Perfect Faith #8

Substance Faith in This Hour

September 5, 1987

	Shall we pray? Gracious, heavenly Father, Your own prophet, who was
thoroughly, perfectly identified in the Scripture and authenticated,
said that his ministry was to declare that You were here, and we believe
that to be true. We just haven’t even begun to reach the depth of it,
the sobriety, the greatness of it, Lord, to understand just what that
means at this end time, to us and to the world, to creation, to the
coming of the new heavens and the earth—a little bit of time in the
Millennium there. A thousand years passes as a day, we realize, Lord,
because we’ve been taught that time and eternity have blended. But we
really don’t know what that means. We just take it for granted, Lord,
and we’re glad that we can take it for granted. 

	This Message, Lord, is our hope; everything that You did, Lord, we have
confidence in. This has to be it. We don’t understand a lot of things,
and we don’t appreciate them as we ought to. But tonight, we pray,
Lord, that You’ll help us to come to a little different phase of our
lives, a little higher level, a higher plateau, Lord, of appreciation,
sincerity. 

	Help us, Lord, in this Word that the prophet brought, which we do know
is “THUS SAITH THE LORD,” which is really true. We may consider many
times that other people might have said it better; we don’t know that
that’s true at all. We might consider, Lord, a lot of things about it,
but the fact of the matter is we ought to consider that what he said was
the truth. He said, “I was just a voice which You used,” and that
being the case, Lord, then we’re hearing from You tonight, and we’re
happy to know that is true. We believe it to be true, but, Father, we
ourselves are not as true as that, as we should be. So, may we become
more of the truth of Your Word, Lord, as never before, that we might
blend and become one.

	We like that, Lord. We desire it with our hearts, actually. You know
what’s in our hearts as much as lies there. If there’s just ten
cents’ worth, Lord, we know we’ve just got ten cents’ worth; if
there’s a quarter or a silver dollar, we know that’s how it goes,
Lord. We don’t know just how we go; we trust we shall go into a higher
height and a deeper depth with You.

	So, help us tonight, Lord, to treat the subject matter, which is Your
Word, Lord, in a way that the prophet did it, further illuminating It by
the Spirit of God tonight, breaking It down, as he said to do, that the
people might get greater benefit than ever. We know that could only come
because of a greater benefit on the grounds that It’s just more
elaborate: there’s more of It. 

	So, Father, help us tonight to eat heartily and in depth of the Word of
God, which has been stored up of Your Word for us in this hour, that we
might have rapturing faith. Bless every one in divine Presence, Lord,
and we pray that there’ll be healing amongst the people tonight
because of this Message, Father, because we’re to take It as our life
is everything. And we thank You for that privilege. In Jesus’ Name we
pray. Amen.

	You may be seated.

1.	Now this message, as all other messages, points to the presence of
Christ. And Bro. Branham sets forth before us the truth that, if Jesus
in His earthly tabernacle could be reached, could be touched, could be
expected to hear an answer, the petitions that people desired, and that
same Jesus, Who doesn’t change, Who is here in the form of the Holy
Ghost in a Pillar of Fire, could be expected to hear and to answer, to
be touched, and we receive the petition we desired. 

	Now, Bro. Branham’s ministry, of course, which brings us the days of
the Son of man, proves this: the literal presence of God, present, as He
has not been previously present, doing exactly as He did when He was
here with us. And Bro. Branham preached this in order that we build our
faith upon it. So, as we sort of review this message, we notice in this
message, no different from the others in principle, like all other
messages Bro. Branham brought us, that he uses himself and this message,
particularly this message here, as well as ‘the Message’, to
Scripturally, number one: place the Bride Church; number two: the hour
in which we live; number three: the blessings she derives from his own
unique position and ministry at the time of this Elijah restoration,
which prepares us for the Rapture.

2.	So, we’re looking at Bro. Branham. Let me just read it to you over
here what he said about Ephesians. I think it’s about 1:17. He says in
“Daniel, Seventieth Week”…

[67]	The Spirit of wisdom comes into the church to make known to the
church by the revelation of the Holy Spirit (Now, do you notice the
repetition of the words here? They sound out of place to a student of
the English language, but it’s a precise language of God, because Bro.
Branham did not attribute anything to himself, but to the Spirit. The
Spirit of wisdom comes into the church to make known to the church by
the revelation of the Holy Spirit—bringing the church in, coming out
of Babylon, bringing the truth, and revealing what day that we're living
in.

	So, we’re looking at the fact that the Church Bride is being placed
as a Church Bride. She is informed of her hour, and she is to be aware
of the unique blessings that devolve upon her from this particular
ministry of Bro. Branham. So, there were three points: placing the Bride
Church was one; two: the hour in which we live; three: the blessings she
derives from Bro. Branham’s own unique position and ministry, which is
the Elijah restoration.

3.	Now we’re going to start with point two, instead of one. ‘The
hour in which we live’ is actually covered in point three, for his
unique ministry was that of restoring the true and complete revelation
of the Word to the Bride. Now, you understand that had to be, because
she lost her virginity of the Word in 2 Corinthians 11. Now, see, no one
but Bro. Branham ever made anything of this. Let’s be honest with you.
Get any books of theology you want. 2 Corinthians 11:

(1)	Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed
bear with me. 

(2)	For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.


	Now you know the law of the jealousy is when a husband suspects his
wife, that she is having a clandestine sexual affair with another man
other than himself. And so, therefore, you can see here that this Bride,
Paul already knows, he suspects, for good reason, that she’s already
fallen away from her chastity concerning her husband. Now you notice
what he calls the falling away. She loses her virginity.

(3)	But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve, (And you
know that is an act of cohabitation.) through his subtilty, so your
minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

(4)	For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus, whom we have not
preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received,
(Or another gospel) which you’ve not accepted, you might well bear
with him.

4.	Now, back over here in 1 Corinthians 2, Paul is speaking on the
revelatory power at the discretion of the Holy Spirit. He says here in 1
Cor 2:16:

(16)	For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?
But we have the mind of Christ.

	In other words he is saying that nobody actually can give an answer to
God on any question that has to do with spiritual matters. He doesn’t
have the answers, but God has the answers. And Paul says, “We have the
mind of Christ on what is true, spiritual understanding.” And this is
what he was passing on to the people, and the people had fallen from it;
and you notice how they did it: with gifts of the Holy Spirit. That’s
where they made their big commitment to error. They began priding
themselves upon positions that they felt they were ordained to. Some
might have been; I don’t know. We won’t argue the point. But they
got heady and high-minded, and they tried to overstep the Word by it.
And you’ll see in Bro. Branham’s ministry, he never overstepped the
Word. It was always back to the Word, see. That’s the beauty of it.
All right.

