DEWITT
TABERNACLE TEACHING SERIES
FAITH
THAT IS UNRECOGNIZED
By
C.W. Wood September 2011
Let me first explain the title of the sermon. In several of Brother
Branham’s messages, he speaks of a little, common weed found in the
In his teaching about the little weed called hyssop, Brother
Branham types it with the Faith we need to trust our Lord. He said the weed
makes a perfect type because it is so common and can be found anywhere in
The Prophet is trying to clear up the one Great Mystery that still has
some of God’s Elect walking in darkness. Don’t you agree that we mostly
understand the other deep things that God revealed through the opening of the
Seals, Serpent Seed, One God, Christian Baptism in the Name of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, the sin of denominationalism, the Mystery of anti-Christ and etc. But,
when it comes to the Greatest Mystery of all, how to believe God and what Faith
is, it seems that the majority are in desperate need of more revelation (And
that includes this writer).
But, we are now down to the time when God is unraveling this greatest of
all mysteries. We are very close to the time of the Rapture and, no doubt, this
revelation is tied in with rapturing faith. Just to speak the word
"faith" starts the mind to thinking about some deep, dark subject that
puzzles most of us. We know the Lord says that we must have it or we cannot
please Him, but what it is and where to find it is a mystery to most Christians.
The truth is that the Holy Ghost is not the only One who teaches on faith, Satan
does also.
While the Holy Ghost has taught through our Prophet the simplicity of
real faith, the enemy has taught for hundreds of years how unobtainable it is
for most, how deep and dark the subject is and how very few are ever able to
come to it. He well knows that if we ever receive the revelation of the
simplicity of faith, and that every born-again person ALREADY HAS IT, then he
has lost his hold on us. When this powerful revelation comes (by the Grace of
God) then doubts, fears and unbelief shed off of us as rain does off a ducks
back. We will stand our ground against them, and rejoice in the faithfulness of
our God. We will rise up and begin to act the part that we were put here for.
How we love the story Brother Branham told about the black man who was the son
of a king in his own county, but had somehow been sold as a slave into our
country. The Prophet made a great point of the fact that he acted different than
the other slaves. The reason being, that he never forgot that he was the son of
a king.
Dear Friends, when God is gracious enough to show us the simplicity of
real faith, that is when we will begin to act like what we are, the Sons and
Daughters of the King of Kings! Therefore, the purpose of this sermon is to try
and prepare our minds to receive this revelation. Only God can give it, but our
minds can be prepared for it.
First of all, we need to understand with the intellect that faith is not
at all mysterious. It is so down to earth, so common place, and used so
regularly in our daily lives, that we are unaware that we even have it. The
reason being that faith is nothing more, nor nothing less, than just TRUSTING.
All of us know people that we trust, and we do so without going into some sort
of a mental contortion, or any conscience effort. Our relationship with them has
proven to us that they are trustworthy, and so we go our way, accepting their
testimony and their promises to us without even taking thought about it.
But, here is where we fail so utterly and so miserably, when the most
TRUSTWORTHY PERSON in the whole universe asks us to simply TRUST His promises to
us, the common answer is, "I truly want to, I know I should, but I just
don’t seem to have any faith!" WHAT WE NEED TO SEE IS THAT IF WE HAVE THE
ABILITY TO TRUST ANOTHER HUMAN BEING, THEN WE DO CERTAINLY HAVE THE ABILITY TO
TRUST THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! The exact same faith, or TRUST, that we use in our
daily relationship with other trustworthy people, will work when we point it
toward our God. This is all He asks of us.
Do we consider that too much for our Heavenly Father to ask? Is He not
due every ounce of trust that we have in us? Can we accuse Him of ever failing
to live up to the trust that any of us humans have placed in Him? Can we put our
finger on a time and place where He ever failed to keep His Word to us? Do we
understand that it is not possible for Him to ever do one of us a wrong? He has
total knowledge, which means He cannot learn anything, so He has no problem in
knowing what we each one need at any given time. We cannot lift Him up too high,
we cannot exalt His Name enough, and we cannot trust Him TOO MUCH.
We do confess that just as we KNOW out fellow humans and have learned by
experiences to TRUST them, so do we need to KNOW our Heavenly Father, and the
way to learn about Him is to receive His Spirit into us. We are not
"Born-Again" until His Spirit lives within. He, Himself, is the Great
Teacher! He will teach us about Himself.
Our major problem concerning the matter of faith seems to be that we
suppose our part in it is some "SUPER SOMETHING" that is out of the
reach of all but a group of super-spiritual human beings. The truth is that when
we are born-again, we are already in that class of Super Human Beings and that
is true no matter how our emotions may deny it. Brother Branham taught that
Born-Again People already have the trust that God wants from us; we only need to
recognize it for what it is, and claim it. The Bible calls it FAITH.
