Perfect Faith #1

Different Types of Faith

August 9, 1987

	Heavenly Father, we’re very, very happy to be here in Your Presence
with Your people that You’ve predestinated by foreknowledge and
election, making their calling sure, Lord, by being one with this Word
in this hour, and we appreciate that, and we’re thankful for it, Lord.
We only pray, Father, that whatever You have for us, we shall not miss
by being blind, knowing this is an age of great blindness to the things
of God. It’s a great contagious, spiritual blindness, pandemic, Lord,
without a doubt, that all around the world blindness and wrong
information, wrong thoughts, wrong conclusions, Lord, and we don’t
want to be caught up in that. So, we pray, Father, that You will
completely sanctify us to the truth as never before, Lord, and then, may
we have strength to walk in the truth, Lord, and be as lights that
cannot be hid, Father, nor have a desire to be hid, but rather to shine
for Your honor and glory. Somehow, Father, may we reflect Your glory
just a little bit that people might realize the goodness of God in our
lives.

	So, Father, we ask You now to help us in the remainder of this service.
May Your Word have free course, be glorified, Your people be edified. In
Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. 

	You may be seated.

	

1.	Now the message that I’m looking at, that Bro. Branham brought, is
called “Perfect Faith”, and it was preached in Jeffersonville. And
we want to just have you understand that this message was preached in
order that he would have a prayer line or pray for the sick, and, of
course, therefore, he will be encouraging the people in their faith,
teaching on faith, and, as always, he will be referring to himself,
because that would be utterly impossible for him not to do so, as you
recognize that the same prophet told us we barely have enough faith for
healing. Then, how do you get out of here in a rapture?

	And so, his ministry would be dealing with a rapturing faith. And, of
course, “the rapture,” he said, “is a revelation.” In other
words you wouldn’t be having any faith for it unless God revealed to
you the truth of the rapture. Now you can be healed and healed and
healed, and the prostitute can come in off the street, as Bro. Branham
said. And you know that’s true: the worst dog in the universe,
literally speaking; and, you know, the low of the term of a ‘dog’ is
‘a male prostitute’. So, we can use these words pretty roughly, and
we’re coming to the place, where you know, we’re talking about
degenerate people, hypocritical, and you-know-what, can be healed.

	Well, he could give a message, then, which would build them up to the
place where they could reach out like that and get healed, or they could
simply see in his ministry a reality—“Hey, that’s mine.”—and
take it. 

2.	I know a fellow… I won’t say too much about him. But the fact of
the matter is, I have no respect for the man at all, a’tall, a’tall,
a’tall. He’s a preacher. Enough said on that subject. But, what I
was getting to was this: He was in a meeting with Bro. Branham way back
in ’47 in Canada, and they were going through the prayer
line,(everybody was) and he was an usher, and Bro. Branham just grabbed
him and prayed for him.

	“Well,” he said, “I didn’t ask for it, but I might as well get
it, since I was in the prayer line.”

	Bing! He was healed just like that.

	“Well,” you say, “that fellow had… You know, he had faith.”

	I’m not arguing the point. Anybody can be healed. That doesn’t put
you in a rapture.

	So, talking of perfect faith, (And the thrust is for the prayer line.)
you know that Bro. Branham is going to actually be talking more than
just a message to build a person’s faith up for healing. So, we want
to watch this message, as we watch all others, so that when he is
speaking in terms of faith, perfect faith, there will be times that he
is speaking concerning himself, especially with “THUS SAITH THE
LORD,” that it will not be referring to us except what we call ‘the
trickle down’ or the example and the basis whereby that you can use
that, you know, to build your faith up and to reach for your healing,
like the time the angel once a year would stir the waters at the Pool of
Bethesda, I think it was. As soon as they saw the stirring of the water,
first one in got healed—nobody else, you see. In other words, there
was something there that incited and excited them.

3.	So, we’re going to start, then, on page 4 and the reading, of
course, here is the… I think it’s one over here in Mark 11:

(22)	And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. (Really,
the actual reading of that is, “Have ‘the’ faith of God” is what
it comes out of the Greek)

(23)	For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this
mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not
doubt in his heart, but shall believe those things which ‘he’ saith
shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 

	Now, of course, you know that there is no Word that Jesus could
possibly utter to make you and me believe that you could usurp the
authority of God’s Word or take precedence over It, to say something
that God did not say, or to say opposite to what God said, and then
expect the consistent God to back you up. Well, you know that right
away. So, never read this Scripture with a loose mind. See? It’ll kill
you. See, a lot of people want to read it… “Well, whatever you
say… Whatever you say… Whatever you say...” 

4.	Now Bro. Branham tells this, that he pondered this. This is not in
this message here, but in the message where he really pondered it,
“The Message of Grace,” and different ones, wondering, “What does
this really mean? What is it all about: ‘What I say’, ‘what I
say’, ‘what I say’?” And God revealed it in the creation of the
squirrels: “Now, so you be careful. Whatever you say, then, will come
to pass. You’ve got to believe it.”

(24)	Therefore I say unto you, Whatsoever things you desire, when you
pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.

	Now this is contingent with abiding in the vine, which Bro. Branham
will bring out. Right? So, keep your thoughts right with the Word.
Don’t get out there like Pentecostals and people who want to ditch the
Bible, isolate one little part of Scripture, and say, “This is
mine.”

	Well, that’s not the way to do it. You’ve got to take it all. You
take all of God or none of God. You take all the Word or none of the
Word, you see, and it becomes harmonious.

5.	(25)	But when you stand praying, forgive, (Now here’s a little
break on that, right off the bat.) if ye have ought against any: that
your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

(26)	But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in
heaven forgive your trespasses.

	Now Bro. Branham starts out, and he says, “Now faith is based on
forgiveness,” and he leaves it flat, until page 12. He just makes one
statement there. Now, why does he make that statement? Because you and I
know you cannot ask anything that God forbids you to ask and get it.
See? Now, that’s one condition, but there is also another condition,
and that is you have got to be with that Word, and you cannot reject It.

	So, let’s go to Proverbs 28 and read verse 7-9, or somewhere in
there. I think it’s verse 9, if I can find it there. All right.
Proverbs 28:9:

(9)	He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer
shall be an abomination.

	In other words, if you do not follow the Word of God and be a
participant with its dictates--as you understand It by revelation, that
you deliberately turn it down--your prayer is not only not heard, it is
abomination.

6.	Now, let’s go a little further: you can have God hear your prayer
and answer your prayer, and you will still be an abomination. Well, come
on. Hi, abominees. Anybody here? I’m just trying to get you relaxed
and understand, but I want you serious. You and I can be abomination
this morning and get answered prayer. Otherwise, where do the false
anointed come in and “Depart, I never knew you”?

	And now, listen. Remember, those false anointed ones are headships, and
to be headships, you’ve got to have bodies. So, all the people out
there that don’t know what we know and take that Scripture in Matthew
7 and look down the end of the road to the Lake of Fire, they’re
pointing at a few people out here, and they think they’re a bunch of
decrepit backsliders, not knowing that those are the men that are
leading those same people to destruction—Pentecostal, Baptist,
Methodist, the whole bunch of them, Charismatic—right to the Lake of
Fire. Abomination. See?

	God says, “I’m going to turn away your prayer.”

	Now, what is the big prayer that God turns away at the end of the time?
“Hide us from the wrath of the Lamb.” [Rev 6:16] Their prayer is
just an abomination.

