Precisely the Prophetic, Part 10

Chapter Four

Hearing the Audible Voice of God

Russ:

People often ask me how I came to be a prophet, or when did I know I was a prophet? Part of the answer rests on my background and exposure to various moves of God throughout my lifetime. As stated earlier, a prophet spoke over my mother that I would be filled with the Holy Spirit from my mother’s womb. Think about that. How many figures in the scripture were told similar things, and what was their role in the things of God? When Mary traveled to visit with her aunt who was pregnant with John the Baptist, there was a response from the unborn baby recorded in the Bible record:

[Luk 1:41 KJV] 41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:

When the angel announced John’s birth to his father Zechariah he was told that John, as a prophet, would be filled with the Holy Ghost while yet in Elisabeth’s womb:

[Luk 1:13-15 KJV] 13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. 15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.

This is a promise and an experience unique to the prophetic and not only in the instance of John the Baptist. Jeremiah had a similar thing take place but was not informed about it by any human source. It was years later when the call of God came to him that the Father filled him in on the origin of his call and the beginnings of his ministry:

[Jer 1:4-5 KJV] 4 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Consider the implications of this. As Evangelicals, we are taught first of all that there are no more prophets. Secondly, if there were a prophet to be called out by God, he would first have to be born again according to an Evangelical soteriological formula. If you haven’t been born again and signed a decision card indicating a declaration of Jesus as your savior – the church today says no way could you go on then and be baptized in the Holy Ghost or called to ministry in any way – BUT – that was exactly how things went where John and Jeremiah were concerned. Always remember that God does not align His dealings regarding men’s hearts with the theological requirements of men. God is a sovereign God, and that means He can do anything He wants any time He wants, and He doesn’t have to check with anyone.

When Prophet William Branham was quite young – ten years of age – he heard the voice of God in the wind of an old oak tree under which he was playing. Even in his birth, his family reported a heavenly light that shone over his crib in the one-room cabin that he was born in. There came a time in Branham’s life that an angel came to him in a time of crises and remained with him the rest of his days – a source by God’s power through which mighty signs, miracles, and wonders took place. My parents were exposed to William Branham’s ministry along with a litany of many men and women who moved in the power of God and the power of the prophetic in the 40’s Latter Rain Revival, the 50’s Healing Revival and the Charismatic Renewal of the 1960s. For a prophet to prophesy over me that I would be filled with the spirit in the womb was no strange thing to Mom and Dad, they simply took it as a portent of things to come.

How did these things impact my life? For the first thing, the enemy did his best to take me out of the earth as a sickly premature baby. My birth weight was minuscule, and even today, babies that premature often do not survive. The hand of God was on me, and I grew into my preadolescent years alongside my two brothers during a time that Mom and Dad attended veritably non-stop meetings night after night in the height of the Latter Rain outpouring in the early 60s. As a very young boy, I saw many things that ingrained my young heart and mind with the reality of a speaking God who commanded miracles, raised the dead and cast out devils.

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