Future Home #13

Sowing In and Promoting Peace

June 12, 1988

	Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we appreciate Your presence, Your love,
Your grace, Your mercy, the hope You’ve instilled in our hearts. Yea,
Lord, beyond human hope, it’s Your Own hope placed there, the earnest
expectation, which You Yourself had for us and for Yourself, is here and
being fulfilled. We appreciate that so much.

	We just pray, Lord, as we study Your Word, that It’ll give a greater
power to what You have done in our lives, and what You are doing here
now, at this time. The inspiration, Lord, will give us motivating
factors in our lives that we might live according to Truth, and manifest
that Truth. Help us, Father, because this is what we’re here for this
morning—to be corrected and to have our lives changed. We pray this in
Jesus’ Name. Amen. 

	You may be seated.

1.	Now we’re at number thirteen, and pretty soon we’ll be able to
close off on Bro. Branham’s message, “The Future Home of the Earthly
Bride and Heavenly Bridegroom”. And in there, of course, he is
describing the final destination of the saints of God, which actually
is: the true government of God come down upon earth where God dwells
with His people, in the midst of His people. The earth has been renewed
through the process of fire and re-creation. The earth’s crust
entirely reformed, the atmosphere’s completely changed and made
perfect for the New Jerusalem to come on down upon Mount Zion, which
will be 1500 miles at the base each way and 1500 miles high; it would be
a pyramidal City. And in there, of course, the Bride will be with Christ
on the Throne (His Own Throne, by the way) with the Pillar of Fire, God
Himself above the Throne, and before they call He answers. And the
people on the outside will be those who bring their glory in, who come
up in the Second Resurrection. There won’t be one son of Adam lost.
“As in Adam all die, even so, in Christ all are made alive.” And, of
course, the whole thing is a sovereign plan of Almighty God, wherein
through the Ages, ‘which have been, and are, and are to come’, He
shows forth His great and wonderful attributes—particularly those of
redemption.

2.	Now, last Sunday, we found a very striking statement made by Bro.
Branham wherein he made reference to the Millennium as an interim period
of sanctification between the earth, as we know it now, and as we will
know it in its re-creation, after it has been cleansed by fire. So,
there’s a period of time—one thousand years—called the Millennium.
And Bro. Branham said it “went through a further process of
sanctification until it was finally, completely recreated through the
processes of dissolution by fire, and the power of God recreating it.”
In other words God’s divine program—as we know it now, and know that
it will soon expire, (That is, what God is doing now will soon expire,
between this time and that time.) will evolve into another, and more
wonderful form, only to have that form further changed to its intended
perfection in the New Heavens and Earth governed by the New Jerusalem
with the Lamb on the Throne, the Pillar of Fire above the Throne. In
other words, what I’m saying there, you already know: that there’s a
process going on and that process will not stop but will bring a further
transformation, this time upward in the Millennium. And then, that will
take a further step upward by further cleansing and re-creation, which
will bring us the Lamb upon the Throne of the New Jerusalem (on his Own
Throne) and the Pillar of Fire above the Throne.

3.	Now, in this plan of progressive and progressing redemption (You
notice, I’m using the two terms, so we don’t get led astray there.)
it’s not as though redemption is as a process of evolution within
itself where it comes more and more perfect, but it is a progressive
redemption in the sense, you’ll notice, that each time it’s stepped
up as to its intensity and wonderment. A lot of people wonder about the
fact you can get born-again here and be so thoroughly changed. Well,
that is fantastic. And, don’t think for one minute we’re going to
try to supersede it. But, when you will be changed and then go into the
Millennium and see a further remarkable progress in the earth and all,
well... We kind of look back, and we might kind of wonder what this has
been all about in comparison to the glory we have chosen. Because,
remember; there’s a continuing glory. So, it’s progressive and
progressing. In other words it’s not just progressive, it’s
progressing: it’s not standing still; it’s a continuous moving on.
Like Bro. Branham always brought that out: Luther, Wesley, Pentecost,
and now this. And, of course, you’re looking at this, and many people
are a little stymied, because they don’t understand this increase far
eclipses in glory anything that Luther and the rest ever had. 

	I know they’ll say, “Well, you guys are just blowing.” 

	Well, praise God! We’re going to blow. I’m not going to worry at
what anybody thinks and says. It’s just our business here in this
church that we believe, and I know you follow.

4	So now, in this plan of progressive and progressing redemption, we
notice that for 6000 years the God of Peace (And that’s one of His
great Names.) has been making peace, with the promise to establish peace
on earth, with no end of peace, for the necessary government to maintain
this peaceful, serene, wonderful condition is maintained by the
government being upon the shoulder of the Prince of Peace. And He and
all His creation will emanate and manifest that peace. In other words a
people are vibrating with an excitement today. They’re vibrating to
the place where they’re falling apart. 

	Now, take a look in the mirror, and you’re looking at me, and I’m
looking at you, and I don’t see too much down here that’s not
falling apart. Now I’m not trying to insult you, but I’m being very,
very honest, because this is the place to be honest. There are no lies
to come forth over the pulpit, either flattery or anything else. The
fact is, you know what I’m talking about. There is a real distemper
within us that is not of God. It’s because that’s the hour we’re
living in—that nervous, terrible tension. And yet, there is a peace of
God in there concerning His wonderful Word and all. And we’re looking
forward to more and more peace, where today people do not realize that
peace is an emotion; it’s a true spirit; it’s an aura. See? 

5.	Well, what will it be in the Millennium, starting with the
Resurrection, to begin to feel the intensification of that peace, until
the King of Peace is on the Throne in the New Jerusalem? Now you don’t
go off balance. Huh? And you don’t sort of fade out, you know, where
you’re sort of in some kind of a cocaine or drift of narcotics, you
know—or in some island with the Lotus-eaters, you know, like... [Bro.
Vayle imitates a ‘dazed’ person.] You’re vibrant with peace! Man!
I would give my life for ten minutes of that right now; say, give me ten
minutes and shoot me! Do you know what I’m saying? You don’t? ...an
engineer sitting here? You don’t understand? You must know what I’m
saying—to vibrate with peace—to literally vibrate with peace. 

	Anger’s a vibration. “I can get so angry; it’s hate! Ooh, I could
hate. Disgusting.” 

	Are you getting all this on camera; better make sure we’re getting
it. [Congregation laughs.] because I’m speaking for everybody—the
whole gamut of emotions. But peace like a river. My! That speaks of
total command. Not total command to command somebody, but in [control].
1 Corinthians 15. He has come down to set the church in order for the
Bride. The government has started. When I speak this way, I get the
feeling that, I sure hope [Bro. Vayle laughs.] that, the Rapture’s not
twenty to fifty more years off yet. It’s got to be a quick work—and
the quicker the better. All right.

6.	Then, in the Millennium... First of all... Thus, in this life on this
earth (this peace program that God started after the fall)... Thus, in
this life on this earth as we know it now, the dove of peace can rule in
our hearts and minds as a growth to the future. In other words you have
the full potential, but you don’t have ‘It’. Like the Lutherans
potentially had the Holy Ghost, but they didn’t have It—Pillar of
Fire. Wesleyans had the potential even greater, but they didn’t have
It. Pentecost, even greater, and didn’t have It. But, when It came,
like It always comes, It’s not noticed by the world, because It’s
not exciting enough, (See?) but It’s compelling.

