Stewardship
#10
Evil and Good
Stepping Out of the Way
Father,
we praise Thy Name this morning for Your goodness and mercy to us. Your grace
by coming down, Lord, to associate with a people who had gone astray, who were
entirely off the Word, off the mark entirely. But we know that You came down in
order to get ready the prepared people, they might be taken away in the Rapture
according to the last great mystery which shall come upon the Bride. Amazing
grace, the fulfillment of Your Word, men and women standing here, children who
shall not taste death but shall enter strictly into the Rapture, into the
Wedding Supper, the Millennium, and those glories which lie ahead.
And
we thank You, Lord, that time has literally run out and even mingling with
eternity. And we see the last great sign at hand, Lord, as the people
themselves say, they profess to us that this August we shall see the fifth
vision completely fulfilled, wherein Bro. Branham spoke before the last two,
the terrible wicked beautiful woman rising up in America and, then, utter
destruction.
So
we know, Lord, whatever time is left is very short. Whatever time there will be
certainly whatever squeeze will come, Your Bride will be more than able and
willing to go through it knowing the glory which is right at hand, having
actually seen and been a partaker of this last fifth day event, the great and
wonderful vision, Lord, that You gave in this world that’s so industrialized
and so taken over with money, taken over with gnosticism, taken over, Lord,
entirely by the enemy. And we see his end product, a simple mechanical device
where people are not in control but machinery is in control.
We
see, Lord, Your Spirit leaving this world, being—we’re being caught away with
Him in order that there might be not just a great translation, wedding supper,
but a reincarnation. All these things we thank You for, Lord, knowing that we
are privy to them, and we appreciate them so much. Teach us this morning from
Thy Word, O God. Establish us; make us steadfast; fill us with Thy glory, Lord.
We pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
You
may be seated.
1. Now
last night after certain people get the tape that we’re putting out, I’m sure
there’ll be people who will say, “Well, there you are, Lee Vayle has finally
gone to pot. He’s become a deity cult man.”
Well,
I’m not deity cult at all. The fact that I said that “I shook hands with God,
and I hugged him, and He hugged me,” can [maybe] throw people. But the point
is; if you claim that the church is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, what are
you going to do about a man who actually is a prophet and God is in him? [Are]
you going to say, “Well, because of so and so, and so and so, I can’t make the
claim that I am part of the body of Jesus Christ, a living actual reality?”
What are you going to do about a prophet?
Now
I don’t believe that Bro. Branham was God per se. I certainly believe that, as
Bro. Branham spoke of “The Unveiling of the
Mighty God”, and brought out the fact that Moses was Moses, until he was
veiled with the Word, and then, he came forth veiled with God the Word, and
delivered himself, that he was actually God before the people, and he would
have to be. And yet, if you lose your respect for Moses in between that time
and the time that Word comes forth again, you’ve lost an awful lot.
2. So,
my main thrust has been, and always will be, God incarnated in a prophet, the
measure of the Word, measure of God in that one. And he is God to the people;
but God remains God. Just that same as Jesus is not God. He’s the Son of God.
But, when the disciples came in contact with him and they sat and ate with him
there in the boat, and they handled that Word of Life as John himself said,
“They handled God”… You can do what you want about it, but I find that people
are just a little bit messed up in their thinking.
You
get back over here to the Book of John and we get into John 1, and It says here
in verse 14, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, (And we beheld his
glory, the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father.) full of grace and truth.”
And that’s explained over there, actually, when John quotes the words of Jesus
in John 12, “He that has seen me has seen the Father.” [verse 45, Jn 14:9] And
he said, “How come you see me, and you say you haven’t seen the Father? Don’t
you understand that the works that I do are not of myself but God in me? And
the words that I say, they are the very words that God gives me.” He was the
voice of God.
3. And
a prophet is the voice of Almighty God. Bro. Branham said, “I was not
anybody particular, wonderfully standing thereby. I was just one that stood
there when He appeared. I wasn’t the one that appeared.” And he… “It wasn’t
what I said. It was simply my voice that He used.”
And
so, when you see those things, you begin to understand a depth of realization
of God dealing with mankind and also, now, dealing with us, because, if we had
not seen that dealing in our day, of God dealing with a prophet, and thereby
dealing with us, there wouldn’t be one person here who would have rapturing
faith. Forget it.
So
you see, I’m not deity any more than you’re deity. But the point is, maybe I go
a whole lot further in standing with God in His prophet than ninety-nine
percent do.
4. That
brings me to the thought [of] the Parousia having been taught for many years.
In 1979, beginning—I believe—it was in March, I preached my first message on
it. I had sought God wondering about the fact that Bro. Branham said, “Appearing and
coming are two different words.” And so I’ve sought the word study
for many times in the Bible, and you remember, I told you that for the last
time I said, “Lord, I’m going to go to Your Word. I’m going to look into the
Greek, [and] follow those words right through. And if I can’t see what I’m
supposed to see, and I cannot find what satisfies me, by Your grace I’ll never
look for it again. It’s something shut up to me. It’s something that doesn’t
belong to me.”
I’m
going to leave it alone, because of secret things belong to the Lord our God.
But those things that are revealed to us belong to us and our children for a
thousand generations. And, if there are secret things that belong to God, I’m
going to leave it there, because that’s only the logical thing to do. Otherwise
I begin presuming, venturing where I have no authority to tread, and I come
away with a devil-ation not a revelation. And the devil’s only too happy to
take that Word. And, believe me, he can quote It exactly right and he can put
It in the right spot even and then twist It. We saw that last night.
5. So
all right. I looked at that word and then I came across the peculiar word that
And
so, I taught on the very presence of God, which was Elohim Himself coming down,
(which is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, Hebrews 13
translated into Genesis 18: one hundred percent what Bro. Branham taught.) not
realizing I was teaching that perfection. All right.
6. Since
then I was very greatly criticized for teaching it. And people said, “Well,
He’s been always with us. We’ve always…so and so.” This is the most ridiculous
thing in the world. But now the latest word I had is very peculiar.
