RAPTURE
#11
The Many Raptures;
Begotten in Sovereignty
November 20, 1983
Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, we
are again happy to be in Your Presence and in Your house here that has been dedicated
to Your great Name, to Your Word, Lord. We believe that it has been acceptable
in Your sight. And we thank you, therefore, that Your Word will have free
course and be glorified in our midst, that the things said will be those things
that are right, O God, that our faith then will be built upon a true
revelation, making us a part of a true Church. We thank you, Lord, for this,
and we cannot praise You enough. There is no way we can exalt You as we should.
As being worthy, Lord, in ourselves
we only trust that we will be given the light of understanding, the measure of
strength necessary to proclaim Thy greatness, Lord, and to magnify Your Name.
In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.
1. Now we are into the study of the
“Rapture” and this study of the “Rapture” as is and has been delivered by Bro.
Branham in Yuma, Arizona, December 4, 1965. His exact words are, “I want to speak on the subject of the
‘Rapture.’ I want to speak on the subject of the Rapture.” And that is
exactly what he did. And this sermon that he preached is doctrinal. It is the
exact teaching on exactly what the Rapture is and exactly how is takes place,
and it is placed of course also in the seventh church age. We read therefore on
Page 6, paragraph 30:
[30] ...The Bible
teaches there will be a rapture of the Church. A catching away of the church.
There will be a catching away.
Page 27, paragraph 128 [1 Th 4:16:]
[128] ...The Lord Himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Page 32, paragraph 152:
[152] ...the Shout. A
message getting the people ready. The second is the voice of the resurrection.
Paragraph 153, the same page:
[153] ...The third thing is a trumpet...calling the people to the
feast. That will be the Bride's supper, the Lamb's supper with the Bride in the
sky.
2. So all right, the definition is that
there is going to be a catching away. The Scripture used is over in 1
Thessalonians 4. The delineation or the explanation or the revelation is that
the Rapture is in three parts, one of which is the Shout: a messenger, repeat: a messenger, getting the
people ready. He also said, “It's a
message.” There is no messenger without a message, and there is no message
without a messenger.
The second portion is the Voice of
the Resurrection, which of course, is the raising of the dead. The third is the
Trumpet calling the people to a feast, which is the Bride and Groom's, the
Bride and Lamb's feast—the Wedding Supper in the sky.
3. The Rapture that is coming is not
something that has not occurred before. The Rapture is not something that has
not occurred before, that is there have been raptures, and after this takes
place, there will still be another rapture. We can begin reading on Page 35,
and paragraph 169: “One rapture is
passed...” (And he had just read concerning Matthew 27:)
(52) And the
graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
(53) And came out
of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared
unto many. (You’ll notice ‘resurrection’.)
[169] One rapture is
passed. Three’s happened in the Old Testament of them prepared who the Word of
the Lord came to. See? The Word of the Lord came to Enoch. The Word of the Lord
came to Elijah. He was a prophet. See? The Word of the Lord was Jesus—Pillar of
Fire.
[170] Watch in the Old
Testament, them Old Testament saints now when this rapture first taken place.
Notice verse 50: A loud voice that awakened the Old Testament saints just
exactly like the loud voice awakened Jesus—or awakened Lazarus, rather. The
loud voice awakened. The second is fulfilled in Thessalonians 4. We read it a
minute ago.”I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are
asleep.” That will be the second rapture. The second rapture will be the
catching away of the Bride. Now you notice he places it as number two. And he
has already said, “There is Old Testament Raptures.” So let’s keep reading.
[171] The Old Testament
saints have gone into His presence, paradise has been done away with. The Old
Testament... That is why when you read the Scripture, “Who alone hath
immortality,” don't go running around the country and telling, “Nobody is
resurrected in their glorified bodies.” To say that you would be perverting
Scripture. What he is telling you is nobody has immortality to give. The Old
Testament saints ascended up at His Voice when He screamed and gave up the
Ghost. Because why? The sacrifice the perpetuation of their sins that they had
waited on believing that perfect Lamb was coming they had offered the sacrifice
of the Lamb. When He died and yielded up the Ghost He screamed in a loud voice
the Old Testament saints awoke. Watch the shout and the voice over here, the
same thing at His coming. See? Yielded up the Ghost and when He did the
sacrifice was perfect, paradise emptied out, the Old Testament saints came to
earth again, walked around on earth, entered into His rapture, entered in with
Him at His rapture.
4. Now you notice he said, “The Old
Testament saints entered in at His rapture.” So you had Enoch, number one;
Elijah, number two; Old Testament saints number three. Three in a row. Then
starting at the same time, Jesus, and we will go on from there.
[172] David said, “Lift up
you everlasting gates be lifted up.”
[173] He lead captive
captivity and gave gifts unto men. When the Old Testament saints went into them
they said, “ Who is this King of righteousness?”
[174] “The Lord of glory,
mighty in battle, the Lord of hosts.” Here they come in marching. Jesus led
captivity captive. Here He come with the Old Testament saints and went into the
new gates up there and said, “Lift ye up ye everlasting...lift up everlasting
gates, be ye lifted up, the King of glory shall come in.” He said, “Paradise
was moved.”
The voice came from inside and said,
“Who is the King of Glory?”
[175] “The Lord, mighty
in battle.” The gates flew open. And Jesus the Conqueror lead captivity
captive, them that had believed on Him, the Word had come to them. They are the
Old Testament saints laying in there waiting, He lead captivity captive,
ascended on high, took the Old Testament saints and went in. There is one
rapture already passed.
5. Now, you see, there are already two
before that. So what he is trying to tell you here: this is the first half of
the First Resurrection. So don't get worried about numbers, because Bro.
Branham seemingly didn’t have any—I don't know what you'd call it—just didn't
deal with chronologies and certain connective tissue to get the body of truth
flowing smoothly. It is all in there. You just have to watch what he says and
realize what he is saying.
6. Now he said:
[176] The next rapture
takes place in 1 Thessalonians: for the Church, the Bride to be resurrected, to
be raptured.
(15) ...We which
are alive and remain, (that is, the body left on earth,) won't prevent or
hinder them that are asleep.
(16) The trump of
God will sound first. The dead arise.
Now he is talking about the fact of
the continuity of the Rapture. He is not talking about the trumpet sounding,
and then there is going to be a resurrection. He is not saying that. He is
saying the Voice takes care of the dead that come forth. Then the Trumpet
brings up the first group ahead of us, and then we are caught up after them.
7. Now what we are actually looking at
here, and we better just get this lined up here. We will look at and watch
paragraph 169 again. “One rapture is passed.” Now that one rapture passed...
You’ve got to watch. There are three that happened in the Old Testament. So
there is evidently raptures that took place before them.
Enoch was taken up. Elijah was taken
up. Then comes your Old Testament Bride taken up, of which that is literally
the first half of the First Resurrection. The word ‘First Resurrection’ meaning
‘first fruits’, meaning ‘Bride’, meaning ‘immortal’. You follow me? All right.
There’s two of them: Enoch and Elijah.
8. Page 36, paragraph 171:
[171] The Old Testament
saints have gone into His presence.
