Token #01

…in Your Presence, in this place You’ve set aside for us, singing that song, “Holy, holy, holy,” realizing Lord, that that has been going on in heaven and will continue to be in but one day it will come down here on earth when Thy Kingdom comes upon earth and we will be then Lord, in the position the people You’ve always wanted us to be really in Your image and in the fullness as we have never known it.

We thank You Lord, for what hope we have and we praise You tonight Lord, that we have already a confirmation by the gift of the Holy Spirit, that Token Lord, given unto us. We cannot thank You enough for that Lord, and we believe it, oh God, and that’s just where we stand that our faith Lord, looks up to You, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine.

Help us as we study tonight Lord, and may great good come from this service not because of anything man has to say Lord, but because of Your Word and the Life in that Word. It just takes over our own lives until we are manifested as having been a part of that Word and are still a part of that Word to be even more so that part of the Word yet to come. We’ll give You the praise and the glory in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

You may be seated.

Now Sunday service, perhaps we might have a message, a Christmas message, I really don’t know at this time but we’ll try to look forward to that and then the coming Wednesday, of course, is Christmas so there’ll be no service but the more I’m thinking of our little get together on the Saturday, the 28th, the more I’m concerned that I don’t care if we don’t have a… that picture we’d maybe like to see, the one we talked about, the Operation Thunderbolt.

We just have a preaching service and Foot-washing and Communion, and that will take care of the month of January and also you know that we don’t seem to take New Year’s services the way some people do, a midnight service and continue on, so on, that just might work out the best of all. And, of course, there may be folk coming in, I suppose there will be.

Now what we’re going to do tonight with the help of the Lord and it’s got to be the help of the Lord because I’m just, you know, stepping out by some type of a faith to take the sermon, The Token, [63-09-01M] Now there’s about twelve or thirteen right back there, some of you kind of look together, it’s not that important because I’m going to be slow with it, take my time, and we’re starting on page 3 and Brother Branham says,

[3-2]  Now, solemnly, reverently, we approach the Word. Now, I wish to read this morning from Exodus, the 12^th chapter, and beginning with the 12^th verse the 12th and 13^th verses inclusive. And listen close now. And then before communion, tonight, read the 12^th chapter of Exodus the entire chapter. For just the 11th verse here, is the getting ready for the journey and the communion before the journey. We want to approach this very reverently now… the 12th verse of the 12^th chapter: “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt… will I execute judgment: I am the LORD.”

Now you’ll notice in there that of the time of the Exodus that God particularly puts Himself in the position of Judge because He says, “I will execute judgment.” And not only Judge but executioner. Usually a judge does not execute the law of the land; he simply puts it forth and lets the people know what is right and what must follow and then the power of the State takes over.

So this is where God is leading a people out in order to set up His Kingdom and see how He’s doing it. So God today is leading a people out and you see the picture up there on the clouds which Brother Branham said definitely was the Judge and that’s Revelation 12:1, I believe somewhere, 1:12, I beg your pardon, and that types for this hour.

[3-2]  “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the [plagues] shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” [Now, of course, that’s definitely true in 1 Thessalonians 4, chapter… going on to 5, that we will not be taken into the tribulation.] May the Lord bless His Holy Word.

[3-3]  Now, I want to take a text out of here just one little five [letter] word: Token, Token. I want to speak on the word or teach the Sunday school lesson on the word of a Token. And the Bible said here, “…the blood shall be a token unto you.” And we want to use the word, “Token.”

[3-4]  Now, we don’t know; when I watch the clock, and when it gets time, well… I got many, many Scriptures written down here. So not knowing that I won’t be with you for awhile… and how do we know that this won’t be the last time that some of us will ever meet together!

[3-5]  So, let’s try to approach It just as reverently I know that it is hard. The Lord… gave us a nice morning now for the service just nice…  let’s try to concentrate… on everything that we speak of, so if there’s anything in there that the Lord would want you to know, that it will be given to you.

[4-1]  We don’t stand here just to be seen. We never come here just so others could see what clothing we were wearing… We come here for one thing, as our brother prayed that prayer: “We are here, for to hear the Word the Word coming to us.” We want that, because that [and that evidently must be the Word] is the only thing that is going to mean anything to us…

Now that’s something you have to think about. That’s… everybody is looking for everything else but the Word and the Word is what we should be looking for and that is what’s going to do us the good and of course, Brother Branham said, “The Message of the hour is always the Word of promise and It’s manifested for that hour.” So you can understand why he is saying what he has said there, “The Word coming to us.”

[4-1]  We want that, because that is the only thing that is going to mean anything to us [What does God say about it? What does God intend to do? Are we a part of It? See?] anything that is going to be substantial, anything that is going to help us.

Now that’s really true. Let’s… we just take a look over here in Hebrews 11 and you notice it says…

And faith, of course, is a revelation and a revelation is simply the Word of God made clear and true and pertinent for you. So when he says here, “That is going to give it substance,” he’s telling you that this will impart the faith which is required at this hour in order what God has presented to us may be ours because always by faith we are reaching for that which God has presented to us being available to us.

So he said here,

[4-1]  We want that, because [the Word] is the only thing that is going to mean anything to us anything that is going to be substantial, [see, now] anything… going to help us.

Now many people think that ministries are the great thing but in the White Throne it’s going to be said when people come, “Have we not prophesied in Thy Name, cast out devils, and done wonderful works, and spoken in tongues and had wonderful gifts manifested and raised the dead and everything else.”

He said, “No, that doesn’t profit you one little bit.” See?

So there’s many things that people feel will profit them but it isn’t that at all. It’s the Word of God because after all the Word of God is the Judge; It is the Judge Itself. So these words of Brother Branham are very, very powerful to us because of the background we have as a people who understand a message given us at the last day.

Now he goes on saying,

[4-2]  We are a dying people. [That’s true.] All human beings are headed toward eternity.

Well, that’s right. As one person once said right above your mirror, “Born to die.” That is true. Death sets in at birth. We’re on our way out, of course, death really begins to set in when you’re right around twenty years of age, you start heading downhill.

Then it’s very strange that you’re going uphill for about nineteen or twenty years and if you lived to be a hundred then you’re going downhill for eighty-one to eighty and that’s quite a… that’s quite a hill when you think it’s just twenty miles high and eighty miles down. In other words, one side is a whole lot lower than the other and that’s the way life is. A person ought to realize these things that are so very, very true.

[4-2]  All human beings… headed toward Eternity. [And that’s right.] We got this much time to make our decisions on which way we’re going to head. The road is before us. We can take either side we want to choose. That is the way He put Adam and Eve, and that is the way He puts us.

Now there again you see we’re right back to Brother Branham’s statement of the power of choice, and of course, the power of choice lies within the soul. Then you have that after the age of accountability particularly, then it devolves upon you to make a choice.

Until the age of accountability Brother Branham said, “The record goes on but there’s not much volume of noise on that record that God is making to play it back to you at the White Throne,” perchance if you should have to go there, rather than be at the Judgment seat with the Bride and all, but you will be at the White Throne even if you’re judging.

And he said, “Then the noise and the static really begins to appear after a certain age which would be the age of accountability.” So, all right.

Every one of us were born to the position of having to be accountable to God whether we want to be accountable or not. See, that’s what they brought up to Paul in the 9^th chapter of Romans where he mentions the fact that God said, “For this cause I’ve raised up Pharaoh. So then it’s not of him that willeth or him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy.” He said, “I will compassionate whom I will compassionate,” and He said, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.”

And then they said, “Why then doth God yet find fault?”

“But nay, who are you, oh man, that repliest against God?”

See, people say, “Well, I don’t think that this really is the fair way to have things where God’s got us on the spot.” Well, that’s… very great. Why don’t you go to the boss and say, “I don’t think we should be on the spot?” Well, you go to your steward and he goes to the… union president and goes right to the Supreme Court, maybe and he might get some satisfaction but you try to get it with God?

Most people just don’t realize that sovereignty is sovereignty, you know. It’s really a case of put up and shut up or shut up and put up, whichever way you want to put it because that’s what the Bible says, “Who are you to reply against God?” Put up and shut up. Right? Sounds slangy but it’s the truth. You say, “I don’t think God would say that.” Well, God did say it and I’m saying it for God because that’s what Paul said.

