The Masterpiece
JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
1 Let's bow our heads now for prayer. While our heads and hearts are bowed before God, I--I wonder how many in here has a request that they'd like God to remember, by just lifting up your hands? Now, hold your request in your heart now as we pray.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
2 Lord Jesus, Thou the--the Fountain, inexhaustible Fountain of Life, flow through us today, Lord, and cleanse us from all unbelief and all sin, that we might stand in Thy Presence now, knowing that there is need among us, that we know that we are sinners and not--not worthy of any blessing. But then when we think of Him Who came and took our sins! Then, when His Blood is there, it's not--it's not us in the Presence of God, it's Him. It's just our voice through His Blood. His Blood is speaking. O God, then cleanse our hearts from sin and unbelief.
3 Give to us the desires of our heart, for we truly have these desires to serve You. In these weakening conditions and afflictions, and things of the world that's put upon us sometime, to perfect us; we've been told that. Then He said, "Think it not strange that these trials come." They're only working out for our good and to perfect us, and bring us into that place. These great deserts of experience, where righteous man are molded into saints, we--we thank Thee for these experiences, Lord. We would no mean, no wise want to do anything contrary to Your will. But we pray, Father, that in this we'll be brought closer to You.
4 And when the burdens are so heavy we can't go no farther, then we raise our hands and scream to our Father. Then hear from Heaven, Lord.
Heal us, make us well, for the Kingdom of God's sake.
Bless Thy Word this morning, Lord. Thy Word is the Truth.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
5 And we've assembled here now in the church. We pray for Brother Neville, and for Brother Capps, and Brother Collins, and all the rest of the ministers, and the--and the trustees, deacons, and all the laity, and the strangers in our gates. May this be a day that we'll long remember, because of Your Presence.
6 We're here under great expectation this morning, Lord. Just momentarily noticed, called together. We feel that it's for a purpose. May Your purpose be achieved, Lord. For we ask it in Jesus' Name, as we submit ourselves. Amen.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
7 It's grand to be here and to be assembled with this church full of people. I wasn't expecting to be hardly anyone here this morning, because I didn't hardly know, myself, I was going to be here.
8 We just got in from Philadelphia. And so I come in, thinking I was going to have to go to Arizona right quick, for have a funeral service for a friend of mine, Captain Jim Moseley, a very precious, godly boy I led to Christ not long ago, the three Moseley brothers. And one of them fell, and was in the plane the other day, and was killed instantly. Laid in the fire for ten hours 'fore they got to him. So Lee is twenty-eight years old, his wife twenty-six, and--and leave three little children; the oldest, seven. Very sad. And they... When they got him in, then they had to bury him the next day. So I just... I didn't get to go. And I just wrote out, or sent by telegram, what I was going to say, or what I would have said at Brother Moseley's funeral. Some of these things we can't understand, but yet He makes everything work just right.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
9 We're here in service of the Lord, this morning, knowing that--that--that we believe God, that we believe that He'll make everything just exactly right. Regardless of what it is, and how it works out, we know it's got to "work for good." He promised that. It's just got to be that way. Sometimes we can't understand that, gets very complicated at times, but yet we know that it's the Truth, 'cause the Bible says it's the Truth. And the Bible, to us, is God in letter form.
10 Now, we've got to place our faith somewhere. And if--if I or any of us, in life, tried to make a success in life and become, many times, a multimillionaire, but what are we going to do with that? We got to come down to the end of the road, and what--what good is it to us then? See? And money is a--a scrip, it's an exchange, but you can't exchange it for Life. Only God has Life.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
11 So we--we realize that we're here in a negative form. And as long as there is a negative, there has to be a positive. There cannot be a negative without a positive, see, because it's because of the positive that makes the negative. Like you had a negative picture of some object. There has to be an object somewhere, or to strike, the light strike that lens, or there wouldn't be any--any negative. So when we see that our life here is in the negative, and knowing that we're in the image of some life somewhere, then we know that there is a positive somewhere that the light has struck, and it's reflected something here on earth. And we are only that reflection. The genuine object is somewhere. If that isn't, I'm the worst deceived man in the world; I've spent my life in vain. But I know, beyond a shadow of doubt, that it's there. See? That's why we're here. See?
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
12 When I see you people come across the country, on a few-moments notice, and sometime presuming, then it makes me feel real little when I come into a meeting like this; to think that I know people here has traveled for hundreds of miles, just to be here for a few minutes of service, just to set here.
13 Some woman just made a remark, come in the other day and said, "Show me where the man has walked, and let me walk behind him, upon the ground," said, "I'll get well." Now, the people believes you like that, and you're a representative of Christ, then what should we do? We should be very careful, because you're not only destroying yourself with wrong, you're destroying others who are following you.
14 So, I know no denomination or nothing to take you to. There's only one thing I have my faith in. If you believe me, follow what I tell you. Because, I believe the Bible, that's the Word of God. Other things fail. I'm just... He is Life. He is the Word.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
15 Now, I know that you... When I come here, I keep you long. I prayed to God, when I felt like I wanted to come here today. I've had so many interviews and calls, and so forth. I had to meet some of them this morning. And I said, "Well, Brother Neville no doubt ask me to speak." That was Friday. And I said, "Brother Neville will probably ask me to speak. And when I do, then I pray, God..." It's so hot, been so hot. And He was good to send us a rain and break the real extreme heat, and give us a good morning this morning. I pray that His goodness will shower each one of you all, that you'll ever remember being here this morning. May His grace and blessings be upon you!
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
16 Last night I visit a friend that's sick, Brother Bill Dauch. I don't see him here this morning. Somehow, I don't. Oh, here he is. He's... Yeah. And I was thinking, "An old man of ninety-one years old, and still storming across the--the country, through the deserts, and over the snowy mountains and the slick roads. He don't have to do that. God has been good to him; he don't have to do that. He could sit home and have servants a-fanning him, if he wanted to." But, something happened to Bill Dauch, he was borned again. And when it was, something come into his heart, that all he lives for is to attend these services. And then if I'm to be the mouthpiece of God, would I deceive a friend? I'd rather die. Then let me tell him exactly what's the Truth out of this Bible. Then, that's God's Word. I'm just repeating what He said.
Now I want to read some out of the Bible.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
17 Before we read, I'd like to--to say that I believe tonight is the communion night. And you who are here locally... Course, the other people probably will be going back to their homes, 'cause they have to go to work. You who are locally here in the assembly, remember, the brethren will be giving communion tonight.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
18 Now, I'm waiting for the final call for Africa. They wouldn't, won't let me in as a missionary. So the only way I can go in, down... I'm going to Kenya, Uganda, and--and Tanganyika. And the only way I can go in... First, the churches won't let you in, 'cause they want me to preach something on this side and that side, down in Africa. And I won't go in like that. I wouldn't be hypocrite enough to do that. So I either tell them, "No, sir, I'll just preach just what God puts on my heart, and that's all." See? And I'm sure it won't be what they're trying to get me to teach. So, triune baptisms, and so forth like that, and fussing with them. No.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
19 But I've been asked to a big convention, by Brother Boze. He's just on the verge of coming to seeing some daylight of what we believe. And so I've asked to come in like I was going on a hunting trip. If they let me in, like going in hunting... If I can get somebody to say they'd take me hunting, then when I get in there, the doctor--the doctor is there at the embassy, is a personal friend of mine, out of Chicago. And as soon as I get in there, he say, "Well, here is Brother Branham over here. Let's have a meeting." So, after I'm there, the embassy can't turn me down. If they... So they're trying to work it through now. So I trust that it... If it's God's will, it'll work out that way. See? It--it's just committed to Him. If not, then I'll notify you. I won't...
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
20 If it be the will of God, then, I want to speak on the Seven Trumpets. And that'll be about a eight-day service, and we won't be here at the tabernacle, perhaps. We try to get an auditorium here.
21 Now I never thought, of this new auditorium just being built up here, it's exactly where I saw Jesus the first time in vision. Now it's built, auditorium built right over the same spot. I went right there the other day, to look. When I looked and seen Him looking towards the east, you remember hearing me tell it, when I was out there praying for my father; a--a little boy, just a boy preacher. That's where I saw Him. Step, looking at Him; He's had His head turned sideways from me. I kept walking around, clearing my throat, in a broom sedge field. And I kept watching, and He never did turn. Then I called His Name, "Jesus." And He turned around, held His arms out, and that's all I remembered until daylight. And so I come back out of the field, along towards daylight.
So maybe the Lord will let me preach those Trumpets there. Wherever it is, God's will be done.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
22 Turn in your Bibles now, to Isaiah the fifty-... 53rd chapter of Isaiah.
Now, we trust that God will bless our feeble efforts of coming together this morning. We just come down from Philadelphia, where I was at the Full Gospel Business Men's convention, and listening to their different testimonies and so forth, up there.
23 Then I, on the road down, I was... Billy Paul and I, and Rebekah and little Collins girl, little Betty Collins. And Billy is a very good sleeper, and Becky is better, and so I... Betty and I talked. And she was setting back with Becky, in the back seat. And I seen something on the road, happen; and, when I did, something struck me. And Betty, if she is here, she noticed I quit talking and started writing something down. That's where I got this text for this morning.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
24 Now let us stand to our feet. If we... Now we stand in honor of God's Word, as I read Isaiah the 53rd chapter.
Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Notice, it's a question, to begin with.
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of... dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of man; a man of sorrow,... acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our grief, and has carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we were healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and... was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers... dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgressions of my people he was stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he has done no violence, neither was there deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he... put him to grief: when thou shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, and he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
And he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall many righteous servants be justified... many; for he shall bear their iniquity.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and... shall divide the spoils with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death: and was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sins of many, and made intercessions for the transgressors.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
25 Father God, Thy Word is a Lamp, the Light that lights the path of every believer into the Presence of God, as It carries us like a lantern in our hand. You have not provided enough that we should see the end from the beginning, and, but I walk with faith. But as a man would travel through a dark forest at night, and that's where we are; the light that he holds, only provides step by step. But the path, though leading upward, just walk with the Light. And may the Light shine today upon the Word, to lead us one step farther to the Kingdom of God. For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Be seated.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
26 The subject that I feel to speak to the congregation today is: The Masterpiece.
It may seem rather strange to take a--a Scripture reading like this, of--of one of the most bruised and murderous pictures of the Bible, that when the Bible says, that, "This perfect Servant that was afflicted, and bruised, and torn," and yet take a text from that, as, Masterpiece. Very strange. But I'm...
