Stewardship Q&A #1 Deflation; Russia How Can You Tell Who Is a Five-fold Minister? November 1, 1997 Shall we pray. Heavenly Father, we welcome Your Presence here, knowing that the prophet said, most truly being vindicated by You Yourself, that the same Pillar of Fire that brought the Word to Paul is here revealing it, and we believe, Lord, we’re a part of that, because we believe that very statement [ ] has been vindicated. And we also know that You Yourself said, when You were here in human flesh, that when You gave forth the Holy Spirit, [It would] be given to us to lead us into all truth and teach us all things, even those things which are to come. And surely that same Holy Spirit will always say Amen to the Word of God, and we being one with You, Lord, then will be one with that very Word. So, help us tonight to learn truth Lord, and to obey that truth, to just walk in the light, and whatever is incumbent upon us as children of God to realize that we are more than able to perform what You have set before us and enter into that great land that lies ahead. Unto You we give You the glory in Jesus’ Name. Amen. You may be seated. 1. Now, before we get to some questions here, and I think we will get to them, (I don’t know about the answers, but at least we’ll get to the questions.) I just want to read an article here. It’s written by a Mr. James Glassman. [ ] I don’t know what nationality he is; I kind of might guess he might be something or other. But he is voicing what I am particularly interested in concerning the depression, and what is coming as the money problem intensifies, which it really will. Now, of course, I’m particularly interested, because for the first time they’re talking about deflation, and since this article came out I noticed that more than one [ ] [is] speaking on deflation as in contrast to inflation. And the great joy that Greenspan has, and the president, he’s taking credit for all the great good luck that America has, and Congress, and the whole government, there doesn’t seem to be anybody really recognizing deflation. They’re just so happy that inflation is under control, so-called, but it’s not. Inflation properly seen from what you might call ‘a standard of a proper price’ is really astronomical. And since everything is built upon lies… And there’s no greater liars than we have right in Washington. And I say that without too much fear of contradiction, when you can see that people like Thompson and these guys that are actually out there controlling the discussions and the investigations in the Senate and so on. Those men deliberately killed any chance of reform of financing these men who are running for government. When what they simply should vote in, whether we like it or not, is that each person should be allocated something from taxpayers money, only so much, and [ ] the rest, then, would be up to whether the man is honest, intelligent, and capable, or whether he’s a fraud with a lot of lobbies. But you see… [ ], they’re not going to do a thing about it. 2. Now so, I’m going to read this to you, and you’ll see where I’m coming from, because I came from the last depression, and God knows I don’t want another one. But it’s not inflation; it’s deflation. When you’re going to have goods and no money to get them. Because that’s what happened when the stock market fell in 1929. Farmers burnt their wheat. [ ] Hoover had already said, “Two chickens in every pot, and two cars in every garage.” And then, Roosevelt came along, and he said, “Well what you do, you kill one chicken and sell the other for fifty cents.” To the man that made the shirts he said, “Well, you only make one shirt and sell it. Instead of selling it for a dollar, you sell it for two dollars.” So, it ended up with the farmer having one chicken and one shirt, instead of two chickens and two shirts. [ ] [You’ve] got a system here that the government cannot do a thing about it. And there’s no way that anybody really knows anything. So, we’ll go into this. 3. “With the economy growing at better than three percent annually, unemployment below five percent, and the stock market rising more than twenty percent for the third year in a row. (Of course, it went down some.) But there’s barely a cloud on the horizon. Inflation, Alan Greenspan, the Fed chairman, worries about it. That’s his job. He warned a house committee October 8 that the economy has been on the unsustainable track, and that higher prices are likely to show up. But he couldn’t point to any. I have a different candidate for a party pooper. Not inflation, but the opposite: deflation, or falling prices. The United States hasn’t suffered from deflation since the Great Depression of the thirty’s, and it’s hard to remember why it’s so terrible. When prices fall, business, farmers, investors see their profits shrink, then disappear. They can’t meet their debt service, or their payroll, and unemployment rises. Once deflation starts, it’s hard to stop. 4. “Imagine you’re thinking about buying a new washing machine. It costs three hundred dollars—down from $320 the previous month, so you wait another month to see if the prices fall further. They do, and you wait some more. Meanwhile, the appliance dealer goes broke. No major nation suffers from deflation, but Japan comes close. For the past six years Japanese consumer prices have risen on average of one percent annually, and the stocks would plunge fifty percent. The economic growth has been minimal. Retail sales were down 4.5% in 1997, and in the second quarter gross domestic product fell 11.4% annual rate. The normal cure for slow growth is an interest rate cut, which encourages consumer and business to borrow and spend. But, as the headline in the Bridgewater Daily Observation, a financial newsletter put it last week, how do you stimulate an economy when interest rates are already at zero percent? That’s almost literally true in Japan. Last week the Japanese short term lending rate was 0.4% compared with 5.5% in the United States. The prime rate for the best corporate borrowers was a mere 1.6% against 8.5% here. Inflation has a cure, the Fed boosts interest rates, and overheated economy comes to a screeching halt, but economists still aren’t sure how the world managed to claw its way out of the 1930 depression. Unfortunately, the remedy may have been war. If inflation is too much money chasing too few goods, deflation is too little money chasing too many goods.” That’s what we had. The farmers burnt the wheat. People ate almost anything. I think even the States was worse off than Canada. People eating roots and grass or anything they could get their hands on. The friend of mine crying, because he used to go the various stores and pick the lettuce and things out of the garbage tin and say, “Well, I got some rabbits at home.” He took it home so his mother could cook it and they could eat. No money. It’s not there. See? 6. “Prices rise when demand surges ahead of supply, but prices can fall when supply zooms ahead of demand. In the past year U.S. industrial production risen 4.7% while retail sales were up only 3%. “The pressure is for producers to lower prices,” said Brian S. ?Wessbe?, G.P. economists of the Chicago firm, ?Firm Griffin Cubic Stevenson Thompson Incorporated?, this is already happening. Car manufactures cut prices, furniture prices fallen one percent during the twelve months ending in August. Look at McDonalds with an oversupply of fast food outlets; it slashed their price of Big Macs to 55 cents.” Of course, Big Macs trouble is, no service. You can go to Wendy’s, and you can get good service. You can go to anyplace; you go to McDonalds, forget it. The other day we were in a rush to get a Big Mac, what did they [do]? They served us cold hamburgers. So, this guy’s right, but he’s still wrong—on that point there. But everybody knows what’s wrong with McDonalds; they’re just not producing anymore. Wendy’s is a million miles ahead of them. 7. “Around the world there’s a glut of things, a supply shock, an orgy of production. Why? Says Jane Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rates Observers: “Booms in fact cause busts.” Encouraged by low interest rates, a rising stock market, the government that wants to increase exports, capitalists will build something. They seem to build too much. When there’s a glut of something, you mark down prices to sell it. The Intel Corporation last week announced disappointing earnings after being forced to cut prices on microchips. The problem is: someone else, often a foreign country, also has too much and marks down the price further. Martin Biggs, globe and strategy chief at Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discovering Company, calls this the ‘ice scenario’, an illusion to the Robert Frost poem, “Fire and Ice” which described the worlds as just likely to end in fire, for Biggs, inflation, as in