, do you get that? And I want you to know blind prosecutor, we see it, we believe it, these words fulfilled before us and we know that they are Truth.
To the Jews He was the Son of David. To the Greeks He was Lord, to us
He's Lord, to the Gentiles. And now, in the last days He would return back again
as Son of man, because Malachi promised us that there would be a prophet rise up
in the last days that would return the hearts of the people back to (away from
them organizations)--back to the original Word, the Faith of the fathers, the
original Pentecost. And when He did it, St. John 14:12, the works
that He did would be done also.” (End quote)
Not only did the Lord Jesus prophecy that the Son of man ministry would
return in the last days, but when the last days arrived, He raised up the
Prophet of Malachi 4:5, who in actual fact repeated that ministry. We are
now some 40 years past the time. To those of us who have, by God’s grace,
investigated the ministry of the Prophet, William Branham, we know that the
works Jesus did 2000 years ago have surely been repeated in our day. I will not
go into detail concerning all the works that were done, but I will mention the
“Super Sign” which was in fact “The Sign of Messiah.” This was the one
sign that separated the Ministry of Jesus Christ from all others. Only one
person ever had this sign, and that was Christ Himself. He performed it in His
ministry of 2000 years ago, and again in His Prophet, William Branham. It was
the sign that could never be impersonated. It was the Third Pull Ministry and
the Seventh Seal opened. It was the Son of man back on Earth. It was the ability
to know the intents of men’s hearts, and to know their very thoughts. It was
the ability to tell men their past, their present condition, and also their
future. Only God can do that friends. This sign is far above the gift of
knowledge that is among the nine gifts of the Holy Ghost. It is truly the Sign
of Messiah, proving that He is on the earthly scene.
QUOTE: THE SUPER SIGN, NOV. 1963, SHREVEPORT, PAGE 20, “But just
before the destroying of the world, the super sign must appear again, an
eternal, everlasting resurrection sign that proves that the Royal Seed could not
be killed like Daniel and like the rest of the prophets was. The grave
couldn’t hold Him. Because He…The others conquered the gates of the enemy,
such as fire, and lion, and—and sword, and so forth. They conquered that. But
this Royal Seed conquered death, Hell, and the grave. Nothing could hold Him.
Why? He’s an everlasting super sign! What is a super sign? The resurrection of
Jesus Christ, after being dead for two thousand years, still stands in the midst
of us, the same as He did then manifesting Himself in His Church, in human’s
flesh. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. Amen.” (End quote)
Can we see it Bride of Christ? This is the true “Return Ministry.”
Not the return of our Prophet that God took to his rest, but the return of Jesus
Christ in the body-form of that Prophet to tie the whole Bible together and
fulfill the Scripture. Christ manifesting Himself in His Church again, the same
Person, with the same ministry, repeated in our day, to prepare us for the
Rapture!
The Ministry of Jesus Christ back on Earth, after 2000 years, is the
“Cap-Stone Ministry.” It is Daniel’s dream fulfilled in our day. It is the
Stone cut out of the Mountain without hands that came and smote the Image in its
feet. It was the Seventh Seal pulled back, and the Third Pull Ministry
fulfilled. It was the fulfillment of the Tent Vision that has remained so
mysterious. In my opinion, it was the great Secret that Br. Branham testified he
would take to his grave with him. Jesus in a man, repeating His Ministry. What a
tremendous thing! The Prophet was told not to tell it and he didn’t. He knew
it would be revealed to the Bride later.
QUOTE: LEADERSHIP, PAGE 21, “We’ve turned a corner! We’re
looking towards Heaven, watching for the coming; The Cap on the Pyramid, as we
would say, HIS COMING BACK. The Church must be resurrected soon, and we must get
ready.” (End quote) (He was speaking of Christ coming back in a prophet.)
QUOTE: FUTURE HOME, PAGE 29, “Daniel saw the same thing. A Rock
struck the World, was hewed out without hands, and the whole image of the
systems was broke down and became like a chaff on a summer threshing floor, and
the wind packed it away. And the Rock itself (Christ) grew into a great Mountain
that covered the earth. Watch that Mountain now in a little bit. That Mountain
covered the earth.” (End quote) (It was happening even as the Prophet spoke,
the Ministry of Jesus Christ.)
