E-1 Good evening, friends. Let us stand now just a moment for prayer. We bow our heads.
E-2 Our Heavenly Father, as we hear that—that beautiful hymn, we—we are thinking, Lord, of…that You are near. And we pray that You’ll receive us tonight, Lord, as Your children, forgiving all of our sins and trespasses, and giving us of Thy blessings, as we are a needy people.
E-3 And in this great hour that we’re now living, and we see, yearly, it gets darker and darker, to the world. And the Coming of the Lord gets brighter and brighter, as He reveals Himself in the…in His Word and in His manifestation. We have come again, tonight, Lord, to attempt, of this meeting, and to pray Thee to open to us, Lord, this Third Seal of this Book, that it might be known to us, that we would know what to do and how to live, and how to be better Christians.
E-4 I pray, God, that You’ll make every un-Christian in here, tonight, realize their need of You. Grant it. And I—I pray, Heavenly Father, that every born-again Christian will realize that he must live closer than he has in the past, that we might all be in that unity of Christian love and faith.
E-5 Grant that every sick person in our midst will be healed tonight, Lord. They do realize their need of You. And I pray, Father, that You’ll bless everything that’s done or said, to Your honor and glory, in Jesus’ Name we ask it. Amen.
E-6 Well, again, tonight, we’ve assembled together again for this, the—the Wednesday night of the week. And we are trusting the Lord, tonight, for a—a great outpouring of His blessings upon His Word. And today I have been studying, as usual, and trying to think of the things that would be more appropriate to say, and the thing, how to say it, and then depending on the Lord to give to me the interpretation and meanings of—of this Word that’s written. And I am grateful to Him for what He has done for us through the week, that we…of the opening of these Seals.
E-7 And, now, perhaps it would be a good thing if Sunday morning, at…You know, many times…We don’t mean to be misunderstood, but, you know, you…It gets that way. And so, maybe, Sunday morning, if all who has a question in their mind concerning it, would write it out and give it on the desk here, Saturday night, and so I can see what it is. And then I try to answer it for you, Sunday morning, the Lord willing. I think that would be better than what we were planning, because sometimes it’s misunderstood, you know. And so that way I’ll get…It would be better that I would—I would get it straight, you know. It would be just what it should be. Cause, sometime, now…
E-8 Someone called today and said, that—that, called up and wanted to know if it was true, that, “When the—the Rapture taken place, there’d only be one in Jeffersonville and one in New York, and the rest of them overseas.” So, see, it just misunderstood. Then someone said, that, “Saturday night, if the Lord give to us the last Seal, then Jesus would be here Sunday morning.” See? So it’s a—it’s a…You see, you—you don’t…That, that isn’t so. And you don’t…It isn’t.
E-9 We don’t know. If anyone tells you that they know when He is coming, you know they’re wrong, to begin with, because no one knows that. But we want to live, today, like it was right now.
E-10 I am going to kind of turn you around for a minute, so be ready. I—I believe Jesus will come within, less than, three minutes from right now, of His time. You know how long that would be? About thirty-five years. See, thousand years is only one day, with Him, you see.
E-11 So, when you hear the apostle back here say, “The time is at hand,” over here, “the time is at hand.” The apostle said that in Revelation. You know how long that’s been? That hasn’t… That was just yesterday, to God, not even two days yet.
E-12 And, see, if it’s three minutes, less than three minutes of His Coming, see, that would be thirty years, about, to us, or something on that order. And look how, what three minutes would be to Him: He is already rising up, to come. So we, you…sometimes when you read here, He is speaking in the terms of the Word, see, not in our terms.
E-13 And then if I knew He was coming tomorrow night, tomorrow night, tomorrow I would study and ask Him to give me the Message for the Fourth Seal. And I’d come down here and preach It, just the same. See? I—I want to be doing every day just what I would be doing if He comes. And I don’t know no other better place than to be caught right at the post of duty, see, at the post of duty. So we just keep carrying on till He comes.
E-14 Sometimes when we just read, and, now, be real careful. And when you read, get the tapes, listen to them real close. Because, you’ll get it on the tape, because they’ve been playing them tapes back, and they’re really good and plain. So, you’ll get it clearer there.
E-15 Now, everybody in love with Christ, I hope, tonight, and everybody loving Him.
E-16 I’ll tell you what, sometimes, what confuses the people, that someone that come in and didn’t get the first part of the service, you see. Then they come in and they hear you refer back, hit back, something, and then they take that, what’s said, and they didn’t get the first part. Then it’s all confusing to them, you see, then. And they do think that something was said different, but It—but It isn’t.
E-17 So if you got a question that you don’t understand, just write it on a piece of paper. Lay it in, any time between now and Saturday night. And I’ll try, Sunday morning, to…If it’s a little puzzling, you say, “Well, I wonder just what this meant here. I didn’t get it.” You know what I mean. Then I’ll try to answer it for you, Sunday morning, the Lord willing.
E-18 Now, tonight we’re going to read from this blessed old Word again, in the 6th chapter. And we start tonight with the Third Seal. And that is the 5th verse, the 5th and 6th verse.
E-19 And tomorrow night we close the four riders; the white horse, and the red horse, black horse, and pale horse.
E-20 And I want to say this. That, each time, even till this morning, about…I get up real, real early and go to prayer before things stir, and just keep on praying through the day. But this morning, early, the Holy Spirit came to where I was. And just as plain as anything, I—I seen this other Seal open up now, just exactly. Now—now—now, He hears me, I know. And I’m very grateful.
E-21 Now, you’ll just remember that there is something happening. That, I—I hope you’re catching it, see, see, that there is something happening. I just want to test this church one time, and see if they could actually pick up something before it actually taken place. Now remember, remember what I’ve told you. And, now, the Lord help us.
E-22 Now in the 5th verse.
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come…see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts saying, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; but see thou hurt not the oil and…wine.
E-23 Now let’s background this just a little bit, and on the Seals that we have passed. Because, just like in the church ages, why, we try to give a background, to kind of lap it over, till you can…That’s the way the ages are actually in the Scripture, one laps the other one over, just like that. Like climbing a ladder, and climbing a step, rather; one running down to the other, and coming back like that, as you go up a step.
E-24 And now, this Seals, the…It’s a—the Book of Redemption, sealed. Everybody understands that? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] And this Book is sealed with Seven Seals. It is a seven-sealed Book. See?
E-25 And now remember, as we pictured it out to you, and took it from Jeremiah and all. Now, they, when they had…They wrote like this, on a piece of—of script, or a paper, rather; or, not paper, but it was a hide. [Brother Branham illustrates the rolling and sealing of a scroll, by using sheets of paper—Ed.] And they rolled it up, like this. Now that…And then the end of it was left like that; that denotes what’s there. Then the next one takes the same kind of a position, rolls up the same way, roll like that. And then, at the end here, it’s torn off like that, and left another one.
E-26 Well, that was the seven-sealed Book. Now we never had Books like this till lately. The Books in the old time were scrolls. They were rolled up. And then when they want the subject or anything…Like if—if the Bible is rolled up, you want to read the Book of Isaiah; you would turn down here to Isaiah, then unroll It like that, and read It. And this is a seven-sealed Book of Redemption.
E-27 And now we find that the Lamb comes out, takes the Book out of the hand of Him that sat upon the Throne, and breaks the Seals, and—and loose…and looses That, looses the Seals to the people.
E-28 And the four Beasts sitting there, that we took in the church ages, the same four Beasts, you see them all the way through the Scripture, and they are the One Who does the announcing of these Seals being broke. Now, and we see it is a—a Book of Redemption.
E-29 Then we went back and got the—the Kinsman Redeemer, and picked Him up, to see what His work was. And now for all these years, Christ has been doing the Kinsman Redeemer work. Now, all that understands that, say, “Amen.” [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] He has been doing the work of the Kinsman Redeemer.
E-30 But there will come a time that when the redeeming work will be over. And when the redeeming work is over, then He leaves the Throne of God, where He is seated now. But that’s not His Throne. “He that overcometh shall sit with Me in My Throne, as I have overcome and set down on My Father’s Throne.” That’s not His Throne. That belongs to Spirit, God. Christ, the Lamb, it doesn’t belong to Him. He is the incarnate God, see; which is the same God, made incarnate. Now, He rises from the seat…
E-31 First, the announcement went forth, for, “Who is able to come and re-…and take this Book of Redemption?” See, for the whole plan of redemption, from Adam, all that Adam lost.
E-32 There was nothing lost until Adam. And after Adam, all was lost, in the earth. And everything on the creation of the earth was lost. And everything fell with Adam, crossed the chasm, that no one could get back, no way at all. Man, when he sinned, he left his way, he left no way back for himself. And then the…
E-33 When this question was asked; John the revelator, that… the prophet John, was in the vision and saw it. And there was no man in Heaven, no man on earth, no man beneath the earth, or nobody, was even worthy to look at the Book. See? Now just think of that! Then the Lamb comes forward, and He takes the Book. Now John was asked not to weep anymore. He said, “Behold, the Lion of Juda has prevailed, and—and He can take the Book and open It.” So, he turned to look for a Lion, and he saw a Lamb. The elder called, said, “A Lion has prevailed.” But when he come and looked, it was a Lamb coming out from the Throne.
E-34 Now, he had never noticed That before. Why? He had been back there, in His doing His mediatorial work; for He was bleeding for the people, intercessing for the people, until the last soul, that was put on the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world, come in. There is just going to be so many of them there, and that’s it. That’s all. The others won’t even want to come in; they have no desire to come in. And so, then, when that last soul comes in, then the time of redemption is finished.
E-35 Then the Lamb comes forth to claim His rights to what He has redeemed, and that’s all creation. The earth and everything belongs to Him. See? He has redeemed it with His Own Blood. And when He come forth to take this Book, to open It, why, my, they was…John didn’t weep anymore. And he looked, and this Lamb was a slain Lamb. It was already been killed, but it was alive again. And now we found out that a slain lamb is a bloody lamb, bleeding all over. It’s been slayed. After It been slain, It had raised again. It was sitting on the Throne, say, back in behind the Throne, like this, interceding for all those souls that would come. Then when the last one was here, and it was completed, the…God still held the Book of Redemption. See? Now He’s just doing the Kinsman work now.
E-36 Like, Boaz went down, and Ruth was just sitting there waiting until Boaz…I mean, Boaz done the re-…kinsman, redeeming work. Remember me preaching that, not long ago? Ruth, the gleaning; and, Ruth, whatever she did; and on down, and the last thing was, Ruth, waiting. Remember how I typed that in the Church? While, Boaz goes down to do the kinsman redeeming work. He did it; kicked off his shoe and made a testimony, and redeemed Naomi, and, through there, got—got Ruth. Now, so, Ruth was just waiting, because she had already labored. She had done all these other things, but she was waiting now. And then when…The Church is waiting, resting (many of them, most of them, in the dust of the earth), while He is doing His Kinsman Redeem work.
E-37 Now the world is still going worse. And sin is heaping up, and—and sickness, and trouble, and death, and sorrow. The godless men and godless women die right down. Cancer eats them up, and everything else, when they can’t appropriate enough faith to reach out there and take a hold of it.
E-38 Now notice. But then after it was all over, after His media-…His interceding was done, He comes forth, takes the Book out of the hand of Him. And then John, and everything in Heaven, and begin…The souls under the altar begin screaming. We get that in the Sixth Seal, again. And how they rejoiced! And—and they fell down, the elders, and poured out the prayers of saints. And the souls under the altar cried, “Worthy art You, because You have redeemed us to God! And we’re going back to earth, to live as kings and priests.” Oh, there was a great…
E-39 And John said, “Everybody in Heaven, everything beneath the earth, and everything,” heard him praising God about it. John must have found his name on There, you know. All that time!