ice, deflation. “Ice,” writes Biggs, “is a loss in pricing power. Ice is an erosion of profits. Ice is an excess capacity. Ice is developing countries with low cost factories and huge new labor forces. Ice is created price destruction.”” What do you think is going on down in Mexico? You ever read some of the accounts down there and some of the centers went down? And they saw the most abysmal thing in the world (when NAFTA’s supposed to have some kind of an agreement for the ecology): open sewers. Have you ever been to Mexico City? Go there’s sometime; the sewers are running in the open. About fourteen million now, or twenty, I forget what it is. My Lord, it’s the biggest cities in the world. Open sewage. It’s a complete mess. 8. “The source of this new Ice Age seems to be Asia. Because local demands for goods is weak, Asians are sending cheap products abroad at furious pace. Economist John Macon of the American Enterprise Institute recently wrote: “The best way to cut prices in the global marketplace is to devalue the currency.”” Huh? It’s going to get where Bro. Branham said they should call it in, and they won’t. See? 10. “Goods involved in a devalued currency are then less expensive for foreign buyers. This is called exporting deflation. Right now the United States is benefiting from this process. Low prices are good for consumers. They foster low interest rates, which are great for the bonds and stock markets. But this happy scenario could change drastically if deflation grabs hold. An antidote? Yes, companies without pricing power can still make profits, if they can increase productivity; in other words, making things at lower cost.” Well, that’s fine. Jobs begin to get scarce. What’s going to happen? People are going to start working for less money and longer hours. You got something in here; the economic system is a tiger… [They] caught a tiger by the tail. And there’s nothing they can do about it. 11. “Technology in the plain old American ingenuity may be our salvation.” What about the last stock crash in 1929? My question now is this: all right, what really happens, there’s no liquidity. Right now there’s a bit of liquidity, we understand that. There’s money. How much? We really don’t know. But, if you have money you can literally buy almost anything. Now the last stock market, then the big one in 1929, suddenly money disappeared. There was no money to buy anything. Major Douglas came out with the economic theory in London, which was perfectly true. And the Federal Reserve is supposed to do it as all governments. When there’s plenty of goods, you watch the money to keep it back, so that you don’t inflate things, and when the goods are down, you’ve got to let the money out, in order to be able to buy things. But what happened to the stock market? The people that were in the know, even as in 1987, and even at this time, this was not too bad. The percentage was not so great. But what happened, those people like, (and one employed is) Joe Kennedy, [who] knew the market was going to go; he made four hundred million dollars, as far as I know. Now the point is: at that particular time those men that made all that money simply sat on it. There was no money plowed back into industry. Therefore, the government would have to then go ahead, and try to tax, or take that money away, to get that money out there again. But you’re living in a democracy. You are not living in a kingdom or a dictatorship. 11. Now, when you have a kingdom, like a strong king, or you have a dictator, that man has a military. And the military then can say, “Look, you’re going to do this, you’re going to do the other thing, we’re going to get your money,” they take it; they do what they want to do. But this is a democracy. Now remember, iron and clay cannot mix. So, there isn’t anybody at this time that’s going to solve our problems, unless there’s a man strong enough, who is militaristic in the sense he’s got some kind of power. If it’s not military, it’s political, or its spiritual, and he’s going to say, “This is what it’s going to be.” Now nobody knows exactly what caused the 1929 depression—the stock market. But we do know tremendous fortunes were made. And you’ve got the same people beating their gums right now, and they’re telling you—like Marvin Weiss. But boy, has he missed it. He knew positively Solomon Brothers was a great firm that he should invest in. They’ve been swallowed up by Travelers and Smith Barney. So where’s Marvin Weiss now? Recently, a while ago, charging five thousand dollars for you to get his newsletter, so that you can make a lot of money! His own son said it won’t work. But Marvin made a lot of money. What’s going to happen to Marvin Weiss’s money? He’ll sit on it like all the rest. 12. Now the point is this: the people being democratic, and the church now gaining ascendancy… And we’re going to read this about Russia; don’t worry. And their ascendancy, they’re going to demand that somehow the people get the goods they’re entitled to, because they got to live. It’s not going to be like the last depression. It’s not going to be like the last one. The great one did not end up in a world dictatorship, but it began to foster world dictatorships. Now those dictators could do things. But their days are numbered. But don’t worry; they’re still here. You got your money barons, you’ve got all these guys. But you can see why Bro. Branham said, “What they should do is call the money in like Cuba did, but they’re not going to do it.” There’s no way they can do it, actually. So, I just wanted to bring this to your attention to show you that… [ ] the big thing is to watch what happened back in 1929, and it’s going to start all over again. And the people can make billions of dollars. They can tuck it away, but it’s not going to work like it did back there where you have actual dynasties. And you have great family fortunes. Because it won’t work this time. Because the Bible distinctly says, it’s going. Bro. Branham explained to us, it’s going to head up in the dictatorship of the antichrist, who is the pope. And they’re going to control by the gold standard. 13. Now gold is at the lowest its been for a long, long time. [You] say, “Let’s buy some.” [ ] It’s all right to buy it, have a little bit on hand. Who cares? They’ll just take it away from you. Get by for a little while. The big thing is to get out of here. We’ll be here a while yet, don’t worry. [ ] What did [ ] [Bro. Branham] say to the unions? Some question came in. They said, [ ] is it okay to join a union?” Some people were saying you can’t join it. He said, “Yes, it’s okay now, but we know when to get out.” It’s when the church takes over. Was he talking to the foolish virgin? Was he talking to just nice people? Was he talking to you and me? Well, that’s a good question. I didn’t answer that question, he did. So, I really don’t know. But, what I’m trying to show you here, we are getting real close now, and the stock market jerking around, and Bro. Branham said, “When you see the jolting around at the West Coast, know the coast is going down.” So, when you see the jolting on the stock market, you better realize something is going to happen. The Christians need to be fortified in this hour to realize these things are going to happen. Terrible things coming upon the earth. But remember, it’s the same as the diseases and those things that are out there—gathering up their force and their power, because the bad bacteria’s overcoming all the good bacteria. [ ] We’ve got a terrible situation going on. 14. But remember, God’s hand is upon us. Never forget Who is with us. Never forget that God is our Head. Never forget that God Himself is our Capstone. Never forget that God Himself is the great Sealer in the sealing; the Holy Spirit’s been sealing us in. But the great Sealer Himself is here. [ ] [God has not sent us a lie.] There’s no lie in God. There’s no variable or shadow of turning. [ ] It’s ‘yea and amen’, but never ‘nay and amen’. In other words, God doesn’t say, “Yes” one time and, “No” another time. When it comes to His Word, that Word does not return unto Him void, and He is the Word. In other words God fulfills everything that lies within Him, everything He brought out before us. 15. So all right, we can see what is coming upon the earth. Now Bro. Branham said there’s coming a day when Russia’s going to use those bombs. So, let’s read a little bit what we’ve got to say here about Gorbachev. Now, you know, I like Gorbachev. When I first saw Khrushchev on the scene, (and I know he was the murderer). Well, there’s hardly any murderer worse than Khrushchev was. But there’s something about the guy that I knew rang true when he talked to Nixon, and he talked to America. And it came out later that he was not fooling, when they kicked him out and he wrote his memoirs. Now I’m not saying he’s a nice guy. I have no time