By Brother Ron Millevo
Some people tend to be judgmental. The Bible tells us not to judge others so that we are not also judged. The same measuring stick that we use for other people will be used by God towards us. Some individuals tend to disfellowship other people just because they can't see what they believe. This must not be so.
Reverend William Branham, God's prophet to this age, never disfellowshipped anybody. He drawed bigger circles that included other people's little circles in his bigger circle. He's a friend to the Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal and all. Though he condemned the denominational systems that they are in, yet he never condemned the individual. He reached out to them and placed his hopes upon God that somewhere in these systems, God has got a Bride that he, Brother Branham, was sent for to bring back to the fold of God's pure Word.
Even our very own Lord Jesus Christ in His own words said, "whosoever will, let him come". Jesus never disfellowshipped the drunkard, nor the prostitutes, nor the tax collector because of them not recognizing His doctrine nor accepting Him as the Messiah. He came to sinners and He had always grace for them. He had longsuffering and patience, thinking that one day these people will give their lives to God in the perfect time alloted if they are really predestinated unto salvation.
God has also, according to the measure of faith, has given us our individual stages in our spiritual walk in life. We should not condemn a baby for stumbling here and there seeing that he or she is still learning how to walk. That should be the case for every Christian brother or sister, too. We ought to help one another instead of putting down the other person just because our level of faith and understanding may seem higher or greater than the other man. Apostle Paul was even given a thorn in the flesh so that he will not be puffed-up by the abundance of God's revelation that was given to him.
"Every man ought to have a church home. You ought to have a place, not just to float about from pillar to post, but have somewhere that you go to church and you call it your church, somewhere you pay your tithe, and somewhere that you help support the cause. Take your choice, but then don't never disfellowship the other man because he don't belong with your group. See? Discern his spirit and see if he's got the same purpose in heart, then you got fellowship one with another. You're working for one great cause. That's the cause of Christ. I think that that is absolutely true." DISCERNMENT.OF.SPIRIT.title PHOENIX.AZ V-9 N-3 60-0308
"In their wrong... Israel was wrong as wrong could be. They were so wrong, till God give them up, but Moses... I've always wondered how that ever come, but It was the Spirit of Christ in Moses. See. See, we're all wrong. He stood for all of us, when we was in our wrong. No matter how wrong they are, let's not disfellowship or disassociate ourselves with anything. As long as we can win a soul, let's go in with "wise as serpent, as harmless as doves" (You see?), and try to win every soul that we can." GREATEST.BATTLE.EVER.FOUGHT.title JEFF.IN V-3 N-11 62-0311
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And we do not disfellowship any church, any member of any church: Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic, whatever it might be. We believe that the Spirit of God deals with individual. And in every church there is Christians, throughout the whole church world, as so-called today. I believe there's Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, Lutherans who love God. And the only thing that they know about Him... They live as close as they can, as close as they know how, or are taught to live." ORDINATION.title JEFF.IN 62-1104E
"And I see the Word is the Absolute, and I'm tied to It, and determined I'll know nothing else but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. He had a reason for it, and I'm determined to hold that reason. No matter what anybody else says, I don't disfellowship them or discredit them, but I know what I'm tied to. He wanted me like this. He had me like this. I was made like that for a purpose. I had to be made up of all these qualities, and so forth, and all these no-accounts, so He could dig it out of me, put something in there, that was His Word. And I'm determined I'll know nothing else but Christ." ABSOLUTE.AN.title SHREVEPORT.LA V-17 N-10 63-1201M
"I got a brother that likes apple pie; I like cherry the best, but I ain't going to disfellowship him. He can eat his apple pie and I eat my cherry pie. And I put calf slobbers on top of mine. If he don't want it, why, he can have it. You know that... What is it? Whipped stuff they put on it, you know, whipped cream. I like it. Getting too old now to eat it, but it's a... But I--I--I... That's what I like. If he don't like it, he don't have to eat it. That's all right; I'll eat mine. But he's still my brother. That's right.
