Questions and Answers #01

Shall we pray.

Heavenly Father we come in Your presence this morning through Jesus Christ our Lord knowing that in him is the only place its accepted whereby we can truly worship You for it must be in Spirit and in Truth, in fact we know the whole thing is really spiritual and we know the spiritual depends upon a revelation.

So we realize that we must worship You, and we hopefully do this morning an hopefully do this morning, and hopefully and believe in spirit and in truth, because we have the perfectly reviled Word to us of this hour.

Now Father help us in our study, knowing Lord that absolutely there is not only the hope and the possibility but there is a requirement even as the apostle Paul said, “The same mind be in all of us and all speak the same thing.”

And the prophet came scene saying in the Twentieth Century way of putting it, “Say only what I say.”

Knowing Lord, that a prophet is above judgment, the Word itself is the judge, and who can judge that Word. Impossible because that Word already judges us.

So help us to be in one accord Lord, with You, Your Spirit in the Word showing forth Your glory and goodness to us in Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated.

Now, we’re going to get into some Questions and Answers this morning and I’m not sure we are going to be able to finish the question we have before us at this particular time, but we’ll perhaps get into them the next Sunday.

Now, I have some questions from a brother over-seas and one question is quite long. But it’s long on the ground that in asking the question he explains his view point in order that he might get my view point on it.

And he as a minister realizes the same as I realize, and especially as a teacher that it is not right to believe that the people are getting everything you say based on your understanding of what you’re talking about, because all of us have a previous education, a previous understanding of Scripture.

And of course we’re thinking and listening by our reasoning of the understanding of the Scripture that has been given to us rather than being able to just clear the mind and hear what the person is saying who is doing the preaching, or the teaching.

Now, you know I explained that to you some time ago that as I came to the place with Brother Branham I realized I was not hearing him say what he was saying by virtue that my understanding was not the understanding he had when he was giving the answers and giving us the doctrine.

And so that’s one reason why I was scrupulous in going to him when I was writing for him his own doctrine, because though I’ve been criticized and accused that I taught Brother Branham doctrine.

That’s the stupidest thing under high-heaven, because actually there are many things that he taught that I had no real understanding of.

In fact I was not even interested in even though I had caught little glimpses of some of the subjects, because Brother Branham did not come to bring us something new. He came to correct what was already before us, and then bring in all in to perfect reconciliation and harmony.

So the brother is very, very good and it’s going to be a long question with a lot of ramifications in the sense that he wants me to understand exactly where he’s coming from.

So all right, considering a question that I had already submitted to you.

“A young man and a young girl promised to get married to each other. Then the young girl during a service accepted the Message, converted to Christ, and was baptized in His Name.”

“Let me be more precise: The young man and the young girl were not Christians when they got engaged. And the young girl converted after the vow.”

“Their answer was she is not married in spite of her vow, because the Word is against this. But my dear brother, this is very serious. What can we think of all the people who got married while they were still not Christians?”

“Is the marriage only valid, if it was established according to God’s conditions, according to the Word? That is to say, between two authentic believers and celebrated in presents of a minister.”

“You say, that the promise of marriage of the young girl is not valid because she got engaged while she was not a Christian yet. And that the vow became null as soon as she converted.”

“According to you she must not take her vow into account because she was not yet converted when she got engaged. But how can this go with what was said by Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:12 and 13. “A woman who has an unbelieving husband and he converts to dwell with her, let her not leave her husband.” This shows that Paul admits marriage, even when it is between unbelievers.”

“For here is a question of two believers who got married, and the woman was converted afterwards.” And Paul declares that the woman who became a believer must not repudiate her husband who is an unbeliever.

And Brother Branham thereby said, ‘That the promise is equivalent to marriage’.”

Now, we want to underline that, because this is the conjecture that the brother is bringing out at this particular point. You see, I would not agree with his understanding on that, we’ll go into it.

“When Paul declares that the women who becomes a believer must not repudiate her husband that shows that he recognizes that their married, even if both of them were unbelievers when they got married, and if one of them converts the marriage is still valid, cannot be annulled. Paul never said that the believer man or woman, could marry again if the unbeliever decided to separate from the other one. So according to Paul, if two unbelievers get married to each other the marriage is valid.”

“What do you think of this my dear brother? There is perhaps something that I don’t understand very well. For how can you say that a young girl who got engaged to a young man, while both of them were still not converted can afterwards annul her vow when she converts to Christ? Were they not married as soon as they promised to marry each other? Were they not in the same case as in 1 Corinthians 7:13?”

Now I better read that absolutely, because we want to know that exactly what he is saying in these particular instants here and where I would see exactly what he’s seeing, or perhaps not see what he is seeing. All right.

“According to you, is there any difference the promise of marriage and the consummation of the marriage?”

“Of course here is not a question of a young girl, a believer who would get engaged to an unbeliever. I know that such a promise could not be valid and that the marriage could not take place, being against the Word.”

And he goes to 2 Corinthians 6:14, which we talk about the unbelievers.

Now, there again you look at the word righteousness and unrighteousness, light and darkness, communion.

You have to realize there’s a special meaning to all these words in the Scripture, because no Word of God is void of power, void of authority, and therefore no Word of God does not have a very explicate meaning, an understanding. Which of course would take in many cases the prophet to tell us.

“Moreover, a real Christian would not choose to get married to an unbeliever.”

But let me say it again… I see that he’s very, very… this brother is very good brother. Here is a question of two persons who are unbelievers at the beginning. They promised to get married to each other. Both of them were not converted when the promise of marriage took place.

And then just before the marriage was celebrated they began to leave… (got a word in here… I think it’s ‘leave’. It’s about the only word that I cannot really see,) leave with each other, the young girl converted to Christ.”

Okay. Of course he did not understand really what I had in mind, when I made this statement, and I did not perhaps go into every bit of Scripture that was necessary for him to understand what I actually had in mind concerning this subject of what he is talking about, concerning this young girl.

