Perfect Faith #08

Shall we pray.

Gracious Heavenly Father, Your own prophet was thoroughly, perfectly identified in the Scripture and authenticated, said that his ministry was to declare that You were here, and we believe that to be true, we just haven’t even begun to reach the depth of it, the sobriety, the greatness of it Lord, to understand just what that means at this end time, to us, and to the world, to creation, to the coming of the new heavens and the earth; a little bit of time in the Millennium there, a thousand years passes as a day, we realize Lord, because we’ve been taught that time and eternity has blended, but we really don’t know what that means.

We just take it for granted Lord, and we’re glad that we can take it for granted. This Message Lord, is our hope, everything that You did Lord, we have confidence in.

This has to be if we don’t understand a lot of things, and we don’t appreciate them as we ought to, but tonight we pray Lord, that You’ll help us to come to a little different phase of our lives, a little higher level, a higher plateau Lord, of appreciation, sincerity.

Help us Lord, in this Word that the prophet brought, which we do know is THUS SAITH THE LORD, which is really true.

We may consider many times that other people might have said it better, we don’t know that that’s true at all. We might consider Lord, a lot of things about it, but the fact of the matter is we ought to consider that what he said was the truth.

That he said, “I was just a voice which You used,” and that being the case Lord, then we’re hearing from You tonight, and we’re happy to know that is true.

We believe it to be true, but Father, we ourselves are not as true as that as we should be. So may we become more of the truth of Your Word Lord, as never before, that we might blend and become one.

We like that Lord, we desire it with our hearts, actually. You know what’s in our hearts as much as lies there. If there’s just ten cents’ worth Lord, we know we’ve just got ten cents’ worth; if there’s a quarter or a silver dollar, we know that’s how it goes Lord.

We don’t know just how we go; we trust we shall go into a higher height and a deeper depth with You.

So help us tonight Lord, to treat the subject matter, which is Your Word Lord, in a way that the prophet did it, further illuminating It by the Spirit of God tonight, breaking it down as he said to do, that the people might get greater benefit than ever.

We know that could only come because of a greater benefit on the grounds that, it’s just more elaborate, there’s more of it.

So Father, help us tonight to eat heartily and in depth of the Word of God, which has been stored up of Your Word for us in this hour, that we might have rapturing faith.

Bless every one in Divine Presence Lord, and we pray that there’ll be healing Lord, amongst the people tonight because of this message Father, because we’re to take it as our life is everything and we thank You for that privilege.

In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

You may be seated.

Now this message, as all other messages, point to the presence of Christ, and Brother Branham sets forth before us the truth that if Jesus, in His earthly tabernacle, could be reached, could be touched, could be expected to hear an answer.

The petitions that people desired, and that same Jesus, Who doesn’t change, Who is here in the form of the Holy Ghost in a Pillar of Fire, could be expected to hear and to answer, to be touched, and we receive the petition we desired.

Now, Brother Branham’s ministry, of course, which brings us the days of the Son of Man proves this, the literal Presence of God, present, as He has not been previously present, doing exactly as He did when He was here with us, and Brother Branham preached this in order that we build our faith upon it.

So as we sort of review this message, we notice in this message, no different from the others in principle, like all other messages Brother Branham brought us, that he uses himself and this message, particularly this message here, as well as ‘the Message’, to Scripturally, number one: place the Bride church; number two: the hour in which we live; number three: the blessings She derives from his own unique position and ministry at the time of this Elijah restoration, which prepares us for the rapture.

So we’re looking at Brother Braham… let me just read it to you over here what he said about Ephesians, I think it’s about 1:17.

He says in ‘Daniel’s Seventieth Week’… I’ll just turn this page here:

SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL, 61-0806

[68]  The Spirit of wisdom comes into the church to make known to the church by the revelation of the Holy Spirit

Now do you notice the repetition of the words here? They sound out of place to a student of the English language, but it’s a precise language of God, because Brother Branham did not attribute anything to himself, but to the Spirit.

The Spirit of wisdom comes into the church to make known to the church by the revelation of the Holy Spirit bringing the church in, [coming out of Babylon, bringing the truth,] and revealing what day that we’re living in.

So, we’re looking at the fact that the Church Bride is being placed as a Church Bride, She is informed of Her hour and She is to be aware of the unique blessings that devolve upon Her from this particular ministry of Brother Branham.

So there were three points: placing the Bride Church was one; two: the hour in which we live; three: the blessings She derives from Brother Branham’s own unique position and ministry, which is the Elijah restoration.

Now we’re going to start with point two, instead of one. The hour in which we live is actually covered in point three: for his unique ministry was that of restoring a true and complete revelation of the Word to the Bride.

Now, you understand that had to be, because She lost Her virginity of the Word in 2 Corinthians 11. Now, see, no one but Brother Branham ever made anything of this, let’s be honest with you… get any books of theology you want.

Now you know the law of the jealousy is when a husband suspects his wife, that she is having a clandestine sexual affair with another man, other than himself.

And so therefore you can see here that this bride, Paul already knows, he suspects, for good reason, that she’s already fallen away from her chastity concerning her husband. Now you notice what he calls the falling away? She loses her virginity.

Now, back over here in 1 Corinthians 2, Paul is speaking on the revelatory power at the discretion of the Holy Spirit, he says here,

In other words, he is saying that nobody actually can give an answer to God on any question that has to do with spiritual matters.

He doesn’t have the answers, but God has the answers, and Paul says, “We have the mind of Christ on what is true, spiritual understanding,” and this is what he was passing on to the people, and the people had fallen from it, and you notice how they did it with gifts of the Holy Spirit.

That’s where they made their big commitment to error: they began priding themselves on positions that they felt they were ordained to some might have been, I don’t know we won’t argue the point, but they got heady and high-minded, and they tried to overstep the Word by it.

