E-1 Have a few Scriptures written down that I'd like to speak to you from, and I trust that God will bless our feeble efforts. Now, many people has wondered why we are so odd and so noisy. You know, this is kind of a different type of--of a convention than what people are--are used to seeing; and usually everything is kind of a cut and dried form. But when we come to these conventions (which has been my privilege now for several years since they were first started), if we don't hardly know what we're going to do, we just come and surrender ourselves. That's the only thing that we know to do, and God does the rest of it. So that makes us a very peculiar acting people.
The other day someone said, "You know, you people are really a--an oddball."
And I said, "Well, I--I suppose we are." Ha.
E-2 And I remember one of the conventions. Brother Troy was telling me one time of a little German that said he received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. And the next day in the shop, where he was working, he would raise his hands, and praise the Lord, and speak in tongues, and just carry on awful. And finally, the boss came by and said, "Heinie, what's the matter with you?"
He said, "Oh, I got saved." He said, "My heart's just overflowing with joy."
He said, "Well, you must've been down with that bunch of nuts down there."
He said, "Yes! Glory to God!" said, "Thank the Lord for the nuts." He said--he said, "You take the automobile coming down the road." Said, "You take all the nuts out of it, you haven't got nothing but a bunch of 'yunk'." And that's just--just about right, you know.
E-3 One day in California, I was going down the streets of Los Angeles, and I seen a man had a sign on his breast and here; and it said, "I am a fool for Christ." And everybody was looking at him, and I noticed them turning around and looking after he passed by. And I thought I would follow with the rest of them. And on the--his back he said, "Whose fool are you?" I suppose we're all kinda odd one to the other, you know. But, you know, the world gets in such a rut, till something different makes it so odd, till the people does think that it's some--something's wrong. And usually God has to do something so unusual to get the people back to the Bible again.
E-4 I can imagine that Noah was kind of a--a nut to that scientific age that he lived in, because they'd--could prove there was no water in the skies. But God said there would be some there, so Noah preaching and believing that, he become a nut. And I'd imagine that--that when Moses went down in Egypt, he was kind of a--a nut to Pharaoh; but remember, Pharaoh was a nut to him too. So they... We realize that.
E-5 Even Jesus was considered a heretic. That's right. Martin Luther was a nut to the Catholic church, and John Wesley was a nut to the Anglican. So you know, it's about time for another nut; don't you think so, that...? But before there could be a nut, you know, there has to be a bolt first to thread to it. So you know, Noah being a nut, he... Takes the nut, it pulls the bolt, pulls something together and holds something together. So Noah was able to pull all that would believe into the ark out of the judgments by being a nut.
We find out that Moses pulled the church out of Egypt by being a nut. That's right. I think we need a nut now to pull the Bride out of the church. Uh-huh. We need something now, another one.
E-6 So we are very odd sort of people. And I thought tonight, if the Lord was willing, I would try to read some Scriptures pertaining to this, and would speak to you just a few moments, and try to show you why we are such an odd people.
Let us turn in the Scriptures now to Philippians the 2nd chapter 1 and 8, and II Corinthians 3:6; and let us read, as we believe, God's Word. And now, just before we read, let us bow our heads for prayer.
E-7 Gracious heavenly Father, we are indeed a privileged people tonight to be living in this age, and to see the things that we see going on, and to know that the time is close at hand when Jesus will come for His Church. Oh, that thrills our hearts, Lord.
And as we pull back the pages tonight, we pray that You'll give us a context out of this text; and may the Holy Spirit reveal to our hearts the things that would be good and pleasing to God. For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
E-8 You know, I believe I'll ask you to do something. I--I usually ask some strange things, and I hope I'm not asking anything too strange. But when we pledge allegiance to the flag, we all stand; and--and the flag passes by, we stand--which we should; and we stand to salute. Let's just stand to our feet while we read the Word, if you will: II Corinthians 3:6.
Who... has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
But if--but if the ministration of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
For if the ministration of condemnation be glorious, such more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reasons of the glory that excelleth.
For if that which is done away was glorious, how--or, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Seeing then that we have such a hope, we use great plainness of speech.
And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which was abolished:
But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
Nevertheless when it shall be turned to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
Not... Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
But we all, with open faces behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord, the changing unto the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
E-9 And in Philippians 2 we read this, beginning with the 1st and reading to the 8th verse:
If--if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love,... any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels of mercy,
Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being in one accord, and... one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on... things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made of himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.
E-10 Let us pray. Heavenly Father, this great Word that has been read tonight from Thy holy Writ, make It so real to our hearts, that we will go from here like those going from Emmaus, saying, "Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us along the road," for we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen. (May be seated.)
Now, this is a very odd text, but I think it's very suiting for the occasion. I wanted to speak on the subject of, "The Mighty God Unveiled Before Us."
Now, since there has been man, there has been a hunger in man's heart to find out where he came from, and what's his reason of being here, and where he's going. There's only One can answer that; that's the One Who brought him here. And man has always wanted to see God.
E-12 Back in the Old Testament we find out that God veiled Himself from unbelievers. God has a very odd way of dealing with people. He hides Himself from the unbeliever and reveals Himself to the believer. God does that. Jesus thanked the Father that He had hid these things from the wise and prudent and would reveal it to babes such as would learn. So we find that God never changes in His nature, and He's always doing His work the same. We find out in Malachi 3 that He said, "I am God, and I change not." So He works in the same principle all the time.
E-13 Now, we take one of the oldest Books of the Bible. When Job, one of the most righteous men of his day, a perfect man in the laws of God, a servant, noble, honorable servant, even till God said, "There's none like him in the earth"... But his desire one time to see God... He knowed that there was a God, and he felt that he would like to see Him, or otherwise, go to His house and knock on the door, and say, "I'd like to speak with You," set down, talk with Him, like we would with each other. We have an understanding. That's why we're in these conventions, where we come together and--and express our thoughts; and--and we understand one another better when we talk things over with each other. And ministers do that. People of all walks of life do it, talk things over.
E-14 And Job... God was so real to him, he wanted to find out if he couldn't go and knock at His door and--and have an--an interview with Him. But we find out that God did speak to him, but He was veiled. He was veiled in a form of a whirlwind. And He told Job to gird up his loins; He was going to speak to him like a man. And He came down in a whirlwind and--and spoke to Job. And He was made known to Job through the whirlwind, yet he did not exactly see Him. He could just hear the wind blowing and turning around in the trees; and the Voice came out of the whirlwind, but God was veiled in the whirlwind.
E-16 We find down in Africa (South Africa) they use the word "Amoyah," which means, "an unseen force." And this unseen force in the whirlwind had an audible voice. It spoke out to Job, yet he never seen His form; but He was veiled to him by the whirlwind.
We find one of the great prophets of the Bible, Moses, of the Old Testament, one of God's chosen, selected, predestined servants, he also desired to see Him. He'd been so close to Him and had seen so many things of His great, mystic hand going before him and doing things that only God could do. He desired to see Him one day, and God told him, "Go, stand on the rock."
