The Testimony of James Bernard Manuel: Difference between revisions

My younger brother, Frank came to me one day in 1969. I was fourteen at the time. He lived with my grandmother in Salt River and attended Sunday School at a Docks Mission church nearby.

A short time later the Sunday School Superintendent, Sister Rachel Felix invited me to join them the following Saturday evening for a youth service. This was all new to me and for the first time in my life I was presented with the gospel. I listened intently to what was said and it made an immediate impression on me. To really understand this, one has to have some comprehension of my upbringing.

I could not wait to get back to the youth service on a Saturday. By this time, Sister Rachel decided I was too old and clever for the Sunday School. After only two weeks I became a full member of the youth.

It was two months later when we were invited to sing at a Youth Service of the City Mission in Jarvis Street, Cape Town. This would be the first time for me to go to another church and I was very excited. As a young boy, I always had a lot of questions. Why are we so poor. Why do my parents drink. Why am I always sad. Some of the most pressing questions were answered in an indirect way at youth meetings and I developed a hunger to be happy like the other youth. But how do I do this?? Should I just pretend that I’m happy? Or should I speak with God? And how do I do this??

That night, the pastor preached a sermon. I cannot remember the title or even the scripture he used but at the end of his sermon he made an altar call. “If there is anyone in the audience who want to accept Jesus into their hearts and experience real happiness and joy, please come to the front”. With eyes filled with tears and a heart torn to pieces, I met my Savior that night. I remember the counselor said, “ pray after me”. I opened my heart and I do not know where the words came from, there was no need for this person to lead me to Jesus. I found Him on my knees that night. I poured my heart out to Him, and He listened as this young boy found “The More” he was searching for.

When I got up from my knees, the whole church were in tears and a happy rejoicing followed. Jesus has been my Shepherd, my Guide, my Friend since that Saturday night.

At age fifteen I was summoned to my dad’s work by his boss, Mr. O’Sullivan. Dad was so badly addicted to alcohol that he started drinking during his working hours. Mr. O’Sullivan knows me from a young child because I used to go to work with my dad when it was school holidays. I knew pretty well everything about his job because he was only a messenger, but a good one. I knew exactly what to do because I used to go on deliveries all by myself during the last school holidays.

This all happened in April 1971. I could not tell my dad of the discussion which took place between Mr. O’Sullivan and myself. I approached him the same evening before he was too drunk that I would not be able to talk with him. I said, : “Pa, I don’t want to go to school anymore. I want to go and work.” He looked at me and did not reply. The next evening he came home and said, “ I thought about what you told me last night and am not happy, but if that is what you want, I agree.” What a relief that was. I went into the office and told his boss that it would be OK.

To soften the blow to my dad, I went out looking for work and got another job in the meantime.  Mr. Robert Katz of Katz Engineering gave me and my cousin, Ernest Knoop, a ride in his car, the very first time I rode in a Mercedes Benz. He wanted to know where we were going, and after telling him we were looking for a job, he took us to his factory and we started the same morning. I did it. My dad would never find out that I’m getting his job to take care of my family.

I worked at this office for 5 years and I thank God that I could be faithful in helping to provide for my family. I now lived permanently with my grandmother in Salt River for logistical reasons, but on a Thursday when I got paid, I took my wages home. The packet remained sealed until my mom opened it. She would thank me and give me R5 pocket money for the week. Most of the time I walked to work and eventually I was able to afford to buy a bicycle from the pocket money my mom gave me.

Our offices were on the ninth floor of an office block on the Foreshore of Cape Town. On this same floor, but for another company, worked a brother whom I came to know as Brother Steve. Steven Staines was a humble, married man who would always smile. He loved greeting and talking with people. One day, during one of those chats, he invited me to his store room on the fourth floor of the same building. It was lunch-time. “I always come here to pray” he said. “You are welcome to join me.” I agreed. And so we did every day.

I looked at Brother Joey, oh he was sincere, he was serious and he was very meticulous and convincing. I have never heard such things. “Brother Steve, what do you think?” I enquired from the more senior brother. “I don’t know James, I’ll have to pray over this matter. I will let you know tomorrow.”

That evening I went home and after supper, I went to my leader. “Brother Freddy Esau, I have something which bothers me.” “ What is it, James?” was his reply. “I have a brother at work who tells me God sent a prophet. He also says I’ve been baptized wrong and that we belong to the beast.” No reply from my leader. “ I came here tonight to get advice from you, what must I do?” Silence. Then I noticed my pastor’s eyes were full of tears.

This all happened during November 1972. I went Brother Freddy’s home to tell him of my decision. Instead of rebuking me, he said he decided to do the same.

From that time the brothers started having informal meetings at different brothers’ homes. We were invited. In those days they had the big eight track tape recorders and reel to reel tapes. One evening we sat till the wee hours of the morning listening to sermons of Brother William Branham. Then there was the healing and discernment portion of the message right near the end.

It was at this time that I was told by the brothers about all the wonderful signs that followed our prophet. They were now able to take me deeper into the mysteries. I was shown the halo photo and a complete explanation was given. “ You see, that is why we know this is the truth. God vindicated his messenger by taking a photo with him. Not only that, they sent it to scientific laboratories and when the scientist George J Lacy gave his findings he said it was the only supernatural being ever photographed.” Wow!! As a young boy, I was impressed. Am I that important that God chose me to be a witness of this? I was happy and rejoiced.