And you’ll see in Brother Branham’s ministry, he never overstepped the Word. It was always back to the Word. See? That’s the beauty of it. All right.

Now, we said here, then, that the hour in which we live, of course, is the hour of restoration, the Word by Elijah, and this was accomplished and proven to be so by vindication.

That is to say, we have the restored Word, we are back to a virgin mind, and was brought about by Luke 17:30, the revealing of the Son of Man, which according to “Harvest Time,” is the Son of Man, is the Word living Itself again amongst the people.

In other words, you see an actual Word for this hour coming into existence, and living through, of course, the flesh of the prophet.

Also, he said, “The prophet is not the Son of Man; he is a messenger from the Son of Man.”

Again, he said, “I am not the Son of Man; the Pillar of Fire is not the Son of Man; It’s in the form of the Holy Spirit.”

And again, he said, “The Elijah of this hour is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; God, not man, but it comes by a prophet.” That’s a fairly correct statement.

In other words, I’m a little bit of paraphrasing, but not really anything harmful there.

Now, thus the hour in which we live is categorically established as in Acts 3, and you’re familiar with this, the middle of the 19th verse:

So, Brother Branham is blowing the trumpet and making the announcement on the grounds that He, God Himself, is here.

Because Jesus said, “No man could possibly know that hour; only God knows that hour.”

And that’s under the seventh seal, and that’s part of the seal that hasn’t been revealed, but don’t let anybody tell you the seven seals were not open.

I’ve got quotes right in the back of my Bible written here, that Brother Branham either changed his mind, he’s not worth listening to, or the seals are open.

But a part is not revealed, and it doesn’t need to be either until the resurrection and when we see the dead walking around here, you still don’t need any information, you’ve got it. You know, shortly a sweep is going to go over you, if you’re Bride; you’re going to be gone.

So don’t be like these people who always look down the road, and think nothing has happened, something to happen, it’s happened, see? And it’s happening. All right. We just, for good measure, threw that in.

All right.

Now who did Jesus say was going to restore? Elijah. Who did Brother Branham say the Elijah was? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in the form of the Holy Spirit: “I was just a voice,” he said, “that God used.

I was not the One that appeared there; I was just standing there when He appeared.” All right. So you can see that restoration must take place under what we know to be the Appearing. See?

So what hour are we living in? The hour of Elijah, the day of the Lord, restoration, Appearing.

So the time, then, has been set, we understand. This, of course, is Malachi 4:5-6; this is 1 Thessalonians 4:16, the Lord descending; this is Ephesians 1:17, which I read, the Spirit amongst us.

And Brother Branham said, “When that Spirit that’s amongst us becomes incarnate to us, we’ll crown Him King of kings and Lord of lords.” Who is that? God in flesh, once more, Emmanuel. All right.

Point one: in placing the Bride, we find that She is now the true Church. This is the hour that She’s a true Church; She’s been called out of Babylon. “Come out of her, my people.”

Point two: She is a true virgin of the Word, and Herself a part of the Word fully identified with God. There must be a virgin of the Word.

Point three: is that when God positioned and vindicated the prophet, He did it so that by Divine authority; the Bride could be placed and positioned also in Her own rights, Brother Branham being a speaker, and you will find we’ll get to this tonight perhaps here, I’m not sure.

We call this trickle-down principle, or the Godhead, or God, the Head; secondly, the prophet, the eye; and thirdly, the Bride as the body. Now we’ll just see if I can find page 16 here, if I’m lucky, I’ve made it.

Paragraph 92: I’ll read a little bit about this being the eye:

[92]  Now, that’s God speaking in this day through vision. [See? That’s a little boy who was raised from the dead in Finland, was by a vision. See?] But hear this: if that vision was contrary to this Bible, that would be wrong; this Bible is more than the vision. 

If any vision’s contrary to the Word, leave it alone, it isn’t of God. And God doesn’t contradict His own Word. So, if this Word told you something, then you can have the same confidence then, what’s going to happen

So, you see, He’s positioning the Bride and not only positioning the Bride as the eye that sees these things, the Voice that speaks them, but He is revealing to Her what the Presence and the Appearing mean at this very hour to our very faith.

All right, now. Watch in this message how this goes, how Brother Branham is bringing these things out.

Point A, one, the positioning, we’re talking about, from Brother Branham to the trickle-down, which comes to the church, which positions Her as authentically as he was positioned, because if you ever proved you were a messenger from God, everybody ought to listen.

All right. Point A, one: Jesus knew who he was, certainly did.

Two: he knew himself in the Word, and by the Word. Did you catch it?

There’s a difference. He knew himself in the Word and by the Word.

In other words, he said, “Look, I can find my place in the Bible, and I will prove to you that I am there by what I am doing. Can any one of you find any sin in me?”

Three: Jesus knew who did the works and said the words. It was God in him. Thus, Jesus had faith in the power that He had.

Now, I’ll ask you a question, “You got power? Did the Holy Ghost come upon you?

You really born-again? That’s ‘dunamis’. Are you getting what Brother Branham’s driving at, what I’m driving at? All right.

Point B, one: Brother Branham knew who he was. He was Elijah; he was also the living Word of God manifested. Right, Joe?

Some people took a double take on that, didn’t they? They couldn’t take it. They thought Brother Joe was pulling their leg.

“Feast of the Trumpets,” I think it is.

Two: he knew where he was in the Word, as well as who.

Three: he knew God was in him and did the works, and spoke the Word.

And you’ll notice we put works ahead of Word for one reason: the works give him the authority to speak. Brother Branham had faith in his authority, and the gifts that God had given him.

Point C, one: the prophet tells us who we are: we are believers.

We’ll hit that tonight in a way a little different, but we’re believers.

You say, “Well, every theologian said that.” Then why do they not call us now ‘believers’? Flukes and kooks, and everything else.

