Looking For Clues, Part 2

Rev. Raymond M. Jackson

WE ARE CONTINUING THE THOUGHT WE WERE ON IN LAST ISSUE. WE ARE LOOKING FOR CLUES THAT POINT TO THE COMING OF THE LORD.

This chart we are using is to give a little illustration of time: as we talk about the seven Church Ages in relationship to how it all climaxes here in the end time. Through the years when Bro. William Branham was ministering there were many things said that many people misinterpreted. When he preached the seals messages and told how God had dealt with him in Arizona: when he saw that constellation of angels and things of that nature, you would be surprised the number of people that memorized all those things and have a feeling that those seven angels he saw definitely have to be connected with the seven thunders.

2000 Chart (From The Contender)

I am aware of what Bro. William Branham said; but I wonder if a lot of those people really do know what was going on? That is the question: Do people really know what was going on, or are they looking at something because they have a mental picture they are cultivating simply because they have read and memorized so much they figure this has to be in here and that over there: whether it makes any scriptural sense or not? If he had not said some of the things he said, they would all still have to go by the Bible. For too long people have assumed that everything he said had to have a meaning concerning how you and I see ourselves in these last days in relationship to what we believe. When I say that, I realize some people in their mind will say, Well Bro. Jackson, don’t you believe what he said? To that I have to say, When you question me like that, you have not heard me right. Therefore I am using this chart because it is the only way I can think of to try and illustrate to you what we are talking about. I ask you this question, When the Grace Age started, what did we have in the Old Testament that could give us any indication as to how the Holy Ghost would come? You have one scripture in Isaiah 28. Then you have another scripture, Joel 2. Joel prophesied that in the last days He would pour out of His spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, old men shall dream dreams, young men shall see visions and so forth. That prophecy is applicable to the whole Grace Age, as long as it lasts. When the day of Pentecost did come, it came with a manifestation of the Spirit of God and none of the disciples knew what to expect. They had read Isaiah 28, no doubt many times; but did they really know how to acquaint that with what was taking place? No. Everything that took place on the day of Pentecost was a complete new experience, unrehearsed, and not even thought of. Only when it came, were the disciples beginning to be able to put together a few things Jesus had said so a revelation could be formed in their mind’s. Did He not say, I have yet many things to tell you, but as of now you are not able to bear them? However, after the Holy Spirit, the Comforter is come, He was to lead the believer into all truth. The age of grace was then in effect; and you will notice that when the Holy Ghost came, He came with manifestations. After the Holy GHost came upon those disciples there in the upper room, they were heard speaking in other languages as they came down into the streets of Jerusalem. That manifestation caught the attention of a great multitude of people; and as they questioned it the apostle Peter stood up and spoke to them by the direction of the Spirit he had just received; and as a result of the whole thing 3000 Jewish men and women came to repentance. The apostle Paul later spoke of it remembering a scripture over in Isaiah 28:11 which says, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people.” This people, was the Jewish nation. Yet in the light of all of that, the nation as a whole would not believe. Anyhow what took place on that particular day of Pentecost is what set the Grace Age in motion. Then as you read the rest of the book of Acts and the Epistles you can easily see that it is the Holy Ghost that is leading in the establishment of New Testament Christian assemblies. There are many things written in the New Testament in such a way it causes people to read over it without seeing anything of significance until the generation is on earth that those things apply to: then the Holy Spirit begins to open it up to chosen one’s that are to be held responsible for the ministering of that truth to others. That has been the rule down through the ages; and now we are facing the end of all God has purposed to accomplish in the Grace Age: so He is revealing things that have been right there in the Bible all along: but were only meant for this generation to understand them. The reason I chose the title “Looking For Clues, is because we are looking for everything that can possibly be a clue pointing to what is to take place in the hour of time we are living in. We have to realize that the last days, in the overall collective term, is talking about an allotted period of time when we begin to see prophecy set in motion, but that allotted period of time can last for several years before it finally terminates. That is what causes a lot of people to miss the boat completely when they start trying to deal with prophecy meant for the last days. However as we look at all the things going on in the earth today, we are fully persuaded that we must be living in the later days of the last days. It behooves us then to keep our eyes open every day, to watch how God is beginning to do things among His people. The things He is revealing to us in this hour of time are the things that will close out the Gentile dispensation and return the gospel message to the Jewish people it was first given to. Not the same individuals: but of the same nation.

