Questions And Answers -Pastors Series #03

Transcript in progress. Audio is available now.

Shall we pray.

Heavenly Father, we know that when Ezekiel was out there by himself, he had visions of You literally, he saw something which designated Your Presence and gave information concerning Yourself.

And we know the same with Brother Branham in this end time, Lord, the Pillar of Fire, we have the picture. We believe absolutely that is Your grace that did that, Lord, and we know that You talked to him, Father, and he came back and gave us the witness concerning You and Your works.

And in there he definitely let us know that once You were cast out of the church, which You were through organization, denomination, the people turning away from truth, that You came back to see a Bride, and actually with that Bride You literally curried favor with her by manifesting Yourself and doing signs and wonders answering prayer, showing forth Your power.

Lord, we know that You’re the same yesterday, today and forever, and we believe You’re still doing it.

We believe, Lord, that we’re remiss this morning by not realizing that You are actually doing these things for us to gain our favor, which is the most tremendous thought. It’s actually formidable.

When we would try to think of it in terms of Who You are and what we are, we just cannot even believe it, Lord, in ourselves, but, if the prophet said so, and You told him, then it’s the truth. That’s exactly what You did.

You came to gain favor amongst us, and we’re grateful. And may we not forget that, Lord, that You are the Lord that heals us. You are the Lord that supplies. You are a great Savior.

There is nothing that is not in Thee, Lord, even to the extent now this hour, that taking us right through to immortality. And whatever is necessary to go between that time, that’s supplied for us, too.

May we understand that You are God Who supplies all of our needs by Your riches and glory through Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior, who died and rose again, is now in the right hand, and even, yea, ascended to the Throne being our Mediator, actually, great high Priest as never before… we coming in more and more from shadow to substance, Lord.

What a happy people we are this morning. What a prosperous people. What a blessed people. Surely, Lord, there is nothing overtaking us, or shall overtake us, but we’re more than able through Your strength to be more than conquerors through Christ our Lord.

We thank You for that privilege this morning. Bless everyone in divine Presence. May there not be one feeble one amongst us, as the prophet prayed, and we know that’s true. We know it’s possible. We’re looking forward to it, Lord.

We thank You for it all in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Now, we’re looking at the messages, which we’ve been dealing with, some of the things which Brother Branham said that we feel have been taken a little out of context, or not so much out of context perhaps, although that’s true, but giving it an extended meaning which is what you might call slanted and in favor, perhaps, of a ministry in contradistinction to a disfavor of the people.

Now, we are a true democracy where Brother Branham said, “The pastor is subject to the Church, and the Church subject to the pastor.” And we’ll be going into that as we go along, and you’ll be seeing different phases of it.

Now, the first thing we looked at was that the pastor is the spiritual husband of the church. Now, that of course, is a local affair, because otherwise it would smack greatly of Nicolaitanism.

Brother Branham would be the only one who could qualify across the board as the pastor to the entire Bride, even as he said, “Elijah was pastor to Ahab and also to Jezebel,” which bringing it right down to the truth of the matter was, that whether they recognized him or not, there were seven thousand who hadn’t bowed the knee.

And though he was definitely their pastor in the true context of the Word of God, he was also the pastor of the others, because he came as a messenger to them, for they purported to be the servants and the bride of Christ.

You’ve got the same thing right today in the situation we have in the Seventh Church Age, where people are worshipping God supposedly not knowing, or literally, they’re worshipping the devil, because they’re going through a system.

They’re going through a certain order and a procedure. And don’t think that’s strange that they can literally worship Satan by going through an order and procedure, because we are doing the same thing to get to God.

Let it sink in. We’ve got lots of time. It’s a strong statement, but it’s true. We have our order and our procedure. It started right back in the time of Cain.

Now, Cain could boast and say he was worshipping God. If he was, how come God threw him and his sacrifice out? You see, you’ve got a good question there.

You say, “He was worshipping God falsely.”

That’s true. Who did he listen to? Satan. Who is he following? Not God. Who is his allegiance to? Not God. And who is his worship to? Not God.

It’s kind of rough. It’s kind of rough on the old carcass, but it’s good. It’s better to know now than to wake up in hell like the rich man, and it was too late.

So, we’re looking at this thought that Brother Branham said, The pastor’s a spiritual husband, and he is to the local church.

And we looked at the thought that many people are prone to forget that he said, “the pastor is the husband.” He didn’t say, “the husband is the pastor.”

So, the fact of the matter is, you are looking primarily at a pastor, who is not truly a husband as much as he is pastor, but as a pastor he will be acting in a type as a husband.

So, you have to study carefully the word ‘pastor’, and you’ll come up understanding the word ‘pastor’ is ‘shepherd’. That’s all it is: ‘shepherd’.

So therefore, the shepherd is the husband. So therefore, he will be shepherding as a husband shepherds. And we looked at all of those points in the Scripture.

We studied even in 1 Corinthians 7 last Wednesday, the relationship of the husband and wife, how that would fit in with the pastor in a spiritual context.

We looked over there in the Book of Numbers, how that, when a daughter, or especially a wife, would make a vow in the presence of her husband, and if he said, “No, no, we won’t tolerate that,” see, there’s no way the vow would stand.

But if he allowed the vow to stand, then, of course, even if he died, that vow had to be kept.

So, we saw, then, how it was that the church must have a merging of the minds. It’s like Brother Branham said, “Church subject to the pastor; pastor subject to the church.”

There’s a moving together; there’s a going ahead together of the people understanding what’s in the mind of the pastor and he understanding what is in the mind of the people.

And so therefore, there was a time Brother Branham did this beautifully back in about 1961. It was that they said, “We want to really develop a new church.” And so they consulted with him.

And he said, “Now that’s what you really want, we take a vote on it.” He said, “All right. The vote says ‘yes’, the trustees then are told to raise the money,” because that’s what the Church wanted.

Now, Brother Branham himself was not too worried about another building. He was content to be what he was and to be in that position with that building.

But he said, “If this is want you want, this is what we’re going to go for.”

We have the same situation here. You know, to me I could preach anywhere, because the fact of my ministry, like Brother Branham’s, it has an outreach. And the peculiar thing about his, his outreach was more than local.

Mine was more at that time and you know for several years more of an outreach than it is local. But I’m interested very much with you in a building, because I like a place to preach so the tapes can go out and the things that my ministry entails.

So, we get together, and we find that we can see eye-to-eye on things. Sometimes we don’t quite see eye-to-eye because we’re not too good at planning buildings.

And we know even now we could have planned a building a little different, but it’s going to be perfectly fine the way it is. I always have liked a kind of a square building, but a building like this suites me fine.

I don’t worry about my eye span. I worry about whether my eyes are in tune with the Spirit of God and the Word is in tune. And because you can hear back there regardless, we have good acoustics somehow.

So, we see that the pastor then, though he’s a spiritual husband, you have to be very careful where you put the emphasis so that you don’t over emphasize and go to a place where it becomes really dictatorial and it becomes interfering with the homes and all. It must never do that.

And we saw that in so many men’s ministries in this Message, and sometimes I have to speak so negatively. I have to keep warning you, “Look we are at the end time of the Exodus that parallels the time of Moses.”

And about two million people went out of Israel at that time to go into the Promised Land. Only two over twenty got in. So, that means there was a terrible mixed multitude.

And they raised enough ruckus and everything else to where God said, “Moses step aside, I’m just going to get rid of the whole bunch. I’m sick and tired of them.”

And Moses in the Spirit of Christ said, “No, I don’t want to raise up a new race under me, though that’s Your promise, You would do it.”

