Shalom #24 Beating to the Same Rhythm As Bro. Branham? June 7, 1989 Shall we pray. Heavenly Father, we recall that Mary did not invite You and Your wonderful Presence, but an angel announced it; and then, Lord, You were there. And we, ourselves, are in that particular way that we did not know You were coming. We did not invite You, though many times we did invite You with another meaning entirely in our minds, but not realizing this would be the Appearing—Your very Presence. And then, Lord, we know that she had the faith to say, “Be it unto me according to Thy Word.” And that’s exactly the way we are tonight, Lord. And Father, we want to have that faith to say, “Be it unto us according to Thy Word,” that somehow we know that we are a part of Your very Presence. You are here for a deliberate purpose, O God, and that purpose will be fulfilled in us. We believe that. This great promise, Father, was taken from Adam, now restored after 6,000 years. Teach us tonight what the prophet would have us to know. We’ll give You the praise in Jesus’ Name. Amen. You may be seated. 1. Now we’re at number 24 in “Shalom”. And perhaps we just might be able to finish this in a couple of more sessions—even maybe just one more, after tonight. Now, remember that whatever Bro. Branham is teaching is instructions to the elect Lady or Words to the Bride. And he is telling the Bride something that has already taken place, in the sense that the Word of God is being fulfilled—Shalom, or God’s Peace. And, when he talks concerning the Symphony—which we’ll go into again tonight—he is, therefore, trying to help her to understand. Now the first thing we want to understand is that ‘Shalom’ or ‘God’s Peace’ is not a matter of semantics. In other words it’s not simply a play upon words. Many people use the Bible, and they do not use it with the directness that Bro. Branham did. Now we understand that they couldn’t do it. So, they had to make a play upon words; and this, I’m afraid, is what is being done tonight when it comes to the presence of God. Jesus Christ in the form of the Holy Spirit in a Pillar of Fire, the same One that spoke to the apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, has returned again to speak further to a prophet in order to give illumination to the Bride. So, it’s not a matter of semantics, nor is it a matter of definition only. (Because Bro. Branham does define it.) Nor is it a matter of the promise only, because it is a promise. But, what is it? It’s the Rhema become Logos, and known to be so by vindication; and that Word is now in us and building a body commensurate to the Word, which is immortality. We never did have a body commensurate to the soul, that life. This is the only time in history that living man will have a body commensurate—no other time in history. 2. Now the wrong revelation brought a perverted body by sex. The true revelation, the real revelation, is by the living Word of God. And it is a living Word, and it could not come to life until this time. That is to say, the life in the Word could not be released until this time. So now, in this time of Shalom… And, remember; from Adam until immortality, there is no Shalom. Man is not at rest concerning God or himself or others. Man does not have Peace. The Scripture distinctly says, “There is no rest, saith my God, to the wicked.” There is no Peace to them. There has not been that Reality accorded us until this moment. And, even when Christ has made Peace with God for us through the death of the cross, at the end time we are told that the people are truce breakers. They deliberately break the armistice and the Peace that was purchased through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They deny the Presence and power of God, and they’ve entered into a greater war than ever with God, which will end in destruction. 3. Now, at this particular time, in this particular hour of darkness, confusion, misfortune, misunderstanding (all those things)—Bro. Branham comes on the scene and brings us this message of “Shalom”—instructions to the elect Lady, Words to the Bride, “God’s Peace”. And on page 27, Bro. Branham starts to illustrate how one enters into God’s Peace, the Peace of this hour. It is very evident that he is trying to translate his experience and his part in this hour to us as participants who listen and believe and perceive. The reason I use the two words ‘believe’ and ‘perceive’ is because many people quote Bro. Branham, unfortunately this quote alone, when he said, “You don’t have to understand to believe.” However, he amends that later on so that you come to the place where you know there is no sense in saying, “I believe,” and somebody asks you a question, “What do you believe?” and you can’t answer what you believe. Someone says, “Well, I believe there was a vindicated prophet.” Oh, is that so? What did he vindicate? “Well, he vindicated God.” Well, listen; I’ve always believed there’s a God. What more can you tell me? “Well, He came to restore the Word.” What Word? What are you talking about? 4. So, Bro. Branham, in speaking to the participants—which, hopefully we are (the Bride)—and he’s using himself to help us to the position that he is in, this realm of Peace. In doing so, he tells us about a symphony, which is a musical drama, wherein the audience knows there was a general score and story but cannot themselves sort it out; they have to be helped. And you’ll notice, if you’ve been to any symphony, they have it all written before you. (I never have been able to follow anything they wrote out.) They listen to the progress of the music. And, if their ears are in tune, they can recognize the various characters and roles and what is happening as the scenes change. The symphony of Shalom (God’s Peace), as described by Bro. Branham, is actually a revelation to the listener who closes his eyes to his own world (That’s the physical world and whatever world he was in spiritually before.) and enters into the Spirit of the musicians, Conductor and Composer. As he listens in the Spirit of the drama and is caught up in the Symphony, the drama unfolds to him, and he understands the mind of the Composer and becomes aware of the reality of the depiction, which, of course, primarily, has to do with this hour in which we’re living. Present history is being wrought in music. So, as Bride, we must catch the Spirit of the reality of this great symphony of God that is upon us. We must close our minds to all our previous thinking and listen to the thundering rendition of vindication, the thundering rendition of greater works, the thundering rendition of “THUS SAITH THE LORD.” Now, if they’re not thundering in your soul, you’re not in the Symphony. If you’re merely enthused and say, “Say! Isn’t that great? That really proves there is a God,” you are not in the Symphony. If your soul and your thinking is not shattered with the thundering roar of vindication, you are simply one who came in the building without a garment. You are not one who is invited to the Wedding Supper, and you will never be in the Rapture. 5. Now I don’t speak to you only; I speak to myself. The literal appearing of God in vindication to Bro. Branham was everything, as we have shown you by “The Greatest Battle Ever Fought” and “Perfect Faith.” We must be caught up in the crescendo of the dazzling display of a genuine healing revival, with discernment, and know that we are at a juncture. (That’s right.) Everybody runs to the revival. Oral Roberts prays for thousands and gets good results. He doesn’t anymore. So, what did he really bring the people? Methodism and folly. Where is Tommy Osborne? Over in France, I guess, resting his shins on the Riviera for all I know. Where is Tommy Hicks? He’s dead. Where are the rest of them? Nowhere. Where’s W. B. Grant’s boy? Where’s the man that had all the scrolls and seals out there in Arizona? Where are they all? What did they do for the people? Where have they directed them? Essentially nowhere. We must get into the spirit and dance, and get into the acceleration of the movement and moment of time and eternity blending. We must feel the exhilaration of the strength of our faith through revelation, as the Seven Seals and the Seven Thunders, by the principle of vindication, flash across the skies like Roman candles. “Seventh Seal? What’s he talking about? Why, the Seventh Seal’s not even open. What’s this Thunder nonsense?” Do you understand what I’m saying? We must arise and shine with the quickening inexorable march of the never changing Alpha and Omega God. Is “Alpha and Omega” merely a principle, or is it reality? 