Leadership #04

Shall we pray.

Heavenly Father, it’s good to be here in Your Presence, and with the people. We do appreciate that so much, and we thank You that you have given us the little chorus, telling us that Jesus is here.

And we understand that, Lord, that it’s not far off any longer, but the very Presence that was told about in the Scripture manifesting Himself and proved undoubtedly by the Word of the Living God, that that Same One Who was here, walking in flesh, feeling the sick.

That same One now here did the same, proving absolutely that Jesus is risen from the dead, that all things now have come to the place, coming under his feet more and more, Lord, until there’ll be a perfect Bride and ready to come back to bring everything into subjection, which has not been since the fall, Lord.

We believe by Your grace, we’re a part of that. And, because we are, may we have greater respect tonight, and sincerity, and love toward You and Your Word, and toward the things of God, as never before, listening diligently and believing every single Word, not missing anything.

And then manifesting the same love and diligence in service toward each other, so that we might come to that real perfect unity, Lord, not just as far as the mechanical faith is concerned, Lord, or that passive faith, but also have that active, the fruit of the spirit amongst us, Lord, all of these things which are in Your Word.

We really believe that they are here for this hour, we are here for this hour, we’ll all be getting together to manifest it as You would have it done.

We commend ourselves therefore to You in this service, believing that as the Word is preached, Lord, more and more, filling up with the Holy Spirit more and more, coming to that full stature is our portion, Lord, because that’s what the prophet said, and we are therefore here tonight to that end and that purpose.

And we thank You for it, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

You may be seated.

Now we’re on number four tonight of “Leadership,” and in our studies in number 3, we found Brother Branham, who is a judgment prophet.

Now don’t forget there are many things we could say about Brother Branham, and we do continuously, but one thing that most people do not realize is that he was a ‘judgment prophet’.

Now all you’ve got to do is to hear the various sermons and especially, you know, the “Flashing of the Red Lights” and the “Coming of the Combine,” and “I Indict This Generation,” and even tonight as we study “Leadership,” you will find that Brother Branham is certainly a judgment prophet.

And you’ll also notice there’s a place on a tape where he mentioned, “If you are not absolutely set apart by God, not just as a judgment prophet now, but preaching judgment, if that’s not your calling,” and I believe he had some people in mind at the time he said that you were to “stay clear of it.” So all right.

In our studies number three we found Brother Branham, a judgment prophet, continuing to illustrate the reality of God by pointing to creation, he’s done that many times.

First, he spoke of leadership in nature by using the example of a sheep, that absolutely requires a leader, and is sometimes led astray through that necessity-of needing a leader-as when a goat leads a sheep to the slaughter house.

Question: is he warning the Full Gospel Businessmen? Because, remember, they are self-proclaimed leaders. They’ve taken their stand that the ministry has failed, so somebody’s got to jump in and do the job.

And so they jump in and do the job, so therefore they’re taking leadership-no doubt about it-if not to a full degree, at least to a partial degree.

Then, he tells a true story of how he led an infidel to Christ through discussing God in nature, and proving reality to him by his vindicated ministry. Now remember he didn’t prove there was a God by nature per se.

He used nature as an illustration in order to bring the man into a place where he could talk with him. And so he did, and then the vindicated ministry showed the man the reality of creation by a Creator so that he couldn’t keep on spouting about, “Well, that’s nature… that’s natural… that’s nature… that’s natural.”

So, all right.

Then, he immediately speaks of nature to illustrate that as the sheep represents the Child of God because the sheep is of the greatest of the gentlest nature of all animals, and the dove represents the Spirit of God that alights upon the sheep to lead it.

Now the dove could never light upon a wolf or a creature whose nature was not as his own. Now what you’re looking at there is the recognition of the genes.

And that’s the same as we look in Hebrews 2 where Christ is in the midst of the church praising God and he is doing so with those around him on the basis that they are all of one father or one source. That’s the same thing absolutely.

Notice what I said: recognition. Christ is recognizing the children by virtue of the source. And so we have also the dove recognizing the sheep by virtue of the source. So, all right.

You could never have the Holy Spirit fall upon a serpent seed. Actually, you don’t even have the Holy Spirit coming upon a foolish virgin. So, there is something in there you have to watch very carefully.

Having said thus, which could easily be seen as the vindicated prophet who stood as God to the people, telling these people if they do not have that true Sheep nature as a Seed of God, they will reject the Message, wherein lies the Holy Spirit,

And literally snort and growl about it, as the wolf, and reject it. He used the thought of the dove flying upon the wolf, and the wolf would snap and try to eat him up. You know? Like a cat tries to catch a bird. The wolf would be destructive, and so there would be a rejection.

Then, he immediately launches into speaking about how we are all led from our first step to our last step. Now right there you will have people who want to take exception. They simply don’t want to believe that they, in themselves, are anything but the master of their own fate and destiny.

They’re a law unto themselves. They’re like a god unto themselves. He immediately, then, launches into speaking about how we are all led from our first step to our last step-we’re led, whether we want to believe it or not.

How it was by our mother, then the teacher, then the father, and then the priest or minister all, every single one of us, all are led by something at this very moment.

But who or what is leading, and where is it leading us? Now there’s the unspoken question to them. Who’s leading them? And who are they trying to lead? What if there’s a mistake, and they are worshipping the unknown God.

All they can do then is talk about the unknown God, but how, if they don’t know Him, how are they going to lead anybody else to Him. See? What are the signs? The evidences?

Then, quickly he swings back to the rich, young ruler: certainly, this man was an astute businessman, cultured, successful, resourceful, religious, no doubt he was of excellent character, and in his social contacts he presented such an atmosphere of genuine interest and care that even Jesus loved him.

In other words, there was a lot there, and no one was denying it. You don’t find on the day of the White Throne that Jesus said, “No, you didn’t cast out devils. No, you didn’t do so-and-so. No, no, no, no, no.”

It doesn’t say that. He said, “Depart, I never knew you.”

And they worked iniquity. See? Jesus loved him.

Here was a man of integrity, a man to be trusted, one who certainly should lead amongst his associates, who were other business men. Business men calculate by books how to keep out of the red, and keep in the black.