7.	So, I want you to look at these things here. Bro. Branham said,
“Based on forgiveness…based on forgiveness,” then, he turns right
away from it, right away from the fact that…until page 12, where he
deals with the Word that says, “Look, you’ve got to have your life
lined up and cleaned up.” See? So, just keep that in mind now. All
right.

[19]	Faith is based on forgiveness. And then, as we said this morning,
we are trying to get the church into the place to where we could really
see apostolic times amongst us.

	What are apostolic times? Well, just think the Book of Acts. The
apostles on the day of Pentecost just literally turned the world upside
down. What happened? Seven deacons caught fire; people through
persecution went around the world. In other words they became torches
from the fire of God, giving the Word of God by light, revelation, and
by manifestation. In other words Bro. Branham is hoping that people will
begin to see Mark 16 amongst us, as it should be--and beyond that. Well,
it won’t go beyond that.

[19]	…Now, that’s what we all hunger for. All right, that’s true.
Why does he say that? Shouldn’t we be hungering for the Word of God
more than these other things? Well, yeah, but the thing is, he’s
pointing people to get help in this message. And he said, That’s what
we hunger for—apostolic times amongst us. And it’s just lying right
at the door. We see it; we want to see more of it. We want such a flow
that it’ll be a help to us and, then, flow out to others. 

	And that’s the way it should be: just keep going on to others. In
other words you become a partaker, and you tell others about it. And
also, it shows that there should be a continuity, something going on all
the time, not just something once in a while, though thank God, we like
the once in a while, (That’s good.) but there should be a continuity.
In other words it shouldn’t be that people are surprised that the sick
are healed. They should be surprised if they are not healed. See?
That’s what you’re looking at.

8.	Now I realize that we could push a healing ministry in that
direction, and we would accomplish a great deal. But, remember; you do
not major in a minor, and healing is a minor compared to the major of
people’s souls being saved and the lives being transformed, proving
something has been done to them, and especially transformed under this
Message. Remember, Jesus, as we had the lesson this morning, never used
his power for himself; he used it for others.

	Now there Bro. Branham wants the people to proliferate their faith so
that it’s not simply “Let me get in front, let me get help, let me
get help.” It’s: “Lord, everybody needs help. And You’re a great
God, and in the Exodus You took them out; there weren’t any sick, the
clothing didn’t rot, the shoes didn’t wear away, everything was
provided, and You were good to the godly and the ungodly. The mixed
multitude got the benefits, although they were there, spoiling things
for the true people, but You were good to them, and You weren’t
selfish.”

	And that’s what Bro. Branham wants us to do here is take into
consideration where the Scripture says, “You pray for others,” and
we should. You don’t just pray for yourself. You’ve already done
that, but you should be praying a great deal for others, that others
might be helped. Now he used his gift for others.

9.	Now, let’s take a look at 1 Cor 14:12 and just see how true this
is, when Paul is speaking to the church of anything coming to the church
and into the church, there are gifts of healings and miracles. And Bro
Branham said it was possible…not only possible, but it was good; it
should be that every church be fortified with all of these gifts. Okay.
In 1 Cor 14:12 It says:

(12)	Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek
that you may excel to the edifying of the church. 

	And that tells you right there that no gift is given to you
specifically as an individual for your own individual use. Now it can be
useful to you individually, but it is for somebody else.

	Bro. Branham tells that about his own gift. He tells about the gift of
healing and other gifts he has in it. I remember I mentioned that to
you, the time that Billy Paul was sick and Donovan Wertz had the cancer
on his ear. And Bro. Branham just touched the cancer, and the next day
the cancer was about ready to fall off; Billy Paul was healed. But he
pulled the leg of his trousers up, and he had a great, big raw bruise
that wouldn’t go away. It just had to take its natural healing. He
couldn’t use the gift for himself. 

	Now I think myself that this is what has happened and what is so rank
in a charismatic movement: the people kind of think they’re gifted to
make them somebody, and that’s not true. There is no gift that is
given you and me but is in stewardship, and we are to always glorify God
with whatever He’s given us, and, if we don’t do it, we’re going
to be held accountable, because we’re taking glory from God

	That’s what Moses did; he glorified himself instead of God. He smote
the rock. Now he could smite the rock. He certainly could. He could have
smitten it again and again. You see? That’s what’s wrong right
there. That’s what I said a while ago about those people—why,
they’re just false-anointed—they turn down the Word for the hour and
they just low and shout with anointings of gift. They’re an
abomination to God. If you don’t believe that, how come these
shorthaired women, wearing slacks, get away with it? And they are an
abomination to God. A woman wearing a man’s clothes is an abomination.
Now, what does God do with the abominable? They burn in the Lake of
Fire. 

	Now, look, I said a while ago, a very tremendous statement. I said,
“Everything God does is Godlike. Whether you like it or not, it is
Godlike.”

	Now, let’s face it, if God takes this one and leaves that one, and
does this, and not another, that is Godlike. Now who’s going to cry
against God? That’s why Paul said, “Who are you, O man, to reply
against God?”

	They said, “Well, that’s not Godlike.”

	They said, “Hold it.”

	You know, people need to be set back on their upper, so to speak, every
now and then, put in their place. See? You know, this is a hard life,
pardon the expression, this is a hard age we live in. See? Isn’t this
the age of iron and clay? It’s a complete mess. You can get clay and
harden it right into rock, and iron’s iron. But I tell you what:
God’s going to come down and change all of that. 

10.	Now he couldn’t use the power for himself. See? There’s no way.
That’s what it was sent for; it was sent for others. Wasn’t Jesus
sent for others? Everybody wants to talk about being like Jesus; then,
you must be sent for somebody else other than yourself. Sure. That’s
why in a marriage the woman is for the man, and the man’s for the
woman, and you don’t get anywhere if the man just wants the woman all
the time to do something, and she wants the man all the time. You know
in a good marriage what happens psychologically, they say a man marries
down and the woman marries up. She marries up to a good man, takes good
care of him. He marries down and gets a woman who’s dumb enough to
take care of him. It’s not that; I just put that in there, what
‘down’ was. But that’s right. If one doesn’t live for the other,
what do you live for? See? The Bible says, “No man liveth unto
himself, and no man dieth…”, and some people think they do, but they
don’t. Just because you might develop… People develop a philosophy,
“live like a dog; die like a dog.” Uh-huh. That’s just what you
said; God didn’t say that.

	You know I like those old prophets that said, “What did God say about
it? What did God say about it? What did God say about it? What did God
say about it?”

	They say, “Who cares what God said?”

	They found out. You know, God doesn’t collect all His I-O-U’s at
the end of every month. It’s the end of all the ages He brings his
I-O-U’s in. All right.

11.	Bro. Branham brings this up, why… And this is very strange. 

[20]	Why would a man (That’s Jesus.) that was so full of power, like
Him, would ever have to be sick?

	Now, where do you find that in any manuscript? Where do you find
allusion to it in the Bible? Where do you find anybody that ever taught
it? Well, let’s see where Bro. Branham got it, and he says it. 

	Yes sir. I’ve read in some book, somewhere, when He raised up that
boy, the widow’s son from Nain, I believe, and the book is called The
Prince of the House of David, (by Ingram), that He sat on a rock and
groaned with a headache.

	Now, you say, “Well, Bro. Vayle, do you believe that wasn’t
true?”