Two: the prophet then tells us that we are also the Word, even as Christ was the Word, and the prophet is the Living Word made manifest, and you will find this also on page 16, reading at paragraph 93:

[93]  Jesus had perfect faith. He had it, and it came because He was the Word. [You say, “Well, if we could get to be the Word, we’d have it, too.” All right. Let’s keep reading.] And you must become the Word; and you do become the Word, as you receive the Word.

And then he qualifies what you receive is: “If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you,” and that word ‘abide’ means ‘sticks with persistence’, ‘in agreement’, ‘pledged to’, ‘live or die; sink or swim’, ‘I’m going no further; I’m not going back; here I am’.

That’s what you’re looking at. So you become the Word.

He also says, “You become the Word of God in your flesh as you receive the Word, and we qualified the word ‘receive’ is ‘to take this Word, to make It yours and stick with It’.

There’s hardly a day goes by that a letter I get, or a telephone call… well, I beg your pardon, let’s amend that.

Some of the letters, some of the telephone calls… but there’s not a day in my heart, I suppose, that I don’t rely upon what Brother Branham told me.

Now, I rely on it a hundred percent, that I stand up here, absolutely without fear that I’m telling you the truth, and I haven’t had to back away from any of it, but I’ve had to elaborate many times and find the position, of course, for some things that weren’t quite clear as they’re getting clearer all the time.

Now then, thirdly: we are also identified with God in our works, and we have this Scripture over here in,

And Brother Branham said the greatest gift he had, and he laid it on the table, was to get out of the way.

Now where you and I are looking for a lot of things in our life, the greatest thing we could do is learn to get out of the way, because we already have the Holy Ghost, the power. We’ve already got the faith it’s been God-given. “All men have not the faith,” the Bible distinctly says.

And Brother Branham started out the virtues in Peter, and it’s basically faith, which is a revelation, and a revelation, my brother/sister, is not simply… and yet it contains, because the whole contains the part… it is not simply Mark 16, it is actually Hebrews 13:8. And the whole truth is a message of restoration.

So, therefore, we also have the ability, through God, to receive Mark 16, as well as Hebrews 13:8, but you do not major in a minor. You keep it in perfect harmony.

So we have that ability, and Brother Branham put to the Bride, that is, he reckoned to the Bride, that one day She’d have the Word and know what to do with It, or keep entirely still, and he led the way in that.

Now then, he also tells us we have a God-given faith and the help of the Holy Spirit to apprehend every promise He made to us, and to this he added some reasons why we still fail:

One: the great thing he put before us was: we don’t comprehend that faith is substance.

We don’t comprehend that faith is real… we’ll deal with that a little bit, too, I hope, as we get along tonight. We’ll be dealing with it; we keep dealing with it, because this is important.

Number two: we let unconfessed sin get in the way, and he told us how to deal with that.

Number three: we allow fear to take over from faith, and the third point is where we were at on last Sunday on page 18, paragraph 102, so we’re going to read about it.

And he reads here from the Book of Job, he makes a quote, or he talks about Job and he says here:

[102]  …“Job feared.” And what he feared, actually happened. What brought it? His fear. That’s what made it happen.

Now, you know, now let’s watch what Job was doing. Job was fearful that his children would have problems, so he made doubly sure they wouldn’t by standing in their stead, and sacrificing, and doing everything he could toward God for them.

But you’ll notice, and I want to bring out this, the man was a little legalistic, you might say nothing against the man, you understand he was doing fine… doing very fine, but that fear undid and took possession and power over the very fine things that he was doing.

So I’m just trying to show you something here: that you can be like… I mentioned Birem last Sunday; that Gospel Trumpet Church of God, Indiana… tremendous man of God, lay dying, and he went to God.

He was prayed for, he got no better. He looked through his life to line up with the Word of God. He found it immaculate, as far as he could go, what he could do.

He confessed every sin; he made everything right… he still lay dying. And he said, “Lord, why am I lying here dying?”

And like a voice trumpeting down the corridors of his soul, said, “Yes, and you will die unless you get up in faith believing it.”

And he struggled desperately to get to the edge of the bed, which he did, finally rolled there, so weakened, grabbed his trousers, began pulling them on… one leg, then the other.

By the time he got through, he had a measure of health, and in no time at all, he was perfectly whole… never had one more moment of sickness until the day he died. What, then, under this Message? Do you want to get the book sometime… get it.

It’s out of print but some old Methodist may have it, hallelujah, beside their little recipe to keep off of beer and cigarettes. It just may have something, you know, that… Bill, you could run that down… you’re an old Methodist boy.

But it’s true, telling you the truth here. See?

Job feared, and the point I got across now: you can be moving in Christian circles, being a fine person, and a prostitute… yeah, Brother Branham said so… can come in right ahead of you and get healed, and you just sit there, being a fine person.

Well, fine feathers never kept the pheasant from getting shot, but the devil will go about like a roaring lion, to scare everybody he possibly can.

[102]  …[Fear brought it]. That’s what made it happen. His faith would have kept him from it, [His faith would have kept him from it, and it from him. Right?] but his fear brought it to him. He was scared it was going to happen, and it did happen.

Now, if he knew it wouldn’t happen, [Or, had known it wouldn’t happen] it wouldn’t have happened. See what I mean?

What is Brother Branham telling us? He’s telling us we create an atmosphere and we draw things to us.

You can read, if you like, Claude Bristol; you could read the Phillimore brothers; you can read Mary Baker Eddy; you can read Doctor…

I forget his name right now again… Cliff, read all the books I’ve read not thoroughly read, as though I studied everything Mary Baker Eddy said, I just read excerpts, very few.

I read a little more on Unity, not per se the books, but authors, and you will find that when they describe a salesman and Dale Carnegie will tell you the same thing in his courses, I read that, too that the old door-to-door salesman, house-to-house, or store-to store, has either made or lost the sale before he raps on the door, because he controls the atmosphere… he makes it.

