Questions and Answers on Spiritual Gifts

Ephesians 4:7–8 KJV 1900

7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

Introduction

The reason we do this is to kind of find out what’s on the hearts of the people. I think that’s very good for a pastor to give out this, and then he finds out just about what the people’s thinking about if they’ll write their questions, they have something.

And I think every one of us is duty bound to expel our thoughts to our pastors and our spiritual leaders, and so forth, and anything that we see, that’s so we can make everything run smooth and fine, and for the Kingdom of God’s sake. 61-0723E — God Being Misunderstood

Question No. 1: Healing

“They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” Does the person who is sick have to agree/want to be healed or is it on the faith of the anointed one praying?

Answer:

Healing is based on the faith of the individual being prayed for.

Mark 16:18 KJV 1900

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Jesus was asked to do this:

Mark 5:22 KJV 1900

22 And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,

Mark 5:23 KJV 1900

23 And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.

Now, if He was standing here, right now, wearing this suit, He could not heal you unless you believed Him. Now, He could tell you what was your trouble, a lot of things like that, but He couldn’t heal you, because He has already done it. “By His stripes we were healed.” Is that right? Already over, it’s done done, every person.

Now, listen close, this week I have tried to get you to see the greater way of doing it. Now, there was a Jew one time that said, “Come, lay Your hands on my daughter, and she shall live.” That was a Jewish custom, laying on of hands. But the Roman, the Gentile, said, “I am not worthy that You come under my roof, just speak the Word.”

And when you see His Word made manifest not only with me, but with you, my faith in a gift, your faith in the God that sent the gift, and see it working between us, that’s God.

I just wish I could get that to every one of you. If I could only get this little group to see that, there’ll be another Pentecost happen right now, if I could just get you to really comprehend what it is. 62-0624 — Super Sign

Matthew 8:5 KJV 1900

5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,

Matthew 8:6 KJV 1900

6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.

Matthew 8:7 KJV 1900

7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

Matthew 8:8 KJV 1900

8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.

Matthew 8:9 KJV 1900

9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

Matthew 8:10 KJV 1900

10 When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

Laying on of hands is the act of putting your faith in a person or sanctioning who they are. Bro. Branham calls it a “Jewish custom”.

Deuteronomy 34:9 KJV 1900

9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses.

You cannot convey an office to a person by laying on of hands, you can only sanction the office they have from God. (Timothy)

Now, I come, not to heal the sick, I come to pray for God’s sick children. God heals the sick, and the sick is already healed, anyone knows that. I didn’t come to save the lost, I come to tell the lost that they’re already saved, if they’ll just accept it.

I’ve come to tell those who have been saved, and wants this evidence, that they have got the assurance and tasted the Heavenly gifts from across the Jordan, yonder, as Hebrews 6 said they would, “been made partakers of the Holy Ghost and tasted the Heavenly gifts.”

And now, if you’re sick tonight, I say to you, that One that I’m talking about, when He died at Calvary, right there, the stripes across His back, in the sight of God, purchased your healing, you are already healed.

(Pentecostal group who believed in giving gifts by laying on hands)

We might recognize them, and lay our hands on them, as Paul did Timothy there, to sanction it. And knowing that he, the gift was in him, they seen it work, and they just give him the right hand of fellowship, like, to bring him into the service of God.

And that’s the only thing we do, by laying our hands on the sick when they’re sick, because, Jesus said, “These signs shall follow them that believe.” The people that believed would lay their hands on the sick, as a sanction that they believed it. 62-0611 — It Is I, Be Not Afraid

The Bible said, “These signs shall follow them that believe. If they lay hands on the sick, they shall recover.” That’s exactly right. Now, that’s under conditions, “if you believe It.”

Now, I believe this. God’s proved it to you, I believe It. You see? He manifest His Word, to show that it is His Word. A Scripture fulfillment, to prove that it is. Now, you believe it when you pass by. Will you do it? 63-0825E — Perfect Faith

If you had the same confidence that Jesus had when He believed the Word written about Himself, you would go through the prayer line and come out shouting the victory because you believe it is done.

Question No. 2: Deliverance

In a mental health issue, who worships the demons, can they be delivered by the prayers of the Bride or do they have to want deliverance?

Answer

A person without any mental faculties could not worship a demon. They would be like a child, your faith would be needed to help them.

The maniac in Portland could have been delivered, but he would have taken it back. He must have worshipped that demon before he became mentally ill.

I said, “No, sir, he worships that spirit. See? He’d bring it right back to him because he thinks he’s right.” 53-1120 — Demonology

Question No. 3: Prophecy

What is prophecy a sign of to the believer?

A sign of God’s presence.

1 Corinthians 14:22 KJV 1900

22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.

I can show you where God put gifts and power in the church. I want somebody to put your finger on a Scripture and show me where He took it out, where He took it back from the church.

It’s a super sign to the believer, that we’ve passed from death unto Life, because we feel the Holy Ghost, and see It working on our lives and changing us from what we were to what we are now. 62-0708 — A Super Sign

Question No. 4: Prophecy and Discernment

What is prophecy, and how does it differ from discernment?

Discerning means “to judge”. To discern a spirit is to judge whether it is right or not.

A spirit of prophecy is to be judged by two or three that has discernment before it can ever be given to the church. 58-0518 — Tested Faith Produces Goods

Prophecy is inspired foretelling of a future event, or in the case of a minister, forthtelling of the Word. The Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.

Let me stress this: What Bro. Branham did was unique. This was more than a gift of discernment, this was the Word manifesting Himself in a prophet, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Corinthians 14 gift of discernment is nothing like that, its simply the ability to judge.

Question No. 5: Dreams and Visions

Where do visions and dreams fall under the nine spiritual gifts?