CHURCH AGE STAR MESSENGERS

Once the gospel came to the Gentiles, Ephesus stands out as the model assembly for the Grace age; and the first Church Age is called by that name. The apostle Paul was the star messenger to that age as the gospel was given to the Gentiles. The apostle Paul was taken off the scene around 66 A.D. of course: Yet that does not change the fact he was God’s star messenger to that age. There were five other Church Ages between the Ephesian Age and the Age of Laodicea we are living in; but just as Paul was the star messenger to the first Age, William Marrion Branham was the star messenger to this Age. That can be questioned by the church world of our day because most of the church world in general does not even read the book of Revelation to see the seven types characterized in the seven churches mentioned therein. Therefore when we come to this hour, they would look at us as though we are just a fanatical element of people propagating something that we do not have a thread of truth or proof to back up. That is what causes me to approach this message the way I am approaching it. Well saints, just remember what I said earlier: God is definitely going to play a trick on this age of Christendom, an age when you see all these well learned, well dressed, celebrity type preachers on Trinity Broadcasting, with all their beautifully arranged TV programs constructed and run by high tech mechanisms. To the natural minded person it is wonderful that man can have such an attention grabbing program; but I personally cannot see God having anything to do with any of it: other than to bundle tares. Naturally when you say something like that, you automatically make yourself look to the church world like you are some kind of crazy fanatic. You are actually looked upon as a fanatic when you follow scriptural truth. The church was not born in the midst of all that high celebrity type of fashion speakers. Those men on the day of Pentecost, Peter, James and those, were just fishermen before the Lord called them to follow Him. They were not learned men of the priestly order. No. They were common ordinary people of the street like you find in everyday walk of life. That is what made it look strange to the priestly hierarchy of Jerusalem. How could this people be creating such a dynamic influence on the Jewish society when after all, they were not ordained priests. They were not wearing the robes; and they were not sacrificing lambs on the altar; but they were pointing spiritually hungry souls to another Lamb that had already been sacrificed. They knew by divine revelation exactly what was going on; and I believe we likewise know what is going on in our day. Believing that, is what caused me to make those remarks about God using the image of Bro. William Branham to speak to the bride Church here in the ending of this age. Why do I say that? Simply because Bro. William Branham was the star messenger to this age. His message is what called us out of Babylon (denominational religion). We do not have to be fanatical to believe that: It makes good spiritual sense. Denominational religion is so well versed in what has already been, they cannot see one thing that is about to be. They are trying to base all their insight on what has been, rather than what the Bible shows is about to be. The apostle Paul a Jewish man led by the Spirit of God and chosen by God before the foundation of the world to be a light to the Gentiles, wrote most all of the New Testament Epistles. To me, this is vindication that he was God’s apostle to the Gentile people. With that in mind we can say also, It was the apostle Paul that established the seven churches in the area of Asia, the area we call Turkey today. It was the apostle Paul that established the churches in Greece and Macedonia, the region where so many problems are today. Those two areas were the Gentile areas of Christendom that were established under Paul’s ministry in that first age of Gentile Christianity. Paul was martyred, beheaded, in Rome, in 66 A.D.; but look what happened thirty years later. Thirty years go by and that brings time to 96 A.D. That is where the apostle John stood out. He was the last one of the old saintly patriarch disciples. He was an apostle; but he is not pictured as being a star to the Gentiles. He is one of the twelve that was chosen by Jesus to represent the various tribes of the nation Israel; but he was not a star to any particular age. Peter was the spokesman to the Jews; but it was the apostle Paul that became recognized as the star messenger to the Gentile Church Age known as Ephesus. When we come to 96 A.D. we find that without any foreknowledge of what God was about to do, authorities had taken this old man and put him on an island which was not very far from the mainland of Turkey. You can see it from the mainland. Anyhow there he was: put in a solitary condition just to wander among the rocks and lizards, and whatever else was there. They probably thought they were putting this old man out of commission. Little did they realize God was going to use him to see things and write down those things for people within the ranks of the professing church to read down through the centuries of time. The point is this, and I want all of you to think seriously, No one in Christendom at that time knew what God was about to do. In 96 A.D. John was on the Isle of Patmos and he already had the Holy Ghost. He had written the gospel of St. John; and the three little Epistles over next to the book of Revelation. That constitutes the record of his writings. Look what Paul wrote, a great number of epistles, touching many things within the overall gospel of doctrine and such like within the Christian faith. However for some unknown reason God does something very spectacular after the death of Paul; and has John write it down and give it to the Church. Being in exile on this particular island, John says he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day when God began to show him prophetic visions and he was told to write it down. If you look in the marginal references it says, he became in the Spirit: which in reality means he continued to observe the worship practice he had been accustomed to in former days. However he made no special plans for the experience he had: God was the author of that. Keep in mind though, The day of the Lord and the Lord’s day carry two different