E-40 Then he said, “He is worthy to take the Book of Redemption.” Now it doesn’t belong back to the Judge anymore. It belongs to the Redeemer, and He has done done the work of redemption.
E-41 Now He is going to show the Church what He done. Amen. See? Then He just takes…But the Book is closed. No one knowed, at all. They know It was a Book of Redemption, on It there, but It’s to be revealed in the last days. According to Revelation 10, the seventh angel is going to be given the Message of That. Because, It said, that, “In the time of the sounding of the seventh church age, the seventh angel, when he sounds, all the mysteries of God should be finished up, by his sounding.” Then, after It’s revealed, the Angel come down from Heaven, which was Christ. Now remember, this angel is on earth, a messenger.
E-42 Down comes Christ, you see Him in the 10th chapter of Revelation; puts one foot upon the land, the other one on the sea; rainbow over His head, eyes like…and feet like fire, and so forth; raises up His hand, and swears by Him that lives forever and ever, on the Throne, that, “Time shall be no more.” And when He takes this oath, Seven Thunders utter their voices.
E-43 And the writer, which, when John was taken up, was supposed to write what he saw. He started to write down. He said, “Don’t write It.” Because… “Don’t write That.” It is an un-…He said, “Seal It up.” What in? “Seal up. Don’t say It.” See, It’s to be revealed, but It’s not even written in the Word.
E-44 And then when He begin to open the Seals, we find out, they were all puzzling. See? When He opened the First Seal, he thought, “Now here It’s going to say, ‘And it will come that so-and-so will take the throne, and certain do this, and this will do that.’”
E-45 But when it was, here he’s went, a white horse, riding, and a rider on it. Well, “He had a bow in his hand; and he was given a crown, after a while,” he said. That’s all.
E-46 And the Lamb turned back again, and pulled another Seal off, and here went out a black…a red-horse rider. “And he had a…given a—a sword; and he was going to make war; and given great power, and take peace from the earth, and kill one another.” That was kind of a…still a mysterious thing (wasn’t it?), when He opened It up.
E-47 And then goes on, and said, “In the day just before these Seven Thunders, all the mysteries here are revealed.”
E-48 Now look. Then we find out, as we’ve been studying, that, down through the ages, we’ve had reformers, not prophets. Reformers! And each office carries its own—its own work.
E-49 Just like a man that’s a—a telephone operator, he isn’t exactly an electrician. He might do a little job at it. And like, if a man is a lineman, well, he certainly…A man is a posthole digger, and never did do any line work, he better keep off the line; but he might do a little patch up work or something.
E-50 But when the real Thing is to be revealed at the last day, of the last part of the Church, is when God has said that He would send to us, according to the Scriptures. And we’ve searched it through and through, that He predicted that the Spirit of Elijah would return in some person. Now, I think that’s been made just as clear. And we…And we’re looking for that to happen; somewhere, an anointed person, in the last days, to rise up. Now you’ll hear a lot of fanatics and everything else, but that just—just tries to…It’s the devil, trying to take away from the real one when he gets here, see. But it’ll be properly identified. You know what Elijah was; and watch that, and you—you’ll know. And then when he…Now, the Elect will know.
E-51 Not the others; they sure won’t do it. They’ll miss It, a million miles. Like…We been through all that, and showed how they missed John, how they missed Elijah, how they missed Jesus, how they missed them all the way along. And they’ll do the same thing, ’cause the Bible said they would. See? So then, in that time, It’ll be very humble. It’ll be so simple. That’ll…what will make people fall away from It. It’s too simple for them. We find out, and always, when people get smart and educated, and know a whole lot, then they just…That’s just the kind that misses it, you know. See?
E-52 Jesus never took them kind of people for (be) His disciples. He took unlearned people, fishermen, and nobody was connected with their churches and things. He just got ordinary men, tax collectors, and farmers, and fishers, and so forth, to do His work. See? Cause, they—they know they’re nothing, then He can make something out of them, see. As long as they keep knowing that they’re nothing, then God can work.
E-53 But when they get to thinking that they know something, then, “You don’t know nothing that you ought to know,” the Bible says. And so, then, we—we find that.
E-54 And now, we find out, then, that these mysteries are supposed to be revealed.
E-55 And why didn’t these other men, Wesley, Luther, and those great reformers, who brought out justification, sanctification, the pentecostal age with the baptism of the Holy Spirit and things, why didn’t they catch these—these Messages? Why didn’t they get Them? Because they were reformers. See?
E-56 Just like, take it on the other side, there was people come in who was “had power as kings, but wasn’t kings.” See? See? You have to notice the Bible terminology of anything. See? Now watch. But, this, the reason that all the straying ends, of the mysterious part about justification, the mysterious part of sanctification, the mysterious part of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And, why, what kind did…Did Eve eat an apple, or did she eat a pomegranate, or something? See? Did…What was the serpent’s seed? And—and is the baptism in the name of the “Father, Son, Holy Ghost,” or the Name of the “Lord Jesus,” right? And, oh, hundreds of those things, has been left loose-ended. See?
E-57 And then in the last hour, this fellow is to come on and reveal the thing, see, take up the Scriptures. It’ll be properly identified. Look. Yes, sir. And, now, it won’t be a great, big thing now. It looks like, here in the Bible, it would be something big.
E-58 How much bigger was it, when John was supposed to come down there and baptize! Just think now. The prophets, back, all the way back, Isaiah, Malachi, and all of them spoke of him, when he would come. And when he did, just a lone, old, uneducated fellow, with whiskers all over his face, and hair sticking out like a fuzzy worm, and a big old piece of sheepskin draped around him; no education at all, never went to school a day in his life, as far as we know. See? Here he come, out of the wilderness, not even as much as welcomed into a pulpit, and stood out there on the river of Jordan and began to call for people to repent. Could you imagine!
E-59 The Bible said, that, “Everything will be so great in that day, even till all the high places will be made low, and all the low places will be brought up.” Yes sir. “And all the rough places will be made plain.”
E-60 Why, I can imagine seeing them out there, think John would come out, or this great forerunner of Christ, and just take all the desert and smooth it out, and put it in grass again. See? Oh, they, I imagine they had it all fixed up, about like they have today.
E-61 But, it was so humble, even the apostles missed it. They said, “Well, why does the Scripture say, if the…You’re going up there to be offered up now? Why does the Scripture say that—that Elias must come first?”
E-62 He said, “He’s already come, and you didn’t know it. And, Son of man, they’ll do the same thing. But, John,” He said, “did just what was listed for him to do. And they done to him just what they was supposed to do. And,” said, “so must the Son of man be suffered.”
E-63 Why, there wasn’t, I guess, one-third of the whole Jewish race ever knowed that Jesus Christ was on earth. Didn’t… They might have heard of some fanatic down along there somewhere, but they didn’t pay any attention to it, just going on. “He came to His Own, and His Own received Him not.” Now, there is where I believe even…Now, it didn’t say He would secretly come.
E-64 But the Rapture will be a secret. So if that was so secret, when He come, how much more will the Rapture be unknown! See? They won’t know it. Directly they’ll say, “Well, I thought we was supposed to have a Rapture. And all this judgment upon the earth?”
E-65 He’ll say, “It’s already taken place, and you didn’t know it.” See? It’ll be so, just like a thief at the night.
E-66 Like a—a book I read, one time. What is that called? Romeo and Juliet, is that what it was, or something? He let, got the ladder up aside the house, some way. I for-…Been a long time ago. And come, got his…to get her out at nighttime.
E-67 Now, that’s the way that it’ll—it’ll take place, and it’ll be gone. Not, they’ll send a bunch of Angels down, with some spades, and dig up the graves. The Bible said, “We’ll be changed, before even you could bat your eye.” Just a twinkle, it’ll all be over, that quick.
Just say, “Somebody disappeared.”
E-68 Well, I’d imagine if we could search the world over, today, there’s been five hundred people disappear off the earth each day, see, they don’t know nothing about. They just come up, disappearing.
Well, there ain’t going to be too many go in that Rapture.
E-69 Now, I don’t want to scare you, and I—and I—I—I—I don’t think it’s that way, but I just want to tell you what He said. And you know it, yourself. “As it was in the days of Noah, wherein eight souls were saved by water. Eight souls out of the world, be saved by water.”
E-70 Well, you say, “Oh, my! There’s no need of me trying.” That shows you haven’t got the kind of faith you need.
E-71 If there’s just going—going to be one, that’ll be me, amen, ’cause I believe. See? That’s the way you want to believe it, see, “Be me.” Sure. I want to live so close to Him, that I know He’s going to take me when He comes. I believe it. That’s right. So if there…If everybody else misses it, I’m going to be there, by His grace. Cause, He promised me that, and I know that I’ll—I’ll be there, ’cause He can’t lie. And I know my soul and life bears record, and I try to live daily just like He was coming, so I’m—I’m—I’m going to be that one. That’s the way you want to feel, “If there’s going to be eight, I’ll be one of that eight; going to be five hundred, I’m going to be one of that five hundred. Don’t know about the other fellow, but I want to be one of that five hundred.” See? That’s the way you want to remember. See?
E-72 And if you don’t remember it like that, there is something wrong with your faith. See? You’re not sure you’re saved yet, then. You’re just guessing at it. Don’t do that. All right.
E-73 We ain’t going to get into this Seal, are we? All right. I want, each night…I don’t know whether you mind me taking up your time. We could get out a little bit earlier. There’s not too…
E-74 In the revealing of these, of these Seals, remember, it’s only really one verse. The first, tells the announcing of it, the 2nd verse. Most all commentaries, and so forth, the reading of it, or—or reading of their thoughts, and I have—and I’ve always believed like nearly all of them does, that that first horse rider was the—was the early church. But when the Holy Spirit revealed it, it was absolutely contrary to that. And so then, all it does, just show what it is. And then I try…
E-75 Now, to me, this is very sacred. That’s the reason I’d rather answer these questions. And let’s get it, everybody knowing straight, and on tapes, too, that they’ll understand now. See? I tried to speak a while, at night, on backgrounding, to get the people…
E-76 Rushing in and pushing in, and, you shouldn’t do that. See? But, when it does, it’s human beings. And it’s hot in—in here, and you—and you are restless.
E-77 But you been very, very nice. The best I’ve ever seen the people act, in the tabernacle, has been this meeting; and sitting quiet, and mothers taking their babies to the nursery when they started crying. And everything has been very nice.
E-78 But I try to background it until I just feel the anointing of the Spirit on me, to say these Words, to say what has been revealed to me. And then if I have, somewhere, doing that, if I have made a mistake here, surely here before all the people He’ll correct it for me. I—I want it. It’s—it’s…I want It right. There’s no need of taking just what you imagine. There is something right, and—and we want That. We want God to give us what’s right.
E-79 So now we took this, these riders, as they come up. The first horse, now, and we realize that that was the—the antichrist that went forth. And then we find out, last night, that the same fellow that went forth as antichrist, as a white horse, we found him with a sword, last night, riding, and killing people.
E-80 Now, now, there’s always the natural and the spiritual. And for the Church sake, I want to type, just before we get to the opening of this Seal.
E-81 Which, what He give me, I got it wrote down here. I got several Scriptures here, seven or eight pages of it, and as I refer to it.
E-82 Notice, I want to give a type, of the Church, and make it so plain that you’ll be bound to see it. See?
E-83 Now, there was a natural bride in the garden of Eden. Remember last night? That natural bride, she was Adam’s sweetheart, not yet his wife, ’cause he hadn’t knew her yet as a wife.
E-84 Just like Mary was Joseph’s wife, but he never knew her yet. “She was found with a child.” See?
E-85 Now, before Adam knew his wife, she was just a bride to him. All right. And we find out that God…She, she fell in the garden of Eden because she failed to hold to God’s Word.
E-86 Now, He knew that Satan would be loosed among them, so He gave them a—a place to stay behind; fortify them. Well, there, who could know any better place to be fortified, than God, if He’s trying to take care of His own children?
