The Squeeze

May 18, 1986

	Shall we pray. Heavenly Father, again we want to say we’re very
grateful for the privilege You’ve given us to come together again on
this day of commemorating Your Son’s resurrection from the dead,
knowing in this last day it is proven that He is risen from the dead,
that He is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for ever. And
all this, Lord, we realize to a degree; but one day, Lord, we know that
we’ll know as we’re known in the immortal Resurrection. But, in the
meantime we know that the Bride has sufficient to get her into that
Resurrection and the Rapture. And we pray, Lord, we might not fall short
of one Word, but rather be the fullness of Your Word at this time and
this hour, O God.

	We just ask You, Lord, to bless us in the service this morning, that
everything from here on now according to Your Word, Lord, might be
according to Your Word and not be outside Your Word, but the Word within
it’s framework; and our thoughts, Your thoughts; our understanding,
Your understanding, Lord, because that’s what counts. So, help each
one of us to glorify Your Name in this respect and live a life of
victory. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. 

	You may be seated.

1.	First of all I want to thank everybody for the flowers and for the
prayers and your good wishes and attendance upon my wife in her
operation. Of course, I’m saying that here, because I know that a lot
of the flowers and prayers came from the outside, and they’ll be
getting these tapes here. They are very beautiful floral arrangements,
and there are so many of them. And my wife was very, very pleased. In
fact, the hospital staff was amazed to see so many flowers. And one
little nurse said, “My, almost looks like a funeral parlor.” Well,
it’s not true. It didn’t look like one to me. I thought this is
right, all those lovely flowers. I was especially grateful, because it
showed appreciation of my wife that she’s always been so good to
people and always been so thoughtful. And actually so many times I
thought just almost outdid herself by working and attending upon people.
So many ministers have been in our home. And I thought it was very nice
that they did this in respect to her. I appreciate that very, very much.

2.	Now the message this morning is a little message entitled “The
Squeeze.” And I’m sure you all know exactly why I’m going to
preach it, because that Bro. Brian [Kocourek] did not really express
himself as he meant to here, and I didn’t take exception to it. But
you understand that, as not just pastor here, but as the teacher—and I
believe that I teach quite correctly—if anything is said in this
pulpit, and I believe that that needs an amendment, that’s my job. 

	It isn’t a matter of say, “Well, I love Brian; I’m just going to
pass that over. I love Bro. Klassen; I’ll pass that over.” I love a
lot of folk; I’ll pass it over. 

	That’s not the reason we have a pulpit, brother/sister. It’s not a
fuss between and amongst brethren or anything else. We’re eating
cherry pie; we just kick the pits out, so to speak. 

3.	But Bro. Brian did not mean exactly what came forth. What happened,
he did something that no preacher’s supposed to do, which is disregard
your notes and go down a bypass, hoping you’ll come back to where you
left off. He meant to explain himself from what he told me.

	Well, you’ll notice in the sermon where Bro. Branham preached the
“Who Is This Melchesidec?” He does a good job right along the line
of telling us about the Book of Life, Lamb’s Book of Life; and then,
he deviates, and he’s going to come back; but he never comes back. Now
I’ve been preaching for about, I don’t know how many years you have
known me here. I doubt if five times I’ve ever strayed and lost my
thought to where I couldn’t come back. Now that’s not anything
I’ve got for smarts. That’s just the Lord helping me so that as
trying to teach it helps you people. 

	But what he didn’t mean to say just what he did say, as far as I can
really know and gather from him. So, the thought was up there like as
though there’s no squeeze coming, but that’s not what he meant. 

4.	Now, look; there was a certain preacher came through here years ago.
He used to come through a lot because of certain brethren west of us,
either related or something. And he said that the squeeze was over,
because Bro. Branham took the squeeze in Chicago at the ministerial
convention. William Branham did not constitute the Bride, though he
could surely represent her. Now believe me, if that’s all the squeeze
you have, where just a bunch of ministers come together to deny that you
are right on Godhead, and then stick up--you know, pull their noses up
in the air and walk off and great disdain… Well, hallelujah for the
squeeze. I’ll take two thousand more years and good health. 

	So, you see, any statement that would just be left hanging in air, I
wouldn’t buy it, and I won’t accept it either. It doesn’t matter
who it’s from. 

5.	Now that preacher that came through also had his own evidence of the
Holy Ghost. Which was Bro. Branham’s old evidence of being born again
meant you had love. And so, he was preaching that thing, and a little
friend of mine out there in Tucumcari, New Mexico said, “Look, Bro.
Branham did not preach love. He preached the evidence was believing the
Word--receiving it for your hour.” 

	Well then, the same man talked to me, because he knew I had challenged
that statement very, very strong, when he made the same statements
around here. 

	He said, “Well, you see Bro. Vayle, you got to have your own
evidence.” 

	Now, where did he get that? And that evidence is supposed to be love.
If I love somebody… Well, Bro. Branham said the Christian Scientists
put us to shame. Well, they’ve got the Holy Ghost, and we don’t got
none, because we’re the miserable ones, because we dare to stand with
the Word of God. And they say, “Well, that can’t be love.” 

	See, this church here believes: if it doesn’t start with this Word
and ends with this Word, you’ve got something on your hands that
God’s not going to respect. It’s got to be rooted out of the
kingdom, brother/sister. So look, you understand this thing has been
settled, but we’re going to just look at some things in the Word of
God this morning.

6.	Now, before we launch into this subject, “The Squeeze,” because
we use that term, we must be aware that this word is not found in the
Bible, but the word ‘persecution’ is. And Bro. Branham uses that a
lot, which you’ll find out. 

	Okay, we’ll go to 2 Thessalonians 1. Now this is 2 Thessalonians. Now
these two books have to do with the second coming of the Lord, the
Rapture and the conditions therein, and so on. So, all right. He says
here in 2 Thessalonians 1:

(3)	We are bound to give thanks always for you, brethren, as it is meet,
(It’s proper and right; it’s the fitting thing to do.) because that
your faith is growing exceedingly, and the love of every one of you, all
toward each other aboundeth. (Now, see?)

(4)	So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your
patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you
endure:

(5)	Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you
may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer:

(6)	Seeing it’s a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you;

(7)	And to you who are troubled rest with us, (go into a state of
relaxation) when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his
mighty angels.	

	Now It doesn’t say that tribulation’s going to cease. It just says
at this time you go into a state of relaxation concerning it. Now
there’s going to be tribulation. The Bible said, “In this world you
shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the
world.” [Jn 16:33] “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am
meek and lowly in soul.” [Mt 11:29]

7.	All right. Number two. We must also realize that persecution does not
necessarily mean death. Now let’s take a look at that. That kind of
frightens people, “Well yeah, I could be killed.” You certainly
could be killed. But it doesn’t mean you’re going to be. See? 

	Now Bro. Branham said, “Why, why did he say that?” Because of the
spirit of the calf. Remember, there are four beasts that guarded the
throne of grace and mercy; and they’re the same four, as they say,
guarded the Gospels. And the Acts is a continuation of the Gospels--the
same yesterday, today, and forever--Who was here in flesh. 

	And then, this one person said there’s not an ‘amen’ to that book
so it goes on. Well, there’s not an ‘amen’ to other books in the
Bible either. So, don’t just jump at little things like that. Jump at
the Word of God, where the Word of God says, “He’s the same
yesterday, today and for ever.” See, that’s what you’re looking
at. All right.

8.	Now, in Acts 22:1-4:

(1)	Men, and brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now
unto you.

(2)	(And, when they heard that he spoke in the Hebrew tongue to them,
they kept the more silence: and he said,)

(3)	I’m verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in
Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught
according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was
zealous toward God, as you all are this day.

(4)	And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering
into prisons both men and women. (And he absolutely was proud of the
fact that he was the one who caused the death of people in his zeal.) 

