Identification #13

Shall we pray.

Heavenly Father, we just pray earnestly this morning that even as we have already said that Your Word has taught us that we must be as little children, obedient and willing to be trained, willing to be shown things, willing to be helped, and willing to be brought up to a place of maturity.

May we receive that this morning in simplicity, and let the Word, we pray, be as food to us, even as Brother Branham taught, spiritual food in due season, the manna of the hour, the Word for this hour. May we revel in It, and It revel in us, Lord, as two who are truly compatible, which we know we have to be, because we realize, Father, that the dove cannot light upon the wolf, but it has to light upon the lamb, showing the complete reality of that which is compatible.

And since we know our compatibility lies this morning in the desire of our hearts to know the Word, and know that this the only true Word, the only Word in which there is life, we believe, therefore, the Spirit of God is leading us, and may He lead us now in those channels which are beautiful even as in the 23rd Psalm, Lord, the sheep beside the still waters, having been well-fed in the green pastures, O God, thoroughly content knowing as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and we’ve already done that, that we are literally, Lord, on the other side, except for the little fragments of time that need to be taken away, and we burst in full stream into the eternality of You, Yourself, concerning that which is the physical, already having had the spiritual.

We pray we’ll understand this, Lord, and therefore walk in that light, and the peace of God be with us and in us. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated.

Now, last night we showed you that in the message on “Identification”, the scriptural basis was actually in Hebrews 2. And Hebrews 2 is at present in progress and will end up in the reality of all the Bride together, especially in the New Jerusalem. It is not that this is not true in the Millennium.

It is true that He will be in the midst of the Bride, in the midst of the children of God, all those who come out in the First Resurrection, and there’ll be a temple worship which I don’t understand, but I’m happy that it’ll be there and other things which we just have to wait and see. But the true Omega is in the New Jerusalem, where the Only-begotten Son of God, Who is called the Lamb, Who is also Messiah, will be there, and the Bride around Him, the attendants around them, and they’ll be praising and worshipping God.

And then, the Lamb will definitely ascend the throne with Jehovah-Elohim in the Pillar of Fire above the throne, and ‘before they call, He answers’.

In other words you’re back to an Edenic state and even beyond it, because when that particular time comes that “Before there is any call, the answer is there,” it simply means that the provision is there so liberally, that there is nothing that anybody could ever want, but it is already supplied. It’s like we’ve said many times that there can be no question, if there’s no answer.

And always a question must deal with a substance which is there but is not yet known in a way that can be apprehended, either in a physical way or a mental way or a spiritual way. But you’ll see there are no questions, because the answers are there. In other words there’s nothing that could puzzle you, nothing that you could want, nothing that’s lacking, nothing that hasn’t been thought of. It’s all laid out. At least this is my understanding of what could be so.

So, you’re looking at a perfect state. Now man’s tried to get that state by philosophy, and it hasn’t worked. He’s tried to get it by religion; it hasn’t worked. Christianity will only work, because it’s guaranteed that it will come to pass. Politics, economics cannot make it work.

There’s nothing that will make it work, because even in economics and under a liberal system where Bill Gates has 80 to 90 billion dollars, he wants another 180 billion. There’s no doubt about it. Yet he should be taxed to the extent where it would hurt. Everybody else is. The new tax cut they’re trying to give you now, doesn’t affect the lower echelon at all; they’re not paying taxes anyway. And then, it saves the multi-millionaires at least $20,000 more.

And the figures are, they’re trying to say, “Well, now…” And I will say President Clinton is right, trying to pay off the national debt. Why doesn’t he go a little bit further and collect four percent maximum off of everybody and pay it off? Make it a once in a lifetime collection. They’re not going to do it. See, no politician can make a correct decision. No matter what people are trying to do, you’re going to see more and more confusion.

Now, what am I trying to tell you? The more confusion, the more indecision, the more wrong decision, the more riot, the more ‘everything that is obviously wrong, and no man can do a thing about it’, lets you know, that as darkness has increased, light has even more increased, and we’re very on the verge of the complete demolition, destruction, vaporization of everything, and it means we’re going to be right in the Presence of God, where It’s one hundred percent perfect.

See, you can’t have the one without the other. It can’t be done. There had to be a flood to take Noah above it and give him back the earth. There’s not only waters up to the ankles at the time of Luther, water to the knees up to the time of Wesley, and waters up to the hips at the time of the Pentecostals, and waters to swim in, but Brother Branham added to it, “Waters to carry you across.”

Now everything that was good and fresh at the time of Luther is completely a debacle. Everything under Wesley has turned completely sour and set the children’s teeth on edge. And Pentecost is right to the place where there’s going to be the explosion pretty soon, and God’s going to call them all up, because a thousand year delay is nothing, waiting for the White Throne judgment. He’ll say, “I never knew you.” See, it’s all gone. But we’re coming to that place, for time and eternity have blended.

So, the major emphasis is no longer on time, it is in the view to the future, the Millennium, and to the great Kingdom of God, when there’s a New Jerusalem, a new Heavens, and a new Earth. That’s exactly why the doctrine of the Presence is misunderstood, is not known, and must be understood as I’ve explained it to you.

After all these years, I have the answer, and it’s a hundred percent clear-cut, because they said to Him, “Wilt Thou at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel?” That was one question. The other question in Matthew 16 was, “I thought Elijah was to come.”

“Why,” He said, “This was Elijah. If you’d have taken it, I’d have taken you right into the Kingdom.”

“Will You restore the Kingdom? When is the time of Your Presence? When are You going to take us to the Kingdom?”

And the answer is: He’s going to take us, and He is taking us to the Kingdom, now.

That’s what it’s all about. And don’t you think different, because that’s the answer. And I’m telling you. I’ve waited thirty years to get it down one hundred percent. And I’ve told you how I do it, how I teach, how the gift operates. I am not a prophet. But I can sense what’s in that Word as the doctrine, and the knowledge, and it’s line upon line, and precept upon precept, and here a little, there a little.

And I’ve come to the place in my own understanding, I’m satisfied that the precept and the line upon line and the ‘here and there a little’, the ‘jot and the tittle’, is now completely fulfilled. I understand what the Presence is all about.

What Rotherham said was true. It has to come into evidence before we know what it is. And that’s exactly what a prophet is all about. The manifestation that he is of God, vindicated by God, God in human flesh once more, God speaking to the people audibly, that Shout that came from heaven, God Himself having come down as the great messenger, the angel of the covenant, or the messenger of the covenant, because let’s face it, there never was a time when God did not enunciate a covenant.

You say, “Jesus did.”

I beg to differ. Jesus could say nothing but what the Father told him to say. So, every covenant is enunciated and initiated by God, and He is His Own Messenger. He is that Angel of the Covenant. So, don’t get your wires all crossed up. We’re to the place where we put everything back on God. Even as God is glorifying His Son and will continue to glorify Him, that must be all handed back to the Father, and He becomes ‘All and in All’. And if He becomes ‘All and in All’, He had to be ‘All and in All’ to begin with! See?

Begin to understand these things. Get them deep within your mind and your heart in simplicity. Because if you don’t understand doctrine, you haven’t got that groove to flow in. You’ll always be confused. You’ll bring in your mind, “Oh, what about this thing said here? What about that thing?”

Just leave it! If you want to get disturbed, I’ll say one thing: you just read William Branham and try to believe him without a distinct help of the Holy Ghost guiding you, you can be so confused over what he said, saying, “I thought he came to make things clear. It’s muddier than ever.”

Sure, because your mind is muddy. Not him. He knew what he was saying. He told you, “You might not know what I’m saying, but I know what I’m saying.” He told you that flat. It’s in there.

So, we understand then, that Brother Branham was actually teaching from Hebrews 2 on “Identification”, which is as Kenyan tried to bring out and failed so miserably. Dr. Price also tried it. And I’ve read their books. They just didn’t have it. And I wasn’t even under Brother Branham’s tutelage.

I’m talking when I was just a Pentecostal boy at the age of 18, 19, 20, 21 or 22 when I read their books. And it didn’t ring a bell. And they wrote on the Father and the family. And Price even went so far as to try to write on what happened at the time of Jesus, within the three days of burial and what was going on. And that rang a bell like a wooden bell with no clanger in it. It just wasn’t there.

The only thing… Now I’m setting myself up within myself… not for you. This is for Lee Vayle within himself. I was my own judge within myself as to whether they were saying correctly. And I knew they were not correct. And the only thing that rings a bell with me, and that’s, you do what you want to do about it.

I’m talking about me and where I stand, the Message on Brother Branham giving us the truth of where we came from, where our roots are, what our identity is, what our species, what our genus, all of those things exactly what we are. In other words, our source, and we running true to the source!

Now, that’s the catch right there. The people failed to realize that God so condescended that He put Himself in a human body. And His life is in literally millions of human bodies, because He put His life into Adam, breathed into Adam the breath of lives, which was the Holy Ghost as has been identified by Brother Branham, a vindicated messenger.

And, if you don’t believe that Brother Branham’s a vindicated messenger, then you’ll listen to something else and say, “Well, I don’t think that was the Holy Ghost. I believe that was just artificial respiration.”

I’ve got no problem; and trust you don’t, either.

See, people are not sold on vindication, that’s the whole trouble. That’s why people let this Message go all askew; they do not understand vindication. You follow what I’m saying? That’s why I press it in every single message. I’ve preached that Word thousands and thousands of times. I’ve preached on it thousands of times. And I’ll never cease to preach on it. Vindication!

That’s why Paul said, “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus was a great man, but I’m going to tell you one thing: you have to put Jesus on the back burner, because he was only on the front burner for the very reason that he was here on the grounds that whatever happened, he put it all back on God, so that when you look at Jesus, you’re looking at one thing: you’re looking at God! That’s all.

You don’t look at him as though he’s anybody, though he is somebody. Let’s not sell that short. Jesus is not sovereign. He is not omnipotent; he is not omniscient. It is God Who is omniscient. And when God allows him to use His omniscience and omnipotence, it’s limited as to exactly how God wants it done. Otherwise he becomes disobedient to his Father, and becomes a child of disobedience, which he cannot be! He can’t be!

Now, why I’m saying this, you and I have to take the same attitude. We cannot be other than what we are. We are what we are. There is no divine alchemy. There is no changing of a sheep to a goat; a pig to a sheep, a dog to a sheep. No way. The goat goes right back where he used to be, the crawdad goes back where he was, the fish only stay in the net.

