Shalom #9 Shall we pray. Heavenly Father, we know that Your Own Word coming through Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” And Bro. Branham bringing us this message concerning the light coming upon earth, darkness pressing, light pressing, to bring us peace, and we believe that’s true Lord, in this our day. We know Neville Chamberlain said, “Peace in this our day,” and it only brought forth war. And now there’s going to be peace in our day for us, who are the sheep of Your pasture, the flock of Your hand. We are looking forward to that day, Lord, when the dead come out of the earth, so to speak, bringing forth tabernacles unto Thee, immortal bodies, and we ourselves changed, going to the Wedding Supper. Help us therefore, Lord, to study Your Word as the prophet gave It, that Your Name might be glorified. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. 1. Now we’re at number nine in this message of “Shalom.” And, after Bro. Branham has launched into his message of peace from God, (Because that’s what ‘shalom’ is: ‘peace from God’.) which he says comes during a time of chaos, wherein light is pressing against darkness, or the truly vindicated Word is being given, even to those who oppose It. He stresses in paragraph 45, that unless one uses this Message under the right motivating spirit, it is best not to even talk to anyone about It. He speaks of the spirit of Christ, when he was being crucified by His Own creation, and he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And so today, the people are in such a chaotic and unknowing state, that they can’t even realize the Word is being manifested and vindicated. After thousands of vindications the people just sit there and carry on as usual, and no changes are made, except for the worst in most cases. 2. He, then, speaks of their disregard of the Message, as we will read on page 8, paragraph 48. But, before we read it, it’s only right to set forth the principle of ‘Alpha and Omega’, and thereby see that the same Spirit that was on Jesus was on William Branham, so that in referring to the right attitude in bringing this Message, might not always apply to us, but actually could apply only to him. And the reason I say that is, that Bro. Branham said in speaking about this Message, that he had to have the proper motivating spirit that made him realize the people were in gross darkness, and they were blind, and they were deaf to the things of God. But, as Jesus said, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do,” even he must have that same spirit. Well, that’s true when you realize that the Spirit of this hour, or the Elijah of this hour, is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself—not man, but God; but it comes by a prophet. So, the other morning, Sunday, when we took that particular paragraph… I don’t remember where it was now. It might have been, oh, any one of these, back on page 7. Speaking of the fact that he had to be properly motivated, I would believe as I spoke on that, that we took it to the point where it became a devotional message in order to understand a little bit more about deacons in the church, whose object, though Bro. Branham said was to be a police in the building, that was to make sure order was maintained, and discipline correctly kept according to the Word of God, yet under no consideration do we find that people are to be confrontational or to be obstreperous, or to be in any way physical concerning the work of the Lord. It’s a matter of turning the other cheek, and doing those things that Jesus said, especially on the Sermon of the Mount, not to deny that Bro. Branham said, “Just because you’re a Christian, doesn’t mean people will walk all over you.” Now, you’re looking at two different things entirely. When he said, “Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean people will walk all over you,” that doesn’t mean that you’ve got to give into every whim and fancy of every crook and everybody that says something, you know, or does something to you. That’s not true. 3. We’re talking in terms where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is presented, and Christ is an issue, and the Word of God is an issue, then there is always a necessity to turn the other cheek, to walk the extra mile, to give the cloak, to do those things we wouldn’t do normally, because it’s for the sake of Jesus, yet it never at any time, denying the Word or our stand for the Word, which could lead us into imprisonments, and whippings, and God knows what—even death. So, we were looking at that Sunday morning in order to bring a pastoral message. But the actual fact of the matter is, because Bro. Branham placed himself in that particular instance, in bringing forth that dissertation, I can see where this is the omega of the alpha. Once more we see the Christ being crucified, that is the Son of God, crucified afresh to mankind. 4. Now, so we go on back to page 8 for a second, where Bro. Branham says in paragraph 48: [48] Like, for instance , concerning the fact that people are in gross darkness, and they just can’t seem to understand. Crossing the nation around and speaking, and the Lord identifying, and vindicating His Word and showing it’s exactly right, and never let anything be said unless it comes to pass exactly what He said, speaking it right into existence, and so forth, as He's been doing. And people sit and look at that, and continue right on in the same condition. See? Now they continue right in that same condition. Now, since the people are seeing and hearing a vindicated Word, is it possible that something doesn’t happen? Well, it’s true that something does happen! They’ll either reject or accept It. And in rejecting It, we don’t know what their end will be exactly, because there’s two kinds of believers outside of the real believer. There’s the foolish virgin. And then, there’s the other one; he’s nothing but a make-believer. Then, of course, there’s one that doesn’t believe at all. We don’t know who they are, but there is this possibility that people can see something and never recognize it, and it doesn’t faze them one bit. It does nothing for them, or they completely misunderstand it all. 5. Now Bro. Branham in paragraph 49 says: [49] Now, See , now he’s going to illustrate this, what he’s saying. See, not disregarding anybody, but like our sisters now, speaking about them, many times when I speak to them about wearing those clothes, and cutting their hair, and little things. And men, how they'll continue on into their creeds, and serve under those creeds and things. And they're good people. They're fine people. But yet, it seems that they can't understand; looks like they can't get it. Why? I go back the next year, and, instead of being any better, it's worse. It continues on. Here's a sister that once had lovely long hair; she’s cut it off. Here's a man that once looked like he took his stand and went out for the thing that was right; he's right back like a dog to its vomit—hog to its wallow. See, goes right back out into it. It seems like there's something that has struck our people; (And I think he’s speaking of America there.) it struck the world, that they don't seem to have the understanding, there's something's wrong. In other words, spiritual amnesia. Now, what I’m looking at here is that you’ll notice that the women are chided for their lack of understanding, their dress, and their hair. And they are not