Only I’m using vernacular a little bit slummy but I don’t have any problem there because I’m sort of a slum gully myself, you know. All right.

He puts us to the choice and he says, “It’s in the soul where the choice is.” All right.

[4-3]  Now we must remember that no matter what we do or how successful we are in life, without Christ, we have totally lost everything…

And that’s true. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things are added unto you,” so therefore, if you missed the first precept, you’ve missed it all. Remember, the rich young ruler, remember, Brother Branham used that in Leadership [65-12-07] where he talked to the rich young ruler that Jesus loved him and he said, “Sell all you have, give to the poor, and take up your cross and follow.”

He didn’t say take up your cross but that is part of it. And the rich young man had too much money; that was too big of a cross.

Now he came to his decision and he turned… the power of choice led him to keep his money and money is a trap. It’s a bigger trap than anything. I think it’s about the far greatest trap because the Bible says, “The love of money is the root of all evil,” and I think that pretty well settles the question.

So all right now, later on as he gets old, he’s very successful, and he adds farm to farm and land to land and he makes more and bigger granaries and he’s got bigger and bigger crops and bigger, bigger everything, you know, like you know how it is that Texaco is buying out… What’s it buying out? Getty or somebody and we got somebody now buying out United Steel and somebody buying out Beatrice and the Supreme Court is listening to it when if Mr. Regan is a Christian he ought to know the Bible is against joining land to land. So this nation’s doomed.

The man that’s supposed to be a Christian and members like Hall and all these guys screaming about being Christians and don’t know… why they wouldn’t know God if they met Him in their porridge. That’s an old Scotch saying. I’m not Scotch but I accept the Scotch, so it’s all right. So they wouldn’t know Him. See, there’s just nothing to it.

So this rich young ruler got bigger and bigger crops and more and more lands joined together and he said, “One day,” he said, “I think I’ll retire,” he said, “soul, thou hast much good laid up for many years, eat, drink and be merry, take thine ease and have a great time.” And out of heaven thundered a Voice saying; “This night thy soul is required of thee.” So what good did it do?

You see now, I realize there’s lots of things in life that are pertinent to us and the Bible tells us that everybody, every male especially has got to have a job, especially if he’s married he’s got to supply for his family; he’s obligated. And It said if a man doesn’t take care of his family is worse than a heathen. Now that’s what the Bible said. Yet a lot of people don’t believe that. Well, they don’t believe that for nothing.

But that’s the Bible. Now you know it comes with great promise out of that. If there’s a judgment verse; there’s a promise. Now remember, God has got us as His family, then God is obligated to supply us jobs if we want jobs. You say, “Well, I don’t know if that works.” Well, then you talk to God about it. I’ve seen it work. It does work. See? So there’s obligations in here but that’s part of the kingdom of God and searching It, see where true eternal life is the Word goes with it.

You cannot bypass the Word of God on one promise, because that one promise as soon as you take it away from the Word of God then you’ve lost the Word of God. Absolutely, every Word of God lies within the framework of the Word of God. There isn’t one verse that stands alone as to a private interpretation; it all goes together. That’s… you can’t even take out one word, can’t even add one word. Got to watch that Word; that Word’s tremendous.

Now,

[4-4]  So… if He is all that there is to look forward to, then we would be a most foolish people not to accept It and cherish It. [Now that’s the Word and Eternal Life, of course, we’re coming together in it.] Not only accept It, but you come to something greater than that. After you’ve got It, don’t take It… lay It on the shelf It is to be put into use… [Now I got to read the next paragraph with it. We’ll talk about what he really means here.]

[4-5]  Like going to the doctor to get medicine and then set it upon the shelf. If you go to get the medicine, take the medicine. If there is a disease bothering you, and this remedy is supposed to help you, you take what he gives you.

Now that’s a…that’s a very blunt statement there about even Christians if they go to a doctor and you’ve got to trust them many times, that’s what Brother Branham said, “If you go there for medicine you got to trust him and doctors are of God.”

I don’t think every doctor is of God any more that every preacher is of God, but doctors are… The institution is of God the same as preachers are an institution of God and they’re there for a purpose. Now he said, “You’ve got to have faith and you believe what he gives you. You take it.”

[4-5]  And… sometimes, just a few minutes makes a lot of difference in the way you give it. [Or the way he gave it to you, of course.]

Now this sermon we’ve already read, I know it and heard it each one of you here and so therefore, we know what’s in this message in a way already. And you’ll notice that Brother Branham brings out later on about the Bloodshed must be applied and so this is looking at it.

Don’t just know that there is a salvation. Don’t just know there is a way for God to receive you by the Blood. Don’t just know that there is such a thing as the baptism with the Holy Ghost. So many people deny that. But is to lay hold of it. Now that’s what he’s telling you here.

“Lay hold of the things of God, the promises, all these things in there.” This would be known as the obedience of faith where It says, “Repent, and be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, then walk in the light.” See? Just the same as it said concerning any promise.

[4-6]  How do we know, but in this case today, just one moment of your decision might determine your eternal destination? Take It just as He hands It to you.

Now he’s speaking to an audience and the reason he’s using this language is he knows that many people are not baptized with the Holy Ghost. So knowing that they’re listening to what he’s saying there’ll be many who will accept what he is saying, if not everybody, there’ll be many.

And out of that many there’ll be there who are not full of the Holy Ghost, so he’s telling them look, “This is the time you can make your decision and some of you will make a decision, you will believe and be baptized with the Holy Ghost or you’ll go down another road.” Now he said, “Just how quickly you can do that, one moment takes care of an entire lifetime, takes care of an eternity.” And he said, “Take it as he hands it to you.”

Now Brother Branham is standing as a prophet of God was literally handing to them, not that he could give anybody the Holy Ghost, anymore than Peter could heal the crippled man at the Gate Beautiful. But being the emissaries of God and using the Word of God and being genuine seed, genuine ministers, and those ministers have fantastic power. I know a lot of people don’t believe that but hold your thought.

Let’s go to 2 Corinthians and just take the picture here and we go into that 4^th chapter, we’ll read the 18th verse first of all…

Now Paul let the people know right there that he was doing business for God in the unveiling of people from a wrong interpretation of the Word and thereby, superimposing upon them and transferring to them through the power of the Word and the office given unto him, God moving, and they come out in the image of God.

Now someone said, “Well, just a minute.” Now I’m just a minute, not for one minute with me. I’ve stood too many times in the pulpit and said just out of the blue sky, “You’ll not leave this building changed, someone will not leave this building.”

Lives have been completely changed and turned around. I got no more to do with that than nothing. I’m not a prophet. I’m not even a good teacher, very poor teacher but I ramble around until maybe somebody gets a little bit of help. But these are all in ministries. See?

So Brother Branham says, “Your destination can hang in this service this morning that I am conducting,” because he’s a true representative, a delegate, a legate, an ambassador in the stead of Jesus Christ, and also in a manner that super… that passes what you and I have though we in a lesser degree fulfill that very requisite.

[4-7]  A token… “The blood shall be to you a token.” Now, what is, first, a token? It is a word that is commonly used among [us] English speaking people, especially here in America.

[4-8]  A token is a really, the dictionary says a token is a sign. [For example,] it is a sign of a fare… that is already been paid… the fare or [the] price [as] required price that has been paid… like a fare on a railroad or a fare on a bus line. [They give you a ticket, you see, for a token. Usually tokens are more like subways and trams and you know, things like that. The more common means of transportation.]

[5-1]  You go in and purchase your fare, and then they give you a token; and that token cannot be spent for anything else but to that railroad line [or to a ride on that railroad line]. It is a token to the railway company that you have paid your fare. [Or you paid your fare to the railway company, the cost, to get a token which allows you to get on the train. They drop the turnstile and you go right on in.] It is a token, and you cannot spend it for anything else. It doesn’t work on any other line. It just works on that line only, and it is a token.

Now since Brother Branham went to the dictionary I’m not trying to upstage him now but I went to my dictionaries, about twelve volumes, whatever they are there and so here’s the ‘token’. This is going to be interesting, ‘token’. And I won’t read all the little funny things they put at the top here.

One: Something intended or supposed to represent or indicate another thing or an event. Now you get that? I’ll read it again. That’s very good. Something intended or supposed to represent or indicate another thing or an event.

