Shalom
#24
Beating to the Same Rhythm As Bro. Branham?
Shall
we pray. Heavenly Father, we recall that Mary did not invite You and Your
wonderful Presence, but an angel announced it; and then, Lord, You were there.
And we, ourselves, are in that particular way that we did not know You were
coming. We did not invite You, though many times we did invite You with another
meaning entirely in our minds but not realizing this would be the
Appearing--Your very Presence. And then, Lord, we know that she had the faith
to say, “Be it unto me according to Thy Word.”
And
that’s exactly the way we are tonight, Lord. We want to have that faith,
Father, to say, “Be it unto us according to Thy Word,” that somehow we know
that we are a part, Lord, of Your very Presence. You are here for a very
purpose, O God, and that purpose will be fulfilled in us, Lord; we believe
that. This great promise, Father, was taken from Adam, now restored after 6,000
years.
Teach
us tonight what the prophet would have us to know. We’ll give You the praise in
Jesus’ Name. Amen.
You
may be seated.
1. Now
we’re at number 24 in “Shalom.” And perhaps we just might be able to finish
this in a couple of more sessions—even maybe just one more, after tonight.
(Though I wouldn’t really know.) Now remember, that whatever Bro. Branham is
teaching is instructions to the Elect Lady or words to the Bride. And he is
telling the Bride something that has already taken place, in the sense that the
Word of God is being fulfilled—Shalom, or God’s Peace. And when he talks
concerning the Symphony—which we’ll go into again tonight—he is, therefore,
trying to help her to understand.
Now the first thing we want to
understand [is] that ‘Shalom’ or ‘God’s Peace’ is not a matter of semantics. In
other words it’s not simply a play upon words. Many people use the Bible, and
they do not use it with the directness that Bro. Branham did. Now, we
understand that they couldn’t do it. So they had to make a play upon words, and
this, I’m afraid, is what is being done tonight when it comes to the Presence
of God. Jesus Christ in the form of the Holy Spirit in a Pillar of Fire, the
same One that spoke to the apostle Paul on the road to
2. Now
the wrong revelation brought a perverted body by sex. The true revelation, the
real revelation by the Living of God. And it is a Living Word, and it could not
come to Life until this time. That is to say, the Life in the Word could not be
released until this time. So now, in this time of Shalom… And remember, from
Adam until immortality, there is no Shalom. Man is not at rest concerning God
or himself or others. Man does not have Peace. The Scripture distinctly says,
“There is no rest, saith my God, to the wicked.” There is no Peace to them.
There has not been that Reality accorded us until this moment. And even when
Christ has made Peace with God in us through the death of the cross, [at] the
end time we are told that the people are truce breakers. They deliberately
break the armistice and the Peace that was purchased through the Blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. They deny the Presence and power of God, and they’ve entered
into a greater war than ever with God, which will end in destruction.
3. Now,
at this particular time, and this particular hour of darkness, confusion,
misfortune, misunderstanding (all those things)—Bro. Branham comes on the scene
and brings us this message of “Shalom”--instructions to the Elect Lady,
Words to the Bride, “God’s Peace”. And on page 27, Bro. Branham starts to
illustrate how one enters into God’s Peace, the Peace of this hour. It is very
evident that he is trying to translate his experience and his part in this hour
to us as participants who listen and believe and perceive. The reason I use the
two words “believe” and “perceive” is because many people quote Bro. Branham,
unfortunately this quote alone, when he said, “You don’t have to understand to believe.” However, he amends that
later on so that you come to the place where you know there is no sense in
saying, “I believe,” and somebody asks you a question, “What do you believe?”
and you can’t answer what you believe.
So,
“Well, I believe there was a vindicated prophet.”
Oh,
is that so? What did he vindicate?
“Well,
he vindicated God.”
Well
listen, fool, I’ve always believed there’s a God. What more can you tell me?
“Well,
He came to restore the Word.”
What
Word? What are you talking about?
4. So,
Bro. Branham, in speaking to the participants—which, hopefully we are (the
Bride)—and he’s using himself to help us to the position that he is in this
realm of Peace. In doing so, he tells us about a symphony, which is a musical
drama wherein the audience knows there was a general score and story but cannot
themselves sort it out; they have to be helped. And you’ll notice, if you’ve
been to any symphony, they have it all written before you. (I never have been
able to follow anything they wrote out.) They listen to the progress of the
music. And, if their ears are in tune, they can recognize the various
characters and roles and what is happening as the scene changes. The Symphony
of Shalom (God’s Peace), as described by Bro. Branham, is actually a revelation
to the listener who closes his eyes to his own world (That’s the physical world
and whatever world he was in spiritually before.) and enters into the Spirit of
the musicians, Conductor and Composer. As he listens in the Spirit of the drama
and is caught up in the Symphony, the drama unfolds to him, and he understands
the mind of the Composer and becomes aware of the reality of the depiction,
which of course, primarily, has to do with this hour in which we’re living.
Present history is being wrought in music.
So,
as Bride, we must catch the Spirit of the reality of this great Symphony of God
that is upon us. We must close our minds to all our previous thinking and
listen to the thundering rendition of vindication, the thundering rendition of
greater works, the thundering rendition of “THUS SAITH THE LORD.” Now, if
they’re not thundering in your soul, you’re not in the Symphony. If you’re
merely piqued and say, “Say! Isn’t that great? That really proves there is a
God,” you are not in the Symphony. If your soul and your thinking is not shattered
with the thundering roar of vindication, you are simply one who came in the
building without a garment. You are not one who is invited to the Wedding
Supper, and you will never be in the Rapture.