7.	So, as a potential, now, the Prince of Peace in the form of the Holy
Ghost is guaranteeing a peace that we’ve never known, and you can’t
know until the Resurrection; and you can’t know till the White Throne;
and you can’t know till the Lamb is on the Throne and the Pillar of
Fire above the Throne and that everything is an emanation of peace. I
ask you a question: How many of you have ever, ever in your lives known
what it is to have a complete break-off and a break-away from yourself
and to dwell in a peace—not a comatose condition—but a peace that
you know only God can give? Now I don’t doubt, if you tell me you’ve
had it, I wouldn’t doubt that for one second. But I would doubt very
much, if you told me you maintained it. That’s the big thing.
Literally, you’ve got to be in a Presence, which we are now, because
that Pillar of Fire’s still here. The prophet’s gone; the Pillar of
Fire’s here, because It leads us to the Millennium. And God’s got to
be here to raise the dead. And God didn’t raise the dead in human
form, except Lazarus and a couple of cases there, and he said, “It’s
the Father that doeth the works.” But Jesus himself was raised from
the dead by God (Holy Spirit). So, when you look at the Resurrection per
se, He will bring about a resurrection. He’s here to do it, because He
is in that Pillar of Fire; that’s the Logos—Jehovah, God Himself. We
understand that, you see.

8.	Now, going from this manifestation of the attributes, (That’s the
Shekinah Glory emanation.) we are now in a position exactly as it is
with the Judge. The same Judge now is the same One that moves to the
White Throne. See? The same Prince of Peace in the form of the Holy
Spirit is the same One that moves into the body of Jesus, the man, that
moves right on down to the great eternal City. Now, what I’m trying to
get you to see, and ourselves to see, we are into it now, in a measure
we have not known before. And the revelation of this, your acceptance
and acquiescence to it—in other words, you believe it and you receive
it—in the definitive, whether you feel it or not, but though contrary
to all senses and all human wisdom, you impute to God that He is true,
shows the baptism with the Holy Ghost and a part of this Message for
this hour, that you are a part of that. Now, that’s what the prophet
taught us, as I heard him.

9.	Then, in the Millennium there will be a further peace, as Satan is
bound by a chain of circumstances for one thousand years. But, after
that, annihilation of all that is discordant (not peaceful) comes, and
with it such perfect peace, as only God can give. For the lion eats hay
with the ox, and a child can play with the formerly deadly snake. And in
that eternity ahead, the kings of that New Earth continuously offer the
symbol of peace, which is a leaf plucked from the Tree of Life—perhaps
typing how Jesus was plucked from his life—that we might have peace
through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant, the cutting off of
Christ. 

10. 	Thus, using paragraph 285 on page 62, we began to discuss the
progress of peace from the sacrifice in Eden to the eternal City and set
forth that God apparently wants peace and harmony as the essence and
manifestation of His Kingdom. 

	Well, isn’t that pretty well the actual Truth? Because God simply
resurrects and brings back everything. What would be the use of the
Resurrection or anything, if there weren’t the harmonious essence of
peace? Why, you’d just be in a better position to hack each other up,
and take a longer time doing it. My! You could have a big time lopping
off somebody’s leg and just believe and put it back on by faith and
lop away some more. Oh! You could have a great time just massacring each
other day-by-day and night after night for thousands of years. The
essential quality is peace.

	How often has a rich man said, “I would give my millions for one
moment of peace”? Another man kills his wife to get some peace from
her. She might kill her husband to get some peace from him. And the man
may leave home to get peace from the kids. And men leave other countries
to get peace away from the country they’re in. Peace... I just got
thinking about it, “Listen! Real peace. No more jarring—everything
in complete reconciliation.” 

	So, God apparently wants peace. And the way I put it, ‘God apparently
wants peace’—not as though God Himself didn’t know it or was
merely intimating. I am using the word ‘apparent’ in the sense that
‘we can see it’. It’s evident that God wants peace. And He’s
going to give us peace. Wonderful! No more of this, “When, I would do
good, evil’s with me. And, when I like to do evil, well, there’s too
much good with me to indulge.” Kind of ruins it, doesn’t it? where
the good cannot be entirely good and the wicked cannot be entirely
wicked. Now I’m saying this on purpose to get you thinking, “I hate
it! There’s just nothing good about it.” 

	What would it be if you were the healthiest guy in the world, live a
million years, and had no peace? If you were the toughest person in the
street, you’d know one thing: a tougher one would come by.

11.	Peace is essential. The essentiality of the Kingdom is peace. Now,
you know what I’m talking about. We, then, begin to apply that to
us—what God wants for us. We, who are so close to the millennial peace
(resurrection peace) that we ought to look for and apprehend more peace
than perhaps any other Church Age, for as we said, peace and redemption
are progressive and are progressing now. Righteousness and peace are
overcoming sin and unrest—pushing it back until it disappears.

	In pursuing this thought, we dealt with Gal 6:7-9 based on the
principle set forth in Jas 3:17-18 and especially verse 18: that
righteousness flourishes as we act peacefully to make peace. There is
something left for us to do. And this doesn’t make us legalists. This
makes us more a grace-man, which is: recognize God, the virtues, the
values, the talents, the gifts, the fruit—all He’s given us—and
then, let’s step out of the way and let God use them through us. Now
we come to the complete headship of the Prince of Peace.

12.	Now, thank God the Resurrection is not like decompression, where
you’ve been too long and too far down in a submersible chamber, and to
bring you up gives you the bends. Now, normally speaking, that’s what
would happen spiritually to all of us, if it weren’t for the grace of
Almighty God; because no matter what happens, there isn’t one child of
God that God’s not going to see through—because God will lose none.
For God to lose any one of us would be to lose a part of His Own Soul,
which would mean, then, that God can be destroyed. 

	“Well,” somebody says, “God is just taking it back, because you
backslid.” 

	Do you believe that nonsense? How would you like to take back your
children? Some kids right now-a-days... What do they do? Scream and make
you stay awake all night? They run the living daylights out of you. 

	“Put ‘em back where they came from!” 

	Do you think God could do that? No, God doesn’t lose one. See, if you
can just bring it to natural things of life, you can see how ridiculous
people are, when they begin saying things contrary to the Word of God.
And you can see where the Word of God comes and where the Word of God
doesn’t come. It’s just really that simple. All you’ve got to do
is see your types, see your shadows, see nature; because God’s
manifested everywhere. Then, see what’s wrong out there. But God will
remove the whole thing and bring it to perfect harmony. See? All right.

13.	We find in here, then, by reading Gal 6:7 based upon Jas 3:17-18,
especially verse 18, that righteousness flourishes as we act peacefully
and make peace. (Cain couldn’t learn that.) So, our thought was one
wherein we set forth that our essential nature and conduct should be one
of peace as we witness to and live the Christian life. So, we want to
read again in Gal 6:7-9 and talk about it, as a lesson for this hour.
And It says:

(7)	Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap (period! A principle statement that cannot be
revoked.)

(8)	For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption;
but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life
everlasting. (Now you say, “What does it mean to sow to the Spirit?”
The answer is evident: the Word of God that’s been revealed to you.)

(9)	Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap,
if we faint not.

(10)	(And) As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all
men... (You sing that in the chorus, ‘...what’s required of
you...’ [Micah 6:8]) especially unto them who are of the household of
faith.

14.	Now, let’s understand something about the sowing, so that we can
be a little more adjusted to what we have in mind this morning. And we
go to Jas 3:17-18.

(17)	But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable...
(If it’s not pure, there’s no peace to it. So, God gives pure peace
based upon something which is previous and basic to it, which is pure,
which is God’s wisdom. It’s) gentle, easy to be intreated, full of
mercy and good (fruit), and (without partiality—) without hypocrisy. 

(18)	And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace (for) them that
make peace.

	Now, what we’re looking at here is the law of sowing and reaping. You
can’t get away from it. As God sowed in order to reap, and to reap in
us, so we also are admonished—by the same Holy Spirit in both of these
great men who were writers of part of the Bible—that we should learn
how to sow in such a manner that we will know exactly what we’re going
to reap and have peace about it, no matter what takes place between the
sowing and the reaping. It’s the same as the processes of faith:
between the time that you sow your faith-request in prayer and the time
that God answers that request, there is a necessary time of testing in
almost every single instance, and that’s to develop character. So,
here is a process of character development. 

15.	We read It again, verse 7-9. [Galatians 6]

(7)	Be not deceived; God is not mocked: whatsoever a man sows, (he
shall) also reap. (Now this is done in peace.)

