Token #06

…we come to Your service here today, but above all we’re just glad Lord, You’ve given us the desire in our hearts which is really a supernatural desire to come to be around Your Word, to meditate upon It, to receive It and to receive we believe the life that is in It and we pray Lord, in this hour that the subject is so serious that You’ll help our minds to be illuminated by the Holy Ghost and our souls to receive revelation in our lives to produce it because as Brother Branham said, he waited so many years so long to bring this forth and it was at that time a tremendous sermon.

It had to be part of the Seals, without a doubt, part of the Thunders Lord, because it is we appreciate that. We know that he said it was because in it he reveals the true baptism with the Holy Ghost, shows us these things.

So we know we are on very important ground this morning Lord, may we stand on that ground and be part of that same ground, just as we stand on Christ, become part of that Rock.

We love You this morning Lord, because You first loved us and we know our love is not deep like Yours but everything about us Lord, except what You gave us of Yourself is basically very inferior. We don’t even have anything to commend us, to even use what You’ve given us.

We’re just like those in the Garden; we’d spoil it. Through every age it’s been spoiled but Lord, we know Your grace and mercy and thank You for it. We believe You hear our prayer and help us today in Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated.

Now this is number six in the Token and in our studies of this Message we cannot help but realize that this last Church age is different from the rest. The Seventh Church age is very different from all other ages. The difference is that this age has something added to it which the other ages could not receive especially due to the time element in the purpose of God to present to Himself a Bride without spot and wrinkle.

Now that’s what you must understand we’re saying. It’s not just this age is different and God added something to it, see, you have to keep in mind that God had a specific purpose in mind which is to present to Himself a Bride without spot and wrinkle and that has to do with Redemption and this is the hour of culmination.

Now what has been added could only come at the evening time and when it does come Redemption for the church closes out, however, when we speak of Redemption closing out we are not speaking negatively, for the closing out though judgmental in character comes from a great positive which seals in the Bride and takes her out in a Rapture.

So what we’re talking about here then what is added is the seal which was not added previously, it could not come till the evening time. So you’re being acquainted with material that is not formerly known and you will not find in books of theology.

It is a definitive revelation that comes through a prophet at the end time, a prophet like unto Moses in the stature of Jesus Christ, and that prophet’s bringing us under the Seven Seals, the Seven Thunders is thundering out something that is going on, obtainable, not only obtainable to the Bride but is a literal must.

Brother Branham says in The Stature of a Perfect Man, [62-1014M] “In the evening time it shall be light.” That’s evening time that’s when this great seal is added: “That’s when comes Christ, the Holy Spirit, Jesus,” now notice what he says, “Christ, Holy Spirit, Jesus, comes down, then comes Christ, Holy Spirit, Jesus comes down and sets Himself at the head of the church, then He will resurrect this Church being his own body.”

Now right away there’s an addition. See? That’s 1 Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord himself shall appear from heaven… descend from heaven with a Shout, the Voice of the archangel, the Trump of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first.”

Also, quoting from the Token, “The hour is here when the Token Himself is identifying Himself right amongst us, and proving that He is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.” That’s Hebrews 13:8 and He is right with the Word, which means He’s exactly according to the prophetic Scripture.

Now there’s something again that people don’t realize. This also comes under the Seals; that’s the Seventh Seal which has the Seven Thunders. According to Brother Branham the Token is Jehovah, is the Holy Spirit, is Elohim, is God. Now He’s not all five, six, eight or one hundred of them.

Those are titles. They have to be titles because as Brother Branham explained in the great drama of God, something like Macbeth, when under Shakespeare, and it’s being done today too, where people take dual roles and dual characters, they simply act out the part but being the same person.

So therefore, when you speak of Jehovah, He is the Holy Spirit, when you speak of Elohim, He is Jehovah, and when you speak of God, He is Holy Spirit, He’s Elohim, He’s El, He’s El Elah. All of those, see, the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon, the Son of Man, Son of God.

God, He is God, God personally taking over as in Genesis 18 just before the fire falls, personally appearing as He did in the Garden, not to start but to finish. The alpha is the omega.

God identifying Himself personally by appearing in this hour, even allowing the picture of the reflection of His glory to be taken as an anti-type of how He showed Himself at Sinai in the exodus of Israel, preparatory to migrating into Canaan, not just sending His power into the Church. Ah, ha, you see that’s where people are fooled right today.

They want to equate it and level it, and short of just distribute it around the people and say what a great church. Ha, well, we have thoughts about that.

Not just sending His power into the Church but He Himself appearing. Here is God vindicating a prophet who is to reveal the hour of the covenant promise, not just the hour of the promise but the promise itself and bring a Message of instruction, restoration, to make ready a Bride. Why do I use instruction? Because that’s what it is, to give understanding. You have to follow the mold of John.

God, the great Token has appeared and is giving in this last hour a measure of Himself as a Token to every elected one for a prerequisite to the Rapture. Every member of the Bride or body of Christ is individually sealed by the Holy Spirit baptism and then the great Token or Seal Himself sealing the last age Bride in, the doors in this age are to be shut with the Bride inside of the Wedding Supper chamber. All right.

Now all through this Message Brother Branham, he’s making the point we have just put forth, the Token Himself is here, He is appearing. It is evening time and He could only come now because there would be no purpose in Him coming before because then it would destroy the plan and purpose of Almighty God in the presentation of a Bride. See?

Now it is Resurrection and Supper Time, it is manifesting time but no matter how great the proof and how much one is convinced of it without the life of the Token Itself in us as our own personal possessed Token we will not go in the Rapture.

Now Brother Branham is warning there because you see that spirit is amongst us. Now you say, “Well, how is it?” It is as simple as a-b-c. Lutherans think they got Luther; they’re going in. Methodist think they got Wesley; they’re going in. Pentecost are speaking in tongues; they think they’re going in. They’re not going in.

Now you see what it is they’re arrogating to themselves the understanding that that this is wonderful that they have because they know that Jesus died for their sins and they know that there is a rebirth or there’s something in a spiritual concept that they’re depending on that’s going to get them there.

And everybody’s got his own little thing which is church joining, a certain type of baptism, a certain type of speaking in tongues, a certain this and a certain that and it’s all gone.

And people come along and say, “Well, I believe Brother Branham. There’s… oh my, I believe… you… why you just got to know there’s something there and I believe really that there’s something of the caliber of Moses and Paul there. Yeah, I believe that. And I believe that God is doing something great. There’s no two ways about it.”

“Well, have you received the Holy Ghost?”

“Oh sure, I… ”

“How do you know? Well, what do you think of this Message?”

“Well, I really don’t know about that.”

You see, that spirit is a luke-warm spirit; it’s not hot or cold. Cold means get out, get away. The Token seeker, that’s not the right way, really, it’s those that are the oil seeker, that’s the term I wanted. The oil seekers are a luke-warm people though they have a very hot nature for the wrong things, and they have a cold nature for the right things.

Now that luke-warmness is typical Laodicea and amongst us can be people especially those who are coming up under their parents, who have a genuine relationship with God.

Can say, “Well, look, it’s all I’ve ever believed.” That’s wonderful. But have you been filled with the Holy Ghost that you know? Now I realize there’s no sensation with it. There’s no exterior signs and all.

You say, “What am I going to depend on?” Now what were you before that happened? And where are you progressing now in the Word of God? See? Now we’re going to have to get into that this morning; I hope I can do it within an hour because that’s all I wanted to take but we must watch this.