QUOTE: THE TOKEN (
QUOTE: POSSESSING THE GATE OF THE ENEMY 64-0322, PAGE 8,
"Then the chemistry, the blood itself, had to be red upon the door, and the
post of the door, applied by HYSSOP, which is just a common weed, SHOWING THAT
YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE SOME SUPER FAITH, YOU JUST HAVE TO HAVE THE FAITH
YOU’VE GOT. Like you have to start your car and come to church." (End
quote)
Let’s stop and examine what the Prophet is saying. He is showing us
that we already have faith, but that we are failing to recognize it. He said,
"Somebody tries to have supernatural faith, and that’s the reason you
miss your healing." But, Brother Branham, we thought you said that faith is
a revelation and we know that a revelation is supernatural! What are you trying
to tell us Sir, we don’t understand? To this writer, he is simply pointing out
the difference between OUR PART in this thing of faith, and in GOD’S PART.
Our part is to use the NATURAL ABILITY that we already have, and that we
use every day to trust other human beings. We cannot say it too often, our part
in this thing of faith is to simply TRUST GOD in the same simple manner that we
do OTHER PEOPLE. If my devoted friend, and Brother in Christ would tell me to
meet him at the bank at
During the night, while I was thinking about what he had said, I would
not have to wait for the floor to shake, or lightening to flash and thunder to
roll before I would believe my Brother. In fact, I would not have to have any
kind of EMOTIONAL HIGH before I could believe what he had just told me. Just
knowing that he was sincere when he made the statement would be all I needed to
cause me to end up at the bank at the appointed time. I believe this is what the
Prophet meant when he said faith (our part) is not some supernatural something,
but just a COMMON THING.
If God has made us a promise, and we know by the Word that it is His will
for us, then can’t I have at least as much confidence in Him as I had in my
human Brother? Now the confidence, or trust, I had in my Brother would be the
same kind that I used to trust my God, but the OBJECT of this trust would be
quite different. My Brother could suddenly be confronted with some reason that
would stop him from being at the bank, but my Father cannot be hindered in the
keeping of His Word. Only our lack of trust will stop Him!
Our part in faith is so very NATURAL, and I believe that is why our Lord
said ONLY believe, with the emphasis on the word ONLY. To emphasize the very
simplicity of our part He said, "The ONLY thing you have to do is accept MY
STATEMENT", and then ACT on it, in the same way you did the Brother’s.
You went to the bank in full confidence that he would be there (unless something
unforeseen happened), now just trust what I said in the same simple way, and I
will reward you for it.
That is exactly what the scripture says God will do in that great chapter
on faith (Heb. 11:6), "But without Faith it is impossible to please Him;
For he that cometh to God must BELIEVE that He is, and that He is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek Him." Can we see the truth here that the
scripture is teaching? Our part is BELIEVING, and afterwards, God’s part is
giving the reward, which amounts to the supernatural part of faith.
Let us look at this scripture closely. "For he that cometh to God
(to receive His blessings) must believe that HE IS." We must
believe that He is WHAT? First, we must believe that He is a PERFECT PERSON!
But, for a Born-Again Christian that is no problem at all. Let me show you what
I mean. Those who have been born-again, for any length of time, already know
that their God is a PERFECT PERSON! Do we not understand that He has perfect
love, perfect knowledge, perfect wisdom, perfect patience, and perfect power?
Surely, all His Children can believe these things about Him. These are some of
the first revelations God gives His Redeemed People.
But, how many of us understand that this KNOWLEDGE that we have, and
which we accept as being true without any struggle, is all that our part in
Faith amounts to? Yet, this is the simplicity of the Faith that our Prophet is
trying to get us to see! But even though this simple faith already resides in
us, if we don’t understand what it is that we have, we will most often deny
that we have it, and by not claiming it we don’t make use of it, and the
scripture says, "But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without
works is dead."
The Holy Ghost here is exhorting us to BELIEVE that our God is perfect in
every respect, then to understand that this knowledge is all that our part in
faith is. But, then there is one more step to rounding out our faith. We must
ACT IT OUT. To say we have it, but refuse to follow that statement with actions
is to have "Faith without works," which thing God will not
accept. A word of caution is needed at this point. We must be very careful not
to get ahead of the faith that our Lord is giving us. It is possible to act
presumptuously, that is to say, without the leading of the Lord, and that always
gets us into trouble. "Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength….." (Isa. 30:41)
Now a word about what real believing is that God accepts. It is commonly
thought that believing is an EMOTIONAL THING. That is to say, if we FEEL as if
we are believing, then we accept the fact that we are believing. On the other
hand, if our emotions are not going along with what we say we believe, then we
most often conclude that we are not truly believing. But, God is not checking
our emotions, He is watching our DECISIONS, and these are made with the MIND. It
is quite possible to CHOOSE, or DECIDE, to believe a promise of God, and have
Him accept it, while every EMOTION in our bodies is going contrary to what we
say we believe.