The pig goes back to the wallow; the dog to his vomit. They never were sheep. There’s no divine alchemy that God uses there. He does not change species. And that’s why the world’s in such a mess today; they’re trying to interrelate the species in such a way as to think it’s going to be beneficial. The interrelation of species of the beast with man has proven so terrible, that it’s ending up today with AIDS, and people are literally rotting on their feet. Wonderful. That’s marvelous. Oh, I love that. Let’s have more of it.

So, what do you think they’re going to do with the engineered food? The pollen of the corn kills the Monarch butterflies. What happens when they produce these big weeds out there that want to take over? They don’t understand: the Bible said, “The weeds take in the sunlight, and the sunshine, and the same fertilizer, and everything that the wheat does.”

Just leave it in God’s hands. No, they can’t do it. See? This is what identification is all about. A strain. Brother Branham calls it a strain. And a strain is a gene. It’s a specie. We’ll read it.

So, you must understand: what is my source? Where did I come from? And never mind how I got here. Never mind how you got here. When you get back there, you’ll understand that your parents in many cases were merely carriers. Your dad and mother might not make it. Your sisters and brothers, the same.

Well, you say, “Well, I’ve got to love them anyway.”

Paul loved them. What did he love them for? He wanted Israel to have what he had. “That,” Brother Branham said, “is love.” You love your enemies. You want them to have what you have, knowing full well if they have what you have, you’ll be the best friends in all the world. But don’t get any confused ideas.

You say, “Well, what about Moses?”

Moses stood there under law. And he said, “Lord, if you wipe them out, wipe me out.” What was he? The embodiment of grace. Because grace was before the law.

And grace stood right there and said, “Look, I’ll see you through.”

And there’s not one hair of our heads fall, but God knows it. There isn’t one tear, but it’s in his bottle. Then what about the souls? There’s not one child that’s going to miss the predestinated plan of Almighty God, having come from God.

Now, remember; right there, there’s a generic right there whether you know it or not. A generic is right across the line, not thoroughly specified, as to exactly what is in that gene. It’s like drugs. So, all right. You’ve got the whole world generic all human beings. Within that you’ve got another generic. You’ve got two kinds of virgins.

The word’s not a good word, but it can be used. It’s best to just go back to genus, to what your roots are. The others just have their roots in creation, and anything that’s created is not eternal. Only the eternal is not created, and will live forever. Anything created which has a beginning will have an end. Can’t live, unless God sustains it.

That’s why all things are maintained by the Word of Almighty God, but It doesn’t say that about the Christian. He has a self-maintenance within him, as Brother Branham said, “Healing lies within you; don’t push it too far.”

As he said concerning your soul, being that which came from God, he said, “You’ll find you always were saved, at some time in your life.” In other words you’ll wake up and realize what he is teaching in “Identification”.

So, that’s what the story is about: God and His family. And no man wrote about it. No man hid it. Calvin never did it. Calvin never had the Holy Ghost. He only knew as a scholar about predestination. That’s all. And anybody can read the Bible and draw a conclusion, but Calvin could not trace predestination from the source. And everybody from that time on, being legalists, even the old fashioned, not the Quakers, but they’re spiritual, like Fox and the different ones, years ago… They were perhaps the most spiritual people at that time.

Then under Wesley come along with Armenianism. And that’s the most ridiculous thing in all the world. You find God Who loses something just to find it. So God’s playing a game. So He throws, like He has a bunch of cards, throws them over His shoulder. “Um, let’s see now. I think the ace of hearts fell over here. And the queen of hearts is over here.”

You think God’s playing some game? He loses something just to find it? As though He’s a God Who’s literally promiscuous? No, you can’t find that. He shows you in Scripture the exact truth that those who are of God, in their proper positions, will be around the throne of God, even as the Lamb is on the throne, and Jehovah-Elohim above the throne in a Pillar of Fire. And there’ll be no night there, because the Lamb is the light. And He’s the life thereof.

So then, we understand how far we’ve come. And the last little bit of paragraph I read up there was:

[78]  And Jesus as the Redeemer.

Now remember, Jesus never came to inculcate a character in people, although the character will be there. He never came for that. He never came as a philosopher. He never came as a world leader. He came as a redeemer to pay a price. Now never mind what the price is. You don’t have to know what the price is; although we do know, because Peter tells us what it is.

But remember; He came to redeem, which means to buy back, or to take, to pay the ransom for whatever is in captivity, for whatever reason. And remember; the reason is sin. And man, therefore, is separated from God because of sin, and he cannot possibly come back to the Edenic state. He cannot go to the Millennium. He cannot go to the New Jerusalem. He can have nothing.

He is obliterated in the sense that now he’s separated from God, and now it is all over; and as long as he is… And remember; being eternal within his soul, forever and ever and ever… And infinity is a terrible thing. You cannot think about it. There’s no way you can think about it. It goes on and on and on, and the mind cannot go on and on and on. But the mind has to say something is going to go on and on and on.

And now these people who believe that nonsense, believe that the souls are eternal. They believe it. And they believe every soul is eternal. And they say you can go with your eternal soul to an eternal hell, and that’s an absolute lie from the pit of hell!

So, putting everything aside, no matter what your thoughts are, ‘redemption’ means ‘to buy back’, ‘to pay the price’, ‘to restore’, ‘to put in its rightful position with the rightful owner’, so the rightful owner can deal with his rightful possession. Absolutely free.

Now the next thing you learn, the price of redemption was not with silver and gold, nor with even a life that was lived. And there’s where the Seventh Day Adventists get all mixed up and messed up. They want to talk about a life lived.

Jesus Christ could be on this earth for ten billion years, and it wouldn’t do any good, as far as you and I are concerned. He had to shed His Blood. So, redemption is by Blood. The forgiveness of sin is by Blood; the price paid was by Blood.

Now it wasn’t just a price paid though that in itself was good, but that’s not the whole of it. The next thing is, as Brother Branham brought out and the theologians have never brought out the life of an animal could not come back upon the believer, but the life of Jesus Christ could in the baptism with the Holy Ghost.

Now the man is empowered to go where he was supposed to go when he was in the Garden of Eden, and never got there. It becomes a guarantee of a human being, living in a place where he does not sin, where he cannot sin, where nothing can ever go awry, as I’ve already said, before they call He answers, because there’s nothing to call about.

Because you wouldn’t know what to call for, because it’s there in front of you, and you don’t know anything you could have asked for. In other words you’re satiated. You become a gourmand, as it were. You’ve reached the height of piggery. Right. Right. There you have no appetite left for anything that isn’t there. No desire that is awkward, or it’d be immoral, or it’d be a problem.

You say, “Then I become inert like a stone.”

No! This is the first time you really wake up and really begin to move in the realms of God! Yes. So, if you think you have something here at this point, and you do, let me assure you, the Roman candle has not yet burst forth to where you and I are going, and it’s going to take at least one thousand years, maybe more, to where we get there.

So, this is what Brother Branham is saying: the identification of where you came from, the journey which these children must go through, all that they must believe, where they are going, what they must do, and what they’re given whereby they can do it, everything is in the Book. There is nothing outside this Bible that you and I need. It’s all here for every single day and minute and second of our lives. It’s all here. And it’s all identified.

And so, Brother Branham said, “I’m taking you to the Bible.”

And we’re going to have some identification here. And we wound up to this point with identification, that we ponder, and wonder why God would do what He has done concerning us that is going to come forth to His glory and our great good and a further glory than anything we’ve ever known. And the answer is with Irenaeus, that Brother Branham himself brought forth.

At first Brother Branham said, “Deep calleth unto deep. If there’s a deep inside of you, there’s a deep out there.” The little boy was eating the rubber pedal of the bicycle, because he needed sulfur. And that is true. My own explanation was: there is no such thing as a question without an answer. In other words there’s a question here; there’s a fulfillment out there. That’s the same thing as “deep calling to deep.”

But both Brother Branham and I gave up our own thinking when we read Irenaeus, and I pointed it out. God being a Savior, it was necessary He predestinate a man who’d require salvation in order to give Himself a reason and purpose of being. Put it down: God being a healer, God being a provider, God being a comforter, God being your peace, right down the line.

And, when man will allow God to have the complete control of his life, there is no place that is too high for God to place that man as shown in Jesus, Who alone sought the will… And we’ll talk about that in this sermon here. Who did nothing, but the will of God. And now He’s given a place above every name, except God’s Own Name. In fact God gave Him His Own Name! Because He paid that price.

So what are we looking at? We’re looking at what your mind and my mind cannot conceive because of the flesh getting in the way.

We’re like Samson, “A pretty girl over here, oh we better go and pick her up, or let her pick us up.”

Or Solomon, “Oh, we can make an alliance with the king over here, by marrying a daughter. I don’t even want her, but it makes good politics.”

Nah, no, no, no, no, no. Your cry is like, Your cry is like, “My God get us out of here. O God, put us in an atmosphere different. O God, get us out of the flesh. O God, there’s something inside here that doesn’t want to be a stupid chicken eating on the manure heap and crowing about it. God help us; get me out of here. I’m an eagle. I want the fresh kill. I want to soar in the atmosphere above. I want to get away from all this stuff.”

Well, there’s coming a day. And that’s what was provided by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the shed Blood, to give us the life that we have need of, binding us back to God, that we can walk in the light as He in the light, have fellowship with Him unending, unending, beautiful until the shadow here becomes a reality.

And it’s coming soon. Because remember; faith is a substanting. Faith guarantees it. It’s a guarantee. And the Holy Ghost is a further guarantee. And what is that guarantee of the Holy Ghost? That you are going to get a glorified body.

And let’s face it, the guarantee of the Resurrection, and your baptism and my baptism with the Holy Ghost, guarantees that the wicked are going to come out of their graves, with bodies which are commensurate to the judgment that’s going to fall upon them, and the punishment that they will receive in the Lake of Fire. The rain falls on the just and the unjust, and the resurrection falls on the just and the unjust. Just keep your thoughts in the groove.

All right. And Brother Branham says here:

[78]  [Nobody] can take your place. Nobody can take my place. [Predestination.] You, being a Christian and filled with the Spirit, God, before the foundation of the world, saw you, saw me, and knew every feature you have.

