Message Of Grace #06

Shall we pray.

Heavenly Father, again we want to consider Thy great Name tonight, Thy great works Lord, Thy great Word, to consider You, to behold You Lord, to behold the Bridegroom, to recognize Your Appearing, to recognize Your Coming in the form of the Holy Spirit in the Pillar of Fire with Your prophet Lord, in order to bring us a Message to raise the dead, to sound the Trumpet, to take us to the Great Wedding Supper on high, these things we thank You for tonight Lord, knowing that they are upon us, not only upon us but we are a part of them by grace.

Help us tonight in the study of Your Word in Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

You may be seated.

Now this, of course, is The Message of Grace, number 6, and last Sunday we saw that grace was the motivating factor behind the message. In other words, it’s a matter of God’s grace that spurred this Message and brought us to this point.

Now that we have made the point we should perhaps ask to help some people who might not understand and that is, what Message?

And this is what, of course, the people of the world do not understand but we do, and the answer is the Message of grace is based upon 1 Thessalonians 4:16 wherein the Lord Himself, not only shall descend but has descended from heaven with a Message.

And that Message is the fulfillment of the divine command, promise or command whichever way you want to put it that was given to God’s prophet on June 11th, 1933, wherein the Voice spoke through Brother Branham saying, “As John the Baptist foreran the first Coming of Christ, so your message shall forerun the Second Coming of Christ,” so therefore, there is a Message that constitutes a part of the Appearing which is the Shout and pre-runs the actual Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in mortal flesh where we meet Him in the air.

And that Message of grace comes out of the condition, of course, of Malachi 4, and Revelations 3:14-21 which is an end time condition of utter disregard for the things of Almighty God where Christ is put out the church and the church in its own self assessment says, “We’re rich, and we’re prosperous, and we’re full of every good treasure, we don’t lack a thing, we are God’s people,” and God’s assessment at this time is “you’re wretched, miserable, naked and you don’t even know it, you’re blind.”

And you say, of course, you see, therefore, your sin remains. And of course, in Malachi 4 it’s the judgment of the wicked when the earth is going to burn, thus the whole thrust of the message putting the church in order is known as the sovereign grace of a sovereign God. That’s what you’re looking at.

You’re looking at the Word of the Lord coming to set the Church in order and it’s a sovereign God who is bringing His sovereign grace to bear at this hour, therefore, in the light of Revelations 3:14-21 which, of course, is the Laodicean Church, you know, and Romans 1:18-23 which is the account of what happened just before the flood.

You understand that position and the Sodomite condition, of course, which is also spoken of in Romans 1:18-33, the Sodomite condition then along with Revelations 3:14-21 and Romans 1:18-32 and spoken of in Luke as we have read many, many times we see that all men are in total disregard of God’s Word and it is in the hour of complete corruption that the mercy or the grace of God shines forth.

It is sovereign grace that brings God on the scene to save the righteous from death and then recover the world for them.

So we’re reading here then on page 21 and we’ll recap a little bit on 129, the paragraph.

[129]  If it hadn’t been for grace, where would we all be?

Now that’s the question at this last hour and where would we be? The answer is we would be back in denominations in spiritual idolatry and fornication, blaspheming God. We’d be under the thraldom of witchcraft. Now these things sound strong but it’s the truth.

We’d be outside of the Kingdom; we’d have no part with God, completely desolated and God’s testimony of us would be wretched, miserable, blind and don’t even know it and we’d be going around thinking we’re the most fortunate happy people in the world because we’re all sewed up in the garments of God. All right.

[129]  …where would we… be? That’s where we’d be.

[130]  Sovereign grace is from a sovereign One.

Okay, sovereign grace means supreme and overwhelming as to its purpose and perpetration. Now you simply can’t say that God is sovereign and He’s sitting back fanning His brow. Hogwash.

God is working and He’s working in a manner according to His own desires, according to His own way and He’s going to bring His purpose to pass according to the motivation that lies in His heart and no one is going to stop Him.

That’s God. Any other thing is a stupid ignorant assessment and there is no truth in the person who assesses otherwise. That’s exactly the truth. That’s sovereignty. The word ‘God’ expresses sovereignty.

[130]  Sovereign grace is from a sovereign One.

Okay, a sovereign One then, of course, is a supreme One who perpetrates His will without regard to all else but Himself and His purpose. And you can do what you want about it.

I don’t like to paraphrase Rob Barnard, but when he preached on sovereignty he was a little more x-rated in the pulpit than I was, that people got so mad at the fact of sovereignty what God did do.

What did he do? Get a big club and beat hell out of God? That’s exactly what he said. And I agree with Rob Barnard.

He was formerly the head of the atheists in the college in America, an outstanding student but got converted to Christ and that man was so strong on the sovereignty of God and then got so vituperate in hatred and hateful that one time five men lost their lives stricken down by God by judgment.

And people land in the hospital and the doctors would say, “There’s only one thing that can help you and that’s God, you better call a preacher, I can’t help you because your trouble is spiritual.”

Sovereignty, people don’t want to realize that God’s in the driver’s seat. That you think you can bend His arm, you can bargain, and this and do that. You got to realize God is God or forget it.

And that’s the trick the devil wants to pull on people because he likes to forget that God is God. Oh, that’s going to be a great day when we see Him so it will all settle down.

The Bible said, “We’re going to look narrowly upon him and say, ‘Well, is that the bird that caused the earth to tremble? Ha, ha, ha, he wasn’t a big shot after all, was he? He just thought he was.’” Why? Because you’re going to get a real glimpse of God and His glory, really see the sovereign God that we just talk about.

But in the meantime we’re so taken with all these tiddlywink things the devil throws on us, we haven’t got time really to really realize or we don’t take time to really realize how great God is. And this is what the prophet is trying to get to us, the great sovereign God.

[130]  Sovereign grace is from a sovereign One. Sovereign, what can it do? Sovereign can do anything It wants to. Listen to this now. Sovereign grace [that’s completely victorious in its purpose and motive, that’s what grace is, so therefore, sovereign grace] can only be given by One that’s sovereign.

That’s true. How else could it be done? You can’t get a billion dollars from anybody that hasn’t got a billion dollars. You can’t get a drink of water from someone that hasn’t got a drink of water. You can’t get a handshake from someone that hasn’t got a hand. Well, how are you going to get sovereign grace except from a sovereign God? See? So, all right, this means limitless.

[130]  And God is sovereign, so He can give sovereign grace…

In other words, when you talk of sovereign grace you mean that something that’s absolutely final, it’s infinite but it’s final. It’s just like this Word, you can’t add to It, you can’t take from It. Sovereign is sovereign.

…Therefore, being sovereign, grace doesn’t have to ask anybody. It doesn’t have to. It does what it wants to. Isn’t that wonderful? It doesn’t have to ask, “Can I do this? Or, shall I do this? Can I? Must I? Will I?” Doesn’t do it. It does it itself. [In other words, on its own.] Grace is sovereign. Therefore He can save the vilest, He can save the worst, He can save the impurest, He can save the most immoral, and He… heals the sick. Hallelujah.

All right now, the sovereign God knew man would sin and some would consider this wrong on God’s part, but we go back to the beginning and we see it was grace that allowed man to come forth in the first place.

Now we can sit around here tonight and say, “Well,” and may I suppose we have at times but I wish to God we hadn’t been born, I don’t know how many times I’ve said that but I know I said that enough to fill the dictionary.

Why? Because you get fed up with your… not with yourself so much; you get fed up with what you’re coping with and what doesn’t give way to you to give you a whale of a good time so you say, “Nice, nice, nice.” As long as it is nice, nice, nice, well, you’re fine. Hallelujah, I’m glad I’m here, but if it’s bad, bad, bad or a little bit, you know, well, oh my, it’s horrible.

That’s the way Jonah was, Jonah regretted the day he was born, belly-ached about everything and he even gave the poor old fish a bellyache. What a mess! But you know people don’t understand God’s grace in that He allowed man to come forth.

People criticize their parents all the time. If we ever got a glimpse of God we’d stop the criticism and understand that this was a part of God’s grace that if we could ever come forth because there’s a glory down the road that’s going to be shared, and there will be a time when all tears are wiped away and there will be no remembrance of the times which we know now.

There’ll be just the things that we really want in life we are really going to get in a measure we really didn’t expect because we really didn’t have the capacity to expect it. Our capacity is limited. We’re merely a shadow. The substance is in the making and it’s just on us at this particular time.

Then you say, well, just about the guy that didn’t want to be born and he had every right because he’s predestinated to another area. He’s in the wrong side of the coin, wrong side, he’s outside the Kingdom. Well, God had that person raised up in order so that we could see more of the grace of God and it couldn’t be except for that.

Now some will say, “There you are, that shows God’s unfair.” And the Bible comes back and says, “Who are you, oh man, to reply against God because you, although God has given you some insight, you cannot plumb God.”

