Who Is This Melchisedec? # 21
Bro. Lee Vayle
October 26, 1988
Shall we pray. Heavenly Father again we feel privileged to be in this house You’ve given us, Lord--we can gather together in Your Presence, in Your great name Lord, knowing that Your Spirit lies in this Word. Strange as it may sound that a Word can come forth that is living Word, Lord, transforming and changing people’s lives and we believe that to be true O God or we would not be here tonight, it would not be. We do not think Lord we could even muster any faith within ourselves to come for any other reason so we’re praying now Lord that we may be able to steadfastly believe that this is the truth Lord, that this Word now that can turn to life within us because there’s life in It, Itself propagating Itself, sustaining, creative Word of God, Lord, in our lives.
Help us tonight to understand the great
mysteries the prophet brought us to enter into them by faith, even the
mechanical Lord, believing that with the proper sunshine, the rain that by your
grace Lord that we’re foreordained to it we will be changed into this image
that the prophet speaks of. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.
Now I think we’re about on number twenty-one of
Melchisedec and last Sunday as we studied, Who Is This Melchisedec? we
spent our entire time on examining our life lived here in the flesh in
contradistinction to the life that might have been lived in a Word-body, if
that had been the promise of God but it wasn’t, and in the presence of the
glory of God. So all right, we spent our
time talking about or examining the life lived here in the flesh in
contradistinction to the life that might have been lived in a Word-body, which
Christ did and in the presence of the glory of God. At the same time we studied
why we were predestinated to the flesh and the greater glory that would be ours
eventually because of it.
So we were over here in paragraph 80, Bro.
Branham said.
[80] ...Here we are formed to the Word image to be
a partaker of
the Word,
And remember we missed the image back there. Bro. Branham mentions that though Adam was made in the image of God--of course a spirit being, not a theophany now but a spirit being, and created--that image was broken and left at the fall of sin. Now, through the baptism with the Holy Ghost:
[80] We are formed to the Word image to be a partaker of the Word, feed
on
the Word, by being predestinated since the
beginning. All
right, we’re
just going to keep reading now. You see, that little spark of life and
we spoke
of that in the soul, a gene from
God, that you had in you from the
beginning
when
you started your journey...now many of you can remember it. You
joined this church and that church, tried
this, tried that; nothing satisfied.
That’s right! But one day you just recognized
it. Right!
In other words, you recognized as Bro. Branham
is talking about as being a child of God without actually knowing what you’re
recognizing. What it is actually, what he’s actually saying here, the deep
calling to a deep and we’ll see that as we read about the eagle.
[81] The other night I was teaching somewhere--I believe it was out in
or
[82] So she’d catch grasshoppers and whatevermore, you know, and
call the little chickens. And all those little chickens would go cluck, cluck
along and eat.
But
the little eagle just couldn’t do it. It didn’t look right to him.
[83] ...And he’d hear that hen cluck. He’d tried his best to cluck,
but he couldn’t
do it. He tried to cheep like a chicken, but
he couldn’t do it. See, he was an
eagle.
To start with he was an eagle. He was just hatched under a hen. In
other words, circumstances do not
change the breed, the race, or whatever
that thing was to begin
with. It can influence it, that’s true, and get a reaction
but it can never change it. So he was an eagle to start with. He was
just
hatched under a hen. That’s like some church
members. That’s about the
way
it is; about one egg
out of every setting of eggs. That’s
about right.
He’s just giving an
estimate as to figures.
[84] But
one day his mammy came hunting for him, she flew over and she
screamed. And he recognized the scream. “That
sounded right!” Why?
He was an eagle to begin with. That’s the way
it is with the Gospel, or the
Word, the power of Jesus Christ; when a man
has been predestinated to
Eternal Life, he hears that true ring, scream
of God and nothing can keep
him
from it. The church might say, “The days of miracles is past, cluck,
cluck, cluck! Stand here and eat this, stand
here and eat that.”
[85] That barnyard stuff won’t do for him any more! He’s gone! “All things
are possible!” In other words, it’s very possible to get out
of the churchianity
and into the true Christianity which
we were predestinated to. He gets off the
ground. That’s what’s the matter with so many Christians today; they can’t
get their feet off the ground. The old mammy
said, “Son, jump; you’re an
eagle. Come up here where I am.” He said,
“Mom, I never jumped in my life.”
[86] And she said, “Well, jump; you’re an eagle to begin with;
you’re not a chicken.” So he made his first jump and flopped his wings; didn’t
do too good, but he got off the ground. That’s the way we do; we accept God by
faith by the written Word. There’s something in there. See, that Eternal Life,
you were predestinated to it.
Now,
the most important thing here in this little illustration is to get what he’s
giving us by way of the doctrine and he says, “That’s the way we do it; we accept God by faith by the written Word.
There’s something in there.” In
other words, God can take the written Word off the page and that Word assailing
our minds and our hearts by the Holy Spirit can become living Word.
In
other words, there’s something in that Word; and that is true because no book
can prove itself. The most stupid thing in the world is for anybody to think
you can write a book and say, “Well now, I’ve said it so therefore it’s right.”
It just isn’t done. Every book that is worth a grain of salt is based upon a
reality. For instance, you might pick up a book written years ago by doctors
and you’ll find nothing but absolute guess work.
Now today of course, they try to take tests and
they...which are supposed to be scientific by double blind tests and so on, and
they refuse anecdotal. Anecdotal means it simply is, there’s certain things
that people say, “Well this is happened, we’ve seen it happen. There’s no real
test on it we really can’t say it’s so.” Well by the time you take a lot of
these double blind tests and so on, they don’t work out either because whatever
happens later on could give you cancer from the side effects. It’s so...and
anyway books, like Bro. Branham said, written twenty-five years ago by doctors
where would you put those books today?
You know, in science so called...a book cannot prove itself. It doesn’t
lie there.
