Shalom #1
A Course in Self Improvement
Brother Lee Vayle
February 19, 1989

Heavenly Father, we want to thank you again for your love, mercy, and grace and the divine compassion that you have had in your heart for us, in that You have not only manifested Yourself, Lord, vindicating Yourself, but You have brought Your Word; and we know that’s the Word, like a two-edged sword, O God, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart, separating, dividing, declaring righteousness unto the righteous and wickedness unto the wicked, and drawing that dividing line—the fan in Your hand, the great Judge—all things. We know, You are here and doing Your Will, Father. We know it’s not really real to us yet, but we’re standing with It, and one of these days, at the right time we know It’s going to be as vivid to us as It was with the prophet, who already knows that It’s realer than he ever had It. We thank You for that privilege.

We’re just going more and more from the negative to the positive. We know that, Father. We’re so happy to know it in reality, and we’re just plodding on by Your grace, until one day, we’ll take the wings with the morning and be there at the glorious Wedding Supper. We cannot thank You enough for it. We praise You for it, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

You may be seated.

1. Now we’re going to start this morning, but first I apologize to Bro. Joe. I forgot to phone him and tell him we’re going to deal with “Shalom,” the message that Bro. Branham preached in Sierra Vista back in 1964 at the turn of the year, as a New Year’s message.

And he’s speaking to a house meeting there, where (Bro. Isaacson was the pastor.) there was somebody that Bro. Branham knew was ill, had been away or something; and he doesn’t mention his name, but he starts by saying: [“Shalom” 01-12-64]

[1] So glad to see him this morning. (He’s in the building there. And then, he says:) Sorry to hear about this brother that was with us the last time here, that’s got cancer, is in the hospital. We know that we only have one avenue out of this, and that’s the avenue of death.

Now, listen to what a prophet says in the face of Pentecostals and everybody that teaches divine healing. It’s, you know, a little bit too much that we want to be like the old… Well anyway, there’s always jokes about black people. Why? I don’t know. I guess because there’s jokes about Jews and everything else. But the story is told of the old black doctor that… He had a patient. And that patient went to him for a long, long time, and the doctor kept averring that the man was doing just great, and getting healed and doing just fine. So, the fellow up and died on him.

“Well,” he said, “there’s one thing I know. The man died healed.”

Which is true, you know, in a way. You can be healed and still die. But here’s what Bro. Branham tells us. This person died of cancer, and that was the way that God wanted him to be taken off the earth. He said, “Something’s got to take you off this earth.” I think, maybe, there is in this age, too much emphasis on a social gospel that’s amongst the Pentecostals and the power orientated people, who talk of re-birth and talk of the greatness and goodness of God; and they‘ve got two things in mind: money and health.

“Well,” you say, “anything better?”

Well, [Bro. Vayle laughs.] that’s right, if you want to look for the world—if you want to miss God.

2. You know the major concern of people… Dale Carnegie brought it out in his book. The major concern of the people, number one, is to get along with people. That means have a nice, social, well-behaved, good flowing life. And the next thing is health. You can be a millionaire and dying, what good’s your money? The next thing is health. Actually I think it’s reversed. I think today the number one question is health, and who cares if you get along with anybody? If you’re in good shape, you’ll outlive them! Let’s get healthy! Bro. Branham says something’s got to take you out of here. And being orientated to this, because it’s in the religious world more than ever, it seems that people literally hold themselves or others—not in contempt, but would more or less impute something to them or themselves that would make them to consider themselves inferior, because they’re sick.

Oh, I know there’s lots of Scripture that says, “If you do so and so, you won’t get sick. No diseases. You do so and so, the diseases come upon you.” Well, he said the diseases of Egypt! What if there were diseases in Palestine that didn’t belong to Egyptian diseases? You go out here and live in sin, and get AIDS. That’s your tough luck. That’s a plague. There’s nothing going to cure you.

But you say, “Well, I wouldn’t get pneumonia!”

You can get healed of pneumonia. What if you died of pneumonia?