Now but no matter how great the proof and how much one is convinced of it in other words, you’ve seen the proof, you’ve seen everything, the ministry, and say, “That’s got to be it.” without the life of the Token Itself in us as our own personally possessed Token or Seal or sign, we will not go in the Rapture.

The Father is appearing and is standing amongst His children, all His children are being marked and sealed by God’s own life and they alone are given the garments for the Wedding Supper.

Now in this message Brother Branham speaks forcefully of the manifested life of the living God who is appearing amongst us as He is supposed to do according to Matthew 12. He is supposed to come to the Gentiles and do in the form of the Holy Spirit exactly what He did when He was here in the form of flesh. Now remember, He went back to a Pillar of Fire.

And the Pillar of Fire has to have a prophet; so therefore, we have Elijah at the end time. And he… and God is here amongst us, we do not see the Pillar of Fire. He allowed us to take a picture of the reflection. That is true.

We understand that, but He Himself is appearing amongst us and we understand that, we appreciate it very much and we say, “We believe that.”

This is the premise, the basis for our understanding of the doctrine but Brother Branham also speaks forcefully of a life that is to be lived by each member of His body. In some places there is no doubt that only Brother Branham’s own personal ministry of power and authority is revealing that life.

Now let’s understand that. You’ve got to get that in your mind because I’m going to go to The Stature of a Perfect Man pretty soon, and I’ll be reading from it and in there you’re going to find the constant switching back and forth, prophet to people, prophet to people, prophet to people. And where the prophet qualifies you and I don’t qualify. Get out of his hair. See?

Like he kept telling people, [to] run interference for him: “Don’t interfere with me. Why when somebody is given the ball by God does everybody have to tackle the man with the ball and try to get the ball away?”

You know, like I told you one time I was looking at the Seals and the Thunders and so I wrote Brother Branham a note one time, and I said, “Brother Branham, are not the seven Thunders seven great mysteries which some of which are so and so,” and I named them.

And in his big beautiful bold handwriting which I would have saved because it was very cute, he wrote back and he said, “Yes, but hold your peace, the time is not now.”

I looked up in the Hebrew and Greek what that is and literally it means, “Keep your nose out of my business.” That’s putting it boldly.

Now he never would say a thing like that, but I’m telling you this morning that this is what we’re running across, “Keep your nose out of what is not your business and put your nose and your whole head and your whole being into what is your business.” We have a propensity of trying to run things, run somebody else.

It’s just no good. This is just rotten Laodicea corrupt system and let’s find that the rulers… the people that take the toughest stand that they’re going to rule are the most corrupt of the bunch. That goes for the church. Now if you haven’t got a word to the wise there you have to later on, I won’t answer your question. All right.

But in other cases we are admonished that we also are to bear a life that reveals the Token, as he said so clearly, “If I had the Spirit of Christ my life will show it; certainly, because if I have the spirit of Beethoven I’ll be in there composing,” and so on.

To be of help along these lines of which we’re speaking, I thought we might look at some of his pronouncements that he made in The Stature of a Perfect Man and apply them along with this message to show what manner of people we ought to be in this hour.

I believe we have every right to do this as The Stature of a Perfect Man is taken from 2 Peter, which is very definitely a revelation for this hour for it speaks of the end time, the Rapture and the Resurrection.

In fact every theologian admits that there are the four books in the Bible completely devoted, the Epistles, completely devoted, well, it’s a pure fact, five, there’s first and second Thessalonians, there’s first and second Peter, there’s the Book of Revelation, and there’s myriads of quotes in the Gospels and so on concerning this period; so first and second Peter are devoted to the second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ which, of course, embraces the Appearing before the Coming.

Now the two books speak of the Resurrection and Rapture at the end time which is our hour as Wuest’s translation says, “It’s an epical and strategic period that gives us from God… that gives to us from God, God giving us something, and then places demands on us from God, the same God that gives, see, and we must understand what they are.”

Now you’ll notice in there that the epical, strategic period signifies that God pulled the stratagem, a military coup to get a Bride out of here.

As Brother Branham said, “If the devil got a hold of this it would do great damage,” which you mean… which you understand to mean as it says in the Book of Malachi, “If I do not send Elijah the prophet I will come and destroy utterly.

I am coming. I will be there. I will be doing two things. One is to save and one is to destroy.” See? So therefore, we see at this time in Peter an epical strategic period in the economy of Almighty God.

So I’m going to read now from The Stature of a Perfect Man, [62-1014M] and we’ll put this here, I might not even get around to using it but it’s a sort of a very… Becca wasn’t here to do this for me, so you just blame her. And if you can’t read it, I’ll just decipher it for you. All right, on page 12.

[12-1]  So today we’re going to try to take the same key to unlock a way to become a virtuous Christian in the stature of God, and be a Living Tabernacle for the Living God to dwell in.

Now that’s the thesis of this here and he’s going to trace it through the Seven Church Ages to show how God does it in the Church, the Bride and in the individual.

So he said, “We’re going to try to do something in this message that’s going to give you an understanding and put you in a position whereby you can and will be a literal living temple of the living God.”

In other words, it’s God in you both willing and doing of His good pleasure. See? “Crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me”. [Galatians 2:20] See? All right.

Now, this indeed is a blessed thought, how humbling, but how uplifting. Now I know it’s scary because we look back on the legalistic concept and the luke-warm Laodicea and we get very fearful that this cannot transpire. My brother, my sister, there is nothing in the Word of God that God does not stand for Himself.

As Brother Branham categorically said in Matthew 5:48, “Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

He said, “If God demanded it then God made a way for it,” so therefore, there is a way that we can be, the literal statues, he called it, or to come up to the stature of a perfect man in Christ where we become living… actually God living His life out through us.

Now remember, that this will go primarily and greater than anybody to the messenger, so keep it in mind now. Page 13.

[13-5]  …the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us, [Now he starts out but notice he switches his thought instantly.]… changes our nature by sending upon us the Holy Spirit;…

What he’s saying we are cleansed by the Blood that opens the door for the Holy Spirit Himself to change our nature. You cannot get your nature changed unless first of all there is a propitiation that allows the Holy Spirit to come in. See?

[13-5]  …then we become, [Now notice his language, it’s beautiful.]… then we become into the divine nature of God; [Didn’t say you instantly are, says it’s a process.]… then we become a dwelling place for God.

As a final thing then there, prepare… In other words, we are preparing a house for residency and the residency, the preparation will be putting ourselves out more and more, that’s good, but that’s not the key.

It’s what God puts in there because a house that is swept and garnished is open for seven devils worse than the first one which means we’re pretty devilish in the first place and we want to get really horrible and have a eighth in there which signifies it’s all over plus more.

We just don’t let this house get filled. See, this is where… your denominations come in. This is where your legalist comes in. You’ll find people that are very fine people but you watch when it comes to that Word, they’re murderers, trading off souls, living horrible lives.

Page 14, [page 17]

[17-2]  Could you imagine an old buzzard trying to have a couple of dove feathers say, “Look here, see, I’m a dove.” [In other words, pushing the feathers in to think you’re something else, trying to… you know.]… Why we all know he’s a buzzard. That’s all. We can tell… he’s a buzzard.

[17-3]  Well, now that’s the way it is trying to manufacture Christianity. You can’t do it. The first thing you’ve got to do is be born again.