Who of course who had not married to this young man, but was engaged to be married to him.

Now, Brother Branham made a statement I can’t recall right at this point, I’ve brought it out previously on engagements.

And in one place it leaves you with an understanding that that is actually a time of where your vow is in existence, and you cannot leave it.

But in another place it lets you understand it is merely a time wherein people get to know each other on the grounds that if they feel their mistake is going to be made, they had better make sure that it is rectified.

All right, going back,

“A young man and a young girl promised to get married to each other. Then the young girl during a service accepted the Message, converted to Christ, and was baptized in His Name.”

“Let me be more precise: The young man and the young girl were not Christians when they got engaged. And the young girl converted after the vow.”

“Your answer was: She is not married in spite of her vow, because the Word is against this.”

All right. Brother Branham in “Marriage and Divorce” was talking to the people on page 45, and I just have to break in to it.

[45-2]  This is an awful strong thing. I don’t know how to bring it out. What will I do when I go men and women sitting in my congregation and some of us have been married twice or three times, good men! Good women all mixed up? What did it? False teaching. Exactly. Not waiting on the Lord. 

Now listen, “Not waiting on the Lord” brought marriages that dissolved. But there’s also such a thing as not waiting on the Lord bringing marriages that do not dissolved.

They remain together in hell, and Brother Branham said, “If you could not live with her don’t try to go back with her, vice a versa.” There is a place where people simply cannot get by. They will never do it.

Now notice,

[45-2]  Not waiting on the Lord. “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder…” Not what man joined, what God joined together. 

[45-3]  When you get a direct revelation from God that’s your wife and the same thing, [What does he mean: “The same thing?” He means the woman gets the same revelation.]

When you get a direct revelation from God that’s your wife and the same thing, that’s yours the rest of your life. See? But what man joins together anybody can put apart. But what God joins together no man better dare to touch it. “What- soever God joins,” He said, “let no man put asunder.”

Not what some half-drunk magistrate or something else put together or some backslidden preacher with a bunch of creeds in a book that would let them do anything in the world and the Word of God laying right there. See? I’m talking about what God joined together. 

Now, already we have the answer. A believer cannot live with, cohabit, be married with an unbeliever.

So when the girl converts to Christianity the vow that she made is absolutely being apart from the Word, because she had no revelation this was here husband and evidently she got a very quick revelation this was not her husband.

So if she were to have married the man and gone through the ceremony, consummated that marriage she would have been stuck there for life in direct opposition to the Word of God, which she formally did not know, but now knows. Now that’s what I’m looking at there.

Now he said,

“Your answer was: She is not married in spite of her vow, because the word is against this.” (I read it here.) And the Word is a truth that a believer cannot be unequally yoked with an unbeliever.”

So my question then is this, concerning this little article here of a woman making a vow: “When do you start cleaning up your life and get your thinking in line with the Word of God?”

Only after you have been saved or justified, and baptized in water and you go on to sanctification.

Now could this girl be married to this man, that is consummate the marriage, go right to it, having made the vow? Well now the vow stand in direct contradiction to the Word of God.

That’s like telling me that I can go out and smoke and drink and do anything else, because I made some kind of a vow.

If your life is going to get cleaned up and you are going to be proper with the Word of God, how could you possibly marry a man that you know now that you shouldn’t marry, or vise a versa, the man marry a woman that he knows now he shouldn’t marry?

Let’s go a little further: There is a Scripture that Vernon McGee got very mixed up on: and he said, “The trouble most people is, is they make a vow and don’t carry it through, and they make that vow to God.”

Well the Mohammad’s made a vow to God, “To kill Rushdie.” Are they supposed to carry it through, because he wrote ‘Satanic Verses’? You say, “I’m going to talk about the good things.”

Well maybe Cain made a vow about a good thing. Had a very nice sacrifice, but look where it led.

See, what I’m trying to say is, there’s got to be an absolute somewhere, or you cannot muddy the water. And this girl was not married to that man.

Now we’ll talk about what it means to be married, not just make a vow. In other words, you make a vow, you say, “Okay, I make a vow, and I’m going to carry that vow through.”

You better be sure that you have the revelation of God on that vow, because what if you vow wrong? You could make a vow like many people do and say, “Well I vow I’m going to clean up of my debts before I pay tithe.”

How may people have not been sucked in by that one? You don’t clean your debts up before, you pay your tithe.

Now you know that I’m not asking for money in this pulpit, I can talk about money any day of the week, because I don’t take anything.

God’s help me to stand and say… from this congregation is not that I don’t respect you and love you, and have a right to some of these things; it’s just that I want to be clear, because God has kept me clear.

The apostle Paul had the same witness and testimony. So it’s not a bad one. But you cannot make a vow that’s contrary to the Word of God, and then say. “Well God you honor my word.”

We have to learn what God’s Word says, and make our vow to Him. Because what do you make a vow for? There’s something in if for us. Oh yes there is.

Don’t tell me we don’t merchandise God. There’s not one of you sitting here, and I myself this morning don’t try to merchandise God. See? You cannot do it.

The real heroes of faith are those are those people that stood there with the Word of God like Daniel. That’s why the lions couldn’t eat him, and the three Hebrew children couldn’t burn.

That’s why John could go in a vat of oil and not burn, and on the other hand, that’s why Paul could lay his head on a chopping block, because he wasn’t one iota outside of that Word.

Now, this girl would of been outside the Word of God to marry a man at that particular time. Because I don’t care what her vow said, I got the Bible that says, “You must not be unequally yoked.”

You say, “Why did Brother Branham say it,” because Brother Branham was talking about something different. He was talking to his own tabernacle.

He was talking to his own people that he brought the Word of God back to. That he was shepherd to; signifying the fact that he was talking to a Bride, and bringing the people up in the right order.

Now, “But my brother, this is very serious. What can we think of all the people who got married while they were still not Christians?”