6. And, as we enter into Heb 13:8, we recognize today, Abraham, in Genesis 18 and begin to march and keep time with the Symphony, for the Spirit of the Composer is in the Conductor, and along with the narrator, and we are now One in the divine Drama. But, to do this we must close our eyes to self and to the world, as did Abraham, when, in the presence of God and receiving the promise of the coming son in flesh, “he considered not his own body, now dead, nor yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb,” but entered into the drama of God, Who raises the dead and calls “those things which are not as though they were;” and he believed it all. “He staggered not at the promise of God.” The promise of God to Abraham was essentially to one person. His wife was a part of him; and, in spite of the fact that she could be a hindrance, he was not bothered at all! He said, “Hallelujah! The promise is mine. I already have that son. I am as good as raised from the dead”—physically speaking, concerning his own human exigency, which was not only in his flesh, but in also Sarah’s. And so enthralled, we become one in Spirit with God by believing His narrator (His prophet) through whom He conducts and speaks—actually manifests. And in doing, we close our minds and eyes to religiosity and organization and dogma and creed, and get back to the truly revealed Word. Some of you may not have done it. You perhaps sit here and you think you have, but you haven’t done it. You may still be mixed up with some of the ideas you have allowed to be perpetrated upon you. Let me warn you: you are just fooling yourselves. I’ve warned and exhorted many times, only to see people fall away, and some are falling away already. I’m going to tell you something: It’s not my fault. No way. 7. The truly revealed God and His truly revealed Word and His ways are before us. Listen to the narrator, on page 30, Paragraph 183, as he reads the score and tells us the Truth. And, as we listen and get right into the Spirit, we let it be that, as we pile Word upon Word in thirsting, yet drinking, faith. You can thirst all you want; but, if you don’t drink, it won’t do you any good. As I said, that poor Bro. Moore (Now deceased, I’m sure.) and millions just like him said, “O God, send a prophet.” They were thirsting, but when the water arrived… Well, literally, they ‘threw out the baby with the wash water’. They have perpetrated a crime all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ—listen carefully to what I’m saying—all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and under the influence of the Spirit of God, like Judas. You say, “Those are harsh words.” They’re not harsh words. They’re deep words for the shallow and superficial; they’ll never get to you. But, if you’ll love Truth, you begin to say; “This is as the days of Noah,” where eight were saved. And you don’t compromise your soul for the religious of the world, that in their great love say, “Millions now living will never die!” That is a lie, a lie, a lie! A million times millions, because billions will die. Even those who go so far in this Message to understand the Presence, then pervert the Word, there’s no hope for them. You say, “What if they come back?” Have you watched anybody recently? And, as we listen and get right into the Spirit, let it be that, as we pile Word upon Word and thirsting, yet drinking, faith, we become vessels filled with the Holy Ghost—that’s the true Baptism with the Holy Ghost—speaking to ourselves and each other in spiritual conversation of the Message in Malachi 3. In short, it is time to be enthused with the enthusiasm of the prophet, who was enthused by God clearly vindicating Himself a thousand times in His unchanging ways. That is this Symphony—God proving His Word and we seeing It proved and revealed. 8. Let’s go back to page 30. We mentioned the closing of the eyes. If you’re born Bride—which we would have to be: elect—we have within us a counter-rhythm, which responds perfectly to the rhythm that God has set in His Symphony. With the prophet on the scene, “THUS SAITH THE LORD,” I sat there—and I tell you, I’m not ashamed, although I am ashamed—I sat there backslidden amongst I think maybe 5,500 or 7,000 people. But, as the prophet came on the platform and says, “I challenge you. Bring me twenty-four of your worst cases; I guarantee healing for all…” (or sixty percent—as they all go through the prayer line) I knew I was faced with one of the greatest events in all of history! And at this hour, I believe I’m one of the few of the five billion people in the world who knew: “If you ever listen to somebody, you listen to that man.” What was it? You’re born with the counter-rhythm. His beat evokes your beat. Our beat is never like His beat; it simply responds to It. But it can enter into It, which is what Bro. Branham says here. Entering into It, the rhythm of the Word, you are part of the Word. You had to become part of the dance to get out into the dance. It’s got to be in you. 9. [182] You have to become part of the Word to know God’s Symphony. His Symphony is when It’s playing, you understand, you’re marching with the beat of the time. You’re watching for it, “The works that I do, shall you also; greater than this shall you do.” That stumbled everybody: for a man to come on the scene and say, “That is a promise given to an individual,” not collectively to a group of people who will multiply through sheer force of numbers the works of God. How did they feel when Bro. Branham said, “He had more success in my ministry, in my life, than He had in His Own”? Greater—creation of squirrels. Get in the rhythm of how He does it. Learn the ways of God. 10. Now, watch: [183] How did He send His message first? (Here’s a question he poses: Are we into the Symphony?) What does He do? He doesn’t deal with organizations. He never did, so He doesn’t do it now. That’s where, if you’re listening to the rhythm of that Council of Churches, you’re in darkness. Exactly what Norman Grubb did—one of the greatest men in the twentieth century history, a thorough going Christian, all full of the Holy Ghost, (Let every fundamentalist tell you.) yet I saw his own words when he said, “The greatest miracle of the twentieth century in the entire plan of God were the people coming together.” That’s a lie. Oh, it’s a great miracle as far as “bringing together” is concerned—all the organizations coming into Pentecost. Pentecost has got them all. Bro. Branham said, “Methodists want Baptists, Baptists want Presbyterians, and Pentecost wants them all.” He was a hundred percent true. They’ve got them all, right from the pope on down. That’s exactly the truth. That’s exactly where it is. 11. Now he said: [183] He doesn’t deal with organization. He never did. He doesn’t do it now. If you’re listening to the World Council of Churches, you’re in darkness. But, if you’re listening to the rhythm of the Word, that’s different! [184] What did they kill Jesus for? “You, being a man, make yourself God.” [185] You got my Message on “The Three Types of Believers,” how that one stood there and they were the make-believers, they followed along for awhile, making out like they believed. One day Jesus said, “What will you think when the Son of man, which is from Heaven, ascends back into Heaven? I come from Heaven, going back to Heaven.” [186] The multitude walked away and said, “This is a hard saying.” He said, “What if you see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” It left them entirely in the dark. 12. Now, let’s keep on going. [187] Then there come the make-believers that was walking with Him, the seventy, when they got something hard, they didn’t see… they didn’t know the Symphony. They didn’t know the promise, that this child was Jehovah, “His Name… be called Counsellor, Prince of Peace, the mighty God.” And… He said, “When I ascend up to heaven from whence I come from.” [188] “Well”, they said, “this is a hard saying. Who can understand It? We know You’re just a man. We eat with You, sleep with You, go in the woods with You, we’re by the waters with You. Now you know that’s not the Bible; that’s William Branham talking about himself, too. Well, You’re merely a man, and say the Son of man goes up where He comes from? What will You say? This is a hard Saying!” See, they didn’t know the beat. They didn’t know the rhythm of the Symphony of God’s Word, that He was God manifested in the flesh. Bro. Branham 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 Ghost, but It comes by a prophet.” So, what is it? The manifested ministry of Almighty God through a prophet. And he said, Now, the One that’s doing it is going to go back to where He came from. They didn’t get it. They said, “This is a hard thing. Who can understand this?” And they turned away. They didn’t know the beat… How many people turned from Bro. Branham? [189] Then we notice again, there was Judas, the make-believer or unbeliever, that waited till he found a fault. Then, He turned to the disciples, said just the twelve, and Judas was one of them, He said, “You want to go too?” [190] Then, Peter said, “To whom would we go Lord? You’re the Composer.” Amen. “You know how it’s going on. You’re the only One that has the Word of Life. Where could we turn to? We couldn’t go back to be a Pharisee or a Sadducee, or a Herodian,” or whatever it might be. “You’re the One that has the Word of Life. We have no other place to go. We’ve joined ourselves to this great Concert. We are in here and we’re listening, and we’re in rhythm. We believe that you are (1) the Son of God, and (2) the manifested Jehovah. We are sure of this! Now Bro. Branham is telling you about the Symphony. Are you sure that God, here, is Present—the same One who went to Paul in the form of the Holy Ghost, in a Pillar of Fire? Do we believe