5.	Now we said here, then, that the hour in which we live, of course, is
the hour of restoration, the Word by Elijah, and this was accomplished
and proven to be so by vindication. That is to say, we have the restored
Word. We are back to a virgin mind, which was brought about by Lk 17:30,
the revealing of the Son of man, which, according to “Harvest Time,”
is the Son of man, the Word living Itself again amongst the people. In
other words, you see an actual Word for this hour coming into existence
and living through, of course, the flesh of the prophet.

	Also, he said, “The prophet is not the Son of man; he is a messenger
from the Son of man.” Again, he said, “I am not the Son of man; the
Pillar of Fire is not the Son of man; It’s in the form of the Holy
Spirit.” And again, he said, “The Elijah of this hour is the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself; God, not man, but it comes by a prophet.”

	That’s a fairly correct statement. In other words I’m paraphrasing
a little bit, but not really anything harmful there.

6.	Now, thus the hour in which we live is categorically established as
in Acts 3, and you’re familiar with this, the middle of verse 19:

(19)	…When times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the
Lord, (Even God, the One Whose Presence is to be here, and
well-qualified that It is here,); 

(20)	He (is going to) send Jesus Christ… (Which was proclaimed in
advance unto you. In other words, something has to happen in a
proclamation before the literal coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.) 

	So, Bro. Branham is blowing the trumpet and making the announcement on
the grounds that He, God Himself, is here, because Jesus said, “No man
could possibly know that hour; only God knows that hour.” And that’s
under the Seventh Seal, and that’s part of the Seal that hasn’t been
revealed. But don’t let anybody tell you the Seven Seals were not
open. I’ve got quotes right in the back of my Bible written here, that
Bro. Branham either changed his mind, he’s not worth listening to, or
the seals are open. But a part is not revealed, and it doesn’t need to
be either, until the Resurrection. And, when we see the dead walking
around here, you still don’t need any information. You’ve got it.
You know, shortly a sweep is going to go over you; if you’re Bride,
you’re going to be gone. So, don’t be like these people who always
look down the road and think nothing has happened, something to happen.
It’s happened, see. And it’s happening. All right. We just, for good
measure, threw that in. All right.

7.	(20)	…(He was announced in advance to proclaim…) (It says:)

(21)	Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all
things… 

	Now, who did Jesus say was going to restore? Elijah. Who did Bro.
Branham say the Elijah was? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in the form
of the Holy Spirit: “I was just a voice,” he said, “that God used.
I was not the One that appeared there; I was just standing there when He
appeared.” All right.

	So, you can see that restoration must take place under what we know to
be the Appearing. See? So, what hour are we living in? The hour of
Elijah, the day of the Lord, restoration, Appearing. So, the time, then,
has been set. We understand. This, of course, is Mal 4:5-6. This is 1 Th
4:16, the Lord descending. This is Eph 1:17, which I read, the Spirit
amongst us. And Bro. Branham said, “When that Spirit that’s amongst
us becomes incarnate to us, we’ll crown Him King of Kings and Lord of
Lords.” Who is that? God in flesh, once more: Emmanuel. All right.

8.	Point one: in placing the Bride, we find that she is now the true
Church. This is the hour that she’s a true Church; she’s been called
out of Babylon. “Come out of her, my people.” She is a true virgin
of the Word, and herself a part of the Word, fully identified with God.
There must be a virgin of the Word.

	Point three is that, when God positioned and vindicated the prophet, He
did it so that by divine authority, the Bride could be placed and
positioned, also, in her own right, Bro. Branham being a speaker. And
you will find we’ll get to this tonight, perhaps here. I’m not sure.
We call this trickle-down principle, or the Godhead, or God, the Head;
secondly, the prophet, the eye; and thirdly, the Bride as the body. 

9.	Now Paragraph 92: I’ll read a little bit about this being the eye:

[92]	Now, that’s God speaking in this day through vision. See?
That’s a little boy who was raised from the dead in Finland, was by a
vision. See? But hear this: if that vision was contrary to this Bible,
that would be wrong; this Bible is more than the vision. If any
vision’s contrary to the Word, leave it alone, it isn’t of God, and
God doesn’t contradict His Own Word. So, if this Word told you
something, then you can have the same confidence then, what’s going to
happen.

	So, you see, He’s positioning the Bride and not only positioning the
Bride as the eye that sees these things, the Voice that speaks them, but
He is revealing to her what the Presence and the Appearing mean at this
very hour to our very faith. All right.

10.	Now, watch in this message how this goes—how Bro. Branham is
bringing these things out.

	Point A, one, the positioning, we’re talking about, from Bro. Branham
to the trickle-down, which comes to the Church, which positions her as
authentically as he was positioned; because, if you ever proved you were
a messenger from God, everybody ought to listen. All right.

	Point A, one: Jesus knew who he was. He certainly did.

	Two: he knew himself in the Word and by the Word. Did you catch it?
There’s a difference. He knew himself in the Word and by the Word. In
other words, he said, “Look, I can find my place in the Bible, and I
will prove to you that I am there by what I am doing. Can any one of you
find any sin in me?”

	Three: Jesus knew who did the works and said the words. It was God in
him. Thus, Jesus had faith in the power that He had. Now, I’ll ask you
a question, “Do you have power? Did the Holy Ghost come upon you? You
really born-again? That’s ‘dunamis’. Are you getting what Bro.
Branham’s driving at—what I’m driving at? All right.

11.	Point B, one: Bro. Branham knew who he was. He was Elijah; he was
also the living Word of God manifested. Right, Joe? [Raczkovy] Some
people took a double take on that, didn’t they? They couldn’t take
it. They thought Bro. Joe was pulling their leg. “Feast of the
Trumpets,” I think it is.

	Two: he knew ‘where’ he was in the Word, as well as ‘who’.

	Three: He knew God was in him and did the works and spoke the Word. And
you’ll notice we put works ahead of Word for one reason: the works
give him the authority to speak. Bro. Branham had faith in his authority
and the gifts that God had given him.

12.	Point C, one: the prophet tells us who we are: We are believers.
We’ll hit that tonight in a way a little different. But we’re
believers.

	“Well,” you say, “every theologian said that.”

	Then, why do they not call us now ‘believers’? Flukes and kooks,
and everything else.

	Two: the prophet, then, tells us that we are also the Word, even as
Christ was the Word, and the prophet is the living Word made manifest.
And you will find this also on page 16, reading at paragraph 93:

[93]	Jesus had perfect faith. He had it, and it came because He was the
Word. Say, “Well, if we could get to be the Word, we’d have it,
too.” All right. Let’s keep reading: And you must become the Word;
and you do become the Word as you receive the Word.