27 My mind is thinking, this morning, as we journey back, I do, for a few years. I was invited up to Forest Lawn, in--in California, up above Los Angeles. My first purpose for going up there was to visit the--the grave of--of Aimee Semple McPherson, the founder of the Foursquare movement. And I went to her--her tomb. And although I--I different with the woman, as a minister, but, yet, in my heart, I give admiration and a respect for--for what she stood for, in the--the hour, and the persecution and things she had to go through with, and in time of her being here on the earth. And then for her--her beloved son, which is a bosom friend of mine, Rolf McPherson.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
28 And a group of ministers, we went up there. And they... we didn't have time to go into the--the... into the--the place where they have the cremation, and put the--the bodies in a--a little box on the side of the wall.
29 And in there they have some outstanding things, such as the Last Supper. And it's lighted by the actual light of the sun. And they--they have a shutter that it gives them... When they go in, it's light; and then as--as they begin to speak, it darkens up. And after a while it all becomes dark, and then the people go out. And they have all the Supper.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
30 And the woman that held the secret of how to beat this glass into this place, why, make these pictures, why, it--it come through a family, for many years back. And the art was just given to the children, and the last one was a woman. And they was fixing this picture. And when they went to mold and burn the--the glass, bake it, of Judas Iscariot, it busted. So then they tried it again, and it busted again. And she said, "Maybe our Lord doesn't want His enemy picture by His side." And said, "If it bursts again, we'll not complete the picture." But it held that time. Then, course, that was a striking thing, and how that such things would happen.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
31 But, then, one of the main things that interest me in Forest Lawn, was Michelangelo's, the great sculpture, the--the monument of Moses. It's a--a reproduction there, of course. It isn't the original, but it was such a--a great masterpiece. And as I stood and looked at it, I--I liked that, something that looks like it's (represents) got something to it.
32 I like art, real well. I believe God is in art. I believe God is in music. I believe God is in nature. God is everywhere. And anything that's contrary to the original is a perversion. God is in dancing; not the kind of dancing you do here. But when the sons and daughters of God are in the Spirit of God, see, that's dancing. But like we had to contend with till two o'clock this morning, up there in the lane, that's the perversion of it.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
33 But, this, and the masterpiece that Michelangelo had--had made, it--it cost him something to do that--that. He was a great man, and it cost a big part of his life, because he was many, many years in carving out. Just take a rock and of--of marble, and keep carving it. And, see, only the man, the sculptor himself, has in his mind what he's trying to do. He, he is the one. You might walk up and say to him, "What are you pecking on that rock for?" To the outsider, who doesn't know what's in his heart, it's nonsense. But to the man, the sculptor himself, he--he's got a--a vision in his mind, what he's trying to make, and he's trying to reproduce what he has on his mind in the form of a--of a monument. That's the reason he's digging it out of the rocks.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
34 And this, to do, you have to start off right, at the beginning, and you have to follow the pattern. See? You can't get a little piece, to start off, "We'll make it this way; no, I believe..." No, he's got to have a exact pattern. And in his mind he's got that pattern. And he cannot vary from that pattern. Now, in order to do this, he had to draw in his mind, because we have no real pictures of Moses, but he had to get a mental picture in his mind, of exactly what Moses was.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
35 Now, a genuine sculptor is inspired, like a genuine poet, or any genuine singer, musician, whatever it might be. All real has to come by inspiration. Michelangelo must have had the inspiration of what Moses really looked like. And he caught it in his mind, what Moses must have been. So he set forth on this great piece of marble, the cutting to the pattern, and bringing down, and honing down, until he got to the real picture of what it must have been in his mind.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
36 And then when he got it all so perfect, every corner off, and every place rubbed, and the eyes just right, every hair, and beard, all just the way it was, he stood off and looked at it. I--I think of--of many, many hard years of labor, and how he had to hold that same vision all the time, in his mind, of what he was going to do. And just think, that vision on his mind for so many years, to make it look just exactly to what it was! He caught the vision first, and how he had to work to that vision, cutting off and making down! And when he got it to where he perfected it, till it really got perfect; he stood and looked at it when he finished up that morning, with a hammer in his hand.
And he was so inspired when he looked at it, because the vision of his mind was standing before him, in reality. What he had seen, and the... his conception of what Moses was, there it was figured before him, what he had had in his heart all these years. And toils, and hours of sorrow and distress, and critics, and everything else, but yet he stayed right with the vision until it was completed.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
37 And then when it was completed, he stood back with the hammer, or sculptor's hammer, in his hand, and he looked at that monument. And the inspiration of the vision that he had seen, of how to do it, inspired him so much till he... The inspiration struck him till he got beside hisself, and struck it across the knee, and said, "Speak!"
38 Now there's a flaw on that great image, on the knee, on the right knee. Just above the knee, about six inches, is a place (I've put my hand on it) about that deep.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
39 After he had spent all that time, for years and years, to make this; then under the--the influence of seeing fulfilled what he had seen in his heart and in his vision, and desired to see, it was completed. And when it was completed, he was so inspired by it till he thought his own masterpiece should speak back to him. And he struck it across the leg, and holler, "Speak!" And it made a flaw on it. It put a flaw on the image.
40 To me, the flaw was what made it the masterpiece. Now, maybe to the--the mind that might think different, you think that spoiled it. No, to me, it--it made it what it was. It--it... Because of after so many years of careful work and toils, and inspiration, and so forth, of making it, his toil had proved not in vain. It was perfect, and that's why he cried out, "Speak!" Because, he had seen before him that he (was) had been able to achieve, to bring to pass the vision that was in his mind. And therefore, under inspiration, he done something out of the reason, out of the ordinary. He struck it, and hollered, "Speak!" See, he wouldn't have done that if he had thought. But he didn't think. It was inspiration of seeing what he had in his mind setting there perfectly before him.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
41 His toils, and wearies, and long nights, and housed away from the world for days, and maybe eat a sandwich. And--and rub on it, and get back, and, "No, that's just not the way it was. Now it's got to come down to this," and rubbing it. Then when he saw it, just perfect, then he saw in reality. The negative of the what was in his mind had become real, it become positive, therefore it sprung into him. And it was so real that he must cry out, "Speak!"
42 To me, it was a reflection. It was--it was a compliment to his work, that his own work so inspired him, that he would become beside himself to smite it and to say, "Speak!"
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
43 I stood there and looked at the monument. I thought of the hours that the man must have put, in making that. They said how many years it was. But it--it was a reflection to him, because it was a contribution to his--to his great art, his great work of what he was doing. And when he finally was able to achieve it, it was so great.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
44 Now let us turn the page, of Michelangelo, and close the book.
And let's open another Book and read of the great Sculptor, the Almighty. Who, before there was a world, and before the foundations was laid, He had in His mind what He wanted, and He wanted to make man in His Own image. He wanted to make something in--in reality of what was a vision to Him, what was in His thinking.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
45 Now, to Michelangelo, that was an attribute of his thought.
And God wanted to make a man after His image, the great Sculptor, and He went to work on him. And we notice as He brought up from the materials. The first perhaps was fishes, and then the birds, and--and then the creeping things upon the earth, and--and many things that He brought. But, finally, as He brood, of being Creator, He had... He wasn't like a man, now, a sculptor that has to take something that's been created, to hew an image. He was the Sculptor of Eternal things. He was the Sculptor that could create and bring into existence that which He has in His mind to do. Or, otherwise, He can make material what His attributes desired.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
46 And as He begin to work upon creeping things, like upon the--the--the little animals upon the earth. And then He began to bring it from that into something else, higher. Then finally He brought it into the larger animals, such as the lion, tiger, bear. Then He brought it into the--the--the life of maybe of--of monkeys and apes, and so forth. Now, not an evolution, as we think that one came from a e-... That was a complete creation; God working in a pattern.
47 But finally there came forth upon the earth, a perfection, and that was a man. And then He could see in that man, that it looked like Him. So now when He looked upon him, he was a reflection of what his Creator was. God had now been able to achieve the thing that He wanted, a man in His own image.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
48 And then I might say, to this, that, when He made this man, there was something about him yet that didn't look just right, because that he--he was by himself. And that's how God had been, by Himself; He was the Eternal. And the man now, in the image of God, also existed on the earth by himself. So He must have struck a little blow over on his left side, and from there He took the piece that struck off of it and made him a helpmate, a wife, then he wasn't by himself. He was--he was, he had somebody with him. And that's His great work.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
49 And, He, as any great sculptor would take his--his--his masterpiece...
Now, first, He had a masterpiece of Himself. But now He seen that the masterpiece was lonesome, like He was, so He divided the masterpiece by striking it in the side and brought forth a helpmate.
50 And now, to make the two one, He put them, like any great sculptor, in a place that--that's beautiful.
A--a sculptor wouldn't make a great masterpiece, and then take it and set it in an alley somewhere, or hide it behind buildings. As our Lord told us, "A man doesn't light a candle and put it under a bushel." When we become God's masterpieces, we're not hid in a alley somewhere. We--we must give Light.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
51 So we see that--that He, after He had made this masterpiece, He placed it up here on the earth, and put it in the most beautiful place there was, in the garden of Eden. He placed His masterpiece, the two being one, in the garden of Eden. How it must have pleased Him, that He saw this masterpiece was well. He, after that, we find out that He rested; He was so well pleased with His work.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
52 Now remember that, my opinion, the masterpiece is the stroke that marred Saint Angelo's Moses masterpiece in the monument.
