Baptism #4

April 27, 1983

	Shall we pray. Heavenly Father, we’re very grateful that upon us Lord
truly is come the end of all the ages, and there is nothing left now but
the complete change in Your great plan. And we’re part of that.
We’re looking forward, Lord, to walking into immortality because now
You set Yourself at the Head of the Church, to raise the dead and bring
all things into subjection. 

	We’re glad, Lord, that we’re part of that. You are going to bring
these natures, You’re going to bring these bodies, everything into
subjection to Christ, Who is Lord. And we’re thankful for it. 

	Now, help us in the study of Your Word, Lord, that it may do You
justice in this sense that it’ll be truly Your Word that’s given
back and given to the people, Lord, and be a blessing to us all, as we
see whatever lies therein. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. 

	You may be seated.

1.	Now, we’ve been looking at water baptism in order to see the
importance of it, and we found that it evidently has a deeper prospect
than what we first thought before our studies. And, there’s a chapter
10 here in Acts, beginning in verse 34, where Peter is brought into
contact with the Gentiles, so that the Word might be preached to them
and begin to fulfill the Scripture that in Abraham, (That’s the seed
of Abraham, the royal seed of Abraham: Christ.) should all nations be
blessed. Now, It says, then: [Acts 10:34-48]

(34)	Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that
God is no respecter of persons:

(35)	But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness,
is accepted with him.

(36)	The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, (Now, that’s
where it went, to Israel.) preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord
of all:)

(37)	That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all
Judaea, (Because, see, they’re a part of that nation by virtue of the
fact that he’s stationed there.) and began from Galilee, after the
baptism which John preached;

(38)	How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with
power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of
the devil; for God was with him.

(39)	And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of
the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:

(40)	Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; (That
proved it.)

(41)	Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God,
even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.

(42)	And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that
it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.

(43)	To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name
whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

(44)	While Peter yet spake these words, (That’s the words that you
heard.) the Holy Ghost fell on...them which heard the word.

(45)	And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as
many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured
out the gift of the Holy Ghost.

(46)	For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then
answered Peter,

(47)	Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, (who
have already been baptized with the Holy Ghost the same as we have.)

(48)	And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord...

 2.	Now, of course, verse 47 is very important because It says: “Can
any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have
received the Holy Ghost as well as we?” Now, you’ll notice in here
there’s what apparently is a reversal of the Scripture, “Repent and
be baptized, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

	These people received the Holy Spirit, and on that ground, water can
not be forbidden. And so, this does two things as you look at the
Scripture.

 3.	Number one: It lets you know that these Israelites did not know at
this time that God was literally receiving the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ as part of His Body. They didn’t know it. And this was the only
way that they could know it. There was no way that they would have
baptized these Gentiles normally. They would not have done it. 

	Cornelius could have come and said “I had a vision.”

	He said, “Well, I have visions, too.”

	“Well, you see, I believe that we should do like you do.” 

	“Oh, how do I do?” 

	“Well, you repent, and you get baptized in water and receive the Holy
Ghost.”

	They said, “No way. Sorry, it’s not for you.”

	See? So, God had to show them that it was for the Gentiles. And when
they knew that already repentance and eternal life had been granted,
Peter then said, “Who can forbid water?”

	Someone would say, “Now, hey, hold it! They’ve already got the Holy
Ghost. Who needs water?”

	They need water! See? You just can’t drop it. There’s no way you
can turn.  

4.	Now, let’s elucidate this verse 47 by going into Acts 11, and we
won’t read all [verses] 1-17. We’ll just read there where--verse 12,
and you know the story:

(12)	...the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting.  … six
brethren (also came with) me, and we entered into the man’s house...

	Now, that was sacrilegious. That’s like putting a sheep in a pig pen.
Now, the Jews and Israelites should not have gone into the Gentiles to
eat with them. See? They don’t eat with dogs. Now, they go in there.

(13)	And he shewed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood
and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname
is Peter;

(14)	Who shall tell thee words, (words...) whereby thou and all thy
house shall be saved.

(15)	And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at
the beginning.

(16)	Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John
indeed baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost. 

	Very funny he didn’t remember that before his own baptism. In other
words, what you are looking at here is the definitive experiences in the
two baptisms. They’re both positive and powerful. 

(17)	Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us,
who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could
withstand God?

 	Now, how could he withstand God? There’s no way he could, except by
walking away saying, “Well, there’s something very funny here.”

	Secondly, he would have to withstand God by refusing water baptism. So,
he couldn’t withstand God. He said. “Look, it’s been proven to
me!”

	So, even so there seems as though there is a reversal in the formula,
we must stay with the formula. So, they’ve been baptized, received the
Holy Ghost, now bring water. See? You simply can’t get away from it.
It won’t work.

 5.	Now, we’re not yet free to declare this to be a climax on this
portion of Scripture of water baptism, so we go to Acts 15. Now Acts 15,
we better read that, beginning from verse 1:

(1)	And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and
said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, (you) cannot
be saved.

	Lie from the pit of hell! Except you repent and be baptized in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, you can’t be saved. Now, here is a direct
perversion of the Word of God, adding to It. Did this help bring on the
fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, which was a mini, mini tribulation? It’s a
thought. It’s a thought.

(2)	When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and
disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and
certain other of them, ...go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and
elders about this question.

(3)	And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through
Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they
caused great joy unto all the brethren.

(4)	And when they (came) to Jerusalem, they were received of the church,
and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God
had done with them.

(5)	But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which
believed...

	How much did they believe? Now, we’re looking at first century
Christianity, already loused up. 

6.	You know, if you study water baptism, you’ll find they argued about
water baptism for babies. Now, water baptism in the first century, right
down, has been a source of a problem. You know, you might as well
understand that a sower went forth to sow, and he sowed good seed, and
there was a dirty rascal that came right behind him and sowed bad
seed...and leave them alone, until they both ripen. He said, “I’ll
take care of the bad seed.” 

	You know, we don’t like that. I don’t especially. Well, it’s not
time to apply the blowtorch. When God will do His Own applying of the
blowtorch, you better keep the blowtorch away.

	It reminds me of a friend of mine way back in Canada, years and years
ago, during the depression. He’s very foolish. He decided to burn a
wasp nest in his grain bin with a blow torch, and he burned the bin
down. You might have your shirt tail on fire by the time I take that
blow torch--I’m talking, Lee Vayle. You could stand by and listen and
take heed. Ha! Yes!

7.	(5)	...there rose up… (and said) it was needful to circumcise them,
and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

	What for? Well, do you know what it would have done? It would have
taken away the sovereign grace of Jesus Christ. And they said,
“Let’s get clean by pots and pans, and washings, and ordinances.”
Hogwash. You need an inside job. 

	These men and these women in Hollywood that have a nose job, I advise
them a heart job. They may come out looking better to the world, but
they look worse to God. See if verse 6 is spoken

8.	(7)	And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said
unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made
choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of
the gospel, and believe.

	And they said, “Shut up, who made you a leader, fat head?”

