Identification #01

Character
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Heavenly Father, we thank you again for Your Presence, which we know denotes Your love towards us, for us, also placing Your love in us, giving us Your confidence, giving us Your secrets in the Truth, Lord, knowing that this qualifies us for the evidence of knowing that we are Your Own. And Father we are thankful for that, because we know in the turmoil of this hour, where there are so many voices in the air, and, if there are voices in the air and none without some type of significance in the days of Paul, how much more in this last day, when it is become perfectly, absolutely chaotic as to what the voice of God is, what the Word of the Lord is. But now, Lord, the Light has shone in darkness, and we know that You are the Light shining.

You are here with us, having given us Your Word, making that Word come to pass in us, and now, Lord, we know it won’t be too long until You send forth the call to bring the dead out of the earth and change the few living that are here to take away a church in a rapture, to the great Wedding Supper of the Lamb, the great presentation and the great coronation. These things, Lord, we know to be true, and whatever follows after we know will be perfectly wonderful in such a way that we have no conception at this moment, but will at that time and in the hours and days and years to come, even unto eternity.

So, we thank You Lord, that, as we study Your Word tonight, we’ll know more and more of the Truth that has been given us as to Who You are, oh God, because that is what Your Scripture says in the end time: You’ll reveal Yourself, and then who we are, and the entire relationship and the great plan together. This we know to be true, having been vindicated to us. We humbly search Your Word as been given to us by Your prophet, that we may know these things. And not only know them, but that they become a part of us, even as we are a part of It.

We ask for Your guidance tonight. In Jesus Christ’s Name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated.

01

Now, just before I get in to the message of “Identification” by Brother Branham, there are some things that I’ve been either talking to about previously, or I mentioned through phone calls, or different ones that I’ve been talking to. It’s come to the place where I take only a very few services per year, that I really can’t remember if I brought this over the pulpit at times, or whether I was just talking to people that I talk to every now and then, here, or those that I talk with by way of the telephone.

And you remember that one thing I’ve said, at different times, of course, over the pulpit, is that the actual system under which we live, the democratic system, is one whereby you elect people to put their hands in your pocket. And pretty soon they become so dissatisfied with dealing with the people intelligently (And I use that word in terms of the people are intelligent, but they won’t deal with them intelligently, which means to be above board.) so they actually do many things that are not just highly suspect but actually against the Constitution.

In fact, America left Britain (King George III) because they never had representation, but they had taxation. Well, you tell me is there any difference between taxation without representation or taxes you don’t even know about? No difference. So, it wouldn’t be hard for me to believe that, if there be anything left in the human breast here in America, there could be another Boston Tea Party on the grounds of the hidden taxes.

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I finally got an article on this.

“You’re paying $2400 a year in taxes you don’t even know about.”

That’s interesting, isn’t it?

“Taxes on a gallon of gas, 59 cents. The pre-tax cost of gasoline dropped 31 cents a gallon between 1980 and 1995. But the consumers never saw the decrease, because at the same time taxes increased about 31 cents a gallon.”

Did anybody tell you they’re going to do it?

“According to the National Taxpayers Union, the tax on an $80 hotel is roughly 43%. There are taxes on air line tickets. And a family of four would have to dish out $146 in hidden taxes to travel from Chicago to Orlando for a five night stay in Disneyland.”

You don’t know about it. They just whap it on there.

“Telephone taxes 3% for universal service fee, and this money is used to finance internet access as subsidies for users in rural areas. The cellular phone uses up to 30% of their bill in taxes.”

You know, it’s what the French man said about the Americans: “Everybody pays everybody else’s bills.”

“Other outrageous taxes: 35 cents hidden in a $1.14 loaf of bread.”

Now, if you want decent bread you are going to pay $2.29. So, that means that taxes would be 70 cents, being proportionate.

“13 cents on a 50 cent can of soda; $63.60 on a $159 airline ticket; 72% on a 750 millimeter bottle of liquor;” [That’s okay.] “43% on a six-pack of beer.”

That’s okay. What about cigarettes? I don’t care if they charge a hundred bucks for a pack.

“Import tax is designed to protect domestic suppliers from foreign competition, include a 24% tax on undergarments, 32% on brooms, 18% on infant formula, and 143% on peanut butter.” [Well, I don’t eat much of that anyway.]

“Americans have no idea on how high their tax burden is,’ said Ryan Riley of the National Taxpayer Union foundation. ‘If they did there might be a second American revolution.”

I’ve been telling you that for years. I learned that when I was in grade ten in my little class in economics. The hidden taxes are absolutely astronomical. And where they get you, they get you by using the ‘mill rate’. See? So, when they say, “Three mills, oh, that’s just a minute part of a cent. That’s just a minute part.” Oh, what if you had 750 minute parts? It wouldn’t be so minute. But, that’s the truth.

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Every single thing that moves anywhere has a tax on it. So, if the Democrats and the Republicans all tell you, “Cutting taxes, cutting taxes, cutting taxes;” they’re not doing it. No way, no way, no way, no way. Just like the government’s being run now by the Supreme Court. They’re not adjudicating. They are actually legislating. They’re a mess. There’s nothing that not a mess that I know of anywhere, shape or form.

The President makes orders, you know, because the Constitution or the government gives him the right. He can put out a presidential order, and just like an edict (actually the law of the Medes and Persians): if the Congress doesn’t catch it in thirty days, it’s law.

Of course, that started more with John F. Kennedy and become full blossom with this man here today, who’s changed the language, and now becomes the epitomization. The man has sinned in public, as far as I’m concerned, without being the head of the church. Years ago they said, “The Southern Baptist would all join the Catholics,” because they literally were. Looks like it, doesn’t it? He’s Southern Baptist.

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I’m not just talking politics. I’m telling you what’s going on in this world today. What’s the stock market doing? You’re seeing a bull market again. I want to ask you a question. Those trillions of dollars were lost from some people. What happened to that money? Where is it?

You say, “Some of the companies, then, bought that stock back.”

We don’t know. How much money is being poured in it at this particular point? Is the stock market now ready to go ahead and stay that way? I doubt very much if it is. I can’t see any hope for the stock market not doing what it’s been doing, fluctuating, and I kind of liken that. And that would be like Brother Branham said, you’d see the west coast bouncing around, watch for the big thing. I think, when you watch the stock market bouncing around, you watch for the big thing.

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In other words the whole system, as far as I’m concerned, is just ready to go under, and the hedges, as I’ve mentioned before, nobody knows the trillions of dollars we lost there, to be shored-up, all falling back on the American public. We are to shore-up Brazil. Why? The International Bank goes in… The money fund goes in there. What money? What money? Our money, our taxes.