A book must be written because of proof if the
book then is going to prove itself. In other words, you can actually take a
book of geometry and that book will prove itself because it’s based upon a
reality of fact. Then you can take, you can take a lot of things in this life
and then you can begin to hypothesize and theorize from them and that won’t do
any good at all. That’s like, that’s exactly like evolution--the evolutionary
concept because they see similarities. They see a little...a certain amount of
mutation, a certain amount of hybridization. They begin to hypothesize to go on
back where there was just some original something or other, nobody knows where
it came from. It won’t work.
But this Book here, the Bible, is different. It
actually proves itself. Now, though God has not acted in such a way as to make
man understand, as He did in the days of Jesus, the days of Moses, the days of
Paul, the days of William Branham, that this is a
real Book. It is so true that when this is
preached people’s lives are affected and out of this Book comes a reality. And
especially one of the great proofs of the Bible is the witness to the
Resurrection, the earnest of the Resurrection. We studied, we saw that maybe
last Sunday, or Wednesday night, I forget which, where Bro. Branham talks of
healing as an earnest of the Resurrection.
Now you go ahead and study Hindu philosophy and
you get your Mantra and all that kind of illegitimate hogwash, and you could
join the...well anyone of the Mohammadans and they’ve got a white horse and
they’re waiting for Mohammed to come back and jump on the white horse. Well I’ve got news, if he jumped on the white
horse he’d only gallop to a lake of fire anyway. He’s a scummy prophet. He’s
got nothing to do with God--never has, never will.
But you see, God actually can come forth in
this Word of healing and when people really look to it, which no other religion
can produce, it can produce a philosophy, it can produce a change, it can talk
about a lot of things, but they do not produce legitimate healings. Once in a
while something may come up but you go to the Hindus and the Moslems, and
those, especially the Hindus--they’re very corrupt for all of their sweet talk
and their nice way of living, they can produce little foolish things but
there’s no way they can produce the reality this Bible does.
So Bro. Branham speaking of here, this is real,
this Word of God and there is within this page, a written page, literally he
said, “This is Christ in written page.”
In other words, Christ the mystery of God revealed. In other words,
Christ revealing Almighty God though written here in theses pages when preached
under anointing, there...if it so happens that the people listening have within
them that Divine spark from God, something will catch fire that is in this Book
here and begin to bring forth the transformation in those people’s lives. You
understand what we’re talking about now? We’re talking about, in the beginning
was a seed from God put into human vessels. God multiplying through humanity
and bringing that seed back to God in its developed and mature form in the
plant that God wanted it to be.
So he’s talking about this here, running the
parallel with Christ. And so he says
here:
[86] ...That’s the way we do; we accept God by faith by the written
Word. There’s something in there. Which is deep calling to deep or the son
to the Father and the Father to the son no matter how you put it. And then he says in here, See, that Eternal Life, you were
predestinated to it.
Now, what I look in here, I’ve pencilled in and
I think maybe what Bro. Branham is saying more clearly, “See, that Eternal Life in you;” actually you and I are Eternal Life. When you’re looking back to the
beginning you’ve got to go back and you’re looking at the generics and the
genetics--and it is God forming a God race and God Himself alone is Eternal and
you don’t even have to use the word ‘life’ there, just use the
word ‘eternal’ because if it’s spirit it will
go on for ever and ever; no beginning and no end. If it were a piece of rock,
if that’s what it was in the beginning, in other words that was the eternal
thing, it would be no beginning and no end--it would be rock.
So when you look at the word life--’Zoe,’ you
are considering that the Eternal Spirit had within it that which would produce
and bring forth in a material form these things we see today and we see human
beings with that Eternal Life in them because it starts in the gene in the soul
and then goes to where it can begin to form the life pattern that God wanted
formed.
So, he’s talking now, “You were an eagle in the very beginning.” That goes right back to the very concept
of God Himself and when he says, “Eternal
Life, you were predestinated to it.” My thoughts here is that foreknowledge, or
fore-ordination which is the same perhaps, lay within the seed. The life of the
seed produced not only a body that had to be a certain body, but also a performed
pattern, a performed pattern.
In other words, there is no such thing as a
life that comes through--into a body and through a body that does not have a
pattern. There has got to be a pattern. Bro. Branham used that pattern of the
seed so much; little sprout comes up and it has a branch or two, from the
leaves, then it comes into where there’s a shuck formed, you know, the chaff
forms--which in the corn is the shuck, in wheat is the chaff. And then it looks
like the real thing but in there, there is forming a life that the prophet said
was the real life. In other words, the seed coming forth according to what God
wanted after the full exposure of that little bit of life that God ordained and
He ordained it to a human vessel into a certain human pattern.
So, Bro. Branham is telling us here that we are
ordained to a predestinated journey and in that journey from the unknown to the
known, there will come a time when the gospel will take life to the individual
and that individual will come to the life of the gospel. Now if you weren’t in
the beginning it’ll never happen. Eagle to eagle, you were an eagle.
Now, let’s keep reading in paragraph 87, so we
can get some more of this understanding.
[87] His grandpa and grandma were eagles; So was his
great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, back to the first eagle
and you can’t get rid of it. he was an
eagle all the way back. Now he says that, so he says: His grandpa and
grandma were eagles; he was an eagle all the way back.
Okay, God is characterized as an eagle but you
will notice, as Bro. Branham said, “So
are the prophets.” So God our Father
was an eagle. Now let’s take a look at the 3rd chapter of the book of Acts and
we’ll see something in there, Peter preaching. And he says on...after the great
miracle of healing that proved the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and this healing revival that proves
the great Resurrection about to take place. He says in verse 25.
(25) You
are the children of the prophets, (and prophets are eagles).
Okay? With that we go to 1 Corinthians the 4th
chapter. I think what I want, and we
can look at 14 and 15.