Well, it’s not against the Word of God to marry. Anybody can marry. Everybody has the privilege of marrying. But the point is: “Who marries whom?” That’s the point.

Now, let’s look at the Bible here and begin to see what is actually going on in the world, because this is a question that pertains to the world and to the Bride; for one man is in the world and the woman has converted to Christ.

So we look at Romans the 6th chapter and verse 20. Now,

The Bible didn’t have any claims on her. There was no revelation. There were no claims at all.

Now, what if she’d of married that guy? How could she stand up proud and unashamed? Because evidently she knows better, she wouldn’t marry him. In other words, go through a ceremony and consummate it, which is done sexually.

How many so called spiritually minded women were fooled by men with little feet, as Brother Branham said? Nice little guys and they died.

I could mention a name in this church this morning where one certain girl’s sister knew positively, “Oh, when I marry so and so, he’ll be converted.” He’s still unconverted. He still boozes. Where’s her consecration? No matter how hard she tries she’s in a loosing battle.

Let’s go a little further,

“Who said so?”

You say, “God said so.”

Then there’s a condition. What is the condition? Well you know, “They that worship Me can only worship in spirit and truth.” See?

Now, this girl stands right there converted and hears the minister. And he’s not some drunken no good bum preacher, backslidden with creeds and dogmas; he stands right there with the revealed Word of Almighty God, and hears what Brother Branham says.

Now at the same time don’t forget that the same prophet that said this took two sets of unbelieving people: one was Miss Hot-Shot whose dad was a millionaire and owned the boat yard.

And the other’s Mr. Hot-Shot whose dad also ran a bank or something, he had all kinds of money. And they got married by William Branham both being sinners.

And another couple came by, she had hardly anything, and he had hardly anything, but they loved each other. They didn’t get married because of the Prodigal’s Society, they loved each other and they were sinners.

Brother Branham married both of them and he went by one day, snuck up the front porch of the googally mansion, the big mansion there and he found them scraping inside, but soon as he knocked on the door, and they came… “Oh Brother Branham come in,” you know they’re very nice.

And he snuck up to the old tar-paper shack where the other two were, and they were talking such sweet talk and loving each other, and he could hardly afford anything; absolutely legally married both of them. Because they were both in the world and marriage is the law of Almighty God.

Now, let’s go to Romans the 7th chapter. And Brother Branham used this in the ‘Invisible Union’ and ‘Invisible Union’ clears up more on marriage and divorce, than ‘Marriage and Divorce’ clears up.

So all right, the minute she got saved she’s dead to those creeds and dogmas and organizations.

Let’s put it: the man a hundred percent belong to the same as she did. So there can be no tie between the two as I understand what this is all about. Now,

“Is the marriage only valid, if it was established according to God’s conditions, according to the Word? That is to say, between two authentic believers and celebrated in presents of a minister.”

I’ve answered the question already. That’s true in a limited sense, for the bride yes, for true Bride believer’s yes. And that was the original.

Now, what did Brother Branham say brought on marriage and divorce? “Sex!”

Now everybody gets married normally for that actual privilege is lying there, unless you’re covered up like a couple of homos married good girls, and God knows what… you’re just a scum-bum to begin with.

But we’re talking about the fact… all right, they get married because there is an essential value in a woman that a man wants, and vise a versa and for the woman.

All right, they are absolutely in the covenant of God to replenish the earth on the grounds of the fact the Eve gave way to the serpent and brought forth Cain. And from that point on, there you see the beginning of polygamy of another covenant.

So we’re looking at the condition here, these are two people human beings who have the right to marry, to enter into wedlock and to procreate according to the Word of Almighty God.

Otherwise how in the world would you ever get serpent seed? How would you have the race as it is today?

Now we’re looking at the complete will of God and the permissive will of God. And so the permissive will of God is always superseded the true will of God, except at the beginning and the end.

And God’s will, will predominate at all times. So there’s nothing wrong with unbelievers getting married.

Now, let’s go a step further. You hear testimonies like the wife of the late Stuart Hamblin. Now you know Stuart Hamblin was the one who wrote: “I won’t go hunting with you Jake, but I’ll go chasing women.”

You remember that? You don’t remember? Well that’s all right. That’s back in 1950, ‘48, ‘47, somewhere, maybe a little more than that. That’s a long time ago. But anyway, he was a rip-snorting nice guy, but you know, very worldly person.

And right after he wrote that song and his wife had been praying for many, many, many, years and she said she knew that was the man to marry even though she was a Christian.

Now listen, don’t try to figure these things out, I’ll drive you crazy. I don’t know if the guy was even saved. But the point of the matter is, Stuart Hamblin gets wonderfully converted, along the time of Jim Voss.

They now become outstanding messengers to ‘Youth for Christ’ and other people.

Now, this man Hamblin who wrote: “I won’t go hunting with you Jake, but I’ll go chasing women.”

When I heard him preach, give his testimony, was very embarrassed that he ever wrote the song, because now he’s writing songs, “Of One Drop of Blood gave me a Million Years.” And “This Old House.”

Now, the woman said she knew from God that his was her husband. That’s her word, that’s not the Bible. This man wanted her and married her.

Now are you going to tell me that God goes outside of His Word to do the will of God? You could have a bleak, permissive will somewhere in there, I’ll let that stand, but we are dealing with the perfect will of God in this hour that’s going to bring forth Christ.

It’s going to bring Him forth in human flesh and it’s not going to be done any other way outside of a Bride that’s absolutely pregnant with the Word of God.

Let me stop here and diverse a minute. You know, I get a lot of criticism, but I don’t mind giving it back.

There’s a certain guy said, “Brother Branham made a big mistake… when… that which is perfect hasn’t come.” Because he prophesied that… he said that in 1963, and then he prophesied in 1964 California would go under.