chided as the men, because the men are chided for turning down the doctrine. The men are not taught about their dress. They aren’t told about their conduct. They’re not told about their behavior. So, evidently we have a basic principle here, which is the foundation and groundwork of this entire Message. Can the men change their minds and come to the truth of the doctrine? They already know behavior. But the women don’t! They’ve been taught it’s okay to cut their hair. It’s okay to wear sexy dresses. In fact, the ordinary human male, in the male society which we have today, which is still predominant over the women because of their muscular force and other abilities which they have garnered over the years and accrued to themselves and used, the woman are still looked upon as sex symbols, and men don’t want to help themselves, to see that the women are correctly placed where God has placed them. And I look down and… I’m like Bro. Branham. I feel sorry for the women more than the men, because the men are deliberately doing things they shouldn’t be doing, knowing that the woman is the weaker vessel. But you understand what he’s saying here. He’s laid down a basic principle where people start. Men go to the Word. Women listen to men in the Word; and that’s all that’s necessary, is to present themselves correctly. This is not too much to expect from anybody. Of course, in no way are we bypassing the rebirth, which is foundational for both men and women. 6. Now that’s what Bro. Branham brought, a very simplistic Message. But they’re under spiritual amnesia of some description, and the more he teaches the truth, the more the men leave the doctrine, and the more the women live in a grosser nature. That has to be! Because men type the headship of the church, and women type the church. There is no place where a woman can ever assume a headship. It’s just utterly impossible. That ought to make her feel very happy. But, of course, if you go with the Steinems and the rest of those women liberators, you just sink lower into greater bondage. It just makes me sick thinking about them. Woman follow them into so-called woman’s lib. It’s a most discouraging situation. See? And all the time they think that they’re leading women away from the men, when they’re just absolutely trapping themselves to the men. Stupidest thing I ever saw in my life. Even a few women are beginning to see this. All right. 7. Now Bro. Branham, going on to paragraph 50: [50] Just you notice men today, you don't find that genuineness in men. You don't find it in women. The reason I'm basing this, is to get "Shalom." Now the reason he’s basing it this way is to let you know that, under these conditions, there is still the presence of God that brings peace. It doesn’t matter. It’s just like Paul on board the ship that was about to be wrecked. The angel of the Lord appeared and said, “The ship is going to go down. Everything on board is going to go down, but there isn’t going to be one person lost.” And so, that’s what we’re looking at here, in this time and condition. Now evidently, Bro. Branham is setting forth here the power of moral decision and staying with it. There just isn’t a reality and a genuineness in them to stay where God wants them to be put. 8. Now paragraph 51: [51] But you notice the women in our day, they don't seem to have that ladylikeness they once had. It’s just like they want to, but there's something won't let them have it and do it. It seems there's a heaviness. You tell a lady that she should not do such-and-such a thing, and the lady looks upon That and believes That, she wants to believe That, but there's something that presses her the other way in spite of it. See? Poor thing. I feel sorry for her. She's so caught in such a web of Hollywood, and the advertisements in television, radio, and newspaper, and on the streets, in the store windows, with modern dress and so forth, and the way that other women meet her. And it seems to be that there is something they just can't pull away from—our young people, our old people, our middle age. Now Bro. Branham is warning here and, you might say, giving that warning very gently. But, remember; the warning he’s giving is the Voice of the One from heaven, and It’s thundering very loud in people’s ears. 9. So, let’s take a look at 2 Thessalonians and see where we are according to this hour, which, whether you know it or not, is the hour of the antichrist; because, when Christ was unveiled, so was the devil; so was the antichrist. Of course, John spoke of that in the first century. Now in 2 Th 2:7 It says: (7) For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he (that) letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. In other words the brakes are put on temporarily by the Holy Ghost. And, when the brakes are taken off by the Holy Ghost, everything sinful and everything horrible is going to turn loose upon this earth. And, if you think it’s bad now, you don’t want to be here when it comes, as Bro. Branham, who certainly believed in that portion of writing that has been set forth as the oath of the Knights of Columbus, Catholic organization… He said, absolutely, that he would rather have that perpetrated upon him than five minutes in the Great Tribulation. And, remember; according to Bro. Branham, what was upon earth in the days of Noah was brought upon the earth by the people themselves. And we’re talking about the greenhouse condition; we’re talking about the ozone holes; we’re talking about all these things. So therefore, the day will certainly come; and, as we well know, (I think it was Bro. Gene who was telling me. I hadn’t read the article. I haven’t even come across it where the earth had shot out and spewed out as it hasn’t been known in human history to the extent, causing radiation and many other things.) that the sun will actually at one time be blackened. And, before it is blackened, there will be heat upon the earth and such a terrible condition that men will literally be burning under it and cursing God, gnawing their tongues with pain. 10. So, as there is no way that people are turning to God under this Message, but turning further and further from it, there will come a time when they will bring upon themselves the very things we spoke of so many times, according to the Book of Romans, chapter 1, where they’re doing these horrible things and all the results come back upon them. We see that already happening. And, if it’s happening in the human body, because they deserted God and turned to homosexuality, (And you can see the fruit of it.) how much more will it be when God destroys those that destroy the earth? In other words, when they set nature loose upon themselves to this extent, where they’re actually rotting and dying, how much more will it be when nature has been set loose upon them by their own folly? Well, you know what we’re talking about. It’s going to be terrible. So, Bro. Branham, I would say, is one hundred percent correct in his assessment that it’d be far better to have anything perpetrated upon you that man can devise than to be in the Great Tribulation, or any part whatsoever, where It says, “In that darkness where there’s weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth,” and so on. 11. Now, over here in Gen 2:16-17, you will notice at the time of the unveiling of the antichrist is the time of the unveiling of the Christ. And that’s the time of the Tree of Life again.