for the fellow. I’m not a friend of Gorbachev. But I really believe that Gorbachev was one of the really great leaders in the twentieth century. And he knew what he was doing. And he couldn’t get it done; because there’s no way you’re going to get it done. Even Walter Conkrite, going overseas, understood that American democracy, though it was the best, was still not good enough. He almost got really blackballed for that. Thoroughly misunderstood. And people still misunderstand, because they try to be extreme left or extreme right. And you go to the Scripture the Bible distinctly says we’re known for our moderation. Not our [ ] [extreme ways]. The only extreme place you can stand is with this Word of God, and, if you die for it, fine. If you don’t, well, some don’t. 16. Now here’s an account from Paris. “In case you’re wondering, America and the West haven’t won the cold war. (You hear what the fellow says?) In case you were wondering, America and the West haven’t won the cold war; the jury is still out. At least that’s the views of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last ruler of the Soviet Union. He argues that the West is barking up the wrong tree, if it assumes the collapse of Communism was the final chapter of a historical process.” In other words it [ ] [isn’t] over. Remember what I read the other day, quoting Bro. Branham on communism in the church? Don’t you know that the church brought in communism? The tsars with their dictatorship, living out the policy of the rotten, filthy church? Rasputin the monk, who had healing power and great powers of knowledge and all. You know they did their best to poison him. They did their best to stab him. And they finally threw him in the river. And I guess he couldn’t swim, and they proved that he drowned. They gave him enough poison to kill a horse and enough stabs, I guess, to heaven knows what, but he still drowned. 17. So what brought in communism? Well, if you know the history, you know the history positively, there’s a German and Jewish background, Lenin and Trotsky, went in a sealed boxcar with American money. That’s as far as I know history, and I’m not trying to run anybody down. And they threw the church out one hundred percent, and what everybody thought was antichrist, was the denial of the church influence in trying to get rid of Almighty God. But you couldn’t convert Russia to atheism; not even four percent were atheistic. The majority were gnostics, because that’s what orthodoxy is. Now orthodoxy is not only sweeping Russia as the main church granted by Yeltsin and the Russian government, they’re right back in the driver’s seat, which makes all the fundamentalists very, very angry. Perhaps fulfilling a revelation that the Pentecostals said they have, though I don’t know they had it, because after Gorbachev came on the scene with that blot on his head, you know, that blood blot up there which they could erase with a laser, and he didn’t want it erased—just leave it. Some Pentecostals said they had a vision of this man with that trademark, or that birthmark up there—trademark, birthmark, doesn’t really matter, up there—and they said what they got from God was Russia would open up for awhile to the Gospel, then close down a hundred percent. Well, I don’t know. Anybody can always tell something after the fact. It was like many years ago back in Canada we had one of the mildest winters in all the world. The chickens were out there bathing in the dust, and they were so stupid they didn’t know it was winter. So, they forgot they shouldn’t lay eggs. So, they laid eggs all winter long, and we had a ball. The weather was nice, when the sun came out for the spring and all, some Indians said, “We knew it all the time.” Anybody can prophesy once it’s done. 18. But here’s the point in here: “At least that’s the views of Mikhail Gorbachev. The man we used to call Gorbie claims in fact the opposite is true. When the Soviet empire began crumbling with the collapse of the Berlin wall in 1989, and finally disappeared after the failed coup by Moscow hardliners in 1991, it marked a beginning not an end, he declared. Not much has been heard lately from Gorbachev. But he remains as voluble as ever. He’s been in France promoting the local editions of his autobiography and still talks of great gain at great lengths. He said in a news conference recently that Western expectation and capitalism sweeping the world in the wake of the communistic debacle will turn out to be false.” 19. Now listen, this guy’s more on the Scripture than the rest, because iron and clay don’t mix. Democracy and totalitarianism don’t mix. So now, how can you have a true laissez faire capitalism, is what we’re looking for and expect to have. America here has almost a type of loose-kneed, loose-jointed fascism. Government controlled industry, which they’re doing by taxes and all these laws they’re laying down, and [ ]Osha? coming and putting some people out of business, but taking money under the table, no doubt, from the ones they don’t put out of business. Rotten, crooked lawyers interpreting laws that never were meant to interpreted that way. And what does the Congress do? Sit back and say, “Oh my, isn’t it awful, we didn’t know we were doing it.” Then, they [ ] [sit] as though their hands are tied. The same nuts that did it [should] untie it! You lock a prisoner up, take the key that locked him, unlock him! Not those [ ] [politicians]. Too much money’s involved. 20. How much money do you think these politicians, according to what I understand, (And my understanding’s not very great.) but I think maybe it’s better than some peoples and not as good as most, maybe. What do you think these guys get [as a] kickback on a million dollars? Ten thousand bucks? Maybe on ten million dollars, the kickback, they just get ten thousand under the table. And you say the love of money’s not the root of all evil? It means the essentiality of man’s soul is money, money, money, right down side in his heart, is a great big empty space in there, without a soul of a human being, but a soul of a devil in there. Must be beast. Money, money, money, money, money, money, money. Remember, I showed you outside of the Garden of Eden, the first thing they said was what? Transportation and gold. World economics. This is not God’s Kingdom here on earth. We’re praying that God’s Kingdom will come. We’re the closest there is right now. [ ] 21. “Gorbie himself hasn’t done badly with capitalism, his lecture circuit career and books have almost made him a millionaire. His wife Rasa dresses even better than she did in the old days when her spouse was master of the Kremlin and visited the West equipped with an American Express gold card. But the one time Soviet leader refused to accept the idea that the free market has world wide application.” How free is it going to be under the antichrist? That’s my question. So, how close is Gorbie, how far out are the others? Well, come on. What’s Nixon doing right now with the American Congress in China? “Oh we’re going to have liberty over there by opening the doors to trade.” Oh, that sounds nice. The ends justify the means. But they’re not going to get the ends. You think for one minute that China’s going to come along for a few [ ] [dollars]? And that’s the only reason they’re dealing right now, is because of the dollar situation: commerce. 22. “The one time Soviet leader refuses to accept the idea that the free market has world-wide application. He especially questions whether it will ever really work in Russia. As he explains it, the abrupt switch to capitalism carried out by his hated rival Boris Yeltsin, following his own downfall, left the Russian people bewildered and deeply distrustful.” And what has Yeltsin done? He’s signed the bill that excludes foreign religions. So, now the same devil is back in the driver’s seat that brought communism. And, if you haven’t read the recent articles, you’ll find out that many of Billy Graham’s converts are converting to Orthodoxy, which is the eastern leg of Roman Catholicism, which is the Greek Catholic Church, or the Greek Rome Church. And they say study the history, and you’ll find that that’s the place to worship. Now these men are supposed to be born again! What has Billy Graham’s message spawned? Well, you answer that. [ ] 23. “His hated rival Boris Yeltsin, following his own downfall left the Russian people bewildered and deeply distrustful. They remain, he said, highly suspicious of western motives, and gripped by the siege mentality inculcated them by decades of Soviet propaganda.” (Now isn’t this the same as China? He’s talking for Russia; he’s talking for China.) “The Russians will never accept becoming a kind of slavisized America, he declares.” (And they won’t!) “Western leaders are partly to blame for this attitude, he added. The West is still slightly frightened by Russia, and seeks to keep it down he claimed, exhibiting a substantial hunk of Russian paranoia of his own.” Oh isn’t it nice to call the man paranoid. I’m such a smart guy; yes Mr. Kaplan. I see connotations in that name too. My, this is a real smart guy; got all the answers. He’s quoting Gorbachev. 