that? Do we believe that He is here with a Message? The Shout is a message. Now nobody’s going to believe that, because everybody wants to believe that it’s simply a loud noise. They don’t want to believe He comes down to the earth in the form of the Holy Ghost. And they’re not going to believe it. And there’s no theologian and nobody anywhere outside of this Message, as far as I know, (I haven’t read everything, of course, and been everywhere.) but I would doubt categorically that there’s nobody outside of Bro. Branham that taught that. That is the revealed Word. Are you in time with the Symphony? That’s what he’s saying here. 13. [190] We don’t know what these great trials and troubles, and afflictions and things, that You’re saying that You’re going to be offered up and all this, that and the other… ‘on the third day’, all this stuff. We don’t understand that. But we’re in, listening to God’s Symphony, we’re a part of it. And we’re waiting to see what takes place next. We’re following close with You.” Oh, my! That’s what I want to do. Promise. Now, what is next, with the prophet having gone away? We don’t know; we just follow the Word. [191] How did He begin? He’s talking about… referring today, all along this way. Just like He did at the beginning. See? He never did send His Message to an organization. He never sent his group a Message; He sent one man. In the days of Noah, it was Noah. In the days of Moses, it was Moses. Now, here again, he’s letting you know that there is only one person can bring a Message, and that is the one who understands what is being done by God concerning His Own Word at this hour. And that is based upon vindication. Bro. Branham did not stand before the people to say one thing on his own—not one thing. He stood before the people thoroughly vindicated. And his vindication was so powerful by God that he was able to enter into Faith—the realms of Faith—by the Holy Ghost, that he could receive the Message from God. Now, let’s face it, had William Branham not been elected, had he not been the divinely appointed one from before the foundation of the world—particularly made for this position—he would not have believed God. He could not have done it. 14. [192] There’s others thought one time, that they said, “Well, you would make yourself the only holy man of the bunch.” That’s what they said, of course… Korah, Dathan and Abiram said that to Moses. God looked down upon that. [193] Moses went to the Lord, “I’ve done this. What, what must I do?” Now, notice that this is one time that Moses, the meekest man that ever lived, absolutely got aroused and said, “All right now, there’s going to be a showdown.” Why did Moses demand a showdown? Because, if Moses wasn’t right, and God did not vindicate him, Moses knew that he was going to go to hell, pure and simple. You can’t trust that kind of a God. Let’s face it: If these men could now influence God, and they could take away the leadership that Moses had, then Moses was finished. That’s how every prophet is. He is either in the driver’s seat… He is either the conductor of the symphony (in the human sense), because he is there, and God through him is moving all these things… Greater still, he is the narrator, because, actually, God is doing it all, and the prophet is privy to it. He simply tells you what’s going on. So Moses said, “Now look, Lord, if these men die the common death, I know you never sent me.” Now people don’t like that. To them a prophet is just a sweet old bowl of jelly, a sweet little old jellyfish, bless God! He doesn’t know how to stand on his hind legs. He just stands there so sweet and pie-faced. He’s like a ‘goo-ball’. Are you kidding? He’s as prickly as a thorn bush, when it comes to this point here: either God or not—because everything is at stake. Moses’ life and every other persons’ was at stake. So, he said, “Now, Lord, if they die a common death, I know you didn’t send me.” And God just said, “Separate yourself. I’ll take care of the rest of it. I sent you. It’s my responsibility.” And He opened up the earth and swallowed Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and every one of their family, and everything they had—everything, all their gain; the whole thing burned. Now I want to tell you something: Everything is going to burn but the Bride. This world’s going to have a fire hit it. All right. 15. [195] John and Jesus couldn’t be at the same time… (That’s John the Baptist.) When John looked up, he said, “I must decrease; He must increase. He’s the vindicated Light.” So will this Light move on until he would find the full vindication comes. That’s right. That’s right. Now, what is the final vindication of God moving at this hour concerning Bro. Branham? There has got to be a resurrection, and immortality must possess the Bride. Only at that time can God move on; and, when He does, we move with Him. John the Baptist had to get out of the way and let Jesus completely take over. So it is with William Branham. [196] He is as He was at the beginning. That’s how you start… Now, what are you going to start with? You’re going to start with understanding that God Almighty only uses one man. It’s predicated in Scripture. It’s predicted: “Elijah must come,” that is, a prophet. And that prophet must absolutely know, like John the Baptist, who he is and what he’s doing, or he’s no prophet. So, he says, “Now, you’re going to go back with me to the beginning… ” [196] That’s how you start, how you start learning what God was. What did He do when He was here on earth? What kind of a life did He live? Did He agree, was He a compromiser? Did He go to organization? How did He identify Himself? “Search the Scriptures! In them you think you have Eternal Life, and they are the Ones that testify of me.” Now He said, “In there you’ve got a certain understanding. You realize certain events and certain things and certain personages. But, do you really know what it’s all about?” And the answer is: of course not! [196] See, that’s the same thing today or any other time. Now, Bro. Branham uses the phraseology “any other time” to get the heat off of them, and to fool the people that want to be fooled anyway. When you want Light, see what the Scripture says for this hour. Oh, they say that, “We perfectly know what it says. Now we know this: It has nothing to do with anything about God coming down with a Message. Now the trouble with you is: William Branham, you went too far, and that’s why you got smeared across the road in a wreck—false prophet that you were. God trusted you; but, you see, you blew it!” Did John the Baptist blow it? Jesus stood right there and could have got him out of prison and didn’t do one thing—just let his head get cut off. God didn’t do one thing when the saints got fed to lions—just stood back and stood there, stood back and watched. I don’t think these people know the first thing about the Bible. They want to impugn to God their own sweet little eyesight. I wouldn’t give you a nickel for it. No way. 16. [197] Where do you begin? If there’s a sinner here, you begin at the cross when you reckon yourself dead with Him. You’ve entered in to the great drama. You’re listening, then, you’re watching your sheet as you hold it in your hand, the Symphony. You’ve got a sheet in your hand that would tell you these things (That’s the Bible.) where the changes of the music begins to make it act out, then you see what the act is. Now, right here, the people don’t believe that God is going to act out anything. They simply believe in a non-sovereign God Who puts the world into motion and, then, stands back and watches it, instead of being in complete control and predicting every event. [198] When you see God’s Spirit fall upon people and do a certain thing, you look back and see where it’s at. (He’s telling you, right there, “You can see what I’m doing in my ministry. Look in the Bible and see where it happened before; see if it’s mentioned, in a certain juncture, at a certain time.”) See if it’s that, if that’s the thing for today. Then, see if it’s going on now. Why, they had a sheet in their hand when Jesus came, of the Symphony. They certainly did. What was it? They couldn’t enter into it. [199] Now they had a sheet in their hands, but what would they do? They were trying to look back to a beat that was (We have Moses; we have Luther; we have Wesley; we have Pentecost.) a portion that had already been played out… that’s what the Lutherans do . They don’t know the change of music. They don’t know what God’s doing today when He does these things, those Lutherans. The Pentecost say, “Oh, we got it.” You got a sheet that played out fifty years ago. See? Certainly. Let’s just keep this Word in our hands, and watch when the change comes, then we’ll know what we’re doing. Do you know that Amy Semple McPherson understood perfectly, being a woman? She knew that God had restored the gifts. I had her sermon many years ago on it. She preached it in London, I think, (What is it, Prince Albert Hall? I think it was; I’m not sure.) to a great multitude of people. And she was right. The gifts had been restored, but she didn’t know where to go from there. And being a woman, and under… Although the anointing was true, she was very false. She could go out and see miracles done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, she certainly could. And she could lift Him high and cause people to exalt Him. Sure, she could do that, while she lived a less than righteous life. Her record out in California is very, very plain. 