Le Chef-d’œuvre
1 Let's bow our heads now for prayer. While our heads and hearts are bowed before God, I--I wonder how many in here has a request that they'd like God to remember by just lifting up your hands? That's...?... Now, hold your request in your heart now as we pray.
2 Lord Jesus, Thou the--the
Fountain, inexhaustible Fountain of Life, flow through us today, Lord,
and cleanse us from all unbelief and all sin, that we might stand in
Thy Presence now, knowing that there is need among us, that... We know
that we are sinners and not--not worthy of any blessing. But then when
we think of Him Who came and took our sins, then when His Blood's
there, it's not--it's not us in the Presence of God, it's Him--just our
voice through His Blood; His Blood's speaking. Oh, God, then cleanse
our hearts from sin and unbelief.
Give to us the desires of our heart, for we truly have these desires to
serve You. And in these weakening conditions and afflictions and things
of the world that's put upon us sometime to perfect us... We've been
told that, that He said, "Think it not strange that these trials come."
They're only working out for our good and to perfect us and bring us
into that place. These great deserts of experience, where righteous men
are molded into saints, we--we thank Thee for these experiences, Lord.
We would no mean--no wise want to do anything contrary to Your will;
but we pray, Father, that in this we'll be brought closer to You.
And when the burdens are so heavy we can't go no farther, then we raise
our hands and scream for our Father. Then hear from heaven, Lord. Heal
us. Make us well for the Kingdom of God's sake.
5 Bless Thy Word this
morning, Lord. Thy Word is the Truth.
And we assemble here now in the church. We pray for Brother Neville,
and for Brother Capps, and Brother Collins, and all the rest of the
ministers, and the--and the trustees, deacons, and all the laity, and
the strangers in our gates. May this be a day that we'll long remember
because of Your Presence.
We're here under great expectation this morning, Lord. Just momentarily
notice, called together... We feel that it's for a purpose. May Your
purpose be achieved, Lord. For we ask it in Jesus' Name, as we submit
ourselves. Amen.
7 It's grand to be here and
to be assembled with this church full of people. I wasn't expecting to
be--hardly anyone here this morning, because I didn't hardly know
myself I was going to be here.
We just got in from Philadelphia. And so I come in thinking I was going
to have to go to Arizona right quick for--have a funeral service for a
friend of mine, Captain Jim Mosley, a very precious, godly boy I led to
Christ not long ago, the three Mosley brothers... And one of them fell
and was--in the plane the other day and was killed instantly, laid in
the fire for ten hours 'fore they got to him. So leave... Twenty-eight
years old, his wife twenty-six, and--and leave three little children,
the oldest seven: very sad. And they... When they got him in, then they
had to bury him the next day. So I just--I didn't get to go. And I just
wrote out--or sent by telegram what I was going to say, or what I
would've said at Brother Mosley's funeral. And some of these things we
can't understand, but yet He makes everything work just right.
9 We're here in service of
the Lord this morning, knowing that--that--that we believe God, that we
believe that He'll make everything just exactly right. Regardless of
what it is and how it works out, we know it's got to work for good. He
promised that. It's just got to be that way. Sometimes we can't
understand that, gets very complicated at times, but yet we know that
it's the truth, 'cause the Bible says it's the truth. And the Bible to
us is God in letter form.
Now, we got to place our faith somewhere. And if--if I--any of us in
life tried to make a success in life and become many times a
multimillionaire... But what are we going to do with that? We got to
come down at the end of the road and what--what good is it to us then?
See? And money is a--a scrip; it's an exchange; but you can't exchange
it for Life. Only God has Life.
11 So we--we realize that we're here in a negative form. And as long as there is a negative, there has to be a positive. There cannot be a negative without a positive (See?), because it's because of the positive that makes the negative. Like you had a negative picture of some object. There has to be an object somewhere or it--to strike--the light strike that lens or there wouldn't be any--any negative. So when we see that our life here is in the negative and knowing that we're in the image of some life somewhere, then we know that there is a positive somewhere that the light has struck, and it's reflected something here on earth. And we are only that reflection. The genuine object is somewhere. If that isn't, I'm the worst deceived man in the world; I've spent my life in vain. But I know beyond a shadow of doubt that it's there. That's why we're here.
12 When I see you people come
across the country on a few moments notice, and sometime presuming,
then it makes me feel real little when I come into a meeting like this,
to think that I know people here has traveled for hundreds of miles
just to be here for a few minutes of service, just to set here.
Some woman just made a remark, come in the other day and said, "Show me
where the man has walked, and let me walk behind him upon the ground,"
said, "I'll get well." Now, the people believes you like that, and
you're a representative of Christ, then what should we do? We should be
very careful, because you're not only destroying yourself with wrong,
you're destroying others who are following you.
So I know no denomination or other to take you to. There's only one
thing I have my faith in (if you believe me, follow what I tell you,
because I believe the Bible), that's the Word of God. Other things
fail. I'm... He is Life. He is the Word.
15 Now, I know that you... When I come here I keep you long. I pray to God when I felt like I wanted to come here today... I've had so many interviews, and calls, and so forth; I had to meet some of them this morning. And I said, "Well, Brother Neville will no doubt ask me to speak." That was Friday. And I said, "Brother Neville will probably ask me to speak. And when I do, then I pray, God... It's so hot, been so hot. And He was good to send us a rain and break the real extreme heat and give us a good morning this morning. I pray that His goodness will shower each one of you all that you'll ever remember being here this morning. May His grace and blessings be upon you.
16 Last night I visited a friend that's sick, Brother Bill Dauch. I don't see him here this morning. Somehow I... Oh, here he is. Yeah. And I was thinking, "An old man of ninety-one years old and still storming across the--the country, through the deserts, and over the snowy mountains, and the slick roads. He don't have to do that. God has been good to him; he don't have to do that. He could set home and have servants a-fanning him if he wanted to." But something happened to Bill Dauch. He was born again. And when it was, something come into his heart, that all he lives for is to attend these services. And then, if I'm to be the mouthpiece of God, would I deceive a friend? I'd rather die. Then let me tell him exactly what's the Truth out of this Bible. Then that's God's Word. I'm just repeating what He said.
17 Now, I want to read some out of the Bible. And before we read, I'd like to--to say that I believe tonight is the Communion night. And you who are--are here locally ('course the other people probably will be going back to their homes, 'cause they have to go to work)--you who are locally here in the assembly, remember, the brethren will be giving Communion tonight.
18 Now, I'm waiting for a--a the final call for Africa. They wouldn't--won't let me in as a missionary. So the only way I can go in, down... I'm going to Kenya, Uganda, and--and Tanganyika. And the only way I can go in... First, the churches won't let you in, 'cause they want me to preach something on this side and that side down in Africa. And I won't go in like that. I wouldn't be hypocrite enough to do that. So I either tell them, "No sir, I'll just preach just what God puts on my heart and that's all." See? And I'm sure it won't be what they're trying to get me to teach. So--triune baptisms, and so forth like that, and fussing with them. No.
19 But I've been asked to a big convention by Brother Boze. He's just on the verge of coming to seeing some daylight of what we believe. And so I've asked to come in like I was going on a hunting trip. If they'll let me in, like going in hunting... If I can get somebody to say they'd take me hunting, then when I get in there (the doctor--the doctor's there at the embassy is a personal friend of mine out of Chicago)--and as soon as I get in there, he'll say, "Well, here's Brother Branham over here. Let's have a meeting." So after I'm there the embassy can't turn me down. If they... So they're trying to work it through now. So I trust that... If it's God's will it'll work out that way. See? It--it's just committed to Him. If not, then I'll notify you.
20 I want... If it be the will
of God then, I want to speak on the Seven Trumpets. And that'll be
about a eight day service. And we won't be here at the Tabernacle;
perhaps we'll try to get an auditorium here.
Now, I never thought of this new auditorium just being built up here.
It's exactly where I saw Jesus the first time in vision (Now, it's--the
auditorium built right over the same spot. I went right there the other
day to look.), when I looked and seen Him looking towards the east (You
remember hearing me tell it.), when I was out there praying for my
father, a--a little boy, just a boy preacher. That's where I saw Him,
set looking at Him. He's had His head turned sideways from me. I kept
walking around, clearing my throat, in a broom sage field. And I kept
watching, and He never did turn around. I called His Name, "Jesus," and
He turned around, held His arms out. And that's all I remembered until
daylight. And so I come back out of the field along towards daylight.
So maybe the Lord will let me preach those Trumpets there. Wherever it
is, God's will be done.
22 Turn in your Bibles now to
Isaiah the 50--53rd chapter of Isaiah. Now, we trust that God will
bless our feeble efforts of coming together this morning. We just come
down from Philadelphia, where I was at the Full Gospel Business Men's
convention. And listening to their different testimonies and so forth
up there...
Then I--on the road down I was... Billy Paul, and I, and Rebekah, and
little Collins' girl, little Betty Collins... And Billy's a very good
sleeper, and Becky's better. And so I--Betty and I talked. And she was
setting back with Becky in the back seat. And I seen something on the
road happen. And when I did, something struck me. And Betty (if she's
here), she noticed I quit talking and started writing something down.
That's where I got this text for this morning.
24 Now, let us stand to our
feet if we... Now, we stand in honor of God's Word, as I read Isaiah
the 53rd chapter:
Who has believed our
report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? (Notice, it's a
question to begin with.)
For he shall grow up
before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of... dry ground: he
has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there's no
beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and
rejected of men; a man of sorrow,... acquainted with grief: and we hid
as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne
our grief, and has carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we were
healed.
All we like sheep
have gone astray; we've turned every one to his own way; and the Lord
has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed,
and... was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he was brought as a
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers... dumb, so
he opened not his mouth.
He was taken from
prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he
was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgressions of my
people he was stricken.
And he made his
grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he has
done no violence, neither was there deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him; he... put him to grief: when thou shall make his
soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, and he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
And he shall see of
the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall
many righteous servants be justified... many; for he shall bear their
iniquity.
Therefore I will
divide him a portion with the great, and... shall divide the spoils
with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death: and...
was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sins of many, and
made intercession for the transgressors.