And while standing on the rock, Moses seen Him pass. He saw the back of Him. And he said, "It looked like a man," a man's back. Yet he did not see God; he only seen the veil of God.
The Bible said, "No man has seen God at any time, but the only Begotten of the Father has declared Him." So Moses saw Him veiled as a man.
E-17 And we find that Jehovah of the Old Testament was just Jesus of the New Testament. And--and Dr. Scofield here, we find that his word changing from form, we find the word "en morphe" in Greek, which means "the unseen was made visible." Something that cannot... We know it's there. It could be--cannot be seen, but yet, we know that it's there. And when He changed His form of the en morphe, which means that He changed from supernatural to natural... And He just changed His mask.
And otherwise, it's like a drama; He was acting. In--in the Greek when they would change their mask, maybe one play--one player might've acted in several different parts. And my daughter (present here)... They just had at the high school, a--a drama. And they... One boy, that I knowed, played about four parts, but he would go behind the stage and change his--his mask in order to come out to impersonate another character.
E-18 Now, if you will take the Old Testament prophecies concerning what the Messiah was to be, you can compare it with the life of Jesus, and you've got it exactly Who Jesus was. He was not just an ordinary man; He was God, en morphe. He was changed from--from the supernatural into the natural form of a man; yet He was God manifested in the flesh, veiled by a human, fleshly veil. And you watch the Old Testament...
I--I--I know that I'm speaking to a mixed up audience tonight from different parts of the world. And we are here to find out: what are we--what are we doing? What--what are we... Where we getting to? What's happening? What does all this mean?
And now, we find in here that if you Jewish men and women... And the rabbis in--in--in the temple, in the days gone by, if they'd have watched the Bible, the prophecies, instead of the traditions, they would've recognized Who Jesus was. They would've never have called Him Beelzebub; they would've never have crucified Him. But it all had to act out; that's part of the drama. And they were blinded on this case.
E-20 It's like many of you men and women here tonight, maybe my age or a little older. You remember here in America years ago before the Chinese (my brother they just introduced here, that come on my mind when I was talking to him), how that they used to... They couldn't speak English, and they--they--they run the laundry. And you go to his laundry to get your laundry done. The--the Chinese laundryman would take a tag and would tear it in a certain way. You'd take one part of the tag; he'd take the other part. But when you come back to claim your belongings, those two pieces of paper had to dovetail. And if they didn't dovetail just exactly right (You couldn't impersonate it in any way, 'cause he had one piece and you had the other.), and if it impersonated... Then you had a right to claim what was yours. And then, you've got what belonged to you when you possess the other part of the contract.
So is it tonight when we got the other part of the contract. When God tore His Son in two at Calvary, taken the body up for a sacrifice, and sent the Spirit down to us, that once lived in a Man, Jesus, that same God is in veil tonight in the form of the Holy Ghost; those two pieces has to come together; then you're part of the contract. God did this to be better known to man, when He made Hisself man.
E-21 I was reading a story some years ago, and in this story it said a great, noble king... I forget the name of him just now. I wasn't thinking about speaking of the story. It was perhaps fiction, but it--it leads us to a point that gives us a background on what we want to say.
This king, he was such a noble king and such a great lover of his subjects, till one day before his--his guard and his royalty he said, "Today you see me for your last time for many years."
And the--his guard and his nobles said to him, "Good King, why do you say that? Are you going to a--a foreign country somewhere to become an alien?"
He said, "No, I'm staying right here. Well," said, "I'm going out amongst my subjects. I'm going to become a peasant. I'm going to cut wood with the wood-chopper. I'm going to--to till the ground with the toiler. I am going to prune the vines with those who prune the vine. I'm going to be one of them in order to get a-better acquainted with what they are doing. And I love them, and I want to be more acquainted with them personally. They won't know me, but yet, I want to be acquainted with them in that way."
E-22 And the next morning when his delegates... And all of his people seen him (or the ones that was in the palace) take off his crown and lay it down upon the seat (the throne), and take his robe off, and put on peasant's clothes, walk out amongst the common people.
Now, in that little story we find out then about God. They said to the king, said, "King, we want you. We love you. We--we want you to remain king."
But he wanted to become one of them to know them better, that they'd know him better, really what he was. It would display to them what he really was.
And that's what God did. He--He changed Himself from being Jehovah God to become one of us, that He might suffer, He might taste death, He might know what the sting of death was, and take the penalty of death upon Himself. He laid aside His--His crown and His robe and became one of us. He washed feet with the--with the--the lowly. He dwelt in the tents with the poor. He slept in the--the woods and in the streets with those who were underprivileged. He become one of us that He might understand us better, and that we might understand Him better.
E-24 Now, I think in that we find out that changing Himself, what He did. If you'll notice, He came in the name of three sons. He came in the Name of the Son of man, and in the Son of God, and the Son of David. He came as Son of man. Now, in Ezekiel 2:3, Jehovah Himself called Ezekiel the prophet the son of man. Son of man means a prophet. He had to come that way to fulfill Deuteronomy 18:15, which Moses said, "The Lord your God shall raise up among you a Prophet likened unto me." He never called Himself the Son of God. He referred to Himself, the Son of man, because He had to come according to the Scripture.
See? He had to make those two pieces of torn paper, the Old Testament prophecy and His own character to be exactly the same. So He come the Son of man, come in that form.
E-25 Then we find, after His death, burial, and resurrection, He came on the day of Pentecost as Son of God--God, the Spirit, in the form, Holy Ghost. What was He doing? He was changing Himself, making Himself known to His people in a different form. Like the Holy Spirit, which is God, He came to deal through the church ages as Son of God, the Holy Spirit. But in the Millennium He comes as Son of David to set on the throne of David: King. He was to take the throne of David; He's on the Father's throne now. And then He said, "He that overcometh shall set with Me on My throne, as I've overcome and set on My Father's throne." So He--in the Millennium He'll be Son of David. What is it? The same God all the time just changing His--His mask.
I am to my wife a husband. Did you notice the Syrophenician woman said, "Thou Son of David, have mercy." He... Never even bothered Him at all. She had no rights to call Him that; she had no claims on Him as Son of David. He was--He's the Son of David to the Jew. And now, He come... But when she called Him Lord (He was her Lord), then she got what she asked for. Now, as the... He was just changing Himself.
E-27 Now, in my home I'm three different people. In my home my wife has claims on me as husband. My daughter out there, she doesn't have any claims on me as husband; I am her father. And my little grandson there, I'm grandfather to him; so he has no right to call me father. I'm not his father; my son is his father. I am his grandfather, but I'm still the same man.
And God, what He does, He just changes Himself to become to that generation, to make known Himself to that people. And that's what we're here to find out tonight: In what way is God supposed to make Hisself known to this people and in this time? He changes His mask; He changes His act; but He doesn't change His disposition. He doesn't change His--His nature; He just changes His mask from one to another. He does it to reveal Himself more plain to the people, that they might know Who He is and what He is.
