Trees, Books, and Fountains # 10

(Book of Confession / Book of Kings)

Bro. Lee Vayle

July 26, 1989

Heavenly Father, we are again happy to be in Your Presence, knowing, Lord, that You have not left Your people but as the prophet said, “the Pillar of Fire”… and we know that is representative of You, for You’re dwelling in that, Lord, to take us into the Millennium. We are very grateful for it.

We know that we have Your Word vindicated. That is absolutely true, Lord, and by Your grace we will stay with that Word and not doubt it and not depart from it but know for a certainty (It having been proven) that this is exactly the event of the hour. This generation shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled. Time entered into eternity, Lord, and the great things of God coming before us; help us, Lord, to understand that and rejoice in it, and keep our hope and our faith high. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.

Now, we were into the Book of Confession last Sunday, and we saw that it is quite a bit different from what we might possibly believe just from the fact of using that very title. And we found our reading in Josh 1:8-9:

(8) This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth: but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

(9) Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

So, there it is: the Book of Confession, or the Book, or the words of the Book that we confess which is, as you can see here, the revealed Word of the hour. And this is where Bro. Branham would get his understanding when he said that, “Moses never came into Egypt to deliver Israel by preaching Noah’s message, or he would have said, ‘Let’s build an ark, float down the Nile, and across the Red Sea into the Covenant Land’. But he brought a message that God gave him which was necessary for the preparation of Israel to go over, and necessary when they went over”. So, we’re looking [at] that in a type.

Now, we’ll notice in Josh 1:8-9 (which we read, here) that this Book of Confession did not have its birth in the Exodus. This is not something that was given during the time of the Exodus, that is to say, when the great miracles were going on and Israel was being prepared to leave by the power of God. And it was not even at the time of the giving of the Word -- that’s on Mt. Sinai and Horeb and various places where the Word was given -- but it was given after the completed Word. And you’ll find that in Deut 4:1-2, and Moses is saying:

(1) … therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that (you) may live and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

(2) (You) shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall (you) diminish ought from it, that (you) may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

So there’s to be nothing added to the Word, nothing taken from it; it’s whole as it is. It would not be whole if anything was done to it. And it must be preserved in that perfect state. There must be nothing done about it. Now, after the wanderings of forty years, all the Pentecostals died off with their misunderstanding and not coming into the Word of God. And of course, even Moses the prophet was taken by God so he could not enter into the Promised Land at the time that the people entered in. Now, you’ll notice that God took him up Mt. Pisgah and gave him a revelation, gave him a vision of the land, exactly all about it. And, of course, the revelation went far beyond that, because there’s no doubt he saw the same city that Abraham was looking for, “ the city which hath foundations” (in fact, twelve foundations), which is New Jerusalem.

So, therefore, we see very clearly that after the Word was given, there wasn’t any more message -- absolutely no message under any consideration whatsoever. Now, the people were settled down, then, at that particular time concerning the Word of that hour. As Bro. Branham said, “Live or die; sink or swim”, we are going into the Promised Land at that particular time because that was the Word for that particular hour. And we know it was the Word for that hour, and they knew it was the Word for that hour by virtue of vindication. And you notice that we took Scripture the other day (and we may even look at it again … I don’t know) where God Himself continuously spoke of vindication whereby the Word was established. And right into the Psalms which was hundreds of years later, David and other psalmists brought out the fact that God vindicated Himself to be the Giver of the Word that was living, that was substantiated, that would be positively fulfilled, even as basically what was fulfilled previous to it. So that knowing what was already fulfilled gave them not a hope, not faith, but a knowledge that this also would be fulfilled. And the understanding at this point is: Get in the ark or die; take the Word or die; go your own way and die, or take the Word of God. Now, it’s that simple. It’s just that simple. This is the one life-raft, the one life-boat we have in crossing over Jordan into the Millennium.

