RAPTURE #5

God Is His Own Interpreter

October 5, 1983

Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we are very happy to be in Your Presence in the service tonight, carefully looking to You for all things. For You are our hope of everything, Lord, that we are really interested in, long for, even those inner longings that we do not even understand. We know that You are the answer, not necessarily as one who has the answer, but You are the answer, Lord, because all things are of You. And we look to You, for the Scripture surely said that if God spared not His Only-begotten Son but freely delivered him up for us all, how shall He not also with him freely give us all things?

So Lord, we want to give You the preeminence, so that whatever flows from Divine Grace might also be our portion. We know that if we have You, we have all things. So we give You preeminence, give You our very lives, whatever You would require, Lord. We believe that we are in a position now to come to that, that we might be one. And we will be one, because already we are in process. So we praise You, Lord, for grace, mercy and glory. In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen. You may be seated.

1. Now the other day, getting into “The Rapture”, you will remember that we were talking about God being His Own Interpreter. And we noticed there that God literally interprets His Word by bringing It to pass. And then also, we mentioned the fact that God allotted a portion of the Word for each age. And what Bro. Branham taught us, of course, was beautiful Scripture, but It is very foreign to most people. So tonight I am going to take the 14 pages, hopefully, where he speaks on “God is His Own Interpreter,” and we will try to get that done tonight. That means we will not read what was said on the prayer line.

2. Now speaking here in 2 Peter [“God Is His Own Interpreter,” para. 4], he said:

(15) Moreover I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

(16) For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

[5] I love that expression ‘eyewitnesses’. Not some fable. We are witness of what we are talking about.

(17) For he received from God the Father honour and glory, and there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

3. There is a magazine out called Voices from the Excellent Glory. It’s a bunch of hogwash. There is only one Voice—not dozens of voices; one Voice. And of course God uses a prophet, uses a Word prophet, one at a time. Now:

(18) And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

(19) We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto you may do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

(20) Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

[6] May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word. Now, I’m going to take this for a subject: God is His Own Interpreter.

4. Now that may sound kind of strange to a lot of people, but it should not be the least strange if you go to 1 Corinthians 2, and you read in there from verse 9:

(9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.

(10) But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.

(11) For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

(12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

(13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

(14) But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

5. Now first of all, It tells you there, that nobody authored the Word of God but God. Everything that God says that He is going to do is utterly a surprise to man. There is no way he can get hold of it, unless first of all, God lays it out. Then It tells you that you don’t understand It, unless God Himself does something about revealing It and interpreting It; which is really more interpreting than revealing, because many revelations of God do need an interpretation. In fact, this is the Word of God, a revelation, but you need the interpretation.

So Bro. Branham’s subject here...his discourse...is actually very appropriate. And it is one hundred percent with the Word of God Itself.

6. Now,

[7] We are living in a day of confusion, he goes on to say: We’re living in a day that when men and women hardly know what to do. Everything seems to be in a turmoil. It seems to be there’s so many different ways to look. That’s Satan doing that.

[8] Now, God cannot judge a people righteously, all right, unless there be some standard that He has to judge them by. And the Bible says that He’ll judge all man by Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Word. In St. John, the first chapter, It said:

(1) In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. (And then of course in verse 14:)

(14) And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

Now for him to say here that “God cannot judge a people righteously unless there be some standard that He has to judge by” puts a peculiar emphasis once more on the Word of God, and that is that It actually has to be interpreted as a judge interprets the word in order for the people to be even judged. Now you know that, at the end time here, there is coming a judgment and particularly in the light of the fact that Abraham says to God in the time that parallels our own hour before Sodom, “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” Now that absolutely presupposes a blanket interpretation, or otherwise how does anybody know he is going to get any kind of a fair shake when he goes to court? And you are in court now. Do you follow what I am saying? See? What I am trying to do is put the whole thing together, if I can, to help you point by point as we go along.

Now you see he starts off, first of all, with the understanding that God is His Own interpreter. Well, God is His Own Judge. Well, who is involved? Man is involved. All right then, the thing is: God must interpret His Word to the people, and then judgment is involved. Now also, you will notice that there is an allocation of the Word, seven times in seven ages and each with a benefit and a demerit. Merit and demerit. Judgment to merit; judgment to dismerit. Right. Okay.

So you understand, we are putting the thing together now. I will try to help you all I can. I do not know just how good I will be.

7. [9] “Now all we are today is a display of His attributes.” Now it looks like he is going to throw this into a different area. Really, what it is, is: it is a different facet. “Now all we are today is a display of His attributes.”

Now attributes are signs, or they are evidence—marks of a source. The attributes themselves are not sources, but they come from a source. And of course, attributes then differentiate like an analysis, and then actually signify or designate—like a synthesis...bringing it together—what the source really is. So now he is talking of us in terms of us being attributes. Now we will follow this along, and we will see what his thinking is exactly on attributes: what is it that comes out from a source, and what the source was, and what the mark is, the evidence is, the sign—whatever you going to call it.

8. [9] Now: First He, God, was not even God; God, we would just call Him ‘Eternal One.’ He wasn’t God, because the word in English, ‘God’ means “object of worship” and there was nothing to worship Him. So He was the Eternal One, the main Fountain of all intelligence.

Now He is the Fountain of Intelligence. Now man wasn’t some dumb jerk that God made. He was intelligent. I’d like to find anybody right today [that could] name all the animals even with God standing there. They say, “Well, this is a horse.” Well, it’s okay if you forget it in the next five minutes—you are going to name five thousand more. How would you like to name all the animals of the world? Just give me fifty right now in running order. I think maybe you might stop for a second. How about 150, if you think 50 is a cinch? Intelligence...intelligence. He is first. He is the Fountain of all intelligence.

[9] “...And in this Fountain of intelligence there was not an atom, a molecule, or anything, light anywhere, star, moon, nothing else.” Now that is not to suggest that God Himself is nothing...like a cloud floating around, something amorphic, something without shape, form.