And so I--I like that; I like a fellowship. But when we draw lines like this and say, "No, this is our denomination," and won't reach over and shake hands with the next man, and say, "Bless God, brother." My. That's when you call fellowship. If you don't, you get that root of bitterness just like the Smyrnaeans got back there, and you cause the same thing. All right, so their name was "bitter." SMYRNAEAN.CHURCH.AGE.title JEFF.IN ROJC 185-227 60-1206
THE LOCAL SOVEREIGNTY OF EACH CHURCH
"But I believe in the supreme authority of the local assembly. Yes, let each church be its own, choose its pastors, its deacons, its whatever it is. And then, that way, the man in there has no bishop over him. The Holy Spirit wants to speak something to that church, they don't have to ask anybody about whether they could do this or do that. It's the individual in contact with the Holy Spirit. Show me by the Bible, what's greater in the Bible than a local elder to a local church? That's right. Yes, sir, the sovereignty of the local church, each church in itself... Now, brotherhood, that's wonderful. All churches ought to be in a brotherhood like that together. But the sovereignty of local church..." HEBREWS.CHAPTER.5.AND.6.title JEFF.IN HEB 57-0908M
"You all voted a hundred percent on it, so we've held right to that. See? The church is sovereign. What the church says, that's what... Trustees or nobody else... The trustees is just, each one, a vote. The pastor is just one vote. It's the church, that it's--it's the democracy of the church, the sovereignty of the church. The church in whole, speaks. That's all. And we like that, because we have no bishops, or hierarchies, or overseers, or so forth to tell us this, that, or the other. It's the Holy Spirit in the church, does the speaking; I like that rule, and it's very fine." KEY.TO.THE.DOOR.title JEFF.IN V-12 N-6 62-1007
"But the full and complete authority of the church is the pastor. Read that in the Bible; see if that's not Bible order. That's exactly right. There's no one above the elder. I have nothing to do with what Brother Neville does here. That's up to you and Brother Neville. If Brother Neville wanted to preach Jehovah Witness doctrine, that's up to him and you. See? If he wanted to preach anything he wanted to, that's between you and him. That's all. If the congregation votes for him in there to preach that, that's all right. That's up to him." HEBREWS.CHAPTER.7.PT.2.CHURCH.ORDER.title JEFF.IN HEB 57-0922
"And this church is sovereign. There ain't no board of trustees or deacons going to tell you what to do. This church in a whole vote tells you what to do. That's exactly right. If there's a decision...
If you don't like your pastor, and there's two or three people gets something against the pastor, they can't raise up. If they're deacons, trustees, they just... Or what officer they are here they just got one vote; that's all. If he's assistant pastor, he's just got one vote. He's just like the lay member sets back there. The whole vote of the church settles the matter. And that's right; that's--that's right. No deacon board put a pastor out, or no pastor put a deacon board out. The church does that in a general vote of the whole thing.
It's sovereign in itself. We have no bishops; we have no general overseers; we have Jesus. Amen. He's the Bishop. He's the General Overseer. He's the head Pastor. He's the King. He's the Lord. He's the Healer. He's All and All. And we're just His subjects walking in the Light. Amen." BAPTISM.OF.THE.HOLY.SPIRIT.title JEFF.IN V-5 N-2 58-0928M
GROUNDS FOR DISFELLOWSHIP
"I don't believe that any deacon board has a right to throw anybody out of church, or any trustee board, or any pastor has a right to do it.
I think if anybody was to be disfellowshipped , would be because of immoral living, or something like that, that he wasn't a fit person, like a man coming in here defiling our girls or--or insulting our women, and things like that, and still professing to be one of us here... See? Now, if he's out somewhere else coming in, why, we have to do something about it, but, when it comes to a person like that, a immoral person trying to make love to our wives, or--or insult our daughters, or, you know, something another like that, or do something immorally around her, or taking our little boys out and making perverts out of them, or something, those things should be taken up, and then that fellow should be excommunicated from the fellowship and not permitted to take communion with it; because we're not supposed to do that. We're not. "If any eats unworthily, is guilty of the Blood and body of the Lord," on that person." QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS.title JEFF.IN COD 61-0112
WHAT "UNEQUALLY YOKED" SIGNIFIES
II Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Here are some related nuggets/quotes from Rev. William Branham’s sermons regarding this issue of being “unequally yoked” with unbelievers:
"God calls every man to separation, not one exception. Every man that comes to Christ must separate himself from the things of the world. To have faith in God, you can't walk around where people are, and be in people, and associate with people that's in the wrong thing and expect to have faith. You can't get around where Thomases is at and--and all of his children, and where they say, "Oh, the days of miracles is past, and there is no such thing as that." The first thing you know, that spirit will get on you. Come out from among them the Bible says. Separate yourself; be separated. "Touch not their unclean things and I will receive you, saith the Lord."