3. I had TB when I was a kid. I didn’t ask for it; just got it. The doctor did well by me; he put me on eggnog—quarts of eggnog a day. Lucky my mother knew how to make a nice fig syrup that she put in those miserable eggnogs. I hate the taste of raw egg today. She poured it in so I could drink the stuff. And our cow turned out to have TB! I’m getting TB of the lungs, and the cow’s got TB. No wonder I had troubles. Well, I got over it. Then, I get TB of the pituitary gland. If it weren’t for God, I’d be dead. But you see, that’s different. TB is literally incurable. You can’t cure it! But God can heal it. Yes sir.

We’re not saying, “Roll with the punches, and don’t have faith.” Look, faith actually, though in many cases doesn’t overcome cancer; it puts you in a good position to endure it, if it’s going to get you out of here. Every disease can be compensated for in many ways that God’s laid down. Like “a merry heart doeth good like medicine,” and “a broken spirit drieth the bones.” That’s where the marrow’s made. Never, though, ever believe anything different from the prophet; but then, don’t take it and run with it!

“Well, I gotta die. I guess I’ll have cancer.”

You’d never get cancer. You might be like Sister Belle, the black lady in Bro. Branham’s church.

“Well,” he said, “she’d died such a nice easy death. It’s no doubt she had nothing to account for.”

You know, it’s like she’d done something where she had something coming back on her. There are many people who send their sins on before hand; others follow. In other words, if the life isn’t too good, many times things will come. But evidently, her life was right up there. Then, on the other hand, like the apostle Paul, you could have terribly bad eyesight and have your head chopped off. So, he’s telling us, “Look, diseases take you out of here.” So, don’t try to make a big doctrine out of this, some great big thing. Just know that you’re going to be taken out of here. Bro. Branham died in a car wreck. He had arteries like a sixteen year-old person. How many sixteen year-olds here have sixteen year-old arteries? My! Want to make a test? You might flunk it.

4. [1] There’s an avenue of death… Now listen, we all have to walk that path, whether we be the most righteous, even the most holy one of us, we pack one another over one another’s graves.

You go out there, the graveyards full of graves, people that died, and you’re carrying somebody over the graves to put another one in the ground. And your turn’s coming. You know the big thing is: to be ready for it. The thing is: to be built up in faith in Christ.

Like I said the other day, and I meant it. I can feel good even when I feel bad. That’s because of what? Of you people. You’re my contributors, because you sit here; you come here. Most of you can’t wait for the church door to open. Some, I suppose, don’t care if it ever opens. That’s your business. You’re the loser. I’ve been here as I told you this morning, so sick, sweat dropping off my body, pushing myself to utter exhaustion. You think there’s not a reward? I didn’t do it to stand up here and be nice. I’d sooner be out there sitting in the sun. I’m just plum lazy. I admit it. I don’t like to exert myself. Well, I love the Lord, to a degree, and I know the Lord loves me without degree. And I love people—to a degree! But mostly to a very good degree. See?

We’re all going to die. Are we getting ready for it? Daddy Bosworth died. Oh, my! That old bald headed fellow. He wasn’t very handsome. He was so ugly he was handsome. He had a certain… Listen, I’ll spill the beans on me more than anybody else. He had a certain pride about him; he tried to get on Bro. Branham. And Bro. Bosworth always showed his pictures when he was young and handsome. And you know why I hated that? Because there was a fellow in Canada named Jack Taylor, an ex-policeman who was a champion wrestler of Canada! And he was pitted against a guy called Bull somebody, from Montana. Great, big bruisers. And I saved and I saved my nickels and my pennies, and I couldn’t wait for those two men to come to town so I could see these handsome guys get in there and really fight. And Taylor walks in, bags under his eyes, bald headed, ugly as sin, and a great big pot gut on him! [Bro. Vayle makes noises.] I thought, of all the hypocrisy, those birds had the nerve to put young pictures in there.

So, here’s Bro. Branham. He’s getting up in years, and his head’s quite bald, and he doesn’t look too young, and Daddy Bosworth has him with all these young pictures. And I said, “Bro. Branham, that ain’t the way I see it. Let’s get some new pictures.”