Because he could have done it, because the blood lines were there. No, no problem at all. It could have been done. No problem at all. God could have done it.

But Moses said, “No, I stand in the breach. You destroy them, destroy me, because what would the people say, the heathen round about us?”

And so God spared them. But they all died, foolish virgin, and the unbelievers, mixed multitude, they all died off. You see?

And you look at the condition there, I say, I have to keep you in mind, that when I speak of these things we also are in the same element and atmosphere of having come out of Babylon.

Before Brother Branham passed away, I can’t remember the exact words, but he told somebody, that already in Tucson they had seventeen different interpretations, or thirty-seven or something what he believed.

Now, that’s the way it is today. You’re looking at a situation which in my estimation is entirely untenable with what Brother Branham taught.

And yet it is tenable on the grounds that it is going to be that way, because Alpha is Omega, and Omega is Alpha. You’re not going to change it.

So, we have to look at all these negative angles in order to bring out what is one hundred percent truth.

As Brother Branham says, “It takes a bad woman to make the good woman look good.”

Well sure, that’s true what he trying to say is this: you see a lot of women out there that are a real mess, you really begin to appreciate the lovely ladies, the sisters, that come to our church.

And you have to realize, though you’re out there looking at what’s going on out there in the world, and you abominate it the same as God does, you don’t get carried away with it.

You just say, “Well, that’s it. There’s the good ones.” And what we’re looking at here is to throw the light on the darkness in order to dispel darkness for those who do not want to continue in darkness.

But remember; there are people, no matter how much you warn them, will never listen to the truth.

They must sit under someone who is a totalitarian dictator and wants to just govern their lives, because they’re a bunch of legalists. They never will learn freedom.

I don’t mean by that that you go out here and drink liquor and say, “Well, if I just take two beers, it’s okay. If I go out here to a hoochi-coochi show, you know, go in for half an hour…”

I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about people who just simply can’t help themselves because they’re legalists. And that they’ll never do anything for them; they’re so completely taken over. And I’m sorry for them.

And I say, “Well, people like that, I just wish… If they’re around me, I wish they’d go someplace else,” which I don’t know that they’re around me, “because they’re not getting anything from my message.” They just can’t do it, because I want to present the Word.

And what we’ve got in our souls is the determining factor. It’s exactly right. I can’t change the determining factor in your soul, and you can’t change in mine. So, we look at the Word of God.

Now, another thing that Brother Branham said which people use a great deal of, he said, “Stick with your pastor; he’s ordained to see you through.”

Now, that, to many people, is like a minister as a strong pillar of steel with a lot of magnets around him.

And he just sort of sucks you in like, and you latch on him, kind of, and it’s like a magnetic pole and he’ll see you through by the fact that you stick with him.

Like it’s an idea, like a burr to a dog. You stick. You stick. And somehow you’ll make it, because you have that ‘stick-ativeness’ that stick-to-it-iveness’, you have that loyalty. Hogwash.

Balaam’s crowd stuck with him. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram’s crowds stuck with them. And I heard by my Bible that fire opened up from the earth and sucked up the last three I mentioned, and their gang.

And the last thing I read in the Scripture was that Balaam died fighting Israel. For all his highfaluting prophesying, which is still being… I don’t mean that word bad, …is way up there in the top bracket; and is still being fulfilled today.

And I know from the Scripture, that man will go to the Lake of Fire, or I don’t understand the Bible. I don’t think he’s foolish virgin, period. No way, shape and form.

So, the minister is not a person who, because you stick with him, is going to see you through.

Actually from what we studied on the husband situation, and what you know about it, which has been used to the detriment of the people, I would say that according to John and Peter there is an obligation on the part of the pastor to do all that he can so that no sheep will lose out.

The Word ‘ordained’ is actually ‘commanded’. The minister is commanded to see you through. In fact his obligation to the sheep is so strong that it goes to the very extreme. It’s desperate to the extreme.

Let’s just start out by reading a little bit of Scripture. This is a parable, but I’m going to take it as an illustration, because it’s a good one. It illustrates. It’s going to be Matthew 18:11. Just read about four verses.

“For the Son of man is come to save that which is lost.” It’s actually seek and to save. In Luke It says that.

Now, you notice He doesn’t say, “He just walks on the plains, where it’s nice and easy.” That sheep has gone to a treacherous place, and the pastor extends himself to the treacherous place, because a shepherd is a pastor.

Now, you’ll notice here that, sticking with the pastor… evidently the sheep did not stick with his pastor. He got out of control.

Now, this is an illustration, I am not explaining the parable, because the parable goes in a different direction entirely. But we’re talking about pastors being shepherds, right?

So, we’re going to illustrate what Jesus said here. He said the shepherd, or the pastor, either term, because I can say, “Does not the pastor go out and seek?” Because he’s shepherd.

No matter whether you use the word ‘shepherd’, put in the word ‘pastor’. When you see the word ‘pastor’, put in ‘shepherd’.

So, the pastor has someone here that’s really gone off the deep end. Now, we know that the sheep has not stuck with the pastor.

So therefore, the pastor must stick to the sheep, because he’s ordained to see them through, if they’re sheep.

In other words, it isn’t just the congregation that stuck with the pastor; it’s the pastor that stuck with the congregation, so that he must expend all the energy necessary and throw all his resources into helping those that are astray, if they can be helped.

Now, notice my words ‘throwing his resources into it’ because this illustration here… It’s a parable, says there’s a hundred sheep. That’s one hundred percent.

Ninety and nine are safely in the fold. One has left the fold, and he’s in great danger of being destroyed. In Palestine there’s a panther there that kills sheep.

Without a doubt there’s a panther still lives. They thought he was gone, but he’s still living. There’s a few of them.

And there’s also other animals. The Bible speaks of wolves. They must have been there… animals that would destroy.

Now, this man, then, leaves the sheep. Now, it doesn’t mean that he leaves them as though he leaves them period and devotes all his time to this one person.

But it shows that he throws his energies into keeping the sheep. Now, that’s what we’re looking at here in my understanding as we are talking about sticking with your pastor.

I would say it’s in the sense of the sheep that understand they have the best chance in the world with the ordained minister over them.

And it means that that man, truly ordained, if this fellow really goes out and causes a misdemeanor of the most unqualified order, so that he is really looks like a goner, it’s up to the pastor to see and take every measure he can that he would throw into the welfare of ninety nine.

Now, you heard my statement: the effort “he’d throw into the welfare of ninety nine…” he would throw into the effort of getting that one person, if that person could be retrievable.

In John 10:11, He said:

Now, the question is this: what gross, spiritually-darkened people could not want to stick to a pastor who is giving his life for them?

I just say this: “If you were that kind of people here, I wouldn’t even waste my time on you,” because the Bible’s still “a life for life, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”

If a pastor can give his teeth, it’s a pretty rotten congregation that doesn’t spit up at least one tooth.

If a pastor can give his life to the Word of God and the things of the Lord, it’s a pretty despicable congregation that cannot respond with some type of enthusiasm and some type of fruit.

So, we’re looking at this thing the way it must be looked at. But the pastor must be willing to dedicate his life, because that is what his life is all about.

That’s why the ministry is so highly specialized, and yet there is an overlapping in every single one of the five-fold ministers.

In fact, though the teachers can handle the Word of God better than the pastors, at least he better be able to, or he’s not a teacher, the pastor will have teaching qualities because he must be apt to teach. He’s got to teach.

Also, no pastor will evangelize like the outstanding evangelist that’s really a five-fold member; he’s a real evangelist. But he has to evangelize… do the work.