Now, we get to the context of Josh 1:8-9; and of course, it is Josh 1:1-11, and then [verses] 16-18:

(1) Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,

(2) Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

(3) Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

Now, it’s not going to be anything other than what was said to Moses. That’s like we said some time ago, in dwelling upon the fact of God’s ultimate. Many people have their own ideas what should be. Well, I’ve got news for you: you’re not going to get what you think it should be. You’re going to get exactly what God said should be. Nothing else. There’ll be no deviation from it. He’s not going to call a committee when we get over there and say, “Now, look. I’ve left all this planning for you. How would you like to have some plans?” Well, that’s not going to work. That’s not the way it is. Now, he said:

(4) From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast (… that’ll be your borders).

(5) There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

(6) Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

(7) Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

(8) This book of the law shall not depart out of (your) mouth (… and so on)

Then, verse 10:

(10) Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,

(11) Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess …

[Verses] 16-18:

(16) And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go.

(17) According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto (you): only the LORD (your) God be with thee, as he was with Moses.

(18) Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage.

Now, this is a matter of heresy -- the matter of heresy as it was with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And they said, “Bless God, we can go to God and we can get a word too because we’re prophets”. And the earth swallowed them right up, and fire, showing that this will be [a] deserving penalty -- the Lake of Fire -- for all those who take that attitude.

Now, it’s a very tough attitude, but remember, today we live in Laodicea -- the people’s rights. No matter what you do for them … if Honda comes in here (or Nissan, or Toyota), and they build plants and they treat them better than their American officers and corporations, you’re going to find the union is going to come in and stir up trouble, because they can’t keep their cotton-pickin’ big mouths shut up! They get an idea that they’re supposed to tell the boss something. And that’s the way the people are; they think they’re going to tell God something. Well, God doesn’t work with a committee. Like the old South African said, “If Moses had been a committee, the children of Israel would still be in Egypt”. That’s what people don’t understand: God does not work by committees; He works by Himself. All right.

So, the context is what we have read, here, of the verses, that are our text for the Book of Confession. And now with these Scriptures we find the God-ordained life of faith which is based upon the unchanging Word of Almighty God -- the vindicated precepts that God laid out. Then people begin to take that, and begin, then, to live the lives … not just in this hour we’re speaking of, Moses and Joshua and the people, but even way back in the Book of Genesis you’ll see that people began living with those precepts. And out of those precepts they were judged faithful. And without the precepts, what we’re talking about, neither adding nor taking from the Word, going solely by that which was given by vindication and proven to be so -- and, of course, the revelation would also be given of it -- those people would be written in a Book of Remembrance by God as the soldiers of faith, contrary to those spoken of in Matthew 7 who also took the Word of God but bypassed vindicated revelation to say with …[Payne]?…, “Look, I can read the Bible. I can find and show you, in here, the first-fruit offering. I’ve got every right to do it this way”. Then they stand before God and actually mouth off against God. And God gives them protection like He gave Cain, but He put a mark upon him. And in the Judgment He’ll say, “I never knew you!”

Now, this is tough preaching and this is what Pentecostals will never get. And I’m wondering if you’re getting it. I’m not saying you’re not getting it; I’m not saying that. But I’m putting the emphasis on it, that we’re not looking at the Bible as the fundamentalists do. We’re not looking like the Pentecostals do. We’re looking through the eyes of a vindicated prophet who had what nobody else had. And remember, he’s gone now, so he can’t stand before the Pentecostals. And when they would defy him … somebody coming forward, they’d carry him out feet first. No longer do we have “THUS SAITH THE LORD”. So they can say anything they want to say. And they’re saying it.

Now, is there going to be a little group that stands faithful to the Word, and puts the emphasis on the dynamism of revelation which is the passive faith instead of scrutinizing the Bible to find all kinds of promises and by sheer dint of faith (and anybody can have faith, and everybody has got it) begin to get these promises, and still miss the things of God? And we’ve got a perfect picture in Pentecost: they’re prophesying, they’re casting out devils, they’re raising the dead, they’re healing the sick -- they’re doing miracle after miracle. And yet, God is duty-bound to say to them outside of the election, “I never knew you”.