25 Father God, Thy Word is a Lamp, the Light that lights the path of every believer into the Presence of God, as It carries us like a lantern in our hand. You've not provided enough that we should see the end from the beginning, and--by I walk with faith. But as a man would travel through a dark forest at night (And that's where we are.), the light that he holds only provides step by step. But the path, though leading upward, just walk with the Light. And may the Light shine today upon the Word to lead us one step farther to the Kingdom of God. For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen. (Be seated.)
26 The subject that I feel to
speak to the congregation today is "The Masterpiece." It may seem
rather strange to take a--a Scripture reading like this of a--of one of
the most bruised and murderous pictures of the Bible, that when the
Bible says that this perfect Servant that was afflicted, and bruised,
and torn, and yet take a text from that as Masterpiece: very strange.
But I--my mind is thinking this morning as we journey back (I do) for a
few years. I was invited up to Forest Lawn in--in California, up above
Los Angeles. My first purpose for going up there was to visit the--the
grave of--of Aimee Semple McPherson, the founder of the Foursquare
movement. And I went to her--her tomb. And I... Although I--I different
with the woman as a minister, but yet I--in my heart I give admiration
and a respect for--for what she stood for in the--the hour and the
persecution and things she had to go through with in--in time of her
being here on the earth. And then, for her--her beloved son, which is a
bosom friend of mine, Rolf McPherson...
28 And a group of ministers,
we went up there. And they--we didn't have time to go into
the--the--into the--the place where they have the cremation and put
the--the bodies in a--a little box on the side of the wall.
And in there they have some outstanding things such as the Last Supper.
And it's lighted by the actual light of the sun. And they--they have a
shutter that it gives them... When they go in, it's light; and then as
they begin to speak it darkens up. And after while it all becomes dark.
And then the people go out.
30 And they have all the Supper... And the woman that held the secret of how to beat this glass into this place, why, make these pictures, why, it--it come through a family from many years back. And the art was just given to the children, and the last one was a woman. And they was fixing this picture. And when they went to mold and burn the--the glass, bake it, of Judas Iscariot, it busted. So then, they tried it again. And it busted again. And she said, "Maybe our Lord doesn't want His enemy picture by His side." And said, "If it bursts again, we'll not complete the picture." But it held that time. Then... 'Course that was a striking thing, and how that such things would happen.
31 But then, one of the main
things that interests me in Forest Lawn was Michelangelo's, the great
sculpture, the--the monument of Moses. It's a--a reproduction there, of
course. It isn't the original. But it was such a--a great masterpiece.
And as I stood and looked at it, I--I liked that, something that looks
like it--represents, got something to it.
I like art real well. I believe God is in art. I believe God is in
music. I believe God is in nature. He... God's everywhere. And anything
that's contrary to the original is a perversion. God is in dancing, not
the kind of dancing you do here, but when the sons and daughters of God
are in the Spirit of God (See?), that's dancing. But like I had to
contend with till 2 o'clock this morning up there in the lane, that's
the perversion of it.
33 But this masterpiece that Michelangelo had--had made, it--it cost him something to do that. That... He was a great man. And it cost a big part of his life, because he was many, many years in carving out... Just take a rock and--of--of marble and keep carving it. And to see... Only the man, the sculptor himself has in his mind what he's trying to do; he--he's the one. You might walk up and say to him, "What are you pecking on that rock for?" To the outsider who doesn't know what's in his heart, oh, it's nonsense. But to the man, the sculptor himself, he--he's got a--a vision in his mind, what he's trying to make, and he's trying to reproduce what he has on his mind in the form of a--of a monument. And that's the reason he's picking it out of the rocks.
34 And this to do, you have to start off right at the beginning, and you have to follow the pattern. See? You can't get a little piece to start off: "We'll make it this way. No, I believe..." No, he's got to have a exact pattern. And in his mind he's got that pattern. And he cannot vary from that pattern. Now, in order to do this he had to draw in his mind. Because we have no real pictures of Moses, but he had to get a mental picture in his mind of exactly what Moses was.
35 Now, a genuine sculptor is inspired, like a genuine poet or any genuine singer, musician, whatever it might be. All real has to come by inspiration. Michelangelo must've had the inspiration of what Moses really looked like, and he caught it in his mind what Moses must've been. So he set forth on this great piece of marble to cutting to the pattern, and bringing down, and honing down, until he got to the real picture of what it must have been in his mind.
36 And then when he got all so perfect, every corner off, and every place rubbed, and the eyes just right, and every hair and beard, all just the way it was, he stood off and looked at it. I--I think of--of many, many hard years of labor, and how he had to hold that same vision all the time in his mind of what he was going to do. And just think, that vision on his mind for so many years, to make it look just exactly to what it was--he caught the vision first--and how he had to work to that vision, cutting off and making down... And when he got it to where he perfected it, till it really got perfect, he stood and looked at it when he finished up that morning, with a hammer in his hand. And he was so inspired when he looked at it, because the vision of his mind was standing before him in reality. What he had seen and the--his conception of what Moses was, there it was figured before him, what he'd had in his heart all these years of toils, and hours of sorrow, and distress, and critics, and everything else, but yet he stayed right with the vision until it was completed.
37 And then when it was
completed, he stood back with the hammer (the sculptor's hammer) in his
hand, and he looked at that monument. And the inspiration of the
vision, that he'd seen of how to do it, inspired him so much, till
he... The inspiration struck him till he got beside hisself and struck
it across the knee and said, "Speak!"
And now there's a flaw on that great image, on the knee, on the right
knee. Just above the knee about six inches is the place. I put my hand
on it, about that deep.
39 After he had spent all that
time, for years and years to make this, then under the--the influence
of seeing fulfilled what he had seen in his heart and in his vision,
and desired to see, it was completed. And when it was completed, he was
so inspired by it till he thought his own masterpiece should speak back
to him. And he struck it across the leg and hollered, "Speak!" And it
made a flaw on it. It put a flaw on the image.
To me, the flaw was what made it the masterpiece. Now, maybe to
the--the mind that might think different, you'd think that spoiled it.
No, to me it--it made it what it was. It--it... Because of after so
many years of careful work, and toils, and inspiration, and so forth of
making it, his toil had proved not in vain; it was perfect, and that's
why he cried out, "Speak!" Because he'd seen before him that he
was--had been able to achieve, to bring to pass the vision that was in
his mind; and therefore, under inspiration he done something out of
reason, out of the ordinary; he struck it and hollered, "Speak!" See,
he wouldn't have done that if he'd have thought. But he didn't think.
It was inspiration of seeing what he had in his mind setting there
perfectly before him.
41 His toils, and wearies, and
long nights, and housed away from the world for days... And maybe eat a
sandwich, and--and rub on it, and get back and, "No, that's just not
the way it was. Now, it's got to come down to this," and rubbing it...
Then when he saw it just perfect, then he saw in reality. The negative
of the--what was in his mind had become real; it become positive;
therefore, it sprung into him. And it was so real that he must cry out,
"Speak!"
To me it was a reflection, it was--it was a compliment to his work,
that his own work so inspired him that he would become beside himself
to smite it and to say, "Speak!"
43 I stood there and looked at the monument. I thought of the hours that the man must have put in making that. And they said how many years it was. But it--it was a reflection to him, because it was a contribution to his--to his great art, his great work of what he was doing. And when he finally was able to achieve it, it was so great.
44 Now, let us turn the page of Michelangelo and close the book. And let's open another Book and read of the Great Sculptor, the Almighty, Who before there was a world and before the foundations was laid, He had in His mind what He wanted. And He wanted to make man in His own image. He wanted to make something in--in reality of what was a vision to Him, what was in His thinking.
45 Now, to Michelangelo that was an attribute of his thought. And God wanted to make a man after His image, (the Great Sculptor), and He went to work on him. And we notice as He brought up from the materials, the first perhaps was fishes, and then the birds, and--and then the creeping things upon the earth, and the many things that He brought. But finally as He brood, being Creator, He had... He wasn't like a man now, a sculptor that'd have to take something that's been created to hew an image. He was the Sculptor of eternal things. He was a Sculptor that could create and bring into existence that which He has in His mind to do; or otherwise, He can make material what His attributes desired.
46 And as He begin to work
upon creeping things, like upon the--the--the little animals upon the
earth... And then He began to bring it from that into something else
higher. Then finally He brought it into the larger animals such as the
lion, tiger, bear. Then He brought it into the--the--the life of maybe
of--of monkeys, and apes, and so forth. Now, not an evolution, as we
think that one came from a any... That was a complete creation, God
working in a pattern.
But finally there came forth upon the earth a perfection, and that was
a man. And then He could see in that man, that it looked like Him. So
now, when He looked upon him, he was a reflection of what his Creator
was. God had now been able to achieve the thing that He wanted: a man
in His own image.
48 And then I might say to this: that when He made this man there was something about him yet that didn't look just right, because that he--he was by himself. And that's how God had been--by Himself. He was the Eternal. And the man now in the image of God also existed on the earth by himself. So He must've struck a little blow over on his left side, and from there He took the piece that struck off of it and made him a helpmate, a wife. Then he wasn't by himself; he was--he was--he had somebody with him. And that's His great work.
49 And He, as any great
sculptor would take his--his--his masterpiece... Now, first, He had a
masterpiece of Himself. But now, He seen that the masterpiece was
lonesome like He was, so He divided the masterpiece by striking it in
the side and brought forth a helpmate.
And now, to make the two one, He put them, like any great sculptor, in
a place that--that's beautiful. A--a sculptor wouldn't make a great
masterpiece and then take it and set it in a alley somewhere or hide it
behind buildings. As our Lord told us, "A man doesn't light a candle
and put it under a bushel." When we become God's masterpieces, we're
not hid in a alley somewhere; we--we must give light.
51 So we see that--that He--after He made this masterpiece. He placed it up here on the earth and put it in the most beautiful place there was, in the garden of Eden. He placed His masterpiece (the two being one) in the garden of Eden. How it must've pleased Him, that He saw this masterpiece was well. He... After that we find out that He rested; He was so well pleased with His work.
