Spoken Word no. 139

The Latter Rain Watering

Brian Kocourek, Pastor

January 9, 2010

 

Let’s stand to our feet this morning and open our Bibles to the seed book and begin reading  from Genesis 18:1 for our text… 1 And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2  And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3  And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:4  Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5  And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.  6  And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.  7  And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 8  And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. 9  And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 10  And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11  Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12  Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13  And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 14  Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. 15  Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. 16  And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 17  And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18  Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?19  For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 20  And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 21  I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 22  And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.

 

 

 

 

 

Let us pray… Dear father we see this scene played out in the days of our father Abraham when You personally came down to visit your prophet before the arrival of the promised son. Help us father to set aside all our thoughts that would be contrary to your Word this day, and help us to understand that Alpha must become Omega, and what you did then you have come to do in this hour, and have done. Help us to see our part of this picture as the royal seeds of Abraham for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s name the Royal original Seed of Abraham in which we are ordained to be conformed to that original first born seed, amen.

 

Now, this morning we are going to read perhaps 20 paragraphs from brother Branham’s sermon as he explains to us this scene we have just read from Genesis 18. And since this is a lot of reading, let’s begin now to read from The Spoken Word is the Original Seed paragraph 124 or in your books paragraph 263.

 

124 Now, let's see. I've got to try to get at least about fifteen pages here right quick, and I just hate to do that, but I'm just going to have to run over it, 'cause if I don't, then I'll be this afternoon and I got a meeting tomorrow. And  I just got to hurry now. All right, now we'll try to make it just a little quicker if we can; snap into it. Are you believing?

 

  125 All right. And when so, the Bible is manifested again like in the early days of Christ. See? 'Cause you are a predestinated seed just like Christ was; and when the rain falls on the seed, the life produces itself. When the Holy Spirit falls... When It fell on those seed that Jesus said He chose them when? Before the foundation of the world. Then they were a predestinated seed. Is that right? Then here they haul themselves up in the upper room, these seeds, the Word, and the Word was laying on there without Life in it. All of a sudden there came a sound from heaven as the waters begin to gush down. And it actually filled all the house where they were setting. And the seeds begin to grow. It begin to manifest itself, the Word of God being manifested.


126 All right. Why then has the revival fires let up? Now, I got about ten Scriptures here (if you could just notice it on here) that I ought to say it, but I've got to skip over a lot of it. I'm just... so you get the outline of it. All right, why then has the revival fires let up? Now, I am, got to call names. I won't do it after this, 'less God tells me to. But I've got to call names. I've got to say things that I don't want to say, but in order to make this clear... You can see now where I'm getting to, the reason I've done what I have done. I believe this is the Word. And I believe that Christ has a church, and the church is the field (We'll get to it after while.), and you've got to get the Word in the field before the Spirit can ever do anything. See?

127 Why then has the revival fires let up? You don't hear very much more of Billy Graham, like great evangelists. Oral Roberts is not burning the country like he used to. My meetings is not even heard of. There's just three. What's the matter? Now, we're going to get some real deep teaching. I'm going to have to just use it now, and if this tape should fall in the hands of Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, I want you to know, my brethren, that I'm not disregarding you; I'm taking myself, if you notice, in there as your fellow brother in the Gospel. And I think after this you'll have a better understanding, brethren, of why I have did what I've done. And I hope that I find grace in the sight of God and before you, in being honest and truthful to tell you the reason why.


128 Now, Billy Graham... The world was a-burning here not long ago with Billy Graham. You very seldom here of it now. He's still going, but what's the matter? Oral Roberts, why, just burning the earth up: dying down. Tommy Osborn, all of them are good godly men. What's a-happened? Believing that God called me for a ministry, what's happened to mine? Now, here's going to answer some questions. What's happened? You say, "Brother Branham, yours is deadest of all of them." That's true. That is right. Billy Graham's more heard of than I am, and Billy's more heard of than Oral. Oral's more heard of in one day than I am in six months. Tommy Osborn, Tommy Hicks, any of those godly men, they're more heard of. So as far as that turns, mine's farther away than all of them. What's happened? "Brother Branham, you saying that you was telling us here now that you actually believe the Word and everything, well what's happened to you then? What taken place?" That's what we want to know. That's what we want to know.