When you cannot plumb God then you leave these things alone knowing that God and His Word has promised something infinite beyond this. And if you don’t believe that, well, you… you’re just not part of the Kingdom or you’re struggling where you shouldn’t be struggling.

That’s why the Bible says at the end time revelation, “You that are troubled rest with us.” This is where the doubts and fears are cleared up, and we perhaps got to take more of the Word of the prophet than we can take our own word, or anything we know about this Word because he said, oh, he said, “Now I understand,” and he always had his doubts until he was taken on the other side of the curtain.

And in there he said, “Look it,” he said, “press into that because you have no way of knowing what’s ahead of you.” And that’s the truth.

Fap, I don’t even know what’s going to happen tomorrow morning. We eat porridge just about every morning. My wife keeps changing that, she puts in this or leaves that out and you always got something here and there. If I wanted melted butter to put in mine I can do it or if I want to make up this or that or the other thing.

I never know what’s there… you’re not supposed to drink cow’s milk so I read… so I’ll say I’ll make soybean milk. Now I find soybean is one of the worst things for allergies. Pretty soon I’m going to start filtering my air and try to live on it. No, I won’t.

See now what I’m trying to tell you, all these things they bug you, they’re against you and every further revelation we get about things in the present is jolting because it’s worse but everything you get from God points there’s something far greater and something more wonderful. Just believe the Lord at this time and sovereign grace.

Now he said,

[130] Grace is sovereign. Therefore He can save the vilest, He can save the worst, …the impurest, …and the most immoral,

In other words, God saves from the innocent babe that’s literally born dead, almost dead, little crippled baby comes forth maybe, dies shortly, maybe a little bit longer than that, that innocent child to a pharaoh. God can save right to that distance, no matter how wicked a person is, God can save.

Now when you think of the person that got saved in the beginning, that’s Adam, you can understand when God saved Adam according to what Adam perpetrated upon the human race was to sell them into the slavery and thralldom of Satan and all the ages of pain and suffering and degradation, all the immorality, everything that Satan could possibly work through human beings and animals and God knows what, Adam is responsible, that’s the worst of the works except he was ignorant. He really did not even know what he was doing.

And I’m going to tell you something, people still don’t know what they’re doing unless they can check a little something over here in the Book of Acts, the 3rd chapter, that’s what I want. The 3rd chapter of Acts verse 17. And Peter speaking to the people who saw the miracle wrought at the gate Beautiful.

Did what? They crucified the Lord of glory. They killed the One that was to bring them the Millennium, to bring them the kingdom, to bring them redemption; of course, it had to be that way. But they did it by ignorance. See, ignorance is a terrible thing and God can forgive.

Over in Acts, the 3rd chapter also, we read concerning the fact that Peter is speaking to the people of the coming One, they’re ignorant of it, they’re ignorant of Hebrews 6, that is true, and God has a sacrifice for ignorance but there comes a day when God does not wink at ignorance any longer.

And at this hour this is one of those hours. So He gives us amazing grace in this hour in which we live.

Okay we’re continuing now where we left off.

[131]  He can save a wretch like me, and He did. What is it? Grace! William Branham, a drunkard’s son. That didn’t make any difference, the grace of God saved me!

[132]  [Now he says,] “Me, I’m a woman’s daughter that was no good.” Doesn’t make any difference, the grace of God saved you. It’s sovereign, hasn’t to ask anybody anything. Amen! I’m so glad of that. Hallelujah!

Of course, we know that with all of sovereign grace and grace has a motivation and an intelligence behind it because grace is really a description of God if you want to just get to the hub of it, the nub of it. Grace cannot save when there is nothing there that can be saved.

Now let’s go to John 8, just for a second to see this…

And what was their answer? “You got a devil. We’ve got God and you’re the devil.” Have people changed? No, there’s just more of them. Nothing new under the sun, nothing, there’s no sin that hasn’t been committed.

Don’t ever kid yourself in some way shape and form, except they might have had different instruments and different hours and time to do it but sin is always one original ungodly mess. Okay.

This shows the sovereign grace of God. Right here, we’re reading and on in John also. That grace cannot be forced beyond its purpose or from its purpose. There’s no way you can do it because I say, grace is actually you might say, a picture or a description of the character of God.

[133]  Grace can take the vilest sinner and make him white as snow. And doesn’t have to ask anybody about it. Oh, grace can do it because it’s sovereign. [It’s going to have it’s own way. He said,]

[134]  Listen, quickly now.

He’s going to talk about grace. So therefore, we see in this statement grace is sovereign, it takes counsel only with itself according to its own Book of Life. It cannot… act outside the Lamb’s Book of Life and the Book of Life. There is no way it can because God Himself is bound by the fact that He is God, and cannot change. Now I know that we find it difficult to believe that.

In other words, it’s just something that because of nature and everything has its vicissitudes and we see so much change we simply cannot get to the point of realizing the unalterable God how unalterable He is. We sort of parrot it, we sort of believe it, but to really get to the complete understanding, it is not so easy to see that sovereignty.

In other words, He takes counsel only with Himself according to His own purpose, His own motivation.

[134]  Listen, quickly now. That was proved at the cross, when there was the vilest thief. And he deserved to die. God had never come across his mind. [That’s the thief’s mind.] He had never thought anything of it. There on the cross when through those bloody lips, in between the groans, there came a sound, “Lord, be merciful to me!”

[135]  And there came another One back through Blood, tears, agony. Grace took ahold and said, “Today… thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.”

Okay, this is what we see today as the men crucifying to themselves the Son of God afresh. There are those who recognize the total abject condition of the church.

There are those that recognize a portion of it, but if you don’t recognize the total abject condition of the church, you are not a part of the Bride, you are a part of organization and denomination whether you want to believe it or not, you’re independent but you’re still one of them and you’re worse being an independent in that condition than anything else because you got nothing to fall back on at all, at least the others have numbers.

Now, unless the church can be as the thief in this hour where they realize that the Son of God has been crucified afresh to themselves, they are the only ones who can ask for repentance, or ask for the help because that’s what God wants is repentance in this hour and they are the only one to receive the message today, “You will be with me at the Wedding Supper.”

They are the only group because that is exactly the words of the prophet. “You are the pure and virtuous unsullied Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. I call you no longer Church, I call you Bride. Today you shall be with Me in Paradise. Today you will be with Me at the Wedding Supper.”

[135]  Grace did that. How could that thief help himself? No more than Adam could help himself, no more than Eve could help herself, no more than you can help yourself, no more than I could help myself, with no more than we could jerk ourselves up to the Milky White Way by our boot straps.

All right, it’s the same thing today. We read here there’s no way we can make this Rapture, brother/sister, except by Him. Now there’s a lot of people don’t even want to recognize the fact that the Lord Jesus came down in the Pillar of Fire with the Shout, the Voice, and the Trumpet. They’re not recognizing. They simply do not understand what we are saying.

They don’t know what the prophet said. And I’m sorry they’re never going to know it. I don’t believe that. I believe it’s too late. You simply cannot be dragging your feet, brother/sister, when the truth of God is being reverberated through the land, reverberated by the Holy Ghost in our hearts and our minds.

[135]  …But the grace of God can do something about it, [when we couldn’t] and the grace of God does it! The grace of God, the sovereignty of the grace of God, [that is He chooses whom He will] came to that dying thief: “Today… thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.” Oh, think of it. That’s wonderful.

So it appears that grace when we see this extreme condition Brother Branham talked about, it appears that grace is active only when there is no way out, and that is true. Why would God give you grace if you could do something about it? Well, you say, “He gave me grace to do something about it.” No, that’s a time.

The grace refers to a time, and grace itself is not time. Now time may be included in grace. He gave them space to repent; they didn’t do it but time is not grace. Grace is unmerited favor. Grace is the extreme. It’s the extreme product, the Laodicean product that must be converted to life which is death. That’s what grace does.

[136]  Think of… love and grace as… twin sisters. You can’t have grace without having love. They’re twin sisters. Exactly right. Before you can have grace, you have to have love. [Okay, who supplies the love? Well, the One that supplies grace. See? You follow? It’s exactly right. Who supplies love? The One that supplies grace.]

Before you can actually show somebody a favor, you love them. Right or wrong, [All right, the point is this, read it again.] Before you can actually show somebody a favor, you love them. Right or wrong, you have to love them, anyhow, or you can’t,…

What’s he saying here? He’s saying the truth, if the person is right, they don’t need grace. It’s when they’re wrong. You see, now that’s the church has taken the position and so ghastly right, they don’t know they’re ghastly wrong.

And so God had to do something very strict at this hour which was to bring Elijah on the scene who was vindicated by the very ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to get the Church wakened up because the cry comes at midnight, “Wake up, behold, the Bridegroom.” That’s the Appearing.