	They didn’t say it, but some sure must have thought it. People
haven’t changed. Ha! I can see Bro Branham at this end time getting up
and tell these bunch of Laodecian Nicolatian bunch of guys out there,
these tares planted by the enemy, these church-mongers. And he said
“God raised me up as a witness and my message is forerunning the
second coming of Jesus Christ.”

	They said, “pbbbt.”

	Well, come on, this has gone to seed. This what happened back there has
gone to seed. 

9.	Now, he said, “By my mouth you hear the word of the Gospel and
believe.” I like that...positive.

(8)	And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them
the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;

(9)	And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by
faith.

(10)	Now therefore why tempt ye God...

	Now, they did that in the wilderness. See? They’re trying to get
around the Word of God. Either ditching It or adding to It or doing
something, and this is the same thing that was in the provocation. And
they’re trying to do it right now with this Message. And when they do
it they provoke God. And the Scripture says those Jews who rose up
against those men [who] brought the Word of God, they blasphemed. 

	You think people aren’t blaspheming this Message these days? You’ve
got to be a little bit off your rocker if you don’t think so. I know,
we say, “Well, Bro Vayle, that Word is too strong.”

 	Well, then, why don’t you rip it out of your Bible? How can you say
that Word is too strong when you smell like limburger cheese yourself?
Huh? That’s nice. I put things very nice...very very, erudite person.
I speak very beautifully and as you know, my language is fluid. If you
get up front you might get spat on--I didn’t say fluently, I said
fluidly. 

10.	Yeah, I know people don’t like rough preaching, but look! Let’s
face it: there’s no time for this sweet talk any more. When you go
back 2000 years and see what lays there in the dust to bring forth the
fruit in this hour, don’t let anybody tell me that this Message is not
going to be blasphemed, that men aren’t going to rise up...because the
earth at the right time that the Word of God brought forth the seed that
was lying there. And the seed of absolute deception comes forth in this
age. And the greatest sign of the presence of the Son of man is that
which rises up against It. The gates of hell are against It.

11.	(10)	Now…why (do) you…tempt God, to put a yoke upon
(them)…(change the Word to do this, to do that) which neither our
fathers…were able to bear?

	Brother Branham came and laid down the Word of God and said, “What
brings marriage and divorce?” He said, “Sex.”

	And a man comes by and preaches “Husbands don’t touch your wives”
because Bro. Branham said Paul suffered you and I suffered you, and
‘suffering’ means ‘suffering’. So, you can go to bed with her,
but you can’t touch her. So you can lie there and suffer.

	I’m telling you what has been preached since the prophet died. You
wonder[] why I get mad and scream. I’m not mad at you. But I can just
feel those wheels turning inside, like somebody threw a bunch of sand in
my gearbox. You talk about a bunch of rotten, perverted liars around the
country. Where did they come? Right from back here. [Bro. Vayle taps on
the Bible.]  

	That seed was just waiting there to come right forth, and when the hour
came for this end-time Message that precedes that literal Coming, they
just... It’s right here, manifested:

(12)	Then all the multitude kept silence...

	It’d have been nice if they’d have shut up, but they didn’t do
it.

12.	All right. You notice in here that right down the line we have that
the baptism with the Holy Ghost answers the conscience or the hearts of
the people of which water baptism is the answer of the conscience. 

	The man says, “I’ve got a good conscience toward God. I’ve
accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. I’m standing for the Blood, and
the Blood is standing for me. I believe in eternal life, and that’s
what it is all about. When I rise I’m going to be filled with the Holy
Ghost.”

	That’s his good conscience. Water baptism signifies that. That’s
part of it, but we’ll get to more later on.

	And the Holy Ghost comes back and God answers to the good conscience,
and God which knoweth the heart, beareth witness. That’s why Simon
never got the Holy Ghost. He was baptized in water, but it wasn’t with
the good conscience. See, he’d seen something, but there wasn’t true
repentance.

 	Now, these old birds in here, they were fighting. They needed to get
another type of repentance. Their repentance wasn’t a repentance not
to be repented of; they had a repentance to be repented of. They had to
rethink their rethinking. Pshew.

	Brother, in this day and age where people got to rethink their
rethinking the prophet brought. Something’s wrong somewhere. But, you
can see just where they are. And you know what people who rethink their
rethinking, what do they do--they leave the Message every single time.
There ain’t nothing to rethink. It’s been vindicated. See all of
this is examples to us.

13.	All right. The Holy Spirit baptism answers back to the conscience of
the heart, which is right toward Almighty God. So, we see that water
baptism is on the part of the candidate. In other words, he goes into
water baptism on his part, looking to eternal life which is the
infilling of the Holy Spirit, which is the rebirth. That water baptism
is his answer to God. It is the witness to men before God. See? All
right. Since this is so, we better know what the correct witness is.
What is the correct witness? Why is he going into that water? 

	To begin with, it is the witness to what has been heard through
someone’s preaching. Because that is exactly what it says in Acts--in
Mark 16, “He that believeth go in all the world and preach the gospel,
and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,” and he that
doesn’t believe--now, it doesn’t add baptism. Because if you are not
believing right, your baptism doesn’t do you good. There’s got to be
the correct revelation that you can receive the Holy Spirit.

 	Now, you can be a lot of things wrong with what you believe in that
area. That’s very true. There can be many things wrong with it,
because the Word wasn’t given until this hour. Their thinking could be
off in certain areas. It’s been off for two thousand years.  But they
knew that they should receive the Holy Ghost. They knew the Word:
“Repent, be baptized, you shall receive the Holy Ghost.” Have you
received the Holy Ghost since you believed? Now, as long as the ages
knew that. They could walk into the Presence of God in that sort of way.
All right, you go into all the world to preach the Gospel. And then to
those that hear the Gospel, they can repent, they can believe, and be
baptized. 

14.	Now, lets go to Rom 10:17. And you notice in here what It says: 

(17)	So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

	Go into all the world and preach the Gospel, and he that believeth, he
that hears and believes the truth... Now to do that, you got to repent.
You got to have a change of mind. Then you go into the water, and
thereby you receive the Holy Ghost.

	Now I want you to notice here that verse 17 here says, “So then faith
cometh by hearing.” So then faith is by hearing, and hearing by the
Word of God. That is a capstone sentence or summation sentence. It’s
true, it’s the concluding sentence.  

16.	Now what does that rest upon? It rests upon the first 16 verses.
[Romans 10:]

(1)	Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is,
...they might be saved. (That’s verse 1 of chapter 10.)

(2)	For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not
according to knowledge.

(3)	For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, (But having a zeal
just the same for God. But notice:) and going about to establish their
own righteousness, (through that perverted zeal) have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God.

	Back in 1960...rather ‘58, Dallas, Texas, Bro. Branham said to a very
fine man that Bro. Branham admired, “Your zeal outruns your
knowledge.” Right here, we just saw right here. Now, listen to verse
4.

(4)	For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth.

 	Now, it doesn’t say there’re things in the law that you don’t
obey. “Thou shalt not commit adultery”. Now, refraining from
adultery doesn’t save you. But when you are born again you still
don’t commit adultery. But the fact that you don’t commit adultery
does not make you righteous. It is Christ that makes you righteous, and
thereby a man does not prefer and does not want to commit adultery or
covet or lie or steal, or do those things that are dishonoring to
himself or to others. It won’t be there if he is born again. 