24. “The West, led by the United States, proclaims friendship but tries to isolate Russia. Sooner or later, [he] predicted, these tensions will lead to fresh antagonism between Russia and the West. (There’s where your bomb’s coming from now.) With an outcome that is by no means assured. On the whole, Gorbachev, never a man known for his modesty, thinks the situation in Russia and its relations with the West would be better off today if he had remained in charge.” And I agree a hundred percent. Oh, Bro. Vayle, telling you, so it’s authentic and it’s wonderful. Listen, I’m just telling you what all along to me this man has rung a bell when the others hadn’t. The same as they could have opened the door with Khrushchev years ago. And they didn’t do it. When he said, “We’ll bury you,” they insisted he meant he would kill us in war, which is merely a Russian saying means, “You will die, and we’ll still be living. We’ll outlive you.” People right today still use that saying, when he said, “We’ll bury you,” they will not take the [ ] [idiomatic]. Yet, we expect them to take our idioms and love them. Oh, we are obnoxious. This reminds me of a marriage where the man is bossing the woman around and beating her into submission, to make her feel good that he’s the boss. Do you catch what I’m talking about? This is pitiful. This is pitiful. He said here that he “thinks the situation in Russia and its relation with the West would be better today, if he’d remained in charge. Not many of his compatriots agree.” Certainly not. Who’s taking over the mafia today in America? The Russian mafia. It’s almost in total control. [ ] 25. “In last years presidential election he won just over one percent of the vote. (Certainly the guy would never make it.) Still it’s hard not to admire him for refusing to bow to his own drastically diminished political fortunes.” Why would they expect this man to change his mind, when he’s the one that set this in motion with certain goals. And though he couldn’t achieve them, is he now to step aside and say, “Okay, we will just discontinue?” And what about Jesus Christ? Do you think there’s more than one percent of five billion people that know Him as Savior? Well, there’s less than that. Then, why doesn’t He step aside? See how foolish these people are? Oh, you’re supposed to abandon it! Well, how many are believing this Message we teach? Well, let’s just quit preaching! Well, nobody’s got morals; let’s join the crowd! Now I’m not a lover of Gorbachev. Get [ ][that right.] flat: I’m not a lover of this [ ] [man]. I admire what he started out to do. I admire him sticking to his principles. I don’t agree with him, period! I’m talking politics, now in world situation which is going to lead up to that atomic bomb that hits the Vatican and hits Washington and how many more places, I don’t know. And it tells you why its here. And I’ve been anxious to know this, and I’m happy I got this little article, because this answers my questions, and I hope it answers yours. 26. “He continues to talk like someone who believes the world retains a keen interest in what he has to say. You can’t be much more thick skinned than that.” Well, [ ] [look], I like that. I’m that way too. I don’t care if people don’t like what I preach; I’m still going to preach; I like preaching It. I like to talk about the Presence and Who’s here. I like to quote William Branham and all these good things that came from God. [ ] Both of these belong to the money situation, what’s going on now. Economics. Now remember, the economics started outside of God’s government. So therefore, you better not expect God to have a thing to do with the governments of this earth and the money systems. [Stand] right back and watch the conclusion. They reap what they sow, and they’re sowing destruction, because they’ve turned their back on God. 27. Now I haven’t got to “Questions and Answers” yet. What time is it? Three-quarter of an hour gone by? Oh good, we could just go home and have foot-washing. Because I’m not interested in taking too long here, although I like the subject. Okay, we’re going to take the Alpha to the present Omega. Which we could do many, many times. In the Book of Romans, It says in verse 18. [Romans 1] (18) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold (back) the truth in unrighteousness; It’s not a bunch of men here, now, that hold the truth in unrighteousness. It’s the ‘holding back the truth’ is what we’re looking at. And it’s the unrighteous bunch that’s doing it. (19) Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. It’s manifest in them, what do you mean? It’s manifest in the human race exactly what God is, what He has been, and what He will be! Not by the stars in the skies, and all these things in the universe. It’s God dealing in and amongst people, and particularly in the church. And there are those whose attention He engages, and they deny the very Lord that bought them, and say, “No” to God, and they’re walking out. And the very truth that comes to that people, which came back there, they hold it in unrighteousness; they hold it back. Like Bro. Branham’s confrontation with the Methodists and Pentecostals. 28. Now: (20) For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so they are without excuse. [ ] [Right] [ ] [away] it tells you there, the next thing is you can go to creation. God manifesting in man, as Bro. Branham said, “When you see God descend from the heavens and stand before groups of men and declare Himself as ever he did,” and William Branham a prophet was saying, “God came down from heaven, and you saw Him in me! And God declared Himself by me!” “Oh, my I can’t take that! Oh!” Well, that’s fine, listen, just [don’t expect me to join you.]. Go [ ] [to someone] else. [ ]. I’m it.] Because this is all I know. I don’t go by feelings. I don’t go by [ ] [signs]. I can get roused up. [ ] But I don’t go by feelings, experiences, or anything else. I go by what is real. You say, “That’s an experience!” But it’s not mine! I’m an observer. And I can see the same God that came down from the heavens and stood before groups of men, and declaring Himself, proving it is God. I can see Him in the universe out here. And have you noticed how that atheism has taken hold, and [ ] creation apart from God, has taken leaps and bounds since the prophet came on the scene, and God manifested Himself. Well, come on, study your courts, study your law, study your schools. You can’t pray. If you try to teach creationism by God, they’ll boot you out. They are holding back the truth in unrighteousness, because they know there’s got to be a Creator! Now with the Hubble [telescope] up there, they’re looking at stars coming into being. And all these galaxies out there, so-called, they don’t even know that Bro. Branham said they’re running in a circle and some scientists did find that out. 29. Well, let’s keep reading. (21) Because, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, Now watch it! You’re putting the two together. Bro. Branham, now listen, come on now! Bro. Branham kept saying, “God in nature, God in nature, God in nature, God in continuity, God in nature, continuity, God manifested, here He is right here,” right? Put the two together, now what happened? Kick him out. Now don’t tell me they didn’t know God, because the Bible said they did know God. Again Bro. Branham said, “Let every man’s word be a lie, but let mine be true.” Paul the Apostle said the same thing. Now, they wouldn’t glorify him as God. You know Elisha did. He said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” How many people said, “Where is the Lord God of William Branham?” “Ah, we knew Him all the time, hallelujah, there’s three of them, no there’s one of them, why the Father is His Own Son, the Son’s His Own Father. [ ] Like the Chinese virgin with slit eyes. Under the [picture the] caption said, “The child is the husband of the mother.” [ ] That’s Jesus-Only. 30. Now listen, don’t you people get steamed up like me, because you don’t have the gift of sarcasm. But I’m going to tell you what; this burns me to a crisp, because they can read. They’re educated. They can split the atom. They can put in a cyclotron and watch the atom disappear, and come out another place. They can put the Hubble up there in space, and they can tell you all about those galaxies. But watch your little asteroids streak through like they did in Texas, and they get the shivers, and they say, “Oh, is the world going to come to an end?” No, it’s not going to come to an end. Its years down the road. Now It says, they weren’t