Most marriages fail because of the red ink and the black ink-fights, everything else. Governments are going under because of the red ink. Money is being devalued.

George Soros, he’s a Hungarian, I can’t believe he is. I believe he’s got to be Jewish, and you know I don’t hate the Jews. I just understand they’ve got the money; they’ve got the paper.

It’s documented he came into from the World War II, leaving Hungary, they took him in as a refuge in Britain. That fiasco, a few years ago, he cost the government, therefore the taxpayers, 12 billion dollars. What’s he costing us now?

Just not to make you hate anybody, get all riled up, but I want you to know America is going to turn on the Jews. They’ve got the paper, brother/sister. Rome’s got the gold.

These businessmen think that they are the legitimate ones, because God has prospered them, or somebody has, and they can tell you how to keep in the black instead of the red.

So, Brother Branham is talking about this businessman who flunked the test as a warning to these businessmen who have become leaders.

But for all his belonging in society and business and in worship and for all his acumen in society and business, he was still even sharper in his religion because he did not want to miss out on Eternal Life.

He wanted to be sure he had Eternal Life. But, if he was somehow missing out, then how could he be assured to attain to it? A little doubt in there, see?

And, when one faces a vindicated prophet of God, it is a very good thing to ask and make sure if he is a recipient of Eternal Life, and, if not, how does one go about to get it.

Now Brother Branham stands there, a vindicated prophet of God. Remember, the person asked the question, “Brother Branham, what does it mean when Jesus said, ‘He that has seen me has seen the Father’?”

And Brother Branham said, “You’re looking at me, aren’t you? Same thing.” He said that “God was obligated to do for the Gentiles, by the Holy Spirit, literally through a prophet, what He did through that Prophet-Messiah, Jesus Christ, at the time of Israel,” when he was in Israel, “and even a greater ministry to the Gentiles at the end time.”

So, now Brother Branham stands there, and we know all this, but those people do not know it because when the dove came the way it was supposed to come, they snorted and growled, and I suppose some were amongst those who were doing their best to destroy Brother Branham and the ministry.

How terrible it is, but true, for this young man turned away from Eternal Life and the worship of God and all his religion was now in vain.

And Brother Branham classes him, and all others in his mode, who attempt to worship God and inherit or establish themselves in Eternal Life and confirm themselves as citizens of heaven, yet they worship in vain, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.

Brother Branham said it started with Cain and afterward it will end at the end time by them worshipping Satan and then going to the Lake of Fire.

Then, on page 15 Brother Branham tells these people what he preached in Shreveport, that was in that month of November, the Thanksgiving meetings, 1965, at a Businessmen’s breakfast, he said about two and a half hours-that was true.

His sermon was “Doing God a Service Without It Being His Will.” This title is almost a paradox or oxymoron, yet it is absolutely true.

See, most people feel that you can do the will of God by more or less taking a blanket coverage and, you know, true religion undefiled is to take help the widow in her afflictions, and the children, and so on. They take an attitude which is a million miles from truth.

And, because they base it upon Scripture and their experiences, and what they’ve seen and what they’ve heard, they feel that they are… maybe not so much experts… but they feel they are very safe, and it is not true.

Now, yet it is absolutely true that you cannot worship and serve God apart from a prophet, because, unless we serve in the manner laid out by God in His Word, our service and our worship is in vain.

Then to illustrate that, Brother Branham talks of David and the Ark of God in the hands of the Philistines, and Brother Branham said David should have gone to Nathan, the prophet, not to his great, experienced, and wonderfully clever men, who were army commanders, generals, and so on.

And, of course, Brother Branham is actually referring to himself; and, of course, the Bible backs him.

But unless they’re willing to take him as the vindicated prophet of the hour, through whom you have, and through him alone, the only open door to the true worship and service of God, there is no way that you’re going to allow yourself to come into any proximity concerning Him or into any actual fellowship and communion and part with Him.

Now you see this is where we have to come.

As Jesus was in the midst of the assembly, and he recognized everything about them on the grounds of a relationship, from the same source, this is exactly how the people come around a prophet.

There is no difference because Jesus was a prophet. He wasn’t God, he was the Son of God. God Himself was the Messiah, let’s never forget that.

You can talk of Christ in terms of Messiah, because His Blood was shed, but the actual fact of the matter is: Jesus, by himself, without the indwelling Presence of Almighty God Himself, could not have qualified.

Jesus was merely the flesh. He was merely the outer manifestation. He was merely the host to Almighty God. And this is what we are looking at.

Now. So, we go back here, and on page 16, paragraph 114, Brother Branham… We’re going to read a little bit we read before:

[114]  Now notice he went in the wrong channel to do it…

Now David wanted to get that ark back, that was a legitimate thing, the ark should be with Israel, and they needed it in order to worship. Now that was the way it was.

So how are they going to worship and serve God apart from that ark wherein lay the covenants, the rod that budded, the manna, that which was so pertinent.

Notice the vindication, vindicated Word, bringing them right to this place with God. So all right.

[114]  …He went to captains of fifties and hundreds and thousands. They were all consulted, every one. Seeing it was the will of the Lord, looked like it was anyway-the Word of the Lord. That’s to bring the ark back.

[115]  The Word of the Lord, sometimes you have to put it in Its right place or it’s not the Will of the Lord. See? Now let that sink deep and you’ll get a general conception of what I’m trying to say.

Now Brother Branham is telling them categorically, “I am going to divide the Word to you.” Now that goes over like a lead balloon.

Sure, they don’t like the fact that somebody can stand up there and actually divide the Word when they’re already satisfied that they have the Word and the evidences of their own lives personally, the personal gratification, and their ability, as they believe, to serve and worship God, and now they’re teaching it that others may come in, too.

As I’ve said, “The Businessmen, in my books, have always said, ‘Listen, look at me. Wouldn’t you like to have what I’ve got?” And I thought, “Merciful heavens! No!” I wouldn’t want what you’ve got, because you’re a bunch of lousy hypocrites.

You talk about your stinkin’ money, you’re millionaires, and everything else, and who’s the guy you write letters to, to give me money? Lee Vayle, and us guys that don’t have it.

So, I know you want all your money, you’re making a show in flesh. Forget it!

