In His Presence # 2
Bro. Lee Vayle - March 4, 1984
Shall we pray: Heavenly Father, we're very happy to be here with the
Saints of God dwelling in Your Presence, Lord, knowing that we have come
to a special place of reality where time is literally no more being
completely swallowed up in the eternity of God, because these things are
vast coming apace. We praise You, Lord, for immortality that's within
our grasp, and those things which the prophet prophesied of, and many
people look forward to. And here we are in this very hour.
We pray, Lord, now You'll help us, the meditation upon the Word that
Your faith prophet brought us. That we may not only correctly read what
he has set forth, but we may also know in our comments, Lord, that we
are actually giving a little further elucidation upon it, not
revelation, but a little more extension by the Scripture and those
things that were also said by him so that we confirm ourselves in this
grace, making our calling an election sure as never before. In Jesus'
Name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.
1. Now, we're into the Message that Bro. Branham brought us In His
Presence, and he read from Isaiah 6, about the first eight verses.
[In His Presence 09-09-62]
[6] In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon
a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims: each one having six wings; with twain he
covered his face, with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he
did fly.
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD
God of hosts: and the whole earth is full of his glory.
...the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the
house was filled with smoke.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean
lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips: for my
eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his
hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this has touched thy lips;
and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged.
And I also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send,
and who will go for us? Then said I, Here I am; send me.
2. Now, Bro. Branham in beginning his Message on 'The Presence of God'
starts with the fact as we read to you last week, that nature admits to
God and then man in seeing creation acknowledges the Presence of God,
though he doesn't really have personal realization, he just knows that
God is there. Nor does he have himself a definitive revelation, because
nature cannot part the definitive revelation of exactly Who God is, what
His attributes are, what His character is, etc.
Number two: Immediately, he refers to his own ministry of power, which
of course is the Appearing, or Presence of God in signs and wonders.
Because he said in another tape, "The Lord has already Appeared amongst
us in signs and wonders." And he brings the story of the little baby
that was raised from the dead in Mexico, where people knowing the
Presence of God through the raising of the dead screamed and tremendous
manifestations amongst the people took place.
3 Number three: He mentions Finney, and he shows the Presence of God in
anointed preaching. The Living Word at that hour convincing and
convicting men of sin. But you will notice that this of preaching of
Finney is a little different from prophets, because he comes under the
category of 1 Corinthians 14:36-37.
(36) What came the word of God out from you, or came it unto you only.
(37) If any man think of himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let
him acknowledge the things that I write are the commandments of
the Lord.
Finney was not a prophet. The Word of God did not come out of him as
though he was the source for the Bride as would be Paul and great
prophets. But he took the Word that came to him, and God anointing that
Word, God was Present in his life in the Word and brought men to Christ.
4. Number four: He spoke of Adam in his original sin, and how Adam hid
himself from God's Presence. And God had to make a way for him to come
back into that Presence. And you notice that's the Alpha, the pattern
that everything must follow, that man cannot stand in the Presence of
God, and yet he has to come to that place. So therefore, God must make a
way for man, which if man accepts, then he is going to be able to stand
in the Presence of God.
Number five: He spoke of Moses and the Pillar of Fire, and Israel at
Mount Sinai. You notice, he brought that for a purpose, how that Moses
took his shoes off in the Presence of God, and how that Israel fled in
the Presence of God amid the two manifestations of the Pillar of Fire,
the earthquake, the great sound of a trumpet, the trembling, and so on.
Number six: He spoke of Peter who called himself a sinful man when he
saw God manifested in power at the casting of his net. Which, when he
cast the net was full of fish it almost broke. And he said, "Depart from
me, I am a sinful man." Showing us that there isn't any man actually who
does not feel insignificant. And not only insignificant, but realizes in
the Presence of God whatever that manifestation is in that hour, he
would feel that he was completely undone.
5. Number seven: He spoke of Paul on the road to Damascus. Paul a Hebrew
of the Hebrews, as touching the law blameless, his ability, he was of
great Pharisee, and a great theologian and having sat at the feet of
Gamaliel. But when struck down by the Pillar of Fire and blinded, he
found that he was nothing. He had to admit the Lordship of Almighty God.
Number eight: He spoke of John the revelator. Who had laid his head on
Jesus' bosom. That John himself had said he was the favorite disciple,
but when he stood in the Presence of Christ at the end time which was
the Judge as we know from the Scripture, (Bro. Branham had said so,) he
fell at His feet as dead. Showing what the Presence of God does.
Number nine: He spoke of Isaiah, great prophet, out of whose mouth came
the Word. Because the Word did come out of his mouth, because "holy men
of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." [2 Pet 1:21] But
when he stood in that Presence, he counted himself a sinner, and of
unclean lips, and there wouldn't be any prophet, who though he spoke the
Word of God and knew that he was a prophet of God, but would realize in
the Presence of Almighty God he was an abject person, even the very lips
that God used.
6. Number ten: In paragraph 35, once more referring to Mount Sinai, he
speaks of the Presence of God in manifestation before the people of God,
speaking, (that's God speaking) and the earth and the people shaking.
And he referred that to Hebrews 12:25-29, which is this hour of which
we're going to read just to get you acquainted.
(25) See that (you) refuse not him that speaketh. (So He's there
talking.) For if they escaped not who refuse him that spake on
earth, much more shall (we not) escape, if we turn away from him
this (is) from heaven. (The word speaketh is not in there.)
(26) Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised,
saying, YET ONCE MORE I SHAKE NOT THE EARTH ONLY, BUT ALSO
HEAVEN.
(27) And this word, Yet one more, signifieth the removing of those
things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those
things which cannot be shaken may remain.
(28) Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us
have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear:
(29) For our God is a consuming fire.
At the end-time this same God that is a Consuming Fire, this one that
is going to bathe the earth shortly in fire, this One is here at the
end-time and He is here speaking to the people.
Now then, you will notice (if you had read, or had read as I have read,
but I don't have time to go back over it,) in paragraph 34, which we
talked about Isaiah. He puts the great prophet Isaiah, of Isaiah 6:8,
where he said previous to this, "I'm a man of unclean lips." And the
lips were cleansed by the coal of fire in the Presence of God.
And then the voice said, "Who are we going to send, who will go?'
And Isaiah said, "I am going to go if you send me."
Now, you will notice that he puts Isaiah, chapter 6, the great prophet
who's lips will be used of God with Hebrews 12 at the end-time which
designates a prophet must accede to God, "I will go and tell the people.
I will be Your messenger concerning this."
And so, we understand at this time when the prophet Elijah, William
Branham speaks to us everything is going to be shaken down, and there's
going to be a bathing of fire upon this earth, because God is going to
have to purify it. Now then:
Number eleven: In paragraph 36, page 9, he goes right to his own
ministry and the Presence of God which is you noticed we have already
said and given you sermons entirely on the subject: "God prophet,
prophet God." Now, people don't want to believe that. So what?