E-87 If I wanted to take care of my little Joseph, well, brother, everything…And I knowed his life depended on it, why, I’d…and I was able to do it. Well, if forty-foot concrete, reinforced, would—would be the thing would do it, that’s…I’d make it ninety foot, to be sure, that.
E-88 And if I can think that about my little boy, (which, if his mortal life had lost, I believe a child would be saved,) how much more, to God, to His child that would be Eternally lost! What should He place him behind? He placed him behind His Own Word. As long as you’re in that Word, you’re safe. “If ye abide in Me, and My Words in you, then just ask what you will.” That’s it, the Word.
E-89 So, Eve got to strolling in the garden, and she run into the serpent, a very polished-up sort of a fellow. And she…And he begin…Now, he was on the other side. God lives, dwells, works in humility, never any other way. See? Now, the little, humble lady walking along there, and Satan come up as a wise, slick, polished sort of a fellow. And he wanted to sell her the program. As long as…
E-90 No matter how much Satan was around; as long as she stayed behind this Word, she was all right. [Brother Branham pats his Bible—Ed.] See? So, let Satan do whatever he wants to; you just stay with the Word. Don’t make a bit of different.
If he says, “Why, you’re sick.”
“By His stripes I’m healed.”
“Well, you’re going to die.”
“He’ll raise me up again. He promised it.”
E-91 See, just stay behind the Word. That’s all. Christ retreated to the Word, Himself. “It’s written.” See? Now, stay behind the Word.
E-92 But, Eve, she begin to kind of let down, but she never let it all down. She only let one little phrase down. And that’s what Satan wanted her to do. He got her from behind God’s promise, by reasoning.
Don’t never try to reason God’s Word. Just believe It! See?
E-93 So, she stepped out from There. And before Adam ever got to her, for a wife, she was already defiled by Satan. And she…
E-94 And did you notice? Christ did the same thing, exactly. Now, for redeeming, God had to be there first. Did you notice? Mary, before she come to Joseph, the Holy Spirit had done got there. Amen. See? That’s where the Redeemer come.
E-95 Now, now notice, the natural woman fell, and God made a way for her to be redeemed. Although she had fallen, He made a way.
E-96 Now, that was the first bride on earth, fell, before her husband and her were married. She fell, by—by the reason of—of reasoning, instead of staying with the Word. She fell. And she fell to death, Eternal separation. With her, she took her husband and everything else there was on the earth. She fell!
E-97 Now, but, God, full of mercy, made a way to redeem that woman. And now He promised her, telling her that sometime, in the future, the true Word would come to her again. The true Word will be made known to her. Now remember that. Cause, He promised Christ, through the woman.
E-98 And Christ is the Word. Saint John 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh,” see, “and dwelt with us.” God dwelt with us in flesh. He was the Word.
E-99 Before a Word, it’s a thought. And a thought has to be created. All right. So, God’s thoughts become creation when it was spoke, by a Word. That’s when He presents it to—to you as a thought, His thought, and it’s revealed to you. Then, it’s still a thought until you speak it. That’s the reason…
E-100 Moses went out to pray. That Pillar of Fire around him, and He said, “Go, hold your stick towards the east, and say, call for ‘flies.’”
E-101 There’s no flies. But he went and held the stick there, and said, “Let there be flies.” No flies at all, yet. Went on back. But the words, God’s thought, has already been spoken. It’s a word, now it’s got to happen.
E-102 Now don’t you see where Jesus said? “If you say to this mountain; not if I say it. But you say to this mountain, ‘Be moved.’”
E-103 And the first thing, I guess, in Moses’ time, big old green fly begin to buzz. And, after a while, they was five pounds per yard. See? Where’d they come from? He…God created them. Don’t you see how…
E-104 God can destroy this world tonight, with—with gnats, if He wants to. Well, He could pile gnats plumb to the moon. Only thing He could do is just say, “Let there be gnats, to the moon.” That would be all there would be to it. No chemicals or nothing, they’d just keep on growing, growing, growing on. See?
E-105 He can do what He wants to. He is God, the Creator. The only thing to do is just speak it. [Brother Branham snaps his finger once—Ed.] That’s right. He’s the Creator. Now, if we just get to realizing how great He is! See? He just does what He wishes to.
E-106 He sits up there and looks at people, and these little educators, smarting out, and, “There’s no God,” and—and everything. Huh! Why, it just like they was at Babel, again. Babel, rather.
E-107 Now we notice that God told Eve, that, “After so long a time, the Word is coming back to you.” Now, how did she fall? I want my class to say it. What did she fall from? What did Eve fall from? The Word. Is that right? [Congregation says, “The Word.”—Ed.] The Word. And God said He would make a way to redeem her back to the Word again. All right. After so long a time, the Word would be known to her. All right. The Word would come for one purpose now. Hold tight now, what I’m saying. The Word would come to her for one purpose, that was for redemption. All right.
E-108 But, until—until then, she had a substitute that would—that would work until the time arrived for the original Word. Now you—you understand clearly? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] See? He told her the Word would come to her again, but, until that time, He give her a substitute until that time arrived. So, He gave her an offering to make, a substitute for that Blood.
E-109 Now, the blood was of bulls and sheep, and goats and things, but it didn’t take away her sin. See? It only covered her sin. It didn’t take it away, at all. It covered it. For, it was an animal’s blood, and in the animal’s blood is the animal life. It was a substitute until the real…Now get your coats on.
E-110 The real, human Blood, as human beings would be, become incarnate (God); without sex, virgin, the virgin birth produced that. Now God’s Word, promise, became Blood, and was incarnated in the Person of Jesus Christ the Saviour. “The blood of bulls and goats, and so forth…”
E-111 But now wait. Here God made the promise, saying it would be there when It come, “Her Seed should bruise the serpent’s head.” Now, if her seed come just like from Adam, or like had been from the serpent, and so forth, then it’d still be sinful seed.
E-112 That’s the reason John wept. There was no man, because no man…Everybody was across, the other side of the ditch, the chasm. But there is coming a time that when this substitute blood of animal would be done away with, when the real, incarnate Blood came: God, made flesh and Blood. The Bible said He was. First Timothy 3:16, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: for God was manifested in flesh.” That’s right. The virgin birth did this.
E-113 Now, the blood of sheep and goats covered sin, but didn’t get rid of it, for it was an animal’s blood. But it was to be alright, was to be a substitute.
E-114 And they sure got—got used to that substitute, and so they just kept on.
E-115 And, when, the real, promised Word was made manifest in Jesus Christ, Who proved to be the Son of the great Creator, God; and was vindicated, Himself, by being the living Word of God. Whew! My! He proved He was. He could speak things into existence.
E-116 There ain’t a human being, or—or nothing in the world, could do that. There ain’t a thing on earth can create, but God. The devil can’t create. He’s a perverter of what’s been created, but he can’t create. Sin is only righteousness perverted. You know what I mean. What is a lie? It’s the truth misrepresented. See? What is an adultery? The right legal act perverted. Everything in sin, sin is just the Truth perverted. Now, he could not create.
E-117 But when Christ came, proved He was the Creator. There was the Blood that had been promised. Now if you want to read that, you…Let’s just turn for a minute. We going to take the time on this, anyhow, tonight. I…
E-118 It makes me nervous. I think everybody wants to go home, you know. And so it’s a…[Congregation says, “No.”—Ed.] Now let’s get Acts 2. Thank you. And we’ll just…
E-119 Acts 2, and we’ll find out whether this is right, or not, whether He was proved that He was God. All right. Get Acts 2. Now let’s get here at the 22nd verse, Peter speaking, the Day of Pentecost.
Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles…wonders and sign, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you your-…al-…you yourselves also know:
E-120 “A man that was approved, that it was God among you.” By the very things He done, proved that He was. Here is Peter, standing at the Sanhedrin, telling them.
E-121 Nicodemus knowed the same. He said, “Rabbi, we all know that You are a teacher comes from God, ’cause no man could do these things ’less He come from God.” See? They knew it. But why?
E-122 Now watch. Now, Eve was promised this. But when… That bride come on down, and refused, when the real Word came to her. So, the woman refused to recognize; the Hebrew bride. For, she was the bride of—of God; He put her away, in divorcement. Is that right? She was the bride of God.
E-123 You say, “Well, they wasn’t ever married yet.” That’s right. But Joseph put Mary away before…Was going to put Mary away ’fore they was married. See? He was engaged to her.
E-124 And when He come, and the Word that He promised, come for the wedding, He found her wrapped in her substitutes, so bad, that she wouldn’t take the real promise that had been made, the Word, Christ.
E-125 Maybe you don’t get it. Now let me go over it again. I want you to get this, see.
E-126 She was promised, (the bride, Eve), to be a Redeemer. Her Redeemer would be the Word. And when the Word came, made flesh, she rejected It. She was given substitutes. Now hold that, “substitute.” Given substitutes to go on, until the Redeemer come. And when the Redeemer come, she wanted to continue with her substitute, and rejected the true Word. See it? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] And that was the Hebrew bride.
E-127 So did He, by the second Eve, bride, the mother of all spiritual living. See? Eve means “the mother of all,” that’s spirit-… “all that’s living.” Eve, “mother of all that’s living.”
E-128 Now, and when He came to the Hebrew bride, she was the mother of all that was living, but she rejected It.
E-129 Natural Eve fell, in Eden, by listening to Satan’s reasoning against God’s Word. That’s how she fell. All right, sir. She fell because she did that.
E-130 Spiritual Eve, now, that’s the church, Christ’s bride. She fell, not in Eden, but in Rome, see, at the Nicaea Council, when she rejected, that Pentecostal church, that went down to Nicaea, and listening to Roman’s reasoning, instead of holding onto the Word, she fell. And everything away from her, died with her, around her. Now, just as natural Eve fell, spiritual Eve fell. God’s bride fell—fell in the garden; Christ’s Bride fell in Rome. See?
E-131 Notice, by the same reasoning, against God’s Word, she also forfeited her rights of virtue, to Satan. Which, we found in the breaking of these Seals, that that was Satan, and still is Satan there. The Bible said it’s the very seat of Satan. And as Eve forfeited her—her virtuous rights, and give them over to Satan, in the garden of Eden; the church, the bride of Christ, did the same thing at Rome, when they forfeited the Bible for their dogmas and reasonings. See how it types? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.]
E-132 You just run those types, you’re bound to come out right. If my hand looks like…If I’ve never seen myself, and I see my shadow coming, I’ll know just about what I look like. See? But, that’s the way. If you want to see what’s coming, look what has been. “For the…all the old things were shadows of things to come,” the Bible said. All right.
E-133 For, she forfeited her virtuous Word, the Word of God, when she sold the Bible, and put a man in there that says that the church has rights to change anything they want to change. And they’ve done it. And the bride of Christ, the pentecostal bride, sold out her virtue, at Nicaea, just as Eve sold her virtue to Satan in the garden of Eden. Exactly. All right.
E-134 God has promised; this church, this pentecostal church, knowing she would do it; like He did to Eve, God has promised.
E-135 The pentecostal church, do you believe that she sold her birthrights, before…her virtue, when she left over there? You believe that? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] She, sure, she did. Then what good is a creed, not based on this Bible? I want somebody to find what’s called the Apostles’ Creed, or even one word of it in the Bible. That’s a Catholic creed, not apostles’ creed.
E-136 Read Acts 2:38, that’s apostles’ Creed, if He’s got any. Yeah. See? Now, that’s what they used all the time, anyhow. So if you…See?
E-137 So, they sold out their birthrights. Not only that, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, Pentecostals, the rest of them, has done the same. She formed a denomination. Rome, what made her do that, she formed a denomination and put man at the head of it. And the Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals and every one, has done the same thing, put a group of men at the head of it. No matter what God says, they…You got to do it the way they say do it.
