We recently had an experience in our church that really showed us how crafty our adversary really is, and how true are our prophet's words, how that devil will try every dirty trick he can to upset us along the path. We wanted to testify of it, to expose him, just in case he was trying a similar trick somewhere else in the world, among our fellow believers of this Message.
We have truly been blessed in this season by the tremendous work of VGR in providing, not only us, but the Bride universal, the Word of God in its purest form. We are thankful for your stand with the prophet's instructions on the highest possible audio quality over the years and we have certainly been beneficiaries, especially in recent times. The devil knew that he couldn't tamper with the materials you provide, so he somehow found a loophole among us, where he did get his "foot in." This is what he did.
The audio system in our church is quite simple. In order to play the Voice for services, we would use a laptop connected to the main system, through which we would use the Table CD's. Our speakers and system are not "state of the art" but have been adequate for our use thus far. However we had not realized how subtly the enemy was trying to rob us, until we recently listened to the sermon "The Mark of the Beast" 56-0715. On this Wednesday night, as we listened, we were alarmed at how difficult it was to hear exactly what Brother Branham was saying. There seemed to be an 'echo' of some sort that really disturbed us.
After the service, talking about the issue, some thought that it was the quality of the original recording, but others who were acquainted with that particular sermon knew that it was just as clear as any. This put us in a state of desperation. We felt that it would not make any sense to have the highest quality VGR CD's on one hand and a low quality audio system on the other. That would definitely defeat the purpose. For our Sunday morning service, listening to "Trying to do God a Service Without being the Will of God" 65-0718m, we encountered a similar problem, only a little better, as we tried to adjust the equalizer settings. At the end of the service we announced that we had to address this problem immediately, and we realized that Satan was battling us, especially since we announced our intention to go into the Holy Ghost series as inspired by YF's Revival Month for our upcoming services. What made things worse is that normally we would print copies of the sermon for the services, but the printer has been down for the past couple weeks, so we knew he was fighting us all around.
Between our morning service and our Brothers meeting in the evening, a few brothers remained at church to try to rectify the problem, checking everything from speakers to wires. In the meeting, they reported their findings, of some crossed wires and speakers needing servicing, but no significant improvement. We eventually resorted in the option of replacing the entire system which would REALLY cost us. This would be in the long term, but we needed something better for our next service. After the meeting, most of the brothers remained in a last ditch effort to troubleshoot and test the system.
For more than an hour, we tried everything we could, even trying an independent MP3 player (not playing through the system), which was much better. We were at our wits end, when suddenly a brother suggested that we check the laptop settings. After a while, we discovered that, amazingly, that old serpent had put on a sound effect on the audio system. That devil had hand-picked a sound effect called "Sewer Pipe" ( how sacrilegious!), which would account for the 'echo' that was upon each sermon. No one could give an account of how this setting was put there or how long ago it had been changed, the only clue being that there was a change in the laptop used at some point in time. The brother in charge of the audio system came in for some upbraiding, though he admittedly knew nothing of the change. All of us, however, realized how prayerful and dedicated we ought to be, even about the 'electronic' parts of the service.
The setting was taken off and the same "Mark of the Beast" was played, and it was just as perfect as could be. Satan tried to drain our resources and rob us of our Revival. He probably had a good laugh with his 'sewer pipe trick,' but he will certainly have to change his strategy, "for we are not ignorant of his devices"(2 Cor.2:11). We thank the Lord Jesus for exposing the enemy's plot and giving us the victory. To Him be Glory and Honor. His Never Failing Presence be with you all.
Point Fortin Tabernacle, Trinidad, WI.