Now if the Bride had been okay and remember, she was okay to a degree and allowed to that point of the Philadelphian Church Age, and she was allowed up into the Laodicean Church Age, but then she came to the place of no return, that is on her own. So what did God do? By grace when she was ready to go over the precipice, He stopped her with a fence, and the fence showed the grace of God.

Now why? Because He loved her. Now she’d of been right even to a degree, something could have transpired in the normal course of events but therefore, the church then at this time is where God said it would be “except I send Elijah I will utterly destroy, the whole thing has got to go.”

Now I know we have a promise in the Word, so therefore, people take that promise and they go wrong with it because they say, “Well, see, God would not do that. He doesn’t destroy the righteous with the wicked.” That’s true but you got to see how God stops the righteous from being destroyed and they can’t see it.

Now you can see how God gave you grace to believe this message, contrary to your friends, your loved ones, your parents, your aunts, your uncles, and everybody else. Now you’re sitting here with fathers that don’t believe this, and mothers that don’t believe this.

How much do my children believe it? Well, they know that dad’s right to the point that there’s something there and he’s likely got it. That doesn’t do them any good.

What about my brothers and sisters? Well, I got sisters left and we got three of them that I think are solid believers when you bring them right down to where they understand and what they cannot understand. They don’t understand like you and I do but they’re beginning to understand because they’re studying what we study here.

But so you see what we’re saying here. It’s right or wrong, certainly, it’s always in the wrong. And now is the extreme, and that’s love.

[136]  So love and grace is the same thing [because it flows from the same source]. They’re just twin sisters, that’s all, love and grace. We can’t see one without the other…. [That’s true.] “God so loved the world, He gave his only begotten Son.” [See, giving.] He shed His grace and brought it… in our hearts through the Holy Ghost,

That’s exactly true; it’s got to be by the Holy Ghost. If you’ve got your own grace, forget it. Oh, you can say grace at dinner time, that’s about all you got. You know that’s not grace, that’s a nickname for prayer. Grace? You know we’re sort of nuts, aren’t we?

Not just sort of nuts. I tell you if they threw us in the fireplace we’d pop out just like chestnuts. Chestnuts, Lord have pity. But anyway, grace… just see our grace tonight.

[136]  He shed His grace and brought it… in our hearts through he Holy Ghost, see. There’s just nothing you can do without working one with the other. [That’s true.] Grace, grace of God is what saves us.

[137]  Now we find out that grace, there like that dying thief, no wonder it’s inspired poets when they saw it. One poet said:

That dying thief rejoiced to see

That fountain in his day;

There may I, though vile as he,

Wash all my sins away.

Ever since by faith I saw that stream

Thy flowing wounds supplied,

Redeeming love has been my theme,

And shall be till I die.

Then in a nobler, sweeter song,

I’ll sing Thy power to save,

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue

Lies silent in the grave.

Grace, God’s amazing grace! Hallelujah! One wrote it:

Oh, love of God, how rich and pure!

How fathomless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure,

Saints’ and angels’ song.

If we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made;

And every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

[138]  That’s what it is—grace, the grace of God. …God brought grace into our lives by His love for us. Here’s something else grace can’t do: grace can’t be bought, grace cannot be sold. It’s grace!

In other words, no strings, except recognition. That’s all. The one string is recognition.

Like Brother Branham kept saying, “They didn’t know the hour of the visitation,” and this church does not know the hour of visitation so therefore, failing to recognize it will miss the grace of God, and therefore, they will stand in judgment because the grace has been exhibited.

And if something has been exhibited and you fail to see it that’s your tough luck, now I’m speaking vernacular and I’m sorry to be rough in my language but I’ll tell you many a person has missed a stop sign and then picked up for missing it, they didn’t see it.

I remember, I missed the stop sign one early morning I was going out west one time, real, real early, about four in the morning or so, the sun was just breaking up and there was a cop sitting there and he pulled me up and he said, “Well,” he said, “kind of early in the morning. Did you see that sign?”

I said, “What sign?”

“Well,” he said, “I didn’t think you saw it but, “he said,” you got to watch it, it’s pretty early,” and he didn’t say anything more than that. But the other cop come along, he could, because another one could come along, and he’d be just so glad to flatten you, and you know what? The law would be correct.

It was there; I didn’t recognize it. See? Grace is there but is it recognized? And that’s what’s happened today. Has the Presence of Christ been recognized? See? Has the light been recognized?

[138]  It’s grace! It’s by a sovereign One. Yes, sir. You cannot bargain for it. You might say, “God, I’ll do so-and-so if You’ll do so-and-so.” You can’t do that. God won’t do it. You can’t pull anything out of God. God gives it to you by… grace. Oh, oh, my!

Now the church tries to do this which Brother Branham says they can’t do, and this claimed to be dispensers of grace because the church does, and they’re adding word to word show that they do not have the grace of Almighty God.

Now, he says here, “You might do so-and-so and so-and-so,” which is the church tries to do it and he said, “Sovereign grace you can’t bargain for it. You can’t buy it. There’s no way you can get it except God gives it to you.”

So the darker the night the greater will be the grace of Almighty God and since this premise is laid down that it’s sovereign God with sovereign grace at His disposal then really the answer is the more that one abandons himself to God, the better off he is.

Now that’s what you’re looking at tonight, to abandon yourself to God, “Live or die, sink or swim, I believe this is it.” And if you can’t do that you’re still straddling the fence, you’re riding either a jackass or some kind of a dead camel. You’re not riding the beast of God, the power of God in this hour.

As long as you think you can fiddle around, or you can make another choice because look it, either this thing is right or it’s wrong. And I can tell you flat if it’s wrong and we have missed the boat, then there’s nothing to it except the ascended masters and nobody knows and you wait two thousand more years. Just read your history and find out for yourself.

See, you can just check your mind out every way you go, you’re going to have to answer somewhere down the road. This has got to be something that God has done. Now what are you going to do with it? Well, if you’re not called, you’ll never see it. You got to recognize it.

How come people don’t recognize what we recognize? How come they hear voices contrary to the Voice that we hear? Well, you see there’s many voices in the air but there’s got to be a right one. There’s got to be a trumpet giving a certain sound or who’s going to prepare for the battle?

And remember the Bride is like an army, she’ll jump over a wall, the troop going, that’s the Rapture. She’s the Bride, she’s the army going up. Where do you stand? See? You got to understand where you stand tonight and put your faith in grace.

Now if you’re trying to put it in something else… you say, “Well, I put my faith in what God gave me.” Ha, God can give you a gift and you’re out there false anointed, and crack up in hell. You’re not going to tell these guys that though, no sir.

Now listen to what he says here.

[139]  “Not he that willeth or him that runneth, but God… shows mercy.” [God showing mercy.] That’s right. [That’s the Bible.]

[140]  People lying on their faces. [Now watch what they go to.] And some men came to me…  I believe I saw one of the boys back here in the building today. A Methodist boy just came in, received the Holy Spirit…  And these boys came to me, said, “Now, Brother Branham, now that we have been saved and received the Holy Ghost, shall we go to seeking gifts?”

Now that was a pet thorn in Brother Branham’s flesh, these gift seekers and these guys that had gifts disrupting his meeting and messing everything up, making all kinds of crazy noise and [Phttt!] fooling around [Brother Vayle makes yi, yi, yi sounds.] in the meeting. That’s supposed to be God?

In the light of That and discernment and the power of God? Oh, come on. I tell you God says He’ll vomit and I’m ready to vomit and I have nothing near God. That would bug me to death, and it did, we had to stop some of that stuff. I just… you throw your hands up.

There’s nothing clean that God gave the devil hasn’t messed with. Now look, there’s nothing higher in the sight of God than a true human being and in innocence Adam and Eve was the actual masterpiece of Almighty God in creation, and the devil messed with them and look where they are. The devil messes with everything.

Yeah, Brother Branham said, “Hollywood is worse than France.” They’re getting all the AIDS out there now, aren’t they? These men that dress like weirdo’s, you know, flimsy things and all. Yeah, you can’t fool with God, brother/sister.

See what the devil does? Before it’s over the devil will take this Message and people that aren’t one with it, you watch where it will take them. They’ll have far more to account for than any man could ever reckon.

[140]  I said, “Don’t do it. Don’t do it.”

[141]  God gives His gifts sovereignly. [In other words, don’t ask, just wait before God and let Him guide you.] Gifts and callings are without repentance.

They are without repentance; that means that God never changes His mind about who is in the body of Christ, what are the members with gifts from 1 Corinthians 12, and Romans 12 and who are the gifts to the church which are five-fold ministry plus a messenger in each age which age started number one with the apostle prophet and ends in the last age with the prophet apostle. Alpha is Omega. See?

The gifts and callings are without repentance that’s why people still don’t understand that though a minister if he’s truly called of God he might mess his life up but he’s still called. See?