E-138 Well, what is it? It’s nothing in the world but spiritual prostitution, the wrong type of woman; yes, sir, creeds, lying creeds, man-made. Then she became, when she did that…Now I’ll prove this. She became a whore, to God. Do you believe the Bible says that? Yes, sir. Her daughters has done the same.
E-139 Now in Revelation 17, if you want to mark it down. John was taken in the Spirit, “And saw a great whore sitting upon…” And we read it last night. And there was the seven hills, and exactly what she had done. And she had given the world her filthy fornications. Is that right? “And all the kings of the earth committed fornications with her,” cheat, and steal, and lie, and paying for repentance, and—and novenas, and every other thing.
E-140 Well, now remember, she had daughters. Well, if she had become a body, and under an organizational system, then the whole system is wrong. And if Eve, disobeying God, throwed everything into death, that was under her; and every church that organizes, throws everything to death, under it. Exactly. The whole thing is gone. That’s exactly according to the Word here. Read Revelation 17. And the Bible said that He would “burn her with fire, and all of her children with her.” That’s right. That means, every organizational system will burn, with the whore.
E-141 Now, that sounds flat, and I—I know you’ll hear from it, and I—I want to hear from it. And I—I…That’s right, though. The Bible said so, so that makes it right.
E-142 She became a “whore.” You can read it in Revelation, the 17th chapter. She, what did she do? She committed fornications, against her own Husband. “Well,” you say, “no, that’s the Bible.” The Word is God. And if you take one thing…
E-143 Would you want your wife kissing some other man? If she didn’t do no more than that, you wouldn’t want her doing it. She would prove her un-trueness.
E-144 “Whosoever shall take one Word away from It, or add one to It.” Hallelujah! Christ wants His Wife pure with the Word. [Brother Branham knocks on the pulpit four times—Ed.] That’s the way She must be.
E-145 Cause, nothing, not one tot, or one jittle, or anything, or tittle, will pass from that law, or from that Book, till It’s all fulfilled. Jesus said, “Both heavens and earth will pass away, but My Word shall never pass.”
E-146 Don’t put any private interpretation to It. He wants a pure, unadulterated, not even a flirt. I wouldn’t want my wife flirting with some other man. And when you go to listening to any kind of reasons, beyond That, you’re listening, you’re flirting with Satan. Amen! Don’t it make you feel religious? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] God wants you to stay unadulterated. Stay right there with that Word. Stay right with It. All right.
E-147 God promised to her, as He did to Eve in the garden of Eden, to this last Eve here. Which, the pentecostal church, the beginning of the church, the church itself, is the mother of all of the living people, because, as long as they go in there. But, you see, when they take up her sins, they die with her.
E-148 Here comes a little fellow along. He say, “I—I want to serve God.”
E-149 They say, “Well, here is what you do. Go down there and repent.”
“All right, I’ll do it. Glory to God!” Go down there, repent.
E-150 “Now come join us.” There, there you are. Uh-huh. See? That got it. Huh! That’s right, died right with it. See? See? That’s just…That’s what this Book is teaching, see, not what I’m saying. Because, It says Here, so. All right.
E-151 Now, God has promised her, as He did Eve. He told Eve there would come a time that the—the Word would come back to her again. Now you remember that? What she lost from, it would be restored. Cause, there’s only one Thing can restore, and that’s the Word. Exactly.
E-152 I said, shoot a gun; if you don’t hit the target, find where it went off at. You got to come back there and start again. See?
E-153 And if you go back, you go to Nicaea. That’s where you start again, see. Go back, away from them organizations, away from all that church. We been seeing these Seals just perfectly.
E-154 I always wondered, all my life, why I was so against organizational systems. Not the people, no. The people are just like me or you, or anybody else. But that system, that denominational system, now I see it right here. I never knowed it till now. And that’s right.
E-155 God promised the spiritual Eve, the same as He did the natural Eve, that again the Word would be restored to her. In the last days He would restore to the Church, to the original Word again.
E-156 Now watch real close. I—I want you to be sure now. God promised Eve, the time would come when the Word would be restored by her Seed. This Word, Itself, would become Seed. And when they give her a substitute, she held that substitute. And when the Word come to her, what’d she do? “I don’t want It.” It was too humble. Didn’t look right, to her. Wasn’t polished enough. “A stable? Oh, my! My! A Guy like that, not a day in school? Well, I couldn’t accept That. That’s no Messiah. A Guy let guys kick Him around like that, and then call It ‘Messiah’? Let them put a rag around His face, then hit Him on the head? And He called Himself a Prophet, a real Prophet, raised up?”
E-157 Actually, they didn’t know prophets. Jesus said so. He said, “If you would have known the prophets, you’d knowed Me.” That’s right.
E-158 Now notice. But when the Word came to her, the way, just exactly the way God said It would come; she had It figured out some other way. I’m talking about the bride, the Jewish bride, the Hebrew bride. That was Eve, to begin with. Then when It come out here, she didn’t want It. She wanted to stay with her substitutes.
E-159 Now, God promised spiritual Eve, at Pentecost, told it even before it happened, four hundred years before the church ever fell, that they would fall away, and they would do what they’ve done. But, He promised, in the last days He would send the Word again.
E-160 Jesus spoke the same thing when He was on earth; He would send It again. And what is…What will It find? It’ll find the same thing that It found when It come first. Right. They’ve got…They, they want their substitutes. They want their denomination. They want their creeds. They want to live just the way they want to. And they want, “Well, I’m So-and-so. I belong to So-and-so.” Don’t make any difference what God is a doing, how much He manifests Himself; He could raise the dead; He could tell the secrets of the hearts; He could do everything that the Bible said He would do. That don’t make a bit of difference. “If it ain’t connected with my organization, it is nothing to It.” See?
E-161 Same thing that Hebrew bride did, that’s right, see, they listened to their substitute. And God promised them the real. And when the real come, they didn’t want It. It was too humble.
E-162 Now it’s the same thing today, when—when It rises on the scene. Now, God said, in Malachi 4, that He would send the Message in the last days, that would restore. Joel said, “I will restore all the years.” Everything that Rome eat up, and everything the Methodists eat up, and everything the Baptists eat up, off of that original pentecostal branch, God said, “I will restore in the last day.” That’s right.
E-163 And He can send us such a person that will be…The only thing that God ever sent His Word to was a prophet, not to reformers; to prophets. It wasn’t the hour for it. Now it’s getting to be the hour, and that’s the reason we’re watching for it to come. It’ll be so humble and gentle! And so…Oh, my!
E-164 You think them aristocratic Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterian, Pentecostals, will ever receive it?
“Oh,” you say, “Pentecostals?”
E-165 The Pentecostals is the Laodiceans. “Rich, and have need of nothing.”
E-166 It said, “You don’t know that you are poor.” Might be building millions-of-dollars buildings, but you’re still poor, spiritual poor.
“Oh,” you say, “I see It all.”
“You’re blind!”
“Well,” you say, “bless God, I’m covered.”
“Naked!”
“Well, I sure of our boys. We got seminaries. We…”
E-167 “And don’t know it.” Now that’s just vice versa. Now, if the Bible said that the Laodicean Church would be in that condition…
E-168 And there’s no person on earth could deny that this isn’t the last age, because, the Laodicean Church Age, or, the seventh church age. And, here we are, the second two thousand years is finishing it. There is no more church ages. That’s the reason you Latter Rain brethren couldn’t start another organization. There’s going to be no more. That’s right. It’s at the end. Amen. Can’t be no more church ages. It’s all over.
E-169 But then if the pentecostal message was the last message… Which, justification, sanctification, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the last three messages, the last three church ages forms the complete Birth.
E-170 Just like when a woman is having, going to have her baby; the actual first thing happens is water, the next thing is blood, the next thing is life.
E-171 When they killed Jesus at the cross, the substance come from His body, to make up the new…to make up the—the Birth. They struck His side, Blood and water came out, and, “Into Thy hands I commend My Spirit.” What came from His body was water, Blood, Spirit.
E-172 Now, First John 5:7 tells you about that, “There are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word (which is Christ,) and the Holy Ghost.” And these three agree in one; they’re not one, but they agree in one. And there are three that bear record…Or, “They are one,” I mean. I’m mistaken there. “And the three that bear record in earth, is the water, Blood, and Spirit, and they agree in one.”
E-173 You can be sanctified without being justified. And you can be justified without being sanctified. You can be sanctified without receiving the Holy Ghost. That’s exactly.
E-174 The disciples, in John 17:17, was sanctified and given power to cast out devils, but still didn’t have the Holy Ghost. See? Sure. Had to go up to Pentecost, and wait till the Holy Ghost come.
E-175 That’s where Judas showed his colors. See how that spirit worked its way through justification, sanctification? But when it come to the end, he showed his colors. See? That’s right.
E-176 Now notice, now, and here we are at the end time. And spiritual Eve, just as nat-…as Hebrew Eve was promised, the Hebrew bride was promised the Word to return. And the spiritual bride from Pentecost, when she fell at Nicaea, then she is promised in the last days that the Word will come again. Now you say, then…
E-177 You want another Scripture, take over here, Revelation 10. And said, “In the hour, the time of the—the last angel, the seventh angel (seventh messenger) begins to sound, the mystery of God is finished.” See? The restoration back to the Word! The Bible said that this messenger of the last days would be, “Restore them back to the original Faith again, back to the Faith of the fathers.” But do you think they receive It? No, sir. “Last days, He would restore the original Word again,” as He said in Malachi 4.
E-178 But she had forfeited. Now, she had forfeit that Word at Nicaea. Eve forfeited in Eden; Eve rejected hers at Calvary. And Nicaea’s group is rejecting It in the last days, just the same. My!
E-179 But when the Word came in human flesh, she, Eve, the Hebrew church, mother of all spiritual living, It then, she rejected It. She was so dead, in her traditions and dogmas, that she missed It. So is this one, exactly. All right.
E-180 They miss Him, the living Word manifested in the flesh, by the Word that is promised. The Word promised to do these things. The promise was made, that it’ll be like this in the last days. “As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the Coming of the Son of man.” Now watch what happened at Sodom. “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man.” See? Watch what happened then. See? Now, He said it would be the same thing, and we live in that day. Well, and it could be, I guess, I could get six hundred promises of them like that, out of the Scripture, just referring to it. See? Now, but, they reject It.
E-181 She held to traditions and substitute, instead of the—the… She held to the substitute blood, instead of the real Blood. Jesus, the Word, said, when It was manifested to her, “Because she held to these traditions…” Jesus, the manifested Word, said to the bride, Hebrew bride, “Because you hold to your traditions, you make the Word of God without any effect to you. It can’t be effective.”
E-182 Now that’s what’s the reason today, that, the—the revivals that we’re supposed to have, we have denominational revivals. We haven’t had a real stirring. No, no, no. No, sir. Don’t think we got revivals. We haven’t. Oh, they’ve got millions and millions and millions of church members, but not a revival nowhere. No. No.
E-183 The—the Bride hasn’t had a revival yet. See? There’s been no revival there, no manifestation of God to stir the Bride yet. See? We’re looking for it now. It’ll take those seven unknown Thunders back there, to wake Her up again, see. Yeah. He’ll send it. He promised it. Now watch.
E-184 Now, she was—she was dead. And now if the churches would forget their creeds, and forget their dogmas, and just take the Bible, plead the promise, then it would come effective to them. But, see, Jesus said, “You, with your traditions, make the Word of God not effective to you.” Well, that’s the same thing today with spiritual Eve, see, the spiritual bride of today, so-called, the church. She takes the Word of God, and she won’t accept It. And she accepts dogmas, instead. Therefore, the Word is not effective to her, see, because she tries to inject her creed with the Word, and it won’t work. Now, what we need today…
E-185 I just keep reading this here, Herald of His Coming, across the headlines, “We need a prophet to return! We need a prophet to return!” And I guess, when he does return, they’ll know nothing about it. Just…That’s right. It’s always been that way, you see. “We need it,” everything you talk about, “we need a prophet to return, who will bring the Word of the Lord, fearless. We believe the Bible promised it.”