You don’t like your features? You ought to like them. God gave them to you. Brother Branham said, “Picked your great great-great grandfather, and great-great grandmother, bring you down here.” Talking about it like Isaac and Jacob.

[78]  And Jesus came to bring you back. That’s what Jesus was here for, the Redeemer, the human body: to bring you back. [The human body, the body that died couldn’t corrupt.] That had to come to be a human, as Redeemer, to display His attributes as Savior, came to redeem you and bring you back where you came from.

And he’s talking about himself. too. And of course, you can get that in Ephesians 1. Remember, Ephesians 1 is the whole of eternity in a nutshell. That’s why Ephesians is perhaps the most illuminating and stupendous spiritual book of revelation in the Bible. Yet, you’ll never understand what I’m talking about without going to the Book of Romans.

And you’ll never get what I further said, until you go to the Book of Thessalonians. In fact, you will never understand anything till you understand the Bible. And the Bible is a book of doctrine. And if you don’t understand the doctrine, you worship God in vain. If you don’t understand your doctrine, you will have a complex problem on your hands.

You will not have a pie that cuts through the center to Jesus. You will have a pizza pie; and a pizza pie is not a pie, it’s a pizza. It is cut in sections and God knows what a mess it is. If you have pizza like I do, it comes in Italian meatloaf.

That’s not my Bible. That’s not my doctrine. It doesn’t crisscross. It goes right to the central, which is Christ, the Redeemer that sets everything in order. And only through Him do we have this ability to progress.

Now, think of this: if Adam and Eve had not sinned, and Christ had have been born, and being a first fruit, every one of us would have been like Him. How far would we have progressed in six thousand years in the knowledge and the image of God? Let your mind just think of it for a second. Where would I be today? Oh, my, where would I be?

My, that’s a drop in the bucket to where you’re going to be. The glory has never been revealed and cannot be, until it is manifested and taught to you, and you go from there. Nothing can ever develop from a theory. Uh-uh. Theories aren’t worth a nickel.

There must be reality. And that reality is bound by a law. So therefore, when anybody talks about a theory, which becomes evident, it never has been a theory! It’s been a law. Right, Russell? You know that Peter; you’re a chemist.

Don’t ever think you can theorize and get anywhere. You can’t, except go to hell. Eve theorized. Adam went into complete disobedience. Look at the mess we’re in. After six thousand years, people are dying, and they’re covering it up. And today the homosexual is running everything, and it’s so perverse and against nature, a few million homosexuals will now control the world!

And one of the ways they’re doing it is by disease. And so, they’re capitalizing on the disease and say, “Hey, we’re human. We’ve got a right. We’re a blessed of God.” They’re even preaching it and saying it: “You people have got to pay the taxes to keep us free from AIDS.”

And to bankrupt the world. I don’t give a rip what they do. I’ll fight them to a standstill. As far as I’m concerned, they are not right. They are of the devil, and I believe the trouble with this is it started with woman preachers with their softhearted ways. Because the woman doesn’t give a rip. She’s borne a child, “My poor baby, my poor baby.” He can be as rotten as the devil himself, but it’s her poor baby.

But a man, the head of the house says, “Look son, I’ll tell you something. You’re a responsible citizen; you better act responsibly”

How many men, how many men… You’ll find almost all men believe that. Well, maybe there’s a bunch of crackpots that don’t.

But women, almost a hundred percent, never say, “Look daughter, look son, I’ll tell you something.”

No, they got this goofy idea of love. It’s not love at all. It’s pandering. It’s an insult to intelligence. The world’s completely messed up.

And I believe women preachers are behind it, so now the men can say and anybody say, “Well, lesbian, homosexual, hey. It’s all great. It’s my choice.” God didn’t give you a choice, He told you. See, it all started with perversion, goes on and on and on.

Now he said, “The human body.” Why human body? Because we have human bodies, He had to have one. What for? Because He’s part of us, and we’re a part of Him! We’re all a part of God. In other words, the same life. But He has a status.

So, He came down, and He took upon Himself a human form, lived a perfectly sinless life and died, His spirit has come back upon the believer, the children of God, forming the body of the Lord Jesus Christ here upon earth.

And now, remember; there’s one thing. The church cannot be the fullness of Jesus on the grounds that Jesus is Redeemer, and the church can redeem nothing. Joining a church is simply stupid. Organization is of the devil. No way will that help you. You can be placed into the true church only through redemption by the Blood, and the Holy Ghost doing it.

As Brother Branham says, “You’re born into it.” And it’s by grace and has nothing to do with you as to personal choice. It has only to do with you, because of who and what you are, and because of who and what you are, you do make a choice.

Only the elect can hear and follow. Only those ordained to eternal Life can believe. And if you weren’t ordained to a body, raised up from the grave that lives forever and ever and ever, completely perfect and pure, in a realm ‘before you call’, because there’s no need to call, the answers are all there, the infinite mind has supplied so much to your mind and my mind, that there’s no way we could ever think of anything, no way we could ever desire anything,

Because the bodies are so reconciled to the glorious vibrations of God, that you talk about a thrill: you live in the constant thrill of the life of God, which is the envy of all angels and all creation nothing but perfection as no one could even express it; I have no way to do it. And you’ll have a body that is in perfect harmony, where you can go faster than the speed of thought from one place to another, where the vibrations are so high, you could go through a wall the same as Jesus did.

Not that you’re going to be running around going through walls and jumping over the moon and… You know, come on. Let’s not be babies. Well, babies are fine, but not idiots, you know. You know. How long can you stand a baby going boing boing boing with his head against the wall? Drives you nuts, doesn’t it? Just even thinking about it. Well, we’re not that kind of people. We’re simplistic, but we are not foolish and stupid.

Now:

[78]  …the Redeemer, the human body: to bring you back.

To bring what back? To bring you back as the three-fold person you are; body, soul and spirit. But get this one thing: remember, the spirit is outside waiting to receive the body. The soul is on the inside of the body coming out. And that spirit has to go in there to make a connection to the world. It’s allowed of God but is not of God and is given.

And remember; the spirit goes back to God Who gave it. I have no revelation of any Scripture that said that spirit entered that body at the day of the resurrection. I have no Scripture to tell you and me that on the day of the resurrection we are any more than body and [soul]. I know one thing, Jesus said, “Handle me and see a spirit hath not flesh and bone.”

But we are spiritual in the sense of that soul. Whether that spirit’s there again, I care not. Doesn’t concern me one little bit. All I know it works between my brain, which is physical, and my eyes, my physical senses, and puts all these things in my brain, computes them, and goes down in to my soul. And what my soul is fed on, that is where it’s going to come out and going to be really true.

And, as Brother Branham talked to the old Indian, the Indian said, “You know, I got two dogs inside of me: one white, one black.”

And Brother Branham said, “Which dog wins?”

He said, “The one that I feed the most.”

So, Brother Branham said, “Feed the Christ within you.”

Jesus said, “I live by the Word of God.”

Now he said:

[79]  When you receive Eternal Life, there’s only one form of Eternal Life. That’s the Greek word “Zoe.”

Now, that’s true, because that’s the only word that refers to God as Zoe. Not ‘bio’, for biology. And there’s three words altogether. I forget what the other is. The two of them are ‘zoe’, and ‘bios’, or biology. This word ‘zoe’ is where you get zoology. And it’s life in general.

But it refers to God as life Himself and the great Creator, without Whom there would be no other life at all, and because we are children of God, that life applies now to us, and without us there’d be nothing out here either; so therefore, you use the word ‘Zoe,’ concerning God’s Own life.

But, remember; Brother Branham said, “Your God could be a piano.” You know? Like the God of America is gold, and the goddess is a naked woman. It’s a terrible… Actually, this nation is completely heathen and doesn’t know it. They’re educated heathen. And an educated heathen is the worst there is. It’s really too bad, but it’s true.

[79]  So you, being a son, [see, you already got a part of the life of God,] you became part of that Life.

Actually, you were a part of that Life. Not become. Only in the sense that God is looking at you in His mind and it’s not imprinted you what’s in His mind by omnipotence down into His Own life, to bring it forth. That’s all I can think about at this point, to say.

[79]  So [that] Life that’s in you never did begin and can never end. Think of it. It can’t end, because that’s anything eternal never began. And the Life that’s in you never did begin, that is, if you’ve got eternal Life. And that’s God; for you were in His thoughts on the eternal.

Now, remember; if something is going to be expressed, it first of all has to be written. It comes from the mind of God, it’s in a book, and it’s expressed. That’s three in a row, and that’s how it goes, as far as I understand what Brother Branham teaches.

So now, all right.

[79]  And now it’s expressed here in a human being for His glory. [Now, that’s both us and Jesus.] Jesus came to redeem that, being the Son.

In other words, the Only-begotten Son the only one qualified to do it; because, you see, he had what was sufficient to live that life.

[79]  The fullness of God had to come and become that.

In other words, if God were to fully express Himself the way He wanted Himself expressed, this is how He did it. And this boggles the mind of people, because to the Greeks, it’s foolishness. To the Jews, it’s idolatry. To the world, it’s mumble-jumble. To the brilliant thinkers, there’s no such thing; it can’t be.

No, no, no. And you cannot tell man’s a sinner, because that makes him think he’s a sinner, and it’s degrading. Never tell a homo he’s outside the ark of God. No, he’s in God’s pocket, because God loves the homo above anybody else, and He proved it by giving him AIDS, too. The devil gave him AIDS or somebody did.

So, you see, he’s hitting this very hard. He’s hitting identification with a sledgehammer. Most people think he’s using a little teeny, what would you call a toothpick instead of an ice pick. You ever seen an ice pick? Tongs, sharp, strong and could go right into the brains right through the earlobes.

Now:

[79]  The fullness of God had to come and become that. [In other words, Jesus was the fullness of Godhead bodily.] The sinless character of God did that, that He might redeem these other thoughts that’s come to Him to make Him a wife.

Now, just look at that for a minute. “The sinless character of God did that, that He might redeem those other thoughts that come to Him.” Now, if God produced the sinless character in Jesus, and He had to take a special root and a special way to do it a special birth, special everything.

Then, what He wanted to accomplish must be accomplished in us, whether we know it or not, or admit to it or not, on the very grounds God failed, if he cannot do His Own Will.

Now, if you don’t think I’m telling you the truth, I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians, and I’ll read It to you. Got your Bibles?