5. Now,
I don’t speak to you only; I speak to myself. The literal Appearing of God in
vindication to Bro. Branham was everything, as we have shown you by “The
Greatest Battle Ever Fought,” and “Perfect Faith.” We must be caught up in the
crescendo of the dazzling display of a genuine healing revival, with discernment
and know that we are at a juncture. (That’s right.) Everybody runs to the
revival. Oral Roberts prays for thousands [and] gets good results. He doesn’t
anymore. So, what did he really bring the people? Methodism and folly. Where is
Tommy Osborne? Over in
We
must get into the spirit and dance, and the acceleration of the movement and
moment of time and eternity blending. We must feel the exhilaration of the
strength of our faith through Revelation, as the Seven Seals and the Seven
Thunders, by the principle of vindication, flash across the skies like Roman
candles.
“Seventh
Seal? Pbbbt! What’s he talking about? Why, [the] Seventh Seal’s not even open.
What’s this Thunder nonsense?”
Do
you understand what I’m saying? We must arise and shine with quickening
inexorable march of the never changing Alpha and Omega God. Is “Alpha and
Omega” merely a principle, or is it reality?
6. And
as we enter into Heb 13:8 we recognize today, Abraham, in Genesis 18 and begin
to march and keep time with the Symphony, for the Spirit of the Composer is in
the Conductor, and along with the narrator, and we are One in the Divine Drama.
But to do this we must close our eyes to self and to the world, as did Abraham
when, in the Presence of God and receiving the promise of the coming son in
flesh, “he considered not his own body, now dead, nor yet the deadness of
Sarah’s womb,” but entered into the drama of God, Who raises the dead and calls
“those things which are not as though they were,” and he believed it all. “He
staggered not at the promise of God.” The promise of God to Abraham was
essentially to one person. His wife was a part of him, and in spite of the fact
that she could be a hindrance, he was not bothered at all! He said,
“Hallelujah! the promise is mine. I already have that son. I am as good as
raised from the dead”—physically speaking, concerning his own human exigency,
which was not only in his flesh, but in also Sarah’s.
And
so enthralled, we become one in Spirit with God by believing His narrator (His
prophet) through whom He conducts and speaks—actually manifests. And in doing,
we close our minds and eyes to religiosity and organization and dogma and
creed, and get back to the truly revealed Word. Some of you haven’t done it.
You sit here and you think you have, but you haven’t done it. You’re still
mixed up with some of the things and the ideas you have allowed to be
perpetrated upon you. Let me warn you: you are just kidding yourselves. I’ve
warned and exhorted many times, only to see people fall away, and some are
falling away already. I’m going to tell you something: It’s not my
fault--not my fault. No way. You cannot do it.
7. The
truly revealed God and His truly revealed Word, and His ways are before us.
Listen to the narrator, on page 30, [Paragraph] 183, as he reads the score and
tells us the Truth. And as we listen and get right into the Spirit, we let it
be that as we pile Word upon Word in thirsting yet drinking faith. You can
thirst all you want, but if you don’t drink it won’t do you any good. As I
said, that poor Bro. Moore (now deceased I’m sure) and millions just like him
said, “O God, send a prophet.” They were thirsting, but when the water arrived…
Well, literally, they ‘threw out the baby with the wash water’. They’re
nothing. They have perpetrated a crime all in the Name of the Lord Jesus
Christ—listen carefully to what I’m saying—all in the Name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and under the influence of the Spirit of God, like Judas.
You
say, “Those are harsh words.”
They’re
not harsh words. They’re deep words for the shallow and superficial. They’ll
never get to you. But if you’ll love Truth, you begin to say, “This is as the
days of Noah, where eight were saved.” And you don’t compromise your soul for
the religion of the world, that in their great love say, “Millions now living
will never die!”
That
is a lie, a lie, a lie! A million
time millions, because billions will
die… Even those who go so far in this Message to understand the Presence then
pervert the Word, there’s no hope for them.
You
say, “What if they come back?”
Have
you watched anybody recently?
And
as we listen and get right into the Spirit, let it be that as we pile Word upon
Word and thirsting, yet drinking faith, we become vessels filled with the Holy
Ghost—that’s the true Baptism with the Holy Ghost—speaking to ourselves and
each other in spiritual conversation of the Message in Malachi 3. In short, it
is time to be enthused with the enthusiasm of the prophet, who was enthused by
God clearly vindicating Himself a thousand times in His unchanging ways. That
is this Symphony—God proving His
Word, and we seeing it proved and revealed.
8. Let’s
go back to page 30. We mentioned the closing of the eyes. If you’re born
Bride—which we would have to be: elect—we have within us a counter-rhythm which
responds perfectly to the rhythm that God has set in His Symphony. With the
prophet on the scene, “THUS SAITH THE LORD,” I sat there—and I tell you, I’m
not ashamed, although I am ashamed—I sat there backslidden amongst I think
maybe 5,500 or 7,000 people. But as the prophet came on the platform and says, “I challenge you. Bring me twenty-four of
your worst cases; I guarantee healing for all...” (or sixty percent get through--as they all go through the prayer
line) I knew I was faced with one of the greatest events in all of history! And
at this hour, I believe I’m [ ] one of the few of the five billion people in
the world that knew: “If you ever listen to somebody, you listen to that man.”
What was it? You’re born with the counter-rhythm. His beat evokes your beat.
Our beat is never like His beat; it simply responds to it. But it can enter
into it, which is what Bro. Branham says here. Entering into it, the rhythm of
the Word, you are part of the Word. You had to become part of the dance to get
out into the dance. It’s got to be in you.
9. [182] You have to become part of the Word, to know God’s
Symphony. His Symphony is when It’s playing, you understand, you’re marching
with the beat of the time. You’re watching for it, “The works that I do, shall
you also; greater than this shall you do,”
That
stumbled everybody: for a man to come on the scene and say, “That is a promise given to an individual,”
not collectively to a group of people who will multiply through sheer force of
numbers the works of God. How did they feel when Bro. Branham said, “He had more success in my ministry, in my
life than He had in His own.” Greater--creation of squirrels. Get in the
rhythm of how He does it. Learn the ways of God.
10. Now
watch:
[183] How did He send His message
first? (Here’s a question he poses: Are
we into the Symphony?).
What does He do? He doesn’t deal with organizations. He never did, so He
doesn’t do it now. That’s where, if you’re listening to the rhythm of that
Council of Churches, you’re in darkness.
