1 I would like to preach this evening on the precepts on the priesthood but as usual, I would like to speak first about several things…
2 And talking about the word midnight, I would like to say that it is the Message that marks midnight and the end to the progression of darkness. It is the Message that indicates midnight. From this Message, the earth will start moving towards the day through the expansion of daylight. The scales of darkness start falling down. Henceforth, a man of the nations knows that such spirit is not the Holy Spirit and that such version of the Bible is not the Bible.
3 Each time an angel comes down, the earth is illuminated as Revelation 18:1 shows it and the vision of April 24, 1993. The light of the Message that he gives through a man illuminates the earth. Amen! You see?
4 It is not only because it is midnight that the Message has been given but it is the Message that marks midnight, that is to say which puts an end to the progression of the night…
5 And now to begin the preaching of today, I would like to say this again: Here is an extract of the letter that Alexis Barilier addressed to Ewald Frank after their passage in Ivory Coast in September 2006. Alexis Barilier says this, [Ed: BEGINNING OF THE LETTER, BY ALEXIS BARILIER: "… when you got down from the platform and you started bowing, while touching the hand of the preachers, I had under my eyes what I had watched on television being done by the pope, when he got down in the middle of his cardinals and bishops gathered in front of him…
6 … If the preachings of Brother Branham and Brother Frank that we received should awake us, we would be awoken long ago. Notice that I also go along with you, for I have always tried to bring only words inspired by the Bible, and we must admit that neither my preachings nor yours have been able to prevent the virgins from falling asleep. Our heavenly Father knew it and that’s why He spoke of a Cry which had to wake the virgins up, not in the seventh watch, which is the last one, in which the Spirit and the Bride who is ready can say: Come! But, indeed, at midnight because the virgins have stopped moving ahead...
7 Now the question is to know if we are conscious that all the virgins fell asleep, with us included, and that it happened after the virgins answered the call of the Message brought by Brother Branham? Are we conscious that if all our preachings have not been able to prevent the virgins from falling asleep, these will not, indeed, be able to wake them up, but that the Lord promised to awake not only the wise virgins, but also the foolish, by a Cry at midnight… A Cry, it is also a Message, for it can be a Cry that expresses a message of joy or distress, or a message of call to wake up and of reprehension, as in the case of Matthew 25:6 to 7.
8 The Message entrusted to Brother Branham must get the Bride ready for the Supper of the Bridegroom’s marriage. But if the virgins are sleeping, how can they get ready, how can they fulfill Revelation 19:7 to 8 and clothe with the righteous works of the saints which are given her to clothe? What we really need today, it is to be awoken by the Cry promised at midnight. Would it be then possible that the Lord Jesus uses Someone else other than Ewald Frank or Alexis Barilier to wake the virgins up? Yes, certainly!" [Ed. End of the letter by Alexis Barilier].
9 And in the answer of October 16, 2006, Ewald Frank also acknowledges that Matthew 25:6 is to come! What will Branhamists say after they so fought against me and proclaimed that the midnight Cry is the Message of William Branham? You see?
10 Let’s take our Bibles in Revelation 1:6 now… This Message is related to myself first, then to all those who serve the Lord; preachers and others, and then to all those who believe this Message. And I extracted it from Revelation 1:6. The subject is: precepts on the priesthood. I will go on really slowly. We will read verses… you must be able to understand that. I consider that today will perhaps be the first part of the preaching, certainly, Amen! [Ed: The congregation says, “Amen!”]. "and made us a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father: to Him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen.".
11 Well. God has always wanted there be a chief priest. But, this chief priest is in fact God through a man. Because we know that they are sheep that make up the flock. But a lamb cannot lead a flock of lambs. It is not possible! When lambs are gathered, they need something more than a lamb to be their shepherd. You see?
12 And the Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God, and it was more than a natural lamb, it was a person. You see? Replace simply lambs by humans. A natural man cannot lead men, he must be a prophet messenger that is to say God through a man. As a lamb also cannot lead a flock of lambs. Which means that that lamb which leads the others, is not a natural lamb. And that is what occurs on the human side, and it is God who gives him this capacity. And this work requires a lot of rules and precepts. You see?
13 That is why I would like to speak this evening about the subject: precepts on the priesthood. This evening, I would like to approach that in a certain way. Before I came to the Lord, as you know, I had been practising some activities and I had a small amount of money. And when I came and I was preaching this Message, I still had a small amount of money that I had acquired in the sweat of my face, I had got clothes, shoes… that I had acquired in the sweat of my face. And while I am at work in the Lord, there was now in addition to what I had got in the sweat of my face, what the brethren were giving me. But, at a certain moment, God makes the separation, but everything is for Him.
14 You will see that when Hannah requested a child from God and God gave her that child named Samuel, something happened: Well, we are going to read 1 Samuel 2:18 to 19. [Ed.: A Brother reads: …]. Thus we bear in mind that Samuel was before the face of God and his parents would come up from year to year to see Samuel. It is not then said that Samuel used to go on holiday from year to year at his parents’ home, but they are his parents who came up towards him. Let’s read also 1 Samuel 2:21: "So Jehovah visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters.…". Amen!
15 But why has God done that? It is to that that I would like to come. You see? Now, I would like us to read again a passage in Leviticus 22. We are going to read several verses in Leviticus 22, but the point I would like to touch this evening, it is the separation of what we receive from man and from what we receive from God. I would like to speak particularly about what we receive from the priesthood as tithes and offerings and other gifts which are Holy things.
16 Well, let’s read Leviticus 22:4: "Whatsoever man of the seed of Aaron is a leper, or hath a flux, he shall not eat of the holy things, until he is clean.…". Now, what does this passage mean? This passage means that all those who are here have the right to eat Holy things, that is, the tithes and offerings, I can give this tithe or offering to a Brother who lives well. And he is worthy to consume that.