	Now people say, “Well, you know, you know, you know… ” Don’t
‘you know’ me anything. The church that’s corrupt can do the same
thing. The Roman Catholic Church had sixty-eight million martyrs.
That’s not even counting them—all of them. Doesn’t begin to count
them. And, don’t tell me the Protestants got too much either. When
Calvin could put Servetus in a place where Servetus died for believing
in one God, then what hope do you think we got in the face of a trinity?
And you can’t join anything any day without believing in a trinity.
See? So, let’s begin to watch. 

	Now It doesn’t say here that you’ve got to die, you’re
persecuted; but It says there’s a good chance that you might. 

9.	Now, let’s look at the apostle Paul and his persecutions and some
of his trials and some of the things he went through in 2 Cor 11:23-27.

(23)	Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool.) I am more; in
labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more
frequent, in deaths oft.

	Now, who brought that on? The Jews brought it on. The church where the
dove once was and the dove flew. And, how do you tell there was once a
bunch of doves around there at one time? You look at the manure heap.
That’s all that’s left. You say, “Well, I wouldn’t like to
compare that to the Word.” 

	I’m not exactly either.

	Bro. Branham said it was full of wiggletails. Who wants bread full of
wiggletails? See, Word’s gone. It’s dead. That word cannot bring
forth life; it’ll bring forth death. And that dead word will bring
forth persecution and death to others. It’ll bring death in those that
believe it and death to others that won’t believe it. 

10.	Now we’ve got some pretty strong quotes here. About thirty quotes
or so I’m going to read to you. It’s not to scare anybody, but the
fact of the matter is we got to understand these things. 

(24)	Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
(Thirty-nine times five. What’s that, 195?)

(25)	Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered
shipwreck, a day and a night I have been in the deep;

(26)	In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in
perils by mine own countrymen, in perils of heathen, in perils of the
city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among
false brethren;

	Now that tells you some of the things he went through by the hands of
men, because they persecuted him; and finally, he was persecuted unto
death the same as Peter was.

11.	Number three. It is also wise to understand where this comes from.
Let’s see where it comes from. This will give us a token
understanding. In the Book of Revelation, Chapter 2. We look at it,
verses 8-11. 

(8)	And unto the angel (the messenger) unto the church which is in
Smyrna; these things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and
is alive; (Now, notice: he’s first and last in this day. That’s
particularly why, because he is the last, and he never changes. So, what
he is through the ages is said to the churches. You can always pick up
the thread.)

(9)	I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)
I know the blasphemous—them that say they are Jews, and are not, but
are the synagogue of Satan. (Now that’s been transferred. Anybody
knows that. It’s Babylon, which is now Rome.)

(10)	Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the
devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried; shall
have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give
thee a crown of life.

	So, there you are—persecution. It has never, ever changed. It has
been in all ages; many have died. 

12.	Number four. Also, we must be aware that the saints, though
persecuted or squeezed, will not go into the great tribulation. Now we
tried to put this and show you where it came from--Satan, where
Satan’s synagogue is, the religion motivated by Rome which is your
great ecumenical society for this hour. So, there’ll be people who
will not escape evidently. There could well be a possibility of certain
ones dying. 

	Okay. They’ll be squeezed, but they are not going to go into the
great tribulation, as we find in 1 Thessalonians 4. We’ll read a
little bit of It. And, well… Verses 13-18 is the Rapture, which takes
place at the time of the Resurrection. So, He’s talking to the living
and dead. Now to the living at that time, which is this time, he said:
[1Thessalonians 5]

(1)	But of the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need that I
write unto you.

(2)	For yourselves know perfectly the day of the Lord so cometh as a
thief in the night.

(3)	For when they say, Peace and safety; then comes sudden destruction
upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not
escape.

(4)	But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake you as a thief.

	And then, down to verse 9:

(9)	For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by
our Lord Jesus Christ. (Now, He tells you right there that you will
escape the great tribulation.)

13.	Now Revelation 12, beginning at verse 7:

(7)	And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against
the dragon; and the dragon fought against his angels, (Now that’s the
devil.)

(8)	And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

(9)	And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, that’s called
the Devil, even Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out
into the earth, and (his messengers) his angels were cast out with him.

(10)	And I heard a voice in heaven saying, Now is come salvation, and
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our
God day and night. (Now Bro. Branham absolutely said that Satan comes
down as the Bride goes up. So, that’s so you understand that. It’s
not that the antichrist spirit is not here, but the incarnation does not
come till the Bride is gone.)

(11)	And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of
their testimony; they loved not their lives unto death. 

(12)	Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to
the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil has come down
unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short
time. (Now the Bride is gone. Now, what is this then? This is the
foolish virgin.) 

(13)	And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he
persecuted the woman which brought forth the man. (Now they got a child
in there, but it doesn’t say that. You leave that in; leave it alone.)

(14)	And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she
might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished
for a time, and times, and a half, (that’s three and a half years)
from the face of the serpent.

(15)	And the serpent cast out his water as a flood after the woman, that
he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

(16)	And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and
swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

(17)	And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with
the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have
the testimony of Jesus Christ. (That’s the foolish virgin who gets
destroyed. All right.)

14.	Now, let’s go to Matthew 24. And this is what we’re going to
take as Scripture reading. And then, we’re going to take some quotes.
We’ll look at this chapter. It’s a long chapter, but that’s all
right. This is at our time. 

(1)	And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples
came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple,

(2)	And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say
unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that
shall not be thrown down.

(3)	And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him
privately, saying, Tell us, when these things shall be? (And that’s…
In other words the stones are going to be cast down, and so on.) and
what will be the sign of thy coming, (which is the literal Presence) at
the end of the world, or the end of this age, or the consummation of
this age?

(4)	(Now) and Jesus answered and said, Take heed that no man deceive
you. 

	Now you notice right in there that though this is not persecution in
the more legitimate, outstanding sense, or predominant sense, but it has
the facets of persecution in this way that there is a squeeze coming
which is a spiritual squeeze. Now remember, the squeeze of
identification is one of the toughest squeezes there is. It’s called
peer pressure amongst your children. And it comes every which way,
because you’re certainly going to be a speckled and odd bird--a very
odd fowl. Let’s face it; if you go this way, you’re going to be
ostracized. 

15.	Now this is where one thing comes up instantly: the church will
stand with its great love and humanitarian aspect. And remember, the
United States has already voted to give the Roman Catholic Church all of
its money that it has to do to feed the poor. And, of course, some
Protestants are invited. Why bother? In other words our government has
already violated the constitution from one end to the other and nothing
is left. There is nothing left. And there’s no use deceiving yourself.
Otherwise the prophet could not have passed judgment. And you’re not
talking about a prophet; you’re talking about the Judge. We’ve a lot
of people that can’t even see that. That’s too bad. All right.

16.	Let’s watch some of this thing. “Take heed that no man deceive
you.” Now, already they’re being deceived by ecumenical love. How
can it be love, when the Bible condemns it? 

	Now, this great man… It’s not Ganez, he… oh my. My memory’s a
blank on this one. But you cannot have heard this man. He’s now
deceased. You could not have read concerning him and his utmost devotion
to love. And believe me, there was no way that you could not read what
he said and not compare him to the late great Dr. Drummond, way back,
many, many years ago, who wrote one of the greatest sermons on love ever
written. And yet, this brother absolutely said, “The ecumenical move
was of God and the greatest move the world’s ever seen.” 

	So absolutely deceived. 

17.	And brother/sister, let me tell you again, you can take the kind of
love you’ve got outside the Word of God, and I can take it, and it’s
not worth anything but condemnation and filth and judgment and
destruction; because that’s all there is to it. Because that love they
got is always the same: “Now well, come join us, come join us.”
That’s why I’m in hot water over the Presence. 