And with that we go over here to Gen 3:4-6. It says:
Now that’s exactly what they’re saying now! Millions now living will never die. In fact, the church world is trying to convert everybody to some kind of organization, which they feel will save the poor deluded person out there. And so, what they’re saying then, “Now, if there’s a billion people can come in, praise God for a billion.” And now that opens the door for the Roman Catholic Church to get her spirit upon the Protestants, which could certainly come upon them, where under Augustine they said, “As God heard Paul raging against the gospel of Jesus Christ, He smote him down! And by smiting him down deliberately, literally impaling him, making him suffer, until Paul cried out.” So, if God could force someone to come into the fold, by force, even unto death, the Roman Catholic then devised the understanding, “We can force anybody and make anybody come into this fold.” Well, you can see that’s going to happen down the road. 12. I don’t know just all what’s going to happen; but, if the Mohammedan thinks he can talk against the Word, and Khomeini, the leader, thinks that he can defy the truth, let me tell you this: the Christians can absolutely devastate and destroy anybody anywhere, if there’s only one billion Christians, and six or seven billion of those. Then, the one billion Christians will annihilate, or force them—subjugate them, because they’ve got the power. Let’s face it. If the black man tried to take whitey with him, he’s very foolish, because there’s nothing in the records where he’ll do it. And I’m not a racist. I’m simply telling you what’s in the Word of God. The Christian church, so-called, brother/sister, is going to have the power, and the antichrist is going to be over it—the power of the enemy. And he’s going to be ruling his own universe completely for that time. You watch what he can do. Don’t ever fool yourself. These people are living in a fool’s paradise. The rage of people is turning against the Arabs. It’s too bad it’s turning against the Jews at the same time—because we will turn on the Jews in America at some future date. So, you watch it come. You’re not going to get away from the Bible, brother/sister. “You shall not surely die,” said the enemy. (5) God know(s) that in the day (you) eat thereof, your eyes (will) be opened, and (you’ll) be as gods, knowing good and evil. There’s coming a day when the world’s eyes will be opened too late for having turned down the Word. (6) The woman saw (it) was good (to eat,) good for food, pleasant to the eye, tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit, gave (to) her husband (also, and they) did eat (and so on). So, what you see here in this hour, when the Tree of Life is being unveiled before us, and man has the opportunity to pass into immortality, he is so confused, he doesn’t know what to do, and the opportunity slips out of his hand. It’s all over. It’s a pitiful situation, for the tree of knowledge can only condemn. 13. [52] There seems to be something amongst men. Men don't seem to have that masculine touch they used to have. See, women are no longer feminine. Women don't have that feminine touch she used to have. You take men today; men don't seem to be burly like they used to be. They want to wear suede shoes with purple. (I think he’s thinking of Elvis there.) And they want to act like women . Now, that is true. It seems to be, more or less, like a perversion. Hormones are mixed up. A woman wants to cut her hair off and act like a man. Man wants to act like a woman. See? And yet, you can talk to them , and this is the truth! As much as I don’t like to admit it, I have admitted it previously, that every time I see a man with long hair, and these goofy beards and things, I just go bananas. I don’t have… well, I guess I come almost literally murderous in my thinking. And yet, some of those people are just the nicest people. They’re really nice people. But, where do they stand? Nice to talk to, nice people, friendly, sociable people. Of course, you’ve got the Johnny Cashes, so-called Christia—and June Carter, so-called Christian—who make up their songs and condemn people who condemn those men who have long hair, when the Bible forbids it. Women should have long hair, uncut, and men should certainly have cut hair. In fact, there’s too many preachers that don’t cut their hair short enough as far as I’m concerned, and I think it would be very nice if the Lord did them a favor: He just let them all go bald. At least it’d be a favor. They’d have a hair cut—a permanent one. 14. [52] What’s caused this? he said. What is this going on, in the light of thousands of vindications, where the church had to know something, and yet they passed it by? It’s gross darkness upon the people. It's something that’s pressed into them . All right. This amounts to an actual spirit, like mass hysteria. It’s a definition of universal pressure. It pressures people in a common direction to destruction; and yet, they’re apathetic about the destruction that they’re going into! Now, that’s just the truth. Science tells us of peer pressure. Science tells us that they’ve made a study of human behavior: what it could be like as they took animals, and they put too many into too little a space, under very oppressive conditions. And they could tell how the animals reacted. Some got nervous, thin, and died. Some tried to destroy others. Others, their hair dropped out—everything terrible happened to them. And they said, “See, that’s what could happen to people.” And that’s exactly right. And you know as well as I do that, when God talked to Eve, one thing He said was her conception would be multiplied. And, you know, that that didn’t happen to Eve; and it didn’t happen to the race of God’s people, as long as Adam and Eve’s children married. It was the serpent race, the animal race, that was prolific. It was only down the line you saw all these births come into existence. Just read your Bible. Man married 137 years of age, had one son; 500 and some years of age, have another son or a daughter. But now you’ve got the proliferation of the human race. And I know that people, well-intentioned people, are trying to stop abortion; and so they should. It shouldn’t have to be a necessity for abortion in the first place. But they’re trying to sell a bill of goods that the earth is not getting over-populated! Now that isn’t so, because, if part of the problem that was engendered in the Garden of Eden is happening down through the ages, and that is multiple births—which shouldn’t be in the first place—then, you see, the people that tell you these things are just liars. They’re pseudo scientists. Yes sir. You’ll find that. 15. How in the world could you have everybody be a farmer that’s in this world? Five billion people farmers? And we’re all supposed to be farmers! Didn’t God put man in the garden to tend the garden and take care of the earth? He certainly did. What’s it going to be in the Millennium? Build great big cities? Like that man down there in Miami, Havak Hagapian? Oh, he really was scared of me when I visited him. He knew I was a bad man. So, I strung him along, until he told me how his vision showed that, during the Millennium, there’s going to be big plastic bubbles—air-conditioned. I thought his head was a plastic bubble that needed air conditioning. I didn’t say a thing though. I just said, “Well, that’s wonderful.” Then, he told me you go into a telephone booth and punch the numbers, and you’d be there where you dialed. And I said, “Hey that sounds like something.” I didn’t buy any stock in it, though. It was all blue chip at a very low price. But I walked out. That was the end of him. So much for an Armenian who claimed to believe he was Jesus Christ just because he dressed like Him; he had a flowing garb on, and gown and all. And he had a beard and everything else. He was Jesus incarnated. But I couldn’t see that for fifteen seconds, because I knew very well he was not Jesus incarnated. He was anything but. 16. Now, okay. Page 10. We’re up here in paragraph 53. [53] Like the Jews were in the days of Jesus came to the earth, Isaiah prophesied of it, this pressing darkness, this condition. “Eyes that couldn’t see, and ears that couldn't hear.” In other words they couldn’t place what was going on and, therefore, make use of it. Now the point comes up, was this back in Jesus’ day and in the days of the prophets really real? All right. The question comes up. What about the time of the ark? Was there an ark, or wasn’t there an ark? Well, if Noah was building the ark and preaching all those years, they had something they could have gone into. But you know, since they didn’t go into it, God let the animals come in. That was a whole lot better anyway. 17. [53] Now, that’s the reason Jesus prayed their forgiveness, because it had to be that way to fulfill the Scripture. All right. Let’s just see how far you can take that. You know, I’m not too good at taking everything Bro. Branham said just hook, line, and sinker, letting it sit there, without comparing everything else he said. Because you do that, you’re going to have a cross fight in your life like you never had before. Now, to have this spirit of compassion is great. But, how far do you carry it? How far do you go at the end time? We’ll take Mat 12:18.