And I told you the man made a terrible mistake, because that which in part is Seven Church Ages, Seven Messages and the last Message is the Seventh Seal, of which remember this: is a Roman candle.

And the Roman candle bursting and bursting goes plumb into eternity; so now we are already in eternity, for time and eternity have mingled.

That’s why you’re before the White Throne, whether you know it or not. That’s why you’re already glorified, whether you know it or not. It’s all over but the shouting and the final manifestation of predestination.

All right. This same fellow the other day said to another friend of mine… question mark. That’s right question mark.

He asked him, “What’s wrong with those so called Branham people, the so called Bride?

And so this hot-shot said, “It’s because they’ve got a closed mind.”

Let me tell you this: The prophet said, “If your mind is not closed, you will impregnated by another word.” 

So, the womb of your mind has better be closed. So, you better know what the prophet said or shut up.

Get up and tell the world, “I don’t believe the prophet; I ride his coat tails, because he makes me money.” Yeah.

All right.

“You say the promise of marriage of the young girl is not valid because she got engaged while she was not a Christian yet. (That’s true.) And that the vow became null as soon as she converted. According to you she must not take her vow into account, because she’s not converted when she got engaged.”

That’s exactly right, because now she knows she can’t marry a man that’s a sinner. What are you going to do, go ahead and marry a man that’s a sinner in the face of God’s Word? Now, she can marry the man under permissive will.

Now let’s go back again for a second. Brother Branham said to the people who are married, divorced and remarried, “Don’t ever do that again.”

What would he say to a young girl that came to him and said, “Brother Branham, I was engaged to this man and I loved him. But I didn’t know a thing about the Message, I didn’t know a thing about Christ and fortunately my path directed by God came to the true and living vindicated Word, now Brother Branham this man does not believe.”

Do you think he’s say, “Sister walk in the lions den and stick your head in the lion’s mouth?” Or would he say, “Flee for you life?”

Now you’d say, “Brother Vayle, you’re talking supposition.”

That’s correct. But I also knew William Branham. Also know the preacher of this Word. I also know what the man said.

Why in the world would anybody live up to anything that he said, when God said, “When you don’t dare do it?”

“Well,” you say, “I’ll depend on the permissive will.”

That shows just what you are, Pentecostal. Now, this is a tough decision here, but we’re going to keep going further, because we’re not finished yet. It’s not valid.

“But how can this go with what Paul said in 1 Corinthians the 7th chapter, 12-13?”

Well, that’s very, very simple, these people where all heathens to begin with. Have you read what Paul said to those Corinthian people? They were abusers of themselves with mankind, whoremongers, murders, such were some of you.

You were that. Homosexuals, perverts, whoremongers, licentious, greedy, murders; you were that. Well, maybe they ought to turn around and marry some people like that.

You don’t do these, were people that were Gentiles. I don’t know, I’m suppose to… that you people don’t read the number of books that I read, which is really nil anymore.

I told you I have a gift from the Lord that I can pick up the right book or the right thing and just find volumes, without reading all the junk on the market.

Would be kind of interesting for you sometime to just go back in history and find out what sex was like in Corinth at the time of Paul.

And except by the grace of God there wouldn’t be one virgin, because they all made a vow to God as soon as they were a certain age every man took his daughter down to the public bath and the public park and the first man she met with is the man she lay with.

When our missionaries go to places like Africa use to be where there was polygamy, they never said to the chief, “Get rid of your wives,” or to the other people, “Get rid of your wives.”

They said, “God demands monogamy,” the same as Brother Branham preached it. They knew that.

What did they say? They didn’t say, “Get rid of your wives and keep only one.” They said, “From this point on don’t you dare marry more.”

Because the Bible frankly says, “What condition you come into Christ, you stay in that condition.”

And polygamy actually was a covenant, but its run its course, because the prophet said, “We know that polygamy is better than marriage, than Hollywood marriage and divorce, but we know that polygamy’s wrong.”

So, that covenant has expired. Don’t let anybody like Jones tell you that kind of stuff. He won’t quote that you see, and the other guys. See?

All right. We look at this: in 1 Corinthians 7, these people were those that converted to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, amongst them are absolute true believers, because this Message that according to Usher was around 59 AD, Peter was the first man to go to Corinth, maybe about a year or so after Pentecost, the 11th chapter of the book of Acts.

Let’s take a look at that and see what Usher says. I don’t know what he said, you know, I don’t know what he said, but I’m going to find out right now. Oh looks like I blow that one, its little bit older. Ok, Paul is at Corinth in 41 AD give or take.

Now this eighteen years later, and the church is growing and the people are coming in. But you’ve got some real believers virgins,

So, he’s talking to two different groups of people. To one he says, “Don’t you under any condition separate.” So they must be the ones that are positively joined together correctly.

In other words, “You’ve made your vows correctly, you’ve lived together, now just make a good thing of your marriage.”

Many people don’t work at their marriage so there’s no good thing. All they want to do is fuss and fight, so therefore there’s just no giving in.

The Bible distinctly says, “The man’s got to give in under certain conditions, the woman gives in under certain conditions, of course that refers to sex.”

That is very true, but there’s a lot of things that go with sex, or you got a very unhappy sex life.

In other words, Brother Branham says, “She’s your queen,” then you better be king. You treat her like a queen; she’ll treat you like a king.

At least she should, if she doesn’t, there’s something wrong with her, something’s wrong with me. You know what I mean.

Now,

So, you’re looking at those marriages which took place before conversion or in some type of ignorance where maybe the Word wasn’t even preached, so what are you going to do?

Stay together, because your marriage is valid. Why? Because the fact of the matter is marriage, and marriage is between two people.

In the beginning it was two people of the right sort, the right kind, and they were right for each other. They in kind of trouble even as it was.

So, these people here were married and there’s nothing you can do about it. Now as the man says, as Brother Branham said, he says to his wife, “Now honey look, I love you, and I don’t care what your faith is, it’s all right. Now don’t expect me to go down there, because I just don’t get anything out of it, I’m not one of you.