Now remember that. Now he talked about a genuine baptism with the Holy Ghost and he talks about born again and the baptism… the rebirth is by the baptism with the Holy Ghost. See?

Now watch the language or you get carried away and you’ll be thinking Brother Branham is saying something entirely different from what he is saying. Now this is strange theology so it means your mind must be renewed. You got repenting to do which means changing of your mind. All right.

[17-3]  The first thing you’ve got to do is be born again.

Now what did he say up here? “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us, changes our nature by sending upon us the Holy Spirit.” Okay.

[17-3]  …you’ve got to be born again. You’ve got to be changed. And when you’ve changed, you become a new creation. Now, you’re getting right… [Now you’re getting, so therefore, the rebirth, the Holy Spirit coming upon you that change is a start and you’re starting up into something.] Now, you don’t have to worry about the feathers; [No, you don’t have to worry; it’s buoyancy.] it will take care of itself when you’re born again.

See? Now you got to understand that, the well of water springing up, yes sir. Now these virtues as Brother Branham said are birthed into you. They come with the Holy Spirit. You’re born again; you have these virtues which are new virtues.

Now it’s not that you don’t have faith before, and it’s not that you don’t have this, that and the other thing, but you got the wrong one. It’s like wisdom which is from below, it’s just sensual and so on. There’s a wisdom from above. All right.

Now except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it. So therefore, God’s got to give you the building material. That’s why he said the other foundation can no man lay that which is laid Christ Jesus and Paul said by the wise master builder, I’ve laid the foundation but you be careful how you build thereupon.

Now let’s see what Paul had to contend with back there in Philippians, so we begin to understand what we’re up against, in the 3rd chapter, I suppose it is, beginning at verse 4.

Now that’s… now this is for this hour so there’s got to be a repeat of this age. This age has got to cleanse its mind of every single thing it ever learned and put it all to one side or you haven’t got a genuine rebirth.

You’ve got… well, you’ve… a little spirit of God in you, that’s fine, nobody’s going to fuss with… I’d sooner see you went to a bowling alley then go down and sniff cocaine, I’d sooner you’d sniff cocaine than murder but you’re still out there in the never, never land, so who wants it? See? All right.

These are birthed in you what you have already in you will not satisfy nor qualify. Page 18.

[18-1]  That old suspicious, doubting character he was, is dead; now he’s a new creation. So you see, he doesn’t have to add anything… because it will be automatically… added.

In other words, the procedure is simply one of recognition of what you have. And the greatest gift in the world is to learn to get out of the way. Now you know why? Because it’s the hard thing to receive because it’s been called ‘death’ ‘death to self’. Page 23.

[23-2]  You’re beginning to reflect the works of Christ. And so many… that try to do the works of Christ before the reflection of Christ is in us.

That is before the Holy Spirit is in us, if everything is fine what you do and thank God you do it. On the White Throne it may come up for you in the sense, just justice and judgment is meted out and those that have the greatest life and the greatest this and that and done the greatest damage have the longest time of punishment before annihilation.

So therefore, this is the negative context and that is certainly some little thing could come out of it but not what we’re looking for. See?

Page 45.

[45-2]  Now remember, the black bird with peacock feathers. Don’t forget him, see. Don’t try to add to it ‘til you’re actually born again, because it won’t work. You can’t make it work. It’ll come to this, or this here it’ll crumble somewhere. [He talks about the weakest link later on.] But when you get down here to the genuine born again dove, then you don’t add anything. It adds to you; comes on up.

Like the seed coming up through the church ages, comes up through the individual, you see, faith, virtue, and knowledge, temperance and so on, see, right down the line: step by step to the full complement of virtues, then God Himself taking over the temple, then God running everything with you out of the way. All right.

Reading page 47.

[47-1]  Now in building… this monument. [Look, there’s a monument.] Building this statue. [That’s the stature into Christ.] See it starts off and the foundation is on faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness. Now what does it do? [In other words, what happens then?] Then they’re waiting for the headstone which is love; for God is love,

Now see here it is right here in seven Church Ages which also is a form that is used in the individual. Now God started in this age here, up, up, up, up, up, and then it gets up here, there’s only one thing that’s left because there’s eight, there’s Seven Ages, so the last one is love which is God Himself. And you notice it’s a little pyramid itself, a little capstone up there that’s going to come down. See?

[47-1]  Then they’re waiting for the headstone which is love; for God is love, and He controls, and He is the strength of everyone of these.

Now listen! If that’s in the spirit that’s going on here then this is in the spirit. Everybody wants to put that in the physical. They run around, the preachers saying, “Well, Lee Vayle believes in the spiritual Second Coming.” The man is patently a liar. I’ve no fight with the fellow but he’s lying.

I preached the sermon right in his church, there’s no such thing I ever said like that and I don’t intend to say that because the physical Second Coming in the flesh is in three-fold manner. He’s already come once and died upon Calvary. We’re going to meet Him in the air immortal.

Well, you should listen to what he said. They’re waiting for the Headstone. Well, if they’re waiting for the Headstone then there’s got to be a promise of the Headstone coming. Why would they wait for something they can’t have? Why send a prophet, “Hey, you could have had this but ho, ho, ho, this belongs over here?” Say, “Get out of the way, prophet, you’re stupider than anybody ever.”

Look, kid, I want to tell you something when you are starving you don’t pat someone… needs clothes, and needs food, you don’t pat him and say, “God bless you, brother/sister.”

Dig down and put some clothes on his back and put some food in his stomach and warm him up. If he’s too hot fan his brow and wash his feet. We’re not in some insipid thing here, brother/sister, this is real. This is realer than this building, realer than you are yourselves and I am.

[47-1]  …they’re waiting for the headstone which is love; for God is love, and He controls, and He is the strength of everyone of these. [In other words, everything down in here it’s a virtue that has manifested comes from Him in the first place. See? And He’s coming to get his own.] Yes sir. Right in here. Right in here. [Now he says, right in here he said, notice, he’s pointing there.] See, I’ve got in between all these works which are virtues in here, and here these little waves coming down.

[See? He had… actually mine makes pretty small but… the little waves, see, the little waves, coming down. You’ll notice in other places they got them straight lines. All right.] What is that there? [Okay.] and here these little waves come down. What is it? See? The Holy Ghost coming down through Christ Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is above all this, welding this together. Building… what? a perfect Church for the capstone to cap off! What’s it been doing again? It’s manifested through Seven… Ages and Seven Church messengers.

Now the model God had in mind and how to get it and the example is to each member and that example is that here’s the Head. Now, what is in there He sends down through the waves into the Church, coming down? See?

It’s right here. Fills up all this, with this, then He comes down to the Second Age filling in this, and right on down through.

Now notice that it’s scriptural that what God poured into Christ and He’s here in the form of the Holy Ghost, now remember, now what He poured in him He pours in the Church. Now in Him was the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Now remember, God does not pour into the Church the power of sovereignty. Sovereignty does not lie in the Church. So therefore, everything that God is pouring in the Church He’s pouring in now by way of these seven here. [Brother Vayle points at board.]

And when that is finished, when there’s no more to come down because He’s not going to send anymore down, there’s nothing left, it’s all out of there now. What is left? The Capstone Himself. That means the work of the Holy Spirit is finished in the Church as to these elements. Then what’s left? He Himself, and Brother Branham said, “Capstone is here.” And, of course, in Him is all this plus everything else.