So we have within our power to cause the Holy Spirit to form an atmosphere that draws what we want.

And, remember, I told you a long time ago about this fellow, Clark… I can’t remember his first name now.

He was a Unity man, I think he was more or less… claimed to be born again, and he was a dynamic man, he believed in healing and a lot of things and saw a lot of things done.

One day he was sitting on the train, riding with a certain lady. She had a great, big purse.

And he made conversation, he said, “My,” he said, “you certainly do have a big purse.”

She said, “Yes,” she said, “because I want to get a lot of money.”

He said, “Oh?” and pricked his ear.

“Yes,” she said, “I believe in getting money. I carry my big purse, because I will attract it to me.” And she did.

Now, that’s laboring for the bread that perishes. I don’t suggest we do it. I’m only telling you things that work. If the world makes it work, then it’s a principle that God set down.

The devil can pervert a lot of things, which he does; he starts on the mind.. Now people, of course, you know, make an atmosphere that draws things.

You remember that time Brother Pugh, you’ve heard it, we sat on the pulpit here. Brother Branham… and you read it and heard him say it on tape, how that this woman said, “Oh, Brother Branham, there’s a man over there, he’s trying to pick me up,” she said.

He said, “I’ll tell you why, sister, because you’ve got a spirit that wants to get picked up.”

Now, he said, “I’ll just break that right now.”

So he just began concentrating on the man. The man had just ordered a nice dinner. He got fidgety… dropped a knife and fork.

Pretty soon, more fidgety; pretty soon he just put his napkin down and went out of the house, didn’t even eat his meal. The story is pretty accurate the way I’m telling it, though not perfect.

But the thing is this: this is true what we’re talking about.

Now, I know that Christian Science ruined this age with its statement that God is ‘universal mind’, and Pentecost, Methodism, and the weak brothers and sisters of legalism, thought they would have to counter it.

So they went into emotion and they discounted the power of the mind, but you will notice their better thinkers didn’t, their better theologians didn’t, but they couldn’t put it together for the people.

Pretty soon psychologists proved out by your emotions can swing into faith, like you can say, you can do like the late A. A. Allen meetings, say, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” faster, faster, get more and more intense, and more and more intense, and boom!

Suddenly something hits you, and you call that the real power of the Holy Ghost I’m not saying it isn’t, now understand me call that the real way to get to God, call that the ideal approach.

How much chance have you got if you’re bitten by a snake? You could die within a few minutes. No, we’re missing a lot of things here and we just better heed the prophet.

He said, “Job literally brought on himself this thing by fearing it.”

In other words, he built up an atmosphere that was negative, and he brought in all the negative ions and things, instead of the positives.

[103]  If you’re afraid, [now watch,] when you come in this prayer line, [I put ‘this’ instead of ‘the’ prayer line, because it says ‘prayer line’ coming up,] and think, “Maybe I just haven’t got the faith that’s sufficient”; it’ll never happen, don’t worry.

See. But if you know it’s going to happen, it’ll happen. [Even the salesman, before he knocks on the door. See] See, it’s just a substance of something. See?

[If you know it’s going to happen, it’ll happen]. See, it’s just a substance of something.

Job had a fear that these things would come upon him, and they did. If you have a fear that your disease is not going to leave you, it won’t.

If you have a faith… [a faith, notice he calls it ‘a’ faith there, making it distinct at this time, you have a faith for this thing.

It’s not praying around the world, it’s this thing here, they’re talking about your prayer line, he said,] “Then it will.”

Okay. Let’s just take a little look at 2 Timothy here and begin to see something that Brother Paul said in the 7th verse:

And you will notice that the three go together and will spell a perfect faith. Power, see? Love… faith working by love, and a sound mind.

The only really sound-minded person is the person whose mind is full of the Word of God, and applies the Word of God to the situation.

The first person to get away from that in the Garden of Eden was Eve, typing the church. All right.

[104]  You ask any medical doctor. [Now watch how Brother Branham applies this, like I’ve been talking about these salesmen and all.] You ask any medical doctor. [This was the truth.]

The first thing he’ll try to get you to do is have confidence in the medicine he’s giving you.  If you haven’t any confidence in that medicine, you’d better leave it alone, see. Sure! What is it then? It’s faith that does the healing; it’s faith that does it all the time.

In other words, we’re looking at a synergism here, something which is synergistic, which means the application of one thing to another will enhance its power.

So if you apply faith to what the doctor gives as a remedy, which some people do with chemotherapy, and they live in spite of the botch that the doctor has botched.

You can outlast the medicine. I think that was one reason I got the candida knocked out, with Thiserol and all  I had faith in it.

I said I’d sooner take it and die, than live without it… I was going to die anyway, I figured I would. Never hit my kidneys or my liver or anything else.

Had to take more than one course… the miserable things within my bloodstream, they mutated, and the mutation then would form a little enclave and you couldn’t get to it, so we fooled it by three days on and two days off… got rid of them, plus a lot of other things. But, you see, faith did it, you’ve got to have faith.

I told you God told me He would see me through. He did, too. Okay

Let’s take a look at Ephesians 6, and we’ll look at this again to see something more about how this works, this faith, and it’s the 13th verse to the 16th.

So, if you can break down the power of the enemy directed toward you, you will do it by faith. Then these other principles will begin to work.

Now, I might as well get ahead of myself, what’s the difference, we’ll never get finished in the time I want to do it, it just doesn’t work that way.

The fact of the matter is: since faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, you have got to employ the Word of God against that which is against you.

In other words, anything outside of the Word of God is negative, whereas everything in the Word of God is power, is power and powerful, you see, and it’s positive. All right, he’s saying this here then.

Now, we go further from this instance of Job. We connect up the fact that mind and faith and confession are all powerful, because that’s exactly where Job stood. He could not fill his mind with the fact of God dealing with his children.

