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1-1 Have a few Scriptures
written down that I'd like to speak to you from, and I trust that God will bless
our feeble efforts. Now, many people has wondered why we are so odd and so noisy.
You know, this is kind of a different type of--of a convention than what people
are--are used to seeing; and usually everything is kind of a cut and dried form.
But when we come to these conventions (which has been my privilege now for several
years since they were first started), if we don't hardly know what we're going
to do, we just come and surrender ourselves. That's the only thing that we know
to do, and God does the rest of it. So that makes us a very peculiar acting
people.
The other day someone said, "You know, you people are really a--an oddball."
And I said, "Well, I--I suppose we are." Ha.
1-2 And I remember one
of the conventions. Brother Troy was telling me one time of a little German
that said he received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. And the next day in the
shop, where he was working, he would raise his hands, and praise the Lord, and
speak in tongues, and just carry on awful. And finally, the boss came by and
said, "Heinie, what's the matter with you?"
He said, "Oh, I got saved." He said, "My heart's just overflowing with joy."
He said, "Well, you must've been down with that bunch of nuts down there."
He said, "Yes! Glory to God!" said, "Thank the Lord for the nuts." He said--he
said, "You take the automobile coming down the road." Said, "You take all the
nuts out of it, you haven't got nothing but a bunch of 'yunk'." And that's just--just
about right, you know.
1-4 One day in California, I was going down the streets of Los Angeles, and I seen a man had a sign on his breast and here; and it said, "I am a fool for Christ." And everybody was looking at him, and I noticed them turning around and looking after he passed by. And I thought I would follow with the rest of them. And on the--his back he said, "Whose fool are you?" I suppose we're all kinda odd one to the other, you know. But, you know, the world gets in such a rut, till something different makes it so odd, till the people does think that it's some--something's wrong. And usually God has to do something so unusual to get the people back to the Bible again.
2-1 I can imagine that Noah was kind of a--a nut to that scientific age that he lived in, because they'd--could prove there was no water in the skies. But God said there would be some there, so Noah preaching and believing that, he become a nut. And I'd imagine that--that when Moses went down in Egypt, he was kind of a--a nut to Pharaoh; but remember, Pharaoh was a nut to him too. So they... We realize that.
2-2 Even Jesus was considered
a heretic. That's right. Martin Luther was a nut to the Catholic church, and
John Wesley was a nut to the Anglican. So you know, it's about time for another
nut; don't you think so, that...? But before there could be a nut, you know,
there has to be a bolt first to thread to it. So you know, Noah being a nut,
he... Takes the nut, it pulls the bolt, pulls something together and holds something
together. So Noah was able to pull all that would believe into the ark out of
the judgments by being a nut.
We find out that Moses pulled the church out of Egypt by being a nut. That's
right. I think we need a nut now to pull the Bride out of the church. Uh-huh.
We need something now, another one.
2-4 So we are very odd
sort of people. And I thought tonight, if the Lord was willing, I would try
to read some Scriptures pertaining to this, and would speak to you just a few
moments, and try to show you why we are such an odd people.
Let us turn in the Scriptures now to Philippians the 2nd chapter 1 and 8, and
II Corinthians 3:6; and let us read, as we believe, God's Word. And now, just
before we read, let us bow our heads for prayer.
2-6 Gracious heavenly
Father, we are indeed a privileged people tonight to be living in this age,
and to see the things that we see going on, and to know that the time is close
at hand when Jesus will come for His Church. Oh, that thrills our hearts, Lord.
And as we pull back the pages tonight, we pray that You'll give us a context
out of this text; and may the Holy Spirit reveal to our hearts the things that
would be good and pleasing to God. For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
3-1 You know, I believe
I'll ask you to do something. I--I usually ask some strange things, and I hope
I'm not asking anything too strange. But when we pledge allegiance to the flag,
we all stand; and--and the flag passes by, we stand--which we should; and we
stand to salute. Let's just stand to our feet while we read the Word, if you
will: II Corinthians 3:6.
4-1 And in Philippians
2 we read this, beginning with the 1st and reading to the 8th verse:
4-2 Let us pray. Heavenly Father, this great Word that has been read tonight from Thy holy Writ, make It so real to our hearts, that we will go from here like those going from Emmaus, saying, "Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us along the road," for we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen. (May be seated.)
4-3 Now, this is a very
odd text, but I think it's very suiting for the occasion. I wanted to speak
on the subject of, "The Mighty God Unveiled Before Us."
Now, since there has been man, there has been a hunger in man's heart to find
out where he came from, and what's his reason of being here, and where he's
going. There's only One can answer that; that's the One Who brought him here.
And man has always wanted to see God.
5-1 Back in the Old Testament we find out that God veiled Himself from unbelievers. God has a very odd way of dealing with people. He hides Himself from the unbeliever and reveals Himself to the believer. God does that. Jesus thanked the Father that He had hid these things from the wise and prudent and would reveal it to babes such as would learn. So we find that God never changes in His nature, and He's always doing His work the same. We find out in Malachi 3 that He said, "I am God, and I change not." So He works in the same principle all the time.
5-2 Now, we take one of the oldest Books of the Bible. When Job, one of the most righteous men of his day, a perfect man in the laws of God, a servant, noble, honorable servant, even till God said, "There's none like him in the earth"... But his desire one time to see God... He knowed that there was a God, and he felt that he would like to see Him, or otherwise, go to His house and knock on the door, and say, "I'd like to speak with You," set down, talk with Him, like we would with each other. We have an understanding. That's why we're in these conventions, where we come together and--and express our thoughts; and--and we understand one another better when we talk things over with each other. And ministers do that. People of all walks of life do it, talk things over.
5-3 And Job... God was so real to him, he wanted to find out if he couldn't go and knock at His door and--and have an--an interview with Him. But we find out that God did speak to him, but He was veiled. He was veiled in a form of a whirlwind. And He told Job to gird up his loins; He was going to speak to him like a man. And He came down in a whirlwind and--and spoke to Job. And He was made known to Job through the whirlwind, yet he did not exactly see Him. He could just hear the wind blowing and turning around in the trees; and the Voice came out of the whirlwind, but God was veiled in the whirlwind.
5-4 We find down in
Africa (South Africa) they use the word "Amoyah," which means, "an unseen force."
And this unseen force in the whirlwind had an audible voice. It spoke out to
Job, yet he never seen His form; but He was veiled to him by the whirlwind.
We find one of the great prophets of the Bible, Moses, of the Old Testament,
one of God's chosen, selected, predestined servants, he also desired to see
Him. He'd been so close to Him and had seen so many things of His great, mystic
hand going before him and doing things that only God could do. He desired to
see Him one day, and God told him, "Go, stand on the rock."
And while standing on the rock, Moses seen Him pass. He saw the back of Him.
And he said, "It looked like a man," a man's back. Yet he did not see God; he
only seen the veil of God.
The Bible said, "No man has seen God at any time, but the only Begotten of the
Father has declared Him." So Moses saw Him veiled as a man.
6-3 And we find that
Jehovah of the Old Testament was just Jesus of the New Testament. And--and Dr.