A
certain brother heard me preach on the Parousia. He said, “There’s not one
thing I can see that you preach wrong. There’s not one thing I could not agree
with one hundred percent.”
Now
they tell me all over the country they’re preaching ‘parousia’. [ ] I won’t
mention where it is. I won’t mention the names, but they’re preaching it.
And
so another friend of mine said of this person who heard me preach it, and this
other brother has heard my tapes for many years, and I’ve known him since back
about 1966 or 7, somewhere in that period, maybe ‘67 or ’68 [ ]. I don’t think
it’d be past that particular time. And he’s heard the tapes. He’s been in touch
with me in a very minor sort of way and now in quite a strong way. And so he
phoned this person who was talking to him about the one who having heard me,
and he said, “I’ll tell you what, they’re preaching it here. They’re preaching
it there.” And he named the places. And he said, “I heard Bro. Vayle preach the
Parousia, and they’re not preaching what he preached.” And I’ve said that for
many years.
7. Many
people say [they]’re talking the presence, but they’re not understanding the
reality. Don’t you understand? Man is the head of woman, the head of man is
Christ, and the head of Christ is God. And it was God that came down to bring
His Church in order, in order that it might be presented to Him without spot
and without blemish, having been washed in the waters of separation which are
the Word, which we’ll see this morning again.
8. So,
I thought I might bring these things to your attention, before we get back to
our studies in “Stewardship”. And I know
you’re finding with me the many things that we’re seeing in this study, these
studies, that we did not anticipate. There are portions of Scripture brought in
which I did not have any idea at the time I resolved to look into this study,
that these things would appear before us. And they’ve come now to the place
where we realize that stewardship is a very remarkable picture.
It’s
a picture that I studied years ago in the sense that I said, “When you go to
the Bible, you will find God in His great creation and dealing with man. That
God set forth certain principles wherein He wanted to instruct men in order
that men may receive those principles and deal with them and live those lives.”
That’s exactly what you set forth.
Then,
you see how man received them, and what he did with them, and how he went
astray. Then, how God responded in that particular situation, and on up down
the line. And we see a history, then, of God dealing with man, setting before
him a premium, setting before him principle, setting before him reality and
perfection, and man abusing it. And yet God, by grace, coming right behind and
making sure that His seed is secure, brings them into the eternal land where He
wants them to be.
9. But,
in the meantime, the path every one of us must tread as Christians is this
Word-path of faith, and deal with the substances that God has given us that we
might present that, which He says, “My Word shall not return unto me void, but
It will accomplish,” [Isa 55:11] and, “the sower went forth to sow; he got
thirty, sixty, and a hundred”… [Mt 13:8] All of these things are in
stewardship, whereby we are living the lives even that God gave us of Himself,
to present those lives multiplied and full of the beauty and goodness that lies
within them, if we take this Word and do right by it.
10. That
is your picture, and that is stewardship this morning, what we’re talking
about. And we’re going to get into some rougher moral issues before we’re over
by the grace of God. And we have to face them at this end time and begin to
come back to reality--not sensuality, but reality. Sensuality is fine if you
simply employ the senses where God wants them. But the minute they go outside,
then you have death, and there’s nothing you can do about it, because you’ll
never be able to do anything about those things once you’ve sowed them. You
have to face them, and you’ll take them to eternity with you.
And
also the very positions and things we have here in life, many people lose those
positions. Many people lose them. Thank God the four and twenty elders don’t. [
] You look at the four and twenty elders, Bro. Branham said they were the
twelve sons of Jacob--the patriarchs. Turns around and says the twelve
apostles, and he sees them. You look into their lives. Those men did not have
very wonderful lives any more than David had. But there’s one thing about it;
they believed God. And no seed will ever disbelieve. He’ll disobey, yes. But
he’s not a child of disobedience; he’s a child of God. Disobedient, but
nonetheless a child of God. And God brings him through.
11. So
all right, we look at “Stewardship #10”. And in our study of stewardship we
found the very profound principle that, though God honors us greatly by
entrusting us with gifts and positions that are freely given to us by grace, we
are required of Him to be responsible to Him in their usage according to the
purpose for which they were given and the manner of their usage as we’re using
them. It’s laid out.
In
other words, whatever and whoever we are, whatever our position, whatever our
gifts, they’re all in the Bible there. And each of us, with whatever we have,
we must conduct ourselves according to the Word that is laid down concerning
us, and we must use what God has given us according to what God has laid down
in the Scripture.
12. So
therefore, [if] you speak in tongues in a meeting like this, and [if] you
prophesy, and [if] you do so and so, you are wrong one hundred percent; and
you’ll stand before God condemned, even though you raise the dead and heal the
sick and do a multitude of things. You have to stay within the framework of it.
There’s nothing you can do about it. You are bound to it. And the beautiful
thing is, when we’re bound to it, and we walk in that straightjacket (so to
speak) we come forth absolutely burnished and beautiful, all the things of our
lives that shouldn’t be there are burnt out. And they will be on Judgment Day.
Don’t you worry.
But,
how about those that stand there with far less to have burned out than those
which merely save their lives by the skin of their teeth?
13. There’s
an abundant entrance for us, if we want it. And it’s not too late. We can still
be like Samson, as Bro. Branham preached “One
More Time Lord”, just one more time. He gave us that opportunity in this
hour where the reaper catches up with the sower, where those that were in the
harvest get the same penny that those that worked all the day long.
This
age is a marvelous age of promise and capabilities. And not only capabilities,
but of fulfillment, and we can have it. No wonder Bro. Branham said, “If I were to
chose an age, this would be the age.” I didn’t agree with him for a
long time, but believe me, I’m so happy I was put within it. All right.
14. Now
never ever forget that whenever stewardship comes to mind, so does
responsibility. And we instantly think of the fact that we will have to account
to God for whatever He has given us. Length of days, opportunities, valued
gifts, valued associations, all of those things are there. And there never was
a brighter day than this day for everything I am mentioning.