In other words, it’s not the thing itself but it’s there instead of it, representing it, standing for it, meaning that, and if you’ve got the one you will be able to get the other that this represents. See? Okay. A sign; a symbol; an evidence. Okay.

Number two: A characteristic mark or indication.

Three: A memorial of friendship. How do you like that? He’s talking about the Holy Ghost; you know really when you’re getting right down to it. He said, “I call you friends. I’m not going to leave you friendless,” he said, “without a… I’m not going to leave you orphans.” Huh?

Something by which the friendship or affection of another person is to be kept in mind; “If you being evil know how to give good gifts how much shall your heavenly Father who really knows all about love and is love will give you the Holy Ghost?” See? A keepsake; a souvenir; a love-gift.

Four: Something that serves as a pledge of authenticity, good faith, or the like; a witness, a signal, and you’ve got Scripture for this, and he that betrayed him had given them a token saying, “Whomsoever I shall kiss the same is he.”

[Five:] A signal.

Six: A piece of metal having the general appearance of a coin and practically serving the same purpose. It differs from a coin in being worth much less than its nominal value, and in its being issued, as a rule, by a private person without governmental sanction as a guaranty that the issuer will on demand redeem the token for its full nominal value in the legal currency of the country.

What country does the token come from? So what you get here is what I might call the modicum, the… just the teeny drop which is the Holy Spirit Token, that represents everything like the drop of water would represent the entire oceans of the world and they’re all yours.

Tokens have generally been issued by tradesmen to provide a convenience of small change when there was an absence or scarcity of the government coinage of the smaller denominations of money. So, all right.

We have our Token, the baptism, until He gets here. Come on, do you got your thinking on tonight? Your silence doesn’t mean you’re not thinking but I hope your minds going like mine now, so you’re really catching what we’re driving at here, justification, sanctification gives way to the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the baptism of the Holy Ghost gives way to the Holy Ghost Himself.

One in a Million, Phoenix: Masterpiece, [64-07-05] Jeffersonville.

[Six:]  Leaden tokens, now very scarce were issued by tradesmen under Elisabeth and James I. In 1613… took place the issue of Harrington tokens. During the Commonwealth and so on, and all tavern-keepers of nearly all English towns issued brass and copper tokens, generally inscribed with a name, address and trade of the issuer, and with the nominal value, usually 1d.[pence]1/2d. [tuppence] or I guess it’s 1/4d [a quarter] or whatever those are.

I don’t know what that would be named. These specimens are known to collectors as “seventeenth-century tokens” eighteenth century tokens and so on and then right down the line. And even the churches have them and right down the line there’s token, token, token, token, just has many, many, many uses but you can see now with that in mind, it’s on the tape so you can copy it off if you want it or even run it off on the duplicator upstairs.

You can see why Brother Branham used the dictionary and his definitions are extraordinarily good and this one is even more complete to give you insights that are perfect from the Word of God as he taught us. All right.

[5-2]  Now, down here, that we’re speaking of, where we’re [standing] in, is God saying to Israel, “The blood of the lamb is a token for you.”

The blood’s a token. Now notice, the blood then is a symbol only for it does not represent itself nor stand there for itself. It’s a symbol of representing as a sign that a life has been taken. That’s what the token says. The token says a life has been taken.

[5-3]  Now, Israel’s lamb slain was Jehovah’s required token.

Now just a minute, is the language perfectly correct? Well, yes and no. The language is correct but let’s look at it this way. Did God have to see the lamb or did He have to see the blood? He had to see the blood, so therefore, the lamb slain provided Jehovah’s required token but the lamb itself was not the required token, but without the lamb there wouldn’t be a token, so you do wrap them together and it’s feasible and it’s very fine to put it that way, but notice his next sentence.

[5-3]  It must be the blood. [So what’s he really saying? God required a lamb to be slain and the blood of the lamb was the token.] God made a token and gave it to Israel, and no other token will work, see. It cannot be recognized.

Now watch! God furnished the token because He provided the lamb, like Abraham said, “God will provide a lamb.” So all of grace God does the providing, God does the giving. Now no other token can be recognized, no matter what a person wants to present in that hour there’s no way any token can be recognized, just that one, that alone.

[5-4]  Now to the world, it is a bunch of foolishness, [That’s right, to the Greeks foolishness, to the Gentiles; they don’t want it] but to God it’s the ONLY way, [without the shedding of blood no remission of sin] the only thing that He requires is that token. It must be there, and you cannot have the token until the fare [that’s the price] is paid.

Now just a minute, that’s fine if you’re going to go get a ticket or a token to drop in the turnstile to get on the bus or the Tram. You pay it. But when you want to get on God’s heavenly railway there’s no way that you can buy that Token. That Token has already been purchased, like Brother Branham says, “No way to get on unless this Token has been purchased.”

No way for anybody to get into Paradise unless the purchased price has been paid. And it doesn’t say you paid it either. I tell you Israel didn’t pay a price; the Lamb paid the price. Remember Jesus did not inherit the Bride; he earned the Bride. What he inherited was the Name. The Father’s got the same Name as the Son.

[5-5]  Then, you are a possessor of the Token which gives you the privilege [Now watch it.] of a free pass:

Now if you paid the price of a token you didn’t get a free pass, but if somebody else paid the price, you got a free pass. And remember, was it Feldman or I think his name is Feldman, the great economist, about the best we got.

I think that’s his name, he said, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch; someone’s got to pay for it.” And there’s no such thing as a free pass; somebody had to pay for it, but it’s free to you and me.

In other words, put it this way as the Scripture says, “Come without money and without price and buy.” So you see the Scripture lines beautifully, just even the way the prophet put it. All right.

[5-5]  “[When I] see… I’ll see the Blood; I’ll pass over you.”

[5-6]  What a time… what a privilege to know that you pack within you the “pass”. [Now he’s talking to you and me, not referring to Israel back there.] “When I see the Blood, I’ll pass over you.” [The Blood is on the outside.]

[5-7]  It is the only thing… He will recognize. There is nothing else… could take its place no substitute, no denomination, no anything else; it takes That. [The Token.]

[5-8]  God said, “That alone will I see.”

[5-9]  No matter how righteous they were, how good they were, how much education they had, how they dressed, the Token was the only thing. “When I see the token, I’ll pass over you.” [That’s the one sign that God looked for because that’s the one sign that proved evidentially that the Blood had been shed and they were taking It.]

[5-10]  The Blood was a Token… The Blood was a Token [actually in this case, the proof] that the requirement of Jehovah had been met; [What was the requirement? Take a lamb, kill it, sprinkle the blood,] that it had been done. The Blood stood for the Token. [No, the Blood did not stand for the Token.] The Blood was the Token, [Notice how he corrects it.] The Blood was the Token, see. [No matter if a man just made a little teeny slip in there or a little bit hazy God always brought him right back.] So the Blood was the Token…

[5-11]  The Life that God had said, “That the day you eat thereof, that day you die,” and there’d been a substitutionary life taken for the life of the believer. God in mercy, accepted a substitute for the life of the defiled person. [See? So the Token showed that the sinner accepted God’s substitute; that’s what it did. You got a substitute, so therefore, how can you die?]

[5-12]  When His child had defiled himself with sin of disbelieving the Word, then God, rich in mercy, made a substitute, and that was: something had to die in [his] place. Nothing else could work.

See? Now remember, all sin in unbelief, so the antidote is renewed faith. They had to come back to faith. And it had to be faith in the blood, and notice, that Cain came to the hour when he had to make his decision and the blood was there and had been accepted of God and he tried another token, it wouldn’t work and he rebelled and killed his brother and literally blasphemed God. See that? You got to watch that decision.

[6-1]  That is why Cain’s apples, peaches, and so forth didn’t work. It had to be a life that had blood [in] it, and the life was gone from the sacrifice. [And] …the blood was the token that God’s order… that God’s order had been carried out.

Remember His first order was ‘Don’t eat or you die,’ now they disobeyed in unbelief, Eve did. And you know something? That God didn’t say to Eve now, “Do you believe if I’m going to make a sacrifice, will you go ahead and make one?”

He didn’t do one thing that way, He made the sacrifice for her and Adam. And you know what? Because they were children of God they did accept it. They dressed themselves in the skins of the very blood of the animals that were shed. And you can’t get anything nicer than sheepskin.