So that is number three. See? Enoch,
Elijah, Old Testament. So that is three of them. Yet the Old Testament,
comprising those other two in there, would be comprising a part of the
Bride...signifies the first half of the First Resurrection is over. Now that is
not hard. I know it is for some people, but we are not some people.
Page 35, going back to paragraph
170. Now he says:
[170] 1 Th 4:12‑18.
Now he says, That will be the second
rapture. Well, 1 Th 4:12‑18—that
is us or that is we. I say ‘wee’, meaning ‘w-e-e’, just a ‘wee’ number going
up. Might as well, you know. So that is the Second. All right.
Page 37, paragraph 180. Now watch.
Now he says:
[179] Looky…The second
resurrection, all—the first one’s past. The second one is right at hand now.
[180] Now, the third one
are the two witnesses of Rev 11 and 12, which these are the ones that turn back
with the Spirit of Christ to witness to the Jews like Joseph did to his
brethren. And you remember their dead bodies lay in the street for three days
and a half; then the spirit of life came into them and they were raptured,
taken unto the heaven. Now there is your three raptures of the New Testament.
Three raptures of the old, all of them past.
9. Now one is already passed in the New
Testament. Enoch, Elijah, Old Testament dead. Now with that you correlate
Jesus, the Christ, rising from the dead, and going up with them—making number
one of the New Testament. Because remember, He is New Testament, having
fulfilled all the law required.
Number two is at hand, and we are
into it. Number three are the two witnesses coming up. Now there’s your
raptures. So that makes Enoch, Elijah, Old Testament saints, Jesus, Bride, and
the two witnesses.
10. Now we must not be confused here by the
fact of so many raptures that we get a little bit disturbed about 1 Jn 3:1‑2:
(1) Behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
(2) Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear (And it has never yet come
into existence or made absolutely manifested and apparent.) what we shall be:
(It has never ever come into existence that which is coming to the Bride. It
has never happened.) but we know that, when He shall appear, (That is the same
word, the ‘phaneroo’, when He is made absolutely manifested and identifies
Himself.) we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.
Now you know that there is no such
thing as being caught up into the air without a change. There is no place you
can find that in Scripture—that we ourselves will have to be changed—unless I
thoroughly misunderstand the Word of God.
11. Now the New Testament saints will come
out of the ground. Afterward we will get our change. Then we will all go up
together. Now there never has been a group of people ever changed on earth and
get out of it, even to this moment, but it is in process as of this hour.
So what he is saying here is—and we
must not get confused with all these other raptures in there. You cannot find
one place… Enoch was one man; Elijah was one man. Now according to Bro.
Branham, Elijah is going to come back. Is it possible that he has been kept in
reserve as a human being all this age? Absolutely; absolutely. What about
Moses? Well Bro. Branham made two thoughts concerning him: one, he said that
when he appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration his body had molded for
hundreds of years. And in another place, he brought out the thought that that
is why the devil was contending for his body, because God was going to let
Moses die and then take the body over and he could bring it back, and
absolutely then that person could go through death.
12. Now this is very logical in the human
mind. But let us understand this flat: God at any time can do what God wants.
And He could glorify a man and de‑glorify a man. Don’t ever sell God
short. This is where people are always going to get messed up, unless you can
let your thinking go and just let God mind His Own business, while you mind
yours. Oh, what a day that will be! Forget it, until the Resurrection and the
Rapture. But in the meantime, we have enough understanding, especially through
the ministry of the prophet, that it is stupid to think you know anything for sure,
unless it has been vindicated to you. And is more than stupid to try to
double-guess Almighty God. It just won’t work.
Now
we are going to be like Him on the grounds of His Appearing—His definitive
revelation of Himself. And we are going to be like Him and taken away. So don’t
get the raptures confused in there concerning this verse, because someone would
say, “Well, it must mean so and so.”
13. Now we go back to 1 Cor 15:50 in order
for you to see this. Verse 50 says:
(50) Now this I
say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither
doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Now this is at the end of the
treatise on the Resurrection, and after He has said a Resurrection demands a
death. It would be very patent to those who are initiates rather than fully
matured believers to say, “Oh, I get it. We are all going to die, and then
there will be a Resurrection.” And Paul forestalls that by saying [1 Cor
15:51]:
(51) Behold, I
shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
Now this goes with 1 Thessalonians
4, when He said, “I am going to tell you about the living and the dead.” Now
this goes to the living, because He has already covered the dead. He said here:
(52) In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and (at that time) we are going to be
changed.
14. So therefore, the Appearing that causes
our change has to be here at the time of the Resurrection—to pigeon hole it in
the last notch of where it could possibly happen. [The Appearing has to both
precede and initiate the Rapture.] So,
(53) This
corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptibility—says
speaks of, “Wearing away.”
Now this is different in my
understanding from those that have gone to the grave, because they have worn
away. And many will have gone back to the gases—just simply to gases. There
will be no trace at all.
15. (54) ...This
corruptibility shall have put on incorruptibility, and this mortal shall have
put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Now there again you will notice that
this particular sentence, “Death is swallowed up in victory,” depends upon the
literal fulfillment of it, that is, corruptible becoming incorruptible, which
positively aggrandizes and clarifies the prophet’s statement, that God
interprets His Word by bringing It to pass. [portion of tape missing]
Interpretation is based upon a manifestation. It is either going on or there is
nothing to it. That puts it in the Word in season. Do you understand how clear
it is? All right. Then he says,
(55) O death,
where is thy sting? O death, where is thy victory? (Well, it hasn’t got it.)
16. Do you realize at this moment we are
passing from death unto life in the sense of John 11? “He that liveth and
believeth on Me shall never die, if you believe this.” Well, if you don’t
believe that, you don’t believe this Message. If you don’t believe that, you
haven’t entered the Spirit of the Lord’s day.
Now John stood there, and he saw the
whole thing, and he was a part of it by vision. Took the Spirit to get him
there. It takes the Spirit of God to place us there. And this is no longer
something which stands in the line of the pedantic or the theoretical. It is in
the Spirit, and therefore, it has nothing to do with man’s wisdom. It has to do
with the sovereignty and the power of God, which is now performing that which
He said would be performed—which is the Word of the hour which is the Word of
the season which has been manifested, and thereby clearly revealed to us. And
being a part of the revelation, we are a part of the Bride of Jesus Christ, and
we are going there. People can do what they want. As I say, I am just tired.
What they do, they want. I do what I want.
17. It is hoped that we have noticed, and
are noticing, that this Rapture is not taught as a reward or has one thing to
do with works, but is part of the purpose and plan of God, begotten in
sovereignty, and sovereignly carried out.
By now you ought to know what I’m
saying. Just in case you don’t, I am going to read it again. I’m not insulting
you, but you better be insulted now than to miss it, if you need insulting, and
I hope I’m not insulting anybody.
It is hoped, and the word ‘hope’ I’m
using as a human being, which means: I don’t know which way you are going. If I
was using it as the Scripture, the word ‘hope’ would mean ‘earnestly expected’,
so I’ll use it both ways. Now don’t feel insulted, because look, we haven’t got
time to worry about whether you’re insulted or not.
