2 Corinthians 6:17
2 Corinthians 6:17 (KJV) reads:
- Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you...[1]
Quotes of William Branham
He don’t care what your organization is. It’s nonsense. It’s connected with Catholicism and gone back in it, and stayed in it, and you receive that same mark that she is. Didn’t the angel say, “Come out of her, My people, and be not partakers of her sins, and I’ll receive you”? “Touch not her unclean things, and I’ll receive you,” the Holy Spirit speaking.
“And whosoever takes the mark of the beast, or the letter of his name.” Wish we had time to go into that; my time is up. What’s the letter of his name? Protestantism. “Let us make an image likened unto it. Let us make an organization. Our church is just as big as the Catholic church.” They took all these things. “They had the big churches, and we do, too. We got just as much of the class of the city, in our church, as they have in theirs. Let us make an image unto the beast.” And what’d the Bible said, she is a “WHORE,” and that’s a “HARLOT,” through organization.[2]
So keep out of them isms! Congregate yourself with somebody who believes, associate yourselves. The Bible said, “Yoke yourself not up among unbelievers.” “Be ye separated,” saith God. Come out! The Bible said, “Come out from among them, and be… touch not their unclean things, and I will receive you. I’m the Lord Who stands in the midst of the church.” That’s right. Come out! Don’t associate with such! But let… get yourself among some church, some good church. Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Campbellite, whoever it may be, it don’t make… Where real true believers are in there, they don’t care what the church creed says, they go there to meet with their brothers and sisters and worship God, together. All right.[3]
Notice, when Abraham and Lot separated, and God had to destroy Sodom, get rid of Lot, as long as Lot hung around, they had trouble. God told him, “Get thee out from amongst thy kindred, and from amongst thy people, and I’ll bless you.” And I’m telling you, you can’t… God calls for a separation. The world wants mixers, but God wants separators. He wants the people to separate themselves from sin and from the world. “Come out from among them, be ye separated, saith God, touch not their unclean things.” God calls for separation.[4]
God calls every man to separation, not one exception. Every man that comes to Christ must separate himself from the things of the world. To have faith in God, you can’t walk around where people are, and be in people, and associate with people that’s in the wrong thing and expect to have faith. You can’t get around where Thomases is at and—and all of his children, and where they say, “Oh, the days of miracles is past, and there is no such thing as that.” The first thing you know, that spirit will get on you. Come out from among them the Bible says. Separate yourself; be separated. “Touch not their unclean things and I will receive you, saith the Lord.”[5]
“Come out from among them.” That’s right. “Separate yourself. Touch not their unclean things, and I will receive you,” saith the Lord. “Be not yoked up with unbelievers, unequally yoked together.” Don’t you do it. Separate yourself.[6]
“Defile the body; I’ll destroy it.” God said He would do it. And today, over cancer, is causing ninety-something percent of the deaths, of throat and lung cancer, is caused by smoking cigarettes. “Defile the body; I’ll destroy it.” But they’re so hell-bound, rolling on like that, they don’t know. And some preacher standing in the pulpit with four degrees, out of college, smoking, hisself. Let me tell you something, brother. The Holy Ghost was sent to call men and women out of that thing. Separate yourself! The word church means to be “separated.” “Come out from among them,” said the Bible. “Touch not their unclean, and I’ll receive you; and you’ll be sons and daughters to Me, and I’ll be God to you.” Oh, my! I don’t mean to be mean, but I mean to be honest and to be truthful. Yes, sir. Oh, what a horrible thing![7]
“Come out of her, My people,” said the Lord. “Come out of Babylon, confusion. Come out of your creeds and your self-styled things. I will receive you,” saith the Lord. “Touch not their unclean things,” their beatnik parties in church, and bunco, and all other kind of stuff, and dances.[8]
You remember the first time God ever spoke to you? Oh, glory. Going to call me holy-roller anyhow, so you just might as well get started now. Oh, my. When I first heard His voice, it spake like many waters. Oh, my. By the brook and stream, where a rippling stream, so he can lay down, bathe, look up. My. He looked up, and said, “What was that?” She come back over. She said, “Honey, you’re mine. You don’t belong in that place anyhow.” “Come out from among them. Be ye separated,” saith the Lord. “Touch not their unclean things, and I’ll be God to you. I’ll be God to you. You’ll be son and daughter to Me.” See?[9]