Whatever
He has given us according to how we employ it and to what end. And we saw that
over here in 1 Corinthians 4, which is so important. And in the second verse,
Paul the apostle speaking of himself as a steward says, “Moreover it’s required
in stewards that a man be found faithful.”
Now
he said, “Let people account of me (And it’s true.) that I am the steward of
the mysteries of God.” In other words he said: “To me, and to me alone, was
given the true revelation for the Gentile Church for the two thousand years
that we have enjoyed and now is being summed up back again to the original.”
And he said, “I am a steward of that.” And he said, “The big thing about it is
that I am faithful to it.” And that’s the thing you’re looking at.
15. What
have you got from God? What have you been given? What do you know about
yourself? Bro. Branham said, “Everybody can find himself in the Bible.”
Where
has your introspection taken you in the presence of Almighty God? That you know
exactly who and what you are, and we can know, there’s… Just look around you
and see the influence; see where you’ve been placed; see what you’re doing; see
what you can do. It’s a normal Christian life. As the flower out there growing
in the soil, it takes from the soil, lifts its face to the sun and to the rain
and develops itself. [It] takes in it’s environment--what is around it. And
that flower there can bloom amongst thistles.
16. I
was so happy to look out in our kind of little junky patch out in the southwest
corner of our yard, in the back there. And I was sort of in my heart, wanting
these nice single petal pink roses; they’re the flower and the emblem of
I
praise God those roses were put there for me and my wife.
You
say, “Well, I don’t think so.”
Well
you can think what you want. You’re kind of kooky. You see, you’re out there,
miserable. I’m not. I’m happy, and my wife is happy. And we see them, and Sarah
and Jessica go out and look at them, and Pete, and our boy Don goes out, and
daughter Carol, and they marvel at the quality. There’s the light ones, almost
white; there’s the little pretty pinky ones, and then, there’s the dark pinky
ones. And the whole thing is a thing of beauty. And those roses out there—what
about them? Why they’re fulfilling their purpose just naturally. Why? They’re
for my wife and me. They’re… And that’s what the church is.
17. Every
gift and every thing is not for ourselves; it’s for somebody else. Bro. Branham
couldn’t use his gift for himself. I bemoan the fact that what I have in my
mind into my heart from this Word here, I’m a very lousy example. So was David.
(See, I’m going to hide behind David’s skirts; they did wear skirts in those
days.) Not that I want to use them as an excuse, but the point is, that’s life,
and that’s the way it is. But He, with his position, could’ve risen above it.
He blew his… He had a nice house, but I want to tell you something, God
wouldn’t let him build the temple; He wouldn’t do it. He had a chance. He could
have, but he blew it.
People
blow things. It’s too bad, because as Bro. Branham said, “Why do you look for these things out
here?” (talking to Pentecostal people. It’s so carnal. He said) “When the skies are full of reality.” See?
There’s a natural-ness Bro. Branham said we would come to, and I believe it. My
heart is set on it.
18. I
see positively, and I’ve understood this for years, as we grow in grace and the
things of Almighty God, we get into a channel. And if you don’t get into that
channel, you’re going to be out of luck. You’ve got to be in that channel. And
there’s a natural-ness, and we just find ourselves in that channel.
And
if your heart longs certain things that you be more Christ-like, you want
certain things in your life. Let me tell you, you can have them if you set your
heart upon them in order to glorify God and be compassionate and edifying and
helpful in the church, you can have it. You say, “How you going to do it?” By
just lifting up your heart to God.
Well
I could tell you a little story about myself, but I won’t bother. The point is,
I know what I’m talking about. It doesn’t matter. If you want to show more
love, you can show more love. You want to show more compassion, you want to be
more generous, you want to be more kind, you want to be more considerate, you
want to do more to be helpful to people; you can do it. And you don’t have to
let anything stand in your way. There’ll be a pinch. Sure there’ll be a pinch.
Character always has a pinch, but you can do it.
19. Remember
one thing: no man putting his hand to the plow and taking it off is pleasing to
God. That’s one thing I learned. When I went back preaching I said, “God, I
will die. I’ll starve. I don’t care what it is. What[ever] it takes me.” I had
to face all those issues, because I was real scared, real stupid, but I learned
to face them.
And
I learned that one thing: you will become that Word in that position, that
part, that you set your heart upon. “Thy Word have I hid in my heart,” said
David, “that I might not sin against thee.” [Ps 119:11]
And
there’s absolutely that power of overcoming and being, a Word Christian; Word
upon Word, as you set you heart. But, if you let your heart get skinny and
flinty… I’m going to tell you one thing: don’t think I can’t tell when people
around you… There are those of us who have determined on maturity and believe
me it’s there.{Ed note: Listen to that last sentence again}Not that we’re all
that perfect. No, no, no. We can backslide a thousand times a day. [We can] sin
a thousand times a day. But you can set your heart with the Word of Almighty
God, and you become that Word, that portion of that Word.
20. So
all right, we see here we’re stewards of the grace of God, the Word of God,
Paul was that steward. And he said, “It’s required to be faithful to it.” And
we read the context, which we won’t bother reading today. But there is a
stewardship granted to every single one of us, and the Bible is full of it,
whatever God gives us. In Rom 12:3, we read a few verses in there to show you
the stewardship again devolving upon all of us, Paul speaking of the measure of
faith given to every one. And then, he speaks of a proportion of faith.
So,
as you read the Scripture, in your heart, a steward that you want to be [is]
that type of a minister. And let me read about that ministering: It says,
“Prophecy, you have a proportion of faith, or ministering, you wait on your
ministry, or teaching…” [Rom 12: 6b-7a] See, he’s mixing the whole group up.
Every single person with a five-fold ministry, there’s nobody that is not a
member, in particular, that’s not gifted of God, that does not have a supply
from God, that does not have the ability to manifest God.
21. Now
we’re not Pentecostals, “We’re going to manifest God, bless God, speaking in
tongues,” that doesn’t manifest God. That’s simply a gift from God; they’re not
full of the Holy Ghost. We’re different. We are full of the Holy Ghost. The
devil can take the very things that those Pentecostal people talk about.