Now, remember, in Psalm 106 it says [that] when Israel got in that frame of mind after Moses (because they did), they turned down the vindicated Word and began fooling around. And they began looking for the flesh pots of Egypt and introduced carnality amongst them. And the Bible said, “He gave them their requests but He sent leanness to their souls”[Ps 106:15] And then also, we notice very very much so, in 1 Cor 13:(2-3, paraphrased): “…though I give my body to be burned, though I speak with tongues, though I prophesy, though I do many things which are absolutely in the Word of God and are legitimate, they are promises without the basic precept of the Passive Faith, the Word of God that’s vindicated and revealed, these can become a trap and a sin unto you”. See, we’re looking at that. Now, I know you’re not going to convince anybody but us that that’s the truth. So, you’ve got to have clear precepts of what this is all about.

Now, first of all, let us consider what God demands to be confessed in faith as the basis. And He’s over here … of course, you read in Josh 1:7,8,9. (You can read the three of them.) [Verses] 7,8,9 categorically state that God wants to hear Joshua say what Moses wrote in a book. Now, that’s what He wants. He wants, first of all, to have this understanding, this step of faith … “Look, I am going to say exactly what Moses said, and I’m going to say nothing else”. Now, we know that Moses wrote exactly what God said, and nothing else. So, therefore, Joshua will be saying exactly what God told Moses, even though he did not get it directly from God. Joshua will say exactly what Moses wrote and nothing else. Now, believe it or not -- and you do believe it, and Bro. Branham said it -- that ‘confession’ in the New Testament means ‘to say the same thing’. So, therefore, when Joshua was saying the same thing as Moses, that he was commanded to say it, this becomes the Book of Confession, the book that is to be confessed.

Now, all right. At this point you can see that the Book of Kings and the Book of Confession are actually one and the same book except it is used by two different people in two different ways. (See?) In Deuteronomy 17, the king writes out the book. He writes it out himself. He makes a copy for himself, and he reads it daily that he might know the mechanical aspects of the Word in order to make decisions for the people. (See?) The objective of the king is to maintain the spiritual and moral original status of the kingdom over which he has been placed, but which he in no-wise originated or established. He didn’t even give it the Word. He was put in there, and he has this book, and he reads it carefully every day. So he knows what is in that book concerning the moral conduct of the people. The power of the king does not lie in the confession of his mouth. It doesn’t. Now, there’s a difference. You might say, “Well, he’s going to do it anyway”. That’s not the point! That’s not the point. You’re getting basics. The king is not told to confess it; the king is told to read it. This Book of Confession is to Joshua, and he’s going to lead the people into the Kingdom. This is what takes over in the Exodus-- the final stage of going in. So, there’s a confession. (See?)

The power of the king does not lie in the confession of his mouth but what lies in the book, which law he reads as it is related to the moral condition of the people. He matches what presently has been done by the people, but what is already in the book. And, therefore, the person is judged out of the book. In truth, the person is already judged before the fact. That’s right. You don’t even have to sin, in the sense that something is going to be said about it. It’s already said, knowing what is going to be done. Like the Bible said, “Where there is no law, there is no sin”. Now, this had been written down by the Book of the King and it’s already in there so that no matter what anybody does, all the king has got to do is point them to the book. (See?) He’s got to go to the record; he’s got to go to the book.

Now, thus the Word scrutinizes the deeds of the people and assesses the penalties for the failures even before there is a fault presented for judgment. Now, that’s exactly what we’re facing down the road when the King sits on the Throne. That’s right! And we’re on the thrones with Him, judging. “We’re like attorneys”, Bro. Branham said. And that group stands right there and the books are opened. And no matter what has been done, the book is scanned to see if it is proper. See, everything is going to be plumb judged by that Word of God. (You see?) Now, this is known as the judging Word. As it says in Acts 17:30-31: “There is coming a day because of the resurrection in Jesus Christ, the world is going to be judged in righteousness by One, Jesus Christ.” And He is the Word. And Paul, the apostle, in judging the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 5, he said (verse 3, paraphrased): “My spirit being present, though I am absent, I have already judged because of what the Word says”.

So, therefore, people aren’t going to face a judgment at the White Throne. They are literally already judged. And we’re already at the White Throne because we’re already judged. That’s just a formality: say, “Here are the books. What are you going to do about it?” Also in

2 Cor 5:10, “We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ”. And notice over in John 5 … (and I want a good look at that), we looked at that last Sunday but I’m through this as rapidly as I can.