Look,
it is hoped that we have noticed and are noticing, that this Rapture ‘is not
for the legalist’. I threw that in. I will take it back in this respect. It is
hoped that we have noticed and are noticing that this Rapture is not taught as
a reward, or has one thing to do with works but is part of the purpose and plan
of God, begotten in sovereignty and sovereignly carried out. It simply means
this: there is going to be a rapture, period!—because God said so. And if God
has to take and beat a bunch of heads in… That’s right! If He has got to curse
the earth in doing it and dissolve it, there will be a rapture. And there isn’t
anybody can foment it. There is nobody can stop it. There is going to be one,
and it is going to be made up of a Bride. Now we talk of sovereignty.
18. Now we are going to read the “Rapture,” page
32, and we’ll read quite a few paragraphs here, about nine of them.
[153] And next is
what? Was… Oh, I will read a
little further.
[154] See, the
first things comes forth is His message calling the Bride together. Now watch... the first thing comes forth is His message calling the Bride together.
The next thing is a resurrection of the sleeping Bride, the one that has died
back in the other ages. They are caught together and the trumpet, the feast in
the heavens, in the sky. Why? That’s the thing that takes place, friends.
Now you notice here, the first thing
to come forth is His Message. Now who asked God to bring a Message? Now who is
the Message to? It is to a Bride. So therefore, she is already Bride. And who
is Bride? A gene of God. Now how much did you have to do with your birth?
Nothing. So you see, we are talking ‘sovereignty’. Now remember in this
“Rapture” tape which we’ve got into, Bro. Branham went into the genes and laid
out who a Bride was. See? Starting from the beginning.
19. [156] Now, You’re
not blind people. He wishes
they were, because the blind can be forgiven for even falling over a cigarette
paper but a man with both eyes open could not be forgiven for that. Blind man
fall over a fence post; it would not matter.
You’re sensible people.
So God is not getting His Bride out
of the insane institution or the feeble minded. Ha! Does everybody know that
two and two make four? Does anybody know what an exponential curve is? You
don’t have to know that one. Anybody can know it. You’re dealing with
exponents, you’re dealing with algebra, and there is hardly anybody here that
doesn’t have a tenth grade education. So you would know a little bit, if you
just tossed your mind back. Now if you’re getting into genes and chromosomes,
we all know they are there, but from then on I blank out. I’m not interested.
I’m not breaking things down.
[156] ...But you
are sensible people. You read
right, you listen, you can understand. If I
stood here and said those things for prejudice…I say it because it is Life,
because I am responsible to God for saying it. Now he is just talking about a rapture, that is in three
parts: Message, Resurrection, Catching Up. And
I must say it. And my Message, the
Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a Shout… My message...)
20. Oh, I don’t know if I have enough quotes
here or not. Well, I can read this one here which we always read. He said:
[“Anointed Ones at the End Time”]
[269] ...You might have
thought that I was trying to say this about myself seeing I was preaching this
message, packing it. I have no more to do with it than nothing, no more than
just a voice. In other words
he didn’t speak his own thoughts... and my
voice, all the best judgment I had was to be a trapper. ...I was not the one
that appeared down on the river; I was only one standing there when He appeared. Now who appeared down there? Pillar of
Fire appeared. I am not the one that performs
these things and foretells these things that happen as perfect as they are, I
am only one that is near when He does it. I was only a voice that He used to
say it. It was not what I knew; it is what I just surrendered myself to, and He
spoke through. It is not me, it was not the seventh messenger, the angel, oh
no; it was the manifestation of the Son of man.
Now he is telling you right there
what the manifestation was. Telling you that the Son of Man is in the form of
the Spirit. It is neither William Branham nor Pillar of Fire, see? what we
showed you on the board here. “The
messenger was not the Son of man he was the messenger from the Son of man. The
Son of man is Christ.” See? In the form of the Spirit. Now he says, “My message,” and yet it is not his
Message; it was God’s Word.
21. [156] ...All the time
knowing back there under healing and so forth like that, was just to catch the
people’s attention, knowing the message would come. And here it is. The first thing comes forth is His
Message, calling the Bride together, “my Message”—here it is. Now listen:
[157] And them Seven
Seals opened, those mysteries and showing those things is what’s happened. I
didn’t know it, but there is a man standing right here now was standing right
with me when you all heard me preach that sermon, “Sirs, What Is The Time?”
That morning exactly where It said it would be, there stood seven Angels
standing right from Heaven. And as they went up, and that whirlwind took them
up, we standing, watching as they went away, science took the picture of it all
way across the nations down to Mexico. And there when I was watching...
[158] One day I started
to preach those seven church ages, I called Jack Moore, a great theologian; I
said, “Jack, Who is this person that is standing there, There is One like the
Son of man standing there, hair white as wool.” I said, “A young man; Now how
could He have been white as wool?”
[159] And he said, “Bro. Branham, that was His
glorified body.” That didn’t ring a bell.
22. Now did you hear what he said? That was
not the Glorified Body. Then why do people make it that? Why does it come to my
mind and your mind all the time? We say, “Oh, Glorified Body! That’s the One.
That’s the One. That’s the One.”
Why can’t we shut up? And get rid of
our thinking? Now let’s get the broom out this morning and do some sweeping.
That was not the Glorified One. That was not the Glorified One. That was not
the Glorified One. That was not the Body.
“Well,” you say, “Bro. Vayle, I read
an awful lot and read the things that Bro. Branham said that sure confused me
then.”
You are forgetting that when this
Spirit that is amongst us becomes incarnate to us, we will crown Him King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. Then He will be Son of God, Son of man, Son of David,
Lily of the Valley, All together Lovely, Everlasting Father, the Son, and the
whole bit. Do we have a bunch of Jesus-Only here?
Now, look, this is serious. There’s
a lot of ways you can go down the drain. You will go down the drain, number
one, from wrong theology. Number one—wrong theology. Only the Bride has the
right understanding.
23. [159] ...That didn’t ring
a bell. I went in the room and started praying he let me know what it was.
What was what? What was what? We,
standing out in Arizona, saw a whirlwind, a sssshhh like that. And it went down
to Mexico. What went down to Mexico? What looked like a cloud, which were seven
Angels surrounding This One...twenty‑six miles high and thirty miles
across.
Now Bro. Branham said, I read to you
in the “Third Exodus,” I think it was, “It has been thoroughly identified even
with, by science, with cameras.” That’s one.[Bro Vayle points to picture of the
Pillar of Fire.] Where is the other? Is it out there? The Cloud of Angels? If
we haven’t got a picture, we’d better bring one in. Got one? Okay, that’s fine.
All right. ...Thoroughly identified that that [picture of Pillar of Fire] is
the same as that [picture of Cloud of Angels]. Now you do what you want with
it. You can let your thinking go and believe, or you can just say, “Nyaa.” I am
not making faces at you, I am just telling you the truth.