	That’s why there is no such thing as the homosexual preacher born
again. Ha! I don’t care if he speaks in tongues and raises the devil,
he is going to hell anyway because It says, “Such were some of you,
but you are not anymore.”

17.	Okay, Christ is the end of the law, but it doesn’t mean there’s
no law. There is a law of the Spirit of God, which does not commit sin.
Doesn’t meditate, doesn’t plan, doesn’t want to, won’t enter
into it. You can be fooled. Now:

(5)	For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the
man which doeth those things shall live by them. (You can’t live by
the law, you die.)

(6)	But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say
not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring
Christ down from above:)

(7)	Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ
again from the dead.)

(8)	But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in
thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

(9)	That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and...believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. 

 	Now, that tells you exactly what the Gospel is in a nutshell: that
Jesus died for the sins of men, lay in the grave for three days, and was
raised by the Father. And the heavens were purified with the blood of
Almighty God, the Blood stands there as the entrance of mercy, the
putting away of sin. 

(11)	For the Scripture (says,) Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. 

(12)	There is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, for the
same Lord is over all and is rich unto all that call upon him. 

(13)	For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
(That’s what Jesus said.)

	Go into all the world and preach the Gospel. And Peter stood right
there at Pentecost, under the Holy Ghost, and said the promise is unto
you, and to your children, and all that are afar off. And he thought
that verse of Scripture meant down the generation of Jews, when the far
off were the Gentiles. Jews, children, Jews. Children, Jews. Gentiles
are the far off. Peter couldn’t understand some of the things he said.

18.	(14)	(Now,) How then shall they call on him in whom they have not
believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
and how shall they hear without a preacher?

	Go into all the world and preach the gospel. And he that believes what
you tell them simplistically, a way has made to turn men from sin and
unto God save and redeem him. Through the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ, by his rising from the dead, the shedding of His Blood, his
propitiation, his mediation, and his intercession. How can a man know of
it, unless somebody goes to tell him?

 	So, the Gospel is handed down from generation to generation, seed to
seed. But it begins to get very corrupt and the Word dies and God sends
a fresh messenger with a fresh anointing, taking that same Word, giving
life back to It. Preachers going on out. Men hearing that Word,
repenting. They come to the knowledge of salvation, they’re baptized
in water, they’re filled with the Holy Ghost. Now:

19.	(14)	...how shall they hear without a preacher?

(15)	...how shall they preach, except they be sent?... 

	You mean to tell me those Pharisees that caused that trouble were ever
sent of God? They weren’t sent of God. They were a bunch of
blasphemers, disputers and seducers. 

	People say, “Well, I believe.”

	“What do you believe?”

	“I’ll believe Methodist.”

	Well, that puts you out.

	[You] say, “I believe Baptist.”

	You’re gone with the rest of them.

	“I believe Roman Catholic. I believe this.”

	They were Pharisees. They believed... What did they believe? See? What
did they believe unto? 

	Well, you say, “Well, is that fair?”

	Yes, that is fair. John the... Apollos went to the coast down through
Corinth up to Ephesus, and he preached the baptism of John, who was
proclaiming Christ, as though they baptized unto John, looking forward
to Jesus. Now, what happens? They believed wrong.

20.	Now Paul didn’t say you’re not some kind of believer. Why he
said, “just a minute. You guys got the Holy Ghost down here?”

	Well, they said, “We never heard of Him.”

	He said, “Well, I thought you were baptized?”

	“We were.”

	“Man alive, what kind of baptism did you get into?”

	“Into John.”

	“Oh,” he said, “That answers it. You’re wrong.”

	Now, they could have stopped right there. If they had stopped right
there, they would not have been saved. There’s no way the Book of
Ephesians would have been written to them. See, people just don’t want
to understand these things. 

21.	All right:

(15)	...as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

(16)	But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord,
who hath believed (their) report?

(17)	So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

	Now, these people heard the Word of God preached. That wrought in them
the principles of faith through the Holy Spirit. They could turn their
minds around, by the grace of Almighty God, and then they could be
baptized in water. So here you are.

23.	This capstone verse, Rev 10:17, “Faith coming by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God,” absolutely is the Gospel that is
preached. Look what Paul said in 1 Cor 15. Just a few verses. [1 Cor
15:1-4]

(1)	Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also you have received, and wherein (you) stand;

(2)	By which also you are saved, if you a keep in memory what I preached
unto you, unless ye...believed in vain. 

	How many people back there believed in vain? How many people today
believe in vain? That means they’re believing just do them and it
won’t do them one bit of good. You’ve wasted your time. 

 	How many Methodist, Baptists and the rest of us are believing in vain?
How many believe in William Branham in vain? Let me tell you something.
If we are right concerning his Presence (and I believe we are or I
wouldn’t preach It), then those that fight It, their believing has got
to be in vain, because how can you deny Him, because that’s what the
Scripture says so. How can you deny Him Who is going to lead us into the
Millennium, and still make the Millennium? How are you going to have
cheesecake without cheese? Now, they understand that, but they don’t
understand this. 

24.	Now, Paul says you keep that in mind. Now unless you believed in
vain:

(3)	For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures;

(4)	And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures:

(5)	And that he was seen… (Of the apostles and even me.)

	Now, there’s your Gospel. See? A person only has to believe that much
and make it. But if that’s only what you might call a mental
theological aspect, you could believe this much, which is a yard and a
half, and miss it a million miles. You could do the same with this
Message, too. You can believe just a teeny portion one hundred percent
and not even know anything else about the rest of It. Like the
washerwoman with her one tape or three tapes, and she’ll make it,
while the guy with the whole library who’s going to sit there and say,
“Well, you see, Brother Branham made a mistake when he said, “That
which is perfect is come.” 

25.	I don’t care if he translates every one of Brother Branham’s
sermons and puts them into print. I don’t care if he makes a
concordance that will be fifteen miles high. You deny that “That which
is perfect is come,” you deny what the prophet said. He threw his own
interpretation on it and thought it was a little gift of prophecy.
It’s not [that] the Word of God has always come in sections. It has
always come in sections. Last section is in, and it’s all over. See?
Got too much up here. 

	I’m the guy that’s supposed to be the theologian and so smart that
I’ve made everything rotten for everybody. How come I can see these
things and the smart guys can’t? See, the thing is I’m not half as
smart as they think I am, it is that God has given me a little bit of
something. See, that’s the whole thing.

26.	Now, here’s what Paul said. He said, “My gospel is that Jesus
Christ the Son of God died for our sins according to Scripture, was
raised according to Scripture, was seen according to Scripture, and
everything that was scripturally oriented. That’s the way it is
supposed to be. Now Peter said the same thing in the book of Acts the
fourth chapter. What I’m trying to show you this here is the preaching
of this Word, and what water baptism follows what preaching of what
Word. 