In Hebrews 1 we read, "God, in sundry times and divers manners spake to the fathers through the prophets, but in this last days, through His Son, Jesus." Now, the prophets, Jesus said (when He was here on earth), they were gods. "You call those gods who the Word of God came to, and the Scriptures cannot be broken," He said. Said, "How you can condemn Him then, when He's the Son of God?" See? The Word of God is 'lotted to each age--what It's to be; and Jesus was the fulfillment of all the prophecies. "In Him dwelt the Fullness of the Godhead bodily." It was in Him.
E-29 He was the One that was in Joseph. He was the One Who was in Elijah. He was the One Who was in Moses. He was the One Who was in David, a rejected king. His own people had rejected him as king. And as he went out of the--of the courtyards, a little afflicted fellow, crawling around, did not like his--his government, his system, and he spit upon him. And the guard pulled his sword, said, "Will I leave that dog's head on him, spitting on my king?"
And David, maybe not realizing what he was doing at the time, but he was anointed, and he said, "Let him alone. God's told him to do this." And he climbed up on the hill and wept over Jerusalem: a rejected king.
Did you notice, a few hundred years from then, the Son of David, being spit upon in the streets, and was on the hill (same mountain) looking down over Jerusalem: a rejected King, and cried, "Jerusalem, how oft would I have hovered you as a hen did her brood, but you would not."
E-30 He never changed His nature, 'cause Hebrews 13:8 said He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. God was made flesh in order to die to redeem us from sin. That's why He changed Himself to be a--a man.
We see in St. John 12:20, the Greeks had heard of Him. Now, there's no man can ever hear of Him, except their heart burns to see Him. Like Job and the prophets of old, they all wanted to see Him. So this Greek came to see Him. They came to Philip, which was of Bethsaida, and said, "Sir, we would see Jesus." The Greeks wanted to see Him; but they were unable to see Him, because He was in the temple of His humanity. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.
E-31 Now, we find that in this, these Greeks could not see Him. And notice the very words that Jesus expressed to them afterwards; He said, "Except a corn of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone." In other words, they would never be able to see Him in the change, in the mask that He was in then, because He was veiled in human flesh. But when this Corn of Wheat fell into the ground, then It would bring forth all races. He was sent to the Jews, of course, at that time, but this Corn of Wheat must fall. Veiled God in human's flesh, hidden from unbelievers, but being revealed to believers.
In John 1...
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld Him... the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace...
E-32 Now, in the beginning was the Word. A word is a thought expressed. In the beginning He wasn't even God. Now, our English word today, "god," means "an object of worship." How confusing it is to the mind. You can make somebody a god. You can make anything a god. But in the Old Testament in Genesis 1, "In the beginning God..." the word is used, "Elohim." "Elohim" means "the self-existing One." What a difference the word "Elohim" is to our word "god." "Elohim" means "a self-existing One."
We cannot be self-existing. We cannot be almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. That Elohim expresses all of that. We cannot be that. The tree that you make a god out of, or the--or the building, it's not self-existing.
So God, in the beginning, was Life, the eternal One. In Him was attributes, and those attributes became words, and the Word became flesh. Jesus was the Redeemer. And "to redeem" means "to bring back." And if He has to bring it back, it had to be somewhere to be brought back to. So, you see, all people will never be able to see it, because all people wasn't in the beginning in God's thought. See?
E-34 Look at the priests. When they seen Him express Hisself exactly with the Word, what He was, they said, "It's Beelzebub." That showed where their nature was; it was in the modern thought of the day. But when the little prostitute that He met at the gate, and told her--expressed His Messiahic sign by telling her what she had done, why she said, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. We know that Messiah; when He comes, He will tell us all these things." She was recognizing Him as the Messiah, the Anointed One, because He met the Scripture qualifications. Don't you see? The two pieces of paper were coming together. "We know that when the Messiah cometh..."
E-35 Now, God might've had to interbreed this and that to get this certain ting of the bell, like the molder, but when Jesus turned and said, "I am He that speaks with you," there was no such an expression as, "Beelzebub." She left her water pot, ran into the city, and said, "Come, see a Man, Who told me the things that I have done. Isn't This the very Messiah?" See?
Now, what did this, of putting the old Scripture with the experience that--that Jesus was giving to her, what did it do? It made the Messiah. And did you notice? Quickly, her sins were forgiven, because at the beginning she was redeemable; because she was in God's thinking at the beginning. So it redeemed her or brought her back, when she seen the expressed Scripture manifested of Jehovah: what He was; what He is.
E-36 Now, when Jesus come, if He'd have come with Noah's message, it wouldn't have worked: to build an ark and float out. It wouldn't have worked. But that--Noah was a portion of God. He acted a peculiar way, because he was peculiar. And his message was peculiar, because it was the Word being made manifest. He could not have come with Moses' message, because it--it wouldn't have worked. Moses was God in a portion made manifest; he was the Word expressed for that hour. But Jesus could not come in that. The Bible never said He would come in that way. But when He come expressed exactly like the--the Testament had said He would be expressed, then all those who was redeemable believed it; because they were the thoughts of God. The attributes of Him at the beginning was made flesh and redeemable, and was brought back to God. "As many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become sons of God," because they were redeemable. They were from the beginning in the expression.
E-37 If we could stop here a moment (if it would be possible) and think of that tonight, of the message of the hour, the expressed thoughts of Jehovah... Before the foundation of the world, we are told our names were put on the Lamb's Book of Life. Then we can see the two sides, as I first said, why one is odd to the other. It must be that way. It was always; it always has been that way; and it always will be that way. He was the Word, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
Now, God in--back in the days of the Old Testament we find that after He'd appeared to His people in different forms, He veiled Himself behind old badger skins: God, hiding behind badger skins at His mercy seat. We find that how that Solomon, when he dedicated the temple of the Lord, and these badger skins was hanging there, the veil--how that He came in as the Pillar of Fire and as a Cloud, and went down behind there, and veiled Himself to the outside world. But by faith Israel knew that He was back there. They knew He was there, regardless of what any of the heathen worlds had to say. He was hid from the unbeliever, but the believer, by faith, knew He was back there; they had mercy. And He was at His mercy seat, which was a great secret.
E-39 You know, in the Old Testament to enter behind that skin was death. Now, to stay from behind it is death. Then to enter into His glory was death; now to stay away from His glory is death. That happened, of course, at the renting of the veil at Calvary, when the veil was rent, the old veil. Now, to stay out of His Presence is death. Then to enter His Presence was death. See? It changes back and forth, and you must find the Scripture to see what day we're living in.
Now, when the veil was rent at Calvary, the Mercy Seat came into plain view, but what happened? It was hanging on Calvary, dripping in Blood. As they had took blood year after year at the cleansing of the sanctuary and the sprinkling of the mercy seat, there, God, with His great, mighty stroke of lightning power, split the old badger veil from top to bottom, and the Mercy Seat came into plain view. The real genuine Lamb of God was hanging in plain view on Calvary, the real Mercy Seat, when God had paid the price Himself and become one of us, and had manifested Himself as a man to get acquainted with us and we to be acquainted with Him.