When Brother Branham was alive, what did he say? How many generations? About forty generations down the road will pay off the present debt. That was miniscule at that time. Four hundred generations, I don’t think, will pay it off.

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So, all the way down the line you’re seeing problems we’ve talked about, more and more light comes on them. I think I mentioned here, (I’m not sure, but I did mention privately.) when they said they reformed the IRS to a happy face, or a turned-down face, I said, “Don’t you kid yourself.

The IRS is as rotten as ever, and nobody is going to get out. Now, if you go to the bank and want to take $5000 out, they want to know why. It’s got to the place now where it’s $1000. They’re tracking every single thing, and they call it laundered money or drugs. None of us are in that. But I can’t go to the bank today, and you can’t go the bank, and not have a tracer.

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The IRS is down your neck more than ever, see. Government is more and more and more to the place where the people are nothing but slaves. And, remember; the church is going to take it all over. And they are not going to liberate anybody. You go from one system of slavery to another, except for one thing: under this system at this point you have the freedom of choice to worship and believe. When it comes to the new system, you will be a Trinitarian, or you will die, or you’ll simply starve. They’ll be nice to you.

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What about the year? What about your 2YK? What about 2000? Well, I’ve said it, and I’ve said it before: I’m not the least concerned about what’s happening in our banks, in your bank, and around town. I’m not concerned about the gas lines. I’m not concerned about the light lines, the grids, because there’s no such thing as anything outside a fully automated system, like perhaps your telephone and all, that is without a manual control. So, I’m not worried about it.

I’m not worried about the local problems, no way, shape and form. Already my bank has phoned me, because we are Grace Gospel Ministries, and we bank with the Champaign Bank. They’re willing to work with us to get our computers in order for the year 2000.

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What was I worried about? Interstate. Not intra so much, but inter-state and national. So, the other day I read an article that backs me up. When the crooks begin to capitalize on the dilemma of the computer breakdown, if it really breaks down, they’ll just take all of your money and say, “We can’t find a trace of it.” They can take your property, and say, “Well, I’m sorry. You’ve got to wait for another thousand years, or whatever it is.”

And I’ll tell you one thing: you and I will just be as well treated as the Jews under Hitler. And the Swiss Bank and the British Bank and the United States Bank, and they all took their money. God turned the tables and made them give some back if they took the Jews’ money. But that isn’t going to be with us, you and me, if we’re here in that particular way.

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So, I just wanted to bring these things to your attention. I’ve been talking about them. And to this point I haven’t missed one trick. I hoped I missed when I said, “The stock market’s gone in six months to one year.” It hasn’t been six months yet, I don’t believe it’ll come right around there. I don’t know. These others things I know I’m dead right on, because I’ve been backed up by articles and by those that were looking at it.

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Now, I want to get into a series. I hope it won’t be too long a series. Number one is on “Identification” in Tulare, California [February 16, 1964] is the one I like. It’s the one I got hold of. And then leading from it to “Spiritual Amnesia”, because “Spiritual Amnesia” brings out “Identification” in a manner in which Brother Branham spoke of the African prince, who was a slave in America. And he did not forget that he was a prince.

He did not forget his genes, his ancestry. He did not forget his tribe, his kingdom. He never forgot that of which he was a part and fully identified even though he was in complete bondage and slavery. And he lifted his head up, and he lived it, and he acted it, and people knew that there was a difference.

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So, as we look at “Identification”, I’m going to read beginning where Brother Branham reads the Scripture. The first part I will not look at. And you don’t have it with you tonight, so really, it doesn’t matter. He said:

[5] We want to read this afternoon out of the Book of Philippians, the second chapter and begin with verse 5.

Philippians 2:5-6

(05) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

(06) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

That actually reads, ‘Thought it not a prize to be grasped and retained’. In other words it wasn’t Jesus’ own thinking that gave Him that position. And, when He got that position, He didn’t say, “I’m going to keep it. I will not demean myself or go lower.” That’s exactly what It is saying here. Here is one who voluntarily gave Himself, because that was His composition. Now you keep in mind what I’m saying. We’ll read some more, and we’ll just get into definitions.

Philippians 2:7

(07) But made himself of no reputation.

In other words He literally gave over. What He’s reputed for, clothed in Michael, previously having been the ‘agent of creation’, God working in and through Him, so that nothing that is created was not made by Him, ‘God working in and through Him’…

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And now in this exalted position is one of the Cherubs that covers over the Mercy Seat, guarding the Word in the form, because He had incarnated Michael the Archangel, which is strange to me. It seems it should have been a Cherub, but that’s the way it is. He led in worship with Satan. And He gave that all up to be equal with God. And He was equal with God on the grounds that He was the first-born, the Only-begotten Son, therefore heir to everything that God had.

As Brother Branham said, His name on the check was equal to the Name of the Father on the check, so that both the Father and the Son were of such character and quality that one would not defraud the other. The signature would not be used, except in joint communication. That’s right isn’t it? That would be a good son; that would be a good father. So, going on.

Philippians 2:7

(07) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men:

Now, remember; He was not in servitude, because as creator, though God creating in him, “all things were made by Him and for Him.” So therefore, another portion you see where he was absolutely equal with God, in God’s sovereignty. So, He went from the position of the master to the servant. And, of course, that went right down to the very basic of men.

Philippians 2:8-11

(08) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

(09) Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

(10) That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

(11) And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is [the] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

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Now you will find that even the tongue of God will confess that he is Jesus Christ. He will do that. But you will find that at no time would God ever bow to him, because God is God. And, remember; He is the God of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people use the term ‘Father’ too loosely, far too loosely. Paul never did: “Blessed be the God and Father.” “God and Father.” “God and Father.” We today use the term, perhaps even loosely, ‘Father God’. And I can understand that.

But the point is, the term is still loose, if the understanding of sovereignty is missing, abject sovereignty. And I use the word ‘abject’, because I want it to sink in. As Brother Branham said, “You don’t have a think coming.” There’s no room to argue. There’s no room to placate. You can’t change God, period.

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So, he said:

[5] Let us bow our heads for a moment.

[6] Our Lord, we are approaching Thee now in the holy Name that’s got heaven’s Name and all the family in the earth is named. And He told us, when here, “You ask the Father anything in my Name, I will grant it.” We, just simple people, Lord, but we believe that to be the truth. We believe that what we ask, we receive, because if our souls condemn us not, if we don’t have any bad feelings of what we’ve done that’s wrong, then we have this assurance that God will hear us. So, we are asking for mercy this afternoon for all of us.

[7] And then I’m asking that You will grant to this waiting audience now, the healing of every person that’s in divine Presence. May this be one of the greatest healing services that we ever had. May there be something take place, Lord. We don’t know how it would happen, or what else could be done, but we pray that the Holy Spirit will have the preeminence this afternoon to break into every heart and to every mind, as we have just read, “Let the mind that was in Christ be in you.”