Listen,
I’ve been in Pentecost for years and years, so don’t tell me I’m slighting
them, [or] I don’t know what I’m talking about, because I do. I was too many
years with them not to know what I’m talking about. They took the things of God
and prostituted them. You can’t do that. You have not a right to do it. You’ll
answer to God for it. They sell God for a billion dollars, and they don’t
recall that God’s going to want His share back on Judgment Day. You can’t do
those things and be right.
22. So
the whole thing is lumped together, and the quality thought is to edify each
other. What can I do for somebody?
Everybody’s
going around, “Do something for me, do something for me, do something for me.”
Have
we ever enlarged our vision to realize, “Let me do something for somebody.”
I’m
having a whale of a job, right now. And sister phoned me just yesterday and
asked where can she send some money. Yeah. I’m looking for men that I can trust
and know to send money.
People
send me money here. I don’t necessarily take that money; I take a portion. I
don’t take a little percentage or some big percentage and send out a small
percentage. I’m making up checks right now for roughly $50,000 for the second
half of the year. That’ll be $100,000 for one year. I’m not buying a
Mercedes-Benz or fancy things or this and that. I’m not interested. I’ve got
plenty to live on. I’m told in my Bible with food and clothing therewith be
content.
And
I’m finding old age makes you content with food and clothing. I’m finding old
age makes it where you don’t even want so much food and clothing, and you’re
still content. See? You’re able to. Not as though you’re stuck and need a bunch
of Pentecostals come by with their latter rain, little dogma, and lay hands on
you and tell you a bunch of lies. You don’t need that stuff. You’re already
positioned in Christ. You open your heart to the Word of God, and in the spirit
you’ll be led.
23. And
you don’t do it for vainglory. You don’t do it for self-seeking. You do it
because you want to trust God. And you don’t want to prove God as to test Him.
I
remember a guy years ago, he told me that when he got saved or born again or
full of the Holy Ghost, whichever he called it. I don’t remember. God took
[his] away smoking. And, oh, he was so happy that God could do anything.
One
day he told the people, “Look,” he said, “God could take this cigarette out of
my mouth.”
So
he put a cigarette in his mouth and puff, puff, puff. I think he died with a
cigarette in his mouth; puff, puff, puff. I never found the guy ever delivered
from that time on. The worst thing was he went behind the barn and behind
people’s back to do his snitching.
That’s…
you know that’s the thing that drove me wild when I was first—when I was first
saved. We had a deacon in the church and I liked his preaching. Man the guy was
pretty top, good preacher. He sounded so sincere—sincere and everything else.
Then, I find he’s out behind the barn snitching a smoke.
And
here I’m a kid that swore like a trooper. I could steal the gold out of your
teeth. But you never found me drinking; you never found me smoking. I don’t say
that made me better than him. But I’ll tell you one thing, when I kicked the
stealing and the swearing and everything else, I was a lot better than he was
as a Christian, because he was still [ ] snitching his smokes. Now don’t be a
hypocrite. If you got a problem take it to God. Just walk before the Lord
softly, and the Lord will help you.
24. And
over here in 1 Corinthians… Now I’ve read this here, ministry, and look what It
says, “He that exhorts, on exhortation.” [Rom 12:8a] Now a lot of people just
love that, even women. [Bro. Vayle makes a sound of disgust.] I’ve had women
preach my sermons back to me, not too often, but it’s done. I’ve had men preach
my sermons back to me; they should’ve been doing it to somebody else. Now you
can give God’s Word back to Him in faith and grace, but you don’t preach
sermons to Him.
Now
here’s one fellow right here, he gives in simplicity. [Rom 12:8b] You don’t
find his name blared on the air. Like a certain brother sitting in the
congregation this morning, he heard his boss’s name blared on the air, because
he was a big giver. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho; the trumpet blew. He had his reward.
“He
that ruleth, with diligence.” (Here’s one of the best ones.) “He that showeth
mercy, with cheerfulness.” [Rom 12:8c]
Old
sour puss guys, “I’ll forgive you this time; don’t you try it again.” If you’re
offended seventy times per day you still got to forgive. Do you know why?
Because, if you don’t you’ve got problems. Not the guy that does the mischief.
Then It says here, “Let love be without hypocrisy,” [Rom 12: 9a] and so on down
the line.
25. So
we looked at 1 Corinthians 14, and I’ve got to move as fast as I can to get
through here, because I want to finish up a certain section. In verse 12 It
says here, “Even so ye, for as much as you are zealous of spiritual gifts, (or
spiritual things, and not just gifts, any spiritual energy, [but] the spiritual
[thing]s) seek that you may excel to the edifying of the church.”
26. Now
I look back in Pentecost, I wonder how many times I spoke in tongue. And I
believe they were genuine. How many times ]did] I interpret? And I can’t figure
that one; I think it might have been just inspired utterance of some
description. Now the prophecies were right. I’ve got that proven. They were
definitive. But how many times was I trying to edify the church? Well let’s say
that I had it one thousand times. I’d say one half of one times out of the
thousand.
Well,
maybe a little more than that, because I remember we were praying very
sincerely for one girl that had a terrible time in carrying a baby, the doctor
was going to take it away. And as we prayed that morning, I did speak in
tongues, and I literally almost heard myself say that the words from the Lord
that, “I will heal Evelyn.” And man, I was shocked out of my skin.
Now
I shouldn’t have been, because I was praying for God to do something for the
girl. In other words, my faith was cold turkey--just plumb cold turkey.
Personally, I really didn’t have any. I had ‘hope so’ and ‘want so’, but faith
is different from that. Faith is meaningful. And I was meaningful in that I
wanted the poor girl helped, and faith does work by love. And being a
Pentecostal radical in the sense that I was all keyed up with all this other
stuff, the Lord was gracious and let me speak in tongues and interpret, and God
did heal her.
27. But
how many other times I really prayed, and really wanted something manifest, (I
can say this.) to edify the church; whoa brother, you talk about a lean soul.