	If the prophet said that’s the way it was, I believe that’s the way
it was. See? We’re getting insights here. See? Now, watch; he’s
going to take it back to the Bible now in a way that nobody else ever
did, although you can’t quite find it in the Bible that way, because
Isaiah 53 seems to always refer to the cross, though not necessarily.
Now, see what I’m trying to show you here now.

	You could say, “Well, I’ll just leave this out.”

	Let’s not leave anything out. Let’s take a look at it?

[20]	…He sat on a rock and groaned with a headache. See? He bore our
infirmities. The word ‘bear’ means to carry. See, He bore them. And
He had all things…like we have today. In other words, those things
that befall us, befell him, and it goes right from A to Z. Okay. …He
had sickness.

	Now, let’s go back to Isa 53:4, for that chapter is on him, and
we’ve always alluded to the cross. This is an allusion to his life:

(4)	Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:…

	Griefs and sorrows, according to Delick and Kile, and they’re the two
great authorities on the Hebrew, they say that ‘griefs’ and
‘sorrows’, and I forget which is which, means ‘pains’ and
‘sicknesses’. And in every other place in the Bible, it is so
translated, and why not here? Some theologian stuck his nose in, set the
tenor to take people away from healing, actually in the atonement,
because what Christ died for, he had to live first of all. Right?
Absolutely. You don’t just die, brother/sister. You’ve got to live
first. And what you live, you die; and what you die for, you have lived
for…otherwise, you’re a mealy-mouthed hypocrite. You know, just a
shoot-off. Okay. Follow that? Okay. He had sicknesses.

12.	I’m going to read now.

20	…He had temptations, He had trouble, He had frustrations just as we
have, because He had to be the right kind of mediator; so He had to be
partaker, the husbandman of the fruit, before He would know. The woman
at the well and many things, see, if we look right into the Scripture.

	Now Bro. Branham said, “He had frustrations.” Well, if you’re
flustered about a thing, that means there’s disappointment, you’re
kind of nonplussed, and you’re backed into a corner. I would say
you’re stopped from carrying out some things that you’d like to
carry out. There might be bewilderment there.

	Now it says he had sickness. All right, we covered that. He had
temptations; he had trouble. Now, if you’re going to see that where
he’s talking about Christ to be mediator, which is the high priest, he
would have to be a partaker of these things himself by being a true
human being and going through it. So, we will go to Hebrews 2 and just
read that for you, because we want to cover all of these things in here
as part of Bro. Branham’s message being important to us to get
healing, as he was giving the people these thoughts for their healing.
All right. Hebrews 2:5-18:

(5)	For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come,
whereof we speak. 

(6)	But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou
art mindful of him? or the son of man, that you visit him? 

(7)	Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him
with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: 

(8)	Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that
he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him. But now we see not yet all things under him. (That’s true,
at this point.)

(9)	But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels (So,
what do we see? Here’s what we’re looking at:) made a little lower
than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and
honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every (Now
the word ‘man’ should not be there; it’s every ‘son’--everyone
that died in Adam. The word should be in italics in your Bible.) 

(10)	For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all
things, in bringing many sons (That’s what He’s talking about.) unto
glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. (Now you’ve got a militant man here, led by a captain,
captain over Israel. Now, as he’s the captain, (Now, watch also.)
head, federal headship of mankind.)

(11)	For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all
of one source (Jesus and us and God) for which cause he’s not ashamed
to call us brethren. (Well, how can he be ashamed. We are brethren, and
we’re all of one source. Now he could be ashamed because of the way we
act. But there’s no way on this point here now: he’s not ashamed of
us. Are we ashamed in His Presence?)

(12)	Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of
the church will I sing praise unto thee. 

(13)	And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the
children which God hath given me. 

(14)	Forasmuch then (Now here’s what he watches here:) then as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also likewise himself took
a part of the same; (Now he wasn’t truly human like you and I are, by
sex--no way.) that through death he might bring to nothing him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil; 

(15)	And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. 

(16)	For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on
him the seed of Abraham. 

(17)	Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 

(18)	For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
help them that are tempted.

13.	Now you see that. Okay. Let’s go now to Heb 5:1-10:

(1)	For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in
things pertaining to God, (So, Jesus had to be a man. God could not be
His Own high priest, as per essentially God, alone, Spirit, in a Pillar
of Fire. It wouldn’t work. You can’t bleed a Pillar of Fire. You
can’t kill one either.)

(2)	Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of
the way; (Those that didn’t know they were doing it, and those that
did know they were doing it. See? So, that’s going to help your faith
to know this now.) for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.

(3)	And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, as also for
himself, to offer for sins.

(4)	And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of
God, as was Aaron.

(5)	So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but
he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. 

(6)	As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after
the order of Melchisedec. 

(7)	Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to
save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 

(8)	Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which
he suffered; 

(9)	And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that obey him; 

(10)	Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

	Now you can see in all points tempted like as we are. So, what you’re
looking at here, then, Bro. Branham is bringing out that Jesus
positively bore every single thing that you and I bear and made a way
for them, (See?) that nothing was turned aside. There isn’t anybody
can say that God did not make a way for it through Jesus Christ Our
Lord. 

14.	Also, we might read over here in Hebrews 12:

(1)	Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud
of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, (That’s unbelief.) and let us run with patience the
race that is set before us, 

(2)	Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…

	Now he’s got a starter and a finisher of it. See? Now who started it,
and who’s going to end it? There’s your alpha and omega principle of
Jesus appearing to the Jews in the flesh and then appearing to the
Gentiles in the form of the Holy Ghost in a Pillar of Fire at the end
time. Follow? Because That’s the finisher of it. We’ll look into
that in 1 Corinthians 13, maybe two or three sermons from now on this,
because this will be a while. 

(2)	…Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of
God. 

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

(4)	You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

	Now that’s where he was in the Garden of Gethsemane: sweat great
drops of blood, fighting his own self as a human being. And then, he
shed blood on the cross and the puncturing even of the very veins of his
brow when they put the crown of thorns on him.

	So, you’re looking at here… Bro. Branham is telling you now: We
want you to look at Jesus and thoroughly understand the atonement and
the fact that the same one that made the atonement is the high priest to
the atonement to see that we get what he paid for. As I’ve said on
different occasions concerning faith: When Jesus Christ died, he was the
testator; he was the one who set forth the testament —the testator.
But, as many people are testators and leave a testament, they do not
become the executors of the will in order to enforce the will—and
somebody else who is alive takes over, and then, your will is void, if
the man is crooked or does something to make invalid the will. But Jesus
Christ was the only testator who died and rose and makes sure the will
is implemented and we get exactly according to the terms of the will.
That’s fantastic. So, that’s what Bro. Branham is showing us here.
All right.

14.	Now, paragraph 21:

[21]	I want to say that I believe every Scripture, and every bit of It
to be true. There are critics today that don’t want to believe that. A
critic once said that when Jesus sent those disciples to where the colt
was tied, where two roads, two ways met, that he prearranged that to
where the colt was already tied. See, they don’t understand that God
had prearranged it.

	Now, what was the truth about this? The truth of the matter is: This is
just like prophecy. This is telling you something that’s out there.
Okay. Jesus telling them that that colt was there didn’t make the colt
to be there—God had already put the colt there, and God let him in on
the secret that it was there. So is all prophecy, and so is everything
that God does. He lets a man have a part in it, that he’s standing
there as a mouth or laying on of hands, or some little thing; but God is
doing it. 