[47-2]  …Now where was the Church first founded? Where was the Pentecostal first founded… church founded? by… Paul at Ephesus. [Now, of course, that’s he talking to the Gentiles.] The Star of the Ephesian Church Ephesus. [Who was he? He was Paul. Now Paul is the apostle prophet of faith, or the great giver of revelation. See? He was the great giver and disseminator.]

The Star of the Ephesian age Ephesus. The second… was Smyrna virtue. Irenaeus the great man who held up the Gospel of Paul. Next… Age… Pergamos,… Martin was the great man who stayed there. Paul, Irenaeus, Martin, then in Thyatira, came Columba. Remember, here it is drawn… right out there [and he points the finger]. Columba. After Columba,… the dark ages set in… then comes Sardis, which means death Luther. Hallelujah! What then? What comes after Sardis and Luther? Then comes Philadelphia godliness. Wesley holiness; “The just shall live by Faith,” said Luther. Sanctification through Wesley. Then come in brotherly kindness… and we believe the great Message of the second appearing of Elijah, in the last days, will sweep the land.

Now he tells you up in here with these virtues there came something else. The virtues merely, you might say, show predominately what lies in the character but the message shows what lies in the Word and the purpose and plan of Almighty God. Now each one had a part of it. It began to die here already.

It died more. It died more. When it got up here it really… it really hit the skids, it really just about all completely died but remember that there was life in there. Now what the cankerworm, the palmerworm, the locust and caterpillar had eaten down to a nub, there was life in that little root down there.

So it begins coming up through here, then more and more and more until you’re coming back and coming back to the perfect grain.

So you got to have a perfect Word, a perfect ministry; you got to have a perfect Bride, no matter how it’s going to be done; it’s going to be done. Then you see when you got the perfect ministry as we’ll show a little later on reading from the book, then Brother Branham said, “That can come down when everything is lined up the way God wants it.”

[47-3]  Now here you are Seven Church Ages, seven steps. God building His Church is like one person into an individual into Himself. [Well, that’s the body of Christ, with the many members.] The glory, the power of God coming down through this, welding us together. Therefore, the Pentecostal people has let out the Lutheran, let out the Wesleyans and things they don’t know what they’re talking about.

Well, he’s saying is these people don’t have a thing and they look back and they say, “Well, just a minute, how could they have the Holy Ghost when the initial evidence is speaking in tongues?” Well, they just… they just go out of the book. Who gave them authority to draw anybody out of the book?

See, pot can’t call kettle black. They’re blotted out themselves. Actually, Brother Branham says at the end time the chaff turns to tare. In Matthew 7, you knowhow it comes from a… it goes from an animal to a tree and then it goes you know how he begins going back and forth in his metaphor, allegories, call it what you want. It’s a complete jumble unless you know how the Scripture lines up.

At the end time it says, “He burns up the chaff,” but at the end time it also says, “He gathers the tares.” So what’s left? Two distinct groups of people, period, not even a relationship of a chaff to a tare… I mean, chaff to a wheat. So you see where judgment comes in. We’re getting right down to the line, brother/sister, that’s all there is to it. Pentecost put them all out.

[47-3]  You see, they lived… You see, he said,… You see, they lived in this part of the temple.

Now you see living down here is different than living there, living here is different from there, and here is different from there See? and a different part. Now it’s all temple. It’s all that life. It was all Lamb life to begin with, then life animal got interjected.

That’s why you’ve got the Book of Life. It’s all one book and coming up through that book is that thread of Lamb life with that thread going on, and God’s always built His Church, build, build, build, all welded together, all making one body so He can take Headship. Okay.

[47-3]  You see, they lived in a different part of the temple. That’s the way some people can come up that high and then drop off.

Now notice, they came right up to here under Luther then they dropped off. Wesley came up, now look how high Wesley got and Wesley dropped off. Now look at Pentecost, how high they are. Why, we’re at the edge here, like above that flange. Look where they dropped off. They were the ones that should have taken it hook, line and sinker; they’re the ones that destroyed it.

[47-3]  Now but there’s a genuine part of that keeps making that building…

Now what they had here though dying went on here, died some more, went on here, died some more, went on here and almost completely died, but it was genuine what they had and this was genuine what Luther had, and oh, did he booboo.

Most people can’t stand Luther as the one that God had for that age, he precipitated the war and had people killed and everything else, and said, “The Jews ought to be exterminated.”

And Hitler did the job for him. You see, that seed was back there. You say, “What kind of a guy was Luther?” Oh, something like Paul but he was a tough guy.

But you see now going up here, it carried on up here, the same spirit into holiness, sanctification, up here to restoration of gifts and an understanding of the Baptism with the Holy Ghost though they pegged it wrong when they got an evidence in there which is wrong. See?

A genuine part keeps coming up and that genuine part is that life. See? And you go back and read these old timers in here. Why, they had that stature individually. But the church didn’t and the church couldn’t until this hour and the whole thing makes for a Rapture. See?

[47-4]  Now you remember… The Bride Tree? You remember the sermon on The Bride Tree? They ate it down, [that’s the caterpillar, cankerworm and so on] but He pruned it. [God pruned it.] It got denominational branches; He pruned them off. They raised up another church: denominational branches; He pruned it off. But the heart of that tree kept growing. In the evening time it shall be Light. [The heart of the tree that kept growing is going to have an evening time light. And you know what happens to things that have life when light hits it.]

That’s when comes Christ, the Holy Spirit. Jesus comes down and sets Himself at the head of the Church, then He will resurrect the Church being His own body. [Now He’s got to come down here to resurrect us, it doesn’t take to resurrect us in mid air, comes down.] In there’s the body,… the way God is expecting us as individuals to grow the way He’s brought His Church… to grow. Every… Age it becomes one big Church.

Now it took Seven Ages to get to where you have the Headstone; He’s in charge, no more vicars, He Himself. There’s other little vicars running around, representatives which is all right, testifiers, witnesses, but the great One Himself is here. See?

Now that’s… he said the individual can have the same experience because you and I admit that through the ages as this transpired and this up here according to 2 Peter, I didn’t even read it for you but I’m not going to go back and read it now, see, really no need for it.

Brings up here so in our individual life in this hour we are the only ones who can come to this place of a life completely dominated by the Holy Spirit with God in the midst of the people. Now you can only get this far here, every Age can only get that far but we are up… we’re up at the very top here, brotherly kindness, God in the prophet, God seen in ourselves and then love which is God Himself can come and take the whole Church over in an individual can be taken over by Almighty God, too.

That’s what I understand Brother Branham to be saying.

[48-1]  See, these… Now listen!… these fellows were not required, what these fellows were… [Now see he was not required what this was required.] This was not required what this was required.

Now watch! This is not required what this is required. This is not required what this is required and this is not required but this little bit in here which is the Bride age though we are in the scope of the Laodicea, we are not Laodicea. It’s an age within an age, what it will be.

[48-1]  See, but He brought His Church up the same way… He brought His Church up the… way he’s bringing His people up. [Going right back and forth] Then Peter here says… [seven things] faith, virtue [see, coming up] knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly love,… brotherly kindness and then the love of God; the Holy Ghost. Christ in the Person of the Holy Ghost comes upon you in the true baptism of the Holy Ghost, and you got all these virtues sealed in you,…

Now don’t get thrown for a loop there. He said, “How do you get them in the first place?” You’ve got to get them by a rebirth. They got to be given to you. They got to be birthed in you, then you keep adding, from the seed, going on up. See?