Like Brother Branham said, “Believe for your household to this day.”

That’s a tough one. Brother Branham said, “Only do one thing: apply the Token.”

As far as I know the Token is applied, the only thing you can do about that is just stand with the Word of Almighty God, because the Word of God is the conduit for the Holy Spirit and you’re looking at It. So there it is: faith, mind and confession, or mind, faith and confession.

In the mind is the Word of God against the diagnosis. The prognosis or the prescription… rather, the prescription is the Word of God. See?

Never mind what the diagnosis said, and the prognosis is the promise fulfilled. So in all cases, it is the Word. So, we use the Word in the mind and the Word in the mouth.

And Brother Branham said, concerning this Bible, he said, “When this Word, and this are lined up, and you speak what’s in your heart, you get the promise.” So that’s where Job failed, we fail.

Let’s read further:

[105]  [Now take Peter, another example,] he was doing all right until he got scared. The Word, [that’s Logos, Jesus,] told him that he could walk on the water.

He was scared at first, he thought it was a ghost, and he said, “Lord, if it be You, bid me come to You on the water.” [Now, that’s very good for this hour, too.]

[106]  Jesus said, “Come on.” Now, that’s just the same as James 5:14, the same as Mark 16; the same God that said it, said, “Come on.” And he started walking. He did all right, got down out of the ship, started walking on the water. 

Now, you’ll notice in here Brother Branham mentions James 5:14, so we can just read that. I think that’s “call for the elders of the church to anoint with oil,” or one of those anyway. 5:14, all right?

Now there’s the whole thing in a basket, in one, great, big, beautiful promise. Now that’s the same as Mark 16, “Lay hands upon the sick; they shall recover.” And Jesus, the same God, said it, said, “Come on.” See? To Peter.

In other words, the same invitation is extended to you and me on the grounds that Brother Branham said, “Can not this same Jesus be touched, as he was touched then?  And I’ll prove it.” See? “Come on,” the invitation is there.

So, the gospels are to be read for this hour and we are to think in terms as though Jesus were here physically. You know, a lot of people can’t get around that; I don’t understand it.

I talked to a fellow, I told you some time ago, stood in my house and I said, “Tell me,” I said, “when I mention ‘Lord Jesus Christ’, what do you think of?”

I said, “I’ll tell you; don’t tell me. You are thinking of a man on the right hand of God.” I said, “Wrong! Wrong!”

Paul did not say that when he said to the Pillar of Fire, “Who art Thou?”

And He said, “I am Jesus.”

And William Branham said, “This Same Jesus went back to a Pillar of Fire,” but He’s doing the same thing He always did.

So, therefore, we are to regard Matthew 4, Matthew 12, as ours today for the Gentiles, and He is just as real now here, invisible amongst the Bride, God in the form of the Spirit in the Pillar of Fire, which will lead us to the Millennium, which same Voice must raise the dead and He is right here now, telling us to “Come on; step on the water,” to be touched, everything else.

We are just not letting ourselves go, brother/sister. See why we have not a substance faith? It’s not that we don’t have a substance faith; it’s that we do not treat it as a substance faith.

That’s why the renewing of the mind is so terribly important… that’s that Battle of Armageddon. If we could ever meet the Battle of Armageddon: let God mop the dirt up with us, get rid of us, it would be sure great.

All right.

[107]  There was a storm on the sea, you know, great whitecap waves, bigger than these hills around here, and the foam breaking on top of them; terrific, maybe fifteen, twenty feet foam, those whitecaps breaking.

And that was a terrific thing for him to ask, “If it be You, Lord…” See, He looked like a… looked like a shadow or spirit. He said, “If it’s You, bid me come to You on the water.”

Now, that’s kind of like a little thing today, “If that’s really You, Lord, that’s Your prophet.”

You know, if you follow the ministry of Brother Branham since he’s been dead, you’re going to find the strangest things that have happened, where people have flown in from Europe, strictly by vision, to where Brother Branham preached, to find out about a prophet.

See? Somebody wasn’t witnessing. We can’t cover that tonight… it’s all in this Message here.

[108]  Jesus said, “Come on.”

Didn’t He say to Brother Branham, “Come on; walk with Me?” Trickle-down experience, brother/sister.

Remember Brother Branham’s ministry and his Message was not for himself; it was for us, and we’re not using it as the charge to detonate our own lives into a heavenly realm that is far beyond this earthy prosaic realm.

[109]  And he stepped down, and said, “It’s the Lord, I’ll just walk.” But when he got his eyes on the waves, he got scared. What came in his mind?

[Or, what was his mental processes at that time.] First thing, he said, “I’m going to walk because the Word told me to walk.” And the next thing, he looked at his… well, he looked at his symptoms; [Now he’s referring to you and me, see, symptoms.]

He looked out there and saw how big those waves were, [we feel how much we are sick and weak and our pain and that,] and he got scared; and when he did, down he went. See?

What he feared, happened! What he believed, happened! [Yeah! He believed in healing.] When he believed he could walk, he walked; when he got scared in his belief, then his substance left him.

In other words, the faith was no longer sparked by his own concepts, and, therefore, God could not, by his spirit, move.

All right.

[109]  …He got scared, when he got scared in his belief, then his substance left him, see it. [Now listen:] He still professed his faith, but he didn’t have the substance.

Now, in other words, definitely states here, Brother Branham is stating that substance faith is blind assurance, and this is more than just admitting to possibilities and the fact that the Word is true, and if I don’t get it, somebody already has, or somebody will.

That’s pretty cold comfort. It’s all right, you’re not denying anything in the sense but you’re denying yourself, and I’m denying myself. See?

So that substance faith, if you want to define it, is a blind faith. It’s like Romans 4 where Abraham considered not his own body now dead, which means thoroughly perceive, and how do you perceive?