	So many times people think prophecy is so great. Prophecy isn’t so
great, brother/sister, not as far as you and I are concerned; there’s
no greatness in us. It is merely this: that God, in His humility, has
allowed us, in our pride and undoneness as sinners, hopefully,
completely born again and being transformed by grace, letting us in to
know what He’s already done and got there. Our prophecy has nothing to
do with it. It is merely information given concerning what God has done.

	You know how people like to boast about prophecy: how they like to make
something, because they’ve got a ministry. You know when people make
something because they’ve got a ministry, you’ve got to watch it.
Now it may be that they’re humble like the apostle, Paul, and Bro.
Branham, and say, “I magnify my ministry, I exalt what God has given
me.” That is good, and that is true. But, when you use it to exalt
yourself… I think that’s why a lot of people don’t get healed. Too
many simply try to prove a point or something, rather than just get down
to where the simplicity is—like the man that was born blind.

	They said, “Just a minute… Is this man blind, having been born that
way because of sins of his parents, or did something happen so he is
blind?”

	And Jesus said, “No, you’ve got the whole thing mixed up.” He
said, “The man was born blind, but it wasn’t visiting the sins of
the parents upon the children,” although that case could be true; in
other words, if it hadn’t been for sin way back there, it wouldn’t
have come on down.

	He said, “For the glory of God.” And he prayed for the man, and the
man got healed. 

	And they said, “Hey! This is fantastic! There is no place in history
where any man born blind ever was able to see.”

	And the priest played it down. Do you know why? Because it hadn’t
come through them.

	Well, what good is a gift in a reprobate? It’s the same as a jewel in
the pig’s snout. Now, if you are all ‘Miss Piggys’, you can…
Well, go ahead. We’re not ‘piggies’; we’re sheep. Why would God
give a gift? Why would God even heal? except for the glory of God. You
know, humility is a big thing, brother/sister. Humility is a very big
thing. Let’s understand that. As the Bible said, “If God gave it to
you, why do you act as though you had it on your own? See? Okay.

15.	So, predestination: God prearranged it. Now Bro. Branham is going to
illustrate concerning himself, how this works:

[22]	God told me the other day,with Brother Dauch here, that I would
shake his hand on the street again. That’s very strange. I wasn’t
here that morning; but two minutes longer, or a minute longer, I’d
have not met him on the street. But I stepped off the car just in time
to shake his hand when he was coming in, on the street. (In other words
Bro. Branham said, “The exact moment, the only time I could have done
it, I did it. He stepped from the car, coming in; I stepped out. He was
on the street now to come in, and I just stepped out of the car—there
he was.”) He didn’t know me; he had his glasses off; he couldn’t
see me. When he heard my voice, he started crying. What was it? Usually
he doesn’t do that, but it was an answer to what was told him up there
under the oxygen tent; he would do it. (He’d shake my hand; I’d
shake his. In other words, he’d live.)

[23]	I also said, “You’ll sit in church again;” that was his
heart’s desire. When we had the Chicago meeting, he wanted to come to
that meeting, for his heart was for it. I sent him a telegram with
greetings for us and his children, telling him that we were praying that
he’d get well, right quick. And a loving brother, who visited him,
said that he wanted to come so bad. But here he sits tonight with us,
see. That was not prearranged. (That was something God was going to do
and let the prophet know what He was going to do. That’s all—nothing
to do with Bro. Branham.)

	Now you’ve got to be in pretty good shape with God for Him to let you
know a secret. But, on the other hand, it really doesn’t mean too much
either, because I know a man that… He could prophesy, and he said some
things that were right, and that man cut Bro. Branham to
ribbons—ruined his ministry in Africa, told lies that Bro. Branham was
killed in drunken driving, consorted with women and everything else. The
man’s dead, now. He knows what it’s all about now. Sure.

	No, Bro. Branham didn’t do that. God just let Bro. Branham in on what
God was doing. That’s nice. If we could take that attitude of what I
said just now, concerning prophecy, and apply it to our lives, (God just
letting us in: taking us out of the mud, putting us in the house, giving
access to the ministry that Bro. Branham had, opening our eyes--God just
let us in, God just let us in, God just let us in!) we’d have a much
sweeter relationship.

16.	Like I was just thinking this morning… Here I usually… Well,
I’m going to wander a little bit. We don’t mind. It’s part of the
way I do things. Just wanting to say, “Well, now, what am I going to
tell the people this morning? See, really, nothing, because by the time
I talk about the clinic, what we went down there, and a few things, my
time’s gone anyway, but I thought to myself, sitting here, “You know
something? We’re a small group of people, and you know, there are
churches that have hundreds; and you look at those churches, and you
think, “Well, hey! Wouldn’t it be nice if we had a big crowd?”

	I’m going to tell you something: Would you people really want to be
where God could use you, and you are really responsible to God? Now, if
you really like that, let me see your hands. You heard what I said?
You’d really like God to use you, be responsible to God? You’d like
to have that kind of life? Let me tell you: you’ve got to remain
small. If you’re big, it won’t work. I’ll tell you why: a little
group of people God can deal with, and they can deal with God. Why?
Because they’ll deal with each other. And, how you and I are to each
other, and it’s much easier in a small group. 

	“Oh,” you think, “no, in a big group.”

	No, you’re lying. You’re lying to yourself, because you’re trying
to get out of being nice to everybody. You’re trying to pass the buck
or hide in the crowd. When there are three people in the room and
somebody done it, that’s a lot different from twenty people and
somebody done it.

	So, you know, a small church… God always had small things. I’ll
prove it to you: How big a church did William Branham have? Next to
nothing; next to nothing. How many did he want? Next to nothing.
“Lord,” he said, “fill the church for one reason, send them all
down to somebody else. Then fill it up again and send them all down to
somebody else.” Always thinking in terms of an outflow to somebody
else, but a small group of people is the best place in the world. A
small group in a very tight room, where you don’t have “fishhooks on
your elbows,” as Banks Wood, Bro. Branham’s good fishing partner,
would say. So, I thought I’d throw that in here. Okay.

17.	[23] 	…All prearranged…

[24]	A critic once said that “No wonder Jesus could take five loaves
and feed five thousand people. The loaves were bigger in that day, and
He just cut each loaf to feed a thousand.” (A good chuck of bread…or
really, they had a stomach like, what? an oyster? Smaller than an
oyster—or a gnat.)

[25]	“I give you to understand, a little boy had it in his lunch!”
(Not a big man that can eat thirteen eggs and two pounds of sausage. You
know, at some of these restaurants, they eat two dozen eggs and three
pounds of sausage and forty-eight pancakes…sniff, sniff, “Where’s
breakfast?”) A little child had those five loaves of bread. Then, what
about the twelve basketfuls taken up afterwards? See? That’s just
critics; that’s all it is. That doesn’t change God’s Word. It just
moves on.

	Now that speaks of this day here over here in 2 Pet 3:3-4:

(3)	Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers,
walking after their own lusts, 

(4)	And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning
of the creation.

	In other words the only time this could happen, real scoffers could
come, is at the end time when people would be evidently demanding
creative powers, publicly manifested, in order to believe that God was
God and doing anything. You’ve got them right here today. Verse 9:

(9)	The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance. (See? You’ve got that
going on right now.)