But you can go to church and you can worship God, and you can read your Bible and you can pray. That’s fine by me, in fact it’s good, because you’re a better person for it.” 

But Brother Branham said, “If that man says to her, ‘You cannot pray, you cannot go to church, you cannot read your Bible’, you got to leave him.”

And the day of course if that man is running with women, like a certain man was already doing that in London. A woman came over here back, oh many years ago, was 1961 or 62 somewhere in there.

Had an interview with Brother Branham, and I was in on it to a degree, she said, “My husband is running around with women.”

He said, “Divorce him, because if you don’t you’re going to get a social disease.”

What would he do in the face of AIDS today?

Say, “Brother Vayle, the woman made a vow.”

She didn’t make a vow to kill herself! Commit suicide with a whoremonger that would bring her disease and destroy her. Every vow that you and I make must be based on the Word of Almighty God, or it is not legal.

What about sister Bank Woods? She had a tumor. Brother Branham said, “Go to the doctor.” 

She said, “Brother Branham I made a vow to God, that I would never let a surgeon’s hand, or a doctor’s hand fall on my body, I would sooner commit adultery on my own husband, then go back on God.”

He said, “Sister your vow is illegal.”

What? Let’s go and make a bunch of vows this morning, and bring them to God and say, “Now God, honor my vow, honor my vow, honor my vow.”

You get to be a bunch of Catholics, pretty soon you do penance. The Word of God has clear answers. The girl… listen, if that girl is truly separated unto Christ. I

don’t care what her word is, or anybody else’s word, or her father’s word, or any preacher’s word. I read what the prophet said. I read it in the Bible. You don’t jump into the fire once you’ve been rescued from the fire. We don’t return to those things.

So, these people here that our brother is referring to has nothing to do with her case; it’s a different situation entirely. These people are already married, and you don’t break up marriages, you don’t break up homes.

That’s the thing Brother Branham was trying to get across to us, I think a great deal was the fact that: don’t you dare hold these vows lightly.

When you promised that woman and she promises you and you’re just as good as married; he said you are married, the betrothed and he went way back to the beginning to the New Testament there, which is really the old continued, because that’s how they were betrothed by their parents bringing them together. And you noticed…

How many saw the ‘Fiddler on the Roof’? That’s not sinful to go to it; that’s a tremendous… well that’s an operates… really what it is almost an operates, it’s an act play, put into movies, and remember she said, “Do you love me?”

And he said, “Do I love you?” And there’s a song about it. “What is love really all about?” See?

Being inflamed, because you’re young, your hormones running wild, and the pretty girl goes by and your eye balls stick out, until they could knock them off with a stick.

Settle down, what is honest to God love that you’d really want? Well that’s what marriage is about. Real compassion, not passion, compassion. What’s compassion? Doing the will of God.

How many marriages in this church could be beautiful if we’d just followed the Word of God? In one place: “Shut up and put up,” and then the other party not taking advantage of it.

When the poor wife shuts up and put up, the husband gets all the more obstreperous. Mmm, yeah, yeah, mmm. And if he shuts up she’s going to make sure that he’s hen-pecked.

Not every time, there’s a danger there. It’s easy to gloat, and gloating is one of the cardinal horrible sins of marriage.

I don’t think Adam gloated over Eve, he felt so sorry for her he took her, because he knew he’d lost her without taking her, he played Christ, Brother Branham said so. I didn’t originate that, I figured it out myself, but he’s the one that put the ok on it.

So, there’s marriages between unbelievers and many times one gets to be a believer, and the other will not go along. Many times it means separation.

We had a case here, you know that Brother White was in on it, very beautiful young lady that heard the Word and she came to Christ gladly, and her husband then began abusing her.

And because he didn’t want her to be any thing but short-haired and look really sexy and floozie like for him. And why would he want that? Because every other guy that have the same attitude.

I wouldn’t want men looking at my wife and gobbling her down with their lust and their eyeballs and every thing else. See? He began abusing her and beating her, and finally she just turned and left the whole thing.

Here, you say, “This girl’s trapped, that made this vow?” Uh, uh. No way, no way see. No way do we look at that.

However,… Ok, we keep reading here. Let me get to the bottom where I was at here on page 2.

“Two believers got married, (one) converted… (Now) Paul declares that the woman became a believer must not repudiate her husband who is an unbeliever.” (That’s right unless he does something about it.)

And Brother Branham thereby said, ‘That the promise is equivalent to marriage’.”

Well it is equivalent to marriage, because that’s what’s all about. You intend to get married, but you’ve maybe done the very best you can. But if you don’t know that that person is for you, then you vows are a shamble.

Because Brother Branham said, “This is what the Bride is looking at.” 

Now, could the man say to her, “Absolutely I see exactly what you are and why you are, and I’m going to become a believer.”

Well, she could wait awhile, maybe one, two, three, four, five, six years and see if it develops. Or what if you get a case like in Bob’s church? We both knew that the guy was lying to the girl. He’s just scuzzball.

Pretty young girl, her dad messed a lot of things up by getting in her way of marrying a real believer. So now the girl falls for a scuzzball, but he makes a profession; and professes just lasts long enough to get to the altar and to the wedding night and that was it.

You know something: there’s no vow that holds up in any court that is a lie, not even in America. If you can prove even though you’ve signed the contract that that man’s intention was to defraud you, he is in trouble.

And don’t tell me it’s not, because I know that much about the law and I read on cases on it.

Now, if your going to be a hard job getting out of it, when you sign something, but a contract actually means the merging of the minds; or it is not valid.

That’s why preaching is so necessary for the preacher to stop and explain himself every inch of the tape, back and forth and back and forth so nobody misunderstands what the man is saying. See?

Again there is no way that you and I can take one statement that Brother Branham said about espousal and marriage and pitted it against every other thing single he said without putting it in its proper context.