meanings. We must separate the one from the other. The day of the Lord points to that period of time dealing with God’s judgment and wrath when Jesus comes to rule and reign as King of kings on earth. It is not a day of 24 hours. However the Lord’s day, it is an expression used by the early disciples as they gathered together for worship on the first day of the week. Why did they choose the first day of the week as the day they would gather together for worship? Because that is the day the Lord Himself rose from the dead. That is why you can tie it right into Leviticus 23. He had to rise on the first day of the week and the Holy Ghost come on the first day of the week. These two infallible types substantiate the fact of why the early disciples chose, without making it a law, without making it some cardinal teaching of the Church, to worship on that day. It was a practice they observed because they did it by divine revelation. The early Christians chose the first day of the week for worship because it is the beginning of a new creation, a new day, a new cycle. It is fulfilling something that has already been typed in the Old Testament. Nevertheless you still have a lot of Gentile people that are still hung up on Saturday worship. That is why they will write these teachings how that somewhere man, the Catholic Church, changed from the Jewish Sabbath to the first day of the week, calling the first day of the week a pagan holy day. Let me just say this, Every day of the week, as far as I am concerned, is God’s day. Otherwise you could not use the Psalm, This is the day the Lord hath made. You could only apply that to one day of the week. Anyhow John says in Revelation 1:9-10, “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.” In the first verses of this first chapters he gives an introduction of himself, (1:1) “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto His servants (His servants had to be those pastors of the seven churches of Asia. Naturally his writings have been given to ministers and ministry through the various generations and ages; but when John wrote this later, keep in mind, he had in mind those seven men of those seven churches that lay there on the mainland while he was in exile out there on the Isle of Patmos) things which must shortly come to pass; (notice here what it say) and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John.” We are going into this for a reason: so bear with me. We know John saw something. Further on he describes how he turned to see the voice that spoke to him; and he saw One like unto the Son of man. This man called John was an eye witness to everything that happened concerning the man called Jesus. This man called John had been at the river when the other John baptized the One he saw when he turned to see the voice behind him. He was one of the twelve chosen disciples of this man; but my point is leading to something I just mentioned. I hope you will follow me all the way through; because we want to get this whole thing straight. When we are talking about how God uses a man’s image, keep in mind, either it is a vision or an angelic being anointed with the Spirit of God to act in the person of the one whose image who is being expressed. We must understand this if we are ever to get a true revelation of how God does certain things. If Jesus the man, the Son of God who rose from the dead 2000 years ago, and ascended into heaven where He has been seated on the right hand of the father, is ever seen by anyone still living here on earth, that is the way He is seen. We do not necessarily want to say He has been sitting in that position 2000 years. That is not the point. One saw Him seated at the right hand of the Father and another saw Him standing at the right hand of the Father: so His standing or sitting position is not what we are concerned with. Whenever there is something taking place on earth, that His image should be seen, you rest assured just as Philip saw Him standing on the right hand of the Father, and John was taken up and saw Him sitting on the Father’s throne the point is, He is High Priest: He has been High Priest for almost 2000 years. He has not been personally running around all over the world: here one minute and somewhere else the next. When Jesus was taken from this earth 2000 years ago, that physical, glorified, immortal body has never physically been back here since then. When you hear someone say, Jesus stood by my bedside and said, Thus and so, just know that He was not physically there. I have no reason to doubt the vision: but be assured, that this is exactly what it was: a vision. Remember what the two angels said to those disciples that stood that day watching Jesus as He ascended into heaven? (Acts 1:11) “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” Those angels were absolutely referring to His coming in Revelation 19, and not any other time scattered through the dispensation of time. As we read this, we will begin to understand that in the spirit world, there are angelic beings projecting various visions to people on earth. The apostle Paul writes a very descriptive picture of them in the Hebrews epistle. He speaks of these angels as ministering spirits sent forth to be ministers to them that shall be heirs of salvation. That means within the domain, within the realm of God’s divine omnipresent Spirit, God has chosen and delegated for His spirit, His purpose, His thought, His plan, to be communicated to humanity on earth. That is the delegated position of angels in the overall plan of God. At least we know that is one of their functions: to commune with humanity on the behalf of the Creator. That is why so many Trinitarians and Bible scholars go back to Genesis and see where God spoke and said, Let us, and they refer to that as proof that God is three persons. They do not even realize God was speaking to His angelic helpers instead of two other persons within the Godhead. He had to be speaking in conjunction with the angelic family: or a lot of other scriptures would make no sense whatsoever. When we follow the record of angelic beings down through time, never did God do anything without an angelic being conveying His presence, and His purpose to the earthly person He was dealing with. Having said this, let us now look at those things John saw and wrote about in what I usually refer to as God’s love letter to the bride Church.