You don’t know him after the flesh. You’re looking at him in a special position, no longer here on earth in a ministry. You’re looking at him now, and, of course, he’s the high priest.

In other words, God did not fail through Jesus’ ministry. That very character which Brother Branham talks of, that sinless perfection, has now become ours through Jesus Christ actually transmitting it to us! Now the Bride is the righteousness of God revealed. And man looks at himself and says, “How can that be?”

That’s where faith comes in. And man looks down the road and says, “Look, I am what He said I am, because I’m going to become what He says I will be. And, of course, that could not be under any consideration, except I always was!” Because there’s no divine alchemy, even in God, to change a pig to a sheep. It’s the sheep that went astray and are still sheep. And they must be treated as sheep.

And therefore, Brother Branham said, “You always had a part of you which was eternal, or there is no answering of the deep to the deep.” There has to be some kind of a deep here to want a greater deep out there, which is of the same deep. Won’t do. Won’t do

Like the word of the prophet said, “The ass knows the masters crib, but my people don’t know me.”

They know how to get to the crib. The eagle knows how to fly his patterns. But where is the person, the child of God that really knows how to get to God? He can’t do it on his own. And God has made the way propitious.

And remember; this was God’s plan, so God had to have a way to cause His plan to come to pass. If He saw in eternity, before there was a creation of any description or a birth, if He saw the New Jerusalem and Himself above the throne in a Pillar of Fire, then He had to have the power to bring it to pass! That’s predestination!

What good is anybody dreaming dreams simply as a daydreamer, instead of a planner who puts into practice his plans? You’re just sitting around sucking your thumb and blowing bubbles. Forget it. I am a bread and butter preacher and a meat and potatoes kind of a guy. I don’t live on dreams. I can’t dream. I gave it up years ago.

Every now and then I try to just daydream. It’s utterly impossible. No, I don’t want to be like the guy that dreamed he went to sleep that night with his belly rumbling, because he had nothing in it, and he dreamed he had a sumptuous meal, but he only woke up twice as hungry.

Or the guy out in the desert, he was so thirsty, his mouth was parched, his body parched, lying there dehydrating, and he dreamed he was in a pool of water drinking, and woke up worse than ever.

I’m not that kind of a person. Is this real? Then fine, I want it. Is it real, and I’m real? Then I got it. And this is what the Bible said, “We have become the righteousness of God through Him.”

In other words: a gift of grace. Exactly what He was, we are. That’s why we died with Him, we rose with Him, and reign with Him. I’m going to tell you something. When He joined us to Himself, there’s no way He can get away from us. And believe me, He won’t let us get away from Him.

And He said, “I’ll tell you one thing, I’m giving you the laws to live by and tell you how to get even greater things, than you even dream possible, coming from what this has done and put you back on that level.”

[79]  When you receive eternal Life, God’s own Life. [All right.] And now it’s expressed here in a human being for His glory. [Now, notice.] And now it’s expressed here in a human being for His glory.

Now, what do you think that human being could be? Is that a generalized statement, or is that a specific statement leading to William Branham? It’s a specific statement leading to William Branham. We’ll find that very soon, I hope.

[79]  Jesus came to redeem, being the Son. The fullness of God had to come and become that.

Sure it did. For God to manifest Himself in every one of His names and titles, it had to come through this. No other way it could be. So, the fullness of God was thoroughly expressed in Jesus. But don’t try to take that bodily and pour it into Jesus and throw God away, then pour it into the church and throw Jesus away.

I explained it last night and showed you! If you believe this Bible, there’s a Bride, and it’s got a head! And that head’s got a Head. And Brother Branham categorically said the body had to come to the Head. Right? Exactly what he said. But, first of all, the Head’s got to come to the body, spiritual headship, God. And He’s already done it.

There it is on the wall. A picture. You see? People take this message and they preach nothing but Latter Rain hogwash, Latter Rain. Pretty soon they’ll be doing latter rain frog hops. I don’t think they ever quit it. Nah, they never did climb a wall. They tried it.

[79]  The sinless character of God did that, that He might redeem these other thoughts that’s to come to Him to make a wife.

Now, just a minute; let’s look at that word ‘character’. The word ‘character’ comes from both the Greek and usually from the French. And it means ‘an engraving’ or ‘an etching’.

Now, what is an ‘engraving’ or an ‘etching’? All right. Let’s say that this here is a piece of slate. I’m a clever etcher, artist, and I etch. What do I do? I make marks in this thing down here that brings out something beautiful that I want. That’s character.

So, what did God do? Working through Jesus, and Jesus being that recipient, quiescent, letting God move in Him, brought forth this character! God etched Him! The same thing as being with us. God wants to take these lumps of clay as a potter, and etch them. When He made the lamp sticks, He decorated them.

Then finally, He had this great man endowed with the Holy Ghost, Bezaleel, and he took a little tiny pinpointed awl, and that’s when he did the fine needle work, little fine dots in there. And today they take dots, and you’ve seen them, and John’s got one, and I can never find the face in that bunch of dots. Just forget it. All it is, is a bunch of dots in there makes a picture.

What if God was using His fine needles on you and me and the picture never came out, and nobody could ever see Christ? See? Then, that means the object was not willing to take the etching, when it should have been.

Now, that etching is usually with an awl, a needle, chisel or something, or acid. And it makes that, what we now call, character, an imprint. So, God was imprinting Himself through the obedience of Jesus to the Word: “I only do His will; only say what He says, do what He wants me to do.” That‘s perfection. And that was that character.

And now, that character what Jesus did is passed on to you and me gratis, by grace. We are the restored children of God, completely liberated, and we now have one thing left: we can gain a position in the Kingdom, which can only be gained, as I understand it because “Let no man take thy crown…” can only be gained by obedience to what? To the Word of God.

So therefore, the Word of God is the acid or the etching, the etcher, and the imprinting, or whoever does it for the designer, whatever you want to call it. He is doing that to us, and as we stand as that lump of clay that clay tablet, we become those living epistles.

And now you can see that in Isaiah 54, which is quoted later by Jesus, I think it is, or John. Isaiah 54:13, and It says:

Now It said, verse 12, ahead of It:

The only true liberty is doing what God says to do, and stand back and let God carry the thing through for you. Like Daniel and the three Hebrew children.

On what grounds? You’ve got between you and that thing, the Word. And that’s what happened. Eve let the Word go from between her and Satan. And that’s what happens to you and me. We leave out the Word through fear and habits, by not putting our faith in that Word, knowing that that Word cannot return to God void.

Now, let’s go to,

Now, what did he say? He said, “I want this to be written like an iron pen and set in tables of stone. That I know I’m part of the Resurrection.” Now, that’s what we’re supposed to be saying in this hour. You might not believe it, but that’s what Brother Branham taught us. And it’s in the Word of God.

Now we go to John 6:45, and we find the prophecy reiterated here, and this is, of course, on the discourse of the Bread of Life. And so, 6:45 will inform us that:

Now, if you haven’t learned of the Father, you don’t even know Who He is, how are you going to come? See, people have made easy believism the core of Christianity, and it’s a lie. There’s no easy believism; it’s revelationism. And if you don’t got it, you’re never going to get anywhere. And we haven’t come to the point, which we know the point is, how we know we have the revelation.

Now, let’s look at Proverbs 22:6, and let’s find out what we find here. And it’s very, very interesting.

In other words maturity, or placing, as in the adoption, as Brother Branham said, is by the Holy Ghost maturing you into a Christian. And you’re right back where I was teaching this morning, just to you people here, not on tape, how that life is nothing but a series of habit patterns.

So, if you get the habit of putting your mind on the Word, you get your habit of going to the Word for what you’re supposed to do, and you keep on doing it, there’ll come a time when you mature into life, where there’s no way you’ll get away from It. Now I’m that way with the doctrine.

You try to tell me that I’m preaching two gods when I know there’s a Father with a Son and a lot of children. Hey, I could blow your stupid brains out, but you don’t have a brain to blow out, so I won’t waste my cartridges. If you want to tell me the baptism with the Holy Ghost is subsequent to the rebirth, I’ll tell you you’re completely foolish.

If you try to tell me tongues is any evidence, I’ll take you to Matthew 7 and show you, but you won’t believe it. I’ve come to the place where I cannot think anything outside of this Message. Now, if I only can come to the place where I can think nothing outside of the Word of God for conduct and action, attitude, reaction, hey! I’ve got there.

But I’m going to tell you one thing: without the first, the second wouldn’t be worth a nickel. Wouldn’t be worth a plug nickel! The second has to be by spiritual motivation, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. I hope you follow me, because I’m telling you the utmost truth, right down the line, here.

[79]  Jesus came to redeem, being the Son. The fullness of God had to come and become that. [In other words, it took God in Him to do it.] The sinless character of God did that, and so on right down the line.

And we’ve showed you how that’s yours and mine. Through Jesus Christ we now have become the righteousness of God, by being joined to Him. Wonderful. Let’s go on. Brother Branham said:

[80]  Notice, ‘created’. He said, “Notice, creation,” [This is a kind of a disjointed thing.] God flowed through Him just like the wind would flow through a building, or water flow down a stream, even He had him and the Word being One.

Now you see that’s how it worked. He and the Word were one. And remember; when you talk about Word, you talk about expression. You talk about the reality coming into manifestation. That’s why the word ‘presence’, ‘parousia’, was such a peculiar word. Nobody could figure it, because it didn’t have a thing to do with the person coming. It had everything with the person being there. “You being there.”

So, they said, “Now, ‘You being there,’ when is the day of ‘You being there?’”

“Well,” He said, “that’s in the Father’s hands…” because they knew no Kingdom without Him.

Now the Jews knew that back there two thousand years ago. How come Christians today don’t know it? They still don’t understand ‘parousia’! They’ve turned down Presence all around the country. It’s called garbage, everything else. Now I’m telling you the truth.

They don’t want to know about it. No, no. You know why they don’t want to know about it? Because they’ve already believed the lie! When you believe a lie, how can you believe the truth? Well, you can’t! You can’t be of two minds at one time concerning one thing, anymore than an object can be two places at one time! Yet, theoretical physics can prove that.

You know that, Peter? But it’s a bunch of hogwash, anyway.