24. Now he said, “Across the nation, and
there I was watching. And he tells you...and Bro. Branham... I remember the
morning that Allen Vandenberg gave me the picture, enlarged. He said, “See,
Bro. Vayle,” he said, “if you hold it this way,” he said, “notice you can
literally see a face in there.” I waited and met Bro. Branham and said, “Bro.
Branham, have you seen this picture blown up.” And he looked at it, and he saw
everything and a whole lot more. He was able to point things out, which I
couldn’t point to this day. And he said, “Do you mind if I have this?” And you
will find that that one, if it is still in Branham tabernacle, I think, is the
best and clearest shot of the whole bunch. Now he said, “That is that One.” Now
that was not a human structure. It would be a theophany of another structure.
25. [160] See, I’ve always preached that He was Deity, now watch where you can get all messed up, not just a man.
Now this wasn’t glorified body. Now
he is talking about the one that is the man. He was God manifest in flesh. But what
if It is not flesh? What if It’s the Pillar of Fire? What if It’s the cloud?
What if It looks like a rock? What if It’s the whirlwind? What if It’s bright
like a sun? What if It’s a star? What if It’s anything? That’s God’s business.
Leave God minding His business, and we’ll mind ours. And just believe Him.
26. Now:
[160] I’ve always
preached He was Deity, not just a man; He was God manifest in flesh. Now notice how: God, the Attribute of God of love, the great Attributes
that came down displayed here on earth... Jesus was God’s love, which built a
body that Jehovah lived in. Now
He is not living in the body.
Now listen: I’ve told you time and
again, and I can be very sensitive, because everybody thinks I’m insensitive,
so I am. I’m very crass, very crude and I’m X‑rated. It’s all right. I
admit to all those things. But when even Bro. Branham used the term ‘just a
body’, I shuddered. I shuddered. Queen Esther… Now she must have been built
like Marilyn Monroe, maybe four times as good. And I can imagine her saying,
“The body! Ha, ha, ha! The body!” She was a woman, every inch a woman... She
stood there as a savior of Israel. Now maybe old Ahasuerus thought that she was
the body. But to her uncle and Israel, she was a savior.
Now Bro. Branham was not derogatory
using the term ‘body,’ but it makes me shudder. And yet it should open the
other door that makes us realize, what does God think of a body? And he said,
“God raised the body.” Then the body is not God. Yet it came from God by reason
of a Logos turned into a sperm and egg. Why not? Putting it into a chamber,
surrogate mother. That’s what it amounted to.
And notice what you’ve got today:
they’re doing it. They’re reproducing everything back there, and nobody pays
any attention to all the types and shadows. Who cares anyway? I don’t; I have
the Word. But you can see it.
27. [160] …He was the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. What God was, He manifested through that body.
That body had to die so He could wash the Bride with His blood.
[161] Notice, not
only is the Bride washed, forgiven, but she’s justified. See? Did you ever try
the word ‘justify’ to see what it means? Now for instance, if Bro. Green heard
that I’d been drinking, I’d been doing bad things, then he found out I didn’t,
then he come and say, “I forgive you, Bro. Branham.”
[162] “You forgive me? I
never done it. What are you forgiving me about?” See? But if I am guilty, then
I can be forgiven, but watch
now, But I’m still not just, because I did it.
But the word ‘justified’ is “though you never did it at all”— justified. Then
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sin until it puts in the book of
God’s forgetfulness. He’s the only One that can do it. We can’t. We can
forgive, but not forget.
[163] I could forgive
you, but always remember you did those evil things. Then you are not just.
You’re just forgiven. But in the sight of God the Bride is justified.
Now you try to get that by works. You try, your own mind
condemns you. You look back, and if my wife died tonight, I would think of
every rotten thing I have said to her and done to her, and I would die the rest
of my life...and the same with her. And she has not done hardly anything—which
doesn’t make her to cotton picking good at that—in Christ.
You just try to figure that one out.
You just try to figure it, that you can work your rapture in some way. Because
thems the only ones going. Now I used that word perfectly, ‘them’ instead of
‘they’, because I wanted the objective ‘them.’ We are looking at them. Them’s
the one. Not they, them.
28. Language means something...not your
cotton picking junk you learn in school. I like old Doc Coffin. Old Doc Coffin
said, “Look,” he said, “Grammar is the ability to make yourself understood.
But,” he said, “Seeing I’ve got to teach them laws, I’ll teach them.” One of
the most brilliant men ever lived. And could he make grammar and everything
else just fold like a beauty... He was born-again. If I had half that he had,
spiritually speaking, I would be the most wonderful teacher since the Apostle Paul
died. So forget it; I ain’t. Coffin was smart. See?
29. [163] ...But in the sight
of God the Bride is justified. She never did it in the first place. Standing
there married to the virtuous Son of God, never sinned in the first place.
Now you figure that. You can say,
“Well, bless God, I never sinned in the first place. Then I didn’t sin in the
second place. Hallelujah! Let’s go out and have a good time.”
That’s your ‘eternal security’
hogwash. Ah, come on. There is only one spirit, and that is the spirit of hell,
outside of the Spirit of God. Pfap. They’ll pull everything in the book.
30. [163] ...Why? She was
foreordained; she was trapped into this. And now when she heard the Truth, she
came forth, the Blood cleansed her.
No
Blood outside of Light! I never could stand those phrases, not as though I’m
ahead of anybody. No, don’t think that. Don’t try to out-prophet the prophet or
out-Paul Paul. But phrases such as ‘Blood on the mercy seat’ and ‘off’ simply
don’t do anything for me. I’ll tell you why: you could have Blood piled on the
mercy seat, and if you’re not in the Light, it won’t do you a bit of good. And
when the Blood comes off the mercy seat, if you’re in the Light, you’re gone
anyway!
What I’m looking at here is: the
Blood justifies the Bride, period! and the Bride will always be in the truth
and always be the Word. Then if she is foreordained to both, the fall and the
rising again, then it’s grace. It hasn’t got one thing to do outside the
sovereignty of Almighty God.
31. This teaching of the doctrine of the
Rapture as of December 4, 1965, came as a distinct revelation previously
unknown to the Bride. Now a lot of people will think that Paul the Apostle had
the true revelation back there. There is no way that he did. There is no way. If
he had it, he had to keep it to himself. It was that which was unlawful. He
couldn’t utter it. For as Bro. Branham said, “If Satan gets a hold of it, he
can do great damage.” So if he had it, he had it to himself. Put it this way:
in Paul’s day, it was not made public. In John’s day, it was not made public.
But in this day, it has got to be made public.
Are you thinking? Now come on. Your
mind should be spinning like wheels now. Not in the sand, but in the beautiful
Word of God, fluid Word of God, that tells you he said the same thing about the
Seventh Seal. We’ll show you the words are identical.
32. We go to page 14. You’ll know where some
of these things are said. Right?
[65] But to the
Church, the Bride, the rapture is a revelation to her. It’s revealed to her,
that the revelation, the true Bride of Christ will be waiting for that
revelation, the rapture.
Kind
of mixed up English, but it just means one thing: unless someone gives it to
her, she hasn’t got a revelation. Unless somebody tells her, she doesn’t know
the truth of it. All she knows: that there is a truth, but she hasn’t got it.