Exactly
what Norman [Grubb]? did—one of the greatest men in the twentieth century
history, a thorough going Christian all full of the Holy Ghost, (Let every
fundamentalist tell you.) yet I saw his own words when he said, “The greatest
miracle of the twentieth century in the entire plan of God were the people
coming together.” That’s a lie. Oh, it’s a great miracle as far as “bringing
together” is concerned—all the organizations coming into Pentecost. Pentecost
has got them all. Bro. Branham said, “Methodists
want Baptists, Baptists want Presbyterians, and Pentecost wants them all.” He
was a hundred percent true. They’ve got them all, right from the pope on down.
Don’t tell me, brother/sister. That’s exactly the truth. That’s exactly where
it is.
11. Now
he said:
[ ] ... He doesn’t deal with
organization. He never did. He doesn’t do it now. If you’re listening to the
World Council of Churches, you’re in darkness. But if you’re listening to the
rhythm of the Word, that’s different !
[184] What did they kill Jesus for? “You, being a
man, make yourself God.”
[185] You got my Message on “The
Three Types of Believers,” how that one stood there and they were the
make-believers, they followed along for awhile, making out like they believed.
One day Jesus said, “What will you think when the Son of man, which is from Heaven,
ascends back into Heaven? I come from Heaven, going back to Heaven.”
[186] The multitude walked away
and said, “This is a hard saying.”
He said, “What if you see the Son of man
ascend up where he was before?” It left them entirely in the dark.
12. Now,
let’s keep on going.
[187] Then there come the
make-believers that was walking with Him, the seventy, when they got something
hard, they didn’t see ... they didn’t know the Symphony. They didn’t know the
Promise, that this Child was Jehovah, “His Name ... be called Counsellor, Prince
of Peace, The Mighty God.” And ... He said, “When I ascend up to Heaven from
whence I come from.”
[188] “Well”, they said, “this is
a hard saying. Who can understand It? We know You’re just a
[189] Then we notice again, there
was Judas, the make-believer or unbeliever, that waited till he found a fault
Then He turned to the disciples, said just the twelve, and Judas was one of
them, He said, “You want to go too?”
[190] Then Peter said, “To whom
would we go Lord? You’re the Composer.” Amen. “You know how it’s going on.
You’re the only One that has the Word of Life. Where could we turn to? We
couldn’t go back to be a Pharisee or a Sadducee, or
a Herodian”,
or whatever it might be. “You’re the One that has the Word of Life. We have no
other place to go. We’ve joined ourselves to this great Concert. We are in here
and we’re listening, and we’re in rhythm. We believe that you are (1) the Son
of God and (2) the manifested Jehovah. We are sure of
this!
Now
Bro. Branham is telling you about the Symphony. Are you sure that God, here, is
Present? The same One who went to Paul in the form of the Holy Ghost, in a
Pillar of Fire; do we believe that? Do we believe that He is here with a
Message? The Shout is a message. Now nobody’s going to believe that, because
everybody wants to believe that it’s simply a loud noise. They don’t want to
believe He comes down to the earth in the form of the Holy Ghost. And they’re
not going to believe it. And there’s
no theologian and nobody anywhere outside of this Message, as far as I know, (I
haven’t read everything, of course, and been everywhere.) but I would doubt
categorically that [ ] there’s nobody outside of Bro. Branham that taught that.
That is the revealed Word. Are you in march with the Symphony? That’s what he’s
saying here.
13. [190] ...We don’t know what these great trials and
troubles, and afflictions and things, that
You’re saying that You’re going to be offered up and all this, that and the
other ... ‘on the third day’, all this stuff. We don’t understand That. But
we’re in, listening to God’s Symphony, we’re a part of it. And we’re waiting to see
what takes place next ... we’re following close with You.” Oh, my! That’s what
I want to do. Promise.
Now,
what is next, with the prophet having gone away? We don’t know; we just follow
the Word.
[191] How did He begin? He’s talking about ... referring today all along
this way. Just
like He did at the beginning See? He never did send His Message to an
organization. He never sent his group a Message, He sent one man. In the days
of Noah, it was Noah. In the days of Moses, it was Moses.
Now,
here again, he’s letting you know that there is only one person can bring a
Message, and that is the one who understands what is being done by God
concerning His Own Word at this hour. And that is based upon vindication. Bro.
Branham did not stand before the people to say one thing on his own—not one
thing. He stood before the people thoroughly vindicated. And his vindication
was so powerful by God that he was able to enter into Faith—the realms of
Faith—by the Holy Ghost, that he could receive the Message from God. Now, let’s
face it. Had William Branham not been elected, had he not been the divinely appointed
one from before the foundation of the world —particularly made for this
position—he would not have believed God. He could not have done it.
14. [192] There’s others thought one time, that they said,
“Well, you would make yourself the only holy man of the bunch.” That’s what they said, of course … Korah, Dathan
and Abiram said that to Moses. God looked down upon that.
[193] Moses went
to the Lord, “I’ve done this. What, what must I do?”
Now,
notice that this is one time that Moses, the meekest man that ever lived,
absolutely got on his high-horse and said, “All right now, there’s going to be
a showdown.”
Why
did Moses demand a showdown? Because, if Moses wasn’t right, and God did not
vindicate him, Moses knew that he was going to go to Hell, pure and simple. You
can’t trust that kind of a God. Let’s face it: if these men could now influence
God, and they could take away the leadership that Moses had, then Moses was
down the drain. That’s how every prophet is. He is either in the driver’s seat;
he is either the conductor of the symphony (in the human sense), because he is
there and God through him is moving all these things... Greater still he is the
narrator, because, actually, God is doing it all, and the prophet is privy to
it. He simply tells you what’s going on.
So
Moses said, “Now look, Lord, if these men die the common death, I know you
never sent me.”
Now,
people don’t like that. To them a prophet is just sweet old bowl of jelly, a
sweet little ol’ jelly-fish, bless God! He doesn’t know how to stand on his
hind legs. He just stands there so sweet and pie-faced. He’s like a ‘goo-ball’.