(14) I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
(15) For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
So the begetting of children, which is in this
instance the begetting of the gospel. Now you’ve been begotten by God, you’ve
been begotten by your parents, your father, you’ve been begotten now through
the gospel through a messenger. Now, Paul being a prophet, therefore being a
father, stepping down from and being the vicar of Christ at that time, the
complete representative of Christ and in Christ is the fullness of God, the
same thing happens at this time. The
first age started as eagles and it would have to start as eagles in order to
finish up as eagles.
But notice that the nature was of a lion.
Right? An earthy animal, slayed Peter, rise Peter, slay and eat. At the end
time the begetting is of another eagle forming the complete circle wherein
eagles will come forth in maturity, no longer under the lion or the ox, or the
man. There will be a complete departure from every tradition, and every creed,
and every dogma, and every error in every doctrine. So we have an infallible
Word of God at this hour--and I’m showing you this. To be an eagle you have to
be an eagle to start with.
Now the Word of God can’t lie. So therefore the
Seven Church Ages had to start eagle or it couldn’t end up eagle. Now what was
Paul? He was an eagle. He was a prophet and you recognize he would have to be
to produce what he produced, or what God produced through him and you’d have to
recognize that he was predestinated to it. Now let that sink in. Bro. Branham
tried to tell Leo Mercer, “You cannot
come where I am if you’re not predestinated to it.”
Now Leo had his own dream and in there Bro.
Branham was way up at the top of a hill, like over a mountain in a kind of a
saucer shape or something. And Leo climbed up and then he attempted to climb
right up to where Bro. Branham was. And he said, “You’ve come far enough, stay where you’re at or go on back but don’t
attempt this.” And that man attempted it. And if you know anything about
him, he’s dead now, you know the vision was fulfilled and I read the vision
myself out of Bro. Branham’s book, “Leave
them alone. They’ll go into false doctrine and destroy themselves.”
Now, you’re getting across something you need
to know. Don’t go poking your nose in where it doesn’t belong. Now you’ve got
Friday night meetings, I’ve left you a lot of latitude. But if you hypothesize
and say one thing, or bring up one thing outside of this pulpit, you will stop
your meetings right there--I’ll close them because you haven’t learned your
lesson. Doctrine comes from this pulpit or it doesn’t come, or get rid of me.
And I will walk out gladly.
Now you know that I’m telling you the truth. I
don’t give a rip anymore, I’m too old to give a care. I don’t have to. I can walk
down the street and start a church in five seconds. Well not quite five
seconds, I won’t take that quick a time but you know what I’m talking about.
Now I’m not being angry with anybody. I’m just telling you, don’t you dare
hypothesize and don’t you dare ever try to teach doctrine outside the pulpit.
Remember, doctrinal questions are asked that have not been covered, those
questions must come to me, not from any deacon, any elder or anybody else. I’m
not closing the pulpit but I’ve got to do that because I distinctly teach, plus
the fact I pastor.
Now you keep up with your meetings but
remember, that is what counts and if someone sits you down for hypothesizing
you be very sweet to that person, say, “Thank you because I’ve reached out
beyond.” It’s very dangerous to think
you know something when you don’t know it. I know this only too well. That’s
right. You’ve got to be terribly careful. I know only too well that I can
preach time after time, after time and I’m taking so much time with this sermon
here, these sermons, because I know they are foreign to your understanding,
foreign to your thinking. As Bro. Branham categorically said, “We are learning under the Seventh Seal.”
Now get what I’m telling you because the prophet said it vindicated--either you believe this, [Bro.
Valye points to the Picture of the Pillar of Fire on the wall ] or you’re lying to yourself tonight.
You believe that or you’re lying to yourself. That’s what happened to bring
about the Seven Seals and the Seventh Seal where under the Seven Thunders and
Bro. Branham said, and he strikes terror to your heart to make you realize this
man said, “We are learning things which
were hidden from before the foundation of the world.” This man alone
brought out things that nobody ever brought out.
Now remember, as I remember this, you’ve got to
come full circle and the best the gospel could do was a lion, a raging lion.
“Rise Peter, slay and eat.” And the church was virile, it was dynamic, it was
tremendous but they couldn’t get off the ground--this one gets off the ground.
This one goes to the tree of Life. This one fulfils the eagle concept. The rest
were just eggs.
Now you understand what we’re talking about?
We’re in a very, very deep subject here and a very tremendous subject. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve told you
because I will not lie in this pulpit. I am not a liar. I don’t tremble at what
I say but I know I am merely talking off the top of my head mechanically--it is
not down here yet, but in here agrees, it has to be so because of vindication.
I am not a fool, you are not fools.
Yes sir, it’s just as simple as the old saying
when they got, you know, used to fuss at the Communists. My old friend Kenny
Goff, dead now, he used to say, “Listen,” he was quoting somebody, he said, “when
you see a bird that looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck,
swims like a duck, eats like a duck--it’s got to be duck.” That’s right. This
Book proves itself by God in the Book. We believe that.
Now let’s keep moving. Okay, now Bro. Branham
said:
[87] ...Eagle all the way back. Even all the way back to God. Now:
Eagles don’t mix with other things.
That’s right, eagles, they don’t
hybridize--he’s an eagle, but chickens do. You just turn chicken loose Pbbbt. A
chicken represents the most immoral thing in the world. And then the rooster,
he climbs on the manure pile and ain’t got anymore brains than to crow about
it. Well, do you know anything more immoral than chickens? Listen to them
squawk when you hit their doctrine. See?
They don’t hybridize, they don’t flock either.
There’s a picture years ago, an artist drew it and under that picture it said,
“Eagles don’t flock, you have to see them one by one.” And Bro. Branham said, “One setting of eggs--one eagle.” One out of eight. How many in the days of
Noah? See? You’ve got to look, it’s...they’re very, very few and far between.