E-41 The Mercy Seat was in plain view of all Israel on that day of the Atonement. But alas, the traditions of the church fathers in that day had, by their traditions, had veiled the true Mercy Seat from the people. If they would've knowed the Scripture, each piece would've come like the Chinese tag. The Old Testament prophecy would've been fulfilled, and it was. And if they'd been taught the Scripture, they would've seen the Mercy Seat.
As Moses said in here that... To this day they're veiled. It's still over their hearts; they don't see it. But He was God, the suffering and the Atonement. He was the genuine Mercy Seat standing in full view. As we sang the hymn:
Lo! behold Him in plain view,
There He is, the mighty conqueror,
Since He rent the veil in two.
See, He came the Mercy Seat, hanging in clear view of the congregation. But them being under the popular opinion... Now, men and women, and delegates of this convention, I want to say this without respect of person. But in the view of today, in view of what we're here for today, I'm afraid that the traditions of the fathers, the church fathers, has hid this from too many people. Since the Holy Ghost is come in this last days as prophesied, and the veil has been rent, too many people try to hang to their traditions of the fathers; and that's why they can't see this extreme joy, and peace, and things that the church has today. Yet it's in plain view of those who believe. He hid the Word, the promised Word of this day.
E-43 Now, the traditions has made a veil. They say that the days of miracles is past. A man spoke to me, a fine, cultured gentleman in Tucson, Arizona, where I live. I'd had a meeting at the Ramada; and we'd been speaking at the Business Men's convention, where the Lord Jesus had come present and done great things. And this Christian gentleman came to me and he said (a minister of the church, fine man), and he said, "Brother Branham, you are trying to project to the people an apostolic age," he said, "and when the apostolic age has ceased."
And I said, "I pray thee, my brother, show me when the apostolic age ceased in the Scripture." I said, "The apostolic age began on the day of Pentecost, and it has... Peter said on the day of Pentecost, 'The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to them that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.' When did it cease? If God is still calling, then the apostolic age still is in session."
E-44 And so, that is where the people try to blindfold so many people, by the traditions of the elders, as it was then. And you fail to see why that the people are so elated and so enthused. And--and these conventions are such an oddball, such a strange thing to other people, is because that they see. They broke through those barriers; they broke through those veils into the Presence of God where they see the manifested promise of this hour made manifest before the people. They see what God promised.
In Joel 2:28 He promised that in these last days there would be a latter rain poured out upon the people in the last days. I think the Greek word there is "kenos," which means that "He emptied Hisself out," not in the way that we would say, like something was inside of somebody that had emptied out, but He poured Himself out. He changed His en morphe. He--He changed from what He was to what He is. He never changes His nature.
But on the day of Pentecost He changed Himself from being the Son of man to the Son of God. He came, not with the people, He came in the people (See?), the same God to carry His ministry on through in this great age.
E-46 He prophesied in the Bible that there would come a day that would not be neither day or night, but in the evening time it should be Light. Now, the sun, geographically, rises in the east and sets in the west. It's the same sun all the time.
Now, when the Son (S-o-n) revealed Himself in the manifestation of the promised Word to Israel, the eastern people... We've had a day of gloom. We've had enough light in the reformers and so forth to make churches and denominations, and join them; and come in and kiss the babies; and marry the old; and bury the dead, and so forth; and live in the church. "But in the evening time, it shall be light," He said, "in the evening time." And no Scripture can be broken. And the same S-o-n that poured out Himself (kenos) on the day of Pentecost, promised to do the same thing in the evening time. See? It's according to the promise.
Get the tag together. Look what's happening, and look what He promised, then you see where we are at. Get the thing together. You can see the unveiling of this great and mighty One. Traditions has blinded the people again to these great things that's been prophesied.
E-47 Moses, when he came forth from the mountain, which was on fire... How beautiful the illustration. Moses had went down to Egypt and told the church fathers that the Lord God had visited him in the Name of I AM. That Name is present tense, not "I was, will be, but I AM, ever the same, the same yesterday, today, and forever." He is present tense. He... That compares with Hebrews 13:8: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever."
It's still the prophesied Word, and the congregation that was to dovetail with that Word, the experience of this day... "The reformers had it." Oh, but this is another day. See what day we're living in.
E-48 Just as He couldn't come in the days that He came on earth in the--in the way that Moses came or any of the prophets came; it wasn't prophesied. And in this last days it's prophesied to come this way. It can't come in the form of Luther's revival; it can't come in the form of Wesley revival; it's a restoration hour. It's a time that it must come back to the original sunlight, the original.
Oh, how we could lay the Scriptures in on that. And you theologians (what part of the world you're from), you know that that's true. It's a promise. That's what makes the people so odd. That's what makes the oddballs that you call them; it's because that they... It's... The veil has been opened from the tradition, and they see it. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's the--it's the promise of God, and we cannot go against that, 'cause the Scriptures cannot be broken.
Yes, we find that He promised that He'd emptied Himself into His people, and He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
E-49 Moses, after he'd went down into Egypt and declared this, then the Father vindicated his message by coming on Mount Sinai in the same Pillar of Fire and set the mountain on fire. Did we notice the one He give the promise to, He brought him forth with the Word. He had the commandments, and to have this commandment, he had to...
The commandments was the Word; the Word had never come to the people yet. So the Word always comes to the prophet, and he was the prophet for that hour. Like Jesus was the Word. John was a prophet, and Jesus came to him in the water, because the Word always comes to the prophet without failing. See? The Word comes to... So Moses, the Word came to him, the commandment, and he had them.
E-50 Now, why, before the Word was given out and made manifest, Moses had to veil his face, for the Word wasn't completely made manifest. They knowed something had happened, but they didn't know what it was (the roaring and thundering), till they said, "Let Moses speak and not God."
And God said, "Well, I will do that. From this forth I'll not appear like this no more. I'll send them a prophet. So he'll... I'll speak through My prophet."
Now, if Moses with the natural law (as Paul in II Corinthians here has revealed to us) had to veil his face with the natural, how much more will the spiritual be glorious and veiled to the unbeliever before it's made manifest to them. How much more would they call... Moses was an oddball. How much more will they call you, who's broke through the veil, has went into the Pillar of Fire, and's come out with the blessings? And now you are veiled. The people can't see it. They can't understand it. If the natural be glorious, how much more will the supernatural. If the natural, which had an end to it, was to be glorious, how much more this which has no end to it will be glorious.
E-52 But still it's veiled. It's veiled not to the believer, but to the unbeliever; he cannot see it. God always veils Himself from the unbeliever. Traditions hide it. Like they did then, they do it today. That was a spiritual veil that we have now, where the natural veil was there. Vindicated by the prophet with the written Word, a prophesier, one who comes with the written Word to make It plain: they knowed the Word was there, but they didn't know what It meant; and Moses made It plain. He said, "The commandment says this, and this is why." He made It plain. And before It was made plain, It was veiled. And so is It today, veiled to the people until It's revealed and made plain to the people--God, the mighty God, veiled in human flesh, the Word.