[6-2]  Now, what did God require? the life. The blood showed that there had to be a life gone, so the blood was the token that the life had been given, [Now that’s a perfect definition right there.] that something had died, God’s requirement that a life had been given, and the blood had been shed; and the blood [was]… the token that the life was gone. [Or the token stood and brought forth the fact that the blood was gone because you wouldn’t have that blood unless the life was gone.] The life of the animal that God had spoken of should be taken, it was [sacrificed] the blood was then… the token. The believing worshipper was identified with his sacrifice by the token.

Now I’m going to skip over here to page 12 and paragraph 8.

[12-9]  The Blood was shed at Calvary, that is true, but the Blood as far as this, went back into the elements from which it came from the food that He lived on.

Now that was fine for Israel, but remember, this is only an illustration of this hour, the token applied, only those going in will be full of the Holy Ghost. Okay.

[6-2]  The believing worshipper was identified with his sacrifice by the token. [so are we by our token.]

[6-3]  Now, I don’t wish to stay too long on these little quotations which… could take the entire service on one of them but I want to stop here a moment to express that the believer had to be identified with his sacrifice.

Now that’s good. Now see what he’s doing, he’s taken blood token now going to sacrifice. And you cannot have blood without identification. If you don’t identify and there’s only one identification that’s when God’s in you, He’s identified with you. See?

[6-4]  [Now] if it just the sacrifice and made somewhere out there, he gave it; but he had to be identified in it. Frankly, he had to place his hands on [the sacrifice,] first, to identify himself with that sacrifice. And then, the blood was placed to where he could stand under the blood.

[6-5]  The blood must be over him, and that was a token that he had identified himself, guilty, and proven that an innocent substitute had taken his place.

[6-6]  What a beautiful picture. Oh… [redemption,] see. Justice had been met, and the requirement of God’s Holy Justice had been met; and God said, “Now, I require your life.” [That’s what He said when justice was meted out because the man, woman sinned but now there’s a sacrifice so they’re free. Now they died physically but they’re going to come back.]

[6-7]  Then when the life had sinned, then an innocent substitute took its place. It was a blood beast not apple, or peach.

[6-8]  That ought to absolutely make the serpent seed so plain to everybody… it was blood, and this blood which could not come out of fruit, came out of an innocent substitute. The life had gone out… [of] his place, and the blood was a symbol that the beast had died, and the blood was gone out.

[6-9]  The worshipper, applying the blood over himself, showed that he was identified in the redemption because he has identifying himself with the sacrifice, connecting himself to the sacrifice, and the blood stood as the token. How wonderful! What a picture it is! It is a perfect type of Christ. Just exactly.

[7-1]  The believer, today, standing under the shed Blood, identified with the Sacrifice just as perfect as it can be.

[7-2]  And how that Christ, not being an animal… You see, the animal died, but it was the most innocent thing that we have, I suppose would be the animal, the lamb. When God wanted to identify Jesus Christ, He identified Him as a Lamb. And when He wanted to identify Himself, He identified Himself as a bird, a dove. [And] the dove is the most innocent and cleanest of all… bird life, and the lamb is the most innocent and pure of all… animal life.

Now there’s a couple sermons where Brother Branham said…  “Lamb Led by a Dove [60-08-05] and On the Wings of a Snow White Dove [65-11-28E]; he brings this out very clear.

[7-3]  So, you see, when… Jesus was baptized by John, and the Bible said, “And he saw the Spirit of God like a dove coming down upon Him.” [The dove descended on the Lamb. That’s the truth. “Behold, the Lamb of God,” he saw the Spirit coming down like a dove, a dove of fire.]

[7-4]  Therefore, if it had been a… wolf, or if it had been… [another] animal, the nature of the dove could not have blended with the nature of the wolf.

How can… how can any… how can serpent seed or reprobate ever get the Holy Ghost? If a person wasn’t foreknown in the election and then coming down through predestination there’d be no way, that there’d be no way. That’s why you got Matthew 7 with many coming up in that day and claiming many gifts where they are anointed but they’re not full of the Holy Ghost.

[7-4]  Neither could the nature of the dove blend with any other animal, but the lamb. And those two natures came together. Then they could agree with each other.

How can two walk together, live together, except they be agreed? Like Brother Branham said, “If you didn’t have representation back there you don’t have it now. If you weren’t in Him back there, you’re not in Him now.” That’s true.

That’s simply the Word of God. There again, of course, it’s a matter of put up or shut up. People say, “Don’t tell me God would do that?” Well, don’t you tell me God wouldn’t do it because He said He would.

You know the evidence is against the carnal thinker. The Bible warns you’ll never figure this Book by your own carnality. You got to first of all as Brother Branham said, “Take it flat the way it is.” God’s His own Interpreter, He doesn’t need interpreting.

It just means what It says and says what It means but man always wants to get his head in there and of course, it never works for the poor guy that just sticks his head in there. It won’t work. See? They could not…

[7-4]  Then they could agree with each other.

[7-5]  Now, do you see predestination? It was a Lamb when He came here, see. See, it was a lamb when it was brought; it was a lamb. It was born a lamb. It was raised up a lamb…  

Now we all like sheep had gone astray. The great Sheep did not go astray. The great Sheep died for all sheep, see. But you know something? There’s going to come a time when they’re going to scream, “Hide us from the wrath of the Lamb.”

Whoever saw a lamb mad? Well, He will be angry, full of wrath. See? Right now He’s the Judge which came to avenge. Next step, the Judge revenge. See? Okay.

[7-6]  Therefore, that is the only kind of a true Spirit that can receive the Word, that can receive Christ. The rest of them will try. They try to get It, and put the Spirit of God upon a wolf, see angered, ill, mean. It won’t stay there. The Holy Spirit… flies right away. It will not do it.

Brother Branham said went so far as to say that “even a person that is predestinated cannot receive the Holy Spirit the way he is. God gives him another spirit, puts a new spirit in him, then the Holy Spirit can come to him.”

[7-7]  What if that Dove had come down, and instead of It being a Lamb there, would been some other animal? It would’ve quickly [taken] Its flight and gone back… and when It found that nature that It could blend into, It just become One. And then, the Dove led the Lamb; and notice, It led the Lamb to the slaughter. [But it had to because there’s only one recourse, that’s blood.] Now, the Lamb was obedient to the Dove. See? No matter where it led, it was willing to go.

[7-8]  I wonder today, when God leads us to a life of complete surrender and service to Him, I wonder if our spirits then sometimes don’t rebel, [kinda] showing that wonder if we are lambs, see. [Well, you know the fact of the matter is it’s got to be God in you willing and doing of His own good service and pleasure or it isn’t accepted anyway. There’s got to be a takeover.]

[8-1]  A lamb is obedient. A lamb is self-sacrificial… it doesn’t claim its own. You can lay it right down and shear the wool off of it [It’s] the only thing it’s got [to give], it never says anything about it, just sacrifices everything it has got. That is a lamb. It gives everything… away itself and all that it is. That is the way a real Christian is. … they’re [self-sacrificial] themselves, caring nothing for this world, but giving all [they’ve]got to God.

Now the question would come up then, is this the evidence of the Holy Ghost? Is this the rebirth? Well, let’s just read Broken Cisterns. [64-07-26] I’m going to take Broken Cisterns, page 13 and paragraph 17…

[67]  I said, “The most perfect evidence… “The most perfect evidence I can think of is love.”… [Because that was the question I was asking him on the baptism of the Holy Ghost.] so we got to talking on that. And then I thought, “That sounded pretty good.” So I just held that: If a man’s got love. But one day the Lord in a vision straightened me out, and He said that the evidence of the Spirit was those who could receive the Word, neither love nor speaking in tongues, but it’s receiving the Word.

Now that doesn’t say that the gifts are on the shelf and gone. That doesn’t say that you throw out love. It doesn’t say you throw any of those things out. It just said, “The evidence is receiving the Word and believing It for that hour.” So don’t think it’s something else while we read this.

[8-2]  And now, this was a perfect Lamb Christ was.