52 Now remember, that my
opinion the masterpiece is the stroke that marred San Angelo's Moses
masterpiece in the monument. And it was a stroke that cut the side of
His masterpiece that brought out the bride. And now, we see them as a
masterpiece family in the garden of Eden. How beautiful it was. And it
so pleased Him, till He--He took rest then; He said, "I--I'll rest."
But while He was resting and trusting to His masterpiece, His enemy
come in and found this great masterpiece; and he--by deceit he--he
crawls under the--the garden walls, and then he--he marred this
beautiful masterpiece. He--he marred it so that it--it fell.
54 Now, I'm trying to watch that clock. And I asked Mike, my nephew, to ring that bell in thirty minutes, but I--he's not doing it, and I've already been thirty minutes, but it's... We'll continue on a little bit. See? Now, I don't want to--to break these rules; I--I made these rules. See? And I--I... And here's breaking your own rule.
55 Now, notice. Then this
masterpiece, when Satan got ahold of (the deceiver)--broke through the
walls, and--and he marred this masterpiece. Because that the way He did
it... What--how did he do it? I'll go more detail of it, how he done
it, when this masterpiece was walled by the Word, God's Word. And the
masterpiece itself, of the family, was fortified by this Word; but the
broken part that was broke off of the original went out beyond that
Wall and give Satan a chance to mar it. (And now, as you know what I
believe on those things, so I won't have to say that.) But the
masterpiece was broke.
But the Great Sculptor, when He seen the fall of His family, the
masterpiece, He wasn't willing just to leave it lay there face down and
ruin; He went to work immediately to build it up again. He wasn't
willing that it should perish, lay there like that all the time,
because He's God and He will not be defeated. So He went to work
immediately and begin to build again unto His own image, a man.
57 Now, we find that the
antediluvian world come along and destroyed the whole thing, because
the covenants that was made, was made conditionally: "If you will not
do this or if you will do that..." God, the Great Sculptor, seen that
man could not--could not keep a covenant. He just can't do it. There's
just no way at all.
On the interview a few moments ago I was speaking to a person in the
room that's present now, who said, "But Brother Branham, I have so many
things that I--I know that's wrong." (And a--a godly little woman.)
I said, "But--but look, sister, you--you don't look at yourself;
it--it's just what your desire is and what you try to do. And if you
really love the Lord, you try to serve Him with all your heart. And
then all your mistakes is hid in the Blood of the Lord Jesus. (See,
see?) He made a way."
59 So He begin now, taking man
from His covenants of--of saying that, "If you will, I will." And He
begin with a man called Abraham and give to Abraham a covenant
unconditionally. Every time He'd start a masterpiece, Satan would get
it, because the Word. But when He started with Abraham, He said, "I
have already done it." Now, this is unconditionally, not,
what--that--that, "If you will, I will," but, "I've already done it."
Now, He... The--the Sculptor is determined to have this masterpiece.
Then from Abraham come the patriarchs. And the patriarchs really...
Now, what's God doing? He's rebuilding this masterpiece that had
fallen. So in the patriarchs, the first we find was Abraham.
61 Now, watch. Every
masterpiece is put on a foundation of sculpture. Angelo's monument of
Moses is on three or four foot piece of marble. It's got a foundation.
So God in preparing this masterpiece, He put it on a foundation of the
patriarchs. And the patriarch foundation, first was Abraham, then
Isaac, then Jacob, then Joseph: the four corners.
And now, Abraham was the foundation of faith. Let's say it had four
foundations. The foundation of faith was Abraham. The foundation of
love was Isaac. The foundation of grace was Jacob (God's grace to
Jacob. Anyone knows that). But in Joseph was perfection. There's where
He could set the monument, upon, not the first foundation, the second
foundation, the third foundation, but on the fourth foundation.
63 Abraham portrayed Christ,
of course; so did Isaac in love: Abraham did in faith. Isaac did in
love. Jacob did by his grace, because "Jacob" means "deceiver"; and
that's what he was. But God's grace was with him. But when it come to
Joseph, there's nothing against him, just one little scratch (for the
foundation must also be a masterpiece), when he told his father, the
prophet, "Say to Pharaoh that your people are--are cattle raisers and
not shepherds, because a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptian."
But when the old prophet got before Pharaoh, he said, "Your servants
are herdsmen." So it--it scratched it. See? That's why it still makes
it the masterpiece.
65 Now, the foundations was
laid through faith, love, grace, and to perfection through the
patriarchs. Now, the body work that come on to this great masterpiece
was the prophets, which was the Word (I hope you can read it.
See?)--the prophets, not the laws, the prophets. For the prophets was
the vindicated Word which makes the body, not the patriarchs, the
prophets. They were the Word.
Finally, as He started way back in the days of Moses and come down
through the prophets, to each one, it finally--building up the body,
coming closer all the time... And the greatest of all of them was John.
The Bible said so. Jesus said it: "There's not a man ever born of a
woman as great as John the Baptist," for he was the one that could
introduce the Word. And then come finally the great Head, the Head of
all of it. The rest of the body just spoke of It.
68 The foundation was laid by the patriarch, but the body was built by the Word, which was the prophets. And here comes the Head of all of it; Jesus came on the scene. There when this Headpiece was put upon it, we find in Him the entire handiwork of God. We find in Him the perfect reflection of the Word, for He was the Word, the fullness of the Word. Now, again God has the perfect Masterpiece again, as Isaiah said, "Behold My Servant, My Masterpiece that I have portrayed through all the ages of this perfect One coming. And here He stands right before Me, a perfect..." There in His own image reflecting God, for He said in St. John 14, "When you see Me, you see the Father."...
69 And then, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was hewed out and
reflected what the Word was at the beginning: Him, the Word, reflected
in the Masterpiece in His own likeness, God back again in His own
likeness, the Word form being reflected in the image of a man: the
Masterpiece.
All the prophets had flaws. All the ones was a portion. But here at
last coming up through that finally comes the Masterpiece, the perfect
One, no fault in Him at all, so perfect, reflected of the Builder
Himself. His own image was reflected in His Work. God and Christ were
One, insomuch until He put His own Spirit into Him; and then even the
Image and the Builder became One: God and His sculpture Work, His
Masterpiece... Where Moses--Moses was in the work of San Angelo was
a--or Michelangelo, rather, was a--a sculpture work that was dead,
because it'd been made out of stone. But here the Master Builder, when
He got His Handiwork perfected, He stepped into It.
71 So perfected a Redeemer of
man, so perfect, so godly (Yet there was no beauty we should desire
Him.), when this virgin-born Son of the living God become so perfect,
and humble, and in the image of God, until the great Master Who had
brought His life up through the prophets (and He was the fulfilling of
all the prophets)... He was so perfect, until God seeing this, He smote
Him and has cried out, "Speak!" as Michelangelo did, "Speak!"
You say, "Is that so?" St. Mark 9:7, we find upon the Mount
Transfiguration, when there stood Moses, the law, there stood Elijah,
the prophets. All the way back from the patriarchs, the fathers, the
law, the prophets, and all of them standing there, we hear a Voice
coming down from the cloud and said, "This is My beloved Son, hear ye
Him." And if they're going to hear, He's got to speak. It was just a
few days before He was smitten. "This is My Son, Who I'm pleased to
dwell in. I have molded Him. I've been four thousand years bringing Him
to this. And now He is so perfect I've got to smite Him so He can
speak. "Hear ye Him." He's the perfected One. He--He is the
Masterpiece."
73 Remember, He was portrayed
all times back through the Old Testament. We find Him being the Rock in
the wilderness, that was smitten Rock in the wilderness: "I am that
Rock that was in the wilderness." But that was a stone; that had not
come to its perfection yet. But in type form It followed the Church to
draw from It that that He could draw, and give Life to those who He
could give Life to. But He was that Rock in the wilderness. He had not
been made man yet; He was only in type.
Moses saw Him standing on this rock. He saw Him pass by, and he said,
"It's the back part of a man." You see, the Sculptor was presenting to
Moses which was a potential image of Christ, what the great Masterpiece
would look like when It was perfected. He passed His... He
injected--or--or projected to Moses the vision of what the Masterpiece
was going to look like. It was the back part of a man when It passed by
in the wilderness.
75 Remember, 'Angelo could only cry out and smite the image and say, "Speak!" But how different it was to God, the Great Sculptor. When He made a man in His own image, so perfect that It reflected Him, God spoke through the image of man, showing what He would do. He spoke to the prophets as they were in their potential image, as He was bringing it up to the Head. But when He come in the Head, He was all the image of God. He was portraying Himself. Then smitten for us... Now He is the Masterpiece to us, the Gift of God, Jesus Christ, Eternal Life. I hope we never forget that.
76 As we see the days darkening, as we see the shadows falling... When I predict it's just a few more turns of the sun this nation's gone. Do you know, yesterday, fourth of July, where Thomas Jefferson had signed the Declaration of Independence, him and the other board that was with him, and the Liberty Bell rang, and we was declared an independence as a nation... According to history there has never been a democracy at any time last over two hundred years. And that was 1776, July the fourth. And we're just eleven years left. Will it make it? No, can't. Eleven years, and if it does, it'll break all history.
77 And we see the condition of time. We see the condition of people. We see the condition of politics. We see the condition of the world. It can't stand. It's got to sink like the Titanic. It must go down. For there's... Give room--one nation gives room to another as it falls. And this kingdom must fall and every other kingdom to give room to that Kingdom that's coming which cannot fall. For we receive a Kingdom that cannot be moved through this perfect Image of God, the Masterpiece.
78 God, when He looked upon Him, He was so inspired, He was so... To see Him the way He looked and to see the--the form of Him, He was so inspired that it would be the perfect Masterpiece of a Redeemer: Jesus the Redeemer. So God, in order to be smitten Himself, because to pay His own penalty, God and Christ became One, so God could be smote in the image, He could be scarred. And that's why Isaiah said, "We did esteem Him smitten and afflicted of God. Yet He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we were healed."