E-186 Now, I know Brother—Brother Moore and them, eat in his house, and everything else, the editor. And he’s the finest man that—that walks in shoe leather, I guess, one of the finest fellows. But, see, he knows that we got to have that. And Sister Moore, one of the finest women, little…poor little fellow, and they sacrifice.
E-187 And that’s one of the best papers on the field, in my opinion, is The Herald of His Coming. But you find out, they keep blasting that, “We need a prophet! We need a prophet!” See? My! That’s what they talk about.
E-188 And then here we are, today, and like yesterday and today, announcing on the radio, that…and the Baptist churches and so forth, that, “We’re not to take in with the Catholics, but we’re to kind of fellowship with them.” See?
E-189 And right here, the Message going out right here, to, “Stay away from that poison thing!” See? See? “How can two walk together ’less they be agreed?” Light and dark can’t fellowship together. When Light comes in, dark goes out. See? It can’t…The most powerful! You can’t put Light out, with dark. But you can put dark out, with Light. That’s right. And He is the Light, and He is the Word. See? Now, there you are, right straight back. You can’t make It lie or do anything wrong. It comes right straight back to the spot again. Yes, sir.
E-190 Just like some guy start, try to fuss with you; if you know where to stand, know what he believes.
E-191 It’s just like taking a rabbit and turning him loose in a pen, and you got every hole stopped up. Just stand at the gate; he’s got to come back. That’s all there is to it. See? He’ll have to come right back to the gate again, ’cause that’s the only way he can get out. He’ll stick his head through here, and almost break his neck; and go over there, over there. Just stand and watch him, and he’ll come right back. See? That’s all.
E-192 That’s the only way to do. Stay with that Word. You can blast all around, with your creeds, just break your neck everywhere, but you got to come right back to this Word. See? Yes, sir. It’s all of It.
E-193 Now, see, they—they—they—they don’t want It. They don’t want God’s Word. Because she held to her traditions, she kept the Word of God from being of none effect.
E-194 The same now, on spiritual Eve. She don’t want…She wants to keep her traditions, and get away from the Word of God. She holds again to the denominations, and their creeds and traditions of her elders, instead of taking the Word of God.
E-195 And when the promise of the Word, in the last days, is brought to her, she will not receive It, because, with her traditions, like the Hebrew bride did. The real Word, though manifested, proven, vindicated, she won’t have It. Why won’t she? Because there is her type. She can’t do it. That’s right. She can’t beat her type. See? And it’s predicted she would do it, so how you going to keep from anything?
E-196 Now the only thing to do is just be happy you’re in. That’s all. Be waiting for it. All right.
E-197 God promised, in the last days, that He would manifest and would vindicate His Word to her, and still she wouldn’t do it. All that, God promised her, by His servants, the prophets. God promised, through Jesus Christ. God promised, through Joel. God promised, through Paul. God promised, through Malachi. John…God promised, through John the revelator, all them prophets, just exactly what the last Message would be to her. Now, if you want to write them down; ’course, you all know them: Jesus, John 14:12; and Joel, Joel 2:38; Paul, Second Timothy 3; Malachi, 4th chapter; and John the revelator, Revelation 10, seven-teen, one to seven-teen. See, exactly what would take place now! And, to the church, what is It? The incarnate Word made flesh amongst His people again! See? And they just don’t believe It.
E-198 You know what Jesus said when He seen He…when He done them miracles before them, and proved that He was God? Proved that, what He was doing. He was. He had done exactly. He—He said to them, He said, “Oh, you, Capernaum, who is exalted into heaven, if the works had been…mighty works had been done in Sodom, that’s been done in you, it would be standing today.” That’s right. And in Capernaum, He never done nothing but heal a few people, and told them the secrets of their hearts, and walked out. Uh-huh. That’s all. See?
E-199 They don’t know what mighty works are. They think it has to be a great big program where everybody gets up, and the judge makes a speech, and—and the bands play, and the colors fly, and the—and the well-dressed women, and their…and tarrying, and all the Ph.D, LL.D’s, and the big, tall hats, and turned-around collars, and everything, they all have to walk in. “That’s something great.”
God says, “That’s foolish.”
E-200 And He brings up a little something that don’t know what difference between maybe ABC’s, hardly, and perform something that just sets the real Church afire. And the rest of them says, “A bunch of holy-rollers.” God calls That “great,” and the world calls It “foolish.” The world calls that “great,” and God calls that “foolish.” See, just vice versa. See? And the thing that God has promised, God will and has done. See? Here we are.
E-201 Now, still, she remains as she did, the Hebrew Eve. She just wouldn’t do it. You could raise up the dead; you could see the Spirit of God. Jesus came down, vindicated Himself to be the Son of God. First, He started preaching. Well, they thought, “Well, kind of odd-like Fellow. Who is He, anyhow?” Well, the first thing you know, people begin to say…
E-202 Course, they had said, before, when His forerunner come, John, they said, “Are you the Messiah?”
E-203 He said, “No. But He is standing among you somewhere.” Uh-huh. See? Why? He knowed, when his message taken place, what he was to do. He knowed what he was going to do.
E-204 Just like Noah kept watching Enoch. When Enoch went, Noah said, “Better get close to the ark. The time is at hand.” Noah kept watching Enoch. See?
E-205 And John watched for the sign that Jesus told him, or God told him, to watch. He said, “He is standing right here now, somewhere among you. I don’t know Him, but I will know Him.”
E-206 Standing there, they said, “Aren’t you the Messiah?” Said, “We were sent from the headquarters.” Uh-huh. Said, “The elders, and all, sent us down here. If you’re the Messiah, why don’t you come up and make yourself known up there, not down here in this bunch of stuff down here! You come up there and make yourself known.”
E-207 He said, “I’m not the Messiah.” He said, “I’m the voice of one crying in the wilderness.”
E-208 That went as far over their head as it could go. They didn’t know nothing about it, see, and yet they was all looking for him to come. “But it couldn’t be a guy like that. Oh, my, that would be terrible!”
“What school are you from?”
“None.”
“Have you got your fellowship card?”
“What is it?” See?
E-209 He was anointed of God. He said, “There’s one thing I have. The ax is laid to the root of the tree.” Now, that’s all he—that’s all he had. He talked in terms of a woodsman, not in the terms of a clergyman; vipers, and axes, and trees, and so forth. He—he didn’t talk in ecclesiastical terms.
E-210 But Jesus said there never was a prophet like him. “Never a man born of a woman, like him, till his day.” That’s right. “He was more than a prophet.” He was the messenger of the Covenant, stood right between the—the two dispensations, coming in. See? “More than a prophet.”
E-211 And so then—then they didn’t know him. They didn’t understand him. He was kind of an odd-like sort of fellow, so they dismissed him, see.
E-212 Then when Jesus come, then, and surely wasn’t going to accept Him, this carpenter’s boy, there wasn’t nothing like that, with a black name behind Him, of “illegitimate.” And, He, they wasn’t going to see a fellow like that.
E-213 But, but look what God did. He took the unlearned, poor, fishermen, woodsmens, farmers, and harlots, and let the dignitaries sit there. Why? What? Why did He do it? Why did He do such a thing? Could you imagine? Because that them people recognized Him to be the Word. Now let’s just watch them just a minute.
E-214 Here is an old ignorant fisherman, can’t write his name. The Bible said he was “ignorant and unlearned.” He brings his fish up and sets it down. Goes down there and sees what all this noise is about. But way down deep in him, he knew that the Bible said that the Messiah…All Hebrews looked for the Messiah, because there was to be a Scriptural thing happen when He come.
E-215 There had been a lot of messiahs, raised up and said, “I am He,” and led them off, by the hundreds, and—and perished and everything. But, see, that was to throw off the real One when It comes.
E-216 We’ve had Elijah’s mantles and coats, and every other thing, but that—that’s—that’s—that’s just to throw off the real thing when he does come. See? That’s right. All kinds of people that’s wore the robes and the garments, and been buried in all kinds of hoods turned around, and everything else. That don’t…That—that just only vindicates. Like a bogus dollar, shows there’s a good one somewhere, if you can just find it. See?
E-217 So here He come. Now these dignitaries come out, and they was so on their substitute! “Why,” they said, “now, if the Messiah comes, He’ll certainly come to Caiaphas. He’ll come to our denomination. He’ll come to the Pharisees.” The Sadducees, “That’s what you think! He’ll come to the Sadducees.” And there they was, see, the same thing they have today, now.
E-218 But when He come, it was strange. He will come, oh, very contrary to what they thought, but He come according to the Word. And they didn’t know the Word.
E-219 Let me say that, real, so you’ll…it’ll sink way down. I want this to get it. That’s what’s the matter with you today, see, you don’t know the Word! See?
E-220 Jesus said, “You can discern the face of the skies, but the signs of time you can’t discern.”
Said, “We have Moses.”
E-221 So, said, “If you had knowed Moses, you’d a knowed Me.” Didn’t know Moses, and therefore they didn’t know. They just know a creed that they had hatched out.
E-222 Now let’s take this old fisherman. Sets his basket down. Pushed his gray beard down, and walks down, “I believe I’ll see Who it is.”
E-223 Brother said, “Come on. Let’s go down here.” Said, “That’s that same Guy. That’s that Guy they said the other day…I stayed all night with Him last night. You know John, I was talking to you about?”
E-224 “Yeah, that wild man down there! Yeah, I heard about him.” “Well,” old Simon, you know, said, “I heard about him down there. Yeah, had been down there, two or three months ago, down there. Yep.”
E-225 “Well, he said…And one day he was standing there, he said an odd thing. He said, ‘You know, here He comes right now!’ They said, ‘How do you know?’ Looked over there; just an ordinary Fellow standing there. He said, ‘I see the Spirit of God, like a dove, coming down. I hear a Voice saying, “This is Him. This is My beloved Son in Whom I am pleased to dwell in.”’ Then he walked right in the water and baptized Him, so forth. Well, there, he said he knew Him.”
E-226 “Oh, I don’t know,” Simon said. “I’ve heard all of that, lots of times.” But here he comes up. But down in his heart was a predestinated seed. See? Jesus said so. Right. Walks up to Him. Walks up. Said, “I’ll go down to the meeting and see.” Walks up there.
E-227 Jesus was standing there, just an ordinary little Fellow. Walked up. He said, “Why, your name is Simon. And your father’s name was Jonas.” That deflated him. Why? That little, Eternal Life seed struck in there. Yes, sir.
E-228 Said, “Wait a minute! How is that? You never did see me. Neither did you know my dad, ’cause he had been dead for years. But here You come, tell me that? Now, I know that the Bible says…” Now, that’s not go back to what the elder says. “But the Bible said that the Messiah would be a prophet. There He is. That’s Him.”
E-229 One day He passed through Samaria, going down through there with a bunch of Jews. He left them. And this little, ill-famed woman come out, maybe a pretty little lady, you know. And she had been turned out on the street, as a kid. And she was going through there. Maybe she was thinking about something. She walked up there and set the bucket down. And she started to let the windle down, you know, get the water. And she heard a Man say, “Bring Me a drink.” She looked around, and there sit kind of a middle-aged Jew.
E-230 She said, “Say, aren’t You a Jew? You shouldn’t do that. It’s not customary for You to talk to me. I’m a Samaritan.”
E-231 He said, “But if you know Who you’re talking to, you’d bring…you’d ask Me to give you a drink.”
E-232 Said, “Where is Your bucket?” See? “Where is Your string?”
“Well,” He said, “the water that I give is Life.”