	And then, he qualifies what “you receive” is: “If you abide in
me, and my Words abide in you,” and that word ‘abide’ means
‘sticks with persistence’, ‘in agreement’, ‘pledged to’,
‘live or die; sink or swim’, ‘I’m going no further; I’m not
going back; here I am’. That’s what you’re looking at.

	So, you become the Word. He also says, “You become the Word of God in
your flesh as you receive the Word, and we qualified the word
‘receive’ is ‘to take this Word, to make It yours and stick with
It’. 

	There’s hardly a day goes by that a letter I get, or a telephone
call… Well, I beg your pardon, let’s amend that: some of the
letters, some of the telephone calls. But there’s not a day in my
heart, I suppose, that I don’t rely upon what Bro. Branham told me.
Now I rely on it one hundred percent, that I stand up here, absolutely
without fear that I’m telling you the truth, and I haven’t had to
back away from any of it, but I’ve had to elaborate many times, and
find the position, of course, for some things that weren’t quite
clear, as they’re getting clearer all the time.

13.	Now then, thirdly: we are also identified with God in our works, and
we have this Scripture over here in Eph 3:20:

(20)	Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think, according to the power that worketh within us…
(Actually, ‘is rendered unto Him, who, in the exercise of His power
that is at work within us, is able to do’.)

	And Bro. Branham said the greatest gift he had, and he laid it on the
table, was to get out of the way. Now, where you and I are looking for a
lot of things in our life, the greatest thing we could do is learn to
get out of the way, because we already have the Holy Ghost, the power.
We’ve already got the faith; it’s been God-given. “All men have
not the faith,” the Bible distinctly says. And Bro. Branham started
out the virtues in Peter, and it’s basically faith, which is a
revelation. And a revelation, my brother/sister, is not simply—and yet
it contains, because the whole contains the part—it is not simply Mark
16. It is actually Heb 13:8. And the whole truth is a message of
restoration. So, therefore, we also have the ability, through God, to
receive Mark 16, as well as Heb 13:8, but you do not major in a minor.
You keep it in perfect harmony.

	So, we have that ability, and Bro. Branham put to the Bride, that is,
he reckoned to the Bride, that one day she’d have the Word and know
what to do with It, or keep entirely still, and he led the way in that.

14.	Now then, he also tells us we have a God-given faith and the help of
the Holy Spirit to apprehend every promise He made to us. And to this he
added some reasons why we still fail.

	One: The great thing he put before us was: We don’t comprehend that
faith is substance. We don’t comprehend that faith is real. We’ll
deal with that a little bit, too, I hope, as we get along tonight.
We’ll be dealing with it; we’ll keep dealing with it, because this
is important.

	Number two: We let unconfessed sin get in the way, and he told us how
to deal with that.

	Number three: We allow fear to take over from faith.

15.	And the third point is where we were at on last Sunday, page 18,
paragraph 102. So, we’re going to read about it. And he reads here
from the Book of Job, he makes a quote, or he talks about Job, and he
says here:

[102]	… “Job feared.” And what he feared, actually happened. What
brought it? His fear. That’s what made it happen. 

	Now, let’s watch what Job was doing. Job was fearful that his
children would have problems, so he made doubly sure they wouldn’t by
standing in their stead, and sacrificing, and doing everything he could
toward God for them. But you’ll notice, and I want to bring out this,
the man was a little legalistic, you might say. Nothing against the man,
you understand. He was doing fine, doing very fine. But that fear undid
and took possession and power over the very fine things that he was
doing.

16.	So, I’m just trying to show you something here: that you can be
like… I mentioned J. W. Byers last Sunday—that Gospel Trumpet Church
of God, Indiana; tremendous man of God, lay dying, and he went to God.
He was prayed for; he got no better. He looked through his life to line
up with the Word of God. He found it immaculate, as far as he could
go—what he could do. He confessed every sin; he made everything right;
he still lay dying. And he said, “Lord, why am I lying here dying?”

	And like a voice trumpeting down the corridors of his soul, said,
“Yes, and you will die, unless you get up in faith believing it.”

	And he struggled desperately to get to the edge of the bed, which he
did, finally rolled there, so weakened, grabbed his trousers, began
pulling them on—one leg, then the other. By the time he got through,
he had a measure of health, and in no time at all, he was perfectly
whole; never had one more moment of sickness, until the day he died.

	What, then, under this Message? Do you want to get the book sometime?
Get it. It’s out of print, but some old Methodist may have it,
hallelujah, beside their little recipe to keep off of beer and
cigarettes. It just may have something, you know, that… Bill, you
could run that down; you’re an old Methodist boy. But it’s true,
telling you the truth here. See? [For a short biography of this man and
references go to: http://healingandrevival.com/BioJWByers.htm.]

17.	Job feared, and the point I got across now: You can be moving in
Christian circles, being a fine person, and a prostitute (Yeah, Bro.
Branham said so.) can come in right ahead of you and get healed, and you
just sit there, being a fine person. Well, fine feathers never kept the
pheasant from getting shot, but the devil will go about like a roaring
lion to scare everybody he possibly can.

[102]	…Fear brought it. That’s what made it happen. His faith would
have kept him from it, (His faith would have kept him from it, and it
from him. Right?) but his fear brought it to him. He was scared it was
going to happen, and it did happen. Now, if he knew it wouldn’t
happen, (Or, had known it wouldn’t happen) it wouldn’t have
happened. See what I mean?

	What is Bro. Branham telling us? He’s telling us we create an
atmosphere, and we draw things to us. You can read, if you like, Claude
Bristol. You could read Victor L’Amour brothers. You can read Mary
Baker Eddy. You can read Doctor Cliff. Read all the books I’ve
read—not thoroughly read, as though I studied everything Mary Baker
Eddy said; I just read excerpts, very few. I read a little more on
Unity, not per se the books, but authors—and you will find that, when
they describe a salesman, (And Dale Carnegie will tell you the same
thing in his courses. I read that, too.) that the old door-to-door
salesman, house-to-house, or store-to store, has either made or lost the
sale before he raps on the door, because he controls the atmosphere; he
makes it. So, we have within our power to cause the Holy Spirit to form
an atmosphere that draws what we want. 

18.	And, remember; I told you a long time ago about this fellow,
Clark… I can’t remember his first name now. He was a Unity man. I
think he was, more or less, claimed to be born again, and he was a
dynamic man. He believed in healing and a lot of things and saw a lot of
things done. 