You perceive by the senses… eyes, ears, and so on. See? But you trust in 2 Timothy 1:7, which I read, “We have not been given the spirit of fear, but of power.”

See? Not of dunamis… courage, love, sound mind, see? It all goes together.

Now, Brother Branham, speaking on this type of faith, that though it’s real, but you don’t project it because you let these things slide in, that the devil throws these barbs, the negative, and James says that:

In other words, he doesn’t have a definitive walk of faith when it comes to the asking and receiving.

There’s something we’ve got to do, and that’s bring our minds under control or subjection, as Paul said… I think it’s 2 Corinthians 10.

All right.

[109]  …he didn’t have the substance. The substance would have gone right over that whitecap, and he would have gone right on to Him, Jesus, [See?] if he had the perfect faith.

But he didn’t have it. He thought he did. Actually, he did at first. [So you can see what Brother Branham is driving at here. You can if you will, and you can’t, if you won’t.] He did at first, he was willing to venture right out, [see, that’s the secret.]

Let’s just take a little look at Hebrews here, check this out as to the seriousness of what happened to Peter, what happens to you and me.

And, of course,

Now, in other words, this is coming to God, knowing that you’re going to get the answer, because you’re diligent: you struck yourself a bargain, a credo, whatever you want to call it, a principle, a way, and you say, “God is going to do it.” See?

He was willing, but then he could venture out and he lost it on the way.

[109]  Now, he just stepped out of the boat, see? [Peter said here, “Why, the Lord told me to do it, it’s got to happen.” He was right. See?] Stepped out of the boat, and takes off. He never thought about the waves, as to how contrary they were. He never had that in his mind.

Now, this is a very common fault, or very common for faith, because there is Scripture that makes us to know that we are to endure.

Hebrews 11:27. It says:

So there’s an endurance spoken of, of course, in Romans 5, we’ll get to it sometime later on.

Now, today we are to be aware of what we are to look at above everything in this world, though we could be dying of cancer at age twenty-three, and want to live longer, maybe two or three children, and think that’s the most important thing in the world.

Let me tell you something: it’s far more important than that. That’s what you’re looking at in,

Now, Paul was talking about himself not fainting, but I’ve got news for you: if you are in this Message, and you faint, you’re going to miss it, too, because we are not of those that go back.

Paul said, “The Bride does not go back.” She’s got her troubles, brother/sister, don’t think ever think She doesn’t have, but She’s not going to go back. See? This is that great revelation.

Now, 110:

[110]  Now when you get to thinking, “Well, now wait. And, you know, I’ve been sick a long time…” Stop!

You just might as well go back to the boat, see. But when you quit thinking about that, [you can go on to the end. I’ll read a little more.]

[111]  “Abraham considered not his own body, now dead… ” [In other words, he didn’t make a case of it.

He knew he had aches and pains, but he said, “So, everybody does, don’t they?”] “…considered not his own body, now dead, [that was seminally speaking,] neither the deadness of Sarah’s womb.”

He didn’t think about that, couldn’t even consider it. [That’s right, the Bible says so.] It wasn’t even brought into an understanding [of what those conditions could mean. See? He didn’t bother perceiving.]

He didn’t even consider it at all; he just considered what God said… [See?] That’s the filling of the mind with the Word of God.

That’s not blanking out, except dwelling your mind on Him, and saying, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus”…which, look, under certain considerations is fine, but not to work yourself up.

Once in a while, maybe not hurt you, but we’re not talking about the peripheral or something which is transitory; we’re talking about the definitive, fundamental, foundational, which this is what it’s all about.

[111]  …He didn’t even consider at all; he just considered what God said, and he went on. As long as Peter did that, he walked.

Now, let’s understand then what Brother Branham is saying. Faith has no conditions outside what is said about it in the Bible, for faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

If we would scientifically define faith from the Word of God, and the word ‘science’ is ‘scio’, ‘scire’, ‘sciri’, ‘scitum’, means ‘to know’ Latin.

The assured science means this: look, we tested it, we’ve proved it, we bit it, we tasted it, we took the test. Without a doubt, this is a piece of cheese.

That! [Points to cloud of angels…] was taken by camera, that! [Points to picture of Brother Branham with Pillar of fire…] was a man that God answered to. That! [Points to Pillar of Fire or cloud of angels] was proven by a prophet.

We saw, and we know THUS SAITH THE LORD, this has been tested. Why then do we not take it as substance? In other words, faith can be a greater knowledge than knowledge.

I wonder if I can find something… never know what I can find… It’s in the Bible… all right. It says here, James 3:15, when he’s been talking certain things:

Now, there’s nothing wrong with it being earthly. My heavens, folk, we’re here on earth, aren’t we? We’re not these people who are so heavenly minded, we’re no earthly good, are we?

Look, I wear shoes… sometimes they hurt. I wear other shoes, they don’t hurt. You know, I plant gardens the odd time, dig around. I’m made out of earth, same as you are, no problem… sensual.

Nothing wrong with your senses. What is wrong? When they become devilish. When do they become devilish? The only time when you use it against the Word. Then you know, and I know, it’s the devil.

What I’m trying to bring out here is not these fruits here, as against the fruits out there that persist in the flesh. I am talking about the fact there is an earthly knowledge, which is perfectly legitimate.

There is a heavenly knowledge which is far more legitimate, on the grounds of its power. “For heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word will not.” Therefore, revelation will not pass away.

So, what you’re seeing here is this: there is a faith knowledge or a knowledge faith that is every bit as real, and realer, than everything that can be marshaled against it.

Like when Brother Branham said to the little boy who was going to rise again, “I got a vision,” and then tells you categorically that he will go to the graveyard, and raise either George Washington or Abraham Lincoln when God tells him to.

Well, you better believe, brother/sister, that’s resurrection faith, or I don’t know what I’m talking about, and it’s already here; we saw it.