"Well, it might detract you see. Bro. Branham's coming back and it
might detract."
Who's an idolater? Well now, who's an idolater? You wonder why I get
all head up? You've heard of Pentecostal preachers some of them over the
pulpit, I'd just like to kick the... smack through the roof in anger.
8. No man is God, save God! Do I sound crazy? I got a right too? Skip
this flat. I get sick and tired of a lot of things. God prophet, God's.
William Branham was letting you know like Isaiah, his mouth needed a
coal of fire cleansing it. And no man stands in the Presence of God as
though it's a fun thing.
I saw him, the day the finger of Fire wrote on the wall, he looked like
a hunted animal. Yes, a hunted animal. I'm looking in your eyes people!
I'm looking in your eyes so that you'll know something, you're not
getting away with anything. And nobody is. A hunted animal, the same
thing Junior Jackson saw, that Bro. Branham wondered about and preached
On the Wings of a Snow White Dove. And Junior said, "I never saw a man
so scared."
People came through prayer line after prayer line knowing that William
Branham took every spirit under his control, and could read every heart,
if there were five million hearts there. And they came with their
adulteries and they didn't mind it. You're in the Presence of God this
morning. Are you in your adulteries? Are you in your fornication? Are
you in some kind of a sin? Am I? Let me tell you something: there's not
half that's sincere and sobriety that we ought to have.
9. I'm going to read: after a brother spoke the earth being shaken down.
[20] Such a person (speaking now of Isaiah, and speaking of this
end-time, speaking of Moses, speaking of the Pillar of Fire,
speaking of the Presence of God. Now listen:) Such a person, such a
man, and such a time and how these men felt... We also ourselves,
( I, William Branham myself.)
Now, he uses the editorial 'we', I'm going to tell you flat, I have not
seen the Pillar of Fire. I have not seen His reflection. What I have
seen and heard from God in the way that he has instituted people like me
can see, and can hear. This much I know. He said:
...we have seen the Glory of God like these man did. Sure. We saw It.
We saw the Glory of God like Abraham saw It. (Now, you bring that
down to us, and we saw It in the person of a man. A
representation.) We saw the Glory of God like Moses saw It, same
Pillar of Fire, the same power of God, same Christ revealing
Himself, showing Himself, keeping His Word in the last days. How
can we come by then, and walk and treat It so lightly? How can we
walk around and hold to our creeds and denominations, and not take
the Word of God? What will it be for us in that day? How will it
happen (to) us when he saw the Glory of God?
Now, he's bringing this thing right down to the nitty-gritty of the
Presence. And you'll notice in here that all of this is the basis of
unbelief. The basis of unbelief is to know that God has manifested,
brought forth His Word, and the church lifted up by pride as was Satan.
10. Now, let's understand the cardinal sin of Satan was pride. For the
Scripture says, "Satan by reason of pride fell." When the Logos
insinuated Himself into a person, it was an Angel called Michael. And
Michael was the impersonation of Jesus Christ at the particular time.
And Satan wanted a more glorious kingdom. He was lifted up by pride. And
the church is full of pride, because it says, "our creeds, our dogmas,"
until Roman Catholic's, and Protestant's are no better. Protestant's are
no better, will stand there and still elect a pope to supremacy, still
knowing their Catholic church is riddled with corruption. And the
Protestant's the same way have no more use for God than nothing, because
they turned down, treating lightly, God's fulfilled Word which at the
end-time we certainly know was, that Jesus Christ was going to Appear to
the Gentiles in Matthew 12.
Now, at that time the bruise reed He would not break. Remember, He
broke Israel to smithereens and they will never come back under the law.
They cannot, because the law is finished. The Holy Spirit was taken away
from them. That's right. They only came in under the Fifth Seal, under
election. God honoring Seed and placing It. We are Seed to have been
placed by the Baptism with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost did not make
us Seed. We were Seed and we have been placed, and now we're waiting for
a further placement.
"But to the Gentiles a bruised reed He did not break, the smoking flax
He did not quench." [Mt 12:20] He did not take away the Bride and
destroy her, nor did He take away the life, fore He had already warned,
"be careful with oil and wine." And so we've been saved to this last
hour, but there's been a shaking down and people won't even recognize
it.
11. Now, concerning this Presence he says in paragraph 37:
Some people will stand off and make fun of It; (Make fun of what? The
Presence.) some will laugh at It; some call It fanaticism; some
call It mental telepathy; (That's Hebrews 4:12-13,) some call It
Beelzebub; some call It one thing some another. As the old proverbs
is, "Fools will rush in with hobnailed shoes where Angels fear to
tread." That's right.
[21] "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" When he sees
God manifested so perfectly by His Own Word (not by a creed; but by
God's Word), and then walk right over It like hobnailed shoes, see,
and make fun of It, he's a fool.
Did you know that Bro. Branham is equating the scoffer and the make
believer to an atheist. Well, stop and think, because that God is the
Word, and God's made Himself plain to them, and he's a fool the Bible
said. What will it be for him when he has to stand in that place? It'll
be terrible for that man in that day; the ungodly. Now, you noticed
he's talking about the personal Presence, the Pillar of Fire. He's
talking about the proven manifestation of It. He's talking about It
being the Word fulfilled. Then when he talks about It, he is talking
about personal Presence in manifestation according to the Word, then
people say they believe the Bible. What Bible?
12. Paragraph 38.
Repentant sinners though, don't need have any fear. (Repentant
sinners.)
Now, he tells the people there's sinners here, and you've got a hope.
Then this is the last call of Hebrews 6. Let's take a look at the
Presence in Hebrews 6.
(1) Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let
us go on (to) perfection; (That's consummation completely
finishing off. He said it's time for the whole thing to go into a
new sphere entirely, which is immortality.) not laying again the
foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith
toward God,
(2) ...the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
(3) And this will we do, if God permit.
Let's go over that.
(1) ...let us go on (to the consummation the finishing,) not laying
again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and (a) faith
toward God,
A doctrine and a baptism, laying on of hands. Resurrection of the dead,
eternal judgment. Well, he didn't say one thing about the Rapture. It
didn't say how we're going to get our change. Didn't say how perfection
is going to take place.
Now, if you're going to have perfection, you're going to have the
gospel ended. There's only one's going to end the gospel. That's the one
that started. Started at Pentecost. Started through Headship, it's got
to come back to Headship.
(3) ...this will we do, if God permit. (God didn't permit it at that
time.)
(4) For it is impossible for those who were once (for all)
enlightened, and tasted of the heavenly gift, made partakers of
the Holy Ghost,
(5) ...tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to
come,
You already ...?... have a taste, of what? Immortality. Because that's
what Peter, James and John saw on the mountain. They saw the coming
Kingdom. They couldn't enter in, they saw It. They heard the Voice out
of the cloud. Yep, once more speaking, prophet. Saw what was coming,
People were part of it. Said,
(6) (...having fallen away, they'll never come to repentance;)
13. So when Bro. Branham said this, at that time standing there 1962,
speaking of Who was there, talking about Him, he said, "Sinners, the
door is still open." By the end of 1962, he said, "I wonder, if the
door has been closed?"