Are you kidding? He’s as prickly as a thorn bush, when it comes to this point
here: either God or not—because everything is at stake. Moses’ life and every other
person was at stake.
So
he said, “Now, Lord, if they die a common death, I know you didn’t send me.”
And
God just said, “Separate yourself. I’ll take care of the rest of it. I sent
you. It’s My responsibility.” And He opened up the earth and swallowed Korah,
Dathan and Abiram and every one of their family and everything they
had—everything, all they gain ...[they ever made]?...; the whole thing burned.
Now, I want to tell you something: Everything is going to burn but the Bride.
This world’s going to have a fire hit it. All right.
15. [195] John and Jesus couldn’t be at the same time ... that’s John the Baptist ...When John looked up, he
said, “... I must decrease, He must increase. He’s the vindicated Light.” So
will this Light move on until he would find the full vindication comes. That’s
right. That’s right.
Now,
what is the final vindication of God moving at this hour concerning Bro.
Branham? There has got to be a resurrection, and immortality must possess the
Bride. Only at that time can God move on; and when He does, we move with Him.
John the Baptist had to get out of the way and let Jesus completely take over.
So it is with William Branham.
[196] He is as He was at the beginning. That’s how
you start...
Now,
what are you going to start with? You’re going to start with understanding that
God Almighty only uses one man. It’s predicated in Scripture... predicted.
“Elijah must come”... that is, a prophet. And that prophet must absolutely
know, like John the Baptist, who he is and what he’s doing, or he’s no prophet.
So he says, “Now, you’re going to go back
with me to the beginning...”
[196] That’s how you start, how
you start learning what God was. What did He do when He was here on earth? What
kind of a life did He live? Did He agree, was He a compromiser? Did He go to
organization? How did He identify Himself? “Search the Scriptures! In them you
think you have Eternal Life, and they are the Ones that testify of me.”
Now,
He said, “In there you’ve got a certain understanding. You realize certain
events and certain things and certain personages. But do you really know what
it’s all about?” And the answer is: of course not!
[196] See, that’s the same thing
today or any other time. Now, Bro. Branham uses the
phraseology “ any other time” to get the heat off of them, and to fool the
people that want to be fooled anyway. When you want Light, see what the Scripture says
for this hour.
Oh,
they say that, “We perfectly know what it says. Now, we know this: It has
nothing to do with anything about God coming down with a Message. Now the
trouble with you is, William Branham, you went too far. And that’s why you got
smeared across the road in a wreck—false prophet that you were. God trusted
you; but, you see, you blew it!” Well, did John the Baptist blow it? Jesus
stood right there and could have got him out of prison and didn’t do one
thing—just let his head get cut off. God didn’t do one thing when the saints
got fed to lions—just stood back and stood there, stood back and watched. I
don’t think these people know the first thing about the Bible. They want to
impute to God their own sweet little eye-sight. I wouldn’t give you a nickel
for it. No way.
16. [197] Where do you begin? If there’s a sinner here, you
begin at the cross when you reckon yourself dead with Him. You’ve entered in to
the great drama. You’re listening, then, you’re watching your sheet as you hold
it in your hand, the Symphony. You’ve got a sheet in your hand that would tell
you these things that’s the Bible, where the changes of the
music begins to make it act out, then you see what the act is.
Now,
right here, the people don’t believe that God is going to act out anything.
They simply believe in a non-sovereign God who puts the world into motion and
then stands back and watches it, instead of being in complete control and
predicating every event.
[ ] When you see God’s Spirit
fall upon people and do a certain thing, you look back and see where it’s at. He’s telling you, right there, “You can see what
I’m doing in my ministry, look in the Bible and see where it happened before
... see if it’s mentioned, in a certain juncture, at a certain time”... See if it’s that, if
that’s the thing for today. Then see if it’s
going on now.
Why, they had a sheet in their hand when Jesus came, of the Symphony. They certainly did.
What was it? They couldn’t enter into it.
[199] Now they had a sheet in
their hands, but what would they do? They were trying to look back to a beat
that was—we have Moses; we have
Luther; we have Wesley; we have Pentecost ... a portion that had already been played out ...
that’s what ... the Lutheran’s do . They don’t know the change of music. They
don’t know what God’s doing today when He does these things, those Lutherans.
The Pentecost say, “Oh, we got it.” You got a sheet that played out fifty years
ago. See? Certainly. Let’s just keep this Word in our hands, and watch when the
change comes, then we’ll know what we’re doing.
Do
you know that Amy Semple McPherson understood perfectly, being a woman? She
knew that God had restored the gifts. I had her sermon many years ago on it.
She preached it in
17. [200] Now, and begin with Him at the cross. “Repent and
be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins; Now, that never has been changed, and going on
still. and you
shall receive the Music, the Direction,” see, “His Word, the Holy Ghost that
manifests the Word.” Then follow through with the rhythm of the Word. Whatever the Music beats for that
hour, beat with It. See?
Now,
he’s telling people: “Look, you can be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus
Christ; that is correct. And you can have an experience; that is correct. But,
if your experience is genuine you’re going to keep with the Word. You’ll not
leave it.”
[201] Many people ask, “Why?”
They asked. They asked ... someone asked me, “Why? Why must these things
happen? What ... why did this happen to me? Why did I start and this happen, when I ... had this trouble here, and this upset me here, and
I lost this here?
Now
he’s talking again to young Christians who will go through the process of the
trial of their faith in order that they might be matured. And, if they haven’t been
taught by the proper minister and ministry, they will, of course (maybe, almost
always) go down under fire.
[202] Sometimes I’ve asked,
“Why?” Now, he talks about himself. When, when I was just a
young minister, first started out, did God take my wife right out from under
me, take my baby right from beneath me, right beneath my heart? Why did He do
that? I didn’t know. I do now. I just held my hand in His and kept trusting.