Well, first of all, he says, “He is the Fountain of Intelligence.” So He is evidently, whatever He is—Spirit. There is something there that is real. God, what we know is God, the Great Spirit that was eternal, never did begin, never did end. He was there. Now that’s...that’s what he is placing it. No, never mind, there are not atoms and so on. That is what he is talking outside Him.

9. [9] “....And in Him was attributes. His attributes to be God. That means to be worshipped, because He is Spirit. Then His attributes to be Father, attributes to be Son, attributes to be a Saviour, attributes to be a Healer.” All right.

Without any materiality, in other words, the attribute then would have to be literally thoughts—literally—because we are dealing with intelligence. We are dealing with knowledge in the realm of the spirit. So therefore, these attributes would have to be segments of what would literally make up the person and personality of God Who never changes, was and always—what He is: great Spirit. But in there are all these things. See? God, to be God, to be Father, to be a Son, to be a Savior, to be a Healer and so on...be a Shepherd.

10. [9] “...All these attributes were in Him. Now He... these things that have unfolded since, see? then are just His attributes being made manifest.” So up there He was the source of all intelligence, omniscience, foreknowledge, alone with His thoughts. Then all that was there, that has unfolded are just attributes—that are coming into view—“they are being made manifest. What I mean,” he says, “attributes were His thoughts.” See? They were there as thoughts; they were there in formation, or rather we might say those thoughts were formative or capable of taking a form and that spells life, doesn’t it?

Now that is kind of hard to think when you talk about a formation, but you form your thoughts into lines too. Any man that is a general, before he forms the lines of the army into place, he has already formed them in his mind. What was it they said about this? I read today in the Reader Digest... I think it was today. This fellow named Pete—P-E-T-E—a black man, and he made a fantastic shot. And so they asked, “When did you conceive that shot?”

He said, “Eleven-thirty last night.”

I think the shot was made about three in the afternoon. But he went over that golf course in his mind with a fine comb.

11. Well, we are in the image of God. I don’t suppose God does any different from us. So He went over His own thinking with a fine comb. He sat alone with His thoughts to bring them together, to bring His attributes in harmony so one would follow the other the way He wanted it.

[10] What I mean, attributes were His ‘thoughts’. And a word is ‘a thought expressed’. Then that was in His thinking. And when He said, now watch, “Let there be light,” and there was. “Let there be,” and there was.

Now you see, what you are looking at here is a very, very simple thing, really. What lay in Him is brought to manifestation, and this interprets—if you want to put it—Him as to what He is like. Now that is one part of it. On the other side you have the understanding of the simplicity here that when He said, “Let there be light,” He could not speak until, first of all, the ‘thought’ was there. And then speaking, the light appeared which was the interpretation of the thought brought in to form: light. It was the interpretation.

Like He said, “Let the earth bring forth,” and the interpretation was, “Well, here comes a horse, here comes a cow, here comes a pig, here comes a dog, here comes a this and here comes that”—the earth bringing forth. So He said, “Let there be light.” The light, literally, was the interpretation, because even had there been somebody there to comprehend—which at that time there wasn’t: there was later—if there hadn’t been anybody there to comprehend it, as soon as that Word was spoken and that flash came, whatever was there to comprehend it, would have known instantaneously by manifestation: that’s light.

12. Now what if Adam had been the one standing there to begin with, and God said, “Let the earth bring forth?” Well, he wasn’t, but had he been there, he would have seen it all come forth. However, when they were paraded by him… Now it goes into reverse. The Word that said ‘horse’, and the horse appeared; now before Adam, the horse is there.

“What is that?”

Well, God puts His Own thinking into Adam’s mind, and Adam says, “Horse.” You see?

Now reverse it again. If Adam were standing there, God knows there’s a horse to come forth. So He said, “Let the earth bring forth the horse.” Now Adam could not see—or maybe he did in spirit form—see the horse. I will not argue that point. I know the angels saw it, because they are spirit beings; and I know the horse was there in a spirit form. But when God said, “Let the earth bring forth,” then the horse was made manifest and could be seen. Do you follow what we’re saying? That is the simplicity of it.

13. [11] “Now remember, you Christians were His thoughts.” He said, “You Christians were His thoughts before there was a world. And you are,” that is: the physical predestinated part now, “are the manifestation of His thinking. Before there was even a world, you were in Christ, Amen, in God in the beginning.” Why? Because all His thoughts were there. See? Now remember that as this progressed, there were things that were written so that men ordained of old of this condemnation were not in that thinking. They came afterwards. See? Now: “That makes you, then, you see, His subjects. And the whole thing is God. The whole thing is God Himself, materializing Himself tangible so He could be handled, seen and so forth. And that’s what God is, the whole thing.”

In other words He is the Source and the supplier from the Source, thought or foreknowledge to complete predestination. So you see, here he is saying that God is foreknowledge to a complete predestination. And we are a part of it, no matter what looks obtuse or out of alignment. As It says in Rom 11:36, “For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory forever.”

14. [12] And people say “The interpretation...” I was speaking here not long ago, in a meeting, a man said to me, “Bro. Branham, you have the wrong interpretation. You don’t interpret That right.”

[13] Now we hear... They go to the Methodist, and they say, “The Baptist doesn’t interpret right.” The Baptist say, “The Pentecostals don’t interpret right.” The Pentecostals say, “The Oneness doesn’t.” and The Oneness says, “The Assemblies don’t.” And each one says the other one doesn’t.