"Partakers of the Holy Ghost, tasted the good Word of God." [verses
4,5]
(6) ( ...having fallen) away, (can never come to) repentance; seeing
they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an
open shame.
In other words, they do just what he said here, they trample over It,
call It fanaticism, men
reveling they're fools, bunch of atheists in the sight of God. Why?
Because they don't no more believe God than nothing. Now, if you don't
believe Him, why do you say you believe in Him? See?
(6) If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance;
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put
him to an open shame.
(7) For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it,
(Seven Church Ages, Seven Messages) bringeth forth herbs meet for
them by whom it is dressed, (that's the wheat, the good Seed)
receiveth blessing from God:
(8) But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, is nigh
unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
And there's one time when the tares are burned, whose fan is in His
hand, he thoroughly purges the floor, gather the wheat in the garner,
and burns the chaff. [Lk 3:17] So Bro. Branham is talking of this hour.
14. Oh, sinner. Sinner doesn't have to have any fear, he said, he can
repent. That is, if he does repent. Now:
[21] Oh, no. A sinner that will repent, he knows that there's a bloody
Sacrifice waiting and standing in his place. That's what gives
(him) consolation (Now:) I've seen the Glory of God. I've felt His
power. I know the touch of His hand. I know the touch of His
chastisement. I know that He's God. And I know I'm undone, but
there's One standing there for me. Amen. There's One Who stands
there and says, Father, lay all of his iniquity upon Me, because he
stood for Me down on the earth." Hallelujah. Then I've walked to the
throne of God, boldly, having grace in my heart to know it's not by
good works, but by His mercy I'm saved. Not what I can do, what I
can join, what I can say; but by His grace that He saved me.
Now, it sounds like he's got a sort of mixed metaphor here. A little
mixed illustration. Jesus did it, prophets can do it. He's talking about
this Presence right here, the people in touch with Now, he's talking
about a sinner. And he's talking about a Presence that stands there for
you, so that when the hour comes when you stand before Him you're free,
because you've made a witness to the Presence of which you've entered
into by the Blood.
15. Now, you'll notice that the Blood never loses Its power, that if
before He Appeared in signs and wonders in His brightness with a prophet
to the Church we had access by the Blood, how much more then is the
Blood efficacious at this particular time that we can stand here?
Now, notice what he's saying: He is saying, Look Isaiah the prophet
stood before God, he said, "I am unclean." Moses fell, took his shoes
off. Peter said depart from me. Paul fell down smitten blind. John fell
as one dead. Isaiah said, "I'm a very unclean person." But he said, "You
will notice that God had an antidote." He had something ready so that
the person could be accepted in His Presence which was the Blood.
Now, he says, "This obtains today," and he categorizes everyone of
these men as sinners when it comes to the Presence of God. I don't care
who he is, he can't stand. There's a proof is that not one could do it.
The most favorite one, John could not do it.
Now, he says here, "We have the Blood standing for us." And he said:
No wonder the poet that caught that, screamed out, "Amazing grace, how
sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. Once I was lost, but
now I'm found; blind, but now I see."
Now, Bro. Branham said, "If you hear somebody singing in a cracked
voice over there in the Millennium, you'll know that Bro. Branham made
it." How? Amazing grace, by the shed Blood.
16. Now, he says in paragraph 40.
[22] How can I ever go to heaven, how could you go to heaven? We cannot
do it, No, no way for us to do it. But there's One made the way. And
He is the Way. And how do we get to Him? By one Spirit, His Spirit,
we're baptized into one Body which will be raised up like an orbit.
Now notice, he's gone right to the Rapture. He's talking right of this
hour.
We'll go out of the earth as astronauts of this last day in the face
of God. (Pillar of Fire. Now, let's understand it.) Sure. Amen.
Repentant sinners don't have to worry;
I'm a sinner, said Bro. Branham, repented. The Bride is all sinners
that have repented. That have a change of mind. How could you be born
again, and have a change of mind in this last hour, and deny and trample
on what the prophet is talking about, which is the very Presence of God
in full manifestation. Presence as per the Pillar of Fire. Presence as
for manifested Word. Presence as for vindicated Word. What do you want
when God works in threes? And he said, we're going to get out of here.
See?
17. Now then, paragraph 41.
[22] Oh, then after we have come into His Presence now, and we are know
we've been in His Presence, by seeing Him do things that He did when
He was here on earth. (Matthew 12) How do you know... How do you
know the vine you're looking at?
Well, let's go back to John 15. Says something about the vine there
doesn't?
(1) I am the (vine, the) true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Because the fruit it bears. How do you know the church you're going
to? By the fruit it bears. Jesus said, "He that believeth on Me,
the works that I do shall he do. These signs shall follow them that
believe."
18. Now, Let's go to John 14:12.
(12) Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the
works that I do shall he do (not they do, but he do,) and greater
works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Then somebody is going to have a bigger ministry in works through the
Spirit of Christ, as Christ Himself did in His Own flesh. Now, that's
right. Now, not "greater things", but greater in numbers.
Now, when you read here what Bro. Branham said, "He that believes on
me, the works that I do shall he also do, these signs follow that
believe." He is not vindicating the Pentecostal church. For 1965, he
preached the false vine, 'The False Anointed Ones', who had miniseries
apart from the Word. See?
19. Now, paragraph 42.
Now, we see He never did ordain us to go make denominations. (What
happens in the denominations then becomes disqualified.) He never
did ordain us to go make creed. But He warned us against such. "For
whosoever shall take anything from It or add anything to It, the
same will be taken out of, their part, in the Book of Life." See?
(And that gets rid of signs without Words, and fruit with Word.)
Now, I know that a lot of people think I'm pretty tough on this subject
of love. The reason I'm doing it, is because I got to swing the pendulum
so far to the other side, that when it begins to come back it'll hit
dead center. See? Now:
[23] So we're not ordained to do anything but stay with the Word. (Now,
that means if you stay with the Word. That means every
manifestation's got to line with the Word.) And if a man is sent to
God,
Now remember, he said, Isaiah said, "When the lips were clean, here am
I, send me." And Bro. Branham instantly went from Isaiah to a repeat of
the Word likened to Sinai, (Hebrews 12:25-29) indicating himself. Now,
that's like a lead-balloon. You can do what you want with it.
And if a man is sent of God, he'll stay with the Word, because God can
only stand by His Word. See? He must stay by His Word. Then when we
come into His Presence, when a man once comes into the Presence of
God, he's changed forever, if there's any changing to him.
20. Now, he tells you flat here, there's no way he's going to make a
mistake. That he's had a change. The same with us.
Now, there are those who could walk in the Presence of God and pay no
attention to It. (Pastor Pharaoh. I've been rejected of that of
course. Pay no attention to it.) He wasn't ordained to Life. But if
he was predestinated of God, as soon as that first move hits, he
knows it.