Now
Bro. Branham tells, in many places, that he disobeyed God and therefore God
took his wife and baby. Now, I know there’s a possibility there, but I just
don’t see why God would beat the daylights out of my wife because I’ve
done something wrong. Now, I’m not arguing with Bro. Branham. [It] may be just
because of disobedience. But maybe, just maybe, this young man was so full of
life and so happy—he had his wife; he had his two babies—and that would have been
enough. So God took it away to give him something a whole lot more. Sure. God
doesn’t do things just with one thing in mind, Brother/Sister.
18. [203] He knows every junction. He knows the rhythm the change, when it must take place. He knows what it takes
to mold you. Now, he’s getting to what I’ve
been talking about.
He knows what kind of material He’s going to use. See? The backside of the
desert sometimes, where God molds
righteous men into sages and prophets. See? See? That’s where men are beat out.
Men are beat out, in the Word. When they got all kind of creed and stuff in
them, let them come to the Word and God beat it right out of them, molds it
right into This, into the great Symphony of His Word, See? And then they see
the Word moving on.
Well
that gives you a better understanding of why God took his wife. It was to get
him all alone and get with him, to mold him into a hardness as a good soldier.
[204] God knows when the rhythm
of it has got to change. He knows how the rhythm goes. I don’t know how it
goes, but He knows. He knows how it goes, I don’t. But I look at it here, and I
say, “Well, it’s just coming.” Now he’s telling
these young people again.
[205] “Many are the afflictions
of the righteous, but God delivereth them out of them all.” See? God has moved
through history with the rhythm of the promise of His Word, in each age, in the
same rhythm, making His Word.
Now,
he’s telling us, here now, that as God has molded the Bride in these various
conditions that have gone through these 2,000 years, now we’re going through
another series of conditions to mold a Bride for this hour.
19. [205] That’s how God moved down through history, from all
the way from Genesis to Revelation. He has moved through history with His Word.
That’s right, with the rhythm ...of the power of the Holy Spirit vindicating
His Word to the Elected. Remember, He’s never been able to touch the outside
church. It’s only the Elected.
[206] Look at those priests, they
said, “This man is Beelzebub. He’s a fortuneteller-- reading their minds.”
[207] Little did they know, “The
Word is sharper than a two-edged sword, a discerner of the thoughts that enter
the heart.” And He was the Word. Now,
there again, he’s talking about his own ministry.
[208] But this little prostitute
standing at the well that day, to get a bucket of water, she said, “I perceive
that you’re a prophet. We know the Messiah’s coming. We haven’t had prophets
for hundreds of years, ... we know Messiah’s coming. And when He comes, that’s
what He’s going to be.” And that’s what He’s going to do,
of course.
[209] He said, “I am He.” That
was enough. Why? The rhythm beat out! She was looking for that change, from a
church denomination to a vindicated Messiah. Now,
that’s very true about that woman. She was looking, so therefore it took only
one Word. And
here He stood, the Messiah that Moses spoke of, “The Lord your God shall raise
up a prophet like unto me.” There He is. The rhythm changed, the vindicated
Seed recognized It.
In
other words there was a time coming when the type, Moses, was to give way to
the ‘antitype’, the Lord Jesus Christ in human flesh. And this woman, here,
recognized it. Now, maybe we were not looking for the prophet to come, but we
were open to it, being seed, just as this woman was.
[210] And when the real Word of
God falls upon the vindicated, upon the Seed ... now,
I believe he’s talking about himself and they see that vindication of the Word, they
recognize It
It’s
got to start with the prophet. So, to me, it’s obvious that Bro. Branham is,
here, talking about himself in the great hour of this Symphony. And he is
telling us in such a way that it becomes Peace to us through the understanding.
21. Now:
[210] They’re looking at the
Word, they know the junction, they know the time, they know the change, they
know the beat that’s supposed to be in that hour. Hallelujah! They know the
beat, they know the time, they know how it’s supposed to go. See, only the elected
knows It.
Now,
that remark there, is a very strong remark in the light of the fact that how
many knew anything when he came on the scene? Hardly anybody. But, now it’s a
very good statement, on grounds that many people positively have had something
to do with the prophet—by the films, or by tapes, or by witness—and they still
don’t know what’s going on.
[211] When Philip saw it, he
couldn’t stand it any longer, He knew that was Messiah. So he went to a fellow,
they had had Bible study together. “Nathanael,” he said, “Come, see a man.
Come, see what we have found, we have found Jesus of
[212] He said, “How can this be?
... where was He?” See, he wasn’t sure ... he didn’t know the rhythm just
exactly. They had been studying. But when he got there, he told him, introduced
... him to the Word.
Now,
this is where this begins to make more sense. You know that the Second Coming
and the Appearing should happen at the time, when
22. When
I first heard of Bro. Branham, I doubted.
My
wife said to me, “Well,” she said, “This man...”
I
read it in the paper and she read it out about this man was discerning people
and know what’s wrong. I never said he was the devil.
I
said, “I’m not interested.” I said, “I saw a man do that, and he was full of
the devil.”
I
never said he was the devil. I didn’t know.
I
said, “Anybody could do that.”
But,
when I was in his presence, I knew that was God. There was a difference. That’s
the way this man was, way back there 2,000 years ago.
“Why”,
he said, “Hey! You’re talking about something, and (he said) I don’t know if I
go along with it.”
He
said, “You’re right. There’s got to be Messiah, and I believe this is the hour.
But hey! You telling me that that’s the fellow you met? Now (he said)... now,
hold it!” There had been several of those guys. But when he got there, he knew
it. (See?) He was already ready for the rhythm. The rhythm, in other words, had
started to move. And I believe that’s the way we are right today. I believe
there’s a rhythm with the Word of God that, as we keep on preaching, here, that
Bro. Branham absolutely said, “The gifts
of the Spirit, as it were, put on the shelf, the sweet Spirit of Christ in the
Church, the sick be healed.” [End of side one of the audio tape.]
“Now”, he said, “Where? I just don’t know,”
he said.