But they are without repentance which simply means as Brother Branham was saying, “It’s a sovereign impartation. It’s a sovereign placing. You can’t ask for it. You can only recognize it. You can only know the call of God.” Now he said,

[141]  The first thing you know, you go to seeking for something, …

The Bible does not say to seek gifts, it says, “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” But it doesn’t say to seek for gifts, it warns you not to. It says to covet the best gift.

It says to open your heart and realize what is most important to the people that you might be able to complement the ministry of the five-fold and help the people on in the things of God. Not to make yourself somebody.

True servants of God don’t make them anybody. They are somebody or they’re nothing, period. You know, if you just… look, an apple is an apple, a peach is a peach, a preacher is a preacher if he’s a preacher. A lot of them simply aren’t preachers I guess, there’s a lot of people that are not called.

But you know there’s one thing where some ministers have problems and that’s with the congregation. It’s not with the poor preacher.

Well, the preacher doesn’t seem to be able to deliver the goods sometimes, he’s just not with it, it seems, so the people get jittery, they get up in arms so-to-speak, and they get tired and weary and nervous, what have you, and the first thing they’re looking at the preacher and they’re looking at him with eyes that are a little bit jaundiced, and they shouldn’t.

What they should do is to pray for him and get so inspired waiting for the Word that it will come out of the preacher. That’s what I said before we started this Message. They need to do that, but a lot of them won’t do it.

I get a phone call every now and then. I got a couple of phone calls from a certain congregation, both of the men phoned me, very, very sincere, they said, “Brother Vayle, this brother is… we can’t lay a finger on him as far as his life is concerned but we’re starving. So what are we going to do?”

“Well,” I said, “Brother Branham gave you the door.” I said, “If you can’t get along with that pastor, you get yourself another one, but… I love that man the same as you do and I know he’s a good brother, and here’s what I tell you to do.

You start coming to church believing God’s going to inspire that man because you’ve got yourself in a bind. Now you get over it by believing God. It might take you quite a few Sundays but you get in there believing God to such an extent that the thing begins to move.”

That’s the way this church here is built whether you know it or not, and you might think, “Well, Brother Vayle’s got a gift.” That’s fine, I do have a gift but it’s a tiny little gift it doesn’t amount to anything.

Brother Branham had a great gift of healing and he called it a little gift and he said the people work it. The people work any ministry anybody’s got; it’s up to you.

Now if you want to kill me you come to church dead, mum and look at me, hmm. Don’t expect anything. And I tell you I’ll walk out and find somebody that does expect something because I’m not going to die with you if you want to die. No, I’m not fooling. People think I fool but I don’t fool. See, and you know I’m not bluffing. It’s the truth.

Now I’m laying the truth on you and on people, look, you’ve got to get enthusiastic and you are enthusiastic, that’s why preachers come in this church and they want to come and literally take over. They don’t understand what I understand and you understand.

Now if they understood there’d be a move, the gifts and callings of God are in sovereignty and grace and they reflect God, and they’re to a people who reflect God. You get them together under conditions that God sets in the church you’ve got God.

You say, “Well, I don’t believe that.” Then you’ll die in your sins because you will die in your sins, that’s the order of God, and the prophet came and put the church in order. You can’t get people to smarten up; I’m sorry for them.

Look it, I don’t go to your homes and club you or anything else, I’m tough up here in the pulpit but you know that I speak to you in love and speak the truth, and I’m not here to defend myself. I don’t need defending anymore, phooey. I can go out any day.

I don’t call that as a bluff and try to be mean and say, “You better look out and treat me nice or I’m going to go.” I’m not telling you that. I love you and you love me and I want to stay here, but if I had to go I’d go, but I don’t have to go at this point, if God get me out of here that’s fine. But you know what I’m talking about.

I’m talking about how that these gifts are in here by grace and when you’re talking about sovereign grace you’re talking about something that’s motivated by God or reflector of God and God’s going to see it through. So you’re not sitting on pins and needles. You don’t have to worry anymore.

If you got an enthusiasm, God knows and He hears how you talk, watch it, you bring that with you’ve and that Word has to flow.

I’m at perfect peace in this church here and in no place else because I know when I sit there I’ve got a song leader that understands what’s going on, I’ve got a people that respond, and I know getting up here there’s nothing going to stop me if God wants this message to go through, and it will go through the way God wants it.

Now you see we’re all a part of this thing, if you don’t believe that just tell me how God could have a body, and Him be a head and no body? God’s not complete here. So we see the principle of God we’ve laid out here. You say…

Now he’s talking here,

[141]  …you go to seeking something, “God, You just make me a preacher, You just do this to me,” and what you going to be? A big stuffed shirt, that’s all.

How many times people phone me and say, “Well, Lee, I just wonder if our pastor’s really called?”

“Well,” I say, “now look, don’t try to put me on the spot because…”

No, look it, I believe I’ve been called. I didn’t want to get called, and I wanted to quit different times. I’m to a place now I don’t want to quit. Not because I think I got something to say just this is my life, so why would I quit? You see?

Now people say, “Brother Vayle, I don’t believe you’re meant to preach.” Well, you go someplace else, good-bye. I got no problem, if you don’t want me, go ahead. I’m not moving for you. See?

“Well,” they say, “Brother Vayle, we don’t think he’s called.”

I say, “Look, if I doubt his calling, I got to doubt my calling because it’s between me and God and between him and God.”

If the congregation’s got any doubt, just start praying and get enthusiastic and if it doesn’t work you just find yourself another pastor. There’s a vote anyway once a year, usually. That’s just the logic of it.

Now, preachers are called. I don’t know who’s called, who isn’t called, but I tell you what it’s a dangerous thing to get someplace where you’re not.

In my assessment I’m going to tell you flat, there’s a lot of guy’s call themselves pastors, they don’t even come up to the first notch that Brother Branham said, “They must sit and hold the people’s hands,” and they can’t do it.

Now I’ve dangled you on my knee for a long time, I’ve burped you and everything else to help you; I’ve done what I could for you. Any rebellion is on your part if you ever pull it, and you know how I react because I’m not budging.

I have a ministry before God to be faithful, you do what you want and I love you when I say it, this is just things we got to understand but you see people have a lot of trouble with these things, sovereign grace.

Sovereign grace takes us all through. Sovereign grace, I got to stay where God puts me, you got to stay where God puts you. I’ve got to do what God wants me, if I can find out what He wants me to do, you’re in the same position. Sovereign grace and we can’t butt in where we don’t belong. I’m not an evangelist. I’ve learned that years ago.

I can do a bit of pastoring because anybody can do a bit of pastoring as long as it’s a five-fold ministry. Anybody in the five-fold ministry has the ability to do a bit of teaching, I over extend myself in teaching.

I extend myself to the fact where I can have a brother come up and tell me, or tell my wife, he got a hold of one of Jack Bell’s tapes and it did him so good, he quit working on Sunday.

You’ve heard me say, you shouldn’t work on Sunday, but you weren’t moved until Jack got a hold of you. Got a hold of his tape, you know why? Because Jack is a real pastor and he hits those points from the pastor’s viewpoint, I slide them over and I point you to these things I’m talking about because these tapes go many places in the world and help many people.

So you pay a bit of a price but you be smart to listen to the little things I drop in which I do drop in, they are more important than you realize because I’m trying to do two jobs at one time, and you kind of extend yourself and it isn’t too good, but you see there are pastors that are really called, there are people that are really called and there are those that aren’t, but I’m not their judge and they can do what they want. Right.

And they can do what they want apart from you. We are our own little group here. We are sovereign and as long as we walk in love, understand each other, and love this Word, talk this Word, and by grace attempt to grow and do those things which are incumbent upon us, brother/sister, you haven’t got a worry in the world, sovereign grace.

Sovereign grace, yes sir, you just keep believing this message here Brother Branham said, goes right to the point, “take it for your healing.”

But I tell you I take it for the Resurrection and the glorification of every cell in your body and mine if we’re here when He breaks through the stratosphere, breaks through… higher up, what those clouds were twenty-six miles up. We’ll be higher than that. Even if you weren’t it wouldn’t matter, no telescope will reach us. They can’t get in that dimension.

We’re past the place where… you know they can pick up with these highly powered electronic microscopes, pick up the tiniest little things, you know, like a spot of dust or something, whatever it is, even less than a spot of dust, some magnified to how many million times till you finally see it?

Well, you know what? They could put that on us and they wouldn’t see anything. No, no, they can’t see a thing. No, the vibration is so great, so fast, it goes through a rock. The sun won’t even do that. Say what kind of bodies do you have? Don’t ask me, but it’s going to be good though.

[141]  “God, You… make me a preacher, …just be a stuffed shirt, that’s all. You’ll go to some man’s… theology, [seminary] …some organization, and there you’ll pillow yourself down and canker. [In other words, you’ll just get on your beds of ease and you’ll rot.] Let God do the calling. God will call you, [that’s if He wants you] God will sanctify you, [sure, and He won’t let you off the hook] God will give you what… [Now watch!] God will give you what He has need to give you.