And, of course, that is the One that understands perfect sovereignty, and perfect sovereignty must be, can only be, acknowledged in the realm of the Word of God. In other words God being sovereign, you’re asking God for certain things. You want certain things. It has to be to be in alignment with the Word a hundred percent. It cannot be otherwise. It must also be in the position where people say, “If it is Thy will,” with the understanding, not that you cannot find Scripture for it, but at this particular time what is the best for you, what is God trying to work out in your life.

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Now, remember; God doesn’t give out pain just for the sake of pain. God never gives out sickness just for the sake of sickness. God doesn’t lose us just for the sake of losing us, in order to simply find us. Everything we deal with is of a sovereign God and His sovereign nature. And, Brother Branham quoted Irenaeus, which was so true, “God being a Redeemer, God being a Savior, it was necessary that He predestinate a man that would require salvation, to give God Himself a reason and purpose of being.”

In other words it was in order that God could fulfill Himself. And we’ll find the tangibility of God as we go along, that God could manifest Himself; that God could become what was in Him to become. And, because we are in that position, His children, to give Him that glory, there is no glory He withholds from us. There’s actually no limit. And that’s why, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard.” We’ve only barely got a glimpse by the Spirit what is to be given to us.

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And, as the Bible also says, “If God’s spared not His Own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with him freely give us all things.”

You say, “What ‘all things’?”

Well, your mind will boggle on that one. The best you can do is go to the Word. And, remember; Brother Branham said, “We are all things.” in one place, and also “all things” in another place. In the Bible it means ‘r-e-s’, which is Word. So, I say to you, then, if God gave us His Son, what are the ‘all things’? Now, if you aren’t a truly scripturally-oriented person and really understand the Word of God as is given us this day, you could end up a Muhammad and go to Mohammed’s heaven, and what have you got?

Women still in bondage and nothing but sex symbols for stupid, jackass men. That was a mild expression. Not nice, but very mild. I could use some much better ones and much nicer according to the dictionary. But you’ve got my opinion right there on that one… my reasoning and my whole thinking. All right.

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[7] I pray, God, that as we see that the mind is the controlling tower of the whole being, that it directs us, and let that mind that was in Christ be in us this afternoon.

In other words the mind of Christ can direct us. What is ‘the mind of Christ’? The mind of Christ is the New Testament that’s written by Paul. You can’t change that. That’s the truth. He said he had the mind of Christ. If he had the mind of Christ, what right would he have to withhold it and then tell us, “Let’s have the mind of Christ?”

Am I going to say to you, “Hey, I want you to go out there and mix up four cubic feet of concrete.”

You say, “Sure, give me the stone, give me the cement, give me this.”

“Oh no, just… just go ahead.”

Stupid, isn’t it? Now, how can you have the mind of Christ (in this Word you have the mind of Christ), and know what the mind of Christ is? We outlined it here in a way we’re talking about ‘Identification’. Just keep that in mind. So, the mind is the Word, and we’ve read It. See? And that mind directs us. Now, watch.

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[7] And he was always believing the Word. And now, may there be a great outpouring of His Presence upon us.

Now, if he was always believing the Word, and you’re going to have that mind, what’s the Holy Ghost going to pour out in this Message? The Word of the living God.

“Oh no, He’s going to pour out promises, and we are going to get healed; we’re going to get this; we’re going to get that.”

Oh, is that a fact? I don’t see that in the Scripture I read. Where does It say, “Let this mind be also in Jesus Christ being in the form of God thought it not a prize to be grasped and retained with God, but made himself of no reputation…,” and all the things that you and I want to put in there.

So, here is the first thing that comes to our attention as Christians, knowing what they must know in order to understand and appreciate God: to have the definitive relationship of fellowship. As Brother Branham said, “You’re in your father, and He had one desire to have fellowship with you and by holy matrimony, the bedding grounds of the mother’s womb brought you forth and had fellowship. Now the same thing. There’s a spiritual birth in order that we have this fellowship.

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[8] And I pray for these ministers, Lord, that’s cooperated in this meeting, that each of their churches will be benefited with great spiritual and material benefits, because of their stand to try to bring to their people the Gospel in every true fashion that they know it’s being preached in. And I pray, Father, that You’ll bless them. And may the people appreciate them, knowing that they’re doing it for their sakes, and for the Gospel’s sake. May they in return help, and put their shoulders to the wheel, to push for the cause that we’re trying to bring forth on the earth: the Lord Jesus.

Now, that’s a beautiful prayer, and I’m sure there were some there that appreciated it and were in sympathy with Brother Branham. But, let’s face it, that prayer didn’t even go past their eyeballs, because they didn’t believe what was being said right there; to bring forth the Lord Jesus on earth. Not according to truth, see. But anyway, there are those that were there that could appreciate it.

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[9] Now Father, we pray that You’ll take the words as we have read them. And You are Your own Interpreter. So, we pray that You’ll interpret It to our hearts today. And when we leave today, may we say like those coming from Emmaus, “Did not our hearts burn within us, as He talked to us along the way?”

Now the point is this. That’s very, very true, “As they talked along the way”. Now Brother Branham’s great ministry made people’s heart burn. But, when he turned to the Word, they turned off their hearts. The Word of God which should have added fuel, if something was there, doused out the flames. Now I know what I’m talking about.

I had that in my own ministry for years and years. When I preached, even before I knew Brother Branham, preached sovereignty and things of God, that right there, the red flags went up: “Get out! What do you want?” I wouldn’t touch you with a forty foot pole. See.

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So, the talking… If the Word of God causes your heart to burn, inflames you with the reality, that’s what counts, because the discernment, the miracles, the “THUS SAITH THE LORD,” was merely the proof that you would be getting the Word of the living God in Its correctness.

So, if you’re burning with the first part and doused out with the second part, then that’s the devil, because the devil was high and mighty in his position. But, when it came to the Word, he perverted It. True. Absolutely true. Iniquity. So, we are getting our lesson, aren’t we?

“Talking along the way…” Well, we’re not there yet. The dead haven’t come forth. They’re getting pretty close. I know that for a fact, because several days have gone by already. It’s got to be closer, and we’ll be changed. And it’s on the way to this that the heart burns with the Word as God communicated to us through His prophet and now through the written Word, the spoken Word.

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[10] Bless them, God, all these new-born babes that just came to You. I pray, in their little tender way, that they’ll be fed with the sincere milk of the Gospel, and they’ll grow into great statues of Christ.