And you notice how it is that they’ve tried to
kill eagles and they accuse eagles of killing sheep and everything else. They
want to destroy them--man has it in him. Any bird that flies they want to get
rid of them. One day God’s going to get rid of all these fellows down here. I
won’t feel a bit sorry. Why should you feel sorry? Going to out God, God? Out
pity the God of pity? Out love the God of love? Who ever heard of such
asininity?
You know what we can do? I’ll tell you--the
greatest thing we can do is believe this Word of God period. Never mind trying
to act it as though we could act it out and we’ve really got something but
believe it. Believe it and watch what happens to us.
Now you know our stand here, it’s got to be the
Word or nothing. I don’t have a hope, I don’t have a hope to tell you anything
except God back His Word. I’ve said all these years since Bro. Branham’s gone,
I know somewhere Bro. Branham put across to my heart, “If God doesn’t do it, it isn’t going to be done.”
All right, let’s keep moving along here.
[88] Then after he recognized the very Word of God was Eagle Food,
then you left the other thing.
Notice he changes the person from the third person to the second person. He points from the...he’s actually then complimenting us and calling us exactly what that
little eagle was. See? So now you could then put in there, “When you recognize the very Word of God was Eagle Food.” Now what very Word of God? Not something somebody read in here, but something vindicated to be true, where God spoke to us through a prophet, knowing the vindication would set him apart as the one having the true answer. Now you know that’s what he’s talking about.
All right:
[88] ...Then
you left the other thing.
You left what other thing? You left what people
said about this Book. What people talked about this Book. What they said; “This
is right,” and they had no proof, just a bunch of traditions, and dogma, and
colleges, and anthropology, and psychology, and archaeology, and they’re still
trying to find the ashes to the red heifer and that’s going to be some great
big thing. Pbbbt, hogwash. The big thing’s taken place--the descent and the
cloud of angels; judgment, vindication, where he said, “One group is free and the rest are condemned.”
I’ve got a question to ask you: why do you
think God almighty put Noah in the ark and boarded the ark up and only had a
window at the top, shut the door? You know why? I’ll tell you, I think one
reason why. So Noah and the seven people inside beside him wouldn’t be too
sympathetic and try to pull some people into the ark. I’m not trying to be
mean, I’m just trying to let you know something. If they’re not predestinated
they’re not going to get it. If you and I aren’t predestinated, we’re not going
to get it. And we can stand up here and you can sit there and together we can
have as perfect, a mechanical, revelation as can come to anybody but unless God
is in it, in the Word and in us joining together because like has to be with
like. The dove will only sit upon a lamb--it will not sit upon the dog, or a
goat, or something else. “Dove Leading Lamb,” is a fantastic sermon of Bro.
Branham’s. On the grounds he tells you what true predestination is all about.
The true predestination is a seed that comes down and God comes down upon the
seed beginning to form Christ in us.
Now let’s look at it. Now watch.
[88] Then after you recognized the very Word of God was Eagle Food,
then you left the other thing.
In other words; when you recognized this
Message is what you want and this is the whole of it, whether it ever lives in
you or not, which we believe it will. But you’re convinced that this is the
Word of God period. Live or die, sink or swim, if I’m not a part of it somebody
is a part of it but I know this is the Word. All right, you’ve taken a step
forward--let’s see if Christ be formed.
[88] Then
you’ve been formed into the living image of the Living God.
Now watch.
[88] Then
you’ve been formed into the living image of the Living God.
Now what’s he talking about? He’s talking about
the full potential being there but the hour of formation was not at hand until
that hour. So therefore now what is there will now be transformed, and formed,
and moveable, viable--well not viable, moveable. Not viable, it’s very, very
concrete and can’t be turned this way or that way. Once it’s been turned to
God, because it came from God, then it’s going to move toward God--it isn’t
going to move someplace else. You see? Then you’ve got the living image of the
Living God.
Now let’s watch this thing here because this
man is into something pretty deep. He better know what he’s talking about or
brother he’s going to have to answer to God. A prophet doesn’t just shoot his
face off. Now Bro. Branham never had anything but what came to pass, so you
better perk your ears up and listen and know this for a fact--this is gospel
vindicated truth, something never known before. Now let’s read in Heb 1:1. What
he says here.
(1) God who in many parts and many ways spake in time past (Now that’s before Jesus Christ.) unto the fathers in the prophets. (God in the prophets spoke previous to Jesus.)
(2) Hath in these last days spoken unto us in Son, (“The Father in Me doeth the works; The Father in Me is doing the talking.”) whom he hath appointed heir of all things, (Then he takes it right back and said, “Now listen, this is that One that was way back there.” Now he’s talking.) by whom also he made the worlds;
Now, let me just...how am I going to switch
this around so you’ll get what I’m saying here? I think I can make it work.
(1) Spake unto the fathers in the prophets.
(2) Hath in these last days spoken unto us in Son, by whom also he made the worlds who...(Well, let me try it another way.)
(2) Hath in these last days spoken unto us in Son
And start at the top of verse 3.
(3) Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, (This Son.)
Now read down at the bottom of that last verse 3 again.
(3) ...when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
(2) God hath now appointed Him heir over all things.
Now, what I’m trying to bring out here is this:
that this One that was in the Father--that part of the Father that took upon
itself a form, God causing it, when there was nothing there but God--had to be
essentially intrinsically God and nothing but God generically and genetically.
Because what could He be formed of? He could be formed of nothing except that
which was there to form It, which was Spirit, and It took that form.
Now, what you’ve got to do is realize that you
and I didn’t take that form, or any form. In other words, the spirit that we
had when it came time for a separation, a begetting and a birth, and the
begetting was in the foreknowledge. You catching it? The begetting in the
foreknowledge within God. The birth is the coming forth. And listen, whatever
part or whatever is there will form itself out of what there is to form, and if
there’s nothing other than what is there to form it will form that. That’s why
Bro. Branham said, “You can’t see a
theophany unless it wants you to see it.”
So, we bypassed it. See? And that image, had we
been able to have it, would have been exactly the same as Jesus--trickle down.