5. Brother/sister, we don’t need to worry about trying to look we were sixteen. I saw a picture the other day of when I was about that age. I wasn’t too impressed. Then, I stand before the mirror and someday I say, “You handsome devil; you look fifty-five.” The next day I say, “You ugly dog; you look eighty-five!”

So, I add the fifty-five and eighty-five, comes up to a hundred and forty, divide by two, and I look seventy. I’m only knocking off four years. [Bro. Vayle laughs.] We’re all going to die. What are we doing about life? What are we putting into it? See? That’s what really counts.

6. Now this age right here, there’s going to be mass death, as Bro. Branham called it, “atomic bomb fodder.” Several places he called it “gun fodder.” Human lives. Something is going to take us out of here.

Now look, the sweet Spirit of Christ—that is the Holy Spirit, because there’s only one Spirit. The reason people think there’s many spirits is because God has one Spirit; and, because He’s doing a certain thing, He designates what is being done, and He titles it! That’s why it’s God—Father, Son and Holy Ghost, one Holy Ghost—manifesting in different ways for certain occasions, certain reasons. So, when you call the sweet Spirit of Christ, you are talking about the God that was living in Jesus. See?

7. Now, that God is Spirit. And it’s of His Spirit He gives us. It’s like, if I was in position… Well, what if I was a rosebush, and then, I was animate to the extent that I could manipulate myself and do something about myself with you? I’d pluck off a rose and say, “Here’s a rose for you, and here’s a rose for you, and here’s a rose for you!”

I’m giving you of myself! But I’m still the rosebush! So, God is the source of life. He’s Spirit, and He gives of Himself. And right here I want to caution you, when and if you ever pick up what is the Holy Ghost given for, you are going to sit… I’m going to read your minds this morning and tell every single one of you what that subject to you means!

And it means this to you! “Oh, God is giving me the baptism with the Holy Ghost, and what’s it going to do for me?”

You’re a hundred percent wrong! It’s God Himself coming on the scene, and what He’s doing. See? I just threw that in as good measure. Never forget what I’ve said, though. I’ve just said it. Never forget it. I cautioned you before when we studied the “Unveiling of the Mighty God,” and I showed you: it wasn’t the contents of what God was. The contents was ‘how is He unveiled’? You read and find out for yourself.

8. You’re going to find God Who came down at Pentecost. That’s what Bro. Branham taught. The God Who came and visited Paul; the God Who is here now! What is He doing? It is not that He is giving of Himself to you the baptism with the Holy Ghost. It’s what is He doing in His Bride. That’s what is happening.

“Well, bless God, Bro. Vayle. I’ll be sweet and kind.”

Oh will you? How sweet and kind are you? You’re no sweeter and kinder than I am. You’ll pray like me to be sweet and kind in the eyes of the world. You’ll pray like me to be sweet and lovely.

“Everybody’s going to love Bro. Vayle. He’s going to be so sweet. He’s going to be so generous. He’s going to be so kind.”

And Bro. Branham said, “Somebody’s got to tell them!” He didn’t say, “Oh, sweet Lee Vayle, tell them,” either. He said, “Rough, old Lee Vayle, tell them.”

You say, “Well, Bro. Vayle, what right have you got?”

Because God said so. Because God said so. Not a congregation.

9. One thing this church has learned, (I hope you’ve learned.) I just preach the Word and walk out. You do what you want; because, if the Word doesn’t do it, brother/sister, it’s Lee Vayle building the house. And I wouldn’t give you a nickel for any house Lee Vayle can build. I believe like Pete Klassen.

He said, “The first house you build for your enemy. The second house you build for your friend.”

But I disagree on the third statement he said.

“The third you build for yourself.” Pete! I’d have to build a hundred and fifty houses and still not want it! But he’s right as a carpenter, and he’s a good one. So, we see the truth there. All right. Live this life. Yet we all have to die.