Now, God wants separators. Now, the people wants mixers. Oh, my. Today they got to have a little Hollywood guy, you know, and—and, you know, and all this, and there has got a lot of flowers, and just color up. They don’t want the old fashion preacher that lays it right on the hewing line. They won’t have it. He’s a fanatic. He’s a holy-roller. That’s what they want. They want mixers, somebody that’ll go swimming with them, and somebody will play bunco with them, and somebody will go to dances, and not fanatics. See, they don’t want that. But God wants separators. Separate yourself. The very word “church” means, “separated, called out.” “Come out from among them,” saith God, “and I’ll receive you and touch not their unclean thing.” Separators… Oh, Christians. Separate yourself from everything of the world, brother, sister. Get away from the things of the world: separate.[10]
“Come out from among them. Be ye separate,” saith the Lord. “I will receive you. Touch not their unclean things. You abide in Me, and My Word in you, ask what you will, and it’ll be done to you.” See?[11]
It must have been along about ten o’clock in the morning. Our little brother Jairus, he was a—he was a believer. He—he actually was a believer, but he was kind of a secret believer. And you now, we got a whole lot of those out here in these Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian churches. They really believe this message of Pentecost. They do. But they just can’t do it on account of their church. So Jairus said… He was a secret believer; outwardly he had joined himself up with a bunch of unbelievers. And so, that’s the way a many a good man is tonight: joined up with unbelievers. And the Bible said, “Do not be unequally yoked together. Don’t yoke yourself up amongst unbelievers. Come out from amongst the unbelievers, and separate yourself,” saith God, “and I will receive you. Touch not their unclean thing. And I’ll be God to you, and you’ll be sons and daughters unto Me.”[12]
Any, anybody else in here ever knowed Rabbi Lawson? Just a few of you. I want to say this, then. A strange thing happened to him. He was a real, little preacher, fine brother. And he—he didn’t have no big charges; that wasn’t his mission. But, I believe he lived true to what he was put in charge over, that’s the main thing. 9 And his wife thought he wasn’t making enough money, preaching, so they, wanted him to get a job. He studied the Bible all the time. So one day she got so angry with him, she just grabbed the Bible right out of his lap, took It over, and raised up the stove, and stuck it in the stove and burned It. A few months after that, she was putting up some Christmas lights, fire of the Christmas tree caught her and burnt her up, right in the same place. See, you reap what you sow. “Touch not My anointed, do My prophets no harm.” See?[13]
We’ve got great evangelists that’s—that’s going to the church denominational today. One of the greatest men in the land, that we know of, is Billy Graham. And he’s certainly blasting the Gospel to those people out there, calling them out, “Get out of Sodom.” 184 We don’t have to holler “Get out of Sodom,” to this Church. It ought to be out, already. If it’s called by the Holy Ghost, it’s done left Sodom, a long time ago. That’s right. It’s forsook Sodom. She is living out here, by Herself, exactly, separated. The very word church means “called-out, separated.” And if you’ve separated, your… 185 “Come out from among them. Touch not their unclean things.” If you haven’t done that, you’re down in Sodom; you’re a church member, lukewarm. Then you ought to separate yourself, and get away from the things of the world, and come out, and live clean and holy, walk in the commandments of God.[14]
But God’s chosen Ones are commanded to come out from among them. “Be ye separated,” saith God, “and I will receive you. Touch not their worldly things, and I’ll be a Father to you, or God, and you’ll be My sons and daughters. Yoke yourself not up with unbelievers, but come out of it!” God wants separation from the world. He wants to be unionized with you, Himself. And no man-made scheme of organization, denomination, or any man-made theories will ever stand.[15]
What did this angel say? “Come out of her!” Yes, sir. This angel came to the earth, and he come to bring the Light, and he shined the Light around the world. He was a mighty angel. And he come to proclaim the Message of “Come out of Babylon! Touch not her unclean things!” Got a whole cage full of them. Said, “She’s the cage of every hateful bird.” Yeah, she got a cage full of them now, the World Council of Churches, or lodges. She’s got the whole bunch caged up now, they’re all coming together.