So, there is a knowledge that he is trying to get across to us by saying, “Hey, look, it works; major in this.”

Then you are not majoring in a minor; you are majoring in a major, Hebrews 13:8 and Mark 16, and all the rest come into it, because you cannot have the whole without the part.

See? In other words, let’s face it: if Elijah is to restore, that is the whole. Then, tell me, are the thunders not thundered, and the seals opened? Ha! If you can’t see that one, you’ve lost any argument you’re ever going to get into.

In other words, I could have a good time with you: I’d sell you one quarter of a piece of pie for the ten dollars I want for the whole pie.

I’d say, “Thank you for the whole pie, Brother Vayle,” and I’d cut it in pieces for the next sucker. That’s what the devil does.

He does it over the pulpit; does it in the pew; does it in the songs; he does it in everything. You don’t find that in the Word of God, honey. You don’t find that messing around with the devil.

Brother Branham talks about that in his sermon… we won’t get to that tonight, tomorrow night either, tomorrow morning, I don’t think. All right.

Now, what does he tell us under these conditions? Okay. Let’s go to Philippians 4, and let’s begin to see what has been an exhortation in the mouths of many preachers over many, many years.

He tells you right there how to get your answers. Get your mind off yourself, onto God. Get your mind off your conditions unto what the Word of God says about your conditions.

Think good thoughts about everybody and everything, and do the best you can in your life here, follow the Word of God, walk in the light, and It said, “That’s how the answers come.”

Brother Branham explained that in a little sense one time to Jack Palmer. He said, “Jack, don’t ask God for things; just walk in the light.” All right.

Now listen, he’s talking about Jesus now:

[112]  Jesus lived in a world that no one knew about, He was an odd person. He lived in a world of perfect faith in the perfect God, in which He was. [In other words, He was ‘God in him, the perfect God; everything was perfect about Him.]

If we lived in a perfect faith of a Christian… [Now he lived in a perfect faith of God, but, you know, we already have the faith of God, and have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, trickle-down again not the whole seed, but a part of it.]

If we lived in a perfect faith, [a perfect faith,] of a Christian, [your status: believer, Bride, so on,] we’d be mystics to the world; the people wouldn’t understand us.  You’d walk in the Spirit. What the Spirit said, you’d do. What He forbade, you’d not do.

[Now, how are you going to find out if it’s God or not? You run it through the filter, don’t you?] Then to the people, you’d be a mystical person. [All right.]

Following God made Jeremiah a very mystical… he had to lay on his side a certain number of days, and so on.

Let’s take a look at this business of the mystical person. Galatians 2. I’m just going to read some of the things I’m interested in… I couldn’t cover it all.

That makes you and me to know, as we always have known, we are mysterious people. We are a mystery, even to ourselves. How did he do this, “I have been crucified, but I live, yet not I”? A prisoner to the Word.

All right.

Hey! I don’t belong out there; they can’t stand me; they hate me… I don’t mix, can’t get along. I’ve been crucified, and it’s crucify to me. I got no trouble: they don’t want me; I don’t want it. Now you’re a little more mystical still.

Acts 26. Of course, we know this about Paul, standing before… was it Agrippa, or one of them… Festus, Agrippa… Festus. 25th verse.

Now, how sober can some of you people be with some of the things of God? Just like the Christ they laugh him to scorn, and laughed the apostles to scorn. If they don’t lampoon you with a spear, they’ll lampoon you with a joke. If you don’t get a downright slugging, physically, they’ll use the old smear.

Now, let’s take a look at John 14, see if we’re not missing… Brother Branham was telling, “Hey! I’ve told you what you are; why didn’t you go all the way?”

You know the old saying, “If they call you a dog, act like a dog,” get shot for one. Okay. I’m a loony bird. They may take me in a white jacket one day. They can do that in Ohio, you know.

You know your neighbor can turn you in, with the laws in Ohio… all they’ve got to do is present a court case. Doesn’t take hardly a thing to do it up here… say you’ve been acting queer; she’s a real problem.

You could be picked up for thirty days observation, unless they’ve rescinded that law, I don’t think they have. You’d be surprised the laws there are on America here. These people that speak for us, put laws on us.

If we only knew one tenth of what we don’t know, praise the Lord. I hope we know everything we’re supposed to know here. Okay.

John 14:

Well, then, do you think if the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth, they’re going to receive the truth that the Spirit gives you? No, you’re crossed out right now. You’ve lost your prestige right there.

Let’s go to 1 Peter, we’ll see something else about these people who are a little bit queer, a little bit mystical to the world. In other words, you’re turned down.

Notice how strange you are because you don’t go shoot cocaine, drink liquor, or expose yourself to AIDS.

You know, I’m going to tell you something about AIDS… we talk about it the odd time. I think it’s the end of the age. Oh, you’ve got people tell you they can cure it.

Sure, let them go ahead, they’ll get double-AIDS next time. What’s it do? Destroy the immune system. I know what I’m talking about. I had the thing that’s akin to AIDS it’s a fungus, it’s called, well, what is it? It’s yeast, albicans, candidiasis, call it what you want. It’s a killer.

Your immune system will prove a hundred percent… by every blood test and every doctor, every kinesiological test man’s devised, and that little poison just said, “You ain’t going to work, ain’t going to work.”

And I had a perfect immune system that wouldn’t work. And you can knock out yeast easily, though it mutates. It’s hard, but it’s easy. You think the world’s going to lick this?

A lady figured out, having illicit intercourse with one person gave her six thousand sexual partners: combinations and permutations. Is that what you work on, Rusty?

You’re the mathematician, where you take combinations, permutations, you work the whole thing through, and take your logs and you find what this person with that person, this with them, by figuring, say, this person had two right down the line comes out over six thousand partners.