(8)	For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption;
(In other words you can sow a certain way and no peace will be attendant
to it. You’ll be out of luck; it’ll just cause more and more
trouble.) but he that soweth to the Spirit (And that’s in peace.)
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

	Now you can sow to the Spirit, meaning: I can give my life to God and
be born again. And you can sow to the Spirit, having been born again,
meaning: you’re laying up treasure in heaven. For God is not
unrighteous to forget your labor of love. And there is a judgment fire
that burns the works of every person—not the flesh, the fleshly
things. And, only that which was done in the Spirit of God, through the
Spirit of God, in the right attitude, will go with you to where you are
going. And that’s inbred right in your character; because, how can you
have anything eternal apart from the fact that you yourself are eternal?
So therefore, it is essentially spiritual things. [Galatians 6]

(9)	And let us not be weary in well doing. (Because, It says, if we
don’t faint, we will reap.)

	Now, what does it mean? If you do faint, if you do give up, then you
will miss what you started. And the Bible said, “God has no pleasure
in the man that takes his hand off the plow, or the soul that turns
back.” And Paul, especially mentioning what would happen in this hour
in Hebrews 6, he said, “But we are persuaded better things of you,
brethren, and things which accompany salvation though we thus speak.”
He said, “We’ve got to speak concerning the judgment of God that
follows the last day Message which is vindicated, where there’s going
to be a burning up of the fruits.” 

	And that’s all this world out here. Everything’s going to burn.
Those cars will be reduced to nothing but gases. They won’t be harmful
anymore. Cars knock you down, and cars kill you. You use a car, knock
somebody else down, kill him. How’re you going to reduce to gases?
Reduce the whole thing. God’s going to get rid of it. Now he said:

(10)	(Let us…) As we have...opportunity, let us do good unto all
...especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

	And It says right here that you get your major practice amongst the
saints of God, to deliberately extend the olive branch, the leaf plucked
off the Tree of Life, signifying peace and constantly doing good in
order to maintain peace, because we can win our enemies even by good
works. You know, that’s true. We’re reading the Bible here. Lincoln
said he had no enemies, because he turned them into friends.

16.	So, having read this... One more time, we read number seven.
[Galatians 6]

(7)	Be not deceived; God is not mocked: (Whatever a man sows, that’s
exactly what he is going to reap.)

	So, verse 7 is an incontrovertible principle. And you cannot ever bend
or change it. God, in His entire cosmos, stands with it and behind it.
Now, don’t try to change it; can’t do it.

	Now the beautiful thing is, we don’t have to come to the place where
we think, “Well, I’d like to do something about that. Maybe we could
bend it.”

	The beautiful thing is, not to bend it, but to flow with it. You know,
the world’s got a saying: ‘If you can’t lick ‘em, join ‘em.’
You can’t lick this; I can’t lick it. What’re you going to do
about it? You’re going to join it. See? It cannot change.

17.	Notice what It says in verses 8-9. [Galatians 6]

(8)	For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. 

	Now, what does the flesh have within it? Adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance,
emulation, wrath, strife, sedition, heresies, envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Well, tell me what peace there
is in those things or attitudes? Nothing. There’s no peace there.
There’s a murky, miry, mucky spirit surfacing. You don’t want that.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Now, notice in there,
what you’ve got. Love: worketh no ill to his neighbor. Joy: That’s
‘happy over everything good’. Peace: There’s your peace.
Long-suffering: That’s peace again. Gentleness: That’s peace again.
Goodness: That’s peace again. Faith: That’s peace again. Meekness:
That’s peace again. Temperance: That’s peace again. The whole gamut
signifies peace. There’s nothing there that doesn’t signify peace in
some way.

18.	So, the Bible speaks very, very abruptly and very, very strong, that
(Remember the Scripture here that tells us God is not deceived.) we have
the opportunity to sow in two ways: one, we can sow for peace; and two,
we can sow for trouble. Now It says: [Galatians 6] 

(9)	Let us not be weary. 

	Now, if it just dropped in our laps, we’d never get weary. My! If you
could sit under a tree and the fruit drop in your mouth, and, you know,
you’re sort of carried around like they carry around kings and queens
and potentates with slave labor, you wouldn’t want to change that for
a minute. But, you know, the thing is, that’s not how character
develops. Why is there no character amongst the rich, in most cases?
Because they’re handed too much money with nothing to back it up. With
nothing to back it up and all that money, they get worse and worse and
worse, until they’re entirely degraded. And our society doesn’t know
the meaning of work any more. It understands entertainment, because
that’s where the big dough is. So, what’ve you got today? You’ve
got a mess. Okay.

19.	We see here, then, that the Word of God warns us that there is no
way anybody can ever stop from sowing and from reaping; and there is no
way you can reap what you really want, unless you sow for it. And It
also tells us we are continuously sowing, and we are continuously
reaping. So, therefore, if a person wants to change anything, he’s got
to change the sowing. 

20.	Now, disrupted lives are not exclusively and always the consequence
of what has been perpetrated upon us or done to us. Disrupted lives are
not necessarily lived because of someone else’s influence, though that
many, many times happens and can happen. Disrupted lives come mainly
from within us. Now we read to you in Romans how Paul preached that. We
just read It carefully over here. [Romans 8]

(35)	Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
sword? (Now you didn’t sow that. That came to you; somebody else sowed
it.) 

(36)	As (it’s) written, For thy sake (we’re) killed all the day
long; …counted as sheep for the slaughter. (You didn’t do that
either.)

(37)	Nay, in all these things, (we’re) more than conquerors, through
him that loved us. (Now, that’s something you’ve got control of,
right there.)

(38)	For (I’m) persuaded (You’ve got control of that.) that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come,

(39)	Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature (nothing in creation,
is) able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. (That’s peace.)

	So therefore, what befalls you, which appears to be accidental, but is
not, it’s a part of life. You and I have within us, through the Prince
of Peace, the ability to know that nothing is going to take us away from
God, period! Now, how in the world can you be a legalist and believe the
Bible? If you have any thoughts of falling away from God, as a child of
God, you cannot possibly believe this. 

	The legalist keeps on saying, “If I do so and so.”

	Why didn’t you born yourself, idiot? Raise yourself from the dead?
The legalist should never be sick. Well, he can do something about it.
Couldn’t do something about it. The legalist is a Pentecostal who
always wants to force the hand of God instead of learning the hand of
God. And we are here today, this morning—and I’m including myself—
we are too legal. We still don’t know the grace of this.

21.	Paul, the apostle, was like the drunk man who drank so much liquor
that, when he fell out of a four, five, six-story building, he was so
limp, he didn’t even bounce. He was drunk on the Spirit of God to do
it. And that’s the way you and I ought to be: so endued with the
Spirit of Almighty God.

	Do you want to know something? God actually requires that of us,
because He says, “Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be
drunk on the Spirit” [Eph 5:18]. In other words get limp. Ever try to
pick up a kid that went limp? It’s easier to pick up someone who goes
stiff as a poker. Try to carry a jelly fish, compared to a halibut, or
something else. See? Okay.

22.	Let’s look at Peter. We read Peter the other day; we’ll read It
again, 1 Peter 4, and then, we’ll try to get through this quick as we
can, because time just goes too fast as it is, when you get these
devotional messages. [1 Pet 4:12-19]

(12)	Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is
to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

(13)	But rejoice, inasmuch as (you’re) partakers of Christ’s
sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also
with exceeding joy (because you suffered with him). 

(14)	If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you; for the
spirit of glory and of God rests upon you: on their part (he’s) evil
spoken of, but on your part (he’s) glorified. (That’s peace, again.)

(15)	But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as
evil-doer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.

(16)	Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but
let him glorify God on this behalf.

(17)	For the time is come (when) judgment (begins) at the house of God:
and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not
the gospel of God?