Scofield here, we find that his word changing from form, we find the word "en
morphe" in Greek, which means "the unseen was made visible." Something that
cannot... We know it's there. It could be--cannot be seen, but yet, we know
that it's there. And when He changed His form of the en morphe, which means
that He changed from supernatural to natural... And He just changed His mask.
And otherwise, it's like a drama; He was acting. In--in the Greek when they
would change their mask, maybe one play--one player might've acted in several
different parts. And my daughter (present here)... They just had at the high
school, a--a drama. And they... One boy, that I knowed, played about four parts,
but he would go behind the stage and change his--his mask in order to come out
to impersonate another character.
6-5 Now, if you will
take the Old Testament prophecies concerning what the Messiah was to be, you
can compare it with the life of Jesus, and you've got it exactly Who Jesus was.
He was not just an ordinary man; He was God, en morphe. He was changed from--from
the supernatural into the natural form of a man; yet He was God manifested in
the flesh, veiled by a human, fleshly veil. And you watch the Old Testament...
I--I--I know that I'm speaking to a mixed up audience tonight from different
parts of the world. And we are here to find out: what are we--what are we doing?
What--what are we... Where we getting to? What's happening? What does all this
mean?
7-1 And now, we find in here that if you Jewish men and women... And the rabbis in--in--in the temple, in the days gone by, if they'd have watched the Bible, the prophecies, instead of the traditions, they would've recognized Who Jesus was. They would've never have called Him Beelzebub; they would've never have crucified Him. But it all had to act out; that's part of the drama. And they were blinded on this case.
7-2 It's like many of
you men and women here tonight, maybe my age or a little older. You remember
here in America years ago before the Chinese (my brother they just introduced
here, that come on my mind when I was talking to him), how that they used to...
They couldn't speak English, and they--they--they run the laundry. And you go
to his laundry to get your laundry done. The--the Chinese laundryman would take
a tag and would tear it in a certain way. You'd take one part of the tag; he'd
take the other part. But when you come back to claim your belongings, those
two pieces of paper had to dovetail. And if they didn't dovetail just exactly
right (You couldn't impersonate it in any way, 'cause he had one piece and you
had the other.), and if it impersonated... Then you had a right to claim what
was yours. And then, you've got what belonged to you when you possess the other
part of the contract.
So is it tonight when we got the other part of the contract. When God tore His
Son in two at Calvary, taken the body up for a sacrifice, and sent the Spirit
down to us, that once lived in a Man, Jesus, that same God is in veil tonight
in the form of the Holy Ghost; those two pieces has to come together; then you're
part of the contract. God did this to be better known to man, when He made Hisself
man.
7-4 I was reading a
story some years ago, and in this story it said a great, noble king... I forget
the name of him just now. I wasn't thinking about speaking of the story. It
was perhaps fiction, but it--it leads us to a point that gives us a background
on what we want to say.
This king, he was such a noble king and such a great lover of his subjects,
till one day before his--his guard and his royalty he said, "Today you see me
for your last time for many years."
And the--his guard and his nobles said to him, "Good King, why do you say that?
Are you going to a--a foreign country somewhere to become an alien?"
He said, "No, I'm staying right here. Well," said, "I'm going out amongst my
subjects. I'm going to become a peasant. I'm going to cut wood with the wood-chopper.
I'm going to--to till the ground with the toiler. I am going to prune the vines
with those who prune the vine. I'm going to be one of them in order to get a-better
acquainted with what they are doing. And I love them, and I want to be more
acquainted with them personally. They won't know me, but yet, I want to be acquainted
with them in that way."
8-2 And the next morning
when his delegates... And all of his people seen him (or the ones that was in
the palace) take off his crown and lay it down upon the seat (the throne), and
take his robe off, and put on peasant's clothes, walk out amongst the common
people.
Now, in that little story we find out then about God. They said to the king,
said, "King, we want you. We love you. We--we want you to remain king."
But he wanted to become one of them to know them better, that they'd know him
better, really what he was. It would display to them what he really was.
8-4 And that's what God did. He--He changed Himself from being Jehovah God to become one of us, that He might suffer, He might taste death, He might know what the sting of death was, and take the penalty of death upon Himself. He laid aside His--His crown and His robe and became one of us. He washed feet with the--with the--the lowly. He dwelt in the tents with the poor. He slept in the--the woods and in the streets with those who were underprivileged. He become one of us that He might understand us better, and that we might understand Him better.
8-5 Now, I think in
that we find out that changing Himself, what He did. If you'll notice, He came
in the name of three sons. He came in the Name of the Son of man, and in the
Son of God, and the Son of David. He came as Son of man. Now, in Ezekiel 2:3,
Jehovah Himself called Ezekiel the prophet the son of man. Son of man means
a prophet. He had to come that way to fulfill Deuteronomy 18:15, which Moses
said, "The Lord your God shall raise up among you a Prophet likened unto me."
He never called Himself the Son of God. He referred to Himself, the Son of man,
because He had to come according to the Scripture.
See? He had to make those two pieces of torn paper, the Old Testament prophecy
and His own character to be exactly the same. So He come the Son of man, come
in that form.
9-2 Then we find, after His death, burial, and resurrection, He came on the day of Pentecost as Son of God--God, the Spirit, in the form, Holy Ghost. What was He doing? He was changing Himself, making Himself known to His people in a different form. Like the Holy Spirit, which is God, He came to deal through the church ages as Son of God, the Holy Spirit. But in the Millennium He comes as Son of David to set on the throne of David: King. He was to take the throne of David; He's on the Father's throne now. And then He said, "He that overcometh shall set with Me on My throne, as I've overcome and set on My Father's throne." So He--in the Millennium He'll be Son of David. What is it? The same God all the time just changing His--His mask.
9-3 I am to my wife a husband. Did you notice the Syrophenician woman said, "Thou Son of David, have mercy." He... Never even bothered Him at all. She had no rights to call Him that; she had no claims on Him as Son of David. He was--He's the Son of David to the Jew. And now, He come... But when she called Him Lord (He was her Lord), then she got what she asked for. Now, as the... He was just changing Himself.
9-4 Now, in my home
I'm three different people. In my home my wife has claims on me as husband.
My daughter out there, she doesn't have any claims on me as husband; I am her
father. And my little grandson there, I'm grandfather to him; so he has no right
to call me father. I'm not his father; my son is his father. I am his grandfather,
but I'm still the same man.
And God, what He does, He just changes Himself to become to that generation,
to make known Himself to that people. And that's what we're here to find out
tonight: In what way is God supposed to make Hisself known to this people and
in this time? He changes His mask; He changes His act; but He doesn't change
His disposition. He doesn't change His--His nature; He just changes His mask
from one to another. He does it to reveal Himself more plain to the people,
that they might know Who He is and what He is.
9-6 In Hebrews 1 we read, "God, in sundry times and divers manners spake to the fathers through the prophets, but in this last days, through His Son, Jesus." Now, the prophets, Jesus said (when He was here on earth), they were gods. "You call those gods who the Word of God came to, and the Scriptures cannot be broken," He said. Said, "How you can condemn Him then, when He's the Son of God?" See? The Word of God is 'lotted to each age--what It's to be; and Jesus was the fulfillment of all the prophecies. "In Him dwelt the Fullness of the Godhead bodily." It was in Him.