	One day he was sitting on the train, riding with a certain lady. She
had a great, big purse. And he made conversation. He said, “My,” he
said, “you certainly do have a big purse.”

	She said, “Yes,” she said, “because I want to get a lot of
money.”

	He said, “Oh?” and he pricked his ear.

	“Yes,” she said, “I believe in getting money. I carry my big
purse, because I will attract it to me.”

	And she did.

	Now, that’s laboring for the bread that perishes. I don’t suggest
we do it. I’m only telling you things that work. If the world makes it
work, then it’s a principle that God set down. The devil can pervert a
lot of things, which he does. He starts on the mind.

19.	Now people, of course, you know, make an atmosphere that draws
things. You remember that time… Bro. Pugh, you’ve heard it. We said
it on the pulpit here. Bro. Branham… And you read it and heard him say
it on tapes, how that this woman said, “Oh, Bro. Branham, there’s a
man over there; he’s trying to pick me up,” she said.

	He said, “I’ll tell you why, sister, because you’ve got a spirit
that wants to get picked up.”

	Now, he said, “I’ll just break that right now.”

	So, he just began concentrating on the man. The man had just ordered a
nice dinner. He got fidgety, dropped a knife and fork. Pretty soon, more
fidgety; pretty soon he just put his napkin down and ran out of the
house; didn’t even eat his meal.

	The story is pretty accurate the way I’m telling it, though not
perfect. But the thing is this: This is true what we’re talking about.

20.	Now, I know that Christian Science ruined this age with its
statement that God is ‘universal mind’, and Pentecost, Methodism,
and the weak brothers and sisters of legalism, thought they would have
to counter it. So, they went into emotion, and they discounted the power
of the mind, but you will notice their better thinkers didn’t; their
better theologians didn’t. But they couldn’t put it together for the
people. Pretty soon psychologists proved out by your emotions can swing
into faith, like ‘you can say, you can do,’ like the late A. A.
Allen meetings, say, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,”
faster, faster, get more and more intense, and more and more intense,
and suddenly, “Boom”, something hits you, and you call that the real
power of the Holy Ghost, (I’m not saying it isn’t. Now, understand
me.) call that the real way to get to God, call that the ideal approach.


	How much chance have you got, if you’re bitten by a snake? You could
die within a few minutes. No, we’re missing a lot of things here, and
we just better heed the prophet. He said, “Job literally brought on
himself this thing by fearing it.” In other words he built up an
atmosphere that was negative, and he brought in all the negative ions
and things, instead of the positives. 

21.	[103]	If you’re afraid, now watch, when you come in this prayer
line, I put ‘this’ instead of ‘the’ prayer line, because it says
‘prayer line’ coming up, and think, “Maybe I just haven’t got
the faith that’s sufficient;” it’ll never happen, don’t worry,
see. But if you know it’s going to happen, it’ll happen. Even the
salesman, before he knocks on the door. See? See, it’s just a
substance of something. See? If you know it’s going to happen, it’ll
happen. See, it’s just a substance of something. Job had a fear that
these things would come upon him, and they did. If you have a fear that
your disease is not going to leave you, it won’t. If you have a faith,
‘a faith’. Notice he calls it ‘a’ faith there, making it
distinct at this time: you have a faith for this thing. It’s not
praying around the world. It’s this thing here, because he’s talking
about your prayer line; he said, “Then it will.”

	Okay. Let’s just take a little look at 2 Timothy 1 here and begin to
see something that Bro. Paul said in verse 7:

(7)	For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of (dunamis)
power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

	And you will notice that the three go together and will spell a perfect
faith. Power, see? Love, faith working by love, and a sound mind. The
only really sound-minded person is the person whose mind is full of the
Word of God, and applies the Word of God to the situation. The first
person to get away from that in the Garden of Eden was Eve, typing the
church. All right.

22.	[104]	You ask any medical doctor. (Now, watch how Bro. Branham
applies this, like I’ve been talking about these salesmen and all.)
You ask any medical doctor. This is the truth. The first thing he’ll
try to get you to do is have confidence in the medicine he’s giving
you. If you haven’t any confidence in that medicine, you’d better
leave it alone, see. Sure! What is it then? It’s faith that does the
healing; it’s faith that does it all the time.

	In other words we’re looking at a synergism here, something which is
synergistic, which means the application of one thing to another will
enhance its power. So, if you apply faith to what the doctor gives as a
remedy, (which some people do with chemotherapy, and they live in spite
of the botch that the doctor has botched.) you can outlast the medicine.


	I think that was one reason I got the candida knocked out, with Nizoral
and all—I had faith in it. I said I’d sooner take it and die, than
live without it. I was going to die anyway. I figured I would. Never hit
my kidneys or my liver or anything else. Had to take more than one
course. The miserable things within my bloodstream, they mutated, and
the mutation, then, would form a little enclave, and you couldn’t get
to it. So, we fooled it by three days on and two days off. Got rid of
them, plus a lot of other things. But, you see, faith did it. You’ve
got to have faith. I told you, God told me He would see me through. He
did, too. Okay.

23.	Let’s take a look at Ephesians 6, and we’ll look at this again
to see something more about how this works, this faith. And it’s Eph
6:13-16.

(13)	Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that you may be
able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (To
keep standing.)

(14)	Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and
having on the breastplate of righteousness; 

(15)	And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 

(16)	Above all, (Now, that’s not just not meaning ‘above all’ in
the sense, ‘well, this is the most important’, although in a
measure, it is true. But he’s saying ‘like an umbrella’, like an
umbrella; this is the thing you raise up over all. Otherwise, none of
the rest of these work.) taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall
be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 

	So, if you can break down the power of the enemy directed toward you,
you will do it by faith. Then these other principles will begin to work.

	Now I might as well get ahead of myself. What’s the difference?
We’ll never get finished in the time I want to do it. It just
doesn’t work that way. The fact of the matter is: Since faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, you have got to employ the
Word of God against that which is against you. In other words, anything
outside of the Word of God is negative, whereas everything in the Word
of God is power, is power and powerful, you see, and it’s positive.
All right, he’s saying this here, then. 

24.	Now we go further from this instance of Job. We connect up the fact
that mind and faith and confession are all powerful, because that’s
exactly where Job stood. He could not fill his mind with the fact of God
dealing with his children. Like Bro. Branham said, “Believe for your
household to this day.” That’s a tough one. Bro. Branham said,
“Only do one thing: apply the Token.” As far as I know the Token is
applied, the only thing you can do about that is just stand with the
Word of Almighty God, because the Word of God is the conduit for the
Holy Spirit, and you’re looking at It. 