This is the high mountain that we must climb over before we can be
accepted as real believers. We must understand the difference between the REAL
US, which is the WILL, and in our ever-changing emotions. To always go by our
emotions, is to place ourselves directly in the hands of the enemy, because the
Lord often times allows him to control our emotions. The Lord never asks us if
we "FEEL AS IF WE ARE BELIEVING" but always "HAVE YOU CHOSEN, OR
DECIDED, TO BELIEVE MY WORD."
Deut. 30:19, "I call Heaven and Earth to record this day
against you, that I have set before you LIFE AND DEATH, BLESSING AND CURSING:
THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE, that both thou and thy seed may live." And, how
do we choose life that we and our seed may live? Simply by DECIDING to believe
the promises of God. And, how do we DECIDE? We do so by using our will power,
which resides in our Mind. This is exactly what the Prophet taught in the sermon
"Greatest Battle Ever Fought."
QUOTE: GREATEST BATTLE EVER FOUGHT, PAGES 13-14, "Now don’t
miss this! When this great battle started on Earth, there had to be a mutual
meeting place; there had to be a place selected for the battle to begin, and for
the battle to rage. And, that battleground began in the HUMAN MIND. The human
MIND was chosen for the place of the battle, where it was to begin; and that is
because that DECISIONS are made from the MIND, the head…..where you’ve got
to meet your enemy is in your MIND. You’ve got to make your CHOICE, it meets
you." (God requires it) (End quote)
We cannot, in this short sermon, state all the scriptures and the
Prophet’s statements pertaining to this all-important subject, but we can hope
to give you the framework and quicken your interest to study it. This writer has
noticed that the Prophet’s doctrine on "How to believe God" has
been, to a large degree ignored, and this is normal, since it is the most
important doctrine of all, after Salvation. It is an age-old truth that our
Father allows our enemy to throw up walls between us and the most important
teachings of the Holy Writ. Perhaps one reason for this is to strengthen our
patience and our faith, as we press through each obstacle!
Time now must be very short, and if we are going to discover the secret
of believing, we must be about it. We have stressed the very simplicity of how
to believe, and the revelation of what it is, but we would not leave the
impression that it is an easy thing to carry out in our daily walk! No! Recently
I was preaching a meeting in another state and had taught on "Hyssop
Faith." After service, a dear Brother said to me, "I see what you are
teaching, but that is a very hard thing to do." He was exactly right.
Though the revelation is simple enough, the hard part is continuing to stand our
ground and confess that God is receiving our decision, and counting us as a
Believer, in spite of our contrary feelings about it.
There is a very real battle that begins to rage in the mind when we
decide to believe any promise of God. Even so, it’s up to us what we want to
believe, and we are either blessed or cursed by our choices.
QUOTE: GREATEST BATTLE EVER FOUGHT, PAGE 20, "You can have
little consciences, and little feelings, and little sensations (emotions), all
these things, THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. That’s just little sensations
(emotions) and things. But, when it comes to reality (when it comes down to what
God is looking at), your MIND opens it up. Your MIND either accepts it or
rejects it! That’s it friends. God, let none of them miss it! See? It’s your
MIND that opens up the door, or closes the door, and listens to your conscience,
listens to your memory, listens to your affections. (And, it’s wrong to pay
attention to these things when they are denying the Word.) But, when your mind
closes itself to these things (your feelings) and let God, the Spirit of His
Word come in, it blows the rest of the stuff out. Every doubt is gone, every
(wrong) feeling is gone, every sensation of doubt is gone, every feeling is
gone. There’s nothing standing there but the Word of God, and Satan cannot
battle against that! No Sir! He cannot battle against it. Now we know that’s
truth. (End quote)
And so, we press upon ourselves and upon our readers, the drastic
importance of believing God with the intellect first, which is the groundwork
that must be laid for perfect, supernatural faith to come in.
QUOTE: GREATEST BATTLE EVER FOUGHT, PAGE 16, "If you’d only
get that started first. (Your intellectual believing) We’re so anxious to see
things done. We’re so anxious to do something for God." (End quote)
But, we haven’t in times past, understood that an iron-clad decision
to stand and hold to our decision, in spite of our feelings, and in spite of
every contrary circumstance, is the thing God is requiring. May God’s Grace
send us revelation just now. Amen!
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