10-1 He was the One
that was in Joseph. He was the One Who was in Elijah. He was the One Who was
in Moses. He was the One Who was in David, a rejected king. His own people had
rejected him as king. And as he went out of the--of the courtyards, a little
afflicted fellow, crawling around, did not like his--his government, his system,
and he spit upon him. And the guard pulled his sword, said, "Will I leave that
dog's head on him, spitting on my king?"
And David, maybe not realizing what he was doing at the time, but he was anointed,
and he said, "Let him alone. God's told him to do this." And he climbed up on
the hill and wept over Jerusalem: a rejected king.
Did you notice, a few hundred years from then, the Son of David, being spit
upon in the streets, and was on the hill (same mountain) looking down over Jerusalem:
a rejected King, and cried, "Jerusalem, how oft would I have hovered you as
a hen did her brood, but you would not."
10-4 He never changed
His nature, 'cause Hebrews 13:8 said He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
God was made flesh in order to die to redeem us from sin. That's why He changed
Himself to be a--a man.
We see in St. John 12:20, the Greeks had heard of Him. Now, there's no man can
ever hear of Him, except their heart burns to see Him. Like Job and the prophets
of old, they all wanted to see Him. So this Greek came to see Him. They came
to Philip, which was of Bethsaida, and said, "Sir, we would see Jesus." The
Greeks wanted to see Him; but they were unable to see Him, because He was in
the temple of His humanity. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.
10-6 Now, we find that
in this, these Greeks could not see Him. And notice the very words that Jesus
expressed to them afterwards; He said, "Except a corn of wheat falls into the
ground and dies, it abides alone." In other words, they would never be able
to see Him in the change, in the mask that He was in then, because He was veiled
in human flesh. But when this Corn of Wheat fell into the ground, then It would
bring forth all races. He was sent to the Jews, of course, at that time, but
this Corn of Wheat must fall. Veiled God in human's flesh, hidden from unbelievers,
but being revealed to believers.
In John 1...
11-1 Now, in the beginning
was the Word. A word is a thought expressed. In the beginning He wasn't even
God. Now, our English word today, "god," means "an object of worship." How confusing
it is to the mind. You can make somebody a god. You can make anything a god.
But in the Old Testament in Genesis 1, "In the beginning God..." the word is
used, "Elohim." "Elohim" means "the self-existing One." What a difference the
word "Elohim" is to our word "god." "Elohim" means "a self-existing One."
We cannot be self-existing. We cannot be almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent,
omniscient. That Elohim expresses all of that. We cannot be that. The tree that
you make a god out of, or the--or the building, it's not self-existing.
11-3 So God, in the beginning, was Life, the eternal One. In Him was attributes, and those attributes became words, and the Word became flesh. Jesus was the Redeemer. And "to redeem" means "to bring back." And if He has to bring it back, it had to be somewhere to be brought back to. So, you see, all people will never be able to see it, because all people wasn't in the beginning in God's thought. See?
11-4 Look at the priests. When they seen Him express Hisself exactly with the Word, what He was, they said, "It's Beelzebub." That showed where their nature was; it was in the modern thought of the day. But when the little prostitute that He met at the gate, and told her--expressed His Messiahic sign by telling her what she had done, why she said, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. We know that Messiah; when He comes, He will tell us all these things." She was recognizing Him as the Messiah, the Anointed One, because He met the Scripture qualifications. Don't you see? The two pieces of paper were coming together. "We know that when the Messiah cometh..."
12-1 Now, God might've
had to interbreed this and that to get this certain ting of the bell, like the
molder, but when Jesus turned and said, "I am He that speaks with you," there
was no such an expression as, "Beelzebub." She left her water pot, ran into
the city, and said, "Come, see a Man, Who told me the things that I have done.
Isn't This the very Messiah?" See?
Now, what did this, of putting the old Scripture with the experience that--that
Jesus was giving to her, what did it do? It made the Messiah. And did you notice?
Quickly, her sins were forgiven, because at the beginning she was redeemable;
because she was in God's thinking at the beginning. So it redeemed her or brought
her back, when she seen the expressed Scripture manifested of Jehovah: what
He was; what He is.
12-3 Now, when Jesus come, if He'd have come with Noah's message, it wouldn't have worked: to build an ark and float out. It wouldn't have worked. But that--Noah was a portion of God. He acted a peculiar way, because he was peculiar. And his message was peculiar, because it was the Word being made manifest. He could not have come with Moses' message, because it--it wouldn't have worked. Moses was God in a portion made manifest; he was the Word expressed for that hour. But Jesus could not come in that. The Bible never said He would come in that way. But when He come expressed exactly like the--the Testament had said He would be expressed, then all those who was redeemable believed it; because they were the thoughts of God. The attributes of Him at the beginning was made flesh and redeemable, and was brought back to God. "As many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become sons of God," because they were redeemable. They were from the beginning in the expression.
12-4 If we could stop here a moment (if it would be possible) and think of that tonight, of the message of the hour, the expressed thoughts of Jehovah... Before the foundation of the world, we are told our names were put on the Lamb's Book of Life. Then we can see the two sides, as I first said, why one is odd to the other. It must be that way. It was always; it always has been that way; and it always will be that way. He was the Word, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
13-1 Now, God in--back in the days of the Old Testament we find that after He'd appeared to His people in different forms, He veiled Himself behind old badger skins: God, hiding behind badger skins at His mercy seat. We find that how that Solomon, when he dedicated the temple of the Lord, and these badger skins was hanging there, the veil--how that He came in as the Pillar of Fire and as a Cloud, and went down behind there, and veiled Himself to the outside world. But by faith Israel knew that He was back there. They knew He was there, regardless of what any of the heathen worlds had to say. He was hid from the unbeliever, but the believer, by faith, knew He was back there; they had mercy. And He was at His mercy seat, which was a great secret.
13-2 You know, in the Old Testament to enter behind that skin was death. Now, to stay from behind it is death. Then to enter into His glory was death; now to stay away from His glory is death. That happened, of course, at the renting of the veil at Calvary, when the veil was rent, the old veil. Now, to stay out of His Presence is death. Then to enter His Presence was death. See? It changes back and forth, and you must find the Scripture to see what day we're living in.
13-3 Now, when the veil was rent at Calvary, the Mercy Seat came into plain view, but what happened? It was hanging on Calvary, dripping in Blood. As they had took blood year after year at the cleansing of the sanctuary and the sprinkling of the mercy seat, there, God, with His great, mighty stroke of lightning power, split the old badger veil from top to bottom, and the Mercy Seat came into plain view. The real genuine Lamb of God was hanging in plain view on Calvary, the real Mercy Seat, when God had paid the price Himself and become one of us, and had manifested Himself as a man to get acquainted with us and we to be acquainted with Him.