23. Now,
[Paragraph] 213.
[213] And when he got there,
Jesus said, “Behold an Israelite”, the rhythm began to take hold, the great
drama was being played out there on the platform, or on the ground, that day. Now, he said “platform” because he’s talking about
himself—the Presence of God; there He is right there ... picture, and the whole
thing. [Bro. Vayle points to the of the Pillar of Fire] Maybe Jesus standing upon
a rock, talking to the people. And when Philip came up with Nathanael, He
looked over to him, and said, “Behold an Israelite, in whom there’s no guile.” That’s right. He said, “Rabbi, when did You ever know me?”
[214] “Before Philip called you,
when you were under the tree, I saw you.” Oh, my!
Then,
do you think it strange that Bro. Branham could say, “Bro. Vayle, I saw you coming.” Coming all the way from
You
could say, “Well, I don’t know if I believe that.”
You…[don’t
have to]?… believe nothing. I can tell you flat: It’s exactly right. The man
had the same discernment, same ...?... , because it’s the same Spirit of God.
Look! I don’t care if it was in Jesus Christ. It wasn’t in his brothers; it was
just in Jesus. But his brothers had the same mother; and they got the same Holy
Ghost, in their portion, at Pentecost. And I don’t care if a million people
receive the Baptism with the Holy Ghost (you could have billions), there’s only
one going to be like Bro. Branham, that prophet. (See?) He said, “Rabbi, when
did You ever know me?”
[214] He said, “Before Philip
called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you.” Oh, my!
[215] He was part of it! He said,
“Thou art the Son of God! Thou art the King of
How
come the Pharisees said, “You are, in fact, a devil.” All it took. Now, Bro.
Branham is showing you, if you’re not part of the Symphony—you’re not part of
the participating audience—it won’t do any good no matter how much is being
done.
He
said, “Look, this little woman only saw
one little thing. Nathanael saw only one little thing. That’s all it took.”
And he said, “You in
[215] You’re the King of
24. Now,
here we are, we’re getting to the end of this illustration, this Symphony. And
Bro. Branham says (talking about it), “We
know we’re arriving at a conclusion.” And the conclusion is: To identify
perfectly with the Presence, the prophet and the Message, and to make our lives
part of the Drama. If you don’t understand that, the Revealed Word, [Points to
the picture of the Pillar of Fire.] that’s what it’s all about—you can never be
a part of the great Symphony of Almighty God; it’ll all go over your head.
(See?) That’s what you’ve got to do; you’ve got to realize.
Now,
I keep talking about myself, because it’s the only way I know how to tell you.
That night when I said, “Bro. Branham, I don’t know if I can believe this, that
the Shout is the Message… Suddenly... “When was he wrong? When was he not
vindicated?” How can God vindicate a man who would tell a lie and lead you
astray? How could God send a prophet with “THUS SAITH THE LORD,” with the Word
of the Lord, (Because, that’s a prophet.) and then blow His Kingdom plumb to
smithereens?
You
say, “Well, I don’t think God would do that. You see, the little trick God
had...”
You
know, you’re trickier than the Devil. Even the devil knows that. God never goes
back on His Word--never changes. But the people believe anything they want,
especially Pentecostals--go by emotion.
“Well,
I heard from God. I opened the refrigerator door, and the light was out, and I
knew that meant darkness. But, Hallelujah! When I next went to open the door,
the light was on; I knew that meant Light—Glory to God.”
Spiritual
leapfrog. I don’t know.
25. [216] Bro. Branham, what about my mother and my dad, what
about my people, what about my denomination, what will they do? They’ll cast me
out.” If you can’t look ahead, look up. Don’t try to look ahead, anyhow, put
your hand in His. Let Him lead you. Look up, don’t look ahead. You say, “Why,
why others make fun of me and my long hair, and me taking off my shorts,
and leaving church.”
Suffering for His Name is growing pains of His grace. Suffering for His
Word, see, is growing pains of His grace. Yes sir! Just remember, it’s the
grace of God has been given to you.
If
a person doesn’t suffer for the Word, believe me he suffers for folly, because
you’ve only got one standard to judge by. Now we know that’s in the Book of
Peter, positively. Now, Bro. Branham says here, (People making fun of us and so
on; casting us out.) he said, “Look,
that’s all right, and don’t look ahead, just look up to God.”
[217] Like Paul said, hallelujah,
he had an infirmity, something was bothering him ... the devil would ... buffet
him, blow after blow. And he consulted the Lord, three times, to take it away
from him Now, Bro. Branham’s talking about
himself ... “I
don’t want this, Lord. Take it away from me.”
[218] ... then one night the Lord
spoke to him, said Saul, or “Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee.” Why?
Because His strength was made perfect in weakness.
[219] Then,
Paul said
...”I’ll glory in my infirmity. I’ll glory in it. I know You’re the Healer.
I’ve seen You heal the sick, raise the dead, ... cast out devils, open the eyes
of the blind. But if I’ve consulted You, and You tell me it’s Your grace is
sufficient, then, this devil that bothers me ... is the growing pains of Your
grace. Then I’ll glory in my infirmities. Why? If lest I get exalted above the
abundance of the revelation.
Now,
only a prophet could say that. There’s nobody outside of one with a personal
interview with God Himself can abrogate any of the promises of God. In other
words, by that I say, “Well, this promise is not to me.”
26. So,
if you’re suffering tonight or you’re sick, there’s not one of you here that
can say, “Well, I’m going to tell you something: I’m suffering because of what?
An overabundance of revelation.” No way, shape and form. No way.
Now,
you can suffer because you put your hand in the meat grinder. You can die
because you thought you could get away with the little escapade some night in a
motel when your wife wasn’t there, and you can die of your AIDS. That’s your
tough luck. And your prayers will go to none avail, because it’s a plague, and
you asked for it. Perhaps, somehow, you just might just get through in a moment
of real repentance, but I kind of doubt it, because you had your chance, and
you knew better. You know it’s a plague. You know the prophet said, “Men would rot on their feet.” It’s
worse than cancer. They’re rotting on their feet, so you know the plague is
here. The Word of God says there are some things that will never be healed,
never be cured. What are you going to do about it?