All right. That took place back there. And it’s supposed to happen to the Gentiles. That’s alpha back there. Then, to the Gentiles is omega. Now, watch in verse 22: they brought deaf and dumb; and the mighty miracles that substantiated Jesus’ claim to being the Messiah, the Son of God, they turned them down and said, “This is of the devil.” And Jesus said, “Now, just a minute. If Satan cast out Satan, he’s destroyed himself. And Satan is not stupid. So, you know yourselves that it can’t be the devil.” What about the Church of Christ when they say that? And the rest of them? And they do say it. 18. Now He said, “Listen. Let me tell you something.” Verse 31.
Now that was back there. What about here in Matthew 18, which is not the man but the Holy Spirit, when He comes! What is the Holy Spirit given to the church for? That is 1 Th 4:16!—and to fulfill this, which is a substantiation or the vindication of 1 Th 4:16. Now, what’s going to happen today? One word spoken against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven either in this world nor the world to come! So now, what we’re looking at is this: the delivery of the Word of grace is always in the Spirit of God, which is meekness and loving and kindness and self-sacrificial. But, when you stand with the Word, the people who come against It will commit the unforgivable sin. So, that’s where you carry what Bro. Branham’s saying: stand with the Word no matter what It costs you. But, know this one thing: that though you speak with the Spirit of Christ, and you are not judgmental, let me tell you this: the Judge is already here and has already judged, because this is the judging Word. They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh. All right. 19. Now. Paragraph 54: [54] And it's returned again to us. What’s that? Gross darkness upon the people. The Bible spoke of this day in which we live, and said these things would come, “gross darkness upon the people.” Not just darkness, but gross darkness. And we see it, that there’s something that just, simply, the people want to but they can’t. Now, I remember years back, when I was recognizing Bro. Branham as the prophet, knowing who he was, there was a very, very, fine brother, that understood the doctrine of predestination and sovereignty as very few people ever have or will understand it. Now his message was so effective that, as he preached it, people could end up in hospitals under such terrible conviction. This would happen by him simply preaching, “Listen, you can’t come, even if you wanted to. And, if you’re not seed, this is over your head. It is not for you.” And he sat in Bro. Branham’s meetings; enjoyed them to the fullest. He happily just smiled and laughed. He said, “It’s all over my head,” but he said, “I think it’s great.” The man was not able, sitting there as a minister, to know this much: What in the world is going on? What is this pointing to? Is there a sign? Is there something here? Because this is not normal! Two thousand years is gone by. This is super normal. It’s not abnormal; it’s super normal. It’s supernatural. It’s miraculous. Now I appreciate the fact that the man would not say a word against it. But here is a minister understanding sovereignty, himself sitting there, and the light could not strike him, at least with a definitive knowledge that he could receive. 20. Now this is the sad place that the world is in. It’s like it’s an atmosphere of darkness that the church has created. The church in its energies has produced smog-like California smog! Have you ever been out there and seen it? Thick, grayish, yellow. Eyes smart, utterly dangerous, and can be incapacitating. However, you all do know what can happen in the time of a volcanic eruption. And, if you’re in the right place, the sun can be absolutely darkened to you. So, when the church has begun to run its course at the end time, it has produced a gross darkness that the people cannot see through. It’s upon the people, and it’s a spirit. [55] Nicodemus expressed it one time before the Lord, "Rabbi, we know that You are a Teacher that came from God.” In other words he’s saying this, concerning this gross darkness that the people are in bondage to; they know something is there. They would like to be participants, but something just leaves them in a place of, what you might call, inertia. It’s like the time Nicodemus went to the Lord, and he said, “Look, I’m going to tell you something. I know you’ve got to be from God, and you’ve got to have something to tell us, because God never wasted His time in manifesting in this condition without something being pertinent to us.” And he turned away and walked away. He did come back, however. He was a born-again man, later on, because he said, “God’s doing this thing.” 21. Now you know as well as I do that, until a few years ago, there wasn’t any group of people, except those extreme, radical serpent seed bunch, that dared to lay a finger on Bro. Branham and his ministry. They knew there was a reality there that nobody else had. Pentecostals never had it; nobody had it. But now they wax very bold, as they have never done before, and they’ll continue to do so. So, there’s greater darkness than ever, because the Message has gone forth. 22. Let me just check over here. I wrote a little note down here, Matthew 21; and, if I’ve got something here…maybe. Matthew 21:23: (23) And when he was come (to) the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and (they) said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?