You know what theoretical physics is? A theoretical physicist can sit here and suddenly gets inspiration, and it comes so fast, if he doesn’t blurt it out, he can’t write it. And, if you’re that smart, any university will hire you at an astronomical figure. Because I’m going to tell you something: people will pay more for fertilizer than they will for reality. Yeah, it’s the truth.

Listen, I know what I’m talking about; I met a guy like that. University after university wanted to buy him out and get him. He won’t do it. He told me how it works. Instead he went and worked for IBM. Brilliant! Absolute, brilliant man. Any university would grab him.

Oh, they’re not stupid in universities. They know once in a while they hit gold. If there’s such a thing as tuning into, what I call, the universe… I don’t know if it’s God or the devil or what. Don’t ask me. I don’t know. I wish I did, and I’d tell you.

[80]  God flowed through Him. No other character could do it. He and the Word were One, for He was the only One that was born without carnality. All the rest of them were born of sexual desire, carnal. He was born without sex desire. He was virgin born.

[81]  God identified Him as we are. [Now, notice; God identified Him as we are.] He took His strain, [That’s His species.] what He was, His strain is God.

So therefore, we are thoroughly identified with Jesus, we are the same substance from the same Father, the same everything, but not in quantity and position, because He was given the Spirit without measure, and we with measure. And He has a position above everything that you and I can ever attain to; but, as far as the intrinsicality of that life within Him, it’s the same life.

As He came forth from God, when there was nothing to come forth from except God… He’s a part of God… You and I also. When God breathed into Adam the breath of lives, he became a living soul, the same thing happened, and is handed down through posterity; and the tragic thing is for you and me.

Although it’s not really tragic. It’s really what God wanted and what God gets, is to put this gem into fallible clay; and the clay… Too bad, too bad, but the clay would dominate the gem. Isn’t that tragic to think that?

Now God wants the gem to dominate the clay. It’s already as though we had. We’ll never get away from God, never miss the resurrection, no way, shape and form. The only thing we’ll miss in the plan of God is: Did we grow up as children to adults and establish those patterns through and in the Word that gave us the ability to judge righteously, our senses being exercised unto righteousness and godliness? That’s what it is. If we don’t want it, we’ll never get there. We’ll give way to emotions, everything else.

[81]  God identified Himself, [so on. Now,] He made Himself a tent, a body to live in, and that body is known as Jesus. There you are. God lived in Christ.

That’s the Messiah. So, that’s how God is Messiah at the same time Jesus is Messiah. Duality. “He hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Why? Who’s Messiah? God’s Messiah! You’re looking at Him. Just perfect, perfect, perfectly. See, Brother Branham brought this all out that nobody can make a mistake.

[81]  He became human in order to save us. And He took upon Him our form, that He might mold us in His character.

Well, that’s true. It’s tit for tat. He did a sowing in a substance, wherein we were, though different from Him, so that this substance now could be played upon by that life, and project Him, even to the fine needlework the little things that bug you, that really wouldn’t matter, but they do. Brother Branham said, “It’s the little things; not the big things.

[82]  And His character was that He did everything that pleased God, and He stayed with the Word.

Now the thing is this, Brother Branham could have said this a little more emphatically by saying that he did everything that pleased God, starting with the Word. He never, ever budge from the Word, as he was always on the Word, and therefore knowing God was the Word, he pleased God by every jot and tittle in the Word. So, that’s what you’re really looking at here, and that’s what Brother Branham is saying, as far as I can see.

[82]  And that’s what He molded us for; we stay with God’s Word, there it is, find our place, and then know where we’re at. Stay with the Word.

He’s telling you, you’ll never know your place. Uh-uh. You’ll never know where you’re standing, until first of all that Word comes into preeminence and revelation personally with you as to exactly what God has in mind with that Word in you at this moment. Follow me? That’s what he’s telling you.

[82]  And think of it. We’re invited to shape our characters to His. [We’re invited to use the same Word and stick with it.] Now, we’re going to find out what we’ve done. Shape our character to His own by His Own Spirit. Then we, by Him, are sons of God, just what I’ve expressed, by having His mind in us to shape our character to His.

What’s His mind? His mind is the Word of God. He told you He didn’t have a mind of His Own. You cannot speak without thinking. No way. Unless there’s a personality within you speaking through you. That’s a prophet or some great thing that God does every now and then, which I don’t understand, but He does it. But you have to think. See?

Like, “Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is fixed on Thee.” See? “Because he trusteth in Thee.” The fixed mind is because there’s a trust worthy, you put it to him, and you hold your mind to it.

Now, what was the mind of Christ? The mind of Christ was definitely to come down to redeem us, to take us back to God, and in a position we’re supposed to be in. Now, what’s our mind? “Thank you, Lord; that’s what I am, because You said I am.”

How could it be any other mind? You can’t have a mind that says, “Oh, I’m coming down here to do so and so.” Oh, no way, shape or form.

So, what you’re looking at is, is the sort of reversal. In other words, exactly what Jesus was, you now take viewing His position, your position, make it yours, you’re identical twins. Except, he’s gigger.

Okay.

[82]  Shape our character by His Own Spirit. [In other words, the life in the Word guiding us and making us manifested sons.] Then we, by Him, are sons of God, just what I’ve expressed, by having His mind in us to shape our character to His. His mind, “Let the mind that was in Christ be in you.” That mind is in you, then…

And, of course, that’s in Philippians 2.

[83]  He only did that which pleased God. He knew who he was. He came the Son of God. [That’s what He was, see?] He didn’t become; he was. He knew he was to take that place. His character had to be that way.

Then, in other words, everything that the Spirit of God etched upon him would be compatible and necessary to exactly what he was supposed to be. Now, do you think then the five-fold ministry’s any different, or everybody in the pew? There’s no difference at all. There isn’t any difference at all.

Brother Branham categorically said to every single person, “God got your great-great grandmother, great-great grandfather together to bring you right where you are today. Great-great-great-great,” he said. No difference. No difference at all. If God is dealing with sons, you tell me where God will deal differently with one son from another. It is utterly impossible. Why? Because He’s of one mind! And He wants them all in one place.

Now, what He’s cut out is the pattern, each one being different, but He deals with each one identically. You tell me whether anybody gets there without the Blood. Talk about Paul; talk about William Branham. You tell me.

Tell me how they get there without the baptism with the Holy Ghost. You can’t do it. Tell me how their lives can be anything but the Word of God expressed and be pleasing to God. You can’t do it. There’s no difference. The Bible said there’s no difference in the sinner; there’s no difference in the saint.

Because, if there’s no difference in the sinner, all have come short of the glory of God; then every single saint cannot fall short of the glory of God, except in position, whereby he doesn’t live up to the position God gave him, and he runs from it. And in those cases, you’ll find almost always God will take you off the scene, and give it to somebody else.

Brother Branham himself said, “Lord, I’ve disobeyed you, and I’m such a mess and such a terrible person here,” he said, “just let me out of it. Give my ministry to somebody else.” You think God did it? Just chastened him and straightened him up and he went right back to the ministry. Hear his tapes, and you’ll find it in more than one tape. I can quote you two tapes at least.

For instance, the time Brother Branham said, “Now, Lord, you’ve got to supply all my goods for my ministry; I’m going to quit the ministry.” And so Brother Branham said, “I’m terribly sorry, I got to declare to you people today that I’ve laid down my ministry.” Ha, ha, ha! Laid it down, my foot. He was back every single Sunday preaching, and back with the Seals and everything else.

Come on. Just because Brother Branham sat by the brook and cried a little bit? God says, “Well, say, William Branham, I think I’ll kick you out and give the ministry to somebody else.” Then where’s the predestination? Especially, “Elijah must truly come.”

“Well, this Elijah failed. I’ll raise me up another.”

That’s the same as God saying, “Well Son, my Only-begotten Son, if You fail I’ll get me another one.”

How can anybody be so gross?

I know the way I preach sounds pretty stupid, but I often preach to stupid people, me being the stupidest one of the works. See, it just doesn’t cut. If human reasoning, which we have, looking at the Word of God, can tell certain things, don’t you tell me that other people can’t tell, too.

As Brother Branham said, “They know better.” And I preached a sermon in Toronto on that, and you know that sermon. I proved the Catholic Church knows better. And this pope is hiding something right now. And I got news for you: the next pope, I think, will be that wicked one that he’s going to make sure doesn’t get there.

Okay, John Paul, go through your formulas; it’s okay by me. I can tell you right now, “You already failed.” He made himself God.

I’ve got the cut right here that John gave me where they say the pope is the only one I’ve read it before, that’s going to be the head of the church, because you got the shepherd’s crook, and what is it? St. Peter’s ring. Fisherman’s ring. Shepherd’s crook and a fisherman’s ring? Hah!

Well, I’ve got a Croton watch here. The same thing that Admiral Bird took to the North Pole. And this, by the way, is not a phony. So, shepherd’s crook. You mean he’s a crooked shepherd with a fishy look.

I shouldn’t maybe be disrespectful. I don’t see where this qualifies, like when Paul said, “I’m sorry you’re the high priest.” This man doesn’t have any continuity of office, like a high priest did. This man is based wholly upon Babylonian hogwash and sin and degradation. I can’t buy it.

[83]  He only did that what pleased God. His character had to be that way. And then, that having taken place, he knew what the Messiah was required of. [In other words, Jesus knew exactly His ministry, how it was to be fulfilled.] And he always sought God. [Now, watch.] And he always sought God to do those things, and did nothing until the Father showed him.

Now I want to bring out something here that is very vital in my thinking. Now, watch:

[83]  He only did that which pleased God. He knew who he was. He came the Son of God. He knew that. He knew who he was. He knew he was to take that place.

He was the Son, so He said, “I’ve got to take that place.” It’s just like you; whatever you are, you’ve got to take that place, because that is your place: predestinated. And it has eternal wraps on it, if you obey God to the fullness.

Now the reason I said that and put an ‘if’ in there is because, though you may have had that place, you disobey God, you throw it away; gifts and calling without repentance; God never changed His mind, you messed up. But you’ll get there. There’s no problem with that. But now, you must know, because Brother Branham categorically says, like Latter Rain was very great on this, “Know your place.”

And everybody come forward and the apostles and different ones lay hands and give you your place. “Well, just a minute, I had this.”

And the girl says, “I had this place with this man; let me see what this man says. Oh, he gave me another place. I think I like his place better than that place.”