It is just like anybody out being a complete fool, and I use the term
Scripturally, because it’s Scriptural. The fool has said in his heart, “There
is no God.”
Only a fool would say there is no
God. But you tell me what kind of God? How many? Where did He come from? Where
is He going? What is He doing? What does He demand? What are His conditions? Does
He have any? You would have to find out from somebody—somebody in touch with
that Person.
33. So we have to know, there is something
here, that we have to know from somebody that’s in touch with Whoever is in
charge of, and directing the Rapture. And the Lord descends with a military
Shout. So we better get in touch with the Director, through somebody who
already knows Him.
Now Bro. Branham categorically said
he spoke face to face with God. Either
Bro. Branham is categorically a prophet like Moses, or he is categorically a
liar. I mean there is no middle of the road in this one. This skunk is either
all white or black. It doesn’t have a black body with a white stripe.
Now it’s just that simple. But
people don’t believe that. How can Du Plessis, Gordon Lindsay, and others say
they believed him as a prophet and then say, “Well now, Bro. Branham is a
prophet when he tells you your diseases and tells you things to come, but when
he comes to the Word, he ain’t no prophet.”
34. I thought a prophet is a prophet. Now a
man that rapes is a rapist, but he’s still a man. Isn’t it funny? When you come
to the Word, the guy’s suddenly... “Uh.” Here’s a sensible fine person,
so-called. Maybe God still has to go to the insane institutions to find
somebody. I might have to take that back. Because here is a so-called
intelligent person, suddenly ‘uh’, when it comes to the Word. But the Bible
said it would be that way.
35. Now he says, “It is going to be revealed to her.” And in another place he said, “Only to the Bride.” So we know that.
[66] Now it,
that is, the Rapture is a revelation, or the doctrine of the Rapture, the teaching of the Rapture... The process of the Rapture is a revelation.
...Because the revelation is the
manifestation of what is going on of the Word. Now look: the prophet could have
said, “Now, now people listen. Please don’t take me seriously here. You see,
when I said the interpretation of the Word is God manifesting the Word, and
thereby interpreting, like I said, ‘Let there be light and there was light,’ I
really didn’t mean it all the way.” But Bro. Branham meant what he said,
because God doesn’t change His mind about His Word.
36. [66] ...It is a
revelation for the revelation is faith.
Now John the Baptist had to tell
them what was going on. Moses had to tell them what was going on. The very
things that Moses did led Israel to a place of high hopes—instantly dashed
their hopes, rebuilt their hopes—then led them out as a mixed multitude, and
they died by the millions.
Are you thinking? Joshua and Caleb
were the only two that understood being over twenty years of age. The rest
perished.
How many people that were in
denominations can believe this Message? Isn’t it true, that the majority that
we see that have an understanding, are those that came out of a heathenism? The
renewing of the mind is a difficult process, but it can be done.
37. “Now
it,” the Rapture, the doctrine, the teaching of it, the Rapture itself,
which is going on, requires a revelation. In order for you to have faith, in
order for you to be one of those. Let’s go back to Rom 4:13.
(13) That the
promise...should be the heir to the world, not to Abraham, or to his seed,
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.(Now remember: this
Bride is justified, and there is no justification outside of faith. Do you
follow me?)
(14) For if they
which are of the law be heirs, (If you can work for it.) faith is made void,
and the promise made of none effect:
(15) Because the
law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
(16) Therefore it
is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to
all the seed.
There is only one way you can be
sure, and that is: you have the revelation of what you’re into, and what is
going on.
38. Now I don’t care what anybody says:
Pentecostal people say they believe this Message. Believe this the way I
believe it. I’m going to teach it this way. You can do what you want about it.
You are invited to believe like me. If you are crazy as I am, that’s fine. If
you’re willing to take the risk and stand up... I’ve already taken my risk and
my calculated chance. I believe It exactly as I preach It or would not preach
It.
39. Now:
(16) Therefore it is
of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to them only
which are of the law, but to them also which be of the faith of Abraham; who is
the father of us all.
Now It tells you right there the law
has got to peter out and change. It tells you flat: there comes a time when you
cannot depend upon what you knew and, thereby, acted accordingly. You’re
entering into something of over which you have no control. And your entering in
is by faith. I am going to prove it to you.
(17) As it is
written, (And Abraham is our father. We are going to think like him. We get our
mental genes from him. He is the eagle.) As it is written, I have made thee a
father of many nations, (That is, many tribes and clans, and so on.) before him
whom he believed, even God, who quickens the dead, and calls those things which
be not as though they were. (He is telling you right there: he is putting it
into the Resurrection. Now:)
(18) Who, when
hope was gone, hoped on in faith, (“Who against hope believed in faith.” It
actually says in the original: “Who, when hope was gone, hoped on in faith.”)
that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was
spoken, So shall thy seed be.
(19) And being not
weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an
hundred years old, nor yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
40. In other words he took a promise that
was a hundred percent against nature. Man’s natural understanding against
theological understanding, against scientific understanding, against every
understanding, put every thought out of his mind and he said, “Sarah and I are
going to have that baby.”
And they said, “Well, there is no
way you can work it.”
And he said, “It has nothing to do with
that. It’ll be worked. Don’t worry.”
They say, “Well, how you going to
get out of here?”
“I don’t give a rip how I get out,
but I’m getting out of here. I’m being changed right now. It’s going on right
now.”
“Oh,” they say, “No way it’s going
on!”
They’ll tell you that. They’re
looking down the road. You do what you want.
41. (19) And
being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead...neither yet
the deadness of Sarah’s womb.(And He said,)
(20) He staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief;(And what would unbelief be? Looking
at himself, then looking at her.) but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
(21) And being
fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able to perform.
(22) Therefore
(Now It said, “Not Abraham perform it, but God was going to perform it.” God
raises the dead. The body was dead. Sarah was dead. The whole thing was dead.
No way to get out of here. No way for a rapture. That’s the time that God
performs a resurrection. Now:) it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Now these verses are the
illustration which make clear exactly what is being said:
(1) What shall
we say then that Abraham, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?
(2) If Abraham
were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. (Now
there’s a place for good works. But don’t try to put them in the Presence of
God, which means that God is viewing that thing and acting on it. It’s no
good.)
(3) What saith
the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness.
(4) Now to him
that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
(5) But to him
that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness.
(6) Even as David
also describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works.
(7) Saying,
Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
(Doesn’t say he didn’t do it.)
(8) Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. See? Now that’s what you’re
looking at here. All right.
42. We’re looking over here on Page 14:
[66] ...This is
a revelation... you cannot have a revelation without it being faith.
He tells you flat: if you get a
revelation, everything moves in that direction of the revelation. and that’s
your faith, and that’s all you’ve got.
Now somebody else comes along, and
he says, “Well, I’m doing these works.”
Well you haven’t got my revelation.
Mine’s a lazy man’s revelation. Mine’s a revelation that lets God do it. I’ve
got a revelation of sovereignty. Now if they’ve got a revelation whereby works
is going to get them out of here. That is fine by me. I want them to stand up
and tell me how they can tell lies and feel justified!