E-53 Notice. Now, we find out that It was hid to the unbeliever, but revealed to the believer. Notice. Moses had to enter this Pillar of Fire alone; no one could go with him. It was not... It... What does that speak to us? That you don't come into this by joining a Pentecostal group. See? He never revealed It to a group; He revealed It to an individual. And that's the way it is today. You say, "I belong to a--a church. I--I belong to this." But that won't work. See? And for anyone to try to follow Moses, to impersonate it was death. And so is it today, spiritual death to try to impersonate. That's what's the...
Tonight we're getting into the raising up amongst the groups, carnal comparisons, somebody try to act like it and live a different life: can drink, can smoke, women can live any--most any way they want to, and like the world, and stay home and watch television, and--and the things of the world, and still call themselves Pentecostals. They are trying to impersonate a genuine thing. It's never been revealed to them yet. When It is revealed, it's glorious and something takes that out of you when you walk in there. You become a veil. It--it--it just won't work. And to impersonate it was death.
E-55 Moses veiled, he was the living Word to the people. And today, the people that are veiled are the same thing; they are written epistles, read of all men, not a new epistle, but the epistle that's been written made manifested. It's--it's those who believe the Word and the promise of this day that God is pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh; and that is written epistles. And when a person tries to carnally impersonate that, it backfires. Your life shows what you are.
One time there was a boy; he'd got in some trouble. He was a--a good boy, but he--he went to court; and the judge said, "I find you guilty. I must punish you to life in prison."
He said, "I want to try my own case." He said, "I want to go in upon my record."
He said, "You have no record. Your record is what's condemned you."
And that's the way it is today. The reason the church is not advanced like it should, it's the record: it's a lie. We must become more dedicated. We must believe every Word of God. We must seek until that Word is made real to us. See? The record is what keeps us from entering in.
E-57 But one time (to let you get out of this loop) in this same court, the boy had no money. He could not pay it off. The--the fine was way in the thousands of dollars. But he had a big brother that came and paid it off for him.
Now, we've got a big Brother, Jesus, the Son of God; and He come to pay it off for us, if we'll just believe it and be able to enter into the veil with Him. Like He is our Moses... Jesus is our Moses of today; Moses veiled was the living Word to the people. Today, Jesus veiled is the Living Word to the people that... Jesus in the Church, the Holy Ghost, the Son of God, in the people, revealing the Word by the promise of this day, makes it just exactly. Same now.
And remember, Moses did this and manifested this, not to all the world, but to the exodus people: just one class of people, that was those who come out of the--in the exodus. And today the Holy Spirit, in the face of people who says, "Divine healing's not right."... When I was consulting...
E-58 A doctor called me the other day of a little lady... Oh, there's been four or five cases there of laying just at the point of death, giving hours, and the Holy Spirit healed them. The doctor was questioning it; he said, "How can this be? Why," he said, "I--I... That's my patient."
I said, "It was, but now it was God's. It--it--it's His subject now." See?
And so, you see the thing it is, that God is calling an exodus to come from behind the fleshly curtain who tries to impersonate, who tries to join church, not Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian altogether, but Pentecostal churches. It is an individual affair; it's you and God. You have to go in, not your group, not your church, not your pastor, but it's you has to go in.
E-59 I want you to notice another characteristic of Moses. When he come out, yet being a prophet, being a great man that he was, when he come out with the Word, the people saw that he was changed. Something had happened to him. When he come out with the vindicated Word of that hour, the commandments, he was a changed person. And so will you be when you come from behind that human veil that would laugh at a meeting like this, that man who would stumble at Divine healing, and say, "The days of miracles is past."... You drop from behind that human veil there, the--the traditional veil, and everybody will know something happened to you.
Like our honorable Brother Jim Brown, I imagine most Presbyterians or--knows that something happened to him, because he--he come from behind a traditional veil. He saw something in the people that attracted him, and he came out from behind the veil. Well, you... When you come out from behind the veil, you'll be in full view of the people then, that they can see that something has happened to you. The veiled Word to the unbeliever, but in full view of the believer: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
E-61 Then it was God... In them days it was God in a man, His Son, Jesus Christ. We believe that. Not just a prophet, not just an ordinary man, ordinary human; It was God in Christ, God, in a man, the Fullness of the Godhead bodily in a man. God, in a man; now, it's God in men (See?), the fullness of God in the Godhead bodily in His entire Church, manifesting Himself, fulfilling His Word.
Now, we find, God all ages has had skin on It. He... God has been hid behind a veil. It just reminds me of a--a little story that happened down in the south. And so, there was a Christian home. And this--in this Christian home they believed God, and they--they thought that--that God protected them from all troubles; and which He does. And they had a little Junior (a little boy about seven or eight years old), and--and he went to Sunday school and was a very fine little lad; but he was scared in a storm, especially when lightning was flashing.
E-63 When I told this to a man the other day, when this piece had come out about this man being healed, this same minister said, "They make a god out of you, Brother Branham."
Well, he was a critic, so I thought I'd just let--kinda break it off just a little bit, not to hurt, you know, but just kinda... I said, "Is that too far from the Scripture to be that?" See? I said, "No, it isn't." I said, "Because Jesus called prophets gods." See? That's right. God...
And they say, "Well, you people try to take the place of God."
That's not too far out; that's exactly what it is (That's exactly.): God manifested in flesh, just as He promised.
E-64 This little family, we find that... I told him this little story (and which come to my mind just now), that one night it come up a storm, and mother said to Junior, said, "Now, you go on upstairs, son, and go to bed."
He said, "Mom, I'm scared." He said...
"Ain't nothing going to hurt you. Go on up and go to bed."
Little Junior laid up there, and the lightning flashing around the windows, and the little fellow got so nervous, he'd stick his head under the cover, and he could still hear the--the lightning--or the--see the lightning flash on the windows, and--and hear the thunder roar; so he said, "Mama."
And she said, "What do you want, Junior?"
Said, "Come up here and sleep with me."
So she come up the steps like any good loyal mother would; and she came up, and she took little Junior in her arms, and she said, "Junior, mother wishes to speak to you just a moment."
Said, "All right, mama."
Said, "Now, you must bear this in mind. We go to church constantly; we read the Bible; we pray; we are a Christian family; we believe in God." And said, "We believe that in storms and whatever goes on, God is our protection."
He said, "Mama, I believe every bit of that," but said, "when that lightning so close," he said, "I--I want a God with skin on it."
So I--I think, not only Junior, but all of us feel that way. When we get together, when we pray one for the other... God with skin on it.
E-65 And we find out here that God has always had skin on Him. When Moses seen Him, He had skin on Him; He looked like a man. When God was behind the curtains, He had skin on Him. And God tonight in His Church is veiled in His Church with skin on Him. He's still the same God tonight. We find that.
But now, as ever, the skin veil is what catches the traditions. They just can't believe that that's God making them people act like that. See? It's because God's veiled in His church, in skin, skin on It. That's right. He's hid from the unbeliever and revealed to the believer. Yes, sir.
