James Rozak – Off The Shelf

Episode 10 – An interview with James Rozak (Part 3)

Off The Shelf

Episode 10 - An interview with James Rozak (Part 3)

00:00 / 00:39:56

Join Rod and Bryan in part 3 of their interview with James Rozak, the author of the Morning Mercy website.

James Rozak was the Associate Pastor of Edmonton Word Assembly for 10 years, serving alongside Eugene Braun. James believed and preached the message as best he knew.

But in February of 2013, the unthinkable happened and James made a decision with his wife to leave the message of William Branham.

In this last part of the interview, James discusses:

How MorningMercy.com started and how it got its name.
Fear and phobia in the message.
James answers a question that was sent to us by one of our listeners.
The creeds and dogmas of the message.
Legalism and anti-nomianism.
Why people have problems leaving the message.

The question that one of our listeners asked was this:

I noticed that our minister almost every week at least mentions once that women should wear a long skirt, shouldn’t have any makeup or cut their hair in any shape or form. And often he adds: “Well you can hate me for telling you these things, but then you must hate god’s prophet too, cause he told it first.”

It sounds as if he is feeling that there is something wrong with these regulations, so he tries to protect himself by saying: “Hey, it’s not my fault that you have to suffer because of these rules!”

Can you talk about similar experiences you [had]? I would appreciate it if you could do a whole podcast on this topic! What does the Bible tell us according to these things??

Referenced website – MorningMercy.com is a resource for former followers of William Branham and contains encouragement from the perspective of an ex-message follower.

Music – Mercy by Andraé Crouch from Mercy (1994) – View Album

Episode 9 – An interview with James Rozak (Part 2)

Off The Shelf

Episode 9 - An interview with James Rozak (Part 2)

00:00 / 00:23:49

Rod and Bryan continue their discussion with James Rozak, the author of the Morning Mercy website, in part 2 of their interview

James Rozak was the Associate Pastor of Edmonton Word Assembly for 10 years, serving alongside Eugene Braun. James believed and preached the message as best he knew.

But in February of 2013, the unthinkable happened and James made a decision with his wife to leave the message of William Branham. Issues discussed on this podcast include:

Concerns with the emphasis by ministers on William Branham, rather than Jesus Christ;
Reaction of other ministers to James’ focus on helping people that were subject to abuse;
The problem with abuse in the message and how ministers deal with it;
Cognitive dissonance and the impact on Christians who are still in the message;
The testimony of Alfred Pohl, a man who questioned whether people were actually being healed in William Branham’s meetings.

Article referred to in the podcast – The Testimony of Alfred Pohl

Referenced website – MorningMercy.com is a resource for formers followers of William Branham and contains encouragement from the perspective of an ex-message follower.

Music – Great Is Thy Faithfulness by Jon Gibson, (lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm and music by William Runyan – 1923) from Soulful Hymns (2002) – View Album

Episode 8 – An interview with James Rozak, the author of Morning Mercy

Off The Shelf

Episode 8 - An interview with James Rozak, the author of Morning Mercy

00:00 / 00:26:19

Join Rod and Bryan as they interview James Rozak, the author of the Morning Mercy website.

James Rozak was the Associate Pastor of Edmonton Word Assembly for 10 years, serving alongside Eugene Braun. James believed and preached the message as best he knew.

But in February of 2013, the unthinkable happened and James made a decision with his wife to leave the message of William Branham.

James was someone that loved the message, and lived it with a passion. He and his wife did not leave because they didn’t want to ‘live the life’. Instead, came to the realization that something was clearly very wrong.

James initially felt that the message was being mishandled by men; in fact, he felt he could be a voice that captured the truth and essence of what the message really was. But when the realization came that the problems were much more foundational, and the teaching itself was questionable – it became too much for him to ignore.

As a minister, he personally felt a responsibility to try to understand and resolve the questions. The problem was, there were no answers that adequately stood without turning a blind eye or performing mental gymnastics to excuse them. Consequently, when he felt he could no longer preach in good faith, he resolved to step down from my ministry. But it quickly became clear they could no longer continue attending the church, so with heavy hearts, they walked away.

As most people that leave the message, James experienced great hurt. The decision to leave the Message resulted in a complete annihilation of his reputation, a loss of everything familar – and left him, his wife and their children without friendships that he had expected were lifelong.

His desire to heal and help found expression through his website, Morning Mercy. While he still has many questions, he has no doubt that they made the right decision.

Referenced website – MorningMercy.com is a resource for formers followers of William Branham and contains encouragement from the perspective of an ex-message follower.

Music – Great Is Thy Faithfulness by 2nd Chapter of Acts, (lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm and music by William Runyan-1923) from Hymn Collection (2003) – View Album