I’m like the guy who’s a preacher. [A] fellow in the congregation said to his
preacher, “Look fellow, I’m going to tell you something: I don’t pay any tithe,
because I believe that your pay is souls.” And he said, “You get souls. That’s
your pay.”
And
the preacher said, “Well,” he said, “Bless God,” he said, “If my pay is souls,
it would take at least twenty like yours to butter a slice of bread.”
[Laughter.]
28. I
want to tell you the truth. Do you know the Bible said that, if you seek God for
gifts out of order, He’ll send you these gifts and things, and leanness to your
soul? I was as about as lean-souled as anybody could get until I bit the
bullet. Talk about a bunch of lean-souled Christians. It’s just not the way it
should be.
So
he says here, “Seek that you edify.”
29. Now
we went then back to the beginning, in heaven, where Satan was leading in the
worship, and we saw a very, very gifted individual in Ezekiel 28. Now here’s
where the whole thing starts. [ ] And we see where the whole thing started with
God giving a magnificent creature, without a doubt the greatest creature,
because even the archangel could not rebuke him. [He] couldn’t do a thing about
it, because this one had stature. And he still has stature. Now lets not forget
that.
And
It says here in the twelfth verse, “Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom,
and perfect in beauty.” And then, he’s allowed to go down to
30. And
then, It says:
(13b) The
workmanship of thy tabrets of thy pipes was prepared thee in the day thou was
created.
(14) Thou
are the anointed cherub that covereth; I have set thee so: thou wast upon the
holy
(15) Thou
was perfect from—in thy ways from the day thou was created, till iniquity was
found in thee.
In
other words he was absolutely perfect for the job. He was perfect within
himself. He was the sum total of what God could do and wanted to do at that
particular time with nobody superceding him except God’s Own son, and God. No
other—no one’s superceding him.
And
then, It says here again:
(16b) O
covering cherub, from the midst of stones of fire. (In verse 16.)
(17) Thine
heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou has corrupted thy wisdom by
reason of thy brightness:
31. Now
just a minute: God gave it all to him. That’s why you get in the Romans 9 where
Paul, speaking of predestination, the man lifts his head and said, “Then why
does yet God find fault?” [Rom
So
these are in, wrapped up in God, in order to bring forth the Godheadedness of
Almighty God, which has a perfection that far surpasses anything that God ever
produced, creature-wise, by creation. Huh? It’s exactly right.
32. Now
God has a purpose in this. And He said, “I made you everything in perfection.
There wasn’t anything you could complain about. There wasn’t anything that
anybody could complain about. There wasn’t anything that wasn’t in order. There
wasn’t anything that was in disorder. Yet [ ] you sealed up as a sum. But one
thing: you never listened to the Word. You took everything I gave you, and you
went outside the framework of the Word.”
And
that’s exactly where Pentecost is today; wretched, miserable, naked, blind, in
spite of the fact they claim they’re rich, increased in goods, and don’t lack
anything.
“Hallelujah,
we got Jesus.”
Come
on, that’s exactly what they say. And that’s what all fundamentalists say,
“Hallelujah, we got Jesus. We don’t worry about the Word and your little
nitpicking here and there. Hallelujah, we got Jesus.” That’s a lie from the pit
of hell.
Oh
they happen to exploit him all right. But the point is; does he have them? And
that’s what Bro. Branham brought out when he talked about the little girl in
And
she said, “Yes, but does the queen see me?”
Yeah.
Who is he mediator for? Who is he intercessor for? Only [for] the seed and
nobody else.
33. So
all right. We see here this one here, this fellow Satan took exactly what God
gave him and used it wrong. He used it for his glory. He did not use it to
edify the people in heaven. And we were there somewhere in the thoughts of God,
but we weren’t manifested in the spirit body. But all the angels and archangels
and cherubim and seraphim… If they’re different from cherubim, I don’t know.
They could be. But anyway, they were all there, and Satan had the chance to
edify them all in the presence of Almighty God in a marvelous worship. And he
took the opportunity to edify himself.
And
that’s what I said to a young preacher, a kid, when I was twenty-three years of
age myself about twenty-two, twenty-three, a little older I guess, maybe
twenty-four, twenty-five. And he wanted to be a minister. And being Pentecostal
and knowing Pentecost as I knew it, but not as I knew it later on. You better
believe that. I said, “Son, what do you want to be great for God for Les Petry
or great for God for God?”
Now
see, that’s the thing right there.
34. Does
your left hand know what you right hand is doing? If it does, why? Done this and
done that or seen this and seen that. Heard this and heard that, manipulated
this, manipulated that. Now I’m talking in a good sense now. In other words you
had the ability, what was—what was your motive? Bro. Branham constantly
preached motive.
And,
as I sit with Sister Meda back in the First Cafeteria there in Tucson, the
tears rolling on the table, almost in little rivulet, and she said, “Lee,” she
said, “One thing, I never knew a man had love like Bill.” And she said, “One
thing he always taught me: ‘Meda, watch your motives, watch your motives, watch
your motives.’”
Isn’t
that what a good husband [is] to a good wife? Isn’t that what a good husband
does to the bride? The good husband Jesus Christ; watch your motives. Watch
your motives.
35. Remember
Jesus there, ready for the crucifixion, in the
There
is the great thing. And where do you find the will of God outside the revealed
Word? You’re not going to find it brother/sister. There’s no way under high
heaven.
36. Okay,
now It says, “You were in
Don’t
you see where Pentecost is? The devil comes in, and he says the great
restoration at the end time is gifts. Even Aimee Semple McPherson preached it,
and she was nothing from nowhere. From what I understand, she was unscrupulous.
But she was anointed, and Bro. Branham kindly said concerning her, when they
said, “Well Aimee McPherson said God called her to preach.” And he said, “I don’t have
any doubt He did, because He knew she was going to do it anyway.”
Not a snide remark, no. Not a sarcastic remark, but a very insightful,
intelligent, spiritual ascertation.
And
he said, “She
was going to do it anyway.”
And
I read her sermon. She preached it in
And
Bro. Branham said, “We want to get back to Pentecost.”