	You don’t have to know about the Jews coming in and the Jews leaving,
you don’t have to know about the Gentiles coming in the fullness being
over. You don’t have to know all the things about the antichrist, this
and that. Here is what you got to know. Here’s where you start. This
is what does It, this is what brings eternal life. Not quoting the whole
Bible. This is where your faith lies. 

27.	Acts 4:8-12.

(8)	Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said...rulers of the people,
and elders of Israel,

(9)	If we this day be examined of the good deed done to (this) impotent
man, by what means he is made whole;

(10)	Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom (you) crucified, whom God
raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you
whole.

(11)	This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is
become the head of the corner.

(12)	Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other
name under heaven given amongst men, whereby we must be saved.

	Now, he told you right there, that’s salvation. If you believe that
Jesus is the Son of God, that he died for remission of sins, He was
crucified and hanged upon Calvary and he was buried for three days and
then in three days he rose again, is sitting at the right hand of God.
And you take that Name, and you get baptized in water--that’s
sufficient to give you the Holy Ghost.

28.	Now, let’s get this flat. How many people do get the Holy Ghost?
And how many people do believe? Their believing is in vain because they
never did get to the Holy Ghost because, if you are full of the Holy
Ghost, you are sealed in. So, how many get there? How many got back
there in that day? 

	The Lord added daily such as should be saved, what if they shouldn’t
be saved? None other Name given under Heaven amongst men whereby you
must be saved. No other Name amongst men. Then how come the man is a
Baptist, Presbyterian, oneness, threeness and you name it? Well, I’ll
give you one name: goat.

	Instead of, “Go to, you rich man, weep and howl,” say, “Goat,
too, you rich man in house.” A little perversion don’t hurt
anything, the way I do it.

 	Water baptism is the witness that you have done that. It is you
identifying with all that God has done for you in and through Jesus
Christ, you accepting it publicly. That is why Peter said, “Repent and
be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.” There is
none to be left out if you want to go this route, in the water way.
There is where the Light is. See?

	Now, that Name is the only name, the only true way to identify yourself
with Him by water baptism. There’s no other way. Everyone must
identify that way because there is no other way. You’ve got to have
that Name.  Now, we talked about that Name in Message #2. 

29.	Look over here in 1 Corinthians 10:

(1)	Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that
all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

(2)	And were all baptized unto Moses…

	Moses was a part of the Word. They were baptized later on unto John. It
says in Acts 19, what were you baptized unto? Unto John. They
tried--some people no doubt tried to baptize unto Paul. He said no dice.
And Peter took the time of the water baptism of the earth and brought up
the name of Noah. So you see, there’s a Name there.

 	Now, every one of those has something to do with the Word. Each of
those men: Moses, Noah, Paul, John, every one had something to do with
the Word. Each had a part in the Word. But Jesus was the Word, and the
fulfiller of the Word, and the fullness of that same Word. It’s a
mighty different story. Not one of these men brought salvation. All they
could do was preach it. Yet each had his name associated in baptism. 

	Moses never led Israel out. It was God that led Israel out. All Moses
did is botch things up. First thing he did was disbelieve God. God said,
“You go on down there, Moses, and I’ll tell you what; he’s not
going to let you go. No way. He’s going to make it worse.” 

	And as soon as things got worse Moses began weeping and crying. And he
said, “Lord, you didn’t only not bring them out, but you made it
worse.”

	He said, “What are you groaning about? That’s what I told you.”

30.	Some people turn around and say, “Now, what is all this anyways?
I’ve been saved, I’ve repented, and furthermore, I was baptized,
received the Holy Ghost, and now William Branham, you come around and
you tell me I got to get rebaptized because I wasn’t baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ.” 

	What are they doing? They’re groaning just like old Moses. They
can’t take the Word of the Lord. Now people even stand back and say
“well, I really don’t know how I was baptized but I don’t think I,
maybe, maybe I was baptized really okay. I kind of think so.”

 	Well, you’re dead. I’m not judging you. I’m telling you the
prophet said “Thus saith the Lord you must be baptized over again.”

	Jesus’ Name won’t do it, because the fallacy lies in that doctrine.
And when you are taking Jesus’ Name, and you are a oneness, with the
Jesus only doctrine, you’re wrong! You’ve got a wrong repentance.
Your repentance is in vain, your Christianity is in vain. You say, “In
vain? Listen...”

	Look. Come on, either throw this in the garbage tin, or believe it.
Make up your mind. Do you think God is some slot machine, or some dice
that you whirl and throw, or some spinning wheel? No way. That Word of
God is like a rock. It’s a hammer. It’s a killer. Well, it’s a
maker-aliver, too. God says, “I’ll kill, I make alive.” No, they
just...

	Look it here. Moses’ name was there. That name was there. But I tell
you, all they did was point to it. But He came and now we only can point
to him and nothing else to point at. All right.

31.	Is it possible to recognize the Savior, who Himself is actually our
personal salvation, and not use His name? No way! Can we be married to
him and not use his name? No way!

	Now, let’s go back to Acts, the 3rd chapter. That’s still in the
days of early Pentecost. And you know what that’s all about. This
fellow gets wonderfully healed, and Peter said, “Why do you marvel at
this?” 

(13)	The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our
fathers, hath glorified his Son...

	Jesus Christ, that you spit on. That you sneered at. You mocked. He
could do what all of you put together couldn’t do, and you still
sneered. And you’re still sneering. Boy, they sure must have been a
silent bunch just about that time. 

	You think for one minute that’s not exactly what’s in that Bible?
That’s exactly what’s in that Bible. I’m telling you right now
putting it in between the lines. Because believe me they knew. They knew
that they had done this. They knew that that was their attitude. But you
know what, they had the guts to spit right back in his face.

32.	Bro. Branham sat on a platform with a bunch of Oneness preachers. It
lets you know how much use I got for that junk. He called the sin in one
man, and all the preachers walked off the platform, because they’d
sooner stand with this sinner than the Sinless One. Where’s their
organization under those conditions today? DEAD! I’m going to tell
you, you’ll be dead just as same as they are dead if you fool with
these things. Yeah!

	I don’t tell you these things because I’m perfect, I tell you these
things because they’re true. And I’m listening just as careful as
you are. You know, life’s funny. I won’t tell you--I’ll tell you
later sometime.  Said:

	...whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, 

	Pilate’s their enemy, a Roman, a dog. Sure! It took him... Now Pilate
was simply a Jew and he become a governor. Then here’s a Jew that
turned on his own people. Filthy, rotten, no good, and they stood with
him against Jesus. 

33.	Oh I want to tell you something, that was hot that day. That was hot
when that fellow Peter preached. You could see them standing there, [Bro
Vayle breathes loud], adjusting their collars, and their togas, their
toenails, whatever they were doing. Oh it was hot that day!

(14)	But ye denied the Holy One (even) the Just, and desired a murderer
to be granted unto you;

(15)	And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead;
whereof we are witnesses.

(16)	And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong,
whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him (Jesus) hath given
him this (man) perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

(17)	And now, brethren, I (know that you were ignorant)…

 	So, I got news for you. The day of ignorance is over. It’s over and
you can be forgiven, he said, if you listen now. How often does this
Word go around that William Branham preached to preachers, taken by
faithful brethren around the country, but they are just as bumptious and
they turned it down?