There’s none, actually, even in teaching… There is no time when the bars are ever let down to the place where souls cannot be convicted of a rightness and a wrongness. You don’t leave it just to the evangelist.

So, the ministries by the Holy Ghost are like an enfolding of flame and then unfolding, where we see the minor and the major; we see the predominate and the subdominant. See?

So, all right. This man here gives his life as a pastor. And the pastor’s major problem is holding the hands of the people, so [when] there’s problems he will defuse the problem rather than add to it.

And you will notice that this is not going on now in churches. The pastors are taking stands that do not defuse the problem, and it is over personalities.

“You listen to me, I will see you through. I will be there and you will get there and because of me.” Hogwash. Pfffft!

If you people believe that, I’m leaving tomorrow because I can go tomorrow and take my ministry with me. I’ll always have one. You will not get there by Lee Vayle. Let me tell you flat.

There’s nothing in me to give you any commendation there and think, “Well, I can hold on and do it.” You see, there’s certain things in here we’re going to talk about… about the pastor.

Okay. Let’s go down to Romans 16:3-4. Paul is saying to the people in Rome:

It’s not Priscilla and Aquila. It’s A-quil-as… is actually what that should be, because it not husband and wife to my knowledge.

History I think proves that these are two men that Paul had with him.

Notice:

Now, you’ll see here that it is incumbent upon a true pastor to let the people know that sticking with him to see them through involves his whole life, that that’s what he’s there for. Not to be served, but to serve. See?

Now, it’s not that he won’t be served in certain areas, but actually Jesus said, “The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to lay down His life.”

And he said, “I am the good Shepherd.”

And he said, “My sheep follow me, and everybody that came before me are thieves and robbers. Now, if you stick with me, you are going to make it.”

Now, you understand that this is the primary thing we’re looking at: what we call vicarship. “He that has seen me, has seen the Father.” One hundred percent. See? He said, “I am here and the Father is in me.”

Now, you begin to put that down into the trickle-down, or the step-down, which we’re looking at and He allows the pastors to be called shepherds.

Then, what He says here in the Scripture concerning Himself is valid concerning the pastor if you water it down and place it exactly where it belongs. The pastor can be a good shepherd.

And by sticking to him he will positively know that he’s ordained to see you through, and you’ve got confidence that He will and together you’re moving by the same Spirit, because Jesus said, “The things that I am doing, I’m not doing myself.”

But God knows He was doing it. “It’s the Father in me that’s doing them and doing the works.”

So with the pastor; and when the pastor will come to that place, he can say, “You stick with me. I’m ordained to see you through.”

And the thing is this: he’s ordained to see you through whether he twists it, perverts it, understands it, or believes it himself, or doesn’t, the responsibility lies upon the pastor.

Now, you can say what you want, brother/sister. Now, we’ll get into why.

Now, all right. We look again at Hebrews 13, which is my stand in the Word that Brother Branham brought us. In verse 17 we read:

Stick with them; listen to them; do what they say. They’re got the rule over you. Now, remember the words in the Resurrection of Jesus to Peter.

“Peter, lovest thou me.”

He said, “Yea Lord.”

He used the word ‘phileo love’: “You know that I love you,” where Christ used the word ‘agapo love’.

And you know those two words are used, one of which means ‘the highest possible order’. It doesn’t just mean the love of God, although it has to mean the love of God, because there’s not another word for it.

But it’s the agapo love that you could love as a gambler. You could love your booze. You could love women. You can love men if you’re women.

That’s just where you put everything. That’s the agapo love. It should go to God, but it’s going elsewhere.

“Well,” he said, “Peter…”

Peter said, “Phileo love to the agapo.”

And He asked Peter, “Do you love me more than these?”

He said, “Yea Lord, You know that I love You.” Once more it was the same thing.

The third time, and then Peter was grieved, because he knew he hadn’t caught the truth.

“Yea Lord, You know that I love… That was the agapo love, which is now the greatest love in my life is You.”

“Now, though, you are looking at the right thing.”

Now, the first time He said to Peter, “Feed my sheep.’

The second time He said, “Rule my sheep.”

The third time He said, “Feed my sheep.”

Now, as I said before, “The Catholics say, ‘Rule, rule, rule;” the Protestants: “Feed, feed, feed.” It is not true. It is: rule and feed and rule.

And when you do it, you come up to what Paul is saying here:

In other words, watching if they believe what they themselves are telling you. See? Then, reading on down here in 17.

All right. If somebody is watching for your soul, what kind of a person are you intellectually and spiritually that you’ll just dump them?

Or in other hands, if they’re watching for your souls, how doltish can you be it they’re not really watching for your souls?

Because you’ve heard some stupid statement not made by Brother Branham, but by a preacher who wants to twist it. “Stick with me and you’ll make it.”

Listen, that’s Protestantism, and that’s Catholicism. Stick with the Catholic Church and go to hell. Stick with the Presbyterian Church and go to hell. Be my guest. And don’t talk to me. They’re all the same.

Back in Canada we had a Fr. McDonald. They finally shipped him out, because he got too many girls pregnant.

I go up here to Buffalo, and the first thing I find a little town called… I think, Silver Creek. What happened there? A Presbyterian minister…

A doctor’s wife… a dentist, was going to commit suicide. She jumped out of a three or four story building. They found that she was pregnant by the preacher.

And they found about eight women were pregnant by the preacher. So much for your stinking clergy. Catholics, Phfft!

They have their convents to take care of the kids, the nunneries… the monkeries to take care of the monkeyness. Protestants are no different. Don’t tell me.

From the Garden of Eden, it’s been the same old story, and right today the world is dying because of AIDS and pestilential diseases, because people won’t watch themselves… one woman, one man.

That’s what you’ve got to mean, the Bride of Christ: one woman, one man. That’s the way the church has got to be, too.

She’s got to be one in a spirit. There’s got to be one man at the head with the right spirit. Stick to a preacher? And not teach the Word of God? Fap! Or have some charisma about him that sucks people in so clever.

They’ll say, “I don’t believe that.

Preacher will even preach a sermon, “You look at me and you’ll miss it.” And turn you right around and suck you right in with platitudes and something else. The master of charismatic lie.

Well, Lee Vayle don’t got it, brother/ sister. What you see is even what you don’t get, because you ain’t going to get it.

One thing we stand on right here is on the Word of God. “Obey them that have the rule over you.” Where does the rule lie? It lies in you, and it lies in me: one word.

If I got a word for me, and I got a word for you, there’s something wrong with me. And if you got a word for you, and another different for me, there’s something wrong with you.

Don’t say, “Well, bless God we want a preacher that doesn’t fool with women.”

And you fool with women?

“I want a preacher’s wife that doesn’t look at me.”

And you wives look at men? Come on, bunch of hypocrites. I’m not saying you are. That’s the way it is.

Now, don’t go passing the buck and be this and that. I’m a nice guy, you might not believe it, but it’s the truth. I’m telling you the truth.

Let’s read It again. “Obey them that have the rule over you.” Obey is obey. It means ‘you listen and do what they say’, providing it’s the Word. Providing it’s the Word.

Now, look at this up here. Let me read verse 7 again.

And notice: I like the phraseology, who has simply spoken unto the Word of God. They haven’t nailed It down. They haven’t drilled It into you. They haven’t made you do anything. They just spoke It to you.

And something in you says “That’s the way to go.”

Now look; they say, “Well hey, these preachers, and I heard this, factually I know what I’m talking about, “…you will make it by listening to me by my revelation.”