I can prove it. What are you going to look like when you get your glorified
body? Exactly like Jesus--not physical features now but materially, substance
wise. See?
So, now:
[88] ...You’ve then been formed into the living image of the Living God.
In other words, now there comes a building from
the seed or the spark that is in here within the soul, within the heart, and
Bro. Branham told us, They found a little
empty place in the heart where there’s no blood. I don’t know what he’s
talking about but if he said it--I believe it. And now a little article comes
out that the soul weighs one three hundred thousands of an ounce. I’m not a
sucker to believe those things that the paper writes. I believe what Bro.
Branham said. There is some place where that soul is.
Now, that within there lay a germ that should
have taken upon itself a spirit-body which cannot be seen, which cannot be
tempted with sin and it would have formed the very body that Jesus Christ had
in our own order because everything is in its order. That’s why church order is
very important to understand with Bro. Branham right at the top and so on down.
Okay now, with the baptism with the Holy Ghost
we begin forming, predestination wise, in this particular strata and status an
equivalent--now remember using the word equivalent, not as identical now but an
equivalent. We are building from this what we didn’t build back there. So
therefore the baptism with the Holy Ghost is the
compensation given to us whereby we can
absolutely put on the mind of Christ and thwart sin because sin doesn’t tempt
us. Now we’re hitting a very high standard here and a very high note. It is not
that we will be ever be beyond temptation. It is not that we won’t fall and
have trouble. It is that we can look forward to, not just over there but here,
a life that is in victory.
Not this extended junk of two souls and the
Nazarene doctrine of complete eradication. That’s hogwash because as long as
you’re here in the flesh you’ve got to go by your senses. You can’t say, “Well
bless God, that looks like a molten tub of lava but hallelujah I can walk right
through.” Well try it. Maybe some stupid Hindu facarion and a few like him can
walk on coals of fire but there comes a time when there’s things they can’t do
like the idiot on Jack Parr’s show; he showed it, it was beautiful. The guy had
fasted, he had prayed, he had meditated and he was going to walk on water and
so he boldly stepped--plunk, he goes right down in the water. See? You simply,
you can’t become stupid but you can realize there is a place in Christ where we
can overcome because we’ve been formed and are forming into the image. Now
that’s a walk but it’s not sin as perfection. See?
Now Bro. Branham says:
[88] ...At that time you’ve heard from your theophany.
Now this is what I believe he’s saying. The
theophany is that form that comes from the spirit within us that would have
formed the theophany but it bypassed it. But that life will form within us a
life that is a beautiful credit to God. And what is that life going to be? That
life in us is that which can clog every channel to our soul, our spirit, our
minds and our bodies by the Word of the Living God until the process is
reversed and the life flows out and we become living Word to the people. We
have never ever known that. I know that people have guessed at it and they have
preached at it but what we saw from the prophet, there is a reality at this
particular point in a walk that is fantastic.
Now watch, and he said:
[88] ...”If this earthly body be dissolved, And it will be, then
you can go to your theophany.
The real theophany because you have that which
takes you there already from God as a seed, and now mature to go there--because
every child must be child trained and the training is here. We talked about
that suffering, we’ll talk about it later on again when I want to have time to
go back to it. But in this we are maturing into this place.
Now, let’s go a step further with this. He
said:
[88] You have heard from your theophany. “If this earthly body be
dissolved, we have one waiting for us.”
Okay, we bypassed the image. We’re building the
image in the proper order, the proper way under the conditions which we exist
and are predestinated to it. Now let’s look at this in 2 Corinthians. Eating
the eagle food, bringing us to the image of God, the image that we missed; not
like Christ, couldn’t have it. We’re building another image parallel, congruent
to it. Okay, 2 Cor 3:18.
(18) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Now he’s talking at the time when the Spirit of
God comes according to Matthew the 12th chapter. The Gentiles receive Jesus
Christ in the form of the Holy Ghost in the Pillar of Fire, doing the same
things He did when He was here in the flesh to
(1) Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
(2) But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
In other words, a vindicated Word of God is
what Paul tells is going to bring about the final change to the image of God.
And now remember, you get this with having bypassed your theophany. Right?
Right! So therefore, what image is being formed now? Well you’ve got your
answer--absolute glorification, the very image and posture, and positivity of
Christ, identical like Him is going on right now. Now let’s look at that and
see if that isn’t true. In 1 Corinthians the 15th chapter.
(23) Every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his presence.
Now remember, He was present, they came out of
the grave, they went up with Him. He will be present again, not in the
glorified body but in the form of the Holy Ghost and at that time He will be
both Son of man and Son of God. Got to be because as Holy Spirit, He’s Son of
God. But as to ministry, remember, through the Holy Spirit performing in a
prophet we have Son of man, the days of the Son of man.
Now watch.
(24) Then cometh the end, (Now watch the future perfect tense.) when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;
That’s way down at the end of the line. Now
what’s he talking about? He’s talking about the Resurrection. And who makes the
Resurrection? God makes the Resurrection. So at the time of the Presence--what
have you got? You’ve got the guarantee
of New Jerusalem which is the finality of all things, when everybody’s got his
glorified body and his theophonic form, all one, now having bypassed nothing
but being the complete image and fruitage of God. Everyone in the likeness
where God really wants him. So what is going on? He tells you.
(26)
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
(That’s the
(27) For he hath put all things under his feet. When he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is left out which did put all things under him.
God doesn’t get under the feet of
Jesus--everything else does.
(28) (And when God shall have subdued everything under the Son everything is going to be right there. All parts of heaven and earth given unto me, absolutely everything there.)
It says, that God then separates Himself, he
goes back to the Pillar of Fire.
Now, let’s go to Psalm 103.
(1) Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
(2) Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
(3) Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
(4) Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies;
(5) Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Now what’s the renewing of the eagle? The
renewing of the eagle is toward the end of his life. A certain...that’s what they call the clean
eagle--not the dirty eagle. And that eagle’s in the Orient, I suppose it’s in
almost all of the, at least the middle Asia and into Asia and
waddle along until his feathers grow back and
they’re all brand new feathers, and his eyesight is returned.