(18)	But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all
his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. 

	And they said, “Fap! What are you talking about?”

34.	So, William Branham came to restore the Word--”Ah fap! What are
you talking about?” []

	He said, “You people over here,” he said, “you needed William
Branham for the Bible. We didn’t because we always had it.”

	I heard Lori preach. One night he used one, he used one little bit of
Scripture. In my sermons you will hear me read as many as two hundred
Scriptures. I’ll use more Bible in one sermon than most these guys use
in one year. And it’ll come together, too. Not boasting, just telling
you the truth, because it is the truth. If I didn’t have faith in what
the prophet said and what I’ve got, I would get out of here right now.
That’s why something inside me knows I’m going to live. I don’t
know how it’s going to be done but He’s going to do it.

	You say, “Vayle, just a minute.”

	Don’t just a minute me with anything, brother. Let me tell you flat.
I know what I know. No one can take it from me. See?  

35.	Now, he said:

(19)	Repent ye therefore, and be converted, (Get the Holy Ghost.) (so)
your sins may be blotted out, (then he said,) when the times of
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

	And he said that Presence will be here, and that’s not the Presence
you and I are talking about, although It is. But he said that which is
visibly manifested before the eyes of Him being there. Now nobody ever
saw the Pillar of Fire, the camera took it, see? We go a little further
on that, too. Bro. Branham said he appeared in signs and wonders, and
then that’s what this great refreshing is.

(20)	And he shall send Jesus Christ, which...was (proclaimed in
advanced) preached (announced)... 

	But he said the heavens have got to retain him. That is exactly true.
The Presence is here manifested, but Jesus, the son of God risen, is
still up there while that’s going on. And he is going to stay there
until you and I are ready for him. It’s going to take the preacher or
how... hard?

 	What am I doing preaching water baptism, getting this thing all mixed
up? It’s dangerous, let’s turn me loose up here, brother. It becomes
plumb dangerous for you and me both because I get wound up. There
ain’t no way I’m going to get unwound unless I break my spring.

36.	Heaven’s got to retain him, keep him there. I’m going to get
down--Let’s got down a little further:

 (21)	Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets
since the world began.

(22)	For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord
your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye
hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

(23)	And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear
that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

(24)	Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after,
as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.

(25)	Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God
made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all
the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

(26)	Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to
bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.

 	Now, you see what’s he done there? He raised Him up to the Jews
first, then he’s going to be--now listen! When he was raised up to the
Jews, they hammered that Name. That Name, Lord Jesus Christ, had a
preeminence. 

37.	Now, Peter gets up at Pentecost. See, they said, “Listen, this
took place. We know it did.”

	Peter at Pentecost said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for remission of sin.”

	Now, what are they saying? They are saying He was here, (See?) so we
use His Name. Now, that’s what we are talking about. Now, listen;
let’s go to Jn 4:1-2. Now just hold on what I said. I’m going to get
to some more Scripture right away. They said He was here, this is the
One, He’s gone. So now it’s His Name. 

38.	All right, Jn 4:1-2.

(1)	When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus
made and baptized more disciples than John,

(2)	(Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)

	Now, whose name were they baptizing in? Jesus’ Name! But Jesus
didn’t baptize.  Why? Because he was waiting for Jn 7:37-39, wherein
when he was raised from the dead, he baptized with the Holy Ghost, so he
could not baptize with water. But he could be baptized unto. You follow?
He never did baptize in water. But He was baptized unto. They used His
Name. Now He is going to fill with the Holy Ghost.

39.	All right. They used His Name. Now, listen. When present, they used
his name because they had to. And when he was gone, that’s all they
had. So, they had to use the Name. Now listen; for 2000 years He’s
been absent, and He left his name, but today He is present, and demands
His Name, under the Seventh Seal, ‘Thus Saith the Lord’. Those have
not been baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ must be. Why?
Because He’s present. See? 

	Now, for two thousand years they had problems. For two thousand
years--now remember, Brother Branham categorically said you watch the
beginning and the end. Never mind what goes on in the middle. He said
that’s not what really counts. He said God looks at that, winks in
ignorance, and so on. But he said you watch that beginning and end.
That’s exactly right, you go back there, He was present. And when the
Holy Ghost came on the scene, it was baptism in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It was Jesus’ Name. And he stood there, Jehovah Savior.
And so they baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ because he was
the Christ. 

	He said, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?”

	They said, “Thou are the Christ, the son of the living God,” and
made him Lord Jesus Christ. Raised from the dead, proved that he was
Lord Jesus Christ. 

40.	Now, during those two thousand years the Name was lost. Now, whose
name did Paul baptize in? Lord Jesus Christ. Who did Peter baptize in?
Lord Jesus Christ. Who did anybody baptize in? Lord Jesus Christ. All
right. That’s the beginning, and it has got to be so at the end. See?

	Now, He’s present, not present in body, but present in the Holy
Spirit, in the form of the Holy Spirit. And the wholeness is here. You
cannot get away from baptism in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
have been brought back to it. Now, it was identifying with him, and the
true heart. The heart, being true, baptized in Jesus’ Name that
brought the Holy Spirit, and now it is Baptism revealed in the last day
that brought the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Now, did you catch the
twist?

41.	It was His Presence there that brought the Name, but when the Name
was finally revealed at the end time, and brought back then, so must the
Presence come back, because it was Presence that brought It to a Name.
You follow me? And then all that was left was the Name, and you talk
about that new Name under the Thunders. You can talk what you want about
It. I’m not going to put the big emphasis on It at all. It’s just
the last day we’re going to have It revealed to us. 

	Does that mean the Name gets changed, or does that mean we get the
revelation of It? I don’t know, I’m not trying to fool with
anything. I’m just looking at It. I leave it be; I care less. I know
how to keep my nose out of things: just wait for God to do it. But here
we are. 

42.	That revealed Name, when they began to see that there was a true
Baptism, the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there was one God, it
brought Him right back. For in His Presence we are just waiting now for
His incarnation, reincarnation. Waiting for the Wedding Supper. It’s
true.

 	There is no other name whereby any of us can use in redemption. There
is no name outside of that name that can be used in redemption, given
amongst men.  Now you can talk about angels if you want, I don’t know
the first thing about them. I don’t know anything about angels being
redeemed, never heard one thing about it. They don’t have blood. But
if they do get redeemed, I don’t know about any Name of the Lord Jesus
Christ doing it, because this is among men.

	Yet people come along and don’t want the Name. No, they got it all
down pat, they said do everything in the Name of Jesus, like eat your
dinner, eat your supper, go to bed, get up in the morning. You get
baptized in the same way. That’s wrong. There’s a formula given,
see? All right.

43.	There’s no Name given in Redemption, except that Name. And the
command to identify is given by God Himself. For the Scripture says,
“What doth hinder anyone from rising and calling on the Name of the
Lord to wash away his sins, identifying himself in water, and arising to
receive the Holy Spirit?” 