...And when you join up with a citizen…a system, and become a citizen of that system, you are showing what you are. And in this last days, God is calling the people out of it. The Bible said so, “Come out of her, that you be not partakers with her, and I will receive you. Touch not her unclean things, see, and I will receive you. And you’ll be sons and daughters to Me, and I’ll be God to you.” See?[16]
And, remember, this election, is coming now, is just not going to another nation, it’s going to Glory, where their names are wrote on the Lamb’s Book of Life. Not under the natural, little animal lamb that brought Israel out, that they could backslide from there and go back. But, this can’t. This is under the Blood of the Lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of the world. And their names were put on the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world. And they’re in there, elected. And when that Light flashes over them, like that, them denominational walls drop away from them, and here they come. “Come out from among them,” said the Holy Spirit in these last days. “Touch not their unclean things. I’ll be God to you; you be sons and daughters to Me.” Now, watch.[17]
What was he? Manifestation of the Word, Light. Same God that spoke in Genesis; that spoke this, and here come the Light. As He said, “Let there be light, for the sun,” the sun come in existence; say He said there’d be “a voice of one crying in the wilderness,” here it come forth. It was the Light of the hour. 203 He also said, in the last days! Amen! It’s the Light of the hour, crying in the wilderness of Babylon, “Come out of her, My people, that you be not partakers of her sins. Touch not her unclean thing! Get away from it! Flee from the wrath that is to come!”[18]
Losing your hold on the Word, and accepting creeds and self-exaltation by man’s exhortation, we have seen them lose their hold with the great Holy Spirit. We’ve seen the Pentecostals do the same thing. And you see it. When they organize, they die. There is no way back; there never has been, and there never will be. God is against the thing. It’s really sin. Said, in the last days He’d say, “Come out from among them, My people, that you touch not their unclean things; and I’ll receive you.”[19]
Sometime ago, in the South, a little story. There was a king…or, a buyer. They sold slaves. That was in time of—of segregation, and they had slaves in the South. They was a…They’d go by and buy them, just like you would a used car, off of a lot. 187 Now, I am an integrationist, absolutely…I mean a segregationalist. I am a segregationalist. Because, I don’t care how much they argue, you cannot be a Christian and be an integrationist. That’s exactly right. God even separates His nations. He separates His people. “Come out from among them!” He’s a…He is a segregationalist. “Don’t even…Touch not their unclean things!” He pulled Israel, that Jewish race, out of every, all the races in the world. He is a segregationalist.[20]
Cannot do it! Now it’s Seed time, or Bride time. The shucks are dead. The shucks are dried up. The virgin Word time, not touched. It’s a virgin, remember, a virgin Word time. If you’d put It in the hands of a denomination, It sure won’t be virgin; It’ll be man-handled, time you get to It. But God’s Church is not touched by denomination. Hallelujah! It’s a virgin-born Word of God made manifest, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hallelujah! How, how wonderful! I love It. I believe It. I know that It’s the Truth. It’ll not be touched. There’ll be no denominational man-handling in the virgin Birth of the Bride. No, sir! She is—she is commanded by God to come out of such. “Touch not their unclean things, become vultures.”[21]
The Church Itself, the word church means “called-out one, come out,” those who have come out. “Come out of her, My people! Be ye separated, saith the Lord, and I will receive you unto Myself. Touch not their unclean things.” The Church of God is called out of the world, out of the chaos of the world. You’re no more of the world.[22]
Footnotes
- ↑ The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), 2 Co 6:17.
- ↑ William Branham, 54-0513 - The Mark Of The Beast, para. 224-225
- ↑ William Branham, 54-0515 - Questions And Answers, para. 151-152
- ↑ William Branham, 54-0814 - The Unconditional Covenant That God Made With The People, para. 25
- ↑ William Branham, 56-0613 - Jehovah-Jireh, para. 20
- ↑ William Branham, 57-0915E - Hebrews, Chapter Seven #1, para. 37
- ↑ William Branham, 59-1217 - What Was The Holy Ghost Given For?, para. 129
- ↑ William Branham, 60-1225 - God's Wrapped Gift, para. 149
- ↑ William Branham, 61-0122 - As The Eagle Stirs Her Nest, para. 82
- ↑ William Branham, 61-0312 - Jehovah-Jireh, para. 64
- ↑ William Branham, 61-0416 - Abraham And His Seed After Him, para. 89
- ↑ William Branham, 61-0427 - Only Believe, para. 23
- ↑ William Branham, 61-1231E - If God Be With Us, Then Where Is All The Miracles?, para. 8
- ↑ William Branham, 62-0123 - Forsaking All, para. 183
- ↑ William Branham, 62-0211 - Oneness, para. 201
- ↑ William Branham, 62-1111E - Why I'm Against Organized Religion, para. 216-217, 223
- ↑ William Branham, 63-0630M - The Third Exodus, para. 246
- ↑ William Branham, 63-1229M - There Is A Man Here That Can Turn On The Light, para. 202-203
- ↑ William Branham, 64-0315 - Influence, para. 210
- ↑ William Branham, 65-0206 - Doors In Door, para. 186
- ↑ William Branham, 65-0218 - The Seed Is Not Heir With The Shuck, para. 111
- ↑ William Branham, 65-0427 - Does God Change His Mind?, para. 53