10. Now no one’s going to stop us dying, because there’s no way we can stop from dying, except this end time Resurrection’s around the corner. The most righteous one, the most holy one, (It doesn’t matter who.) appointed unto man once to die—until God abrogates that Scripture. That Scripture was only put there for six thousand years! And then, He gave us a type that you could abrogate it! Elijah and Enoch. Then, Jesus came and paid the penalty, and then, there’s Enoch and Elijah; you can see that somebody can walk to the Tree of Life and not die and be immortal. My, that’s wonderful! Now that’s something we should never forget! In the midst of death there is life, and life is greater than death! Sure.

11. Now listen, he said here:

[1] And yet Jesus said, in spite of the fact everybody’s got to die, “He that believeth in me shall never die.” But what the“death” is there , of which Jesus is speaking, “never die, ” is not what we call death.

[2] Like when Jesus spoke about Lazarus, He said, “He sleepeth.”

And they said, “Well, if he sleeping, he’s got it better than we got it. He’s doing well.”

[3] Then Jesus had to tell them in the language they knew (See?), “He’s dead.” He said, “And for your sake, I’m glad I wasn’t there, but I shall go and wake him.”

He didn’t say, “I’m going to bring him back from the dead! I’m going to wake him up!” He was somewhere—one hundred percent Lazarus! Now I mean in the spirit realm, one hundred percent Lazarus. Yes sir!

[4] That’s when He made that wonderful quotation that we have in Scripture, (and Bro. Branham paraphrases,) “He that heareth, he that believeth on me, has everlasting life; shall not come into the judgment, but has passed from death unto life. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die.” See? Never die! There’s really no death to a Christian, because death means ‘eternal separation’.

Okay. He says up there in paragraph one, “He that believeth in me shall never die.” But the ‘death’ he’s speaking of there is not what we normally call ‘death’. See? But we’re no better, because we’re born-again Christians. So, death is ‘eternal separation’.

12. Let’s go to a second here, to Mt 10:28. This is what he’s talking about. And he said in Mt 10:28:

(28) And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both souland body in hell.

Then, they say there’s no annihilation. How can people be so wrong? You know why? Because they don’t want God’s Word! They want a doctrine that can scare you! Oh my! I read the statistics all the time, and they say, “Sixty percent get saved through fear!”

Find that in the Bible. I raised kids. I didn’t do a good job. But I had one boy so stubborn, if I whipped real hard, that didn’t change him. He’d be right down doing the same thing again.

Now, come on you parents. Are you forgetting this morning? You know fear doesn’t do it. I saw the TV on AIDS, the homos stood there, and the heterosexuals are standing with them; a bunch of delinquents is what they are!

And they said, “We’re going to do it! And you’re going to pay for it! And you’re going to cure us!”

Fear? Fear? How many people are afraid where sex is involved alone? You’re no more scared than King Nebuchadnezzer was of telling Daniel to “shut up and bring me my boots and make them clean.” Because, if you want to do it, you are going to do it. And you know it. And, if you want to drink, you’ll drink. And, if you want to smoke, you’ll smoke! And nobody’s going to stop you. And you’re not afraid. Oh, you’re a little scared, maybe. But you’re not really afraid; neither afraid of God nor anything else.

13. You know what people are afraid of? They’re not afraid to steal. They’re just afraid of getting caught. Isn’t that awful, for people to be that way? Yet they try to tell you that the fear of hell will save people. That’s not in my Bible. The Bible said, “There is no fear of God before their eyes. Then, why make the Bible lie? Same junk they tell you.

“If you don’t get saved before you’re about thirteen, it’s likely you’ll never be saved, because, you see, the odds will be against you.”

And I can explain and tell you, (I’ve already told you.) God wants to train you! He wants you as a child! That’s why most people get really born again when they are young, so they have some kind of life to give back to God. You tell me you’re different from me? My wife’s the same way. She wandered the prairies, picking the flowers, wondering about God. A “deep calling to a deep.” But some people are really mean like the apostle Paul was. See? Bro. Branham got saved about the same age I got saved. He wondered as a child.

14 Oh, don’t try to confuse the Scripture, brother/sister. Just believe the Word. Death is body and soul in hell. Death is annihilation. Death is an irrevocable separation from God; we are only dead in our trespasses and sins. Listen, we are separated from God in our trespasses and sins. Sheep that went astray!