E-66 Now, when their tradition veil is--of--of traditions of the elders and the Word is broke through (oh, of course, today), then comes in plain view, we see Him: Deity again veiled in human flesh. Hebrews 1 said so, and also Genesis 18. You remember God was a Man, standing there eating and talking with Abraham, and told what Sarah was doing in the tent behind It. And Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man," Deity veiled again in human flesh.
Now remember, Jesus didn't say, "When the Son of God is being revealed," in Luke the 17 chapter, I believe, and about the 20th, 21st verse, somewhere along there; He said, "And when the Son of man is being revealed," the Son of man back in--in--in the church again, revealed in human beings, not Son of God, but the Son of man again, back in His church again in the last days. We find that He promised that in God's promises.
E-67 We notice another thing. In the Old Testament (I have a Scripture here in Exodus) that the old badger skins, what did it do? It hid the glory of God from the people: the badger skins. The reason the people couldn't see It, because it was a skin that held It... The skin was... The glory of God was behind the skin. And now, the glory of God is behind your skin (That's right.), and the traditions don't see it. It's inside the veil where His Word was.
E-68 What was on the inside of that skins, back there, the old badger skins, which there was no beauty we should desire It? And when It was made flesh and dwelt among us, It was still no beauty we should desire It. And now, the same thing is today. There's nothing in a man or woman that can be desired, but it's what's in behind there. That's what it is.
"Well," you say, "that fellow I know used to be a drunkard. He used to do this." I don't care what he used to do. What's hid behind that skin? What is behind there, that's what counts, that's what... The people is blinded; the skin blinds the people. See?
They say, "I remember when that woman used to..." I know what she used to, but what about now? See? It's them skins that was once on the badger, but now it's hiding the glory of God, got it housed behind it. It was on an animal, but now it's housing the glory of God.
And so can your skin be changed tonight to be made a housing place for God, God dwelling in humanity.
E-69 Look, the old badger skins, we find out behind it was--inside of there was the Word. And the Word... There also was the shewbread. The ark was sprinkled. And what was it? The Shekinah glory was in there.
Now, the Word is a Seed, and It cannot bring forth until the--the sun strikes It. The sun's got to be upon the seed to make it bear, to make it come forth. And that's the only way you take the Word. See? Take the Word of God in your heart and walk into the Shekinah glory. And when you do, it'll bring shewbread manna that's only give for a separated people. The only thing that can eat it, that's permitted to eat it, is just the people who are permitted.
E-70 And notice, Paul said here, "Changing from glory to glory." You see, finally it comes to its--back to its original glory. It's just like a seed of a morning glory. The seed of a flower, it falls into the ground. The seed of corn falls in the ground. What's the first thing? It comes up, and it's a little sprout; then it goes to a tassel. Then from a tassel back to its original grain.
Well, that's exactly what the church has done. It come from Luther, Wesley, and now, back to the original grain, back to its original glory, back to the glory it was at the beginning. The sun that rose in the east is the same sun that's manifesting the same thing in the west, changing from glory to glory.
It changed from the pagan down into Luther, and from Luther down into Wesley, and from Wesley out into Pentecost, and on and on, changing from glory to glory, producing the hidden manna. And now, it's ripe to bring Him back exactly like He was at the beginning, His same ministry, the same Jesus, the same power, the same Holy Ghost. The same One that come down on the day of Pentecost is the same Holy Ghost that's manifested today: from glory, into glory, to glory, and back to its original seed with the baptism of the Holy Ghost, with the same signs, same wonders, same baptism, same kind of people acting the same way, with the same power, the same sensation. It's from glory unto glory. And the next will be changed from this glory into a body like His own glorious Body where we shall see Him. Abraham saw the same.
E-71 Now, notice. We see how it was changed. Since Calvary we are invited to share His glory. Now, in I Corinthians 12, "We are baptized into His Body." By one Spirit we are all baptized, not by one water; one Spirit we're all baptized. That's right. Now. And then we become part of Him. (I hope I'm not keeping you too long. See? I hope I'm not.)
But it's just like a great symphony that's playing out--or acting out a drama. I don't know too much about symphonies or drama, but I was watching this play. I was talking about, Carmen, when my daughter and them was in it. And they--and they were playing in this symphony, in Carmen. They were acting out... The music was--was--was acting out the same thing. That's the way it is when you're baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ.
E-72 Now, see, many of you has read or heard the story of the great Russian composer who composed "Peter and the Wolf." And how he--they act that out on cymbals and everything. And anyone who knows the story, that's reading it off of a paper, and can hear that symphony, how it's acting that out, the drama, playing it out, why, they know every change. They can look at it here and see the change. But now, what happens if the--if the composer writes something, and we find out that it isn't just acted out right? We find out then that there's something that happens; there's something a-lacking. When we see them... He who composed it is--made it up and wrote it out, and then the symphony is a-playing it and hits a wrong note; there's something wrong. The director gave the wrong motion. See?
E-73 And that's what's the matter today, my Lutheran brethren, my Baptist brethren, my Pentecostal brethren, all my brethren from all different denominations; that's what it is. See? You're trying to give a note that hit back in the days of Luther, or Wesley, like that, when the--actually the Music Sheet here shows that it's another day. See, see? We can't live in the light of Luther; he was a reformer. We appreciate his--his part, but we played that out. We're way over here at the back of the Book now. See? We can't--we can't play it out like that.
Now, the only way that you're ever going to be able to do it, my brethren, is this. And brethren of the world (of the different parts of the world, I might say), there's only one way for that--for that director to do. He has to get in the same spirit that the composer was in, then he's got it. And when the church, the symphony itself (where the world's a-watching for these signs and wonders), when the church, and the Composer, and the director all get in the Spirit of the Composer, then when they say, "The days of miracles is past," it don't hit the right note. But when it gets in the right swing of it and the right spirit of it... How you going to do it until the Spirit comes down of the Composer? Amen.
E-75 Then when you say, "The days of miracles never past," the symphony cries out, "Amen."
When we hit that, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever," the symphony cries out, "Amen."
"You shall receive power after this the Holy Ghost is come upon you"; the symphony cries, "Amen. I got it." There's no more guesswork about it then; the whole symphony is right in harmony with the Word. Just goes [Brother Branham illustrates by clapping--Ed.] That's it. Oh, it's a magnificent thing. The director and the Composer must be in the same Spirit, and so must the musicians be in the same Spirit to act it all out. And the world is wondering what's going on.
The communism they talk about, and they've made me sick with it, and all this integration, and everything else, and segregation (Oh, mercy.), such, all this nonsense when the coming of the Lord is at hand, there's something hitting wrong. I'm afraid that the director got--directors got out of the Spirit of the Composer.
E-76 When we get that Composer's Spirit, that original power of God (that the Bible said men of old was moved by the Holy Ghost to write this Bible), you'll see them two Chinese pieces of paper will come together just like God's Bible and a believer will come together. Because they're both in the same Spirit, they're both the same thing, they dovetail right straight together.
What we need today is directors. That's right. Back to the Word. Back and believe It just as It said.
Then you see the God Himself; that's the unveiling; the drama's made real. Today they say, "Well, He's a historical God. We know He crossed the Red Sea. He did all this, and He was in the--the fiery furnace with the Hebrew children." What good's a God of history, if He--if He isn't the same today?