Now you think I’m very crude and crass. Well, I am when it comes to a dollar bill. Spend your own money. Put your money where your mouth is.

I talked to a certain party one time… I ain’t going to spill any beans to you, so you won’t even have a clue to what I’m talking about.

When I got through talking, and I laid enough bills on the altar to choke an ox, she looked at me, and she said, “You do put your money where your mouth is.”

I said, “Yes, I do.” Let the Businessmen do it. Don’t come to me for a buck. If you’ve got a program, God will supply your program, or you’re a phony.

So, I’m a tough customer up here, and I’m not proud of myself or judging, and I’m not ashamed of myself. It’s just the unvarnished truth. “God called them,” as Brother Branham said, “to minister, He’ll supply it and provide for you.”

To me it was a gimmick, a four-flushing gimmick. And Brother Branham stood there. He was nice. I’m not nice. I don’t pretend to be, but that’s all right.

He said:

[115]  …Let it soak in. Now let it soak in, [he said.]

You think you’re going to bring the Word back to the Catholic Church? You think you’re going to bring back the Word because you’ve got to have that Word if you’re going to talk about tongues and fruit and casting out devils, and prophesy, and all these things that fall so flat.

We were in a meeting in 1964 in Phoenix, Brother Branham prophesied that Demas’ sister was going to die at two o’clock in the morning.

Another guy gets up and says, “Thus saith the Lord: she’s going to live,” and everybody shouted and screamed.

So, Billy Paul said, “Dad, I can’t understand it. What’s going on?”

He said, “Billy, just wait and watch the clock.”

She was dead at two o’clock in the morning.

Did they come and repent? Did they pray a spirit off?

“Oh, no, hey, we missed it this time. Next time, we’ll hit ‘er lucky.”

Well, if I’ve got a God that plays Russian roulette, it’s going to be my luck that if there’s five chambers and one bullet, I’ll get the one with the bullet! Because God can’t be too good a shot.

Come on, would you serve a God like that? I don’t think you’d be happy to have that.

Now Brother Branham, of course, has made the statement, “You cannot worship and serve God without a prophet,” which is a hundred percent true: Deuteronomy 18.

Now if you don’t mind, we’re just going to take a look at history here, and to look at history, we’re going to go to the Book of Judges, and let me tell you categorically that this man, David, who’s over here in the Book of Samuel and Kings, positively is familiar with the history of a man called Gideon.

So, let’s look at Gideon here. Now to do it, we’ll go to,

Why am I saying this? Because David knew this, David didn’t have to organize anything. What he had to do was hear from the Lord and God would have done it for him.

Now, let’s go to the Book of Zechariah, and Zechariah is just one of your last chapters there and in the 6th chapter, I suppose it is, supposed to be there anyway. 4th Chapter and the 6th verse; Yea.

So, what we’re seeing here, David should have known better. In fact, David did know better, but David didn’t do better.

And you can read your Bible and when you confront people and say, “Can you worship God and serve Him without a prophet?” they’re going to draw blank square and begin to think, “Hey, yeah, yeah, it can be done.”

And you just say, “Where did you get this Bible from?” God didn’t write it, men wrote it. They wrote it under inspiration of complete vindication that this is THUS SAITH THE LORD.

So, David actually knew better but he didn’t do better.

Now, notice Brother Branham says,

[115]  The Word of the Lord, sometimes you have to put it in Its right place or it’s not the Will of God. Now the ark should have been brought up, but it wasn’t brought up the same way. [He said:] Let that soak in real deep.

Now he did not take them to 2 Timothy, which of course he could have, and I know he would have if he had a lot of time on his hands. But in 2 Timothy 2:14 on:

Now, look. These people are not a bunch of raw heathen, or simple agnostics in there for an argument. They are people who are in that first church age who already now they have a mixed congregation and they’ve got a problem.

And remember: they are the ones that blab the loudest… they’re the ones that bring up everything in order to pervert you, and subvert you, to get you away from the Word.

Now we had that here, and you know what I’m talking about, and it’s not just was in this church, it’s in every church, it’s every place you go, you are going to find those, because every church has three kinds of believers, and don’t think for one minute that’s a lie, because it is the truth.

Now these people are therefore no good, they’re wolves in sheep’s clothing. So therefore, they look exactly like sheep, but they are the false prophet class, which means they have a false Word.

Now Balaam had a false Word. He had a perfectly wonderful prophecy, where God put the words in his mouth, the words are still coming to pass, but he was off the Word. He didn’t want a thing to do with the Word! Right? Right!

And Balaam is ahead of any Pentecostal that ever stood in the twentieth century… or I’ll eat that. I’m talking about your chaff… off that Word… and Pentecostals have always been off the Word.

They got their rallying cry under Parham… Charles Parham… who asked a bunch of kids in a Bible school. He said, “Search the Scripture, and find out what is the evidence of the baptism with the Holy Ghost.”

So, they went to the Book of Acts, which is the historical book, and they thought they had an evidence. But Jesus gave them the evidence, which was ‘the Holy Spirit was given to teach and so therefore the evidence would be believing the Word, the unadulterated true revelation’.

So, now Paul says:

Never mind the clique and the clan and the guys talking, never mind denomination… get approved unto God.

Now if you’re not approved unto God, you can’t worship and serve Him, because “blessed is the man who Thou chooses and Thou causes to approach unto Thee.”

It’s not a matter of somebody just thinking he can do this on his own.

Now the way to find out then, if you are part of this group:

Now it’s not just a matter of the Word of truth, “Bless God, God wrote this Bible through men, and this is inerrant,” “It’s a plenary edition, it’s not one Word left out, not one Word too many, this is it.” That’s not enough. The Word of truth, per se, is not the truth, if it’s mis divided.

Now let’s find out:

Now there’s the truth was: there is a resurrection, there was a resurrection, there will be a resurrection, and there’ll be another resurrection, but the resurrection for the Gentile church was not over.

Now there’s a truth there, the truth is: resurrection is a centrality of Paul’s Gospel, because he said, “If there be no resurrection, in this life only, I’ve got hope in Christ,” he said, “forget it. Let’s get drunk.” He said, “It’s too late for me,” he said.

Why not get drunk? Put on your little pinky caps and blow whistles, booze up, and indulge in every type of sin!