No,
there’s only one place that God would ever talk to you, and that’s if you’re a
prophet—like Paul, like William Branham. He said to Bro. Branham, “Remember,
it’s only so long,” (Six inches, I believe it was) forty-two years of
suffering, from 14 to 56. (See?)
27. Now
Bro. Branham says, “I’ll glory in the
fact; I’ll rest in the things of God,
because this is something I have to have.”
[220] See, ... he had something
the other disciples didn’t have, he saw Him after His death, burial,
resurrection, and ascension.
The
rest didn’t see that. Now, he says, “...death,
burial, resurrection and ascension.” And remember, the same One that went
up, came down. They didn’t see Him. It was Paul that saw Him. Then, through
Paul came the ministry, the five-fold ministry of the Holy Ghost, piling Word
upon Word until the finality is the Seventh Seal. Never mind the first six.
That’s fine; that’s fine. We’re glad we’ve got them. But it’s that Seventh
Seal. Under the Seventh there’s the Thunders. That’s the final infilling of the
Holy Ghost. And in spite of all your scratchiness—yours and mine, (And we can
be picky.) He’s here, Perfect Love, taking us out of this world.
And
remember, Love is not that we love God, but that He loved us. And the only way
that you can really love God at this hour is by loving His Word.
You
say, “Well, I love people. I’d sooner have that.”
Well,
you’re just out of step, brother/sister. You’ve got some “phileo” stuff that
isn’t worth a bag of beans. (See?) You don’t want that.
28. [220] He saw Him after His resurrection, His ascension.
He saw Him. Some of them say, “Well, I walked with Him.” So did everybody on
the street. That’s good. But after He was dead,
buried, rose and ascended up, and returned back in the form of a Pillar of
Fire, He talked to Paul. That was more than any of the rest of them had. Amen Remember, John was a scribe, not a prophet. Paul
was the prophet.
[221] He said, “Except I get
exalted and want to build great big seminaries and everything else, and great
big something another, lest I get ... exalted above the abundance of this
revelation. God let a messenger of the devil keep me beat down.” He said, “Then
when I’m weak, I’m strong.” Amen ... Growing pains of grace! Amen. We could
stay on that a long time; an hour and forty-five minutes has passed, and ...
we’re suffering His grace pains. In
other words, the people are sitting there and he said, “You’re tired but that’s
good for you.”
[222] Oh, He may permit
crossroads. He may permit crossroads to try us, to perfect us for His service.
He may permit that now, church, both here and on tape. He may permit the
crossroads for our service.
[223] Like He did Daniel. He gave
Daniel a little crossroad one day ... or
a little cross on his road, really. You know, he was a great man down there in
[224] Let the Hebrew children go
into the fiery furnace. They were determined to stand for His Word.
[225] He may permit cross words,
let them laugh at you for having long hair, let them laugh at you for saying
... you become a holy-roller or whatever any more ... we’re not even called that though ... they may laugh at you
for that, that, that’s all right. That’s a crossroad, ... a little junction.
That’s to prove something.
[226] See, the only thing that
the crossroad did to the Hebrew children that stood on the Word, it only loosed
them from the bands they had around their feet and legs. So, in other words, trials have a loosening
process.
29. Now,
in this Symphony, Bro. Branham has interjected the fact of an interim period
before the Symphony finally rings down and closes down: they’re intermissions.
And evidently, from the time of the giving of the Shout to the time of the
Resurrection, there is an ‘intermission’, so to speak, when the Word becomes effective
in us. And the first thing is to take your stand with the vindicated Word; and
no matter what anybody says, we don’t have a fight with them. We’re not worried
about anybody. We didn’t do this thing. We simply stand with that that we
believe was vindicated. Now, if they don’t like it, that’s their privilege; we
don’t have to talk to them. (See?) But they’re going to do something about it.
But,
Bro. Branham says, “All of this, that we
endure, will (Do what?) let us out of
the prison houses of our own problems of organization dealing with wrong
understanding. What we’re doing now may be hardship—but it’s liberating us with
the liberty of God to walk in the Word.”
30. [227] ... sometimes it takes hard trials to break the
bands of the world off of us. Sometimes God lets us have a little trial, you
know, to see what we’ll do, to take us out of the world. And he was also speaking, I think, to his wife and
family, and others, about the time he’s going to be taken out of here. ...other words, let you
have a little trial and knock you out of that organization ... that happened to me. No problem, and that idea that “the
Methodist is the only one, the Baptist, or the Pentecostal, or ... that’s the
only group they got. If you don’t believe it like my church believe it, you
don’t believe at all.” Sometimes He lets a little trial happen. Maybe you got a
sick baby. Maybe something takes place right at the hour of death. Maybe
someone taken from you, or something. What’s it to do? To break you away to
show you something, open your eyes. Maybe you come to criticize, sometime.
Maybe you’re listening to this tape just to criticize. Maybe God’s doing that
to break some of the worldly bands that’s got you bound down.
31. That’s
true. Many times in Bro. Branham’s ministry people had to go through a very
hard time to come to the Word, because they simply would not look at
vindication. They looked around and said, “Well, this fellow’s got something
good; this fellow’s got something good. And I’ve seen this miracle; I’ve seen
that miracle. What’s Bro. Branham?” They simply don’t understand “THUS SAITH
THE LORD.”
[228] Like a drowning man in a
river, you have to take the man out of the river before you can get the river
out of the man. That’s right.
How
are you going to get the organization out if you don’t come out of the
organization? (See?) Now, the proof of being out of the organization is letting
this Word come in until you know that what you had before is vain folly.)
[228] That’s right. You have to
get him out of the river first out of the
organization,
... to get the river or the false
doctrine—creeds and dogmas out of him. Sometime God has to do it that way. He permits the
junctions, crossroads to do that. Stand on His promises, the Word, for they
never fail. The future, that’s in His hand. Stand like they did, ... don’t get
away.