E-233 “The what?” See? “Why,” she said, “why, you all want to worship in Jerusalem. And our fathers worshipped…”
E-234 “Oh,” He said, “that’s right, but,” said, “we Jews know what we worship. But,” said, “you know, the time is coming when—when men will not worship in Jerusalem or in this mountain.” He said, “They’re—they’re going to worship God in the Spirit, because He is a Spirit, Spirit and Truth.” Well, she began to study, you know.
And He said, “Go get your husband and come here.”
She said, “My husband? I haven’t got any husband.”
E-235 “Why,” said, “that’s the truth.” Said, said, “You’ve been running around with five, and got the sixth one now.” And said, “You’ve had five. And—and, you, you know. You’ve told the truth.”
E-236 Watch! What was it? That Light struck that seed. It had been laying there, that was spoke by God. Yes, sir.
E-237 The seed was on the earth. When God moved the water away, and the sun hit it, it come up. That’s right. See? That’s all it needed, was sun. Just needed light. Yes, sir.
E-238 And then when the Holy Spirit, in Him, moved away her past life, and showed it to her, that Light struck it. She said, “Sir, I perceive You’re a Prophet.” She said, “Now, we know, I know it, that when Messiah comes, that’s what He’s going to be. And we ain’t had a prophet for hundreds of years. We have never had a true prophet, for hundreds of years.” And she said, “How You tell me about my husband, and told me how many I’ve had, and so forth. Why,” said, “I don’t understand this.” Said, “When Messiah cometh, well, He is going to do that. But Who are You?”
He said, “I am He.”
That was it. See? A harlot!
E-239 And the priests looked around and said…Well, they have to answer to their congregation. Said, “Don’t fool with that Fellow. He’s—He’s possessed of a devil. That’s all.” Now, that’s the difference. That’s the same thing today. See? Same thing today, hits just exactly. Yeah. Yes, sir.
E-240 She, she knew it, because the Light struck It. They se-…Them fishermen, woodsmen, farmers, tax-collectors, harlots, they seen in Him what the simple Scriptures said He would do. And the Pharisees couldn’t see, because of their tradition. [Brother Branham pauses and gestures in some way. Congregation responds affirmatively—Ed.] They couldn’t see, because their traditions. But the prostitute, the farmers, and all them, they saw It, all that was predestinated. When the doubts rolled away, the seed went to growing. That’s right.
E-241 What did she do? She said, “Well, I’m glad I met the Messiah”? Oh, no, brother. Right into the city she went. She forgot about the water. She said, “Come, see a Man Who told me the things that I’ve done. Isn’t this the very thing that the Scripture says Messiah is going to do? Isn’t this exactly that?” And the people could see that same thing.
E-242 As Jesus Christ said, in Saint John 14:12, it would happen again. He said it also in Luke, when He said, “As it was in the days of Noah.” How God manifested Himself in a Man, and told who was behind Him; and what Sarah did, laughing in the tent. And all these Scriptures, of Malachi, and so forth, predicted in the last days. Hebrews 4 said, when “the Word” comes back. Malachi 4 said It would return back by a man. The Hebrews 4 said, “The Word of God discerns the thoughts that’s in the heart.”
E-243 And they can see it done, and walk right away from it. Their traditions hide it and makes it none effect. Well, we’re just here. That’s all. Uh-huh.
E-244 You know, He could do the same thing today. He’d come right on the scene and produce the same things He did then, as He said He would. See? He promised to do it. He promised to do it. And if He would do the same thing, the Laodicea messenger is supposed to do it.
E-245 And then if the Laodicea church sees it done, they’ll do just exactly like the Hebrew church did at the beginning. No matter how well vindicated It is, oh, they’d do it, anyhow. Oh, my!
E-246 Now, It says that it would. We would return to the original Word, and be made manifested as promised, to restore again the Faith, original Faith, again. And if He made Hisself known that He was dwelling amongst His people, by doing these things; He could even have His picture taken, scientifically prove it. And still they don’t believe it. And proven, let the mechanical eye of the camera catch Him standing there, that same Pillar of Fire, same yesterday, today, and forever, Hebrews 13:8, to show that it—it’s scientific, and every other way, scientifically in the spiritual realms. In every way it could be vindicated, it’s been vindicated.
E-247 And, you know, they would probably do the same thing. They would probably just walk right away and do the same thing as they did.
E-248 Oh, God help us! Oh! We’ll just stop here. But, God help us to see now, my prayer, as we come now. Cause, I don’t want to keep you too late. God help us to see. I believe maybe, the Spirit upon us, it’d be right now that He would help us to reveal, open up this Seal.
E-249 Let’s read. As we see the state the church is in, we see where it has been, seen what they did, seen where it was supposed to come, see it there, and see what they was supposed to do. They did just that. Now you see where we’re at? You do the judging. I can’t judge. I’m just responsible for bringing this Word. Just as It’s give to me, I can give It. Until It’s give to me, I can’t give It; no one else can.
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
And I heard the voice in the midst of the four beasts saying, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; but see thou hurt not the oil and…wine.
E-250 Now, the Lamb has got the Book in His hand, breaking the Seals. He’s broke the first one, second one, and now He breaks the third one. And as He breaks it, the Lamb breaks it, the Third Seal, the third Beast…
E-251 Now how many knows what the third Beast looked like? Looked like a man. The first one looked like a lion; the other one looked like a calf, or an ox; and the third one looked like a man, as a man. And he heard the—the living Creature, the—the Beast. Living Creature, like a man, said to John, “Come, see what It is, this mystery that’s been hid.” All down through the years of redemption, since the foundation of the world, It’s been hid under this Seal, what’s going to happen. Now, “Come, look what It is.”
E-252 And so He opens It up. A thunder blasts, and the Lamb opens the Seals.
E-253 Now, and John walked up, to see what It would be. What did he see? He seen a black horse. And his rider had a balance, or scales, in his hand. Now, that’s the first thing he saw. When the Lamb announced It, broke the Seal, then the other Beast…See, them Beasts are taking turn, about announcing, “Come, see.” And John, where he was standing, maybe like this, he walks over here, when the Lamb opened, and walked over. Usually…
E-254 The thunder strikes, as we seen the First Seal. And he watches to see what takes place. And he sees a man coming, first, on a white horse. He watches him ride down. And on down through, John sees him plumb to the end. He sees him come down, his white horse, got a bow in his hand, and the—the rider has, and he has no arrows with it. And the next thing he sees, he gets a crown, rides right on through.
E-255 Then we find out, then, the Lamb, here comes again, He opens another one. And looks. Now here comes a—a red horse. This man has a sword in his hand. He rides right on down through the Scripture, see, with this sword in his hand, and was to kill and take peace from the earth.
E-256 Now the Lamb opens another Seal. Another one of the living Creatures, like a man, said, “Come, see.” Now he walks up, see what this is. And when he does, there comes a rider on a black horse.
E-257 Now, last night, we found out that the same rider that rode the white horse was the same one on the red one.
E-258 And the Voice said, in the midst of the Beasts, called out, you see. There, come to see what it was: He was in this living Creatures. And he saw this black horse.
And when…the voice in the midst of the four beasts called out, A measure of wheat for a penny, and—and three measures of barley for a penny; but see that thou hurt not the—the oil and the wine. (See?)
E-259 This rider, let’s discuss him. If you’ll notice the first rider, who he was. And we found out, last night, Scripturally, that the second rider was exactly the same man, only he was on another horse. What happened? He changed his ministry. See? Right. We found out he was an antichrist, and he had changed his position.
E-260 We found out that when he, first, just was a white horse, he become a doctrine. Now, we’ve taken every one of these right back in the Scriptures. See?
E-261 Now, watch where we’re at, tonight, that other church age now. See? We’re coming down to the third church age now. See? Just exactly on the third church age, is just exactly like the third horse. See?
E-262 Now, the first church age, what was it? The Nicolaitanes had a doctrine, see, just the first one. All right. And then, the first thing we know, this Nicolaitane doctrine, it become sanctioned and was right, went into action. And they crowned this fellow. Then, this spirit, antichrist, become incarnate in a man. See? And we find out, later on, he becomes an incarnate devil, too; the demon goes away, and the devil comes in.
E-263 And just as that church is that kind, antichrist church, progresses; so has the Bride come along with different things: through justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost, and moving right on, see, just like that. Only, they taken their revival first, and the Church is taking it the last. Their first three years…first three stages of them that went through the dark age; then the third, three stages, comes the Church out; from justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost, in incarnate God made manifest among us. Here he comes in, as the antichrist, as the false prophet, then the beast, then in dark age. And the Church comes out of that dark age; justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost, incarnate Word, the way now. And he goes down. Uh-huh. You see that? He goes down. The Church goes up. See? It’s just as perfect as it can be. Oh, it’s beautiful. I just love it.
E-264 This rider is the same one, but another stage of his ministry.
E-265 The first stage, a white horse, see, he was just a teacher, just an antichrist teacher. He was against the Word of God.
E-266 And now how can you be an antichrist? Anybody that denies that every Word of this isn’t true, and to be taught just the same, is an antichrist, ’cause they deny the—the—the—the—the Word. And He is the Word.
E-267 Now, first stage, white horse, he was just a teacher, but an antichrist spirit in its doctrine and its quality. It was innocent. It couldn’t hurt nothing, seemed like; just go on. That’s the way Satan comes in. Oh, he’s a slick bird.
E-268 He told Eve, said, “Now, you know you’re looking for wisdom. You don’t know what’s right and wrong.” Said, “Now, if your eyes were opened, you would know what.” And said, “The fruit is very pleasant. It’s good. It’s—it’s pleasant to the eye. You should take it now. You don’t know whether it is, or not, do you?”
“No, I don’t. But God said not to do it.”
“But, oh, well, I know, but…”
“God said He…we would die.”
E-269 He said, “Surely He won’t do that.” See, just sweet as it could be. Look what it did.
E-270 Watch this antichrist spirit rise up amongst the early church, a doctrine of Nicolaitane. Nikao, “conquer” the laity, make a holy man. Oh, it’s just as inn-… “Well, we just want fellowship. Why, you’re scattered out here; nobody knows where nobody is at. I think we all ought to have an organization and just be different. See, we go, put ourself together. We ought to make a lodge out of it.” And that’s what it is. There is no such a thing as the Christian Church of Methodist. That’s not a Church; that’s a lodge. Baptist, that’s not a Church; it’s a lodge.
E-271 There is only one Church, and that’s the mystical Body of Jesus Christ. And you’re born into That, that’s right, by predestination. That’s right. “All the Father has give Me will come. No man can come lest the Father calls him. And all He has give Me, will come to Me.” So, that, that’s it. He just…
E-272 The Lamb sits there, making—making intercession, till the last one comes in. The little bell rings, and He walks out and takes His possession then, see, that’s all; brings His Church Home, His subjects. And casts His enemy into the Lake of Fire, and all of his subjects go in there with him, and that’s it. Then we walk out in the Millennium.
E-273 Same rider, now. This first stage, he was innocent. And second, now, if you went a little bit higher, a little more than that; the second stage, the Bible said he’d be “given a crown.” And they crowned a man, a superman. See, crowned him! And, then, the Bible didn’t call him a pope. The Bible called him a “false prophet.” Why? Yeah. Of course, he must be a false prophet, by his antichrist spirit, that taught antichrist against the original Word. Cause, if he taught against the original Word, it was antichrist. It was. And the Word is God, see, Christ. All right. Now, after that, we find him then crowned. And when he got crowned, now, he’s very innocent and helpless. He’s just a little fellow.
E-274 But then in the Nicaea Council, he was made it, and Constantine give him all the property. And then what did he do? Then he, see, Satan, give him his throne and authority. The Bible said so, as we’ve went through it.
E-275 Now, the next thing we find out, that the devil controls all politics that ever has been or ever will be. We find that in Matthew 4:11.