Jn 5:19-27:

(19) (Jesus answered) and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. (Now, notice he said, “I’m not going to do one thing until I know the Father is doing it”.)

(20) For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. (And that’s down at the end of the road: “Greater works than these shall ye do” -- that man).

Now watch:

(21) For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.

Whom who will? The Father. Everything is going to the Father, but it’s left in the hands of Jesus. God, always doing things in Christ. God is in Christ reconciling the world. God is in Christ creating the world. God, in Christ maintaining the world. I don’t care what anybody says. That’s the Scripture. If He did it once, He does it every time. You’ve got a principle; you’ve got a law laid down, here.

Now :

(22) For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: (Now, notice, he’s committing judgment, but the Father is executing.)

(23) That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

(24) Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

(25) Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

(26) For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;

(27) And hath given him authorily to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

Now, notice he goes from the judgmental to the executing of it. (See?) Now, we have to watch that because that’s very important. And to the execution is Revelation 19, when He comes down with the saints to wreak judgment upon the earth. Then in Rev 20:11-15, which you read last Sunday, you will find that the books are open. And as the people come before the King, it’s right there. The King has read in the book, knows exactly what to execute -- what penalty, what this, what that -- because that book is open. That is a book.

Now, in the study of the Gospels, I cannot recall one time where Jesus used an illustration of a king but there was a judgment following it … even to the Lake of Fire or to the Great Tribulation. You can look in the Gospels yourselves, you’ll find that’s so. Now, that’s the Book of the King. Yet it is the book of the people as a nation unto God. And we find that, over here, in Deut 11:18-21:

(18) Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

(19) And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

(20) And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

(21) That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

So there is, therefore, an absolute tying in to the Word of God in this book, the Book of the King and the Book of Confession, that will set the standard as to whether you are going to go into the Kingdom or not. Now, if they weren’t in this, they would never get into Canaan Land. So we’re looking at something very special, here, because God cannot change or do anything different. People say, “Well, that was for back there. What about now?” He never changes. The same eye-for-an-eye God and tooth-for-a-tooth, has never changed. If He speaks of love … they try to make a God of progression, a God of some kind of moral stature that we contribute to, a sort of God who evolves. God does not evolve! No, sir! You’re going to find that there is no change from the Garden of Eden right on down through the whole Bible right to the very end of time. There’s no way.

Now then, there is a harmony. The harmony is this: From the king to the least member of the nation under God there is to be a preeminence given to the study of the Word of the Lord, so that all men, bar none, may know the precepts given to us by God through His prophets. In Psalm 119 (that’s one psalm) there are 176 verses [that] specifically relate to the statutes of the Word of God as concerning the well-being of the people who will look at them and take them to heart. We are not even talking of an in-depth revelation of the mysteries of God. We’re not talking of the Millennium, or the New Heaven and New Earth. We are simply talking of a people who acknowledge God as a being, and then go further: they honor His Word. As we found out in the Book of Deuteronomy, they don’t add to it; they don’t take from it. Now, no wonder America and all the world is lost. No wonder this prophet said he ceased to pray for America, and he preached the indictment against this generation. Now, it is actually more and more against the law in America (in other nations, also) to worship God and to believe His Word while all manner of atheism and idolatry and spiritual wickedness and the uttermost of corruption is upheld by law. The angel with the ink-horn is even now marking the foreheads of those who sigh and cry over sin and unrighteousness. And you can’t find them in the government.