13-4 The Mercy Seat was in plain view of all Israel on that day of the Atonement. But alas, the traditions of the church fathers in that day had, by their traditions, had veiled the true Mercy Seat from the people. If they would've knowed the Scripture, each piece would've come like the Chinese tag. The Old Testament prophecy would've been fulfilled, and it was. And if they'd been taught the Scripture, they would've seen the Mercy Seat.
14-1 As Moses said in
here that... To this day they're veiled. It's still over their hearts; they
don't see it. But He was God, the suffering and the Atonement. He was the genuine
Mercy Seat standing in full view. As we sang the hymn:
14-3 Now, the traditions
has made a veil. They say that the days of miracles is past. A man spoke to
me, a fine, cultured gentleman in Tucson, Arizona, where I live. I'd had a meeting
at the Ramada; and we'd been speaking at the Business Men's convention, where
the Lord Jesus had come present and done great things. And this Christian gentleman
came to me and he said (a minister of the church, fine man), and he said, "Brother
Branham, you are trying to project to the people an apostolic age," he said,
"and when the apostolic age has ceased."
And I said, "I pray thee, my brother, show me when the apostolic age ceased
in the Scripture." I said, "The apostolic age began on the day of Pentecost,
and it has... Peter said on the day of Pentecost, 'The promise is unto you,
and to your children, and to them that are far off, even as many as the Lord
our God shall call.' When did it cease? If God is still calling, then the apostolic
age still is in session."
14-5 And so, that is where the people try to blindfold so many people, by the traditions of the elders, as it was then. And you fail to see why that the people are so elated and so enthused. And--and these conventions are such an oddball, such a strange thing to other people, is because that they see. They broke through those barriers; they broke through those veils into the Presence of God where they see the manifested promise of this hour made manifest before the people. They see what God promised.
15-1 In Joel 2:28 He
promised that in these last days there would be a latter rain poured out upon
the people in the last days. I think the Greek word there is "kenos," which
means that "He emptied Hisself out," not in the way that we would say, like
something was inside of somebody that had emptied out, but He poured Himself
out. He changed His en morphe. He--He changed from what He was to what He is.
He never changes His nature.
But on the day of Pentecost He changed Himself from being the Son of man to
the Son of God. He came, not with the people, He came in the people (See?),
the same God to carry His ministry on through in this great age.
15-3 He prophesied in
the Bible that there would come a day that would not be neither day or night,
but in the evening time it should be Light. Now, the sun, geographically, rises
in the east and sets in the west. It's the same sun all the time.
Now, when the Son (S-o-n) revealed Himself in the manifestation of the promised
Word to Israel, the eastern people... We've had a day of gloom. We've had enough
light in the reformers and so forth to make churches and denominations, and
join them; and come in and kiss the babies; and marry the old; and bury the
dead, and so forth; and live in the church. "But in the evening time, it shall
be light," He said, "in the evening time." And no Scripture can be broken. And
the same S-o-n that poured out Himself (kenos) on the day of Pentecost, promised
to do the same thing in the evening time. See? It's according to the promise.
Get the tag together. Look what's happening, and look what He promised, then
you see where we are at. Get the thing together. You can see the unveiling of
this great and mighty One. Traditions has blinded the people again to these
great things that's been prophesied.
15-6 Moses, when he
came forth from the mountain, which was on fire... How beautiful the illustration.
Moses had went down to Egypt and told the church fathers that the Lord God had
visited him in the Name of I AM. That Name is present tense, not "I was, will
be, but I AM, ever the same, the same yesterday, today, and forever." He is
present tense. He... That compares with Hebrews 13:8: "Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, today, and forever."
It's still the prophesied Word, and the congregation that was to dovetail with
that Word, the experience of this day... "The reformers had it." Oh, but this
is another day. See what day we're living in.
16-2 Just as He couldn't
come in the days that He came on earth in the--in the way that Moses came or
any of the prophets came; it wasn't prophesied. And in this last days it's prophesied
to come this way. It can't come in the form of Luther's revival; it can't come
in the form of Wesley revival; it's a restoration hour. It's a time that it
must come back to the original sunlight, the original.
Oh, how we could lay the Scriptures in on that. And you theologians (what part
of the world you're from), you know that that's true. It's a promise. That's
what makes the people so odd. That's what makes the oddballs that you call them;
it's because that they... It's... The veil has been opened from the tradition,
and they see it. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's the--it's
the promise of God, and we cannot go against that, 'cause the Scriptures cannot
be broken.
Yes, we find that He promised that He'd emptied Himself into His people, and
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
16-5 Moses, after he'd
went down into Egypt and declared this, then the Father vindicated his message
by coming on Mount Sinai in the same Pillar of Fire and set the mountain on
fire. Did we notice the one He give the promise to, He brought him forth with
the Word. He had the commandments, and to have this commandment, he had to...
The commandments was the Word; the Word had never come to the people yet. So
the Word always comes to the prophet, and he was the prophet for that hour.
Like Jesus was the Word. John was a prophet, and Jesus came to him in the water,
because the Word always comes to the prophet without failing. See? The Word
comes to... So Moses, the Word came to him, the commandment, and he had them.
17-1 Now, why, before
the Word was given out and made manifest, Moses had to veil his face, for the
Word wasn't completely made manifest. They knowed something had happened, but
they didn't know what it was (the roaring and thundering), till they said, "Let
Moses speak and not God."
And God said, "Well, I will do that. From this forth I'll not appear like this
no more. I'll send them a prophet. So he'll... I'll speak through My prophet."
17-2 Now, if Moses with the natural law (as Paul in II Corinthians here has revealed to us) had to veil his face with the natural, how much more will the spiritual be glorious and veiled to the unbeliever before it's made manifest to them. How much more would they call... Moses was an oddball. How much more will they call you, who's broke through the veil, has went into the Pillar of Fire, and's come out with the blessings? And now you are veiled. The people can't see it. They can't understand it. If the natural be glorious, how much more will the supernatural. If the natural, which had an end to it, was to be glorious, how much more this which has no end to it will be glorious.
17-3 But still it's veiled. It's veiled not to the believer, but to the unbeliever; he cannot see it. God always veils Himself from the unbeliever. Traditions hide it. Like they did then, they do it today. That was a spiritual veil that we have now, where the natural veil was there. Vindicated by the prophet with the written Word, a prophesier, one who comes with the written Word to make It plain: they knowed the Word was there, but they didn't know what It meant; and Moses made It plain. He said, "The commandment says this, and this is why." He made It plain. And before It was made plain, It was veiled. And so is It today, veiled to the people until It's revealed and made plain to the people--God, the mighty God, veiled in human flesh, the Word.
17-4 Notice. Now, we find out that It was hid to the unbeliever, but revealed to the believer. Notice. Moses had to enter this Pillar of Fire alone; no one could go with him. It was not... It... What does that speak to us? That you don't come into this by joining a Pentecostal group. See? He never revealed It to a group; He revealed It to an individual. And that's the way it is today. You say, "I belong to a--a church. I--I belong to this." But that won't work. See? And for anyone to try to follow Moses, to impersonate it was death. And so is it today, spiritual death to try to impersonate. That's what's the...