Okay, that’s over in Isaiah 53. Two portions of Scripture we’ll take a look at here and I guess verse 7…

And with that we’re going to go to Exodus 12, that’s that chapter there and it’s just two verses again…

Now what did I read those two for? Because the trial of Jesus Christ and the flaying and all and the keeping in there at the judgment was to see that he was a proper Lamb and the fulfillment of all Scripture which he most certainly was and he proved that he was the Christ, the Messiah, yet He died for the sins of the people and He worked their redemption by the course that God had set even from the Garden of Eden, from eternity actually because he was the Lamb crucified before the foundation of the world.

Now,

[8-2]  And then through the shed… [shedding] the shed [blood] of this lamb, the natural lamb in Egypt, the blood was applied. And when it was, it… [became] a token. Then, what would the Blood of this Lamb stand for? the Token that we are dead to ourselves and identified with our Sacrifice. Then the Lamb and the Blood and the person becomes identified together the Sacrifice and the believer.

Such as it says, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling,” or as it says in Romans 10 when Israel is going about to work out its own righteousness, it did not submit itself to the righteousness of God; they had none of their own, “All our righteousness is as filthy rags.”

Actually it’s not simply the Lamb, the Blood and the person but it is really this, it is the Lamb, the Blood, and the Lamb life and the believer where four makes the perfect deliverance, because if you just had in there which is true, because he’s already counting that as, as understood but if you just said the Blood and the person becomes identified together, the Sacrifice and the believer that’s very true in there but the actual token of this hour is the Life has to come upon us, so therefore, you have Jesus and you have the Bloodshed and you have the life from the Blood and you have the believer. So you come up with the four which is perfectly legitimate according to Brother Branham’s numer… numerics.

[8-3]  And you are identified in your life by your Sacrifice. [In other words, you got the same kind of life, you got the same kind of love proving that you have the true sacrifice and you got the true Spirit of that sacrifice. See?] That makes you what you are. Then the blood was a token of identification. [That’s right. That was the token, see? The blood was.] The blood identified that the worshipper had slain the lamb and accepted the lamb and applied the token to himself, that he was not ashamed. He didn’t care who saw it. He wanted everybody to see it. And it was placed in such a position, that everybody passing by could see that token.

Now the Word of God distinctly says in Acts 1:8 that there need to be witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth, so this is perfectly right that there will be witnesses when they have the token, not before they have the token but after the token they become witnesses of a great and high caliber.

[8-4]  See, many people want to be Christians, and they like to do it secretly, so nobody… [knows] that they are Christians and the associates they run around with. Some of them would think, “Well now look, I want to be a Christian, but I don’t want [to be] so-and-so to know about it,” …

Well, that’s very true but what about the folk that claim they’re Christians especially some of these great sportsmen. They claim they’re born again. How much born again are they? No more than nothing. Well, they’ll claim it but you watch their lives. I think maybe they might claim it to add respectability to their sins. That’s a little bit something like the jewel in the swine’s… in the snout of a swine. Not too great.

[8-5]  [Now,] well now, you see, that is not Christianity. Christianity has to display its Token publicly in public life, at the office, on the street, when trouble is around, anything, in the church, everywhere else. [Well, certainly because it’s a life and you got it; it’s going to show.]

[8-6]  The Blood is the Token, and the Token must be applied…

Now using that, his illustration, all the time to bring us to this hour; they had the blood was there, they had to apply it, the blood was there; they had to apply it. It wasn’t their blood, it was the scarified blood.

They had to apply it. It had to be visible. And it would be visible; naturally it would be visible if you applied it. Application is the way God said to do it. Application is not some other way.

What if they were to put it on the what do you call them? Not the lintels and doorposts, but put it on the threshold; it wouldn’t work, can’t trample it.

See, they put it on the two uprights and above; there you are, completely caged, complete protection, and if you want to know the truth, the good Shepherd lies right along at the door, He becomes the door to the sheepfold. See?

[8-6]  The Blood is the Token… [the Blood] must be applied, or… even the covenant is not in effect. [That’s true. No covenant. People can scream covenant all they want.] The blood was a token or an identification, identifying this person has been redeemed.

Now that’s very good right there. It is an identification. It shows that the believer was in a covenant contract with God. Now the covenant contract… I don’t know if I can find that or not because I’m not too good at going to Hebrews and pulling it right out where I want it. It might be around chapter 6, I don’t know. Yeah, here it is.

Now what did Abraham have to do? Just wait for what God had promised. Abraham entered the covenant which God said, “I will do it all. I will see to it all,” and He did. Notice, that God swore by Himself. We’ll get more of that down the road when Brother Branham tells how safe this Token makes you.

[8-7]  Now… they were redeemed before there was anything that ever happened… [Now listen carefully.] they were redeemed before there was anything that ever happened. By faith, they applied the blood. Before it actually happened, the blood was applied by faith, believing… it was going to happen.

Now that sounds a little bit abstract, doesn’t it? Or obtuse in there? But maybe it’s not so bad.

Hebrews,

Now, it said, “By faith he applied the blood before anything actually happened which was according to contract.” They applied that blood, and God gave them the perfect safety. Now we got the same thing right today.

[9-1]  Before the wrath of God passed through the land, the blood had to be applied first. It was too late after the wrath had… fallen. [It will be too late when the Great Tribulation comes.]

Look you got the same thing over here. It’s 1 Thessalonians 4th chapter where he said the Lord will descend from heaven with a Shout and they’ll be caught up, and he said,

So he tells you right there that the Bride is going to be taken out of here. She’ll be in the light. Remember, Israel had light in Goshen when all other light was darkened. There was no light but what Israel had. And we’re in the darkest age of them all but we do have the true light and remember, one glimmer of true light is worth a billion glares.

You see? That’s right. We’re living in the glow, not a glare. Now God’s church was safe back there from death, safe from destruction. Egypt got destroyed. So will it be in this hour, the Bride will be gone and the tribulation will set in.

[9-2]  Now, we have a lesson there that we could… maybe bring it to your thought, just a moment. [See] look: before it happened. For there is coming a time that… you’ll not be able to have any Blood applied.

Now that time is setting in. This is something he mentioned in the Seals, and of course, people got excited and thought, “Well, the Blood’s off the mercy seat. It’s all over,” this, that. And yet in Souls that are Now Imprisoned, Brother Branham brought out that the day was coming when the temple was filled with smoke and then it was all over.

Remember, redemption still comes to the 144,000 but as far as the Gentiles are concerned it will be just as though there is no blood. Why? It wasn’t applied. What wasn’t applied? The Token, the Holy Spirit, see?

So, listen, the Word of God, brother/sister, as I said awhile ago goes together in continuity. You cannot take one verse of Scripture, like, look it, John 3:16 is almost a blasphemy in the face of God.

“He laid upon him the iniquity of us all.”

And you get a proof text salvation where the preacher says to the sinner, “Well,” he said, “now look it, you know you’re a sinner.”

“Well, I don’t know if I am.”

“Well, you know that you stole and lied and done some bad things, yes, well, you’re a sinner.”

“Yes, I’m a sinner.”

“Well, now the Bible distinctly says you’ve got sin on you.”

“Well, I guess that’s true, I’ve got sin on me.”

“Well, the Bible says here that He laid all the world… all the sin of all the world upon Him, so therefore, He laid your sin, too.”

“Yes, that’s right, too.”

“Then if he laid your sin on him then you haven’t got any sin.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“Shake my hand, bless God, you’re saved.”

Now it all sounds good and if the Holy Ghost was behind it that’s great. Come on, you know that’s not right. Proof text salvation. They got a name for everything. That wasn’t the name I’d call it; I’d call it corruption but it’s still proof text salvation. See, that’s the way they want it. See? All right.

[9-3]  The lamb was killed in the evening time, after being kept up… fourteen days… then the lamb was killed, and the blood was applied in the evening time. You get it? [All right. Now, this is an example of looking at the Token in this hour. And remember, it was at the evening time. See? That’s what we’re looking at. All right.]

[9-4]  The token never came into existence until the evening time. And this is the evening time of the age… we live in. This is the evening time for the Church. This is the evening time for me. This is the evening time of my Message. I’m dying; I’m going; I’m moving out [into] the evening time… Gospel.

Now just been getting ahead a bit; page 11, paragraph 6.

[11-5]  There came from the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, water, blood and life. And the whole Church, the Bride, together… [Now notice!] the whole Church, the Bride, together has been made up through justification, sanctification and the Baptism of the Holy Ghost which is the Token.