[26]	Now, we want to speak (He’s getting deep into the message
now—coming to it.) Now, we want to speak upon faith at this time, and
a different type of faith; (Now, that really will throw you into a
quandry, because the language becomes ambiguous. If I could get inside
of Bro. Branham and know just what he was thinking, that would be a
different story. But, listen again.) Now, we want to speak at this time
upon faith, and a different type of faith: ‘Perfect Faith’. 

18.	So, questions will pop up saying, “All right. Are there certain
kinds of faith and now we hear of a ‘perfect’ faith?”

	Well, let’s just check out the Bible to begin with. Let’s go to Tit
1:4.

(4)	To Titus, mine own son after the common faith… 

	Is there an ‘uncommon’ faith, then? After the ‘common’ faith.
I’ll just throw it out here. That’s all I’m doing is putting it
out. What’s a ‘common’ faith? Is that like the hyssop?
Everybody’s got it. Good question. I’m not here to answer it; I’ll
have you know that. I just brought it out here. 

	1 Timothy 1:2:

(2)	Unto Timothy, my own son in the faith…

	Was that a common faith, or was that some special faith that Paul had?
Well, I suppose that that would be revelatory —Paul, preaching the
truly revealed Word of God. Okay. That’s just a thought. All right.

	Let’s go to 1 Corinthians 13, and let’s take verse 10:

(10)	But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part
shall be done away. (Now, at that time, notice:)

(13)	And now abideth faith, hope, and charity.

	Now abides faith, earnest expectation, and love. Well, that’s going
to be a different faith at the end time. That Which is Perfect is come.
By God’s grace. He said, “What is perfect but God, and what is God
but the Word? And by God’s grace we believe we have the perfect
revelation for this hour. So, that’s something else to look at
concerning faith. Right?

19.	Let’s go to Romans 4. Bro. Branham goes into this later on.
Let’s just talk about it ahead of time, though. Rom 4:20-21:

(20)	He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; (That’s
for 25 years.) but was strong in faith giving glory to God; 

	How strong in faith was he when his wife said, “Take Hagar.”
“Well,” you say, “It was convenient, because he liked the
thought.” Nope! Maybe he did, but that’s not it. His faith wasn’t
near as good as it was down here at the end of the trail.

(21)	And being fully persuaded…

	Was he fully persuaded concerning Sarah, when he took Hagar? By no
means! By no means. He could not have been fully persuaded and, then,
done contrary to his persuasion. If I’m persuaded that I’m going to
eat peanuts instead of walnuts, I’d better eat peanuts, or I’m not
persuaded, providing they’re both there together, and they were
together. Hagar was there and Sarah was there. 

	“Well,” you say, “the thing is this: Hagar is likened to
peanuts—you can easily take the shell off, but Sarah is too much like
a walnut: it’s a hard job cracking it. In other words she may never
bare a child. God said she would. She better eat walnuts.

	You said you believed in walnuts? Then, you’re not going to eat
peanuts. How persuaded was he? He wasn’t persuaded. Sarah wasn’t
persuaded. She got persuaded, when she got rebuked. God had to come down
here twice. One time she was hit through God speaking to Abraham and
through Abraham to her. Next time she came into view—there and there.
Think it over. There’s a faith right there. 

 20.	(21)	Being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able
also to perform. 

	Do you think there’s going to be a rapture? 

	Say, “I know it.”

	How?

	“Well, I have ‘This is it.’”

	Do you believe there’s going to be a resurrection?

	“Yep.”

	When?

	“Any day now. Of course, I’ve got to tell you the truth about it:
My generation may just miss it; but I’m going to tell you one thing:
there are 20 and 30 year olds over here that aren’t going to miss
it.”

	And they say, “Well, what happened?”

	“I’ve got a persuasion.”

	Now this doesn’t make you crazy, wacky, sell everything you’ve got,
and act like a bunch of idiots, and go on top the mountain and pull
stupid things out of your hat and out of your minds. You just know. And,
like Abraham, you’ll wake up one morning changed —a sweep goes over
your body. All right.

	What faith was that? Was that the faith we’re talking about under 1
Corinthians 13? Come on now. Faith is turned to expectation: “Wait.
Tomorrow? Tomorrow? Tomorrow? Tomorrow? Love of God holds you steady.
God Himself holds you steady, God in full manifestation.” 

	What kind of faith is that? Is that what he’s talking about? 

21.	Let’s do a little more faith. We just want to get a little
puzzlement in here; so, we’ll look at faith. Matthew 17:20:

(20)	And Jeus said, Because of your unbelief for verily I say unto you,
If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing
shall be impossible unto you.

	Okay, great. Mustard seed faith. Let’s go over here now to the Book
of 1 Corinthians, and we’ll end up with Chapter 13 again, and we will
read verse 2.

(2)	And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove
mountains… 

	Jesus said ‘a grain of mustard seed’. Paul said ‘all of it’.
One said a grain of mustard seed would move a mountain; the next one
said ‘all faith’ moves mountains. So therefore, all faith, or big
faith and little faith, there’s nothing to the size of it. It depends
on the person using it. Right? Now that’s the only conclusion I can
draw, because the Bible doesn’t contradict the Bible. Christ can’t
contradict Paul, and Paul can’t contradict Christ; because, when Paul
got through teaching, he said, “You’ve been taught of Christ.”
We’ve been taught of Christ. Look at all… 

	You know, it’s a funny thing; everything in the world today is just a
sign of everything. What was one of the big TV shows when Bro. Branham
was here? “I’ve Got a Secret.” Will the real person now stand up? 

	I don’t care where you go, everything! Look, this hour is this hour;
so, everything physical, from the degenerate spirit, has to look right
to the true regenerate by the true spirit. Can’t help it. Every type,
every shadow, so similar. Okay.

22.	Big faith, little faith; what are you going to do? With that,
let’s go to Romans 12, and here’s a good one right here: verse 3.

(3)	For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is
among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think;
but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the
measure of faith. 

(4)	For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not
the same office: 

(5)	So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one
of another. 

	Now, that’s really good. Now this is why I say a small church has got
it over a big church. You don’t have to spread yourself thin at all.
Just make yourself thick and say, “We’re stuck with each other.
Wonderful! Now, let’s improve the situation.” Ha, ha. Oh, you can
have the big churches. I’m glad we’re a small church. We ought to
cut the size down even now and, then, build a smaller church, if we’re
going to build over there; cut the half acreage down to 13 acres and
build small. No, we have people visit us. We’re not worried about the
big churches. Okay.

(6)	Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to
us, (Now, watch this: a measure of faith and a measure of grace. Then,
people say they can’t be true servants of Christ and operate gifts, or
be gifted people. See? )…let us prophesy according to the proportion
of faith.

	So, all right. If you prophesy according to the proportion of faith,
you will give according to the proportion of faith, you will exhort
according to the proportion of faith, you will rule according to the
proportion of faith, you will show mercy according to the proportion of
faith, and everyone’s got grace to do it. As Iraneaus said, “There
are hundreds of gifts in the Body of Christ.” So, don’t be
Pentecostal and look on the nine gifts: three spoken, like tongues,
interpretation and prophecy; faith, healing, miracles, you know, word of
knowledge, word of wisdom, and stuff like that. There’s one more. I
forget what it is. Okay.

23.	So, we’re looking at faith.

[26]	Now, we want to speak at this time upon faith, and a different type
of faith: “Perfect Faith.” That’s a great thing. Now, about faith,
we’re told in the Bible, “Faith cometh by hearing.” 