And
that is true. So we do. But what do we want to get back to Pentecost for? For
the Pillar of Fire, God Himself, to be here baptizing with the Holy Ghost. Not
some doctrine and some creed, and a bunch of gifts that have gone haywire and
used by others, when God Almighty wanted those gifts to be used. See?
37. So
the devil handled the Scripture.
Now,
[in] the first place, he tells a lie, and [in] the next place he uses it, and
he mishandles it; that’s what Cain did. Cain wrongly divided the Word, and ever
since then, you’ve seen people wrongly divide the Word, because they’re outside
the shelter of God.
So
Satan very cleverly used one Word of God against another Word of God in
At
one time Satan said, “Now just a minute now, it’s written, ‘You dash your foot
against a stone God will raise you up.’ Come on, jump off the temple.”
And
Jesus said, “It is also written, Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God.” [Mt
4:7]
Don’t
try to use the Word of God outside of the framework where God placed it. And
don’t try to ever use it to have a sideshow or make a spectacle or make
yourself somebody. See, this is the worst thing in the world. And when you
think you’re going to be somebody, you’ll find yourself shot down.
38. A
friend of mine visited me from Europe not too long ago and he told, he said,
like he was doing me a very great favor, honoring me with such great honor, and
he said, “You see Bro. Vayle, I left this certain meeting… the last couple days
to come and see you.”
And
I thought, “So what? If that’s the way you feel go back to your meeting.”
A
year goes by, roughly, and he writes me in a letter. In his letter he said,
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I’ve always loved you and I’ve always stood up for you
in
Now,
but he turns around and tells me he visited a man in
He
didn’t leave the women alone. So what am I going to do? Am I going to write the
guy? Tell me. [End of side one of the audio tape.]
The
question is, where do we go from here? Well, if I do I’m going to say, “Just a
minute, you’re from the frying pan into the fire.” So all these things come up.
Self aggrandizement.
39. But
Satan [is] taking the Word and using it for a purpose other than to edify the
Bride.
I
know the way I preach some time people think I don’t edify any Bride I just
club her down. That’s a lot of lies. I don’t club any Bride down. I preach this
Word hard, and I don’t necessarily hit people here, as far as I’m concerned. I
do hit certain ones out there that I know they’re lying.
And
I find that right in Scripture names are named. My names named all over the
country, so what’s the difference? But you see I refrain from using names this
morning. I’m not too interested in all that thing, you see.
40. But
all right now, he did the same thing to the original Bride, he went there and
he got the Bride to believe in a different gospel, a different Jesus, a
different spirit; how far can you get wrong? And everybody reads It today, and
they say, “Well that was back there, and those guys were kooky. Oh they were
terrible. But we’re different, we just got the right Jesus, we got the right
Father, we got the right gospel.”
And
they haven’t; they’ve got a Trinitarian god. They can’t even read the
Scripture. They can’t read the Scripture. And the Bible said there’d come a
day.
“Here’s
the book, read it.”
And
he said, “I can’t.”
Say,
“Just a minute. You had pre-Kindergarten, you had Kindergarten, you passed
Harvard with honors, and you can’t read it?”
He
said, “Yeah, and I’m not so stupid that I can’t admit it. I can’t read it. It’s
just ‘blecchhh’ to me.”
But
the Pentecostals and Christians today, they don’t say that.
“I
can read it.”
And
every time they read: ‘There’s one mediator between God and man, the god Christ
Jesus.’ That’s exactly what they read.
You
say, “I don’t read it that way; I read it that way.”
Oh
yes you do, because your Jesus is the third person of the Trinity, and he
shouldn’t be called a man. He should be called God, because God said, “I am not
a man.” And, if I were a man, I’d change my mind and you sons of Jacob would be
consumed. And they’re going to be consumed too, the ones that aren’t the true
sons of Jacob. Yeah, right down the line, you see the whole thing in distortion
here. All right.
41. If
one word off is Satan’s kingdom, what about all the word off, where they are
today, on the Godhead alone? So all right, they’re doomed, just like Satan in
the
Number
one: we saw Satan, a religious spirit being, (See?) a cherubim leading in
worship, getting out of order, yet unchanging as to his being according to
creation, and then, creation going astray.
Do
you realize that Satan hasn’t changed one tiny iota from the beginning in
heaven to the garden to challenging Jesus in the desert to going to the Bride
and coming here right today? He’s very, very religious; and boy, can he peddle
love. Now the reason I know he can peddle love is because… Let’s go back to Romans
12, and I want this to soak into your consciousness like I’m preaching now so
you understand the two spirits; you understand the whole thing is religion, as
Bro. Branham said; you understand the church is going to take over; you
understand the devil is going to take over; you understand there’s going to be
Armageddon; you understand there’s going to be a great massacre upon earth; you
understand the earth is going to be cleansed for a while; then, the Bride’s
going to come back for a thousand years here. Yep, you understand what’s
happening. It’s going on right now.
42. Romans
12, so, in the first eight verses, then verse 9: “Let love be without
hypocrisy.” “Let love be without hypocrisy.” You can show love and be a
hypocrite. You can do anything and be a hypocrite. So, if you think the devil’s
not in charge today, doing what he did in heaven, leading the created angels
and all astray, in the Garden of Eden and leading them astray, leading them
right down the primrose path to destruction, giving us the chaos we have today,
all the time touting religion, you’re wrong.
43. Let
me tell you about good and evil. Good and evil and the Tree of Life stood
there. And here’s what evil means, derived from the basic word meaning ‘to
curb, as a restraining halter; by implication, the jaw and a bridle’. In other
words: ‘no freedom, bound by sin, harassed by death’. The good that I would do,
I can’t, because evil’s with me. I’m a mess. The word ‘bad’, or ‘evil’:
‘adversity, affliction, calamity, displeasure, distress, evil favored,
exceeding grief, harm, hurt, heaviness, ill-favored, mischief, misery, naughty,
noisesome, not pleasing, sad, sore, sorrow, trouble, vex, wicked, wretchedness,
wrong’. Do you like that? That was there.
And
Eve said, “I’ll go for it.” “I’ll go for it.”