So if you go to Him and He doesn’t have any need for you to have it, you ain’t going to get it. Now if we treated our families that way, our families would be better off.

If we really gave them everything they really needed, not what they wanted, but that’s not too bad in spots, you know what I mean, there’s some leniency in there, but he’s talking especially here hitting hard at ministries.

[141]  God will give you what He has need to give you.

You see, I always wanted to be an evangelist. Man, I used to hone my messages until I knew they really had some good material in them. I loved them myself. Get up there and preach and couldn’t get anybody to the altar if I hit them by a four by four and took a bulldozer and bulldozed them over.

Get then to preach the Word of God to the saints and they just hug me and ready to kiss me and cry and everything else, and I’d get so mad I could (Phtt,) get rid of those birds. God gave me what I needed for my ministry, and He won’t give me what I don’t need because God does not believe in excess baggage.

You understand that’s true because you can’t add to the Word or take from the Word, He didn’t want excess baggage. He doesn’t want [two of it ]either.

[141]  God will give you what He has need to give you. 

The gifts and callings will make room for you. Don’t pretend to fill a job, do it or leave it to somebody else. That’s right. Poor Brother Branham, we got along good though, I never tried to do his job, he never tried to do my job.

[142]  You can’t bargain for grace. [See? No, you can’t. That’s the same as bargaining for your place in the body of Christ, if God made you a hand, why are you trying to be a foot?] You can’t bargain for grace. No, sir. It can’t be sold, it can’t be bargained for, it can’t be bought, can’t be traded…. You can’t say, “Well, now, Lord, I’ll go join this great big Baptist church, or this big Methodist church, or this big Pentecostal church, or this big Nazarene church. I’ll do this if You’ll just do this for me.” It can’t be bargained. No, sir.

That’s exactly right. In other words, we cannot make a promise even of some service for God because God knows what He wants of you, sure, because He knows what He has… He has need of in you, so He puts in you what He has need of to fit in the body of Christ, and therefore, He cannot give you something that you can bargain for and even try to glom onto by a Scripture because all Scripture does not refer to everybody.

How could the Scripture concerning Jeremiah refer to anybody but a prophet like Paul and William Branham, Moses and those men? No way, no way, shape or form.

How could Scripture, like say it, you know, like Brother Branham said, “You believe in your heart and don’t doubt, say to this mountain to be moved?”

That was to Brother Branham in the creation of squirrels. How are you and I going to take Scripture that says he that believeth greater works than these shall I do… or he do? How are you going to take that one? You can’t do it.

We can put ourselves in as a part of the aggregate sum but we cannot put ourselves in head positions or spearhead.

Like Brother Branham said I got a little gift of teaching; I know I got a little gift, a very little gift, a very poor at that, but I sure ain’t no prophet, and I don’t try to make it a prophet but try to make everything say what the prophet said.

And if we got the same Spirit even in a degree, one modicum is all it takes; it’s going to be the same thing.

[142]  You can’t bargain for grace. No sir. It can’t be sold, it can’t be bargained for, it can’t be bought, can’t be traded… I’ll do this… [I’ll do that.] No, sir. [Now watch!]

[143]  “All that the Father has given me will come to me. No man can come except my Father calls him first.”

Now, right, he says, “All the Father has given me will come to me.” Therefore even Jesus cannot bargain.

Now what if there was such a thing as this in heaven? Jesus comes and says, “Now Father, I have died and I have risen, You raised me for the forgiveness of people’s sins, and I have told them right there and John wrote It, that You loved the world, that You gave me for the world, so therefore now, I want these and these and these and these and these, and I notice they’re not on the book but I want them anyhow.”

You know that’s exactly the way a lot of people think. You know the majority really believe that? That we can petition God through Jesus Christ and thereby twist the arm of God through grace that He gave us in Jesus and God will do it. Hogwash!

That’s Moses going to Pharaoh and saying, “Hallelujah, we got out of here and we’re going to take you with us Pharaoh because we’re going to convert you. You’re going to make the best old Jew of the works.” Phooey! Ha! And you believe he’d turn into a son of Jacob? You believe he could be prince with God? Old Pharaoh?

Then you better believe that Hitler is born again and so is Stalin, and you’ll meet them and dance around the throne. My God, have pity. That sets us free to kiss the pope’s toe, and all go to the Wedding Supper together till we speak in tongues.

Jesus did not bargain. You’ll notice though the devil did bargain. So when you try to bargain with God, whose side does it put you on?

See, now we’re talking in terms of bargaining in the right sense here, not the sense of bargaining in the sense that you use it mildly and say, “Look, I come to you, Lord, and I wonder if so-and-so and so-and-so. Or could such-and-such and such-and-such?”

You’re just trying to feel for the will of God and to know how things might go. Even people use fleeces; I don’t believe in fleecing too much because I think… I don’t know where people are supposed to be fleecing. They’re supposed to be fleeced, that’s sheep, but not fleecing. I don’t know, Pentecostalism, too much.

[143]  No man can come except the Father calls him first.”

Remember, Martha came and said to Mary, “The Master calleth for thee,” and that’s the thing to be called of Him is what counts. Every time you come to a place where the Spirit of God has moved, you’ll always find a bunch raise up outside the will of God.

And you notice that after 1946 when Brother Branham came on the scene which is the time of the last great revival, Fishers of Men rose up, Full Gospel Businessmen, all of these people butting into the pulpit and butting places as though they’ve got a right.

The Full Gospel Businessmen went so far as to say, “God’s ministry has failed and we have been told of God to take over.” What voice did they hear? I want to know and this Bible before God what voice did they hear? They were not led of God.

I challenge Demos Shakarian and all the Pentecostals in this whole world, they are not called of God and they did not hear God when they heard that voice.

You say, “Well, I believe they heard God,” but that was just something that God allowed. Well, I could maybe go along with that, like Aimee McPherson [1890-1944], “He called her,” as Brother Branham said, “because He knew she was going to go anyway.”

You could put it down there, but you cannot find the Bible on that. Even Oral Roberts warned them. What did they do?

They completely organized into Trinitarian dogma, so now you got business organized with religion and politics was already there. It’s already back in mother Rome’s lap and they don’t know it. Come on, what’s the matter with people anyway? I have no respect for that. If I did have respect, I couldn’t respect God.

[144]  You just become a church member of that big church, that’s all. You won’t be saved; grace has to save you.

[In other words, nothing produces grace except God. You can’t barter or trade off bad debts by doing some good ones. You can’t do it. That’s why works stand apart from faith. That’s why Brother Branham said, “Grace and faith is the same thing. Love and grace is the same thing.” Put it all down.] …grace has to save you. …talents …we may have, [certainly, but] we cannot earn grace by talents.

In other words, you got something that you can use, even in your physical life, no way.

[145]  If God made me a preacher, that doesn’t show His grace has been with me. No, no. It’s His grace alone that saved me. Not because I preach the gospel I’m saved. Not because you speak with tongues you’re saved. Oh, no. Not because you preach. You’re not at all saved just because you preach. You’re not saved because you speak with tongues…

There must have been quite a few people around at that time that needed that, so people say, “Well, we’re preachers, bless God, we’re called.” You’re called all right, huh? Just because you preach doesn’t mean you got anything.

…You’re not saved because you do any of these things. I Corinthians 13 proves so: “Though I speak with tongue of men and angels, …understand all …mysteries of God (a preacher), though I do all this, and have faith to move mountains, I am nothing until love comes in,” [or charity which comes in,] which is love. Love is grace. The grace of God that does all.

If love is grace why use two terms and not just one? Why don’t you just be satisfied, say, love, love, love, not love and grace? Well, God’s love to us is grace, that’s what it is. Our love to others is grace.

See, what we’re talking about. You can’t separate them. Salvation should come first, then service to God comes next, and that service to God is based upon love because God gave His grace.

His love shed abroad in our hearts. You can prove that love works by grace and it’s really the same thing on the very grounds that love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost and we knew not God, we’re in sin, God died for us, sent His Spirit to woo us to Him.

[146]  Some people… have talents, like some of these rock’n’roll kings. That just makes me sick to my spiritual gastronomics. [In other words, it gives him a stomachache.] I’ll tell you, when I hear these rock’n’rollers stand up… Saturday night and sing rock’n’roll, and dance all night; and then the next morning come to face the audience and things like that… and try to put on a long, sanctimonious face, and stand up there before the people and sing some hymn, and think they’re going to go to heaven. I could call many names, but I don’t have to.

He’s talking about Pat Boone, the Church of Christ. Outside the cup, inside rotten, outside clean. He said he couldn’t kiss a girl in a movie, but, well that’s very nice, I got nothing against that but… but that didn’t make him saved.