Bro. Branham categorically said, “There is no such thing as a politician who can make a correct judgment, a correct decision”. And since the courts are filled of political men, there is no way you can go to court and get justice. So, brother/sister, burn it in your soul: Don’t try to get it! The best you can do is play politics and butter them up. In other words, give a soft answer and turn away wrath. But you cannot win in the courts.! Forget it! Now, Bro. Evans knows … if he doesn’t, he knows tonight, publicly. Forget it! You are not going to win! I don’t care who you are. You say, “Well, Paul appealed to Rome”. Yes, and he got his head chopped off! (He would have got it chopped off anyway.) But, let me tell you something: the prophet said, “No politician can give a right decision”. The courts cannot go by the books. They do not go by precedent. There’s no way you can win! There is no way you are going to win. If you want to go to court, you go ahead and sit mum, or do what you want. It doesn’t say I’m going to plead guilty and say I’m to blame. You can do anything you want, but the law is stacked against you because the courts are not full of political appointees ( … only in some directions. Most of the judges, positively, are there because of your votes and my vote). We don’t vote. The supreme court absolutely sits in power by appointment. But you go to your average court where those men are brought in by politics and you will find that not one of them care two-bits what the supreme court has set as a precedent. You’ll fight it all the way through the courts, all the way to the supreme court, and then he reveres the decision. There is only one Being that’s got one mind, and that’s God. And we had better get to the Word of God and cling with it. And that’s all there is to it. Now, I’m not tough on any one person in this congregation or any family, but the thing is this, let’s understand this: there is no way you can win. I learnt that years and years ago. I spoke to Bro. Branham about it. When the jury will pass a decision of ‘not guilty’ and then say, “Yes, but we had better hit him a little bit…” Do you hear what I’m saying to you people tonight? Now, you haven’t got a prayer … that’s all you do have, really, is a prayer. Not in the court, you don’t. They wouldn’t let you; they’re not interested. You can throw yourself on the mercy of Almighty God and do your best, but know this one thing: the courts are not going to do anything for you. They’re stacked against you. Only God can intervene. And your sole dependence on Almighty God is going to do it for you, and nothing else. All right.

The Book of Confession … it’s the same Book of the Kings. But notice how it is used and to what end. It is not set forth as a standard law of correctness and correction. Now, notice this: now, this is the same book but it is not set forth as a standard law of correction and correctness, to a plurality of people as in the Book of Kings, a principle of conduct. Now, it’s all there but that’s not it. Neither is it set forth to a king who is to be established in an established kingdom (that is, to be continuously established). It is given to one -- a commander -- who will himself establish the kingdom by taking it for a possession for himself and his people. Now notice, the onus of the whole thing is ‘one man acting for all men’. Now, you understand what I am saying: there is a difference. It’s the same book but there’s a difference, depending exactly who it is that God has ordained concerning it.

Now notice: (#1) He, in himself, has no guarantee of any success, nor is any required of him. The only success before God and before Joshua is that the Word of Moses be spoken unerringly. No deviation. No changes. For the Word of the hour, and that alone, can be fulfilled. The Word alone can succeed and, thereby, the man succeeds. The Word places the man, not the man the Word. As Bro. Branham said, “I, the Lord, have planted and watered it. None shall pluck it out of my hand”. What was he talking about? He was talking about the former rain which is the teaching ministry, teaching the Presence of Christ. Not just the Presence of Christ that’s concerning a Pillar of Fire, but the Presence of Christ in the prophet because he categorically said … and I don’t have the quote with me, but he categorically said, when they asked about Jesus and God, he said, “It is very simple. When you looked at Jesus, you saw God. The same as when you look at me, you see God.” God in the individual. Now, you can take that and run with it and go to hell and cut your throat and go to the Lake of Fire, and everything else. You can take it and blaspheme. You can take it and thumb your nose and laugh; that’s up to you. But you can take it the way he said, “God in the prophets.” And everybody want to forget that Jesus is a prophet. They want to forget that he is judge. They like to think of him as king. But they haven’t put it together, and that’s what is wrong. And people who believe this Message, they can’t put it together.

The Word of God is not to be meditated upon and then spoken from the viewpoint of meditation, or as though it can be analyzed and become a part of natural cosmos, as though you could start to use it. When you start to use it you put yourself in [the] position of those in Matthew 7 who can prophesy, speak in tongues, and end up in the Lake of Fire. This has nothing to do with that. You cannot associate this Word to natural cosmos or even the cosmos of God, because the Cosmos of God comes out of it. You’re dealing with creator. And the creative Word is what you are dealing with. (See?) It is to be spoken and the mind is to receive it exactly as spoken. And the mouth having spoken it, the mind, then, receives it, in spite of the fact that the mind, positively, will go to analysis and figure the thing out.