The trouble of it is we have got to much Hollywood preaching and not enough old time rough preaching. I like the old time kind that really tears the hide off of you, brings it down to a place where it belongs. To much petting around, we need the old fashion Gospel (Amen.) preached in its power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. That's what the world needs today." JEHOVAH.JIREH_ INDIANAPOLIS.IN WEDNESDAY_ 57-0612
"Our text tonight takes us back to a little thing to our minds, not to mix with unbelievers. The Scripture says, "Don't yoke yourself up among unbelievers. Do not be unequally yoked together." Many places of the Scripture teaches us that we should separate ourselves. The first thing that God required Abraham to do when He called him, was to separate himself from his people, his kindred, and then He'd bless him. Now, it doesn't mean you have to leave home; it means just separate yourself from your worldly associates." SEPARATION.FROM.UNBELIEF_ PHOENIX.AZ MONDAY_ 55-0228
"Abraham was changed. And look, when a man meets God... God called Abraham, and He told him He wanted him to separate himself from all of his unbelieving kindred. And when God calls a man to work for Him, He calls you from total annihilation from all the things of the world, and the sins of the earth: separation.
God never did bless Abraham till he fully obeyed Him. He took his father. The old man was always a--a hair in the soup or... excuse that expression. But he was always wrong, and Abraham... And then he got Lot. And then he finally went down there. And after Lot separated himself, then God said to Abraham, "Rise and walk through the land. I've give it all to you. It's all yours." See? He never fully blessed him till Abraham fully obeyed. And you'll never be able to get anything from God, and have favor with God, my brothers and sisters, wherever you are, until we fully obey the Word of God. You make yourself miserable by just half-heartedly approaching it. Yes." FROM.THAT.TIME_ SPOKANE.WA FRIDAY_ 62-0713
God, when He calls people, He calls for total separation from all the things of the world: annihilation from the worldly things. Separate yourself, and God will bless you. Come out from among them; be not partakers of their sins. Yoke yourself not up among unbelievers, but yoke yourself with believers, fellow citizens of the Kingdom. "_ LVL.KY V-25 N-9 SUNDAY_ 54-0404E
"You separate your thing--yourself from sin, unbelief. There's only one sin, and that's unbelief. Committing adultery's not a sin; drinking liquor is not a sin; telling lies is not a sin; that's the attributes of unbelief. If you believe, you wouldn't do those things. Certainly.
Jesus said in St. John 5:24, "He that heareth My Words and believeth on Him that sent Me, has Eternal Life"; that's Zoe, Holy Spirit, because he believes. Correctly. Now, until you receive That, you're make-belief; that's in that group. But when they really believe, separating themselves, then when you separate yourself from all your unbelief, and believe God, walk out strictly, carrying the commandments, doing everything that's right, then God will say, "Every promise in the Book is yours." Amen. "All's yours. Turn from It, from Genesis to Revelations, it's all yours." Amen. "If ye abide in Me and My Word in you, you can ask what you will, it'll be." What? You got to separate yourself first from your unbelief." JEHOVAH.JIREH.1_ GRASS.VALLEY.CA JJ 37-72 THURSDAY_ 62-0705
"God had ordained that His people act different from the world. They are not of the world and they don't look like the world and they don't act like the world. They are crucified unto the world and the world is crucified unto them.
II Corinthians 6:17-18, Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.FROM.THAT.TIME_ SPOKANE.WA FRIDAY_ 62-0713
"You see the one difference between Israel and the rest of the nations was God. Put God to one side and Israel was like any other nation. When Samson cut off his hair he was like any other man. Put the leadership of the Holy Ghost aside and the church is NOTHING BUT THE WORLD WITH GOD'S NAME ATTACHED TO IT. The world and the church are all of the same lump, just like Jacob and Esau were of the same parents, but the Spirit of God makes the difference. It doesn't matter if you call yourself a Christian. Anyone can do that. The point is whether or not you have the Spirit of God in you, for without that Spirit you are reprobate; you are none of His. Amen." SMYRNAEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.4
" God said, "Separate Me Paul and Barnabas." Amen. Separation: "Come out from among them and be not partakers of their unclean thing." God wants separation, total annihilation from sin. Separate... That's what's the trouble today, reason we can't be Abraham's Seed; we can't separate ourselves from dogmas, and creeds, and so forth, called Christianity, to the living Word. Separate yourself from your unbelief and believe God's Word. God will make It manifest to you. Right.
Genesis 12, God said, "Separate yourself from all your kindred and from everything around you." Oh, my, we can't separate ourself from card-playing. Huh." JEHOVAH.JIREH.1_ GRASS.VALLEY.CA JJ 37-72 THURSDAY_ 62-0705
THE SINNER-THE UNBELIEVER: WHAT IS SIN?