129 Now, put her down in your mind now. Pull down the umbrella, and shake the rain off, and open up your heart just a minute, and listen. Remember the Bible said in Genesis the first chapter we read to base our thought for the day, is every seed after its kind. It'll have to bring forth after its kind. That's right. Every seed will have to bring... Remember, the earth is full of seeds and that the rain makes it bring forth after its kind. I believe it is near the harvest time. Don't you believe it? You all agree with that. We are near the harvest time. Now, the seeds has been planted. That's what's the matter with us. The seeds has been planted. Oh, God, I wish you could see what passed before me then. The seeds has been planted. Remember, there's a planting time; then a harvest time. They know they said so.


130 All right. Now, there has been three different kinds of seeds planted: A denominational: Billy Graham; he was a head planter. Oral Roberts for the Pentecostal... Pentecostal seed's been planted. (I'm talking about organization now.) And then the Word's been planted. Now, you'll have to understand, folks. I ain't saying this no more 'less God tells me. I want you to get this good and clear. Three seeds has been planted. That's the reason the planting's just about over (See?), all over. Seeds must be planted before the rain falls (That right?) or otherwise the Spirit. Now, you're going to disagree there, but hold on just a minute. See? Seeds must be planted and then the rain falls to water the seed. Is that right? Now, I want... Is there anybody in here that understands Hebrew, knows Hebrew words? All right, you look it up if you want to.


131 Now, we're hearing so much, and so many organizations and everything else talk about we're in the latter rain. Nonsense. No such a thing. Now, oh, I... Something's happening. I can just see it passing before me. It's done caught the Spirit. See? Amen. I know this is Truth; it's THUS SAITH THE LORD. By vision (See?), just moving and coming... Can't hardly get--look down here. Every time I look; I see it just moving up in front of me like that and breaking off, and move this way, and look this way. I've been trying to watch some fellows setting around down here. Look away and everywhere I look, it's like there it is. See? All right, let's go back and try it again now, be sure I got it in there. I don't know what's exactly happened along that line. Look.



132 I believe that it is near the harvest time. The seeds have been planted. Denominational seed of the churches such as the Evangelicals, like Baptist, and Presbyterian, Lutheran. And the Pentecostal seeds has been planted into the Pentecostal organization, by great men like Oral Roberts, Tommy Hicks, and Tommy Osborn, great men of God. See? And I believe that the Word of God has been planted unadulterated away from any of those organizations. That's what's the matter. See? The seed must have... The seed plant must have seed water before it can grow. It must have water to fall before the seed that's been planted can grow. Now, "Why," you say, "Brother Branham, there's been..." Now, I know, that's right. Catching your thought now (You see?); you just can't hide it now. See? All right, so be careful what you're thinking.


133 Now, the seed must be planted, and then it must have water in order to grow. Now, you say, "Well, Brother Branham (I'm going to express your thoughts on there.), we've had the water." So be it. That's correct. You have had the water. Did you ever plant cabbage, or anything, or seeds, or something or other like that, you usually... Ain't got no water they just pour a little on it. See? All right, but now wait, what did we have in that planting time? The former rain. "Oh," you say, "Brother Branham, nonsense." Now, wait just a minute. You take the word "former" in Joel 2 and look at it and see if the Hebrew word--go to the Hebrew and see if it don't... If you want to write it down, m-o-u-r-e-h, moureh, and get the Hebrew word and interpret and see what "moureh" means: "teaching." Amen. The teaching rain has went forth. The denominational teaching rain has went forth. "A million more in '44," Baptists, So-and-so, So-and-so, members in the church. Oral Roberts, and them brothers with the Pentecostal move the economic--or the great Pentecostal move--done moved up into the millions. See? That's right. And the Seed has went forth, the Word, for the minority, the group.