E-276 And now we find out, then, that Satan already had politics.
But he’s trying to get the Church, so he goes down to deceive It. He gets his superman, works him into an organization, and crowns him “vicar,” see, a christ. Christ acted in stead of God. See, this guy is a vicar, in stead of God. See? Just the same, “in stead of God,” what he’s supposed to be, a vicar under Christ.
E-277 Now, now, when he did that, then what did he do then? He, Satan, took his political power, which he was already over, and took the religious power, which he had already been crowned, and put them together.
E-278 And then he made him another crown over hell. And them that had passed on, if they’d pay enough money, he’d get them out. See? So now he’s—he’s vicar over Heaven, over purgatory, as he wants to call it. No such thing in the Bible, see, but he had to make something. The Bible said it come out of the bottomless pit, and returns back the same way. And, on earth, a ruler!
E-279 Now what was he given then? First, he had a bow, but he didn’t have any arrow. But now he’s got a mighty sword in his hand. He can do something now. Then he jumps off his white horse; the white horse rides on out. Now he straddles what? A red horse, blood, blood-red horse. He really rides that one. Oh, sure. Now he’s given great power and a great sword, to kill, then he rides his blood-red horse.
E-280 We see, from the Second Seal, that was broke last night, he had taken peace from the earth and did kill one another. And his own martyrology, of the Roman Catholic church, shows that they put sixty-eight million Protestants to death, from the time of Saint Hippo of…after Saint Augustine of Hippo, until fifteen hundred and eighty something. “Sixty-eight million.” Schmucker’s Great Reform, if you want to read it, Glorious Reform, rather, see. Now, sixty-eight million recorded on the martyrology! When one of their so-called saints got the revelation that anybody that disagreed with the Roman church should die as a heretic, that just set them around then. Boy, he went to spilling the blood! He—he jumped on his white horse…on his red horse, and he went to riding. Oh!
E-281 Now his great power comes. He was made vicar of Heaven, and worshipped as God. Ruler of the earth, by uniting the church and state together, made him ruler on earth; give him a crown over that. He could pray the souls out of purgatory. He could also interce-…He was just like God, on earth, in stead of God. Together, he had great power to kill whomever did not agree with his command. Who is going to say anything to him? The church can’t say nothing; he’s head of it. State can’t say nothing; he’s head of it. So, they died by the millions. All them little churches, brother, was busted up, and killed and murdered, and fed to lions, and everything else. See? “The dragon,” Rome, “give him his seat and authority.” The Bible said so. See? So he rode his typed, red horse through human blood, till it become a red horse.
E-282 Now John sees him on a black horse. He changed, something else.
E-283 Now I have to—to say this just the way it come to me. And then and if it come to me and didn’t compare with the rest of the Scriptures, then God never give it. See, the Scriptures has to, every one, it’s just one great big—big thing like that. Scripture has to agree with Scripture. And anything is contrary to the Scripture…If that Angel of the Lord told me anything that wasn’t Scriptural, I wouldn’t believe Him. See?
E-284 I said, there in Chicago the other day, when all them hundreds of ministers…Was anybody there at that meeting? Sure. That meeting in Chicago, I said, “Now, you all talk about you got…You thought you was twisting me in here, on something.” About like is in this room now. I said, “What is it? You got it against me.” I said, “The Holy Spirit showed me, three nights ago, where every one of you would be. And we wouldn’t be in that…Ask Carl here if it isn’t right.”
E-285 And there was Hank and all of them, “That’s right.” You all was there to hear.
E-286 I said, “Now you got against me, on my Teaching. That’s what’s the matter. Now I want one of you to come here, and get your Bible and stand by me, and disprove It.” It was the quietest bunch you ever heard. I said, “What’s the matter with you?” I said, “Then, if you know you can’t stand up against the Word, then get off of my back. You Doctors of Divinity and everything, and talking how, introduce yourself as ‘Doctor,’ ‘Doctor,’ ‘Doctor.’ And I’m a…” (Oh, Brother Wood and I say “cheechaker,” or, “greenhorn.”) “I have no education, never come through any seminary or school. But you get your Bible and come here and stand by my side, disprove the serpent’s seed, the baptism in Jesus’ Name, or any of those things that I teach.” Nobody said a word. You all know that. That was the quietest bunch you ever seen.
E-287 See, they just crow like I don’t know what. Now, now here it is. I don’t believe in fussing with people, but when it comes to a spot where they try to drag you into it. And I wouldn’t have went, but the Holy Spirit told me, said, “Go on over there. I’ll stand by you.”
E-288 Told them, three or four days before time. You all was there and heard Mr. Carlson and them, and—and Tommy Hicks. And all of them sit there. And I went, three days before, and I said, “You’re going to have to cancel that place.”
E-289 It was a stormy night. I was having a meeting. He said, “Go, stand to that window, at that third little door there.” And I went there and stood right in there. I looked out like that.
E-290 He said, “They got a trap set for you. They’re going to ask you to speak at that Ministerial Association of Greater Chicago.” Said, “They got a trap set for you, on your teaching of My Word.”
E-291 He said, “Now, they’re going to cancel off that place over there. They ain’t going to get it. And they’re going to get to a place, where it’s brown.” Said, “Here it looks.” I stopped, and I seen myself in a corner; looked back there and seen. I seen all them there. I seen all them ministers sitting there, the way they was. I looked them all over. And He said…
E-292 “Oh,” I thought, “I’d better not go over there then, Lord, if they’re going to do that. I don’t want to hurt their feelings or do anything wrong.”
He said, “Go. I’ll stand by you.” He did. That’s right.
Now, you all, there is witnesses right here, were sitting right there and know that’s true. That’s right. Well, you got the tapes here, also. But, there you are, you see.
E-294 Now, now here is the mystery of this. And now, It, when It revealed to me early this morning, ’fore daylight. Then I went quickly to the Scripture and begin to look, search it up. There it was. Three of them, so far, has been absolutely, supernaturally revealed. Yeah. Now here is the mystery of the black horse, according to what it was revealed to me.
E-295 He has started riding him in the time of the dark ages. That’s what the dark horse represented, the dark ages, for it was a time of midnight to the true believers that was left. Watch now in that church age, that middle church age, the dark church age. Watch how He says, “You just have a little strength.” It was a midnight to them, for the true believer. Now watch. Practically all hope had been taken from the true Church, for this fellow controlled both church and state. What they going to do? See, Catholicism had taken over, both church and state. And all, didn’t agree with Catholicism, was killed. That’s the reason he was on a dark horse. And watch what a dark thing he done, see, then you can see. And you just…If you know your history, watch it, then you’ll…Well, you won’t have to even know it, to—to know This. Now watch. All hope was gone. That’s his black horse.
Now, he rode in on his white horse, cunning.
E-296 Then he was give power; he took peace, slaughtered the millions. That’s what he was going to do as he rode on through. And he still does it. See?
E-297 Now, here he is on his black horse now, coming forth. Dark age, that was that time. Just about the time after the church got set up, and got in power, they smothered out everything else. And went through, about, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of year, is what every reader knows as the dark ages. How many knows that? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] Sure, the dark ages. There is your dark horse, representing that dark age. Now, all hopes gone; no hope at all. Everything looked dark, for the little believers. Now, that’s the reason it’s called, represented, the dark horse.
E-298 “His balances, or his scales, in his hand,” you see. Calling out, “Measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny.” See, actually, that is, wheat and barley is natural staff of life. That’s what bread and stuff is made from. But, you see, he was charging for this. What it means, that, he was charging his subjects for the kind of the hope of life that he was sending out to them, by making…He started in that very time, of making them pay for prayers, charging for prayer. They still do it; novenas.
E-299 Cause, what was he doing? Capturing the wealth of the world. The scale, weighing out, “Measure of wheat for a penny; three measures of barley for a penny.” The rider on a black horse, see, he was making…stripping his subjects of their money. When, the Bible predicts that he holds, about, the wealth of the world. As we said last night about Russia, and all that, they just take all the money and just strip the people for everything they got, everything. So, there you are.
E-300 Now notice. You see where that old money-taking, in church, comes from? Get away from that stuff; to build an organization, a big something, million-dollar here. And—and you see what the mother of it is?
E-301 Thank You, Lord. Oh, my! I’m so glad. Yes, sir. All right. It’s been His grace. That’s all. All right. All right.
E-302 It was a midnight time. Do you understand that now? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] And here he is charging for the kind of life, that’s his barley and stuff, natural; wasn’t spiritual, now. It was barley, see, so, and barley bread and wheat bread. He was charging for that kind of a life that he was giving to his subjects. Charging for prayer by the priests, to pray people out of purgatory. Charging! Now I’m taking this right out of history. Charging for, I guess, it’s novena, I guess, what everybody knows what. Novena, I guess that’s something you have to do, you know, some penance. Somebody have to charge for that. Bringing the wealth of the world to him, into hisself, into the church itself. And he is still riding. Oh, sure he is. Yes, sir. Still riding!
E-303 Notice. Here is the good part now. Notice.
…see that thou hurt not this wine and oil.
“Just a little bit of It left there, but don’t you touch That!”
Now, oil is…symbolizes the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. I’ll give you a few verses if you want to. There’s two Scriptures. In Leviticus, 8:12, where Aaron, before he went in, had to be anointed with oil, you know. And in Zechariah 4:12, of oil coming, pouring through the pipes, and said, “This is My Spirit, Oil.” Another thing, if you want to see Matthew, 14…25, there was a foolish virgin, or 25:3, the foolish virgin had no Oil, no Spirit. And Matthew 25:4, the wise virgin had Oil in her lamp, Spirit-filled. Spirit! Oil typifies the Spirit. Oh, glory! [Brother Branham claps his hands together once—Ed.] All right. You get it? [Congregation says, “Amen.”] All right. Now, oil typifies Spirit.
E-306 And wine symbolizes stimulation of revelation. Oh, I—I like to a run all over the place. Wonder I didn’t wake up the neighborhood, when the Lord showed me that, see, “stimulation of revelation.” See?
Oil and wine, in the Bible, is associated together, always. I got the concordance and looked. There’s a string of them, that like—like that, where wine and oil goes together, all the time. See?
E-308 When the Truth of a promised Word of God has been truly revealed to His saints that’s filled with Oil, they all get stimulated. Wine is a stimulation. Glory! I feel It right now. Stimulated with joy, shouts! See? And, when It does, It has the same effect upon them that—that wine does upon a natural man. Because, when the revelation has been given, of a Truth of God, and the true believer filled with Oil, and the revelation is revealed, the stimulation becomes so great that He makes him behave hisself un-normally. Right. Glory! [Congregation rejoices—Ed.] See, that’s what’s the matter with them now. That’s right, makes them behave theirself unseemingly.
E-309 Now, if you want Scripture for this, just start reading Acts 2. Where they at? They had the promise that had been given them. When all of the promise of the Holy Spirit was poured out on them. And was…It was Scripturally a vindicated. Now, you see, the…
E-310 What if they had said… “Now, wait, He told us to wait up here for our ministry.” And after eight days, they’d said, “Well, I’ll tell you, boys,” Mark said to Matthew, “I—I believe we’ve already got It, fellows. Don’t you think so? See, we already got It. While we’re waiting on our ministry now, we ought to just go on out, preaching. He told us to come up here and wait, and this is eight days we been here.”
“Well, let’s wait another one.”
E-311 Nine days come. Then Mark comes around, or—or—or maybe one of the rest of them, John, said, “I—I—I believe we oughtn’t to wait any longer. I believe we’ve already got It. Don’t you?”
E-312 Then I can see Simon, ’cause he had the keys, you know. “Now wait a minute, boys! The Scripture has got something to say about this. He never told us just how many days to wait. He said, ‘You stay there until! You stay there until Joel’s prophecy comes to pass, until Isaiah’s prophecy is a vindicated.’”