	Willie Retief got his baptism in Africa. He found the same thing going
over there it’s gone over here. We’re condemned, because we dare to
believe a certain thing and stand with it. But, if we’d say they’re
right, then everything’s fine. Well, I got news for those brethren.
I’m mean enough to die for a principle, but I hope I can do it in the
love of Jesus Christ. Now I didn’t say in the Holy Ghost I said I do
it. I just said that I’m mean enough. I shouldn’t be mean at all.
But my love does not allow me to compromise my soul or a revelation,
which I believe is by the Holy Ghost.

18.	Now you’ve got to watch at the end time, there’s an internal
squeeze. And that’s not so bad, but it can be pretty desperate,
because all you’ve got to do is give the devil an inch, and he’ll
fog your mind and really fog it good. 

(5)	(It says,) many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall
deceive many. (They’ll tell you that they have the true anointing.
Now, remember; the anointing itself is Christ, which is Logos. So
therefore, they will tell you and make certain that you know that they
have a revelation and you better have this revelation.) 

	And now It says:

(6)	You’ll hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that you be not
troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not
yet. (Now you’re in to politics. Church to politics.) 

(7)	Nation rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there
be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places
(certainly happening.)

(8)	These are but the beginning of sorrows.

	Now, watch.

(9)	They’ll deliver you up to be afflicted, and kill you: and you’ll
be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. (Now that… the Jews have
gone through that and do go through it and will go through it. But I’m
going to tell you something, that word Nations doesn’t simply mean
great nations all around the World, it can mean clans, can mean
Gentiles; especially Gentiles. And the Gentiles will hate you.) 

18.	I’m going to tell you one thing. If you stood before the Jew, and
you said there is one God and he is Holy Spirit, (the Arabs would
listen, all the Semites would listen; that’s Arabs and Jews both)
they’d all listen, because they believe in one God. And they’d say,
“Well, you’re pretty stupid but the thing is this, at least you do
believe in one God.” 

	“What do you do about that fellow called Jesus?” 

	“Oh we simply believe he was a body.” 

	“Do you believe God is in the prophets?” 

	You caught them right there in the Testament. You got them right there
in the Old Testament. They also know Messiah would be a prophet. And
they know He’d have to be God, there had to be a relationship. You can
have that there, but these… but, when it comes to this here, you’re
going to find that we’re at the end time where they’re going to have
to take a definitive stand against the name of Almighty God, baptism,
and the unique Oneness of the Godhead. Now they’ve got their own
Oneness. But, who ever heard that three people was one? Is it sort of a
conglomerate? I don’t know what you’re thinking of, but they do. 

19.	Now, then:

(10)	And many then shall be offended, and shall betray one another, and
shall hate one another. (Now that’s always been the way the church has
done. Not the Bride, but always the church.) 

	And Bro. Branham said there’s three kinds of people in every
church--every church group: believer, make-believer and unbeliever. Now
there’s always somebody just too willing to do something. 

	Now It says here there’s going to be hatred come in. Now, why is
there going to be hatred? Well, because it starts off here in the
anointing. That’s where it starts.

	Now at the end time you’ve got an anointing where the Holy Ghost is
upon all flesh. And remember, Pentecost is the last one. And they’re
called chaff for the burning. And the chaff goes from chaff to tares,
which means there’s no relationship at all, period. You hear what
I’m getting at? The foolish virgin got something, but these got
nothing. They’re just going to be burned. They’re called tares. They
go right back to a serpent seed.

20.	Now, remember; when you come to election, and you come to Bride,
election is nothing but the same piece from the one big piece of cloth.
And you put the pattern on it, and you cut it out. The master tailor
cuts it out. Remember, when you come to people, you’ve got one lump of
clay. And the master craftsman takes the same lump, and he says, “This
is elect, and this is not elect. This is vessels of mercy; this is
vessels of disgrace. This is vessels unto glory; this is vessels unto
wrath.” He can do it, and He does it. 

	Now, remember; at the end time they’re vessels of wrath fitted to
destruction out of one lump. And at the end time you got this wheat
growing up, and they lost their lives under Pentecost, went into the
chaff. And, when we said, “I and my Father are one,” the chaff
released us and became a tare--a true identification. Then, how many
foolish virgin are left? Who knows? That’s up to God. We’re talking
about this piece of cloth--to the master craftsman. God cuts out the
cloth, which is the elect. The rest: that’s your foolish virgin left
over. They’re identical, but one’s not in the election and the other
is. 

	How do you figure it out? I don’t figure all these things out. I just
believe it, because that’s the way it is. I’ve got no argument. Very
simple, actually, I think.

21.	Now:

(12) 	And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax
cold. (Love of what? There’s a great days in the love of the many.
They won’t be fervent the way the rest of them are. And this other
great love they’ve got is not love at all. It’s hatred of God’s
Word, because they got Him put outside the church.) 

(14)	And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world
for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 

	Bro. Branham said he went around the world seven times. I don’t
believe the whole world, that is, everybody’s got to hear this Gospel
any more than the Bible says the… They said, “All Jerusalem went out
to hear him.” You mean a half a million people all went to hear Jesus?
No. They’d have jammed the streets, and they couldn’t have got out
of here without bullhorns and things like that. And they wouldn’t have
got… Even that wouldn’t have done any good. So, you could use the
word ‘all’. It’s just symbolic as cutting across everything, every
type and every cast, every type of character and so on.

(15)	When you therefore see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (Now that’s, of course,
the Mosque of Omar right there. And that’s just not the Mosque of
Omar; that’s going to be a desecration.)

(16)	Let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:

(17)	And him on the housetop not come down (and so on.) (Yet, in there
you get what the Jews went through, and you get a picture of what is
also to come.) 

22.	And verse 21.

(21)	For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not seen since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 

	Now that couldn’t happen back just there in 70 AD. But there
wouldn’t be anything greater, because at that time all the blood from
Abel to Zachariah the priest, they had to account for--right up to the
Blood of Jesus. But this at the end is when all the blood of all the
martyrs from Abel to the very end. And you got sixty-eight million as
one group in there. You couldn’t find that in Israel. Could Israel all
together ever have sixty-eight million people? It’s possible I
suppose, if you count the Kaisers. I’m talking about true Israel. I
doubt if they’d ever have sixty-eight million.

	They now… It says:

(22)	Except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but
for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. 

23.	Okay. I wonder if we just might go back to the Book of Revelation. I
want you to see something here. And it’s under the Fifth Seal: Rev
6:9.

 (9)	He opened the fifth seal, and I saw under the altar the souls of
them that were slain for the word of God, for the testimony which they
held:

(10)	And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy
and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on
earth?

(11)	And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said
unto them, they should rest for a little season, until their
fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they
were, should be fulfilled.

	Now, what are you looking at here? You’re looking at the fact that
Bro. Branham said under the Fifth Seal that the 144,000 would die and
join these. Now that’s… You’ll find on the tapes. Okay.

24.	Now It says: [back to Matthew 24]

(22)	Except those days be shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for
the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

	Now, what does the elect care if all the rest are going to die
according to what God said, and they’ve got to die? I’m not being
callous when I say what I do. I’m just telling you the fact that you
haven’t got a thought in this, and I don’t have a thought in this.
It’s the very thing that Paul said about election.

25.	Just hold your finger there, and let’s go back to 2 Thessalonians.
I want to show you something. A lot of people don’t like this. “Oh,
why you’re just… Oh man, you’re terrible to believe this.” 

	Now It says that in 2 Th 2:12:

(12)	They’ll believe strong delusion, they’ll believe a lie.

(13)	But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chose you to
salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

	Now It says, “You’re bound to give thanks to God because of
election.” 