"What is sin? Sin is unbelief. Drinking, smoking, gambling, committing adultery, that isn't sin; that's the attributes of sin. You do that because you're not a believer."HAVE.FAITH.IN.GOD_ NEW.YORK.NY 54-0900
"Sin is unbelief. Now, that's what sin is. There's no other sin but unbelief. It's not a sin to do things like drinking and—and smoking and gambling and--and prostitution. That's not sin. That's--that's the result of sin, that the reason you do that is because you are a unbeliever. See? That's the attributes of sin." THE.INSIDE.MAN_ CHICAGO.IL SATURDAY_ 53-1212
"And the greatest devil, and the chief of all devils is unbelief. That's the only sin there is. There's no other sin but unbelief. All these little morals and things: smoking, drinking, gambling, and committing adultery; that's just attributes. You do that because you don't believe. Unbeliever is what makes you do that. If you was a believer, you wouldn't do it. That's right." DEMONOLOGY_ OWENSBORO.KY THURSDAY_ 53-1112
"There never was such a thing as a creation of sin. That didn't go down good, did it? Sin is not a creation. No, sir. Sin is a perversion. There's only one Creator; that's God. Sin is righteousness perverted. What's an adultery? Righteousness perverted. What's a lie? The truth misrepresented. Certainly. What's a curse word? It's God's blessings turned to a curse word, to God, instead of a blessing. Sin is not a creation. Sin is a perversion. So Satan could not create sin; he only perverted what God had created. That's exactly right. Death is only a perversion of life. " ADOPTION.2_ JEFF.IN AD.2 WEDNESDAY_ 60-0518
" Like I said the other night about the hog, about the sinner. You can't blame... A sinner's a sinner; don't try to reform him. Don't try to tell him this, that, or the other. He's a sinner to begin with. He's a pig to begin with. He don't know no different. If he goes to the movies, and he goes on Sunday, and he goes to ball games, and he does all these things; he's a sinner to begin with. His nature's like a hog. The old hog stick his nose down in the manure pile and eat all the grains out of it and everything. Well, that's--he is a hog. You can't blame him; he's a hog. That's the way with sinners. But when you go and call yourself a Christian and stick your nose in with him, then you're no better than he is; but you're worse, "Come out from among them." Let go of the world. Let go. Let God." ENTICING.SPIRITS_ JEFF.IN DE 79-112 SUNDAY_ 55-0724
Remember, I said, "God does not condemn a sinner for sinning." He's a sinner to begin with. He condemns a Christian for sinning. And then because He has condemned him, Christ took our condemnation. So there's no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And if you do anything wrong, it isn't willfully. You don't sin willfully. A man that sins willfully, goes out and willfully sins, never come into that Body yet. But a man that's once in there, he's dead, and his life is hid in God through Christ, sealed by the Holy Ghost, and the devil can't even find him; he's so far back in there. He would have to come out of there before the devil can ever get in, for you are dead. ADOPTION.4_ JEFF.IN AD.PT.4 SUNDAY_ 60-0522E
"And I said that I don't condemn the drunkard for going out and getting drunk. He's all moody; he don't know. He gets up the morning; he's got the blues, a hangover; goes out and gets him two or three bottles of beer; goes out and gets him some whiskey, and all of that kind of stuff. Little old cigarette sucker sets back and smoke and blow it through his nose like he was a freight train. That's all...?... I don't blame him; that's all the joy he knows; that's all he knows about. He's a pig by nature."ENTICING.SPIRITS_ JEFF.IN DE 79-112 SUNDAY_ 55-0724
The church comes in and adopts other things. They have to have a little party where they all lay on the beach to have recreation: a card party to get-together for fellowship. That's right, have a dance sometime at one of the member's house, sometimes in the church basement. A dance, adopting, trying to get something to satisfy, what's the matter? They're a bunch of pigs anyhow. They're pigs to begin with. If it ever come in contact with Christ, they'd have so much joy those things would be deader than midnight to them. Gospel, drunk on the Spirit, joy unspeakable and full of glory...
Don't condemn the sinner. Have mercy on him. Let him go ahead and smoke his pipe. Let him drink his liquor. Let him have his card parties; that's his pleasure. Don't blame him. Coming home and everything, tired and wore out, he wants some pleasure. The thing for you to do is live such a godly life that you can prove to him that the Gospel holds ten thousand times more than that for him.
And if he dies in that state he'll go to hell on his liquor. That's the devils intoxication. If he dies dragging on that old pipe, God's his Judge. If he dies going out here dancing and running around with immoral clothes on, God's their Judge. But there's one thing, if you die under the anointing power of the Holy Ghost like Stephen did when he looked up in the face of God, said, "I see heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand." You are heaven-bound like a martin to its box. Amen.