Answer

Visions and dreams are not a part of the nine spiritual gifts.

How many of you dream?

How many have ever seen a vision?

Joel 2:28 KJV 1900

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, That I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions:

There’s difference between dreams and visions. Dreams is when you go to sleep. Visions, when you don’t go to sleep. We’re born that way. The ordinary human being, when he dreams, it’s in his subconscious. And his subconscious is way away from him. His senses is active, as long as he’s in his first conscious.

In this conscious, you, you’re normal; you see, taste, feel, smell, hear. But when you’re in your subconscious, asleep, you don’t neither see, taste, feel, smell, or hear. But there’s something, when you dream, that you return back to this conscious. There’s a memory, that you remember something that you dreamed about, years ago. The ordinary human being is that way.

But when God predestinates something, this subconscious is not way away from here, to the seer, but both consciouses is right together. And the seer, in a vision, doesn’t go to sleep. He’s still in his senses, and sees it.

I was explaining that for some doctors, the other day. And they raised up and said, “Marvelous. Never even thought of such a thing.” When I was taking a wave test, and they said I…They had never seen anything like that. See? “Well,” said, “there is something happens to you.” And I said. I told it. He said, “That’s it, exactly.”

(EEG Test)

The two consciouses sit right close together. It’s nothing I could do, and it don’t make me no more than anybody else. It’s just, God made it that way. You don’t go to sleep. You’re right here, just like a sleep. You’re standing here, looking out, like this.

And all of you have seen it, around the world. You don’t go to sleep. Standing here on the platform, talking to people, you hear me go into visions and come back. When I’m riding in a car with you, anywhere else, and tell you things that’s going to happen; and never fails, never has.

Has anybody ever seen it fail? [Congregation says, “No.”—Ed.] No, sir. It can’t fail. It won’t fail, as long as it’s God. Notice, right on the platform, thousands, before tens of thousands of people, even in other languages that I can’t even speak, still it don’t fail. See? It’s God! 62-1230E — Is This The Sign Of The End, Sir?

Bro. Branham didn’t have to act spiritual.

When you hear a prophet rising, that’s got all the answers to every gimmick that you can bring up, remember, he’s not a prophet.

Today they’ve got to know everything, when you’re going to have a toothache and when you’re going to have a tummyache, and everything else, and tell you all about it. That isn’t the nature of our God. Watch the prophets, watch Jesus. 62-1111E — Why I'm Against Organized Religion

And, now, I do not believe that there’s anything that He has spoken, all these years of my life, that I have spoke to the people, but what come to pass. And many people has come with dreams, that He’s let me, by His grace, interpret for the people. And many has come with dreams and with problems that I was unable to interpret.

But I haven’t tried to introduce to you people a gimmick that has all the answers. I’ve tried to be honest and to tell you what was Truth, and I could only tell you as He told me. And then as it come to me, then I could tell you.

And I want to warn you. In this day that we’re living in, there’s many…Not—not saying anything against people. But when you see a person that’s got the answer to everything, that’s contrary to the Word.

Jesus said, “There was many lepers in the days of Elijah, but only one was healed.” In the many years, the eighty or more, that Elijah lived, and one leper was healed. Many widows in the days of Elisha, but he was only sent to one. And we find out that there’s many things that God does, and that He doesn’t reveal to His servants. And no servant is greater than his Lord.

And, then, God will not share His glory with nobody. He is God. And when a servant becomes a place that he tries to take the place of God, then God takes his life and moves him away somewhere, or something. We must remember that.

Now, in those visions and interpretations, I cannot tell the interpretation of a dream until I see exactly, by vision, what the dream was. And many of you know that you’ve told me your dream, and would not even tell it all.

And when I saw the dream come back to me, I turned around and told you that there’s much of it you left out, then tell you what you left out of it. You know that’s right. If that’s right, say, “Amen.”[Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.]

The things that you didn’t tell me. Therefore, you see, if the…Like Nebuchadnezzar said, “If you can’t tell me what I dreamed, then how would I know you got the interpretation of it?”

But all these impressions, we mustn’t take them and say, “THUS SAITH THE LORD.” We mustn’t do that. We must have a direct voice, an answer from God, before we can say it’s God. Not an impression, not a sensation, no matter how much it’s pulsating.

You might say, “I believe it could be this way.” But when you speak, “THUS SAITH THE LORD,” it’s not you. Watch on the platform. Have you ever seen it fail? THUS SAITH THE LORD is perfect, never has failed. And as long as it is THUS SAITH THE LORD, it can’t fail. 62-1230E — Is This The Sign Of The End, Sir?

Conclusion

(Joseph’s dream) We have a primary voice from God in our day. Dream are secondary. Gifts are secondary, the Word is the Urim and Thummim that all gifts are judged by.

First Corinthians 13 says this: “When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away with.” So all these little things of jumping up and down like a kid, trying to talk in tongues, and all these other things, when that which is perfect…

And we do have today, by God’s help, the perfect interpretation of the Word with Divine vindication! Then that which is in part is done away with. “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child; but when I become a man, I put away childish things.” 64-0823E — Questions And Answers #2

We have “Thus Saith the Lord”

Psalm 103:3 KJV 1900

3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases;

Perfect Faith

Thus Saith the Lord

Isaiah 26:3 KJV 1900

3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on thee: Because he trusteth in thee.

Letting off the Pressure

Thus Saith the Lord

Romans 8:28 KJV 1900

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Invisible Union

Thus Saith the Lord

Jeremiah 29:11 KJV 1900

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Future Home

Thus Saith the Lord

1 Corinthians 15:51 KJV 1900

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

1 Corinthians 15:52 KJV 1900

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

The Rapture

This is Thus Saith the Lord. The Book has been opened, the promise has been manifested. Believe it and live!