[14] God is His Own interpreter! He doesn’t need anybody to interpret for Him. He does His Own interpreting. Who is the man that can interpret God? God is His Own interpreter. See, that is what we saw in 1 Cor l:2 back there, that God does His Own, and then over here in Ephesians for the last day:

(17) That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Now you can see that the Bible opens with the definitive revelation from God to the Gentiles, and it closes with the definitive revelation of God. See? Israel’s age ended with the definitive “coming in flesh”, and it will end again with the definitive “coming in flesh”. Remember: we start with Spirit, end with Spirit, as far as I know Scripture. And Israel is just the opposite. Now, “God is His Own interpreter.” Now this, of course, is so if we believe the attributes as is said by Bro. Branham there.

15. [15] “Now Peter, speaking here, we find out in the beginning when God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, that’s the interpretation of it”. He said, “In the beginning”—not Peter speaking—but when he was reading from Peter, he was explaining that...about light being given...that’s the interpretation. “When God said anything, and it was manifested...” Now he said, “When God said anything, and it was manifested, then that is God’s interpretation that His Word is right. See? When He said, “Let there be light””—and of course there had to be something follow, you see—that was in His thinking first, before there was such a thing as light. “When He said, “Let there be light,” light sprung into the skies; that’s the interpretation.” You see? Of what? As to what light is. “Nobody has to interpret that, for God said so, and there it was. When God speaks and it is manifested, that is the interpretation of His Word. Why can’t man see that? Why don’t people see that?” Well you see, they don’t see the simplicity.

So we might look at it this way: God is the Originator, and man is not privy to the thought. He is not privy to what God is thinking. He is not privy to the Creator or the thing created. So therefore, you can see here that God must absolutely do something for a man to get an understanding and a knowledge, which then will leave God in the position of Judge or blameless. You see? So man, according to this then, man should then see what goes on in his hour; to be spiritual minded, to be open for those things that come to his attention in the realm of the phenomenal, especially, and then see if there is something in the Word.

16. Now that takes you back to where we got into [the subject of] discernment [recently]. And he said, “You can discern the face of the skies, and you can say it’s a nice, pink, reddish evening tonight...it is going to be nice tomorrow.” And that was the people going over the elements which...or the things which were placed before them, and they were able to make a prognosis, or a prediction, or an assessment, because they saw things running in form.

Now what we have today that is against us—it is against you and against me—is this: we have been taught very successfully for hundreds and hundreds of years that this Bible is finished. It is all written. It is there in front of you. “A wayfaring man though a fool need not err therein.” [Isa 35:8] And you don’t need anything, if you are born again, except that Word, and that’s all—don’t look for anything. In other words they are telling you from the time this was written, you don’t look for anything until...Whammo! The dead are out of the ground! Whammo! You’re changed! And...Whammo! You’re gone! Now that is exactly where we are. Now that is exactly why we have never, ever, looked for any signs outside of the whammo signs. See? And that is not good, because some of those signs, without other signs, have been recurring signs. See?

17. Now this has brought us to the place that even when the great sign of Israel in the homeland is in, people sit right down and say, “Well, that is all the sign you need. Oh, yes, there are one or two things about Sodom and Gomorrah.” What it is they don’t even know, because they don’t know the first thing about the fact that Sodom had a prophet, had two angels go down, had God appear…

“Oh,” they say, “Well, that happens, that that’s that.”

Well, just a minute now. Jesus said, “If you looked at the signs of the sky and knew that it was going to be a good day because it is red at night, you know there are things occurring in the Word that set an example whereby you know what is going on.”

But people say, “Well, just a minute...this whole Thing is written.... It is all done, so bless God, you just get born again, kiddo, and you’ve got it.”

What’s ‘born again’?

“Well,” you say, “The Blood is there.”

I do not care if the Blood is there. If you do not come to the Light, you ain’t got no Blood either.

“Well,” you say, “What is ‘Light’?”

That is a good question. What is Light? Now who has it? Well you see, remember: God winks at things over a period of time. But there comes a time when it comes to specific judgment that God does not wink. And at that time He lays it all out, so that He is Judge as well as the Justifier. And they say, “Therefore, then, will the God of all the earth judge righteously?” Sure. He will not let the wicked get through, and He will not let the righteous perish.

18. All right. Now he says, [16] “When God makes a promise and God says... In the beginning, in Genesis, He allotted His Word to each age as It come down from the beginning to the end.” All right.

Now what is he talking about? He is talking about the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day, the seventh day. Number one: “Let there be.” Number two: “Let there be.” Number three: “Let there be.” Number four: “Let there be.” And so on. It was allotted. Now what was He doing? He was bringing man to the place where man came on the scene in the form that God wanted him. Now people do not recognize that God was allotting His Word.

19. The next thing you will find: He speaks to Abraham. He is allotting His Word. And you will also find He allotted His Word to the fact that the Israelites were to go down into Egypt for four hundred solid years until the cup of the Amorites was filled up. Now God is setting a pattern of allotting and demonstrating, by bringing to pass, through the signs which He brings before the people.

And the people say, “Well, isn’t that wonderful?”

Well, that is just about as much to bless your heart as your finding out that old Rockefeller made a billion dollars, but you can’t make it. He done made it. Somebody writes a book and says... Every time you pick up these magazines that I buy, here is some bird in there with a great big full page... He said, “I am a very rich man,” he said, “and I want to leave my secrets before I die.” He is a hot-headed, stupid liar, as far as I am concerned, and a jackass. What he is trying to do is get more money than he’s already got, and I don’t think he’s got too much. I never found a man yet but that wanted to give away trade secrets except God. It’s all of grace anyway. Can’t stand that nonsense they always try to piffle off on you. But you see, people fall for that tripe. All right.

20. Down here in the end it says:

[16] ...From beginning to end. And, down through these ages the church world has got all these things mixed up by traditions. See? Their own creeds and dogmas, so forth. And God always sends on the scene, down through the Old Testament and New, prophets! And the Word of the Lord comes to the prophet. How does It do it? It manifests the Word of God. God’s manifestation, that tells whether it is right or wrong. Nobody has to interpret It. The Word interprets Itself. God promised It, and there It happens!