thankful. Have you thanked God that God manifested Himself and you know there is a God, the God of William Branham, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, right back to the God that created Adam and Eve? Made and formed them? Set the universe in order? Set them back there now so you and I can come on the scene and be manifested sons of God? [Have] you thanked God that He’s here? Why, they’re arguing about it! Now I’m not going to tell you people to get on the net, because, if I ever do get a computer, I’m not going to bother getting on it. But, if you want to know just how ridiculous it is, talk to Lloyd [Lusk], and to Gerald [Hillman], and to you know, [ ]… Ralph [Mills] back there, Joe White. Joe baits a few of them, and he felt bad about it. [Bro. Vayle laughs.] I don’t know. I say, why bother feeling bad. 31. Now It says here: (21) (They) became vain in their (reasonings), (Their) foolish heart was darkened. (22) Professing themselves to be wise, they… (23) Changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, to birds, fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Way back there they did it. So, they’re going to do the same thing today. [ ] [So] watch what they’re doing now. Back there they made a bird, a thunderbird, Indians did, they made idols, they took animals, they took it all. Right? What do they do today that’s exactly the same? Evolution! So, what’s their god today? Slimy lizard? Slimy toad? Some little slime in the primordial soup, as they call it? Coming up, up, up. Four footed animals, chimpanzees, orangutans? Hey, if I was a monkey, I’d sure get insulted. Bunch of [ ] [idiots] that… (22) “creeping things.” There it is. [End of side one of the audio tape.] Don’t tell me it’s not the same; they haven’t changed. 32. (24) Wherefore God gave them to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: (25) Who changed the truth of God into a lie, worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator. So what’s the highest order now? The highest order—oh, they love this Image of God stuff! So, what is today? Everything is a social order. Mrs. Clinton’s out there, rattling her bones to the public. Fifty years old now and making a big scene, getting back to the family, getting back to kids, kids, kids; getting back, getting back. They should clean their lives up first before they start talking about somebody else, doing somebody else, or anybody else. If you think passing out clean needles is going to stop AIDS and every disgusting thing, you’re [ ] [foolish]. If you think you can be a billionaire Jew and give Russia hundreds of millions of dollars, (a billion in one crack) and pass out clean needles, ([that] that’s going to do something), I’ve got news for George …?Soros…, he better go back to the Jewish religion and repent. Because he’s sure nothing near a Christian religion. (26) (So) God gave them up (to) vile affections: women did change (their) natural use (to) that which is against nature. And so Ellen Degenerate gets on the TV, I understand, kissing this woman. It was a long, passionate kiss. But you men don’t get revolting. Men get on the TV scene, they tell me, too. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll maybe tune in sometime, get the news and see one man kissing another, a long passionate kiss. Oh yeah, I did in Canada. I did now, I remember now. Right. Can’t lie to you. Yuck! [ ] 33. (27) Likewise the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; Now the woman was made for the man. I could go into 1 Corinthians on that. I’ll just leave it as Bro. Branham explained it. But men are turning to men: (27) …working that which is unseemly, (and notice the men are the ones that are bringing about the AIDS,) receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. (28) And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, (He) gave them over to reprobate mind(s), to do (the) things which are not convenient. Well, why not? Because the thing is they made a god of their own imagination. They put themselves in the driver’s seat. You’ve got women preachers. And that’s not bad enough, [but] they’re lesbians. Like that Mrs. Mote down there that lost her daughter in Cincinnati. And they’re all over the place. I heard of Pentecostal women preachers chasing each other like a man chases a woman, giggling and laughing and having a great time. I’ve got a young Pentecostal boy told me all about it. Well, it wasn’t a Pentecostal guy; he’s a believer in this Message. He knew them personally. She denied her husband, but she’s fooling around all the time. Now come on, can you… Listen, do you believe the grace of God would tolerate that? The Blood does not cover anything that’s not covered by the Word! You get outside the Word, you tell me you’re covered by the Blood, you are insane! You are fooled by the devil! You didn’t even come up as a good foolish virgin! [ ] [Don’t] play with the Word of Almighty God. You got to stand with Paul. “Though an angel from heaven or I myself changes, I’m [ ] […?...] gone.” Of course, Paul knew that there was no way, but he just wanted to impress it. But there was a way, because some people would go that way. 34. (29) Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; (and they’ve already mentioned homosexuality,) full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; (that’s cancerous things and their very nature, morals.) (30) Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient (of) parents, (31) Without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, (that’s covering now), implacable, unmerciful: (32) Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Now don’t tell me that Stalin didn’t know something about God, because he was trained as part of the orthodox system. And don’t tell me Hitler didn’t know either. And Clinton boasts about being a Baptist. These guys know. 35. If we are as cities set upon a hill, which cannot be hid—lights that are not under a bushel, then what about God Himself? There’s no way they can deny Almighty God in this generation. Now who’s to blame? The leaders. Blind leaders of the blind. And all those people say, “Well, we’re without sin, we’re fine, we’ve got it.” When Jesus talked to the serpent seed, [ ] [And] they said, “We see.” he said, “Your sin remains.” Now the thing is, they did see, and they say, “God in operation.” Like William Branham said it, “When you see God descend from the heavens and stand before groups of men declaring Himself as ever He did.” That is one of the most beautiful explicit marvelous statements condensing the truth of God bringing forth His Word to the people that you can ever possibly have. It’s all of this epitomized! The divine revelation in one fantastic sentence! Is that too hard to memorize? Is that too hard to receive? Is that too hard to stand upon? Is that too much to take a hold of? I don’t think so. If it blows your mind, thank God your mind is blown. Paul only called [ ] his manure anyway, why should you and I count ours any better? 36. Well, we’ve got a couple minutes here. Here’s a question. Now in answering questions, I want you to know one thing: unless I can quote Bro. Branham word for word you know that I am going on my own and doing my best to find why Bro. Branham said things that he said, and getting it out of the Scripture. And there are times that I find him absolutely right, word for word. But there are other times, when they are a little oblique, in the sense that I have to look at them, start writing and see where it goes. Because if I don’t start writing, I can’t get my thoughts together. And it doesn’t mean my thoughts are right, because I write. That would be William Branham, not Lee Vayle. But anyway, I’m trying not to speculate. What I’m looking at is the definitive that Bro. Branham said. Is there something that I can put my hand on or look at? That actually clarifies what is not abstract but concrete, though obtuse to our minds. In other words we can’t just lock eye-to-eye and thought to thought. We have to think around it, knowing what he said was true, and we could just leave it at that. Sometimes I think that’s the best. I don’t believe in probing, Bro. Branham didn’t. I don’t believe in telling you to probe. In fact, I would be very cautious if I were you. So you must, you know, understand if I answer certain things, I’m answering from what Bro. Branham has said, and how I would treat what he said, in the light of any Scripture that I could come across, to see where we are going. 