I want to tell you something, you cannot make anything by Lee Vayle’s revelation. You’ve got to have your own. Furthermore, I don’t have a revelation. Brother Branham had the revelation.

Now, here’s the difference between me and a lot of preachers and a lot of guys in this world. I am doing my best to teach what I believe to be the revelation Brother Branham brought.

Those are my words, they’re on dozens of tapes, and I’ll say it again: I’m doing my best to teach what I believe to be correctly identified, saying the same thing as the prophet’s revelation. I cannot prove it.

But up to date I’ve seen it change people’s lives, brother/ sister, change spirit in the church entirely. And where men have listened to me in the congregation, there’ve been changes and made radical changes.

I’m not saying it couldn’t be done to somebody else. I’m just saying that’s what I’m looking at. I’m looking at a fruitage. I’m seeing it.

Now, what’s he saying? The real Word, the real pastor, is Jesus Himself. He’s the real Ruler. There’s no great ones amongst us.

Just the great One Himself, the Holy Ghost. There’s no holy men, except the Holy One, the Holy Ghost.

Now, the major thrust of the Word of God is doctrine. It is not, “Do this and thou shall live, or do this other thing and you’ll die.” It is not that at all.

Listen, with this is fresh in your mind.

Please turn back with me once more to John 3, and if I’ve got at least one of you to come up here and swear, not on the Bible, and not on God, but knowing there’s a Bible open here and a God in heaven Who hears your word, do you really understand what’s being preached from this pulpit?

Now, what is the main thrust here? They don’t believe in the name of the Son of God. They haven’t got a revelation of Him.

“In His Name shall the Gentiles trust,” is the major thrust of the ministry of Jesus Christ come back in a Pillar of Fire.

Now, what you’re looking at is this: we’re trying to show you here… taking from the Book of Hebrews back here.

The divers and strange doctrines starts right with this: turning down the Light of the epical season according to Peter, according to Brother Branham, according to the Word of God. It’s turning down the Light. It’s turning down the present revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, look; It says here: God does a thing the way He does it. Hebrews 13:8: He has His prophet. He brings the Word.

Don’t you then be carried with anything other than what that man brought you. He tells you this is what we are supposed to teach, is what the prophet taught.

Hebrews 13:

Now, what am I saying here? The pastor’s job is primarily to preach the Word of God. And if you can’t take it, he’s skunked. It’s over.

Because you can’t get saved without a revelation. That’s why people are lost today. It’s not that they don’t have a lot of churches.

It’s not that they are not preaching Christ. It’s not that they are not preaching the Blood, the baptism, and these things. They are not preaching the truth.

There’s a bunch of lies mixed up with it… divers doctrines. See, they’re wrong. So therefore, they’re not going to get off the ground.

Now, what about you as a people? What about any congregation? The obligation of the pastor is to teach that doctrinal truth.

Then, if there’s anything in that Word, the Life, and anything in the person, a life will come forth. Actually, people today need a minimal amount of teaching on behavior.

You say, “Why?”

Because, the apostle Paul distinctly says, “If the heathen by nature do what the Gentiles are supposed to do by the revealed law of God and don’t do it, then the Gentiles are a source of condemnation to the Jews.”

So, the Bible tells me already that you and I know what morals are from in contradistinction to what immorals are, or the unmoral.

Now, what are we looking at? We’re looking at the truth, and there’s an obedience to It. And this is what we’re looking at also.

We’re looking at the fact that Paul said the Corinthian Church which was divided over leadership. The leadership got in there and tried to split congregations.

And Paul said, “Was Paul crucified? Was Peter crucified?” He said, “No.” He said, “I didn’t even baptize, except a tiny number, lest they say they’re baptized in my name.”

But he said, “I brought you a dynamic revelation that was proven by God Himself.” See?

And he branded the schisms and the things in the church as being wrong.

And he said now, “I wish above all else in your church…”

And he stated in,

Now, Paul over here says the same thing in Hebrews. “Remember those who have the rule over you have spoken unto you the Word of God.”

The pastors will speak what Paul spoke. And the people will speak what the pastor spoke, and they will be one mind there.

And if you cannot be one mind there, then let me tell you this: you will not be one mind down the road.

This is the starting point. This is the foundation. The truth of Jesus transforms people’s lives.

When the Voice said to Paul, “Paul,” He said, “Why do you persecute me? It’s hard to kick against the pricks.”

He said, “Who are you Lord?”

He said, I’m Jesus.”

That did it. From then on he went into the desert, and he came back a man, fully aware of God and ready to die a thousand times, or a million times over.

He gave himself unceasingly for the people of God. Now, what did it start with? It started with the Word, brother/sister.

Paul said, “I’m condemned because of the doctrine I preach, the way that I worship. We are condemned here, and will be condemned here by people, because of the way we worship.

I heard something which I do not believe. I heard it a long time ago, and never said it to you before. But now certain people went to Africa, Brother Bob Brown went down. Brother Morris Ungren went down.

They tell me in Africa on television that people swear, they saw the television the pope holding a book called ‘Spoken Word’.

They said, “This is our enemy.” I don’t believe it. It could be, but I don’t believe it. Could be right. But I doubt it. If it is, it’s sort of a recognition that this will be the one thing they’ll have to fight.

Serpent seed, and all these other things in the Word of God. What really happened in Eden. And yet, we preach nothing that was not known through the ages before, except it was sealed up under the Thunders.

And that all boils down, brother/sister, to one little set of Scriptures, Revelations 10:1-7, where God Himself is obligated to come down and a prophet standing there to tell us the truth.

That’s all it comes down to. And that comes down to once more, God tabernacling human flesh.

Oh I know, brother/sister, it exposes what has been going on for centuries where people had their way by votes and every political intrigue to be the somebody for God. It’s over! You bet it’s over.

If we ever get enthused and imbued with that, we’ll be getting somewhere. Everything else is shoddy and tawdry beside it.

So you see, it’s not the personality or the pastor, this kind of gimmick, and that kind of gimmick. Boils on right down here.

He says, “Remember them kindly, in all your ways, those that spoke to you the Word of God.” You follow them. If they’re following the Word, you follow them. If they’re not, well, you get away from them. You don’t want that.

Brother Branham said, “A man preaches error, get away from him. Even dying of sickness, [he said,] don’t fool with the charismatics. Stay away from that stuff.”

A woman down in Jack Bell’s church was dying of cancer. She said, “If I knew there was healing down there by some gift, I wouldn’t go down,” she said.

You say, “What kind of life is that? She’s stupid.”

No, she’s not stupid. She’s basing everything on what’s vindicated; not something not vindicated. Gifts are no vindication. You can even go to a fortune teller and get help.

“Obey them that have rule over you. And submit yourselves for they watch for your souls.”

Now, what are you submitting to? Are you submitting to the pastor or to the Word? To the Word. If he’s off the Word, you don’t submit, period. You get away from.

Now, that’s tough preaching, but if I’m doing wrong, you get away from me. I told you I told my wife, “if I mess up, for God sake, don’t you mess up.” I say the same thing to you people here.

And in the meantime don’t you try to mess me up. Because I’ll tell you, [if] you can come out fighting, believe me, I’ll come out fighting ten times worse than you can ever fight because I’m well-skilled, brother/sister.

You’re an amateur along side of me. Not kidding yourself for one minute. I can get answers. You cannot get answers.

You say, “You stand pretty strong.”

You bet I stand pretty strong. I’m not kidding myself. Don’t you kid yourself either.

