Justification, Sanctification, and the Holy Spirit
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William Branham taught that when you became a Christian, you had to be Justified first, Sanctified second, and then could be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Quotes
- “Justification, sanctification, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the last three messages, the last three church ages forms the complete Birth…You can justified without being sanctified. You can be sanctified without receiving the Holy Ghost. That’s exactly.” (Seven Seals)
- “The disciples in John 17:17, was sanctified and given power to cast out devils, but still didn’t have the Holy Ghost.”
- “And you accept the Holy Spirit by faith, but then let the Holy Spirit come and give the circumcision as a witness that He's accepted your faith. You see?” (Fourth Seal)
- "The choice of your conduct. You could... You can't mix it now. You're either for God or against God, and the outward expressions shows exactly what's on the inside. See? The cocklebur... Many of you think, "I got the baptism of the Holy Ghost, I'm going to Heaven." That don't mean one thing that you're going to Heaven. No, sir. You can have the baptism of the Holy Ghost every hour in your life, and still be lost and go to hell. The Bible says so. Uh-huh, that's exactly right." (Leadership, December 7, 1965)
Questions
- If the disciples could cast out devils without the Holy Ghost, how can you be sure that William Branham had the Holy Ghost?
- Did William Branham insinuate that John Wesley and Martin Luther (and everyone in their 'Church Ages') did not have the Holy Spirit?. If the Holy Spirit fell on Pentecost almost 2,000 years ago, why did Jesus say "I will never leave you"?
- Did William Branham fall from grace when he required that people reform to his code of conduct? Why was receiving the Holy Ghost (God himself) not good enough?
- William Branham said that your conduct, not the Holy Spirit, is what gives you eternal security. Go read the quote from "Leadership" again. He is saying that you are greater than the Holy Spirit. Who saves you? It had better be Jesus Christ...because if you want to be saved by your conduct, as William Branham says, you had better be sinless. But living piously is just going to make you a Christian Pharisee.
Footnotes