He said, “In this life only we have hope.” Now, watch it. I don’t care how good we live, how much we manifest this or that, how much we think we can prove anything.

If there’s no resurrection, forget it. What faces you? Eeriness of an eternity or something?

So, this man was preaching the truth in the wrong way according to what? He had the time mixed up. So therefore, “the time element,” as Brother Branham said, “is very important,” which we’ll see as we go along. All right.

Now,

 [116]  I don’t want the church to fall into the steps that you found over there in England: long hair, and painted-faced men, and perverted. We don’t want that! No matter how religious it sounds, and how much Elvis Presley can sing religious songs, he’s still a devil.

And I’m no judge, but “By their fruits you know them.” See? He’s Pentecostal, but that doesn’t make a bit of difference. See, your fruits bear record of what you are.

Now what’s he talking about? He’s talking about the whole bunch is off the Word until you see them beginning to spin off into space. So therefore, you Full Gospel Businessmen, talk about tongues as an evidence and this hip-wiggling little skuzball spoke in tongues and the whole church… now watch where he spun.

You tell me there’s reality there where he spun off… come on! I’ve watched this for years… that’s why I say Brother Branham did me the greatest favor under high heaven when he preached “The Anointed Ones at the End Time.”

I told you I got to the place where I saw these guys running with women, taking money they shouldn’t take, living rotten lives, oh, the great signs and things, and I liked that because hey!

I want to see people healed and I like to use those things as a drawing card to prove the mighty power of God, show them the Gospel, but I wasn’t getting blessed like them.

I thought, well, maybe I ought to go out there like the Nicolaitans said, “There’s no use you talking about sin unless you’ve thoroughly immersed yourself in sin.

What do you know about adultery unless you’ve committed adultery? What do you know about murder unless you’ve murdered? Huh? What do you know about anything unless you’ve been a partaker?

Go on out, and then come on back and say, “Hallelujah, I’ll tell you, you shouldn’t do that. Well, that was bad stuff, but you’ve got to find out for yourself how rotten it is and then you come and live that grand, glorious life.”

Hogwash! How come Pharaoh didn’t get converted? And Joe Stalin? And Hitler? See, these guys are a million miles off the Word but they want to get back to a false evidence.

Now, they wouldn’t have this amongst them if they kept with the evidence of the baptism with the Holy Ghost, which is believing the Word for the hour, and believe me, there was a vindicated Word in their hour as Brother Branham stood there.

Now, listen. No matter if the spirit comes upon him, he could speak in tongues, he could shout, he could heal the sick, and Jesus said, “Many will come in that day and say, “Lord, haven’t I done this, done that?”

And he’ll say, “Depart from me, you that work iniquity. I never even knew you.”

So therefore, we notice here that gifts are no vindication when you compare Deuteronomy 18. Then why does anybody want to go to anything else but Deuteronomy 18?

Now they’ve got enough brains to know if there’s such a thing as an elixir that can cure arthritis, and there’s fourteen hundred things that won’t do the job, they want the one that does the job, and yet they haven’t got enough brains to know that gifts are no vindication in the face of Deuteronomy 18. See? It just won’t work.

The personal vindication of members of the Bride is nothing. Paul the apostle said, “If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him admit, let him just put it right on up front here, that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord,” not what somebody else says, not what somebody else says about what Paul says.

Like this guy, Philetus and Hymenaeus, those fellows. See?

118, here’s where we start:

[118]  We’ve got to be real, genuine Christians, and the only way we can do that is confront it with this question here of “Eternal Life.”

Now Brother Branham is equating Eternal Life with a certain type of leadership. Eternal Life then is not simply a gift per se as something created, and therefore sterile, and stands over here. You can’t do it.

You’ve got to understand there’s an involvement. There’s something about it that must absolutely show the reality, because, let’s face it, people are not coming back from the dead.

But you notice there are books being written all over the country now about people that came back, and they’ll tell you how nice it was, the beautiful light, and the glowing tunnel, the dark tunnel, and one or two guys will come back and say, “I saw a blazing hell.”

And the funny thing is that a certain doctor, an M.D… I don’t know his name… but evidently some type of a Christian, and he’ll stand right there and tell you, “There is a heaven, and there is a hell,” based on what these people came through.

Now I believe Brother Branham. I’m sorry, I do not believe Bunyan. Remember Bunyan? He was the great Puritan.

You know, they threw him in jail… everything else… he wrote Pilgrim’s Progress. Then, he had these visions of heaven and hell. I’m sorry, Brother Bunyan, I can’t go along with you, not when I’ve seen a vindicated prophet.

Little children in China, they said the antichrist was red, that’s communism, and they prophesied many things… everybody ‘hip hurrahed’ and I read the books and I ‘hallelujahed’ with them, a hundred percent wrong.

Oh, my. When you’ve got vindication, why would you want anything else? When you can eat a real sweet, fresh egg, why do you want a rotten egg for? Merciful heaven! There’s just no nourishment in a rotten egg.

Now:

[119]  There’s only one form of Eternal Life, and that comes from God…

Now, let’s watch certain things in here because he’s going to hit them and hit it hard, the same as he did in “Things Which Are To Be,” and right down the end time, you know, he’s hitting the gene of God, all the time going right back to God.

[119]  And God ordained every creature that would ever have It. [That’s Eternal Life now. Let’s read it again:] There’s only one form of Eternal Life, and that comes from God. [What comes from God? Eternal Life, because that’s what God is.]

And He foreordained every creature that would ever have It. [What? The same Life that He’s got. Right? Well, that’s it, isn’t it? Now watch:] Just as you… [now who’s ‘you’? Brother Branham said, “My ears, my nose, my eyes… who’s me?”] Just as me, just as you were the gene in your father, you were a gene in God.

How many ‘you’s’ are there? You say, “Oh, there must a be a half a dozen ‘you’s’.” Huh-uh. One you… one.

[119]  …One of His attributes to begin with, or you’ll never be There. You came forth in the bedding ground of your mother; that’s you, your father knew you, you were in his loins. [He spoke about Levi in the loins of his grandfather, great-grandfather, Abraham. In other words, a natural election.] And when you came forth in the bedding ground of the mother, then you became a human being and were made in the image of your father.