And
we’ve been trying to get out of it for two thousand—for six thousand years.
44. What
about good? Good comes from the root word meaning ‘to be’ or ‘to do’, (That’s
good.) or ‘to make good or well in the widest sense’. In other words, it’s
limitless. To do good; no limit. No limit [to doing good]. ‘Be or do better’,
‘cheer’, ‘be good’, ‘make goodly’, ‘please’, ‘please to be’, ‘to do’, ‘to go’,
‘to play’ (it means ‘wellness’), ‘good in widest sense’—‘good’. That means
‘good man’, ‘good woman’, or a ‘good thing’. ‘Beautiful’, ‘best’, sometimes
just better because you’re making a comparison. ‘Bountiful, cheerful, at ease,
fair, favored, fine, good, goodly gracious, joyful, kindly, kindness, to like
best, merry, most pleasant, most pleasing, pleasure, precious, prosperity,
ready, sweet, wealthy, welfare, be well favored’. Which one do you like?
To
bad you’ve got a mixer. She sold out the Word of God for this. She sold out all
the good for the evil. What a mess! And the world still goes for it.
45. So
we saw him way back there. We saw him in
Now,
“For he was numbered with us, and had received part of this ministry.” [Acts
46. Bless
God, I don’t have a pain in my back right now, but I just challenge anybody,
and I’ll give even a thousand dollars (I’d be happy to give you more than that,
because I’ll end up giving chiropractor more than that) take care of my back.
Come on, be a good fellow, you’ve got the gift of God. You claim you’re above
Bro. Branham. [You] claim you don’t need a vindicated prophet; you’re somebody
from somewhere. Come on, prove it.
You
know there’s an old saying, “It doesn’t pay to advertise, if you don’t have the
goods.” Satan’s got away with it.
47. Satan
is building a Christian era church, a New Testament church, even as he had
built an Old Testament church. And what we saw in 2 Cor 11:13-16 concerning his
headship of his own church and the priesthood that he had, false prophets,
false apostles, false shepherds, false everything, false evangelists, all in a
row. He’s got them right today.
Paul
went out of his way to show an allegory. There’s a New Jerusalem which is from
above and there’s one which is from below. And the one from below is absolutely
not of God, because the one from below is
48. James
also sides in, and James tells of the wisdom which is from below and the wisdom
which is from above, and he said, “I’m going to tell you something, there’s no
way that you can tame your tongue. There’s no way you can take a horse and put
a bridle in his mouth.” What does that sound like? That word ‘evil’ means ‘bridle’.
You
know our tongues are bridled till God sets them free? “Oh, we just think we
just have free tongues,” that’s a lie.
You
have a tongue that’s bound by evil and good. You’ll say one nice thing today
and a rotten thing tomorrow. We’ll say one thing nice about a person and, then,
criticize them the next time round about.
And
he says, “Hold it, my brethren, can a fountain bring forth sweet water and
bitter water at the same time? It can’t do it.” He said, “Can a vine [ ] bring
forth a fig?” No way.
And
now you go back to what Jesus said. He said, “Beware of false prophets.” He
said, “They’re ravening wolves. They look like sheep; they got sheep clothing.
And he said, “Can a bramble bring forth a fig?” He said, “You can’t do it.” He
said, “Can a good tree bring forth corrupt fruit? You can’t do it. Can a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit?” Vice versa, evil tree bring forth good
and good bring forth evil? He said, “You can’t do it.”
49. So
Paul and James and Jesus are all saying the same thing: you need to have the
Word of God in your heart and from your mind to your spirit to your heart
coming through your mouth.
And,
if you have the word of the prophet, you are a good tree with good fruit saying
the right thing, and you don’t have to worry about saying a wrong thing. That’s
why I preach dedication to the prophet, Word by Word, and say nothing but what
he says. And, if you get your Bible in a word study, listen to what Bro.
Branham said. Trace it in the Bible. You’ll find everything here the prophet
said. And I’ll show you something else he said, and it’s very simple. Oh yes,
simple for me, because I have a gift. And it’s simple for me with a gift,
because I want to tell you about it. And it’s simple for me, because I need to
know it, because I’m looking for it, and I’ll tell you about it just in a
second or two here. So all right, it all lines up.
50. Now
we also read in Matthew 7, when Jesus finished his dissertation upon the true
church and the false church, which he said, “Depart from me, I never knew you,”
well-gifted people had genuine gifts, raised the dead, healed the sick,
everything else--just like Judas. Listen, is that strange in the light that God
made the devil perfect and gave him perfect gifts? “Well you see, the devil is
such a person. The devil could not have a gift from God, oh the devil could
not…” Oh, shut up, merciful God have you been hearing me for the last thirty
years or not? I just quoted to you from Ezekiel 28, and I quoted last night
from Isaiah 14 also. “You sealed it up, and you ruined it all, because you
wouldn’t listen to the Word.” Now [are] you going tell me that it’s any less
today? You mean he can’t take gifts of the Holy Ghost and use them in people?
Huh. You better smarten up, or you’ll be taken in the devil’s land rover
instead of Elijah’s chariot.
Sure,
he didn’t use all these gifts. Anointed correctly to gifts but not to the Word
and that was the tricky thing, because, you see, that’s where Satan blew it.
Lucifer, son of the morning, a great creation, he took everything God gave him,
and he said, “I’m going to use it this way.”
51. I
talked to a man one time: I apologized. I said, “Sir, I think I maybe... In
fact I feel bad, because I said some things I shouldn’t have said. I
understand, somebody told me, you had microphones in your pew to pick up the
tongues and interpretations and prophecies.” And I said, “I don’t even know if
you have them.” I said, “I’m sorry I even said a thing about it.”
“Well,”
he said, “Bro. Vayle, the fact of the matter is we don’t have those microphones
in the pews but,” he said, “but the thing that worries me is not what you said
about it, but the thing that worries me we’re not getting any tongues,
interpretations, or prophecies.” And a woman and a man sat there knew the man was
lying, because the microphones were there. They left his church.