17 Now a Brother will read Leviticus 22:6 to 12. Follow very closely, it is the Bible itself that is going to speak, I start with verse 10: "And no stranger shall eat the Holy thing; the sojourner with the priest, and the hired servant, shall not eat of the Holy thing. But if a priest buy any one for money, he may eat of it, and he that is born in his house: they may eat of his food. And a priest's daughter who is married to a stranger may not eat of the Heave-offering of the holy things."
18 The Bible says here that a stranger, that is to say, whoever does not believe the living prophet of his time, cannot eat what is pure, that is to say, the tithes and offerings. Well, when I arrived from my trip, I said that a Sister had offered something, to be given to my mother. It is not bad, it is right because it is not a tithe or an offering to God. But I think that, in reality, this money should first go to a Brother or a Sister in need here, in the assembly. You see? That is it actually. We are going to read Luke 8:19 to 21 [Ed: a Brother reads …]. You see? My father and my mother, it is first my disciples!
19 And David, before he was a king, was chased. And when he arrived somewhere he found priests, and there, there was bread but not everyone can eat some. For us, the impure or the stranger is those who have not had their baptism yet or who do not believe in the Message of their time. [Ed: The congregation says, “Amen!”]. You see? The Texts we have just read even explain that the daughter of a priest who went and got married to a pagan has no right to eat some. You see?
20 Well. Now a church member or a Brother who serves God and who practises a social activity, if after he has taken the tithe and the offering out of his salary, he wants to give all the rest to his parents, it is his right and he is free to do it that way! Even if he is a priest or whatever! If it is a faithful, it is the same…
21 But he that lives from the Word of God does not have the right to do that. But if he does it, he does it as the rain of God that falls on weeds. You see? For one who lives from the Word of God like me, he cannot go and build or buy a land portion and build for his parents to come and live there while they do not believe in the Message. You see? That cannot even be done and this is for all his life. And the day when he dies, his parents do not have anything to do with what he has as possessions. You see? It is true that the priest offers sacrifices, sheep… but the first sacrifice of the true priest is himself.
22 And it is through the application of this Message that those who give sacrifices are blessed. The Bible speaks about it everywhere, there are so many verses, we have only hit some verses. That is what the Bible says and the Lord Jesus Christ did not come to abolish these things. And these things are so true that one cannot bypass them. You see?
23 A pastor, prophet or other who uses the tithe and offering badly brings the curse upon his people. Even what a Brother or Sister has given him out of the service, it is a Holy thing. You see? Parents themselves know that… we are in Africa after all and each one of us has seen some fetish priests making sacrifices saying that not everyone can eat that sacrifice. They cannot say they have not heard about or seen that somewhere.
24 And besides, a tree that they reject or that they assign to the devil, how will they eat its fruits? When I know that the fetish priest is of the devil, I cannot consume the sacrifice of this fetish priest. He who has to assist my mother is the priest or pastor of my mother. It is not wickedness, but it is obedience to the Word. [Ed: The congregation says, “Amen!”]. That’s it, Brethren! They are all those things that lead to the blessing and that make us blessed. It is the Bible that says it and God who does not work in confusion will give your parents what they need…But if it happens that I give to them, it’s the rain of God that falls on weeds or the salary of the good that they did to me.
25 While Elijah had called Elisha, Elisha knowing all the good that was done to him, went to offer a sacrifice of oxen over there. He was the one sacrificing himself there. From this day, there must be a separation. You heard that the priest shall not drink strong drinks, shall not take such or such a woman but the Spirit says now what he must do and that is applied to all those who have devoted themselves to God whatever their ministry. You see?
26 The tithe and the offerings are holy things that no one can consume if he is not a Brother or Sister of the Message who lives well. If there is an obligation, that will be the subject of a special contribution as we do for a stranger or a Brother in need.
27 While we are at the service, if a pagan comes and says, "Come to my help! I with my house have not eaten all the day!". We will make a special contribution for him! That is what the priest will ask for if there is an emergency for his family or other. But if he takes the tithe or offering to go and do that, it is a sin! The priest’s bread is a showbread. Strangers cannot eat some.
28 Now out of a gift that you have received from a relative, friend or acquaintance, you can take the tithe but out of a gift that a Brother has donated you, you shall not take any tithe because it is a Brother who has given that to you and it is considered that he has already taken out the tithe.
29 What a Brother receives from another Brother, he can share it with his parents but it is not so with what he receives from a priest. But as for the wife of this priest, even if she does not practise any other activity, she can give what she has to her parents because she does not receive it as a priest but a servant of the priest.
30 What does the Bible say? "For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little.... For with stammering lips and a strange tongue will he speak to this people". [Ed: The congregation says, “Amen!”].
31 Now I would like to say something very important! No one, if he believes this Message has the right to eat sacrifices dedicated to the devil. You see? If you know that somebody is the pastor of any church: Protestant, evangelical or Branhamist, or that he is a priest, and living from his priesthood, you have no right to receive money from him or eat in his house! If you think that you cannot eat a black kid or white chicken offered in sacrifice then you must not eat at the home of a protestant, evangelical or Branhamist priest or pastor.
32 The preacher who stands in here, does not stand here to talk necessarily about the faithful. You see? It is not a court and the pews are not the accused’s benches…
33 To end this preaching on the precepts of the priesthood, I would like to say that I do not wish that one day schools, foundations bear my name… Let no school, no foundation, nothing bear my name. My soul is well here with the weak. I was born in simplicity and my soul will rest in simplicity.
34 I have decided that the book of the midnight Cry be free for everyone and I will do so that it will be so forever! Be it for the poor or for the rich, it will be free forever! And may God bless you!