The church doesn’t make you saved. And of course, Pat got the Holy Ghost by speaking in tongues and they kicked… and then they kicked him out. That’s interesting isn’t it? [Brother Vayle chuckles.]

[146]  I could call names, but I don’t have to. This tape is going everywhere. But you all know. A boy… not long ago, in Hollywood, wouldn’t kiss a girl because it was against his ‘religion.’ Against his ‘religion;’ and makes rock’n’roll pictures and things that’s disgraceful, and things like that. Do you think that you could take your thirty pieces of silver and merit something in God’s grace, Juda?. [Now that’s the prophet calling the shots.] Won’t be anything but a place in hell for you!

You know, there’s one thing that I must admit I do not like, I do not like songs, the gospel that have a harsh ring to them, like there’s that rock stuff that’s behind them. I don’t care how pretty the words are, and how nice you people might think they are; I hate it and I’m just going to tell you flat. I don’t like it.

Canned music to me is an abomination, I’d sooner you’d sing acappella or something else or with the wind whistling through your ears, but that junk, I don’t like it, period. That hollow superficial stuff out in the world, it doesn’t have one place in the gospel.

Maybe I’m wrong but I’m behind this pulpit and I’ll run this church the way I like it or at least I’ll put it that way. I don’t find anything sanctifying in that junk that people play, you can get it on the radio, you can get it on… you can pick up these stations that are supposed to be spiritual and it’s…

I’d just sooner turn to the worldly music because it might be pretty soft waltz or something that isn’t talking about God at all. It’s just talking about nature.

And these birds sing that junk, whomp it up, and then they play loud music and you can hardly hear the soloist. If I want to hear a solo sing I don’t want the orchestra taking over. Maybe I’m nuts, just put it down, because that’s the way I like it. Whether you like it or not that’s up to you but that’s the way it’s going to be around here.

That’s my song leader take note and the minister of music take note, you’re running it but I’m telling you how it’s going to be done, how you’re going to do it, and they’ve done a good job. I’ve got uttermost confidence in them. So that’s the way it is. We don’t want canned stuff around here; never will be any canned stuff around here.

[147]  God’s grace cannot be bargained for, [you can’t use talents to get it] … It’s sovereign grace! “Nothing in my arms I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.” Naked, wounded, just… I come just… as I am. [That’s exactly what Romans 4:1 concerning Abraham, no matter what good Abraham did, no matter how nice a guy he was, he was a fine man, it took grace.]

Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,

O Lamb of God, I come!

[148]  That’s all, …it’s grace that brought me. Grace did it.

[149]  …another thing that I’d like to say, …about grace is this. Take these big churches, people think… you can go down there with this thought… “Well, we built the biggest church in the city. We got the ladies aid society here that makes clothes for the poor, and sends them overseas. We feed the poor. We do all this.”

In other words, he’s talking about the big program, see, the big program, the big thing. Now the further people get from God you will notice, the more the church has a greater works program. And the more their creeds and their dogmas which don’t amount to a hill of beans becomes everything.

Take for instance, the Amish and Mennonite, and those people that have the groups where they wear their little black… they wear their… the men wear the black hats, funny round black hats. That’s fine. They can wear them if they want to.

Then they got to have a beard when they get married. Who said so? Then they can’t wear a tie. Who said so? Women got to wear a little hat. Who said so? That’s all they know. See?

And then they boast about their niceness, their certain spirit. I know they got a certain spirit but you give them the Word of God and watch the pussy cat spirit they got, just like Pentecost. Watch where they go.

See? They’ll fight the devil’s fight every single day. They sing, ‘Safe in the arms of Jesus,’ and then they’re in the hip pocket of the devil. You can’t tell them.

And we know we’re talking right because we’re in the last day. We could never preach like this and believe like this under any other time. Other churches have done it, and they’ve died, but we’re vindicated or this is hogwash, one of the two.

God sold us out. And I’ll tell you God made a flop of that because He didn’t sell very many out, and if it’s the devil he botched it because he didn’t sell very many out. Right?

You bet it’s right. So it deserves a very close look. Is this or is it not of God? I’ll put it this way, very succinctly as far as I’m concerned, just straight across the board in a straight line, if this isn’t it, I don’t know what is and I’m not interested. At this particular point I couldn’t be interested because I wouldn’t know where to go.

And I’m to the point where I don’t know because I got to get off this earth pretty soon because I can’t live forever. If I had ten more years which God forbid the kind of life I live right now who needs it, who wants it? You’re going to have to go then why wait too long?

Then what’s the big shot… I’ve seen about all I want to see, heard all I want to hear, done about all I want to do or I’d of done more if I’d wanted to do it. I could have travelled many places in the world, time after time, I just didn’t want to do it. So what am I sticking here around for? So you see, we’re in a place right now you could say between a rock and a hard place.

Sure, that’s the way to put it, the prophet said, “We turned the corner. Now you’re straight on:” You that are troubled rest with us at the time of this, so there you are.

[150]  They say, “Well, we’re an old organization. We’ve been here for two thousand years. We are five hundred years old. John Wesley, Alexander Campbell, and these great founders back there, they founded our church. Hallelujah!”

[151]  Well, Jesus Christ founded this church, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and told them to go up to Pentecost and wait [for the Holy Ghost] till they received the power from on high.

[152]  And still you can belong to the Pentecostal denominational church and be lost. Pentecostal church is no more than any other church. That’s right.

Now you notice the Pentecostals claim to be original, so do the Baptists, so does everybody else. Nobody’s original but you can get back to the original if you have another prophet and you can prove it and he says the same thing as Paul, and God backs it up to be correct then you can talk, before that you can’t talk.

You say, “Well, you guy’s talk here but you see, you’re deceived.” Thank you, that’s wonderful; I’m deceived. So, glad we got two different spirits. Yeah, they claim to possess the original, but they don’t do so.

No one possesses that, no one, no one can, no one will; we can only be restored because that’s what God said in His Word. Right?

Sure, you can’t go back brother/sister. How are you going to go back? The First Church Age Bride was identical to the last Church Age Bride but they were two different Brides, one was number one and the other was number seven; they were of two seventh’s of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what they were.

And they went up in their order, the Seventh Church Age Bride comes up on land first, the ground, number six, number five, four, three, two, one, and they go in the air, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and they’re all the same. This age gets restoration and the Resurrection. You don’t go back to original. You aren’t original.

You are part of the original, part of the Bride tree, and the original seed has come up and proven that you are a part of the original. There’s lots of differences here. That’s right.

[153]  The thing of it is, …there’s only one church: and that’s the church that you’re born into by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. [Correct.] “For by one Spirit we’re all baptized into one body,” I Corinthians 12:13, that’s right… I Corinthians 12. Now, we are baptized into that church.

[154]  But people think that they can merit it. “Why, I went to school and I learned to do this, and I went to seminary and… did it.” That doesn’t mean one thing. You can’t buy God’s grace.

Which means you can’t buy salvation, can’t buy the baptism, can’t buy this, can’t buy that. Anything that God said you can have you recognize it and by faith, apprehend it. You cannot work it out but it will give you strength to serve God. That is true. Yeah, it will give you strength.

[155]  God’s grace is like this. Let me tell you a story, in ending. [Now this he tells a story about a king’s son that got killed.] God’s grace is like this. [I’ll just read it through.] One time there was a mighty king, and this mighty king had a son, and it was his only son. And one day a murderer killed that boy. And through that kingdom went the delegates hunting for that murderer. They finally found that murderer. And when they found him, they brought him back and imprisoned him. And when they did, a trial was set and a sentence was made. Oh, it was a terrible thing. He had murdered the king’s son, and he knew what was coming to him.

[156]  They put him in the inner cell, they locked the door, they put padlock on it and… no one could get out and with guards around it, because. We know what… a horrible punishment this boy was going to receive, because he killed the king’s son, the royal king’s son. Guards were placed all around the doors. He was put in an inner cell, stripped, with nothing on but a loincloth only. And there he was, sitting there in that condition. Starving, wouldn’t give him anything to eat. He was sitting there in that condition.

[157]  Then they brought him out to a trial. He was found guilty and proven guilty. A sentence was made, that he was to be executed under horrible capital punishment. He was to be killed by inches until his mortal life was gone, sentenced by the judge. He was to die. And he begged and he cried, and he said, “Though I am guilty, and admit I am guilty, I’m sorry that I did that. I wish I had never done it. I’m sorry that I did it. In a moment, in a rage of temper, I did it. I didn’t mean to do it that way.”

[158]  One day the king went down to the palace to visit the boy, to… talk to him, and tell him about… and have him tell about killing his own son, the only son he had. He had killed that boy. He said, “I’m going down to talk to him.”