17. [200] Now, and begin with Him at the cross. “Repent and be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins; (Now, that never has been changed and is going on still.) and you shall receive the Music, the Direction,” see, “His Word, the Holy Ghost that manifests the Word.” Then, follow through with the rhythm of the Word. Whatever the Music beats for that hour, beat with It. See? Now he’s telling people: “Look, you can be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; that is correct. And you can have an experience; that is correct. But, if your experience is genuine, you’re going to keep with the Word. You’ll not leave it.” [201] Many people ask, “Why?” They asked… Someone asked me, “Why? Why must these things happen? Why did this happen to me? Why did I start and this happen, when I had this trouble here, and this upset me here, and I lost this here? Now he’s talking again to young Christians who will go through the process of the trial of their faith in order that they might be matured. And, if they haven’t been taught by the proper minister and ministry, they will, of course (maybe, almost always) go down under fire. [202] Sometimes I’ve asked, “Why?” Now, he talks about himself. Why, when I was just a young minister, first started out, did God take my wife right out from under me, take my baby right from beneath me, right from beneath my heart? Why did He do that? I didn’t know. I do now. I just held my hand in His and kept trusting. Now Bro. Branham tells, in many places, that he disobeyed God, and therefore, God took his wife and baby. Now I know there’s a possibility there, but I just don’t see why God would take my wife because I’ve done something wrong. Now I’m not arguing with Bro. Branham. It may be just because of disobedience. But maybe, just maybe, this young man was so full of life and so happy—he had his wife; he had his two babies—and that would have been enough. So, God took it away to give him something a whole lot more. Sure. God doesn’t do things just with one thing in mind, brother/sister. 18. [203] He knows every junction. He knows the rhythm the change, when it must take place. He knows what it takes to mold you. Now, he’s getting to what I’ve been talking about. He knows what kind of material He’s going to use. See? The backside of the desert sometimes, where God molds righteous men into sages and prophets. See? See? That’s where men are beat out. Men are beat out in the Word. When they got all kind of creed and stuff in them, let them come to the Word and God beat it right out of them, molds it right into This, into the great Symphony of His Word, See? And then, they see the Word moving on. Well, that gives you a better understanding of why God took his wife. It was to get him all alone and get with him, to mold him into the hardness of a good soldier. [204] God knows when the rhythm of it has got to change. He knows how the rhythm goes. I don’t know how it goes, but He knows. He knows how it goes; I don’t. But I look at it here, and I say, “Well, it’s just coming.” Now he’s telling these young people again. [205] “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but God delivereth them out of them all.” See? God has moved through history with the rhythm of the promise of His Word, in each age, in the same rhythm, making His Word. Now he’s telling us that, as God has molded the Bride through various conditions that she has gone through these 2,000 years, now we’re going through another series of conditions to mold a Bride for this hour. 19. [205] That’s how God moved down through history, from all the way from Genesis to Revelation. He has moved through history with His Word. That’s right, with the rhythm… of the power of the Holy Spirit vindicating His Word to the Elected. Remember, He’s never been able to touch the outside church. It’s only the Elected. [206] Look at those priests: they said, “This man is Beelzebub. He’s a fortuneteller—reading their minds.” [207] Little did they know, “The Word is sharper than a two-edged sword, a discerner of the thoughts that enter the heart.” And He was the Word. Now, there again, he’s talking about his own ministry. [208] But this little prostitute, standing at the well that day, to get a bucket of water, she said, “I perceive that you’re a prophet. We know the Messiah’s coming. We haven’t had prophets for hundreds of years. We know Messiah’s coming. And, when He comes, that’s what He’s going to be.” And that’s what He’s going to do, of course. [209] He said, “I am He.” That was enough. Why? The rhythm beat out! She was looking for that change, from a church denomination to a vindicated Messiah. Now, that’s very true about that woman. She was looking; so therefore, it took only one Word. And here He stood, the Messiah that Moses spoke of, “The Lord your God shall raise up a prophet like unto me.” There He is. The rhythm changed, the vindicated Seed recognized It. In other words there was a time coming when the ‘prototype’, Moses, was to give way to the ‘antitype’, the Lord Jesus Christ in human flesh. And this woman, here, recognized it. Now, maybe we were not looking for the prophet to come, but we were open to it, being seed, just as this woman was. [210] And, when the real Word of God falls upon the vindicated, upon the Seed… (Now I believe he’s talking about himself.) and they see that vindication of the Word. They recognize It. It’s got to start with the prophet. So, to me, it’s obvious that Bro. Branham is, here, talking about himself in the great hour of this Symphony. And he is telling us in such a way that it becomes peace to us through the understanding. 21. Now: [210] They’re looking at the Word. They know the junction, they know the time; they know the change; they know the beat that’s supposed to be in that hour. Hallelujah! They know the beat; they know the time; they know how it’s supposed to go. See, only the elected knows It. Now, that remark there, is a very strong remark in the light of the fact that how many knew anything when he came on the scene? Hardly anybody. But now it’s a very good statement on grounds that many people, positively, have had something to do with the prophet—by the films, or by tapes, or by witness—and they still don’t know what’s going on. [211] When Philip saw it, he couldn’t stand it any longer. He knew that was Messiah. So, he went to a fellow, they had had Bible study together. “Nathanael,” he said, “Come, see a man. Come, see what we have found. We have found Jesus of Nazareth. We have found Jesus of Nazareth; that’s the prophet that Moses spoke of that would come. We have found Him. We have found Him.” [212] He said, “How can this be? Where was He?” See, he wasn’t sure. He didn’t know the rhythm just exactly. They had been studying. But when he got there, he told him; he introduced him to the Word. Now this is where this begins to make more sense. You know that the Second Coming and the Appearing should happen at the time when Israel’s back in the homeland. We know that there has to be certain conditions set up in the world before there can be a resurrection and a change to immortality and a catching away. We know these things; but we don’t know them in a revealed way so that our understanding is the understanding of God, when He set it forth in His Word. And that’s what Bro. Branham is saying, here, about Nathanael. Nathanael knew a lot about the hour in which he lived, but he didn’t know the actual intrinsic truth of it; and so therefore, he was a doubter. 22. When I first heard of Bro. Branham, I doubted. My wife said to me, “Well,” she said, “This man… ” I read it in the paper, and she read it out about this man was discerning people and knew what’s wrong. I never said he was the devil. I said, “I’m not interested.” I said, “I saw a man do that, and he was full of the devil.” I never said he was the devil. I didn’t know. I said, “Anybody could do that.” But, when I was in his presence, I knew that was God. There was a difference. That’s the way this man was, way back there 2,000 years ago. “Why,” he said, “You’re talking about something, and (he said) I don’t know if I go along with it.” He said, “You’re right. There’s got to be Messiah, and I believe this is the hour. But look! Are you telling me that that’s the fellow you met? Now (he said)… now, hold it!” There had been several of those guys. But, when he got there, he knew it. (See?) He was already ready for the rhythm. The rhythm, in other words, had started to move. And I believe that’s the way we are right today. I believe there’s a rhythm with the Word of God that, as we keep on preaching here, that Bro. Branham absolutely said, “The gifts of the Spirit, as it were, put on the shelf, the sweet Spirit of Christ in the Church, the sick be healed.” [End of side one of the audio tape.] “Now”, he said, “Where? I just don’t know,” he said. 23. Now Paragraph 213: [213] And when he