	Now, we’re going to get out of here just in time. We’re going to
start to conclude with this definite thought. If repentance is the
actual result of the revealed or spoken or preached Word, and water
baptism is the quickened consequence of that Word, so that you quickly
go in that water, then that person coming out of that water must
continue to be quickened only in one way.

 	Now you lost me, didn’t you? Listen, there’s nothing to what I
said, it’s as simple as A-B-C. What got the man into the water? The
Word. The Word was quickened to him, and he was quickened by the Word to
go into the water. Now, how did he get the Holy Ghost? The Word was
quickened. Now then, if it starts that way, it’s got to continue that
way. 

44.	Now I hope you begin to see what I’m looking at, and that is this.
How can you say you’ve been quickened and turn down the Word for the
hour? You couldn’t have been quickened. I don’t care what the person
says. 

 	Go back to baptism in Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Go back to joining
churches. Going away from the prophet. Going back to Pentecost. I’d
name you names, except I’d get in trouble. Probably just leave it
alone, except let them come and talk with me and I’ll read you a
pedigree and care less. Because they’re wrong. There can’t be any
quickening, because they got to be all the way. 

	How could a person say, “I’m quickened to the Word and baptized in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and call William Branham a false
prophet? He was no more quickened than nothing! See? There was no
quickening there. 

	Just like old Simon. See? What I’m trying to say now... Look; [we]
went into a baptism now that is void. We went into a preaching that’s
void. Because Paul said you can believe in vain. It won’t do you any
good. In fact it’s going to cause you death. Because he who receives
much, is going to be required much. Receive many stripes.

45.	All right. That Word must come alive. Every Word must have life at
the hour for which the Word is given. It had life back there. A whole
bunch of people crucified Christ. Nobody stood with him on that day. Oh,
some did their best, you know. They felt sorry--they hid, which I
don’t mind. It had to be that way. The nation rose up and they said
that blood be on us and our children, and they stood there and said amen
and amen, they were happy. They’ve been paying for it.

	Now, what I’m trying to say is this: there was so much adversity.
There was so much against that Word. But I’m going to tell you, God
backed that Word. That Word was alive at Pentecost, that Word was alive
after Pentecost and those men stood there and preached, and men’s
hearts were changed because the Word was quickened to them. Faith came.
And they walked in that water and they did receive the Holy Ghost. But
there are millions--there’s hundreds of thousands stood there and they
weren’t quickened to anything but to gnash their teeth and to
blaspheme. Did their best to kill those who were baptized both with
water and with the Holy Ghost. 

	They’ve done it for year after year after, and the same people say,
“yes, hallelujah, we believe in God, we believe in His Son, we’re
born again, yes sir, yes sir, yes sir,” and no more born again than
nothing. You know why? They’ve never have been quickened to the Word.
That’s why when they died under Roman Catholicism, and Luther came on
the scene and they were quickened under Luther, and the Lutherans died
under Wesley and the Wesleyans were quickened. And the Wesleyans died
under Pentecost. And Pentecost was quickened, and now Pentecost is dead
and we’re quickened. 

46.	You can say what you want. Because the life of the Word for this
hour, and this hour, is, “He that believeth in me shall never die.”
Somebody’s got to believe It! You say, “Oh Bro. Vayle, I don’t
believe that anybody can really believe that.”

	Hogwash! I believe it. I keep telling you I’d sooner get out of here
by death, because it will be much easier, much nicer. You know why?
Because I don’t go by feelings anymore.

	You say, “Bro. Vayle, Are you afraid?”

	In myself, sure I in myself would be afraid, but he said so. I’m not
afraid now because I refuse to be afraid. I refuse to listen to myself
or voices breaking upon my conscience. I refuse in the Name of Jesus
Christ, I’ve been sealed into His Word—shut up! I don’t have time
for nonsense anymore. 

47.	Tell me why I should go by feelings. What’s that got to do with
the Word? Where was my feelings when God was in the beginning? Where was
your feelings, where was anything before there was a speck of stardust
and get back there. Feelings don’t have a thing to do with it. Just
Word. Sure I in myself, I’d be afraid to die, and this and that and
the other thing. There’s no fear--why should there be because He,
it’s His Word? 

	You’ve got to come like Abraham someday, if you are a child of
Abraham. Old Abraham, no doubt he had more arthritis and more everything
the night he got changed. He was older, rougher, tougher in the last
five minutes than any time in his life. Yeah! Coleman couldn’t see
that; he saw the negative, Lloyd. I stood there and proclaimed it. It
might be the roughest toughest part of my life and I live and not die
because He said so. Why have you got the assurance he could die? Because
it’s the Word of the hour. That’s what’s been quickened. If you
have something else quickening you, you can have it.

 	 You want to be like the old maid who kissed the cow, fine! Any
red-blooded woman’d sooner kiss a good man. Going to kiss your cotton
picking creeds and dogmas full of hell, then go kiss them. I’d sooner
kiss the Son lest he be angry. 

	Ah, people are all mixed up. We ain’t mixed up, brother/sister.
That’s why the Word is preached hard here, we aren’t mixed up. You
bet your life we are not mixed up. No I’m not mixed up. You better
believe it. I was mixed up at one time. Mixed up, messed up, everything
else. 

48.	Oh yes! When that hand of God comes on the scene, His Presence, and
the revival begins to start in the Bride and something begins to happen.
Nobody wants it, but I get testimonies all the time, phone calls,
everything. It’s always the same story. Something’s happened!
That’s why they get so mad. That’s why the people outside, they
gnash their teeth and make up all kinds of lies and all. They lie, lie,
lie, day and night. Just lie right in their teeth. 

 	Like the whore that can lie with the man and take his money. Nothing
more, well. It’s a way of life, she says. It’s like eating a chunk
of bread. You wipe your mouth after you take it. Eat your bread and a
little bit of butter, wipes her lips, that’s all there is to it. So
she goes and cleans up for the next dog. No dog shall enter the Kingdom
of God. He [who] loveth and maketh a lie. Yeah look, don’t fool
around, brother/sister, it’s too late in the day. 

	Every Word must have life at the hour for which that Word is given. And
today the Word is given for the living at the time of the Resurrection.
Come on! We’ve been going to 1 Thessalonians 4 for how many sermons?
How long have I preached it to you? Based on the tremendous revelation
the prophet gave us. 

49.	Verse 13, chapter 4: 1 Thessalonians:

(13)	But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, (you that are
living) concerning them which are asleep...

	There’s a Word for the living at the time of the Resurrection. The
Lord shall descend with a Shout. Can’t these guys that fight this
message all the time understand that? They think old Lee Vayle’s got
some kind of doctrine. Now let’s find out if I’ve got a doctrine. I
want you to know this is sure and you that listen to this tape--come on,
you birds out there listening to this tape!

	“You might have thought today I was trying to say that about myself,
being I was packing this Message. I have no more to do with this Message
than nothing. No more than just a Voice, and the Lord shall descend with
a Voice.” You tell me Jesus Christ is going to come down here in the
flesh and bring us a Message, you’re crazy! That’s to the Jews.
Behold my hands and my feet.