Now our Savior came and shed His Blood! And God is no longer angry. God’s not even put out with us. When’s the last time you did something real nasty? When you do something nasty, you know you’re wrong.

“Well, God’s mad at me!”

Oh, children are you full of doubt this morning? Has the virus got in your computers to change the whole Word of God in your mind and give the devil’s lie? Are you giving way to your feelings? God is not mad at you! God cannot be angry. He’s made reconciliation through Jesus Christ, and now the Judge is here, and there’s no anger in the Judge.

Listen to these feeble judges in America. They’re sticking their noses into cases. They are legislating, and they’re making decisions outside the Constitution! They’re defying the Executive! They defy the Legislature! They’re complete perverters. God’s no fool. He stands back, uninvolved as it were, dispassionate.

And He said, “This is the record. This is the Word.”

15. You say you believe Jesus Christ came and fulfilled the Word? You believe He was the Word? God shall judge the world by one Christ Jesus, Who is the Word.

Say, “I’ve got perfect confidence in Him. He’s that great One!”

That’s exactly true. Then, let’s stand back and let Him have His way. That’s why this church must be built upon God Himself, Who is the Word, brother/sister. What future we have in Christ, what lies ahead of us shortly, the little while that’s here, while the world’s dying out there, life is springing up within us. How do you think Paul felt the day his head was going to get chopped off? He just couldn’t wait.

Peter says, “Crucify me upside down.”

Those people had something. You think they had more than we got? It’s impossible. It’s impossible. This is the mind age. Don’t run back to the calf age, the face of man, and all those things. We run counter to the man. Everything we believe runs counter to the man; like Abraham, who reckoned his body now dead to be alive, considered it not—nor the deadness of Sarah’s womb. But knowing a God who raises the dead and calleth those things which are not as though they were, he stood right there, and his faith was made perfect!

16. You know, all you‘ve got to do these days… I’ll tell you all you‘ve got to do. All you‘ve got to do is really believe the Word and be happy to come to church, be happy to get together, and talk the Word. It’s going to get a hold of you. Then, you will praise and worship God as did David—with a full heart.

You say, “Well, Bro. Vayle, I’m of the old school. I believe in so many hours of prayer.”

Wonderful, just go right to it.

“And I believe in reading the Bible.”

That’s great. Go right to it. But you know what my Bible said? My Bible tells me that when you turn your ear away from hearing the law, God will turn away from hearing your prayer. So, what good’s all your praying? Bro. Branham exposed The Herald of His Coming and Brother Moore, right in their homes! It was the best paper America ever had, it was the prime one: The Herald of His Coming.

“God send us a prophet. God, O God, send a prophet! What we need, O God, we need a prophet!”

Prayed day and night, and the prophet stood there. “Here I am!”

“O God, send us a prophet!”

Now the Pillar of Fire stands here, William Branham’s gone.

“Oh, Bro. Branham come back. Bro. Branham come back. Oh, Bro. Branham!”

And the Pillar of Fire, over his head; there it is stands right there and said, “I’m here.”

Huh?

“Oh, Bro. Branham, Bro. Branham.”

What are you looking for? All I know is the Word.

17. Now listen. I may feel like a hypocrite saying It. I may tell you right to your faces, “Hey, Lee Vayle talks a good talk, but it isn’t really a hundred percent.” And you’re sitting here, and you know that you’re lying in your teeth, if you say it is one hundred percent with you; because you’re all liars. And I’ll tell you to your faces: you haven’t got it a hundred percent the way you want it! But the way God wants it is one hundred percent! You cannot have resurrection faith till the Resurrection is here. Right now, if any faith you’ve got, you have passive faith in a Word delivered to you. Oh, I could scream it tonight, because I can get so happy. I could tell you things. When I look at…

18. Please understand, I am not here as though I’m a prophet. I don’t have any great revelation. I’m not going to say, “There’s a wind that’s going to blow the house down. This is going to happen. That’s going to happen.” But there’s something in my soul tells me I’m telling you things. And it goes with the Word, because it is the Word! Contrary to some preachers, this is the Bible. You think I care what those pontificators say? Bro. Branham’s sermons are the Bible.