Now that’s what the people are like in this day. Now, if you think those fine men that you’ve maybe looked up to over the past, these godly priests, these godly elders, these godly pastors, godly evangelists, oh, fine great men… They are no different from this bunch of buzzards. They’re the same cloth. Come on, the world church has nothing to do with God. He said, “That bunch of hypocrites, see. I’ve got no part in you; you’ve got no part in me.” And He said, “The reason there’s no part between the two of us is that you’ve got no place in you for the Word.” And, if you’ve got no place in you for the Word, you’ve got no place for the Holy Ghost. I don’t care what you say tonight! You can jump up and down in this pulpit, and you can scream and dance and put on a show and cut up. That doesn’t mean one thing just because you’re agitated, you’re happy, you’re enthused or something else. It doesn’t mean one thing. 23. Let me tell you this: the Holy Spirit at the end time doesn’t raise His voice in the streets. He doesn’t put on a show. He even came to Bro. Branham and sent His mighty angel and said, “Listen Branham. I want to tell you something. You’ve made a sideshow of the ministry I gave you.” William Branham should have kept his voice lower, perhaps. You say, “Well, I don’t like him stiff and starchy.” Perhaps you don’t know what stiff and starchy is. A little girl years ago came to this church, her father being a oneness preacher, and she said, “Why…” She said, “Going to that church…” I wasn’t pastoring at that time. She said, “It’s like playing church.” And I said she made the terrible mistake of judging the Word by the spirit instead of judging the spirit by the Word. She wanted some hoopla. Young girl literally blaspheming the things of God—some preacher’s daughter. Because you’re a preacher’s daughter or some relative, you think you’re somebody? You better stop it. Just stop it. Two preachers right now are saying, “My dad’s a preacher. I’m a preacher. My brother’s a preacher.” That means something? Stand up and tell me it means something! Explain it and prove it. Where’d you get that nonsense? 24. I’ll tell you what. Did you ever notice when Bro. Branham turned to the people and said, “I take every spirit in this building under my control, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the glory of God,” how much jumping around was he doing at that moment? How did he raise his voice? You tell me. He lowered his voice; you could barely hear him on the microphone. He said, “We’ll ask Him to come.” Did he start screaming, jumping down with the Word: “Hallelujah, we can say this, bless God. I’ll show you how to use the Word of God!”? He shut up like a mouse in a corner. And he said, “He’s here.” What happened to William Branham? Well, think it over. He’s a man like you and me. Do you think when I’m home, my thoughts coming together, I’m screaming and jumping? When I sit here waiting for the anointing to strike from all of you people waiting for me, am I running around? I can get excited up here, yet that doesn’t mean one thing. So, what is the Word of God? These people sold out for excitement, for a mess of pottage, for a few little signs and wonders that they could produce, because gifts are manifested even in the tares. 25. And I want you to notice something: when Korah, Dathan and Abiram, elders under Moses, (because they were of the Levitical priesthood, (See?) priests unto him with gifts of prophecy)... They came in the camp, and they said, “Bless God, let me tell you. Moses thinks he’s got it all. We’ve got something too.” You know what happened? Every single one died. Moses just stood there—calm, quiet Moses. “Lord God,” he said. He never got excited, but he was angry. He said, “If these men are right, You’ve never spoken by me.” The same authority. [Bro. Vayle points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire.] Same authority, brothers, and their quietness, manifestation. How quiet the people got. The Spirit of God began to move under discernment and the power of God. Of course, afterward they could let loose, and scream, anything they wanted. That was great. There’s a big difference, brother/sister, in being a sideshow and being God’s husbandry. Let me tell you that. If you’re God’s husbandry, you might be a little old, kind of a lily of the field, and the little old poppy of the field. You wouldn’t be some great big climbing, rambling rose, you know. Or some big, what you might call, what are those? bird of paradise plants, or some fabulous six inch orchid, and so on. No. You’d be more like a little pansy growing in the shade. All right. What about then? The same now. What It says here, was dark back there: “Blindness, upon the Jewish race, that the Messiah might take” to Himself a Gentile “Bride. They had to reject Him,” for that reason. And now they’re going to reject Him at the end time, so He can turn back to Israel. All right. 26. Let’s go to paragraph 56. [56] And that’s the gross darkness that’s the churches and things today, to fail to see the Light that’s shining. Now Bro. Branham’s making a definition. Why does he say the church has gross darkness upon it? Because they fail to see the light that is shining. See? See, there seems to be such a heavy press. That’s darkness. Against the Word. We take some of the noted evangelists today, they are constantly screaming for a revival, and working right against It; see, not understanding, but without understanding. 27. All right. Let’s go back to Habakkuk 3. [End of side one of the audio tape.]
Now, what does this man say here? Bro. Branham says that, “The evangelists are crying for a revival.” The word ‘revival’ is a thoroughly misunderstood word. Amongst the people today it simply means, ‘We’re going to cast the net by some kind of preaching and bring in a bunch of sinners’. Well, I don’t think it actually means that. If you want a revival in the church, what you do is you want the church to be ‘set on fire’, where people come back to the realization of the glory of the former glory of God. And here is what this man is saying in his prayer: (2) O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of years. He said to Jesus, “Tell us what we must do to do the works of God.” And he said, “To do the works of God is to believe on him whom God has sent”—to believe on him whom God has sent. The people are crying for a revival. There is only one hope for a revival, and that’s to find out if God has sent somebody; and, if there is any hope, or any inkling that God might have done so, you better check it out and find who the person is. Because that’s… Jesus Himself taught what this man was saying. I don’t care what this man was saying, and what people think this man was saying. I only care what Jesus said, when he interpreted what this man said. “Bring on your works, O God, before wrath.” It’s an end time utterance. What is the work of God? The same as it was under alpha: to believe on him whom God hath sent. Whom did God send? He sent us: (1) The gift of His Son in the form of the Holy Ghost. [Points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire.] (2) He sent us a prophet. Because the one without the other doesn’t work, because God has confined Himself. According to the heart cry of man, and the heart cry of God, there has been a contract. God will not speak outside of a prophet. Now you can do what you want with it. And they did what they wanted with it, back in alpha. And they’ll do what they want under omega. They simply have always, and will always, hate the prophets. They can’t help themselves. Read