	So, there it is: faith, mind and confession, or mind, faith and
confession. In the mind is the Word of God against the diagnosis. The
prescription is the Word of God. See? Never mind what the diagnosis
said. And the prognosis is the promise fulfilled. So, in all cases, it
is the Word. So, we use the Word in the mind and the Word in the mouth.
And Bro. Branham said, concerning this Bible, “When this Word and this
and this are lined up, and you speak what’s in your heart, you get the
promise.” So, that’s where Job failed; we fail.

25.	Let’s read further:

[105]	Now take Peter, another example, he was doing all right until he
got scared. The Word, that’s Logos, Jesus, told him that he could walk
on the water. He was scared at first, he thought it was a ghost, and he
said, “Lord, if it be You, bid me come to You on the water.” Now,
that’s very good for this hour, too.

[106]	Jesus said, “Come on.” Now, that’s just the same as James
5:14, the same as Mark 16; the same God that said it, said, “Come
on.” And he started walking. He did all right, got down out of the
ship, started walking on the water.

	Now you’ll notice in here, Bro. Branham mentions Jas 5:14; so, we can
just read that. I think that’s “Call for the elders of the church to
anoint with oil,” or one of those anyway.

(14)	Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church;
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
Lord:

(15)	The prayer of faith shall save the sick, the Lord shall raise him
up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

	Now there’s the whole thing in a basket, in one, great, big,
beautiful promise. Now, that’s the same as Mark 16, “Lay hands upon
the sick; they shall recover.” And Jesus, the same God, said it,
“Come on.” See? To Peter. In other words the same invitation is
extended to you and me on the grounds that Bro. Branham said, “Can not
this same Jesus be touched, as he was touched then? And I’ll prove
it.” See? “Come on,” the invitation is there.

26.	So, the gospels are to be read for this hour, and we are to think in
terms as though Jesus were here physically. You know, a lot of people
can’t get around that; I don’t understand it. I talked to a fellow,
I told you some time ago, stood in my house, and I said, “Tell me,”
I said, “when I mention ‘Lord Jesus Christ’, what do you think
of?”

	I said, “I’ll tell you; don’t tell me. You are thinking of a man
on the right hand of God.” I said, “Wrong! Wrong!”

	Paul did not say that, when he said to the Pillar of Fire, “Who art
Thou?”

	And He said, “I am Jesus.”

	And William Branham said, “This same Jesus went back to a Pillar of
Fire,” but he’s doing the same thing He always did. So therefore, we
are to regard Matthew 4 and Matthew 12 as ours today for the Gentiles.
And He is just as real now, here, invisible amongst the Bride, God in
the form of the Spirit in the Pillar of Fire, which will lead us to the
Millennium, which same Voice must raise the dead. And He is right here
now, telling us to “Come on; step on the water,” to be touched,
everything else. 

	We are just not letting ourselves go, brother/sister. See why we have
not a substance faith? It’s not that we don’t have a substance
faith; it’s that we do not treat it as a substance faith. That’s why
the renewing of the mind is so terribly important. That’s that Battle
of Armageddon. If we could ever meet the Battle of Armageddon, let God
mop the dirt up with us—get rid of ‘us’, it would be sure great.
All right.

27.	[107]	There was a storm on the sea, you know, great, whitecap waves,
bigger than these hills around here, and the foam breaking on top of
them; terrific, maybe fifteen, twenty feet foam, those whitecaps
breaking. And that was a terrific thing for him to ask, “If it be You,
Lord…” See, He looked like a…looked like a shadow or spirit. He
said, “If it’s You, bid me come to You on the water.”

	Now, that’s kind of like a little thing today, “If that’s really
You, Lord. That’s Your prophet.” You know, if you follow the
ministry of Bro. Branham since he’s been dead, you’re going to find
the strangest things that have happened, where people have flown in from
Europe, strictly by vision, to where Bro. Branham preached, to find out
about a prophet. See? Somebody wasn’t witnessing. We can’t cover
that tonight. It’s all in this Message here.

28.	[108]	Jesus said, “Come on.”

	Didn’t He say to Bro. Branham, “Come on; walk with me”?
Trickle-down experience, brother/sister. Remember, Bro. Branham’s
ministry and his Message was not for himself. It was for us. And we’re
not using it as the charge to detonate our own lives into a heavenly
realm that is far beyond this earthy prosaic ground.

[109]	 And he stepped down and said, “It’s the Lord; I’ll just
walk.” But when he got his eyes on the waves, he got scared. What came
in his mind? Or, what was his mental processes at that time. First
thing, he said, “I’m going to walk, because the Word said for me to
walk.” And the next thing, he looked at his… Well, he looked at his
symptoms; (Now he’s referring to you and me, see: symptoms.) he looked
out there and saw how big those waves were, (We feel how much we are
sick and weak and our pain and that.) and he got scared; and when he
did, down he went, see. What he feared, happened! What he believed,
happened! (Yeah! He believed in healing.) When he believed he could
walk, he walked; when he got scared in his belief, then his substance
left him.

	In other words the faith was no longer sparked by his own concepts, and
therefore, God could not, by His Spirit, move. All right.

29.	[109]	…He got scared. When he got scared in his belief, then his
substance left him. See it?

	Now, listen: He still professed his faith, but he didn’t have the
substance. Now, in other words he definitely states here, Bro. Branham
is stating that substance faith is blind assurance, and this is more
than just admitting to possibilities and the fact that the Word is true,
and, if I don’t get it, somebody already has, or somebody will.
That’s pretty cold comfort. It’s all right, you’re not denying
anything in the sense, but you’re denying yourself, and I’m denying
myself. See?

	So, that substance faith, if you want to define it, is ‘a blind
faith’. It’s like Romans 4 where Abraham considered not his own body
now dead, which means ‘thoroughly perceive’. And, how do you
perceive? You perceive by the senses: eyes, ears, and so on. See? But
you trust in 2 Tim 1:7, which I read, “We have not been given the
spirit of fear, but of power.” See? Not of dunamis, but courage, love,
sound mind, see? It all goes together.

	Now Bro. Branham, speaking on this type of faith, that, though it’s
real, (but you don’t project it, because you let these things slide
in.) the devil throws these barbs, the negative. And James (1) says
that:

(5)	If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all
men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

(6)	But let him ask in faith... For he that wavereth is like a wave of
the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

(7)	Let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

(8)	A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

	In other words he doesn’t have a definitive walk of faith when it
comes to the asking and receiving. There’s something we’ve got to
do, and that’s bring our minds under control or subjection, as Paul
said: I think it’s 2 Corinthians 10. All right.