	You’re bound to give thanks, because God said, “I’ll take this
and leave that.” 

	You’re bound to give thanks, because God said, “You’re elect and
this is not elect.” 

	You’re bound to give thanks, because this is unto glory; this is unto
wrath. 

	You’re bound to give praise, because God loved Jacob and hated Esau. 

	Oh the church says, “Horror of horrors.” Then, you’re out. It
shows what your love is. If you’ve got to make God a liar and some
kind of a fool to satisfy your whim, your love is what? Prostitute to
the Word of Almighty God. Let’s face it. Let’s not play any little
stupid antics here. Let’s get right down to basics. All right.

26.	Let’s go back to Matthew 24, what I was looking at: souls under
the altar we saw back there in chapter 5. He says here:

(22)	Except those days be shortened, no flesh saved: for the elect’s
sake those days shall be shortened. 

	So therefore, I’m reading into this here an understanding that elect
are going to be saved. Now, if none of them are saved in the three and a
half years, there’s what kind of pressure is going to be on this side
or the possibility of some sort of a pressure that’ll be terrible? 

27.	I don’t know if Bro. Branham said this on a tape or not, but I
understood he said it to somebody. But you can’t always take what you
hear from somebody else. But he’s supposed to have said that he
didn’t dare tell the people what he saw in some instances, I think
under the Sixth Seal, for what it would do to them. And I think it is on
tape, where he said it would make them too nervous to know. Some of the
things he saw on this side would be on this side of the Sixth Seal. But
he also evidently left out some glorious things according to my
understanding of what Billy Paul said. But I’m not sure about this. I
can’t remember Billy’s words on it. There are some tremendous things
that Bro. Branham did not tell us that he saw by vision, which is very
wonderful. They’ll come anyway. 

28.	Now then, It says right here, and Bro. Branham identified us with
this next verse. Even as It says back there in verse 4, “Take heed no
man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ;
and shall deceive many.”

(23)	Then if any man shall say Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there; believe
it not.

	Now the point is this: It says, “If any man say... ” And He’s
talking about the pressure of a false anointing, and the anointed people
who are manifesting gifts but don’t have the reality, but merely have
a gift. See? Now the Pentecost substituted the gift for the Giver many,
many, many, many years ago. That’s why they went to chaff. Now
they’ve gone to tares. Why have they gone to tares? Well, because some
of their people have already called Bro. Branham of the devil, or the
spirit of the devil. 

29.	And I can tell you one thing: if you really want to know the truth
about it, you ask the Pentecostals: “Do you believe in election? Do
you believe that God surely did foreknow, that God absolutely did
this?”

	And the best answer they could give is: “Well, maybe in some cases,
but not overall.” 

	They’ve already joined the Roman Catholic Church, because it said,
“If any man believes, he knows that God assuredly did predestinate,”
something like that, “Let him be anathema; let him be cursed.” The
Roman Catholic Church has got its curse upon this. 

	The Roman Catholic Church also believes, like St. Augustine said, “If
God pulled down Paul in his ragings against Him, then how much more can
the Catholic Church pull you down, if we rage against it?” 

	Now, if they change that, that’s fine. But what are they going to
change it to? They can say, “Well, you simply don’t eat, you don’t
do this, you don’t do that.” 

	But you can’t, “We’ll just… ” 

	“Why, we’re here to help you, my brother/sister, but come in and
join our ranks,”--trinitarians, this and that. 

	Now you’re going to have a spiritual pressure; you’re going to have
a political pressure; you’re going to have an absolute powerful
economic pressure, like of a militancy. 

30.	(24)	But there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, (Even
that’s what they are.) showing great signs and wonders; insomuch that,
if possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 

(25)	Behold, I have told you before. (In chapter 7.)

(26)	Wherefore if they say unto you, Behold, he’s in the desert; go
not forth: and in the secret chamber; believe it not. (In other words
they come to you with an unidentified revelation.) 

	William Branham had “THUS SAITH THE LORD.” It was identified. See?
Now these guys will come with miracles, signs and wonders, but not
Deuteronomy 18. Not Numbers 12. Not what William Branham had. Now,
let’s face it; this is going to drag on for some time yet, because the
world council hasn’t showed its hands, and there’s no pressure yet.
We can still baptize in a church that will, ten-to-one, go world
council, if not world council already. Now things are that soft. As I
say, “If this is the squeeze, give me two thousand years and good
health.” I wouldn’t want two thousand years even with good health. 

31.	Now It says:

(27)	As lightning comes out of the east, shines unto the west; so shall
also the coming of the Son of man be.

	Now, what’s he telling you? They’re going to say, “Here, here,
look at this, look at this.” 

	But remember, it’s not that way. The light rose in the east; it sets
in the west. The same Holy Ghost that revealed is here doing it again.
Here you’re separating the true from the false. And remember, before
there’s a false, there’s got to be an original. No counterfeit
without an original, or the counterfeit is the original. Then, from then
on everything is the real. Can’t happen. 

32.	Well, you look at the sermons we’ve taken from Bro. Branham’s
messages here. “The Way of a True Prophet:” Amos, Micah, right down
the line. “The Third Exodus.” All… We just took time, and wove a
whole flock of them in (See?) showing you vindication. “Wherever the
carcass is, eagles be gathered.” The Bride’s going to come together
and the other false bride go together there. And then, It says: 

(37)	But as the days of Noe, they were—in the coming of the presence
of the Son of man. 

(38)	They were eating and drinking and buying and giving in marriage
(and so on. The world was doing it. It doesn’t say the Bride’s doing
it. I’m not saying she’s forming her own corporation, but there’s
a lot of things here.) 

(39)	(Now she’s tucked in the ark, knew not the flood came) so shall
also the coming of the Son of man be. 

(40)	At that time of the presence, two in the field; one taken, one
left. (That’s the Message, separating them.) 

	See? They don’t know what hour the Lord’s coming. 

(43)	But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what
watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have
suffered his house to be broken up.

(44)	Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the
Son of man cometh.

	Now It tells you in all this time here, there’s going to be a reality
as well as false. And that which is false, based upon a reality, a
counterfeit, is going to be overwhelming to the people. See? Now,
remember; Bro. Branham said that Luther looked for this, Wesley looked,
and people always looked for this end time, which is restoration. They
look for that great thing and that great thing was the Son of man in our
midst. The very ministry shown—the very message. The Lord Himself had
to descend with a shout.	

33.	I can’t understand: people say they believe this Message and
cannot apprehend it, just like that. I don’t understand. What do they
think this was all about? See? When was Judas here? At the time Jesus
was here. When will Judas be here again? Now remember, Jesus does not
come in the flesh. It’s going to be a spiritual. When is the spiritual
Judas? Right at this time here. Bro. Branham had his own personal Judas,
by the way. It wasn’t hard to read between the lines, he let you know
exactly who he’s talking about. But the Lord said, “Let them alone.
They’ll destroy themselves.” Okay. 

34.	In the verse 50:

(50)	The lord of that servant shall come in a day (shall have come,
shall be already here,) when he looketh not for him, in an hour that
he’s not aware of.

	I want you to show me that that refers to the literal second coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He does not come down upon earth. What’s he
talking about? This hour here. When the Lord Himself has already
descended with a shout, and Bro. Branham said, “I was not the one that
appeared in the river; I was only there standing there when He
appeared.” All right.

35.	So, we’re looking at the picture here that there definitely is a
problem at the end time. And the squeeze is not limited only to the
spurious spiritual, which is amongst us. 

	And we have them coming around. Like this man that said Bro. Branham
told him that he was a missionary and to go overseas. He said, “You
got an impediment in your speech,” and he said, “therefore you’ll
go overseas.” How could Bro. Branham tell a man to go overseas and
preach through an interpreter, if the people over here can’t
understand him? Doesn’t sound too good to me, unless you get someone
who can understand you very well, then put it across to the people. I
heard things very distinctly contrary. The same man said Bro. Branham
made a mistake. Then, why is he preaching him? He’s back in Latter
Rain and doesn’t know it.