	So, now he’s going to narrow this faith down to whatever you’ve
got. No doubt, he’s going to bring it to a place, by the time he’s
finished, that you and I are able to apprehend healing. Now, let’s
stop right here and make a little statement. I don’t want to throw
anybody for a loop, but I’m going to say everything that Bro. Branham
said, as long as it comes to my mind. Bro. Branham said, “You know
that we preach salvation as though everybody’s going to be saved, but
it’s not meant for some; so, we do the same with healing.”

	What is he doing? For everyone that healing is meant for, he is
preaching faith, so we don’t miss it. How often has the light, the
Pillar of Fire, stood over a woman or a man, and he said, “Oh,
they’re going to miss it. I hope they’re… There it went.”

	Missed it. Person meant to have it. But you know something? I believe
there’s people here this morning, myself included, are meant to be
healed, and we’re missing it. And so, therefore, that is what I
believe this sermon is all about: to bring us to that place, and it’s
called a “Perfect Faith” on the grounds that it gets results. Also,
he wants to train us in a walk of faith so that it is not sporadic once
in a tenure, once in a lifetime--once in so many times, but a continuous
moving—a walk of faith and a gathering of faith. So, that’s why
he’ll talk about forgiveness and many other things. 

	Okay. Let’s keep moving.

[26]	…That’s a great thing. Now, about faith, we’re told in the
Bible, “Faith cometh by hearing.” (You’ve got to use the Bible.)
Now, you cannot be saved without faith. (That’s right: “By grace
you’re saved through faith.”) And faith has to do with something
that you believe to be there (Is there) that really nothing else will
declare it is there but faith. 

	Faith deals, in other words, with what there is literally no evidence
as far as the scientists, the test tube, the agnostic, or the infidel,
is concerned. He says, “T’aint so.” 

	What about phenomena? Well, there’s out there in nature, a calf with
two heads. Where did it come from? Flower out there… Never saw that
flower before. He shrugs it off. So, all right.

24.	[26]	…Faith has to do with something that you have to believe is
there, (It really is there.) that really nothing else will declare it is
there but your faith. (Say, “I got that feeling; it’s there all
right.” See?) Now I’m trying to bring faith to you so that you can
be ready for this prayer line in the next few minutes.

	Now Bro. Branham, of course, when he talks about that faith, I’m sure
he’s quoting over here from the Book of Hebrews again, so we’ll go
over there. In Hebrews 11, and we’ll read the first verse and the
third:

(1)	Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen. (Now that word ‘evidence’ doesn’t mean that
it’s going to appear before you. It means ‘a conviction’. Faith is
a conviction. Verse 3:) 

(3)	Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word
of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do
appear. 

	In other words God made something out of what apparently, to us, is
nothing. So, there is something there. I know it is there; and, don’t
tell me it’s not there, because it is there. They’re going to say,
“Well, prove it, show it, this, that…” 

	No, I can’t. All I know is it is there. You tell me what in the world
could Bro. Branham do about his prophesies: “THUS SAITH THE LORD.”
Nothing. Nothing. If it didn’t come out in the open somewhere, it
showed that his faith was vain. But you knew it wasn’t vain, and
something was there, because something appeared. So, because there’s
nothing there, as far as you know, doesn’t mean that something isn’t
there. See?

	You walk into a room full of carbon monoxide… I don’t think
monoxide has a smell, does it? Isn’t it carbon monoxide? Then, fine.
If it’s got no smell, and you don’t know it’s there… “Well,
it’s not here,” [Sniff] “Don’t smell a thing.” [Sniff] Then,
poing! Yeah, that’ll teach you, Bugs Bunny! Smarting off all the time
to the old fellow with the long whiskers, you’ll get the ‘yip’
with that shotgun. Too many Bugs Bunnies jumping around here—not
here—but, you know, in the world. See?

[26]	…Faith has to do with something that you have to believe is
there, that really nothing else will declare it’s there but faith. (In
other words you’ve got no reason to say it, but it’s there.) Now
I’m trying to bring you there. (He said.)

[27]	Now, faith: (concerning faith) “He that cometh to God must
believe that God is.”

	Now personally, I wish he hadn’t stopped there, but that’s his
business, because you’ve got to believe “He’s a rewarder to them
that diligently seek Him.” In other words you don’t only believe in
a God, you believe in a God that produces according to how God wants the
production, and under the conditions that you and I might not exactly
want, but we can get through those conditions. Okay.

25.	[27]	…“He that cometh to God must believe that He is.” And
it’s impossible to please God without faith. (That’s right.) And if
you say you believe God…and you have never seen Him, then you’ve got
to believe It by faith. 

	Now man says, “I believe God.” 

	Have you ever seen Him?

	“No.”

	How do you account for it then?

	“Well, it’s just got to be.”

	See? In other words it’s not by scientific evidence or expression,
though the Bible says, and anybody knows, if he’s really honest, that
you cannot see nature and not know that there is a God. Now the agnostic
and the evolutionists or the atheists, they want to put it off on
evolution. Like Bro. Branham said, “That is thinner than the broth
made from the shadow of a chicken that starved to death.” I don’t
know.

[27]	…And if you (Now, watch this statement, though. Let me, first of
all, the one…Hebrews 11:27, not seeing God: “Moses forsook Egypt by
faith, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing Him
Who is invisible.” Now ‘endured as seeing Him Who is invisible’.
In other words, faith is genuine sight. It’s reality. Now, watch the
next statement:) And, if you could see Him, it would be no more faith. 

	Now, hold it. Is that really true? Yeah, it’s really true, but be
careful how you take it. It doesn’t say you’d have no more faith in
God. It just says you wouldn’t have to have faith that there is a God;
you just know there’s a God. Prove it. See? 

26.	The principle of seeing God, if you could see Him, it’d be no more
faith. All right. Let’s just take a look at somebody that can’t see
God. You’re not going to look at Him. And I’m not going to stretch
Scripture here—Isaiah 42, but I think I’m going to be accurate in my
assessment. I’m going to talk about Jesus in Isa 42:1-25, and then, I
think we’re going to have to close, because pretty quickly time’s
gone.

(1)	Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul
delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles.

(2)	He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in
the street.

(3)	A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not
quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. (Or unto victory.)

(4)	He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in
the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

(5)	Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched
them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of
it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them
that walk therein: (Now, notice: breath and spirit are two different
things.)

(6)	I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, I will hold thine
hand, I will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for
a light to the Gentiles; (Now, that’s right now.)

(7)	To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison,
and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

(8)	I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to
another, neither my praise to graven images. (In other words: “Don’t
try to see Me, and don’t try to figure Me. Just listen.” Now, you
know that’s the truth.)

(9)	Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I
declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

(10)	Sing unto the LORD a new song, and praise from the end of the
earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles,
and the inhabitants thereof.

(11)	Let the wilderness and the cities lift up their voice… (And so
on.)

	Now I’m going to just skip over further, because you know I’m
talking about Jesus there. Right? Okay.

	Now, in verse 19… Let’s go to 17:

(17)	They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that
trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, You are our gods.
(Now, see; we look at Messiah here. Now, watch:)

(18)	Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. (Now, watch:)

(19)	Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent?
who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant? 

	Now Christ had to be totally blind as a man to everything but the
invisible God. Now that’s what we’re looking at here; so, understand
what we’re saying here. You and I are in the same category. 

27.	I could read a bit further:

(20)	Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but
he heareth not.

(21)	The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will
magnify the law, and make it honourable.