18-1 Tonight we're getting into the raising up amongst the groups, carnal comparisons, somebody try to act like it and live a different life: can drink, can smoke, women can live any--most any way they want to, and like the world, and stay home and watch television, and--and the things of the world, and still call themselves Pentecostals. They are trying to impersonate a genuine thing. It's never been revealed to them yet. When It is revealed, it's glorious and something takes that out of you when you walk in there. You become a veil. It--it--it just won't work. And to impersonate it was death.
18-2 Moses veiled, he was the living Word to the people. And today, the people that are veiled are the same thing; they are written epistles, read of all men, not a new epistle, but the epistle that's been written made manifested. It's--it's those who believe the Word and the promise of this day that God is pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh; and that is written epistles. And when a person tries to carnally impersonate that, it backfires. Your life shows what you are.
18-3 One time there
was a boy; he'd got in some trouble. He was a--a good boy, but he--he went to
court; and the judge said, "I find you guilty. I must punish you to life in
prison."
He said, "I want to try my own case." He said, "I want to go in upon my record."
He said, "You have no record. Your record is what's condemned you."
And that's the way it is today. The reason the church is not advanced like it
should, it's the record: it's a lie. We must become more dedicated. We must
believe every Word of God. We must seek until that Word is made real to us.
See? The record is what keeps us from entering in.
18-7 But one time (to
let you get out of this loop) in this same court, the boy had no money. He could
not pay it off. The--the fine was way in the thousands of dollars. But he had
a big brother that came and paid it off for him.
Now, we've got a big Brother, Jesus, the Son of God; and He come to pay it off
for us, if we'll just believe it and be able to enter into the veil with Him.
Like He is our Moses... Jesus is our Moses of today; Moses veiled was the living
Word to the people. Today, Jesus veiled is the Living Word to the people that...
Jesus in the Church, the Holy Ghost, the Son of God, in the people, revealing
the Word by the promise of this day, makes it just exactly. Same now.
And remember, Moses did this and manifested this, not to all the world, but
to the exodus people: just one class of people, that was those who come out
of the--in the exodus. And today the Holy Spirit, in the face of people who
says, "Divine healing's not right."... When I was consulting...
19-2 A doctor called
me the other day of a little lady... Oh, there's been four or five cases there
of laying just at the point of death, giving hours, and the Holy Spirit healed
them. The doctor was questioning it; he said, "How can this be? Why," he said,
"I--I... That's my patient."
I said, "It was, but now it was God's. It--it--it's His subject now." See?
And so, you see the thing it is, that God is calling an exodus to come from
behind the fleshly curtain who tries to impersonate, who tries to join church,
not Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian altogether, but Pentecostal churches.
It is an individual affair; it's you and God. You have to go in, not your group,
not your church, not your pastor, but it's you has to go in.
19-4 I want you to notice another characteristic of Moses. When he come out, yet being a prophet, being a great man that he was, when he come out with the Word, the people saw that he was changed. Something had happened to him. When he come out with the vindicated Word of that hour, the commandments, he was a changed person. And so will you be when you come from behind that human veil that would laugh at a meeting like this, that man who would stumble at Divine healing, and say, "The days of miracles is past."... You drop from behind that human veil there, the--the traditional veil, and everybody will know something happened to you.
19-6 Like our honorable Brother Jim Brown, I imagine most Presbyterians or--knows that something happened to him, because he--he come from behind a traditional veil. He saw something in the people that attracted him, and he came out from behind the veil. Well, you... When you come out from behind the veil, you'll be in full view of the people then, that they can see that something has happened to you. The veiled Word to the unbeliever, but in full view of the believer: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
20-1 Then it was God... In them days it was God in a man, His Son, Jesus Christ. We believe that. Not just a prophet, not just an ordinary man, ordinary human; It was God in Christ, God, in a man, the Fullness of the Godhead bodily in a man. God, in a man; now, it's God in men (See?), the fullness of God in the Godhead bodily in His entire Church, manifesting Himself, fulfilling His Word.
20-2 Now, we find, God all ages has had skin on It. He... God has been hid behind a veil. It just reminds me of a--a little story that happened down in the south. And so, there was a Christian home. And this--in this Christian home they believed God, and they--they thought that--that God protected them from all troubles; and which He does. And they had a little Junior (a little boy about seven or eight years old), and--and he went to Sunday school and was a very fine little lad; but he was scared in a storm, especially when lightning was flashing.
20-3 When I told this
to a man the other day, when this piece had come out about this man being healed,
this same minister said, "They make a god out of you, Brother Branham."
Well, he was a critic, so I thought I'd just let--kinda break it off just a
little bit, not to hurt, you know, but just kinda... I said, "Is that too far
from the Scripture to be that?" See? I said, "No, it isn't." I said, "Because
Jesus called prophets gods." See? That's right. God...
And they say, "Well, you people try to take the place of God."
That's not too far out; that's exactly what it is (That's exactly.): God manifested
in flesh, just as He promised.
20-5 This little family,
we find that... I told him this little story (and which come to my mind just
now), that one night it come up a storm, and mother said to Junior, said, "Now,
you go on upstairs, son, and go to bed."
He said, "Mom, I'm scared." He said...
"Ain't nothing going to hurt you. Go on up and go to bed."
Little Junior laid up there, and the lightning flashing around the windows,
and the little fellow got so nervous, he'd stick his head under the cover, and
he could still hear the--the lightning--or the--see the lightning flash on the
windows, and--and hear the thunder roar; so he said, "Mama."
And she said, "What do you want, Junior?"
Said, "Come up here and sleep with me."
So she come up the steps like any good loyal mother would; and she came up,
and she took little Junior in her arms, and she said, "Junior, mother wishes
to speak to you just a moment."
Said, "All right, mama."
Said, "Now, you must bear this in mind. We go to church constantly; we read
the Bible; we pray; we are a Christian family; we believe in God." And said,
"We believe that in storms and whatever goes on, God is our protection."
He said, "Mama, I believe every bit of that," but said, "when that lightning
so close," he said, "I--I want a God with skin on it."
So I--I think, not only Junior, but all of us feel that way. When we get together,
when we pray one for the other... God with skin on it.
21-4 And we find out
here that God has always had skin on Him. When Moses seen Him, He had skin on
Him; He looked like a man. When God was behind the curtains, He had skin on
Him. And God tonight in His Church is veiled in His Church with skin on Him.
He's still the same God tonight. We find that.
But now, as ever, the skin veil is what catches the traditions. They just can't
believe that that's God making them people act like that. See? It's because
God's veiled in His church, in skin, skin on It. That's right. He's hid from
the unbeliever and revealed to the believer. Yes, sir.
21-6 Now, when their
tradition veil is--of--of traditions of the elders and the Word is broke through
(oh, of course, today), then comes in plain view, we see Him: Deity again veiled
in human flesh. Hebrews 1 said so, and also Genesis 18. You remember God was
a Man, standing there eating and talking with Abraham, and told what Sarah was
doing in the tent behind It. And Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Sodom,
so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man," Deity veiled again in human
flesh.