There are many things that Brother Branham said, and we look at them all.

“Paul declares that the woman becomes a believer must not repudiate her husband (and also recognizes that they are married that’s true,) even if both of them are unbelievers when they got married.”

Absolutely, no problem they are. If one of them converts the marriage is still valid, can’t be annulled. (Absolutely the truth, except if one says, “I don’t want you any longer.”) Then what happens?

According to the Word of God neither one should be married again. But you watch, run off and get married. That’s the rule. But I know that even sometimes there are circumstances that allow.

“Paul never said that the believer man or woman, could marry again if the unbeliever decided to separate from the other one. So according to Paul, if two unbelievers get married to each other the marriage is valid.”

Absolutely; it says right in the Bible it’s married. It says, “Your children are unholy.” It means you’re living in adultery, or fornication.

“What do you think of this my dear brother?” (Absolutely that’s the truth.)

“There is perhaps something that I don’t understand very well. For how can you say that a young girl who got engaged to a young man, while both of them were still unconverted can afterwards annul her vow when she converts to Christ?”

Well that’s the whole thing, she’s converted to Christ. She’s not her own anymore. Her husband isn’t under creeds and dogmas. She’s not under the world. You’re away from the world.

That’s what the whole thing is about; the world’s going to get condemned get out of it.

So, there’s no way the woman could not repudiate the vow.

“Were they not married as soon as they promised to marry each other? Were they not in the same case as in 1 Corinthians 7:13?”

No, because these people are already are married in here. See?

“Now according to you, is there a difference between the promise of marriage and the consummation act?” Absolutely.

The consummation of marriage is the wedding ceremony and sex. Sexual intercourse, the two becoming one flesh, as it says in Corinthians you get in bed with a harlot you’re one flesh.

Brother Branham said, “That woman puts an impress upon you forever.”

So we’re looking at a very serious thing here. And you know I’ve told the young people here, “If you get married to somebody that’s not in the Message, and you don’t have the will of God in your life, don’t come to me afterwards and say, ‘Well Brother Vayle can I divorce, and can I remarry?” You forget it. Just forget it, you’re finished, it’s over, it’s done.

So you better make sure that every step is according to the Word of Almighty God.

Of course, here it’s not a question of a young girl, a believer who would get engaged to a nonbeliever. That’s the whole thing, she’s a non-believing girl at the time, and now she’s come into Christ, how can she at any time repudiate any word and then make her vow superior to the Word of God? Because if she’s a new creature, and she’s under Christ, her head, there’s no way she can put herself under the headship of that which is against Christ.

Now, you see if you really believe the time that you ask a girl to marry you, and she says yes, that that is actually a marriage, that’s fine by me.

And Roy Borders blew it, when he had a chance to put out a ‘Spoken Word’, a letter to every single person that got ‘Spoken Word’ to find the person who’s letter Brother Branham answered in his own big bold handwriting, when the letter said:

“Brother Branham after hearing ‘Marriage and Divorce’, we have to ask you this particular question: ‘We were engaged to each other to be married. But we found out that we were not suited to each other. Are we married? We broke our engagement. Are we married?’”

And he wrote in his big handwriting “No! Not until you get certification from the government.” 

And I asked Roy to send a letter on it, and he never did. Let him answer for it. You say, “Why didn’t you do it?” Because I let him take the books over, because he and another guy got together and wanted to have it.

Like this church. Anybody want it can have it. I’ll move two blocks down the road and preach in my own home. I’m not hard to get along with, no problem. See?

“I know that such a promise could not be valid and that the marriage could not take place, being against the Word, 2 Corinthians 6:14. (See, now he answers his question there in his own thinking.) Moreover, a real Christian would not choose to get married to an unbeliever.”

Absolutely right. But let me say it again. Here it is a question of two persons who are unbelievers at the beginning. They promised to get married to each other, both of them were not converted and the promise of marriage took place. See?

And then just before the marriage was celebrated, they began to leave with each other, leave off the engagement. The young girl converted to Christ.

Okay. Let’s look at some Scripture, and we’re taking a long time at this, so what?

Now, he says, “Idolaters.” Tell me is there any body who is not an idolater outside of this Message? So she’s stuck with an idolater for the rest of her life, and she knows better. She’s converted to Christ.

If… let’s say I was on a mission, like we hear the testimony of many people to kill somebody, or to steal, or to mess up, and God came on the scene. Why didn’t you just let him kill somebody? Just mess up.

What if I was a hit-man and made a vow; that’s another true story, a hit-man to kill somebody. Heard the singing in a little store front building, got saved. He made a vow. Is he going to fill his vow up?

You cannot have a vow that will hold water… as I know Brother Branham, I know his Message. “You cannot have a vow and expect God to honor you, if your vow is not a hundred percent with what God gave you to make that vow upon,” and even then you better be careful. What if you haven’t got what it takes to fulfill that vow?

You can end up like those guys that shave their heads and said we won’t eat nor drink till we kill Paul. I wonder what its mean those rascals turned around and drank? They never did kill Paul.

No, brother/sister please watch what I’m saying; I don’t care two-bits for anybody’s vow. I don’t care for my vow, your vow or anybody’s vow; the point is: are we with this Word? Do we believe it?

Now, I’m not saying we’re going to live it perfectly, because if we could live it perfectly, you don’t need Jesus any longer. Who needs an intercessor? All you need is a mediator to get you in.

Now that you’ve gotten in you’ve got every thing that you need there’d be no more sin. Hogwash!

The prophet said, “We backslide a thousand times a day.” So let’s keep the thing on the even keel.

Now, this says, “If a man says that he’s that and he’s doing these things he’s no brother.”

So, how could a believer absolutely then, married to an unbeliever in the site of this Scripture? You maybe don’t catch the point, but I catch the point. It’s all right in there.

Paul said, “Look God’s going to judge those without.”