30.	[109]	He didn’t have the substance. The substance would have gone
right over the top of that whitecap, and he would have gone right on to
Him, Jesus, see, if he had the perfect faith. But he didn’t have it.
He thought he did. Actually, he did at first. (So, you can see what Bro.
Branham is driving at here. You can, if you will, and you can’t, if
you won’t.) He did at first, he was willing to venture right out. See,
that’s the secret.

	Let’s just take a little look at Hebrews here; check this out as to
the seriousness of what happened to Peter, what happens to you and me.
Hebrews 10:38:

(38)	Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him.

	And, of course, Heb 11:6:

(6)	Without faith, it’s impossible to please (God): he that cometh to
God must believe that (God) is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him.

	Now, in other words, this is coming to God, knowing that you’re going
to get the answer, because you’re diligent; you struck yourself a
bargain, a credo, whatever you want to call it, a principle, a way, and
you say, “God is going to do it.” See? 

	He was willing to venture out, but then, he lost it on the way. 

31.	[109]	Now he just stepped out of the boat, see. Peter said here,
“Why, the Lord told me to do it; it’s got to happen.” He was
right. See? Stepped out of the boat, and takes off. He never thought
about the waves, as to how contrary they were. He never had that in his
mind.

	Now, this is a very common fault, or very common for faith, because
there is Scripture that makes us to know that we are to endure. Hebrews
11:27 says: 

(27)	By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for
he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

	So, there’s an endurance spoken of, of course, in Romans 5. We’ll
get to it sometime later on. Now today, we are to be aware of what we
are to look at above everything in this world, though we could be dying
of cancer at age twenty-three, and want to live longer, maybe two or
three children, and think that’s the most important thing in the
world. Let me tell you something: It’s far more important than that.
That’s what you’re looking at in 2 Cor 3:18.

(18)	But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by
the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians:)

(1)	Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy,
we faint not.

	Now Paul was talking about himself not fainting, but I’ve got news
for you: If you are in this Message, and you faint, you’re going to
miss it, too, because we are not of those that go back. Paul said the
Bride does not go back. She’s got her troubles, brother/sister.
Don’t ever think she doesn’t have, but she’s not going to go back.
See? This is that great revelation.

32.	[110]	Now, when you get to thinking, “Well, now wait. And, you
know, I’ve been sick a long time… Stop! You just might as well go
back to the boat, see. But when you quit thinking about that, you can go
on to the end. (I’ll read a little more.)

[111]	“Abraham considered not his own body, now dead…” In other
words he didn’t make a case of it. He knew he had aches and pains, but
he said, “So, everybody does. Don’t they?” “…Considered not
his own body, now dead, that was seminally speaking, neither the
deadness of Sarah’s womb.” He didn’t think about that; didn’t
even consider it. That’s right. The Bible says so. It wasn’t even
brought into an understanding of what those conditions could mean. See?
He didn’t bother perceiving. He didn’t even consider it at all; he
just considered what God said. See?

	That’s the filling of the mind with the Word of God. That’s not
blanking out, except dwelling your mind on Him and saying, “Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus,” which, look; under certain considerations is fine, but
not to work yourself up. Once in a while, maybe it won’t hurt you, but
we’re not talking about the peripheral or something which is
transitory. We’re talking about the definitive, fundamental,
foundational, which this is what it’s all about.

33.	[111]	…He didn’t even consider at all; he just considered what
God said, and he went on. As long as Peter did that, he walked.

	Now, let’s understand, then, what Bro. Branham is saying. Faith has
no conditions outside what is said about it in the Bible, for faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. If we would
scientifically define faith from the Word of God… Now the word
‘science’ is ‘scio’, ‘scire’, ‘sciri’, ‘scitum’,
means ‘to know’—Latin. The ‘assured science’ means this:
‘Look, we tested it; we’ve proved it; we bit it; we tasted it; we
took the test.’ ‘Without a doubt, this is a piece of cheese.’
That! [Bro. Vayle points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire and Bro.
Branham] was taken by camera. That! [Continues pointing to picture of
Pillar of Fire and Bro. Branham] was a man that God answered to. That!
[Points to the picture of the ‘Cloud’ (Judge)] was proven by a
prophet. We saw, and we know “THUS SAITH THE LORD,” this has been
tested.

34.	Why, then, do we not take it as substance? In other words faith can
be a greater knowledge than knowledge.

	I wonder if I can find something; never know what I can find. It’s in
the Bible; I know it is. All right. It says here, Jas 3:15, when he’s
been talking certain things:

(15)	This wisdom descendeth not from above, (It’s in humankind.) but
is earthly, sensual, devilish.

	Now, there’s nothing wrong with it being earthly. My heavens, folk,
we’re here on earth, aren’t we? We’re not these people who are so
heavenly minded, we’re no earthly good. Are we? Look, I wear shoes;
sometimes they hurt. I wear other shoes; they don’t hurt. You know, I
plant gardens the odd time, dig around. I’m made out of earth, same as
you are. No problem—sensual. Nothing wrong with your senses. What is
wrong? When they become devilish. When do they become devilish? The only
time when you use it against the Word. Then you know, and I know, it’s
the devil. 

(16)	For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and evil work.
(That’s from the sensual things.)

(17)	But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, peaceable, gentle,
easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality,
without hypocrisy. (And so on.)

	What I’m trying to bring out here is not these fruits here, as
against the fruits out there that persist in the flesh. I am talking
about the fact there is an earthly knowledge, which is perfectly
legitimate. There is a heavenly knowledge, which is far more legitimate
on the grounds of its power. “For heaven and earth shall pass away,
but My Word will not.” Therefore, revelation will not pass away.

35.	So, what you’re seeing here is this: There is a faith knowledge,
or a knowledge faith, that is every bit as real, and realer, than
everything that can be marshaled against it, like when Bro. Branham said
to the little boy who was going to rise again, “I got a vision,” and
then tells you categorically that he will go to the graveyard, and raise
either George Washington or Abraham Lincoln when God tells him to.

	Well, you better believe, brother/sister, that’s resurrection faith,
or I don’t know what I’m talking about. And it’s already here; we
saw it.

	So, there is a knowledge that he is trying to get across to us by
saying, “Hey, look, it works; major in this.” Then you are not
majoring in a minor; you are majoring in a major. Hebrews 13:8 and Mark
16, and all the rest come into it, because you cannot have the whole
without the part. See? In other words, let’s face it: If Elijah is to
restore, that is the whole. Then, tell me, are the Thunders not
thundered, and the Seals opened? Ha! If you can’t see that one,
you’ve lost any argument you’re ever going to get into. 