37. So, I’m going to leave this here for a second. [In] fact I won’t touch it tonight, and I’ll go to a question that was handed to me, and I didn’t write it down. I should have written it [ ] all down here. And the question comes up, well, in the light of a five-fold ministry, which is genuine, and a five-fold ministry, which is parallel, because the two vines are parallel, you have in Scripture without a doubt, especially the Old Testament, and in the New, you have the false prophet, you have the next person in the New Testament, the false apostle, Old and New, false prophet, true prophet, false apostle, particularly in the New. Then, you’ve got the teacher, false teacher, particularly New Testament, also mentioned from the Old, because Jesus Himself spoke about it. Then, you’ve got the false pastors, shepherds, Old Testament; you’ve got it in the New. And you have the evangelist, particularly in the New, but also false. Now all of those actually come together, because though it is the prophet who brings the vindicated Word, it is the same prophet who is the apostle, the messenger, actually, also then, the evangelist, and also the teacher! And since he is the judge, he also becomes a pastor. So you have an interrelationship where there’s no denying that through the Seven Church Ages of Israel, and I say that, not exactly with tongue-in-cheek, but I can’t say it with the same perfect knowledge of the New, that you have through the Seven New Testament Church Ages, you have every one of those. Prophet, apostle, teacher, evangelist, pastor. And then, if the New comes out of the Old in this, you could qualify that, that those offices were back there, somehow, somewhere, interwoven. You certainly had the teachers, because they were men like prophet Samuel. [ ] [He] linked right up with Moses in the Book of Acts. And, of course, you also have the spies that went into the cities, particularly Jericho, brought the good news of the coming kingdom. Right down the line you can see how God worked, but with us of course we see more specifically in this hour. 38. So the question would come up, “Bro. Vayle how can you tell if a person is really a five-fold minister?” Well, I look at that question that comes to me, and I say, first of all, I don’t want to be put on the spot as though the person were asking me, “Do you, Lee Vayle, know?” Because I can answer that [ ] [out] right now: I don’t know. I have no way of knowing if a man is a true five-fold minister. I have a lot of times without flinching certainly thought, and without declaring forthright, hinted very broadly, that, if I know some true five-fold, that person could not be a true five-fold. Now I could be honest with you. But for me to know, I really don’t. If they’re decidedly off the Word, I could know and you could know, because that’s in the First Church Age. They are commended, because they knew the apostles were false. And they said to these people, in Bro. Branham’s words, “You are false apostles.” And they said, “Now, just a minute. How can you say that?” And they said, “Because you’re not saying what Paul said.” So we’re looking at that in the light of our little situation here in the Seventh Church Age, and though it’s a little situation, it’s very intense with the pure light of God and God Himself, that anybody that speaks contrary to Bro. William Branham vindicated, that person would have to be false—and no equivocation. 39. Now let’s say the person didn’t know any better, [but] was willing to learn. Well, that’s fine. He’s on the grade up, we just don’t shun him, we just wait and see how things begin to turn out. But as for myself ever knowing and ever being able to tell anybody and say, “I know that you are a true member of the five-fold ministry,” I can’t do it. There’s no way I’ve ever told anybody. There’s no way that I could ever tell anybody, because I don’t know how it’s done. I just don’t know. All I can ever tell anybody myself, that believes they have some kind of a ministry—the five-fold—is this: I say, look, I have to believe what I believe concerning myself. And, if you believe that you’re really called, I accept what you tell me. Because you have to accept what I tell you, (If you want to) because I’m not vindicated; you are not vindicated. And I would never dare to be as bold concerning teaching if Bro. Branham had not said so, because these are things that are best left undone. We just don’t want to get entangled with who is and who isn’t. Now, on the other hand, we look at this thought: if there is a true, there’s got to be a false. If there’s a false, there has certainly got to be a true. 40. Now Bro. Branham brought out something that used to be puzzling, [ ] for quite some time. And you’ll notice that when he said when Moses went down to Egypt, pastor Pharaoh came against him. Now it is true that the people looked to Pharaoh, even as he looked to the priesthood, and the ministers of that priesthood, and he could call Jannes and Jambres. But believe me, as the headman over the nation, which was a religious nation, if he hadn’t have called them, they’d have still sat back there in their barracks, or wherever they sat. So, as I look at the entire picture, where Bro. Branham called him a pastor, I begin to realize, since the Word of God tells us, and Bro. Branham reiterated that many times in teaching predestination, God said, “For this cause have I raised you up, that my power might be manifested in you.” In other words the wrath and anger of God, the [retributive] justice of God, because of these things that this man did, this man was raised up. 41. Now remember, Bro. Branham even went so far as to say why Eve was not in the original creation; and she was what he called secondary or by-product. [It] was on the grounds that he said God told him it was not complementary to God to have a son of God which would fall. And so, therefore, the fall came through Eve, which it most certainly did. Now that’s a hard thing to take in the sense, can I just take that? Well, let me tell you something. Bro. Branham said this man, Bro. Branham himself, raised up for the end time, would even reveal secrets, which were not known from before the foundation of the world. And so, therefore, revealing, and he said, “Even if you do not find it in the Word, and the prophet tells you, and that’s under vindication, “THUS SAITH THE LORD,” you know that that thing is right.” Now most of the time that refers to certain acts, which are done, and certain things, which are historical. But at this particular time, Bro. Branham being what he was, in the mold of Moses and Paul, where Paul did not act as a historian, because he was [ ] [part of] this situation, whereas Moses was a historian, because he was not [ ] [a part of] that time, William Branham looking back, was able as the historian of God, to place the Seven Church Ages, and then, in the present to bring forth the Seals, the Thunders, the mysteries, and all those things in there. 42. So, all right. We find then that definitely there is a ministry that God has raised up. Now it’s not the same as God raising up a five-fold ministry. But, if God raised up Pharaoh, then that which was contingent there, Bro. Branham calling him a pastor, head of religion, and enforcing it, like we’re looking at today, enforced religion. The Mohammedans, if you change, they kill you. You convert to Christianity they’ve got every right to kill you. If you come in and you try to teach Christianity, they’ve got every right to kill you. And the man that killed all these Israelites, and he had a young man he persuaded to put bombs on him, and go down to the city center, and blow himself up, and kill maybe twenty-three, or thirty some Israelites, he praised God that God helped him to do it. He had no trouble praising God for all of these [ ] [crimes.] 43. So, you can see right there, there are those that are positively raised up, you see, both vines, and God’s hand is upon it all. It’s just the same as Peter [telling] you that these men that are in the justice department—now they’re supposed to be. That would be the enforcing staff. Not just the prosecutor; not just the judge. That would be mostly the staff like those who are in position to make arrests or do those various things they’re supposed to do, and Peter said, “As long as you do good you never need to worry or have any fear.” Because these men are raised up as ministers of God in order to dispense justice, keep freedom and [ ] [laws enforced]in operation, which should be amongst the people, in order that they may live peaceably. Because he said, “Remember they are not a terror to good, but they’re a terror to evil.” Now that’s greatly changed at the end time. I don’t know how… Peter, I think, would have to stand up against all the things that people are doing. Actually, he did back there, because he called them natural brute beasts. And he said they’d be the same thing today, predicting at this hour we’d have these people. 