Matthew 23, and you’ll see it all laid out there. Every single prophet. Then, the great Prophet, the Word Himself, of course, they crucified Him. See? 28. Now he said: [56] That’s that gray darkness that’s upon the church. They fail to see that Light. And all the while, the evangelists are crying and screaming for God to revive His work, and they’re working right against It; How? The same way Korah, Dathan, and Abiram worked against Moses. Now you can’t take that to the age of Paul, because Paul was not the leader of an exodus. No way. There are certain Scriptures that sort of have a compound place in history. Like Jesus: he led an exodus. Moses did. The next one is going to be ours under Bro. Branham. It’s already taken place as far as the ministry is concerned and the ongoing working of the Holy Ghost. The Word of the Lord was given to the apostle Paul, and he wrote It. William Branham was given the ability to interpret It. That’s why It says, “Beginning at Samuel and all the prophets.” William Branham cannot be identified with Moses as a giver of the Word, because Bro. Branham did not have a Word from God. He didn’t write a book. He didn’t write a letter. He didn’t have to. It was already written. He was like Samuel. Samuel didn’t have to write. He could write a history book. William Branham could’ve too. That’s okay. He could’ve written about what happened. But, as far as the Word of God was concerned, it wasn’t up to Bro. Branham to have that. He was here to interpret. He said, “Just think, the same Pillar of Fire that brought the Word to Paul, is here revealing the Word.” And that’s what he said, and that’s what you go by. See? 29. Now that is in our day. But the people have turned it down. Now then, God can only honor those who honor Him. Now, what does the Bible say? Honor thy father and thy mother. Now, if your Father isn’t God, there’s no way you’re going to honor Him. Therefore, there’s no way He’ll honor you, unless you are a son. The Word of the Lord can only come to the elect. That’s why Bro. Branham starts us off, “This message of peace, that comes through the vindicated Word, into the human vessel. Bringing relaxation, bringing this great peace with God.” See? Comes at this particular hour, through the vindicated Word, by a vindicated prophet. 30. Now the people are working against the prophet. And, how do they do it? They do it as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram did, because every single church has within it the charismatics. There’s a branch of Lutherans that practiced divine healing just left and right. The Catholic Church, Methodist, Baptist, they’re all over. As Bro. Branham said, “The Methodists want the Baptists, the Pentecostals want them all. They’ve got them all.” The Pentecostals own the Catholic Church—literally. You watch and see. They’re all part of it. Now, where’s your tongues going to go to? They are working against the very thing that they are crying for, but they don’t know what they’re crying for. It’s just as Bro. Branham said, “I was in the house of Bro. Moore,” the man that wrote, The Herald of His Coming. Everybody knows it was the finest paper in print for years and years. Every single paper would have: “O God send a prophet. O God send a prophet. People pray. People pray, O God send a prophet.” So, God sent the prophet, who sat down and had dinner. He was right in the prophet’s presence. He ate and drank with him. No doubt they discussed the Word. As soon as Bro. Branham’s gone, “O God send a prophet. O God send a prophet.” That paper, as good as it was, destroyed the very Presence and work of God. And that man would have the grit to criticize the Roman Catholics and the heathen. Now, if that isn’t gross darkness that Bro. Branham is talking about, you tell me what he’s talking about. They’re befuddled. Spiritual amnesia. They’re confused. They look, but they don’t see. They hear, but they can’t comprehend. All the while they know something’s going on, and they want something else. You know what that sounds like? People that have vegetated. There’s some little thing in the mind that says, “Hey, there’s something there, but I simply can’t get it.” 31. Let me take you to Lk 1:17 again. Now look, never ever underestimate what I teach you in the Scripture, especially these strong, strong, Scriptures. This is John the Baptist.
Now you can say what you want, but that’s the Gospel of God. That’s what took place. That’s what’s taken place now. And they’re not taking It. Now, watch Bro. Branham, speaking of his vindication here, knowing what he knows. Paragraph 57. [57] And I don’t say that in the motive of trying to say, "Now, we’ve seen This, ‘Glory to God,’ and they’re not in it. “I’m not trying to say that to get the people to think, “Well, Bro. Branham, you’ve got the only Truth there is in the world.” No, that is wrong. See? That would be the wrong spirit. In other words it’s not somebody presenting himself in his own spirit! It is a man in the Spirit of God presenting God! Where Logos and Rhema are one. That’s why William Branham was rebuked for his side show. I’d look around and say, “Hey.” He said, “The angel rebuked me for it.” You’ve got it right on tape. I thought, “Well, I know Bill Branham. I don’t know a more reverent man in all the world, or more sincere.” He wasn’t hokey. He wasn’t a hammy, emotional actor. Listen, that man was solid from center to circumference and back again. I can begin to see as I read the very sermons that came out of Bro. Branham’s mouth, where he as a man would have a problem, because he was a man. But don’t ever sell it short, because I want to tell you: the same one who prophesied, “They wounded my hands and my feet,” took a woman in adultery, no doubt against her will, except she might have been flattered to lay with the king. He got her pregnant; killed her husband. How do you like that? Now that doesn’t turn you loose to think you can do anything, or turn me loose. I just want you to know, brother/sister, God’s God. And don’t fool with Him and His Holy Word. 32. Now Bro. Branham says: [58] I am not trying to get your eyes on me. I am not trying to tell you that I’m the only one that’s got anything. That’s wrong if you think I’m doing that. What I’m trying to get you to see, is this: I’m saying these things in the Light of the hour (That’s it.) that we’re walking in. In other words there’s a certain Light today we’re walking in. And for the benefit of the people who are trying to seek this Light. Now the whole world may have a bit of an intuition, or a feeling, that something is going on. And they are going to miss it en masse, over ninety-nine percent. But there’s a part of a one percent that’s got the yearning, that’s a magnetic attraction, to the great One. In other words, “The deep calling to the Deep.” And the Deep will answer back, and they’re going to get it. So, he said, “Don’t think I’m trying to present myself. I’m just trying to let you to know, that all of you people, and you know within yourselves if something is going wrong! You’re nervous. You’re high strung. Everything sets you off! You know you’re at the end of the trail. Let me tell you something, I’m sorry for you. You’re seeking something; you’re not going to get it, because:” [58] Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except my Father draw him.” No man will ever see what I’m talking about. Only the predestinated Seed, and that only, is going to receive It. But we’ve come to that place again, the place that the Bible said, “You’re the light of the world.” 33. Now, let’s go back to Mat 5:14.