Now, the Bible tells you, here, you simply speak the Word. This leader will get up there and speak that Word. And he doesn’t care two-bits about anything but the Word. And he doesn’t examine the circumstances or the conditions. He simply speaks that Word. And if that Word is the Word of God, the Word cannot fail. The prophet can fail but the Word of the prophet cannot fail. David went so far as to commit adultery and murder. He numbered Israel, against the command of God. Prophets will fail. They are fallible men. But the Word of God cannot fail. That’s the greatest battle ever fought. The mind is to have no influence on this Word through reasoning processes and sense knowledge. This puts men in the prophet class. Why? Because God said, “I have put my Word in your mouth.” And the Word goes no place but the mouth, because the heart and the mind are desperately wicked and controlled by a spirit allowed of God but not of God, and gets you into trouble. That’s why Bro. Branham preached in Perfect Faith and in The Greatest Battle, [and?] laid it down. And that’s why he could stand there, and in spite of every contradiction under high heaven, it didn’t bug him. He said, “Shoot me down if I can’t raise Abraham Lincoln from the dead, if God tells me I can.” He said things improbable, which according to the world are not scientific. And he called it scientific because it had passed from faith to knowledge.

All right. It puts you in the prophet class, the God class. The mouth speaks it; the ear hears it; the mind receives it. The mind does not try to figure it out (that’s the tough one); it holds it there continuously in its mechanical state. Word for word is given by Moses. Every channel to the soul is thereby full of the Word -- spoken Word, manifested Word, Logos -- though it doesn’t seem that way because it’s not doing anything with you and for you at this point. It had already done it! Now, God says, “Joshua, put that Word in your mouth and speak it. And when you hear it, don’t do a thing with it”. Do you think that’s not tough? Why, people say, “Bro. Vayle, that’s exactly how active faith works”. That’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about the Word of God coming into its own in people’s lives. But under the condition of a true revelation where you are not using the laws of faith and the Word of God and end up in Matthew 7, Matthew 24, and in Revelation 20 -- condemned. There’s a difference … and a big one.

Now, be very careful to understand this: never is an hypothesis or a situation applied to the Word in meditation. It just says, “This is what it is written. I am telling you”. But rather, the Word is applied to the situation though it may be utterly grotesque and utterly foolish to the thinking of mankind. The lips constantly say what God has said, for there is a Word of truth for the moment of truth. Do you know what the moment of truth is? When you come to face it. When there’s a showdown. What about it? “Aha! We’ve come this far. Now what?” There’s a Word of truth for it. Here’s an example: Joshua means ‘Jehovah-Savior’ in the Hebrew. In the Greek it’s the same word ‘Jesus’. Jesus came into his kingdom. He told the people that the Kingdom of God was amongst them (Lk 17:20). That Kingdom of God amongst the people was attacked by the devil. The devil set up three sets of circumstances. And Jesus never argued. He didn’t hypothesize or anything else. He just simply said, “It is written. It is written. It is written.” And he stood there and the devil couldn’t do one thing. And that’s the secret of the mind that takes only the Word of God in the face of everything contrary. That’s true understanding.

According to Heb 3:1, we are to consider “the high priest of our confession, even Jesus Christ”. And the high priest of our confession is “to say what God said about everything, and force the mind to close every gate to everything else”. That is the tough one. In other words, “Hear ye Him, and say what He says.” That’s exactly what Jesus said, “ I hear Him. I say what He says. I watch what He does, and that’s what I do.” Now, you and I do not necessarily get to the second part, unless we’re ordained to it. But the first part, we’re all ordained to it: to say what He says … hear what He says; say what He says. In Heb 12:1-3, we find Jesus Christ himself under duress. And you notice what it says … (We’ll just take a peek at it because I think we can finish up tonight without worrying about the full hour and a half getting away on me).