44. So, my point what I’m arriving at is this: we have, without a doubt, men that are raised up, true five-fold, and [in] the other [ ] [the] false. So, what you do? The easiest thing and the best thing in all the world is as Bro. Branham said, “Just ignore what’s going on in the bad vine out there. Just ignore it. Don’t have a thing to do with it. Walk away from it. Don’t even consider it, and maybe even go so far as to remember, ‘Who art thou O man that judgest another man’s servant, unto his own master he standeth or falleth and yea God is able to make him to stand’.” So leave those things alone. So, I cannot tell anybody. My, closest I say is, if you feel you’re really led of the Lord in a ministry, that’s sure fine by me; just the way I felt led myself. I couldn’t get around it. Bro. Branham said if you’re called to the ministry by God, it’s one thing you don’t want to do, but you know you’ve got to do it, and so you do it and remember this, it’s not as bad as you think, because you’re gifted. There’ll be gifts there. And. if you go contrary to the gift wherein God placed you and called you, you’ve got problems ahead of you, because you have enough problems being at the right place at the right time, without being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and you being a right person. That becomes a square peg in a round hole. And there’s many people in ministries have hurt themselves and hurt others, because they are not qualified by God to do the work. 45. That’s why, if you ask me to be a pastor, there’s no way I’d do it. Now I could do a certain amount, because what I have in my ministry allows me to do a certain amount, but to do what you would require, you’ve known all these years, and it’s been long time now, been about since 1981, somewhere in there, that’s sixteen solid years, you’ve sat here and you know, that I have told you, and I still tell you: I am not a pastor. If you want to hear teaching, that’s fine by me. I’m happy to be here, because I’m not on the road. But pastoring is not my ministry. I don’t want anything to do with it, except in a peripheral manner, which would fit in without hurting anybody, maybe helping a little bit in a certain direction. [ ] [Another] thing I want to bring up is the fact that you can also desire to be a deacon or an elder. Now remember, Bro. Branham did what Paul didn’t do, but remember times have changed. And he said he wanted deacons apt to teach. Whether he got them, I don’t know. But he sort of combined the two of them. Now the Bible says, “Those that desire one of those offices [desire] a good thing.” 46. Now, in the one case, the five-fold ministry—now this is a strange thing—don’t desire it. They don’t want it; they fight it. The other person desires, he wants it, and he can do a very good thing, because he’s really helping the church. And what it really means in there, if you want to get right down to brass tacks, is the fact is that a person can feel that he’d like to serve the Lord, but knowingly and knowing that there’s not that definitive call, “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel,” the fight, knowing he’d be isolated to God and taking that office, and going out there and doing what he’s supposed to do no matter what happens, and just stand like a sheep for the slaughter. But he’d like to serve God in that other way, knowing he is able to handle the Word, to live a life. And remember, Bro. Branham said the qualifications for the elder and the deacon character wise, are much higher than any five-fold ministry. In other words you’re building on certain things that are there, that you have, and they are from God, and you’re yielded to God. [Those] people literally, though not five-fold, actually can minister, and as Bro. Branham said, handle the Word even; and that is true, and they certainly can. And there are those that are elders, maybe not called to pastor, yet with abilities given of God, even they are able under the conditions the Word as I see it in Timothy, where It says, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn,” that they are able to actually receive of the tithe [ ] if it is necessary as a part of their living, because they are devoting so much time to the Word. I would say a person like that might be kind of self-employed or part-time employed. And he knows that he has this urge in his heart to serve the Lord, to visit, to comfort, to help people in distress, help get their problems in order, to do the things that they might not be able to do, and just be right there with the Word of God and the love of God in their hearts, absolutely they could be as I see it, and I could be wrong, but I don’t know where I would be wrong from the Book of Timothy, that they would be allowed a certain subsistence. 47. So, I just wanted to cover that one little bit there, that one question, because it came in a way that would say, “Well, Bro. Vayle you are able to tell people that they have ministries,” and no I’m not able to tell anybody. The only person I know [ ] [has] left the scene; that’s Bro. Branham. I can’t tell. But I’m like you, I can look around, and I can see those that follow the Word, and follow what is the pattern in the Bible, in that particular office, knowing how to keep themselves in there, apart from the world, joined to God, ministering to the people, and you don’t have to say, “Well, I wonder if that person is really called of God?” You say, “Sure I know that person is called of God. I don’t know all about the person, but I’ve received that person as a faithful brother, pastor, teacher, evangelist, apostle, prophet,” whatever it is, that would be a missionary, whatever it is, and you don’t need to go further than that person’s testimony. Because whether I would say it, or you would say it, doesn’t make any difference. If I were to say, well… See, I wanted to be an evangelist, many years ago, because I was saved, and I loved to see people saved. And I told you I used to preach those real tough sermons, and I’d see people lean forward and clutch the back of the bench; their knuckles would get white. And they just sat there like a bump on a log. And I thought, “My Lord, what’s going to move these people?” When I preached the Word as a teacher, they opened up like flowers. And then, that made me very angry, because I didn’t care [ ] about God’s people opening up like flowers and watering them. I wanted to get the good old sinner by the back of the neck and shake him over the flames till he came in. I did my best. I shook them over the flames, they got white knuckles and sat there. So why would I possibly want to be an evangelist? Why would I want to be a missionary? Why would I want to do anything but what I’m doing? Maybe not doing it too well, but I’m doing it. So there’s it. I’ve answered that one question, [Tomorrow] we go into where we get into some real interesting material, which is going to be not supposition, but I just looking at it in the light of what we may possibly consider. Let’s bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father before we go to the Communion/Foot-washing service, we just ask You Lord to bless what little Word we’ve talked about tonight, and I hope, Father, the people really understand now as never before, just what’s happening, and how things are moving in the world out here, clarifying what Bro. Branham said concerning that which is to come upon the earth, the gold standard coming back, the money just not being there to be utilized anymore, worthless, and now being backed up, and Russia will still have the atomic bombs. And we see, Lord, the whole thing laid before us now, and even those visions, five great visions come to pass. We didn’t even need them to come to pass, as though we needed them, because we saw a prophet, but we’re very glad that You gave him those visions to show us more and more the vindication of the man that You sent us, [that] You, Lord, Yourself were in this, and You, Lord, were here, descended from the heavens, [ ] [stood] before group of men declaring Yourself. And that just blows our minds with the simplicity and the ?awe-fullness? of it, the great awe, to think there’d be a man stand here, God in that man. Lord, we’re grateful that it’s so wonderful to see the Word all line up so perfectly and beautifully, and we pray Lord as we go to the Foot-washing/Communion Service, we ourselves will line up so perfectly and beautifully with the Word—just melt into it, as it melts into us, we into You, and into each other, [coming] to that place of such love as the prophet said, “How you should love each other, you that love this Word.” God, my heart’s open to it; I want it. You know that I’ve wanted that all my life, above anything in the world. But I know it wouldn’t be worth one nickel, if I didn’t have the truth. I’d be completely fooled by a philosophical love, by a false love, by a hypocritical love. What we want is [ ] genuine, [what ] the prophet said, “Don’t settle for the spurious when the heavens are full of the genuine.” Tonight, Lord, we don’t want anything less than the genuine in every thing said and every thing done. In Jesus’ Name we ask