Now, there are about a dozen times in Scripture that the words latter rain are used by God Himself and His prophets. The first time it was spoke of was by God to Moses. And around the same time in the book of Job.

 

Deuteronomy 11:14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, (So God is telling us here that the rains are for specific seasons. He said he would send the rains in their due seasons or in other words when they are due according to the season thereof. Then He promises, )  the first rain (which according to the Hebrew word “yowreh” means the autumn rain and is also called the former rain. Now, it is interesting that this first rain he promised here in the autumn, which is completely different from the planting in our hemisphere which we do in the spring but harvest in the fall. But here the planting is before winter, in the fall or autumn, and then the seed lays dormant in the soil during the cold winter months, which winter is identified with burial as the snows come to cover the seeds in the ground, and keep them warm under the blankets of snow and in that moist and warm condition the out shell begins to wear away, exposing the germ of life to the soil. This is the first rain that is to fall on the early planting of the crops to begin the growing cycle of the seeds that were planted.

 

It is the first rain or the teaching rain, as we will find brother Branham explaining a little later in our reading. But then God promises another rain that is to come right before harvest time so that the planting of the Lord will grow to its full potential. He says, ) and the latter rain, (The malqowsh rain which is called the spring rain, and it is given to bring up the plant into it’s fully mature state which the seeds coming up in the spring time is a type of the resurrection which took place in the spring and will take place according to a vindicated prophet in the spring time Curtain of time 55-0302 P:32 Brother, botany don't only mean flowers and things, it means resurrection too in that case. Amen. Just as the springtime, when the Easter flowers are blooming, everything's so pretty, a very type of nature; resurrection has to come in the spring. That's the reason the resurrection is in springtime. Resurrection of everything, and surely the King of nature resurrected, the Creator of nature, resurrected with the rest of the resurrection of nature.”

 

And notice what the spring rain or latter rain is for? ) that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. So we see that the latter rain is promised in order to bring the seeds that were planted in the former rain under the moureh rain or first teaching rain, and then had to lay there a long spell and be all covered over for a season until the Spring time or the time of resurrection which signifies harvest time.

 

The next time in Scripture we see this scene of a former and latter rain is in the book of Job which was said to be written around the same time Moses walked the earth.

 

Now, there are may metaphors written in the book of job, as brother Branham said Job was a sort of type-ologist himself. But notice carefully his words and the image they conjure up.

 

Job 29: 19  My root was spread out by the waters, (David in the first Psalm uses the same image in saying the righteous man is like one who is planted by the river of Life whose leafs never withers, and whose seed comes forth in due a season or the season in which it is due. The he says, Psalm 1: 3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.)

 

Now, back to Job: and the dew lay all night upon my branch. (Now, the dew is his speech as the dew he tells us in Deuteronomy 32. and those tapes have laid all night long, all winter, for a long season upon my branch. You see Christ is the Vine we are the branches, and we have laid for a long dark season in that speech or those tapes, waiting for the season to change from Shout to Voice of the resurrection. And then something begin to happen, he says,…). 20  My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.  (This is resurrection talk here as in the spring time when the plants come up renewed again.) 21 Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. (Unto Me men gave ear, unto Whom? Unto the Word, and men waited in long silence for that Voice to speak again…) 22  After my words they spake not again; (they were not able to echo back what I was saying for a long season) and my speech dropped upon them. (Notice he says, my speech dropped on them, these are the same words Moses says when in Deuteronomy 32 when God says, My speech shall drop as the dew, my doctrine as the rain. 23  And they waited for me as for the rain; (notice they waited for me, the Word for the rain the doctrine to come) and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.

(Now, if the rain according to Deuteronomy 32 speaks of the doctrine of God, and there is a former rain and a latter rain, then there is a teaching rain former and there has to be a teaching rain latter. The latter doctrinal teaching).

 

The NIV puts it this way, They waited for me as for showers and drank in my words as the spring rain.