Is that a fact? All right, true. What’s he talking about? Maturity. Those fit to take meat. Now, if this is the end time where the meat comes, according to Melchisedec doctrine, spoken of by the apostle Paul, I think in Hebrews 5 (right around there), then milk is not going to sustain them. It won’t do it. Milk has certain nourishments, but it doesn’t have much bulk. You’ve got to get the food in your system that has a bulk to it and a release that’s slow so that you can work on it, you can travel on it, you can endure on it. See.

And today I want you to notice something: There’s so little left in the food that your body turns to mush. And, what about the spiritual? As Brother Branham said. “What about the brains?” he said. Remember, he talked about the mind, and the mind and the brain are pretty well the same thing.

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[10] …that they might be His mouthpieces and servants to serve Him in this great shadowing age that we’re now living in the evening Light.

So, they go to milk, to this Message. How are they going to get anywhere? Lest they got the right five-fold ministry, they are not going to make it. Yet I still find people who want to sort of get away by themselves. They don’t want to pay the price of going to church. They don’t want to seek God and move in order to have the Word of the Lord. They have their own little ways, their own little ideas, and I’ve seen it go right down the drain.

Brother Branham made very, very strong statements about going to church. And the Bible says, “So much the more as you see the day approach.” It’s kind of tough on me, because I haven’t been too faithful. When I do come here, for the hour and a half, you do get fed, or I’ll resign right now. See.

Now, “they might be mouthpieces, they might be the children of the prophets, saying the same thing the prophet said. Grant it, Lord, and you may be seated.”  And, of course, there were tongues, interpretations.

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Brother Branham said:

[14] Now, I want to take this subject this afternoon, ‘Identification.’

[15] Now, anybody must be or must know we’re living in the last days when identification is required. Unless you’re known at the bank, you can’t cash your cheque, unless you have something to identify yourself.

Okay. What does it mean ‘to identify’? ‘Identify’: ‘to assert or approve to be absolutely the same’. So, if you identify yourself, you have to have something whereby you can show that positively you are that person. The sameness of character or quality also means ‘to identify’. ‘Identify’ actually, then, is to deal with a proof, something substantive, something that is unequivocal, something that’s real, something that stands a test. It is proof positive. ‘To identify oneself with’, is a term we use; ‘Identification’; various terminology. Brother Branham is talking about ‘identify yourself’.

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[16] I know, my wife, she can’t cash a cheque. Yet when we get our cheque, we put it in the bank. But she can’t cash it, because she doesn’t drive; she has no Social Security number, or nothing to identify herself. So therefore, it’s a hard thing for her to cash a cheque. You’ve got to have some official identification. And I think it’s just that time that we’re living in. And, of course, he’s going to take that to the spiritual.

[17] If you notice, if you go to a certain denomination church, like a Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, or something, you have to have something to identify yourself, if you’re going to speak . You have to have a credential or a card or fellowship card or something to identify yourself, as where they know where you come from, and what you’re going to say at that platform. You have to be identified. And it’s an identifying age.

In other words you have to be recognized. ‘Identification’ means ‘I am recognized to be exactly what I’m supposed to be, or what I say I am, or what this purports to be as some kind of manifesto or something’.

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[19] Now, we’re going to speak this afternoon upon identifications in the Bible character. We’re going to identify our present condition with characters in the Bible of other ages. [And he talks a bit about that.]

[27] So I just wonder today, if we couldn’t look in the Bible, and say, “That’s me,”

This follows a little description where he talked about the little boy that had never seen a mirror and went to town where his aunt lived, and he saw himself in a mirror, and much to his great pleasing said, “That’s me. I’m looking at myself. That’s me.” So, all right.

[27] …as we wonder which one is it. What, character? Which character in the Bible would we look like? And, let’s just take that for a little text now and stay with it for a while. And, as we look into God’s Word, let’s identify ourselves, for He gives others in there for examples of what we are.

Now Brother Branham is repeating what many people say. “You can find yourself in the Bible quite easily.” There’s no one that’s not in there some way, shape and form. Even if it’s, “All men are liars.” That takes care of that one right across the board. See?

[27]  And as we look into God’s Word, let’s identify ourselves for He gives others in there for examples for what we are.

“…What we are.” Now, remember; I’m quoting again, “…what we are;” showing you we’re talking of a present tense going back to past tense in the Bible. What they were, we are. Right? What they were, we are.

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Okay, let’s look at what Brother Branham says.

[27] Now, remember that God takes His spirit… or rather takes His men, but never His spirit.

He had to correct himself there. Brother Branham says, “God takes the man but not His spirit.” Satan takes his man, but never his spirit. Didn’t Brother Branham say, “He cast out some devils that were in the man at Gadarene.” Didn’t he talk to Satan in that man in Portland, Oregon? He said, “Satan I command you to fall across my feet.” The guy slumped down. See?

[27] So, let’s see if we can identify our present state now with Bible characters. Now the Bible said all those things happened back in those days for examples for us. They are our examples.

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Now he says:

[28] Our character molds us to the image to what we are; our character of life that’s in us.

So now, there’s evidently a life that’s in us that has characteristics within it that come out in us in a manifested form in the individual. So, what is character? Well, ‘character’ in the French and in the Greek is ‘character’. And it says, in French, ‘character’ means ‘an engraving tool’; in the Greek ‘a distinctive mark’. So, all right. Put the two together, you’ve got ‘an engraving tool’. You’ve got ‘an instrument that makes a mark’. Not just you have ‘an instrument’, but it’s ‘an instrument that makes a mark’.

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So, you can’t have something within you without it doing something in you that’s manifesting. Right? That’s what we’re talking about. In the English it means ‘distinctive trait’. [pronounced ‘tray’.] Some people say it means ‘trait’, but its ‘tray’ [as it sounds]. ‘Quality, attribute, essential quality, nature, kinder sort, patterns of behavior, personality, moral constitution, moral strength, characteristically makes typically’.

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So therefore, we’re talking about, evidently, species. We’re talking about life. Not only so, we’re talking about minerals. We’re talking about everything. There isn’t anything that doesn’t have significance, that doesn’t have a play, that doesn’t have something to do in nature and the whole economy of God. There’s something there running the line true, and it has to be irrevocable.

Otherwise, you couldn’t use these words. Words would lose their meaning. ‘Elasticity’ now, then, could mean ‘something rigid’. ‘Something rigid’, then, could be called ‘elastic’. Therefore, it’s no problem for the president to call ‘immorality’ ‘morality’, and ‘is’ as though ‘isn’t’, and ‘was’ as though it ‘weren’t’.

So, when we’re using these words… And Brother Branham uses them. You notice that the man is very, very scientific. I’m always amazed at Brother Branham. When he said, “I only had seventh grade”, and then he got very stern and said, “Believe me; I knew what was in those books.” In other words, “Don’t fool with me, you whipper-snapper.” “

You think I don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re going to find a seventh grade kid can blow you right out of the park.” And he could, too. God in one man is bigger than the universe. You can say what you want, but when it’s like Moses, Paul and William Branham, you better be very, very definitive, and very, very scriptural.