(18)	And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where (will) the ungodly
and... sinner appear?

(19)	Wherefore let them who suffer according to the will of God commit
the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful
Creator.

	Now he tells you right there: People are going to do a lot of things to
us. We’re not even going to ask for it. (Some cases, we ask for it.)
But that doesn’t need to change us. We are still the masters of our
destiny. Let’s look over here to Paul. Paul says in Galatians 4—so
we get the picture a little more clearly. (At least I hope we do.) [Gal
4:12]

23.	(12)	Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as you are; you
have not injured me at all. (In other words, Paul speaks of an
understanding: There isn’t anybody can hurt you, unless you let the
person or the thing hurt you.)

	Now, that’s something that I simply don’t understand why the
majority of us have not come to. Now you’ll find men—like Doctor
Peale and men out there in a pseudo-scientific religion—who have the
thing down pat from the standpoint of a mixture of Christianity and
Hinduism and Christian Science, and you know, metaphysical approaches,
where they take ‘mind’ to be so strong. But it’s the truth, when
Bro. Branham preached “The Greatest Battle Ever Fought”, that’s
exactly what he was saying. We can take this Scripture here and plug the
channels of our mind, so that the channels of the mind are so filled
with the Word of God, no other word is in there. Then, when nothing else
is in there, what comes out? Nothing but the Word of God! That’s why
he said, “I worry about this generation. They’re not going to be
paying enough attention to the Word which I am preaching.” 

24.	Let’s look at Phil 4:11-13. Paul says something here.

(11)	Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in
whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. (He said, “I’m
master of circumstances.”)

(12)	I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where
and in (everything) I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need.

(13)	I can do all things through Christ (who gives me the inward
strength.)

	Now he tells you right there, again, that here is a person who can roll
with the punches. He doesn’t have any trouble with the exterior
problems. He said, “They’re defeated, according to the grace of God
by what is already in me.” In other words he is more than a conqueror
through Christ who loved him. All right.

25.	I’m not saying that others cannot make a shambles of our lives,
because others can do bad. However, as we cease to be children and
become mature Christians, they can do it only if we let them do it. Now,
let’s just look at what God says about little children here: Mt
18:1-10.

(1)	At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

(2)	And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst
of them.

(3)	And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become
as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

	Now he said, “Who’s going to be the greatest?” He said, “A
little child.” 

	“You mean some dumb kid is going to be the greatest? One who
doesn’t know his alphabet? That total ignorance is what’s
required?” 

	Read the rest of the Bible, and you’ll find out: a little child is
under the full authority of the parent. And the greatest in the Kingdom
of God is somebody so simple as to place himself under the full
authority of God, and under obedience, because a child’s under
obedience. You have to… Read the Book of Galatians; read the Book of
Hebrews. See what It says about child-training. 

	You don’t pick it up and say, “Well, here’s some little kid that
doesn’t know anything at all. That’s fine.” 

	Now, if you put it to the place where a child knows nothing at all, and
he’s going to be instructed by somebody else, then you say, “Well, I
know nothing, and God tells me everything.” I’d say, that’s fine,
too. But, in my books, you’ve got to get the picture where it is. How
could a little child rule? See? 

26.	The apostle Paul tells you—why he said, “You try to pick the
smartest brains in your church.” He said, “If you want to settle an
argument, or a problem in church, get the simple-living fellow. Don’t
get the big shot, the theologian, the politician, the preacher, or this
guy. Just ask some little simple fellow in the church, ‘Hey! What
would you do about this condition?’” He said, “He’ll tell you
right off the bat,” because he’s not complicated with all the
whirly-gigs—you know, up there and the wheels going around. 

	He’s like the little children that looked at the king who was naked,
and he got fooled by the guys that said, “Oh, this invisible thread,
invisible cloth; we’ll make a suit that only the dumb and ignorant,
the foolish can’t see. The wise will see it.” 

	Everybody pretended he was wise. 

	“Oh, the king’s got a lovely suit.” 

	And the kid said, “Hey! The king’s naked!” 

	That’s a little child. That’s the kind that can rule the kingdom.
[Bro. Vayle laughs.] You can’t fool him with that nonsense. See? All
right. 

27.	Now, watch. 

(6)	But, whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in
me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck,
and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

(7)	Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that
offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence comes. (Now,
he’s taking from a little child, to one of the simple little children,
to the Gospel of the Kingdom, See? The Kingdom.)

(8)	(Now)...Wherefore if thy hand (offend thee, cut it off. If your)
foot offend thee, cut (it) off, and cast them from thee: it is better
for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than (have) two hands
or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. (Now, that’s a figure of
speech there, because, look: When you go to the Lake of Fire, you’ll
have both hands and both feet and your full faculties; don’t worry.)

(9)	If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee (and
so on. Better to have no eyes and live this life.)

	In other words you’d better stop doing the things you’re doing.
Better watch where you’re going, say what you’re saying. Cut
yourself right back and put yourself in a straight-jacket to the Word of
God. A straight-jacket to the Word of God gives more freedom in the Holy
Ghost than anything else ever did. And the straight-jacket’s the
revealed Word of Almighty God. 

(10)	Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say
unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my
Father which is in heaven.

28.	Now, what is my thought here? My thought is this: that it’s up to
the families to see that the little children are not offended. It’s
better a millstone hung about the neck. What about parents, then, that
deliberately blind their eyes to sin in the home and what is going on,
and do not protect their children? I’m laying it right in your laps
today. If you’ve got wrong TV in your home, wrong pictures… If
you’re getting like the Swedes… It’s okay over in Sweden: daughter
can go off to college, bring her boyfriend home, and, after sleeping all
night together in the home of the parents, mama brings up a tray of tea
and biscuits and crumpets.

	“Well, I’d like that.” 

	You’ll go to hell liking it, too! And so will the whole church, and
so will the whole family, and so will the whole of Sweden. [End of the
first side of the audio tape.]

	Years ago, Joe Boze came back from Sweden, his native land, and he
said, “What you see in the store windows there, done in a back alley
in America, would put you in prison.” 

	Offensive parents and offending parents offend their children by
teaching them wrong. Now, let’s understand that. You are responsible
for your children. And you’ve got to watch your home for all these
things. And you cannot hide behind ‘no talk’, as though ‘no
talk’ would solve any problem. As the Spirit of God is living and
moving and probing, it is not unwise of a parent to be in the same
position of probing and knowing what is going on. 

	Irresponsible. You make a way by trying to spoil the youngest or the
oldest (whichever you’ve got) or you think you can let older children
in your home do things they shouldn’t be doing, and a younger child
see it and not be led astray?... Let me tell you, when that child goes
astray, you will be responsible. I’m telling you this morning. You get
this flat! You do what you want, but you’re going to pay that price!
I’m telling you, this is the Word of God! You’re responsible.
Let’s find out if this isn’t so. 

29.	Let’s go to Prov 22:6. It says:

(6)	Train up a child in the way he (ought to) go: (Now it doesn’t say
that you can force him into things, but under your tutelage in the home,
he is to do the right things.) and when he is old he will not depart
from it. (Or, as somebody said, if he’s like the prodigal son, he goes
out, he’ll begin to come back to it.)

	What he’s trying to tell you, this in the Word of God, It’s very
simple: “As the twig is inclined, the tree is literally bent.” See?
Now, you take a tree, and you plant it too close to another tree, and
you watch how that tree moves away. It gets in a bad posture. So, it is
with the wrong training; it will bring a child into a wrong atmosphere
and a wrong place. Now, if you’ve done the very best you can to train
and to help, then, that’s off of you. And you’ve got the promise of
God, as Bro. Branham said, “In the end time, you and your family, in
the application of the token.” But I cannot see anything other than
what the Bible teaches.

30.	Let’s go to Hebrews 12, because we just go back to what It says
here in Hebrews. And I’m going to close off in that by going to some
other point here, because we want to get right along. Okay, in Heb 12:3
It tells us:

(3)	Consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against
himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.