And it was the stroke that cut the side of His masterpiece, that brought out the bride. And now we see them as a masterpiece family in the garden of Eden. How beautiful it was! And it so pleased Him, till He--He took rest then. He said, "I, I'll rest."
53 But while He was resting and trusting to His masterpiece, His enemy come in and found this great masterpiece. And he, by deceit, he--he crawls under the--the garden walls, and then he--he marred this beautiful masterpiece. He--he marred it, so that it--it fell.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
54 Now I'm trying to watch that clock. And I asked Mike, my nephew, to ring that bell in thirty minutes, but I... He's not done it, and I've already been thirty minutes. But, it's, we continue on a little bit. See? Now, I don't want to--to break these rules. I--I made these rules, see, and I--I... and here is breaking your own rule.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN V-4 N-7 SUNDAY_ 64-0705
55 Now notice, then, this masterpiece. When Satan got a hold of it, the deceiver, broke through the walls, and--and he marred this masterpiece. Because that the way he did it, what... How did he do it? I'll go more in detail of it. How he done it, was... This masterpiece was walled by the Word, God's Word. And the masterpiece, itself, of the family, was fortified by this Word. But the broken part, that was broke off of the original, went out beyond that wall, it gives Satan a chance to mar it. And now as you know what I believe on those things, so I won't have to say that. But the masterpiece was broke.
56 But, the great Sculptor, when He seen the fall of His family, the masterpiece, He wasn't willing just to leave it lay there, face down, and ruin. He went to work, immediately, to build it up again. He wasn't willing that it should perish, lay there like that all the time. Because, He is God, and He will not be defeated. So, He went to work immediately and begin to build, again, unto His Own image, a man.
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57 Now, we find that the antediluvian world come along and destroyed the whole thing, because the covenants that was made, was made conditionally, "If you will not do this, or if you will do that." God, the great Sculptor, seen that man could not--could not keep a covenant. He just can't do it. There is just no way at all.
On the interview a few moments ago I was speaking to a person in the room, that's present now. Said, "But, Brother Branham, I have so many things that I--I know that's wrong," and a--a godly little woman.
58 I said, "But--but, look, sister, you don't look at yourself. It's just what your desire is and what you try to do. And if you really love the Lord, you try to serve Him with all your heart, and then all your mistakes is hid in the Blood of the Lord Jesus." See? See, He made a way.
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59 So He begin now, taking man from His covenants, of--of saying that, "If you will, I will." And He begin with the man called Abraham, and give to Abraham a covenant, unconditionally. Every time He would start a masterpiece, Satan would get it, because the Word... But when He started with Abraham, He said, "I have already done it. Now this is unconditionally, not what... that--that, 'If you will, I will,' but I've already done it." Now He, the--the Sculptor, is determined to have this masterpiece.
60 Then, from Abraham, come the patriarchs. And the patriarchs really... Now what's God doing? He is rebuilding this masterpiece that had fallen. So, in the patriarchs, the first we find was Abraham.
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61 Now watch, every masterpiece is put on a foundation, a sculpture. Angelo's monument of Moses is on a three- or four-foot piece of marble. It's got a foundation. So, God, in preparing this masterpiece, He put it on a foundation of the patriarchs. And the patriarch foundation, first, was Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, then Joseph, the four corners.
62 And, now, Abraham was the foundation of faith. Let's say it had four foundations. The foundation of faith was Abraham. The foundation of love was Isaac. The foundation of grace was Jacob, God's grace to Jacob; anyone knows that. But in Joseph was perfection, there is where He could set the monument; upon not the first foundation, the second foundation, the third foundation, but on the fourth foundation.
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63 Abraham portrayed Christ, of course; so did Isaac, in love. Abraham did, in faith; Isaac did, in love; Jacob did, by His grace. Because, Jacob means "deceiver," and that's what he was, but God's grace was with him. But when it come to Joseph, there is nothing against him, just one little scratch, for the foundation must also be a masterpiece. When he told his father, the prophet, "Say to Pharaoh that your people are--are cattle raisers and not shepherds, because a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptian."
64 But when the old prophet got before Pharaoh, he said, "Your servants are herdsmen." So it scratched it, see, that's why it still makes it the masterpiece.
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65 Now the foundations is laid, through faith, love, grace, and to perfection, through the patriarchs.
66 Now the body work that come on to this great masterpiece was the prophets, which was the Word. I hope you can read it. See? The prophets; not the laws! The prophets, for the prophets was the vindicated Word which makes the body; not the patriarchs. The prophets, they were the Word.
67 Finally, as He started way back in the days of Moses and come down through the prophets, to each one. And, finally, building up the body, coming closer all the time. And the greatest of all of them was John. The Bible said so. Jesus said it. "There is not a man, ever born of a woman, as great as John the Baptist," for he was the one that could introduce the Word.
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68 And then come, finally, the great Head, the Head of all of it. The rest of the body just spoke of It. The foundation was laid by the patriarch; but the body was built by the Word, which was the prophets; and here comes the Head of all of it, Jesus came on the scene. There, when this Head piece was put upon it, we find in Him the entire handiwork of God. We find in Him the perfect reflection of the Word, for He was the Word, the fullness of the Word. Now, again, God has the perfect Masterpiece again.
As Isaiah said, "Behold My Servant, My Masterpiece, that I have portrayed through all the ages of this perfect One coming. And here He stands right before Me, a perfect!" There, in His Own image, reflecting God! For He said, in Saint John 14, "When you see Me, you see the Father."
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69 And, then, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God," and the Word was hewed out and reflected what the Word was at the beginning. Him, the Word, reflected in the Masterpiece in His Own likeness, God back again in His Own likeness, the Word form being reflected in the image of a man, the Masterpiece.
70 All the prophets had flaws; all the ones was a portion. But here, at last, coming up through that, finally comes the Masterpiece, the perfect One, no fault in Him at all, so perfect reflected of the Builder Himself, His Own image was reflected in His work. "God and Christ were One," insomuch until He put His Own Spirit into Him, and then even the image and the Builder became One. God and His sculpture work, His Masterpiece! Where Mose--Moses was, in the work of Saint Angelo, was a... or Michelangelo, rather; was a--a sculpture work that was dead, because it been made out of stone. But here, the Master Builder, when He got His handiwork perfected, He stepped into It.
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71 So perfected a Redeemer of man, so perfect, so godly; yet, there was no beauty we should desire Him. When this virgin-born Son of the living God become so perfect, and humble, and in the image of God, until the great Master Who had brought His Life up through the prophets... And He was the fulfilling of all the prophets. He was so perfect, until, God seeing this, He smote Him and has cried out, "Speak!" as Michelangelo did. "Speak!"
You say, "Is that so?"
72 Saint Mark 9:7, we find, upon the Mount Transfiguration, when there stood Moses, the law, there stood Elijah, the prophets. All the way back from the patriarchs, the fathers, the law, the prophets, and all of them standing there. We hear a Voice coming down from the cloud, and said, "This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him!" And if they're going to hear, He's got to speak. It was just a few days before He was smitten. "This is My Son, Who I'm pleased to dwell in. I have molded Him. I've been four thousand years bringing Him to this. And now, He is so perfect, I've got to smite Him so He can speak. Hear ye Him! He is the perfected One. He, He is the Masterpiece."
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73 Remember, He was portrayed all times, back through the Old Testament.
We find Him being the Rock in the wilderness, that was smitten, Rock in the wilderness. "I am that Rock that was in the wilderness." But that was a stone that had not come to its perfection yet. But in type form It followed the church, to draw from It that that He could draw, give Life to those Who He could give Life to. But He was that Rock in the wilderness. He had not been made man yet. He was only in type.
74 Moses saw Him standing on this Rock. He saw Him pass by, and he said, "It's the back part of a man." You see, the Sculptor was presenting to Moses, which was a potential image of Christ, what the great Masterpiece would look like when It was perfected. He passed His... He injected, or--or projected to Moses the vision of what the Masterpiece was going to look like. It was the back part of a man, when It passed by in the wilderness.
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75 Remember, Angelo could only cry out and smite the image, and say, "Speak!"
But how different it was to God, the great Sculptor. When He made a man in His Own image, so perfect that It reflected Him, God spoke through the image of man, showing what He would do. He spoke through the prophets as they were in their potential image, as He was bringing it up to the Head. But when He come in the Head, He was all the image of God; He was portraying Himself. Then, smitten for us, now He is the Masterpiece to us, the Gift of God, Jesus Christ, Eternal Life. I hope we never forget that.
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76 As we see the days darkening, as we see the shadows falling! When, I predict, "It's just a few more turns of the sun. This nation is gone." Do you know...
Yesterday, fourth of July. Thomas Jefferson had signed the declaration of independence, him and the other board that was with him, and the Liberty Bell rang, and we was declared an independence, as a nation. According to history, there has never been a democracy at any time last over two hundred years. And that was 1776, July the fourth. And we're just eleven years left. Will it make it? No, can't, see. Eleven years. And, if it does, it'll break all history.
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77 And we see the condition of time. We see the condition of the people. We see the condition of politics. We see the condition of the world. It can't stand. It's got to sink, like the Titanic. It must go down, for theirs give room. One nation gives room to another, as it falls. And this kingdom must fall, and every other kingdom, to give room to that Kingdom that's coming, which cannot fall. "For we receive a Kingdom that cannot be moved," through this perfect image of God, the Masterpiece.
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78 God, when He looked upon Him, He was so inspired! He was so... to see Him the way He looked, and to see the--the form of Him, He was so inspired that it would be the perfect Masterpiece of a Redeemer, Jesus the Redeemer. So, God, in order to be smitten, Himself; because, to pay His Own penalty, God and Christ became One, so God could be smote in the Image, He could be scarred. And that's why Isaiah said, "We did esteem Him smitten and afflicted of God. Yet He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquity; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we were healed."
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79 The perfect Image, the God-Man! God, in en morphe, had changed from Supernatural to the vision, and the vision was projected into the Image. And the Image was smitten so that the Supernatural could taste the feeling of death, God's perfect Masterpiece.