And Bro. Branham came with that sign in the hand. Yep, signs and
wonders. Casting out of devils and people stood right back and said,
"Well now, God's around here somewhere." What they didn't do, they
didn't go to the Word with the prophet. When it came to the Word, they
bypassed the prophet. Where do you ever get that in Scripture? The king
bypassed the prophet one day and God crippled him.
Another man who had a little gift of prophecy, he bypassed the Word of
God and he died for it. He wasn't ordained to light. But if he was
predestinated of God, as soon as the first move hits, he knows it.
That catches fire. (All right? If he's sent of God, something is going
to be there.)
21. Now listen: John 15:15-16.
(15) Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not
what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all that I
have heard of my Father I have made known (to) you. (Now, if He's
Alpha, He's Omega, that's got to repeat.)
(16) (You've) not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you,
that (you) should go and bring forth fruit, and your fruit should
remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he
may give it you.
All right, remember Abraham was a friend of God. The end-time we are
the friends of God, because He said, "A servant does not know what the
master doeth." But he said, "I call you friends (he said,) because
you're not of the servant class." This is the end-time, it's begun to
catch fire.
22. All right, he says here when you come in His Presence, if there's
something in you you're going to acquiesce to it. You're going to exceed
to it. You're going to know what the truth is.
Paragraph 44. He's preaching on the Presence again.
Look at that little prostitute down there that day at Samaria, that
woman. She was in a bad shape mentally and physically. We know
that. (She was a real ding-bat of the streets as you might call
her. But watch:) ...as soon as she saw that sign done, sign of the
Messiah, she said, "We know Messiah's coming to do this. You must
be His prophet."
You see, she caught something. She was an immoral person, she wasn't
very bright, because she's being used by men. That's not a sign of being
bright, it's a sign of being stupid. She wasn't bright at all. Sheep
gone astray, but she caught the sign. She recognized the Presence, the
Word of that hour. The Word of that hour to her you might say was
justification.
He said, "I'm the Messiah that's written, that was to come." She
recognized it. (Now listen,) She never asked one more question. She
started right quick with the responsibility to know that if she had
found that and come into the Presence of God, she was responsible to
tell somebody else about It. Hallelujah. (Now, William Branham is
talking about himself, and he's talking about you and me. Right.)
[ 24] Any man that comes into the Presence of God is responsible before
God, from that minute on to tell somebody else.
Now, back there they were responsible, she was responsible. In the day
of Finney, it was the anointed Word that was responsible. In the day of
Pentecost, there was signs and wonders, that was responsible, but today,
God Himself. The hour of the revealing of the Son of man. The hour of
Headship, when the Holy Spirit is taking Headship of the Church and He's
come down here as Bro. Branham said, "The Baptism gives way to the Holy
Spirit to place Himself at the Head of the Church to raise the dead,
you're responsible to tell it."
Now, people are not going to like it. That's right. You know why?
Because they don't believe He's here to raise the dead.
23. All right, the witness:
Look at Abraham; look at Moses; look at Peter; look at Paul; the
moment they come into the Presence of God, they recognized
themselves sinners, and sealed their testimony with their lives.
What's he saying? Well, if people came by and they said, "Well (Right
here in Ohio,) Ohio is a crucifixion ground of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but if Judas is here, the Spirit of God better be here too." Because in
Middletown, it was Du Plessis and Gordon Lindsay who stood up and told
the people. It's right on tape, so look I'm not telling stories out of
school.
They said, "Bro. Branham is a prophet and you can listen to him when
he's in the discernment line, but he's all off on his doctrine." Who
should know better about God than William Branham?
24. Remember the story Aesop's fable of the jackass that decided that he
was going to bring all the animals in his control by putting on the skin
of a lion. So he went down and he found the skin of a lion. He put on
the lion's togs and he open his mouth to roar like a lion, he brayed
like an ass. [laughter]
Remember Chicken Little, an acorn fell on her head and she said, "The
sky has fallen in." And Goosey Loosey, and Turkey Lurkey, and Henny
Penny all followed, but Foxy Loxy got them. As Aesop's fable should have
continued by saying Twentieth Century wit and wisdom of Foo Chow, "Be
sure your skin will find you out." [more laughter] They're not a lion
after all. You're not a l-i-o-n, you're l-y-i-n-g. If you don't belong
to the body, you belong to the club, it's called 'Ananias'.
25. Look at the little lady, she couldn't stay any longer, she went to
the city and told the men, "Come, see the Man that told me all
things I've done. Is not this the Messiah?"
If William Branham was in the Presence of God, would he come back and
say, "Hey folks, got a great ministry, hallelujah, come join my church,
so I want to tell you about Him?"
I do not belong to William Branham club. I belong to the body of Jesus
Christ. And though I might point you to one man called 'William
Branham', do you listen to what he said being the mouth piece of God? I
had better point you to Who gave him the words.
They could not deny It, because It was Scriptural. Certainly. Yes,
they've got to do it, a man, when we got a responsibility of telling
others as Moses did, as Peter did, as Paul did. After these things,
you've seen It and come into His Presence, you're responsible for
the message to get to somebody else. You just can't sit still with
it. You must take it to someone else.
What message? The Message of His Presence.
26. In '62, From That Time, in Spokane, he said, "This is my ministry,
to declare Him that He is here." That was his ministry. What ministry
should the Bride carry on? That Ministry.
I remember an old sister used to be here, Brother Graham Snelling's
mother, she used to set right here in the church, and she would sing,
"I've just got over. I'm running, running, running, and I just got
over and I can't sit down." She had just found something.
[25] I went over to a little colored church over here in Louisville,
and all of them was standing up, singing, "I'm running up the King's
Highway, just found it, and took up the Highway." There's something
about it, when you find Christ, you cannot hold your peace any
longer. (That's good, to be born again. But the point is this: I
always thought that Christ found you.) The rest of your days you
are a changed person, for when life and Life comes together, (life
and Life comes together, see, Seed. Because remember, if you're
Seed, the Life is already in the seed, it needs something to bring it
out. So, life and Life come together. ...when life and Life comes
together it makes a bright Light. True.
When the bulb connects with the wire, if it's a correct bulb, it's got
to give light; when the current and the bulb gets together, there's
nothing to do but scatter light. It has to. And when a man or woman
is predestinated to Eternal Life, and they see the current of God
catch that bulb, it'll throw Light wherever it can.(What will? The
bulb. What will? The person. Who's the person? The bulb. Who's the
bulb? The person.) You might not be over a ten watt, but you'll
scatter what Light you got. If you aren't a hundred watt, scatter
ten watt. Give your Light. "Let your light so shine before men, that
they might see your good works and glorify the Father which is in
heaven."
27. Well, you know Abel did. He let his light shine. He said, "Look it,
Cain, I'm going to tell you, (he said,) that's the offering, that's the
sacrifice, that's the Word."