(4)	You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. (Christ
actually shed drops of Blood striving against his own desires.)

(5)	And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as
unto children, My son, despise not thou (the training or) the chastening
of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.

(6)	For whom the Lord loveth he chastens and scourges every son whom he
(receives. In other words, God Almighty reserves to Himself the right to
train us, even to the extent where He can make it very rough on us. Now
I’ve been through that, and you have, too.)

(7)	If you endure chastening (training—even though it hurts) God deals
with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the father (doesn’t
chasten and train up. And, remember; child-training is rigorous.
Discipline is child-training; suffering is child-training.)

(8)	But if ye be without chastisement, whereof (ye are all) partakers,
then are you (illegitimate and) bastards, and not sons. (And God tells
you right here: If you treat your children in any other way than to be
mature, solid citizens of your household, you’re looking on that child
as though it’s an illegitimate child in your home. In other words
you’re not even claiming him. It’s a bad situation.)

(9)	Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh (that) corrected us,
and we gave them reverence: shall we (much not) rather be in subjection
unto the Father of spirits, and live (unto the Word of God)?

(10)	For they verily for a few days (they corrected us and) chastened us
(—and they hurt us, as it were) after their own pleasure; (In other
words, many times a parent doesn’t have much wisdom; and that’s
true, but God does.) but (God) for our profit, that we might be
partakers of his holiness.

(11)	Now no chastening (or no training and no suffering) for the present
seems to be joyous, but grievous: (It said it bothers us.) nevertheless
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby.

	There you see the sowing again. It is difficult to take the hard way.
But, remember; when the Angel of God appeared to Bro. Branham, he said,
“Since you have taken the hard way, the rewards are limitless.” The
hard way, brother/sister, is the only way to go. And I can testify to
that. On the road, time after time, I had to just stand there, wait for
God to do something, even put food on the table. I had to stand right
there. It would have been so easy to get a job, and so easy to go right
back on God. And what I went through is literally nothing to what many
people go through. But many of you sitting here this morning don’t
have a clue what I’m talking about, and I’m sorry for you, because
of what you’re missing. And there is no way for me to impart to you or
to tell you. You have got to go through it.

31.	The ‘peaceable fruit’ of the Spirit demands, first of all, the
unrest of decision. Then, making that decision to go God’s way,
whatever God said, then, strike out and do it.

	And I’m going to tell you about when I first went preaching, the
strangest thing in my life. I fought it; I hated it. I said,
“Lord,”... I wrote it in a little box, a little piece of paper, and
I put it in a box; I said, “Lord, I’ll even be an elder in Your
church or a deacon. I’ll try to serve You, but I will not go
preaching. So, do not bother to call. I don’t want to be told to go
preaching.”

	Then, the pressure began more and more and more. And one day, literally
in a rage of anger and resentment within my soul towards myself and God,
I said, “Okay, if that’s what You want, I’ll go preaching, and I
hate it.”

	And the strangest peace came into my soul. Listen to me, what I’m
telling you. I’m not pulling your leg; I’m not lying to you. The
strangest peace came into my soul that I was going to do the will of God
though the roaring and the anticipation and the fear and the dread of
the problems, the untried faith, could have caused almost a nervous
breakdown. But I knew I would go, and I went. 

32.	Now, listen; that’s what we’re talking about this morning.
Sowing is rough. But, when you sow with God’s Word, there is a strange
peace comes with it. And He said it’d be a strange peace: “My peace
I give to you, not as the world give I to you. Let not your heart be
troubled; neither let it be afraid, because the peace that I give you is
a peculiar peace.” [Jn 14:27] And Dr. Price illustrated it. 

	He said, “One day I went to a great art gallery, and there were
pictures entitled ‘Peace’. And he said, “Over one picture
entitled, ‘Peace’, the picture was a mill pond without a ripple. Not
a leaf was stirring; it was like the sea of glass. Beside it was a
picture of a cataract tumbling down—roaring and tumbling down. And a
little bird had built her nest right by the cataract. And in the roar
and the tumult the little bird sat there with the peace in her eye. And
the artist said, ‘This is not peace in the mill pond; this is
stagnation.’ But this is peace.” 

	One cannot know peace, unless its antithesis is right there—which is
tumult and disruption. In this world there isn’t any peace, but in our
hearts there can be. And in this hour (And the pressure hasn’t even
really come down on us yet.) we can have a peace about this Message; and
we will have a peace about this Message that is phenomenal. But there is
a peace that you and I must constantly sow for. 

33.	Now, let’s go back to Col 3:12-21.

(12)	Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of
mercies, (and) kindness, (and) humbleness of mind, (and) meekness, (and)
longsufferings

(13)	Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, (See? That’s
making peace.) if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ
forgave you, (do you also.)

(14)	And above all these things put on (love), which is the bond of
perfection.

(15)	And let the peace of God (Notice, ‘let the peace of God’ and
the God of peace.) rule in your hearts, to which (you are also) called
in one body; be you thankful. (Be thankful, he said, you’re in this
body, and just sow for peace.)

(16)	Let the word of (God) dwell in you richly in all wisdom (teaching
you); (and) teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (In
other words, not brow-beating and down-grading each other, but just
using the Word of God in a nice way to encourage everybody.)

(17)	And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the
Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

(18)	Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in
the Lord. 

(19)	Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

(20)	Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well
pleasing unto the Lord. 

	Now you couldn’t be a child of God and obey parents that hate God and
do wicked things—go against the Word of God, but in all other things,
you must obey them, and right down the Word we’re looking at. 

34.	Now, let’s go to Mt 5:38-48. This is way back there where Christ
is preaching his ‘Sermon on the Mount’. And, if we want to read it
all:

(38)	(As) Ye have heard it said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a
tooth:

(39)	But I say unto you resist not evil: (Now, if you didn’t resist
evil—and that evil is there, and turning the cheek and all—how could
you do that, if there wasn’t something in your heart that told you
that you’d come out on top?)

(40)	If any man sue (you) at the law, and take away (your) coat, let him
have (your) cloak also. 

(41)	And whosoever shall compel (you) to go a mile, go with him twain. 

	And that’s not what it sounds like, because I know from an actual
experience, whatever talks to me through the inner consciousness gave me
that very Word; It said, “Now you know what it is to go the extra
mile.”

	In other words, if somebody says ‘this and this’ about you, and
they want something from you, and it doesn’t degrade you before God,
and doesn’t make you sin against God, you go ahead and do it. And
then, if he still wants something more, you go ahead and do that too,
but never sinning. In other words it’s two wills: your will and his
will--what he thinks is right. Now you don’t acquiesce to wrong; you
just let him go ahead. See? In other words you go ahead, and you take
the blame (as it were)—willing to take blame and injury. Watch how God
brings you through. Now: [Matthew 5]

(42)	Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of
thee, turn not…away.

(43)	You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love (your)
neighbour, and hate (your) enemy.

(44)	But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you, and pray for them (that) despitefully use
you and persecute you. (See? That’s peace! That’s sowing in peace.
Why? Because if we curse back and we hate back, we are sowing.)

35.	Now, this is the thing you’ve got to look at. There’s not one of
us here this morning who hasn’t been hurt by somebody. And marriage is
one of the toughest, because inadvertently the wife hurts the husband,
and the husband hurts the wife.

	And usually they clam up, or it’s, “What’s wrong?”

	“Nothing!”

	Suggestion made.

	“Well, doesn’t really matter.”

	Those are the most dangerous words in the vocabulary of marriage,
because something is the matter. And nobody should let anger or wrath be
in their souls or their minds by the setting of the sun. If we disrupt,
we have a problem. Clear it up before the night’s over, because it’s
a wrong type of sowing. If we don’t get the sowing done right, it’s
going to come back. And the Bible distinctly says, “Before it’s
over, we pay the uttermost farthing! even when somebody hurts us, and
they’re wrong and we’re right. If we don’t allow it to be
rectified, the Bible says we get thrown in prison for what they do,
which is the inner prison of consciousness, and the constant debasing of
ourselves, our nerves, our spiritual capacities, until we can be a rag
doll shaken by a Great Dane in the sight of Almighty God. We’ve just
opened the door for the devil. 