Shame on you, who profess to be a Christian and rely on such things for joy when the Holy Ghost Gospel is nothing but one great big powerhouse of joy. The Holy Ghost Gospel is a perfect intoxication for every man that's got the blues. You'll take a drink of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, be filled with the Holy Ghost you're drunk until you leave this world. Amen. Joy unspeakable and full of glory... There's a constant stimulation. It's a constant intoxication: drunk day and night. Amen. That's the Word of God.
There is no halfway Christians. There's no drunk-sober man, no black-white birds, no, no, no sinner-saints. No, you're either a sinner or a saint. See? There's just no in-between. You're either born again or you're not borned again. You're either filled with the Holy Spirit or you're not filled with the Holy Spirit. No matter how many sensations you had, if you ain't filled with the Holy Spirit, you're not filled with It. See? And if you had been filled with It, your life shows It. Goes right up to it. See? Nobody has to tell anybody about it; they see it (See?), 'cause it's a seal. THE.SIXTH.SEAL_ JEFF.IN SATURDAY_ 63-0323
THIRSTING FOR THE RIGHT THING
" Listen, friends. God created a man to thirst. God put thirst in a man. A man was made to thirst. And do you mean to tell me that you would try to quench that blessed holy thirst with the world, and with the devil's programs. You try to quench that thirst with drinking whiskey, that God put in you to thirst after Him? There's something in man to thirst; God made that thirst for man to thirst for Him. But you try to quench it with pleasure." THIRSTING.FOR.LIFE_ CHICAGO.IL SUNDAY_ 57-0630
"And this American people has quenched it with pleasure, mad. That's right. That blessed, holy thirst... You strip yourself on these beaches. You'll lay in these pool rooms, playing cards, social drinking, all this nonsense that you do, and stay home on Wednesday night watching the television instead of going to church. What are you doing? You're trying to quench that holy thirst. You got to quench it some way. And you reject Christ, and the devil pours his slop into you. Right. And you think that you're right, but the Bible said, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death." Death is total annihilation, separation. Don't you never try to quench that blessed thirst with something the devil put into you.
You'll go up and throw your arms around some other man, have a little clean fun, have a little date on the side, a little afternoon kiss at the back gate to satisfy that thirst that God put in you to thirst after Him. And you'll take another man's wife, and run off with her, and live in a hotel with her, and carry on like that. I don't say you do it; you may be here. If you are, God burn that in your soul (That's right.), thinking you're having a little clean fun. There's an all seeing eye watching you.
And the devil is trying to burn your passions after other women as they walk up-and-down the street half dressed. And your long looking, almost half wreck, at them little old dirty, vulgar, stinking women out there with them little old dirty clothes on.
And you men that'll let your wife do that, that shows what you're made out of. That shows what kind of a man you are. A man is the head of the family; he's the head of the house. But today the women's the head of the house, head of the factory, head of the church, and everything else, because it's become a conglomeration of sin. And Satan took Eve, and he's still using her. And America is a woman's nation.
And I thought, "Then what makes people do that? How come that men and women will do those things?" Then I thought this: "God created man to thirst for life." That thirst that's in you is a creation of God. And right and wrong is set before you as a tree of life and death in the garden of Eden. And God made you to thirst. And how dare you to take that blessed thirst that God has put in you to thirst after Him, and try to quench it on the things of the world.
The devil trying to make men and women run the nightclubs and cocktail parties, and live immorally, because they are thirsting, and that thirst that's in you is of God; and it'll never be satisfied until Christ, that Fountain of Everlasting Life fills your soul. It is totally impossible. The devil will make you believe that you are living, but you are dead in sin and trespasses.
If the devil can't get you all twisted up with some of that, then he will take you and try to let you join a church somewhere to get away from it, and you're just as bad off, trying to hide yourself under some church or some creed, or some denomination. That's wrong.
But what makes a man do it in the first place? Is because when God made a man, He created him thus. He made a man to thirst.
There's a little place in the heart that nothing will fill it but God. And man is thirsting for something, and that real thirst is for God. And nobody's got a right to try to quench that holy thirst with giving it to the devil for the things of the world. You've got no right trying to hide that thirst by joining a church. God's the only thing that'll fill that up. God, the Holy Spirit, is the only thing that can satisfy that thirst.. Jesus said, "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst for righteousness." And it's God trying to get to the human heart. And the devil tries to quench that by letting them drink theirself to death, or run themselves to death, or do something else. But God created man to have that holy thirst. And if you won't take God, then you'll have to take something else to--to kinda appease that calling. That's what makes a man that way.