	Oh, they’re smart. They’re so smart. They’re so smart, they just
lie to my good buddies, and say Lee Vayle’s running around the world,
splitting churches.

	So the guy said, “all right, now that you said it, name the places
and the dates.”

	Yeah, Lee Vayle sitting here at home all the time. I’ll likely go
away in May and leave you a little bit. If I didn’t go and take myself
on a little vacation or something, I don’t know what I’m going to
do. But I better believe one thing, I’m going to talk to the Lord
about it. See? 

	And my Voice, even against the better judgment. I was a skunk skinner.
Now look at a skunk. Us ordinary birds smell like manure heaps, prophets
smell like skunks. Whoopee for us! I want to tell you something, He
takes the beggar off the dung heap. He doesn’t take the dung off the
dung heap, he takes the beggar off and makes him a prince. 

	[Bro. Vayle knocks the pulpit]

 51.	Let that sink in. If your mind can travel like mine, you thought
you caught something, if it doesn’t well forget it. Learn to think
like me, you can be a dirty dog as I am. Oh no, I’ve been cleaned up,
I’m not a dirty dog. I’ll tell you, brother/sister, he doesn’t
pick the manure off the heap and make a prince, he picks a prince which
is in the form of a beggar off the manure heap and leaves the manure
there. God doesn’t deal with manure, giving them revelation in garbage
tins. 

	Yeah. “The will of my Father I declared to do and determined to do. I
wasn’t the One that appeared on the river, I was only standing there
when He appeared. And he is the Voice of the One that appeared.”
“Shout is the Message.”

	Yeah, Sis. Branham herself told me she turned to Bill after that, when
she bowed her head to the river. And she said, “Bill, I don’t
understand.” She said, “That was your voice I heard.”

	I said, “Sure, certainly, Sis. Meda. I’ll show you in the Scripture
where it is found. That’s what he said.”

	What’s He going to do, come back in the flesh and give us a Message?
The only Message he can do in the flesh is open His arms and welcome His
Bride. We’ll be so busy hugging him and loving and crowning him, and
actions speak louder than words. Listen, my brother/sister, we will have
had it all. 

	Hey, I feel good, bless God. This is just on water baptism. Wait till
we get moving. I’m just kidding, of course, because I’m just
teasing. You know I’m just teasing you.

52.	Now listen. Every Word must have life at that hour for which the
Word is given. And today the Word is given for the living at the time of
the Resurrection. When that Word is quickened to us, there will be a
Resurrection that follows by a Rapture. Water baptism signifies that. 

	Now. I’m going to close with this. During these messages I’ve
preached, I’ve been keeping on telling you the importance of Water
Baptism was kind of evading me. Wonder why it’s so important? What
about it is so important. Going into that water. Well, as I thought
about it today and yesterday, the simplicity struck me again and I just
about laughed, because there again, I’m a complex person, you are a
complex person just like I am, and I began thinking, hey, just a minute.
He told them to. That’s enough right there! That’s enough right
there!

	And I got to thinking the same One that told them here that tells us
things. No wonder the women quickly let their hair grow. Quickly let
their hems down. The men quickly become godly men, head of the house. I
see Catholics come in, they don’t know any more, than Bro. Branham
would say a Hottentot knows about an Egyptian knight, and can’t tell
split peas from buttermilk, whatever that means, or split peas from
buttermilk.  That’s pretty good, you can’t tell that. But suddenly
there’s no problem. Just walk right down that road. It was a
commandment given. 

53.	The commandments of God are not grievous. The Word of God is not
grievous. So what happened? See? This Word came, “You must be
baptized.” So that was it. But then a friend of mine phoned the other
day and he talked about “The Future Home”. And I thought, well
I’ll pick that up and read it. It was predestinated. In there Bro
Branham said we get baptized in His Name to show to Whom we belong. 

	It signifies you walk in that water, it’s a witness you belong to Him
from now on. You left the world, you left all these things. See? You
don’t belong anymore to cosmos. You don’t belong to anybody else,
anything else. You belong to Him. It’s a wonderful witness to say,
then, as the woman said in the Songs of Solomon, “My beloved is mine
and I am his.” It’s the beginning of a love affair.

54.	Walking in the water. It’s a type of going over Jordan. It’s a
type of a lot of things. Water baptism types a lot. It types the baptism
of the Holy Ghost. Bring your dead indeed unto sin but alive unto
Almighty God because there’s a life in you. It’s significant of
water, the trials of life. 

	Must Jesus bear the Cross alone and all the world go free? No there’s
a cross for 	everyone and there’s a Cross for me.

	Knowing all creation is groaning. There’s many, many things in water
baptism, but it signifies the beautiful glorious fact that going in that
water signifies I belong to Him. Where He leads me I’ll follow. The
first step was being in water. That is tangible, demonstrable. What goes
inside your mind and heart nobody else can know but you. And you can
manifest in such a sweet and wonderful way you’re such a wonderful
Christian and be nothing but a two-fold child of hell! No, that
wouldn’t show it.

55.	You can go to the Indians and the Hindus; they show a lot of love.
Christian Science shows a lot of love. I suppose the polygamous Mormons
show a lot of love, they seem to want to throw a lot of it around. Yeah.

	You follow in the water. See, people don’t realize the significance,
but you know something, I don’t feel too bad at not knowing these
things that I know tonight, and I don’t want you to feel bad that you
know a lot of things you didn’t know except in the last two weeks,
because look, you know them now. And if you know them now, you rejoice
in what you had and didn’t know you had it.

56.	I remember I told you years ago, I was on the road preaching. My, I
didn’t have any money. I guess my wife hadn’t got her money yet and
I hadn’t--she worked. I think she was working at that time, and we
were pretty well broke because, you know, there was very little coming
in from preaching, just peanuts, and you get--well, they usually gave
the shells. They kept the peanuts and gave you the shells. You know. 
Thought I’d say chicken or something instead of monkeys. Monkeys like
peanuts and throw the shells to chickens.

 	Anyway, I had the strangest feeling one time, to go and look in the
closet and reach in a pocket and I said, “What for? Ain’t nothing in
the pocket.”  No use looking in the pocket, there’s nothing there.
But I couldn’t get away from it. So I walked to the closet, reached to
the pocket, there’s a five dollar bill. I didn’t know I had a five
dollar bill, and I had it. Well it’s the same way tonight. You
didn’t know what you had in water baptism, but you got it. You
didn’t know what you’re doing, but now you do. So what does it
matter?

	Jesus said himself, “You don’t know now but you’ll know
hereafter.” 

57.	There’s a lot of things we are beginning to understand. There’s
lots of things we may never understand. But maybe we weren’t supposed
to. There’s a time and place for everything. And here’s the beauty
of what I want to get you to. We couldn’t understand these things
until this hour, because everything had death in it. It was an
admixture, but it’s not that way anymore.