Ten percent of the male population of American is a bunch of fags, queers, call them what you want, they’re homosexuals. They’re filth, and hardly one tenth of one percent, I believe, are homosexuals by the grace of God. By that, I mean this: that they were born that way.

The others just wanted a bigger thrill. We don’t run to their excesses. Too late for shouting; we better have one man, one woman.

Now, you kids, where do you stand? How do you know you might be carrying it right now, if you’ve been messing around?

Go ahead; I’m not going to stop you. Your parents aren’t, the devil’s not, God’s not, go ahead. You’ll find out.

She’s all over, and the world knows it’s over, too, they can say what they want, because you aren’t going to stop it. Kings took a chance on it and lost the throne; empires have been shot; families destroyed.

It’s a greater problem than booze or cocaine or anything in this world… revelings, abominable idolatries, banquetings, and they think it strange. We were the real queer ducks, weren’t we?

Because we believe in continence, and being clean, because something spoke to our hearts to stay away from it. We’re the queer ducks. Are we queer?

I’ve got news for you: we’re going to be living and in good health, because “ten thousand shall fall by the right hand; and a thousand enemies shall not come nigh thee; only with thine eye shalt thou see it.”

You say, “How do you know?” How did Abraham know anything? Because God said so.

Well, I say, “I’m a Christian prostitute.” I never knew of one before. Introduce yourself.

“Well, I’m a Christian bed-hopper.” Well, fine and dandy. That means you’re not a Mohammedan or a Buddhist. You ain’t no Christian.

See, Abraham… these people were queer ducks. Let’s go to Exodus 19. I’ve got to close pretty soon because, you know, we just take one page here, one paragraph, depending how things go.

I gave up trying to, you know, follow my notes and follow down till I get several pages; it’s no use doing that there’s no need anyway. We’ll be still here when the Lord comes physically.

I hope the dead come up, we’ll still be preaching these good sermons Brother Branham gave us.

So, He called them and said, “All right, I’m going to tell you right now, ‘You’re peculiar; you’re different; you’re mystical.’”

All right, keep reading:

[113]  That’s the way it is to all believers, they are mystics. [Not kooks and weirdos, now, they’re mystics.] The people don’t understand, because they live in a world to themselves.

[They live in their world; we live in our world. We are separated by eternity, the gulf has been fixed.] Jesus lived in a world that nobody else could touch. [Exactly true.]

The disciples couldn’t understand Him. When He spoke to them, they say this, [you know, whatever it means.] Then they said, “Why, You talk in riddles! We don’t understand this. How can this thing be?”

[See? Jesus refused, like Abraham, because he was the Royal Seed, Son of Abraham, Son of David. He refused to consider what intelligence dictates as sense and true knowledge. He didn’t use the wisdom from below; he used the wisdom from above. The wisdom from above overrides the wisdom from below; you can prove that. They said,] “We don’t understand it.”

[Nobody did.] “How can this be?” See, they weren’t in the world that He lived in. [They did later on, though.] They couldn’t understand Him, nobody could understand Him. [Just couldn’t do it.]

Let’s go to,

You know what I told you how that Adam was not made of the earth in the garden of Eden… made outside of it, then God put him in there. The Tree of Life ‘was’ in the garden of Eden.

Adam was the earth, earthy; he was innocent, but not righteous, and he could do anything under high heaven that God put in his mind or what the devil put in his mind. Could Jesus do anything but what God put in his mind? The answer is “no.”

Now we are striving and coming to the place of the garden of Eden again.

You know, this Bride sure must be glorious when you come to think of these things, as you bring them out what Brother Branham said here, and see the Bible.

She’s no longer from the earth, earthy; She’s no longer from beneath; She’s moving right in to what She should be, as what God saw in Adam and stopped him when He said, “You cannot, in this condition, enjoy immortality, because you wouldn’t enjoy it.”

The Bride is just about ready now. Sure She is, look it, come on, we know that. Look it, we know this is the hour; this is everything.

We can say with Brother Branham, “If we’re not Bride, there’s a Bride out there somewhere, and by the grace of God, I hope we won’t get in Her way.”

But by the grace of God, I hope I’m in somebody’s way, as Bride. See? I mean that sincerely. I hope I’m Bride, and if somebody’s hurt over it, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to step down. See?

Now, after Pentecost they did begin to understand. How much time do we got left? Ten minutes? I don’t think I can cover this in ten minutes. We have Foot washing and Communion anyway.

Let me see… we can start tomorrow morning on this and, with a little backtracking perhaps, and come up again. See? This is how we do this here, I’m sorry, but that’s how we do it here.

Let’s just bow our heads in a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank You now again for the time we spent with Your Word, the singing of the songs of Zion Lord, beautiful, inspiring, with the anointing for this song service leading up to the message for the dedication of the baby Lord.

All of these things, we’re so glad, because everything points to the hour in which we live, and here You are, and there we are, together, and we know that You are going to lead us into the Kingdom.

And we know that we know this: that those who are aware will be the ones that will go in because this is not a day any longer to be in doubt. As the disciples said, “Tell us plainly.” You did it, and today we’re seeing it plainer than ever.

We’ve seen the ‘greater works’ and all these things, and we’d like to know that we’re more sober and concerned than ever before.

That we’re truly filled with sobriety, the soberness that Paul spoke of, that Brother Branham spoke of, right back to true virgins of the Word of God.

Looking for the great day, which we certainly are, the resurrection coming right at hand, Brother Branham coming back, no doubt telling us the things of God, even manifesting, we don’t know what, but we do know Lord, here it is, a Millennial People.

Hallelujah. And if a Millennial People come out of that ground, then Lord, amen and amen, we’re right into it. That’s what’s going to happen marvelous, marvelous, marvelous, Lord.

And we thank You Father, that it’s actually within us, we believe we’re a part of it, but we want to believe more and more until, like Abraham, there is a complete assurance of faith.

And unto Thee, we’ll ascribe the glory.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.