Now he tells you right there that the prophet comes on the scene, and things begin to happen. And what happens is the interpretation. All right.

21. Now, what if a person is not knowledgeable in the Word? Well, he better get to the Word in a hurry. Now,

[17] What good is it do to say anything else about It? Who is the sinful man that would try to say (when God made a promise and God does it) that that interpretation is wrong? All right. Now he is getting down a little more to the nitty-gritty here. That’s God Himself doing His Own interpreting. He doesn’t need anybody to interpret for Him, He interprets Himself by manifesting what He promised to do.

Now the event, to be the true event, must have all the required manifestation. That is exactly what you are looking at here. You see, he said “He interprets Himself by manifesting what He promised He would do.” In other words we are right back to the understanding where we were before concerning discernment. It’s time to discern. Now you remember that he is speaking particularly concerning a certain age, although what he says is quite general. What he speaks about becomes very specific, eventually.

22. [18] “Oh, if the church could only see that and see the promises that’s allotted for each age!” Now the continuation of putting the emphasis on the age should smarten the people up to know that this man, who is very unique, is trying to tell the people something about the hour, which is a specific age after this generation. Now, all they ever saw was a man that did a lot of great things. They never saw what went with it. And they would not listen. See? “If the church could only see that and see the promises that’s allotted for each age! All other ages God has sent on the scene (down through the seven church ages) and has manifested everything He promised to do. Everything. There is not one thing left undone. Exactly! What He said He would do, that He did.”

Now that is a very abstract statement, because it is very general, and what he is saying specifically, in a very generalized way, is this: there were seven church ages with seven messengers and seven messages. There were seven mighty predictions concerning those ages, and every single one has come to pass, as is proven as you look back through history. So when you come to the place where there is no more history... Look. You eyeball it.

Now he said... In other words he’s saying that age number two could know what was happening. Age number three would know. Age number four would know—which was the age of the harlot, the worst of the whole bunch. Age number five began to revive. Six began to go on. Seven is a culmination. Now, you see, what they should have done was to have known. Why? Because they saw through Israel, God bringing man to a place.

23. You go through Scripture. What did you find out? You have gone through seven ages in the Book of Genesis in the first two chapters—seven complete days—and you brought it right to the place of the apex, where man was with God. All right. Now, you take to the seven ages of the Old Testament, you come right to the place where God indwelt a man, and man stood with God, and God stood with man. See? Now it was built up. Now you have got the same thing again today. And he said, “Can’t you ever understand what’s going on?” And the answer is, “No.” They can’t understand what’s going on. See? They will not look at the allotment. They will not look and understand that a Word is for a given period of time, and then it is gone.

24. Now, you try to tell people back here what the Book of Hebrews is all about as we understand it. At least I get... This is what I am saying I get from it based on the complete revelation of William Branham—not from the time he took the Book of Hebrews, when the revelation was very much incomplete and the evidence of the Holy Ghost was not known, and those things—is: leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, going on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, in faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptism and so on.” Well, my understanding is: there comes a time when that all runs out with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And where are you going? Well, you have got to come right back to the last thing which is Himself. See? That is what we are looking at.

Now remember: at the end time there is a period of the whole thing running out under the Seventh Seal which is an ushering-in period. People say, “Well, all right then. If that is the way it is, He is here right now, then all these things are over.”

That’s not true. You see what they do every single time? They draw a conclusion which is not only irreverent, but it is full of death. Those people talk, and they die right in their boots. They will die with their boots on. They want to die with their boots on. They are dying right now. See? They have plumb come against the Word of God by tradition. The only salvation you and I have is to drop our tradition. Whatever the Prophet said, you say It, and you believe It. Then you watch and see what happens. All right.

25. [18] ...Down through seven church ages and has manifested what He promised.

[19] Because when God said, in back there in Isaiah, Now he goes back to Isaiah. “A virgin shall conceive,” and she did. Now you think for one minute Israel believes that? Not to this point they don’t. They haven’t got the man they are looking for. They are looking for a young woman. That word ‘amah’ in the Hebrew is a young woman; not a virgin specifically, one untouched by a man, although that would be true too, in a sense, because they did not want woman touched by other men. God did the interpreting. He said, “A virgin shall conceive,” and she conceived. Nothing could be said about that, because God said she would do it, and she did. But the church was too blind then to see it. See, they had their own idea of it. It was too different from what they were expecting.

[20] Peter here was referring back, and he said, “God manifested Christ by His Word, and He said, ‘This is My beloved Son.’ “ These believers were standing there. And Christ was the manifestation of God. He always manifested Christ by His Word, because Christ is the Word. He manifests always. See? There is no deviation from the pattern. Then what about today?

[21] When He said...In the days of Noah, Christ was in Noah. Do you believe that? Noah said, “It is going to rain. There will be a rain, the earth will be destroyed.” It rained. That didn’t need any interpretation. It rained because God, in Noah, said, “It’s going to rain.” He was a prophet, and the evidence was that what he said came to pass. So they do not need to interpret that.

Now see, they don’t believe that. See? That is why we get most of our trouble from the fellow who simply cannot concede that William Branham was God to the people. That is why he believes in tongues and gifts and things. Because if he believed that William Branham was God to the people, he would have to put his church in order.

26. Now let’s go further. The prophet is literally God to the people by the fact that God is in that man. How much? Don’t ask me. I am not God. But William Branham said, “When you see God descend from the heavens, stand before groups of men, declare Himself as ever He did and this Bible open before me,” he was talking about the fact that when you saw William Branham, you saw God. And when you heard William Branham, you heard God. Oh, no, they can’t take that. Then fine! Get out of my way. Get out of my way. I believe it.

You say, “What if you end up in the Lake of Fire?

I’ll blame it on William Branham, or whatever spirit deals with me. That is all. And I will tell you one thing: if it is the devil, one day it will all go back on the devil, and I will be annihilated, while he will still fry.