 

From his sermon, Glorified Jesus 55-0225 P:35  brother Branham said, Job, knowing that someday... He watched the little old seed rot away. He said, "I watch a seed when it goes into the ground. The flower gives up the spirit, goes down into the ground. The winters come, freeze, rot the little seed away. But in the spring time it resurrects again." He said, "A wind comes and blows down a tree and takes it away. Yet there's a stump that's in the ground. It comes forth and buds, brings another tree. But man layeth down, yea, giveth up the ghost. He wastes away. His sons come to morn; he perceive it not and..." Oh, he never comes back. What's the matter with that? Said, "Oh, that You'd keep me in the grave, hide me in the secret place till Thy wrath be passed, and then..." See, he was reasoning it all out, private knowledge, sense reason...Then all of a sudden, God to any just man, to any man that's come God's provided way of escape from sickness, Job was trying to get away from his sickness. Then he knew he was going to die. He said, "Now, if I go into the dust, how am I ever coming from there; I've never seen one come forth... I've see all the seeds and everything go into the earth, all the types, (he was a typologist)." He said, "But man layeth down, then where is he?" Then God's under obligation to reveal it. So then without the Scriptures, God gave Job a revelation of the coming of the Son of God. Then when Job stood up and the lightnings flashed, the thunders roar, he said that in the last days, that he would see his Redeemer.

 

So we see then that the latter rain speaks of the Spring rain which is the harvest rain right before the harvest or the time of the resurrection. And notice that the first rain comes then the voice lays silent in the grave, the seed lays dormant in the ground. So there must be a latter rain or harvest teaching rain that will awaken those that sleep for the coming into full maturity for harvest.

 

Zechariah 10: 1 Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

 

Now, the scripture most looked to concerning the former and latter rain we find in Joel 2: 23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, (Brother Branham said Zion speaks of the Bride) and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

 

Now, here is the clue that we have. The former rain is given in moderation. Now, that means it was not given in great detail, or not enough detail as to make it so plain that you couldn’t miss it if you tried. But it doesn’t say that about the latter rain. That rain is to come in such a way as to bring the seed that has laid dormant for a long season into full bloom. 

 

Let me read a few more scriptures on the former and latter rain. Hosea 6: 3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

 

Jeremiah 5: 24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

 

Jeremiah 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

 

Proverbs 16:15 In the light of the king's countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.

 

James 5: 7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

 

Now, let’s see what brother Branham says about this. 134 Now, watch. Now, remember the word "m-o-u-r-e-h, moureh," means "teaching, the former rain." It says "the moureh rain, the teaching rain," teaching rain went forth. Billy Graham has struck the world. The Pentecostals struck the world, and the Word has struck the world. Now, what's the matter now? She's now waiting for the latter rain. That's when she produces her fruits. Oh, I hope you get it.


Jehovah Jireh part 1 62-0705 P:28 Do you know what former rain means in the Hebrew word? I can't call it right now; I never wrote it down; it skipped my mind. But "former rain," the first rain, means "a rain of teaching." The second rain is the Spirit that comes upon what's been taught and produces the crop. Why is it we had such a revival? Pentecostal, Baptist, all the other trees put forth their buds, as Jesus said they would be. And what have we hatched out? The Baptists said they got a million more in '44. Look at the Catholic, how they increased. Look at all denominations. Look at Pentecost. What did we do? We sowed denominational seeds; we reaped the denominational harvest. Why, the church ought to be on fire for God right now, if there'd been a Word seed sowed back there, and there'd be signs, wonders, miracles, and that church would be together, one heart, one accord, and marching toward Zion for the rapture. That's right. What did we do? We had intellectual speeches instead of the Word. We had reasoning against the Word and everything else.

 

Now, back to the spoken Word and we will pick up at pp. 135 Then the kind of seed you have planted in your field will be the kind of crop you will reap. If the denominations wants more members, that's what they're going to get. That's what they have gotten. The Pentecostals wants more Pentecostals; that's what they're going to get. That's right. But the Word's going to produce sons and daughters of God. Uh-huh, uh-huh. That's coming too. Watch, look at that great latter rain supposed to be done, how they would run over the wall, and leap over, and how they'd be an army coming. Just wait a minute. Uh-huh. The kind of crop you'll get is the kind of seed you put in your field.