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[28] Our character molds us to the image of what we are, our character of life that’s in us.

Now we go to the next paragraph, because a paragraph follows that one little line. Now he said, listen again:

[28] Our character molds us to the image of what we are.

Now the character, then, is a lively engraving tool making its marks. Now he uses the term ‘molding’, and we’re getting now where we have within us the clay, the presentation of ourselves here because of this life within us, the life within the tool, manifested. So, character is a very, very innate and spiritual thing, and we prove it by the next paragraph.

[29]  Now you take a very little germ of life, and if it’s a germ of a bird, it’ll produce a bird. If it’s a germ of a wheat, it’ll produce wheat; a germ of corn, produce corn. So, the life that’s in it molds a character of it.

Actually it is the character, and the character is reproducing itself in a manifested form. And, if you could take the most powerful microscope in the world, electronically magnified to a trillion times, if you wanted, you still couldn’t see life in the kernel of wheat or the kernel of corn. And, if you could, you still couldn’t tell what would bring forth what.

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[30] Then we find the same thing like a life of a cancer, a germ, cancer germ, it molds a cancer.

What is it molded from? Nothing but what’s there. Tuberculosis will mold from what is there. What is there is the germ containing the trays, spirituals, that must come forth in a form to be visible, to be utilized, to present itself, to multiply itself, to do whatever its supposed to do.

Like Brother Branham said, “That spirit that’s in a building, an evil spirit, can’t do one thing till somebody opens himself up.” As in Waterloo, Iowa in February, I think it was in 1958. Brother Branham came to see the building. There are people in wheel chairs, perhaps, and people around there. An unbeliever came in, (a real miserable person) and he heard Brother Branham say, “How do you do? How do you feel?” and so on.

Oh, he said, “That’s how he does, this man that discerns, comes to pick it all up.”

Wham! The spirit hit that whole building. And you talk about a tough hard meeting until Friday. I think we were there maybe four or five days. Brother Branham was washed out.

So, I said, “Brother Branham, you’re so tired. Let me preach and give you a break.”

“Well,” he said, “Lee, you’re taking the afternoon”

I said, “So what. You’re the valuable one. I’ll take the brunt of it for the time being. But you get yourself rest.”

So, I took some meetings for him. Did what I could. You should have seen the difference by Friday. A bunch of believers came in from California and all around the country. Friday the meeting broke, and we were right back in the presence of God. And the power of the devil was broken.

But you see, there’s got to be something there for that thing that previously exists, now coming down the line, God taking His men, the devil taking his men, nature taking theirs, whether God or the devil, who cares, but its coming down, down, down, down. And it forms these people, of which there will be a ‘Bride’ and a ‘non-bride’ and a ‘serpent-seed’ group that are cannon-fodder and ‘Lake of Fire’ fodder.

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So, he talks about this life. Didn’t Brother Branham tell you in a meeting, “a woman had cancer – a man”? Oh, he said, “There’s one over there with cancer, and that cancer is calling to this cancer or this rather to this one to get help”. Now you can kill the cancer. The cancer simply leaves and goes someplace else. And we all have incipiently, every single disease I believe, except AIDS, and you got to really ask for it. A lot of people are asking for it, and they’ll get it; don’t worry. And all the talk about it being under cover is the stupidest thing in the world, because they’ll say, “Oh there’s a decrease here. Oh, we’ve made a mistake; there’s millions over here.”

I hate politics and politicians. And the doctors are politicians, too, because they’ve got to kowtow to the aids in Washington or any state. There’s nobody that’s not a politician, except a born-again Christian, and he better not be. What a mess we are living in.

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Now, so species act according to their nature and produce what we call ‘character’. In other words the character is ‘the manifestation of the innate’ or what is behind it. God made a character of iron. In the Bible it speaks of being of one tough substance. He made a character for flint. He made a character for granite, for slate, for copper. He made a character even for lightning, electricity. Every single thing has a background of creation. And so, therefore, to have a manifestation to bring out what really lies there, something has to be done with it or to it. See? That’s why God’s a becoming God… plain English. We’ll see more and more of that as we go by.

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[30] So, a life of a tumor would mold a tumor, and so forth. Species act according to their nature or character.

[31] Our characters are molded by what’s on the inside of us, and our outside only expresses what’s on the inside. What we are, how we walk, no matter what we say, our life speaks louder than our words do.

If we might say, “I’m a believer in God…”

And I’d say, “Well, do you believe the Bible?”

[32] “Well, I don’t know.”           

Then, you see, your life is speaking louder than your words would be, because that life determines the words that you use. Now I’ve modified this, because Brother Branham did not put it correctly. You’d have to repeat it again. You see? He tries to tell you, “You can say all you want, but what you act like.” He kind of gets this reversed. So, I’m telling you here what he is saying is this: If you had it right on the inside, you wouldn’t be saying what you’re saying on the outside. You’d be saying the right thing from the inside.

“Do you believe all the Bible?”

“Absolutely. I believe every bit according to God’s own interpretation of His Own Word by vindication in this hour.” Now we’re getting somewhere. Now these people wouldn’t get that far. Brother Branham didn’t have a chance to say that. You’d get it later on, though.

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[33] You say, “I’m a Christian, and I believe all that God said is true.” Then live any other kind of life after that, your life speaks louder than your testimony does.

So, that’s what he’s really saying, and I tried to get it to you. See? Because you are not consistent with the Word. That’s what he’s saying. You’re not consistent with the Word. See?

[34] Now you know that’s one of the greatest hindrances that the church of God has is the bootlegger, the gambler, those people we all know which way they’re headed, and they know themselves. But the fellow that professes to be a Christian and the woman professing to be a Christian, and then live something different, is the greatest stumbling block that’s outside, the world has got—that there is in the outside world, anywhere.

In other words he’s saying, the worst thing in the world is for someone to testify to something and then go off in the opposite direction.

“Say, you know, I’m on my journey north.”

And they’re going south.

“Why, I believe in the living God; we should live clean and healthy.”

And then, they’re immoral as a skunk. Well, the skunks aren’t immoral, just a little smelly. They have a right to be, see?

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Okay.

[34]  Its worse than anything the world can produce, is the person that’s supposed to be a Christian and then lives something different from that. Lying, stealing, cheating and doing that he ought not do is a discredit to his testimony when you take people that do those things there.

I’m going to tell you, what he’s saying is a tremendous, tremendous stumbling block. If the people of God who claim to be Christians do not live in the proper ‘familio’ scriptural attitude towards each other as true brothers and sisters, helpful and kind, and wanting to help, you are a stumbling block like you cannot believe. I know I’m talking from experience. I saw it all my life as a young preacher. The people acted more like a bunch of devils than Christ would act.