	Now, don’t tell me it doesn’t work, because I’ve been all through
this. And, if you haven’t been through it, let me tell you, you’re
sitting here this morning, you’re not even born correctly. Now,
that’s pretty rough language, but I’ve preached rough and tough,
because I know what I’m talking about. It’s the Word of God. You
can’t fool with the Word of God, brother/sister.

	If we are going to be with the Prince of Peace, we have got to begin to
give way, as grace-believers, to let God handle the things. And,
remember; a tremendous peace will come with it. It can’t help it;
there’s something so strange about it—and so settling. 

	Now I hope you’re catching what I’m saying. And I know enough of
you sitting here know what I’m talking about, because you’ve had
some of it yourselves. I’m not talking as though you’ve never had
it; let’s understand that. 

36.	Now: [Matthew 5]

(44)	Pray for them (that) despitefully use you, and persecute you;

(45)	That you may be children of your Father which is in heaven: (...
the little child set in the midst) for he maketh his sun to rise on the
evil and on the good, and sends (the) rain on the just and on the
unjust. See?

(46)	For if you love them (that) love you, what reward (do you have)?
(Now, there’s your sowing.) Don’t the publicans (do) the same
(thing)?

(47)	(If you greet your brother only, what more are you doing than
anybody else? Don’t the publicans do the same thing?)

(48)	(But) Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect.

	Now Bro. Branham said, “He made a way for that by His Blood...”
which, if it weren’t for the Blood, we’d all go to hell, right in
those few remarks right there. But it’s grace. 

37.	Luke 6:27-49. I don’t think we need to read it all, but It says
here:

(27)	But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them
(that) hate you.

(28)	Bless them that curse you, and pray for them (that) despitefully
use you.

(29)	And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the
other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat
also.

(30)	Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away
(your) goods (don’t) ask them (back).

(31)	And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also (likewise) to
them...

(32)	For if you love them (that) love you, what thank have you got?
Sinners love those (who) love them.

(33)	And if you do good to them (that) do good to you, what thank have
you (got)? Sinners (do the same thing).

(34)	And if (you) lend to them of whom (you have) hope to receive, what
(thanks do you have)? for sinners also lend to sinners; (they hope to
get) as much again (—even more, of course).

(35)	But love ye your enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing
again; and your reward shall be great, and (you’ll be called) the
children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and (unto)
the evil. (You see, a little child couldn’t resist all that. See?)

(36)	Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

(37)	Judge not, lest ye be judged: condemn not, and (then) ye shall not
be condemned: forgive, and you shall be forgiven:

(38)	Give, and (it’ll) be given (to) you; (in) good measure (and so
on).

	And right on down the line, you’ll see where God asks us to sow. And
you’ll notice that the sowing is specific; it is not suggestive. God
doesn’t say, “I suggest that you love your enemy.” I wish He had.
It would be much easier! But, you know what? It wouldn’t pay off in
the end--wouldn’t pay off in the end. It wouldn’t work, because, you
see, only that which is in God and ordained in God will be eternal. So,
you’ve got to go to His Word. All right.

38.	Now, it is seen only too well that we are to sow in peace and to sow
peace to have lives rich in peace from the God of Peace, and
righteousness in abundance. So, the question comes this morning:

	Number one: Are we hiding behind complexes?

	“Well, I was born with something. I was born shy.” 

	You can be coaxed; psychology proves it. You can make an effort. 

	“Well, somebody did this to me.” 

	I had plenty done to me. I went into my nervous collapse at age twelve;
tried to commit suicide at sixteen. What have you got to talk about?
I’m here bolder than ever and care less. I was afraid at one time;
I’m not afraid anymore. I’m not boasting, (I’m just telling you.)
as though it were a challenge; and I’m making no challenge. Don’t
try to pin anything to anybody. We don’t understand or know
everything. But, I tell you, these things called ‘complexes’, in the
Word of God, there’s no excuse for them, because the Bible says, “No
matter what happens to you,” (And you didn’t make it happen
yourself.) “you haven’t got a worry at all.” But, watch what you
make happen. Those who make things happen will be judged, and the same
measure and a whole lot more will be meted down to them. And we are
warned, if we take to heart what is done to us to let it destroy us
instead of letting Christ help us and heal us, we will go to prison and
pay the price. But we’ll come out. Everyone of us this morning is
paying these prices. 

39.	Now the question:

	Number two: How long are you going to let it go on? 

	I have an answer this week from a doctor. I don’t know if he’s
right. What makes my hand swell, nobody knows. I talked to my doctor. He
looks—not intelligent—he looks a little bit distant. And he hasn’t
got the guts to tell me he doesn’t know, because, you know, I’d walk
off. So, I talked to a chiropractor, and I lowered the boom on him
through the third person, by talking about my doctor (that I’m sick
and tired of). [Congregation chuckles.] 

	He looks at me, and he said, “Well, we don’t know the answer.” He
said, “It’s many things could cause it; and one is the sympathetic
nervous system that struggles under stress.” 

	I got a lot of stress. Why? Well, I could lie to you and say,
“Well,” [Bro. Vayle laughs.] “I don’t know if he’s lying or
even pretending to lie.” The truth of the matter is I haven’t fully
surrendered what causes the stress to God. Realizing fully that no
matter what anybody does at anytime is of no consequence, really, as
long as I look to God, and don’t start looking for excuses to fuss, to
gripe, retaliate, condemn, because somebody did it. Ninety-nine percent
of the doings—according to the Word of God—if not a hundred percent,
come right in here. [Bro. Vayle points to himself.] You can’t blame
anybody. See? 

	So much for complexes. Are we running from our lives and lives around
us because of something somebody has done to us? Casting all your
burdens upon the Lord, let Him fight your battles. He’s a great
warrior. And the Bible says, “When He arouses from sleep and goes to
war, He is a mad-man!” I’d hate to be in the way of God because I
hurt somebody. Think of it that way—leaving all things in His hands.

40.	Number three: What is our parental relationship?

	We often use that as an excuse. You got lousy parents? How good a
parent are you? What are you doing about it? If your parents kicked you
out, God’ll pick you up.

41.	Number four: What’s our family relationship? How do we get along
with our family? 

	I hear a lot of, “Well, my family hates me.” 

	I’ve learned that, at age seventy-three and almost four, I’ll bet
they’ve got good reason to hate you. [Congregation laughs.] I’m not
laughing and lying to you; I’m just telling the truth. Look in the
mirror sometime. Look in the Word of God, and find out. Man! I have
reason for my family to hate me, rather than me hate them. I’ve gotten
over all that.

42.	Number five: Are we holding grudges?

	That means [you’d] like to get back at somebody. Why? What good would
that do, when it’s over? Now we’re doing the work of the devil or
trying to think we’re God, to discipline somebody. Now, in Church
discipline, the Bible just tells you what to do, we do it, and we do it
the right way—if we ever do it. See?

43.	Number six: Are we mean to people, because someone was mean to us?
Or, we credit them with wrong persuasions, that they’ve done
something, or we think they’ve done something?

	What if my wife left me after I abused her? 

	“Oh, what a scum she was to Lee!” 

	Well, did you treat her like a queen? Did she wrap a frying pan around
your head, because you’re sweet, gentle, loving, and bring her flowers
and kisses? I don’t find women that way. Women are very easily seduced
into a position of just giving themselves over to everything, if you
just treat them with a modicum of sweetness and niceness. There’s
hardly a rape case in the world, but there’s billions of sexual
intercourse of seduction, showing that, if women are treated even
halfway right… Like they’ve always told you, and I’ve said, “If
your wife can’t cook, just start to praise her cooking, and she’ll
break her neck being the best cook in all the world. Of course, if you
want to do like me, just cook for her. [Bro. Vayle and congregation
laugh.] She’s a good cook. 