I can’t even have my hand in a
cookie jar and not be rebuked. But these guys can tell deliberate lies. What
about the time Bro. Branham jumped outside the house and he said, “Tell them I’m not in.”
That’s a hand-in-the-cookie-jar lie,
because he was in the house. But everything stood still from that minute on. It
was a lie brought under duress and pressure and God will overlook it. He will
hold you back and say, “Now, hold it. That’s wrong.”
But when men can tell deliberate
lies, knowing they’re deliberately lying. If they’ve got a revelation,
brother/sister, it came from hell. It didn’t come from God. I can tell you
that. Because I want to ask one question: what works will they do to cover that
one? They already did their rotten work now.
I know what it is. It’s legalism. I
can’t spit on the floor, without you saying I’ll go to hell. But you commit
adultery like a dog out there, and think you’re going to heaven because...
Hallelujah! that’s you.
They’re always glad to bring about
David with his adultery and murders, but they shy clear about those lies, about
the lies...because they are doing it. I know those legalists.
You talk to Terry Sproule. He’ll
tell you. You talk to the boys out West. They’ll tell you what is going on.
They have no problem at all telling lies. Oh, I can name a lot of names, and
I’m a liar myself. In fact, I always tell people: if you’re less truthful than
me, you’re a liar. So you can tell there’s a lot of liars in the country. If
you’re less honest, you’re a crook. There’s a lot of crooks in the country.
It’s true, Bill Graham. You bet your
life it’s “Amen.” You want to look at my books and my records? I’ll pull them
out anytime you want. I’m not ashamed. I am not proud either, but neither am I
ashamed. Let’s get this: this is sovereignty. This is a revelation. I am just
challenging the legalists.
43. [66] ...Faith is a
revelation, because it’s something that’s revealed to you. Faith is a
revelation. Faith is something that has been revealed to you like it was to
Abraham, that could call anything contrary to what had been revealed to him as
though it wasn’t so.
Now
you can take every argument you want about the Rapture. Oh, I can hear people
pour it on me about the Parousia. Oh, they’ve got all the great students.
Up to this date, I have not written
Harvard, but I really should. I have not written Princeton, but I should. Nor
the theological seminary up in Chicago, but I should. I want to find what the
modern theologians say about that word ‘Parousia’, because it’s not supposed to
mean what Vine says, and what Dr. Rotherham says, and Vincent says, and the
rest of those people say. Or Dr. Ivan Panon, the greatest of all—the pure
genius. Oh, suddenly now, there are authorities rising up with a big snear.
Yeah.
44. I don’t know, sometimes I can find
things, sometimes I can’t. This could be one of the times. All right. Isa 28:7:
(7) They have
erred through wine, and through strong drink...out of the way; the priest and
the prophet have erred through strong drink, ...swallowed up of wine, they are
out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in
judgment.
Now what is drink? Now what is the
wine? The stimulation of revelation. The revelation is completely messed up,
and they’re running like madmen to the slaughter—the priest and prophet, the
whole bunch.
45. (8) The
tables are full of vomit, (They’re constantly going back in the Greek in the
old students and chewing it up and eating the vomit. And the vomit of the
secret Rapture is a woman. Yeach! She is not even allowed to vomit, but she’s
doing it.)
(9) Whom shall
he teach knowledge? Whom...understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the
milk and drawn from the breasts. (That is at the time of Melchisedec. The Melchisedec
revelation comes at the end time, when men are strong.)
Now
you say, “Well, Bro. Branham, he just stooged himself. He just pawned himself.”
We have another one of those deals
like Schoenfeld, who came on the scene and said, “It was a fake crucifixion.”
You know, “Knoweth it not.” It was a fake, William Branham was a fake. He saw
that in the Bible so he said, “I will preach on Melchisedec. That will make
them to know, at least I’ll fool some of these jerks down here that I know
something about the Word. This is the time Elijah comes, and I’m going to tell
about Melchisedec, and this will make me Elijah.”
Oh, yeah. You think these people
don’t believe that? Come on, come on, come on, come on, brother/sister. The
whole Word of God is one book and comes together. We’re not playing little
tiddlywinks anymore. You have to get off the breasts and milk and feed on the
strong meat of the Word.
46. (10) For
precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; (That is doctrine and
doctrine.) line upon line; (teaching and teaching) here a little, and there a
little: (It tells you: a Word upon Word).
(11) For with
stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
(12) To whom he
said This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the
refreshing: (At the time of the baptism with the Holy Ghost the Pentecostal age
comes forth the Word amidst the gifts and everything else.)
(13) But the Word
of the Lord was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon
line, line upon line; here a little, there a little; that they might go, and
fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
(14) Hear ye the
Word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people called Jerusalem.
(15) Because ye
have said, We have made a covenant with death, with hell are we at agreement;
when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: we
have made our lies refuge under falsehood have we hid ourselves: (And they’re
not doing it? Come on! Get up here, and be with me sometime. Just stand with me
a little, while you’ll find out what’s going on.) And under falsehood we hid
ourselves:
(16) For thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation stone, a tried stone, a
precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make
haste. (And they’re running everywhere. Ephraim can’t stand still for the First
Resurrection.)
(17) Judgment I
will lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: hail shall sweep away
the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
(18) Your covenant
with death shall be disannulled, your agreement with hell shall not stand; when
the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by
it.
That’s the great tribulation. This
is the time when the Reaper overtakes the sower. This is the time He said,
“I’ll have them in derision.” Laugh at them. Why? Because what God was doing,
He manifested the Word of the hour. He brought the interpretation right in
front of our noses. Time after time. If He is risen from the dead, and the same
yesterday, today and forever, He will do here in the Spirit what He did in the
Body.
Say, “Well, ask Him to come.”
Well if He’s here, why ask Him to
come? Why do you say His ministers let us know that He was here? I thought He
already was here.
“Well,” they say, “that...”
I don’t care what they say. They can
say what they want.
47. [66] ...Anything
contrary, that’s what faith is. Is the revelation of God. And the church is
built upon a revelation. The whole entire body. (Seven revelations, seven messengers, seven groups of
people make an entire body.)
Revelation is not what you and I do.
It’s what you and I receive, through the Holy Spirit. A bunch of cruddy
vessels, conceived in sin, shaped in iniquity, come out, and the Holy Ghost
comes in. Sealing a man in. Even going to take your cruddy body and raise it up
make it good a good one out of it. Tell you: you didn’t do it in the first
place, you were trapped. Well, come on, that’s what the Scripture says.
48. This was previously unknown. Page 6:
[30] ...Now some of
you may differ from the avenues that I take.
He said, “It’s not that it wasn’t
preached to you. I’m going to preach it different.” And he said, “The Bride is waiting
for it.” So therefore he is going to tell you what the Bride is waiting for.
This Bride, because she didn’t have it, and the others, grabbed as though it
was the right thing. It didn’t matter, because it wasn’t the hour. You can only
walk in the light, brother/sister, if you’re here to walk.