I can say from my heart before Almighty God tonight, I have done for people what nobody ever did for me, and that’s what Jesus did. I’ve got witnesses right here in this church sitting here, so don’t ever rise against me and make me a liar; I’ll push your face into it.

I know my record. I’ve done it. And you know why I did it? ‘Because its in the Word of God, and I sought the Word of God, and God says to be one with that Word. And I’m going to tell you: It works! The biggest stumbling block I had in my life were a bunch of ‘gabby’ Pentecostals, who lied right in their teeth.

You know the first thing Paul said to the man full of the Holy Ghost? “Put aside all lying.” First thing a man will do, will lie. You’ve got to watch that. The thing the devil did, he lied, right in the Garden of Eden. He took the Word of God and did it and backed himself up, like people do today, “Hallelujah, Jesus forgive me, glory to God.” I tell you, Jesus can forgive you, but you’re going to pay a price, because when you know better, its required of you.

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I preached “Priorities” up there in Canada. That’s when God spoke to my heart and said, “Your ministry in the west is over. Furthermore, your brother will die; you’ll never see him again. You don’t need to go to his funeral.”

You say, “What a funny thing for God to say.”

Is it funny? Why it sure is funny isn’t it? Isn’t it strange that God said, “You will never see him again after He said, he’ll die, and you don’t need to go to the funeral.” They cremated my brother. Had I gone to the funeral, I would not have seen him. You tell me that God makes mistakes. He talks to your heart. We just get out of tune with God. Or He talks through this Word and He tells us many wonderful things. Not people looking in their refrigerator, the ‘lights on’ the ‘lights off’ and all that kind of stuff, expecting God to talk every minute of the day: “Lord, should I take a drink of water; Lord, take a bath?”

You stink, you take a bath.

Listen, maybe its a laughing matter, but I’ve been through this stuff so don’t you think for one… I’ve bared my heart here. My ministry is my life, and, you know, I’ve seen it all, brother/sister. And I’ve seen it all on God’s side. That’s the best there is. All right.

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Now he says here:

[34] Lying, stealing, cheating doing those things ye ought not to do. Its a discredit to his testimony when he does those things there. Our character is molded in there by the light that is in us.

All right, let’s just go to that life that’s in us. Its over here in Matthew the 6th chapter, sermon on the Mount. I never know where anything is, that’s why I’ve got a good concordance to be honest with you. And It says here, 6:22-23.

Matthew 6:22

(22) The light of the body is the eye…

Now the word ‘light’ there should be translated ‘lamp’, because that’s what it is. “The spirit is the lamp of the Lord lighting the inward parts of the belly.” That’s Scripture. It tells you right there God deals with your spirit. Now Brother Branham tells you distinctly the mind and the brain is part of the whole set up of the spirit.

The brain, the mind, gets the Word sends it by the spirit to the soul. That’s the conduit. That’s where the soul is. Then the soul starts to feed it back; if you’ve got the right soul.

Matthew 6:22

(22) The [lamp] of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single…

Weymouth says that word should be translated ‘healthy’. If your lamp, that is healthy, your whole body will be full of healing and light. You’d be there. Somatic. That means ‘healthy’. ‘Thoma’ is ‘poison’.

Matthew 6:23

(23) …if thine eye be evil, [and Weymouth says ‘diseased’] thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light [that lamp] that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

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Now, let’s see if Weymouth is right. Let’s go to Revelation the 3rd chapter. And in there we read a marvelous thing that proves him right. And It says to the last day church, Laodicean:

Revelation 3:17-18

(17) Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: [And then It says:]

(18) I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire… [and so on] …and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve [which means the eye is diseased].

How can you have a body where the lamp – the spirit, the lamp – in you is diseased. Its evil. Its not healthy. And then have a healthy body from it that puts you in a rapture? You can’t do it.

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Now, at the end time, the spirit, the life in the ‘non-bride’ group/area, is diseased. Its unhealthy. It cannot produce immortality. A blindness has settled in and the light that they had from Luther, justification, sanctification, baptism with the Holy Ghost, missing the Sealer, the Token Himself, God, the great Sealer and Seal, (Headship has arrived, come on down) rejecting Him, everything they have, the life goes out of it, and therefore now, they’re in a state of total disease. How great is their darkness? Go to the Catholics; they had it once. Gone. How dark are they? You can’t even begin to talk about it.

Where are the Lutherans? They’ve gone right back to the Catholics, except they disagree on communion, and they’ll soon figure that out. They’ll just say, “Hey, its fine by us if you believe it. We believe it our way; let’s get together.” “Oh”, they’ll say, “great, great, great.” Oh, they all love vomit, so my goodness, what’s the difference whether its cow or horse or human. Phew, I’m going to go home now, before I throw up.

What about the Methodist? I don’t think they even talk about beer anymore… prohibition. And the Pentecostals. Where are they, when the Catholics speak in genuine, legitimate tongues by the Holy Ghost and kiss the pope’s toe and say, “Hail Mary”? You answer my question. Here’s my answer right here.

The light within that went dark, the spirit within. The life within is what? Death, diseased; its dead. That’s when the Bible said, “I will kill her children with death.” Kill, kill, death, death. Second death, of which we have now, because they turned down the life. There is no room for repentance. Its over. No life outside of this Message!

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Now, I talked about this lamp. We go to Psalm 119, and we just look at It, and It says here: Psalm 119:105.

Psalm 119:105

(105) Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

So, if the spirit of man is not thoroughly illuminated by the true revelation of the Word of the true and living God, there’s no light to the path, there’s no light to the feet. In other words you can’t see where you’re going, and there’s no light anyway to mark the path. The only people who know where they’re going is the true Bride, and the rest think they’re going there.

Why, listen! All you got to do is read the newspaper, turn on a TV, turn on a radio, and I can tell you right now, Frank Sinatra is right up there with Elvis Presley and Jesus Christ, and they’re having a great time, a marvelous time, and they’re smiling down on us. And Billy Graham says it: He knows that Elvis is in heaven. Yeah. He’s become the guru and the pope of the Protestants.

What does he know about it? He’s a trinitarian. He worships three gods, which is polytheism, which is heathenism. He baptizes in the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost, which is no names at all, but titles. What else can you go for?

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[35] Now, we say, “Jesus came to save that which is lost.” That’s what He did. And now there had to be something to save this lost, so it had to be a different character from that which was lost.