136 All right. The two denominational kinds... You understand? The two denominational kinds will unite together to go to Sodom. But the Word will stay with the elected, the Royal Seed. Amen. See? Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man." Two angels went down, two anointed ministers, went down to Sodom to try to bring out a man that was backslidden (had a little speck of God about him), and his wife, his bride... You know what happened to her; she was disgraced. And look at his daughters and look what it hatched out to be after they got out. Was always a "hair in the biscuit." You know that's right. Excuse that expression, but you know, a gaggy thing, so that's a... It always was; we know that. Now, you can't deny God's Word.


137 But there was One that stayed with Abraham that gave a sign. Is that right? All right, all right. One stayed back... What was Abraham and his group called? The elected seed that never went down. They were pilgrims. They journeyed here; they journeyed there. They journeyed here; they journeyed there: inter-denominationals. But the denomination went down and made himself a city, and Lot became the priest, or the bishop, or the, you know, whatever it was there, the big man, set in the city and done the judge, who says (the bishop or state presbyter), "No, we won't have that guy in our midst; no, sir. He disagrees with our theology. We can't have it." There's old Lot. There he set. "If he don't pack credentials from our group, we won't have him at all." Who made you a judge over the house of God, you hybrid? Uh-huh. God's Word will be preached anyhow.


138 Saint Martin went to a group like that, and that guy wouldn't even stand up to give him respect after he had broke the gate. God even burned his robe off of him, back of him, made him rise up and salute that prophet of God that entered the city. Uh-huh. See? That's right. His seat caught on fire where he was setting, the throne he was on. That's right. You've read the history of the church. Yes, sir. He went down there with the true Word, performed miracles and signs and proved on the Word that he was. They had their own bishopric, and they had what they wanted, and that's just what they wanted; but God's going to see that... Might been some elected children in there, and He had to go get them. That's right.

 

139 So remember, what was it? Now, let's stop here just a minute. Lot once had the choice to be inter-denominational himself. Is that right? He once had the choice to journey with Abraham, but the love of the world choked him out. That's what it's done today. And remember, those down in Sodom never seen one of those supernatural miracles. They had a blinding; and preaching the Word blinds the eyes of the unbeliever. That's what Billy Graham and them that’s done: blinded the eyes of them unbelievers out there. That's right. Now, you can't deny that Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the coming..." And here it is in the Bible. See? It'll be the same thing at the coming of the Son of man.


140 Now, watch, but there was One which was the Word. He was the Word, and where did He stay? With the promised one, the elected one. The Word stayed with the elected one. And the Word of God today will stay with the elected ones, the Royal Seed of Abraham by the promise. What kind of a works did it do? When it was manifested about eight hundred years later in the form of Jesus Christ, it done the same works that that One did there, the Word did at the gate at Abraham's tent, set with His back turned to the tent, told Abraham his name was Abraham, not Abram, what it always had been (what his name...), but his name was Abraham, 'cause God met him a few days before that and told him his name was Abraham. Said, "Where is Thy wife (not S-a-r-r-a, S-a-r-a-h.)... Where is Thy wife Sarah?" like He didn't know. Said, "She's in the tent behind You."


He said, "I'm going to visit you ('I,' the personal pronoun.), I'm going to visit you according to the time of life (Oh.), and you're going to have that baby that you've waited on. The latter rain is fixing to fall. You've hold that seed in there long enough now, on believing, and you're looking for a coming son, and he's coming." Amen. That's the real church today (See?), that elected Seed. "You've been looking for him, and I'm going to send him to you." What said that? The Word.

 

141"Oh," you say, "that wasn't the Word." I beg your pardon. Abraham called Him Elohim; that's the Almighty Self-Existing One. He was the Word: Elohim. Where did He come to? Abraham's seed. Now, remember, He had nothing to do with them denominations. He stayed right with the elected, and preached (That's right.), and showed the sign. And Jesus said... And now, wait just a little bit.