Referring to that Scripture for this hour, you can positively see that Bro. Branham’s ministry had to be such as to attract people to the Word of God, that he would not be confusing to them. He wouldn’t add to their dilemma. That’s why he kept over eighty percent of his entire sermons based upon his vindication, through the presence of God. So, they couldn’t fail to see it! He died absolved! But the people still couldn’t see it. “Well,” they said, “Well, he’s trying to make himself somebody. You know, when a preacher gets this kind of power, he always goes potty. He always thinks, you know, that he’s something great; and after all, God is the great One, hallelujah, and we wonderful great ones know it. And you know, when a man goes that way, you see, he’ll be led astray by those thoughts, and he’ll lead others astray.” Stupid bunch of ignoramuses. I wouldn’t give them five minutes of my time. And I’ve got to the place I could even add this in maybe a sense of bitterness at their disgusting attitudes, because there’s no way I think they could give me anything to guide me to heaven; but I could almost say, even if I thought they had something, I’ll put it this way, that if they could do something for me, I wouldn’t take it. It’s like your positive thinking. This bypasses the understanding of the mind and the positive thinking. This is the absolutely living, vibrant, as Bro. Branham said, germitized seed of almighty God. You’re the light of the world! Those people with the prophet are the only ones who are the true lights. What is the light of the world? When it comes to that which we carry in our vessels? All right. That’s the human vessel. He’s got to have the Word. 34. What Word’s he going have? Ephesians 1:17: (17) The God (and Father) of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: (18) (To open) the eyes of your understanding (the eyes of your soul); may know the hope of his calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. Which is going to bring forth a resurrection, an immortality, and put you in a rapture. That’s the light of the hour. Okay. Paragraph 59. [59] The prophet said, “Gross darkness” (That means ‘thick, fixed darkness’.) “upon the people.” Then, he elaborates. Upon the people of the world at this time. That’s exactly what we’ve got, gross darkness upon the people. He’s telling the condition of the world, exactly one hundred percent, what it is like. I made a little note in my side here of Lk 11:29. (29) When the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; there shall no sign be given, but the sign of the prophet (Jonas).
That’s you’re example. Gross darkness. The people cannot take the vindicated Word of almighty God. They cannot see It. They can quote you Jn 3:16. (16) God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son… (and so on.) 35. Then, It says in 17: (17) For God sent not his son (to) the world to condemn the world; but the world through him might be saved.
Who’s the evil one? What was the evil thing? The thing that Cain did: he tried to worship God outside of the properly revealed and divided Word. He took things in his own hands. 36. Let me tell you something, people. You think I’m rough at times; I know you do. I can tell that. I’m not ignorant of it. But many times I keep warning: look, don’t go above where God placed you. Stay where you are, and live the position that God gave you, because the minute you step outside, you’re out of God’s Will. There’ll be problems, problems, problems. I just want you to know this. There is a place where God has placed us, and we must be careful to maintain those places. And there hasn’t been set upon us a lot of rules of do this and do that, but the grace of God has been manifested; and, if grace manifests to the man, that he is to be in the Word, and the woman is to be in an action, or discipline, then that does it! And, of course, the man represents headship of a church, and the woman represents the church. So, it goes back and forth. Remember, the head of the Bride is Jesus Christ Himself. 37. Now, paragraph 60: [60] God, in His great mercy, as I have always preached and tried to stand for, that He always shows His events from heaven, His great major events, happen in heaven before they happen on earth. He reflects Himself. In other words He manifests that He is into an action and doing something to get people’s attention, that He may speak to them. In other words, before Messiah came into a place where His ministry would start, there came a Star out of heaven, guided the men to the place where He was, those wise men. As you heard in my last Message how that God dealt with the wise men, and in that day that He turned them aside by a dream, and He told Joseph by a dream how to take care of the welfare of His Own Son. All right. You notice what Bro. Branham is saying here: a star came out of heaven, and a star is a light holder. So therefore, a light turned people to a light. [Points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire.] The deeds done in William Branham’s ministry through the Holy Ghost, turned the people to the Light Himself, which was 1 Th 4:16, “The Lord Himself descended with a Message,” to put the church in order. That’s revival right there. They didn’t want it. “Lord revive Thy Word, to believe on Him that He sent, and the work that He’s doing in the church, to bring into perfection, so the Head can fit upon that particular point.” Bro. Branham spoke of that flange. And the flange must fit perfectly—perfect Word. That which is perfect is come. All ready for it. See? 38. There was a dream given to this person. [61] A dream is a secondary, something off to one side, because people can have dreams that are not right. There was no prophet in the land in that day, (See?) there was no prophet, therefore God had to use what was secondary. And this teaches us that God can use every faculty and everything that we do, if it’s consecrated to Him. But it first must be consecrated to Him. Let your meditations, which really reflect your dreams be consecrated, (See?) because it’s your subconscience. If you’ll watch a dream, you’ll see it's something that you’ve been thinking of, or something like that. Usually. You see? And let your mind be on God, then, (See?) so it reflects something for Him. And whatever you are, let it reflect Him. Now this here little interjection, because what it is: I believe that Bro. Branham put this in here, because he’s constantly dealing with Pentecostals who are always going to dreams and signs and everything else. And he’s saying, “Listen, there is such a thing that you can use a dream when there isn’t a prophet. But, when there is a prophet, dreams are gone. They’re finished.” Well, dreams always aren’t consistent, because they come from your subconscious, which depends upon what your activities have been engaged in and your mind absorbed in during the day, or over the days, and something will wedge in there, if you’re really consecrated—bring out something fruitful. But, don’t depend on it. It might happen once; may never happen again. 