Put it on the shelf

Since my earliest days in the message, I heard message preachers tell the people listening to them that, if they had something they didn't understand in the Bible - a place where the Bible and the message "seemed" to disagree - they should simply believe William Branham. They were encouraged to place their understanding of the scripture "on the shelf" until such time as God revealed to them the proper understanding of the scripture (which was always in agreement with William Branham's teaching).

Is this the correct way of approaching scripture?

What putting scripture "on the shelf" really does

When someone puts a scripture on the shelf and accepts the view of William Branham, what they are doing is placing William Branham's teaching on that issue above the Bible.

Five ways we can treat a passage in the Bible

There are 5 ways different ways that we can deal with a specific passage in scripture. These are listed in the preferred order, from best to worst. When we view a specific passage in the Bible we can:

1. Respect it - we simply obey it. We read it, believe it, and apply it as it is written.
2. Reinterpret it - we may come to understand that our view of a particular scripture as being incorrect, and we then reinterpret it. We respect and obey it in light of our new understanding.
3. Relinquish it - we place a particular passage of scripture "on the shelf" until such time (which might never come) that we can get it to fit into our understanding or theological framework. This is the most dangerous approach to scripture that a sincere Christian can take.
4. Reposition it - this is the approach commonly taken by liberal Christians or those who compromise Biblical teaching with other beliefs they hold. They reposition the meaning of a passage based on the various voices or other views that are held by themselves or others. In effect, they consider it but it is only one view among many others.
5. Reject it - A decision is made to simply believe that the passage is untrue or has no application to us.

What being a Christian requires

A financial adviser is somebody who you ask for advice. They give you a report and then you can do what you want with it. You can put it on the shelf, or you can follow it, or you can put part of it on the shelf and follow part of it.

But Jesus doesn't want to just be a consultant, he wants to be the Lord of my life.

When we put scripture "on the shelf" what we are really doing is selectively ignoring Scripture to support our position, the position of some preacher, or perhaps the position of William Branham, even if that position completely contradicts the clear teaching of the Bible.

The Proper Approach

What is the approach that we are encouraged to follow by scripture?

Be like the Bereans

The apostle Luke instructs all believers to be like the Bereans and hold every teacher’s doctrine up to the light of biblical truth.

The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

Test the spirits

John tells us in 1 John 4:1:

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Paul admonishes us in `1 Thessalonians 5:20-22:

Do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.

What was Jesus' approach to doubt?

There was an individual who initially believed that Jesus was the messiah but then started to question whether this was, in fact, correct. We can all learn from Jesus' example.

The individual's name was John the Baptist, a relative of Jesus. John was the one who baptized Jesus and said this of Jesus in Luke 3:16–17:

I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

But after John was thrown into prison by Herod, he started to have questions as we read in Luke 7:18–28:

And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”  And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’ ”  In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight.  And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?  What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts.  What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written,

‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’

I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John'. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

Was Jesus upset when John questioned who he was? No!

Then why are so many in the message upset when someone questions whether William Branham was a great prophet, or even a prophet at all? This was not the pattern of Jesus. Jesus was fine with John's question.

Did Jesus tell John's disciples clearly that he was the messiah? No!

What did Jesus do in response to the question? He simply pointed to the evidence.

But why do message preachers get so angry when when someone asks whether the evidence supports William Branham's view that he was a great prophet?

This is not the Biblical pattern. Jesus gave the example of requiring people to examine the evidence.

The issue is not whether you raise a question. Questions are fine. The real issue is where you go for the answers.

Going to scripture and the evidence is the Biblical model. Ignoring the evidence or relying on what some minister, or even William Branham himself, tells you is definitely not how questions should be dealt with.

Jesus never turned people away that had questions. And neither should we.

The Apostle John thought evidence was important

As it turns out, the Apostle John wrote more about Jesus’ evidential approach than any other Gospel author. According to John, Jesus repeatedly offered the evidence of His miracles to verify His identity and told His observers that this evidence was sufficient:

“Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” (John 14:11)

“If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.” (John 10:37-38)

“…the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.” (John 5:36)

John frequently described Jesus as someone who offered the evidence of His miraculous power to demonstrate His Deity. In fact, the passage describing Thomas’ doubt is also an affirmation of an evidential faith, if it is read in its entirety:

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:25-31)

John makes an important statement right after the line that is typically offered to “demonstrate” Jesus’ alleged affirmation of a non-evidential faith: “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples…”.

What? Blessed are those who did not see and yet believed, therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples? Do you see the contradiction here if Jesus was speaking against evidence? Why would Jesus continue to provide evidence if those who believe without evidence are supposed to be blessed?

The answer is found, once again, in the Gospel of John. In Jesus’ famous prayer to the Father, He prayed for unity and He carefully included those of us who would become Christians long after Jesus ascended into Heaven:

“I do not ask on behalf of these (the disciples) alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (John 17:20-21)

Jesus is talking here about all the people (like you and me) who will believe in Jesus not because of what we will see with our own eyes but because of what the disciples saw and recorded as eyewitnesses (“their word”). Yes, Thomas was blessed to believe on the basis of what he saw, but how much more blessed are those who will someday believe, not on the basis of what they will see, but on the basis of what the disciples saw and faithfully recorded.

Luke thought evidence was important as well

So many others have tried their hand at putting together a story of the wonderful harvest of Scripture and history that took place among us, using reports handed down by the original eyewitnesses who served this Word with their very lives. Since I have investigated all the reports in close detail, starting from the story’s beginning, I decided to write it all out for you, most honorable Theophilus, so you can know beyond the shadow of a doubt the reliability of what you were taught.

Dear Theophilus: In my first book I wrote about all the things that Jesus did and taught from the time he began his work until the day he was taken up to heaven. Before he was taken up, he gave instructions by the power of the Holy Spirit to the men he had chosen as his apostles. For forty days after his death he appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that he was alive...

Luke's testimony shows that Jesus clearly understood the value of evidence and continually provided “many convincing proofs” (Acts 1:2-3) to His followers so they could record their observations and change the world with their testimony. Jesus commended this process. His words to Thomas were not an affirmation of “blind faith”

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