The Ignorant and Unlearned

Around the message we tend to denigrate preachers with intelligence who use history and language to demonstrate the truth of the Message. Some will insult different ones calling them “intellectual giants” and such like. While there is certainly a danger in intellectualizing the Message and taking the supernatural element out of it, which downplays the gifts of God in error. In the sermon, “Birth Pains” Brother Branham foretells that after me will rise men that will make more sense of the Message than I can. This isn’t based on intellectualism, but rather on spiritual and scriptural study. The revelation we are trying to communicate is one given to the prophet and secondarily revealed to us via the prophetic ministry of Brother Branham and keep these things in balance in the Scriptures. Here is a favorite scripture that is used to show that our preachers ought to be ignorant and unlearned.

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

It is the Sanhedrin Council that is noticing that Peter and John are not learned men. They are not trained and styled in the typical rabbinical ways. They were fishermen, but they spoke with such clarity, power and biblical intelligence that the rabbis were shocked they were not trained in the synagogue under rabbis, rather they were trained by Jesus. This statement is not to denigrate Peter and John, but rather a complement. The term for ignorant means “unlettered” or “illiterate,” however, we know that Peter wrote two epistles, John wrote three epistles and a Gospel, so it doesn’t mean that he could not read or write, rather it signified that he did not learn from the rabbis. The word unlearned is “idiotes” and it is where we get our word “idiot,” but the literal translation of this term is “private persons:” a private citizen. It is referring to a king vs. a commoner or a military person vs. a private citizen or a clergyman vs laity. It is saying that they are not trained, but they speak with boldness. This is what the “Thayer Greek Dictionary” says of the word “boldness”:

1) freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech

1a) openly, frankly, i.e. without concealment

1b) without ambiguity or circumlocution

1c) without the use of figures and comparisons

2) free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance

3) the deportment by which one becomes conspicuous or secures publicity

Unfortunately, around the Message we have sort of celebrated ignorance and lack of education to the point of absurdity. Brother Branham spoke strongly against seminary experiences but sent his son to a Bible school. He said education is of the devil, but he was referring to the modern way of being educated, not to homeschooling or even to a Christian education. Brother Branham says this:

“130. You only know God by an experience. You cannot educate This into you. It’s borned into you! It’s something that God gives you. Education has nothing to do with It. One of the greatest men in the Bible couldn’t even sign his name, Saint Peter. That’s exactly right, him and John, the Bible said, “They were both ignorant and unlearned.” But it pleased Jesus to give him the keys to the Kingdom, because he was thirsting for God. Amen. Thirsting for God, fellowship. Yes, sir. Oh, my!” [1]

We are not to base our spiritual experience and interpretation of Scripture on a seminary, but on the revealed word of the hour through the Scriptures. We know God by revelation through the new birth in the power of the Holy Ghost. We do not know God by learning the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. This is not to say an understanding of the Scriptures is unimportant. It is out of submission to the revealed word for your age that we can then be versed in Scripture. Let us examine what the apostle Peter writes:

 “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” 2 Peter 3:16

Here Peter dentes the unlearned or ignorant people pervert the scriptures and he adds to it the unstable, people who vacillate between opinions. People who are ignorant and unstable pervert the writings of Paul. We see the very same thing around the Message. People who are ignorant of the Bible and its full revelation pervert the End Time Message, spiritualize it and come up with all kinds of fanciful interpretations. It’s called a perversion of the Word.

 “But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.” 2 Timothy 2:23

The word “unlearned” literally means “stupid.” There are questions that can be asked that God considers stupid. The word “foolish” literally means “blockhead” or “absurd”. These are questions and ideas that are based upon falsehoods, false conclusions, spiritualized viewpoints of Scripture. Paul calls them blockhead and stupid questions. We are to follow the sound, sane Gospel.

“110. Now, I don’t mean to be a fanatic. I mean to be a real, sane, sound believer. See? Not a bunch of ism, but a real solid, true, sensible, intelligent believer.” [2]

The Gospel is not educated into us, but we are to be real solid, true, sensible, intelligent believers.

“The Fire is moving on. Let’s move on, from glory to glory, from Bible experience to Bible experience. Let’s unfold and open up our hearts, raise up our hands to God. Keep sane; stay in the Bible. Don’t get outside of That. Stay right There.” [3]There are so many revelations out there today that are just due to a lack of sound, sane, sensibility. We have one saying Christ has already come as the white horse rider of Revelation 19, another saying that mercy is over, another saying Jesus has come as the Lion and the Judge. Some of these things are outside the basic realm of intelligence.

[1] 65-0919, Thirst, Rev. William Marrion Branham

[2] 57-0623, Believe From The Heart, Rev. William Marrion Branham

[3] 57-0407m, God Keeps His Word, Rev. William Marrion Branham