Come on. I am pragmatic, brother/sister. I’m a realist, because either this thing is real, or it is not real. It is hogwash, or... Let them play church. Let them raise their standard of creeds and dogmas, Pentecostal tradition and hogwash. I’ll tell you: under the anointing, when that Word came forth—that Prophet was God, because God was in the prophets. Now it is very hard to understand that, but it is not hard for a man to say, “Well, I have the Holy Ghost” and be a liar. He ain’t got any more Holy Ghost than a—who knows—than I don’t know what; stone image.

27. [22] Some of them might, around, said, “This man does not know what he is talking about.” That is Noah.

[23] But God had always promised, “If there be one among you a spiritual prophet, and what he said comes to pass, then hear it.”

Now that was said after the days of Noah, when the Word was begun to be coordinated so that people would understand how God does things. Now do you think they believed that? Ha! No. They’d listen to some stupid woman get up in a Pentecostal meeting, talk in tongues, interpret, and say, “Oh! That’s wonderful! I believe it.” Hear some squeaky, cracked voice that came out of the floor maybe...tell them something and they believe that. Listen to some Pope Pius XII who said that Mary, mother of Jesus, was already glorified and ascended. And the Catholic theologians said, “Don’t say it! Don’t say it! Don’t say it!” He said it anyway. And now every Catholic theologian has got to say, “It’s so! It’s so! It’s so,” and it ain’t so. She is not anymore in heaven than nothing. She is still in the ground. But she is going to come out of it. She will stand there with the Saints. We will be standing right there, and see her go up, too.

Now they won’t go to the Word. “Oh,” they say, “Well, we wrote that Book. That’s the history of the church.” Let the church bring forth some dead! Let the Roman Catholic Church divide two thousand years with hundreds of millions of converts. Let them bring one person out of the ground! I want to see it. Fap! Illegitimate bunch you ever saw: the seed of Cain. Vah-tee-kah-een: the house of Cain. See? All right.

28. [23] And Noah was in accordance with the Word. When he prophesied it was going to rain, it rained. That didn’t need any interpretation for that, because it did just that. Well, that was the interpretation as to what’s rain. Well, you’ll find out pretty soon. Came down like a chunk.

[24] Isaiah said, “a virgin shall conceive,” and she did. Now, that was awfully unusual. For, see, it was many hundred years later before this virgin conceived.

[25] It was so unusual until a good man by the name of Joseph, her husband, “being a just man not willing to make her a public example...” That good man in those days, how it must have been with Joseph, when he was engaged, espoused to Mary.

[26] She was espoused. In that day, to break that, was just the same as committing adultery. And, of course, to Joseph, it seemed like Mary was trying to use him for a blockade, or make him a shield for her wrong, because here she was found to be a mother, and not being married, only engaged. A trick like that, would be stoned to death; it had to be, by the law.

[27] And Joseph, her husband, was a just man, a very just man. Except for the Roman law, they would have stoned her, don’t worry. He believed God. And when she looked at him with those lovely, big soft eyes, and said, “Joseph, Gabriel the Archangel visited me and told me I was going to conceive, knowing no man.”

[28] Now, if Joseph would have looked back in Scripture, the prophet said she would do that! It was only God interpreting His Own Word! See? But it was too unusual.

[29] That’s what’s the matter in any age. The Word of God is foreign to the people; It’s too unusual. See, they don’t check the Scripture. Jesus said, “Search the Scripture.” Now, “search the Scripture” does not mean, you know, take a casual look. It means ‘to search It and find out’. Just trace the whole thing right on down. It’s unusual anywhere God is. It is against the systems of the world, because that, they have got things the way they think they should be. But God comes in and does the unusual.

[30] “How could this virgin conceive?” He was honest. He sought God about it.

[31] And then God spoke to him in a dream, and said, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. God has over shadowed her. This is what is done.”

[32] Do you notice how God dealt with Joseph there? In a secondary way, in the way of a dream. Now, we know there’s dreams, we believe in dreams. I believe in dreams. God’s always dealt with people in dreams. but dreams are secondary, see, it could be right or wrong unless it is interpreted. But he didn’t need any interpretation. It was God Himself speaking directly with Joseph, because there wasn’t a prophet in the land in those days to interpret. There hadn’t been a prophet for four hundred years. So the next best, that God... because God cared for the welfare of His Own Son, that’s Jesus, He had to speak to Joseph through a dream without interpretation. He said, “The woman is right. That Holy Thing which is conceived in her is the Son of God.” Does not need interpretation, see.

In other words God corroborated His own interpretation. He did not change it. God corroborates. See? There is always substantiating evidence on everything. See? Like the shepherds were told—angels came down. Wise men were told; they came and visited. All of those things corroborating.

29. [33] “God does His Own interpreting to honest, sincere hearts, men and woman that looks upon the thing that’s mysterious, if...”

Now what was mysterious, of course, was the manifested promise coming to pass. See? They aren’t looking at something mysterious in the Word here and trying to get a lot of things to match it. What they are doing: they see something out there that is unusual and mysterious. So now they bring it back to the Word. Now what would Pentecost... Look at the trouble they would have saved themselves if they had brought the gifts on the floor, back to the Word... They would have taken them off the floor, because it was a believers’ meeting. See? But they would not do it. You have got to take everything back to the Word. Now:

30. [33] “God does His own interpreting to the sincere, honest and so on. If you are looking to the sincere heart men and woman looked upon the thing that is mysterious. If you are honest and sincere and will believe, God has a way of interpreting it to you. First, find out if it is a promise. If Joseph had of gone back and gone away from their traditions and gone back to the Bible, and found out, Isaiah said she was going to do that.”