Now remember, Jesus didn't say, "When the Son of God is being revealed," in
Luke the 17 chapter, I believe, and about the 20th, 21st verse, somewhere along
there; He said, "And when the Son of man is being revealed," the Son of man
back in--in--in the church again, revealed in human beings, not Son of God,
but the Son of man again, back in His church again in the last days. We find
that He promised that in God's promises.
22-1 We notice another thing. In the Old Testament (I have a Scripture here in Exodus) that the old badger skins, what did it do? It hid the glory of God from the people: the badger skins. The reason the people couldn't see It, because it was a skin that held It... The skin was... The glory of God was behind the skin. And now, the glory of God is behind your skin (That's right.), and the traditions don't see it. It's inside the veil where His Word was.
22-2 What was on the
inside of that skins, back there, the old badger skins, which there was no beauty
we should desire It? And when It was made flesh and dwelt among us, It was still
no beauty we should desire It. And now, the same thing is today. There's nothing
in a man or woman that can be desired, but it's what's in behind there. That's
what it is.
"Well," you say, "that fellow I know used to be a drunkard. He used to do this."
I don't care what he used to do. What's hid behind that skin? What is behind
there, that's what counts, that's what... The people is blinded; the skin blinds
the people. See?
They say, "I remember when that woman used to..." I know what she used to, but
what about now? See? It's them skins that was once on the badger, but now it's
hiding the glory of God, got it housed behind it. It was on an animal, but now
it's housing the glory of God.
And so can your skin be changed tonight to be made a housing place for God,
God dwelling in humanity.
22-6 Look, the old badger
skins, we find out behind it was--inside of there was the Word. And the Word...
There also was the shewbread. The ark was sprinkled. And what was it? The Shekinah
glory was in there.
Now, the Word is a Seed, and It cannot bring forth until the--the sun strikes
It. The sun's got to be upon the seed to make it bear, to make it come forth.
And that's the only way you take the Word. See? Take the Word of God in your
heart and walk into the Shekinah glory. And when you do, it'll bring shewbread
manna that's only give for a separated people. The only thing that can eat it,
that's permitted to eat it, is just the people who are permitted.
23-1 And notice, Paul
said here, "Changing from glory to glory." You see, finally it comes to its--back
to its original glory. It's just like a seed of a morning glory. The seed of
a flower, it falls into the ground. The seed of corn falls in the ground. What's
the first thing? It comes up, and it's a little sprout; then it goes to a tassel.
Then from a tassel back to its original grain.
Well, that's exactly what the church has done. It come from Luther, Wesley,
and now, back to the original grain, back to its original glory, back to the
glory it was at the beginning. The sun that rose in the east is the same sun
that's manifesting the same thing in the west, changing from glory to glory.
It changed from the pagan down into Luther, and from Luther down into Wesley,
and from Wesley out into Pentecost, and on and on, changing from glory to glory,
producing the hidden manna. And now, it's ripe to bring Him back exactly like
He was at the beginning, His same ministry, the same Jesus, the same power,
the same Holy Ghost. The same One that come down on the day of Pentecost is
the same Holy Ghost that's manifested today: from glory, into glory, to glory,
and back to its original seed with the baptism of the Holy Ghost, with the same
signs, same wonders, same baptism, same kind of people acting the same way,
with the same power, the same sensation. It's from glory unto glory. And the
next will be changed from this glory into a body like His own glorious Body
where we shall see Him. Abraham saw the same.
23-4 Now, notice. We
see how it was changed. Since Calvary we are invited to share His glory. Now,
in I Corinthians 12, "We are baptized into His Body." By one Spirit we are all
baptized, not by one water; one Spirit we're all baptized. That's right. Now.
And then we become part of Him. (I hope I'm not keeping you too long. See? I
hope I'm not.)
But it's just like a great symphony that's playing out--or acting out a drama.
I don't know too much about symphonies or drama, but I was watching this play.
I was talking about, Carmen, when my daughter and them was in it. And they--and
they were playing in this symphony, in Carmen. They were acting out... The music
was--was--was acting out the same thing. That's the way it is when you're baptized
by the Holy Spirit into Christ.
24-1 Now, see, many of you has read or heard the story of the great Russian composer who composed "Peter and the Wolf." And how he--they act that out on cymbals and everything. And anyone who knows the story, that's reading it off of a paper, and can hear that symphony, how it's acting that out, the drama, playing it out, why, they know every change. They can look at it here and see the change. But now, what happens if the--if the composer writes something, and we find out that it isn't just acted out right? We find out then that there's something that happens; there's something a-lacking. When we see them... He who composed it is--made it up and wrote it out, and then the symphony is a-playing it and hits a wrong note; there's something wrong. The director gave the wrong motion. See?
24-2 And that's what's the matter today, my Lutheran brethren, my Baptist brethren, my Pentecostal brethren, all my brethren from all different denominations; that's what it is. See? You're trying to give a note that hit back in the days of Luther, or Wesley, like that, when the--actually the Music Sheet here shows that it's another day. See, see? We can't live in the light of Luther; he was a reformer. We appreciate his--his part, but we played that out. We're way over here at the back of the Book now. See? We can't--we can't play it out like that.
24-3 Now, the only way that you're ever going to be able to do it, my brethren, is this. And brethren of the world (of the different parts of the world, I might say), there's only one way for that--for that director to do. He has to get in the same spirit that the composer was in, then he's got it. And when the church, the symphony itself (where the world's a-watching for these signs and wonders), when the church, and the Composer, and the director all get in the Spirit of the Composer, then when they say, "The days of miracles is past," it don't hit the right note. But when it gets in the right swing of it and the right spirit of it... How you going to do it until the Spirit comes down of the Composer? Amen.
25-1 Then when you say,
"The days of miracles never past," the symphony cries out, "Amen."
When we hit that, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever," the
symphony cries out, "Amen."
"You shall receive power after this the Holy Ghost is come upon you"; the symphony
cries, "Amen. I got it." There's no more guesswork about it then; the whole
symphony is right in harmony with the Word. Just goes [Brother
Branham illustrates by clapping--Ed.] That's it. Oh, it's a magnificent
thing. The director and the Composer must be in the same Spirit, and so must
the musicians be in the same Spirit to act it all out. And the world is wondering
what's going on.
The communism they talk about, and they've made me sick with it, and all this
integration, and everything else, and segregation (Oh, mercy.), such, all this
nonsense when the coming of the Lord is at hand, there's something hitting wrong.
I'm afraid that the director got--directors got out of the Spirit of the Composer.
25-3 When we get that
Composer's Spirit, that original power of God (that the Bible said men of old
was moved by the Holy Ghost to write this Bible), you'll see them two Chinese
pieces of paper will come together just like God's Bible and a believer will
come together. Because they're both in the same Spirit, they're both the same
thing, they dovetail right straight together.
What we need today is directors. That's right. Back to the Word. Back and believe
It just as It said.
Then you see the God Himself; that's the unveiling; the drama's made real. Today
they say, "Well, He's a historical God. We know He crossed the Red Sea. He did
all this, and He was in the--the fiery furnace with the Hebrew children." What
good's a God of history, if He--if He isn't the same today?