Now [Hebrews 12]:

(1) Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses (that’s the ones of the Old Testament faith), let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us (that’s unbelief; of looking at things, when God said don’t look at them), and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

(2) Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

(3) For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself…

In other words, when we speak what God said, there is a contradiction in nature! What [does] contradiction mean? ‘Contra’ is ‘against’; and ‘dico’ means ‘to speak’. It’s Latin. So , ‘contradiction’ is ‘a word that is against the Word of God’. That’s exactly where unbelief set in when Satan came to Eve, and she opened her mind to unbelief … to the contradiction. She stammered and stuttered around what God said. She never actually said exactly what God said. And she never kept repeating it. Now, if you want to see exactly where that is … we took you there last Sunday, to Romans 4. And in there you see Abraham. And he is the father of Moses by genealogy. He’s there, positively, in the election.

Rom 4:13:

(13) For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

It wasn’t from some law that he followed. And you can follow a law of faith. You can work on it. He went by the promise. He went by the actual truth of faith. And what was it? It was the revealed Word of Almighty God that he stood with: “Abraham, you’re going to have a son by Sarah”. Now, Sarah got all mixed up in it. She said, “Well, take Hagar. When it’s time for the baby to be born she could lie across my knees and I’ll pretend it’s my baby”. You talk about stupid! Oh, brother/sister, Sarah was plumb stupid. I don’t care if she was a … a fine woman sure; I’m not going to run her down. But, let’s face it, that didn’t get her anywhere. That got her the biggest mess in all the world. And the Arabs and the whole bunch are sons of Ishmael …and Esau -- the biggest mess in all the world. They’re causing all the trouble everywhere. Look what they’re doing -- getting away with murder, terrorism. For the sake of a dollar nobody is going to raise his head. What a mess the world is in! Anyway, it tells you down here, Abraham believed God. Now, watch in verse 19 [Romans 4]:

(19) And being not weak in faith …

Now, that’s it! Why? Because he had the revelation. Now, that’s exactly where we’ve got to stand -- the revelation of God. The dynamic revelation makes us strong.

[End of side One]

The Bible warns us against saying we’re weak. We’re not to say we’re weak. We’re to say we’re strong. “We shall not die but live” … according to God’s Word. Now listen, he says here [Romans 4]:

(19) … being not weak in faith (and he wasn’t), he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither the deadness of Sarah’s womb:

(20) He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

(21) And being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Now listen: Where did that come from? It came exactly before his rejuvenation. It came exactly from the Presence of God at a certain time. Now, there’s where we stand! Because he raises the dead, which signifies resurrection, and calls those things which are not as though they were. And the prophet said, “You’re standing right now before the White Throne.” He put us positively into eternity. Stood right there and said, “It’s yours.” Now, that’s what we are looking at, and what comes out of the basic passive faith of revelation, which is the dynamic vindicated Word of Almighty God. Clear our minds of all else! There will be an active faith that comes forth unto the glory of Almighty God, that numbers us with the hearers of faith. Because it says absolutely in Heb 11:40, it says: “They without us cannot be made perfect”. God having reserved some better thing for us … which is the epiphany of Christ Himself, when He came down and had greater results in Bro. Branham than He had in His own body. Right. You’re looking at a true epiphany. People don’t want to believe him. (I care lot.)

Now then, what we are seeing is this: Consider the source and the Word of the source. Consider Him. Consider His Word. “See Him” … that’s what they did. They saw him transfigured. They saw him in a state to which he had not yet come. We can do the same thing right tonight. Then they said, “Hear Him”. Because that will bring you to the state where He is. And we’ll look at that in 2 Peter.

Now, “consider the Source and the Word of the Source” … the Source and the Word are one. There in lies the power we are seeking: an active faith. “My Word is Spirit and Life.” The Word is identical to God. God tells that to Joshua in verse eight. Joshua is to observe or consider what is written, what he speaks. And he stands there. And you notice, he’s not just to consider what is written; he’s to say it, speak it. Stands there considering the Word, only. Then comes success. This is the command of God; this is the Presence of God. It is the Presence of God. It says in [Josh 1]:9 [paraphrased]: “I am with you”. Look-it, the Presence of God, the Pillar of Fire, has not departed us. It only departs those who will not stay with this Word and say it. “Birds of a feather flock together.” True.