And you’ve got a perfect picture of the
renewing of the eagle. You’ve got to get as high as you can with this Word and
there’s nobody going to take you there except the prophet’s got to get you up
there--that’s where your faith goes. Then you’ve got to hit the waters of life
as hard as you can hit them until every single feather is knocked out of you.
In other words, every single thing that’s been produced in you has got to go.
At that time your eyesight and a complete regeneration takes place where you
can mount up like into heavenly places in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So you can see what is going on now, there’s a
transformation going on and we are coming into the very image of Jesus Christ
and those that don’t come into it all the way so that standing here they are
not transformed, they will go to their theophonic form. But you show me one
thing they get in their theophonic form that we don’t get standing right here.
You can’t do it. So what’s going on?
Have you heard from your theophany? And you know positively even right now here
the image of Christ is being formed in us and that very image
brother/sister--listen to me--which could be produced only by the Holy Ghost,
from the Holy Ghost, because there’s nothing else there to produce it, that
same image is being produced in us from nothing from ourselves but God
Himself doing it.
You see why I preach the way I preach? I can’t
conceive I am wrong because I prove my point. I’ve waited twenty years to prove
my point tonight not knowing I’d even do it. You show me one thing that they
have that we don’t have right here. You say, “They’ve got their theophonic
body.” So what--we’ll pick ours up. You’ve already got your change. Miss
nothing, don’t die, don’t miss a beat.
Where does that put a people? Well you say, “It
makes them simply great.” It does not--they are a super, super race approaching
unto the Head, my brother/sister, but as the apostle Paul says, “Nobody takes
any pre-eminence.” You know why? Because what happens to men like Bro. Branham
was thoroughly ordained and performed by Almighty God, and the same God is
performing in us--there is no difference at all.
All the sovereignty of God allocates but
there’s not one person different. And in that glorious heaven, the glorious
regime that’s coming on this earth here, the New Jerusalem, there’s nobody
going to feel out of order, there’s nobody going to feel psyched out, there’s
nobody going to say, “Well you know, I wish I was the apostle Paul,” you wouldn’t
care two cents to be the apostle Paul. The only regret could be temporary that
some people could lose what they could have accrued by obeying the Word of God
fastidiously to lay up treasure in Heaven. See? But that’s innate within us to,
to want to give the glass of cold water and do the good things that God wants
to do, we’re laying up treasure in Heaven.
Now, so therefore the form of the theophany was
bypassed but is now forming from that spiritual substance a truly spiritual
life, all of God now mind you and it couldn’t
happen until this hour, the hour when The Token
Itself comes and beware that you miss the Token, or a token which is given unto
us. Okay.
[88] ...You’ve heard from your theophany. “If this earthly body be dissolved, we have one waiting.”
In other words, we have the confirmation and
when you realize this Message is the greatest confirming message of all time,
the closing out Message. We have a confirmation that has not been through the
ages. And we look back and we say, “Well look how great those men acted. Look
how those men were. Look at their faith.” Now I’m going to tell you something
brother/sister, they never had the faith to put them in a Rapture--but they got
it now.
[88] ...You
say, “Is that right Bro. Branham?” All right, let’s take a couple eagles and
look at them for a few minutes.
[89] There’s a man named Moses.
Everyone knows that a prophet’s called
the eagle in the Bible. There is a prophet named Moses. One day God
called him and wouldn’t let him go over the promised land--he died on the rock. The angels took him away and
buried him. There was another man, an eagle, didn’t even have to die. He just
walked across
Now what’s he telling you? You don’t like the
size of your nose? Don’t like the way your feet are so big? Now fat
stomachs--they won’t be there. That’s something you’ve abused. Your nose will be
there, your ears will be there--if they stick out like fans, too bad. You’ll
see the same ears that stick out. You’ve got a hunch back--I don’t think...that
won’t be there, you’ll be straight. You’ve got brown eyes--you’ll have brown
eyes when you get there. Recognized him. Say, “Man you think maybe my theophany
could be that horrible?” I’m not horrible at all. Here you’ve got a wrong
understanding what beauty is--”beauty is solely defined by sex.” Brother, that
will lead you astray because look at some of these great painters so called,
they were sex monsters and sheeze some of the paintings--my God have pity. In
your wildest dream I don’t think even Satan would put junk like that out.
He saw them, just what they were. Saw Moses
there, saw Elijah there.
[89] ...”If this earthly
tabernacle be dissolved...” If you’re an attribute of God expressed here on earth, you’ve got a
body waiting after leave this world. Notice. If you’re an attribute of God expressed--it’s
true.
If you’re a
gene of God, you’ve got a body waiting,
and he says, eternal. There they were standing on mount
transfiguration in their
theophany, Their theophonic forms. for
they were the prophets to whom
the Word came.
Now, he’s not trying to tell that you don’t get
a body like theirs. He’s just telling you the Word came to them, and you
notice, when the Word was here on earth in the form of a human being, the same
Word that was in them in that particular instance and particular amount for the
particular time--the great embodiment appeared to them. Always the Word comes
to a prophet, never anything else. You know people say that they got the Pillar
of Fire from Bro. Branham. What’s this young...you don’t hear from him anymore,
young W. V. Grant. It’s a good thing he shut his mouth because he doesn’t have
Bro. Branham’s mantle and things like that--that’s a lot of hogwash. Nobody’s
got the Pillar of Fire. The Bride’s got the Pillar of Fire--God amongst His
people.
[90] Also let us notice another prophet one time by the name of
Samuel. He was a great man. He
taught
And they said, “No, everything
you’ve always said in the Name of
the Lord came to pass.”
[91] He was a prophet. And he died. About three or four years later,
the king got in trouble; that was
before the Blood of Christ was ever shed.