	You know, I’m going to tell you: Bro. Branham categorically told me,
and it’s not on a tape, he said, “Lee, the closest to this Message
is Latter Rain, and they missed it.” And I think you can find it on a
tape, actually.

36.	Now I’m going to tell you: years ago a certain man that I used to
associate with, and didn’t associate now for many years, because we
couldn’t track together… You see, my life is pretty shoddy, but his
was even more so. So, you can just kind of figure what a rough situation
that was. One day he stood in the pulpit, and he said, “You know, this
Latter Rain bunch, I don’t understand them.” He said, “They got
Jesus coming down, going up, coming down, going up, coming down, look,
it’s like you’re on a yo-yo.” 

	And he threw a bunch of keys like this and threw some papers, and said,
“Ah, who knows what they believe? They don’t know themselves.” 

	And they had caught something about the Rapture. The Lord Himself shall
descend with a shout. The Lord Himself shall descend with a voice. The
Lord Himself shall descend with a trumpet. And it sounded like He’s
coming down, going up, coming down, going up, coming down, going up.
They had caught something. Of course, they were wrong.	

37.	I want to tell you something. People aren’t dumb when it comes to
spiritual things, because they got the best next adviser, next to God:
that’s the old spirit of hell himself. And he knows so many things,
because he’s been here a long, long time. And He knows that God always
goes true to form. So, he’s the great deceiver. And he deceived that
bunch, and they came very close. And then, out of Bro. Branham’s
ministry came that Latter Rain group. Then, out of it came that
apostolic idea. 

	That apostolic idea was pulled back from the days of Drummond. Who’s
the other guy? I forget, but I’ll get it later on. Oh! Darby. Way back
in there, when a voice told him, “Why, all you people need, you’ve
got everything, but remember back in the old days when they started that
church, they had apostles. Now dedicate apostles.” How in the world
can you dedicate a bunch of apostles and put the clock of God on order?
Merciful God, when did man have a job like that?

	Nothing but Roman Catholicism. And they got the same bunch going right
today. And you talk to them. Oh, they can talk pretty nice all right,
but they’re just as full of sin as a can is full of worms or a hunk of
carrion. Check it out. See? What have we got at this day? Subtlety. You
can see right through it. The subtleness, the subtleties of the enemies
amongst us. All right.

38.	Listen, we’re going to read about the persecution. I want to get
you out of here. 

We are coming into religious persecution just like in pagan Rome, THUS
SAITH THE LORD.	

	All right. If you think it’s over. Now remember, Brian didn’t say
it was over. But neither did he really mean to say there’s really
nothing to look forward to. But neither at any time did I preach a scare
message to you people either that you really needed to have something
come along and try to take the pressure off. 

39.	I’m going to tell you this; we don’t even know what pressure is
at this point. Let’s get that flat. We’re going through a lot of
internal turmoil; you bet we are. You know why? Because we don’t fall
for this other stuff. We’ve already bypassed, in the elemental sense,
a basic sense, not perhaps the real refined sense, of being fooled. But
a lot of folk among us still get fooled. Anything come along sounds
good, they’ll fall for it. Oh, I don’t understand people say they
believe this. I don’t know what message they’re talking about. 

40.	Now, that great gift! Others I’ve tried to explain, say how it was
done. Just wait. (Now he’s talking about that Third Pull.) It will not
be in operation perfectly now. Wait until that Council of Churches
brings on the persecution, that’s when it will happen. (He said that
in 1964.) 

	Now I want to ask you a question. How far has ecumenism got to this
hour? Not very far. The government’s just listening to the church now;
so when the squeeze comes, it’ll be really a good one. 

Brother, one day when the persecution comes, you’ll see the great
ransomed church of God will stick together like that, stone will go to
stone. You’ll forget whether you’re Methodist, Baptist, or whether
you’re, whoever you are, when the persecution rises, and communism
shuts down, the church of God will run together, stone by stone. 

Your little differences will be forgotten then. 

You just watch the wave of sin now, as it will be plumb to the core. You
watch the modernistic and ungodly things that will to take place in the
churches. And finally there’ll come a persecution. The Bible says so.
That’s THUS SAITH THE LORD. 

41.	Now in “Jezebel Religion”, which this is taken from, Bro.
Branham, of course, not just there but other places, mentioned to watch
particularly how women do. And I’m going to tell you, nobody needs to
be blind, deaf and dumb. But I’ll say this: It grieves me when I watch
women with their shoes—because Bro. Branham was grieved—and I watch
as they use eye shadow and these things that they should not be using.
Remember, Jezebel painted her eyes not her face. Now it is a type. I
don’t say you’re going to go to hell for those things; although,
when Bro. Branham talked about the shoes, it was very, very risky,
because evidently the cut hair and those things go together. You’ll
never be Bride; you’ll never make it.

	Now, look. What kind of family do you want anyway? Kids say, “I
don’t want to listen to my parents.” 

	Your parents don’t want to hurt you. Let’s get this flat. I don’t
want to hurt you. Because, look, what you do, as I’ve said before:
you’re on your own. I don’t ride-herd on anybody. But I’m going to
tell you this: what if your spirit is wrong when you come to church and
stop somebody from being healed? Or something happened? What if one day
it hits your family? Your mother? Your father dying of cancer? Oh,
you’ll get that muck off your face in a hurry. It’ll be too late
then.

	Now, I’m not rough on people. I’m just trying to tell you something
here--a kindness out of my heart. Because, look, whatever you do is your
business. It’ll soon be a one-to-one. But you see, these things are in
the church, brother/sister; and they must not be there, because God does
not want them. So, at least I just want to bring that in here, because
it’s a good opportunity to show you these things. Now, please be on
your guard. See? All right.

42.	With this great power the church system will persecute the true
Bride. This image will try to keep the Bride from preaching and
teaching. 

Oh little flock, do not fear. This age is fast closing. As it does those
tares will be bound together as a three-fold cord is not easily broken,
they’ll have tremendous three-fold strength of political, physical,
spiritual (Satanical) power, they’ll seek to destroy the Bride of
Christ. She’ll suffer, but she will endure. (The mere association with
kind-hearted people, the true believer might well bring death in return
for their kindnesses.)

	Now these statements are taken from the book I wrote for Bro. Branham.
Those quotes right there. And he went over all those quotes and
they’re taken from what he said in various sermons. See? They’re
just put in a little different language. 

43.	According to Paul, he has left his church a measure of suffering.
“Unless we suffer with him we cannot reign with Him.” We have to
suffer to reign. Now, remember; the suffering at the end time,
there’ll be suffering. Now, what is that suffering going to entail?
Like I started quite a while back and told you about those four beasts
that were guarding the Book of Acts and the Gospels.

	Now, way back there was, first of all, the lion. Secondly was the
beast--the calf. And that was suffering. Now at the end time, it’s the
eagle. Now, remember; the face of the man goes and the eagle comes. So
therefore, what you’re going to have here, the residue of the Word,
goes into a suffering, so that little word comes up under suffering, and
even greater suffering. Now it comes under mankind. So, you’ve got
Word, the suffering, under mankind. Now you’ve got it coming up here
under the eagle. Now, you see, each one thwarts the other. The church
tries to destroy it. So, now you got all those faces in there; they
resolve in an eagle. 

	So, what’s going to bring on the great persecution? The unadulterated
Word of God. So, the persecution has to be amongst us--the squeeze. And
it’s got to be out there. Let me tell you one thing: Satan doesn’t
care if there are six people to get or fourteen thousand to get. See?
Remember, the three Hebrew children had a real rough time. I don’t
know if there’s any record of the rest having a tough time. But no
doubt they had some kind of a bad time.