25-5 Man is ever glorifying
God for what He did do, thinking of what He will do, and ignoring what He's
doing. That's just in man to do that, and it's the same thing today, my brethren;
it's the very same thing.
Oh, my. Let's get back and get the symphony playing right, where the world can
see. Jesus said, "If I be lifted up from this earth, I'll draw all men unto
Me." And He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Let the directors get in the right Spirit with the musicians and with the Composer,
everything will be all right. Then we're--no guesswork about it, we are identified
with Him then. Hebrews 13:8 said, "He's the same yesterday, today, and forever."
26-2 We're identified
with Him in Acts 2. We're identified with them with the same baptism, same thing.
All He was then, and all He is, all He was, and all He is, we are. That's exactly.
Just like, if I want to be a true American, I've got to be identified with everything
she was, everything she is. I've got to be identified with it, if I am a true
American. If I am a true American, then I landed on Plymouth Rock. Amen. I did,
if I'm an American. So did you; you landed on Plymouth Rock with the pilgrim
fathers. On Plymouth Rock, when they landed out there, I was with them; so was
you, everybody.
26-4 I rode with Paul
Revere right down the road to warn of the danger. That's exactly right. Right
down here at Valley Forge, I crossed the icy Delaware with a bunch of soldiers
who half of them didn't have shoes on. I prayed all night with George Washington
beforehand. I crossed the Delaware with a vision in my heart. We are Americans.
Yes, sir. At Valley Forge, I certainly did.
I returned thanks with the original Thanksgiving fathers; I returned thanks
to God. If I'm a real American, I was identified there at that table. If I'm
a real American, I was identified when I stood with Stonewall Jackson. If I'm
a real American, I was identified at the Boston Tea Party (Yes, sir.) when we
refused to have things pulled over our eyes. When--I was a real American, I
was identified there with that. Yes, sir. Oh, my.
26-6 I rang the Liberty
Bell the first 4th of July in 1776. I rang the Liberty Bell here and declared
that we are independent. To be a real American I had to. I was identified with
her shame in the Revolutionary, when brother fought against... I've got to bear
her shame just same as I have to bear her glory. If I'm an American, I have
to be. I was identified with her. Yes, sir.
I was identified at Gettysburg down there, when Lincoln made his speech. Yes,
sir. I was on Wake Island, over them bloody soldier's body. I rose on Wake Island.
On Guam I helped hoist that flag. I'm a real American. Amen. All she is, I am,
and proud of it. Yes, indeedy. All America has been, all she is, I'm still that
to be American. Everything she was, I have to be, because I'm identified with
her.
27-1 Same thing by being a true Christian. You have to be identified with it. I preached with Moses and war--with Noah and warned the people of the oncoming judgment, to be a real Christian. I was with Moses at the burning bush; I saw the Pillar of Fire; I saw His glory. I was with Moses up there in the wilderness. To be a Christian, I have to be identified with everything God was, to be a Christian. I seen His glory; I heard His voice. Don't try to explain it away from me now, 'cause I was there. I know what I'm talking about. I seen what happened. Yes, sir.
27-2 I was at the Red
Sea when I seen the Spirit of God move down and part the water from one side,
not through a bunch of reeds, that they're trying to say today, but through
about a ninety foot sea. I seen the Spirit of God. I walked with Moses through
that dry ground, across that Red Sea. I stood by Mount Sinai and seen the thunder
and lightning falling. I eat manna with them out there. I drank from that Rock;
I'm still doing it tonight. I was identified with the manna-eaters. I was identified
with them that drunk from the rock.
I was also identified when Joshua blew a trumpet and the walls of Jericho fell
down. I was in the lions' den with Daniel. I was in the fiery furnace with the
Hebrew children. I was with mount--with Elijah on Mount Carmel.
27-4 I was with John
the Baptist and before them critics. I seen the Spirit of God descending; I
heard the voice of God say, "This is My beloved Son in Whom I'm pleased to dwell
in." Yes, sir. I sure was identified with him. That's exactly right.
I was identified there at the grave of Lazarus when He raised up Lazarus. I
was identified with the woman at the well when He told her her sins. Yes, sir.
I surely was identified with Him in His death. And I was identified on the first
Easter; I raised with Him from death. I'm identified with Him in His death.
I was with the 120 in the upper room. I was identified up there with them. Oh,
I--I feel religious. Uh-huh. Oh my. I was identified there. I'm one of them.
I was identified; I got the same experience they had. I was there when it happened,
to be a true Christian.
I witnessed the mighty rushing wind coming. I witnessed that. I felt the power
of God as it shook. I was with them that spoke in tongues. I felt the anointing
come in there. I was with them. I was identified with them when the Holy Ghost
begin to speak through tongues with them. I was with Peter before the critics
in Acts 2, when he preached a great sermon that he... I was identified with
him. Yes, sir.
28-2 In Acts 4, when
they assembled together, I was with them when the building shook. After prayer
meeting, the building shook where they were setting; I was identified there
with them.
I preached with Paul on Mars' Hill. Yes, sir. I was with John on the Isle of
Patmos and seen His second coming. I was with Luther in the reformation. I was
with Wesley, that firebrand snatched from the fires, when the great revolt against
the Anglican church; I was there with him.
And here I am tonight in 1964, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, identified with
the same kind of group, with the same kind of an experience. I must be to be
a Christian. I must stay identified where the Word of God is being manifested.
28-5 I'm identified with a group that feels the Spirit of God. I'm identified with a group that knows He's unveiled, that knows He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, and knows that this is not a fanaticism; it's Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. I'm identified with that group here tonight, yet they're called a bunch of heretics, yet a bunch of fanaticism on account of the Word of God. But I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to them ones.
28-6 I'm with them living epistles I spoke of, vindicated, God veiled in human form in men and women. Oh, God in His en morphe again unveiled Hisself and make Hisself known to His people, the great king who laid aside His glory. "Yet a little while and the world won't see Me no more. I'll be veiled to them, but ye shall see Me; for I'll be with you, even in you all the way to the consummation. Changing from Luther to Wesley, to on and on, from glory unto glory, I'm still the same God that is--that is going back to the original glory." Hallelujah.
29-1 He has broken every
denominational veil, every sound barrier. That sound that said, "Oh, that's
fanaticism," He broke right through that.
The sound that come out of there and said, "Oh, them people are crazy," He broke
right through that veil. Yes, He did.
"Oh, you can't do it. You're nothing but a bunch of fanatics." He broke right
through that.
"No such a thing as Divine healing." He broke right through that (oh, my.),
for His Word said He would. You can't conquer the Word of God.
And there He stands yet tonight, the mighty Conqueror, since He broke every
Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, every other kind of a veil. He still stands
among His people tonight unconquered by traditions. Let people say what they
want to, do what they want to, anything they want to; God comes breaking right
through that sound barrier.