THE APOSTLE JOHN ON ISLE OF PATMOS

Like I said, the first thing we find here is John’s introduction before he really goes into the dynamics of what he saw and heard. He is plainly telling you first how the Lord sent His angel to testify of these things unto His servant John. (1:1) “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, (Now this is not an epistle that touches doctrine, nor the plan of salvation in any way. This is every bit prophecy.)and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.” (From here on John begins to explain and bring forth the overall picture. We pick up with verse 4.) “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; (5) And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (6) And hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (7) Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen.” When that verse is fulfilled, I want you to know humanity will not be looking at an angel. They will be looking at the immortal glorified risen Christ Jesus, coming to earth riding a white horse. It will not be an angel coming. It is the Lord Jesus Himself. (8) “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. (9) I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” In other words he has been arrested and put there in exile as a penalty for having preached about this man Jesus. (10) “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, (John was out there all by himself. Little did he realize what was about to take place. I can see that old man sitting out there somewhere, looking up into the sky. He no doubt just began to meditate and communicate with the Lord when all of a sudden an anointing came upon him like he had never experienced in all his prior days. It started something strange, something unusual. It did not last for just 15 or 20 minutes: It lasted no doubt for many hours as he was caught up in the Spirit.) Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.” All of what John has written up to this point is concerning what he saw from this point on. He heard this voice behind him, so let us go on. (verse 12) “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.” Notice now, he saw seven golden candlesticks. We know what they signified at that time. They represented those seven churches which existed in Asia Minor. I would like for us to realize there are some things God shows one man in the Spirit that are a confirmation. It is just the way God deals with that particular man. It is how God gets inside of him, gives him a picture of what he is looking at, and establishes relativity to the time he is living in. If you and I took all these things and tried to apply them to ourselves, rather than opening our hearts to God and say, Lord lead me the way you want to, I am open: we would not necessarily be receiving what we need for our day and hour. We need to keep our heart’s open to the Spirit of God so He can deal with us according to what is to be, rather than what has already been. You could never convince me that John was sitting out there on that island with certain things fixed in his mind as though to say, If God has something for me, it is going to come the way I see so and so. That is the wrong way to approach God. What He has for you does not have to come any certain way. He has His own way He wants to talk to you. I am a part of a generation of older ones that can look back to the years of WW2 and remember when the Jews were slaughtered by the scores in Europe. We never thought much about it at the time it was going on; but years later we realize what it all adds up to. What Hitler did then, actually began to set the world in a trend that will eventually lead right up to the coming of the Lord. That which we read in the fifth seal was written 1900 years before it was fulfilled. I can say this also, God surely has a lot of things in His category that He wants to deal with mankind on; but it will be only at the proper time; and it will be only those who have a proper understanding of His plan and purpose in the redemption of lost mankind. How He chooses to lead the person as an individual, is strictly up to Him. I know just as sure as you are sitting here listening to me, the overall realm of religious people in the world have their ideas as to what God is doing, and what God is going to do; but I am looking at something that causes me to know, We have not come close to seeing yet what God is going to do among the Bride of Jesus Christ as the Age comes to a close. We have a profile here, and we have a plan laid out in His book; but none of that tells us exactly what He will do inside of you and me before this race is over. No sir. His Spirit, I enjoy it. I rejoice in it. It is eternal life to me. I would know nothing if not for the grace of God, and for His Spirit in me. The question is, How does He purpose to lead you and me in these last days? Do not try to plan it by the way God is doing something else. What He does for the bride, no one else will be able to copy it and commercialize it on TV. In fact, when God gets through dealing with His Bride Church the way He is going to deal with it, they will not even want your testimony on TV; because they will say you are crazy for sure. Well let me get back to what John described here. As he turned to see these seven golden candlesticks, keep in mind, John was not the one who established these seven churches. It was Paul, the star messenger too the first Age, that had established them. However Paul had been dead thirty years and John was the last old apostle of the original twelve still alive. God is using him. God has a reason for using him. Sure God could have got a younger man; so why is He using this man? Let us read. He turned and saw one like unto the Son of man. You should notice that he did not say, I saw the Son of man. He saw one like unto the Son of man. That is the part we want to catch: and really emphasize: He saw one like unto the Son of man. First we have to realize he knew what the Son of man looked like in His earthly image. That is what he is looking at. We can say that this is where that angelic being came in. That is why he wrote, who had sent His angel to testify of these things in the church. We know it was a spirit being, anointed of the Spirit of God, and we are going to see in this, in no less than four different places through the book of Revelation, how this angel escorted John. Even to the point where one time John fell at his feet to worship him. (Rev. 19:10) “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” You will notice that the angel would not accept his worship: He said, Don’t do that! Worship God! Every true child of God is going to enjoy the way the Creator deals with the Bride Church after she is completely freed from all of the shambles of religion she has been called to rise above. Let me read these next verses in chapter 1. (13) “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.” This was an angelic being portraying Jesus Christ in His priestly role. That is what you are looking at in verse 13: you are not seeing Jesus in person. John was on the Isle of Patmos. This whole experience took place there. It was on the Isle of Patmos he saw the seven golden candlesticks. He saw all of that there: he did not see that in heaven. Jesus the immortal one that rose from the dead was in heaven; and there, is where He has stayed. The Spirit of God can use an angelic being, and an angelic being can convey the image expression of whoever God, the eternal Spirit purposes for him to. Notice the description. (14) “His head and His hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; (All of this is portraying that as Jesus was taken up and positioned in that position of High Priest, then we will say that ancient authority that only belongs to God the creator, is now invested in Him. In other words, it is like a man being put on a judge’s bench. You have seen the pictures how the old judges, years ago, when they took the judge’s bench, they wore a white wig. Well I do not know whether if I was a natural judge I would like to wear a white wig, I would like to stay as young looking as possible, but keep in mind, the white wig is always symbolic of ancient authority delegated and handed down through the ages of time.) and His eyes were as a flame of fire; (15) And His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; (He took our position, in other words He was judge. God judged our sins in Him and that is why He stands in our place, in that respect.) and His voice as the sound of many waters.” I have to keep emphasizing, this is not the literal embodied Christ talking. This is an angelic being conveying the image of Christ the High Priest, because it is on earth where it is taking place. It is not in heaven where Jesus resides. We will see more further on. (16) “And He had in His right hand seven stars: and out of His mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. (17) And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, (The angel speaks in the first person, he speaks as the person of Christ, not the second person, as the angel himself. When I say that, I realize how far people’s mind’s are from the real picture. When we get on over a little farther you will see.) Fear not; I am the First and the Last: (18) I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Those words absolutely portray the immortal Christ who really suffered and died and took our place. Yet keep in mind, it is an angel sent forth to convey the revelation of Jesus Christ, and not the person of Jesus Christ in the actual immortal body. It is important that we understand that: for I am using this very point of truth to scripturally establish another point. God can project the image of anyone He chooses to: for His own specific purpose in the overall plan of redemption and restoration.