	In other words I could have a good time with you: I’d sell you one
quarter of a piece of pie for the ten dollars I want for the whole pie.
I’d say, “Thank you for the whole pie, Bro. Vayle,” and I’d cut
it in pieces for the next sucker. That’s what the devil does. He does
it over the pulpit; he does it in the pew; he does it in the songs; he
does it in everything. You don’t find that in the Word of God, honey.
You don’t find that messing around with the devil. Bro. Branham talks
about that in his sermon. We won’t get to that yet.

36.  Now, what does he tell us under these conditions? Okay. Let’s go
to Philippians 4, and let’s begin to see what has been an exhortation
in the mouths of many preachers over many, many years. Phillipians
4:6-9:

(5)	Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. (You
bet He is.)

(6)	Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
(Well, hey, what does that sound like? That doesn’t sound like any
problem. That sounds like, “Hey, I’ve got a promise; look what’s
mine!”)

(7)	And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Now, watch:)

(8)	Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are
honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, (all positive) whatsoever things are of
good report; if there be any virtue, (positivity in them) any praise,
think on these things. (Then:)

(9)	Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard,
and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

	He tells you right there how to get your answers. Get your mind off
yourself, onto God. Get your mind off your conditions onto what the Word
of God says about your conditions. Think good thoughts about everybody
and everything, and do the best you can in your life here; follow the
Word of God, walk in the light. And It says, “That’s how the answers
come.”

	Bro. Branham explained that in a little sense one time to Jack Palmer.
He said, “Jack, don’t ask God for things; just walk in the light.”
All right.

37.	Now, listen; he’s talking about Jesus now.

[112]	Jesus lived in a world that no one knew about, He was an odd
person. He lived in a world of perfect faith in the perfect God, in
which He was. In other words, He was ‘God in him, the perfect God;
everything was perfect about Him. If we lived in a perfect faith of a
Christian… Now he lived in a perfect faith of God, but, you know, we
already have the faith of God, and have the faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ, trickle-down again—not the whole seed, but a part of it. If we
lived in a perfect faith, a perfect faith, of a Christian, your status:
believer, Bride, so on, we’d be mystics to the world; the people
wouldn’t understand us. You’d walk in the Spirit. What the Spirit
said, you’d do. What He forbad, you’d not do. Now, how are you going
to find out if it’s God or not? You run it through the filter, don’t
you? Then to the people, you’d be a mystical person. All right.

	Following God made Jeremiah a very mystical person. He had to lay on
his side a certain number of days, and so on.

38.	Let’s take a look at this business of the mystical person.
Galatians 2. I’m just going to read some of the things I’m
interested in. I couldn’t cover it all.

(20)	I have been crucified with Christ: (Not ‘I am’, but ‘I have
been’ crucified with Christ. See, we died with him.) nevertheless not
I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I
live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for
me.

	That makes you and me to know, as we always have known, we are
mysterious people. We are a mystery, even to ourselves. How did he do
this, “I have been crucified, but I live, yet not I”? A prisoner to
the Word. All right.

	Galatians 6:14:

(14)	But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world. 

	Hey! I don’t belong out there. They can’t stand me; they hate me. I
don’t mix; can’t get along. I’ve been crucified, and it’s
crucified to me. I got no trouble: they don’t want me; I don’t want
it. Now you’re a little more mystical still.

	Acts 26. Of course, we know this about Paul, standing before Festus.
Acts 26:25:

(25)	But he said (unto) Festus, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but
speak forth the words of truth and (sobriety or) soberness. 

	Now, how sober can some of you people be with some of the things of
God? Just like the Christ—they laugh him to scorn and laughed the
apostles to scorn. If they don’t lampoon you with a spear, they’ll
lampoon you with a joke. If you don’t get a downright slugging,
physically, they’ll use the old smear.

39.	Now, let’s take a look at John 14, see if we’re not missing…
In other words Bro. Branham was telling, “Hey! I’ve told you what
you are; why didn’t you go all the way?” You know the old saying,
“If they call you a dog, act like a dog;” get shot for one. Okay.
I’m a loony bird. They may take me in a white jacket one day. They can
do that in Ohio, you know. You know, your neighbor can turn you in, with
the laws in Ohio. All they’ve got to do is present a court case.
(Doesn’t take hardly a thing to do it up here.) and say you’ve been
acting queer; she’s a real problem. You could be picked up for thirty
days observation, unless they’ve rescinded that law. And I don’t
think they have. 

	You’d be surprised the laws there are on America here. These people
that speak for us, put laws on us. If we only knew one tenth of what we
don’t know… Praise the Lord! I hope we know everything we’re
supposed to know here. Okay.

	John 14:16-17:

(16)	And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 

(17)	Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive.

	Well, then, do you think if the world cannot receive the Spirit of
Truth, they’re going to receive the Truth that the Spirit gives you?
No, you’re crossed out right now. You’ve lost your prestige right
there.

40.	Let’s go to 1 Peter. We’ll see something else about these people
who are a little bit queer, a little bit mystical to the world. In other
words you’re turned down. 1 Peter 4:1-5:

(1)	Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm
yourselves likewise with the same mind: (You’re going to suffer, too.)
for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; (That’s
one way to get cured.)

(2)	That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to
the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

(3)	For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the
will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of
wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

(4)	Wherein they think it strange that you…

	Notice how strange you are, because you don’t go shoot cocaine, drink
liquor, or expose yourself to AIDS.

	You know, I’m going to tell you something about AIDS. We talk about
it the odd time. I think it’s the end of the age. Oh, you’ve got
people tell you they can cure it. Sure, let them go ahead. They’ll get
double AIDS next time. What’s it do? Destroy the immune system.

41.	I know what I’m talking about. I had the thing that’s akin to
AIDS. It’s a fungus. It’s called, well, what is it? It’s yeast,
albicans, candidiasis, call it what you want. It’s a killer. Your
immune system will prove a hundred percent beautiful by every blood test
and every doctor, every kinesiological test man’s devised, and that
little poison just said, “You ain’t going to work; ain’t going to
work.”

	And I had a perfect immune system that wouldn’t work. And you can
knock out yeast easily, though it mutates. It’s hard, but it’s easy.
You think the world’s going to lick this?

	A lady figured out having illicit intercourse with one person gave her
six thousand sexual partners: combinations and permutations. Is that
what you work on, Rusty? [Evans] You’re the mathematician, where you
take combinations, permutations, you work the whole thing through, and
take your logs and you find what this person with that person, this with
them, by figuring, say, this person had two right, and down the
line—comes out over six thousand partners.