Next item was the Cloud. What is this? This cloud has the face of Jesus. He came down to visit his prophet while he was hunting on Sunset Mountain on February 28, 1963. Have a good look brother. Do you see His eyes? Look there, can you see His nose, and look here, there is his mouth. Can you see, brother?

That cloud remained sunlit for 28 minutes typing the half hour silence during the seventh seal. To think brother, God let Jesus visit the prophet on the mountain and then allowed the scientists to take a photo showing the world that Brother Branham was telling the truth. This is the only true message.

One Tuesday evening I went to a communion service. It was at Brother Roy Swarts’ home in Wetton, Cape Town. There were not many message believers at this time, so it was easy to fit into someone’s lounge. The speaker that evening was the late Brother Theo Erasmus, who still lived in Johannesburg at the time. This was before he became pastor of the church in Somerset West, Cape Town. His subject, 30 requirements before you can take communion.

Service started at 8.00 o’clock and ended 1.00 o’clock the next morning. It was long but it was holy. I remember how old men came to be prayed for and how people confessed their sins. I remember how wonderful this experience was and then to cap it all, in a demonstration of humility, we started washing one another’s feet. This is so wonderful, I thought. And then as they ended the service we all sang, Only Believe, Only Believe, all things are possible, Only Believe. It was heaven on earth.

It was two weeks later when Brother Steven Staines church elders invited him to an open debate. Sister Shirley Staines went to her church council to complain about her, husband, Brother Steven Staines. They invited me to join them.

=I am confronted with a question=  

This question stunned me. I could not give her a scripture or a quotation but yet I believed and preached it. I went to my pastor, instead of answering me, he treated it as a threat and warned his church board not to let me preach because I don’t believe the Thunders. I knew, after I heard this that there is something not quite right with this message. I realized there were more than meet the eye.  I would not rest until I get to the bottom of this.

In 2011, I finally bought a laptop and it took me another six months to be able to browse the net. I went to many message church sites and listened. I was suspicious but I still trusted the prophet. His voice was a comfort to me. When I heard that voice, all my doubts just vanished. It was the only thing that made sense to me. I did not want to hear other preachers because they were responsible for my dilemma.

One Sunday morning during one of those days when I was so hungry and desperate, I decided to listen to a message. I thought I typed in Voice of God but for some unknown reason, I landed on a site where I saw the book Legend of the Fall, written by Peter Duyzer. I started reading and stopped. Did I just see this man saying William Branham was not telling the truth when he said he was hunting when the cloud appeared? How rude, how dare this man say such nasty things.

I went from chapter to chapter. I could not get away from this website. I was fighting inwardly but I could not get away. Slowly the reality sunk in. I was conned. I was lied to. This made me very angry and depressed. I could not pray or read my bible for weeks. I wanted to have nothing to do with religion. Yet, I still held on.

One day I came across a site with some writings of John Kennah. The one single item that attracted my attention again was the cloud. I noticed Mr. Kennah saying that Rebekah Branham-Smith and Pearry Green changed the history of the message to hide the facts from their followers.

I phoned Pastor Stephen Delo and told him what I learned and he promised to get back to me so that we could talk about it. To this day, I’m still waiting for the call. I then phoned Pastor Harold Beckett and spoke with him. He was not willing at all to talk about this and told me it’s an individual matter. It is every man for him self. I eventually got some confession out of him that he knew about the discrepancy with the date of the cloud since 1992. He was not prepared to say more.

The South African Pastors have not bothered to reply or return any phone calls.

Yet, when Gene Norman showed the magazine article to brother Branham he did what he do so well. He sowed a seed of discrepancy in the mind of Gene Norman. “ Have you noticed the shape of the pyramid?” That is enough to know that this is something big.

On June 1,1983 William Branham mentioned the cloud photo to his audience and left them in limbo. “This happened, same, about a day or two before or a day or two after, we were there.”  This is enough to make you understand this has something to do with us. Why did he not just say: “No, we were not there at that time?”

When the reproduced photo came back, they put one in a frame and presented it to Brother Branham. He in turn takes it to church with him and on April 18,1965 he declared that something told him to turn the picture to the right and when he did, he saw the face of Jesus. Look at his eyes, his nose, his mouth, he says.

This is the vindication and proof that the message is true. That is - the face in the cloud is the vindication.

I have decided after much prayer and advise from my friends, to go public. I want you all to see what is really happening around you. If the message is 100% correct and 100% in line with the Word why is it so difficult to give answers to simple questions?? It is time that you check what you believe against the Word of God the bible.

Atheists and Muslims claim there are contradictions in the bible. Message believers from the headquarters at Voice of God to the pastors and preachers to the laity are now agreeing with these people and try and point to what they perceive as discrepancies, as justification that the lies and deception of William Branham is acceptable.

I humbly ask, have you got a tape recording of the voice of Jesus? Or a tape recording of the voice of Paul?? But I have almost 1200 taped messages of Brother Branham. So, it is easy to verify what he said. It is either the truth or it is not. The stories are all beautiful and touching but on close examination after you compare the stories, it is not hard to tell that it was only stories.

My prayer for you, dear reader is that your eyes may be opened. Run to the Christ of Calvary. That is our only hope and our only salvation.