QUOTE: SOULS IN PRISON, PAGE 50, “THE SEVENTH SEAL BRINGS HIM
BACK TO EARTH. The Lamb come and took the Book out of the Right Hand of Him and
sat down and claimed what He owned…what He had redeemed. Is that right? IT’S
ALWAYS BEEN THAT THIRD PULL.” (End quote) He was saying the Seventh Seal and
the Third Pull of His Ministry was the same thing. It was the return of the Son
of Man Ministry in our day. (The Cap Stone Ministry)
QUOTE: SEVENTH SEAL BOOK, PAGE 563-564, “And just then He picked
me up and set me way up high to where a meeting was going on-looked like a TENT
or a cathedral of some sort. And I looked and there was a little box like-little
place-little place over there on the side. And I seen that Light was talking to
somebody above me-that Light you see there on the picture. It whirled away from
me like that, and went over to that TENT, and said, ‘I’ll meet you there.’
And said, ‘THIS WILL BE THE THIRD PULL, AND YOU WON’T TELL IT TO NOBODY. And
in Sabino Canyon, He said, “This is the Third Pull." (End quote) (He was
not to tell the public that the Third Pull Ministry was the repeat of the Son of
Man Ministry.)
Did you notice here that the Angel told the Prophet, “This will be the Third Pull?” In other words, the Tent Vision was symbolizing the Third Pull Ministry of the Prophet. What was the Third Pull? It was the same thing as the Seventh Seal, and Br. Branham said the Seventh Seal was the Coming of the Lord. It was not the Rapture coming, but the Sunset Mountain Coming. Was the Third Stage of the Prophet’s ministry fulfilled? I believe it was! And if so, then the Tent Vision was also fulfilled because the Angel said the Tent Vision was the Third Pull Ministry!
Friends, are we waiting for more ministry to be brought forth? Are we waiting for Brother Branham to come back before the Rapture? He said himself that his ministry had reached its perfection before God took him home. It is perhaps true that we have not yet received full revelation on all that was brought, but if his ministry had reached its PERFECTON, then what could be added to it? He told the ministers to take what had already been preached and make it clear to the people. Notice, he said “Rapturing Faith lies in the messages.” He did not say more would come later, but that it was already there!
The PERFECTION he spoke of was CHRIST reproduced again in the natural realm, amongst human beings. He said it was predicted (prophesied) to happen when conditions were again as in Lot’s day. And it is now history.
QUOTE: SOULS IN PRISON NOW, PAGE 50, “The Seventh Seal brings Him back to Earth. The Lamb come and took the book out of the Right hand of Him and sat down and claimed what He owned, what he had redeemed. That right? IT’S ALWAYS BEEN THAT THIRD PULL. Three is perfection. The Ministry come to its perfection when it reproduced Christ again in natural amongst human beings, as was predicted, as it was in the days of Lot.” (End quote)
The Seventh Seal brings Him back to Earth, not for the Rapture, but to repeat the Son of Man ministry BEFORE the Rapture. Then he said, “The Seventh Seal has always been the Third Pull Ministry,” and that Ministry came to its PERFECTION when it produced CHRIST AGAIN in a natural man, amongst human beings. If the Prophet’s ministry reached its perfection when Jesus repeated His ministry through him, then what need would the Prophet have for coming back before the resurrection of all the rest of the dead in Christ?
The great importance of this teaching is that we understand that the next event on God’s calendar is the Rapture, and not the resurrection of His Prophet for more ministry BEFORE the Rapture. We need to understand that the promised judgment of this earth has already started, and the Great Tribulation only awaits the removal of the Bride. We are already blending into that “Terrible Day of the Lord.” This is not time to be watching for the Prophet to return. We must be looking for the God of the prophets.
May I leave you with one last statement of Brother Branham’s to consider?
QUOTE: GOD’S POWER TO TRANSFORM, SEPT. 1965, PHOENIX, PAGE 39, “And to you people here now that’s in the auditorium, I’ve had you here a long time. I thank you for your attendance. And I pray that God will never let this Seed die. I hope you don’t think I stand here just to say these things to be different. I said it because of love; and knowing that it’s while I’m mortal, as I am now, is the only time I’ll ever be able to preach to people. And I love Jesus Christ. He is my Saviour.” (End quote)
Many more proofs could be given proving Brother Branham’s ministry was finished, but I pray this sermon will move those to more study, who wait for Brother Branham to return. God bless. Amen!
(Please study the book “Christ is the Mystery of the Seventh Seal Revealed,” by C.W. Wood.)
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