44.	Now you cannot reign without suffering. So therefore, I’m trying
to show you there’s going to be a suffering at the end time. And, as
Bro. Branham said:

As it was under pagan Rome, that was death, then the folly of
Constantine, then it went to the church of Rome in death. See? So you
got it. Who knows what’s all going to happen? I don’t know. I
believe, brother, there’s coming an hour that when a real rank
persecution will run us together. Then we’ll be one. The church shall
come together. I believe it’s all the making of God. 

After a short and powerful demonstration of the spirit, just a little
hunted and persecuted group will go to be with Jesus. (Now, how much
that really signifies… It cannot signify great miracles and great
things as people got their eyes on what’s coming under Israel.) 

	But this has to do with “The Spoken Word Is the Original Seed”
mentioning that where they have the Word of God they won’t say It,
unless they have the right to say It by Almighty God. They have the Word
and know what to do with It. Now whatever it entails, we don’t know
exactly. Okay.

45.	Every time the Lord uses those words, “Fear not”, there’s an
engagement at hand which will involve great danger and suffering and
deprivation. “Don’t be afraid of man or what he can do to you; I am
with you, and my grace is sufficient for you. When you pass through the
waters, they will not overflow you, not even in death are you defeated,
you’re more than conquerors.” (Now we know that’s the truth.) 

The spiritual mind can look down in Egypt and see that persecution rise.
Can see Joseph taken away in order that the persecution could rise. 

	Now, does that mean Bro. Branham is our Joseph? I haven’t the least
idea. Could it mean we’re not in touch with the Pillar of Fire not
having a prophet, but He’s here to take us to the Millennium? I
don’t know. But there’s trouble ahead according to Bro. Branham.

46.	I believe one of these glorious days when the united confederation
of churches goes together and the new Pope is brought out of the United
States... (When did he come out of the United States? See? Now people
say, “I don’t know that he’s going to.” I know that he’s going
to.) 

	If you can read Revelation 13 and not see a pope come out of America,
you’re reading a different book from what I read. I mean that’s just
the way it stands. Now you do what you want with what you read; I’ll
do with what I want with what I read. Of course, I preach it up here.

47.	According to prophecy, and then they’ll form an image like to the
beast, and I tell you the true church of God will be driven together.
And they’re going to bring a persecution on pretty soon or shut up all
the churches. You can see that. Churches like this who’s not
denomination, they’ll use them for storehouses. And if any man goes
and offers a prayer for anybody else that doesn’t belong to the
ecumenical move, he’s shot in the spot. (Now that was already known
way back in the days when the Lutheran had the head of it. They said,
what are you? Well, he would just shoot him.) 

	Now you know for years and years, and yet in the evangelical society, I
think it was under Dr. Taylor at that time, fought this where the
federal government was demanding that anybody that builds a church must
have it right in the deed where the church is going to be given, if that
original church ever goes out of existence. Now they say, “Well, we
didn’t want it hanging around like some old church you see out
there.” 

48.	Listen, if there are a lot of old churches out there, they’ll be
snapped up like that. They’ve laid a groundwork that the lawyers can
twist any way they want, to take you over. “Well,” they say,
“you’re not a church, so get out of here.” 

Don’t make any difference what they say, that church will stand true
in that time. She’s already proved it back yonder, She’ll do it
again (See those four faces coming up) in the face of everything. It’s
the Word of God. She’s going to be there without spot or wrinkle.
That’s right. She’ll stand there. 

	Now that’s in “Christ Is the Mystery of God Revealed.”

49.	I’ll be so glad when we all get to the other side, won’t you?
And it’s all over with. Now, if you’re not the seed of Abraham
tonight, come, some day God’s going to drive us all together. He’ll
have to, to make, (you know, the fellow… the Bride. That was the base
of fellowship in Los Angeles.) 

 I believe some day the real Bride of Christ will be forced to stop
preaching the Word. The Bible prophesies in Rev 13:16. Denomination will
force it to stop or take its mark. Then when the Lamb will take His
Bride and judge the whore for this. 

	Now evidently, right there, they’re going to have great power before
the Bride gets out of here. That’s from “Spoken Word Is the Original
Seed,” where Bro. Branham had the handwriting from God. All right. 

Why Joseph was taken away? He was taken in order that the persecution
could rise. 

	Again I say with that, Bro. Branham, who knows? You mark it down. You
watch; it could also be the last president before John Kennedy. Now I
know people say, “What about this man named Reagan?” Now Reagan is a
fine man; nothing against him. But he might as well be Roman Catholic,
because he’s the one that sent an embassy over and set a legate over
there. He’s the guy that really brought the thing to head. 

50.	You know these Protestants, they’re Roman Catholics. If you’ve
got a trinity baptism, you’re a Roman Catholic. Don’t try to tell me
you’re not, because you are. And the Roman Catholics know they own
you. Let’s face it. Go and talk to them. You mark it down. You watch:
through the confederation of churches the Protestants and Catholics
unite together. And, watch it take place. People who follow the Pillar
of Fire will certainly have a rough time. 

	Well, the pope hasn’t come out yet. The confederation hasn’t struck
us. Now, either Bro. Branham made a mistake, or that’s going to come.
Now he said, “They’ll follow the Pillar of Fire.” Then, is the
Pillar of Fire still here, or is He gone? Did he come down, up, down,
up, down, up, like a yo-yo? You show me. 

	Now It says the Lord will descend. It meant at that time he hadn’t
descended. Then, when did the Word come to pass? He said he came now,
because we said we got a shout, which is a message. I told you that’s
the point that threw me, until I said, “When was he ever wrong?”
From that time on, everything was on course with God, and it’s just
wonderful since then.

51.	There he said:

People that follow the Pillar of Fire will certainly have a rough time,
but they’re ready for the translation at that time. That’s right.
Just ready to go. 

I hear the coming of the combine. The world council, she’s separated.
What does she do? Shake her off the stalk, but she’s got an elevator
waiting for her. She, Bride, will go home one of these mornings. 

With all the might of organization, the false church turns from any
vestige of truth and sets out to eradicate forever the true believer.
But just when she’s about to accomplish her cowardly plot, the wheat
is gathered into the garner. (Certainly, that’s right.)

Any image, form of religion, get away from it. God will stand by you.
He’ll take the heat out of persecution. He’ll take the life out of a
cancer. He will do anything. He’s God! If you will stand by Him, He
will stand by you. He proves His Word true, every time. He took the heat
out of the blaze, He stopped the lions’ mouth, and so forth. 

	Now, what’s He doing? He’s telling you that all those things can
happen, but God is going to have a Bride that He’s going to get out of
here, and she’s not going to die. Now there may be a lot that do die.
Some die of old age, some die of sickness, some die of this, some die of
that. Who knows? But there’s a possibility of death. 

52.	God’s people do not only work with Him in a labor of love, but
they suffer with Him—for Him with joy. They are patient in bearing the
yoke. 

	I think we ought to stop here and deal with the thought that God’s
people have always been and always will be persecuted. The children in
the world controlled by the devil hate the children of God, who are
controlled by the spirit. No matter how just and upright a Christian is
before the public, how gracious he is to his fellow man, doing naught
but good, let him confess Christ as his Savior, and acknowledge of the
operation of gifts of the Holy Spirit and tongues, prophecy and healing
miracles, and he’ll be condemned, especially if he puts them in order.
See? The spirit of the world hates the spirit of God. And, because they
can’t have any effect on the spirit of the Lord, it tries to destroy
the vessel in whom the spirit of truth dwells. 

53.	Now he’s always done that. Why do you think they killed John the
Baptist? See? Because he came against Herodias. He came against a whole
bunch of them. 