Now that is true. Now, if he had gone to the Word and said, “Now just a minute. Nobody knows what this is really all about. Nobody really understands about this virgin that is going to have a baby [End of the first side of the tape.] to bring forth this one that is a Messiah.” Now, what... He could have gone there and said, “Hey, I do not know anything said about no male intervention, but this is something—to be the Son of God. So therefore the Holy Ghost could be in this thing.”

Now he did not do it, and he was not going to do it. His nerves were shot, because his espoused wife was pregnant, and he was not in any condition to think, except to think wrong thoughts. Now you can figure out what that would be like, because he was a righteous man; so God had to bring an angel to him; and that is not unusual. It was in a dream so the thing worked out.

31. [34] “And the things that was spoke of, and His birth, and all about it was spoke in the Scriptures, “by the holy prophets,” as Peter said. And no man has the right to put any private interpretation to that. It is just exactly what God said would take place. He was the manifestation of the Word of God promised in that day,” because “A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a child and call His name Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father, Counselor, Mighty God,” and so on, “to save the people from their sins.” It was there. God said It, and It was there. That settled it, because, you see, the Word was fulfilled: —manifested.

[35] “Jesus said... When He was on earth, when they couldn’t understand His ministry, it was too great, too phenomenal, they could not understand Him. He said, “Search the Scriptures!” “Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have Eternal Life, and they are they that testify of Me.” See?” Now, he just lined himself right up with eternal life. “They are the Ones that tell you Who I am.”

In other words look and see if there is a possibility of what you are seeing is there concerning me. See? Like when that time they decided to find out about this Prophet so the one said, “Search and see: no prophet comes out of Galilee.” What if they’d searched a little further and found out he really didn’t come out of Galilee? See?

32. Now you try to tell people some of the things that we believe and stand for by Scripture; they are not going to look. They are not going to do it all. All they can do is see the Sodom sign. They do not see the prophet sign. They will never see that. No way, because their minds are blinded already. The Book is written. There is no more added. There is nothing there, but what they claim to see.

Well, what is going to come to pass?

“Oh, He is going to come. The dead are going to come out of the ground, and we are going to be changed. And we are going to be caught up to see Him in the Appearing.”

That is not the Appearing. But you are not going to tell them different. See? Why? Because they wouldn’t stop at the unusual and check it out. See? No way, shape and form.

I wouldn’t want to be in Tommy Osborn’s boots when he stands before God. No siree. He said, “We saw God.” He is going to pay a price for that.

You say, “How do you know?”

Because I am not a fool. You don’t get one person off the hook by a revelation, and the disbeliever off the hook at the same time. I am off the hook by believing. He is still on the hook. He said the same words I said. What happened? See?

33. [36] “See, God allotted the Word. That day was to be the manifestation of God, God (Emmanuel) God with us, “His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Everlasting Father. And His Name shall be called Emmanuel, ‘God with us.’ “ God was in David. God was in Moses. God! That’s God all the way through, manifesting Himself for that age. But this age, “A virgin shall conceive and she’ll bring forth a son, and He will be God with us.”” See? Progressively coming—like it is progressively coming today. See?

People don’t understand Luther, Wesley, Pentecost, now. And yet you tell a Lutheran, that’s a real Lutheran, and you say, “Catholics are dead.” You tell a real Wesleyan, if there is such a bird, “Luther is shot.” You tell a real Pentecostal, which there ain’t no more, that the Wesleyans are shot. You talk to a real one of us...the whole bunch are shot. Sure. You see? You cannot tell people how God is progressing, going on—that is—His Word keeps marching on in His Own continual revelation, until it’s all over for the Gentiles.

34. [37] ...And he was just not an ordinary man or an ordinary prophet, (yet he was an ordinary man and a Prophet), That’s right, but He was the God-Prophet. And He was the fulfilling of the Word, exactly what God said He would do. Said, “Which of you can condemn Me of sin? Search the Scriptures! In them you think you have Eternal Life, and they are they which testify of Me.” But their traditions, they were living in the glare of another age.

[38] As I preached a few weeks ago, “Living in a ‘glare’.” A ‘glare’ is ‘a mirage’, the sun reflecting itself, and it is false. And any glare of another age is a false reflection. Because, you see, you have got to be in the Light before the Blood cleanses, as in the third chapter of John and in the first chapter of 1 John. The people always were walking in something that happen years ago. Lutherans are walking in Luther’s glare. Luther’s sunlight was fine in his day; Wesley was good in his day; the Pentecostal good in it’s day. We are going on up the ladder. We are living in another age! We are going on, we can not keep looking back. See? Now that was in the background of the seven church ages that was taught.

[39] When we get ourselves settled down and things, we think we have got it all made, we get our traditions wrapped up; and that was all right for that day, but we are moving on!

Now people don’t believe that either. They simply believe that time is moving on. They do not see the Word coming more and more back to Its original state. They do not see the Holy Spirit coming more and more into the church. They do not see us returning to Headship. They don’t see any of those things. They simply do not; they don’t see the Appearing of this hour. There are none of the things they see that are going to do them any good. Search the Scriptures and see what is promised for today. Then we will know where we are at, then we can tell where we are standing. All right.

35. People did search the Scripture. What did they come up with? Everything but the prophet. Now a bunch stood back, and they said, “Well now, the Book of Malachi does say Elijah has to come and restore all things, but of course, that is to the Jews.”

“Well, no,” they say, “I think that was John the Baptist.”

“Hallelujah! You have it straightened up now... He was either John or He is to the Jews.”

What about the Gentiles?

“Now, forget it. Ain’t no such thing.”

See? Now:

[40] Luther; you look in the scripture and see in that... in that Sardis age, and that Sardis age and that is Rev 3:1-6, you can see exactly what was promised. Now that is what he is talking about in those Scriptures in Hebrew. Look what kind of rider went forth, look what went to meet him, exactly, “the cunningness of man,” and Reformation.