Now that does not get you the Holy Ghost, per se, you’ve got to have the Holy Spirit and what’s in Him to have this moving in you to get to the place where He plumb takes over.

Then you got a real genuine baptism. In other words, you in Christ and Christ in you and as Brother Branham says in The Spoken Word is Original Seed, “How that that Bride is one with that Word.” We’ll get the quote later on.

[48-1]  Now Christ in the Person of the Holy Ghost comes upon you in the true baptism of the Holy Ghost, and you got all these virtues sealed in you, then God lives in a tabernacle, called the building the Living Tabernacle of the Living God’s dwelling place.

See? Now growing up into the Holy Ghost is what Brother Branham really majored in teaching us, not just the baptism, but growing up into. You don’t grow up into a baptism, a birth; you’re either born or you’re not born but you grow up into.

And this is a lot like I explained before the old [inaudible] conference, the old Puritan idea, but you’re still amongst us, (pardon me,) were amongst us, oh, till about fifty years ago and maybe even less than fifty where the idea was the age of S.T Gordon where he took a bottle with rocks in it and you pour in water.

Say, “That’s great, full of water.” No, it’s not; it’s full of rocks and water. Start taking the rocks out, keep pouring the water, pretty soon all the rocks are gone, all the water is there. Then turn around and do something else.

Let’s just see… let’s just find the person here that’s completely full of the things of the world, and he is full of the world; we are full of that nature. We can’t help ourselves we’re born; now comes the Holy Ghost and the nature changes.

Then watch, watch this faith begins to knock out some of the things, pushing these other things, out of the bottle, strangling the life of them out of there. See? Then you see the virtue added and that begins strangling something else, the virtue that’s in there that you try to operate, the power and authority.

Then you come to knowledge. Watch the knowledge of God begin to push human knowledge out, and right on down the line until you begin to see the takeover and then there’s nothing left but God Himself to take over the vessel.

Now that’s been going on for Seven Church Ages, but this Church Age we’re talking about is Himself come down now. So you watch what we’re saying here as far as I know I’m telling you what Brother Branham said. All right. He said,

[48-1]  Christ in the Person of the Holy Ghost… upon you in the true baptism of the Holy Ghost…

Now let me read it here again, page…

[17-2]  Now could you imagine an old buzzard trying to have a… couple of dove feathers say, “Look here, see, I’m a dove.”… Why we all know he’s a buzzard. That’s all. We can tell… he’s a buzzard.

[17-3]  Well, now that’s the way… people are trying to manufacture Christianity. You can’t do it. The first thing you’ve got to do is be born again.

See? It says up here, God changes your nature by sending the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit upon us. So born again of the Holy Spirit and baptism are one and the same thing, that’s what he said. It took me four and a half hours to get that one.

You can’t go back on what he taught. You see, you’re not starting here and say, “Well, hey, unless I have all these virtues I’m not born again.” You got all the virtues; what are you doing with it? What am I to do with it? That’s the thing. See, are we adding, getting out of the way?

[48-2]  When a man possesses these kind of things, then the Holy Ghost comes upon him. No matter, you might speak with tongues, you might impersonate any gift that God’s got. You might do that, but until these virtues here go into you, you’re still off the real… foundation of faith. But when these virtues grow in, and you add that to that, then you are a Living monument. You are a Living, moving idol.

You don’t become the living moving monument until you add them together. It’s not that you’re not in process; you are in process.

[48-3]  You know, the heathens: they prostrate themselves before an idol [imaginary god] and in an imaginary way they believe that imaginary god speaks back to them. That’s heathenism. [They believe a spirit comes into them, see, from that.]

[48-4]  That’s Romanism. They bow before all kinds of saints and everything else. They have St. Cecilia, House of God, and… many different things like that; they bow to that and actually believe that in a imaginary way. What a type it is of the true living God. [Now watch!]

[48-5]  But… we, not in a imaginary way, but prostrate ourselves before a Living God, a living virtue, a living knowledge, a living patience, a living godliness, a living power, coming by the Living God making a living man a living image the stature of God! [That’s a process.]

[48-6]  …but just walking the same way He walked. Doing the same things He did, because it’s not an imaginary thing! That’s a reality that proves it!

Now Brother Branham has to be talking about himself in this respect here because nobody could do, walk like Jesus and have the ministry that Brother Branham had; that is separate.

So what’s he saying? He said it come up through the Church by messengers so at the end time messenger, Elijah, has the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I don’t.

[49-1]  See what I mean? See how these virtues, these building materials typed in with the Church messenger, with the Church Ages?

So therefore, when you see this you know that you’re at the place of brotherly kindness, you know That’s the Great One that you will major in, this will be the sign as Brother Branham said, “Brotherly kindness is not love,” and he said, “you’re pretty sticky with each other,” and he said, “you’re fussing and you’re fuming, but,” he said, “you let one person get in trouble you watch how the rest will all rush and try to help.”

Now that was a beautiful statement; I haven’t seen too much of it but the prophet said it, it’s there in the real ones. It’s there in the real ones. The real ones will not kick a man when he is down but they won’t stand for hogwash either.

That’s what we’ve blasted all the time in this pulpit; there’s a phony, phony love, there’s a perverted love, there’s a hypocritical love, there’s a hypocritical spirit: there are two vines as sure as you and I are alive and at the end time it’s just so close to deceive the very elected. But never did say there wasn’t a walk and this morning we’re talking about it.

[49-3]  Now, that is the house that God dwells in not a building with a big bell on top… and a high steeple… “a body has thou prepared me.” A body that God can dwell in, God can walk in, God can see in, God can talk in, God can work in Amen! Living instruments of God. God walking on two feet in you. Glory! “The footsteps of the righteous man is ordered of God.”

[Now that’s individual, that’s not William Branham alone now.] God walking in you,” for ye are written epistles, read of all men.” And if the Life that’s in Christ be in you, you’ll bear the Life that Christ bore.

Now it’s not ministry now, that’s that one with the Word, one with God. and remember, love is corrective. To be a Christian, don’t let people just necessarily walk all over you; that means, some people say, “Well, I believe this message but I just don’t fight for it.” What kind… how much do you believe?

Paul was set for the defense of the gospel. The people out here that fuss about us and what we believe; they want to come in and militate against us and have us knuckle down. Why… I’m not a Christian because Lee Vayle is a dirty rotten bird because he dares to stand up and be counted. Well then Paul is a dirty rotten bird, a whole lot worse than me.

You better take… and bring Bill Branham up here, bring Brother Branham and hit him around, knock his bones. There’s too much folly and all the nonsense going around, call it God, don’t call it God but neither live like a buzz saw and call that God either. No sir.

[49-4]  Like I’ve always said: Take the sap out of a peach tree, and if you could transfer it by a transfusion into a apple tree, the apple tree would bear peaches. Sure, certainly… No matter what the branches look like… [Now don’t take this too far because you’re into fruit principles, but you better take it far enough. See? Because there’s a Word goes with it, a message goes with this. There’s a vindicated man in our hour, there’s God Himself and the thing better line up. See?] and give it a “sap transfusion,” and drain from the peach tree over into the apple tree what happens? It won’t bear… peaches anymore. No, Sir. … If the peach tree life comes into the apple tree, rather, it won’t bear… apples. It will bear peaches, because it’s got the life in it.