52. I
don’t care if you talk about Bro. Branham, you talk about the Presence, you
talk about vindication, you talk about this, you talk about that. Look, if you
can’t even set the church in order concerning gifts of which we hardly know
anything… And Bro. Branham himself couldn’t do it. The church didn’t want it.
They turned it down flat. And I don’t know anybody standing at that door …?…
room and say, “I have the gift of discerning of spirits.” If you’ve got it,
listen, I’ll take a chance with you. I’m not going to blow my life for a gift
of tongues and this and that. I’ve had that in my life. I discerned when I
shouldn’t have discerned even. [It] wasn’t my job, you see. I cut in where I
didn’t belong.
You
know when my soul started to get fat? As I preached the Word. And I preached
the Word the more; discernment fell away. And it fell away. I went to Bro.
Branham, and I said, “Bro. Branham, I’m a little alarmed about all these
things.” I said, “I used to have these gifts operating, I don’t anymore. Is it
possible that the age of gifts is over?”
He
said, “Bro.
Vayle, the age of gifts is over.”
But
it’s not over in the sense that those gifts aren’t there. You’re now in the
mind age. [Your] mind quickened by the Holy Spirit and by your spirit going to
your soul and your soul bringing it past through your confession, saying the
same things. Stand fast with your confession, you see?
53. Now,
I want to keep going here. Now before…
So,
we saw the end of the two churches. One church built upon the rock of
revelation; one church built upon sand. And what is sand? It’s usually rock
pulverized. So they pulverize the Word of God and made it what you call an
amorphous heap. ‘Amorphous’ means ‘no shape’. How would you like to see a Bride
without shape? Man some of them are so heavy set now, I’d hate to see one
without shape. Pardon my little snide remark, but I want you to catch it.
How
would Jesus love a Bride without shape--like a blob? Nothing against stout
women; nothing against them at all. Even stout women aren’t blobs; they have
shape and form. The church is a blob today. It’s sand; it’s amorphous. It’s a
pitiful, pitiful situation. All right.
So,
the end was destruction.
54. Now
before we go further, we want to go back to 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul starts
setting the church in order. And watch what he says in 1 Cor 12:1-3. Now I want
you to watch this carefully.
(1) Now
concerning spirituals (the spirituals, that’s energies, that’s not gifts, it’s
really energies, those things that the Holy Spirit has within Him that are able
to be received), brethren, I would not have you ignorant. (Now watch:)
(2) You
know that you were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye
were led.
How
they were taught inspired in them an ability to be like whirling dervishes, to
be like Satan-possessed people who desired spirits to come in. And as the
spirits came in, they were controlled. And under that control, if you read a
book by Seabrook, The Magic Isle,
where he was down in
Now
Paul says, you know, that you were under spirits that were evil. You know
positively that you were carried away. You knew you entered into a state or a
trance, which was beyond you. And I’ve been in that, so I know what I’m talking
about. START HERE 31AUG02#*%()#*$@#$#4
55. I
could go under a hypnotist and very easily… I went to a man one time, because I
was nervous and all, and I wanted to be hypnotized. And I started to go under
so rapidly. In a trance I said, “Hold it,” and backed right out. Never again.
See? Your spirit part of you is two-thirds against your one physical, body,
soul, and spirit. And you could very craftily be led by the devil into
spiritism.
So
I knew a group in
56. Now
listen [to] what Paul says. “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man
speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed, and no man can say ‘Jesus
is Lord’ but by the Holy Ghost.” [1 Cor 12:3] And then, he tells them later on;
“the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets.” [1 Cor
What
this man is doing here, (And I never caught it until just yesterday.) is that
he is speaking his vindication, because this, literally, is tantamount to
Deuteronomy 18, where a man comes in the Name of the Lord, and he’s under the
complete control of his sensibilities, knowing exactly what’s going on, with
God speaking through him. He’s absolutely subject to his own spirit, and his
spirit is subject to him, and he let’s himself open, because he’s ordained of
God to be this messenger.
And
Paul here is declaring his vindication, because, evidently, there are people
going about, even gnostics and different ones, saying that Jesus was accursed,
because of the death on
57. Anytime
then you see these particular qualities, you better believe… Now listen, I
don’t think one person here has not seen “Deep
Calleth to Deep” and the “Twentieth
Century Prophet.” If you see Bro. Branham, (And please get the film out
again and look at it.) you will find Bro. Branham in perfect control. Although
he’s under the complete power of God, he knows everything going on. And you
can’t even move, but he looks.
My
faith was so strong when I first met and had Bro. Branham in a meeting in
I
was not one of those who wanted the body edified; I wanted this carcass
edified. I was a dirty dog. I never have pretended I’m a nice guy. I’m just
spilling the beans to you because, hey, you’re going to know it on Judgment
Day. Merciful heaven, if you hide it now, you ain’t going to hide it then.
And
I had a taste of that, right under Bro. Branham, reading my heart. He looked at
me for about three solid minutes. I told you about it, maybe up to five. And I
tell you; I died. And I never ever dare [did] it again--say anything really
facetious--and never dared to say a thing against the ministry or anything
else. I was just kidding, of course, and he didn’t know I was just kidding. He
just whirled and …?… and then he relaxed, he never said a word, and I didn’t
say a word either, (You better believe it.) except “Thank you Lord, let’s get
out of here.” Not exactly get out of here.
58. So
Paul here is speaking of vindication. And when he speaks of vindication, he’s
putting the church in order, and he settles these verses by saying, “If any man
thinks he’s a prophet, seems to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge
the things I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” [1 Cor
If
the church could come together, honestly, before God, and desire gifts for one
reason, not to be curious, not to be different, not to be somebody, not to be
peculiar; but honest before God, [and] said, “Lord, people need help. I’d like
to be able to help somebody. And, if there’s any gift that I can use in a
meeting, that Bro. Branham spoke of; I’m willing to be that person. But, if
it’s not for me, I’ll understand.”
And,
if you get really neutral, I’m going to tell you something: it will happen one
hundred percent, if God is in it.
59. I
got neutral when I went to