Now he said, “You became a human being.” Certainly, because that was the predestination that you would end up the life of God in a human being, and that’s not strange because that’s what happened to Jesus.

That very gene of God, that tremendous, tremendous gene, which made him equal with God, because the first-begotten son, the first-born is equal with the father, and his name is… He can take one half of the whole thing, and nothing could be done about it.

But, if they’re smart, they’ll work together. It doesn’t make Jesus ‘God the Son’, it just makes him the ‘Son of God.’

[119]  …Then you became… [what?]… that gene of God, that little bit of Eternal Life ended up in a human body. Right?… and where made in the image of your father, now you can have fellowship with him. And the same thing by God, if you’ve got Eternal Life.

So, there’s a natural election as well as a spiritual. And, if we go to 1 Peter, I believe, I hope it’s the second chapter. Anyway, we look down about verse… where are we? Oh, we’re in here, yeah.

So, Jesus was in the election. Before he ever came forth, is that light that formed, was already foreordained. So he was in the election.

Brother Branham said, “We came just like he did, except we bypassed that spirit, or word body, often called the theophany, which Jesus didn’t.”

Thereby, and therefore, he could remember all things which you and I could not, when all the sons of God and morning stars sang together, clapped their hands, and we were there. He said so. We’ve got no memory of it.

Now it’s going to shock people, but don’t let it shock you. If Jesus was Michael at one time, just let that float around, too. Now these are not tidbits thrown to see how much you can believe, and how much you can’t believe before you vomit.

The point is: do you believe, or don’t you believe? This is a vindicated man. We’re not talking about something else. See, here is where you sell out: live, die, sink, or swim.

Otherwise, how could you have a ‘live, die, sink, or swim’ without a sellout. And faith is where you place your hands, your life, in the hands of God: live, die, sink, or swim.

Like Brother Branham said, “You’re led when you’re born, you’re led when you die.”

Now what’s doing the leading? Now if you’ve got that gene in there, you’re going to have the right One doing the right work at the right time for you, delivered here, and delivered there. See?

Now:

[120]  The life that you came in, the natural life…

Now there’s a natural life that you came in, and he’s talking about you, a gene, you and your father, down here. That’s the only way I can read it. Otherwise this thing is mixed up like my goodness me. I’d have to believe something a little more than I’m believing.

The life that you came in, the natural life, physical life, that was by your father. And the only way you can come, born again, is the only way, it has to be from your Heavenly Father, His attributes. “All that the Father has given Me will come to Me.”

Now, right away you can do a double take here, and say, “Well, just a minute, is Brother Branham looking at this thing now that I’m come from my father, and this down here, and yet now I’ve got to have this from God, or I’m not that Seed of God.”

Do you remember the Book of Galatians said, “Because you are seed, God sends forth His Spirit into your hearts?”

And, remember, we took on “Things That Are To Be,” how I brought it to your attention that Brother Branham brought that out as he had brought that out in no other place?

He just clobbered that thing and hit it in there, and said, “You go back to Him, or forget it.” He laid it right down that you do not have a prayer; your name isn’t there because it was in Him. See?

Now:

[121]  You are here now… this you, gene from God, coming from the Father, you are here now, you are here because your name was placed on the Lamb’s Book of Life before there was even a foundation of the world. [That’s exactly right.]

You are a gene, a spiritual gene out of your Heavenly Father, a part of God’s Word. That be so, as I’ve said, then you were with Jesus when He was here because He was the Word: Certainly we’re part of him, we’re part of that Life. He was the Word: you suffered with Him, died with Him, buried with Him, rose with Him, and now sitting in Heavenly places in Him!

Just this minute I submit that’s kind of funny now. I came out of him, I was there; I came out of him, and now I’m here and yet I’m up there in heavenly places.

See? He’s talking about the great mystery of Eternal Life in God-how it came, giving us an understanding. To accept it is where you begin to get understanding.

If you do not accept it, and you let your mind depart from what is said here, to attempt to form your own channels, you will never ever understand this, you will never come to the definitive, because a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above.

And if it be given him from above, and he has that ability to receive it, he can stand right there and God will show it to him.

You would never fuss over these things because Brother Branham has already set the definitive. So therefore the definitive was “You were in him before there was an atom, a speck of stardust, before there was anything, and before there was anything, there was a book there.

So don’t start looking around for some book that’s got pages and hundreds of pages. You’re looking at something entirely different, though there are books that are open. Don’t worry about it. So all right.

Now, the same Life of God, which became manifest in us, is the same Life in Jesus, and that same Life was shown here, manifested the life of God which is going to put us into the Rapture. So we have no fear.

[122]  Notice, David thought everything was fine, and he consulted all these people, and everyone began to dance and shout and scream. They all had their religious motions that were there, but still it wasn’t God’s will to go down and bring the Word of God back to the house of God. 

Full Gospel Businessmen: “Yeah, we’re going to bring the Word back. We’re going to bring the Bible to the people.” Du Plessis brought It to the Catholics. That’s fine, no problem, just one thing is bad-further condemnation.

So now he hasn’t only thrown them… he’s thrown them in the slough of Despond, and then with mint slippers on, he’s thrown them a few bricks to help them float. Why? Because they turned down the very Word that was thrown to them.

You think for one minute they still don’t interpret this Bible according to Roman Catholic theology? Didn’t Jacqueline Ford tell those Businessmen and the whole world, she said, “Yes, we speak in tongues and we’re full of the Holy Ghost, but you Protestants, you watch your theology! You’re not changing us.”

So Mr. Du Plessis threw them a bunch of bricks. Ever seen a brick float? Be my guest. You know something? How many hands has God got, according to Scripture? Tell me. Two. What are they? Right and left.

What’s in the left hand? Cursing. What’s in the right hand? Does He ever come only with one hand? Doesn’t Brother Branham say, “This same Word that means life, means death.” Yeah. These men aren’t listening.

 [122]  …They had all the motions. Let’s bring the Word back to the house of God, but you see, God always (in all ages) works through one way. His first decision is His only decision, because He’s perfect in His decisions. He never does anything except He first reveals it to His servants, the prophets. [That’s exactly right.]