79 The perfect image of the
God-man, God En morphe had changed from Supernatural to the vision. And
the vision was projected into the Image. And the Image was smitten so
that the Supernatural could taste the feeling of death, God's perfect
Masterpiece. He could not do it in Moses. He could not do it in the
prophets. Isaiah who was sawed with saws till he was sawed to pieces...
He could not do it in the prophets that were stoned. He could not do
it, because He couldn't feel it. They was just a portion of Him. But in
this perfect Masterpiece He was the Fullness of the Godhead bodily. He
could not only project Moses, He could project His entire being into
this Person and taste death for the whole human race. God's perfect
Masterpiece, God, so inspired by seeing It, He become the Redeemer of
all ages to speak for those in the backgrounds who had been before and
now.
All promises was met in Him. He was the Perfection of the perfection.
All types was fulfilled in Him: our Kinsman Redeemer in Ruth and Boaz;
our Law-giver from Mount Sinai; our Prophet from the wilderness, as He
come from the mountain, as He come from the wilderness, as He come from
eternity and become man, the perfect Image.
81 God, down through the age,
hewing away by the patriarchs, and made His platform, and brought them
up from the different things that He'd lay this foundation upon. Upon
this He begin to build His Word (the prophets), and then finally come
out to the perfect Prophet, the perfect Foundation, the perfect vision
God had.
And now, in order for this to speak (He is the Word.)--and for the Word
to speak He must come into the Image. And then for the image to speak,
it's got to be smitten. He comes into the Image. And then in order to
speak, the perfect Redeemer... All the types of the Old Testament was
met in Him.
As I said the other day, Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus of the
New. Yes!
84 Like many of you men, women my age, we used to have around the country a lot of Chinese laundries. When the Chinese first started in, they come from the west coast, moving eastward, coming over from the eastern country, moving this way. And as they did, they were people who were not acquainted with our language and our ways, but they were fine laundryman. And they couldn't write the ticket so you could get your right laundry back. But the Chinaman, he got himself a bunch of little cards with nothing on it at all. So when you come for your laundry, he would take this card and tear it in a certain way and hand you one piece, and he kept the other piece. And now, it's a little better than what we have now, because when you come back to claim what was your own, those two pieces must dovetail. You couldn't impersonate it if you had to. There's no way of doing it. You could make copies of letters, but you can't impersonate that tear. It's got to fit exactly with the other piece. Therefore, your dirty clothes that you brought in, you could redeem them by this ticket, because it matched the ticket that was turned in.
85 And when God, by the prophets and under the law, condemned us to sin... And the law has no grace; it's--only tells you you are a sinner. But when Jesus came on the scene, He was the fulfillment. He was the--the fulfillment of everything God had promised. He was the perfect, identical image of the promise. Therefore, all promises of the Old Testament was met in Jesus Christ. It couldn't be met in Moses. It couldn't be met in any of the prophets, but it was met in the Masterpiece. It matched all that It said It was going to be. So will the Church have to be a match to everything God has promised. It must be that piece that's smitten off of It. So if the original is the Word, so will the subjects that's been taken from It be the Word to match Its side.
86 Therefore, the Chinaman... You could claim... Where the law condemns you and said you were dirty, and you were guilty, and could put you in the prison; but when He came, He was the Matchpiece for it that could take you out, and bring you back too, to be the complete ticket: the redemption that God had promised back in the garden of Eden: "Thy Seed shall bruise the serpent's head, but His heel shall bruise--bruise its head."
87 Now, we find this perfect
Masterpiece that God had completed. Now, we notice that He was all that
it was promised to be. He's all the promises, all of the prophecies,
everything that God had made a promise of: "Thy Seed shall bruise the
serpent's head." Now, He could not bruise it with the law. He could not
bruise it with the prophets. But He did do it when the woman's Seed
became the Masterpiece: Christ. He was the Stone that Daniel saw hewed
out of the mountain. He was the One could smite. He's the One that
could bruise, bruise the serpent's head.
His life matched exactly the life of Moses. His life matched David.
Let's see if it was, if He's the Matching-piece.
89 Notice David, a rejected
king over his own people. He was... One day while he was... His own son
rose up in mutiny against him. And he separated and divided the armies
of Israel. And he was... David was drove--or driven by his own people
from his throne. And on his road out there was a man who hated him; and
he's walking along there, spitting on David. The guard pulled his
sword, said, "I'll let that dog's head stay on him, spit on my king."
David said, "Let him alone, God told Him to do it." Don't you see? A
man of sorrow, acquainted with grief, He stands like a Sheep before
shearers, dumb. See? He said that. Perhaps David didn't know what he
was saying. But about five, six hundred years afterwards or a little
more, the Son of David was going through them same streets, and He was
spit upon. But notice what happened when David out of his--out of
his... When he became a fugitive, and out of his exile, when he--when
he came back, that man begged for peace and mercy. Even those who smote
Him will see Him one day when He returns.
91 And we find out then in
Joseph, that Joseph was a peculiar-born boy, the last, the top part of
the foundation, where the masterpiece was to be built upon. It come
from faith, and to love, and to grace; it come to perfection. And so
did it from the feet of the beginning, come forth unto perfection in
Christ.
Notice, how that he was portrayed in Joseph, the top of the foundation,
the most perfect of all of them. We find that Joseph was born to his
family; and he was by the legal woman actually, which was Jacob's wife.
And notice also, that when he was born, his father loved him; and his
brothers hated him without a cause. Why did they hate him? Because he
was the Word. See the very foundation? See how the head of the
foundation come. Now look at the head of the body comes. Now, watch the
Head of the Bride come. He was the Word. And they hated him because he
was a seer. He foresaw things and told them; they happened. No matter
how long it lingered, it happened just the same. And by being spiritual
he was excommunicated from his brethren. They ought to have loved him.
But they hated him because he was a prophet and he was spiritual. And
they hated him.
93 Notice, he was sold for
almost thirty pieces of silver, throwed into a ditch, and supposedly to
be dead, but was took up from the ditch. And in his time of temptation
in the prison, the butler and the--the baker... We know that the butler
was saved and the baker was lost. And in Christ's prison house on the
cross, one was saved and the other one was lost--two thieves, two wrong
doers.
And we notice he was taken from his prison to the right hand of
Pharaoh, that no man could speak to Pharaoh, only through Joseph. And
when Joseph left that throne of Pharaoh, the trumpet sounded throughout
Egypt, the blast went forth and said, "Bow the knee, everybody; Joseph
is coming forth."
95 So will it be with Jesus.
How He was loved of the Father and hated of them denominational
brethren without a cause. He was sold for thirty pieces of silver (as
it was), and put into the ditch supposingly to be dead. On the cross,
one lost and the other one saved, and was lifted up from the cross, and
sets at the right hand of God in the Majesty, the great Spirit, which
had been reflected in Him. And no man can speak to God, only through
Jesus Christ. Think of it. And when He leaves that throne, starts
forth, the trumpet will sound and every knee shall bow and every tongue
shall confess.
Remember, he was the son of prosperity. Everything that he did
prospered, whether it was prison or wherever it was, it come out right.
And hasn't He promised for His children that He'd make everything work
together for the good, whether it was sickness, prison house, death,
sorrows, whatever it was, that it would work for the good to them that
loved Him. He promised it, and it must be so. It's got to be there.
It's figurative spoke to us in Him. He was that perfect Image of God.
97 Now, we see here also that when He comes again... Remember, Joseph by revelation saved the world by his great prophecy. The world would've died if it hadn't have been for Joseph. And the world would--would been dead if it hadn't have been for Jesus: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish." God is reserving Life.
98 On and on we could go. Because He was simply the match of David. He was a match of Moses. He was the match of Elijah. He was the match of Joseph. Everything that was portrayed or foretold by in the Old Testament, matched right into that. What is it? Showing a perfect Redeemer that we could put our old, dirty clothes into the laundry and go claim it again. It's been washed in the Blood of the Lamb. We can claim what's our own. And everything that He died for, we can claim it.
99 Though He was the perfect
Word portrayed, It pleased God, the great Sculptor, to smite Him, and
to do it this way. We see Him in Isaiah here as we read: "We all did
esteem Him. We turned our face from Him. There's no beauty that we
should desire Him. (Everybody talking about Him, make fun of Him. I'm
talking about Him now in this day: everybody making fun of Him. See?)
We did esteem Him--we saw Him ('esteem' means to 'look at'). We did
esteem Him smitten and afflicted of God." Yet He... What did He do this
for? "He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our
iniquity."
Now, we could go on and on with that, but I believe you have the
pictures of what I mean now--God building back His masterpiece.
101 But let us not forget that
in the beginning when He smote the side of Adam, He took something from
his side. Now, the smiting of Christ was for a cause, that He might
take from Him, one to be His family, the Bride, He might take Him a
Bride. So when His Masterpiece was perfected, then He had to smite It
to take from Him, not another piece, not another creation, but of the
same creation.
My brother, don't think bad in this, but think a minute. If He took
from Him, the original creation, to make the Bride for Him... He's
never made another creation; He took a part of the original creation.
Then if He was the Word, what must the Bride be? It's got to be the
original Word, living God in the Word.
103 Kimberly, South Africa...
Once I was looking at diamonds, how they was brought up out of the
ground. And I seen them laying there as... Well, the--the
superintendent of the plant or the mine was one of my ushers in the
prayer line. And I noticed the diamonds valued at tens of thousands of
dollars piled together; but they didn't sparkle even under the light.
And I said to the superintendent of the mines; I said, "Why don't they
sparkle?"
He said, "Sir, they haven't been cut yet. They must be cut. Then when
they are cut, then they reflect the light." There you are.
The masterpiece must be cut. And notice. Cut for what? Is the piece cut
off? No, no. The piece that's cut off is made into victrola needle. And
the victrola needle is put upon a record that's unseen music to the
world; but the needle is what brings it out, brings out the true
interpretation of the Word.
106 His life matched all the people's. It pleased God to smite Him. And now, why did He smite Him? For the same cause He had to smite Adam. Now we see Him stricken and smitten of God and afflicted, the perfect Lamb for sinners slain, a perfect Masterpiece.