He could not do it in Moses. He could not do it in the prophets; Isaiah, who was sawed with saws till he was sawed to pieces. He could not do it in the prophets that were stoned. He could not do it, because He couldn't feel it; there was just a portion of Him.
But in this perfect Masterpiece, He was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He could not only project Moses; He could project His entire Being into this Person, and taste death for the whole human race. God's perfect Masterpiece! God, so inspired by seeing It, He become the Redeemer of all ages; to speak for those in the backgrounds, who had been before, and now.
80 All promises was met in Him. He was the Perfection of the perfection. All types was fulfilled in Him; our Kinsman Redeemer, in Ruth and Boaz; our Law-giver, from Mount Sinai; our Prophet, from the wilderness, as He come from the mountain, as He come from the wilderness; as He come from Eternity and become man, the perfect Image!
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81 God, down through the age, hewing away, by the patriarchs, and made His platform, and brought them up from the different things that He would lay this foundation upon. Upon this He begin to build His Word, the prophets. And then, finally, come out to the perfect Prophet, the perfect Foundation, the perfect vision God had.
82 And now, in order for this to speak, He is the Word. And for the Word to speak, He must come into the Image. And then for the Image to speak, it's got to be smitten. He comes into the Image, and then in order to speak, the perfect Redeemer.
83 All the types of the Old Testament was met in Him. As I said the other day, Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus of the New. Yes.
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84 Like many of you, man, women, my age; we used to have, around the country, a lot of Chinese laundries. When the Chinese first started in, they come from the West Coast, moving eastward, coming over from the Eastern country, moving this way. And as they did, they were a people who were not acquainted with our language and our ways, but they were fine laundrymen. And they couldn't write the ticket so you could get your right laundry back.
But, the Chinaman, he got himself a bunch of little cards with nothing on it at all. So when you come for your laundry, he would take this card and tear it in a certain way; and hand you one piece, and he kept the other piece. And, now, it's a little better than what we have now, because when you come back to claim what was your own, those two pieces must dovetail. You couldn't impersonate it if you had to. There's no way of doing it. You can make copies of letters, but you can't impersonate that tear. It's got to fit exactly with the other piece. Therefore, your dirty clothes that you brought in, you could redeem them by this ticket, because it matched the ticket that was turned in.
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85 And when God, by the prophets, and under the law, condemned us to sin; and the law has no grace, it's only tells you you are a sinner. But when Jesus came on the scene, He was the fulfillment, He was the--the fulfillment of everything God had promised. He was the perfect, identical image of the promise. Therefore, all promises of the Old Testament was met in Jesus Christ. It couldn't be met in Moses, it couldn't be met in any of the prophets, but it was met in the Masterpiece. It matched all that It said It was going to be.
So will the Church have to be a match to everything God has promised. It must be the piece that's smitten off of It. So if the original is the Word, so will the subjects that's been taken from It be the Word, to match Its side.
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86 Therefore, the Chinaman, you could claim... Where, the law condemns you and said you were dirty, and you were guilty, and could put you in the prison. But when He came, He was the Match-piece for it, that could take you out; and bring you back, to--to be the complete ticket, the redemption that God had promised back in the garden of Eden. "Thy Seed shall bruise the serpent's head. But, His heel shall bruise--bruise its head."
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87 Now we find this perfect Masterpiece that God had completed. Now, we notice that He was all that it was promised to be. He's all the promises, all of the prophecies, everything that God had made a promise of. "Thy Seed shall bruise the serpent's head." Now, He could not bruise it with the law, He could not bruise it with the prophets, but He did do it when the woman's Seed became the Masterpiece, Christ. He was the Stone that Daniel saw hewed out of the mountain. He was the One could smite. He is the One that could bruise, bruise the serpent's head.
88 His life matched, exactly, the life of Moses. His life matched David. Let's see if it was, if He's the Matching-piece.
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89 Notice David, a rejected king, over his own people. He was... One day while he was... His own son rose up in mutiny against him, and he separated and divided the armies of Israel. And he was, David, was drove, or driven by his own people, from his throne.
And on his road out, there was a man who hated him, and he's walking along there, spitting on David. That guard pulled his sword, said, "I'll let that dog's head stay on him, spit on my king?"
David said, "Let him alone. God told him to do it."
90 Don't you see? "A man of sorrow, acquainted with grief. He stands like a Sheep, before shearers, dumb." They... He said that. Perhaps David didn't know what he was saying.
But about five, six hundred years afterwards, or a little more, the Son of David was going through them same streets, and He was spit upon. But notice what happened when, David, out of his--out of his... when he became a fugitive; and out of his exile, when he--when he came back, that man begged for peace and mercy. Even those who smote Him will see Him one day when He returns.
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91 And we find out then, in Joseph, that Joseph was a peculiar-born boy, the last, the top part of the foundation, where the masterpiece was to be built upon. It come from faith, and to love, and to grace, it come to perfection. And so did it, from the feet of the beginning, come forth unto perfection in Christ. Notice how that He was portrayed in Joseph, the top of the foundation, the most perfect of all of them.
92 We find that Joseph was born to his family. And he was by the legal woman, actually, which was Jacob's wife. And notice, also, that when he was born, his father loved him; and his brothers hated him, without a cause. Why did they hate him? Because he was the Word.
See the very foundation? See how the head of the foundation come? Now, look at the Head of the body, comes. Now watch the Head of the Bride come. He was the Word.
And they hated him because he was a seer. He foresaw things, and told them. They happened. No matter how long it lingered, it happened just the same. And by being spiritual, he was excommunicated from his brethren. They ought to have loved him. But they hated him, because he was a prophet and he was spiritual. And they hated him.
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93 Notice, he was sold for almost thirty pieces of silver; throwed into a ditch, and supposedly be dead, but was took up from the ditch. And in his time of temptation, in the prison; the butler and the--the baker, we know that the butler was saved and the baker was lost. And in Christ's prison house, on the cross, one was saved and the other one was lost; two thieves, two wrongdoers.
94 And we notice he was taken from his prison, to the right hand of Pharaoh; that no man could speak to Pharaoh, only through Joseph. And when Joseph left that throne of Pharaoh, and the trumpet sounded throughout Egypt, the blast went forth and said, "Bow the knee, everybody, Joseph is coming forth!"
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95 So will it be with Jesus. How He was loved of the Father, and hated of them denominational brethren, without a cause. He was sold for thirty pieces of silver, as it was; and put into the ditch, supposingly to be dead. On the cross; one lost and the other one saved. And was lifted up from the cross; and sets at the right hand of God, in the Majesty, the great Spirit which had been reflected in Him. And no man can speak to God, only through Jesus Christ. Think of it! And when He leaves that Throne, starts forth, "The trumpet will sound, and every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess."
96 Remember, he was the son of prosperity. Everything that he did prospered. Whether it was prison, or wherever it was, it come out right.
And hasn't He promised for His children that He'd make everything work together for the good. Whether it was sickness, prison house, death, sorrows, whatever it was, that it would work for the good to them that loved Him. He promised it, and it must be so. It's got to be there. It's figurative, spoke to us in Him. He was that perfect Image of God. Now we see here, also, that when He comes again...
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97 Remember, Joseph by revelation saved the world, by his great prophecy. The world would have died if it hadn't have been for Joseph.
And the world would--would been dead if it hadn't a-been for Jesus. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish." God is reserving Life.
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98 On and on we could go! Because, He was simply the match of David. He was the match of Moses. He was the match of Elijah. He was the match of Joseph. Everything is a portrayed or foretold by Him in the Old Testament, matched right into that, (what is it?) showing a perfect Redeemer. That, we could put our old dirty clothes into the laundry, go claim it again. It's been washed in the Blood of the Lamb. We can claim what's our own. And everything that He died for, we can claim it. So, He was the perfect Word, portrayed.
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99 It pleased God, the great Sculptor, to smite Him, and to do it this way. We see Him in Isaiah here, as I read, "We all did esteem Him, we turned our face from Him. There is no beauty that we should desire Him," everybody talking about Him, make fun of Him. I'm talking about Him now in this day, everybody making fun of Him. See? "We did esteem Him, we saw Him." Esteem means to "look at." "We did esteem Him smitten and afflicted of God." Yet, He, what did He do this for? "He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquity."
100 Now, we could go on and on with that, but I believe you have the picture of what I mean now, God building back His Masterpiece.
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101 But let us not forget that in the beginning when He smote the side of Adam, He took something from his side.
Now, the smiting of Christ was for a cause, that He might take from Him, one, to be a family, the Bride; He might take Him a Bride. So when His Masterpiece was perfected, then He had to smite It, to take from Him; not another piece, not another creation, but of the same creation.
102 My brother, don't think bad at this, but think a minute. If He took from Him, the original creation, to make the Bride for Him, He never made another creation. He took a part of the original creation. Then, if He was the Word, what must the Bride be? It's got to be the original Word, living God in the Word.
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103 Kimberley, South Africa. Once I was looking at diamonds, how they was brought up out of the ground. And I seen them laying there. As, well, the--the superintendent of the plant, or the mine, was one of my ushers in the prayer line. And I noticed the diamonds, valued at tens of thousands of dollars, piled together, but they didn't sparkle even under the light. And I said to the superintendent of the mines, I said, "Why don't they sparkle?"
104 He said, "Sir, they haven't been cut yet. They must be cut. Then, when they are cut, then they reflect the light." There you are.
105 The Masterpiece must be cut. Notice, cut for what? Is the piece cut off? No, no. The piece that's cut off, it's made a victrola needle, and the victrola needle is put upon a--a--a record that's unseen music to the world. But the needle is what brings it out, brings out the true interpretation of the Word.
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106 His life matched all the peoples. It pleased God to smite Him. And, now, why did He smite Him? For the same cause He had to smite Adam.
107 Now we see Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, the perfect Lamb for sinner--sinners slain, a perfect Masterpiece.