29-4 And remember, they
tell me when a plane really breaks that sound barrier there's no limit to its
speed. And I'm telling you, when you break that traditional barrier, that "Jesus
was way back and He isn't now," when you find He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever, there's no limit to what God could do right here in this convention,
and show this world what they need; not a World's Fair, but a world revival
that'll be filled and baptized with the Presence of the living God: en morphe
inveiling Himself into human flesh. Hallelujah.
I believe it's broken every barrier, every veil. Every veil, nothing could hide
His Presence. When people gets hungry in their heart, there's a veil ready to
be broke; you can just depend on that. Rent every veil by His great Holy Spirit.
And here He stands tonight, the mighty Conqueror: same yesterday, today, and
forever, healing the sick, baptizing the believers, just as He always did. He's
the mighty Conqueror. Doomed devils are on the run. Yes, sir. They always are
when He's around.
29-6 Closing I might
say this. There was a... I read a story many years ago about an old violinist.
And he had an old violin, and he was going to sell it. (You've heard the story
many times.) And they wanted to sell it for a certain thing. And the auctioneer
said, "Who'll give me so-and-so?" And I believe he was offered a few coins,
maybe fifty cents or something. "Going once, going twice..."
Directly, a man raised up in the back; he said, "Just a minute." He walked up
and got it. Let's think that he played this:
One said, "Five thousand."
"Ten thousand."
It was priceless. Why? The--the old master of the violin had revealed its true
quality. Oh, brother, sister, now let the Master of this Word who wrote It, the
great Holy Spirit, rosin up His bow with love and pull it across your heart.
You say, "Brother Branham, I've tried. I've tried. I've done this, that, or the
other."
30-5 One day, I was
having a meeting at Carlsbad, New Mexico; and we went down in this big old bat
den down there; and it was kinda spooky-looking. And we got down there; and
the--the man, when he got down there in this place, he--he snapped the lights
off. And oh, my, you can imagine how dark it was. It's just--it's so dark you
could feel it. And that's just about the way the times are getting. When we
see the church that fails to recognize God's Word; when you see that our daughters
of Zion doing the way they're doing; when you see our brothers that smokes,
and drinks, and--and tells dirty jokes, and things, and still trying to hold
their confession in Christ (Oh, my.); it's dark; it's pitch dark.
We see the sign of His coming. There'll be... It's always darkest just before
day. Then the Morning Star comes out to hail the day, and to herald it and show
that it's coming.
31-1 Notice. In there,
when they turned that off, there was a little girl just screamed to the top
of her voice. And there was a little boy standing by the guide. And he seen
that guide when he switched the lights off, like that. And that little sister
was just about to have a fit. She was screaming and jumping up-and-down, "Oh,
what's going to happen next? What's the matter? What's the matter?"
You know what he screamed? He said, "Don't fear, little sister. There's a man
here who can turn on the lights."
Listen, little sister, you might think we're small and in the minority, but
don't fear. There's a Man here Who can turn on the lights; that's the Holy Spirit.
Do you believe it?
31-3 Let us bow our
heads just a moment. I'm sorry to have kept you. Oh, great God of heaven, unveiling
Yourself, unfolding Yourself, making Yourself known the great King of glory,
take these little illustrations tonight and let them fall down into the hearts
of the people. And may we see that unveiled One, that One Who came down and
rent the veil of the temple, and then went right out of that veil, come right
down into human veils again on the day of Pentecost, has ever been the same,
changing from glory to glory.
And now, we're right back like all nature acting, right back to the original
seed, right from one church age to another. And in this last age here, here
we are right back to the original thing that fell on the day of Pentecost to
fulfill every Scripture, the Light in the evening time, and, "The works that
I do shall you also," and so many things that You promised in Your Word.
Father, if there be one here who has never broke through that veil yet, or if
there be one here who's just impersonated someone who has went through the veil,
give grace tonight, Father. May they see that mighty Conqueror standing here,
full of grace and power to forgive. Grant it, Father.
31-6 And while our heads
are bowed, would there be some in here? How many (might I say that) would say,
"Brother Branham, I'm lifting my hand. Pray for me." Just keep your head bowed
and raise your hand. "I want to break through every veil till I can really see
the Conqueror." God bless you. My--at the hands. Up in the balconies to the
right. God bless you. Balconies to the back. God bless you. Be real honest.
To the left, raise your hand, say, "Brother Branham, I might've been a Christian
for years, but really, I've never come through that veil. I've really never
done it. I haven't got that what they had then."
Today we got it, "I'm a hotbedded plant." Take a flower that's raised in a hotbed;
you have to baby it, pet it, spray it, water it; but that original plant that
grows out there on the desert, same kind of a flower, looks like it; it don't
get a bit of water, but no bugs get on it. It's rugged. It's a real...
32-2 Could you compare
Christianity with, Christianity today with what it was then? Could you imagine
this group, what we call Christians today across the world, being like those
was after Pentecost, babied, and patted, and from one church to another, and
say something you don't like and get up and walk out? And oh, could you imagine
that? No. What is the matter? It's a reproduction.
Michelangelo, that created the monument of Moses... You can get a reproduction
of that very cheap, but the original... The one who painted the Lord's Supper...
I guess that original painting would run into millions of dollars, if you could
even buy it. I don't even know where it's at. But you can buy a cheap reproduction
of it for about a dollar ninety-eight cents. You can.
32-3 And that's the
way it is today. A cheap Christian, a reproduction, just a church-joiner, you
can buy them out for a cigarette, or a--or a common drink. Or for a woman with
cut hair, painted lips, you can buy her for anything in the fashions of the
world, but you can't touch that genuine.
I see Him in full view, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Oh, Christian,
don't you want to be a real Christian? If there's any didn't raise your hands,
will you do it while... I'm just going to pray. God bless you. God bless you.
Oh, that's just fine. Just look at the...
32-5 Our heavenly Father,
Thy Word shall not return to Thee void. You was the One made the promise. I'm
only responsible for saying that You said it. I'm just repeating Your Words.
You said, "He that heareth My Word and believeth on Him that sent Me has Eternal
Life." You promised it. And, Lord, we know we have them reproductions today,
many that say they believe when they don't; it shows up. But, Lord, there's
some genuine too.
I pray that You'll just grant in here tonight that every man and woman, boy
or girl, no matter what nation they are, what color they are, what church they
belong to... Oh, God, fill them. May they see the real manifestation of that
same Jesus today right among us, as He was at the day of Pentecost when He revealed
Himself for this age, being the Holy Ghost. Grant it.
33-2 Seeing the Word's
fulfilled, the prophecies come to pass, we compare today what's called the church
of the world--or the World Council of Churches, and compare that with the promise
on Pentecost; there's no comparison at all. We cannot get our dirty clothes
washed on that ticket.
But, Lord God, if we'll come back to that Fountain, there's a cleansing process.
Then our experience and God's Word will match one another; then we can claim
our possession. Grant it, Lord, tonight, as I commit these people in Your hands.
Give to each one what we have need of, Father. We ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.
33-4 God bless you. Thank you a lot for standing, waiting a long time, and I'm sorry I kept you till ten minutes after ten. God be with you till I see you in the morning. I turn the service now to, I suppose, to the master of ceremonies.