That is a beautiful, beautiful, clear, simple, concise, marvelous statement. How are you going to save what’s here, if you’ve only got what they’ve got? How are we going to go and help the Guatemalans, if all we can do is go down there and say, “I’m sorry, we haven’t got anything either”? We go down there with seven helicopters, and from Mexico seven big B747s are flown in: tons and tons of food and drugs. Why, go down there with little children dying of cholera and say, “Oh, isn’t that horrible. He’s passing blood, and the poor thing’s dying.” Misery does not love company! That’s stupid.

So, how would God deal with a character just like ours in the sense of Brother Branham using the total expression, ‘the world’? He’s not talking just concerning you and me, because we know that’s a different picture. He’s talking about lost humanity.

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[35]  So we find then, when God looked down upon this creation of His that He had made, upon the characters of this earth; His loving character, Hisself was molded into the person of Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the world. So now there’s got to be a character, something else that you and I don’t have for a Bride something the world doesn’t have period.

This was done so that He could pay the penalty for death for us and redeem us. It certainly fulfilled John 3:16, that God, no other person, could do it. Jesus could have been no one else. So, you’ve got the picture now, the Father and the Son joined together in one mind, one concept, to do that which is requisite. There was no other character anywhere that could of produced such a person as Jesus Christ, but God Himself.

We’re talking now in terms of predestination, because ‘character’ is ‘predestination’. Because character, as we talk about it, we analyze it, and we talk in terms of a function, a demonstration, a manifestation, something is producing it bringing it forth into visibility. So, all right.

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Let’s go back to the source: Romans the 9th chapter:15-23 the great chapter.

Romans 9:15-16

(15) For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

(16)  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

That tells you right there, this plan originates with God, and God’s going to do it His way, and there’s nothing you can do about it. If you don’t like it, you can lump it. That’s pure and simple.

Romans 9:17-21

(17) For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. [And it sure is and still is.]

(18) Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

(19) Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

(20) Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why has thou made me thus?

(21) Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump…

One lump of clay, one blood; that’s all there is right today. Of one blood, of one flesh; there isn’t anymore. That’s it. That takes in every race and every single color. Forget what you heard by the idiots that try to tell you something different.

Romans 9:21-23

(21) Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

(22) What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

(23) And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.

Now, let me tell you something right here. There are two men with characters. Two men with differing characters. Two men with the same substance of flesh. But something inside of one man, namely Moses, is different from something inside of one man, named Pharaoh, though God made both of them. And they manifest differently.

Now, watch carefully, this man Moses, said, “God will raise up a prophet like unto me.” God will raise up a man of the same character, of the same inner, innate quality, of the same spirit. God will raise him up. Now, listen; God is going to do it.

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Now, concerning Moses, his mother and father did it by sexual intercourse and brought him forth. When God raises this one up, it is without sex, (And we’ll talk about it as time goes on.) where Brother Branham talks about it as we’ve already taught. But this will be of the same spirit but in a capacity far different, for this one does not come in the world speaking lies. This is not the son of a man; this is the Son of Man.

This is the Son of God, and yet its the same life. But now, that life will blossom and burgeon forth in a way that brings the fruit that will be commensurate with this one, whereas before the fruit was never commensurate with what was inside. Even as God said to Israel, His chosen people, “I took this piece of ground, I took out the rocks, I fertilized it. I made it just exactly perfect.

I put in a wine-press. I put in a fence. I did this, and I did that. Then I put in the best grapes in the world, and I came to get grapes,” they said, “tewy; sour grapes.” He said, “What more could I have done?”

Israel blew it. Every man since Adam blew it. And the woman took him off the true Word like the church does, organization. Only God Himself can keep you on the true Word. So, here we find Jesus was raised up, produced that character, in other words, this lump of clay so to speak; Jesus different from all the others, because He’s neither Jew or Gentile. Nope, just a true human being. Yes, he was the last Adam, second man, but really the first man from heaven, though.

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[36]  Now there was nothing in heaven that could have done it. You know, John looked in the book there, the Bible; we find that he saw that there was no one upon the earth worthy to take the Book, a Book of Redemption. And there was nobody in heaven worthy; nobody that was beneath the earth.

Now he’s talking of the men of this one lump here. And nowhere, or anywhere was able or worth, [Now, watch.] able or worthy, able or worthy. You couldn’t just be able; you had to be worthy. See, Jesus said, “I could call twelve legions of angels; I could do this; I could do that.”

No, no, no, no, no. He could not, and be worthy. You and I could do many things even with the Word of Almighty God. But are we worthy in doing it? Are we letting that character come through that’s really within us? Are we letting the truly substantial, the real-substance, come out of the mire and clay like the lily that rises above the slough ponds of despond, and terrible… where the rotting vegetation, is throwing up bubbles and all.

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[36]  …or anywhere, was one able or worthy to take the Book, to loose the Seals, even to look upon it. And he wept, because in this Book was the Book of Redemption. His own name was there; nobody was worthy.

[37] Then one of the elders said, “Fear not for the Lion of the tribe of Juda hath prevailed, and He is worthy.”

Jesus only came from the tribe of Judah because His legal parents were of the tribe of Judah. But, as far as having anything to do with the human race, other than Mary’s body being the chemically-qualified factory to go through the chemical processes that she obtained from the earth to bring this body forth, that’s all, she had nothing more to do with it. But that’s why she’s blessed amongst women. Not greater than, but blessed amongst women. “Fear not. For He has prevailed, and He’s worthy.”

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[38] John looked, then, to see a lion, and he saw a Lamb. And it must’ve been a slain lamb, a bloody Lamb. And he said it was full of blood, because it was the Lamb that had been slain. And [alas,] a slain Lamb is bloody, of course, and had been slain from the foundation of the world. And He came and took the Book. There was nobody else could do it.

Now in there you’ll see, from the foundation of the world, you find this is God dealing with man. When He starts dealing with man in grace, it becomes Jehovah. And here is Jehovah-Jirah, Jehovah-complex, all and every one of them, [ I guess there’s nine of them all total, three threes.) every single one coming into view. All right.

[39] Because if you plant any like a cocklebur in the ground [And you Arkansas-ers know what a cockle-bur is.] and put that in the ground and you can’t expect to harvest a crop of corn out it.[See, what he’s doing is, here is a reproductive seed he’s talking about.] No you can’t. So, if you took a cocklebur and crossed it up with a jimson seed, you still wouldn’t have anything. Certainly not. You wouldn’t have it. And you see, there’s no changing in there that would produce the same character, evil to evil.

Okay. Brother Branham is saying… Look! Remember now, he’s talking about people, and he’s talking about God. He’s talking about God’s people having character. He’s talking about this ‘stylus’, this engraving tool bring forth the engraving. He’s talking about the inside bringing forth, through a substance, what really lies within that spirit, within that life or that principle, because it could be a principle as well as it is a life, even though all life has principle.