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108 Now, for nearly two thousand years, God has been again making Him a Masterpiece. Because, He struck Adam to get a ma-... a piece off of him, part of him, a rib to make a wife for him. And now that perfect Masterpiece that He struck at Calvary, He got a piece off of Him. It's just the New Testament, that's all. He fulfilled the Old Testament. Now it's the New Testament, another piece to be fulfilled. See, the New and Old is husband and wife. See? And it taken the New to fore-... The Old to foreshow the New; Christ come, the Masterpiece, to fulfill that. Now His Bride will fulfill everything that's in the New Testament. Another Masterpiece is in making.
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109 As it taken Him four thousand years to make this Masterpiece; now He's been, for nearly two thousand years making another Masterpiece, a Bride for Christ, another Masterpiece. In so doing it, He does it by His never-changing method, the same way He made the Masterpiece; His Word. That's the way He makes His Masterpieces, because He can only be a perfect Masterpiece when It's the perfect Word.
Any dirt, trash, injections, it'll break. "But the heavens and earth will pass away, but that Word will never break." You remember, in cutting a diamond, that you have to have a perfect tool to do it with, not just any piece will do it. I've seen tons of them big grinders crash right through it, and move them big tons over, pass that diamond right on through. No, it don't break the diamond. It has to be cut.
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110 Now He's doing the same thing in His never-changing method. We find out, in Malachi 3, He said, "I'm God, and I change not." He cannot change His method.
111 Now, as He started in Abraham. After the fall of the first masterpiece, He started in Abraham, on a foundation, to build another masterpiece.
He started on the Day of Pentecost, to build another Masterpiece, the original Seed, Word. Started in the first Church. What was it? The Seed, Word, the Word manifested, the promise that had been given. Joel said, "It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I'll pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old man shall dream dreams, your young man shall see visions." What He would do in the last days, two, last two thousand years.
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112 Notice, and it started out as the original. As Jesus said, "The Word of God is a Seed that a sower sowed." And He was the Sower. The Seed was the Word. And, notice, any seed that abides alone never does nothing. It's got to fall into the ground to bring forth its production again. And this Seed, that perfect Church, fell to the ground at Nicaea, Rome, when she become a denomination.
113 Now, historians, remember. And you that's going to hear this tape, check it up and find out if that's not right. The church died at Nicaea, Rome, when she took dogmas and creeds, in the stead of the original Word. What was it? God had showed, by that first Church, that He was God. He had a Church perfected; but the Church, like all other seeds, must fall into the ground and die. Now, it fell into the ground, and die, and wasted away.
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114 You know, I read a book, here not long ago. Someone wrote a--a book, and said, The Silent God. You might have read it. I forget, I--I think Brumback... No, I don't, I'm not sure who it was wrote it. But I can't remember. I got it in my study. The Silent God, said, "God, through thousand years of dark ages, set still and never moved a hand, and watched faithful martyrs go to the lions' pit; and be burnt by the Romans; assassination of all kinds; women stripped of their clothes, set fire to their long hair, with tar, and burn them." Remember, short hair first begin in Rome. And the women of Christians had long hair, so they--they dipped it in tar and set them afire, and burned them, and them naked; fed them to the lions. And this writer goes to say, "Where is that God?"
Oh, the blindness of man, sometime! Do you not know that that Seed had to die? He never tried to deliver them. They went down in victory. They went down, bleeding and dying, giving their lives. Why? It was a Seed. It had to fall into the ground, as, first, John 12 tells us. "The corn of wheat, it's got to fall into the ground and there die; and not only die, but rot." But little did that denomination know that that Life was still in there. Though the church in itself...
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115 At that Nicaea Council, of fifteen days of bloody politician debate, when them aristocrats come in and wanted to inject these big dignitaries into the church. And prophets come out of that wilderness there, eating herbs and wrapped in animal skins, genuine prophets, and they throwed them out. Why? The Seed has got to fall into the ground. It's got to die.
116 It died in the dark ages, down beneath the dark dirt. They thought it was gone. You know, Saint John 12:24, Jesus said, "Except a corn of wheat falls into the ground, it abides alone." And the first Church was that reproduction, that Bride, that Seed, that Word made manifest, that fell into the ground at Nicaea, Rome.
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117 Listen, Church, throughout the nations that'll hear this. There is your dirt, is them denominations. There is where the Word was crucified, and they accepted dogma. And for hundreds and hundreds of years of dark ages, the Power and manifestation of the Word was hid from the world. Only Catholicism ruled. We all know that, as reading history. Only Catholicism rule.
118 But, you--you can't hide a germitized Seed, It's got to come forth because (why?) the great Sculptor is on the job. He's going to build again. So He...
The Seed went down, the Word.
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119 When we see Saint Paul, Peter, James, John, all those who wrote the Word. And they wrote, the Word they wrote become alive, and lived, and It lived. And when we find, after it begin to get ripe, John begin to write in epistles, he was throwed on the Isle of Patmos after being burnt in oil for twenty-four hours. But the Word must come forth. It's got to be wrote. They couldn't boil the Holy Ghost out of him, with oil, so he come forth. His work wasn't finished. He died a natural death.
120 Polycarp, which was a disciple of John, carried the Word on. And from Polycarp came Irenaeus. And Irenaeus, the great man of God who believed the very same Gospel that we believe, "The Word is right." The church trying to squeeze It out.
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121 Finally it come to Nicaea, Rome, and there she fell into the ground, after Saint Martin, and was murdered. Saint Martin believed the same thing we believe. He stood the same thing; the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the baptism in water in Jesus' Name. He stood in the very same thing that we do. And he was a prophet, and believed the full Word of God. And finally they were crucified, and mashed into the ground, and laid there for hundreds of years, until it rotted the outside, Seed. The old bodies has rotted away. I've been in Saint Angelo, in the catacombs, and see where they died, and their broken bones and everything. They finally rotted till their bones were gone, but the Life was still there.
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122 The corn of wheat that fell into the ground on... at the Nicaea Council, begin to sprout again, in Martin Luther. Like any corn coming up, or wheat; after the seeds rot, the life springs forth. And it begin to bring forth in Martin Luther. What did he do, the first thing? Reject the denomination of Catholicism, protested that it was wrong. For, he said, "The just shall live by faith." What was it? A little weak Life that put up a couple little shoots. That was the Luthers. It sure don't look like the grain that went in the ground, but the Life is coming out now.
123 Then it went on to a stalk. Then what happened? In the days of John Wesley, what did he do when he brought out sanctification? He stayed with the Word. And what did it do? The Lutherans had organized and made an organization, so it was time for something to happen. The masterpiece is being built now. What did he do? What did he do? He protested that Anglican church, came out in the reformation as a tassel. What is it? The seed is a-coming to Life, growing now.
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124 Now, the stalk doesn't look like the seed, neither does the tassel.
125 Now, Pentecostal brethren throughout the nations, I want you to listen, my brother. If this is the last Message I'll ever preach, This is my masterpiece. Do you notice when the wheat's... the corn of wheat that falls into the ground, when it begins to form back to its--its grain again?
126 Watch nature. Nature, exactly, is God. God working in nature, it's all He can. But from the Pentecostal revival, as they think, was the Seed; it wasn't. Now watch. But something come forth just like the Seed. Now watch what Jesus said, in Saint Matthew 24:24, that, "The two spirits at the last days would be so close together it would deceive the Elected if possible."
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127 Now, that stalk don't look nothing like a seed; neither does the tassel look like a seed. But notice now, not in Luther's day, but in the last day.
128 The first thing. There is wheat farmers setting here. The first thing that comes forth on a wheat seed, you would almost think it was a seed, but (what is it?) it's the husk. It forms a little outside thing, like, to hold the seed. It forms a husk. But the husk is not the seed, no more than the tassel or the stalk was. It's only a carrier of the life, the corn of wheat, then. Saint John 12, you see, Jesus speaking.
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129 The wheat, after the tassel (after Wesley), puts forth the husk, which is the foremost like the grain of anything else. The husk is more like the grain. It's coming more like the grain all the time, the one that went in the ground. And when it comes forth, the stalk, it's got Life in it, but it sure isn't the grain. Comes forth the tassel, the pollen, it still isn't the grain. And then it comes forth the husk, and it's just in the shape of the wheat, just exactly like the grain of wheat, but yet it isn't the wheat. Just exactly in the same shape, perfectly.
130 The Pentecostals come out just like the wheat would. Each one comes out from the other, coming out from the other, but they're only a carrier. They go to denomination. And that's what Pentecost did, went to denomination. And what did Pentecostal do when it come out just like the grain? It went right back, like in Revelation 17, to one of the sister denominations. That's exactly what. That's what Jesus said.
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131 Now watch. The Gospel is going to come out through Luther, through Wesley, into Pentecost, and at the last days it'll deceive the very Elected if it's possible. The Elected! Oh, Pentecostal brethren, can't you see?
132 The wheat in its first beginning is just like the seed, when it begins to form like the seed, but it's the husk. It denominated, exactly done the same thing they did down here in Luther. In Revelations 17, it proves the same thing, of the churches.
133 Now, the grain Seed, in the original, fell at Nicaea, for it was the first denomination.
134 Notice here, the Life that was in the stalk, tassel, all now ends up in the Seed. The Life that come out of the original Seed, come up through different processes (three different processes), and then turns back till Its original condition. Hallelujah! Oh, my! I'm the happiest person in the world, that God has let me see This. Watch how perfect the Word and these (nature) works together.
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135 Just like we prove the resurrection; rise, the sun; setting of the sun; rising again.
The leaf going out of the tree, down in, the sap into the root; and comes back up, and--and the leaf comes back up with it again. It falls on the ground; the life of the tree sucks it right back, the calcium and potash, and brings it right up to another leaf again.
See, all nature, everything works right with--with the Word of God. And here it is, exactly, perfectly in these Church Ages. That's the reason the Holy Ghost came down and drawed those things, and made them out for us the way He has. That's exactly.
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136 Notice, here, the Life that was in the husk. In the stalk, and in the tassel, in the husk, all gathers in the Seed. And the Life that was in the stalk, went, one went to make the other. Justification, made a way for sanctification; sanctification, made a way for the baptism of the Holy Ghost; the baptism of the Holy Ghost, made a way for the Holy Ghost Itself to come right down in perfection, back to the Word again, to manifest Itself.