"Ha," Cain said, "what are you trying to tell me you jerk. I'm older
than you, and I'm bigger than you. I'm smarter than you."
And Bro. Branham said, "That's exactly the way the church is."
[Cain said,] "I'm bolder than you. I'm going to tell you something, I
can read that Bible the same as you can snot-head," You bet. And he
said, "Furthermore, don't you talk to your big brother." He said, "It
says, fruit of the ground, it says right here in the Scripture, it's
right here. The Zodiac was in place, so I can tell."
And Abel said, "Yeah, but there's just one thing missing, you don't
have any vindication. You got nothing to stand on.”
"Well," he said, "I'll have by the morning." He killed him with a rock.
Actually, he took a stone and actually cut his juggler vein. That's
exactly what the Scripture really teaches. Cut off his life supply. He
couldn't talk anymore, he couldn't witness anymore. When Abel pointed to
what he did as per the Word of God revealed, death.
28. Now, you let your light shine, which means you got to stay with this
Word with every single thing you do. Why do you wash feet? Why take
communion? Why this? Why prophet? Why this? Why that? Why? Why? Why?
It's always, why, why, why? Why serpent seed? Why everything?
You're going to have to tell why you believe in predestination. Because
God didn't have a choice. He knew. You say, "Why didn't He have a
choice?" Very simple, in order to bring out all His attributes, He had
to have the things the way it was, and that would require
predestination. It would require foreknowledge.
Hmm, look, I'm going to tell you people something: you got to realize
if never before there is nothing in this life that doesn't have a
significance. That when you realize that God Almighty kept and does keep
track of every male sperm by the trillions and trillions and trillions,
and trillions, and trillions, and trillions. And every female egg by the
trillions, and trillions, and trillions, and trillions, multiplied by
one with thirty six zeros behind it, you're beginning to deal with the
mind of Almighty God, and begin to know a little bit about it. See?
29. Now, God knew exactly where that life and that light was. He knew
exactly what was going to respond, and what wouldn't respond. He turned
to the Pharisee and He said, "There's nothing in you to give a
response."
"Oh," they said, "yes there is, we hate you.”
Why? Because by reason Satan fell. By reason of pride, Cain fell. By
reason of pride the, church fell. "We're rich and increased in goods,
and don't need a prophet. Hallelujah, we're the Bride of Christ."
Oh brother, when the Roman Catholic church as got the guts to itself
the Bride of Jesus Christ in the face of its history, whew,
brother/sister. And then this guy, Father Grice, or what his name is in
Dayton, he defends America, Mr. Reagan, giving America, the pope now a
special legate, like they did a hundred and some years ago and then
they took it back. But you see, the dog returns to his puke, vomit. The
American dog has gone back to the vomit of sending a legate over there.
We'll see if they reconsider. The pressure's on. I doubt it. I think
this is the hour.
And he said, "Well if that's the case, (he said,) why do you send the
delegate (he said,) over to the Arab's, because they're Moslem's and so
on?"
And the guy is so stupid he thinks that I am a big a jackass as he is.
See, he thinks because he put a lion's skin on he is no longer in the
illegitimate class. Anybody knows the minute we give Rome a delegate, we
have announced the Roman Catholic church is a nation within a nation.
"Oh, " they say, "it's only the listening post." For God's sake, what's
America listening to? They turned down Him. [points to the Pillar of
Fire picture] Now, what are they listening to? The whore!
30. You think Bro. Branham made a mistake when he said they got the
first one in there, you watch the next one." And the next one is what?
And a Protestant Catholic. That's what it amounts to. And Billy Graham
pulled the strings. He said to Mr. Reagan, "If any man can pull it off,
you can."
Has Mr. Graham been so fooled by Cardinal Cushing? Now deceased in the
Roman Catholic church that made him [Graham] a doctor. If he's so fooled
that his words are really true in his own heart when he said, "You
Catholic's are preaching the same gospel we're preaching." That's what
he said. I won't apologize for it. I may die for it, it's alright. I'm
lucky I'll get them mad enough to just blow my head off.
31. Now listen:
When a man comes in contact with God, he recognizes himself no good.
(So, where's your big one? Where's your big one?)
A man I know is dying today. I never could see through him until one
day he stood up and let the people know how big he was. How did that in
his ministry? By sending out tapes. Great men went out, and the man
that he named does not believe in predestination. The man that went out
will not put his church in order. Tragic isn't it? Oh, we're big shots.
I'm a big shot. Yep!
Bro. Branham said, "Lee..." (when I wrote the little book.) And I told
you before he said, "Lee, I believe that as God gave Aaron to Moses, God
gave you to me." That's beautiful. But Aaron became an idolater, and cut
Moses' throat and led the people into sin, so I'm not very flattered.
No, it's not that I'm not flattered, it's the fact of this: I'm not
stupid to run with something when I've got the Bible. I could write a
thousand books for Bro. Branham, I would never be Bro. Branham. I could
write a thousand books on Church Ages, everything else and take the
Seals under his guidance and bring It to a masterpiece of understanding,
and I still don't have anything, because I got to get it from him who
got It from Him. So, there aren't any big shots. There's a lot of big
jerks. [laughter] They do their flash-dance across the religious stage,
and they're sickening. Oh yeah. When a man comes in contact with God he
recognizes himself as no good. Not the other fellow.
32. How can a man walk around and brag about how big he is and what all
he's done, when he's nothing? He's nothing to begin with. One day
down in Memphis, Tennessee, I don't think it was Memphis; it was
one of the places.
[26] I said, Brother Davis having a revival, it might've been Memphis.
Went to the coliseum, and they had in there, not a coliseum, it was
kind of a art gallery, and they had statuary and different things,
parts of the earth, statue of Hercules and so forth, and great
artists painting.. And then they had the analysis of a man that
weighed a hundred and fifty pounds. You know how much he's worth?
Eighty-four cents. By inflation he's likely worth two dollars
today.) That's all. Eighty four cents, all the chemicals you can get out
of him. He's just got enough calcium , see, whitewash to sprinkle a
hen's nest, [laughter] Hi, hen's nest! [more laughter] It's a good
fortune killing a few lice. (Phfttt!) Ha, ha, ha! Hi louse killers,
manure heads! Lucky you're redeemed kid. Lucky you're redeemed.
Lucky you got someone standing for you.)
33. Well, let's keep reading though.
He's just got enough whitewash to sprinkle a hen's nest, he's got
enough, just a little bit of calcium, like potash. Would all sell
for eighty-four cents. But we just take care of that eighty-four
cents and baby it around. Two boys standing there, one looked at
the other he said, "Jim, we're not worth very much are we?" And he
said, "No, we're not, John." And I said, "But wait a minute, boys,
you got a soul in there that's worth ten thousand worlds, that's
been--can be redeemed by the power of God, if you'll just let it."
(You see, there's where it is.)