Now,
you notice here, categorically, that Bro. Branham is talking about the fact
that you have a vindicated ministry to build the vindicated Word upon; and no
matter what happens, don’t let experiences bring you to the point where you
say, “Well, what’s there to it?” The Word of God has nothing to do with your
experiences and mine. So, don’t try to take an experience and say, “Well, I’m
going to leave this.” I’ve seen people do it. They never had the Holy Ghost.
They weren’t elect in the first place.
32. [229] Abraham, at his crossroads, knew that God could
raise up his son from the dead, from whence he received him at the crossroads.
Abraham came to his crossroads. And after he had trusted God and had seen all
the miracles of God. Twenty-five years he waited on a boy, a promised son, and
then God told him to go sacrifice the very thing that he had waited for. Now, we’ve waited
about 25 years Bro. Branham’s been gone. We still haven’t got the resurrection ... oh my, what a time!
But did Abraham stagger? Read Romans; he was “fully persuaded.” What’s he telling us there? Full persuasion starts
with believing a vindicated prophet with a vindicated message, and you keep on
going, and going, and going, Word upon Word. He was fully persuaded of what God had promised,
God was able to do.
Now
Bro. Branham says, “I know He’s going to
do it; how, I don’t know.” Now many people, because they don’t know the
how, they fold up. Don’t, don’t worry how it’s going to be done. How’s he going
to do it? Don’t worry; it’ll be done.
33. [229] He was fully persuaded of what God had promised,
God was able to do. Amen. He permitted the crossroad. He was showing through
Abraham, to us, see, He’s able to raise the dead.
Now
Bro. Branham used that about Abraham, but he’s talking about himself—his own
crossroads. He went through all these trials for one purpose: to be a fit
vessel for what God called him, which would be an invincible prophet, one who
never turned. Now listen, when Luther could stand there and saying, “God
helping me, this is that all I can do.” And he had no vindication except the
stirring of the rhythm of the Word of Truth of “justification by faith and not
by works.” If he could stand there and defy the Catholic Church and defy a
nation, then William Branham certainly could stand up and say, “If God told me to raise Abraham Lincoln
from the dead, I challenge the armies of the earth to shoot me down if I
couldn’t do it.”—stand there with “THUS SAITH THE LORD.” We could not have
a man simply of the caliber of Luther, a great reformer, a great preacher, a
great evangelist. That would not do! We’re at a juncture, and Bro. Branham’s
trying to tell you here. “I am the one
involved in this, absolutely, with God. You can come to my status, to my
position”—which means, in the Resurrection or immortality “…upon
what I understand and know myself, through this great vindicated ministry.”
34. [230] Abraham said, “I’ll receive him as one from the
dead.” Sarah’s womb was dead, Sarah’s womb was dead; and … his body was dead,
he was an old man. She had no milk veins to feed the baby ... well, there was
nothing ... he was sterile, himself ... she was sterile. See? ... no way at
all. And he received him as one from the dead, he said, “If God can do that,
God can raise him up from the dead.
Now,
what’s he talking about here? He said, “If God made the promise true that Sarah
and I could have this child, then, there is no problem in me killing him,
because God will bring him back.” Now, if there is no problem in understanding
a vindicated ministry and message, then there is no problem in understanding
“the dead are going to rise and we are going to be changed,” because it’s just
a reversal. And that’s what the Bible says: “God, who raises the dead and
calleth those things which are not, as though they were.” (See?)
35. For the same God that told
me the baby would come, and I stood and it came, He can raise him from the
dead.” For, He makes everything work together for the good to them that love
Him. Amen.
Now,
why did Abraham love God? Not for nothing. When the devil came to God and said,
“Sure Job loves You. Sure he loves You; why shouldn’t he love You?” And that’s
exactly what Paul said [paraphrased], “We love God because He loved us first.
This is the mercy of God: when we were yet in our sins and our
trespasses—dead—One was there waiting to redeem us, Who had paid the price.”
[231] God Who made the promise;
in the last days these things would happen that we see happen! (See?) If He promised
a son, and the son came; if He promised all these things that we see through
the Scripture, and it did it , let’s get into the rhythm of it.
The
rhythm, now, is what? Resurrection, immortality rhythm. We’re stepping up from
the Shout—pure vindication—to the next step: He’s here to raise the dead. So
therefore, if I go off the scene, one of you go off the scene, no problem!
You’ll be right back. (See?) No problem. Now:
[231] If He promised a son, and
the son came; if He promised all these things that we see through the
Scripture, and he did it , let’s get into the rhythm of it. He promised in the
last days these things would take place, (See?) and we see it. He promised that
He would send Jesus. Hallelujah. There will be a Millennium. Never mind when, never mind how—it’s going to be. There will be a new day.
There will be a day that the sun will never go down any more, we’ll need it no
more, for the Lamb is the Light of the City and
we’re going there.
36. When’s
that? In the New Jerusalem. So, he puts the Millennium and the New Jerusalem
right together, as the prophets do, and it confuses everybody. Why? Because God
calls those things which are not, as though they were. Why? Because they’ve
started, and they’ll never be turned back. (See?)
[232] The dawning of a new day, I
feel it all over me now. The Light of a new day! The Light of a day where there
is no night, there is no darkness, no shadows, no skies, no dim, dark skies, no
midnights, no graves, no flowers on the hillsides, no funeral processions, no
doctors, no morgues. Amen. I can feel the ... rays of His Light breaking
through upon my soul. The new day! The old day pressing me.
Now,
there’s something right there we’re failing to get: the rhythm of immortality
in the Millennium. Where is the rhythm? The rhythm is the adjustment of the
mind to the Truth. “Abraham, you’ll have a son by Sarah.”
“Ha-ha-ha,”
says Sarah, “That’s great. We’ll have a son by what?”
And
God said, “What’s Sarah laughing in the tent for?”
“Oh”,
she said, “I didn’t laugh.”