Now you will notice the strange thing is that everybody talks about Luther and the Reformation—a reformer. Reformation was the start of restoration. Well, let’s face it: the planting of the seed to bring forth a rose is not the rose until the development has gone through, though the life was there. The life from Luther moved on from what it was in the Catholic Church. What was in Luther moved on to Wesley; what was in Wesley moved on to Pentecost. What has moved on has moved on to here, and It is back to the original. It is back to seed, you see. Now that is simple as A-B-C, and men will answer for it, because they did admit it was the Reformation.

37. [40] ...As it came down to the Pentecostal age and down through that age, watch how it traveled. Look at the Scriptures and see where we are at. That’s the reason Jesus said, “Search the scriptures!” What is he talking about? He is talking about the sixth age and the seventh age.

[41] So we’re at it! I believe we’re at the Coming of the Son of God right now. I believe we’re at the age of the very hour that He might appear at any time. I believe the Scriptures declare that. We’re in the last hours of the history of this world. I can see things as they are shaping up. See the Ecumenical Council leading all the churches into it, into the Mark of the Beast. And see the Roman Empire and what it is doing, and all the rest of them. Now let’s just stop here a minute and understand this, when he says up here, “I believe in the Coming of the Son of God right now—the hour that He appears.”

He is not saying the same thing as he is saying on down here, because you will notice, that at the time of the Ecumenical Council shaping up—that is literally the appearing of the Son of man at that hour and the revealing of it, because that is where you have the carcass and the division--you have the division going on: the fan is in His hand; the whole thing. See? The binding of the tares is going on right now, so you better be careful how you don’t get scared; because he says a thing up here that is the language of the fundamentalists, and down here he is using his own language. It is all the same hour; it is all the same time that we are going to be caught up. But what is going on now is Luke 17.

[41] See them getting together, shutting out the Light, shutting off the Gospel. Everybody will have to belong to it and walk in their light or you will not walk at all. See, we are at the end time. Now there you are. You will notice that he’s projecting to the hour when the Bride is gone, though she will be here for part of the squeeze. See? So we’re at the end time. There is nothing left for us to do but hold on to God and believe His Word. The Word is always right. Now the thing is this, where do you find conditions like that? You will find them in the Word. See?

[42] In the Laodicean church age, Rev 3:14-23, of course, that was the only church age, of all of them, that Christ was put on the outside of the church. He was on the outside, knocking. What’s happened? This ecumenical council is what is going to put Him out. The Bible said He would be on the outside, and He is. It shuts out what? The Word. And He is the Word, He’s always been the Word, and He is still the Word tonight! He is the Word. See? All right.

[43] The Bible said, “The Word is sharper, more powerful than a two-edged sword.” Hebrews 4, “is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The Word was! They should have known Who He was when Jesus said that in that day.

Now you notice that Jesus did not say that in ‘that day.’ This is said for ‘our day,’ this Scripture. This is said about what happened back there. Now you go find out what Jesus said what was sharper than a two-edged sword. What he said and what he did in Heb 4:12 that caused that verse to be written.

38. Now watch. [44] “Watch what He did. One day He was standing there, the first beginning of His ministry. There was a man came to Him, by the name of Simon Peter.”

Now listen: this has to do with the fact that there is going to be what the fundamentalists call an ‘Appearing.’ This has to do with what we understand to be an Appearing, which is the Son of man revealed and appearing amongst us, because he said, “He is appearing amongst you with signs and wonders.” Okay. And at that time he brings out the understanding that Heb 4:12 was already manifested in the days of Jesus; so therefore, it is a re-manifestation. Okay.

39. [44] ...Man standing by Him named Simon, Simon Peter. When Peter looked upon Him and saw Him, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, and you’re the son of Jonas.” He knew that Moses had said, “The Lord your God shall raise up a Prophet likened unto me, and Him you must hear. And here was a man he never saw in his life, said, “Your name is Simon, and you’re the son of Jonas.” Why, he knew right then that that could be no more... He just does not finish it off. They hadn’t had a prophet for hundreds of years, and here was a man telling him who he was. No wonder he could receive it! Because, you see, he believed Moses.

[45] Philip, at that time, went and found Nathanael under a tree, and brought him back to Jesus. Jesus said,” Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile.” He said, “Rabbi, where did You ever know me?”

[46] He said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you.” And,

[47] He said, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You’re the King of Israel.” He knew that was! What? It didn’t need any interpretation. Jehovah said that!

[48] There stood there those that didn’t believe it. They said, “This man’s Beelzebub. He has some kind of trick He is pulling. He’s a fortune teller, or something.”

[49] Jesus looked at them, and said, “Why, you speak (now, you speak) that against the Son of man, it is going to be forgiven you. But when the Holy Ghost is come to do the same thing, speak against That, it will never be forgiven you in this world or the world to come.” He was prophesying of our day, the day that we should see. For He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Now let’s just look at that. “When the Holy Ghost is come to do the same thing...” All right.“Speak against the Son of man...” Fine. “But when the Son of man returns—the ministry as the Spirit—you say that then, you are dead.” Okay?

40. Let’s take an answer. “Bro. Branham, some people say you are the Son of man. I thought the Pillar of Fire was the Son of man.” He said, “No, I am not He. The Pillar of Fire is not He, that is Jesus, the Christ, but it is in Spirit form.” There it is right there. What was it? A Prophet, by the Holy Ghost, doing the same thing. The Spirit in the Prophet.

Now they say, “Well, just a minute, William Branham, Son of man ministry, Pillar of Fire.”

Now he said, “I was not the one that appeared down at the river. He was the one that appeared, see? I was just standing there.” Now he said, the Son of man, “I am not the Son of man, the Pillar of Fire is not the Son of man.”

You say, “Well, you’ve got two of them.”

No, you haven’t! The same God in a Pillar of Fire standing there can manifest through a prophet and at the same time baptize eight hundred billion people; and He is still God.