So, God changed His mind! No, no, no! It’s just a bunch of nonsense. Just a bunch of hogwash. Pbbt, forget it. The place is there.

Look. Remember the axiom about a perfect house. “Everything has a place and everything’s in its place.” Yes, that’s God. Everything has a place; everything in its place.

Now, every time you roll the pie out, does the rolling pin work perfectly? Well, you say, “It’s not the pins fault. It’s my fault.”

Well, I’m not going to talk about that. I’m talking about the pin itself. See? No, not every time. Now, there’s problems because of the human element. The perfection lacks. It’s not that everything that God has proposed and is doing it’s all perfect but the human element’s there.

But just the same, God’s going to have His way in the end, but we might be the losers, on this side, and even on that side, because it said, “Let no man take thy crown.” Come on now; I got to stay with the Word of God. It says, “Every man’s works shall be tried and fire shall try them.” Gold, and precious stones and silver, wood, hay and stubble. One gets burnt up; one got left there. I’m sorry, but that’s the Word of God. And I’m not going to change It.

I’ve lost many an opportunity, and so have you. It’s time to be serious at the end, like Brother Branham. I never saw a man more serious in my life before he died. Very, very serious. And he denigrated to a great degree or extent the ministry he had, because he thought, “Here I’m fifty years of age, and haven’t done a thing for God.” No. Because he said, “I’m like a man in a…” What do you call it? A sack or sort of like a boot. Stuffed in there. In a prison, couldn’t get out.

In fact, one time the angel of God accosted him, and told him, “Smarten up.” So, he told us the truth. We just don’t know so much about his life. I know quite a bit, because I’ve talked to him.

Now he said here:

[83]  He knew what was to take place. His character had to be that way. [And so on. Now, here’s the thing I want to refer to.] He always sought at God [or sought God] to do those things, and did nothing till the Father showed him.

Now, when you seek God we talk of prayer and the Word. And Pentecost talks of prayer and fasting and forget the Word, except there’s something in the Word that you’d like to have, that you might not be entitled to, but you’re sure that you’ll be able to get it if you twist God’s arm.

So, Brother Branham said, and I agree perfectly, “prayer is not to change God’s mind,” or to twist His arm as I say, but as you sit there and pray and kneel and meditate, you’re asking God to change your mind, and God to twist your arm, and your pointy head, and my pointy head to be in the right direction with the Word of God, and thereby do His will. See, that’s the whole thing. We’ve got too much of this gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, God stuff.

I like what Brother Branham told Jack Palmer, and I wish I could remember it word for word, but the idea is “Don’t keep asking for things; live the life.” Sow the seed, then stand with it. And don’t let that Word get from before you.

Bind it upon you like phylacteries, upon your forehead. Bind it upon your wrists, so every time you walk, bing, bing, bing: “What’s before my eyes?” Bing, bing, “the Word. Oh, the Word, yeah, the Word, the Word.” “Yeah,” bing, bing, bing. “Word, Word, Word.” Bing, bing, bing; “Word, Word, Word.” “Oh, oh, oh, it’s on my wrist. Oh, oh, oh, Word. Oh, Word, Word, Word.” “On my feet, little bells ringing. Oh, Word, Word, Word.” “The lamp on my feet; the light of my path.” Word, Word, Word.”

Eve got from behind It. Brother Branham categorically said, “The minute she stepped from behind the Word, she was insane.” She didn’t have to do that act, but you bet your sweet life she would absolutely do it, because she let the Word get from before her eyes. Now, that’s what he says right here. And he tells that He’s our example and we should do the same thing.

He goes now. Watch his identification. Watch him take a jibe at the Pentecostals and the people that don’t know what he’s even talking about.

[84]  Now, if you find your place, sister, don’t let me hurt you, brother, [brother and sister now,] but you’ll find your place in the Word as a Christian. Not what the creed said; that’s down here in this lower cannon fodder that’s going to be destroyed. You find your place as a Christian, because your character is molded as Christ’s.

It doesn’t say, ‘it’s molded by Christ’, although that in a sense is true, because that can be Word anointing. It says ‘as’. In other words you’ve got to stand or to look to.

[84]  You’re Zoe, the same as He was Zoe. [Uh-huh, identification.] Then if the Bible said for the woman not to cut her hair, how can you do it? It says ‘a man’s the ruler of the house’. How can you women be? What’s the matter with you men as sons of God? See, you don’t find your place. See?

Now he’s being very courteous and very complimentary, because right now he’s called their bluff and said, “You’re no more Christians than nothing.” Now he says, “Well, look, hey, you’re children of God, but you haven’t learned the truth.” But there’s a Word test to that. See?

[84]  Watch now. You’re invited to come and take His character.

In other words, to be engraved upon, by the acid of the Word, the steel pen of the Word. And even if you’re flint, or a hard rock, the flinty Word will cut through and make a scratching on you. That’s why it’s so necessary to have soft soapstone or sandstone instead of the granite. Or the marble’s nice also, that’s not so hard. But these stones that are what they call igneous, fire stones, granite stones, they’re rough to work with. God wants more like clay.

[84]  You’re invited to come and take His character. By having His character in you, it molds you into the same mind that He was.

In other words the very engraving of Christ, which was what? Knowing his position, and he had to know his and we know ours. We can just call ourselves born ones of God in the Bride of Christ.

Now, what is the next thing? Praying always with the Word of God in mind to know that He will give you the strength and has given you, and you will call upon Him and believing Him to do what the Word said you’re to do. Now It says to women, “Don’t cut your hair.” But they’re going to do it anyway, because they got an excuse for it.

And the excuse is, “Tell me, how does that make you spiritual?”

Well, it proves you aren’t spiritual, I can tell you that. You don’t have to understand a lot of things, you just have to know that there’s a vindicated prophet. Neither my wife, nor I were concerned about hair. We both didn’t care.. I said, “Come on Bill, you know these long haired women, they’re so mean and their tongues so long, they can lick the jam off a doorknob.”

He said, “Lee, I never said it made them spiritual. It’s a command of God.”

I thought, “Well, boy that’s sure passing the buck.” So, I paid no heed. Then I realized that he was vindicated, and I knew he was no tiddlywinks preacher and someone just mouthing off.

I said to my wife, “Honey, look, I’m going to tell you one thing. You don’t have to do this, but you and I both know that Brother Branham is a man of great stature. And I don’t understand what’s going on, but he said you shouldn’t cut your hair. Now, it’s up to you. I’m not going to tell you what to do.”

She said, “Well, fine, I’m going to let it grow. I like the idea.” No problem.

Another man told his wife and she said, “Well, that’s fine by me.” So, she let her hair grow. Didn’t do much for her. I must admit that.

The third guy, he liked cut hair. His wife said, “No way.” They both went off into God knows what. He followed Lowrie; died in a mess, and I think she’s dead by now a little Pentecostal tongue talker. Lovely little lady. I’ve got nothing against her. Understand that.

But It says this, and the prophet says It, and he takes It out of the Bible and says, “You believe It.” That’s what you’re obligated to do, because he cannot be a fountain bringing forth bitter and sweet water any more than you and I! So, get with It. If you and I are obligated, have the Word of God in our mouths, you better believe that he’s got to have It in his. And he’s got to know where he’s coming from.

Like I told you in my teaching, I know something is there and I tell you about it, then I add to it, and I add some more, I make a little mistake and say, “Ho-ho, I blew it there, and this is what it really is,” and I keep going, and suddenly say, “Hey, I’ve got it!” And I know I got it, because that’s precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little, until I got it, and nothing will stand in my path; they’ll all fall backwards. And in yours the same way.

I’ve explained everything how I operate. I’ve hid nothing from you people except those things that are none of your business. So don’t get nosy. Like the Apostle Paul I can say, “I have hid nothing from anybody.” But a prophet! It’s out of his mouth, blam! And he’s right. He don’t make mistakes. See? Character molded.

[84]  And His mind was always to do [that] what the Father had ordained Him to do.

In other words, in plain English, Jesus had to simply fulfill the Scripture concerning him, period. And he did it. And we, too, have the same privilege, right across the board. The office of Jesus, the stupendous ministry has nothing to do what I’m talking about; it’s across the board.

We know and must know what God has said about life in general, and particular, and you follow it. And the character comes out, etched in there by the Word. And the more you etch with that pen, that same Word, the deeper It gets and deeper.

Like I told you, I wish that my own life was spiritual as I know the Word of God in the mechanics through the anointing of God. Now you remember one thing: God cannot pour his anointing upon anything but true mechanics; so I’m glad I got the true mechanics. But I’m not talking now about revelation.

I’m talking about character. Character, which we work out by assiduously placing ourselves before God and saying, “God, I want to do Your Will in this matter.” And the more you do it, the easier it becomes, and the deeper it becomes, the more manifest as a Son of God in the adoption.

[85]  He said, “Search the Scriptures. They testify of me.” In other words, “If I don’t do exactly what the Scripture said I’m to do, then show me where.”

Same thing for you and me. Brother Branham said so. Now listen. Here we go. How much time we got? Okay, now we can get to where we’re going, and I don’t have to take this any more of this sermon, I can throw it away and start something else if I care to. Now, let’s read fast in here.

[86]  Now, what if God stood on the platform today and said, “What’s required of a Christian?” [He was standing right there too, don’t think He wasn’t.] Then where would we all be. See? The character isn’t expressing itself.

[87]  His mind was to stay with the Father’s Word. The same mind was in them, was to be in us. And if His mind is in us, we’ll do what He did. If His character’s in us, we’ll be what He was. Is that right? And the prophets had that.

I told you he was going to come right back to it. See, he never fails to come back to it. Every single thing he’s talking about, the vindicated prophet, the manifested God, you people listen; this is the way to go. Believe it, receive it, and come into it. Never changes, never changes, eighty percent. Eighty percent. Sometimes ninety.

[87]  And the prophets had that, we know… We took think about Noah, how he did in his day, Moses, how he did in his day, Daniel in his day, the Hebrew children, so forth.

[88]  The Word molds God’s character to us. Anything that tried to be mixed with that character breaks the mold. You can’t mix creed with Word. You can’t mix the world with the Word. Jesus said you can’t serve God and mammon. ‘Mammon’ means ‘the world’. [Now, that explains it. Not just money; it’s the world. It’s the system and everything that goes with it.] You can’t be one or the other. “If you love the world…”

You can’t be the same thing, in other words, a bitter and sweet fountain; you can’t do it. You can’t do it. You can’t curse God with one side of your mouth and praise Him with the other. Can’t be done. Can’t be done. How do you curse God? With your lips only? No, you just turn your back on Him. You don’t have to audibly speak out.