E-313 “For with stammering lips and with other tongues will I speak to this people. And this is the refreshment.” This is the wine that’s poured out. What is wine, in the Bible? Refreshments. “This is the refreshments that comes from the Presence of the Lord.” See? It’s—it’s got to be Scriptural now. See?
E-314 So, you see, wine represents stimulation of revelation. And when the Holy Ghost fell, and they seen the Fire of God fall upon them, my, that begin to stimulate them. And the first thing you know, they got so stimulated till the people actually thought they were drunk, but they were stimulated by the revelation. By God’s…Here it is! God’s vindicated revelation, made plain to them, they was happy about It. God promised it. Here it was revealed to them, and vindicated to them. Amen! Here was a man standing there, saying, “This is That! This is It!” And there It was, being a vindicated by the same sign that we have today. There is—there is stimulation by revelation. See? And, now, they really had It then.
E-315 That’s the reason Peter could get out there, and say, “Why, you men of Judaea, and you that dwell in Jerusalem, listen to me. All you Doctors of Divinity, listen to what I’m going to tell you, see.”
E-316 Oh, how wonderful! Revealed! Revealed! They become so stimulated when they seen it vindicated. That just always does that. It always does.
E-317 When I see that God promised to do a certain thing in this day, when He promised to break off these Seals in this last day! And you don’t know the joy, the glory, when I seen Him reveal this, stand there and watch it happen! And know that I’ll take any person, to charge: He never did say one thing to us but what happened that way. And then to see the joy that’s in my heart, when I see His promise for this last days, as He promised to do it. And here I see it vindicated and made perfectly right. I’m just…You hear me say, “I feel religious.” That’s what’s the matter. The stimulation is so bad, I—I—I just—just about ready to go to cutting up, you know. Stimulation, from revelation! All right.
E-318 They become so stimulated, over the—the revelation, that they vindicated, all right, the promise. Now, oh, my! There broke out the joy of stimulation, till the people said, “They’re drunk on new wine,” when God revealed His promise to them. And not only did He reveal it, but He proved it.
E-319 That’s what I’ve always said. A man can say anything, yeah, he could just apt to say anything; but when God comes around and vindicates that!
E-320 Now, the Bible said, “If there be one among you, who claims to be spiritual or a prophet, if he says these things and it don’t come to pass, then don’t pay no attention to him. Don’t fear him, at all. Don’t fear that man. But if he says it and it comes to pass; that’s Me, you see. I, I’m in that. That proves why it’s Me.”
E-321 And, then, that little Samaritan woman. When the Scripture said that this Messiah would do these things, and here He stood and did it just exactly what the Scripture said. She said, “There He is. Come, see a Man! Isn’t that exactly the thing that the Scripture said would happen?” See, she got stimulated by revelation. Is that right? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] She become a stimulated by revelation, when it was vindicated. See? That’s right. She knowed that there was…
E-322 “We know that Messiah is a coming, Who is called the Christ. And when He comes, He will do these things.” She seen it.
And He said, “I am He.”
Then the stimulation started. And away she went, shouting, and down through the city. She left her old water pot, and went down there, and said to the men, “Come, see!”
E-324 Now, if you only knowed the Eastern traditions, that’s wrong for her to do that. Yes, sir. A woman of that type, nobody would listen to her. No, sir. See, she had a mark, and when she…If she would go down the street like that, and act like that, the men of the street pay no attention of her.
E-325 But, brother, she had a Word of Life there! She was stimulated. You could…It was like trying to put a house out, on fire, on a windy day. Oh, there’s something fanning it! She was—she was ready. Yes. They couldn’t put That out. That was God’s Fire burning. Yes, sir. She said, “If you don’t believe it’s so, you just come over here where the meeting is going on. I’ll show it to you.” Yeah. That’s it. Yeah. Yes, sir.
E-326 And so the men went out there. And He didn’t do it one more time. But they knowed something had happened to that woman. She was changed, so they believed Him. Yes, sir. They believed on Him.
E-327 Cause, “Faith cometh by hearing, hearing the promise of God, the Word of God, and watch It being made real.” Cause, It’s a seed. And when It’s sowed, It’ll take Life. It’ll produce just what It’s talking about. If it doesn’t, then it isn’t God’s Seed. Or, the sower didn’t know how to sow It; He wasn’t sent of God, to sow Seeds. He might be sowing Them on top of a rock or something. See? So you—so you see, the sower sowing the Seed, God takes care of It, It falls in the right place, you see. Oh, my!
E-328 Then what does It say to this rider in black? “Don’t you hurt My wine and My Oil! Don’t you touch It, My wine and Oil! I’ve got just a little bit of It down there, but there’s still a little bit there. Yeah. Now you can go on through and measure out all that kind of life that you’re putting out; that’s up to you. You’re going to pay for it down there. But when you come across that wine and Oil, you leave It alone!” Oh, my! If you can, if you…
E-329 In other words, like this, “If you catch some of My little Flock, that’s filled with My Oil and wine, see, wine and Oil of the pure Word, see, and you are going to kill them. Cause, you, you’re doing it. That’s what you’re doing. Don’t you force them to say any ‘Hail Mary,’ or do anything like that, or some of your creeds. You keep your hands off of them. They know where they’re going, for they are anointed with My Oil. And by being anointed with My Oil, they have the wine of joy, ’cause they know My Word of promise, ‘I’m going to raise them up again.’ Don’t hurt That! Don’t go trying to messing them up. Cause, just keep away from It. No.” All…
E-330 He vindicates His Word and brings It in. They knowed. They knew they would rise again. Oh, how I like that! Whew! They’ll rise again. Here comes the black horse, riding now, dark ages.
E-331 There went the white horse; we seen what he done, perfectly. Here comes the red horse; we see exactly what he done. Here comes the black horse. You see, he’s the same rider all the time, what he’s doing, right down through the ages.
Now we find out, he measured it out and charged for it, exactly: wheat, natural, natural life. That’s what they was living on.
But, symbolizing; Spirit, Oil; and joy of the wine. “That spiritual Life, don’t hurt That. Leave It alone!” Otherwise, “Rome, don’t you touch It! It’s Mine! That belongs to Me!”
E-334 Now I got another thing here I want you to know. Notice, it was not one of the four Beasts that said, “Don’t touch the Oil and the wine.” Did you notice that? The four Beasts had been talking, but…Watch, let me just read out here, just a little bit, see, now.
…measure, a penny, for a—for a…wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see that thou hurt not the wine and…oil.
E-335 Now listen here.
And I—and I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts…
E-336 What was It? The Lamb! Amen! It wasn’t the four Beasts. The Lamb said it. Why? He is going to take His Own. That belongs to Him. He has redeemed it. See? Amen! “Don’t you touch that Oil!” No, sir. Not the four Beasts, but the Lamb was the One that said it. And, oh, my! The Lamb! Not…The four Beasts didn’t announce this. The Lamb said, Itself.
E-337 When the four Beasts said, “Come and see,” and they went, and they seen it like that.
E-338 And He said, “A measure of wheat for a penny, and for mea-…and so much like this, and so much barley.” But then the Lamb cried out, right among them, said, “But don’t hurt the wine and Oil!” Uh-huh. That’s right. Oh, my! Listen to it, “Don’t you hurt It, boy, or you’re going to pay for it someday.” Oh, my!
Nine-thirty.
E-339 Well, to the best of my understanding, and the best that I know of, and with all that I believe in my heart, that’s the true meaning of those three Seals. I want to thank God for it. And I’ll say this, that, it’s the revelation that He give me. He gave that to me, the revelation of It. And I do believe that we’re living in the last days.
E-340 Tomorrow night we’ll take that pale-horse rider. And now I don’t know. I do not know. God knows that’s true. I do not know one thing about it. No.
E-341 I looked up my old context I had years ago. I seen Brother Graham Snelling a while ago; he might have went out. But, I remember when I was preaching here, before. I looked up to see what I said years ago. One day I was going through the Book of Revelation, I took all four horse riders at one time.
E-342 I said, “A white horse, that was the early church, no doubt.” I read that out of a book of the Adventists. And I read something there. I said, “That was the early church that went forth, conquering.” And the next was a black horse, I said…I forget now what I called that black horse. I said…
Or, “The red horse,” rather, I said, “that horse was probably mean that—that trouble is on the road, and it going to mean a lot of wars going to hang up, or something like that.” I said, “Probably there’ll be a lot of war.” I said, “That’s what that’d be.” And then I said, “The—the pale hor-…”
E-344 Or, “The—the black horse,” I said, “that—that means that—that maybe there’ll come a black time on earth, when all the stars will—will quit shining; the sun will go down, and moon won’t give its light.” I said, “That’s probably what that means.”
E-345 I said, “The pale horse, it means a lot of sickness is coming on.” Now, I don’t know what it means. But, that’s, that was my interpretation of it then, ’cause I just took it the best I could, standing here in the pulpit.
E-346 But, oh, I almost said something! All right. Hum! Oh! You’ll—you’ll see. Just watch, see.
E-347 Now, oh, aren’t we happy for this hour that we’re living! [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] When we see all this thing heading up, I think:
Nations are breaking, Israel’s awakening,
The signs that the prophets foretold;
The Gentile days numbered, with harrows encumbered;
“Return, O dispersed, to your own.”
The day of redemption is near,
Men’s hearts are failing for fear;
Be filled with the Spirit, your lamps trimmed and clear,
Look up, your redemption is near! (Oh, my!)
False prophets are lying, God’s Truth they’re denying,
That Jesus the Christ is our God;
Do you believe It? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.]
But we’ll walk where the apostles have trod.
For the day of redemption is near,
Men’s heart are failing for fear;
Be filled with the Spirit, have your lamps trimmed and clear,
Look up, your redemption is near!
E-348 Isn’t that wonderful? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] I love that. Redemption is near.
And it shall be Light in the evening time,
The path to Glory you will surely find;
In the water way, is the Light today;
Buried in the precious Name of Jesus.
Young and old, repent from all your sin,
The Holy Ghost will surely enter in;
The evening Light has come,
It is a fact that God and Christ are One.
He’s the Word! Oh, my! Wonderful!
Soon the Lamb will take His Bride to be ever at His side,
All the host of Heaven will assembled be;
Oh, it will be a glorious sight, all of the saints in spotless white;
And with Jesus they shall feast Eternally.
Oh, “Come and dine,” the Master calleth, “Come and dine;”
Oh, you may feast at Jesus’ table all the time;
He that fed the multitude, turned the water into wine,
To the hungry calleth now, “Come and dine.”
Oh, “Come and dine,” the Master calleth, “Come and dine;” (Dine on the Word!)
You may feast at Jesus’ table all the time;
He that fed the multitude, turned the water into wine,
To the hungry calleth now, “Come and dine.”
E-349 Oh, my! Are you hungry? [Congregation rejoices—Ed.] “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
E-350 Do you love Him? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] Do you love Him? The key to I Love Him, you know. Let’s all just stand now, and raise up our hands and express ourself to Him. “I love Him, I love Him because He first loved me.” All right, all together now.
I love Him, I love Him
Because He first loved me
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary’s tree.
E-351 [A brother speaks in another tongue. Brother Branham pauses—Ed.] Just real reverent. We have an interpreter here, Brother Higginbotham. I don’t know if he’s here tonight, or not. We want to find out what He said to us. Just wait a minute. Here, here…[A sister gives an interpretation.]
Sure, praise the Lord! My faith is lifted up high in God. You, you love Him, tonight, with all your heart? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] Oh, praise Him, and say, “Thank You, Lord Jesus!” [Congregation praises God.]
How we give You praise, with all of our hearts, Lord! Glory to God!
Just give Him praise, all you people. God be with you! [Congregation continues rejoicing and praising God—Ed.]