142 Then Sarah, in herself... Watch that pollution. See? Now, actually to disbelieve that, God would've killed her right there. Did you know that? And she come out and denied... Abraham... She laughed up her sleeve, in other words, to herself. Now, she never even maybe even cracked a smile but down in her heart she [Brother Branham illustrates Sarah laughing--Ed.]. See, she kind of laughed a little bit. "Me, an old woman, a hundred years old, fifty years since the menopause, time of life, live with him all that years. Why, we haven't lived as husband and wife for twenty-five years, maybe, thirty. See? And you mean to say I'm going to have pleasure with my lord." Abraham, her husband. That's the kind of wives you all ought to be, should be. Paul said the same thing. Love your husband that much. Not just hybreed something out here. You see? Remember your thoughts. We'll get to that this afternoon in the womb thought.


143 So now, but in that, she loved Abraham so much she called him her lord, "My lord being old too, and me old, and me have pleasure with him again?" And she... [Brother Branham illustrates Sarah laughing--Ed.] And the Angel showed Abraham Who He was, that He was the Word. He said, "Why did Sarah laugh?" So he called her forth, and she said, "I never." He said, "But you did." What? That's grace. See, right there God would've slew her, right there, but He couldn't. Oh, see our stupidity? He'd kill every one of us, but He can't. To kill Sarah, He had to take Abraham, 'cause Sarah was a part of Abraham. They were one in union. And to take the church and destroy it, He can't do it, because it's part of Himself: Christ, part of Himself, the Word being made flesh. Oh. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!" Couldn't do it. You get it? He couldn't kill her. He couldn't take her life, because she was part of Abraham. See, she was flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone.


144 In our mistakes... Don't say, "Well, I made a failure." No, that don't make a...?... Abraham made failures too. See? But He couldn't take the church. He can't kill the elected. He can't take your life, because you're part of Himself. You're the Word. The Word is in you. It's manifested Itself, proven Itself: love, joy, peace, long-suffering. All the Words of God, you believe everyone of them: working, God working through you.

See, you're part of the Word which is Christ. And we are taught that He is the Word, and we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. There you are. Now, we're coming down to something.


145 Moureh, moureh, the rain, former rain, planting rain, has went forth. Now, what had happened? The former rain was being planted. The latter rain fell. What happened? Sodom and its Sodomites burned. Abraham received the promised son. Jesus said, "Let them grow together. The tares shall be bound, bundled, and burned. The garner... The wheat will go to the garner." See? The latter rain's just at hand. We're going to get... I don't want to wait too long on that, 'cause I got something real good back here on that; I know. See?


146 The two denominations will unite, Pentecostal and these other, and will unite, but the Word will stay with Abraham's promised Seed as It did then. Jesus said, "As it was then..." Can... Have you got ears to hear? eyes to see? understanding to understand with? Jesus said, "As it was... Is not it written..." would He say if He was standing here this morning? Would not... would not He say this: "Is not it written that as the days of Sodom, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man." Don't you see the two harvests coming up here, receiving their last shower? They've come along to that last shower. See? Then what happened? The angels and the Lord disappeared. Then the rain took place.

 

147 All right. Now, watch real close now. Now, I believe I was on this subject here, yeah, on the rain, and for the latter rain. All signs are pointing to the end now. Everybody that believes God's Word knows that. Even...Let me stop on another one right here. I'm going to have to call names. I don't mean to be rude, but I've got a... I told God I'd pull no punches. I'd come right here and just express exactly what I've known all my life, and then there's some things over here at the end I'm going to have to withhold; I know; but I'm going to express to you as far as He will let me do it. First I'm... Mrs. Wood knows that after I got this and many more pages beside this, the Holy Spirit said, "Don't do that." Did I call you, Mrs. Wood, and said He told me not to do that? So I went back and prayed, and that night He come to me in a vision and said, "Go do this. Take this and place it there, 'cause they won't understand this. It isn't time for this yet; place this here." And I did. That's right. See? "Obedience is better than sacrifice." See? All right. Obeying...