God never gave anybody the preeminence and that's at the end-time here
the same thing obtains, because the church gave itself a preeminence.
And it says, "We which are living here and the Bride do not take any
preeminence over those that are dead." There isn't one thing, even
though we're not going to die, and we have the promise and know that
we're not going to die, we're going to walk into immortality.
There is not one thing that says, "Hey, look at me."
It says, "Hey, look at Him." It says, "Man, do you know He's here to
raise the dead and He's going to change me. Do you know that the Tree of
Life is here, immortality? Do you know that He is shining forth in this
hour to judge the quick and the dead? And that means, He's judging us
first, the living, and then He's going to judge the dead by taking them
out from among the dead. And when they come out, we're going to be
changed."
You say, "He's here doing it, thank God for the Blood."
34. There's nobody stands up and says, "hallelujah" to me. Oh well, if
you want to give me a million bucks you can. But I ain't going to say
"hallelujah" to you. [laughter] I'm going to say it so fast "I hardly
knew you," but you'll think I said "hallelujah." [loud laughter] I can
be just as quick as the next guy. Any takers? I'm afraid I trained you
folk too well. You see through these things the same as I do. I don't
mind a little sarcasm, don't worry. I found one thing about God, He was
sarcastic. So was Paul. So was David. So was Job. They plied it down to
bring those big heads down. Fap! Kept by the power of God, not through
anything else.
Man, when he sees these things, he's responsible to tell others. (Now
listen,) I saw it when I was just a boy. (Talking about himself and
the Presence again.)
Listen, he's not even born again. Then he's not talking about any Holy
Ghost with him, by being in him, because he's not born again. He wasn't
born again until years later.
I spent my whole life at it. I'm only sorry I got one life; wish I
had ten thousand. If I had an eternity, I'd still want to tell
people about it, 'cause it's the greatest thing I ever found. (Now,
he tells you he found it personally. Something to him.)
35. Now, listen carefully:
[27] If you'll read in Ezekiel 33, (still talking about himself in
relationship. There's that thing we're talking about,) if you'll
read in Ezekiel 33, chapter 33 of Ezekiel, there was a watchman set
on a tower...
A watchman set on a tower, and say, "I think I'll be a watchman bless
God, there's this big city here, hallelujah, I'm going to be the
watchman."
The king said, "Shut up and sit down, and I mean down."
You aren't self appointed. A watchman's set. He got orders, and it's
not a committee. There's only one committee I'm interested in and that's
God is a committee of one in three manifestations. He never let me down
yet, and He's not going to. God it all sewed up.
...now the watchman was responsible for entire city. (Okay,) Amen.
Now, wake--wake yourselves to your spiritual conscience a minute,
while I get to this Scripture. That watchman had to be a trained
man. He had to know what he was doing, for at any distance, as soon
as the enemy came in view, he could detect it. He could tell their
march; he could tell their color; he could tell their rank and
file. Just as far as the human eyes could see, he could see it. And
he was higher than the rest of them, for he was trained to know the
enemy. And God required the whole city at his hand. "Watchman, what
of the night?" Hallelujah, (he says.) (Okay, now listen:) That's the way
God's soldiers are today. They're trained to the Word.
36. The Commander in Chief, the great One who gives the signal will be
that Watchman then, so therefore, William Branham would have to
recognize the enemy, having recognized the Presence to protect the
entire Bride. And somebody say, "You're going to be in the Rapture
without being part of the Message?"
And a fellow goes around saying, "Well," he said, "I resent that saying
'In the Message'."
I said, "Sure he does, because he ain't in It."
I have a little old buddy over there in Switzerland got kind of fooled,
and I said, "Just a minute son, do you believe anybody's born again that
turned down this Word?"
He said, "No."
Then I said, "You're in the Message aren't you?"
He said, "Yeah."
I said, "Don't listen to that clown."
You know, I'm going to tell you something, this business of love I've
hit so hard, this suave stuff. I thought if I preached fifty more years
the people are still going to think that Eve was not seduced, she was
raped. Somehow she wasn't chucked under the chin and titillated until
she was putty in the devil's hands, this lousy snaky serpent bird.
"Oh, I can see Eve struggling."
Like fun she struggled, she said, "Whoopee," she said, "wonderful," she
said, "you're so charming, that old Adam out there he's such a dull
fellow; always nosing around amongst the trees and things. Because he
can tell a cow from a horse and everything else, he's out there with
nature. Out there talking to God." She said, "At least I'm getting a
little entertainment." Come on, something wrong somewhere.
37. to it, that's got something else that's not Scripture, they warn
their congregation. Anything that's not Bible, anything that's not
God-like, such as having soup suppers, dances, and everything else
to pay off the pastors. See?
Now, this watchman couldn't tell friends from enemies, enemies from
friends, he's some bird isn't he? What kind of a woman was Eve that she
couldn't tell the Word of God manifested from the... not the Word of God
manifested, like just a byproduct?
I don't know if I can find something or not, I got to...you know my
memory were (you know) like Jack Bell said, "If I had a brain I'd take
it out and play with it." That's about the way I am, I haven't got a
memory here. I found it! Jude verse 4.
(4) For there are certain men crept in unawares, (seduction) who were
before of old ordained to this condemnation...
Peter says the same thing, they were written about. That was that
serpent. He didn't have a book, in the book a name in the Book of Life
was the Lamb's Book of Life. Animals don't get recorded there. He didn't
have a soul. Had a place for one, didn't have a soul. He crept in. He
was written about.
38. You say, "Where was he written?" Up in the stars, he was a snaky
serpent up there, that wound his...rode all the way through the Zodiac.
One day, he's going to get cast down, going to get taken care of.
What kind of a man, what kind of a prophet that couldn't tell a friend
from an enemy? And we told him about the friend. They said, "That's the
devil." William Branham got a devil. Pentecostal church man wrote a book
and said, "A Man Sent from God."
Another man said, a big Trinitarian big-shot, West Palm Beach, he said,
"Got a familiar spirit."
A house divided is going to fall, Pentecost is finished. Catholicism's
finished, they're divided. Protestant's are divided. The Bride is
undivided. Yeah, because the prophet the watchman warned us.
39. He said:
Those things are wrong. Bunco games, card games in the churches, it's
wrong. And the real watchman on the wall, who's once been in the
Presence of God... If he isn't on the wall, if he's just supposed to
be on the wall, the wall may not be any higher than the rest of the
congregation. But if he's a correct watchman, God raises him plumb
up into spheres that the rest of them never get to. (He's talking
about himself.) But he watches the flock, and God requires it of
him. (Here am I, send me. Who's going to go? Who's going to go and
tell the glory of the Lord? Who's going to put the Word over?)
[28] The man of God who stands in the Presence of God, and knows God
is God, (not an enemy. He's not mixed up.) ...keeps His Word, and
watch God perform Himself and do His duty and keep His Word, then no
matter how many organizations or denominations tries to tear it
down, he knows the rank and file of the enemy. Amen. He knows what
to tell the congregation, a real watchman.