Other things have principle too, or certain qualities you might say. Like iron is strong; and we know that copper is not nearly as strong. You can put them together with other things and bring forth brass and stuff; you know you can get a lot of things, because they have the qualities.

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So he said here now, let me read it again now. He said: “And you see there is no character in there but what would produce the same character evil to evil.” So, he’s saying here, wheat produces wheat, jimson seed, jimson seed, species remain true, unless you fiddle with them like science does today. And you are going to make a real mess of everything before its all over. No way to get out of it. But he said, corn brings forth corn; pigs bring forth pigs; cows bring forth cows; dogs bring forth dogs. (Yeah, Uh, uh.) And God bring forth gods, too. Species, right down the line. Okay, I’m going to read out of Romans here 9:1-13.

Romans 9:1-6

(01) I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

(02) That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.

(03) For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: [Same spirit of Christ in Moses and this man]

(04) Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

(05) Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

(06) Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. [See.] For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

There you are right there. Everybody on earth is not a true human being. Forget it. Everybody here is not made in the image of God. Forget it. I’m not talking about this congregation here; I’m talking about the world. Everybody is not a child of God. Forget it. No way, shape and form. If you can’t trace yourself all the way back to Adam for your genes, you haven’t got it. That’s just as simple as A-B-C. Adam’s the only son of God, physical. In him was breathed the breath of lives. He became a living soul. He already was a spirit man; already had the nature of a male, and the female subservient. And the female nature came out, to bear children. Okay, right down the line.

Romans 9:6-8

(06) Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

(07) Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: [Where does that leave the Arabs that hate the Jews, huh?] but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.

(08) That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

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That’s what It said right there. Abraham could have trillions of seed. He could impregnate trillions of women. There would only be one Isaac out of the trillions that came to birth. David had three hundred children born in one year. How many were the seed of God? Hah! I wonder if one was.

Romans 9:8

(08) …but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

If we’re children of the promise, its only because God promised us to Jesus. We’re born of the promise of the Word.

Romans 9:9

(09) [And] this is the word of promise…

Notice, the Word of promise. In other words, if she is going to have a son, it had to be in according to the Word. And the Word had to be the Word of God, and it had to be a promise. That makes it grace.

Romans 9:9-13

(09) …At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.

(10) And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; [Now, that’s a real tough one right here.]

(11)  (For the children being not yet born, [One father, one mother; same father, same mother] neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

(12) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

(13) As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

And that goes from calling, which is election, to predestination. And, what does It say about predestination? Its already explained over here in the 8th chapter.

Romans 8:28-29

(28) [For] we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called [elected] according to his purpose.

(29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Now, you have some of them are born to conform to the image, but the others aren’t. So, they’re not going to act like each other.

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And that brings us to Cain and Abel, and they are both religious. And they both had the Word. Are you going to tell me that fruit offering is not in the Bible? You can’t do it. It is in the Bible: fruit and vegetables, a first fruit. But when Cain came he said, “I’m going to offer this. I’m not going to offer blood.” And, what did God say to him? Its over here in the 4th chapter.

Genesis 4:7

(07) If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.

It says in the Septuagint, which I believe is a correct and beautiful translation, “You have offered right, but you have not rightly divided.” Because Paul says, “The Word must be rightly divided.” And, if you worship even according to the Word without a right division, it is an insult and a slam in the face of God. He cannot receive it; its in vain. So, here you have it right here.

He said, “There’s no character in there but what would produce the same character, evil to evil.” Serpent seed can only bring forth evil. It’ll worship God according to tradition. Because the evil deed that Cain did, that inspired him to kill his brother, based upon jealousy, was he worshipped God outside of the framework of the Word of God, not the correct interpretation. And Abel had the correct revelation, and he offered blood.

Now, if Cain had offered blood, then he could have offered the first fruit. He didn’t do it. You can’t offer to God something that your hands do. You can’t offer something that you raised. You have to accept God’s grace first, then, by your faith in Him and your grace towards Him, you offer it back to Him. And that’s going to be the fruit of the Spirit. That’s got to be Spirit led, not going to be something that man’s got all messed up in: no way, shape and form.

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[40] So, it took something that was not evil, that could produce a character like Jesus Christ. So, he had to come a part from the whole thing, still be human. And it was God looking upon His creation and His own loving character, His own loving character…

Now, what’s God’s character? An engraving tool that produces a mark. God’s character is something that isn’t work, and is at work within the individual even as it was within the individual, Christ. But, remember; you cannot assume anything in any way concerning Christ, except what is laid out for you and me according to the Word. You can’t do it. No, no. People try to tell you God loves the sinner, but He hates the sin. I doubt my Bible says, “God’s angry at the sinner all the day long.” Time’s up. Okay.

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[40]  His own loving character; seeing that lost, yet in His image, made for His glory; and see that lost, His own love projected Jesus Christ.

So, here we are: We find man was led into sin. God knew he would be, in order to give God reason and purpose of being as a great Redeemer. So, if God looks down upon this within us which produces the character of God… As Brother Branham said, “You’ll find out you were always saved,” this is the true life, the life of God in us, redeemed back to Him. So, the very loving character of God lies within us, or we couldn’t respond to Him personally, any more than an eagle could respond to a chicken.

But you will get a stupid cat responding to a dog, or a chicken or something else. But it doesn’t work with you and me. If you have that life in you, when you hear the eagle call, you’ll respond, or you don’t have that life.

I don’t know how we are going to go into this tomorrow morning, if I get back here tomorrow morning, which I’ll likely try to do, because I don’t know how I’m going to review it. You are going to have to remember what I said, and I’m going to try to remember what I told you, and we’ll take it from there. Because… Its not extemporaneously. I’ve studied this. I know what my notes are saying. I feel I know what Brother Branham said. But its just one of those things.

All right. Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father, we come to you now at this particular time as we go to the other part of the service, the communion service, Lord God, and also, Lord, to the foot-washing which is ordained of You. Help us, Father, to do this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, knowing this, that every single person that’s born again, knowing that he or she is born again, by virtue of the fact, having received the Word for the hour, and come to the position: “Live, die, swim or drown,” as the prophet said, knowing that this is the once for all, absolutely no more, change, not any more than the people that turned it down can change, no more than we who have received it can change… It is cast in iron in the very character of the inflexible, sovereign God Himself, His Word.

We believe that tonight, Lord, that there is a Bride. As Brother Branham said, “If we are not Bride, there a Bride out there somewhere; by the grace of God I won’t stand in her way.” Now, Lord, we know that that was a great thing to say, and I trust that we can say the same thing. So, thank You for Your kind grace and mercy, and we appreciate it all what You’ve done for us as we now approach this other service. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

[Brother Vayle continues with the Communion and Foot-washing service.]

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