In fact, God told Brother Branham, “Your thoughts in heaven speak louder than your words on earth.”

[88]  “If you love the world or the things of the world, the love of God’s not even in you.” Is that true? Then you see, you can’t mix it.

[89]  You can’t mix oil and water. It just won’t mix. You can churn it up and down, and do anything you want to it; it won’t mix.

[90]  And your character will not mix with the world…

In other words, what God Almighty is etching upon your soul and your outward life, your physical life, by the Word of God, will simply not do what the world does, and what their creeds and dogmas and what their thinking does, and all those other things.

[90]  And your character will not mix with the world, if you’re being molded in the form of God by letting the mind that was in Christ be in you. That’s the control tower, the direction.

“That’s the control tower, the direction,” is the mind of God. And the mind of God is expressed in the Word of God, because the mind of God is the Will of God, and the Will of God is the Word of God, especially revealed Will. Now you don’t have to have a revealed will that says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” unless you say, “Well, I don’t know what adultery is, so I’ll just do this and that.”

Well, you’re just being a lying, stinking hypocrite, that’s all. You know, something came your way that you had to be smart about, oh, you’d be as smart as a whip, you know. I’m not talking about you people; I’m talking about the world out there. Oh, man, we’d suddenly be smart, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ve got all the answers, sure, come on. Oh, brother. Yih, yih, yih, I don’t know.

The control tower. Brother Branham talked to the control tower, he talked about a tie post. Control tower and tie post, the same thing. What was the tie post? Doctrine. Doctrine. You got to have a tie post. You’ve got to have an order of conduct within it, and it’s there. Like they said, “Brother Branham will a Christian pay tithes?”

He said, “If he’s a Christian, he will pay tithes.”

Another man got fed up with people not working, just running around. He said, “Brother Branham should a Christian work?”

“If he’s a Christian, he will work.” Or he won’t eat. Might as well have put that there, because that’s the truth.

One fellow said, “That will cure laziness quicker than anything I know.” Although not always. They’ll be out there trying to work a deal. You know that they will.

[91]  Now, let’s look into God’s mirror, His Word, and identify our present character by some Bible character. [Now, he said,] “Our present character by some Bible character.” [That’s across the board, and yet it’s not.] And we’ll close in a few minutes now. Identify ourself. Now, this is a mirror that you want to do like that little boy did: look into it. Let’s look into this and see if we see ourselves reflected by some Bible character.

Now, that part’s very superficial. But he’s not going to be superficial with himself, because he’s going to talk about himself, you know, and that won’t be superficial. Because looking at a Bible character is very superficial, unless you just want to say, “Hey, did somebody kind of act like I do? Did somebody have the kind of thoughts that I do?” Something like that.

But, you know… Hey, there is a character sketch written in the Bible that is so obvious and so strong and so real, so understandable, so simple, that a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein. And if the heathen by conscience already know the law of God written in their hearts, don’t tell me that you and I, reading this Bible, don’t how to obey. Paul brought that to the Jews. I bring it to you and me.

[91]  Now, [let’s] get real close, see what your present character as a Christian is.

Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. Identify character. See how you look at it. See what you are. Let’s check it out.

[92]  Now, you can judge. That won’t make anybody judge you. You judge yourself. See? Nobody’s judging. I’m not passing judgment. But, let’s just reflect and see how it reflects from some characters of the Bible, as we mention them, and what your character is at the present time.

Now we’re getting to the real truth of it. I’m going to present something here, and how do you take it my friend? Now he’s telling us exactly right back where I said. Vindicated prophet, vindicated God, vindicated Word. How quick are you to catch it? Do you have something in you that answers back? Deep calling to the deep? Is that Word in you? Is that life in you? Are you a sheep? Do you recognize a shepherd that God has sent?

[92]  Now, notice. The Word creates a character. [There you are. The etching tool makes the etching. God uses His Own Word to etch our lives to what He wants.] We know that. Now, we look into His mirror and identify ourselves by someone some person in the Bible.

[93]  If you lived in the days of Noah and was in your present character… If you understand me, say, “Amen.”

In other words you really know what you know and say, “Yes, I’m a child of God.”

How many people would say yes to this after hearing what I’ve already talked about, what he preached on? They’d say, “Not so.”

In your present character how would you react to Noah? “Here I am, here I am, here I am.”

Yeah. I’m telling you. I sat in too many of these meetings not to know. I’ve read too many sermons, I’ve preached too many of his sermons word by word not to know what I’m talking about.

I know what he said, he positively said, “If you’d have been back there in the days of Jesus, what was your character then? Would you have said ‘Crucify Him,’ or would you have said ‘Loose Him!’? And if you said that you would not have said crucify Him, you’re the very ones that would have said it.” Huh?

Oh, come on now. We’re not playing games. This is reality. This is cut in stone with a steel pen, what I’m talking this morning. And you better believe It, because this man was a great prophet.

[93]  If you were living in the days of Noah what was your present character… say, “Amen.” [Oh hallelujah, I’m with you.] If you were living in the days of Noah and your present character, what side would you have been on? Be careful. [Be careful.] See? In your present character, now think of what you are. When the groups… Two groups there, see? What group would you be identified with if your present character would’ve been living in the days of Noah? Would you been with the prophet and God’s vindicated word?

Now, where do you find any Scripture on the vindicated Word with Noah? Well, it’s there. He said, “Build the ark.” The ark was built; that’s vindicated Word. Then the floods came, and that’s vindicated judgment. And it’s too late. It’s too late. When the ark’s built, prophetic Word fulfilled, if you’re not in it, you’re going nowhere except down.

[93]  Would you have been with the prophet and God’s vindicated word, standing in the minority of the little group, or with the popular opinion of that day? What’s the character?

Eight people out of five and a half billion. What? And already the sixth billion person is born on this earth. Days of Noah: long suffering of God. He wiped out five and a half billion; there’s six billion now waiting to wipe out. Will there be seven billion? By 2040 there’ll be ten billion.

[94]  Would you have been belonging to the churches and the things making fun of that prophet up there? Would you have been walking up with that group that said, “Well, I ain’t got nothing against that old man. He might be right.” Or would you be there pitching away with him? Now, think of your character now. What would you have done when everything was against it?

Now, everything is against William Branham right now, the Noah of this hour. What about it? So, character’s revealed when a judgment is necessary. Your character, whether of God or of the devil, is absolutely manifested as soon as a judgment concerning the Word is necessary. All right, vindication again, honey. Vindication again, I’m preaching. Presence again. They don’t get it.

[95]  Remember, the world was criticizing the prophet and his message and everything. The world was criticizing. All the churches were criticizing. All the scientists said, “The man’s crazy,” and they said about Jesus, eating flesh and drinking His Blood. They said, “The man’s a cannibal. He’s a vampire,” See? So you see, where were the sensible, what we call the world, sensible people, the scientists?

And Brother Branham said, “One day this Message will be vindicated by scientists,” and we’ve shown you time after time that.

[96]  Did you know that when you get more education and more culture, did you know that’s what side that puts you on? It puts you on the devil’s side. The Bible said that the children of the darkness are wiser than the ones of Light.

[97]  Look at the sons of Cain. Every one of them became scientists, dealers in buildings, and making great progress. The sons of Seth were humble peasants [shepherds.] Is that right? Men renowned of old, as in the days of Noah, how they built and made, built the pyramids and everything: [scientific.] Watch real close now. See? The people criticized this man’s message, though he had the evidence of God with him.

Now Brother Branham’s not saying that these simple people cannot be scientists and scientifically minded. What it is, is that in everything they lean toward God and check everything by the Word. You see? There’s something forming in my mind.

I don’t know if it’s going to work out or not, about some of these things going on today, but I got to check it through the Bible. It may not amount to anything. I don’t know. It’s scientific.

[98]  Or what if you would’ve lived in the days of Elijah Elijah, when him being the pastor of that day. And Jezebel… Twenty-five hundred years ago Hollywood was starting with all her paint and fashions, had got all the daughters of Israel doing the same thing. And one old man stood up there and battered against it.

And the priests said, “Oh, well, the old fellow, let him alone; he’ll come to his end after while. There’s nothing to it.” And “Our fine king, who’s dressed just like we’re dressed, and got the finest clothes, the best fed nation, and everything, what difference does it make, whether this, or that, or the other? What difference does it make?” The pastors had been saying it.

[99]  But there stood one man with THUS SAITH THE LORD.

William Marion Branham. Forget about Elijah. Why? He doesn’t mean anything to us. That’s for Israel. The Elijah of this hour is turning the hearts of the children back to the fathers. Next time he comes, it’s to Israel, and it’s all over.

[100]  Now, in your present character, where would you have been placed then? Now, look in the Mirror when you go home; and see what you’ll see. See? What state would your present condition now place you at that day? Would you have gone with the modern ideas, denomination, the sign, the fellow, “Oh, well, we’re all, [many…” and so it’s okay.]

Oh, sure, they all worshipped Jehovah, oh yeah, yeah, every moon, they screamed, and they drank the water from the same fountain; they praised God of heaven Who brought them up, and all like that. [Oh, they did.] But they’re a million miles off the line. Where would your present Christian experience place you in Elijah’s time? Where would you be identified? What side would you have taken?

He’s saying in plain English, If a prophet were to appear, and I’m a prophet, and it’s proven absolutely by the Word, what are you doing about it? Don’t tell me you’d have been there with Elijah, don’t tell me you’d have stood with Jesus, don’t tell me you’d have stood with Noah, because it’s the same God doing the same thing right now and you’re turning on it. You’re lost.

Now, just a minute, you say, “Well, Brother Vayle, where’s love?”

Well, the love was he wanted them to know the truth and come to it. That’s love. That was Moses.

He said, “Lord, if you kill them, kill me.” Why?

The law was “Kill them.”

But grace said, “Let them live.”

And Moses knew the law didn’t interfere with grace. So, he said, “God, the law said this, but don’t kill them, or kill me, too. I’m just as bad as they are.” Grace.

So, Jesus took our place. Grace, in the face of law.