He was in paradise. That is, Samuel was. And a witch of Endor for
somebody to come, and console Saul. And when the witch saw him standing up, she
said, “I see God rising out of the earth.” And after the man had been dead, buried, and
rotted in the grave, here he was standing there in that cave with his prophet’s
robes on, and was still a prophet. Amen!
See? In other words, there’s no change. How
could there be a change anyway? You know that a seed is going to bring forth
exactly what it’s going to bring forth. You see? You’re not down in earth here
ordained of God, hodge-podge, hit or miss, to say, “Well I think I’ll answer
this call and I’ll be so and so.” Or the chicken says, “I think I’ll be an
eagle.” I had a chicken once and it got drunk and it thought it was an eagle. Now
if you want to get an anointing on you and you’re just a chicken, you’ll think
you’re an eagle. Oh he drank the neighbours mash, he ate the neighbours mash
and man that chicken got on top of the chicken house and squawk, squawk,
squawk, did this and tried to stretch and did his best to fly. Finally, you
know, the effects of the alcohol wore off and he came down. Sort of reminded me
of what Bro. Branham said to Leo, Pentecostal anointing.
Listen, this man here predestinated--you’re not
going to be that. See? That’s why just being...like Bro. Branham said, “If you’re a nail pounder, pound nails. If
you’re a potato hoer, hoe potatoes.” Don’t try to be what you’re not. You might
think, “Oh I could get there.” Hogwash. I could put everyone in this pulpit
here, give you all a chance and if you’re not ordained to it you’re going to
fall flat on your face.
Now that’s a long cry from just some little
thing up here for a few minutes. I mean you get up here and deliver. Put
yourself on the line. See? Just see if that food comes or not. No there’s a
difference. Always will be a difference--don’t kid yourself. Don’t try to be
what you’re not. When you realize what you are in the economy of God, which
people can realize, you become very happy and very, as you’ve never been happy
before. You’re solid in your faith, you’re solid in your ministry and your walk
where you belong. It’s very important to know that. I thank God I learned my
lesson a long time ago.
[91] ...He was still a prophet. That’s right,
he always will be.
[92] For
he said, “Why did you call me out of my rest, seeing you become an enemy of the Lord?” Watch him
prophesy. “Tomorrow night by this
time you’ll be with me.” He was still a prophet, though he was gone from this body. See, he became
here...
Now watch,“He
became here.” I love that. Bro.
Branham’s language is lousy when it comes to English--it’s perfect when it
comes to God. They read their Bible then they don’t believe it’ll happen. They
mouth off about all these great truths but they don’t understand the great
truths. I hope in these services here you’re beginning to be at rest with the
fact that whether you want to admit it because of the shame in your life, you
are a son of God and where you came from. See?
You may be pretty heathenish. Remember Jesus
came down and took upon the form of a man, identified Himself thoroughly with
sinful flesh though He wasn’t, and He took us out of the mess we’re in whether
we want to believe it or not. God hears our voices, doesn’t even see us--but He
hears our voices and He sees through the Blood, and He sees us represented.
“Then how does God know what’s going on?” The Holy Spirit is an intercessor in
us and when He knows we’re into sin, spiritual fornication or any other kind,
that Spirit has to begin talking to where it came from. God knows all about us.
Don’t try to kid God. Kid each other for a joke maybe the odd time, but don’t
even try to kid each other seriously as though God doesn’t know. See? All
right.
[92] ...”By this time tomorrow night you’ll be with me.” He was
still a prophet, though he was gone from
this body. See, he became here
and was part of that Word, and he
entered from the flesh life back
into the body that had been prepared for him before the foundation of the world. He entered into the
theophany which was the Word. Remember, “In the beginning was the Word, the
Word was with God, and the Word was
God.”
You know, I would say that it’s a good thing if
we tried to get used to it, and did become used to, the fact that spirit is a
true substance and has within its power to form itself. See? Also has within it
Zoe, which can reach out and take substance and manoeuvre, mould and manoeuvre.
There’s a mystery there but I can’t help believe that’s the way it is because
of what the prophet taught and I see nowhere to go from it.
[92] ...You
get it? That’s where all the believers go when we turn from here.
In other words, you’ve got that which this
body, this little life rather, this little life, this speck of God would have
formed for itself and has literally formed for itself and we bypassed it. So
that we are not true substance as we would like to be substance except that one
little molecule so to speak.
Now we’re down here in a foreign land--we are
called pilgrims. But you know, we look for a city which hath foundation. Do you
realize when Abraham went out in his tent he was looking for a city which had
foundations? And you know he found it when he saw Melchisedec, the King in His
city? He had a city--He had to be. But he couldn’t have it--it wasn’t time.
Perfect picture of God coming down on earth and giving us everything. See, it’s
all here before us, there’s no two ways about it.
[93] Then in that form the veil then lifted. You see you are the
Word also when you enter into there.
Now that’s the curtain of time that Bro.
Branham saw. If we can believe him and listen to his sermons, to his word, and
take it, we can have a measure of the revelation and the beneficence, the
benefits of his revelation. If you just dare to believe it and say, “All right,
Bro. Branham begot me in the gospel. He is my father, he is an eagle--I’m an
eagle, I’m an eaglet. He went beyond the curtain of time, he came back and told
us--I went beyond the curtain of time with him, I believe it.”
You say, “I don’t know if I can do that.” Well
just a minute now, remember when Elisha had Gehazi and Gehazi ran after Naaman?
And Elisha said, “Gehazi, where were you?” He said, “I was nowhere.” He said,
“How come my spirit went with you?” Well did it or didn’t it? Now you put your
own interpretation on and you’ll get into trouble. That’s what he said. Then
why wouldn’t ours go with him? You see what I’m doing, I’m giving a picture
now. We actually can take from him by the same spirit and say, “I was there
with him in the full potential, I believe it, I’m claiming it now. I see myself
with that beautiful throng. I see myself with them coming back. I am a part of
that, because I have a part of it.” See? Now he said,
[93] ...You see you are the Word also when you enter into there.