[49-5]  When you take us, we who are… nothing but a “wild gourd,” a “knot-head,” and there’s nothing to us,… we’re all dead in sins and trespasses [like Paul said]. We’re all in these kinds of conditions,… then we, ourselves, can prostrate ourselves, give ourselves up, until God takes His transfusion tube the Name of Jesus Christ, [because there’s no other name under Heaven whereby man can be saved] and transfer the Life of Christ into us, then we have this kind of faith the faith that Jesus had. [That’s right, we certainly do. No other Name to get saved by, the Spirit of God comes in, then you’re on your start, all those virtues born right in there.]… Christ’s faith was not based in those Pharisees or Sadducees, or in their pots, kettles, and pans,… and washing. It was based on the Word of God. Amen!

See, it will grow right up with the Word of God. How can a man say he has got knowledge and turn down the Word at this end time? Sure, he hasn’t got it. How does he say he’s got faith, revelation and turn it down?

You see everything we stand for here whether we live it or not, look this Church in the pulpit and what we gather for is for one thing, to take our stand with the Word of God that It is true whether we’re phony or not. We can’t prove anything for ourselves.

[49-5]  So much until Christ was the Word. [It was based on the Word of God, till Christ was the Word.] and the Word was made flesh. [He’s talking about us, too, when you receive the Word of God in your flesh… Word of God and you become the Word of God in your flesh.] And then when we can get so transfused by His power that we die to our own thinking, and our faith becomes a genuine faith… [That’s true repentance.] hallelujah! Then the Life of Christ is transfused into us, and we become living creatures of God a dwelling place where the Holy Spirit can send His radiant blessings down through there, and we’re in the stature of Christ. [All in there and watch it come up.]

[50-1]  Jesus said, “Is… it not written you condemn Me, saying I’m the Son of God? [Now listen, this is concerning Brother Branham. This is not Lee Vayle and you people sitting here.] Isn’t it written ye are gods. [Where does it say that about you and me?]

Doesn’t your own law say that?” Like Moses, like Elijah like those prophets who lived so close to God that God just transferred Himself right into them, and they spoke, not themselves, but God. “Take no thought what you should say because it’s not you that speaks, it’s the Father that dwells in you; He does the speaking.” His word is not his own, because his life he’s dead.

Now that’s William Branham. The best we can come to is the original Word, spoken seed. The Bride doesn’t say a thing unless she knows she has THUS SAITH THE LORD which means she has the leading of the Lord to operate in the Word of Almighty God the way the Word of God says It and your motivation is of God, then you go ahead.

That’s your THUS SAITH THE LORD, that’s mine; now we can get that. We can’t get this here, no way shape and form.

[50-2]  If you die, you take the blood out of a man. You embalm him. Trouble of it is a lot of them never got embalmed. You take the blood out of a man, he’s gone. Then the only thing you can do is put another blood back in him. If he’s going to live again; where you took his blood out.… now we put the Blood of Jesus… in! And that brings in the faith of Jesus… the virtue of Jesus… the knowledge of Jesus… the temperance of Jesus Christ; the patience of Jesus Christ; the Godliness of Jesus Christ; the brotherly kindness of Jesus Christ; and the love of Jesus Christ and… which is Jesus Christ! He’s the head that controls you! And your feet are the foundation, faith. Amen! Controlled by the head,… There you are.

Now can you take the literal blood of Jesus Christ and put it in you? Try and do it. I thought he said the life came back on you. Well, you say, “I got the blood that does all of this.” He didn’t say that. You can take these words here and you can absolutely in my books fly apart, say, just forget it.

He didn’t know what he said, we don’t know what he said, nobody knows what he said. See. There is no way in my books God sends a man to muddy the waters that are already muddy. To lock a door with a double lock that’s already locked? To throw seven more seals on, already sealed in? See? Can’t do that. See? God always makes the issues clear and plain.

[50-5]  My feet move. Why? because my head says so. Now we can’t move… [Now listen, now he’s going back to the ages, watch here.] Now it can’t move like my hand, because it’s my feet. Luther can’t do the things… we did…

Now he tells us flat, Luther couldn’t do what he did. And the Lutherans don’t have what we have, and Pentecostals don’t have; and they look back and say, “Well, hey, you guys really ain’t got nothing along side of us.” That’s exactly true when you want manifestation. Go ahead.

But you haven’t got what’s going to put you in a Rapture because the Lord descends with a Shout. Fooled the whole bunch of them, and the manifestation was only to prove the Shout because the Shout is the covenant, and the Blood confirms the covenant and the Holy Ghost executes the covenant. They’re wrong, brother/sister.

[50-5]  …neither can the Methodists, because they were something else. See, the feet move because the head says so… [In Paul’s day the feet moved. Bring it up to Luther’s day; put a feet, because Reformation started there.] the head says so. And the head never says, “Now, feet, you become hands. Ear, you become eyes,” But each age God has placed these things into His Church, and patterned it by showing that each individual has these possesses these qualities. And this “being,” when it’s completed,…

Now when was the Church completed? With the one virtue? No. Are you completed because you’ve got the baptism, you’ve got one virtue? You got them all but it’s got to be moving up. Brother Branham sure threw a curve to people that tried to understand patience.

The first patience he brought out was patience with God Himself and then patience with your brother. Everybody wants patience under conditions, me and my own little house so I can be nice, sweet and calm, nice sweet and calm, and wonderful, wonderful, and the people say, “Aren’t these people lovely, isn’t she simply delightful.”

That’s what they want it for. How patient with God? Huh, patient with God, my foot. Where is the church today? They manufactured their own thing.

[50-5]  And this “being,” when it’s completed, is the Church of God that’s going in the Rapture! [Not going down; going in the Rapture.] And this “being,” when completed, is a servant of God in the Church of God that’s going in the Rapture… [In other words, we’ve got something very special through the prophet and the Word and in ourselves as recipients that’s going to do something for this Church. Sure it did. Till they come out of the ground and we get out of here.] is a servant of God in the Church of God that’s going in the Rapture. Glory! See what I mean? There you are. There’s the full thing.

[51-1]  Here come a man, Paul, laying the foundation. Irenaeus began to pour this on to it,… the next one poured that; the next one poured this; next one that… that… that, and on down till it comes to the last age. And what is it? the same Spirit. The same spirit that dwells in me says, “Hands, reach after that cake.” The same spirit says, “Feet, make a step.”…

Then people say Luther didn’t have the Holy Ghost? Wesley not have the Holy Ghost? Pentecost not have the Holy Ghost? Who’s he talking about? See, we recognize and we know where the Holy Spirit left off. Where they went back, we’re going on, recognizing your day, its message, the messenger, the Token, all of it, recognizing.

[51-2]  Then the whole stature of your being is governed and controlled by these things but it cannot be completely be controlled till it completely possesses these qualities.

In other words, there was no way that he could perform a Resurrection, take complete control of a church and bring about immortality unless this was all fulfilled and here’s Elijah up here with his message.

Now you tell that to the church today; they’ll laugh at you. Let them laugh, I got no time. I got troubles of my own without worrying about theirs.