41. But people get so skewed up. Yet every male child the age of twenty-one or less that is married knows categorically, without any stupidity, that he’s a male! He’s a son! He’s a husband! He’s a father! He’ll be a grandfather! And the Same One went all through the acts of being a Son, a Husband and a Father.

I have no time for stupidity. It enrages me. You know why it enrages me? I have been stupid too long myself. See? Always getting enraged at those things. You get enraged at what you came out of. The Word allotted to every age. And there is a Word allotted to this age that you can tell, if you just begin to look at Scripture.

42. You say, “Bro. Vayle, we were not so smart. We had to have a prophet help us.”

Yes, but we were plenty intelligent that we could take it. A mark of intelligence is not to turn something down from God. That is a mark of stupidity, ignorance and the blindness of the devil and the cowbells of hell hung on you, not the bells of God that witness. Oh, yeah, Aaron the high priest had pomegranates and bells that witnessed; he was walking in the light. These guys have cowbells of hell.

Oh, sure, I am not ashamed to say those things. It’s not as though I am proud, not as though I got this by myself. But I want to tell you something, brother/sister: it is ignorance. It’s like...what is it Lincoln said? He said, “It is not to bad to be a fool,” he said, “but it is certainly pitiful when you open your mouth to confirm it.” Then it is no longer a secret. Secret fools are a great thing, but fools never remain secret forever.

43. Now he said, “Remember, it was Jesus Christ that was in Moses.” What is he doing? He is showing God’s association with man, and God appearing in man. And God’s association with man: he has to be a man, and He has to be in a man. A portion was in each prophet. What portion would be in this hour? The portion of the Word for this hour. Do you think Bro. Branham had the Word of Moses in him? No way! Jesus didn’t either. The law was until Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. It was gone. See? Okay.

44. [50] ...When David, the son of... David went up into the mountain, a rejected king, wept over Jerusalem, there was nothing but Christ in him. For about eight hundred years later, Son of David sat up over the Mount of Olives and looked down on Jerusalem and wept, and said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem how oft would I have hovered you as a hen would have brood, but you would not!”

[51] When Joseph was in prison, that was Jesus. When he was sold for pretty near thirty pieces of silver, that was Jesus. When he was made Potiphar’s man, that was Jesus. When he set at the right hand of Pharaoh, that was Jesus. When he left, and everybody...the trumpet sound, and everybody had to bow the knee, that was Jesus. No man could come to Pharaoh only through Joseph; no man can come through God only by Jesus. It was Jesus, the Word prophesied being fulfilled, spoke in types and shadows. The Spirit in there, which God would Himself fully indwell one man.

[52] When Jesus was on earth He did the same thing the prophets did that is why they knew He was God’s manifestation of His Word. It did not need to be interpreted.

[53] When Nathanael saw this, he fell down, and said, “Thou art the King of Israel, the Son of God. We know You. No man could do this.

[54] Nicodemus came by night, said the same thing for the Pharisees. But, you see, they were so hooked up by their Ecumenical Council they could not accept It. He expressed what they said: “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher sent from God, because no man can do the things except God be with Him.” They recognized it, they knew it was so, but they were hooked into it. That is the way a lot of people are.

[55] And God, in the past forty years, has shook this nation in the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and men and women are still outside of It because they are hooked into the same thing, living in the glare of another age. What’s the matter? Everyone wants to be Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian. Living in a glare.

[56] They lived in the glare of Moses. What did he say? They said, “We’re Moses’ disciples.”

[57] He said, “If you had known Moses, you would have known Me. Moses wrote of Me!” See? See, it continues. Now, the next paragraph:

[58] If you had known Luther, you’d know this age! Now if you’d known Methodist, you’d know this age!

Now look at. The thing is this: through every single age there was a continuation. When they were looking down the age where all the churches would come to something which was way down there. And, you see, I am going to try to tell you this: “Every single one,” he says, “what the Spirit said to that age,” he said to the churches. There was something involved that each one was looking to, the same as we are looking for the city that has foundations.

45. Now Israel should have known they were moving toward it. The Gentiles should have known they were moving toward it. Every age, there is something in there that showed them they were moving. See? Now at the end of the age, the beginning of the creation of God, the Faithful One, the Amen—they were moving up to It, back to a Headship. If they had known Luther’s age, they would have seen Luther was moving up. If they had known Wesley, they would have seen Wesley was moving up. If they had known Pentecost, they would have seen Pentecost move up. But Pentecost knew they had moved up and said, “There is more,” and then dropped dead. When It came, they wouldn’t take It. Bro. Branham gave them three-quarter million converts. Where are they? Souls in prison? Don’t ask me. Ask somebody else who knows the answer.

Seven hundred and fifty thousand converts to what? Trinitarian dogmas and death in the pot. What’s it all about? That big revival at the end... What was it? Where is the anointing? How many got the real Holy Ghost? How could they have the real Holy Ghost and go to trinitarian doctrine and dogma?

Say, “Millions of people set on fire by this ministry!” I know exactly what it’s all about. I have had a part of the same thing; nothing like his, but I have had a part of it. Always works that way. See? If they had known it.

46. Now:

[58] If you had known Methodist, you would have known this age! For Christ wrote of this age! The Words that’s being fulfilled has to be fulfilled in this age. It does not need somebody to interpret It. God does His Own interpreting. God interprets Himself, because He’s the only One that can interpret It. God promises always, then vindicates what He says, and that is the interpretation. See? Moses and Luther—they had the promises. They were fulfilled to them coming up, up, up.

[59] Now, Jesus, to save time, Jesus said, in St. John, the fourteenth chapter, the twelfth verse, “He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also.” Did He say it? That’s right. That does not need any interpretation. When somebody—not ‘somebodies’, but ‘somebody’—does that work, that’s God.

Now he tells you right there. All they have to do is get the books out and see. Is this the truth? Did this man have a ministry t