got there, Jesus said, “Behold an Israelite,” the rhythm began to take hold, the great drama was being played out there on the platform, or on the ground, that day. Now he said “platform”, because he’s talking about himself—the presence of God; there He is right there—picture, and the whole thing. [Bro. Vayle points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire.] Maybe Jesus standing upon a rock, talking to the people. And when Philip came up with Nathanael, He looked over to him, and said, “Behold an Israelite, in whom there’s no guile.” That’s right. He said, “Rabbi, when did You ever know me?” [214] “Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you.” Oh, my! Then, do you think it strange that Bro. Branham could say, “Bro. Vayle, I saw you coming.” Coming all the way from West Palm Beach to Louisville and Jeffersonville—him standing right outside the door, waiting for me. (See?) People could say, “Well, I don’t know if I believe that.” They don’t have to believe anything. I can tell you true: It’s exactly right. The man had the same discernment, same office, because it’s the same Spirit of God. Look! It wasn’t in his brothers; it was just in Jesus. But his brothers had the same mother; and they got the same Holy Ghost, in their portion, at Pentecost. And I don’t care if a million people receive the baptism with the Holy Ghost; (You could have billions.) there’s only one going to be like Bro. Branham, that prophet. (See?) He said, “Rabbi, when did You ever know me?” [214] He said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you.” Oh, my! [215] He was part of it! He said, “Thou art the Son of God! Thou art the King of Israel.” How come the Pharisees said, “You are, in fact, a devil”? That’s all it took. Now Bro. Branham is showing you, if you’re not part of the Symphony, (You’re not part of the participating audience.) it won’t do any good, no matter how much is being done. He said, “Look, this little woman only saw one little thing. Nathanael saw only one little thing. That’s all it took.” And he said, “You in America, you’ve seen it thousands of times, and you get harder and harder.” In other words the more you question, the lower you get. Don’t question. That’s why Bro. Branham sang, “Only Believe”. [215] You’re the King of Israel”. No matter what…the world beat was, and all their shindigs they had of…the denominations, it wasn’t that great symphony of God. Amen. He said, “Thou art the King of Israel! There You are! I see it. I know it.” Why? He was elected. The elected Seed knows. It’s always through every age, and they know it. 24. Now, here we are. We’re getting to the end of this illustration, this Symphony. And Bro. Branham says (talking about it), “We know we’re arriving at a conclusion.” And the conclusion is: to identify perfectly with the Presence, the prophet and the Message, and to make our lives part of the Drama. If you don’t understand that, the revealed Word, (That’s what it’s all about.) [Points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire.] you can never be a part of the great symphony of Almighty God; it’ll all go over your head. (See?) That’s what you’ve got to do; you’ve got to realize that. Now I keep talking about myself, because it’s the only way I know how to tell you. That night when I said, “Bro. Branham, I don’t know if I can believe this, that the Shout is the Message… Suddenly… “When was he wrong? When was he not vindicated?” How can God vindicate a man that would tell a lie and lead you astray? How could God send a prophet with “THUS SAITH THE LORD,” with the Word of the Lord, (Because, that’s a prophet.) and then blow His Kingdom plumb to pieces? You say, “Well, I don’t think God would do that. You see, the little trick God had...” You know, you’re trickier than you ought to be. Even the Devil knows that. God never goes back on His Word—never changes. But the people believe anything they want, especially Pentecostals—go by emotion. “Well, I heard from God. I opened the refrigerator door, and the light was out; and I knew that meant darkness. But, Hallelujah! When I next went to open the door, the light was on; I knew that meant Light—Glory to God.” Spiritual leapfrog. I don’t know. 25. [216] Bro. Branham, what about my mother and my dad, what about my people, what about my denomination, what will they do? They’ll cast me out.” If you can’t look ahead, look up. Don’t try to look ahead, anyhow, put your hand in His. Let Him lead you. Look up, don’t look ahead. You say, “Why, why others make fun of me and my long hair, and me taking off my shorts, and leaving church.” Suffering for His Name is growing pains of His grace. Suffering for His Word, see, is growing pains of His grace. Yes sir! Just remember, it’s the grace of God has been given to you. If a person doesn’t suffer for the Word, believe me he suffers for folly, because you’ve only got one standard to judge by. Now we know that’s in the Book of Peter, positively. Now Bro. Branham says here, (People making fun of us and so on; casting us out.) he said, “Look, that’s all right, and don’t look ahead, just look up to God.” [217] Like Paul said, hallelujah, he had an infirmity, something was bothering him…the devil would…buffet him, blow after blow. And he consulted the Lord, three times, to take it away from him Now Bro. Branham’s talking about himself. “I don’t want this, Lord. Take it away from me.” [218] Then one night the Lord spoke to him, said Saul, or “Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee.” Why? Because His strength was made perfect in weakness. [219] Then, Paul said, “I’ll glory in my infirmity. I’ll glory in it. I know You’re the Healer. I’ve seen You heal the sick, raise the dead…cast out devils, open the eyes of the blind. But, if I’ve consulted You, and You tell me that Your grace is sufficient, then, this devil that bothers me…is the growing pains of Your grace. Then I’ll glory in my infirmities. Why? If lest I get exalted above the abundance of the revelation. Now, only a prophet could say that. There’s nobody outside of one with a personal interview with God Himself can abrogate any of the promises of God. In other words, by that I say, “Well, this promise is not to me.” 26. So, if you’re suffering tonight or you’re sick, there’s not one of you here that can say, “Well, I’m going to tell you something: I’m suffering because of what? An overabundance of revelation.” No way, shape and form. No way. Now you can suffer because you put your hand in the meat grinder. You can die because you thought you could get away with the little escapade some night in a motel when your wife wasn’t there, and you can die of your AIDS. That’s your tough luck. And your prayers will go to none avail, because it’s a plague, and you asked for it. Perhaps, somehow, you just might just get through in a moment of real repentance, but I kind of doubt it, because you had your chance, and you knew better. You know it’s a plague. You know the prophet said, “Men would rot on their feet.” It’s worse than cancer. They’re rotting on their feet, so you know the plague is here. The Word of God says there are some things that will never be healed—never be cured. What are you going to do about it? No, there’s only one place that God would ever talk to you, and that’s if you’re a prophet—like Paul, like William Branham. He said to Bro. Branham, “Remember, it’s only so long,” (Six inches, I believe it was.) forty-two years of suffering, from 14 to 56. (See?) 27. Now Bro. Branham says, “I’ll glory in the fact; I’ll rest in the things of God, because this is something I have to have.” [220] See, he had something the other disciples didn’t have, he saw Him after His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. The rest didn’t see that. Now he says, “... death, burial, resurrection and ascension.” And, remember; the same One that went up, came down. They didn’t see Him. It was Paul that saw Him. Then, through Paul came the ministry, the five-fold ministry of the Holy Ghost, piling Word upon Word, until the finality is the Seventh Seal. Never mind the first six. That’s fine; that’s fine. We’re glad we’ve got them. But it’s that Seventh Seal, under the Seven Thunders. That’s the final infilling of the Holy Ghost. And in spite of all your scratchiness, and yours and mine, (And we can be prickly.) He’s here, perfect Love, taking us out of this world. And, remember; Love is not that we love God, but that He loved us. And the only way that you can really love God at this hour is by loving His Word. You say, “Well, I love people. I’d sooner have that.” Well, you’re just out of step, brother/sister. You’ve got some “phileo” love that isn’t worth much. (See?) You don’t want that. 28. [220] He saw Him after His resurrection, His ascension. He saw Him. Some of them say, “Well, I walked with Him.” So did everybody on the street. That’s good. But, after He was dead, buried, rose and ascended up, and returned back in the form of a Pillar of Fire, He talked to Paul. That was more than any of the rest of them had. Amen. Remember, John was a scribe, not a prophet. Paul was the prophet. [221] He said, “Except I get exalted and want to build great big seminaries and everything else, and