E-77 Man is ever glorifying God for what He did do, thinking of what He will do, and ignoring what He's doing. That's just in man to do that, and it's the same thing today, my brethren; it's the very same thing.
Oh, my. Let's get back and get the symphony playing right, where the world can see. Jesus said, "If I be lifted up from this earth, I'll draw all men unto Me." And He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Let the directors get in the right Spirit with the musicians and with the Composer, everything will be all right. Then we're--no guesswork about it, we are identified with Him then. Hebrews 13:8 said, "He's the same yesterday, today, and forever."
We're identified with Him in Acts 2. We're identified with them with the same baptism, same thing. All He was then, and all He is, all He was, and all He is, we are. That's exactly.
Just like, if I want to be a true American, I've got to be identified with everything she was, everything she is. I've got to be identified with it, if I am a true American. If I am a true American, then I landed on Plymouth Rock. Amen. I did, if I'm an American. So did you; you landed on Plymouth Rock with the pilgrim fathers. On Plymouth Rock, when they landed out there, I was with them; so was you, everybody.
E-79 I rode with Paul Revere right down the road to warn of the danger. That's exactly right. Right down here at Valley Forge, I crossed the icy Delaware with a bunch of soldiers who half of them didn't have shoes on. I prayed all night with George Washington beforehand. I crossed the Delaware with a vision in my heart. We are Americans. Yes, sir. At Valley Forge, I certainly did.
I returned thanks with the original Thanksgiving fathers; I returned thanks to God. If I'm a real American, I was identified there at that table. If I'm a real American, I was identified when I stood with Stonewall Jackson. If I'm a real American, I was identified at the Boston Tea Party (Yes, sir.) when we refused to have things pulled over our eyes. When--I was a real American, I was identified there with that. Yes, sir. Oh, my.
E-80 I rang the Liberty Bell the first 4th of July in 1776. I rang the Liberty Bell here and declared that we are independent. To be a real American I had to. I was identified with her shame in the Revolutionary, when brother fought against... I've got to bear her shame just same as I have to bear her glory. If I'm an American, I have to be. I was identified with her. Yes, sir.
I was identified at Gettysburg down there, when Lincoln made his speech. Yes, sir. I was on Wake Island, over them bloody soldier's body. I rose on Wake Island. On Guam I helped hoist that flag. I'm a real American. Amen. All she is, I am, and proud of it. Yes, indeedy. All America has been, all she is, I'm still that to be American. Everything she was, I have to be, because I'm identified with her.
E-81 Same thing by being a true Christian. You have to be identified with it. I preached with Moses and war--with Noah and warned the people of the oncoming judgment, to be a real Christian. I was with Moses at the burning bush; I saw the Pillar of Fire; I saw His glory. I was with Moses up there in the wilderness. To be a Christian, I have to be identified with everything God was, to be a Christian. I seen His glory; I heard His voice. Don't try to explain it away from me now, 'cause I was there. I know what I'm talking about. I seen what happened. Yes, sir.
I was at the Red Sea when I seen the Spirit of God move down and part the water from one side, not through a bunch of reeds, that they're trying to say today, but through about a ninety foot sea. I seen the Spirit of God. I walked with Moses through that dry ground, across that Red Sea. I stood by Mount Sinai and seen the thunder and lightning falling. I eat manna with them out there. I drank from that Rock; I'm still doing it tonight. I was identified with the manna-eaters. I was identified with them that drunk from the rock.
I was also identified when Joshua blew a trumpet and the walls of Jericho fell down. I was in the lions' den with Daniel. I was in the fiery furnace with the Hebrew children. I was with mount--with Elijah on Mount Carmel.
E-83 I was with John the Baptist and before them critics. I seen the Spirit of God descending; I heard the voice of God say, "This is My beloved Son in Whom I'm pleased to dwell in." Yes, sir. I sure was identified with him. That's exactly right.
I was identified there at the grave of Lazarus when He raised up Lazarus. I was identified with the woman at the well when He told her her sins. Yes, sir. I surely was identified with Him in His death. And I was identified on the first Easter; I raised with Him from death. I'm identified with Him in His death.
I was with the 120 in the upper room. I was identified up there with them. Oh, I--I feel religious. Uh-huh. Oh my. I was identified there. I'm one of them. I was identified; I got the same experience they had. I was there when it happened, to be a true Christian.
I witnessed the mighty rushing wind coming. I witnessed that. I felt the power of God as it shook. I was with them that spoke in tongues. I felt the anointing come in there. I was with them. I was identified with them when the Holy Ghost begin to speak through tongues with them. I was with Peter before the critics in Acts 2, when he preached a great sermon that he... I was identified with him. Yes, sir.
E-84 In Acts 4, when they assembled together, I was with them when the building shook. After prayer meeting, the building shook where they were setting; I was identified there with them.
I preached with Paul on Mars' Hill. Yes, sir. I was with John on the Isle of Patmos and seen His second coming. I was with Luther in the reformation. I was with Wesley, that firebrand snatched from the fires, when the great revolt against the Anglican church; I was there with him.
And here I am tonight in 1964, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, identified with the same kind of group, with the same kind of an experience. I must be to be a Christian. I must stay identified where the Word of God is being manifested.
I'm identified with a group that feels the Spirit of God. I'm identified with a group that knows He's unveiled, that knows He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, and knows that this is not a fanaticism; it's Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. I'm identified with that group here tonight, yet they're called a bunch of heretics, yet a bunch of fanaticism on account of the Word of God. But I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to them ones.
E-86 I'm with them living epistles I spoke of, vindicated, God veiled in human form in men and women. Oh, God in His en morphe again unveiled Hisself and make Hisself known to His people, the great king who laid aside His glory. "Yet a little while and the world won't see Me no more. I'll be veiled to them, but ye shall see Me; for I'll be with you, even in you all the way to the consummation. Changing from Luther to Wesley, to on and on, from glory unto glory, I'm still the same God that is--that is going back to the original glory." Hallelujah.
E-87 He has broken every denominational veil, every sound barrier. That sound that said, "Oh, that's fanaticism," He broke right through that.
The sound that come out of there and said, "Oh, them people are crazy," He broke right through that veil. Yes, He did.
"Oh, you can't do it. You're nothing but a bunch of fanatics." He broke right through that.
"No such a thing as Divine healing." He broke right through that (oh, my.), for His Word said He would. You can't conquer the Word of God.
And there He stands yet tonight, the mighty Conqueror, since He broke every Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, every other kind of a veil. He still stands among His people tonight unconquered by traditions. Let people say what they want to, do what they want to, anything they want to; God comes breaking right through that sound barrier.
E-88 And remember, they tell me when a plane really breaks that sound barrier there's no limit to its speed. And I'm telling you, when you break that traditional barrier, that "Jesus was way back and He isn't now," when you find He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, there's no limit to what God could do right here in this convention, and show this world what they need; not a World's Fair, but a world revival that'll be filled and baptized with the Presence of the living God: en morphe inveiling Himself into human flesh. Hallelujah.