Persecution and trials are a natural, normal part of the Christian life.
There’s only one thing you can do about them, commit them all to God,
judge not, leave the out-working and final judgment to him. 

"Be thou faithful unto death." He does not say be faithful ‘until’
death but ‘unto’ death. You may have to seal your testimony with
your blood. The supreme faith will give supreme grace for the supreme
hour. 

The harvesting combine is coming to beat the wheat out. Do you want to
be wheat? Then you’ve got to get beaten. See? (That’s also what it
says in the Book of Isaiah.) There’s trouble in the making. There’s
trouble in the way, friends. (In other words he’s telling you
there’s trouble is making on its way right now.) 

It ain’t going to be long. Trouble striking you; you know that.
(That’s in the “Token.”)

It’ll be a paradox if God ever gets us together. But He will, just
trust Him. He knows how to send the persecution that will run us
together.

	Now that’s not… You can’t take that, like and say, well, that
those are among us and it puts us in groups, because that could also be
cliquing and clanning, which we may talk about in some little form. I
don’t know.

The image of the beast will cause a persecution against the saints. Soon
they’re going to form up a confederation of churches, which will be
the image to the beast. And he’ll have the same power in this nation
(Rev 13:11) that they had over there, and it’ll cause a persecution
upon the saints, just like it did at the beginning of the church of
Rome. See? That’s where it’s heading right now. And that’s why the
world’s being sowed right now everywhere: Stay away from it! Get out
of it! See?

54.	Now, remember positively, that first persecution came under… when
Junious, and what was that other person? I forget. There are two Jews
that started the work in Rome, and it was a definitely a Pentecostal or
a day of Pentecost type of work. They had the baptism with the Holy
Ghost, they had evidences and all those things which are waiting for
that hour. And they… and the Emperor, I forget who it was, whoever
that first maybe, 50, maybe AD 55, wherever that was in there. I don’t
think it was Nero; my memory’s not good. I have to check it out for
you. He absolutely abolished all the Jews. And, when he abolished the
Jews, the teaching ministry and the true ministry left, the Word went.
See? And that’s where it started. And so, the persecution started
right at the very beginning.

55.	Now Bro. Branham takes you back to that time. Then, what happened?
The world took over, because Constantine said, “Listen, we better join
these fellows up, and they’re nice people.”

	And Constantine wasn’t much of a Christian. He just took a name. His
history doesn’t bear it out. See? So, you got to watch these things.
Okay.

56.	But first thing you know, they’ll try to stop all this. (I think
Bro. Branham’s talking about his ministry now.) They’ll try to quit
praying for the sick and put a ban on it.

	Just remember, there’s articles right now in the paper branding
everything as false. They catch some guy that’s a phony, so
everybody’s a phony. And, even if the guy isn’t a phony, they’ll
get him. Now come on. You know that. Who’s got the government sewed
up? The lawyers. Who’s got human government sympathy sewed up? The
doctors. And the preachers will play footsie with the whole bunch of
them, because they’re a bunch of cowards anyway. They’re not
sheepherders; they’re sheep stealers and God knows what. You know?
Okay.

57.	Now just remember that when persecution rises, the church comes to
its very height. There’s many sitting here, I believe, that will stand
a horrible persecution for their faith before it is sealed away.
(That’s a quote from the prophet.)

The crucifixion of the free interdenomination is at hand and the beast
is Rome. They have formed a council, head image to the beast. The time
coming when you’re either going to put your organization into the
world council of churches, if you do that, you take the image of the
beast because you got a power just like it was in Rome. And if you
don’t do it, you’ll be individual, independent church, and then you
do, the image of the beast is going to close your doors and you’re
going to be forbidden and you’re going to need a conference. (That’s
a conference with God. You get really close to God.) But we’ve one of
the most dreadful times to go through that ever laid before human
beings.

	Now that’s… We’re going to be taking that one pretty soon,
“Christ Revealed in His Own Word.” I’ll be getting that pretty
soon to study with you.

58.	Then there’s coming a persecution upon all those who won’t unite
with the world Council of Churches. When the persecution comes, don’t
get scared: there’s a light. He said He’d catch His people away.
She’ll not going through the tribulation.

	He preached that in “There’s a Man Here That Can Turn on the
Light.”

The image of the beast will raise up against the real church of God
onto: under those denominations, will plague this thing, but when they
start to do it—the Lamb shall take his Bride to be ever at his side.

	“Feast of the Trumpets.”

Then what do they do? They finally form up the image unto the beast,
another power. And act to the Lamb’s Bride like she did in Rev 13:14.
That’s what they do—persecute just the same thing. (That’s under
the seals.)

And in this day remember the hour will soon arrive where we can’t have
these meetings. And you got to do it now while we got time to do it. We
don’t know what time they’ll stop this.

59.	Now that’s just a bunch of quotes. I used Jack Palmer’s
“Nuggets” to save me a lot of looking up. Now remember, these are
out of context, but they do bring forth the point that there’s a very
serious time coming upon earth, and we must be ready for that time, or
it could be bad for us.

60.	Now we’re going to go to Psalm 27, where Bro. Branham took his
reference for the Rapture; and then, we’ll be finished.

	And he says:

(1)	The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord
is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

(2)	When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, come upon me to eat
up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

(3)	Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear:
though war shall rise against me, in this will I be confident.

(4)	One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after that I
may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.

(5)	For in the time of trouble, he will hide me in his pavilion: (Now,
remember; that tent vision Bro. Branham had, now this is nothing to do
with it as far as I know, but that word ‘tent’ in the Greek can be
‘a pavilion’. See?) in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide
me; he will set me upon a rock.

	In other words it could well be that no matter what comes, and it is
true, not just well be, but it is true, that the Bride is fully ready
for anything that comes upon this earth. If she’s ready for a rapture,
believe me she’s ready for persecution. Now persecution, as I say,
always comes, starting right around us and that’s where getting a
squeeze at this point. And you’ll see more and more of it. There’s
no two ways about it.

61.	Now then, he says here, “Set me upon a rock.”

(6)	And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about
me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will
sing, yea I will sing praises unto the Lord.

(7)	Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and
answer me.

(8)	When thou saidst, Seek my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face,
Lord, will I seek. (Now, remember; the face of Christ is visible to this
hour in a revelation. And it’s from that where you get that, like of
the atomic energy effect, the life effect, begin moving. The greatest
life there is.)

(9)	Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger:
thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my
salvation.

(10)	When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me
up.

(11)	Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of
mine enemies.

(12)	Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false
witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

(13)	I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the
Lord in the land of the living. (That’s it right today. People are
getting tired of waiting.)

62.	You’re going to find people go more and more back to the world.
That’s why, if you got video recorders and cassettes, and you’ve got
the monitors, don’t hook them up to TV. Stay away from that stuff! Get
away from the TV, and be very careful what your family sees. And, if you
get films, if there’s some way to edit out certain words and certain
things, I would edit it out. But be very, very careful, because all
those things can be a trap to you. They’re fine as long as
they’re… All those things, I don’t mind.

	There’s other churches are getting rid of them. They’re getting
scared. I’m not scared of those things at all. Look, I don’t ride
herd on anybody. You don’t come into my bedroom; I don’t go into
yours. You don’t look under my bed; I don’t look under yours. I
don’t sneak in your closets to see what you’re wearing or not
wearing. You don’t come into mine. Look, you’re either a Christian
or you’re not a Christian--pure and simple. You’ll be tempted.
You’ll be tried. You’ll do things you shouldn’t do. You can regret
them, you’ll repent, and you’ll seek your hearts to be right].