108 Now, for nearly two thousand years God has been again making Him a Masterpiece, because He struck Adam to get a piece off of him (part of him), a rib to make a wife for him. And now, that perfect Masterpiece that He struck at Calvary, He got a piece off of Him. It's just the New Testament; that's all. He fulfilled the Old Testament. Now, it's the New Testament, another piece to be fulfilled. See, the New and Old is husband and wife (See?); and it taken the New to fore--the Old to foreshow the New. Christ come the Masterpiece to fulfill that. Now His Bride will fulfill everything that's in the New Testament. Another Masterpiece is in making.
109 As it taken Him four thousand years to make this Masterpiece, now He's been for nearly two thousand years making another Masterpiece: a Bride for Christ, another Masterpiece. In so doing it, He does it by His never-changing method, the same way He made the Masterpiece: His Word. That's the way He makes His masterpieces. Because it can only be a perfect masterpiece when it's the perfect Word. Any dirt, trash, injections, it'll break; but the heavens and earth will pass away, but that Word will never break. You remember, in cutting of diamonds, you have to have a perfect tool to do it with, not just any piece will do it. I've seen tons of them big grinders crash right through it and move them big tons over, and pass that diamond right on through. No, it don't break the diamond: has to be cut.
110 Now, He's doing the same
thing in His never-changing method. We find out in Malachi 3, He said,
"I'm God, and I change not." He cannot change His method.
Now, as He started in Abraham... After the fall of the first
masterpiece, He started in Abraham, on a foundation, to build another
masterpiece. He started on the day of Pentecost to build another
Masterpiece--the original seed Word, started in the first Church. What
was it? The seed Word, the Word manifested, the promise that had been
given. Joel said, "It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God,
I'll pour out My Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall
prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see
visions," what He would do in the last days: two, last two thousand
years.
112 Notice. And it started out
as the original. As Jesus said, "The Word of God is a Seed that a sower
sowed." And He was the Sower. The Seed was the Word. And notice. Any
seed that abides alone never does nothing. It's got to fall into the
ground to bring forth its production again. And this Seed, that perfect
Church, fell to the ground at Nicaea, Rome, when she become a
denomination.
Now historians, remember, and you who's going to hear this tape, check
it up and find out if that's not right. The church died at Nicaea,
Rome, when she took dogmas and creeds in the stead of the original
Word. What was it? God had showed by that first Church that He was God.
He had a Church perfected; but the Church, like all other seeds, must
fall into the ground and die. Now, it fell into the ground, and died,
and wasted away.
114 You know, I read a book here not long ago. Someone wrote a--a book that said: "The Silent God." You might've read it; I forget, I--I think Brumback... No, I don't--I'm not sure who it was wrote it. But... I can't remember... I got it in my study: "The Silent God." Said, "God, two thousand years of Dark Ages set still, and never moved a hand, and watched faithful martyrs go to the lions' pit and be burnt by the Romans; assassination of all kinds; women stripped of their clothes, set fire to their long hair with tar and burn them." Remember, short hair first begin in Rome. And the women of Christians had long hair. So they--they dipped it in tar, and set them afire, and burned them, and them naked, and fed them to the lions. And this writer goes to say, "Where is that God?" Oh, the blindness of men sometimes. Do you not know that that Seed had to die? He never tried to deliver a one--them. They went down in victory. They went down bleeding and dying, giving their lives. Why? It was a Seed; it had to fall into the ground. I John 12 tells us the corn of wheat has got to fall into the ground and there die, and not only die, but rot. But little did that denomination know that that Life was still in there.
115 Though the church in itself
at that Nicaea Council of fifteen days of bloody politician debate,
when them aristocrats come in and wanted to inject these big
dignitaries into the church... And prophets come out of that wilderness
there, eating herbs and wrapped in animal skins, genuine prophets, and
they throwed them out. Why? The Seed's got to fall into the ground.
It's got to die.
It died in the Dark Ages down beneath the dark dirt. They thought it
was gone. You know, St. John 12:24, Jesus said, "Except a corn of wheat
falls into the ground, it abides alone." And the first Church was that
reproduction, that Bride, that Seed, that Word made manifest that fell
into the ground at Nicaea, Rome.
117 Listen, church, throughout
the nations that'll hear this; there is your dirt; it's them
denominations. There's where the Word was crucified and they accepted
dogma. And for hundreds and hundreds of years of Dark Ages the power
and manifestation of the Word was hid from the world. Only Catholicism
ruled. We all know that, as reading history. Only Catholicism ruled.
But you--you can't hide a germitized seed. It's got to come forth.
Because why? The Great Sculptor is on the job. Going to build again, so
He--the Seed went down, the Word.
119 When we see St. Paul,
Peter, James, John, all those who wrote the Word, and the road
they--word they wrote become alive and lived. And It lived. And when we
find after it begin to get ripe, John begin to write in epistles. He
was throwed on the Isle of Patmos after being burnt in oil for
twenty-four hours. But the Word must come forth. It's got to be wrote.
They couldn't boil the Holy Ghost out of him with oil, so he come
forth. His work wasn't finished. He died a natural death.
Polycarp, which was a disciple of John, carried the Word on. And from
Polycarp came Irenaeus. And Irenaeus, the great man of God who believed
the very same Gospel that we believe, "The Word is right," the church
trying to squeeze It out.
121 Finally it come to Nicaea, Rome, and there she fell into the ground (after St. Martin), and was murdered. St. Martin believed the same thing we believe. He stood the same thing: the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the baptism in water in Jesus' Name. He stood in the very same thing that we do, as he was a prophet, believed the full Word of God. And finally they were crucified, and mashed into the ground, and laid there for hundreds of years until it rotted, that outside seed. The old bodies just rotted away. (I've been in San Angelo in the catacombs and see where they died and their broken bones and everything.) They finally rotted till their bones were gone, but the Life was still there.
122 The corn of wheat that fell
into the ground on the--at the Nicaea Council begin to sprout again in
Martin Luther, like any corn coming up or wheat. After the seeds rot,
the life springs forth. And it begin to bring forth in Martin Luther.
What did he do the first thing? Reject the denomination of Catholicism,
protested that it was wrong; for he said, "The just shall live by
faith." What was it? A little weak Life that put up a couple little
shoots. That was the Lutherans. It sure don't look like the grain that
went in the ground, but the Life is coming out now.
Then it went on to a stalk. Then what happened? In the days of John
Wesley, what did he do when he brought out sanctification? He stayed
with the Word, and what did it do? The Lutherans had organized and made
an organization; so it was time for something to happen. The
masterpiece is being built now. What did he do? What did he do? He
protested that Anglican church and came out in the reformation as a
tassel. What is it? The seed's coming to Life, growing now.
124 Now, the stalk doesn't look
like the seed, neither does the tassel.
Now, Pentecostal brethren throughout the nations, I want you to listen,
my brother, if this is the last message I'll ever preach. This is my
masterpiece. Do you notice when the wheat's, the corn of wheat that
falls into the ground, when it begins to form back to its--its grain
again...?
Watch nature. Nature exactly is God; God working in nature is all it
can. But from the Pentecostal revival, as they think, was the seed...
It wasn't. Now, watch. But something come forth just like the seed.
Now, watch what Jesus said in St. Matthew 24:24, that the two spirits
at the last days would be so close together it would deceive the
elected if possible.
127 Now, that stalk don't look
nothing like a seed; neither does the tassel look like a seed. But
notice now, not in Luther's day, but in the last day...
The first thing (There's wheat farmers setting here.)--the first thing
that comes forth on a wheat seed, you'd almost think it was a seed, but
what is it? It's the husk. It forms a little outside thing like to hold
the seed. It forms a husk. But the husk is not the seed no more than
the tassel or the stalk was; it's only a carrier of the life, the corn
of wheat then of St. John 12 (You see?), Jesus speaking.
129 The wheat, after the
tassel, after Wesley, puts forth the husk, which is the foremost like
the grain of anything else. The husk is more like the grain--is coming
more like the grain all the time, the one that went in the ground. And
when it comes forth the stalk, it's got life in it, but it sure isn't
the grain. Comes forth the tassel, the pollen, it still isn't the
grain. And then it comes forth the husk. And it's just in the shape of
the wheat, just exactly like the grain of wheat; but yet it isn't the
wheat: Just exactly the same shape, perfectly.
The Pentecostals come out just like the wheat would. Each one comes out
from the other, coming out from the other; but they're only a carrier.
They go to denomination. And that's what Pentecost did: went to
denomination. And what did Pentecostal do when it come out just like
the grain? It went right back, like in Revelations 17, to one of the
sister denominations. That's exactly what--that's what Jesus said.
131 Now, watch. The Gospel's
going to come out through Luther, through Wesley into Pentecost. And at
the last days it'll deceive the very elected if it's possible: the
elected. Oh, Pentecostal brethren, can't you see?
The wheat in its first beginning is just like the seed when it begins
to form like the seed; but it's the husk. It denominated, exactly done
the same thing they did down here in Luther. In Revelations 17 it
proves the same thing of the churches.
Now, the grain seed in the original fell at Nicaea, for it was the
first denomination. Notice. Here the life that was in the stalk,
tassel, all now ends up in the seed. The life that come out of the
original seed, come up through different processes, three different
processes, and then turns back till its original condition. Hallelujah.
Oh, my. I'm the happiest person in the world that God would let me see
this.
135 Watch how perfect the Word and these--nature works together. Just like we prove the resurrection: Rise; the sun setting and the sun rising again; the leaf going out of the tree down in--the sap into the root, and comes back up and--and the leaf comes back up with it again and falls on the ground. The life of the tree sucks it right back, the calcium and potash, and brings it right up to another leaf again. See? All nature, everything works right with--with the Word of God. And here it is exactly perfectly in these church ages. That's the reason the Holy Ghost came down and drawed those things and made them out for us the way He has. That's exactly.
136 Notice here. The life that
was in the husk, in the stalk, and in the tassel, in the husk, all
gathers in the seed. And the life that was in the stalk, went--one went
to make the other. Justification made a way for sanctification.
Sanctification made a way for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The
baptism of the Holy Ghost made a way for the Holy Ghost Itself to come
right down in perfection, back to the Word again to manifest Itself.