This Word is what we’re looking at. I’ve got one exclusive hope, if this Word doesn’t do It, I’m shot. I’m gone!

And I’ll stand in judgment for every single one of you. Not just for my sins, but for yours; I’ve led you astray.

You bet I’m ordained to see you through. No one else in this church has that calling. No several people. No body of believers has that calling. I’ve got it. And I’m obligated.

And my obligation starts to preach this Word without any strings. To preach It exactly as the apostle Paul preached It. I’m not saying I’m the apostle Paul. But I’ve got to have the very same in my heart as he had.

And he said, “But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. Not walking in craftiness. Not handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”

I can’t fulfill the last part, proving anything, but I can have the right spirit.

“And if our gospel then is hid, it’s hid to those that are lost.”

Let me go now and show you something in Acts 20:17, and I stand on this one hundred percent.

And I know Brother Branham had to stand. Every prophet has to stand on It. Nobody else can do different. They got to stand on It.

In other words, I never changed, when I was preaching in the church or a bunch of people or talking to individuals, it was the same story.

Acts 20:

In other words, I wasn’t like a preacher running around. Now, he’s a real chameleon. If he came here he’d preach Presence, he’d go to somebody else’s church, [and] he’d turn His back on It. Phfft! Hogwash.

I ain’t got time for that stuff, brother/sister. Phfft! You can see his fruit, too.

In other words, he had one thing: Paul was a preacher. I’m going to use a very vulgar vernacular: he shot his mouth off day and night in the gospel of Christ. But he talked like a lot of people.

This shooting from the lip was the pure Word of God. But I want you to notice that this man was on fire with the Word, the gospel of grace.

Acts 20:

Now, he said, “I preached the gospel.” Now he’s preaching the kingdom. Before he preached Jesus Christ. You get it all, see?

Why was Paul free from the blood of all men? Because he handled the Word of God, for God, in the spirit of God, the way God wanted it. That’s all. He was one hundred percent free. No more blood on his hands.

Neither has William Branham any blood on his hands, and by the grace of God I won’t have blood on my hands either. To preach exactly what I see and hear… I cannot not preach other than I see.

If I’ve seen wrong, I’ve got to come back and correct it. At this time I’ve had a minimal amount of correction, which has been really nothing but sliding into the higher understanding of it so I can see it.

Now, watch:

What is the number one element of a good pastor?

Number one: in the pulpit, is to feed.

Number two: outside the pulpit, is to bring people together and settle differences.

Not everybody does it, but it’s supposed to be done. That’s why I feel you should have a man that’s really qualified to be a pastor working right along.

Acts 20:

He said, “The church is going to split when I’m gone. Your local church is going to split by people rising up inside and others coming in.” Nice picture, eh?

Well, I’m not going to try to change it. I’ve told you we’ve got one hundred and fifty seats here. By tomorrow morning, Monday the 28th, they’d go hundred and fifty different directions. But by the grace of God I believe they won’t.

I don’t kid myself. Why should I kid you? Why should I kid me? You think pretending you’ve got a hundred dollar bill in your pocket and you really need it it’s going to do the trick? Pffft! You better have the hundred dollar bill there.

We don’t have to make believe here, brother/ sister. This is not theoretical anymore. This is living proof. It’s not theoretical. Whether you and I get it, it is not theoretical.

Whether I’m a true minister of God, that’s theoretical. It’s not theoretical that there are true ministers of God. And I stand here and tell you you’re going to make it because of Lee Vayle? Pffft, phooey!

You’re going to make it if… on one condition, I have based you in the living Word of the living God. I don’t have any trouble from that point on.

You say, “Brother Vayle, I don’t believe some of those things.”

Be my guest. I’m not going to tell you to leave. That’s your business. Your blood’s not in my hands. No way, shape and form. No, not a bit of problem. See?

That’s what I’m looking at here. So, you’re not going to find me fussing anybody.

Now, he said:

Notice, he didn’t just commend it of God: to the word of His grace. Why commend anybody to God with no knowledge of God?

“Well, I commend you to God, hallelujah. I’m the preacher… pastor here. I’ll commend you to God.”

Not unless I preach day and night the Word of Almighty God, and even with tears. How am I going to commend you to God? Why, that’s ridiculous.

Say, “God take these people, because I said so.”

What kind of talking is that from a pastor?

“Here I stand, Lord, I’m a great magnet or something.”

Great maggot. Thing sounds wormy to me. Pardon my humor. But I just have to let her go when it goes. And that’s the way it’s going be.

Acts 20:

You want to be edified? According to the five-fold ministry of Ephesians 4, which we’ll talk about later.

How are you going to get it? Reading the funny papers? I’m not against reading funny papers. I read them all the time myself. I’m not against that.

If you don’t like them, fine. That’s good. I’m glad you don’t. I’ll read them for you. I like a slight chuckle.

You want to see a certain movie? It’s okay. I don’t fuss with anybody. You know, it’s okay. Especially if they’re decent things and all.

But look here. What’s going to build you up? The Word of grace. The Word of grace.

Grace, brother/sister, is what God did in this hour allowing that in the face [points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire] of Laodicea.

Every table full of vomit, and God coming down and currying favor! What more can anybody want? Word of His grace. And you think He came down to curry favor to kick you out?

And he says, “The pastor must be this kind of man, and the pastor that kind of man.” And then he said, “That’s okay for them. I’m telling them, but I’m not that kind of a man.”

Oh, come on. All the pastors in God’s creation couldn’t hold a fingernail to the Lord Jesus Christ as a great pastor.

Everyone’s born in sin and iniquity and undone, backsliding a thousand times a day with wrong thoughts, everything else.

But he’s telling you and me, “Listen, let’s get some pastors on the job, evangelists, and ministers that understand this.”

“I covet no man’s apparel, so on and so forth,” That’s exactly what Paul said. Did you notice, “Grievous wolves are going to come in.”

Now, let’s see what those grievous wolves are going to do to this little flock over here. And we’re right back again to 2 Corinthians 11, you knew I was going to go there. You know that automatically.

What simplicity? What’s going to happened? What are these men going to do, these false teachers?

They made Him a trinity, a third God. Hogwash! This man was born of a woman through the divine intervention creation of Almighty God, Who put every one of His attributes into those two cells that made a virgin born body.

And she was nothing but a factory. And I don’t mean ‘nothing but’ as though you criticize her. I’m just trying to tell you what really happened.

She’s a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, “blessed amongst women,” like godly women are.

But now, this year they’re celebrating the Immaculate Conception. What’s an immaculate conception? Doesn’t mean that the woman is a virgin. “It means that she hadn’t sinned.” Hooogwash!

If she didn’t have a root of sin, her father and mother didn’t. And take it back to David, she goes plumb back to David. Joseph goes back to David, “and they all sinned, came short of the glory of God.”

Another hogwash idea, like the ascension of Mary. Protestants got the same hogwash. And you know why they’re worse than the Catholics? Because they built the image to it. Yeah.

Don’t go looking around denomination… any denomination, Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox. Let’s look at the entire picture, brother/sister, where it is; the organization is of the devil.

Who tried to kill Paul? Organization. When did the church start warring? With organization. Never any other way. Rise amongst you.

Diotrephes rose up against John. That’s why this church has one hope, one mind on the Word, and the sense to let everything go by the board until God’s grace and mercy gives us the strength to overcome everything. Just love this Word.

If you can’t love each other, love this Word, and come anxious for It. And if you can’t sit, like the guy you’re sitting beside, I’m not going to feel too bad about you for doing that. Human nature is cruddy.