63.	It says here, “Seek the face of the Lord,” but you won’t be
feigning. You won’t say, “Well, look, Bro. Branham’s been gone,
going on 21 years. He said it could be 25 years, 100 years, maybe yet
tomorrow. I knew it couldn’t be tomorrow. There’s no way. Couldn’t
be in 1977. Can’t be right tomorrow morning either, unless there’s
an ecumenical thing we don’t know about. Now the table, everything, is
right here; but, once they pull the cover off, then you can see it all.
But look, brother/sister, he said the cover’s got to come off. He said
a pope’s got to come out of America.

64.	Bro. Branham said a lot of things. We just stand on it. We don’t
understand a lot of it. We stand on it. Why? Because we saw a vindicated
man. And I don’t believe a vindicated man would try to do something
like that. He’d have lost his vindication in one big hurry, because
God doesn’t deal with liars as though He’s going to use liars and
garbage tins and this and that.

	You show me a man that wasn’t a real man of God that God used,
prophet and this and that, brother/sister. They’re great people. And I
know they’re very fallible. I know their lives wouldn’t come up to
Christ. But, if anybody’s life come up to Christ, then who’d need
Christ? Why, you’d just put him out of His office, right there. But
here’s a man, never… Why, since he’s been born again, he hasn’t
done one thing wrong. Oh, then you put Jesus out of his office. He
can’t be your high priest. He can’t be your intercessor.

	Oh, come on. You listen. Let’s get this now. There’s no perfection
this side of the Resurrection. And, who knows what that’s going to be?
There might be some types of future spiritual growth we’ve never heard
of. We’re longing now for something, crying inside of us, see?

65.	(14)	Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage and He shall strengthen
thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.

	And Bro. Branham succinctly said what? “Lie in the presence of the
Son” to ripen. Keep looking at Him. Get into 2 Corinthians 2 and 3 and
4 where there’s a ministry that’s going to change you, where Bro.
Branham said categorically, “When you receive the Word of God you
become the Word of God in your flesh.” These are things,
brother/sister, the world doesn’t understand that we stand for. But we
stand for it, and we believe it.

	So, certainly there’s something coming. I don’t know what it is.
But I don’t look at it and worry about it. In fact I’m getting kind
of concerned that I don’t think more about it. But the possibility
from what I read is more than a possibility. There’s something coming.

66.	Now we’ve been going through things right now. But I say this: if
we can’t stand where it is going amongst us and around about us, how
are we going to start when the real pressure comes down? See?

	So, there’s just pressures everywhere. But, as we draw near to the
Lord and realize He is with us, (The Pillar of Fire is here to lead us
to the Millennium.) that same God that brought the shout is here to
raise the dead is here to summon us and take us up with Him, where He
will be reincarnated. We’ll crown Him King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
And we’ll know as we’ve never known before. We know a great deal
now, but we’ll know in a greater way.

	And, perhaps it will take persecution. I use the word ‘perhaps’,
because I don’t want to put persecution ahead of the spirit of God.
It’ll take the spirit of God to give a revelation. But, if it takes
persecution to hammer it in like He said, bring stone to stone, then
that’s what it’s got to be. That’s what it’s got to be. And, if
we’re not Bride, there’s a Bride out there somewhere. We just got to
bring it down to that, brother/sister. We’ve got to bring it down to
sovereignty all the way.

67.	So, I do believe in a squeeze. And I don’t believe in a squeeze to
the extent that I’m going to stand around, you know, nervous. And my
nerves don’t come from that; don’t worry. You’re born with certain
things. Your nature’s there. But, you know how it is. Certain things
go with certain things. We’re certain people, so certain things go
with it. And we just ought to love each other and to pray; and that love
I believe has got to come from this Word.

	And there is a Word the prophet said, “There’s a persecution. There
is a squeeze coming down,” and he said under the Third Pull, which I
won’t read the quotes on that: “You watch,” he said, “it’s
been thoroughly vindicated, thoroughly proven, but you wait till the
squeeze come down, and then, watch it.” What does that mean? I don’t
know. Just have to take it back to what he said, God gave him, the Bride
will have the Word and know what to do with It. And she’ll have
“THUS SAITH THE LORD.” Not like a prophet said, but It will have
been “THUS SAITH THE LORD,” because surely It came to pass.

68.	So, the whole thing lines up today in a great grasp of assurance of
almighty God. Whatever comes, remember one thing: the Bride will be seen
through. He will lose none. He’s not content to put in His Book, the
Lamb’s Book of Life, maybe so many million of Bride and then say,
“Well now, this is a pretty good record. We’ve got 599,000 out of
the 600,000. We’ll just drop this one thousand off. We don’t care if
they don’t make it.”

	Do you think God would do a thing like that? He won’t do that now,
either.

	You’ve got 144,000 Jews just lined up like that. He’s not going to
lose one of those. And He won’t say, “Well, you know, something
happened. We just lost one. Or, look; we’ve got six or seven extra.
That makes up for the bunch we didn’t get over here.”

	Do you think God does that? Come on, brother/sister. He doesn’t do
foolish things like that. Not our God.

	Let’s rise at this time. No service on Wednesday, remember. Seven
o’clock next Saturday.

	Kind, gracious, heavenly Father, we love You, and we want to thank You
for Your goodness and mercy to us. And we realize, Lord, we read many
things that the prophet said, and we’ve taken them out of context in
the sense we just read them as quotes, but we know that they’re in
there always under the thought of the churches coming together, always
going to bring a persecution, always going to try to destroy Your great
and wonderful Name and bring to nothing Your Holy Spirit. They’re just
trying to stand in Your stead, Lord, right down the line. They’re just
trying to work everything out as though the church is God. And Lord, we
know where that came from; but we realize it’s all over the place, and
we don’t want to point our fingers at the church of Rome and say,
“Well, the Protestants are great.” 

	We know, Lord, it’s just like the democrats and republicans.
There’s not one speck of difference. It’s in the people themselves.
It’s like, O God in heaven, we got to vote the man; we’re voting
Christ Jesus today, not a church, not this and not that, Father. We put
our faith in Him, and You Yourself, Lord, are here to take us up to him
who loved us and gave himself for us. And we know so many things we just
can’t differentiate and separate; and Father, we’re not even going
to try to do it. We just know it’s all of God. And, if we are one with
You, we can say, “I and my Father are one.” That’s going to do it,
Lord, if it’s been done according to the spirit of truth, which means
we’re truly Yours and the Holy Ghost bears witness. And Father, we
thank You for all this. 

	Again, thank You for Your love and mercy, Your kindness, Your goodness
and grace, and all these wonderful things You bestow upon us. We thank
You, Lord. We just have come together to just look at Your Word a little
bit and believe somehow that You’ve helped us and will continue to
help us, and going on and on, Lord, until one day it’s come up higher.


	So, Father, we just give ourselves to You as we pray. And we know we
haven’t done it as You gave Yourself to us, but Father, help us along
to just be a little more and more that way, because after all: You’re
God, and we’re not. We know that, Lord. We’re just flesh, Father,
we’re dust, we’re clay. Consider us, Father, and we know You do. We
appreciate that so much that You took it upon Yourself to become
mankind, You become flesh to die, so that we could literally say that
God died and rose again. 

	I don’t understand it, but we know it’s true, Lord. We know it’s
true, because Your Word says so. We can’t understand these mysteries,
but we certainly are thankful for them. We don’t understand a lot of
these things, Lord, but we praise You that we do believe them. 

	And so, Lord, today we believe this that no matter what comes upon this
earth--and there’s going to be something coming, Lord, we recognize
that, something’s already here--that You’ve seen us this far,
you’ll see us all the way. And You’ll lose none of us. 

	So, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be
all power, and honor, and glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

	The Lord bless you. Now don’t forget the baptismal service. And
we’ve got about an hour and forty-five minutes or so. If you just
leave right now, you’ll be able to get there quite easily. 

	“Take the Name of Jesus With You.”