 

All right now, we are looking at two rains here. The former rain or moureh rain which is the initial teaching rain that’s done in moderation, and then the latter rain which is still a rain or doctrine, but it says nothing about being done in moderation, because as brother Branham said in the Spoken Word is the original Seed paragraph 95  a real Seed of God is an absorbent for the Spirit. And from his sermon,

 

Hear ye Him 56-1215 P:18 You people here in this country's apple raisers as I understand. You have a lot of agriculture, raising fruit. You know when that little apple tree's just about one half of an inch high, that every bushel of apples that'll ever come off of that tree is in it right then. You know every hundred pounds of leaves that'll ever fall off of that tree is in it right then. Every blossom is in it right then. Every branch is in it right then. If it isn't, tell me where it comes from. Where is it at? Where does it come from? What do you do? You take the seed and you plant it. The little tree comes up, and it's planted.

You have to keep watering it. It has to drink more than its portion. It has to drink, and drink, drink so much till it pushes out. And it'll push out limbs; it'll push out leaves; it'll push out apples. It's in it, but it has to keep drinking. And every Word of God is a Seed. And if that Seed can be planted by the inexhaustible Fountain of Life, which is Christ, the believer has to drink beyond his imagination, drink and push out. Push out everything you have need of, 'cause it's in you when you receive Christ. And we are planted together in Christ. And He is the inexhaustible Fountain of Life.

 

So we are looking at the latter rain coming together with the former rain in this hour.

 

Who is this 59-1122 P:23 He said, "The former rain also will come with the latter rain." Did you notice what the first rain was? Was His own rain; after that come the rain of the apostles; and in this last days both the rain of the apostles and the rain of the Lord Jesus, that's what's making the people cry out, "Hosanna to Him that cometh in the Name of the Lord."

 

Invisible union of the bride 65-1125 P:129 "And it shall come to pass in the last days, I'll pour out my Spirit from on high. The former and latter rain shall come together in the last days."

 

Things that are to be 65-1205 P:10 Now, we know that this is the day of salvation, where God is calling man from the world, from a life of sin unto a life of service. And in the day that God has poured out His Spirit from on high, great signs and wonders are to accompany the ministry of this day. This is when the former and latter rain are falling together.

 

And as the first rain came in moderation, the second or latter rain does not. And so as we see that both rains come together at this season, we have an abundance of rain, just like in the days of Elijah when it hadn’t rained for 3-1/2 years and then he said I see an abundance of rain coming…So we have the teaching rain and the Spirit of God’s presence raining down at the same time, in order to bring into manifestation sons and daughters of God. And this rain just doesn’t let up, because the seed is now coming into manifestation and needs as much teaching as much rain (as much doctrine) as it can get so it can just pop out it’s little limbs as it is coming into the image of the firstborn son.


Spoken Word is the original Seed paragraph 95  And a real Seed of God is an absorbent for the Spirit. All denominationalism's took out; all unbelief is out. And when the Holy Spirit comes into that germ of Life that's laying there, It produces another Seed, just exactly. Another son of God is born (Amen.), another amateur God, son of God.

 

Notice brother Branham keeps coming back to this thought on the latter rain watering the seed bringing it into full manifestation. From Spoken word original seed 62-0318M P:72 Jesus is the Word of God, and He was bursted open, that Life, the Life that's inside the Seed, that this Life, which, is Spirit, Water flowing over, the Spirit over the Seed of God will bring forth the Life of the Seed. And to bring forth something else, there's some other kind of seed there then. Amen. Do you understand? If the Spirit of God comes forth to water the Seed, if it's the Seed it's watering, it'll produce the Life of the Seed. That clear? Produce the Life of the Seed, for that's what It's give for.   In Isaiah 27 the Lord said, “I the Lord have planted it, I will water it day and night.” Let us pray…