He's telling you that his whole life in an experience with that One.
It's not as though God came and said, "Well, William Branham my son, my
friend, I'm Appearing today and this is it..." whoop, then He's gone.
Never, ever did God cease to guide him and give him direction, and now
the Holy Spirit here is our Joshua, and the same direction is going on
and the Holy Spirit, Pillar of Fire is going to lead us into the
Millennium. The prophet said so. I believe what the prophet said. I'm
not going to try to glorify, glamorize it, or try to make it something
other than what he said. He's talking about the prophet. See? The
Presence always goes to the Word. Yep! Always. And the prophet is the
Word in human flesh.
40. Now, if a man like Bro. Branham is in the Presence of God, he will
reveal that Presence and the people won't believe it. Why? Because he's
vindicated. (Paragraph 53.)
If we have confessed that He is--we been in His Presence, and we've
confessed our sins, they are blotted out the book of His memory. (All
right, now watch:) There's nobody but God could do that. Now, you
can do anything to me; I'll forgive you, but I'll remember it. If
I'd do anything to you, you'd forgive me, but you'll remember it.
But God can forgive and forget it. Think of that, "Don't even
remember it." Amen. That makes me feel good. When it's not even
remembered anymore, nothing can do it but God. Nothing but God can
do that. He said He would blot it out of His book of memory. I
can't do it; you can't do it, because we've only got these little
finite senses. But He's infinite, God; He can absolutely forget that it
ever was done. (Now remember, he's been bringing this through
anointed preaching, the Pentecostal era, and right in this hour.)
All right, Bro. Branham comes back and he said, "Any man that
recognize the Presence of God, his sins are gone, they're forgotten."
It's going on now. Now, where do you stand?
41. Did you read about Judge Kessler the other day? He wrote a fourteen
page something on a court case that was already dismissed for nine
months, I think. And you know what happened? The attorney forgot to tell
the judge that the case was withdrawn. So Kessler spends all this time
and writes whatever he's supposed to write a disposition. Kind of
embarrassing isn't? But a beautiful illustration. Here the guy doesn't
have anything against him, and Kessler's trying to bring it up. That's
the stupid church for you. That doesn't happen with us in God.
Now, he said, "God doesn't even remember it." That was said in 1962.
What about in 1965 when he preached 'The Rapture'?
[In His Presence 09-09-62]
[31] God puts our sins in the sea of forgetfulness, blots them out,
and they're as if they never did happen. Oh, my. Then we stand by
the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, pure and holy, just
as holy as He was, because God doesn't see me when I come up there,
He sees His Own Son.
Now you see, that's identification. But remember, we're not identified
as sons, we are sons. Lost sons. And He died to bring to bring the sons
back, and many sons into glory. And you don't become one when you're
born again, you already are one or you wouldn't get the Holy Ghost.
The only way He can see. Can't see me, because I'm in His Son, (Now,
that's identification right there) and He only sees His Son. Isn't
that wonderful? (That's the Omega reflection we talked about).
[32] We don't have to think about sins anymore; they're all gone; it's
under the Blood. Yes, sir. Don't have to worry about that anymore;
it's all out, out of God's memory. He doesn't remember it any more.
42. Now, he's got to come back and tell us what the watchman sees. What
do you see, prophet of God in the Presence of God?
"Well," he said, I see the whole bunch of us undone. I see just what
Malachi said: I've got to come to blot everything out, except I send
Elijah to turn the hearts right around."
Now, the part of the turning of the hearts is this: that I believe that
God does not see my sin, He doesn't even know my sin, because they are
no longer in His memory.
Now, what's the legalist going to do about that? He's going to have a
terrible time, because he's going to have one great nightmare of the
thing called 'peace', because he doesn't want any peace. He wants to
keep cutting himself, which the heathen Roman Catholic's do, and I don't
think the Catholic's has stopped and faced their converts and convents
and nunneries and God knows what. Especially in places like where
they've got crawl on dried peas and crawl up and down steps, and bruise
themselves. No used talking about what they type is there. You know it.
If you don't know it by now, it's time you did know it. And I'm not
speaking to you in mysteries.
43. Now: He doesn't know it any more. And this is the truth and no lie.
This is over here in 2 Corinthians, and It's chapter 3, last verse.
(18) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of
the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, by
the Spirit of the Lord.
It tells you right there: you're looking at a looking glass and you
should see your face automatically, but you don't. The reflection that
comes back is Christ, so therefore, in the eyes of God you are Christ's.
Not that you are Christ in person, but what the Word reflects back what
He accomplish what you're identified with, He does not see you period.
And you do not see yourself at the end-time. You can't do it. You cannot
see yourself, except as God sees you. And this comes in a ministry, a
ministry that is by the mercy of God that demands a prophet that
renounces every single thing outside the Pure Word of God. Not one
creed, not one dogma, not one idea, not one pretense, not one
conclusion, 'Thus Saith the Lord'.
Not handling the Word deceitfully, but the first time every out in the
open. Why? Because God is commanded the Light to shine out of the
darkness. "In the evening time it shall be light." [Zach 14:7] He came
right out of the Roman Catholic church. Started with the Protestants,
died on the road, came to this hour when it's neither Roman, Protestant,
or Greek, or God knows what. Neither Jew, nor Gentile has nothing to do
with bond or free, your color or anything else. It has to do with one
thing, here He is. [points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire] Dealing
with the greater.
44. Now listen, right back to Isaiah:
Isaiah, that mighty prophet, when he confessed his sins, he said, "Woe
is me, I'm a man of unclean lips." A prophet. ("Now," he said, "mind
you, that's the man who spoke the Word of God,) unclean lips, my
congregation is unclean." "The people I preach to, they're unclean.
I'm unclean, woe is me. But here comes a bunch of Angels down
(there they are) [points to the picture of the Cloud] from the Glory
of God, fanning back the clouds, and I look up there (notice, he
says "I look up there." Well, Isaiah talking, Bro. Branham talking
too.) and see His train filling the whole heaven. And I watched these
Angels that's never knowed what sin was. Never knew what sin was,
they're in the Presence of God; got two wings over their faces; two
over their feet; flying with two wings; day and night cry, "Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God." Whew. ...make you feel kind of unholy,
wouldn't it? Now, what did he do? He said, "Woe is me." And when he
confessed his sins...
I'm not rich, I'm miserable, I'm poor, I'm naked, I'm blind, I'm a
mess. The son of God is that's more like a pig then he is than a sheep.
More like a bramble than he is a fig tree. Looks like a stinking ...?...
his nomination which he has been fashioned to this point. Not with his
will but against it.
... confessed his sins and said, "Woe is me," the Angel went over and
took the tongs, picked up a coal of fire which represented the Holy
Ghost and fire, come over and laid it on the prophet's lips, and
said, "I've cleansed you."
45. [33] Then the wings winnowing their way like that, moved away the
curtains of time, Beyond the Curtain of Time) and he heard God say,
"Who'll go for us?"