39. Now he’s telling the people, listen, we don’t have any secondary channels today. We don’t have any five-fold ministry, we don’t have any people coming together, we don’t have any soothsayers, we don’t have any dreamers, (Junior Jackson and everybody else included.) we don’t have any of those men that can stand up to this! [Points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire.] And Junior did stand up against it. In fact, I understand he said in his church one day as he threw the The Seven Church Ages book in the basket, “This is file thirteen,” he said. “Throw it in the garbage.” And he said, “If the prophet were here, he would admit I was right and he was wrong.” Well, William Branham can come back riding on a white horse, a green horse, and a pink elephant, and I’ll never concede that man’s right, because I concede he is right. [Points to the picture on the wall.] I don’t care what your dreams are. I’m not interested. You say, “Bro. Vayle, I’ve got a great call.” Does your call come alongside of that? What’s a five-fold ministry? What’s this? What’s that, compared to that? It’s not in the picture! You are dealing directly with God. You say, “Just a minute!” Don’t you just a minute me, because this is the direct Will of God, so therefore you’re dealing directly with God! [Points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire.] 40. Now, what do you think of that statement? It’s either going to put you one way or the other. It’s going to knock your faith plumb out of the arena, or you’re going to stay in the arena, and you’re going to meet the gladiators head on. Because you simply don’t care anymore. I’ve dealt with God. When I deal with the legitimate prophet, vindicated, I have dealt with God; or, brother/sister, take this Book and burn it. Deuteronomy 13, Deuteronomy 18: those chapters are nothing but hogwash. And I can say with Schoenfeld, a great Jew, almost antichrist… I guess you’d call him that, because he’s the one that wrote The Passover Plot; wrote a book about it. Though he wrote it, analyzed the New Testament, and said it’s absolutely correct according to the ancient languages; he said it’s authentic as far as the material is concerned, but doesn’t believe it’s God. And he said it’s just a hoax that they perpetrated. This is a hoax perpetrated too, then, hey? [Points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire.] Uh-uh. You’ve got to come to grips with reality. And reality is vindication. This man was vindicated. 41. Brother, I’m going to tell you: you’ll save your life, if you just listen to that. It’ll stop all your fussing and everything else. If I could get a church here that understood what I’m saying, I wouldn’t worry about one of you in the pew! I could take you into my heart in such a way, I would never have any fear of anything. But I don’t know that you know that and you believe it! I’m going to tell you one thing: I want to preach this stronger than any man living. And I don’t know that I know it the way I should know it. You say, “Well, you’re going to have to believe like the boys that believe Bro. Branham’s coming back, and, then, you’ll believe it!” By the grace of God we’re not waiting that long. I want to believe it in such a way as to bring him back. I want to be one step ahead of the ballgame; for “They without us cannot be made perfect,” means I got to be made perfect first before they get it. And that perfection does not lie in the human body. It lies in the soul—which every word, every channel is filled up with the Word of almighty God. 42. [61] No , he said, you can’t take dreams. He said, once in awhile you could. Once in awhile, he said, those things could work out. But he said, when there’s a prophet in the land, listen to the prophet. See? Now, we’re going to quit here, because in the next paragraph, he immediately goes to the sign in heaven, which is there. [Points to the picture of the Cloud on the wall.] Signs in the heaven. So, paragraph 62, will be sermon number 10. Sunday will be number 10, far as I know. And we’ll start right there. Signs in the heaven. Dreams? Okay, if there’s no prophet, maybe, maybe, just maybe… When there’s a prophet, go to the prophet. But there’s also a peculiar thing. Something happens in heaven before it happens on earth. That’s right. And he tells you about it. Let’s rise at this time to be dismissed. Heavenly Father, again we want to thank You for the time that we have coming together, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the study of Your Word. We appreciate every single person here, and I trust each one understands what I say tonight, does not bear upon anyone personally, picking anybody out, leaving others and vice versa. Just the bare fact, Lord, viewing my own life and my own heart knowing, that there is a depth of faith in believing in this vindication that far surpasses anything we have at this point. Because we know at that point, the sweet Spirit of Christ will be in this building; and, as the prophet said, the sick amongst us will be healed. We’ve seen a little bit of it; we haven’t seen enough. But we are going to see by Your grace, because I don’t believe You brought us this far for nothing. I don’t believe for one moment, Lord, you took David where he was, and let him fall by the wayside, then let him rot, and say, “Well, go to hell, because you just let me down.” You didn’t do that. David absolutely lifted up his eyes and knew that he’d be in the Resurrection, Lord—a type of prophet king. We thank You that You’ve given us a Word of grace to Your people, not to lead us into disgrace. Not to think we can be fast and loose under any condition, but, Lord, we can believe in spite of ourselves, in the grace of almighty God, hungering and thirsting for a depth of revelation that’s going to set our souls on fire and get us out of here. Father, I pray there won’t be one person that’s not blessed tonight, one person that doesn’t have an answer to the heart’s cry, whatever it is, whether it’s a sickness, O God… We still pray for little children. We are amazed, and we are also confused in this measure, that little children are sick amongst us. We do not want that, heavenly Father. We know the parents would sooner be sick, and yet the parents are sick also. We know that is of the enemy; this is not something of You. Help us, Father, to somehow come to the place where we learn how to just come over these things—learn to just overcome them in faith, and see every little child in our assembly here, whole, hearty, healthy, happy; brought up in the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, may we have such a vision as to the glory and the power of this Word, and the wonderment of It all, that we will simply, and as never before, come into that place, of that peculiar blessed unity and harmony with You and the Word and with each other, as John said, “That we may have fellowship, and our fellowship is with the Son.” And, “If you walk in the light, as He is the light, we’ll all have fellowship one with another, with the blood of Jesus Christ, cleansing us.” Father, that’s what I want. Help us, Lord. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray that there won’t be one mind that’s led astray, that there won’t be one heart that has miscalculated, that there is one thought, or one plan, Lord, that’s going to be detrimental to anybody, because we know it will backfire; for he that diggeth the ditch shall fall into it. Father, keep me from being a hypocrite under any condition whatsoever, or suave, or whatever they want to call it. I suppose some would want to call it diplomatic. But, Lord, to always be as the prophet said, “Rugged is the man to stand with the Word,” to stand with It in love and understanding and compassion, but knowing at the same time, that You’ve already said, “Any man blaspheming the Holy Spirit at the end time, there’s nothing anybody can do about it. It’s all over.” So, Father, we commend ourselves to You tonight, and again we thank You for the blessed time we’ve had together, the joy of the fellowship we have here. There is nothing like it on earth as far as we’re concerned, and we appreciate that. Go with us as we go, and keep us till we come together again. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. “Take the Name of Jesus With You.” |