	I kind of was raised a certain way, and so, I often cook, you know,
too... Which doesn’t hurt you guys to do that. Instead of just
fishing, bring home the fish, and throw it in the frying pan the odd
time. But be sure to scale it first—fillet it. [Congregation laughs.]
Give your wife a treat. I used to do that a lot for her, when I was
first married; I still do it the odd time. And then, I don’t want her
asking me questions. I want to surprise her. I admit she gets me
ticked-off the odd time. That’s nothing, but I just want her to keep
her nose out, till I give her a surprise, you know. And I don’t want
her to stand behind the door and yell, “Boo!” either. [Congregation
laughs]. I want to make something nice, you know. My wife is that way.
We’ve got a good marriage. Marriages are good, but you’ve got to
work on them.

44.	Number seven: Are we all wound up, because we could not get our way?

	You know, that’s what many kids are like. And, because we can’t get
our way now, we want to hurt others. Lashing out, brother/sister, is a
very common thing. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. No matter who’s hurt
you, don’t lash at somebody else. If you want to lash at somebody
else, go and poke him in the nose. Now, that’s not good Bible advice,
and I’m not saying you should do it, but I’m saying don’t lash out
at anybody else over somebody. Go to that person and say, “Listen. You
have really got me in a spot where I’m very, very angry,” and have
it out; then forget it.

	Bro. Branham said, “Even with doctrine you can quarrel bitterly.”
Now, this is one thing in this message some people don’t understand.
Bro. Branham said, “You can quarrel bitterly over the Word of God and
depart as good friends.” That’s something preachers have got to
learn.

45.	Number eight: Have we got evil spirits of hate upon us?

	What is our spirit and spiritual influence upon ourselves and others?
Just think that one over. You know, watch people and find out; it’s
not too hard.

46.	Number nine: Have we had hard times and now resent those who have
good times?

	You know, one of the most happy, successful persons was asked, “How
come you are successful and so happy?”

	And that person (I think it’s a woman.) said, “I don’t care when
any good happens to anybody. I just feel so good as though it happened
to me.” 

	That’s right. That’s Bible.

47.	Number ten: Do we break the law and excuse ourselves, when Peter
warns us not to?

	Income tax, child support, lots of things. The law of the land must be
obeyed except against the Word of God. People go to jail. They won’t
pay taxes; they think they’re religious. They’re religious, but
they’re not Christians. Pay your taxes! Pay your taxes. Whatever
you’re supposed to do, do. Do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
See? Peter warns us: “Don’t take things in your hands. If the law
says don’t do it, then, don’t do it.”

	Like this guy now, a bus driver, why is it that this man is brought up
for murder for hitting a busload of young people, twenty-seven killed,
and they’re going to make an example? They cannot make him an example,
because the law allows the liquor and gets the tax off of it; they are
stuck. There’s only one reason for that booze flowing, that’s for
the money. And I realize, and I stand this way always: When a man knows
he can get drunk and thereby kill somebody, he is just the same, in my
books, as a sane sober man and should be judged under those conditions.
But the law won’t do it. There’s no way they can throw the book at
him. Let the government smarten-up. Who’s going to do it? I don’t
know. But you can’t break the laws, brother/sister. I don’t care who
it is. Break a law of God, break a law of man? Are we always trying to
get even and justify ourselves? These are just some of the things.

48.	Now, let me just say this: What we sow, we reap. And it will never
change. Our destiny is what we sow for. Listen to what It says in 1
Corinthians 15.

(37)	And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall
be, but (a) bare grain.

	A little seed sown is going to bring forth, as sure as you’re alive.
So, prayer and faith will never turn oats into wheat. 

	“I’ve done wrong.” 

	Pray all you want; repent all you want. It isn’t going to change it.
You got to learn; I’ve got to learn; we’ve got to learn to sow
right. Repentance will never turn oats into wheat. Prayer won’t do it;
repentance won’t do it. 

	“Well, I just feel terribly sorry.” 

	You may still die of AIDS. If you fool around with homosexuals and all
the drug bit and all that stuff, there’s no guarantee in the Word of
God that you’re going to get healed by God. The only guarantee
you’ve got, God could save your soul. If you’re elect, you’ll get
it saved; if you’re not elect, you’re not going to get it saved. But
people think, “Well, I just go ahead and sow, and then, when it comes
time for reaping, I’ll just say, ‘Dear Lord, have mercy. I didn’t
mean it; that’s fine.” 

	Is that a fact? Unh, unh! You won’t do it. 

49.	What is the true secret, then? We must learn to sow and know what
we’re sowing and realize we’re always sowing. Only walking in the
Light and sowing peace will do the job. In other words, a check that
we’re looking at this morning in the light of the Prince of Peace
being here, and the progress from this point, there is no end—a
continuation—continuous confirmation and continuous growth. “Peace,
like a river” is starting with us by walking in this Light, and
learning that always we are sowing, sowing, sowing. And we must sow in
peace, so that anything we do will not bring friction, but will bring
harmony and love and joy in the midst of God’s people. Only walking in
the Light and sowing peace will do the job. The maturity of this hour
says it can be done, and so, it must be done.

50.	Now, you know, we could go on and on; that’s true, but I don’t
intend to go on and on. I think our time has run out again. This will
finish it this morning, on what we’re talking about. We’re going to
Romans 13. We’re going to start reading.

(1)	Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no
power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. (There is
nothing going on that God does not have His hand in and has allowed, and
is part of His Divine program one way or another. Now it may be the part
that’s just going to burn up, but it may not be.)

(2)	Whosoever therefore resisteth the (authority), resists the ordinance
of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves (judgment).

(3)	For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt
thou then not be afraid of the (authority)? do that which is good, and
thou shalt have praise of the same (authority): (You’ll be a good
citizen and be told of by the world):

(4)	For he is a minister of God to thee for good.

	Now, that’s the normal working of the law. It’s trying to do
everybody good. It doesn’t say it always accomplishes it! You’ve got
lousy preachers that’ll skin you and do rot to you. You’ve got
rotten law-enforcement officers that’ll do the same thing. Let’s
face it. But God’s above it all. Take the right attitude and do the
right thing, and watch God move. He’s a minister of God. The police
out there, the justice of the peace, the judges, the authorities—they
are ministers of God. [Romans 13]

(4)	But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; (Now, there’s no
peace where there’s fear.) for he beareth not the sword in vain:
(He’ll catch up and cut you down.) for he is the minister of God
(whether you want to know it or not. He’s acting in God’s behalf,
and God is going to get you by that guy. He’s) a revenger to execute
wrath upon him that does evil. (Speed-limits, everything else should be
obeyed.)

(7)	Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due;
custom to...custom; (That’s pay the taxes.) fear to whom fear; honor
to whom honor. (Paul said, “You whited wall...” He said, “I’m
sorry. I didn’t know he was a high priest; I should have honored
him.”)

(8)	Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth
another hath fulfilled the law.

(9)	For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou
shalt not steal, not bear false witness, not covet; and if there be any
other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (How can you do bad to
somebody that you determine to love?)

(10)	Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the
fulfilling of the law.

(11)	And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out
of sleep: (That’s today. That’s when the foolish virgins, the wise
virgins, all wake up.) for now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed. (What’s near? The peace that God invokes us to have.)

(12)	The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast
off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

(13)	Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and
drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and
envying. (See? But in peace.)

(14)	But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and (don’t make any)
provision for the flesh, to (provide for) the lusts thereof.

	Now, that doesn’t speak of what you’re normally allowed of the
pleasures of life. There’s certain things you’re absolutely allowed,
that God commends as righteous. And that’s perfectly good and
perfectly fine. But, don’t go making a way to be excessive in anything
and to make a provision whereby that you can get messed up.