Now, you step outside then and marry a person like that, where are you placing yourself? You’re placing yourself under judgment. If you repudiate your position in Jesus Christ where will you go? I think the girl did real good.

Let’s go to 1 Corinthians 7:29-35. Now, I’m looking at Scripture here just to bring a point out. And I’m not just trying to buttress my case as though I couldn’t be wrong. But I believe what I’m saying is right.

But verse 29,

Now, what’s he talking about? He’s talking about marriage and non marriage where you can serve the Lord more acceptably if you remain single.

Now, what chance has the woman got marrying then a sinner? What I’m trying to say: “If you marry a believer and you’re better in the site of the Lord providing you can stand the pressure.” And if you can’t, you better marry.

Now, if a single man or woman is better off not marrying, so you can serve the Lord without distraction, how are you going to marry an unbeliever, where you will get distraction and plenty of it?

Now, I may sound vehement about this, but you know, so many, many times I have been… people just don’t know that you don’t run into marriage on a promise that you made and you made it according to your flesh, because it was your judgment of the flesh, and I’m not talking now of purely the sensual form of sex, I’m talking in the terms of the looks of the people the character in the sense of the laugh or the joy, the personality all those things that make for bubbly, you know, the champagne life, you know; we can be carried away with all of those things.

This person is very, very lovely, very nice and I’ve seen it happen so many, many times and so have you, where you cannot compare that to the Word of the Living God.

Now,

Now, what am I trying to tell you there; the law of the land says: “Look you must get a marriage certificate to get married.” And you are to find pretty soon that if the country any brains at all, it’s going to demand a blood test.

They use to demand it all the time then they got it cut out. With AIDS enveloping the world and growing and the government doesn’t tell you the truth, you’d be a fool to marry anyone without a blood test.

So all right, the law of the land requires a license to get married, and it requires some body of some ability recognized by the government to marry you. So how can you say you’re married unless you get the piece of paper?

Now I don’t know the first thing about Europe what they’re doing over there, but I tell you one thing, I’m appalled at the way they do things in America. And you know why they do it the way they’re doing it? Because of Hollywood.

Now, when Ingrid Bergman ran off and left her husband for Rossellini the congress got up and shamed her as a prostitute that she was. But within a few years she comes back to America and congress reverses itself and praises her as a white-washed whore.

She played Golda Maier, [my ear] she could play Golda my noise for all I care. And she won an Oscar or something. Now she’s wonderful. Listen, I’m not going to preach her into hell, but neither am I going to preach her into heaven.

Now, what am I saying? Who’s the girl that was the glamour, golden girl with the beautiful long hair, was the sweetheart of the men? Not Gabel, and not Marilyn Monroe, but the other one, I forget her name. She’s living with Ryan, Ryan O’Neil, yeah.

You know the dame, phttt! whatever it is. She has a son by him, that’s great, not married. Elvis Presley’s wife, why does she keep the name Presley if she can’t stand it? Why that’s her drawing card right there. And she lives with some chimp-monk and got a boy name Navarone five years old.

Now, what about… Warren Beatty married the girl. Why isn’t Jack Nicholson? In other words every thing goes in America against the law, it doesn’t matter anymore. Well don’t treat the Word of God that way brother/sister. Europe is worse than America.

Now, let’s go to Romans chapter 13. What I’m trying to show you here is: we obey the law of the land.

And you cannot say that this law is not of God that’s in the land, because the Bible distinctly says, “That the law is of God.”

You say, “Well the devil’s running this world.”

Yes, and God’s running the devil or forget it! Because if God can’t handle the devil, forget it.

Now, I don’t like the devil at all, I can’t stand him. If I don’t have a champion in my God where am I going to get off at?

All right.

That’s why he said, “We better obey the law.” I admit I’m a little bit shoddy at times in the speed limit and Brother Branham said, “That anybody that exceeds the speed limit ought to be put in jail for life.”

Did he say it, or didn’t he say it? I think he said it. I think I got my time right.

He also said, “That if you don’t obey the speed limit, the Holy Spirit leaves you.”

Now what does that mean? Do you mean that the Holy Spirit leaves you period? You are out from under the protection of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because this is that Word I’m reading about.

Okay, we’ll put the car in reverse. Just as dangerous you hit somebody without a beeper.

Now listen,

You need that piece of paper, or you ain’t married. You do what you want. I don’t give a rip if you do. I don’t care what anybody preacher does; I don’t care what anybody does.

I learned my lesson well from Brother Branham. Preach it, and stand back and watch it. Don’t try to dig it up and do anything special.

Properly fertilized word and the properly fertilized ground with sun and rain, and I can’t control that, brings forth perfect fruit, some thirty, sixty, hundred.

And notice: Then he takes what he said about civil government right to the Ten Commandments.

You don’t break any of those, because you know better; you walk in love and so there-fore love is a sacrifice at all times bringing yourself under in obedience to the higher authority of God. Then what about the government?

Now I don’t know as I say what Europe said, but here in America I will not believe for one minute that without that paper you are married. I don’t care if you say, “We’re married, we’re married.”

Now Brother Branham talked about vowing out, confessing out, vowing out. And remember the story he told about the vow?

He said, “A man one day went into church and he heard some voices. And here was a man and a woman up front, [and I know some people did this and I thought it was goofy, they followed what was said.] here was a little old man, little old lady up there and he said, ‘I take thee as my wife and so and so on,’ and she said, ‘I take you as my husband’. And they did it every single year.” 

Well, that’s nice, but don’t look at me to do it. When I got married, I got married once and that was it. And I don’t regret that marriage.

I figure I’m very, very lucky I got a wife as good as I got. Not as good as I got, she’s really too good for me, so it’s really better then I got… you know? I always get better than I give.

That’s a beautiful thing about life, whatever you plant comes back many fold. I planted marriage and I got many, many fold happiness I don’t ever deserve.