But what denominated, dies. Like Life in Luther went to make Wesley.
And--and from the Wesley It went to Pentecost, and from Pentecost to
make the original seed. On to... Pentecost comes out of the Wesley
until that time. The reason that Pentecost come out of Wesley, because
it was no denomination--Pentecost was. Then Pentecost went to
denominate. And what did it do? It turned to the husk. It looked like
the real thing. And anybody...
138 How many ever seen a
seed--a seed of wheat start to grow? What's the first little thing?
It's just exactly like the seed, but it's the husk. See the three
stages? Stalk, tassel or the pollen, then the husk. And then, out of
the husk comes the original seed. Not a seed, it was the Life of the
seed growing through this to come to the seed. Amen, amen. Do you see
it? What is it? A resurrection, coming back to a Masterpiece again,
like the one that went in.
Pentecost came out of the Wesley, because Wesley was an organization.
Pentecost come out as no organization and then turned to one. It had to
to make the husk. The true Word of Life on it was on its way then to
the original grain through these stages: through the stalk, then into
the pollen; from the pollen into the husk; and from the husk it made
seed. No... Stalk, tassel, husk.
140 Living, they produced in
their early revival a holder of a certain portion of the seed Life; but
when they organized, the Life moved out of it. That's proved by all
history. Never an organization ever done a thing after it organized. It
was dead. That's right. Watch, the life's traveling on now. It's moving
on.
Notice. What they have done, all these have done, is proved by history
just exactly the way the church has come, never to be useful to Him
again. Organization is laid on the shelf. There never has been in all
the history of church after it organized, but what it died. And the
organization died and never did raise again. Can't you see it? Men who
are blind, open your eyes. Nature and the Word coordinating together
and proving it right here that this is the Truth, that it is the Truth:
That Life leaves the stalk to make the tassel; from the tassel it makes
the husk; and from the husk it goes into the original again. Notice,
never again to be useful to Him.
143 How noticeable this life is in its travel in the corn of wheat than it is in the tree. God called His people like a tree. See? The life goes down in a tree and comes back up again, goes down and comes back up. See? It goes down and comes back up. But in the corn of wheat it goes up from the original stalk through the stalk, tassel, and husk; and the thing that it passed through dies so it can't get back through it again. What is it? It's no use any more. It goes on to its perfection. Amen. Don't you see why He never used an organization? He can't get back in it again. It's dead. But the Life passes on from one to the other. See? They put creeds and inject... "Whosoever shall add one word or take one word out..." See? He's blocked off from it. It must be the Life seed traveling on.
144 I'm using this in a parable now of the Bride, the Masterpiece that's coming forth. There's a Masterpiece fell; there's a Masterpiece rising. The Masterpiece fell at--at Nicaea, Rome. After Nicaea, Rome, She's come through a process; but She's coming right back again to that Masterpiece, perfected, 'cause She's a part of that Word that was spoken by Him. He'll have a Church without spot or wrinkle. It'll not be connected any way with any kind of an organization or a denomination (the cursed thing). It's passed through those such things, but it'll never be there.
145 Notice. The seed is coming
up. That Life is coming up, not going back. There'll be no more
resurrection after this. The Life is coming up to go to its perfection,
a resurrection.
Notice, the husk put forth... The--the... Notice, the husk puts the
original seed out of itself. In Revelations the 3rd chapter we find
this.
Now remember, no other church was He put out of in the Bible, of the
Seven Church Ages. How many remembers it? He passed through the church
age to go on to make something else. But this is it. There's nothing
else. But the--the Sculptor has got back to perfection again, the Word.
See? Don't go back. How different it is. Yes.
147 Oh, and notice. Then the
husk when it comes forth looks just like the grain. But when the grain
Life begins to leave the husk to go in to make the Grain (the Bride),
the husk opens up and excommunicates the Grain. Is that right in
nature? That's exactly what she did.
In--in Revelations 3 we find out the Laodicea church age put Him out.
Now, see, it didn't back in the other ages, because there was something
else yet to be made. It just passed through and went on to another. I
told you all along, there's no more denominations coming. We're at the
end. And they put Him out, because why? He--He--He's the Word again.
He's like the one that fell down there. He's the same doctrine that
come forth from the beginning.
And when the seed Word begins to grow forth, the husk puts It from
itself. The Life leaves all the others to follow it; that's the true
believers; they follow the Life, wherever the Life goes.
150 Like in Israel, a perfect
type. (If we had time... I just got a few minutes left.) But in the
perfect type in the beginning, everywhere that Pillar of Fire went was
Life; God was that Light. And I don't care if it was midnight or
whether they was in a good selected place, when that Pillar of Fire
moved, the trumpet sounded and Israel moved with It. Hallelujah. When
the trumpet sounded, Martin Luther moved out with it. And he
organized... Killed... Not he hisself, the men after him. And then God
took the Life out of that, brought It on, laid It down in the grave.
Then out come Wesley. He saw that big organization, so he sounded a
trumpet of sanctification, more of the Word. See? And when he did, out
they moved, right out of--of--right out of Luther right into Methodist.
And when Pentecost saw it, they sounded a--a trumpet. It's time for the
return of the gifts. See what they did? They sounded a trumpet, and out
they come; then they organized. But remember, after the husk (that's
three stages we know of) there's nothing else left but the Grain. Oh,
God. And then the Grain is put out of all of it. Amen and amen. Seed,
Word begins to form itself, and Life is brought forth out of...
153 Now notice. If the
Bridegroom, the beginning, the first Bridegroom... This is the Bride
coming forth. Remember, the Church begin at Pentecost, and It fell at
Nicaea. It sprouted, not like the real grain, no; it was some of the
Life in there, but it sprouted in order to make an organization. And it
pulled through that organization. And then what did it do? Then it
went, from that organization it went into another organization, went
into another stage of the Word: justification, sanctification, baptism
of the Holy Ghost. See? And as it went through this stalk and process,
it kept coming on more.
Remember, the little pollen is more--the tassel is more like the seed
than the stalk is. And the husk is more like the seed than the tassel
was. But the seed itself is beyond that. See? It just used that for
transportation to take itself through.
155 Notice. The Bride... If the
Bride in the beginning was the Word--or the Bridegroom; and then, if
the Bride is taken from the Bridegroom, It must be the Word also.
Notice. The Bride must be... Why? Why must the Bridegroom be the Word
manifested, made plain? Is because the Bride and the Bridegroom are
One; She's just a smitten piece off of Him. There's the Masterpiece. It
was smitten. See it?
Michelangelo could not reproduce that again; he could not put it back.
But God's going to do it. He's going to bring this little Bride that's
smitten right back to the side of the original Word. And there It is;
there's the Masterpiece, the family back again in garden of Eden.
158 How is this Bride going to do this? How is this Wheat going to do this? Malachi 4 said in the last days it would be restored back. What? Restored back like the beginning, take it back. "I will restore, saith the Lord, all the years the palmerworm, and cankerworm, and all these other things has eaten. I will restore again." Malachi 4 said He will restore the hearts of the people, and the faith of the people back to the original fathers again. See? We see this right before us, Church. Where are we at?
159 Now, closing in a few
minutes. I want you to notice real close of something that just
happened.
Malachi 4 is to bring back, back to the original. She is smitten from
the church, from the church body, smitten with her Master for the same
purpose (She's the Word.), the same as Joseph was smitten from his
brethren, because he was the Word. And Jesus was smitten from His
brethren, because He was the Word. The church is smitten--the Bride is
smitten from the church, because She is the Word. There's your stages
again: one, two, three. See? Just exactly.
161 The Word, living and in
action, the Bible Bride, not some manmade Bride, the Bible Bride,
smitten and afflicted of God, no beauty we should desire Her, but yet
we did esteem Her, smitten and afflicted of God. That's right. She
stands alone. She's smitten from all of the denominations according to
Revelations 3. She's smitten out of the Laodicean church age that She
was raised up in. See?
This church was raised up in the Laodicea church age. That's the husk.
But if them others went... Can't you Pentecostal men see that? If that
other was husk and died, if that other stalk had to die, if the tassel
had to die, so must the husk die; the three stages of organization.
And you remember... You said, "Well now, there's a lot of tassels
hanging on; there's a lot of this." Yeah. There been Methodist,
Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Church of Christ, all these other
little things that fell on to it, leaves and everything else was hung
on to it; but the original was the reformations. Now. See?
164 Stand alone, like the
Bridegroom, rejected of men, despised and rejected of the churches. The
Bride stands that way. What is it? It's His Masterpiece. See? It's the
Word that He can work through, make manifest--rejected.
So the stalk, the tassel, and husk never become Seed (No.), but are all
the time becoming more like the Seed. Now, at the harvest time the Seed
is back to its original Life, back to the Bible. Malachi 4 said it
would be brought that way. Oh, oh, my. Must have all... To be this way
it must have all of the Word. Is that right?
167 Now, what did He say in Revelations 10, that would take place? Why was the trip to Tucson? To open to the Church... In the days of the messenger of the seventh angel (the seventh angel Message) the whole Word of God would be made manifest. The seal that what all the stalk has left off, and why, and all about it, would be made manifest in this time. Is that what the Word said? Then we see it. Then where are we at? See? Where are we at? There's only one thing. The harvest is here. She's dead ripe. She's ready now for the coming.
168 Notice. No, it'll never be
it. The... At the harvest time the Seed is back to its original
condition, and must have all of the Word in order to be the Seed. Now,
you can't have a half of seed; it won't grow. See? It's got to be the
whole Seed. It's got to not manifest, say, "I believe in baptism of the
Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. I believe speaking in tongues." That's just
part of the Seed. Uh-huh. But now, there's added to that (Hallelujah.
See?) the Life, not the gifts, the Life of the gifts. See? See what I
mean? We're at the end time, brethren.
Stalk, tassel, husk is dead and dried now. There's only one thing that
has to happen to that, it's to be gathered in the World Council of
Churches for its burning.
170 The Word has become flesh,
exactly like He promised in Luke 17, and Malachi 4, and all. See?
That's right. Revelation...