great big something another, lest I get…exalted above the abundance of this revelation. God let a messenger of the devil keep me beat down.” He said, “Then, when I’m weak, I’m strong.” Amen. Growing pains of grace! Amen. We could stay on that a long time; an hour and forty-five minutes has passed, and… We’re suffering His grace pains. In other words the people are sitting there, and he said, “You’re tired, but that’s good for you.” [222] Oh, He may permit crossroads. He may permit crossroads to try us, to perfect us for His service. He may permit that now, church, both here and on tape. He may permit the crossroads for our service. [223] Like He did Daniel. He gave Daniel a little crossroad one day (or a little cross, really). You know, he was a great man down there in Babylon. He did; He let the king turn against him and throw him in the lion’s den. It only perfected him. (God allowed that.) Sure did! [224] Let the Hebrew children go into the fiery furnace. They were determined to stand for His Word. [225] He may permit cross words. Let them laugh at you for having long hair. Let them laugh at you for saying…you become a holy-roller or whatever any more. (We’re not even called that, though.) They may laugh at you for that. That’s all right. That’s a crossroad, a little junction. That’s to prove something. [226] See, the only thing that the crossroad did to the Hebrew children that stood on the Word, it only loosed them from the bands they had around their feet and legs. So, in other words, trials have a freeing process. 29. Now, in this Symphony, Bro. Branham has interjected the fact of an interim period before the Symphony finally closes down: they’re intermissions. And evidently, from the time of the giving of the Shout to the time of the Resurrection, there is an ‘intermission’, so to speak, when the Word becomes effective in us. And the first thing is to take your stand with the vindicated Word; no matter what anybody says. We don’t have a fight with them. We’re not worried about anybody. We didn’t do this thing. We simply stand with that what we believe was vindicated. And, if they don’t like it, that’s their privilege; we don’t have to talk to them. (See?) But they’re going to do something about it. But Bro. Branham says, “All of this, that we endure, will (Do what?) let us out of the prison houses of our own problems of organization dealing with wrong understanding. What we’re doing now may be hardship—but it’s liberating us with the liberty of God to walk in the Word.” 30. [227] Sometimes it takes hard trials to break the bands of the world off of us. Sometimes God lets us have a little trial, you know, to see what we’ll do, to take us out of the world. And he was also speaking, I think, to his wife and family, and others, about the time he’s going to be taken out of here. In other words, let you have a little trial and knock you out of that organization (That happened to me. No problem.) and that idea that “the Methodist is the only one, the Baptist, or the Pentecostal, or… that’s the only group they got. If you don’t believe it like my church believes it, you don’t believe at all.” Sometimes He lets a little trial happen. Maybe you got a sick baby. Maybe something takes place right at the hour of death. Maybe someone taken from you or something. What’s it to do? To break you away to show you something, open your eyes. Maybe you come to criticize, sometime. Maybe you’re listening to this tape just to criticize. Maybe God’s doing that to break some of the worldly bands that’s got you bound down. That’s true. Many times in Bro. Branham’s ministry people had to go through a very hard time to come to the Word, because they simply would not look at vindication. They looked around and said, “Well, this fellow’s got something good; this fellow’s got something good. And I’ve seen this miracle; I’ve seen that miracle. What’s Bro. Branham?” They simply don’t understand “THUS SAITH THE LORD.” 31. [228] Like a drowning man in a river, you have to take the man out of the river before you can get the river out of the man. That’s right. How are you going to get the organization out, if you don’t come out of the organization? (See?) Now the proof of being out of the organization is letting this Word come in until you know that what you had before is folly. [228] That’s right. You have to get him out of the river first (out of the organization) to get the river (or the false doctrine—creeds and dogmas) out of him. Sometimes God has to do it that way. He permits the junctions, crossroads to do that. Stand on His promises, the Word, for they never fail. The future, that’s in His hand. Stand like they did. Don’t get away. Now you notice here, categorically, that Bro. Branham is talking about the fact that you have a vindicated ministry to build the vindicated Word upon; and no matter what happens, don’t let experiences bring you to the point where you say, “Well, what’s there to it?” The Word of God has nothing to do with your experiences and mine. So, don’t try to take an experience and say, “Well, I’m going to leave this.” I’ve seen people do it. They never had the Holy Ghost. They weren’t elect in the first place. I’m not against experiences, but they don’t take the place of vindicated Word. And, if you have an experience, make sure you find it in the Word, properly placed and understood. 32. [229] Abraham, at his crossroads, knew that God could raise up his son from the dead, from whence he received him at the crossroads. Abraham came to his crossroads. And, after he had trusted God and had seen all the miracles of God... Twenty-five years he waited on a boy, a promised son; and then, God told him to go sacrifice the very thing that he had waited for. Now we’ve waited about 25 years Bro. Branham’s been gone. We still haven’t got the Resurrection. Oh my, what a time! But did Abraham stagger? Read Romans 4; he was “fully persuaded.” What’s he telling us there? Full persuasion starts with believing a vindicated prophet with a vindicated message, and you keep on going, and going, and going—Word upon Word. He was fully persuaded of what God had promised, God was able to do. Now Bro. Branham says, “I know He’s going to do it; how, I don’t know.” Now many people, because they don’t know “the how,” fold up. Don’t; don’t worry how it’s going to be done. How’s he going to do it? Don’t worry; it’ll be done. 33. [229] He was fully persuaded of what God had promised, God was able to do. Amen. He permitted the crossroad. He was showing through Abraham, to us, see, He’s able to raise the dead. Now Bro. Branham used that about Abraham, but he’s talking about himself—his own crossroads. He went through all these trials for one purpose: to be a fit vessel for what God called him, which would be an invincible prophet, one who never turned. Now, listen; when Luther could stand there and say, “God helping me, this is that all I can do…” And he had no vindication except the stirring of the rhythm of the Word of Truth of “justification by faith and not by works.” If he could stand there and defy the Catholic Church and defy a nation, then William Branham certainly could stand up and say, “If God told me to raise Abraham Lincoln from the dead, I challenge the armies of the earth to shoot me down if I couldn’t do it.”—stand there with “THUS SAITH THE LORD.” We could not have a man simply of the caliber of Luther, a great reformer, a great preacher, a great evangelist. That would not do! We’re at a juncture, and Bro. Branham’s trying to tell us here. “I am the one involved in this, absolutely, with God. You can come to my status, to my position”—which means, in the Resurrection or immortality “upon what I understand and know myself, through this great vindicated ministry.” 34. [230] Abraham said, “I’ll receive him as one from the dead.” Sarah’s womb was dead. Sarah’s womb was dead; and…his body was dead. He was an old man. She had no milk veins to feed the baby… Well, there was nothing… He was sterile, himself… She was sterile. See? No way at all. And he received him as one from the dead. He said, “If God can do that, God can raise him up from the dead. Nature is what he’s talking about here. He said, “If God made the promise true, that Sarah and I could have this child, then, there is no problem in me killing him, because God will bring him back.” Now, if there is no problem in understanding a vindicated ministry and message, then there is no problem in understanding “the dead are going to rise, and we are going to be changed,” because it’s just a reversal. And that’s what the Bible says: “God, who raises the dead and calleth those things which are not, as though they were.” (See?) 35. [230] For the same God that told me the baby would come, and I stood and it came, He can raise him from the dead.” For, He makes everything work together for the good to them that love Him. Amen. Now, why did Abraham love God? Not for nothing. When the devil came to God and said, “Sure, Job loves You. Sure, he loves You; why shouldn’t he love You?” And that’s exactly what Paul said paraphrased, “We love God, because He loved us first. This is the mercy of God: when we were yet in our sins and our trespasses—dead—One was there waiting to redeem us, Who had paid the price.” [231] God Who made the promise; in the last days these things would happen that we see happen! (See?) If He promised a son, and the son came; if He promised all these things that we see through the Scripture, and it did it , let’s get into the rhythm of it. The rhythm, now, is what? Resurrection—immortality rhythm. We’re stepping up from the Shout—pure vindication—to the next step: He’s here to raise the dead. So therefore, if I go off the scene, one of you go off the scene, no problem! You’ll be right back. (See?) No problem. 