(22)	But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them
snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey,
and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. 

	Now this, brother/sister, has to do with the end time, because it is
here that we learn that He comes to the Gentiles, and He doesn’t lift
His voice in the street. Now the church at this time should be
consistently blind to everything but revelation: the knowledge that
there is a true God, and we need nothing as further proof and no
physical manifestation. We should be to that place right today. 

	Now we are that way when it comes to this Message: live or die, sink or
swim. Where are we going? We know that none of us is going anywhere
outside of what we believe here. If we’re wrong, we’re wrong. If
we’re shot, we’re shot. But we don’t believe that; we believe
we’re right, though most people don’t like us for that, because we
take a very tough stand, and we’ve got to take a tough stand. 

	I believe we could die for what we believe. I don’t know how we’d
do it, but I believe we would. No? I don’t even like arthritis or like
someone cutting my head off or jabbing knives in me. Well, who knows?
It’s just a great big toothache without an anesthetic—just moved
through your whole body. You live, you die, you know. I don’t know. I
don’t know if I’ve got a martyr’s spirit or anything else on me. I
hope I’ve got the Spirit of God. That’ll take care of me; same for
you. See? 

	These people robbed and spoiled, snared, and so on, and none said,
“Restore.” Huh? Did they say, “Elijah has come to restore”? Did
the organizations say it? Did the preachers say it? Oh, no; they were
going to do it. Did they say they were looking for Elijah? “Elijah is
us…heh, heh, heh.” See? Okay. That’s enough on that.

28.	Let’s go to Isaiah; read on Isaiah 43:

(1)	But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that
formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called
thee by thy name; thou art mine.

(2)	When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: (Well, hey, you’ve
got to just keep your eyes off those waters then, eh?) when you walk
through the fire, you’ll not be burned.

	Now this is Psalm 91, but you don’t read It, “Hallelujah! The
plague won’t come near you, because, bless God, there ain’t going to
be no plague.” Oh, yeah. The rivers won’t overflow, because
hallelujah! we live in the prairies.” Ain’t no rivers going to
overflow. No. Because you’re going to walk through them overflowing,
come right through the age. And, if they cure the AIDS, something far
worse will come forth, because every germ is mutating—getting worse
and worse and worse. They told us the cold bug was mutating all these
years. Now, who knows but what could be a cold bug fully mutated?
Everything has its roots in infection. You get all the infection out of
your body, boy, you’re in shape, kid. Well, sure; I’m giving you
sound physiology. I’m not telling you a lie. See?

(2)	…Though you walk through the fire, you won’t be burned, no flame
shall kindle upon thee.

(3)	For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I
gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

	What did He give a ransom? He said, “I blotted it out for you.”
Right? He said, “They got in your way. I took care of them.”

(4)	Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and
I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for
thy life. (You think we’re going to be here for the great tribulation?
No…no.)

(5)	Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east,
and gather thee from the west; (The gathering in the west is going on
right now, too.)

(6)	I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back:
bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;

(7)	Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for
my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. (Notice the words
there ‘created’ and ‘formed’, all worked by God.)

(8)	Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have
ears.

(9)	Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be
assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things?

	Who’s showing us the former things right now? He did. He came down in
the form of the Holy Ghost and did exactly the same things He did when
He was here on earth. The former rain has returned—the teaching of
Paul. There’s not one thing that isn’t in full effect at this time.

29.	You know people are so busy scrapping and fooling around, they
don’t see the glory that we see. You know the best thing that anybody
can do is just stay home, not go anywhere, just live your life where the
people of God are. Who needs anything else? All you’ve got out there
is just jangle, jangle, jangle. Nobody can prove anything; it’s all
been proven. And the true believer is a part of that which has been
proven. Just rest on it, see? You don’t have to believe any of that
other stuff. The blindness… So, we’ve got blinders on. Oh, thank
God.

	“What do you mean ‘Thank God you’ve got blinders on’?” 

	Oh, yeah, we’ve got the blinders on—the blinkers. You know what
they put on a horse? Blinkers, so he can’t see this way and that way.
Otherwise, he gets spooked. Get your blinkers on, so you don’t get
spooked. Like the little boy riding a bicycle, who looked right down
into the line and went straight. 

	Okay. Let’s keep reading: [Isaiah 43]

(10)	Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have
chosen: that you may know and believe me (by revelation), understand
that I am he: (Absolutely.) and before me there was no God formed,
neither after me shall there be any God.

(11)	I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. (And so
on, right down the line.)

	See? You’re shut into it. See? So, all right. Let’s just think
about those who have seen God. That’s what you and I are like. There
are those who have seen God, that is, they’ve seen the manifestation
which is, for all intents and purposes, having seen God—and yet, not
seen God. Isaiah 6:1-5:

(1)	In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. (We sing
about that.)

(2)	Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he
covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he
did fly. (Hey, that’s great. That’s the number of man—two sixes in
it.)

(3)	And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD
of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. (Prove that one. It
is… Just can’t see it.)

30.	You know, there’s an old lady back down there in Florida years
ago… I forget her name. She was a real fruitcake, according to
everybody; and she was, you know. She wore funny clothes, and she did
funny things, and she was a health nut, what have you. And one day the
hurricane went through, and the trees were ripped up--everything
destroyed. And she said, “Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Glory to
God!”

	They said, “Woman, are you nuts?”

	She said, “Listen, I was just thinking, ‘If a storm could do that,
how much can our God do?’”

	Well, the old girl had something. I couldn’t quite fall in love with
her, but she had something there. I don’t think anybody else fell in
love with her either.

(3)	…The whole earth is full of his glory.

(4)	And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and
the house was filled with smoke. 

	Now, listen; the “house being filled with smoke” is at the end
time, when everything is over; and you’ll notice, in here the posts
being moved shows that everything is gone: organization—everything--is
gone. It doesn’t say what was under the post was moved. You’re in
that age right now.

31.	Now, brother/sister, this is what we are looking at. This man here
saw God, but it didn’t change one minute his own life of faith that
you and I enter into, because he had this and brought us the revelation.
And William Branham was no different. So, whatever William Branham puts
in this sermon, he is putting it there concerning himself—not
concerning the dynamics of his own irrefutable revelation, because
William Branham said, “I hate being stuck in a tube.”

	And one day, complaining to me, he said, “Lee, I don’t understand
it.”

	I said, “Bro. Branham, I have no problem understanding how that you
could have a greater job with your faith than I could have in mine.”

	He said, “How?”

	I said, “I’ll tell you why: if I had what you have, I would want to
use it all the time and literally forget what I’ve got over here to
use.” And I said, “By the time you switch back and forth”--like
the trouble he had between visions and things, and coming out in the
open, you know, like back to his normal walk--it was a burden. And I
could see how that Bro. Branham, as a human being, positively could just
say, “Hey, you know, I have a problem.” Anybody… His is greater
than you and mine, or ours. 

	So, don’t think for one minute when we’re talking in a certain area
of a tremendous ministry that Bro. Branham, though mentioning it, is not
really trying to use everything in his power to bring us to the place
where we relax and begin to see that we are recipients of the grace of
God and the promises of God and, then, begin to enter in. That’s what
he’s trying to do in this message here. And I’m trying to show you
all these facets so that you don’t get, you know, carried away.