All true Life that was in the stalk, tassel, and husk is now gathering
in the Seed, ready for the resurrection, ready for the harvest. The
Alpha has become Omega. The first become last; and the last is the
first. The Seed that went in has come through a process and become the
Seed again. The seed that fell in the garden of Eden and died there,
come back from that imperfect seed that died there, come back to the
perfect Seed--the Second Adam.
172 The first Eve that fell,
and was used in the second reformation--second coming, as bringing
forth a child, now has become true Bride again, the Seed, right back
with the original Word again. The Alpha and Omega is the same. He said,
"I am Alpha and Omega." He never say anything in between, "I'm Alpha
and Omega, the First and the Last." That's it.
The first ministry and the last ministry is the same. The first Message
and the second--last Message is the same thing. "I'm--I was in Alpha;
I'm in Omega." "There'll be a day that won't be called day nor night,
but in the evening time it shall be Light." See? Alpha and Omega; it's
become the first and the last. Oh, my, brethren, we could stay a--hours
on that.
174 The great masterpiece of a
family, the Second Adam and the Second Eve now ready for the garden,
the millennium (Amen.) back on the earth. Hallelujah. The Great
Sculptor didn't leave them lay there. He took time as He did through
the millions of years molding the first perfect couple. And they fell.
Now it's been through thousands of years; He's molded again; and now,
here they are ready.
The Masterpiece was come and struck down. From His side come forth the
helpmate. And she's brought up in the same process. Now, here she is
back again with all nature, the Bible, and everything else showing here
we are.
Nations
are breaking; Israel's awak'ning,
The
signs that the Bible foretold;
Gentile
days numbered, (Look
at this bunch of trash we got.)
With
horrors encumbered,
Return,
O dispersed, to your own. (That's
right. You better get in there quick if you're going.)
I'm fixing to close just in about five minutes or ten.
176 Notice the great masterpiece of the family. The husband and wife cannot be truly a family unless they're one. They have to be. If they're not, they're not a good family. Wife pulling one way and the husband another, that'll make an awful family. But in agreement with love one to the other, that's a family. And now, that was God's masterpiece; and all the true family here portrays that. See? And now, the masterpiece family has come again: Christ and His Bride ready to come. The Second Adam, Second Eve, ready now to return back to their home. The whole picture's been redemption, from where it was, bringing it back (See?), just exactly, bringing it back again.
177 After... The other day standing up here at the Christian Business Men... Many of you, I guess, was there. When I heard that Lutheran priest (or preacher, was supposed to be) stand up there and say that ridiculous thing, and make fun of what we believe in... And them Full Gospel Business Men having that man there, and saying that... He wore his collar turned around. Lots of them do now. He said, "Now, the people ask me why I turn my collar around." Said, "How can they tell you from a Catholic priest." He said, "There is no difference, and there shouldn't be." He said, "We're all God's children." He said, "I know a Catholic priest that's omnipresent (See?), that could be present everywhere."
178 Now, you cannot be omnipresent without being omniscient. God's not even omnipresent; God's omniscient. Omniscient which means--makes Him omnipresent (He knows all things). But in order to be a being He has to be in one being. But being omniscient He can be omnipresent, 'cause He knows all things, and knowed it before the... He knowed before the world begin how many fleas, lice, how many bugs, and how many times they'd bat their eyes, and everything about it (See?), 'cause He's omnipresent. And you can't be omniscient--omniscient without being infinite. See? There's only one thing infinite: God. Amen.
179 And then we... What is it?
It's the devil, taking them right straight to that slaughter, every one
of them going in... Exactly what the Bible said. And here it is. See,
come right in amongst the Pentecostals and just pulled them right
straight, just as... What a time.
Oh, after that testimony, someone said to me... I--I... It's a good
thing I didn't say very much, 'cause they'd probably have me in jail up
there; but I just thought, "There it is." The--the people who's taught,
knows. "The wise shall know their God in that day," it said in Daniel.
Yes, sir. See? The wise will know their God; they're watching for these
things.
But when I seen that happen, and them Pentecostals stand there with
him... Even Oral Roberts looked at me like that. I said, "Ooh, my." Umm.
But standing up there with a education, and polished, you know, and so
forth. That's not the way God polishes His. He don't polish His with
education; He polishes in humility and in power of His manifested Word,
showing the shape of the Grain that it went from.
183 Now, someone said to me,
said, "Brother Branham," said, "there's one thing I can't understand
about you."
I said, "What's that?"
Standing out there in a hall... I guess Sister Dauch and them, after I
shook hands with Bill, and standing there and all, and went around the
corner; there's a whole bunch of people. A minister pressed his way in,
collar turned around, he said, "Why is it that you're always bawling
the people out?" He said, "Them people believe you to be a servant of
God, to be gentle and sweet to them and everything." Said, "Every time
I hear you get up, you're bawling women out about having short hair,
and about wearing shorts, and wearing makeup, and all this other stuff,
and bawling the people out and telling them how cold, formal, and
indifferent they are." Said, "Why do you do that?" Said, "Them people
love you. How can you be a loving son of God and do a thing like that?"
I thought, "Lord, let me answer this smart man. (See?) You just let me
answer him somewhere that'll hang him on his own rope." I--I said,
"Well..." I said, "Sir, did you ever read of the great producer of
music called--the great composer called Beethoven."
He said, "Oh, sure, I read of Beethoven."
I said, "He probably tore up wastebasketfuls of scrap paper, but he
give the world masterpieces." He never opened his mouth and said
another word. I said, "When he was setting in his study under the
inspiration, he'd write something down. He'd go into his study and
pray. It wasn't right, he'd scrap it up and throw it in the
wastebasket. But when He got through in all inspiration, the world had
a masterpiece." Oh, how the Word cuts, but It produces masterpieces,
takes all the husk and stalk away, It brings forth Masterpiece.
186 I got seven minutes to tell you something that happened day before yesterday to get out on time. July the third, I was over here setting in the--the center over here (shopping center, right out from us here). I been in Pigalle in Rome--in France, and I've been in New York City, Los Angeles; but the filthiest bunch of women I ever seen in my life is Jeffersonville, Indiana. I never seen so much gaum and filth in my life as I see amongst them people. I set there till my heart ached, and the Lord had gave me a vision. Now, I'm going to tell the vision. I don't know that I can interpret it, but I--I'm going to tell the vision for my first time.
187 I fell into a trance. And
when I did, there was somebody with me. I didn't see the person. It was
just a voice. And I--I looked. And as I--I looked this way, he said,
"The Bride will come in view for preview." And I looked coming to me,
and I seen the most--the most prettiest bunch of clean-dressed women I
ever seen in my life. But each one of them, looked like, was dressed
different. They all had long hair, and they were... longer sleeves and
skirts and so forth, young women... They looked kind of, I'd say about,
maybe, twenty.
Now, I have the Bible open here before me. See? I can only say what I
seen. If you say, "What are you looking at?" I'm looking at a clock.
"What are you looking for?" I'm looking for people--looking at people.
"What are you looking at?" I'm looking at the Bible. That's what... I'm
telling the truth; that's what I see. And I can only say what I seen. I
don't--I don't know what it--all about it, I just have to tell you.
189 But when this Bride... She
was looking right at... (The one was talking to me, and I--standing
together.) Her eyes... She was the cleanest, sweetest looking people I
ever seen in my life. Look like it could been a dozen or more, just...
I don't know how many was abreast, but there was just a group of them.
And She passed by, sweetly with a air, and her eyes up, watching as She
passed by. Oh, She was beautiful. I looked at her.
And as She passed by, he said, "Now, we shall review..." Said, "That's
the Bride. Now, we will review the churches." And they come. I noticed
them coming up. And when they come up, each one, look like, got worse.
I never seen such a filthy bunch in my life. And when he said,
"Next..." I heard a noise. And it said, "Next," said, "here comes the
American group."
190 Now, I am an American, but
this just made me sick. I am not eloquent enough to, in a mixed
audience, to say what was taking place; I--I--I... You'll have to read
between the lines. But when the women were coming, the leader of them
was a witch. She had a great long nose and a great big mouth. And all
of them was dressed with some kind of lower clothes down here, but the
top just had a strap that just--a little, about half inch strap that
moved up and went around them like this. And each woman had something
on the order... Many of you, years ago used to... Remember, when we
used to cut that paper, you know, newspaper, and make an old fly-bush?
How many remembers it? You know. Why, I think you used it in carnivals,
you know. Hanging down like that, fringed paper, lace paper. They had
something holding below them, like this, holding below them. All of
this part was exposed. And each one had hair cut up real short, and
frizzy-looking things all over it like that, real short cut hair, and
full of makeup: absolutely nothing but looked like street prostitutes.
And they were walking with this paper. And the vulgarity... Now, the
paper was what was hold in front of them; but when they passed the
review stand, in the back of them... And to see the way they were going
on in their foremost and their back part, and how they were acting... I
thought, "Is that the church?"
192 And there she went. And they were singing this here twist-and-roll songs, you know, ever what you call, going down, singing like, going behind... I said, "Is that the church?" And I was standing there. And in my heart I was crying. And this witch... To my notion it's nothing else in the world, but she's the--she's that World Council of Churches leading them right straight down the road where she was going. They went off to the left and disappeared in chaos, still beating this music and making real funny sounds, and shaking their bodies one side and then the other side, and then like that, carrying on like that, walking.
193 And I just started to bow my head, and he said, "Wait, the Bride must come again." And I looked, and here they come again. And they passed by, sweet-looking little ladies. They was all looking right at me as they passed by. And I noticed each one was dressed different. And one in the back had kinda long hair hanging down and had it rolled around like this, might been German or something like that. And I watched them. And then, as they started leaving, two or three of them in the back...?... get out of step. And I was going to holler at them, and they was trying to get back in step again. And I seen them just--the vision just fade out and change from me.