But if you love the Word enough, pretty soon it won’t matter where who you’re sitting beside. It won’t matter if he’s got garlic breath or stinky feet.

It won’t matter at all… although you shouldn’t have either one in a church service. If it’s hundred and twenty degrees in the building or freezing, you come for one thing. You come for the Word of God.

And Paul said right here, he said, “These grievous wolves that are going to come in, they make another Jesus, talk about another spirit and change the gospel.” And they’ve done it.

If they did that in the year before 90 AD, what do you think 2000 AD is like? Anybody ought to know that it’s gone plumb to the dogs, the way the Scripture says. That’s the way it is.

All right. Listen. Let’s go to Ephesians 4, now I told you. You knew I was going to get there, and I’m getting to It now.

And notice what Paul said striking on the doctrine. He said:

Now, what is a unity of the Spirit? One Word. One Word, because the Spirit only gives one Word one way.

Paul was the recognized messenger, prophet, apostle of his hour. So William Branham is the one vindicated, apostle, prophet for this hour.

Let’s face it. There’s one Word: the Word that he gave without deceit, without guile. He could have been a millionaire, died with multimillions. He wasn’t interested.

Now, notice the doctrine.

“I’m Methodist, hallelujah, I’m going to make it.” “Yes, glory to God, Presbyterian brother, you’re going to make it, too. Yes, Nazarene brother. Amen, you Pentecostals. Hallelujah!” Hooogwash! One body. One body, one Spirit.

Remember, the lower parts of the earth was by the Spirit, brother/sister. It wasn’t His body didn’t go to the lower parts. The body went to the grave.

Ephesians 4:

That same One came back. The same One that preached to prisoners down there, preached to prisoners right here through a prophet.

And we’re preaching to prisoners right here, right now. No change. It’s not sinking in. We’ve got a question on the White Throne I’ll be talking about. It’s not sinking in, and I don’t blame you.

First of all, you’ve got to accept it, and the Spirit will begin dealing with you. You don’t try to see a lot of things, brother/sister.

Just listen. One asset I have that few people have: I ask very few questions. I have a habit of waiting for answers. I’m not saying you’re wrong to ask questions.

Now, understand me, ask your questions, that’s fine. You’re in a different position from me. See?

That same One that went up came down. He preached right here through William Branham. There [brother Vayle points to the picture] you have his picture.

And when He came down to the apostle Paul, set the Church in order and He never took away,

In other words, to bring the Saints to a place of absolute conclusion in finishing off where God wants them. It’s going to take a five-fold ministry.

Now, He gave them so there would be ministries. He gave them to build up the body of Christ to this extent: the perfection.

That’s Ephesians 1:17-21. You’ve got It right now coming into full effect. You know that’s true.

Let me tell you something: You’re not looking down the road. Some of the people believe this Message looking down the road.

Anybody in this church looking down the road, I want to tell you something: you have not heard what I’ve been saying. And you better start paying attention now.

You thought I was going to say, “Get out of here.” But you’re wrong. Just start paying attention now, because you’re missing what I’ve been telling you.

It’s ongoing, and we’re looking at it, and we know what we’re seeing. I am not looking down the road. I’ve no time for it. I’m looking now.

What I see, I’m telling you. I’ve not withheld anything from you for fifteen split seconds, unless I said I’ll tell you more about this next week or something.

And if I forgot, I’m blamable, I didn’t mean to forget. I hold nothing back from you.

Ephesians 4:

Christ, fullness, come back in this age in a man. Got to come back. Remember; Christ could not live His life for us in the flesh. It had to be in the Spirit. He couldn’t live through it.

Now, He did through William Branham. It’s about His coming in the Bride here. And we saw the fullness revealed according to Matthew 12.

Now, listen.

Paul was not speaking of his day, because this had already happened. They had already been pulled apart.

He said, “I’m leaving you, and it’s already started. The wolves amongst you, and the wolves coming in didn’t get this.” This was future.

This is Revelation 10:1-7. This is Ephesians 1:17-23. This is 1 Thessalonians 4.

This is,

Now, listen. The Holy Spirit, Jesus, the One that went down, came back in the form of the Holy Ghost.

At the day of Pentecost He began proliferating Himself, little tiny bits.

But He came back personally to the apostle Paul to bring the Word to the Gentiles, and he did. This day, He has come back again.

Now, the first time He was here, the church was set in order, but the church Bride fell. Now, let’s understand: she fell. She did not get the knowledge to make her perfect.

She did not get the stature of the fullness of Christ that caused her to grow up unto Him. See? It wasn’t time.

So therefore, they drifted, and drifted. But all the while the Bride was coming up.

And from Luther onward the Light was coming until Headship returned, right there with the prophet the way God had it [points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire] in the first century through the apostle Paul.

Now, listen; here’s what happens today. That we do not ‘be children’.

And Paul said in this same Bible the Hebrews, “You are children. You cannot understand Melchisedec.”

He said, You’re little children.” That’s strong meat.

Brother Branham came and preached the strong meat of Melchisedec.

Now, at this time we are able to be in a unity, and the unity is what? Word and preachers. Now, get that flat because that’s the Bible.

Now, I would hate to think anybody in this church would rise up and try to come against the Word, because there are too many people who would gladly carry you out, and I’d have an awful fight on my hands to hold them down.

At least I pride myself that, my God, by now we have some that understand and really believe this Word is this Word is. No fooling, brother/sister. No fooling.

We have arrived at this position, or That is all wrong. And if That’s wrong, it’s a counterfeit. And you can’t have a counterfeit before you get an original. What did we miss? Nothing. This is the original. See?

Ephesians 4:

I wouldn’t mind if we got all wiped out. I wouldn’t like it. But if we need wiping out, praise God. You know, be a little sober. I get kind of a chuckle out of these perverse things.

Because look, I know only too well in my heart, hey, we are walking on very thin ice, and yet we are treading on egg shells. We don’t need to think we’re somebody. Preacher and congregation.

We better walk softly before God, and know there is Somebody attached to this somehow.

I’m with Brother Branham, “If we’re not Bride, there’s a Bride out there somewhere, [There’s got to be, brother/sister] by the grace of God may we not stand in Her way.”

By the grace of God I believe we are Bride.

But I’m preaching this way, and these tapes will go around the world, and there’ll be a lot of criticism.

They’ll say, “Old Vayle’s trying to build a kingdom, trying to destroy, this and that.”

I’m not trying to destroy anything, brother/sister. I’ve tried to build my brothers up. In honor, I preferred them. I’ve put men forward in this Word; it’s gone plumb around the world, different ones.

Because absolutely, I have lent every bit of my strength and carried behind them. And I have found myself deeply disillusioned.

I find preachers putting people in bondage. And I find people still in bondage. They can’t get it out of your heads, you’d chuck a guy that leads you into perversity.

Merciful God in heaven, what is Jesus Christ like? Some kind of a hypocrite? Some kind of a goat? Some kind of a mass murderer? Some kind of a Stalin? Some kind of a Hitler? Some kind of a Father Devine? Bishop Jones? What is He anyway? Our High Priest.

Some mealy-mouth liar? Some double dealing person? Shepherding a bunch of people that don’t know right hand from left hand, and just wanting to run into sin?

Brother/sister, I’ve got higher hopes in my God than that, and the people of God. I live in hopes day by day that He’ll do something for me.

Listen, I tell you, I’m standing on this Word like I take It for my healing. I take It for everything. If this Word is not right and the Life cannot be released, I am gone.

But if the Life is in this Word, and this Word is in me, then this must be released. You simply can’t have it both ways, brother/sister.