THE WORD OF ANGELS-AND THE WORD OF THE SON OF GOD

Let us go to Revelation 19 where we will see something to go with what we have been talking about: if you will follow my thought. The reason I say this is because in the Old Testament when God spoke to Israel, He would speak through a prophet. It does not matter which one: the point is, He would speak through a prophet. Yet when we find the apostle Paul in Hebrews speaking in reference to how God spoke unto the fathers by the prophets, and in these last days He hath spoken unto us by His dear Son, went back and picked up that dispensation of the prophets and says it like this, (Heb. 2:2-3) “For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him?” This brings it right over to our dispensation of time. If men were absolutely penalized and chastened because of failure to respect the word of angels that was delivered to them by the prophets, how much more should we take heed to the things we hear which are the words spoken directly from the throne of Grace. That is what Paul is talking about here in Hebrews. I want you to think about that as we go to Revelation 19:7. John sees the Bride in heaven. Since he sees the Bride in heaven, keep in mind, he sees her beyond this point of time where God is still preparing her for her flight to glory. He sees her in heaven while the week of Daniel is going on. That is what you have to be aware of as we read this. (Revelation 19:7-10) “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. (8) And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. (9) And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. (10) And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.” We have something here that sounds like a riddle. Shortly after Bro. William Branham was taken off the scene, every time somebody would read that, do you know what they would say? “That is William Branham!” I have had many individual’s say, Don’t you think that is William Branham? I would say, No sir. Well Bro. Jackson, don’t you believe he was the seventh angel, and messenger to this age? Absolutely. Well don’t you believe that was the Lord’s way of sending His theophany to show John these things that was going to be in our day? I said that was an angelic being, that was not an angel Church Age messenger back there telling John these things. No sir, not at all. I hope you understand my point. That is why I am doing my best to go at this message in a way that will help people understand the difference between things that the natural mind might look at as the same thing. Right at this point John is now in heaven: because when he heard that same voice speak again he was taken up into heaven. Please notice his description of what he saw sitting on the throne. Notice, His face no longer looked like what he saw on earth. This is absolutely a picture of how Jesus looked in heaven in that High Priest’s role He has had for over 1900 years. His face was to look upon as a sardine stone. It just goes to show God has imparted to Him (Jesus) all the majestic honor and glory surrounding Himself. There in heaven, on the Father’s throne, is where Jesus the Christ has been throughout all the dispensation of the Grace Age. Any other time that image of Him has been seen anywhere else, it has been conveyed there by an angel. The spirit of God can use that means any time it suits His purpose. That is why it can be a universal thing. That is why in Revelation 10 we see this mighty angel come down to convey the image and presence of the Lord in His finished work as He is coming to collect together and get a Church ready to rise and meet the Lord in the air. When you and I see the immortal Christ for the first time, we will be seeing Him at the wedding supper. Let us take a better look at something else seen here in Revelation 19:10. John said, “And I fell at his feet to worship Him. And He said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant.” Give me your attention now: That is what throws a lot of people because it says fellow-servant. However if you look at it properly it is not hard to understand at all. First of all, the angel is speaking in respects to his role in relationship to what he is anointed and ordained to do within the realm of God’s family on earth. We have to realize if Paul could say angels are ministering spirits sent forth by God to them that shall be heirs of salvation, then what do we think they do? They convey His anointing, and His presence. In most cases the angel is never seen, but the power of God is felt many times. You become very aware of the presence of God. It is because God allows the angel to activate that presence. This is why when we look back to the ministry of Jesus and really think of it, there was God’s own Son and God dwelling in Him in the fullness of all His Godhead attributes: yet when He was led into the wilderness where He fasted 40 days and nights, and was tempted by the devil, How come angels came to minister unto Him in His weakened condition? What kind of picture do we get from that? Sure, God was in Him; but keep in mind, God ordained it to be this way and you are not going to change it. He has a particular reason for everything He does. It is all part of a master plan. Just like what we said about Moses and Elijah being seen talking to Jesus about the things He would have to suffer. If there were to be things said to Jesus concerning what He would suffer as He faced Calvary’s cross, then why was it not an angel saying them? Why did He use the image of these two old prophets? God had a reason. He wanted the image of those men to stand out in that picture so it could be recorded. It is a sign that God is going to honor those men for who they were in their hour of time: that those anointings they held were the two greatest manifested anointings