A preacher I knew was one of the first ones to say, “Look to me. I’m a great apostle.”

If anybody would ever say, “Look to Lee Vayle; he’s a great teacher,” I might come down and flatten them. I could bring you up on the platform here and shame you before everybody. I’m no great teacher, and I’m not the teacher. I’m none of those things. I teach the Message as far as I know it, and that’s it. And I’m responsible for nobody outside of Lee Vayle. I’ll stand on my feet; you’ll stand on yours. But I know one thing; I will answer, if I’ve led you wrong. And you will answer, if you haven’t believed and gone your own way. Sure.

19. What in the world was I talking about? Never die. Separation, death. Death is in the land. You know why? Because they turned down the Word of God. What is death? Well, put it this way: death is dark, and life is light. Gross darkness upon the people of the world and light upon the Bride, and “Shalom” uses that very quote—separation in our day. Death means separation. Right.

20. Revelation 21:8, and I’m going to close soon. Time’s gone. I’m overtime. Revelation. That’s what tells you what the death is. This would be a good place to start on Wednesday. (Rev 21:8.)

(8) (And) the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters…

Wait just a minute. What right has anybody got to put a few fearful people in with unbelieving, abominable, murdering, whoremongering, sorcering, idolaters, and liars? Huh? What about it? That’s cutting the ice pretty mean this morning isn’t it? That’s laying it on the line pretty good.

“Here I am just a little scared! My goodness me, a little thing like fear puts me with the whoremongers? The murderers? The abominable? Idolaters? Liars? And you’re going to annihilate me, O God, because I’m fearful?”

Seven Seal is what? Relaxation.

“Lord, I’m going to relax. I’m relaxing.”

Oh yes?

“I am not afraid of work. I can lie down and sleep beside it.”

Something’s wrong isn’t it? Something’s wrong. Talk all you want.

21. You know what? They say dogs can smell fear. I‘m no dog, but I can feel it when people are afraid around me. Fear. Fear. Fearful. What kind of fearful people are they? Not those that fear God, in reverential awe. Not those that fear to disbelieve His Word. But those like Bro. Branham said: they fear to leave their pensions: they’re fearful of their wives, their husbands, their children; they’re fearful of their church; they’re fearful of anything—because this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. They’re fearful of anything in this Message.

This pulpit proclaims this church to be a cult. That’s not a bad word!

Look, let’s face it. It’s just like the doctor said, when the woman said, “I have halitosis.”

He said, “Bad breath is better than no breath.”

What if you’re called a cult? That’s bad breath.

“Oh, I’m just a Christian.”

That isn’t necessarily good breath. That’s no breath at all.

“I’m Methodist, Baptist.”

If you’re not a believer in the truth, and you’re afraid of something about this Message… Now, if you’re afraid you’re not lining up, that’s healthy. See? But, if you’re afraid to the point where you’re not going to make it, and you believe this, and you’re stuck with it, then you’re wrong!

22. You know what I’m waiting for? I’ll tell you what I’m waiting for. I’m waiting for the Resurrection, because only the Resurrection will tell anybody who is right. When we see William Branham, we know we have made it! Why? Because we’re resting on what is going to bring him back or not bring him back!

You say, “Well, Bro. Vayle, what if I don’t see it right?”

That’s got nothing to do with it! This is the truth we’re talking about this morning. Vindicated. God manifested! Reality. I’m not here pretending I’ve got perfect reality. I‘m not going to pretend anything. I’m telling you this; I told you already. Look here, this is either it, or I am sunk. I don’t know… Where’d I go? Where would you go? What would you do? Tell me. Where are you coming from? I don’t mean way back in eternity. We put that on the board here. I want to know: where are you coming from this morning? See? Look at It here. Let’s get rid of this fear!

23. Revelation 2:23.

(23) And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Now, what age does He search the heart? Seventh Church Age. Heb 4:12. Discernment. Now I want to ask you a question. Was discernment the last sign given to the church?