51.	Like our good friend ‘Jones’. (He’s not my friend at all.) He
got into polygamy, so he can have a second wife. And he hasn’t even
got the guts to go before a justice of the peace and say, “I’m a
polygamist.” He has it done in some little stupid ceremony in his
church. Now, what does the man want? He wants his lust; and so, he’s
got to cover up. If I wanted all your money, I’d have a way to gouge
you for more and more money. When have I ever gouged you for money or
asked for a nickel? If I want to take authority over you, I could do it
lots of ways; for instance, throw a fear upon you. 

	I just learned of a guy over here near Troy, now. A fellow moved all
the way to Florida to get away from him. He could have come to our
church, and found out he didn’t have to move that far. The man’s
just running everything to pieces, running people into the ground—a
dyed-in-the-wool legalist, shaking a club. When have I ever used a club
on you? You can’t say... You’d just lie right in your own teeth, if
you said I used a club. I can be pretty hard at times, but, believe me,
I’m harder on myself than any on you people. Sure! There’s no way
that this is how God wants these things. Now we’ve got to be right
with God. All right.

52.	Let’s keep reading here. All right, here: [Colossians 3]

(15)	And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which (you
also) called in one body; and be ye thankful.

(16)	Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching
and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace (and melody) in your hearts to the Lord. (All right.)

(17)	And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the
Lord Jesus (Christ), giving thanks (unto) God and the Father by him.
(And so on, right down. “Wives, submit yourselves...”)

	And you could go on down further; but that’s it. (Now, how much time
have we got? Five minutes? Well, that’s all we need.) 

53.	Now I’ll just close by saying this: This is this portion of Bro.
Branham’s message, which I’ve taken liberty with (on the grounds
that I’m dealing in a little pastoral message) is because,
brother/sister, there is no sermon that Bro. Branham can preach, in this
hour, that is not relative to the Bride. And, when he brings out this
pertinent thought of a ‘progressive sanctification’—in other
words, the separating of ourselves from within ourselves (what we are
normally) to what He is and provides for us and from the world system,
which we’re not a part of, to His system—and the emphasis is on this
growing sanctification of which peace is the title and the thought, then
I have no other way to conduct myself than to talk upon this line, even
though it gives me a pretty good cut, the same as it gives you a cut,
because there’s nobody here this morning that isn’t cut.

54.	Now, what we’re looking at here is: We are at the very door of the
Resurrection. We are not, and should not even be, in the place where the
early disciples were, that they locked themselves in for fear; although
that’s not wrong, to protect ourselves. But we have something they
didn’t have. We have the sure knowledge that Peter spoke of, of this
end time—of a prophet, vindicated by the power of God, that we are
now... And Bro. Branham actually mentions it (We’ll read it a little
later on.) that Jesus said, “I’m going to show you the Kingdom of
God established.” The word ‘established’ is not right. It’s
‘coming’, but he used it for this hour. It’s already established;
right there.

55.	Now then, why should we remain in a place of ‘disestablishment’?
It’s stable. Now, listen. He said, concerning this ship ‘Zion’,
(That’s going to Zion.) he said, “The stabilizers have been put on,
and they’ve been activated.” And he said, “This boat will crest
every wave and every storm.” So, what we’re looking for this morning
is a peace to reign in our hearts. And I don’t want anybody... I
don’t care if your sins were as black as India ink, they’re slimy as
the mud of God-knows-what (the La Brea Pits out there in California or
worse still. I don’t care what they’re like!) or the slime pits of
the cesspools in slaughter houses of Chicago, or they’re red like
crimson—the greatest sinner ever did. I don’t care what anybody ever
threw upon you or anybody else ever did. There is a peace to be found in
Jesus Christ today by a thorough repentance which comes based upon
sorrow, acknowledgment of what is wrong and coming to God for His
cleansing power and believing this Word, which piled Word-upon-Word,
will completely fill you with the Holy Ghost and cause you to walk as a
man controlled by God and a woman controlled by God.

56.	I don’t have anything to preach to you this morning (if you’re
born-again, or want to get born-again) that should cause you any harm
and distress or any agitation, but to hold out a hope that… Look, this
is that hour where the promise of God is known. And, when it’s known,
it is, therefore, greater in its simplicity and its power than when it
was first known! I can prove it, because Paul said, “This mystery of
the Gentiles being fellow-heir with the Jews, it was known but not
known, as it is in this generation.” And it was that generation when
the Gentiles came to Christ. Then, if the Prince of Peace is known
today, as He has not been formerly known, and this grace of God is
known, as it has not been formerly known, then we cannot sit here this
morning and believe any other than what I’ve just said: that the
factual matter is, the peace is greater and more pervasive and more
powerful than it’s ever been. That’s right. And we just ought to
satisfy our hearts and say, “That’s the way it is!”               
                                                                        
                                                                        
                                                                        
                        

	“Well, I don’t feel very...”

	That hasn’t got a thing to do with it. Everybody’s got a pretty
good liver this morning. Do you feel your liver? You don’t feel your
liver? Then, you haven’t got a liver. Just got corns? You feel corns?
Sore throats? That’s all you are while you look to the things which
you don’t see. You cannot see peace, brother/sister, but you can sow
for it and sow in it and get it. And I can, too. 

57.	 So, that’s what God wants in this congregation, as I see this
message brought to this congregation. Let us do everything we can to
promote peace rather than any agitation. If we bend over backward, if
you've got to get into a bit of slime and muck and mud to do it, (And I
don’t mean spiritual; I mean get down there where it’s, you know, a
little rough.) let’s do it. If we have to give a little more, give!
Now I’m not up here preaching ‘giving’. Look, no. Forget that
nonsense; that’s not it at all. I use that merely as an illustration.
And giving can be a whole lot from the heart, more than the pocket book.
And the widow that gave the little mite, she gave a whole lot more than
the guy that gave the ten-dollar bill, because he had twenty ten-dollar
bills left, and she didn’t have anything when she gave.

58.	But these things wherein we deliberately sow for peace, for
contentment, as the government would say, “Let’s all get out for the
betterment of mankind.” As the late [President] John Kennedy said,
“Don’t ask, ‘What can the State do for me?’ Let’s ask, ‘What
can I do for the State?’” 

	Pretty words, but he sure never did it. He died a multi-millionaire
raising our taxes. The Kennedys will do it, and so will the McCormicks,
and so will the Wrights, and so will the Reagans, and so will everybody
else. I’m going to tell you, a real Christian won’t do it, though. 

	A real Christian will say, “What can I do to bring peace in this
church? What can I do to get rid of criticism?” 

59.	Now, I don’t think there’s much criticism here to amount to a
hill of beans. If there is, I’m not even aware of it. I never heard
anything recently, anyway. I can tell you that. So, we figure there’s
no criticism going on. Now, if it is, it’s muffled, and that’s the
way to keep it, until it can turn to praise. I don’t know. But, what
can I contribute to this church? What can I sow, deliberately do an act
of grace and kindness? You know what? I marvel at the people who send
little letters and little cards to be nice. And you know, that’s
something that you could do, too, and I could do, too—everyone. But,
let’s begin to sow peaceful acts. I mean deliberately begin to do
something—begin thinking in our hearts and minds. You watch Him take
and return it many fold.

	Let’s rise and be dismissed.

	Gracious heavenly Father, we know this morning, as our words cannot do
it, maybe our words are even wrong, trying to take Your Word. I don’t
know. I don’t think it’s been wrong. I think it’s been true what
has been said, O God. I believe that this doesn’t make us legalists at
all. It just makes us get out of the way and become vessels of the Word,
and the Holy Spirit’s in the Word. And that Word in us will cause us
to do the right things, and say the right things, act the right things,
think the right things. We know that. It’s just getting the mind
filled with it, as the prophet said, “...Till the channels are
completely loaded with the Word, then watch It reverse and all the Word
come out.” 

	Lord God, we know absolutely… [End of the audio tape.]