of God that had ever been vested upon mortal man. Here in the end time, just before Jesus comes again visibly, God will send that anointing on two Jewish men that will forerun the visible coming of the immortal, glorified Christ. That is when He will set up His rule and rein on earth. As we get back to this 10th verse, this angel is actually telling John, Don’t worship me! I am a ministering spirit of your fellow brethren. That is really what it means. Think of it: how many times this angel that was talking to John might have also ministered to patriarchs and prophets before his hour. That is why he said fellow-servant. That is what his role was, a ministering spirit, strictly to minister in that category of the ministry of prophets and this dispensation of apostles. The angel had to talk like that. Furthermore he was not implying that he was some angel messenger to an Age. This is absolutely that ministering spirit that has ministered over and over to holy men throughout the generations of time passed. That is why he could talk to John like that: because no angel ever demands to be worshipped himself. However if that angel has conveyed the image of deity he could receive worship: because the worshiper would not be worshipping the angel since he was being seen portraying the image of the person the worship was directed to. You have to see it that way in order for it to make sense. When we move to Revelation 22, the last chapter, and look at the 16th verse, we again see an angel speaking in the first person of the one that John’s attention is to be devoted to. First let me go back to the 6th verse though: where has been talking about the throne of God and the river of life and the tree of life, and all those things and says to John, “These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to shew unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. (7) Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” Notice the wording there: “Behold I come quickly.” Those words were spoken in the person of Christ; but notice verses 8 and 9. “And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. (9) Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.” He was not talking about the prophets that are yet to be. This angel was talking about the prophets that had already been: in the Old Testament. That is why we can say, A fellow-servant is a ministering spirit. That is what he does. This angel knew how, many times he had been dispatched to earth to convey God’s presence before a holy man through the dispensations of time: that had yielded himself as an instrument to be used in the plan of God. (10) “And He saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. (11) He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” (Now again the angel speaks in the first person) “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. REV. 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. REV. 22:14 Blessed {are} they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (15) For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” Right here, terminology goes back to that of the first person: “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” Brothers and sisters, we have been reading this for two thousand years and I wonder if very many people really know what they have been reading? The point is this, In front of us somewhere, when God gets you and me altogether where there is nothing the devil can use to divide us, I believe He will use the image of Bro. William Branham to speak to the Bride. No. It will not be literally him: but his image conveyed by an angel. Remember, there is nothing in the thunders that is going to perfect you. No sir. There is not one thing in those thunders that is going to perfect anyone. Everything that pertains to perfection, getting ourselves cleaned up and ready to meet the Lord is all in the gospel Jesus and His apostles preached. That is why Bro. William Branham was the star messenger to this age: He brought everything relative how we should understand the gospel message and the plan of redemption that will constitute God getting out of this world a Gentile people that He will be taking to glory. The question can be asked because many times people have different ideas, But Bro. Jackson, don’t you think those seven angels Bro. William Branham saw have to fit in this? Keep in mind saints, When John went up into heaven time was literally still back in the first age. Did he not see seven lamps burning before the throne of God, speaking of the seven spirits of God? Yes, he saw all those things. How come we have not capitalized on those things God let him see in heaven? Why then should we capitalize on the fact that Bro. William Branham saw seven angels appear to him out there in that canyon? That was God’s way of confirming something to him. I have to say, It has very little relativity to you and me, as to how God wants to lead us. When I say that, I realize some people want to climb a tree; but they will just have to climb it. This is how it is. God does not have to explain to everyone what He chooses to do for one individual. When John was on the Isle of Patmos, thirty years after Paul’s death, did God ask anyone if He could show him all of those things yet to be? No. Well look what He did. My point is this, John was anointed with a prophetic spirit, anointed with a prophetic spirit to write prophecy. The prophecy he wrote was not going to be fulfilled in his day; but rather in the far flung future. God gave it to him the way we read it. That is why the Church has carried it for centuries of time. Suppose someone in that day, when from the Isle of Patmos John finally got permission, or somehow finally managed to get it over to the seven churches of Asia; someone had been sitting there in those assemblies