	Ten percent of the male population of American is a bunch of fags,
queers—call them what you want. They’re homosexuals. They’re
filth, and hardly one tenth of one percent, I believe, are homosexuals
by the grace of God. By that, I mean this: that they were born that way.
The others just wanted a bigger thrill. We don’t run to their
excesses. Too late for shouting; we better have one man, one woman.

42.	Now you kids… Where do you stand? How do you know you might be
carrying it right now, if you’ve been messing around? Go ahead, I’m
not going to stop you. Your parents aren’t; the devil’s not; God’s
not. Go ahead. You’ll find out. 

	She’s all over, and the world knows it’s over, too. They can say
what they want, because you aren’t going to stop it. Kings took a
chance on it and lost the throne; empires have been shot; families
destroyed. It’s a greater problem than booze or cocaine or anything in
this world.

	Revelings, abominable idolatries, banquetings, and they think it
strange. We were the real queer ducks, weren’t we? Because we believe
in continence, and being clean, because something spoke to our hearts to
stay away from it. We’re the queer ducks. Are we queer? I’ve got
news for you: We’re going to be living and in good health, because
“ten thousand shall fall by the right hand; and a thousand enemies
shall not come nigh thee; only with thine eye shalt thou see it.” [Ps
91:7-8]

	You say, “How do you know?”

	How did Abraham know anything? 

	Because God said so. 

	Well, I say, “I’m a Christian prostitute.”

	I never knew of one before. Introduce yourself.

	“Well, I’m a Christian bed-hopper.”

	Well, fine and dandy. That means you’re not a Mohammedan or a
Buddhist. You ain’t no Christian. 

	See, Abraham… These people were queer ducks. 

43.	Let’s go to Exodus 19. I’ve got to close pretty soon because,
you know, we just take one page here, one paragraph, depending how
things go. I gave up trying to, you know, follow my notes and follow
down till I get several pages. It’s no use doing that. There’s no
need anyway. We’ll be still here when the Lord comes physically. I
hope the dead come up. We’ll still be preaching these good sermons
Bro. Branham gave us. Exodus 19:5-6:

(5)	Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my
(commandments), then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all
people: for all the earth is mine:

(6)	And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.
(We are New Testament.) These are the words which thou shalt speak unto
the children of Israel.

	So, He called them and said, “All right, I’m going to tell you
right now, ‘You’re peculiar; you’re different; you’re
mystical.’” Right.

44.	Keep reading:

[113]	That’s the way it is to all believers; they are mystics. Not
kooks and weirdos, now. They’re mystics. The people don’t
understand, because they live in a world to themselves. They live in
their world; we live in our world. We are separated by eternity; the
gulf has been fixed. Jesus lived in a world that nobody else could
touch. Exactly true. The disciples couldn’t understand Him. When He
spoke to them, they say this, you know, whatever it means. Then they
said, “Why, You talk in riddles! We don’t understand this. How can
this thing be?” See? 

	Jesus refused, like Abraham, because he was the royal Seed, Son of
Abraham, Son of David. He refused to consider what intelligence dictates
as sense and true knowledge. He didn’t use the wisdom from below; he
used the wisdom from above. The wisdom from above overrides the wisdom
from below; you can prove that. 

[113]	They said, “We don’t understand it.” Nobody did. “How can
this be?” See, they weren’t in the world that He lived in. They did
later on, though. They couldn’t understand Him; nobody could
understand Him. Just couldn’t do it.

	Let’s go to Jn 8:23.

(23)	And he said: you are from beneath; I am from above: you are of this
world; I am not of this world.

	You know what I told you, how that Adam was not made of the earth in
the Garden of Eden. He was made outside of it, then God put him in
there. The Tree of Life ‘was’ in the Garden of Eden. Adam was the
earth, earthy; he was innocent, but not righteous, and he could do
anything under high heaven that God put in his mind or what the devil
put in his mind. Could Jesus do anything but what God put in his mind?
The answer is “no.”

45.	Now we are striving and coming to the place of the Garden of Eden
again. You know, this Bride sure must be glorious, when you come to
think of these things, as you bring them out what Bro. Branham said
here, and see it in the Bible. She’s no longer from the earth, earthy;
She’s no longer from beneath; she’s moving right in to what she
should be, as what God saw in Adam and stopped him when He said, “You
cannot, in this condition, enjoy immortality, because you wouldn’t
enjoy it.” The Bride is just about ready now. Sure she is. Look, come
on, we know that. 

	Look, we know this is the hour; this is everything. We can say with
Bro. Branham, “If we’re not Bride, there’s a Bride out there
somewhere, and by the grace of God, I hope we won’t get in her way.”
But by the grace of God, I hope I’m in somebody’s way, as Bride.
See? I mean that sincerely. I hope I’m Bride, and if somebody’s hurt
over it, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to step down. See? Now, after
Pentecost, they did begin to understand. 

	We can start tomorrow morning on this, and, with a little backtracking
perhaps, and come up again. See? This is how we do this here. I’m
sorry, but that’s how we do it here.

	Let’s just bow our heads in a word of prayer.

	Heavenly Father, we thank You now again for the time we spent with Your
Word, the singing of the songs of Zion, Lord, beautiful, inspiring, with
the anointing for this song service leading up to the message for the
dedication of the baby, Lord. All of these things, we’re so glad,
because everything points to the hour in which we live, and here You
are, and there we are, together, and we know that You are going to lead
us into the Kingdom. 

	And we know that we know this: that those who are aware will be the
ones that will go in, because this is not a day any longer to be in
doubt. As the disciples said, “Tell us plainly.” You did it, and
today have seen it plainer than ever. We’ve seen the ‘greater
works’ and all these things, and we’d like to know that we’re more
sober and concerned than ever before, that we’re truly filled with the
sobriety, the soberness that Paul spoke of, that Bro. Branham spoke of,
right back to true virgins of the Word of God, looking for the great
day, which we certainly are, the Resurrection coming right at hand, Bro.
Branham coming back, no doubt telling us the things of God, even
manifesting, we don’t know what, but we do know, Lord; here it is, a
millennial people. Hallelujah. And, if a millennial people come out of
that ground, then, Lord, amen and amen, we’re right into it. That’s
what’s going to happen—marvelous, marvelous, marvelous, Lord.

	And we thank You, Father, that it’s actually within us. We believe
we’re a part of it, but we want to believe more and more until, like
Abraham, there is a complete assurance of faith. And unto Thee, we’ll
ascribe the glory in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

	[Communion and Foot-washing follow.]