[51-3]  …Now let me tell you this,… put… on your listening ear. A chain is the strongest at its weakest link. That’s right! It’s no stronger than its weakest link. No matter how strong [they] are built up, this is built up, if its got a weak link, there’s where she breaks.… no stronger than the weakest link. Now, if you possess… You say you got this, this, [that;… then] she breaks. If you’ve got this,… that, she’ll break… You got this… that, it’ll break.… this… [that], it’ll break. This… that, it’ll break. See? And you can’t have this without having this. [In other words, right down the line.] So when you’re surrendering your complete being, then the Holy Spirit pours through in these virtues. Then you’re a Living Tabernacle.

Now that’s not just the prophet. Now notice you see the weak link that weakened; it broke. That weakened; it broke. They wouldn’t let God pour through them where He’s supposed to pour through them, that broke but there’s a life that comes up all the time and if it gets here you and I are there, it won’t break.

See, we’re going to be all right. There’s no problem. Now the individual is like this the saved of the Church.

[51-4]  Then people look out and say, “That’s a man full of virtue, knowledge,… believes the Word, temperance, patient, godliness, brotherly kindness, full of the love of the Holy Ghost, walking around.” What is it? A stature that unbelievers can look at and say, “There is a Christian. There is a man… who knows what they’re talking about. You’ve never saw a kinder, sweeter, godlier person.”

Now that’s wonderful except Brother Branham forgot one thing. The majority are not going to say, knows what they’re talking about. He’s got something here about… yeah, and believes the Word. Do you think a Pentecostal is going to see all these virtues and say, “Ah, I know you have the Holy Ghost?” Say, “Hey, what’s this here about baptizing in Jesus’ Name stuff?

How do you guys believe in one God? Why there’s one God, sure but three persons.” How would you like to fill your income tax in that way? For one family? Just delete one. No, they wouldn’t do that. No, they’re too smart for that. Pretty stupid someplace else, maybe.

“Why I hear that you guys don’t believe in speaking in tongues.” I can show you right here the Bible is full of speaking in tongues; you got to speak in tongues.

Why I’m going to take exception to that remark except there are people who will not go that far and they will say, “I see that you handle the Word of God; I see nothing wrong with it.” Now we have witnesses here that where brethren have given books and they say, “I don’t see anything wrong with it. I couldn’t put my finger on it.”

They read the Church Ages and they say, “I can’t put my finger on it. I’m just not ready to accept it all but I can’t put my finger on it.” Now that person there… I can qualify what they say.

I just want to let you know that Brother Branham was not making a general statement clean across the board that people are going to say, “Hey, you’re wonderful, wonderful.” They’re libel to take you out and shoot you. He knew that, don’t worry. But this is the idea you’re to have that will evoke this, see.

[51-5]  You’re sealed. A seal shows on both sides. Whether you’re going, or coming, they see the seal just the same. There you are, see. When a man, or a woman possess this, then the capstone comes down… and seals them into the Kingdom of God which is the Holy Ghost. [The messenger to the Laodicean Age proves this out. See? Then this is real true eternal security.]

[51-6]  Then the Word, coming from here, manifests Itself through each one of these beings. And makes this complete Being a Tabernacle of the Living God a… living example of Christianity. [Then he talks about they without us cannot be made perfect.]

[53-1]  You get it? These people who died in here are depending and waiting on us. So this Church has got to come to perfection in order to bring the resurrection, and they’re under souls under the altar, waiting for this Church to come to its perfection.

I’m going to tell you something, if every single one of us was as perfect as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself that would not bring about a Resurrection. No way. We’ll never be as perfect as He. He Himself must bring about a Resurrection; He’s got to come down.

He’s going to do it. Then you know every time there was a Resurrection, a genuine Resurrection I’m talking about which is in Scripture, and we’ve had the first part of the first Resurrection; He was right here and in the form of the Holy Spirit because He came out with them. See?

[53-1]  But when Christ does come and this Church, you see, is coming smaller in the minority. [… a whole lot sharper than that, but just like I write that cross there…]

Now he must have had a cross on the board, but the idea is this here that you see you were coming… the pyramid, the pyramid was pretty sharp, see, this little bit here but when you… but sharper still it’s so sharp that it’s just going to have room like for one person. You know like remember, was it Steamship Kelly, what’s his name?

The guy that was the first flagpole sitter, named Kelly? Yeah? Got about a hundred and fifty feet on the pole and sat there. That’s what we’re talking about, there’s room for one person. He’s not going to share his glory.

Nothing in that Bride came from anything outside of God, brother/sister, he threw us all… all that nonsense, that’s out. So the point is much smaller, I can understand that. It’s much smaller, the minority.

[53-1]  …the needle point, until the Church in the minority has got to get into a place until it’s the same kind of… ministry that this left. [Now watch!] Because when this Headstone comes back it’s got a pocket like here where it’s going to sit right in there on a regular pyramid. It just isn’t a cap that sits across the top; it’s a little flange…

[That little flange sheds the water, nothing can come in, see, sealed off. You get this far, see, now… ] rest of stones in the pyramid are laying so perfect ‘til you can’t run a razor blade between them [perfect Bride] weighing tons lying… there. How they got them up, they don’t know, but they were built. But up here, when the pyramid cap does come, the pyramid itself, the Body of Christ will have to be honed [polished] not only just some creed, doctrine, or something we’ve come through it will have to be so perfectly like Christ ‘til when He comes, He and that ministry will fit right smack together. Then will come the Rapture,…

Now he’s talking about a Coming, then comes the Rapture. All right, now look, the Lord descends with a Shout.

Let’s just say that there’s a certain descent but not down to earth, whatever you want to put it, it’s figurative language perhaps because up is down and down… who knows what, it’s all a dimension. We won’t fly there in the Rapture; we’ll go in the dimension. Okay.

Now we’re looking at this picture here and we’re talking in terms of the pyramid being built up. Now he said, “Up here is this flange, to keep the water and leaves and things out but this has got to come down upon.” Now he said, “It’s got to have a ministry that He left in order for that to come down.”

Now is he saying categorically that ministry has got to be there before he comes down or is he telling us flat that what ministry is there proves that that’s the ministry that was left? I don’t care how you take it.

Let’s put it this way, it’s absolutely true that William Branham was vindicated as the Elijah of this hour through the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself at this time to vindicate that prophet to let us know positively that the Token Himself was here and the Message which was the Shout was the authentic Word of Almighty God.

So therefore, before Christ could become the Head of the Church which is by the Word there had to be a ministry authenticating that this was the Head, because the words of man won’t do this. And remember, when you talk about a prophet, a prophet is God manifest in human flesh which means the words of a man won’t do it.

And when I talk about here perhaps when I did go back but I didn’t mention up here, back here is the fact where Brother Branham is speaking here, oh, it doesn’t matter anyway about ‘called sons of God’, yeah, “God saying I’m the Son of God and you’re God,” that does not refer to you and me, that referred to the prophet.

So therefore, when you study these messages, you’ve got to understand where Brother Branham in humility and by direct command of God to veil himself could not come out forth rightly in every single position and tell you exactly when he was speaking about himself but you know better, you know now when it refers to you and when it doesn’t refer to you.

And so in here now Brother Branham is warning the people, “Look, you must not let that spirit of Laodicea get upon you where you can take a chance.” And you can’t just say, “Well, I’m identified because I go to that Church.”

The identification lies in the fact that the Token’s own life is in you and me, and those virtues are coming up and coming up to where we are now in brotherly kindness and it’s not just virtues and fruitage, it’s in there based upon the Word which I’ve been preaching ever since we opened these doors, I said, “Look, if we don’t have that Word we’ve got nothing.”