In other words, you have your Word-body,
there’s a full consummation. See, a full
consummation--here you’re getting the same thing without it in the literal
sense that they come back to get a glorified body, we step from here
intrinsically from what’s in
here to the glorified body. Not a wink of an
eye, not one breath, not one heartbeat--well the heartbeats you’ll miss because
you won’t need a heart. You won’t have blood pumping. Well you might have
energy pumping, I don’t know--what’s the difference? You’ll be able to eat, and drink--what a
fantastic thing. What a fantastic thing when all those forms with theophonies
hit the earth just like that [Bro. Vayle snaps his fingers] you and I start changing. See? My
you see there’s...you see then how the picture comes together? How perfect it
is? You see?
Then he says:
[93] ...As a little baby like I said awhile ago...
In other words, reversing it. The woman dropped
the baby, the spirit came in. We drop our bodies, the spirit, soul goes over
it. See how the thing works in perfect cycles? You know something, because
we’re so used to mysteries and not really getting truth and pondering things,
for the first time we’re becoming, we are becoming a part of the mysteries and
we know what’s going on. You go to a
doctor and if you try to drag something out of him he wants to hit you with a
crowbar because he doesn’t know--you are his guinea pig from what he learned
and maybe he can pull you through. Likely he pulls you through the wrong door.
We are not guinea pigs in an experiment--we are a part of reality.
If we’re not, somebody is. I can’t believe for
one minute we don’t have solid core here, if not every single person. I can’t
tell who’s what. That’s the thing that the Scripture says, “The foundation of
God standeth sure having this, saying, the Lord knows those which are His.” I
don’t know. I’ve got to believe I’m a part. You’ve got to believe you’re a
part. I’ve got to believe you’re a part or why are you sitting here? Because
you think that you’re going to get something out of it? You’ve got to be sick.
What am I going to give you? I try to be nice to you, sure, but what can I give
you. I can’t even give my own kids
anything. What’s to give, what’s to do? It’s just a part of truth that’s all we
can possibly do.
[94] Now notice, Praise God for the opening of these Seals is my
prayer, to know these things.
I’m going to quit right there because under the
Seals these mysteries are coming forth under the Thunders which could not be
put in the book as to a definitive revelation--a prophet must take them forth.
So we’re going to start then next Sunday morning, we’ll continue then here
where Bro. Branham talks about the Seals. And the opening of the Seals, let’s
face it, under the Seals brother/sister, there has to be an opening in the
flaming swords of the Cherubim’s to go to the Tree of Life. There has to be an
opening of death and of Eternal Life. There has to be an opening that you can
bypass the form you shouldn’t have bypassed and walk right up to where they
are.
What’s going on in the last hour? If you can’t
see a becoming you’re missing the prophets very close careful language, “A becoming.” Are we becoming? There must be; can’t turn
around now. There comes a time when you lean so far forward from the top of a
building that you can pray to the God in heaven or the devil in hell that you
worship, and there’s no way that you’ll get your balance because you’re gone.
We’re in that petition right now, only thing is we’re bending upward. Paul
said, “There’d be some,”...Jesus said, “There’d be some here who shall not
taste death until they see the Kingdom...the Son of Man coming in His
glory.” And there’d be people, I
believe, right here today in this church that will not die. No way. Say, “Well
they’ve believed that for thousands of years.” I don’t care if they did. I
don’t care if they did. I’m glad they did. They had to so we could have it.
Let’s rise and be dismissed. Gracious Heavenly
Father we want to thank You again for Your mercy, Your love. You brought us
here Lord, You’ll let us go home and rest Father, You’ll let us enjoy life all
the more because we have an upward look we never had before--eagles renewed in
the spirit of the mind. Eagles renewed right down in the soul, living on eagle
food Lord. Giving us strength to mount up like eagles with wings and we are
eagles because that’s the Word of God.
Father, we’re not presumptuous tonight, if we
are I know You understand why we are, because we heard a prophet--believe
him. We’ve come to the place Lord that,
we’ll be honest, we may not be a hundred percent every single iota convinced of
what we should be convinced of, but there’s one thing, we’ll say this Lord, and
we know we’re not lying; we’re more convinced of this when it comes to Your
Word than anything there is and it is now, live or die, sink or swim, because
we’re committed no matter what comes; great miracles, great this, great
that.
And I know Lord, there could be a jumping off
place because Bro. Branham said, “If I
wasn’t that one that was to come, I’m laying a foundation for him.” And we could say, “Well someone else is
coming.” I believe that that one has already come. I believe the great One is
here Lord. I don’t believe I’m mixed up
Lord, I don’t believe the people here are mixed up Father. We believe we’re
right only because it’s Your right and we believe it--that’s all. We rest our
case with You O God and a vindicated prophet and we don’t know anybody else
that could touch it. Lots of talk, lots of things, but not what this man had
Lord.
And so we commend ourselves to you tonight, O
God, and everyone in this building, the sick amongst us, particularly those
that aren’t here because they are sick. Father, we pray in Jesus’ Name that
You’ll help them. And Lord, those that are not serious enough, and sober
enough, and that could take every single one of us in, we pray you’ll increase
it, O God to such an extent that that life will have the ascendancy and the
pre-eminence--that’s what we want Lord.
And we don’t want it on grounds, Father, that is predestinated and
therefore is like a club; we want it Lord because the deep calls to the deep
and in there is love and all the attributes and all the fine elements that go
with the real love that’s in the Holy Ghost released by the Word.
So Father, commend us all we pray, into Your
great care and Your great love and mercy, help us to just walk day by day,
moment by moment be happy in the Lord. Love each other thereby love You, serve
each other thereby serve You and all go on, Lord, to our place, in our places,
with the Spirit of God. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.
Take the Name of Jesus with you.