Luther can’t walk in this light. He
didn’t live long enough. Old Luther back there in 1550 or so? what, 500 and
something years old now? 400 hundred and something, 400 years. Well he’d be
great walking around 400 years old.
What about Wesley? He’d be great
walking around. Even Charles Parnam, the father of Pentecost—which means
nothing...less than nothing because he was all wrong. What about if he was
walking around? He’s not walking around. If they were walking around, which
those men wouldn’t, but the phonies were walking around they’d be only twice
dead. They’d have the death of the past age and the death of this age.
49. Let’s go further. Page 7:
[35] And then,
if this rapture which is coming to pass... And anything that God has in the
line of His Word, there’s always something to come out to upset that if they
can. It’s Satan’s purpose to do that.
Now he’s telling you that this
revelation is such that, it couldn’t be before, and it’s something that Satan
could do great damage with, if he could get a hold of it. Now he said:
[35] ... Rapture which
is coming to pass... and anything that God has lined in His Word, there is
always something to come up that upsets the people if they can. It’s Satan’s
purpose to do it.
Now he tells you right here that
Satan is going to do his dead level best to get this doctrine which he’s
preaching, and make it a big you know, a big mess, a big shamosle, some big
crazy thing out of it. And he is letting you know also that that’s exactly what
is going to happen. There is going to be a... Satan will get a hold of it just
like a...
Now remember, what he got a hold of,
of the doctrine, that woman in that trance speaking in tongues and said,
“There’s a secret Rapture.” That didn’t disturb him one little bit. The people
went around telling the world that, you know, Satan’s upset... It’s going to be
secret Rapture, and Satan just had them in his hand and was laughing up his
sleeve. Yeah!
50. Let’s go little further now. I might as
well read these portions here. We’ve got a few minutes left. Page 32:
[154] See, the first
thing comes forth is His Message (We already looked at this.) calling a
bride together. Next is resurrection... sleeping bride, the one that has died
in other ages. They’re caught up together, trumpet, feast in heavens.
[155] We’re ready
now. The only thing, the Church coming out has got to lay before the sun to
ripen. The great combine will come after awhile. The stocks will be burned, but
the grain gathered in the garner.
[156] You’re not blind
people. You’re sensible people. If I stood and said these things for
prejudice...I don’t... It’s because it is Life. I’m responsible to God for
saying it. I must say it. And my Message... And all the time knowing back there
under healing and so forth, was to catch the people’s attention, knowing the
Message would come. And here it is.
He tells you, “Here it is: the Message to come. And here it is.” Therefore, he’s
talking about what? The Rapture. He’s talking about the Shout. Now watch:
[157] And them Seven
Seals opened, those mysteries and showing those things is what happened. I
didn’t know it, but there’s a man standing right here was standing right with
me when you heard me preach that sermon “What Is the Time, Sirs?” That morning
exactly where it said it would be, there stood seven Angels standing right up
from the Heaven. As they went up, and the whirlwind took them up, we standing,
watching, they went away, science took the picture of it all way across the
nations, down to Mexico. And there I was watching...
[158] And one day I
started to preach and those seven church ages, I called Jack Moore, a great
theologian; and said, “Jack, Who is that Person standing there, One like the
Son of man standing there, hair white as wool. A young man,” I said, “He was a
young man; how could He have white hair?” (And of course, Jack said, “He was in His glorified body.”)
Now from what I read here concerning
what Bro. Branham said about the Rapture message—the doctrine—and what he said
about the Seven Seals, it is my considered opinion that the doctrinal message
of the Rapture is the last part of the Shout, and the last of the revelations
of the Seventh Seal and Seven Thunders, as is given to the Gentiles.
51. Now let’s just watch a second here in
the Book of Romans. Now just pay attention, because this is terribly, terribly,
important, what I’m teaching here.
Now he’s talking to the Gentiles at
the time of the cutting off, when God will graft back in Israel. Now remember:
the Bride Tree is made up true branches. He said, “If God ever grafts another
branch and another branch ever comes forth rather it is going to be a genuine
branch.” Now the genuine branches are expiring, they’ll be no more, the old
ones have been pruned off. Now let’s watch, let’s go to Rom 11:13:
(13) For I speak
to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine
office:(Now he is an apostle. He doesn’t call himself a prophet, but he is. Now
William Branham is the prophet to the Gentiles.)
(14) If by any
means I may provoke to emulation those that are of my flesh, and might save
some.
(15) For if the
casting away of these be the reconciling of the world, what shall be the
receiving of them, but life from the dead? (It tells you: when God goes back to
Israel the Resurrection comes on. Okay. That’s simple.)
(16) For if the
firstfruit be holy, (It tells you, it’s resurrection.) the root is holy, the
lump is holy: and if the root is holy, so are branches. (You can’t get rid of a
resurrection, because, you see, the Old Testament had it in Christ. Now we’re
going to have it.)
(17) And if some
of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, were
graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the
olive tree;
(18) Boast not
against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the
root thee.
(19) Thou wilt say
then,the branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
(20) Well; because
of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high
minded...
Now he tells them right now, he
said, “Your faith is good, and you are standing by faith.” Now what if their
faith is no good anymore? Then it’s shot. Now you try to get that across to the
people today. They are not going to say, “Oh, I believe, I believe, I believe,
I believe, I believe.”
They don’t believe. They don’t
believe, because they don’t believe doctrine. They don’t believe the precept.
They don’t believe what’s in the precept. They don’t believe every word
concerning the precept. It only takes one word to throw your whole doctrine
back to hell. You correct every word, you throw it plumb back to heaven. See?
Now he tells them here: unbelief.
52. (20) ...Be
not high minded, but fear. (In other words, bring every thought in captivity to
the obedience of Christ, which is the revealed Word.)
(21) For if God
spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. (Now
he’s telling you: this is the time to wake up, because Israel is in the
homeland. Get ready for the Resurrection. And as you get ready for the
Resurrection, get ready for the change. Get ready for the Rapture. Now the
mystery lies in the Rapture.)
(22) Behold
therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but
toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also
shalt be cut off.
What goodness? Faith! to apprehend
the promises of God. What did you do to receive Christ? Come on and tell me.
Nothing. You had a power of choice. That’s all. You have a power of choice now.
And that is a great battle. Do what you want with it. Now:
(23) And they
also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able
to graff them in again.
(24) For if thou
wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed
contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be
the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
(25) For I would
not have you, brethren, be ignorant of this mystery, lest you be wise in your
own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness
of the Gentiles be come in.
Now It tells you there is coming a
period when every single solitary Gentile is going to make it— that’s suppose
to make it. Now when the last Gentile is in, that branch of this hour is
completely filled up. There’s no more. It’s all over. See? So what I’m saying
is this: what is to take place when the last Gentile is in? Resurrection! See?
Now what about Resurrection? Rapture! Now he said, “There is a danger of faith
at this moment.”
53. Now what is the danger of the faith?
Unrevealed Rapture—that’s what hasn’t been revealed. That’s what she is waiting
for. So therefore, the revelation of the Rapture—if it has been revealed to
you—makes you a part of the Rapture. And that’s the last thing. And remember,
the whole thing was building to the Rapture. That is why it is the same
Message. There is only one Message. That’s why they screamed at Bro. Branham,
“We’re resting on that.”