Now, watch:

Now, all things Brother Branham categorically said was the Word of this hour, plus the fact that we’re all things to God.

But then when he spoke of those things be shaken down, those things that remain cannot be shaken, he said that was this false cults and tenets and things of the world.

We are at that position now with Christ in Headship to produce a Bride. Not a local church now; I wish it could be a pure local church.

God have mercy, I wish we could. I cannot stand here and tell you a lie. He’s going to have a Bride that’s got this, brother/sister, because He’s working on It now.

The love will come out of the Word. Your actions will come out of the Word. There’s nothing that will not come out of this Word, brother/sister… absolutely.

Now, you notice, Ephesians 4 is a very heavy Scripture to the sheep who want to make it.

And it’s a very heavy Scripture in this respect: you are obligated if you possibly can, to get yourself a pastor and a church. You need it.

Now, some cannot. So, what do they do? Well, I’ll tell you, Brother Branham allowed it. He advocated, if you didn’t have a pastor, pray for one, and play tapes.

“Well,” you say, “what about the fact that half a slice is better than no slice.”

I think that is a very true statement. But how far are you going to carry it? Is a half a slice to get the Word of God to be brutalized?

So the joy of the Lord is taken out of your souls? So that you exist for one purpose to take care of a minister? You’ll never say that here.

My living comes from the outside. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t come from the inside, too. Sure it does. But if I want to isolate myself one hundred percent for the ministry on the outside, I’m well taken care of.

And I don’t hold it as a club over your head, I’m just telling you, look, let’s face issues brother/sister.

I went down the road without a plug nickel hardly. I went down the road paying twenty percent of my gross, which is $39 and $45 a week.

I’m not saying… Ask my wife, she’ll tell you. She doesn’t have to ‘yes’ me. She could lie and be a liar like me. She was the holder of the bank account in those days.

Brother Branham knowing it, he said, “Lee, I just got my quarterly check, and I’d like to give it to you.”

I said, “What for?”

“Because,” he said, “you need it.”

I said, “Not like you do.”

And at that little meeting we got, what? $44.35. My motel room alone was $39. Where did the gas and the rest of the things come from? and the food and things?

Now, you’re not here to make me a living. I appreciate the fact that you do. If you’re getting nothing for it, by all means tell me.

We’ll give your money back. We’ll get it for you. I’ll help you to go someplace else. No problem. No problem at all, brother/sister.

I wasn’t in it for the money before. I appreciate money like you do. I could spend a million bucks tomorrow. Have a great time doing it. You’d all share, of course; wouldn’t be any one of you left out.

I’d force you to take at least a month’s vacation with me somewhere whether your boss liked it or not. If we’d have to put a nail in your foot, wouldn’t be too hard. We’d just make sure you limped a bit. Just come, get a vacation.

Oh sure, you’re all family, there’s no problem there. I’m just saying these things, because look, as I say, tapes go out. And I want it clear from where we stand here than I am not preaching as a hypocrite.

And I’m not trying to fuss at anybody, but I’m taking my stand with this Word that I believe to be right. And I’m going to do it.

Now, let’s look at the beautiful day that we live in. The whole body, not like in Elijah’s day, seven thousand hadn’t bowed the knee and nobody knew it.

You’re going to see a Bride that’s got the Word and knows what to do with It, or keeps quiet.

You’re going to see a Bride, a Church where the love of God is, the sweet Spirit of Jesus Christ, the saints ready to come on back, there won’t be one person not healed.

I’m depending on the Word of God the same as you are.

Now, listen; I know together we are not depending on It as we ought to depend. I know we don’t have the zeal as we ought to have It.

I know all of these things, but brother/sister, that does not alter the fact we’ve got It, and we’re looking forward to what is coming out of It.

And you can’t push God. When you start pushing God, brother/sister, you get in trouble, because God will give you “the desires of your heart and He’ll bring leanness to your soul.”

The thing is this: we want fat souls. Fat souls comes by fat ears. Fat ears come by listening to the Word of God that is brought by the prophet. And It gets down in here, and something begins to happen.

Look, let me tell you flat: I can prove that something happens when you do something. So the Word of God is greater than all.

So, I’ll bring some cayenne next Wednesday night, and you won’t want me to, and I’ll give you half a teaspoon each and water, and you’ll know that you swallowed some cayenne.

Well, if cayenne pepper can do that, what about the Word of God? Don’t tell me living Word is better than Word out here that made cayenne pepper, or the Word out here that created this is a better Word than what He’s putting in you and me. This dies all the time.

We’ve got some things that’s way beyond that, brother/sister.

Listen. Let me tell you something: when Jesus came back and confronted the disciples, and He told them the truth, it was just like a beautiful thing that, “Could it really be true?” It’s that way with us.

But listen, we’re coming closer and closer to where, suddenly, It’s going to grab us. I’m depending on it. I’m not depending on a man that grabs God. I’m depending on a God that grabs man. I am, honestly.

“Blessed is the man Whom Thou chooses and causes to approach unto Thy Throne.” He chooses and makes him come.

“My sheep hear My Voice, and they follow me.”

Not, “I think they’ll come, and maybe they’ll come.” They will come. And that’s the way a congregation is too, with this living Word, because this living Word is what we’re talking about through the presence of Jesus Christ here.

All right. Now, this minister, this pastor, is to be an example, and thereby, he is to be a leader. Now, let’s take a look at this. We’re going to go to 1 Peter 5.

Now, I’m up for crucifixion on this don’t worry, I’m not tell you something I’m going to hang it all on to all the preachers around the country and say, “Lee Vayle’s got his little ivory tower here, and he sits pretty nice with a nice congregation, got them all fooled, and they take good care of him, building the church and everything else, so he sits here and hits all us guys.”

Yeah, by the time I’m finished you may want to carry me out of here and get yourself a real pastor. Well, that’s your business.

Like I told you, this is perfectly okay by me to a certain degree. The certain degree is this: I wouldn’t like it, but I could take it. I’ve been through a lot of things. I could take that.

But I’d take my ministry; I’d go down the road saying, “Well, I don’t think that… I guess I blew it. But I’ll try not to blow the next one.” Okay, so that’s the way life goes.

Now, what does he say here? He said:

In other words, not because you’re paid, because you want to do it.

Now then, how is he going to be an example? Through service. Preacher’s wife will do the most cooking when she’s able to.

We’ve got you young gals trained now, so keep it up. She’s getting too old for that. And I’ve got to help her, and that makes me take time off for things that I want to do.

All right. Examples: examples in giving; examples in hospitality; examples in doing. That’s what it is. See? Of a ready mind. Being servants. Greater is he than all by being a servant to all. The greatest of all is a servant to all. See?

Now, watch:

Why? Because they fed the flock of God, watched over them, because they love to do it, and want to do it, and became a servant to them.

Now, that’s what the pastors are ordained to do. And when you got that kind of a pastor… which I don’t say you got, because I’m not a real pastor, let’s understand that.

I’ve got my failings in certain areas, yet I don’t carry them out. I do a certain amount, and it’s obvious. The others are not obvious because they’re not being done.

But you see, you get a pastor like that, and who wouldn’t stick with him? Unless he’s a complete you know, miscreant, or he’s a trouble maker, or you couldn’t please him anyway.

You know, there’s just some people you just can’t please anyway. They don’t know gourmet cooking when they see it, or feed on It. You know people like that? Yeah. Okay.

Let’s go a little further. Let’s go to John 13:15… as I believe It is.

Here, Jesus said:

What was that? Humility overriding his own personal position and prestige. In other words, He was one of the boys.