[11-6]  “…these [all] wandered about in [sheepskin] and [goatskin] and [were] destitute, all these things that they [did,] yet were not made perfect without us.”

[11-7]  And the Church in this day… has received the Token of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that the Blood has been shed, and… the Holy Ghost is upon the Church…

He didn’t say upon each individual, in each individual; he said, “Upon the Church.” And the Holy Ghost would never be upon any church that wasn’t already seed because the Token, the dove does not come upon a wolf and he’s talking now of the Church, doesn’t talk of individuals. See? Putting it there so we got to watch carefully some of the things he’s saying and trying to place them just the way he’s putting them forward to us.

[9-5]  We’ve come up through justification and so forth, but this is the time that the Token has to be applied. I told you last Sunday, I had something I wanted to talk to you about  this is it. The time when you just can’t play with it. It has got to be done. If it is ever going to be done, it has got to be done now, because we can see that the wrath is about ready to pass through the land, and everything from under [the] Token will perish. The Blood has identified you.

Now, if I got this here: Desperation [63-09-01E]  .

[09]  Now, you people in the tapes in there… This morning, the message this morning was to me the [highlight] message of my entire ministry… [that’s the Token message like we’re reading here] the [highlight] message of my entire ministry. Someday I’ll tell you how it came about. And I know that everything has worked for months and months… up to that one message, moving up to come to that place. And that was the capping-off time of it…

You know, that’s very strange. Why would a man spend all years preaching a sermon he should have preached at the beginning? Because how are you going to get a message and how are you going to understand anything if you don’t have the Holy Ghost to understand it with?

He must have the cart before the horse unless he’s talking of something the people don’t really think he knows what he’s talking about. How can the Holy Ghost cap off when bless God that’s your start? You only come into Christ by being baptized with the Holy Ghost.

There’s something in here that that a Pentecostal and a fundamental mind’s not going to get a hold of, otherwise the prophet is… something he hasn’t got a hold of. I can’t believe that. I can’t believe that for one minute because I saw too much.

[10]  Now, I’m sure, or hope, that you got… what the Token meant. See? The Token is the sign that the Blood has been applied, that the price that’s been asked, required of God, Jesus paid that price by shedding His own Blood. He did that. Then, from His life came the Holy Spirit. And when the Blood is applied to you, the Holy Spirit is the Token that your price is paid. God has received you, and that’s the Token. Remember, that is the Token. [He’s talking to the individual right here.]

[11]  Now, there’s many people who [don’t]…  They… don’t know what that Token is… what that Token is… and you have to make it like… nobody knows it [see?], so that… all of them will get it. Just like preaching salvation, we have to preach salvation in a way that everybody it’s for everybody, which we know it isn’t. We have to preach Divine healing for everybody, yet we know it isn’t. See? Jesus come to save those who were in the Book of Redemption before the foundation of the world. He… [came] only to save those. Who they are, I don’t know. See? But you nobody can have faith unless you say it’s for whosoever, and it is. Nobody can come unless God’s called them. That is true.

[12]  So there’s many people that won’t be saved. We know that… God knew that before the world began… wouldn’t be saved… many that won’t be healed [see?], many won’t be healed. They just can’t… grasp it. They don’t know what it is. Many will be. But we preach it that it’s for everybody, because we don’t know who that person is; we just don’t know. But that is… whosoever… some people just can’t grasp that faith.

[13]  Now, and the same thing about this Token. The Token, we have talked to the Token all the way along, but now see is the manifestation of the Token…  

Not just baptism of the Holy Ghost, it’s manifesting time. What’s been going on all along, members being baptized into Jesus Christ and the Great Baptizer Himself. See?

[13]  …now is manifestation of the Token.

[14]  Now, we have sometimes allowed It… The Lutherans allowed It… accepting the Word, accepting Christ as personal Saviour. [In other words, that was the measure of the Word, the measure of the Spirit, they were born again.] The Methodists said, “When you get happy enough to shout, that’s It.” The Pentecostals says, “Speak in tongues, and you got It.” And we find out that all of it was wrong. See? The Token is the Token. [Now apply it to yourself.]

It’s you and Christ as persons together. See? It’s the Holy Spirit, His Life in you working His… own Life through you. And it’s for the rich, the poor, or for whosoever will… [Now see, it’s not gifts. The Holy Spirit has gifts but He’s not gifts. He’s a Person. He’s a Life. Individually, for everyone if you’re born again. See?]

[15]  Now, remember, [what] the Token is… You go to the [railway] company and you buy your fare. There’s a price, costs,… fifty cents to ride this bus line or… [railway] …to Charlestown, Indiana, costs fifty cents. Well now, the company puts out tokens… See? Now, the thing you do, you go down and someone purchases your fare, fifty cents. They give you a token that gives you the right on that train till its destination, wherever that train goes. See? That’s a token.

[16]  Now, this case, the blood was the token. Literally, it had to be applied, because it was just a chemistry is all [that] they had, because… a lamb’s blood, a animal, a lamb’s blood. So the life that was in the blood, the life… was gone out…  So the blood was shed. See? The life went out, but it couldn’t come back on the believer, because it was an animal. [Now that’s back in this day, Moses’ day.]

But it only spoke of a good conscience that there was a coming One, a perfect Sacrifice. And to make it a perfect One, the whole Judge, the God of heaven, [became] the Sacrifice, Judge, Jury, and Attorney. See? He [became] the Sacrifice, and then when His Life went out, which was God… And the Word there where it comes, “… I’ll give unto them Eternal Life”…  Now, in the Greek… [I know I’m talking to scholars. … See?] … And the word in the Greek… is Zoe, … it means “God’s own Life.” [It does in that respect.] And “I will give unto him Zoe, My own Life.” Christ and God was One. [That’s true.]

[17]  Then the Life that was in Christ is the Holy Ghost, not the third person, but the same Person in the form of the Holy Spirit, coming upon you as a Token that your life and your fare is paid. You have been accepted. Until that Token comes, you’re not permitted on the highway. You’re not permitted on the… bus line. You’re not permitted to go… until you can present this Token, and that Token is your fare… now, It shows… the Blood has been shed and been applied to you, the price has been applied to you, and you have taken the Token… the Blood is applied to you and you’re accepted. Get it now?

[18]  Now…  No certain evidence. See? You say, “Brother Branham (I feel it in your minds. You see?), why will I know?” Look! [In other words, he knows their thinking, “I’ve got to have an evidence.” Now he said, “Look.”]

Look! What were you? And what are you? There’s how you know. See? What were you before this Token was applied? What are you after It’s applied? What were your desires before, and what are your desires after? Then you know whether the Token’s applied or not. And these other things just automatically go with that. See… [Now remember, that’s… not the evidence of the baptism with the Holy Ghost. It’s no way. This was preached at a different time.]

[19]  Like, talking about it and say, “Tongues is the evidence.” Now, I will… buy a pair of shoes; the tongue isn’t the shoe. It just comes with the shoe. See? Now, the same thing is the Token. The Token is Christ. But speaking in tongues, and casting out devils… doing [these] things… preaching, and whatever, it is… [it is]… [it’s true]; it’s there… See? [But it’s not the evidence and it’s not the Holy Spirit.] It’s a gift of It.

[20]  If I told you… “I want you, Brother Branham,” and I give you a gift [see?], well, that’s not me, that’s my gift. [Brother Branham said, “I give you a gift, I’m not the gift, I’m just giving you a gift.”] Tongues is a gift of the Holy Ghost, not the Holy Ghost, a gift of the Holy Ghost.

[21]  …the devil can impersonate any of these things. But he cannot be the Holy Ghost. See? He can impersonate [those] gifts, but he can’t be the Holy Ghost. And the Holy Ghost is the Token that the Blood [has] been applied, because It follows the Blood all the way from the Book of Redemption. See… That was the purpose of Him coming. That’s what He followed in every age. Every age He’s followed that to see that It’s brought forth… [See, and every age God stood over that, absolutely, to see that it be brought forth.] they could not be made perfect without us. And now [listen,] the entire Holy Spirit visits the church making God in human flesh as He did before Sodom, the burning there…

Now he’s telling you flat, “I am the prophet of God. I am God’s prophet. I am that Word.” You see the linkup? The manifestation? It wasn’t there before, never came with this age but people were filled with the Holy Ghost.