All right, who's going to go? William Branham is going to come. You
say, "I think that's Jesus Christ."
I've got news for you. No, it's a type, but this is a prophet. Who's
going to go? Isaiah is going to come down, he's going to say, "Hey,
I...listen, I was right in the Presence of God."
They're going to say, "You and who else?"
Never came to the one sign, but the believers believed him. Now, they
believe Finney. But here is a vindicated man who stood and said, "Thus
Saith the Lord, I challenge you bring me your worse cases I guarantee
healing." Nobody could do what he did. Nobody could say what he said. He
stood right there. Who's going to go?
"So, I'm going to go. I'm going to go and tell the Bride. I'm going to
go and find a Bride of such character, she's going to listen to this
Word. Now, if she doesn't listen to the Word, she ain't got no
character." (Now, I should say, "she hasn't a character, but I don't
give a rip, I like the vulgar expression, 'she ain't got no
character'.") Fap!
46. You know, people got an idea that God is a grand mission. He wrote
the Bible in the king's English that he wouldn't take a hillbilly's
[who] said, 'haint' and 'tote', and made up words. See, he's the best
outside of Father Devine I know. [laughter] What was that word he used
in there, it was a combination of 'documented' and something else?
'Indocumented', or something he calls it, instead of 'indoctrinated'.
Lerious, rachel. "I don't believe in nothing rachally," he said.
Germatize is not bad. Uh? You talk about rachel. He meant 'irrational'.
Scruple, all 'screw balled up'. One of his words is right with the
Greek. It made me laugh and I thought I wish I'd written that down. I
told some people and I didn't write it down.
"Who'll go for us?"
"I'll go," said the Kentucky hillbilly.
Oh man, that offended everybody right there. That's like, "Who is this
carpenter's son?"
"Who is this guy who came out of a bunch of drunks? Why, we knew old
Charlie and Ella Branham, and we know his relatives." (Phffft!) Oh boy.
Yeah.
And then of course the Pentecostal's they tried to say that Dr. Davis
wasn't a real Dr. Davis Baptist minister, he was a whore-monger and a
crook. Boy, I love the Pentecostal's. I love them burger-cheese manure
piles too. [laughter] ...?... the people, it's the stuff that's ahead of
it. It's the lies they got to tell to protect themselves. If I got to
tell a lie for Bro. Branham, that will be the day.
47. All right, "Who will go for us?"
But after he found out that there was a way to rid sin, God wanted
somebody to go for Him, he said, "Here am I, send me."
When the prophet found out there was a way to stand before God, and the
people to stand before God that sin was covered so they could do it. He
said, "I'll go under those conditions, but I can't go and tell them
what's going to blot them out," You follow? "If I come without the
prophet I'll blot them out. So when I come with that prophet he is going
to turn the hearts around."
Now, that's what's going on. And they say, "Well, He's here, so what?"
And they say they believe? Oh come on, come on, don't give me that
stuff please. Maybe I'm nuts, put it down for nuts. I've got something
to be nuts about. After he found out there is a way to get rid of sin,
God wanted somebody to go, but he said, "Here am I, send me." He had
been in the Presence of God, confessed his sins, and been cleansed of
his sins and was ready for service. See?
48. Okay, when a man comes in the Presence of God, "Here am I, send me,"
he will not aggrandize himself, but he'll aggrandize the Lord.
When he came from the Presence of God and found that there was a way to
get rid of the sin and stand in the Presence, he went right back to
Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."
And he said, "If God commanded it, or demanded, then God must make a
way for it."
Now, that's the people don't want to understand. God's got to make a
way to stand in that Presence. And he said, "The Blood of Jesus Christ
scatters sin, until there be no evidence."
Then, don't ever talk to me about the Blood, except under the grandest
and the most glorious terms where God is magnifying the Blood,
because He's certainly magnifies the Blood me, and that's where I'm
going to stand. That's what Isaiah is all about today.
No man stands aggrandized before God, but he pleads the Blood of Jesus
Christ and stands there knowing that he's full identified in Him. And we
like the prophet can bring a Message, and where we can't bring the
Message we can witness to It, and we can live a silent life of
testimony.
49. The poet said,
Millions now in sin and shame are dying,
Listen to their sad and bitter cry.
Hasten, brother, hasten to their rescue;
Quickly answer, "Master, here am I."
When I was in Africa, India, and around the world, millions of
heathens screaming and crying for mercy, and who will go? Not pass
them a tract, but bring them Jesus Christ. Somebody in His
Presence, like Moses, (I'm not like Moses who could go down (with a
true deliverance) and show them true deliverance,
Pentecostal's already there, that wasn't it to be in the Presence of
God and survive. To be able to stand and walk into immortality.
Listen, brother/sister, we're in a different hour from what you used to
be, so forget it. You've turned your corner. You don't think anymore the
way you used to think. You can't think that way anymore. Bro. Branham
said, "I can't think that way anymore." Why? Because he was fully in
tune with the Word of the hour. Not something back yonder. You get more
and more in tune with the hour. Sure.
Somebody in His Presence, like Moses, who could go down and show them
true deliverance, not joining a church, shake hands and have a creed,
but bring deliverance to their soul; good godly man.
[34] Isaiah confessed his sins and was cleared. (And he could go down
to Israel, see?)
Bro. Branham never did repudiate missions, he just repudiate how they
did it. Repudiate what they were doing. See? Now, you and I could only
do one thing if we went down and it was going to tell them about that
and that. Give our witness and let him know that all you could do.
50. That's enough for the Presence. (Page 15, paragraph 67)
But I want you to know that when you go into the Presence yourself,
you'll remember some of these comments I'm making to you. Because
William Branham could not talk of any Presence without being pertinent
to this hour, it won't work. Because once it was justification, it's
not. It was sanctification, it's not, so they both exist. It was
manifestation of gifts and baptism. That's fine, but it's given way to
the Person Himself, the Holy Ghost Himself.
It's not that these others are not there, but the Life has leaked out
of it, and now the Life is in the Life Giver. There's a difference
brother/sister, I believe He's here with all my heart I believe He's
here. I don't believe He's gone away. I find no Scripture that said that
He descended and went back. Then He's got to descend and go back again.
Because if He descended with the Shout and went back, then He's got to
come down to raise the dead. But Bro. Branham said, "He puts Himself at
the Head of the Church to raise the dead." That's you and me as I
understand the Scripture. There's a difference. Absolutely.
"My hope is built on nothing less,
Than Jesus' and His Blood and righteousness.
On Christ the solid Rock (of revelation) I stand."
It is a solid Rock. Let's the winds blow, they will blow. Let the
accuser accuse, they love not their lives unto death. They held them not
near unto death.
You say, "Do you believe we will be martyrs?"
I don't know. It's well possible some will be martyred. It's very
possible. What will happen? I don't know...
[Tape ends]
In His Presence # 2 (1784) - Page PAGE 22