Well, you show me a preacher that isn’t human and, therefore, perfectly vulnerable. And you show me a preacher, then, who isn’t perfectly human and born again, but can rise to where God wants him. They can do it. Congregation can do it. Preacher can do it.

But it’s based upon wanting what? The pure Word of God handled in a Spirit of God, and then a response in a Spirit of God.

Because Brother Branham said, “She’ll have the Word and know what to do with It, or She will keep silent.”

Now, no pastor can do that, but he can help you. Like I trust by the grace of God this pulpit here is trying to do it, to show you, It is ours.

And you know something? I believe we’re getting it. I’m not at all concerned as though we’re not going ahead. I believe we’re going ahead.

In fact just the way that you’ve responded to building a church and all, I can see at least eight hundred percent, if not a thousand percent, or several thousand percent, improvement.

I’m just going to tell you flat, and I don’t have to hang my head and do it. I can just look you in the eyes and tell you everybody looking in the eyes? Every single one. Fabulous improvement. Congratulations. I congratulate you.

And I’m not sarcastic. I’m not at all. I mean exactly what I saying to you. It’s a great privilege for me to say this. A tremendous privilege.

All right. Paul speaking to this young fellow, Timothy, that became a pastor.

In other words, be a little apostle Paul. Every pastor is incumbent upon him to be a little William Branham. And I’m going to pull the blind down and blush with shame. But it’s the truth.

You know what, if you’re going to talk William Branham, you should kind of live William Branham. If you talk Jesus, you should live Jesus.

If you shepherd instead of Christ, you should actually take on quite of bit of Him. Not by a vote. Phfft! Hogwash. Fap!

Your mammy and pappy vote to go to Bible college; you come out a pastor, bless God, you ain’t nothing but a stinker. No, you’re just…

Listen; they fussed at the Roman Catholics for voting in a pope. The Protestants do exactly the same thing in their own little, stupid way.

Don’t look at anybody, brother/sister. I hold these up to our observation just to let you know we’ve got to leave all that stuff. There’s no use talking if we don’t leave it.

The constant reminder is fine. But it is not fine if we don’t leave it. Paul said, “I count those things but dung.”

Now, if you’re good when the Exodus… Remember; the law of God said, “You had to carry a little paddle and dig a little hole and bury the dung.”

All right, let’s do the same thing with this. We carry a paddle, a shovel, we know what to do with it. Bury it.

And it’s not that it doesn’t repeat and come up when the thing is buried. Get away from that stuff and leave it. No, no organization, nothing is. It’s a freedom of the Spirit of God.

Listen, brother/sister, God can direct this church. God can direct the Church. If He doesn’t, let’s get out of it. Or let’s start something that He can direct.

All right. That’s enough time. We haven’t got time for the rest of the Scripture. I’ll just have time to cover this next Wednesday, just barely.

Now, here’s what you want to do: some questions have come in already. One on the White Throne. I want to discuss It with you. I want to tell you how to get your minds on it, how it works. It’s a revelation.

Other questions come in, I want you to put them on a piece of paper and give them to me. By the grace of God, I won’t lose them. If I do, you just repeat them in the congregation. No problem.

I’m sure I won’t lose them, at least I’ll try not to. I’ve got a couple right here. And you can get those questions in. But anyway, that’s how we’re going to leave it and continue next Sunday.

And since these meetings have taken the tone the way they’re taken, I don’t want to just stand up here and just lay things on the line and be a rough customer to some of the brethren I know and all. I don’t mean that. Although one way I do, I’ll be honest with you.

There’s one thing where compassion comes in, and that’s you people as you pray daily. Pray for the people that have been having hard times with ministers.

Where there’s no love there, where there’s… opportunity taken by what Brother Branham said to use a formula, which is not as you see lined with Scripture.

And everything I’ve said is Scripture, and I haven’t twisted anything in the Scripture. It’s right here. You can read It the same as I can read It.

You can see It. There’s no twisting. I’m not trying to take anybody from something good. I’m trying to lead away from what can be wrong, and is wrong into what is right.

And I have your welfare at heart, or I wouldn’t be preaching It. Because, see, I already know these things. I don’t have to tell you just for me.

A gift does not operate for the man himself, it operates for the people. And so to know the Word of the Lord and understand the five-fold ministry, which we’re trying to do, should help you.

Then you know what your input is, you’ll know what the minister’s input is, and by the time we’re finished, by the grace of God any questions that come up, we can answer with the help of the Lord.

But Brother Branham said, “And as a church we can put our foundations in the Word of God, and as a people speaking with the same mind.”

I hope you’re getting what I’m trying to get across to you, brother/sister.

Look; I am here, and I’m all here for this reason: for one mind. There can’t be several minds in the pulpit. There can’t be a mind coming to you.

If you feel I’m wrong, write it on a piece of paper, or come and see me. But this church can only have one mind. I am trying to have That Mind through That Person to me and the Word.

I’m trying, and if I’m off, I’ve got to answer to God, and I don’t want to answer to God that way. I want to be right.

And if you find anything there, you let me know on questions on conduct and things, that’s a different story. Although bring it up.

But the major thing is speaking the same Word. Knowing this Word, because that is the revelation of this hour, what we count on. And from that the others will come into expression.

I believe. I hope you believe with all your hearts. I know something is coming for that Bride.

It’s a Word of God fulfilled in human flesh, like it was in that man there. Elijah must truly come, Malachi 4.

That’s the Word of God in human flesh, we in the same boat.

So, let’s rise and be dismissed.

Again our Father, we thank You for the time we’ve spent with Your Word here, and we believe, Lord, that, though we hammer hard on these things, it’s for one purpose, because the Word of God is a Rock. The Word of God is a Sword.

Not trying to run any person down in particular, Lord, but we know this one thing, that I stand here with this same Word.

If I say things, Lord, and I do not live that Word, then, Father, I am just exactly what you said in the Scripture.

“What kind of a man that teaches one thing and does another?” What kind of a man is he? You’ve laid it out in the gospels.

You’ve laid it out in Your Word, and Father, I want it to be known in my heart, the hearts of others, the minds of others. I’ve got my problems.

Sure I do, but I can be the man that You want me to be, Lord. The same as every woman and man and child in this congregation can be what You want them to be.

And by the grace of God we’ll be, because, Lord, we’re throwing our lot unto Your Word.

And Lord, where we’re off on this Word, we pray You’ll correct us. I don’t know where we’re off at this point. Some little thing here and there that might be, Father.

I cannot see where we’re wrong in preaching the Presence and the Power of God, because It’s real.

And preaching, Lord, the Appearing which is real, a right, absolutely, Lord, looking at the present hour, seeing the Church coming into divine order, Father, all these things we’re convinced of.

And we’re confirmed in them, Lord, that this is real. The one thing, Lord, that we know that we’re short of is a dedicated, simplistic zeal, that is the Life itself, Lord.

But, Father, we’re depending on You to help us there, because this in one place we feel that we’re literally where Paul was mentioning, “Oh my.” he said, “I could do good. I want to do so bad and I find myself here and there not doing it.”

Lord, it looks like we’re just a little bit too puny for such a strong Word. But Father, if You release the strength of that Word, we won’t be puny anymore. We won’t be, Lord.

So, we just ask You to help us now to grow in grace in knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ, and meditate upon the Word this week.

And pray for those who are having a tough battle, because we know many of them are. Even on the verge of moving, Lord, we realize that.

Help the people to pray for these dear souls out there, they’re like minded to be able to stand every circumstance…

[Tape recording ends]