I believe it's broken every barrier, every veil. Every veil, nothing could hide His Presence. When people gets hungry in their heart, there's a veil ready to be broke; you can just depend on that. Rent every veil by His great Holy Spirit. And here He stands tonight, the mighty Conqueror: same yesterday, today, and forever, healing the sick, baptizing the believers, just as He always did. He's the mighty Conqueror. Doomed devils are on the run. Yes, sir. They always are when He's around.
E-89 Closing I might say this. There was a... I read a story many years ago about an old violinist. And he had an old violin, and he was going to sell it. (You've heard the story many times.) And they wanted to sell it for a certain thing. And the auctioneer said, "Who'll give me so-and-so?" And I believe he was offered a few coins, maybe fifty cents or something. "Going once, going twice..."
Directly, a man raised up in the back; he said, "Just a minute." He walked up and got it. Let's think that he played this:
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins;
When sinners, plunge beneath the flood,
Lose all their guilty stain:
Then when he laid it down, there wasn't a dry eye in the place. Then he said, "Who'll offer..."
One said, "Five thousand."
"Ten thousand."
It was priceless. Why? The--the old master of the violin had revealed its true quality. Oh, brother, sister, now let the Master of this Word who wrote It, the great Holy Spirit, rosin up His bow with love and pull it across your heart.
There is a fountain filled with blood
Drawn from Immanuel's veins...
You'll see the full value and see the unveiled God come right in view, that He's just the same as He was when He fell on the day of Pentecost upon the people, when He kenos Hisself, emptied right into them. That's right.
You say, "Brother Branham, I've tried. I've tried. I've done this, that, or the other."
E-90 One day, I was having a meeting at Carlsbad, New Mexico; and we went down in this big old bat den down there; and it was kinda spooky-looking. And we got down there; and the--the man, when he got down there in this place, he--he snapped the lights off. And oh, my, you can imagine how dark it was. It's just--it's so dark you could feel it. And that's just about the way the times are getting. When we see the church that fails to recognize God's Word; when you see that our daughters of Zion doing the way they're doing; when you see our brothers that smokes, and drinks, and--and tells dirty jokes, and things, and still trying to hold their confession in Christ (Oh, my.); it's dark; it's pitch dark.
We see the sign of His coming. There'll be... It's always darkest just before day. Then the Morning Star comes out to hail the day, and to herald it and show that it's coming.
E-91 Notice. In there, when they turned that off, there was a little girl just screamed to the top of her voice. And there was a little boy standing by the guide. And he seen that guide when he switched the lights off, like that. And that little sister was just about to have a fit. She was screaming and jumping up-and-down, "Oh, what's going to happen next? What's the matter? What's the matter?"
You know what he screamed? He said, "Don't fear, little sister. There's a man here who can turn on the lights."
Listen, little sister, you might think we're small and in the minority, but don't fear. There's a Man here Who can turn on the lights; that's the Holy Spirit. Do you believe it?
E-92 Let us bow our heads just a moment. I'm sorry to have kept you. Oh, great God of heaven, unveiling Yourself, unfolding Yourself, making Yourself known the great King of glory, take these little illustrations tonight and let them fall down into the hearts of the people. And may we see that unveiled One, that One Who came down and rent the veil of the temple, and then went right out of that veil, come right down into human veils again on the day of Pentecost, has ever been the same, changing from glory to glory.
And now, we're right back like all nature acting, right back to the original seed, right from one church age to another. And in this last age here, here we are right back to the original thing that fell on the day of Pentecost to fulfill every Scripture, the Light in the evening time, and, "The works that I do shall you also," and so many things that You promised in Your Word.
Father, if there be one here who has never broke through that veil yet, or if there be one here who's just impersonated someone who has went through the veil, give grace tonight, Father. May they see that mighty Conqueror standing here, full of grace and power to forgive. Grant it, Father.
E-93 And while our heads are bowed, would there be some in here? How many (might I say that) would say, "Brother Branham, I'm lifting my hand. Pray for me." Just keep your head bowed and raise your hand. "I want to break through every veil till I can really see the Conqueror." God bless you. My--at the hands. Up in the balconies to the right. God bless you. Balconies to the back. God bless you. Be real honest. To the left, raise your hand, say, "Brother Branham, I might've been a Christian for years, but really, I've never come through that veil. I've really never done it. I haven't got that what they had then."
Today we got it, "I'm a hotbedded plant." Take a flower that's raised in a hotbed; you have to baby it, pet it, spray it, water it; but that original plant that grows out there on the desert, same kind of a flower, looks like it; it don't get a bit of water, but no bugs get on it. It's rugged. It's a real...
E-94 Could you compare Christianity with, Christianity today with what it was then? Could you imagine this group, what we call Christians today across the world, being like those was after Pentecost, babied, and patted, and from one church to another, and say something you don't like and get up and walk out? And oh, could you imagine that? No. What is the matter? It's a reproduction.
Michelangelo, that created the monument of Moses... You can get a reproduction of that very cheap, but the original... The one who painted the Lord's Supper... I guess that original painting would run into millions of dollars, if you could even buy it. I don't even know where it's at. But you can buy a cheap reproduction of it for about a dollar ninety-eight cents. You can.
E-95 And that's the way it is today. A cheap Christian, a reproduction, just a church-joiner, you can buy them out for a cigarette, or a--or a common drink. Or for a woman with cut hair, painted lips, you can buy her for anything in the fashions of the world, but you can't touch that genuine.
I see Him in full view, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Oh, Christian, don't you want to be a real Christian? If there's any didn't raise your hands, will you do it while... I'm just going to pray. God bless you. God bless you. Oh, that's just fine. Just look at the...
E-96 Our heavenly Father, Thy Word shall not return to Thee void. You was the One made the promise. I'm only responsible for saying that You said it. I'm just repeating Your Words. You said, "He that heareth My Word and believeth on Him that sent Me has Eternal Life." You promised it. And, Lord, we know we have them reproductions today, many that say they believe when they don't; it shows up. But, Lord, there's some genuine too.
I pray that You'll just grant in here tonight that every man and woman, boy or girl, no matter what nation they are, what color they are, what church they belong to... Oh, God, fill them. May they see the real manifestation of that same Jesus today right among us, as He was at the day of Pentecost when He revealed Himself for this age, being the Holy Ghost. Grant it.
E-97 Seeing the Word's fulfilled, the prophecies come to pass, we compare today what's called the church of the world--or the World Council of Churches, and compare that with the promise on Pentecost; there's no comparison at all. We cannot get our dirty clothes washed on that ticket.
But, Lord God, if we'll come back to that Fountain, there's a cleansing process. Then our experience and God's Word will match one another; then we can claim our possession. Grant it, Lord, tonight, as I commit these people in Your hands. Give to each one what we have need of, Father. We ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.
God bless you. Thank you a lot for standing, waiting a long time, and I'm sorry I kept you till ten minutes after ten. God be with you till I see you in the morning. I turn the service now to, I suppose, to the master of ceremonies.