saying, Well now, I don’t know about all of that: You know that man is getting old? People have the idea that everyone gets senile when they get old. Sometimes old people do see things that are not there; but you simply cannot apply that to every case. I am more or less asking a question now to provoke your thinking, Suppose there had been some in those seven churches that had said, Well the last time I saw John I thought then he was slipping. Do you realize what I am saying? Anyhow I cannot picture those people acting like that. I rather see them rejoicing: Praise God! He has looked down upon us; and used His servant John. Keep in mind, in those words addressed to those seven churches, when they read them, I imagine it made them shake a little and begin to examine themselves. In other words, Oh God, Is that really going on in our fellowship. I don’t want to be part of anything like that. My point is this, God did something through John; but I ask you, Did that make him another messenger to that Age? Did that take anything away from the fact the apostle Paul was the Star Messenger to that Age? No. It was only a confirmation to the Church that God was still ruling; and that Jesus Christ is the head of the Church, His body. God can do anything He wants to do: without explaining it to everyone who might question or disapprove. He does not have to please peoples’ fantasies. A prophetic spirit fell on John and he wrote what was given him. It is just that simple. Looking back to the 10th verse of chapter 19, I want to show you something. Why would this angel say at this time, as John fell at his feet to worship him, “See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren (Notice the following words.) that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy?” All through the ages of Christianity every man, woman, boy or girl that has been saved, the only testimony they can carry is the testimony of Jesus Christ and His saving grace. That is why in the first chapter as the angel is introduced and is telling John to write all these things, it speaks of it just as a prophecy. However in the 19th chapter, we need to realize that the Bride is in heaven while the week of Daniel is going on, in order to be seen coming with Jesus at the end of the great tribulation. To me that shows that during the time she was making herself ready to meet the Bridegroom she was still completely subject to the entire plan of salvation. Right at the end of her preparation she moves into that prophetic development role: where God somehow informs her, and gives her the knowledge of something that is completely of a prophetic nature: that of how to look at the coming of the Bridegroom. The reason I say that is because the salvation side is over, the gospel side is over. It is all complete by then. It has already produced its purpose. As the church moves into that prophetic role, all knowing Bro. William Branham was the star messenger to this age; and that he has been gone 30 some years, are we going to hinder God by saying, You cannot use his image to speak to us. On the other hand, Some have the idea that if God uses seven men here at the end, that would be taking recognition away from the star messenger. It would not. What God used John for, took nothing from what the apostle Paul was already credited with. Why would anyone think God could not do again what He did in 96 A.D.? Do not bother to say, Because it is not in the word; because I will just remind you that there was nothing written beforehand concerning what God would say to the Church through His servant John. It is easy to look back at something God has already done and say, I can accept that; but when it comes to something for the future, people can sure put up some resistance. There are a lot of things I do not understand either; but I have no intention of trying to force the Creator to do only what He has already done in the past: as He moves the bride Church toward her perfection. He is leading His people in a way you and I cannot even fathom at the present moment; so we need to keep open to the leading of His Spirit and allow Him to direct the whole thing. I am persuaded that He will do for the bride things that are not yet written; and I am just as certain that He will not do anything that goes contrary to the righteous principles written so clearly in the Bible we have studied for years. He can deal with the bride in the prophetic realm without violating any principle He has ever established for His people to be guided by. When He gets that last predestinated soul safely in the fold, and only He knows when that will be, Jesus can then step down from the mercy seat, from the place of intercession He has occupied for over 1900 years; and when He does, I want you to know, the Spirit of God in the earth is going to start working in a different way. We had better be ready to move and walk with Him. Just remember this, When John was on the Isle of Patmos, Gentile Christendom was only in the areas we now call Turkey, Greece and Macedonia. Yet look how God used that aged apostle. By now, the Church is moving to completeness and it is a universal picture today. That is why I say, That same anointing that fell on John is going to fall on these men chosen of God to minister to the Bride of Christ in her last hour of time in this present realm of life. God is going to lift that Bride up into the knowledge of something, that when she obtains that knowledge, it is going to take all the doubt away concerning the coming of the Lord and the rapture. The nominal Gentile church world will never see the rapture. It is no wonder, that many of them out there in the Charismatic realm are even now beginning to doubt that the rapture will take place before the tribulation hour. They have lost their way through the Bible.