Now God sends great grace through a prophet. God Himself appearing in human flesh, in human form. The prophet is the living Word of God made manifest. John the Baptist: “Who are you?”

“I’m Isaiah 40 and especially verses 1-3. I’m the living Word of God that says, ‘The voice crying in the wilderness, I am the living Word of God made flesh.’” Huh? Huh? Come again. “I am Isaiah 40:1-3 in human flesh. I am the Word of God come to life in a human being.”

I preached that in Greece. Ooohhhh! The old boy that sat there, the pastor, the sweetest man of God I ever saw in my life, but there again you know, I’m judging by appearance. I don’t know what happened.

I had a wonderful interpreter, Mary Metakolous, who absolutely understands about everything there is to know in the Greek and the English. And she faithfully translated. The end of the service, I sat down, the pastor came up. And he said, “We have heard strange things today, but do not discount them in case they are true.”

Oh, brother. What a Gamaliel. Did the Word ever go to Greece? I don’t have a clue. I heard it went by some guy and I wouldn’t trust him to throw anything but filth, corruption, indignation against God

So, he says here, “Where would you be identified? With Elijah or against Elijah?”

[101]  Or when Moses brought Israel, going down there, an identified prophet with the Word of God that had been promised to Abraham, the prophet, [One prophet now, with the Word of another prophet.] that would take place. And Moses went down and did all the signs that God told him to do. Listen close now. We’re going to close in a minute… brought those children out and got them into the wilderness. The message… like you Pentecostals left fifty years ago, from the denomination.

They got across the line over there. And there raised a man up, and said, “Now, just wait a minute. Let’s make an organization out of this,” a fellow called Dathan. “Moses, you think you’re the only one on the beach. You think you’re the only holy man among us. We got other holy men; say we got something to say about this. We’ll just make us a little group. We’ll believe it this way, and we’ll believe it this way, and we’ll believe it this way.”

Now, you’re hitting the Pentecostal Trinitarians right between the eyes.

[102]  Now, what group would your present character identify you? Would you… In the days of Elijah, would you have gone out there, where Jezebel, said, cut her hair, paint her face, and was a modern woman? Now, just think, [just think,] you’re identified now?

And they’re sitting there with their hair cut and their faces painted. “Well, bless God that’s got nothing to do with it! Don’t tell us.” Oh, I know, I sat there, and watched. A man and woman went back to Norway, said they believed the Message. She says, “I’ve got arthritis. I can’t comb my hair. Cut it off.”

Yeah, she was cut off. She said to my wife, “Don’t you dare tell me those lovely Pentecostal women aren’t going to make it.” Spiritual bimbos. Yeah, they’re going to make it, all right.

And Brother Branham said, “Let me tell you something.” He said, “In that last day at the resurrection, the prostitute isn’t going to be amazed she didn’t make it. It’s you Christians that said you’re going to make it, that aren’t going to make it.” Yeah.

[102]  Now, just think, where you’re identified? “I’m Pentecostal…” I ain’t saying what you are. I’m asking your character. We’re going below these little things that you’re looking at. We’re going on the inside of you.

In other words, what makes you cut your hair? Have you ever followed this Message? I’m sure you have, but at least I’m talking of innuendo and gossip, mostly gossip, not innuendo. What happens when the woman says, “I’m through with this Message?” She goes out, cuts her hair, and puts on slacks. “Oh, there’ll be a slack time and a hair-cutting town tonight.” She just rolls with it. She can’t help herself.

And when the husband died, before she was a widow she was a fond, loving wife. Underneath she was a hellcat. So, when the old boy dies, and in one case I know leaves a lot of money, she’s bed hopping pretty soon. She’s out in the world with the devil.

Another woman used to eulogize her husband out there in the Tri-City area. Oh, my, she’d tell me his lovely poetry and write these letters, and pretty soon I didn’t hear anymore. And I was sending her tapes, and I thought, “Don’t hear from her.” And she didn’t pay for the tapes; it wasn’t a money deal at all. And she was too embarrassed to tell me don’t send the tapes, and she’d cut her hair and she was out there having midnight dances and hug ups and all the rest of the junk.

Yeah, what’s inside, honey. Your hair doesn’t tell one thing to me or anybody else. It doesn’t make you spiritual, it let’s you know what’s inside. What’s inside?

Salvation Army says, “I put on my uniform, and that’s my water baptism!” Oh, hogwash. It’s not at all. I’ll tell you one thing, though: you can sure tell a woman cutting her hair hasn’t got the baptism with the Holy Ghost or she’d listen.

All right, listen.

[103]  Did you hear that Holy Spirit last night? It screamed out there, at last. That’s the reason I’m saying what I am today. See? You see. [Now, we should look that sermon up, you see, because that sermon led to this sermon, but it doesn’t really matter.] Open your spiritual understanding, people. It’s later then you think.

See, see? You can… It’s a way that person might think that you’re right. But I thought, maybe, if the Lord would let me speak this, if they’d pardon me for it—the association, that is, or the brethren… which I know they do; they’re right with me on it.

So, he’s talking about this thing here, of the women, and there are those who agree with him, and of course, there are many more who do not.

[104]  But notice. If you can just see your own self today in the light… If your spirit that was in you lived in a character back there, now look where you are today and see where you’d have been back there.

Now, what if they can’t see where they are today? That’s the thing that Brother Branham didn’t clarify here. He’s leaving that to them and his ministry. Are you seeing something, is there something really great today? Have you read the Book?

Have you seen A Man Sent from God, or A Prophet Sent from God? Have you read the book, Bible Days Are Here Again? Have you heard the man say, “This is the way Jesus did it; this is the way it should be done”? Do you understand; this is the greatest ministry since the time of Jesus Christ? They were saying that.

And he’s saying, “Do you know the present time?”

They did not know the present time, because… I’ll tell you why. Because he defined it in scriptural terms. And they had no idea what the Scripture said or what It meant when they read It.

Such as ‘the days of the Son of man’. Such as Matthew 12, a direct contradiction of the life of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem: “He shall not raise his voice in the street; he shall not strive. The bruised reed he shall not break, the smoking flax he’ll not quench,” but he did it back there!

He preached in the streets, he raised his voice, he kicked them out of the temple in a fury! He broke the reed! He turned the smoking flax into dust. What time does he not do it? They didn’t know the time, the hour, and the day.

Jesus said, “Oh Jerusalem, if you’d only have known the hour.” If you’d only known the hour. If you’d only known the hour! But you don’t! Why? Because you’ve got creeds and dogmas and perverted understanding of Scripture.

In fact, you don’t believe the Scripture that you yourself presented to God. And He knowing you would do it, and it being His Will, He said, “Yes! They’ll not see me anymore or hear my voice. I’ll use a prophet.”

“Ah,” said the Baptists and Pentecostals. “We have the plenary edition of the Bible. The full word! No word can be added. No word can be taken. And now we have the full revelation. Hallelujah!” And they ‘hallelujah’ in vain.

Because the same Pentecostal where I lived in Florida, Holloway, said, “I’ll tell the people who William Branham is: He’s got a familiar spirit.”

Well, I’ll tell you one thing, that man was not familiar with God, and that man’s in hell. I’m going to tell you honest to God, if this Word is right, that man made William Branham a devil. The Spirit of God a devil. That man is lost.

Or tear your Bible up and say, “Well, God’s a capricious God. He really doesn’t mean it. It’s just a blow hard, and He’s trying to scare us to be little better children, you know, and…”

You show me where God pulled a scare tactic. I went to a church, they said, “I want a show of hands. How many people here came to God because of fear?” Oh, sixty-six percent raised their hands. There you are. Scare them into heaven, scare them out of hell.

I preached hell fire in the church where I first went to preach. I saw people sit there with their knuckles white as they grabbed the top of a bench. Nobody made a move toward God, because nobody in there was of God, evidently, or they’d have made a move toward Him.

And I was a stupid legalist. And I thought I could scare them out of hell, and scare them into heaven. Oh, brother. Lord have pity. But you see, I confessed my sins and God forgave me. And it’s true. He has, because I didn’t know any better. There you are, see.

Now:

[104]  If your spirit lived in that character back there, what would you have been. [In the time of] Dathan would [you have] joined the organization? [And so on and so on and so on.]

So, there you are, that’s the end of it, and I don’t know that I need to take anymore of this same sermon. I’ll check over the last bit of it, and I’ll see if it’s necessary to take anymore. I don’t think so.

I’ve covered “Identification” now, with the thought in mind that we must not take identification as merely joining with Jesus and associating with Him and saying, “I like Him, and when I make a choice, He’s my choice. I’m identified.” No, no, no, no. It’s bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, even as it’s all of God, and that’s it, my brother/sister. And that’s it.

Let’s rise and be dismissed.

Heavenly Father, as we depart here as a temporary measure till we come again, hopefully, which times are in Your hands, we Lord God, submit ourselves to You, by submitting ourselves to Your Word, and may we not be hypocritical.

And Lord, we know and You know, our frame being dust, we vacillate a lot, we have good intentions, and many times we foolishly let the things come in, even as Brother Branham warned us.

And we’re not asking, Lord, just for forgiveness, which we know we have, because that’s always Your grace toward us; we’re asking now, Lord, for some area that You can touch in our lives, whereby our conscience and our souls are pricked, through the knowledge of what we have today, to strive, to go through that narrow gate to go down that straight and narrow path, to lack nothing, but wait in Your Presence as all times till we come to a life which is more thoroughly dedicated to hearing Your Word and walking in it, until it becomes a habit pattern, our senses exercised unto righteousness, and unto true discernment, so that we walk in that Word, and quickly obey, rather than hanging around hoping that somehow we’ll eventually obey.

Lord God, help us, because that’s the crux of the trouble at the end time, and we know that to be true. And may, Lord, Your Name be glorified, because of our desire toward You, and this prayer, Lord, answered, to show forth Your praise and glory, because You’re worthy.

Not waiting, Lord, until we’re around the throne, but knowing that great One now in our midst, how we ought to so conduct ourselves and live in the manner that has been set before us.

We give You praise, Lord, as You heal the sick amongst us, and give us strength, Lord, especially in the area of the spiritual and doing Your Will, loving the brethren and serving, even as we would love and serve You and shall in the future in a glorified form. Unto Thee we give praise, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

“Take the Name of Jesus with You.”