137 But, what denominated, dies. Like Life, in Luther, went to make Wesley; and--and, from Wesley, It went to Pentecost; and, from Pentecost, to make the original Seed. On to Pentecost, comes out of the Wesley, until that time. The reason that Pentecost come out of Wesley, because it was no denomination, Pentecost was. Then Pentecost went to denominate, and (what did it do?) it turned to the husk. It looked like the real Thing.
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138 And, anybody, how many ever seen a seed--a seed of wheat start to grow? What's the first little thing? It's just exactly like the seed, but it's the husk.
See the three stages? Stalk; tassel, or the pollen; then the husk; and then, out of the husk, comes the original Seed. See? Not a Seed; it was the Life of the Seed, growing through this, to come to the Seed. Amen, amen! Do you see it? What is it? A resurrection, coming back to a Masterpiece again, like the One that went in.
139 Pentecost came out of the Wesley, because Wesley was an organization. Pentecost came out, as no organization, and then turned to one. It had to, to make the husk. The true Word of Life on it, was on its way then to the original Grain, through these stages. Through the stalk, then into the pollen; from the pollen, into the husk; and from the husk, It made Seed.
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140 No, stalk, tassel, husk, living, they produced (in their early revival) a holder of a certain portion of the Seed Life; but, when they organized, the Life moved out of it. That's proved by all history. Never an organization ever done a thing after it organized. It was dead. That's right.
141 Watch, the Life is traveling on now. It's moving on.
142 Notice, what they have done, all these have done, is proved by history just exactly the way the church has come, never to be useful to Him again. Organization is laid on the shelf. There never has been, in all the history, a church, after it organized, but what it died. And the organization died and never did raise again. Can't you see it? Man who are blind, open your eyes! Nature and the Word co-ordinating together and proving it right here that This is the Truth, that it is the Truth. That Life leaves the stalk, to make the tassel; from the tassel, It makes the husk; and from the husk, It goes into the Original again. Notice, never again to be useful to Him.
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143 How noticeable this life is, in its travel in the corn of wheat, than it is in the tree. God called His people like a tree; see, the life goes down, in a tree, and comes back up again; goes down and comes back up; see, it goes down and comes back up. But, in the corn of wheat, it goes up from the original stalk... through the stalk, tassel, and husk; and the thing that it passed through, dies, so it can't get back through it again. What is it? It's no use any more. It goes on to its perfection.
Amen! Don't you see why He never used an organization? He can't get back in it again. It's dead. But the Life passes on, from one to the other. See, they put creeds, and inject. "Whosoever shall add one word, or take one Word out," see, he is blocked off from It. It must be the Life Seed traveling on.
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144 I'm using this in a parable now, of the Bride, the Masterpiece that's coming forth. As the Masterpiece fell, there is a Masterpiece rising. The Masterpiece fell at Pente-... at Nicaea, Rome, at Nicaea. After Nicaea, Rome, She's come through a process, but She is coming right back again to that Masterpiece, perfected, 'cause She's a part of that Word that was spoken by Him. He'll have "a Church without spot or a wrinkle." It'll not be connected any way with any kind of an organization or a denomination, the cursed thing. It's passed through those things, but it will never be there.
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145 Notice, the seed is coming up, that Life is coming up, not going back. There'll be no more resurrection after this. The Life is coming up, to go to its perfection, a resurrection.
Notice, the husk put forth the--the... Notice, the husk puts the original Seed out of itself. In Revelations, the 3rd chapter, we find this.
146 Now remember, no other church was He put out of, in the Bible, of the Seven Church Ages. How many remembers it? He passed through the Church Age, to go on to make something else. But, this is It. There is nothing else. But the--the Sculptor has got back to perfection again, the Word. See? Don't go back. How different It is. Yes. Oh!
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147 And notice then, the husk, when it comes forth, looks just like the Grain. But when the Grain Life begins to leave the husk, to go in to make the Grain (the Bride), the husk opens up and excommunicates the Grain. Is that right? Nature, that's exactly what she did.
148 In--in Revelation 3, we find out the Laodicea Church Age put Him out. Now, see, it didn't, back in the other ages, because there was something else yet to be made. It just passed through and went on to another. I've told you, all along, there is no more denominations coming. We're at the end. And they put Him out because (why?) He--He--He's the Word, again. He's like the One that fell down there. He's the same Doctrine that come forth from the beginning.
149 And when the Seed Word begins to grow forth, the husk puts It from itself. The Life leaves all the others, to follow It. That's the true believers, they follow the Life wherever the Life goes.
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150 Like in Israel, a perfect type, if we had time; I just got a few minutes left. But in a perfect type, in the beginning, everywhere that Pillar of Fire went was Life. God was that Light. And I don't care if it was midnight, or whether they was in a good selected place; when that Pillar of Fire moved, the trumpet sounded and Israel moved with It.
Hallelujah! And when the trumpet sounded, Martin Luther moved out with It. And he organized, killed... not he hisself; the man after him. And then God took the Life out of that, brought It on, laid it down in the grave.
151 Then out come Wesley. He saw that big organization, so he sounded a trumpet, of sanctification, more of the Word. See? When he did, out they moved, right out of--right out of Luther, right into Methodist.
152 And when Pentecost saw It, they sounded a--a trumpet, it's time for the return of the gifts. See what they did? They sounded a trumpet, and out they come. Then they organized.
But, remember, after the husk, that's three stages we know of, there is nothing else left but the Grain. O God! And then the Grain is put out of all of it. Amen and amen! Seed Words begins to form Itself, Life is brought forth out of... Now notice, if the Bridegroom, the beginning, the first, Bridegroom... This is the Bride coming forth.
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153 Remember, the Church begin at Pentecost, and It fell at Nicaea. It sprouted, not like the real Grain, no; it was some of the Life in there, but it sprouted in order to make an organization. And He pulled through that organization. And then what did It do? Then It went, from that organization, It went into another organization, went into another stage of the Word; justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost. See? And as It went through this stalk and process, It kept coming on more.
154 Remember, the little pollen is more, the tassel is more like the Seed than the stalk is. And the husk is more like the Seed than the tassel was. But the Seed Itself is beyond that. See? It just used that for transportation, to take Itself through.
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155 Notice, the Bride. If the Bride, in the beginning, was the Word, or the Bridegroom; and then if the Bride is taken from the Bridegroom, It must be the Word also. Notice, the Bride must be.
156 Why, why must the Bridegroom be the Word manifested, made plain? Is because the Bride and the Bridegroom are One. She is just a smitten piece off of Him. There is the Masterpiece. It was smitten. Say...
157 Michelangelo could not reproduce that again. He could not put it back.
But God is going to do it. He is going to bring this little Bride, that's smitten, right back to the side of the original Word. And there He is, there is the Masterpiece, the family back again in garden of Eden.
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158 How is this Bride going to do this? How is this Wheat going to do this? Malachi 4 said, in the last days, it would be restored back, (what?) restored back like the beginning; take it back! "I will restore," saith the Lord, "all the years the palmerworm, and cankerworm, and all these other things has eaten. I will restore again." Malachi 4 said, "He will restore the hearts of the people, and the Faith of the people, back to the original fathers again." See? We see this right before us, Church. Where are we at?
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159 Now, closing in a few minutes. I want you to notice real close of something that just happened.
Malachi 4 is to bring back, back to the original.
160 She is smitten from the church, from the church body; smitten with Her Master, for the same purpose. She is the Word. Just the same as Joseph was smitten from his brethren, because he was the Word. And Jesus was smitten from His brethren, because He was the Word. The church is smitten... The Bride is smitten from the church, because She is the Word. There is your stages again; one, two, three, see, just exactly.
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161 The Word, living and in action, the Bible Bride, not some man-made bride; the Bible Bride, smitten and afflicted of God. "No beauty we should desire Her, but yet we did esteem Her smitten and afflicted of God." That's right. She stands alone. She is smitten from all the denominations, according to Revelations 3. She is smitten out of the Laodicean Church Age that She was raised up in. See? This Church was raised up in the Laodicea Church Age; that's the husk. But if them others went...
162 Can't you Pentecostal man see that, if that other was husk and died? If that other (stalk) had to die, if the tassel had to die, so must the husk die; the three stages of organizations.
163 And remember, you said, "Well, now, there was a lot of tassels hanging on. There's a lot of this." Yeah. There had been Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, church of Christ, all these other little things that fell onto it, leaves and everything else had hung onto it, but the original was the reformations, now, see.
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164 Stands alone, like the Bridegroom, "rejected of man, despised and rejected of the churches." The Bride stands that way. What is it? It's His Masterpiece, see, it's the Word that He can work through, make manifest. Rejecting!
165 So, the stalk, the tassel, and husk, never become Seed, no, but are all the time becoming more like the Seed.
166 Now at the harvest time, the Seed is back to its original Life, back to the Bible. Malachi 4 said it would be brought that way. Oh, oh, my! Must have all! To be this way, It must have all of the Word. Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.]
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167 Now what did He say, in Revelations 10, that would take place? Why was the trip to Tucson? To open to the Church. "In the days of the messenger, of the seventh angel, the seventh angel Message, the whole Word of God would be made manifest. The Seal, that what all the stalk has left off, of why and all about It, would be made manifest in this time."
Is that what the Word said? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Then, we see it. Then where are we at, see, where are we at? There is only one thing, the harvest is here. She is dead ripe. She is ready now for the Coming. Notice.
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168 No, it'll never be It. At the harvest time, the Seed is back to its original condition, and must have all of the Word, in order to be the Seed. Now, you can't have a half a Seed; it won't grow. See? It's got to be the whole Seed. It's got to not manifest... Say, "I believe in the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah! I believe in speaking in tongues." That's just part of the Seed, uh-huh, but now there is added to that. Hallelujah! See? The Life, not the gifts; the Life of the gifts. See, see what I mean? We're at the end time, brethren.