[159]  And when he went down there, he looked back in that cage, what looked like a caged… animal. He saw his little skinny body lying back there in a corner, crying. His face all sunk in, his jaws sunk back, his eyes way back, matter and all in his eyes, …his mouth… all whited over—no water, thirsty— lying back there on his face, crying. The king said, “Stand up.” He came up to him, and he looked at him. And he said, “Why did you kill my son? What did my son do to you? What did he do to merit such a death as you killed him, stabbing him to death with a spear?”

[160]  He said, “Nothing, my lord, not one thing. Just my own impudence, just my own ways. I killed him because I was jealous of him, …I got in a temper fit and I killed him.” …”Now I’m to die under your justice, sir. I realize that and I deserve to do it. The only thing I’m crying for, that I’m just sorry that I killed that royal man like that without a cause.”

[161]  The king turned on his heels and walked out, went out to the desk, and said, “Destroy all the records [You know, put them in the sea of forgetfulness.] Destroy all the records. Wash him up, bring him up. I’ll send down a robe for him.”

[162]  After a while, a great big limousine drove up to the door. And when it did, a carpet was spread out into the prison cell. The king stood at the end of the limousine, and said, “Come, my son, and ride home with me to the palace,” and put the king’s robe around his shoulder and… said, “From henceforth you are my son,” because he had pity. That’s grace.

[163]  That was I, that was you. We killed the Son of God with our sins. We were alien, dirty, filthy, laying in the cells of the world. God washed us by the Blood of His Own Son, and cleansed us, put on the robe of His Holy Spirit. And now the great chariot of God will back up to the door someday, and we’ll go home to live with Him. All records are destroyed, and we can’t be judged any more. He burned them up. He put them in the sea of His forgiveness and remembers about it no more. No wonder we can sing!

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now I’m found,

…was blind, but now I see.

It was grace that taught my heart to fear,

Grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed!

[164]  Won’t you let this be your hour right now, sinner friend, while we bow our heads just a moment for a word of prayer? Let this be the hour that you first believed, right now. Make up your mind, and say, “Lord God, I’m guilty. I realize it takes grace to save me. I can’t save myself. I’m lost. I’m done.

Now this is bringing this to the hour for the Church. This is where the Church has to confess, Christ’s own confession of Revelations 3:17, wretched, miserable, naked, blind, and was in a position, knew something was wrong but didn’t know what was wrong.

The Bride would know that something was remiss, but couldn’t tell what it was.

[164]  I just can’t do a thing. I’m totally helpless, helpless, without God, without mercy, without Christ, in the world, alienated. Won’t you have mercy and take me out of this cell of sin that I’m in today, O Lord, and be merciful to me, [And that’s right, the cry came, “Come out of her, my people.”]

Will you raise your hand, and say, “Lord God, I’m that person that needs your grace”? Will you raise up your hand, say, “Pray for me, Brother Branham, I now will believe”? God bless you back there, my brother.

[165]  Someone else say, “Brother Branham, remember me now—oh, brother, please… remember me in prayer.” God bless you, lady. … God bless you, brother. God bless you, sister. [And so on down the line. Then he sings that song, “Just as I am without one plea.” …]

[166]  Now, there’s been around fifteen or twenty hands go up. Now with your heads bowed, I’m going to ask you that raised your hands, quietly now just stand to your feet while I offer prayer for you. We haven’t got room up here on the altar. It just isn’t possible …you …stand to your feet, everywhere that raised your hand, …that wants to be prayed for now. Stand to your feet right now while I offer prayer. 

[167]  Remember, there may be a day when grace won’t abide anymore, won’t abound anymore toward you, it’ll be too late. Now [it isn’t too late.]

You know positively that that’s Hebrews 6, there’s coming a time when it’s going to run out. Now let’s look at that time because that time is this time. We can, I can never get enough of reading this portion. Now to go on to perfection which is restoration which is 1 Corinthians 13:9, That Which is perfect come.

In other words, no more parts, it’s run its course. It’s been a seven course meal that God served His Word in season, heavenly manna, and this is the last. And this is where what you didn’t get before you’re going to get now.

And remember that’s the grace for the last day, Peter says, “Grace for the last day, love for the last day, revelation for the last day, everything is for the last day.”

When is the last day? Well, how are you going to know except God does something about it? Because Israel couldn’t know their last day except Jesus came and told them, forerun by John the Baptist, so there’s no smart ones amongst us.

There’s no great students. There’s no great scholars, no great theologians. There’s nobody that knows unless God tells us. Now that’s grace because grace is sovereign. It withholds when it wants to withhold and does what it wants to do and does it in its own way, and makes sure that it is done and God’s satisfied.

Now we might not be but God is. That let’s you know whether you got any grace or not whether you’re satisfied. That’s whether the grace is put in your heart. See?

The open shame what? Turned Him down flat, said, “No!” Denying the Lord, according to Peter which means to say, “No!” People think that denying the Lord means saying, “Oh, there can’t be a God. This can’t be that.” It doesn’t say that; it means to say, “No!” to the person.

When you deny what I want you’re saying, “No,” to what I want. So, He stands at the door and knocks, in the strategic epical season, the day of the Lord, this hour, and they say, “No!” That’s what it is. He appeared, they said, “No!”

Now they’re all saying, “Oh, He’s coming, heavenly hallelujah.” Is He? He’s already come to be glorified in His saints. The next thing is the fire.

After God appeared to Abraham came what, In the Sodom condition? fire. So look for the fire. You know I’m going to tell you something. If this thing gets a hold of you, you look for one or the other.

Prophetic projection, we’re looking straight at the White Throne judgment, brother/sister, whether you want to believe it or not. I don’t care what you believe. I believe it. I know it.

I don’t believe you’re here for the ride. You’re here to stand with It. The law of projection said, “This is it.” White Throne faces that’s what it says in Elijah, burn up root and branch, it’s over, period.

The rest of the dead lived not again for the thousand years. There’s your projection. This is it. Don’t look a thousand years down the road. It’s in the making. Ha, oh, yeah, they can’t be renewed.

At this time of this message, the curse is nigh and the burning is sure, and when we get out of here, there’s three and a half years tribulation. “And you that are troubled rest with us”. But you’re not, as Paul said, unaware of these things. They come upon you suddenly.

The only sudden thing was He appeared suddenly and we were able by His grace to receive it through predestination. That’s the bill of order. That’s the whole program of God. What is anybody looking for something else for? Why complicate it? Man, oh man, oh man.

Again the Message of grace, the parallelism of Scripture, blessing, cursing; blessing, cursing; blessing, cursing. Promise right down the middle, promise, blessing, cursing; blessing, cursing, and you can’t sit on the promise, you take one side or the other. The promise today is the Word of God.

The conduit filled which is the mechanics filled with the dynamics. You can’t straddle it. You can take whichever side you want to take. You can take the blessing side; you can take the cursing side. We have taken the blessing side.

He said, “Though we speak,” he said, “we’re persuaded of better things of you. I’m persuaded. I’ve had to preach tough to you people here,” he said, “there is believers, make believers, unbelievers, but… there’s a Bride there and I’m talking to you.” Brother Branham said the same thing. See? He said,

In other words, you prove right today whether you’re wheat or tares, on whose side you’re on, where you put your strength with the labor that God has put in the field which is number one, Brother Branham; and those that take the same message. It shows where you stand.

And I’m going to tell you something, the whole church can be that way, I said, the whole church. I believe in God for concentration here like maybe I have no right to believe but that’s my privilege. And I look around and I see churches, and I see what they got there, and I say, “That’s fine.” They’ve got their concentration; we’ve got ours.

I’m not trying to be a judge but if this Word is not the judge and if we do not have something to stand with now and for, brother/sister, then I’m going to tell you something we are fooled, fooled, fooled, and our delusion is a sloppy sentimentality of the junk that’s out there.

“Well, brother, I love you. Well, sister, I love you.” [Brother Vayle chuckles sarcastically.] You can have it. I’m not interested. Your weak fish handshake, you think you can gloss with hypocrisy around the country and say one thing.

And then look it, I get tapes, I don’t want them but I pick them if someone sends them to me, and I hear what’s on them, I spotted it just like that where the guy takes them right back to Pentecost, never came out. Says he believes the Presence, but he tells the people the very thing they want to hear which is well, hallelujah.

I’m going to tell you things perhaps you don’t want to hear, and things you haven’t heard as far as I’m concerned I don’t believe I’m God’s servant if I can’t do something.

Like one person said years and years ago, “If this message doesn’t make you glad or mad; there’s something wrong with my preaching.” I can tell you right now. That’s the old saying. It’s true you know. It said…

Paul said, I can tell who is in this thing.

We are in the hour of full assurance, I explained, I think, last Sunday. It was either last Sunday or the Sunday before, or the middle of the week, who cares, you got it anyways. It’s on tape. I took you right to… the 4th chapter of the Book of Romans, written by the same man here.