He said, “I preached what Paul preached.”
“We’re resting on that.”
Now they had the revelation for
their hour, but they couldn’t have it for the Rapture, or there would have been
a rapture. And the Bride cannot be aborted.
So we see at the end time, there is
to come in a completely finished Gentile Bride, which we know that she is. All
right.
54. It’s my considered opinion that the
doctrinal message of the Rapture is the last part of the Shout and the last
part of the entire revelation of Christ for seven solid church ages—put it that
way, put it any way you want—of the Seven Seals and the Seven Thunders given to
the Gentiles. We can further see that the Rapture doctrine is a part of the
Seventh Seal and the Seven Thunders.
55. Page 16, paragraph 74:
[74] The Book
of Revelation is the last Book of the Bible. It’s sealed to the unbelievers.
And there the Bible says in the 22 chapter, “Who will take one word or add one
word, I will take his part from the Book of Life.”
Now he’s telling you something. This
is the Rapture tape. This is the doctrine. So this has to do with this subject.
You change this doctrine—good‑bye! Now look. I stand here and preach
that, and I’m blasted around the world, people saying I call them ‘serpent
seed.’ When did you ever hear me in this pulpit say anybody was serpent seed?
Go and get the tapes. Now you have heard me say right with the prophet, “If I
am adding, by mocking His Presence, I’ll be here for the plagues. If they have
taken away, denying His Presence—and He is present—their name goes out of the
Book, and they’re here for the plagues.”
Now how more fair can I be? Oh, they
will sit back and tell lies though, and that covers them. I am going to tell
you: their lies are ripped aside with the flaming sword of William Branham the
prophet of God! Not Lee Vayle’s. I’m just taking a little part in it.
56. I have a letter sitting on my desk right
now. That’s why all this goes on tape. I don’t give a rip. After this meeting,
I hope there’ll be no more tapes go anywhere, no more preaching go anywhere.
I’ll just stay home. It’s all over anyway. I don’t believe if I blast... Well,
you cannot blame anybody for blasting. The more I blast my wife, the more
nervous she gets, the more she doesn’t listen to me anyway. And she is much...
I’m not saying she doesn’t listen, but she is just a little type. I use her as
a type. I’m not going to use anybody here. You’d get mad at me, but I can use
my wife as an example. I believe she’s a thorough-going Bride. I believe I’m
thorough-going Bride, and it just makes people nervous. Just blast (and) they
just get nervous; they’re worse than ever.
I’m not going to try to blast anybody
but, I’m just going to stand here with this Word of God, and I can’t change my
way. I went to Bro. Branham. No way. You pray to God, if you want to change. If
you want a change, I’ll tell you one thing: you better pray that the
Resurrection get here in a hurry, because that’s when it’s going to change.
That’s when the Sweet Spirit comes, and it’s going to be too late. You think I
don’t know? I know that much. Now we realize then that it was all together
given for believers. I know if you’re a real believer, you’re not going to miss
this. If you’re a hoodoo, then you’re going to miss it.
57. [74] ...And it opens the book of revelation and
reveals Who the Author of this entire Book is. He is to look upon as Alpha and
Omega, (Now he tells you right now: the principle of the doctrine of the Alpha
and Omega which is in the, I think it is also in several pages in “The
Masterpiece.” I’m not positive now.) from Genesis to Revelation, Jesus Christ
the same right through, and reveals His complete mystery of Himself and His
plan for the church ages that’s to come, and was sealed in there by Seven
Seals.
And notice in every single time he
talked about a rapture, there has got to be prophets! Now where are you going?
58. Now we got to the place where we showed you
we’re talking about the Seals. What he said on the “Rapture” is what he said on
the Seals—the revelation. And it’s all heading up to a the Rapture, and this is
it. Now people are going to say, “Well I don’t know.”
Well I do know, as far as I know anything.
Now if I’m wrong, it was nice knowing you. Just shake my hand as we go by. No
use lighting a candle or praying, it’ll be too late. And I’m not trying to be
extra facetious. I’m very cynical and very sarcastic and you understand that.
And except for my perverted sense of humor, I think I’d go insane—if I’m not
that way already.
59. I want to tell you something,
brother/sister: either this is true, or forget it. Either the prophet told us
the truth and this is the first phase, the Seals is the Message, and this is
the Capstone, this is it or else, brother/sister, I don’t know what he talked
about. I don’t even know why we need a prophet. I don’t know why we need
anything. In other words all he came with and was put me in bondage. Forget it,
merciful God, enough bondage without him.
I believe Christ was unveiled. He
took us out of the miry clay. He set us on the solid rock of revelation in
Christ Jesus. I believe we’re on our way. I don’t believe for one minute we’re
marching to Zion. I believe we’re the remnant of Marching Zion, and we’re going
to stand right here and march right through. Bless God.
And though we won’t be extra unique,
we will be.
You say, “Why Bro. Vayle?”
Because look, you see my foot? Take
a good look. It’s not my hand. The first age is not the second. The second is
not the third. The third is not the fourth. The fourth is not the fifth. The
sixth is not the seventh. And the seventh is none of them, but they’re all one
together.
Every one is unique. Every portion
is unique, because it’s identified. But it all makes one glorious body to show
His resplendent glory by reflection. So all right. It’s all one Word and been
working from the time up, until right in this hour, there isn’t anything left.
So there is no more Bride left, no more revelation left. There is no more
nothing left. It has all run out. Where are we going? We are going up. How are
you going to get there? Prophet came on the scene.
You say it, brother/sister, right
down the line: Enoch, a prophet, absolutely; Noah, typing those going over.
There is a prophet right there. They rose above it. You go to Elijah—absolutely
a prophet. You go to Jesus—absolutely a prophet. You go to this age—absolutely
a prophet. You go to the last bunch—absolutely prophets, two of them. I don’t
care which way you turn, brother/sister, you cannot get away from the Word of
Almighty God running in continuity. There is no way that this is not what Bro.
Branham spoke of. Let’s rise.
Heavenly Father, we are very
grateful again for Your kindness. Lord, we know that although we do have a
certain amount of sobriety, we do have a certain amount of that which is part
of this Message in a mechanical way, we know that the full depth of it has not
yet struck home as it is going to. And there again though, Lord, it could be
there’s certain changes You’re going to have to do in us, by Your matchless
grace, before we absolutely then would be satisfied with what we know to be a
certainly more licit and legitimate and everything else, right down the line. We
know that and...
But we do thank you for as far as we
have gone, and we can’t believe for one minute that You took us this far to
cast us away. We don’t believe for one minute, Lord, that you led Israel out so
You wouldn’t take them in. In fact, we know all through Scripture the sign is
there that God’s people can rebel, and God’s people do many strange things. We
know that. But You always bring them in line to where Your glory is worked out.
And we praise You, Lord, that in this hour that there is in us that great
desire to be fully submissive to a revealed Word and every Word of that Word,
Lord...