All right. So you see where I’m coming from here. In America Brother Branham correctly rode upon that thing, and I say I made a great mistake and not getting it myself, or getting Billy Paul to get into it.

To have the letter absolutely copied so everybody could see it. “No, you are not married until you get your certification.”

You say, “What about the fact then of premarital sex?”

Well let’s check into it… I asked Brother Branham what this meant. Now before I say it, I think I can find something here… in… went too far, in Hebrews 2: it says,

What I’m trying to tell you here there’s such things as scribes that simply hear a thing and know it was said and they tell other people.

I’m highly criticize because of what I said the prophet told me; I’m not too worried about it, because he told me right and I’m not afraid, I’m standing before God now. It’s not down the road, it’s now, White Throne, time and eternity have blended.

It’s all over, whether people know it or not. They just think different from what the prophet taught.

What I’m telling you here is for this pacific purpose of letting you know that there are those that even Jesus talked to, and they told what Jesus said.

And there are people that Brother Branham talked to, and I’m one of them, as well as Billy Paul, Hickerson, and many, many people, and I know that we wouldn’t come to you and tell a lie, because it wouldn’t profit us.

Now Brother Branham, we looked at verse 36 in,

I said, “Brother Branham, what does that mean?” Thinking I already knew what it meant and I did, and he said, “Brother Vayle that means simply that they had intercourse before they were married, therefore they marry.”

Now you can lock yourself in tight into hell by intercourse before marriage.

Now, let’s put this with the man and woman vow; they say, “We’re going to get married.”

Now if you study carefully Brother Branham in this… various places where this is brought out, you will find that Brother Branham said concerning the very thing I’m talking about, ‘your vow’, “She’s a sacred vessel for child bearing.”

So don’t you mess with her in an unsacred way, you marry. And your vow said, “Honey we’re getting married.”

And that’s the first step that most women hear, and the next time they’re in bed with the guy, because he’s going to marry her.

We had a poor benighted girl at Westminster, and she got pregnant twice by two different men. And you know what she said each time? “Well, he said he was going to marry me?”

She should of said, “Ok boy, have you got the bucks for the license? There’s a lot of men around here that will marry us, come on let’s get married.” You watch how fast he’d go down the street, and forget about marring her.

Now with sex being liberated, men, women being liberated to where they initiate the act and every single thing, and you can read it all over the papers it doesn’t matter, billboards, God knows I’m telling you the truth. They don’t want to get married, they just want sex to find out this, find out that.

But go back in the context; you’re going to find it, Brother Branham said, “She’s a sacred vessel for child bearing.”

Why does he say it? Why does the Bible say, “The forbidden fruit has to do with child bearing if it wasn’t sex?”

You don’t get messed up eating apples! You can eat a bushel and you don’t get pregnant by tomorrow morning. And you wouldn’t be unpregnant if you got in bed with somebody. Apples don’t have a thing to do with it.

Read the Songs of Solomon, the eating of the fruit was sexual intercourse. Read it! He said, “She’s a sacred vessel,” when he talked about that vow.

So what you’ve got, you got two aspects: don’t you dare touch her. The next thing is: you marry her to give her the desire of her heart for children.

That brings up the question in this late hour: if we know it’s all over and there is a natural birth control, a natural process, if we practice that is it wrong? No, it isn’t wrong.

But most people do want children and it is not wrong to have them. But if you want to go a complete natural method that’s your business, because it’s all in nature.

I don’t see one thing that Brother Branham said against it. He was all for it in my books. He said, “There’s a natural way.” That’s the way you go, of what you call the control.

So, we covered the question. [Brother Vayle refers to the time remaining] So you see where we’re at. The question is a valid question, is one that bothers people.

Personally, I don’t have any bother at all, I just lay it out the way I see it, from what the prophet said what’s in the Word of God matching it back and forth.

And I would say that this little girl and anyone here, “If you believe the Spirit of God has spoken to you, you have no right to have anything to do with the worldly person, because the person you go with is the person you’ll marry.”

We don’t go by mail order anymore you know. Don’t by the parents bringing somebody in; like the woman in Pakistan that married the lawyer because her mother said so, her father was you know the president at one time of Pakistan. She married him, Bhutto. According to her way of living she’s got a good marriage.

I can tell you something as far as I’m concern now that I know what life is more all about than I knew when I was just a teenager. Would to God we had judicious parents with matchmakers, who really knew how to line up people.

But you know something? That wouldn’t work either, because nobody’s that smart. But God is that smart. The honest heart will bring the right man and the right woman together. Yeah. I don’t believe anything will hold them apart.

I would sooner know I had the right one here and the right one there, than knowing that I had the wrong one there, and knowing over there I’d have the right one there which is only a matter of compatibility as Brother Branham said.

So therefore, let us ask God to bring in the one that is compatible. Yeah. Too late for some of you, but I think we’ve got all good marriages here, I’m very proud and been very happy with you all, good marriages.

But the younger ones I worry about, because you have pressure upon you, very few ages have seen if any and you could blow it, I hope you don’t.

Let’s rise and be dismissed.

Our kind heavenly Father we want to thank you again for the time You’ve allowed us to be together, and looking over some of the things Lord that make us very nervous because we know there’s such a divided opinion upon them, and yet we know Lord that, according to what Your Word says here we’ve got to consider everything Your Word says.

And marriage must be that which is absolutely according to the laws of our land and it’s not a marriage until it is formalized according to the legal requirements of the land.

Then Lord we realize that the prophet talked about speed limits of which maybe somebody could get killed, how much more the about this?

If someone sees that would be a great mistake to enter into a relationship with that person for life before it was entered into; how much the grace of God to get out of it by Your loving Spirit drawing people aside and breaking every covenant which is not of You Lord, for that covenant which is not for them but only for a specified people.

Help us to see these things Lord, and to understand that we might help others and we give you the praise and the glory in Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

‘Take the Name of Jesus with you’.