169 Stalk, tassel, husk, is dead and dry now. There is only one thing that has to happen to that, is to be gathered in the World Council of Churches for its burning.
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170 The Word has become flesh, exactly like He promised in Luke 17, Malachi 4, and all, see, that's right, Revelations.
171 All true Life that was in the stalk, tassel, and husk, is now gathering in the Seed, ready for the resurrection, ready for the harvest. The Alpha has become Omega. Amen. The first come last, and the last is the first. The Seed, that went in, has come through a process and become the Seed again.
The seed, that fell in the garden of Eden, and died there, come back. From that imperfect seed that died there, come back to the perfect Seed, the Second Adam.
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172 The first Eve that fell, and was used in the second reformation... second coming, as bringing forth a child, now has become the true Bride again, the Seed, right back with original Word again.
The Alpha and Omega is the same. He said, "I am Alpha and Omega," He never said anything in between. Uh-huh. "I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last." Yes, sir.
173 The first ministry and the last ministry is the same. The first Message and the (second) last Message is the same thing. "I'm, I was in Alpha; I'm in Omega." "There'll be a day that won't be called day nor night, but in the evening time it shall be Light." See, Alpha and Omega, it's become the first and the last. Oh, my, brethren, we could stay hours on that.
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174 The great masterpiece of a family, the Second Adam and the Second Eve, now ready for the garden, the Millennium, amen, back on the earth. Hallelujah! The great Sculptor didn't leave them lay there. He took time, as He did through the millions of years, molding the first perfect couple; and they fell. Now it's been through thousands of years, He's molded again, and now here they are ready.
175 The Masterpiece was come and struck down; from His side come forth the helpmate.
And She is brought up in the same process. Now here She is back again; with all nature, the Bible, and everything else, showing here we are.
Nations are breaking, Israel is awakening,
The signs that the Bible foretold;
Gentile days numbered, (look at this bunch of trash we got), with harrows encumbered,
Return, O dispersed, to your own.
That's right. You better get in there quick, if you're going.
I'm fixing to close just in about five minutes, ten.
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176 Notice the great masterpiece, of the family. The husband and wife cannot be truly a family unless they are one. They have to be. If they're not, they're not a good family; wife pulling one way, and the husband another. That would make an awful family. But in agreement, with love one to the other, that's a family. And now that was God's masterpiece, and now all the true family here portrays that. See?
And now the Masterpiece family has come again, Christ and His Bride, ready to come. The Second Adam, Second Eve, ready now to return back to their Home. And the whole picture has been redemption. From where it was, bringing it back, see, just exactly bringing it back again. After...
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177 The other day, standing up here at the Christian Business Men. Many of you, I guess, was there. When I heard that Lutheran priest, or preacher, or supposed to be, stand up there and say that ridiculous thing, and make fun of what we believe in. And them Full Gospel Business Men having that man there, and saying that. He wore his collar turned around. Lots of them do now. And he said, "Now, people ask me why I turn my collar around, said, 'How can they tell you from a Catholic priest.'" Said, "There is no difference, and there shouldn't be." He said, "We're all God's children." He said, "I know a Catholic priest that's omnipresent, see, that could be present everywhere."
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178 Now you cannot be omnipresent without being omniscient. God is not even omnipresent; God is omniscient. Omniscient, which makes Him omnipresent, He knows all things. But, in order to be a Being, He has to be in one Being. By being omniscient--omniscient, He can be omnipresent. Cause, He knows all thing, and knowed it before the... He knowed, before the world begin, how many fleas, lice, how many bugs, and how many times they'd bat their eyes, and everything about it, see, 'cause He's omnipresent. You can't be omniscient--omniscient without being infinite. And there's only one thing infinite; God. Amen! And then we...
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179 What is it? Its the Devil, taking them right straight to that slaughter. Every one of them a-going in, exactly what the Bible said. And here it is, see, come right in amongst the Pentecostals, and just pull them right straight just as... What a time!
180 Oh, after that testimony, someone said to me... I--I... It was a good thing I didn't say very much, 'cause they'd probably have me in jail up there. But I just thought, "There it is."
The--the people who is taught, knows. "The wise shall know their God, in that day," it said in Daniel. Yes, sir. See, "The wise will know their God." They're watching for these things.
181 But when I seen that happen, and them Pentecostals stand there with him! Even Oral Roberts looked at me like that. I said, "Oh, my!" Uh! But, standing up there with a education, polished, you know, and so forth.
182 That's not the way God polishes His. He don't polish His with education. He polishes in humility, in--in power of His manifested Word, showing of the shape of the Grain that It went from.
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183 Now, someone said to me, said, "Brother Branham," said, "there's one thing I can't understand about you."
I said, "What's that?"
184 Standing out there in a hall... I guess, Sister Dauch and them, after I shook hands with Bill, and standing there; and all went around the corner, and the whole bunch of people. A minister pressed his way in, collar turned around, he said, "Why is it that you're always bawling the people out?" He said, "Them people believe you to be a servant of God, and be gentle and sweet to them, and everything." Said, "Every time I hear you get up, you're bawling women out, about having short hair, and about wearing shorts, and wearing makeup, and all this other stuff; and bawling the people out, and tell them how cold and formal and indifferent they are." Said, "Why do you do that?" Said, "Them people love you. How can you be a loving son of God and do a thing like that?"
I thought, "Lord, let me answer this smart man. See? You just let me answer him, somewhere, that'll hang him on his own rope." Yeah.
I said, "Well," I said, "sir, did you ever read of the great producer of music called... the great composer called Beethoven?"
He said, "Oh, sure, I read of Beethoven."
185 I said, "He probably tore up wastebasket-fulls of scrap paper, but he give the world masterpieces." He never opened his mouth and said another word. I said, "When he was setting in his study under the inspiration, he would write something down. He'd go into his study and pray. It wasn't right, he'd scrap it up and throw it in the wastebasket. But when he got through, in all inspiration, the world had a masterpiece."
Oh, how the Word cuts, but It produces masterpieces; uh-huh, takes all the husk and stalk away. It brings forth Masterpiece.
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186 I got seven minutes to tell you something that happened day before yesterday, to get out on time. July the third, I was over here setting in the... this center over here, shopping center right out from us here. I've been in Pigalle, in Rome, in France, and I've been in New York City, Los Angeles. But the filthiest bunch of women I ever seen in my life is Jeffersonville, Indiana. I never seen so much gaum and filth in my life as I see amongst them people. I set there till my heart ached, and the Lord had gave me a vision.
Now I'm going to tell the vision. I don't know that I can interpret it, but I--I'm going to tell the vision for my first time.
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187 I fell into a trance. And, when I did, there was somebody with me. I didn't see the person. It was just a Voice. And I--I looked. And as I--I looked this way, He said, "The Bride will come in view for preview."
And I looked, coming to me, and I seen the most--the most prettiest bunch of clean-dressed women I ever seen in my life. But each one of them, looked like, was dressed different. They all had long hair. And they were longer sleeves and skirts, and so forth. Young women, they looked kind of, I'd say, about maybe twenty.
188 Now I have the Bible open here before me. See? I can only say what I seen.
If you say, "What are you looking at?" I'm looking at a clock. "What you looking for?" I'm looking for people, looking at people. "What are you looking at?" I'm looking at the Bible. That's what. I'm telling the Truth. That's what I see. And I can only say what I seen. I don't--I don't know what it... all about it. I just have to tell you.
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189 But, when this Bride, She was looking right at... The one was talking to me, and I, standing together. Her eyes, She was the cleanest, sweetest-looking people I ever seen in my life. Look like it could have been a dozen, or more, just... I don't know how many was abreast, but there just in a group of them. And She passed by, sweetly, with a air. And Her eyes up, watching, as She passed by. Oh, She was beautiful! I looked at Her, and as She passed by. He said, "Now we shall review..." Said, "That's the Bride."
"Now we will review the churches." And they come. I noticed them coming up. And when they come up, each one, look like, got worse. I never seen such a filthy bunch in my life.
And when He said, "Next," I heard a noise. And It said, "Next," said, "here comes the American group."
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190 Now, I am an American, but this--this made me sick. I am not eloquent enough to, in a mixed audience, to say what was taking place. I--I--I... And you'll have to read between the lines. But when the women were coming, the leader of them was a witch. She had a great long nose and a great big mouth. And all of them was dressed with some kind of lower clothes down here; but the top just had a strap, that, just a little, about a half-inch strap that moved up and went around them like this. And each women had something on a order...
191 Many of you, years ago, used to remember when we used to cut that paper, you know, newspaper, and make an old fly-bush? How many remembers it? You know. Why, I think they use it in carnivals, you know. Hanging down like that, fringed paper, lace paper.
They had something holding below them, like this, holding below them. All this part was exposed.
And each one had hair cut up real short, and frizzy-looking things all over it like that, real short-cut hair; and full of makeup. Absolutely nothing but looked like street prostitutes.
And they were walking with this paper, and, the vulgarity! Now, the paper was what was holding in front of them. But when they passed the review stand, in the back of them... And to see the way they were going on, in their foremost and their back part, and how they were acting!
I said, "Is that the Church?"
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192 And there she went. And they were singing this here twist-and-roll songs, you know, or ever what you call, going down, singing that and going by.
I said, "Is that the Church?" And I was standing there, and in my heart I was crying.
And, this witch, to my notion it's nothing else in the world but she's a... She is that World Council of Churches, leading them right straight down the road where she was going. They went off to the left, and disappeared in chaos; still beating this music and making real funny sounds, and shaking their bodies, one side and then the other side. And then, like that, carrying on like that, walking.
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193 And I just started to bow my head, and He said, "Wait, the Bride must come again."
And I looked, and here they come again. And they passed by, a sweet-looking little ladies. They was all looking right at me, as they passed by. And I noticed each one was dressed different. And one in the back had kind of long hair hanging down, and had it rolled around like this; might have been German or something like that. And I watched them.