Well, you say, “Sure it was.”

What was it for?

“To vindicate the Message!”

Do you believe those two things?

“Sure!”

Then, how could you not believe the Message?

You say, “Bro. Vayle, I, I, I, I…”

I know what you’re trying to tell me: you don’t understand it all, so forget it! What you don’t understand, you don’t disbelieve. You just don’t know. And there’s an atonement for that. There’s always been an atonement for ignorance; until the revelation of God comes in, and you turn it down, then you’re finished. There’s no more atonement.

We don’t need that, brother/sister. We believe the best we know how. The washer woman with one tape and three tapes! See? Now you can have this much [Bro. Vayle demonstrates a great quantity.] and miss it; this much [Bro. Vayle demonstrates a very small quantity.] and make it! Why? Because this much up here doesn’t believe it. Just talk about it. But, when your heart puts to God‘s seal that every Word is right, and you’re trying desperately, in spite of your condition and conditions around you, to see how it comes out and what it is, that’s not fearing God; that’s walking with God! Because God is His Own Word. And that’s not turning your back on God.

24. Now, what did God say to the church here? This very church He’s talking about. In Rev 2:21:

(21) I gave her space to repent of her fornication; she repented not.

What was that space in this age? The space is a vindicated prophet on the scene! And, if you can’t have your mind changed by that, it’s over. But listen, then, if your mind is changed, what are you afraid of? What’s to be afraid of? Death? You’re going to die anyway, might as well make up your mind to face it. Oh, some of us won’t die. In the meantime we’ve been brought back to God—bought back. There is no separation. When we leave here we go to a body commensurate to what’s in us.

You say, “Well, what’s in me Bro. Vayle? You see the trouble is, there nothing good in me… So, I wouldn’t know what I’m getting.”

You see, there you’re messing the Scripture up again. Paul said, “In my flesh there is no good thing.” The soul is of God, born of God. The soul came from God. It never sinned in the first place. The prophet said you didn’t doit! Whatdid it? That spirit that came into a flesh body that could be tempted. What’s the use of having a body that could be tempted and, then, would never fall to temptation? Everybody would be Jesus Christ Himself.

25. Now this thing is open this morning, you realize. You’re getting the picture—God’s sovereignty. “All that I give, I’ll lose none. Those who are with me in the beginning will be back at the end.”

I‘ve got nothing to worry about. The only worry I have is to look at that Word and keep saying, “Brother, I can do better.” And I will do better. Today, I will love justice more than I ever did. I will do good. I’ll be less judgmental. You’re just looking at yourself. And it’s a course in self-improvement, simply because you want to be a servant of God that people can look at and say, “Well, I admit that the fellow does act different, but I’d never believe what he believes.”

See, they’re not going to believe what you believe anyway. There’s only one little thing out there. What am I like with people? Can you walk humbly before God, today? Can you do good to your neighbor? Love justice; show mercy? Everything else is counted for. How can you fear?

“Oh, I’m going to make God mad!”

You can’t make God mad. The righteous cannot make God angry. The righteous won’t even try to make God angry.

So, you wake up this morning and say, “I’m going to have a bad mood today. I’m going to hurt people, and I’m going to fuss at God.”

Now you may wake up feeling like you might have thought and said that, because maybe you’re not feeling well, you’re allergic to feather pillows, and you haven’t gotten rid of your feather pillows. Or you’re allergic to ice cream, and you won’t quit eating the junk. So, now you wake up, uh, uh, uh. Like a dead fish just fell into your mouth, as they often say.

What’s that got to do with God? What’s your feeling got to do with God? Tell me. Nothing.

26. What is it? It’s the mind. The mind going to the Word.

“Waking up early in the morning, my thoughts shall be of You, O Lord.”

Why do you think God said, “Bind the frontlets before your eyes up here. Put them upon your arms.” You see? It’s the mind age. It’s what you‘ve got to do. But don’t give way to those things that evolve some kind of a fear, and there’s nothing to fear.

Roosevelt said, “We have nothing to fear.” Do you remember that: “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself”?