36. [231] Now: If He promised a son, and the son came; if He promised all these things that we see through the Scripture, and he did it , let’s get into the rhythm of it. He promised in the last days these things would take place, (See?) and we see it. He promised that He would send Jesus. Hallelujah. There will be a Millennium. Never mind when; never mind how. It’s going to be. There will be a new day. There will be a day that the sun will never go down any more. We’ll need it no more, for the Lamb is the Light of the City, and we’re going there. When’s that? In the New Jerusalem. So, he puts the Millennium and the New Jerusalem right together, as the prophets do, and it confuses everybody. Why? Because God calls those things which are not, as though they were. Why? Because they’ve started, and they’ll never be turned back. (See?) [232] The dawning of a new day, I feel it all over me now. The Light of a new day! The Light of a day where there is no night, there is no darkness, no shadows, no skies, no dim, dark skies, no midnights, no graves, no flowers on the hillsides, no funeral processions, no doctors, no morgues. Amen. I can feel the… rays of His Light breaking through upon my soul. The new day! The old day pressing me. Now there’s something right there we’re failing to get: the rhythm of immortality in the Millennium. Where is the rhythm? The rhythm is the adjustment of the mind to the Truth. “Abraham, you’ll have a son by Sarah.” “Ha-ha-ha,” says Sarah, “That’s great. We’ll have a son by what?” And God said, “Why is Sarah laughing in the tent?” “Oh.” she said, “I didn’t laugh.” He said, “But you did laugh.” (See?) She got a rebuke, then she got the rhythm of it. But Abraham got in the rhythm very rapidly. Oh, as a young man (much younger), he got in the rhythm very quickly for Hagar. Yeah, look at the trouble ever since then. Khomeini’s finally dead, but where’d he come from? Ishmael and his gang. You get in the rhythm of the flesh, you’ll produce millions. Oh, yeah! You’ll be a big star; you’ll be something. But you get into the Spirit of God… Just one child, that’s all they had. Didn’t have two; didn’t have three. They had one. Old Sarah, she just couldn’t take it, so she broke out laughing. Her rhythm was way out somewhere. In fact, she didn’t have any menstrual rhythm at all. Abraham was seminally dead. But Abraham perked up and believed, and his faith took Sarah over—just the same as the faith of God is what we have that takes us over; not our own faith. (See?) God knew He’d bring His Word to pass, and He did It. And we’re standing on It now. 37. [233] As I feel the mortal blood pouring through my body, I feel the surge of the Holy Ghost come in behind it, “Rise and shine.” [234] Something said, “Billy Branham, you’re getting old, you’re getting weak, your shoulders are dropping, your hair is turning gray and falling out.” That’s right. And darkness… gross darkness upon the earth! Throw that in, too, for good measure. [235] “But rise and shine!” I feel falling there the surge of Light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ which has made me a new creature in Him. I look for that day, amen, for the new day. I don’t know what the future is. (That is, this little interim period.) I don’t know what it, 1964, holds for me… Nothing else, but I… whatever it holds anyway, I hold the hand of Him Who holds eternity, Who is Eternity. Amen. Notice what he says… “Who is Eternity;” then Eternity is here. [236] Abraham knew that God could raise him up again, so he trusted Him. [237] So, for the new year (Listen now.) be determined to stay with His Word (And, remember; it’s this interim period.) and what It’s promised, like others (elected) did in other days. If you feel that you’ve seen the Light that’s broken through upon you, of Jesus Christ, His manifestation of His great Holy Spirit in these last days. And, remember. Remember, stay with it, what He did. You are one of the elected (In other words, stay with what He did as vindication of the Message.) and what he, the elected in other days, like Abraham, (Act like him.) when he saw it, when it was all against scientific proof. “Abraham, you’re shot and your wife is shot. Shut up and sit down!” Noah saw it…against all scientific proof. Moses saw it…against all scientific proof. These smart ages…gone by; but the elected who saw it, stood firm! Amen. What’s this Symphony? The beat to the very end. The end-time march of a vindicated Ministry, vindicating God in His prophet, to thoroughly vindicate His Word. What you saw had no merit at all within it. There is a God. You’ll never change it. The only merit, the only reason was to prove His Presence at the end time, that He was going to bring His Word to gather in a Bride. Now, if you get the rhythm of that, you’re in the rhythm of the Symphony. You cannot fall back on vindication and say, “Bless God, I saw a great prophet.” It’s, do you believe what the prophet said? And, are you a part of that Word? That’s the thing that counts. Or just stand back and say, “Well, bless God, I believe the prophet. It doesn’t matter what I believe; I just believe a prophet.” Well, I’m going to tell you: so do the Mohammedans, and so do the Mormons, and so does pretty well anybody else. But, do you believe that—what that prophet said? 38. [238] And for the future, let’s stand firm on the promise. God made it. It’s up to God to see it through. And it’s up to me to stand back and let Him see it through. I’m just following the rhythm. I feel like dancing, so I simply dance, as long as the orchestra is beating time. And, as long as it beats time, I’m going to keep on dancing. When it beats down the time and says, “This is the end of William Branham on…earth,” then I’ll go with the rhythm. And I’ll rise again with the rhythm. He can die with the Word, the Message, and rise with the Resurrection. Hallelujah. The One that beat it in, beats it out, beats it in again. It’s the rhythm of God, “I’ll raise him up at the last days. He that believeth on me has everlasting Life. He that heareth my Word and believeth Him that sent me, has eternal Life; will never come into the judgment, but has passed from death unto Life.” I’ll follow the beating of the Word. Amen. Not the beating of my heart; not my emotions. How many people’s hearts skipped and jumped when the prophet got excited? But, where did they go afterward? The biggest yeller of the whole bunch only got, I don’t know how many, women married to him, and he’s out there still fooling around, I guess—messed up. No, listen. I’m not against shouting and having a great time. Maybe we’ll get in the rhythm one of these days and just dance around. I don’t mind at all. Just dance in the Spirit. Oh, I’ve done it. I’ve laughed in the Spirit. I’ve got so full of the Holy Ghost, just threw my head back and laughed. You say, “Why are you laughing?” “Because I’m happy in the Lord.” “Well, what are your thoughts?” “Just Jesus!” “How do you feel?” Great! Was it a catharsis? It might just have been a catharsis. Tell you what: try to laugh at a meeting like this; it’s a whole lot different. You’re not emotional; you’re mental and, then, emotional. In other words you’re ‘quickened’. That’s the real word for it. 39. [238] I’ll follow the beating of the Word. Amen. Not the beating of my heart; the beating of the Word! No matter what it is, if my heart don’t beat with the Word, then my heart’s wrong. Amen. For, He is the Word! Amen. The Bible tells us that: God’s Word. That’s what that little girl did, over there in, you know, in the church on the river in Sidney. She told her father that some believers sat in their truck after service and played rock ’n roll. I know that those people hate rock ’n roll. And then, she said, “When I go to that church,” (She told her dad, because she’s used to her own church.) she said, “It feels like ‘playing church’.” And I said, “The trouble with that little girl is she judged the Word by the spirit instead of the spirit by the Word.” And she fell flat. Where is she today with her husband? Brother/sister, I can see through them like that even as through a little thin glass door, glass window. You’re not fooling anyone. Not one bit. And what’s more, do you think you’re going to fool God? Look, I’m not against all these things the prophet teaches. I’m going to tell you: they’re in their divine order. But you’d better hew to the teaching first; because, when the heart doesn’t beat with the Word, the pulse is entirely out of the pulse of God. 40. [239] I was listening to a program, coming up, Billy and I, a while ago. And it was this Bible…called prophecy, the hour… What is