it. Amen. Communion Service 1. I’m going to read tonight from the Book of Peter for the Communion Service, 1 Pet 1:18. (18) Forasmuch as ye know ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; Now you know that’s a warning for the end time, because do you realize that 1 and 2 Peter, like 1 and 2 Thessalonians actually deal with the second coming of Christ in the hour they’re in? Now what’s going to redeem the world in this hour? Silver and gold. Hah! That’s God. Glory to God. That’s going to make the pope God. Huh? Well come on. Is the Bride redeemed by that? No way, shape, and form. We don’t care two cents about the gold, the silver, and the river that splits into four heads, and the worldly commerce, and the culture, and everything else, forget it. Science falsely so-called. Why we are foolish, because we believe in Christ crucified. But they forget one thing: He’s risen. If He hadn’t been crucified, He couldn’t rise. So Peter says here, knowing full well what he preached at the day of Pentecost. (18) Forasmuch as ye know ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, You tell that to the scientists, he’ll tell you, “Come on, silver’s silver, and gold’s gold, they’re elements.” I don’t care if they are. It’s not that the element is corrupted; it’s what people do with it. How they use it. Lighting a candle, giving money for penance, building a church… (18) …from your vain (behavior) received by tradition from your fathers; Oh my. He’s telling you right here, we as Christians, we got away from the past. We got away from the religious maneuvers of the past. We got away from the vain things that our fathers gave us. You know why the fathers gave us vain things? Because our fathers are second, third, fourth, fifth, six, fiftieth generation bunch of junk from the day of Pentecost. But you know we’re first generation with the One that appeared recently amongst us. 2. Now, (19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish without spot: (20) Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, And we look at the [1 Peter] 2:24,25. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, (watch – who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,) that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes (we’re) healed. For (we) were sheep going astray; but are now returned… Notice now returned – well people say, “Well you know bless God, I was out there, and you know some kind of orphan apart from God, never having had anything to do with Him, I was a poor old donkey out there, I was a poor old dog out there, I was a poor old goat out there, and you know what God did? He just turned me into a sheep, hallelujah.” Doesn’t say that. Redeem means to buy back. We have returned to Him. 3. How can you return to Him if you haven’t come out of Him? If you’re going to get back into Him, it means you were once in Him. How are you going to say, “Well you know, I’m getting back in the house,” if you never were in the house? Look and say, “Boy, you got to be nuts.” Do you think this man, those fishermen was nuts? Do you think he was so stupid? You say, “You know, you know people it’s wonderful, we were in God. You know we really weren’t, but the thing is, I like to put it that way. You know.” Come on! This man an apostle, full of the Holy Ghost, opened the doors to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews, do you think for one minute he’s talking here in little circles? Little illustrations? No way. See? You were sheep going astray, but now you’ve turned back to the shepherd and the bishop of your souls. And the bishop is in the driver’s seat. The minister. Another name for him is intercessor. So there you see mediator, getting you back, intercessor, keeping you in. 4. Now that’s nice, now let’s go to Hebrews. And in Hebrews 10, that’s a nice chapter. It said, (1) For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. Now you know I just think about this. It says here that the law was a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things. Now image is not the real thing, but it’s the manifestation, it’s putting into substance some substantive form that you can look at, and you know, get a hold of. You see, the law couldn’t do that, but now there’s something you really get a hold of. There’s some reality. Well do you know, that the Scripture for two thousand years has been talking about the appearing, and the Presence, and these good things, and today we got a hold of them! You realize that this Scripture’s a lot like the law? Yeah, it showed reality coming. Now this Word that we have today was spoken, and has to be manifested, and it is. 5. Then it said, (2) For then they (would) not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have no more conscience of sins. (3) But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again of sins (made) every year. Well just a minute now, if He’s already appeared, what are people talking about further appearance? If He’s already appeared, if the Word is fulfilled, and God is fulfilled, because He’s the Word, and that part of God is fulfilled, and it’s fulfilled in us, then what’s all this looking down the future? Like Bro. Branham says, “All the time looking back, all the time looking forward, never knowing what’s going on.” I’m just here to refresh your memories. (4) For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. (5) Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared (for) me: (6) In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure. (7) Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. (8) Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 6. Now Jesus was not burnt, or anything else like that, it wasn’t a bone of his body broken, the flesh was scarred and marred, but they couldn’t even kill him, he had to give up the ghost. He could have laid there as a bleeding pulp and a mass, entirely unrecognizable, yet there wouldn’t have been one bone in his nose broken, one bone in his hand or his finger, and he could have laid there as a bleeding pulp… he couldn’t have died, he gave his life. “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit.” He gave up the ghost; the Bible said he did it. He said, “I give my life, and I’ll take it again.” It’s absolutely true. (9) Said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. See? Takes away the first, now what are we looking at? We’re looking at Scripture that’s been fulfilled, passes away. So has it been Scripture fulfilled for our day? You bet. Yup. Then what are you supposed to do about it? Look at it. Receive it. Believe in it. Know you’re a part of it. And stand there with it, and there’s a life with it also. But remember, it comes first of all with you believing it and confessing it. (10) By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all. 7. Now the body, now you’re sanctified, you’re set apart. Now I want to tell you something, or I want to ask you a question. Do you think you are set apart or not set apart by the Presence? Now I can tell you one thing, you tell people you are, you believe in the Presence, you’re set apart all right, they’ll even spit on you. You think you’re not set apart, you better start looking in the mirror of the Word. You’re not reading Ephesians 5 right. The waters of separation, the washing of water by the Word. Sanctified. You’re set apart unto God. (11) And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: (12) But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Now just a minute. That’s repeated over there in 1 Corinthians in this hour. Someone’s putting everything under this man’s feet. And everything gets under his feet except the One that’s putting it under his feet, which is God. Now do you believe the church is being put in order, we’re getting ready right now by God Himself, that the pyramid complete, where Jesus the man stands forth, God incarnate takes the full church? That’s right. Headstone is here; Capstone is here. Absolutely. Capstone ministry’s already been here. It had to be here for the Capstone to come down, Bro. Branham said so. Yup. God had to prove He was God before He would be received to be as God. Now how many of us tonight are really receiving God as God? That’s a good question. Kind of makes you think, doesn’t it? Say, “Well, what am I feeling in here? What am I doing? What’s my attitude?” The point is this: even if you didn’t know, He’s still here. Yeah. Doesn’t depend on how you and I feel, or what you and I think. Was He or wasn’t He, and isn’t He or isn’t He right now? 8. Okay. Pretty soon the enemies are the footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. One offering, one setting apart by the blood, setting apart by the Holy Ghost, having previously set apart by your uniqueness with God, being a part of Him. Sanctified, sanctified, sanctified, sanctified, sanctified, sanctified, sanctified… [End of the audio tape.]