He’s telling them right here, “Do you want to bring the Word of God back to the church? You’re looking at the man to do it.”

You think they believe that? Ah, they believe in themselves. If you believe in yourself tonight here that you have some judgment that’s superior to the prophet’s, and you’ve got some thought, let me tell you: you’re wrong.

If you want to believe that, just keep it to yourself, because, you know, it wouldn’t be any good to tell me. I just got a tape by somebody going to explain the missing years of Daniel now. Oh, my Lord.

Did you get that? Luke, you didn’t get that? Well, it’s at home waiting for you, without a doubt.

[123]  That’s why this. The church age that we live in, there’s no church, no Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostals, or anything else, can ever put this Church in the Bride. [Now watch:]

The Church age we live in, is no longer Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, nothing. So nothing can ever put this Church into the Bride. It’ll have to be the answering of Malachi 4, for God to send a prophet, to be revealed to, because that’s the only way.

Now what’s he saying here? There is no way that you can possibly have the revealed Word under the conditions that God laid down, unless there’s a vindicated prophet.

And the Bible distinctly says that Malachi has to come. Now It tells you distinctly, “The hearts of the children must be turned back to the hearts of the fathers.”

Now, that being the case, that’s got to go right back to the old apostolic faith, which was once and for all delivered.

Now who’s going to do it? Now the only one that can do it is Elijah. So now Brother Branham is on a hundred percent Biblical grounds here. And they’re going to say, “That’s true, but you’re not Elijah.”

The fact is there’s an Elijah come from that. That’s as stupid as the guy that followed Brother Branham, had a pick… what? eight inches long to play a guitar. He was going to perfect the Bride.

I’m got a temper. Why isn’t he here to help me with my temper? Some of you have got sick babies. Why isn’t he here to help with your babies?

I suggest he pick his nose, but don’t even come around me when he tries that. You understand what I’m saying? People in this Message fall for that garbage and say they’re in this Message.

Not in the Message I’m in! Let’s forget it right now. I’m not interested. I’m interested in one thing: can I be full of this Word, which is full of the Holy Ghost, to change me and get me out of here, or put me in the ground and bring me out.

You can have everything else… I’m not interested. I’ve been through gifts… I’ve seen plenty… not interested. See?

Now:

[123]  …Our churches denominate and throw the thing into a mess and huddle, just like they’ve always been, and God always sends the prophet.

In other words, they get in a huddle and try to figure a thing out, they get their heads together, and it doesn’t work. Now you notice that Brother Branham here is literally a ‘voice crying in the wilderness’, but they turn him down.

[124]  Now there was Nathan standing in the land, a vindicated prophet before God, he wasn’t even consulted.

Now Nathan was not of the caliber of Moses and Paul and William Branham. Nathan was the man who had visions and dreams.

He could even hear a voice, but God never appeared apparently, which means ‘in a form’, ‘the Pillar of Fire’, that faced Moses and Paul and William Branham, and there’s a picture right there.

And that’s just the Shekinah Glory, that’s not even a picture of God. That’s just the glory attendant upon His Presence. See?

[124]  Now there was Nathan standing in the land, a vindicated prophet, by visions and dreams, proved he was right. [Like, you know, down there, the old Micaiah, he said, “We’ll see who prophesied right, whether your bunch or I did.” Jeremiah, the same way.]

[125]  And they went down there and caused the life of an honest man, and so forth, took the ark. Instead of putting it on the shoulders of the Levites, to pack it, they abandoned the five-fold ministry and said, “We’ll do it!”

There are people in this Message right today say there’s no five-fold ministry. Prove it! Show me where Brother Branham said it. Deny that he said, “Young preachers, take this Word, break It down to the people.”

Deny that he said it! Oh, you can be very convenient concerning yourself when you want to be, but the point is: get with the Scripture and get with the prophet. Say you’re defending your ministry.

Listen: I could quit tomorrow morning and be happy… preach my last sermon tonight and say “goodbye.” I’m not anxious… never have been… never will be.

[125]  …But they put it on a cart to pack it. Altogether messed up!

Hey, Businessmen, you’re like Hogan’s goats. You know who Hogan’s goat was? Hogan was a prostitute, and he was her goat. Interesting, very interesting.

Well, didn’t I say for years that the churches are actually procurers for the prostitute system? If that’s not true, I can’t read my Bible. I don’t know what the prophet was telling about.

Ephesians 4 and a five-fold ministry, based on the Holy Spirit that came down from heaven, which was face-to-face with Paul, that brought the Word. It’s the same Holy Spirit that was face to face with William Branham, huh?

Perfection, having come, nothing more to come, all seven parts in order, so all we need to do is just live good, Christian lives and the first principle of a good, Christian life is to believe the Word, or your living is vain.

So you see the Word and Eternal Life are irrevocably linked so that Eternal Life is the Word. Brother Branham said so… we’ve got no problem there. See?

[126]  You see, if they don’t go according to the will of God, and the way that God has given us to go, they always get messed up and take off in some organization, denomination, some message, and there you go. See? It’s always been done that way.

Now everybody knows that’s right, and Brother Branham is letting them know that his vindication, he, himself, is the only one that is able to do it because he, himself, has a body, a mind, a ministry, prefabricated by God to the exact specifications to deliver this.

Remember, he said, “The eagle can fly where the hawks and the rest can’t fly or they’d explode”? Do you know that they can see a fish a mile away and dive in the water a hundred miles an hour and grab him?

Yeah… interesting, interesting. And once they get their talons locked in, that’s it. All right. When the eagle cry, it means something.

[127]  That’s the same thing that this boy was confronted with. He came in; he had been a member of maybe Pharisees or Sadducees, or some great order of that day. He was religious as could be, you Full Gospel Businessmen, get this flat:

He said, “I’ve observed these commandments I’ve been taught, since I was a youth.” See? “I’ve been taught to speak in tongues, so I speak in tongues; I do this, and I do that.” And Jesus loved him. But he refused to be guided, he refused to accept the real leadership of Christ to give him Eternal Life.

Now here’s the point there: you see, you already have this Eternal Life because you are Seed, and the Life coming upon it. Now this outfit here, these people here, they act as though they are certain the Elect of Almighty God.