Now then how can anybody be filled with the Holy Ghost and deny what the Holy Ghost Himself in evidence has presented in this hour? See? Can’t be done and going right to the Word every single time and showing it.

People say, “Well, I think that’s too obscure. That’s one man’s idea.” Is it when he’s vindicated? Let them produce it. They can’t do it brother/sister. I’m going to tell you something, if this isn’t it we’re a million miles ahead of anything else.

You may have to shoot the last ten miles you’re in but you’re at least a hundred miles ahead of the other guys behind you. Now that’s not going to happen but you know why I’m saying that. In other words, there’s nothing to this other.

[21]  Then Abraham, He appeared to him.

[22]  And all the things that He hasn’t done down through the ages, in the church ages, He is… doing… [now. That’s not your baptism with the Holy Ghost. You didn’t do that. I didn’t do that. No way, there’s your combination there. There’s the King, the Judge, the whole of it, evidential, strictly. Notice!] all the things that He hasn’t done down through the ages, in the church ages, He is… doing now.

Back to the Word, because the messages and the messages and the messages has to wind up in the entire Word. And in the last days, the Seven Seals being opened, was to pick up every straggle that’s been left off in it and make the whole thing in one great big body of the Bride, [That’s our part.] that they who lived back there were not perfect until this Church be perfected…

Now they’re completed and gone in the ground and their completion is over. We don’t get that kind of completion, “it’s appointed unto man once to die.” This age is appointed to immortality, the group that won’t die and unto them the Son of righteousness arises with healing in his wings.

The same what’s immortality. And the same One that arose is the same One that brings forth the dead because He descended with a Shout which is a Message the Voice which is the head of the Church to raise the dead and the Trumpet is the summoning to the Wedding Supper. He does all three in the form of the Holy Spirit until the Church be perfect.

[22]  …the Bride group in the last days, to bring them in and altogether be taken up.

All right, let’s look at Scripture. He said, “If I don’t send Elijah,” he said, “I’ll just come with a curse.” Well, you take a look at that curse. I look at a little more than just the fact that every Bride, every member would have to die and none reach immortality.

I look at the fact and wonder could the dead even rise at this time? I don’t believe they could. They’d have to wait for the White Throne. So there’s perhaps a whole lot more to the depth of Scripture than we’d like to believe because we like to sort of over simplify it for the sake of our traditions and somebody else. Well, you can’t do it.

[23]  The Token, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, is among us. [Why didn’t he say, “It’s in us?” both.] We should reverence that. We… can’t humble ourselves enough. Taking off your shoes or getting on your knees wouldn’t… satisfy it; it wouldn’t suffice… but a life that brings forth the fruit of the Spirit…

[24]  Now, what is the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace… [and so on. See?]

[25]  Remember this morning? Preparation, sent the messenger with the Message. Next thing He done after He sent the messenger with the Message, He sent the Pillar of Fire…

What’s he talking about? Token. When did you do have a messenger come with you in a Pillar of Fire to get the baptism? Yet he’s not taking away the baptism with the Holy Ghost.

Look, brother/sister, let’s go to Ephesians again and see this thing as perfect as a-b-c. It sits here so pretty.

Until redemption runs out to the Gentiles, every single person will receive the Holy Ghost to be in the Bride and it’s going on now. Now what happens at the end?

What power is that? The power of the Resurrection which nobody can know until this hour and we’ll know it. How? Through a transformation which is not from dust and gasses but from the literal corrupted and carnal and mortal by the transforming power of the Word. It’s going on now.

That wasn’t going on before. So what is he telling the people, what they had in the first age, the Holy Spirit was there, get baptized with the Holy Ghost. Now Alpha is Omega, the Omega’s He’s here again as He was with Paul He was with William Branham proving that everything through the ages has been perfect and now this is a perfect Word of the hour.

That’s why He’s capping it off. He has to. It started with the understanding of the Presence of Almighty God with a prophet, the baptism with the Holy Ghost bringing in a Bride. It ends the same way. It’s got to because He’s Alpha and Omega.

Why I don’t know what people are looking for, brother/sister, I’m sorry for people, but what am I going to do. All I’m going to do is almost blow a gasket because I got nothing to do with it; it’s up to God.

[9-6]  Notice, for the animal life could not come back upon the human being. When the blood was shed, the life went out, of course, because it was a unit. [True.] And when the life blood was gone from it, the life being different from the blood…  [Now that’s right. The life is different from the blood, but they’re a unit.] Now, the blood is the chemistry of the life, and the life is something different from the blood.

Certainly, one is a physical conduit for the other. Just like the Word is a conduit for the Holy Spirit. How could you have a real genuine Holy Spirit move without the Word? Why, the devil would come in so fast, boom, and the church is gone just like that, and it’s gone just like that, and it’s gone just like that.

Du Plessis thinking the pope had the Holy Ghost. Check this pope out. I challenge you. Get your Reader’s Digest and read, “The kidnapping and death of Father Jerzy” [Popieluszko, 1947-1984] where the pope said, “Blessed crucifixes, is my lovely son, Father Jerzy, what a wonderful boy.

Pat, pat, kiss, kiss, love, love, crucifix, crucifix.” But he lets old [inaudible] the cardinal that he could, pull out of there, and sock in the mug and throw him in the ash can, knee to the guy and play footsie with the Communists. So where’s the pope? He’ll play footsie with anything.

You got it, Joe; you know what I’m talking about. It would almost make you cry when the poor Catholics so deluded, the Protestants are worse than they are because they built the image to her. The beast that was wounded, the Roman Empire dying was brought back under a Holy Roman Empire, so called, the eternal city, watch her blow.

Commies got a bomb with her name on it right now. We’ve got a bomb with our name now on it, too. Let’s get out of here. Well, if it took the way of the bomb, praise God, atomize is as good as any way, maybe better. We’re going to get atomized by the Holy Ghost. The Bible says, “A change in the atoms.”

So you see what’s going on brother/sister? Every place you turn, the mark of the beast. They’ll all get together. Why do you think Gorbachev is softening up right now? This could really be a soft way, soften everybody up, let the guard down. Hey, hey, nice guy in the Kremlin. Wife wears fur coat, she’s pretty, speaks beautiful English, University professor.

Gorbachev dresses like a Fifth Avenue Wall Street businessman, “Man, oh, hey, hey, things are getting great.” Those Commies are coming around. Yes sir, oh, how stupid can the world get? Poor Reagan. If they had an ounce of brains what they’d do and listen and lower the taxes and never mind preparing war… it’s not going to do us good anyway.

He’s got some good ideas but they’re just about as good as you know, old Nebuchadnezzar when it came time to grow hair like feathers, or feathers like hair what it was, get down like a beast. Good man, the president, but you know it isn’t going to work. All right.

[9-6]  When he shed the blood… When he shed this blood of the lamb, he had to apply the chemistry, [How soon here?] The life is in the blood… the animal life could not come back upon the worshipper. When he shed this blood of the lamb, he had to apply the chemistry, because that the life was gone and could not come back upon the man. [That’s right.] It could not come back upon a human being because, the animal life doesn’t have a soul.

Now in Proverbs 12:10 it says, it says the life of the beast which is soul. There’s only one place in the Bible, but that doesn’t mean that the beast has a soul like a man. He doesn’t have a soul like a man. There’s no way. A man’s got a living soul. Animals haven’t got choice.

They haven’t got morals. They just got instinct. So if they have a soul, you can say, well, they’ve got a soul because somebody wants to argue, say, “They haven’t got a soul like ours.” Don’t have a living soul and don’t have an inner soul. You can’t compare animals with man, no way. The life couldn’t come back. See? Why? There’s no connection.

[9-6]  Therefore, that animal life could not come back upon a human life… [No way. It never was a living soul. It’s got something there but who cares?]

[10-1]  Now, there is a life, a blood, a life, and a soul in the life. The soul is the nature of the life. [Now watch what he said there. He said, “The soul is the nature of the spirit.” Now he’s telling you something here.] Therefore, it has no certain nature. It was an animal. Therefore, the blood stood for a token that… life had been given. [That animal has no certain nature; he’s got an instinct, can’t tell right from wrong, can’t make decisions like man can. Now certain things he can learn because it’s an animal; he’s living.]