 	Since the Seals were open, That Which is Righteous is Righteous, That
Which is Perfect is Perfect, that which is sinful is sinful. The whole
thing lays out before us. And day by day the path of the righteous is
shining more and more to the perfect day. Brother/sister, one day we are
going to get out of here and we are going to know that water baptism was
significant, that I belong to Him, I started to follow Him. I’ve gone
through the waters of life and it’s been good. 

	I look back on years...I’ve told you many times: I’ve been where
other men in this Message, many men have never been. And that’s why I
don’t listen to anybody. When you’ve been where I’ve been you
start talking before them, you just keep quiet and sit to one side. I
mean it with all my heart.

58.	I don’t tell Bro. Evans how to run his farm, I don’t tell Dave
how to run his engineering down at the base, I don’t tell Don
[Shearer] how to weld, I don’t tell Bill [Graham] how to put the cars
together, and how to, Jim [Pitts] to be a mechanic or take care of those
blocks down there. I never went and told Lloyd [Lusk] anything about
hydraulics, and believe me the only thing I’d tell anybody is maybe,
“Would you care to know how I make a certain cake or something, or how
I prepare a sermon?” I don’t tell anybody anything. See? Not that. I
don’t have anything to tell anybody, I can’t do it. I’m not smart
to tell anybody anything. No way, shape, and form.

59.	I want to tell you something, these Seals are opened and there’s a
knowledge that God gives us, and that knowledge comes to us in this
hour. And it’s a knowledge of this hour, my brother, my sister, that
we are to attend to, not what’s down the road. Like they pulled off in
Germany and brought over here to America and ran around the world and
say, “The Book of Zachariah says this has to do with the Jews, and
therefore, Bro. Branham has got to be wrong, because you see, this has
to do with the Jews. That doesn’t have a thing to do with you.” 

	So shut your big, fat trap and sit down. It’s what belongs to you,
the Gentiles. See? 

	Nobody tries to tell anybody anything, see? Nobody gets to anybody
here, to instruct anybody. We’ve already had it laid out here. Because
the perfect Word of Almighty God, the beautiful Word of God. 

60.	So, there it is tonight. The Lord bless you. I hope you understand
more than you ever understood, and I hope It is doing something to you. 

	Brother/sister, I don’t know. Look, I don’t run to your homes,
I’m going to try to visit more than I have done. If I can hack it
I’ll do it. See, up here I feel good. All day today I was not just
restless, I was just completely beat down. But look here, the thing is I
want you to understand this.

	Something is happening in people. I believe it’s what you call the
Bride, and it’s not a restless moving anymore. No. Oh there is lots of
nerves--look it, there will be until we are out of here. But something
is happening in the Bride, and it is so evident. Now listen, let’s get
this straight. It is so evident that there is an animation that comes
from a life within a life that the others don’t have, and you can see
It and you can feel It, and It doesn’t have a thing to do with the
emotions. No. It has to do with the witness. 

 	If I talked all night I couldn’t explain It, there’s no way. And
if I talked all night I’d tip my hand and I’m not about to tip my
hand because it is not right, it is not smart. You have faith, you keep
it yourself. And I don’t have any great secrets, so don’t think
I’m saying that. I’m just saying it is not wise when things go on
tape and you talk to anybody, that you try to explain too much. There
comes a time when you stop, because there is no way to explain, but you
raise doubts and wonderments, and criticism and all the rest and it
isn’t worth it. 

61.	So, Let me tell you something brother/sister. The Bride is coming
together, right around this Word, and that Life in the Word is more and
more the Life of God. In a Resurrection, and as those dead are corrupted
and can do nothing for themselves, neither can we. And He is doing it
all. And when we know, the Wheel within the Wheel begins to move, then
you know you’re getting out of here. Yeah. 

Oh how I love Jesus.

Oh how I love Jesus.

Oh how I love Jesus,

Because He first loved me.

I’ll ever adore Him.

I’ll ever adore Him.

I’ll ever adore Him, 

Because He first loved me.

	You know, you can’t get this far and not feel like if there’s a
tank of water here we’d all go through it, but you don’t need to,
brother/sister. I’m not drawing on peoples emotions, and have some
kind of an altar call and say, “Hey we better be baptized because
something is coming.”

	We’ve already been baptized. Huh? Sure, we don’t work those little
rackets and deals and things. We just want you to know who and what you
are, what your identification was. What it was that happened when you
made a witness in that day. Who you said you belong to. 

	[You] say, “I didn’t know I did that.”

	...but you did it. Huh? But you did it. Isn’t that wonderful? See?
The grace of God.

	Let’s rise.

	Heavenly Father, Thou hast piled grace upon grace and mercy upon mercy.
Word upon Word with the Life within the Word. Lord, how, how can we...
Father, it’s just impossible to say the things that we would like to
say, and should say, and know that somehow within us lies the capability
of potential to say it at the right time and all. 

	We’re grateful, Lord. We’re simply standing on the promises
tonight, Lord. We will not be denied, no way, shape, and form. I know
Father there was a time when it seemed so evident, and it was so
necessary to believe for healing, and I’d be happy to heal right
tonight, just like a kid again, but, ah...and that would be good, but
I’d know I’d have to, down the years look for something else again.

	And Lord, I’m looking at what I want right now, which is You here to
change us, and I don’t think it would just be smart on my part, and it
would be honoring You to, and I hope I’m saying right Lord, to get my
eyes off You and Your presence in Your Word here, and I’m just very
grateful to You, heavenly Father, very, very, very grateful. And say
with the prophet why aren’t we on our faces prostrate before You
that’s true. Oh, one of these days when it breaks, there’s coming a
time for that, I know that, Lord. In the meantime it’s grace for grace
and the wonder of it all. So thrilling and so beautiful and so
marvelous.

	Now, heavenly Father, we just thank You for It, and pray now that
You’ill settle our hearts and our minds and our ways in Thee, O God.
And help us to quit ourselves like men, to do what we ought to do, and
face what we ought to face for the glory of God, because we’re come to
that hour now. We know we’re in It. 

	We know we’re in it Lord, that, and it’s good. We’re glad for
that. We’re glad that the Reality’s here and everything is taking on
the texture of It, so that it won’t be long until You’ll be able to
clean the earth up and bring a people back here for it. And in the
meantime, Lord, we are coming more and more to that hour. And I want to
be within myself, Lord, fully amenable with my change of mind, the
revealed Word, that constant process, that constant witnessing in it,
constant owning to Whose property I am and these people are, Lord. 

	And going right on, on and on, until right to the Tree of Life we walk
into Eden, and that’s the hour. And we’re happy, Lord, that though
many people ahead of us knew of these things that, haha, just like way
back they knew the Gentiles were coming in, but they didn’t until a
certain hour. And we know that people wrote about this hour and they
knew it was coming. And here we are, the ones that it’s come upon. And
nobody, therefore, will know what we know. And we’re thankful for
that.

	So, we just praise Thee and ask You to be with us, to keep the oil
flowing, Lord, and the wine stimulation, all those things pertinent to
us, and the love of Almighty God over all of us Lord. And just grace for
grace, and tremendous measures, and let love abound. Let love abound, O
God, amongst us as the prophet said. And unto Thee we’ll ascribe the
honor and the glory. We ask it in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

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