Now this is where it starts which is revelation and the same One that gave the Word is here revealing the Word and explaining It from the ground up, not going over it all, but as he says over here in the Book of Hebrews .

And I’m going to quit right away, just… get you out of the meeting here and Wednesday, perhaps if I’m able to will continue on page 24.

So what if you did know all of this, not going to do you any good. You can come all the way up through all of this right to here and miss it, just like [inaudible]… look it, these came up here, dropped back. These came up here, dropped back.

Notice they’re getting higher, came up here, dropped back, came up, dropped back, came up, dropped back, came up, dropped back, came up, dropped back. We don’t drop back. Now where do we come from? Right from the original.

Then what is up here in completion? Original and the Holy Spirit has proved it, absolutely, showing the grain of wheat that fell in the ground came right back to a perfected form of the Holy Ghost but you will not convince people until Jesus Himself appears in human form and it’s too late. He has already appeared in a human form through a prophet, God in the prophet.

They had to have… that’s why Brother Branham was a real first-fruit and the man that he was. Now I don’t claim for one minute that you and I are going to be men like that but who knows.

I’m just laying this message out this morning to let you know that I cannot agree that we are a people or should be a people who ought to have a lukewarm spirit upon us, who will settle for just about anything, who let just about anything go, who go backwards instead of forward.

Now I’m not giving this Church an indictment, I’m not giving any type of an analysis or a… anything that you might call a diagnostic and any prognosis, I’m simply preaching the Word of Almighty God and I’m thinking in terms of myself.

And I know that we are not supposed to be tremendously full of joy and tremendously hilarious; the revival is over but I know also there is an assurance and there’s a joy in the Lord, and there’s these things in Jesus Christ that we are evidently not holding high enough.

Now we hold them but we’re not holding them somehow close enough and high enough, and it seems the remedy more often than not is to let little things slip in than it is to kick things out.

Now I’m not trying to get us into a starchy stiff-necked church that’s run by a dictator or you become dictatorial in your home, no way shape and form. I’m talking about He Who is love is here and brotherly kindness and these virtues now, we should be in a much higher level of ripening out and getting the green out than we are.

And I think it’s time that we put some effort upon it in our homes and our lives and our dedication. As Brother Branham said, “If it skins you alive, do something.” There’s lots of things that I’ve looked at… and I just won’t pay the price. I’ll pay the price; don’t worry, harder than I want to pay a price.

We’re all doing it and we’ll continue to do it. The thing is to read the record and to line up with the messages that Brother Branham gave which I call pastoral, which I neglect desperately here and I shouldn’t, I know that but I do in the form of teaching to try to get across to you and help you wherein my ministry lies but I’m not devoid of that understanding.

There’s a life that goes with this and when Brother Branham was here they spurned that life. They certainly did and you can see right across plumb the country.

I don’t want to excoriate preacher friends, and men that I’ve known over the years but how come the preachers that believe in polygamy and multiple marriages and those things when that’s absolutely against the Word of Almighty God. Boot a woman out and get another one.

Now I’m going to tell you what I’m trying to get is this, if that’s in the pulpit I wonder what’s in the pew and I could sweep my eyes around all of you and just wonder. And that doesn’t mean I’m wondering as though I’ve got something that you don’t have because you see as a minister I’m looking at ministers.

As people today you got to look at laity and wonder just where you are at. And not that you and I are going to poke in peacock feathers being hoot owls and things like that.

I’m not talking of that. I’m talking about the fact that we of anybody have a right to what lies in this Word, not only as to what God gives us but what we are doing with and what we’re allowing God to do with what God has given us so we might get out of the way and just settle right down to where it’s not a nitty-gritty cold thing but a judicial loving attitude through the Holy Spirit who has illuminated that Word and we’re going on with God.

Now I realize people cannot be made to do these things, I can’t make you, I can’t make myself unless God helps us, God moves on us and we’re in a very rough time today of unbelief, a very hard time, luke-warmness. That luke-warm condition is hell on earth.

See, that is what started… luke-warm with Eve, “Oh,” he said, “why God won’t do this.” Why he said, “I’ll put you in between the hot and the cold.” He said, “You won’t die.” And he said, “God hasn’t got enough on the ball, or enough guts to kill you. Why, He’s got… ” The luke-warm started back there and the luke-warm is right here.

You notice animals in the cold winter weather, what do they do? Most of them when they get cold they’ll put their heads together and put their rear ends to the breeze. Oh, they got ways of snuggling up and being warm.

The church has got ways of snuggling up and she snuggled up to the wrong one. See? Get rid of the old enemy, get rid of the flesh. This is the hour of softness and temptation and I’d be remiss if I didn’t try to balance this out and show you, look, because we’re highly criticized all of us, oh there’s no life lived down here.

Well, I’m not going to compare people but I said before I’ve admired certain ministers and their congregations and one of which was certainly Jack Bell, my real bosom pal of mine, a real bosom friend, I certainly love his people down there and they love me. I wouldn’t… if I was going to trade any of you people for those down there I wouldn’t know where to start.

I think… I feel the people here are godly people, good people, everyone trying but I’m concerned that we should move onward and upward, just keep moving forward with God and godly holy lives, keeping our families together, not making a family unit as though hey, we exist and nobody else does. That’s like the… See, a family can get that way because a Church can get that way, same spirit gets on every family.

No, we’re all one and there’s people out there, lots of them, and God may by-pass us and take them but at least we had a privilege of knowing, an attitude of love and kindness. So the Lord bless you now as we bow our heads in prayer.

Gracious kind, heavenly Father, we thank You again for the opportunity of being here together worshipping together over your Word, praying Lord God that these words will be taken by You, heavenly Father, and they will be I believe if we are right in what we’re saying and You will mold them into our hearts and make them a part of our lives that we’ll be more godly, more loving, more kind, more circumspect, more everything, until we become the living stature, the living statues as Brother Branham called us Lord, that You have control of our lives, even now You’re in control of this Church and You will get this Church out of here, there’s no doubt about it, You will have a Bride in the Resurrection.

We see that. We saw the Messenger of the hour, we saw him fulfill his role, and Father, we’re going to fulfill ours by Your grace and we believe that Lord.

Help us on that Lord, and rather we might say, help us to let You help us in whatever it is, oh God, and not walking… not giving us a spirit of fear but of love and courage and of a sound mind. Your yoke is easy, Your burden is light. We’ve been taught all these things wrong for so many years, Lord God, where have been the pastors that have been true pastors, where have been the teachers that are true teachers?

We haven’t had them, something has been wrong, desperately wrong; You’ve been maligned, misrepresented, oh God, help us not to misrepresent.

Lord, there’s one thing may we not misrepresent You by word, by deed or anything else, Lord. We’ve had a prophet here I believe that never misrepresented You.

We might not have understood him, now sure like I brought out this morning Lord, things we can’t understand; they’re hard but they’re there and we look at everything he said that lines up, bringing us right down to the place where an abundant entrance as Peter said, into the kingdom is right here at hand at this last hour, waiting for the Resurrection.

Help us, oh God, we pray to be the Christians You want us to be, that’s our hearts desire and we made it public Lord, it’s been public, help us, all of us this morning in Jesus’ Name.

Now Lord bless us this little bit of time we have…