Notice, also, the complete denial of emotions. The Holy Ghost is not in the feelings and the emotion. He is either here, or He is not here. You tell this to a bunch of Pentecostals, they’ll rouse and jump and swoon and scream and holler. Oh, they get so emotional, they could do anything … almost fly into pieces. And [you] say, “He is here!” They say, “Blasphemy!” They’ll shut you up and cut your throat. Don’t let your emotions get to you.

He will either fulfill His Word, or He will not fulfill His Word. Joshua knew God was there. Joshua knew God would bring His Word to pass. Joshua did not have one problem with that because he was Word to Word with Moses who was the Word of God to Joshua. And Bro. Branham was the Word of God to us, whether we want to believe it or not, because we didn’t have another source. What he said, that was it. As long as he had Moses’ Word and was ordained to that portion of the Word, Joshua could put the church in order and take it over to the true earthly order in the Promised Land.

Now listen: Moses was gone, but Moses’ Word was not gone. And Joshua was chosen leader to fulfill the unfulfilled part. Now, remember, Bro. Branham talks of that. So a lot of people figure he’s got to come back and fulfill what wasn’t fulfilled. That could be true. But, remember, Bro. Branham said, “Jesus had not fulfilled a part of the Word that the Bride must fulfill.” And he said, “When the hand does it, the body does it.” And he was talking of Christ being formed in the flesh of the Bride; and he talked about himself. And we take credit with him. Because, remember, of him … what he gets, we get.

Moses was gone, but Moses’ Word wasn’t. And Joshua was chosen leader to fulfill the unfulfilled part. So, the Book of Confession is basically a book for a leader, where the writer of the book is gone. Now, right there is a Latter-Rain trap, like people saying, “The son of man ministry is in the Bride”. It is not. It’s the Word that’s in the Bride. Now, watch the warning for today. Since Bro. Branham is gone …and people rise up and proclaim that they are leaders. Oh, yah, they’re in Europe, especially; but they’re over here, too. And they’re going to tell you, “You listen to me, and that’s going to do it”. Now, you think, many times, I may be saying that. But I am not, as God is my judge. That is not true. Listen to 2 Pet 1:15, Peter is telling the people concerning the end-time:

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

Now, what things in remembrance? Verse 11:

(11) For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

There’s a people coming up at the end-time in a Bride in whom are the virtues, which number seven is brotherly kindness, which is prickly. So don’t try to be what you’re not -- smooth-tongued, sweet, wonderful … pbbth! Hogwash. You’ve got fish hooks on your elbows, so don’t pretend otherwise. The ‘Love’ is God Himself coming down to crown and to seal in the church. Because it’s in the Seventh Age that Love comes. And in the Bride is the virtue, brotherly kindness, where Bro. Branham said, “You fuss at each other. You’ve got fish hooks on your elbow, sandpaper o n your elbow. But if something goes wrong and you see that person suffer, you’ll come and try to help him.” And you’ll even try to help the guys that you can’t help. That’s brotherly kindness. Love is different. Love is number eight. We don’t have an eight; we have an eighth day -- Millennium. But He is here; Love is come down. That’s why all the gifts you can have, brother/sister, without Him. And you can have all the gifts and not the Giver, you’ll end up in a wrong place. (Right place for the person, but a bad place for the individual.) All right, listen:

(15) … I will endeavour that … after my decease (you can) have these … in remembrance.

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

Now, he said, “Listen: there’s something greater in manifestation coming at the end-time than I’m telling you about. So you won’t have to miss it”.

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

Now, the voice did not say, “This is me, as the Son”; it says, “This is my Son”. So, I’m not Jesus-Only; you had better understand that.

[2 Peter 1]:

(18) And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. (Now, there’s a voice that come from heaven, on earth … in Hebrews 12.)

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

Now, that was vindication. Bro. Branham brought it out in Who Is This Melchisedec? and right on down the line into Shalom, and so on.

(20) Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (That’s right. It has got to be vindicated.)

(21) For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Now, listen [2 Peter 2]:

(1) … there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

It tells you right at the end-time -- and make no mistake about it -- that there are going to be people who try to take you right away from the vindicated Word. And they’ll do it, too, if you’re not careful. Well, …[probably]?… if you’re ordained to be taken away, you will; if you’re not ordained to it, you’ll stay.