194 Now, here is the interpretation thereof: The reason... Now, remember. I had just got through writing... I hadn't finished; I hadn't wrote these notes yet. But in preaching this morning, I caught what it was right in my sermon. Did you notice, the church only came in view... Now, that's the truth, friends. The heavenly Father, Who writes the Word, knows that I tell the truth. See? I know--I just say the truth. And not knowing it till just a few minutes ago, looked like or just recently... See? Did you notice the Bride come in view twice? The first Seed and the second Seed, both of them exactly the same one. And the reason they were dressed--dressed in different parts, she'll come from all nations; it'll make up the Bride. Each one had long hair and no makeup, and real pretty girls. And they were watching me. That represented the Bride coming out of all nations. See? She... Each one represented a nation, as they marched perfectly in line with the Word. See?
195 And then, I have to watch
Her. She'll get out of step with that Word if I don't watch, when she's
passing by, if she gets by. Maybe it'll be my time when I'm over
(See?), when I'm finished, or whatever it is.
Watch. They was getting back, trying their best. They was getting back;
they was getting in line, 'cause they was--they was looking out
somewhere else, watching about that church that just went out of--into
chaos. But two... The front ones never. The back ones--just two or
three of them, was kinda stepped out a little bit to the right-hand
side, and looked like was trying to get back in line as they went by.
They was just passing me, oh, far as here to the wall, passing me. I
was standing there. And then I just seen them all just move out and
leave.
But you notice, the church only came into view once, each nation, the
church. But the Bride come in twice. See? See what it was? Now, not
knowing it, but look at it with my message this morning, not knowing
that. See?
197 The Seed fell in the ground at Nicaea. That was the original seed. And She's come through the process of these denominations which only comes in existence once. But the Bride returns back again in the last days: "I will restore." See? The Masterpiece is brought up. That's the reason She was in view--reviewed the second time. She was reviewed the first time; then she was reviewed the second time. And She's perfectly the second time like She was the first time. Oh, God, have mercy. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Life, get in the Grain right quick.
198 All others never appeared
no more. They went out never to come back again. But the Bride came
back, 'cause She was Alpha and Omega. God, the Great Sculptor, has made
Him a Masterpiece, for It is a piece of His first Masterpiece. Like He
made in the garden of Eden and took a piece from and made another
piece, and that was marred and fell; now He's been all this time
building it up again. And He brought forth this Masterpiece, and was
smitten in order--that part that was smitten was in order to bring back
again that Masterpiece again.
So the Masterpiece and the Son of God--the Masterpiece and the Bride...
And It's a piece of Him, which must be the fulfilling of the Word. The
Word has been fulfilled, and we're ready for the coming of the Lord.
200 Oh, Church of the living
God, bow your hearts and your--yourselves before God. These things are
true. I know that it--it sounds like that as such a great a thing as
that would be, would be so spread out over the nations; it never was.
He doesn't change His way.
Just be thankful, Church, be thankful that you are where you are today
if you're in Christ. Because, you see... Now... And when that...
Remember, all that Life will be gathered right into the Grain for the
resurrection, but the stalk must be burned, the rest of it. The husk
and all must be destroyed, and it will be. Don't trust in your--them
denominations. You stay in the Word, the Life, God and His Masterpiece.
Then what is it in the millennium? Christ and His Bride, back in the
garden of the millennium. Amen.
203 I love
Him, I love Him,
Because
He first loved me,
And
purchased my salvation
On
Calvary's tree.
There's where He was smitten. We esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God
and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was
bruised for our iniquity.
Is there any here this morning who isn't in that grain this morning?
And as the Life is now pulling its last piece from the husk, for the
husk is drying... How many knows that Pentecostal church is drying?
What is it? Life is leaving it. Frankly, it's left. And if that Bride
is already in preview, I wonder if the Bride isn't already made up then.
I love
Him, I love Him,
Because
He first loved me,
And
purchased my salvation
On
Calvary's tree.
205 With our heads bowed now,
is there some here that would like to be remembered? If you feel that
you're not... Friends, it's too plain. I've never had a vision in my
life, 'less something happened, followed. I tell the truth. All of
these other times if I've told the truth, God has proved it, then I
tell the truth this time.
I don't know what day we're living in, but I know there's nothing left.
There couldn't be a politician rise that could straighten this thing
out: politics, the nation's gone. Oh, God. Can you--can you get down
deep enough to--to--to feel that? The nation's gone--not nation, but
nations. This is the best of the bunch, and it's gone. Then if the
nations are gone, the world's gone. And the churches? To my opinion,
Pentecost was the best they've had; but it's gone. Oh, God, be merciful
to us.
207 If you don't know Him,
please hurry, hurry. If you feel Life, get out of the--get out of your
sin, get out of the thing that you're in, get to the Grain right quick.
You'll die in the stalk or in the husk. Pray, while we sing now.
I love
Him,...
It's up to you now. We have no denomination, no nothing; we only have
Christ. You're welcome to worship with Him--with us till He comes. We
can't put your name on book; we have no books. We want your name in the
Book of Life. You can only do that through birth. Won't you do it right
now? Ask Christ for new life, bring you in, put your name on His Book
if it's not. Then you can fellowship with us. We'd love to have you.
I love
Him...
208 Dear God, help each person
now to take inventory, see if we're in Him. You loved us. You were
smitten for us. And we did esteem You smitten and afflicted of God. I
pray, God, that You'll call each one. Lord, speak to my children, my
loved ones, and my friends. Grant it, Lord, just now, through Jesus
Christ's Name.
Don't let anybody wait too long, Lord. Looks awful close. The harvest
is truly ripe. The great combine of God will sweep through the land one
of these days; straws will fly every way; but the Wheat shall be
gathered to the garner, taken up, for in It is Life. Grant, Lord, each
request to be answered, each prayer to be made manifest before You.
I pray for them, Lord. I pray that You won't let any that's here be
lost, Lord. They--they--they set under difficult... They--they--they
drive for hundreds of miles. And whatever that we have need of, give it
to us, Lord, whatever's good for us, Lord, not what's good in our
sight, but what's good in Your sight. We want to stand as a chaste
virgin that's been chastened, rebuked of God, that we might be purged
from our sins.
211 And I offer my prayer for them, Lord. I--I--I don't know how to pray. We're--we're talking to the Mighty God, and what human being is there, what mortal could make the right type of prayer before the living God? But, Lord, my mispronounced words and my--and my nouns and pronouns in--in the wrong place, if You could pick out the a-b-c's for a little boy one day and make a sentence, You--you can omit my nouns and pronouns and just look to what I believe, Lord. I believe You. I believe this Word. And I'm believing for each one here. And I--I'm bringing them to that altar, Lord, by faith, where between us and Great Jehovah is the Blood of His Son, Jesus. And the Blood shall speak for us. When You smote Him on Calvary, You said, "Speak. Hear Him." And the Blood, the Bible said, speaks greater things than the blood of the lamb in the Old Testament; for the Blood of Christ speaks greater than the blood of Abel, greater things. And speak, Lord, redemption for us as we call through the Blood.
212 Great Father of Life,
include us, Lord. If we--if we've sinned, take it away from us. We--we
don't want to be that way, Lord. It's not our intention. And we realize
we're living in such a horrible dark way. As we said at the beginning,
we're walking up a mountain, through rugged places; dim is the trail;
but we're packing the Light. May we see It step by step as we go now,
until we meet, like "Pilgrim's Progress," till we finally catch the top
of the hill. Guide us, O Shepherd. Great Jehovah, lead us by Thy Spirit.
And we know that we're far from a masterpiece, but we're looking where
we were hewed from, the real Masterpiece, and in Him we trust. Just
take us to Him, Lord. Grant it, Lord.
214 Heal all the sick people
here, Lord. We did esteem Him, smitten and afflicted. But He was
wounded for our transgressions. God's Masterpiece was smitten. And He
was wounded for our transgressions; with His stripes we were healed.
Heal the sick, Lord, in Your Divine Presence now, while we know that
You're here.
Cleanse our souls, our hearts from all evil, all bad thoughts, all evil
communications; all things that's wrong, cleanse us. And we pray,
Father, that You'll heal our sickness, and let us leave here feeling
that we are Your sanctified children. And with the Blood over us, we
speak through the Blood, the Word. Grant it, Lord. We ask in Jesus
Christ's Name. Amen.
216 Father God, upon these
handkerchiefs, anoint them with Thy Presence, Lord. May Thy Presence be
with them wherever they go. Whatever they're laid upon, on any sick
body, may they be healed. And whatever, if there's a broken home
somewhere, mend it, Lord, the Great Sculptor. Grant it, Lord.
Mold us and make us sons and daughters of God. We believe the Bride is
getting its last polishing down. It'll be smitten from the complete
organization altogether, and then the great harvest will be here. Until
then, Lord, make them healthy and happy to serve you. In Jesus' Name.
Amen.
I love
Him, I... (Do
you really love Him?)
Because
He first loved me,
And
purchased my salvation
On
Calvary's tree.
218 Now do you understand why I
scold you? It ain't because I love you or because I don't love you; I
do love you. I want a Masterpiece for the Master. I might have to tear
a few out and like this, but I'll have a Masterpiece some of these days
if I keep it right on this Word. That's right.
Now, Jesus said, "This will all men know that you're My disciples, when
you have love one for the other." We should be so in love with one
another.
Blest
be the tie that binds
Our
hearts in Christian love;
The
fellowship of kindred mind
Is
like to that above.
Let's take one another's hands.
When
we asunder part,
It
gives us inward pain;
But we
shall still be joined in heart,
And
hope to meet again.
Take
the Name of Jesus with you,
Child
of sorrow and of woe;
It
will joy and comfort give you,
Take
it everywhere you go.
Precious
Name, O how sweet!
Hope
of earth and joy of heaven;
Precious
Name, O how sweet!
Hope
of earth and joy of heaven.
Now, remember in your journey:
Take
the Name of Jesus with you,
As a
shield from every care;
When
temptations 'round you (What
do you do then?) gather,
Just
breathe that holy Name in prayer.
O
Precious Name, O how sweet!
Hope
of earth and joy of Heaven;
Precious
Name, O how sweet!
Hope
of earth and joy of Heaven.
Till
we meet, (Let's
bow our heads.)... (Oh,
I love to sing.)
Till
we meet at Jesus' feet;
Till
we meet, till we meet,
God be
with you till we meet again.