It was quoted by one of the ancient philosophers, who is it? [Someone in congregation mentions a name. No, no, he quoted it. He just said as somebody else said. That’s the same as—Horace Greeley—when he said, “Go west, young man; go west?” He wasn’t the first to say it. He really wrote what another fellow said. I’ll remember his name later on, too. [His name is John Babsone Lane Soule.]

But the truth is, we have nothing to fear but fear itself. In other words, don’t let anything rise in your heart and mind to give you any trouble when it comes to your salvation in Jesus Christ. Wonder only this one thing: am I going to give myself over to God, to get out of the way, where He can direct my thoughts and my paths? Then, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, though I get sick, though anything else come, though the walls come tumbling down, a thousand at my left and ten at my right fall, it shall not come near me, for I am God’s Own child.

27. Brother/sister, that is all that’s left. Believe me. When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul.”

We have passed from spiritual death to life. We have had a spiritual resurrection. There is now no fear; the die has been cast; the ship has been safely anchored. “Let the swells come,” Bro. Branham said, “We shall not capsize!” But what did Ezekiel say? He said, “There were waters flowing out of the East gate. Under Luther it went to the ankles; to Wesley it went to the knees; to Pentecost it went to the thighs.”

But our age, there’s waters to swim in, and waters to carry us over! It’s no longer me carrying myself or even carrying this church. It’s God’s Word doing It.

Brother/sister, I feel so good this morning. I don’t care how rotten I’d feel physically. What matters is I feel so good to know that we have got the sail set. The Word is working. And there is a glorious Bride, without spot, without wrinkle, of which, by the grace of God we’re a part. And we shall see God in the flesh.

Let’s rise and be dismissed.

Heavenly Father dismiss us now with Your love, mercy and grace, by which You’ve kept us. We know, Father God in Heaven, there isn’t anything more wonderful than to know Your Presence, and even to just talk about It with Your saints—to stir up our captive minds and hearts which we believe are captive unto You, for the devil has no part in us. What part has it got in a spotless, virgin Bride?

Lord God in Heaven, we’re so far beyond the things of this world we just haven’t even given You credit for it, for all things are in You and You are in us, Lord. Why should we then ever be cast down or ever say anything other than that, but stand right up here in Your glorious, wonderful Presence, glorifying Your holy Name, not walking in fear any longer, but walking in light. And Your Own Word says by John, “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship, one with another.” You and I, Lord, and, then, every member of the congregation with You, and every member with each other, having fellowship one with another, communion of the Blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleansing.

Thank You, Lord, for healing the sick amongst us. We’re grateful Lord, for the babies dedicated, children feeling better, happy that Jan [White] got through the operation successfully. We pray that you’ll give her strength, Lord, and everyone in this church that has a need, my God. There are those who are struggling within themselves, [End of side one of the audio tape.] help them take a vacation from themselves, O God, and rest in the Eden which you already made for us, wherein is the Tree of Life and immortality.

We pray in Jesus Name, not that every storm should cease. Let the storms rage. Let them roll. We don’t care. We’re in the eye of the hurricane. Everything’s at rest and relaxing, just floating around. Everything else out there is debris being crushed and driven, but Lord God, we, in the eye of the storm. It doesn’t matter; we’re going on with You. Thank You for Your peace, Your love, Your mercy; for all these things. We cannot praise You enough.

So now, Father, as the prophet always said, may Your sweet Spirit come into the church, Lord, more and more, until there not be one sick one amongst us. Unto You we’ll give the glory, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

The Lord bless you.

“Take the Name of Jesus With You.”

[The audio tape continues with a memorial service and a baby dedication that preceded this message.]

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The phrase was actually first used by John Babsone Lane Soule (1815 – 1891) in an article in the Terre Haute (Indiana) Express in 1851, though widely attributed to Horace Greeley. According to Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, [pg 475], Greeley used the expression in an editorial in the New York Tribune. As the saying “Go west, young man, and grow up with the country” gained popularity, Greeley printed Soule’s article, to show the source of his inspiration.