Now Brother Branham knows that when they confront his ministry, something is lacking: they don’t have it! I don’t care if Du Plessis went to the Presbyterian, Dr. Mc Cay… and made a big thing, and he went to the Pope and had an audience… he got the whole Roman Catholic Church open up to the Bible.

I don’t care what these people did. That is beside the point a hundred percent. When you stand before William Branham, that is a horse of a different color, pardon the expression. That’s different.

So different that Brother Branham could say, “You’re looking at me, aren’t you? Same thing.”

Nobody else could say it, no group could say it. And they knew that he had something. But just like Jesus, he couldn’t keep his big, fat mouth shut! You know something about Jesus and Paul and Moses? You know, they were dunderheads.

They didn’t learn to keep their mouths shut. If they’d have just shut up, and healed the sick and raised the dead, and said, “Boys, I want to show you spiritual things… gifts.”

“Oh,” they said, “hallelujah! That’s God.”

If he’d of shut his mouth, it wouldn’t have been God, because he was God’s mouth! The prophet is God’s mouth. That’s why at the end time he said, “I’ll vomit you out.” Eh? They’re the ones claiming to be God’s mouthpiece. It’s no way, no way.

Now these people here, now let’s face it, Demos Shakarian is dead. Now I’m not running the man down, I’m just telling you, he devoted himself to Dr. Price who could not hold a candle to William Branham, or I’ll eat my Bible… start right now, my God, and I’ll take a little piece at a time. Or I’ll kiss and eat your boots if you’re walking in cow manure and everything else, the last ten years.

I knew them both! I saw them both! Don’t even talk to me. At the Great White Throne I’ll clobber you, and you’ll wish you never even heard me preach. He stood right there with those men and turned it down, because Dr. Price was a Trinitarian. I knew their lives… no comparison.

[127]  …He refused to be guided, he refused to be guided by Jesus…

Now John explains that thoroughly in John 3:16, I’ve read it dozens and dozens…

Right there it tells you: this Name of Jesus not believed in, and people will turn it down every time. The Trinitarians do it; the Oneness do it; they’re all doing it. They will not come to the light.

Brother Branham categorically said, “I am not Oneness; I am not Trinity; I stand in between.”

What’s in between? He explained it. “Sons have beginnings.” He never denied that God didn’t have a Son. They said, “What is the difference between God and Jesus?”

“There’s no difference except sons have beginnings.”

So why can’t they face it? Why did all the Branhamites swing from Trinitarianism to Jesus Only? Well, that’s their business, not mine. See?

Brother Branham again identifies himself with Eternal Life, the prophet that brings the Word of Eternal Life. Like Jesus: “The words I speak, they are spirit and life.” 128:

[128]  Notice, he believed there was something different than what he had, or he never would have said, “Good Master, what must I do now?” 

Now Brother Branham is fully aware that they are aware that William Branham is different. Oh, he’s different.

And they can’t stand it because they know that they are right, and how come this little bird, Kentucky hillbilly, who can’t even speak proper English, and excoriates them, runs down their glorious, beautiful, glamorous, sexy women, how come God does in and through him?

Notice my lovely smile-two thousand bucks up here-store teeth. Huh? Lee Vayle. I didn’t want these teeth so don’t feel bad about it. Hoping glamorous smile, and I’m not a Full Gospel Businessman either, and I’m not Pentecostal.

I feel about myself, in the presence of God, as though I just might have come from the devil, rather than from God.

These guys, they’re great, they have it all. Right there, a man who could say and prove it, “You’re looking at me, aren’t you? Same thing.”

“Oh, he went too far!”

You know something? In my books, he didn’t go far enough. I’m just saying that sort of facetiously because I’m a very carnal person-he went far enough. I’m not an extremist, except Eternal Life is extreme, there’s no end to it.

They knew better! See? They knew better.

[129]  See, he wanted to do something himself. [That’s the way we want. We want to do something ourselves.] The Gift of God is a free gift. God gives It to you; you don’t have to do one thing for It. He ordained It to you, and you’re going to have It. See? Predestination.

Now what he’s doing here is telling these men: “Look, you figure that without you, there’s going to be a bunch out there that don’t get it. I’m going to tell you one thing: without me, without you, without anybody, God’s already got the thing set, and He’s going to use whomsoever He desires to bring whomsoever He wants.

Now these people did not recognize their limitations, the same as in the day of Paul, the same in Jesus’ day.

[130]  Notice, he knew It was there. He believed in It and he wanted It. But when he was confronted with how he had to do it, it was different from his ritual. It was different. He could hold his money and belong to the church that he belonged to, and so forth.

But Jesus knew that, and knew that he hoarded his money, and He said, “Go sell all that you’ve got, and give to the poor. And come take up your cross and follow Me, and you’ll have treasure in Heaven.”

I wonder if Brother Branham… now listen: this is Lee Vayle, and you know I’m a bad, bad person, but I wonder if Brother Branham is sort of saying here something like, “Oh, you businessmen, with all this money, your herds of cattle, your oil wells, and all this dough, and all this… Why don’t you give it all away, instead of going to the best motels with the best food, and the best cars, the best everything. Why don’t you take up your cross with the people you’re talking to, out there, the poor guys in the dumpsters, and every place else?”

Oh, no, they’re going to show the preachers how it’s done. They’re taking over, and now Brother Branham said, “If you don’t have a half a dozen Cadillacs, you’re not spiritual.”

“Oh,” they said, “a marvelous example.”

Didn’t they? Money, money, money, money. Golden calf schemes. You say, “Brother Vayle, don’t you believe there’s one honest man there?”

I’m not talking about one honest man, I’m talking about the figure they cut. It’s not the individuals here, it’s the system they’re into. And their system is one of organization. And they’re Trinitarians and they put it there, “We have no fellowship with you if you’re Oneness.”

Yet Oneness speak with tongues like they do, they’ve got the same evidence. Something’s kind of wrong, isn’t it? Ha! I’d just as soon be sprinkled into the church as have that. You know why? Because under sprinkling, I’m not obligated to hear God say, “Depart! I never knew you!”

But if I speak in tongues and prophesy and these other things, there’s a greater condemnation. I don’t understand too much of that but Brother Branham said, “There’s a length of time in the Lake of Fire, according to what we did.” That’s my understanding anyway.