32.	Like, let’s look over here in the Book of John, and let’s take
the truth of the Book of John in chapter 14 and see a man who saw God.
And we saw God the way God wanted to be seen. Now, let’s say I wanted
to be seen in a blue suit; I would wear my blue suit. And, if I wanted
to be seen in silver-rimmed glasses, I’d wear my silver-rimmed
glasses. I don’t think I’ve got a pair left. Well, I could find the
broken ones and wear them. 

	And, if I wanted to wear my black shoes, instead of my brown, I’d
have my black shoes on, because I wanted to be seen in that way. Then,
just the same…

	You say, “Well, Bro. Vayle always came in a green suit, with a green
hat and a toupee, and his cuffs always showed a little lace on them. So,
you see, that can’t be Bro. Vayle.”

	You’re wrong. I will dress and appear the way I want to dress, and it
is I! Therefore, God can appear any way He wants to appear, and you see
God, the same as you’d see me. And I can pull a bag over my head, or a
gunnysack. The minute I talk, though, it gives it away: I’d say,
“Hogwash!”

	You’d say, “That’s Lee Vayle. I’m seeing him.”

	That’s exactly true with God. 

	Let’s look at It. John 14:7: 

(7)	If you had known me, you should have known my father also: and from
henceforth you know him and have seen him.

	They said, “Oh! Just a minute.”

	That’s how God wanted to be seen; so, He was seen. Jesus, the
physical man, wasn’t God. He was Zoe, spirit becoming flesh, taking on
a chemistry. We’ll get some of these things, you know; little by
little we get truth, brother/sister, and thrilling, too.

(8)	And Philip says, (Hey! I don’t get that.) Show us the Father, and
it’ll suffice us. 

(9)	Have I been so long with you, Philip, and you have not yet known? He
that hath seen me hath seen the Father; (“Because I am the substance
of the Substance; I am the literal outraying of Almighty God, the
fullness of the attributes in human flesh. When you see me, you
literally see God.” Now, watch what he said:) 

(10)	Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father
that dwelleth in me, speaks those words. (He does the works. Well, what
are you looking at then, Philip?)

(11)	Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else
believe me for the very works' sake. 

	“Verily, I say unto you, ‘He that believeth on me’,” that can
take this and understand God the Prophet, actually can take this, that
man will do the very works that Jesus himself did, because he’s going
to the Father as a man; and, therefore, in this hour we saw God in the
form that God wanted to be seen—once more in human flesh. 

	Now that changes theology and according to theologians and
organizations, aggrandizes man—yeah—and therefore, it’s
blasphemous. 

	Hogwash! In spite of the gunnysack, you know it’s Lee Vayle. 

34.	Let’s go to 1 Jn 1:1-4:

(1)	That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have
handled, of the Word of life; (Of the Logos of life. We handled the
Logos of Zoe, the full manifestation of the concept of Almighty
God—God developing, coming to a place of human flesh—God, creating
Himself in the form of human flesh.)

(2)	(For the life (of Zoe) was manifested, (‘Manifested’ in that
place means ‘absolutely according to the character of Almighty God--in
His true character’.) we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto
you the eternal (Zoe), which was with the Father, and was (Absolutely,
unequivocably) manifested (to be that.)

(3)	That which we have seen, which we’ve heard declare we unto you,
that you also may have fellowship with us also: and truly our fellowship
is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

	There is a Father, and there is a Son, and the Father is God! And the
Son is the Son of God. I am not ‘Jesus Only’. I’m looking for that
body to meet in the air when that Spirit that’s here amongst us—not
in us, but amongst us, and the spirit we have in us is from the One that
is amongst us—incarnates Himself, we’ll crown Him King of kings and
Lord of lords. It’s going to be a great day. It said, “We’ve
handled; we’ve seen him. What about those men? They still had to go
the pathway of faith. So, sight does not obviate the fact: the unseeable
God, you must believe that He is there, and the principle goes for the
apostle, Paul, to William Branham, to every single one of us. You follow
what I am saying? Okay. We’ll try to get this paragraph finished. 

[27]	…And if you could see Him, it would be no more faith. Anything
that the senses declare is no more faith. 

	What is he saying there, then? Look, I saw him, I know. That’s what
John said. We handled him—I know. Don’t try to kid me. Okay. What
happened? How are they going to get this across? Hebrews 2. I’ll let
you read It later on down the road again. First couple verses of Hebrews
2:  

(1)	Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which
we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 

(2)	For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every
transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;
(And it did.)

(3)	How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the
first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them
that heard him; 

(4)	God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and
divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

35.	How are you going to turn it down when that One, God, manifested
through him, came down here with the Seals and proved it? No more faith;
you’ve come to knowledge. No more faith, when you see it. You don’t
have to have faith for a broken bone, when the bone is healed in front
of your eyes. It’s over. Don’t you understand, this is what the
Presence is all about? Reality! You’re not dealing anymore, “Is He
going to come? Will there be a rapture?”

	He is here now! He has brought the Message. He is waiting to raise the
dead and to change us. It’s going on now. Don’t let anybody kid you,
brother/sister. These guys in Chicago write letters and all. I get so
sick of those guys. They don’t know they’re cutting their own throat
and destroying people. I’m standing in the judgment today; the White
Throne’s on. I’m not afraid—not a bit afraid. I’m not bumptious;
I’m not stupid. I’m saying what the prophet said right down the line
here. You’re not dealing, brother/sister, with faith in this regard
anymore, but you’re still dealing with the other faith like Bro.
Branham had trouble with. Could you shake him? After seeing the Pillar
of Fire and that angel walk in and said, “God, can Billy Paul see
Him?” And Billy Paul saw him.

	“Oh, he cast a spell on his son. Hogwash.”

	Isn’t it wonderful we should all love the devil, because he’s got
so much more power, and he’s got so much more truth. Sheesh! Spare me.
Spare me from rabid Pentecostalism and dead fundamentalism, because
they’re both going to go to the Lake of Fire, unless there’s
repentance. 

[27]	…Anything that the senses declare, is no more faith. It’s a
scientific fact. It’s no more faith. But you have to accept Him by
faith. Bro. Branham had to accept by faith, and he got born again. “He
that comes to God must believe God and faith comes by hearing the Word
of God.”

	This is a good place to stop and to start over, to show you we have
come to a place which is past just the simple faith that brings healing.
Therefore, we will come to the place for Rapture. Follow? 

	Let us rise and be dismissed.

	

	Gracious, heavenly Father, again we want to thank You for Your love,
mercy and grace, Lord. We appreciate the fact You’re with us today,
appreciate the fact that people love You, love the Word. We love each
other. We appreciate the fact, Lord, You show us we’ve got to get down
to business as never before—a small group of people that’s the best
in the world, because everything begins to show up on a big canvas and
lots of room to move around. There’s lots of room here, Father, for
the few of us that are here, but how much better, Lord, as the Bible
said, “If two lie together, one keeps the other warm.” 

	We ought to keep those principles before us at all times, Father; work
for each other’s benefit at all times, know what is good for each
other, and then, for the common cause, for the love of Christ
constraining us, Lord, begin to live lives which are commensurate with
what we have in this hour.

	Help us, Lord. I know we can do it. We don’t care about the past,
Lord; we’ve been failures maybe a million times. But You said in this
last day, this last hour, that there would be such of those people who
live godly lives all the way down the line…just live, live,
live…fine, fine, fine…good, good, good. But those who turn down the
truth: no hope for them. 

	And there’d be those, Lord, that could be absolutely look like
reprobates, smell like… [End of the audio tape.]