[10-2]  But in this glorious place, under this covenant, there is a difference between the Blood and the Life.

Now he’s not talking now about Israel. He’s talking about now. In the evening time it shall be light. The Token in the evening time, the manifestation, upon the Church sealed in, individuals sealed in, Church sealed in, capped off, see, you come up through a body to Headship.

People don’t understand that either; it just goes over their heads. They can’t figure it. I say, what started it? Headship! What finishes it? Headship! That’s not hard to understand, just keep saying it and you’ll understand it. Just keep saying it. Don’t back away and say, “What does that mean?” You’ll bug-eye yourself out of everything.

Let your eyes sink back where they belong into your head. Let the Holy Ghost touch your heart, not your eyeballs. Let it get past your eardrum; that’s all.

[10-2]  But in this glorious place, under this covenant, there is a difference between the Blood and the Life. [Always was and always will be.] The Token for the believer today is the Holy Ghost [Always was, Paul said so right there.] not a blood, or a chemistry; but it is the Holy Spirit of God.

Now it’s not the entire Spirit of God; it’s a modicum, a speck like the size of a sperm maybe but everything’s in it that you and I need. You take a sperm with an egg and it brings forth a life. Then you put a little sperm size of the Holy Ghost in here if we’re the egg we’ll bring forth a life and comes forth in the image.

That’s as simple as a-b-c. That doesn’t make us God and God in us. Your father’s in you, mother gives the bedding ground and your mother is in your father too, because God matched up us as a pair; He knew where it was. Just get your ears a little expanded. Let your own thinking go and reach out a few miles. It’s all you got to do. It’s not as hard as you think.

If I can do it which I’m not doing too good a job, of course, you could soon pass me in high gear but if I can do a little bit I don’t see any reason people get bogged down in the snow and the mud. See? Now,

[10-2]  …not a blood, a chemistry; but it is the Holy Spirit of God. That is the Token that God requires of the church today. [Individuals receive, the churches better receive. The church turned that down. “Oh, that’s just some phenomena.” Ho, is it? My, my, my.] God must see this Token. He must see It in every one of us. [Wise virgins. Not foolish; the foolish are left out.]

[10-3]  Therefore, as the evening shadows are appearing, and the wrath is ready to be poured out from on high upon the ungodly nations, and upon the ungodly unbelievers, upon the professors without a possession, upon these things and I’ve tried to unfold myself and live right among you, to see where it was standing before I said these things… [He wasn’t pointing way down the road. I would guarantee that what he’s saying here was in that congregation, maybe not a lot but some.]

[10-4]  Oh-h-h, we are living in the shadows, and the wrath is ready to strike, and God is requiring a Token that you, yourself, have received His Token the Holy Ghost. It is the only way and the only sign… God will ever pass, because It is the literal Life of Jesus Christ returned back into the believer.

It doesn’t say, upon the Church; he says, “Into the believer.” Now language has got to mean something or forget it, in my books it does. You don’t say to me, “Hitch up the horse,” and mean drag the car out of the garage.

I’d look for a horse to hitch up and say, “Well, look it, I don’t hitch up horses.” I’d have to be honest. I used to do it one time but I never much cared for horses except four hundred fifty under the hood and a tiger in the tank.

[10-5]  The animal life could not return back. Therefore, a blood had to be placed on the door, upon the lintel, upon the post of the door, that every passer-by the whole public, everybody coming in the house knew that there was a sign on that door, a blood, that a life had died at that door. Amen! [In other words, the life has to be lived. That’s true.]

[10-6]  And that is the way it has to be with every believer, today…

But remember, Brother Branham also specified the life was lived a certain way in this hour, because you see, you could have as much love as even a Bride or more and be a Christian Scientist or a Pentecostal or something else and be right off that Word. See?

It’s got to be… brother/sister, listen, let’s put it this way. I don’t care how good your testimony and my testimony is as far as our life and people looking at us, if the Word of God doesn’t match up with it.

That’s why I said this church has got to be built upon the solid Word of God of faith and from there we go. Otherwise forget it. If you haven’t got that foundation, we haven’t got it here, then what is the use? It just isn’t going to work. It is the literal life of Jesus returned back in the believer.

[10-6]  Now that is the way it has to be with every believer today filled with the Holy Ghost, a Token that the shed Blood of the Lamb the Life of… the Lamb, has returned back; and it is publicly sealed in there, that everybody passing by, talking to you, has any association with you, seeing… the Blood has been applied, and the Token of… Life that was in that Blood is upon you. You are safe from the wrath. That alone, not membership, no, sir.

Now there’s a life to be lived because of a Life that is lived in us but that is not the evidence alone; it is that Word. It’s got to come out of that Word.

There’s got to be a striving because of that Word. Now people can strive because of the other word. Well, just a minute, didn’t Cain strive because of the other word? Certainly, what does it do?

[10-7]  The animal life could not come upon the believer, because it was an animal, and it only spoke of a conscience showing that there would come a perfect Sacrifice. [True.]

[10-8]  Now, how could there be a more perfect Sacrifice than God Himself becoming the Atonement Himself? When God was made flesh and His Own creative Blood that… only… that a Life of God could ever come back, because all of us was born by sex. [Okay, that’s about the end of it. A little more?]

[11-1]  Therefore, the life that is in there is of the world, and the life will not stand. It is a thing that is already judged and condemned. You cannot patch it up. There is no way to patch it. There is no way to smooth it out. There is no way to make it better. It has got to die!

Now what if this other life that is so idealistic, so full of love, so full of compassion, so full of God’s talk, so full of this and this and this, and you got a real wonderful Pentecostal church out here moving literally heaven and earth, what if it doesn’t have the Word? It’s got to die.

Now do you think they’re going to put that to the death because of this man’s Message? No way shape and form. They’re going to go right to the ecumenical slaughter, the mark of the beast, because already they’ve denied that they have not the evidence of the Holy Ghost which they attribute to signs and wonders and say, “Look, we got the same Holy Ghost that man had and we got a bigger ministry now than ever. He blew it.”

Where does it put you? You say, “Well, that’s maybe we’re just going to little bit too far, maybe we’re getting proud, or we think we got this, we’ve got that.”

No, my brother, my sister, that’s not it at all. that’s the truth. It’s got to die. Do you think they’re going to let it die? Come on, they’re not going to let it die. They’re not going to let it die. There’s no way; they’re going to stand on it.

You don’t think Paul didn’t have an exemplary life; Paul had an exemplary life. Don’t ever forget what I read over here in the Book of Romans. Paul said, “Who are Israelites?” That is Israel. To whom pertaineth the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Word, the service to God, the promises, who have the fathers, and of whom concerning the flesh Christ has come.

You couldn’t beat that with a ten-foot pole. They had it. Election, adoption, everything, and they blew it. Paul had it and he killed it. Huh, and the Israelites killed him.

Now do you think for one minute that they’re going to… this bunch that doesn’t believe Brother Branham of whom he said he took three quarter million to their churches, do you think they’re going to accept him and his word and turn down what they got? Hogwash! They’re not going to kill it.

We got only one thing in common with them and that is we want to kill our carnal nature and I know they do too, but there is no such thing as a killed carnal nature until the Word of God comes in and kills it. You got a discipline. You got an anointing and that’s very nice but that’s not the truth. You still got death in the pot.

You see why it’s got to be a Word church, brother/sister? Do you see where they got off the Word in the beginning? It was the Word that started, one simple little word, it’s all yours, now stay with that Word. Adam, I’m telling you where you’ll fall if you’re going to fall. Eve, I’m telling you.

Trippity-trippity-trip. “I ain’t’ going to fall,” and if they fell back from innocence then to that condition look where we are today, serpent seed mixed up and everything else. It went off the Word then; it’s always been off the Word, off the Word, off the Word, off the Word, off the Word. What’s going to get us back? On the Word! Then somebody’s got to come and get us on the Word. Who’s going to do it?

Elijah and restoration. But do you think they’re going to believe it? They’re not going to believe that; there’s no way. Now we’re foolish enough to believe it. You know what? Let’s see what God does with it. I’ve seen what He does with this. So I’ve got all the assurance I need that He’s going to do the rest. I believe you do too. The Lord bless you, that’s the end of the tape. An hour and a half has gone by, let’s rise…