And then as they started leaving, two or three of them, in the back, kinda get out of step, and I was going to holler at them. And they was trying to get back in step again. And I seen them, just the vision just fade out and change, from me.
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194 Now here is the interpretation thereof. The reason... Now, remember, I had just got through writing... I hadn't finished, I hadn't wrote these notes yet. But in preaching, this morning, I caught what it was, right in my sermon. Did you notice, the church only came in view...
Now, that's the Truth, friends. The Heavenly Father, Who writes the Word, knows that I tell the Truth. See? I know I just say the Truth.
And not knowing it till just a few minutes ago, looked like, or just recently, see. Did you notice? The Bride come in view twice; the first Seed and the second Seed, both of them exactly the same One. And the reason they were dr'iff... dressed in different parts, She'll come from all nations, it'll make up the Bride. Each one had long hair, and no makeup, and real pretty girls. And they were watching me. That represented the Bride coming out of all nations. See? She, each one represented a nation, as they marched perfectly in line with the Word. See?
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195 And, then, I have to watch Her. She'll get out of step with that Word if I don't watch, when She is passing by, if She gets by. Maybe it'll be my time, when I'm over, see, when I'm finished, or whatever it is.
196 What? They was getting back. Trying their best, and was getting back, just get in line; 'cause, they--they was looking out somewhere else, watching about that church that just went out into chaos. But two... The front ones, never. The back ones, just two or three of them, was kind of stepped out a little bit to the right-hand side, and looked like was trying to get back in line as they went by. They was just past me, oh, far as here to the wall, past me. And I was standing there. And then I just seen it all move out and leave.
But, you notice, the church only came into view once, each nation, the church. But the Bride come in twice. See, see what it was? Now, not knowing it, but look at it with my Message this morning. Not knowing that. See?
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197 The Seed fell in the ground at Nicaea. That was the original Seed. And She's come through the process of these denominations, which only comes in existence once. But the Bride returns back again in the last days. "I will restore." See, the Masterpiece is brought up. That's the reason She was in view, reviewed, the second time. She was reviewed the first time, then she was reviewed the second time. And She was perfectly, the second time, like She was the first time. O God, have mercy! Hurry, hurry, hurry, Life, get in the Grain, right quick! Uh-huh.
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198 All others never appeared no more. They went out, never to come back again.
But the Bride came back, 'cause She was Alpha and Omega. God, the great Sculptor, has made Him a Masterpiece, for It is a piece of His first Masterpiece. Like He made in the garden of Eden, and took a piece from, and made another piece and that was marred and fell, now He's been all this time building it up again. And He brought forth this Masterpiece, and was smitten, in order... That part that was smitten, was in order to bring back again that Masterpiece, again.
199 So, the Masterpiece and the Son of God, the Masterpiece and the Bride, and It's a piece of Him, which must be the fulfilling of the Word. The Word has been fulfilled, and we're ready for the Coming of the Lord.
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200 O Church of the living God, bow your hearts and your--yourselves before God. These things are true. I know that it sounds like that, as such a great a thing as that would be, would be so spread out over the nations. It never was. He doesn't change His way. Just be thankful, Church, be thankful that you are where you are today if you're in Christ. Because, you see, now, and when that...
201 Remember, all that Life will be gathered right into the Grain, for the resurrection, but the stalk must be burned. The rest of it; the husk and all, must be destroyed, and it will be. Don't trust in your, them denominations. You stay in the Word, the Life, God and His Masterpiece.
202 Then what is it in the Millennium? Christ and His Bride, back in the garden of the Millennium. Amen!
I love Him, I love Him
Because He first loved me
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary's tree.
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203 There's where He was smitten. "We esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquity."
204 Is there any here, this morning, who isn't in that Grain this morning? And as the Life is now pulling its last piece from the husk, for the husk is drying. How many knows that Pentecostal church is drying? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] What is it? Life is leaving it. Frankly, it's left. And if that Bride is already in preview, I wonder if the Bride isn't already made up, then. [Brother Branham begins humming, I Love Him.]
... love Him, I love Him
Because He first loved me
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary's tree.
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205 With our heads bowed now. Is there some here that would like to be remembered? If you feel that you're not...
Friends, it's too plain. I've never had a vision in my life, 'less something happened, followed. I tell the Truth. All these other times, if I've told the Truth, God has proved it. Then, I tell the Truth this time.
206 I don't know what day we're living in, but I know there's nothing left. There couldn't be a politician rise that could straighten this thing out. Politics, the nation is gone. O God! Can you, can you get down deep enough to--to--to feel that. The nation is gone; not nation, but nations. This is the best of the bunch, and it's gone. Then, if the nations are gone, the world is gone. And the churches, to my opinion, Pentecost was the best they've had, but it's gone.
O God, be merciful to us!
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207 If you don't know Him, please hurry, hurry. If you feel Life, get out of the... get out of your sin, get out of the thing that you're in. Get to the Grain, right quick. You'll die in the stalk, or in the husk.
Pray, while we sing now. "I love Him."
It's up to you now. We have no denomination, no nothing. We only have Christ. You're welcome to worship with Him, with us, till He comes. We can't put your name on book; we have no books. We want your name in the Book of Life. You can only do that through Birth. Won't you do it right now? Ask Christ for new Life, bring you in, put your name on His Book, if it's not. Then, you can fellowship with us, we'd love to have you. "I..."
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208 Dear God, help each person now to take inventory, see if we're in Him. You loved us. You were smitten for us, and we did esteem You smitten and afflicted of God. I pray, God, that You'll call each one. Lord, speak to my children, my loved ones, my friends. Grant it, Lord, just now, through Jesus Christ's Name.
209 Don't let anybody wait too long, Lord. Looks awful close. The harvest is truly ripe. The great combine of God will sweep through the land one of these days, straws will fly every way; but the Wheat shall be gathered to the garner, taken up, for in It is Life. Grant, Lord, each request to be answered, each prayer to be made manifest before You.
210 I pray for them, Lord. I pray that You won't let any that's here be lost, Lord. They--they--they set under difficult; they--they--they drive for hundreds of miles. And whatever that we have need of, give it to us, Lord, whatever is good for us, Lord; not what's good in our sight, but what's good in Your sight. We want to stand as a chaste virgin that's been chastened, rebuked of God, that we might be purged from our sins. And I offer my prayer for them, Lord.
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211 I--I--I don't know how to pray. We--we're talking to the Mighty God. And what human being is there, what mortal could make the right type of prayer before the living God? But, Lord, my mispronounced words, and my--and my nouns and pronouns in--in the wrong place; if You could pick out the ABC's for a little boy one day, and--and make a sentence, You--You can omit my nouns and pronouns and just look to what I believe, Lord.
I believe You. I believe this Word. And I'm believing for each one here. And I--I'm bringing them to that Altar, Lord, by faith, where between us and Great Jehovah is the Blood of His Son, Jesus. And the Blood shall speak for us. When You smote Him on Calvary, You said, "Speak!" "Hear Him!" "And the Blood," the Bible said, "speaks greater things than the blood of the lamb in the Old Testament, for the Blood of Christ speaks greater than the blood of Abel; greater things." And speak, Lord, redemption for us, as we call through the Blood.
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212 Great Father of Life, include us, Lord. If we--if we've sinned, take it away from us. We, we don't want to be that way, Lord. It's not our intention.
And we realize we're living in such a horrible, dark way. As we said at the beginning, we're walking up a mountain, through rugged places. Dim is the trail, but we're packing the Light. May we see, step by step, as we go now; until we meet, like Pilgrim's Progress, till we finally catch the top of the Hill. Guide us, O Shepherd. Great Jehovah, lead us by Thy Spirit.
213 And we know that we're far from a masterpiece; but we're looking where we were hewed from, the real Masterpiece, and in Him we trust. Just take us to Him, Lord. Grant it, Lord.
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214 Heal all the sick people here, Lord. "We did esteem Him smitten and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions." God's Masterpiece was smitten. "And He was wounded for our transgressions; with His stripes we were healed." Heal the sick, Lord, in Your Divine Presence now, while we know that You're here.
215 Cleanse our souls, our hearts, from all evil, all bad thoughts, all evil communications, all things that's wrong. Cleanse us. And we pray, Father, that You'll heal our sickness, and let us leave here feeling that we are Your sanctified children. And with the Blood over us, we speak through the Blood, the Word. Grant it, Lord. We ask in Jesus Christ's Name. Amen.
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216 Father God, upon these handkerchiefs, anoint them with Thy Presence, Lord. May Thy Presence be with them wherever they go. Whatever they're laid upon, on any sick body, may they be healed. And whatever, if there's a broken home somewhere, mend it, Lord, the great Sculptor. Grant it, Lord.
217 Mold us, and make us sons and daughters of God. We believe the Bride is getting its last polishing down. It'll be smitten from the complete organization, altogether, and then the great harvest will be here. Until then, Lord, make them healthy and happy, to serve You. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
I love Him, I... (Do you really love Him?)
Because He first loved me
And purchased my salvation
On...
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218 Now do you understand why I scold you? That ain't because I love you... not because I don't love you. I do love you. I want a Masterpiece for the Master. I might have to tear a few out like this, but I'll have a Masterpiece, some of these days, if I keep it right on this Word. Right.
219 Now Jesus said, "This will all man know that you're My disciples, when you have love one for the other." We should be so in love with one another!
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred mind
Is like to that Above.
Let's take one another's hands.
When we asunder part,
It give us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.
Take the Name of Jesus with you,
Child of sorrow and of woe;
It will joy and comfort give you,
Take it everywhere you go.
Precious Name, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of Heaven;
Precious Name, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of Heaven.
Now remember, in your journey:
Take the Name of Jesus with you,
As a shield from every care;
When temptations round you ga-... (What do you do then?)... -ther,
Just breathe that holy Name in prayer.
O Precious Name, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of Heaven;
Precious Name, O how sweet!
Hope of earth and joy of Heaven.
Till we meet!
Let's bow our heads. Oh, I love to sing!
Till we meet at Jesus' feet;
Till we meet! till we meet!
God be with you!