Now he said,

[130]  …”Take up your cross and follow Me, and you’ll have treasure in Heaven.” But he couldn’t do it.

[131]  The other leaders that he had in his youthful days, had such an influence on him till he refused to accept God’s provided Way, which was Jesus Christ…

Now what’s God’s provided way today? Prophet… end time prophet, Elijah, see, which was Jesus… Now we’re not putting Jesus Christ to one side. Now get that flat. Oh, no. No, no, we’re not doing that.

We’re just telling you: “He that receives whomsoever I send, receives Me. And he that receives me receives the One That sent me.”

[131]  …The only One who holds Eternal Life, the only One that can give you It. Not the church, it can’t give you Eternal Life, not your neighbor; not your pastor; not your priest; not your creed; only Jesus Christ Himself can give you Eternal Life.

Now, is the man on dangerous ground here? Is he equivocating? Does this sound like a bunch of oxymorons… you have it, and you don’t have it; you had it, and you lost it. Now, oh, no, no, no.

Come on, let’s go to 1 Peter we find this very enlightening truth over here in the first chapter, and it says in verse 22:

As Brother Branham said, now watch, he said here: “Seeing you’ve purified your souls in obeying the truth.” And didn’t Brother Branham say, “How can you not help loving each other, you that love this Message”?

That’s what Peter says right here. Do you understand what I’m saying? Read it for yourselves. “Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren.”

Then he said, “Won’t you have that love toward each other?” So if you love the truth, then can’t you love each other?

What’s the matter with some of the people around the country? See, I told you I can find everything Brother Branham preached, just give me time. I have no problem. These guys have got the problems.

1 Peter 1:

Everyone is the same lump, but there’s some in there that got a seed from God-they’re wheat. Yeah. And they receive the Spirit of God to lead them into all truth.

Notice: the incorruptible, but of an incorruptible Seed by the Word of God, and it doesn’t come any other way.

Now let these men, Billy Graham, and any man living in the world, prove that outside of a vindicated prophet, exactly like Paul, revealing it, under the anointing of the Pillar of Fire, perfectly vindicated, that you can say the Word has come back to the church.

You can’t do it, because as sure as you get fifty smart men, I’m stupid as a horse, and I’ll turn around and get fifty men smarter, or bust a blood vessel trying, and dyeing in the attempt.

[132]  No matter how good you are, what you quit doing, what you start doing, you’ve got to accept the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then when you do that, He is the Word. [What Word? Vindicated, proven.] then your life fits right in the Word and it manifests itself in this age that you’re living in.

What manifests itself? Each one of us? No, the only manifestation we have is coming to the Word, but the Word Itself has to be manifested. And when It is, that’s God-Rhema-Logos, in spite of these birds that run around.

Oh, why, why grind an old ax! You’re never going to get it sharpened up for any of these. It’s Rhema-Logos… I can take you to my concordance… they’re interchangeable just like Brother Branham made it, just like Paul made it, just like John made it, because the Holy Spirit made it.

No one had to do that for the Word to be manifested in his age. What? What did Noah have to do? Well, he had to come to the Word that was manifesting itself for the hour in which he was living.

And what was the Word of the hour? “Everybody, Noah, is going to die but you and seven more. Build the ark. This is the Message: float above the storm.”

So Noah had to do that for the Word to be manifested in his age. He had to receive it.

Now what if Moses came along and said, “We know what Noah did, so we’ll take Noah’s ark. It’ll work. Hey, man, that was a good thing. We’ll do just the way Noah did: we’ll build an ark and float down the Nile River and go out of Egypt.” It wouldn’t have worked. It was another age.

[134]  Jesus couldn’t have come with Moses’ message; Luther couldn’t come with Catholic message; Wesley couldn’t come with Luther’s message; Pentecost couldn’t come in Wesley’s age. And the Bride can’t be formed in a Pentecostal denomination. It just can’t do it.

And that’s exactly right. She’s done organized and gone out here, and there she sits, just like the rest of them. It’s a shuck. Just like the life comes up through the wheat… See?

Ho! Ho! Listen, do you believe for one minute that they understood what he’s saying? I don’t, I really don’t. I think this is something like when Jesus said, “Eat my flesh and drink my blood,” and they said, “Oh, brother!”

As Brother Branham said, “That was the curve thrown by God.” “Why, that’s a cannibal does that…”

To me, it was even more dangerous than that. It was in there they sensed something they couldn’t put their finger on, and they bristled, they hated it, and it had a fear in there, but they went down the road just the same to kill him.

And these guys, and listen: this Message must go to the cross. See? Okay.

Far as we’re going to go. Now it all depends on how I feel tomorrow. If I feel like I need a rest, Brother Luke, you be rested up by tomorrow morning.

If I think I can go on, we’ll conscript him on Wednesday and down the road and make him work hard.

And you’ll love to hear him, same as I appreciate him so much. I love him for the truth that he preaches.

Let’s bow our heads in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we come to You now for the Supper and the Foot Washing, and we thank You, Father, that as we look at this sermon, we’re taking from every angle we possibly can, who was there, why they were there, the prophet there, what he was saying, why, and the consequences.

Father, we don’t want to judge anybody, but we want to so look at this Word that we put ourselves in the same place and say, “Why is he saying it? What is it for me? What am I getting? Am I turning something down? Am I in tune with Eternal Life? Do we have that harmony?

Am I piling Word upon Word, and Life on Life, until one day, full of the Holy Ghost, and the Bride, all of us, those living, moving statues, as Brother Branham spoke of, knowing we are in that hour of the manifested, putting on of immortality and incorruption.

Lord, we know that. By Your grace, we don’t want to turn any of these things down. If we’re not looking at it right, our spirits aren’t right, or anything is wrong about us, we pray, Father, forgive us and correct us.

Pour in the oil, Lord, everything in there that we might be no longer a secular people. We could be a secluded people, a separated people, elected people, sanctified by Your Word, Lord, and the Life within that Word, and thereby we have what the prophet is speaking of.

Now help us in the rest of the service tonight as we study a little bit, talk a little bit, and we give You glory.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

[Brother Vayle continuous with Communion]