<TITLE>12. Par 43-46</TITLE>L-43 Now, see... Well, you say, "Well, Brother Branham, I--I know." But you're taking your own intellectuals; it's contrary to the Word. And the Word is the Truth. I believe the Word.
Now, notice, Jehoshaphat come down to Ahab, and oh, he put on a great feast, sure. We call it today, in the street expression, a blow out. And he invited everybody; to kill ox and so forth, and sheep. And they had a great feast among them. And that's when a believer gets in trouble.
"Oh, I tell you; you're just narrow-minded in that little holy-roller place. That's all. You should come to the big church. You should come... Oh, you should see, our pastor has a D.D.D. Ph.D. (You see?) Our--our pastor... Our choir sings like the angels."
That has nothing to do with it if it's contrary to THUS SAITH THE LORD.

L-44 Now, look. And when they killed the ox and they had a big feast, Ahab had an alternative in that. And his motives were wrong. He was trying to make a big showoff to trap Jehoshaphat. And that's the same thing the devil's trying to do today. "Why, we're in the majority."
Sure, the Church of God has always been the minority, until Jesus comes. "Fear not, little flock; it's your Father's good will to give you the Kingdom." That's right. We are in the minority. But that's all right. As long as God is there, it's still majority to me, and I know it is to you. For if God is with you, who can be against you.

L-45 Now, but he--he had a motive behind it. And when he did, he said, "Now that we're all here and having such a big time, will you go up to Ramoth-gilead with me to battle? Because actually, Syria has it up there, but Ramoth-gilead belongs to me. It's rightful; we have the right; we're the first church; we have the right." You see it?
Then Jehoshaphat said, "Well now, being that we're having a good time," said, "my men is like your men. Why, we're all believers anyhow, so let's just associate together." He made a vital mistake. He did. And Jehoshaphat being spiritual enough, as I believe with all my heart, that it was a type of this day, surely, somewhere, somehow, God will get the message to the true in heart. He said in the beginning He would, so He's got the program lined up. Let's... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] Just line up with Him. Now, watch him.
He said, "Sure, I'll go up with you." But he said, "Wait a minute. I believe before we go, we ought to ask the Lord. Don't you think so? If we're all believers, then let's ask the Lord."

L-46 "Well," Ahab said, "certainly, that's right. Oh, why, didn't I think of that? Sure. I should've thought of that all along." Said, "I've got four hundred of the best prophets there is in the nation. I got them all well-clothed; they all got D.D.D.'s, Ph.D.'s, and all things. They got a great organization down there, the prophets. So I'll just bring them up here; we'll see what they say."
You know, that just didn't hit right down with Jehoshaphat just right. He didn't... So they went and got all the four hundred prophets, well-fed, well-dressed. Ahab fed them with his own... 'Cause he had them to do just exactly what he said do. There you are. There you are.
"Oh, sure, we've got fine churches here, great big places." But many times if the preacher preached over twenty minutes, the deacon board would excommunicate him. But bless your heart, a man of God won't listen to that nonsense. That's right. If he bent down too much on sin, why, the whole congregation would vote him out. But that's because he's in a denomination.


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