it called? Something about…the Voice of Prophecy. Really… Seventh Day Adventists. They’ve had four or five different names. Millerites, (and so on). [240] They were the one that said, over there in the meeting that “I claimed to be Jesus Christ; that the Holy Father was over me, the Pillar of Fire, and I was Jesus Christ.” Happened to be a friend of mine standing up there at their little meeting. He raised up and said, “You’ll have to prove that, because I’ll call him right here. I want you to see one time that he ever confessed that,” see, like that. He was talking about the different cults and things on the earth. And they’re still talking about Bro. Branham today as though he was a cultist. Well, we’re a cult, for all intents. What’s the difference? [241] They know. One time I tied in with them on this sabbath question. They got the old day that’s passed by. The Holy Ghost is our Sabbath, the Bible said , “Come unto me, all ye that labor and heavy laden, I’ll give you sabbath to your soul.” Not a “day”. Paul said, “You that keep a day, I’m afraid of you.” See, that’s right. Yes, sir. “There remaineth a rest,” Hebrews 4, “to the people of God, a sabbath-keeping. For we which have entered into His rest, hath ceased from our works, as God did from His.” Let those people who talk about prophecy bring it out. Who’ve they got to fall back on? Mrs. White. You might as well be a Christian Scientist and fall back on Mary Baker Eddie. I’m not against women. But, look; any time they handle the Word, it’s going to take you plumb away from God. It’ll take you plumb away from God. It started in the Garden of Eden; it’ll do it. Women simply can’t do it, but they can testify to that which is absolutely true. She’s got that privilege. Absolutely. She doesn’t have to keep her mouth shut as though she can’t say something, but she’s got to know her place in the Word. 41. [242] Their speaker, a while ago, had a nice program. I have nothing against them. I’d do anything I could to help them. Forgive them freely for saying it, ‘cause they did say something that wasn’t right. But that’s all right. Their doctrine is just like Jehovah Witness and Christian Science, it is all these other cults. See? And you know something? When Dr. MacMillan (J. MacMillan) was casting out devils out of a girl who had fifty-some of them… Actually the devil named himself: a cult, Jehovah Witness, Seventh Day Adventist, Christian Science, Pentecostal—all these devils named themselves. (If I can find the tract, I’ll bring it to you and read it to you. I think I quoted it right, but I’m not really very sure.) “The Word’s always right.” 42. [242] But notice, they’re just like any other organization, they’re no more wrong, (they’re no more right) I guess, than the rest of them. The Word’s always right… It’ll prove Itself… See? Bro. Branham alone could prove it. [243] But as he was speaking, the man said, “We’ve got the book-of-the-year.” This writer… His name is… I forget just exactly what his name is now. Some Christian Businessman up there had it ... The announcer said, “This man has written the book, the most outstanding book of the year.” I disagree. [244] The Book of this year is the Bible! It’s the Light of the world. It’s God Himself. Our Book-of-the-year is the Bible. For this 1964, our Book is the Bible. And for all other years to come, our Book is the Bible. All the years that’s past, It’s been the Book of the years passed, the Book of the years to come, and It’s the Book of Eternity. It reveals it is God. Yes, It reveals God. Every year that is to come, it’s the Book-of-the-year. Whenever you hear the Bible say anything, it’s promise is vindicated; there will come an eternal, some day. In other words there’ll be an eternal Day. The Bible is the One who gives us this promise, when you hear the Bible say that there’s coming a day when Jesus will come. And… I say so it is till now. [245] I’ve got to close… I’ve been two hours, he said… 43. Bro. Branham is winding down, here, as you’ll notice. And he’s not too cohesive in what he’s saying, though he’s gone back to the place here that we’re looking at on page 39 and Paragraph 244, that, as he looks at the year and considers the Bible, he must consider the Bible in the light of the six thousand years of history that has been, and whatever history is to come, even to the place where there is no more history. History gives way to eternity, where it starts with the Resurrection and the Rapture, the Millennium, and then, on past the White Throne into the great eternity of Almighty God. Now, the point is: Are we beating with the same rhythm that Bro. Branham was beating with? “Well,” you say, “I don’t know that I could be what Bro. Branham was.” Well, I can tell you right now, you never will be. I can answer that question for you. You never will have his place; I’ll never have his place. But we can have what he has got, that is allocated to every single person, and that is: our own measure of faith and revelation in the Word of Almighty God—our own little place in immortality and in the Resurrection, the upcoming Millennium, and the New Jerusalem—whatever God has said concerning us, as we a part of the living, functioning bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, and those all around will be in that place. And there’ll be no great ones amongst us. There’ll be the Great One over us. You won’t have to worry about your place. You won’t have to worry about this, that, or the other thing. You’ll be right in there in the fullness and the presence of God. 44. That’s why Bro. Branham is warning us now to “rise and shine”. In other words, get with what he has said as vindicated faith. We’re not having to try to believe anymore, brother/sister. If you want to know the truth, faith has gone on to knowledge. For the first time it’s ‘scientific’. That’s why Bro. Branham keeps bringing out the word ‘scientific’, scientific, scientific. It’s the Latin, meaning ‘to know’. ‘Science’ means ‘to know’. Faith does not know, in the sense of science. It’s the same as “what a man seeth does he yet hope for?” No! He’s already got it. So, when this is here, [Points to the picture of the Pillar of Fire.] you have passed from faith in the Appearing to the actual science of the Appearing itself. You don’t have to wait for it. You don’t have to look for it. You don’t have to pray for it; it’s here! [Points to the picture of the Cloud.] You’ve come to science, brother/sister—science! You know. (See?) That’s where we stand today. That’s the rhythm of the Symphony. To be a participant you must know. Do you understand what I’m saying? That’s what he’s saying here. Let’s rise and be dismissed. Gracious God and Heavenly Father, we know that many things we cannot understand exactly how the prophet put them, but this one thing we do know: In every single Message he has not failed to bring forth the Truth of a vindication in Your Presence. And we have the scientific evidence, absolutely; beyond anything that man could produce of himself. And we praise You for it, O God. Now, Lord, we know that we’re no longer living in a realm of faith, believing and asking You to do something. We know, on Your Own, You already did it. And, can we say, then, “Have we faith for the Appearing”? No, we don’t have faith for the Appearing. It’s already here. We have a knowledge of the Appearing. We’re a part of it. Now, from this, Lord, we have a faith for the Resurrection, which is rapidly coming to the place when the dead will come out, and we’ll shake hands. And no longer, then, will we have faith for it; faith is passed again into a knowledge. We’re no longer hoping; we see it. Then, we see ourselves changed. And we know, Lord, that’s exactly where we stand today. While we are looking for the dead to come out of the ground, we know that they are getting more and more ready to come, because we are advancing down the road, Word upon Word, our knowledge turning to greater power within us, until one day these bodies are immortalized just as the dead come out of the ground, and then, all caught away. Father, we must realize as never before that we are in this great Symphony. And it is no longer a matter of the Score in our hands with the writing as though we didn’t know. It’s true—we do know. Help us, Lord, to get in the rhythm of It, of the overcoming great empowering forces that lie within Your Spirit, being declared amongst us. We pray, O God, it shall be so, as the prophet was so enraptured by It. And we know, as he stood there preaching, there was a Reality that nobody else had. Men tried to make It sound real, and no doubt they were real to those who were unreal themselves. But here there was a Reality, Lord. Now Father, we just ask this one thing: Help us to enter into that very thing we’re talking about. May we take a few more steps, a little more, and we can say this Scripture, I believe, Lord, “Hasten the day, O God.” Hasten the day when all shall have joined in the rhythm, as never before, and become an absolute assured part. O God, we heard what the prophet said. Let it be fulfilled in these lives; we’ll give you the glory. We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. “Take the Name of Jesus With You.”