It lets you know right there, don’t you try to force anything, don’t you try to get in a position, Brother Branham says, just stay out, you just keep seeking God, just watching patiently and you wait, because that’s all you and I got to do under grace is the one condition is receive, receive, receive.

For he that receiveth whomsoever I send receives me. Receive, receive, receive. He sent his son; they didn’t receive him. He sent His grace; they didn’t receive. He sent a prophet; they didn’t receive. He sent scribes and wise men; they didn’t receive.

Are you a receiver? That’s the ballgame. Who’s the big guy in the scrimmage? The receiver. Sure, if he fumbles that ball, he’s got trouble. Brother Branham was a receiver. Now we receive.

Don’t fumble the ball, brother/sister, don’t fumble it. God has given us something too great, too wonderful.

[168]  O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who brought again our Saviour from the dead, who now lives, He Who is supreme in glory, sending the Holy Spirit of Christ upon us, to bring conviction to the sinner, God, I pray for these people that stand on their feet. It is the truth, Lord. You said, “He that will witness me before men, him will I witness before my Father and the holy angels.”

Now that’s a good sticker right there because that’s true in a very minor way to every single one of us but that is powerful when you get to what we had as the prophet, and then we have to stand with that. And there’s where you’re getting to the real heavy part, but that… these men are going to be led here by the grace of God.

[168]  We know, when we stand… on that great judgment morning, what a time it will be. [Now listen!] They’re standing now, Lord, so their sins will go before them; some men’s sins follow. These people are standing here this morning because they’re confessing their sins, knowing that they have done wrong and they want You as their Saviour. …restrict the reins of the heart, [In other words, take them over now] and You know all about them.

[169]  I pray, Father, …You will grant their requests. Save them. They’re the trophies of the little message this morning of the grace of God; no matter what we did, grace still stoops and gets us. Grant it, Lord. Grant grace to these hearts. May they always see Jesus as their Saviour. They’ve made an act. The Holy Spirit has told them to stand up, and they did it. The Holy Spirit telling them to stand, and they, in obedience to the Spirit, stood.

[170]  Now, Lord, You keep your Word. You said, “No man can come to Me except my Father draws him first. And all that the Father has given Me, will come to me. He that will come to Me, I will in no wise cast out. He that hears My Words and believes on Him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall never come into the judgment but has passed from death unto life.”

[Now see remember, there’s no acceptable prayer that you and I can give unless it’s based on the Word, and giving back to God His own Word is the highest utterance that anybody can give.] Therefore, Lord, upon the basis of these Scripture, …and they are Your Own Words, Lord, that we read in St. John 5:24, “He that will hear my words and believe on him that sent me, hath (Why? Because he has believed, grace has what he did to these, this to these.), hath come to everlasting Life, and shall not come to the judgment [Now watch!] (he’ll go before the judgment),

[Now watch! Everyone will be there but these will go before the judgment and not come to judgment because they’ve passed from death unto Life but like the juries and the witness, like the juries and witnesses in a trial they’ll be there before but they won’t be in it; they’ve sent their sins on. All must be there. We better send our sins on tonight, brother/sister.] O God, how we thank You for this!

[171]  We pray now that You’ll keep them through life. May they, every one, be baptized, calling upon the Name of the Lord, washing away their sins. Grant it, Lord.

[172]  [Now watch!] Now I present them to You, as your servant, believing that the great angel of God who appeared down there. And, Father, You know all that story, and that great Angel that appeared there Friday morning, just at gray dawn, and spoke these words, in the form of three rainbows coming up from the top of the mountain. Lord God, let that God who appeared there to me there in the rainbows, let Him save this people by His grace…

[Now watch!] Now I present them to You, as your servant, believing that the great Angel of God who appeared down there. [When? In 1933 at the river] And, Father, You know all that story, and that great Angel that appeared there Friday morning, [that’s the three rainbows came out of one little vessel]  just at… dawn, …spoke these Words, in the form of three rainbows coming up from the top of the mountain. Lord God, let the God Who appeared to me there in the rainbows, let Him save His people…

Now you notice that he calls himself, calls this God and calls this Angel, now I brought this out one time in a message years ago at Christmas, how this phraseology can only mean one thing.

It’s one and the same God visible and delivering His Word and when He does it’s called an Angel because God’s His own messenger, God’s His own prophet, and when He does it visibly that’s called angel, not that it’s not Elohim.

So when he calls it Angel of God, don’t go confusing, well, there’s an angel from God and therefore, that’s not it. That is the Angel of God; do you understand what we’re saying? It’s the only thing we can understand when words are used like this. What else can you understand?

But see I’m finding what he says here by reading it on paper for the first time really seeing it in this message though I’ve read it before but I’ve preached this same thing years ago right from the Bible out of the Book of Acts.

The star, the angel, messenger, you’re at the end time, God Himself His own messenger but He appeared visible to bring His Word therefore He’s called the Angel of God.

[172]  I give them to You, in expectation of You keeping your Word, and You will, and I’ll meet them at that great day, without… spot or wrinkle in their soul [in his soul, also]. Grant it. In Jesus’ name, I give them to You. Amen.

Then he sings these songs over here, and then after that on page 30 he goes on and he brings material to the people concerning what it is necessary for healing and also concerning his ministry and we’re going to stop at this point right here and we’ll see what we can come up with on Sunday.

There’s not too many more pages but there are things we’re going to have to leave unsaid at this point because I would not get far enough and I just wouldn’t bring the material out right as far as I can see.

So, I trust you all got some more insight tonight because that’s what it’s all about to make you more and more familiar with the phraseology which is remember the Scripture of the twentieth century and it is not the whole Bible we’re getting.

The prophet in the latter rain plants, now he’s the former rain in the latter rain season, the prophet in the former rain which falls in the latter rain plants the seed of the entire Bible from the serpent to the prophet in the former rain, so therefore, he takes a thread of continuity to bring you the history to the present point and then reveals what’s under the Seals and that’s not a lot.

And anybody looking for anything else, you’re wrong in your thinking. You better start thinking right. That’s where they went haywire in Europe and they’re still going haywire around the world and they’re going to keep doing it

I just got a phone call from a kid that wants me to hear a nine hour sermon he’s concocted sitting in his duff somewhere, down here in Virginia, and he’s got something rigged up in his mind from the Book of Jeremiah concerning our attack on Libya and now Iran and Iraq are fighting and what’s going to come out.

He’s got the answer. Maybe he has, maybe he hasn’t. I don’t listen to a bit but I’m not interested. First of all I won’t know what he’s saying because the prophet hasn’t said it. I won’t pass judgment on anything.

All I know is I’m telling you here and you’re my responsibility, don’t get carried away. Stick with what the prophet said, and don’t stick your nose elsewhere comparing Scripture and say, “Well, I see this, I wonder.”

You blew it because that’s what Eve did. And you’re going to blow it. Stick with the prophet and don’t budge from it. That’s why we go Word by Word in these sermons and I’m not going to change my way of preaching. That’s why I’m not going on the road anymore, forget it, I’m not interested. I know it wouldn’t work.

Maybe for a night on questions and answers or something but for preaching sermons, unless I wanted something special, I’m not interested because this way we’re getting Word for Word and comparing, and I believe that’s the help we want.

The Lord bless you, let’s rise and be dismissed.

Most gracious heavenly Father, again we want to thank You for Your grace that You extend toward us, we certainly know it’s been a great privilege to be here tonight Lord, with You because where You are there is heaven, where You are Lord, there is the Word, free discourse Lord, and understanding and our hearts are blessed, oh God.

And Lord God in heaven, I know that America is a very peculiar nation in that people come over here from Europe and different parts of the country and they wonder why we just like the same old food.

They say, “You Americans, you either got your toast and your eggs in the morning, a bit of bacon, you got your hamburgers at noon Lord, your apple pie,” and they pin us right down that we are just a simple one diet people Lord, and that’s what we are with Your Word tonight as the Bride.

We’re a simple dieted people on the Word, we just believe what the prophet said, we don’t want anything other than what he said, Lord God, we’re not trying to be anything on our own or figure things out.

We just want to see Lord, what You brought and we know that what You brought is something that no other age had because it’s going to put us right into the Rapture, some people standing here breathing and living aren’t going to die but go on.

And that’s the thing that John said never has come to pass; it’s only going to come to pass this one time and so Lord, we know that we have the choice of it all. We have the choice meat. We have the choice everything and it doesn’t mean one thing to us Lord, as though we were somebody.

It means everything to us because You are everybody Lord, and you chose us and we believe that tonight Father, and we want to stay humble at Your feet, we want to give You the honor and the glory and we want to thank You for the blessedness of sending us a prophet like Brother Branham to see grace and truth and mercy exhibited in him, to see the same things through him to us Lord, and then to hear this Word of Life.

Now Father, anoint us all to the Word and to the Life…

[Note: Tape ended]