PEACE PACT-OR FULFILLED PROPHECY

As we deal with this subject “Looking For Clues,” we are seeing things in the News every day that seem to speak contrary to what we see in the scriptures. Suppose Israel does come to some kind of peace agreement with the Palestinian Arabs: that Israel agrees to give up the Gaza Strip and parts of the area of Jericho to constitute a Palestinian state with limited self government. Of course that is all in the making; but you believe me, None of that is going to change prophecy of the scriptures one bit. It has certain conditions. Naturally we realize if such a thing is signed, we have to ask ourselves, How long will it last? Keep in mind that which is written in Zephaniah 2, as you meditate upon all of this. For the first time in 4000 years, Israel had been able to possess the Gaza Strip and actually call it her territory, because the Gaza Strip was the ancient area of the Philistines. During ancient Biblical times they never had been able to conquer the Philistines to the point of actually ruling over them in that area. We realize the Bible has many prophecies in relationship to the restoration of Israel back to her former estate in the last days; and there is no reason for any Bible believing child of God to think any different: regardless of what kind of peace agreement the concerned parties may sign. God says in Ezekiel that He would establish them according to their former estates. Therefore whatever we are now seeing in front of us, it is going to require close observation on the part of those who know the scriptures. I am convinced that the world is now standing at a crossroads: wondering what will actually take place. We cannot help but ask the question, How long will God allow this kind of thing to go on before He begins to bring about developments in the process of fulfilling prophecy that is going to startle the world? When that will start, I do not know; but I have to believe that somehow this peace process will break apart by some kind of tragedy. I just cannot see Israel signing an overall agreement and begin to give up territory: when the word of God says they actually are to possess more land than they now have. Instead of giving up land, they are to possess more land. That is why we have titled this subject, Looking For Clues. Meaning clues, or traces of evidence that would indicate to the bride Church that we are approaching a time factor that surely speaks of the nearness of the coming of Christ. We realize since the WW2 event, the world has been headed toward a climaxing point of all things. Sooner or later, Jesus Christ is going to come to rule and reign; and we do know it will have to be in this generation to stay in continuity with the written scriptures.

ANGELS CONVEYING PRESENCE OF DEITY

I want to finish what we were looking at concerning the ministry of angels. I made those statements concerning the angel in Revelation 19:10 and in chapter 22 as well as other places: that this was not the literal bodily form of Jesus standing there with John, but an angel conveying His image before John. I do not want anyone going away from here confused, saying, Bro. Jackson: I just do not understand this: when actually it is as simple as falling off a log. When you go into the Gospel’s, and find all the gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, referring to actual words spoken by the man known as Jesus the Christ, that was actually the literal person, Christ Jesus, doing the speaking there; but after His ascension into heaven where He has fulfilled the role of intercessor on behalf of lost mankind for over 1900 years, He has never spoken to anyone on earth in person since then. An angel always stands in His place for such events; but the angel speaks as though it is Jesus in person doing the speaking. I hope this helps clear it up for you who have not understood the point being made up to this point in the message. Our purpose is to clear up many things that people have not understood, rather than to confuse you more. In the four Gospel’s, when you find the words of Jesus printed in red letters, they were spoken by Jesus when He walked on earth with those men; but those things in the book of Revelation which are clearly the words of Jesus, were not spoken directly to John from the mouth of Jesus: but from the mouth of the angel that was anointed to convey the presence of the man Jesus. Also, another thing that has caused many questions to be asked is the fact that Stephen, when he was being stoned to death, stated that he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father. (Acts 7:56) “And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” Yet the apostle Paul referred to Him as seated on the right hand of God. Both positions are correct when we are looking at Jesus being High Priest, mediator between God and man on earth. He is called High Priest, mediator, and intercessor; and He is pictured in both positions: both standing and sitting; but that in itself should not be of any concern to us. It is what He is doing there on the Father’s throne that we benefit by. We will read a few scriptures that will allow you to put the picture together. When the apostle Peter was preaching after those first disciples received the Holy Ghost he referred to Jesus in this way: quoting something David had wrote. (Acts 2: 33-35) “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the Promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool.” Then we find the apostle Paul making various references concerning His position; but the main reference should be that He (Jesus) is exalted to the right hand position of the Father. (Rom 8:34) “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (Eph 1:20) “Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, (Col. 3:1) “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (Heb 8:1) “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. (Heb 10:11-12) “And every priest standeth daily (This shows the position of a priest: standing.) ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, (Jesus) after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” The standing or seated positions merely reflect the functions being performed by Him who has conquered death, hell and destruction by offering His own life for the price required to bring about our reconciliation to the Creator; and then taking His life back again when He was raised from the grave, or brought out of that tomb. The point I am most interested in clarifying to you though, is that once Jesus ascended to the Father’s right hand to take up His intercessory work He has never been back on earth in person since then. Neither will He be until the end of the seventieth week of Daniel: when He comes back with His saints to judge wicked mankind and set up His 1000 year rule as King of kings.

UNDERSTANDING HOW GOD MANIFESTS CERTAIN IMAGES

The very fact that we are Gentiles causes us to have a mind that makes it hard for us to understand how the Spirit of God could, and would deal, especially in the Old Testament, by manifesting Himself in different image structures. That is why the Lord could appear to Abraham in various forms and speak to patriarchs down through the ages by different manifestations of His presence, meaning His spirit. God the eternal Spirit, has used many forms to make contact with His instruments on earth; but He has never remained in any of those forms to the point that they become His eternal abode. However when His only begotten Son presented Himself to John the Baptist for baptism, when He came up out of the water that great sovereign Spirit descended upon Him, spoke words approving what He had just done, and then took up abode in that Son. All of those other images were only types projecting something God would do in and through the person of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Some years after that approved Son was taken to glory, we see the book of Revelation come into being in a most unusual way. Let us look at it this way, Paul died or was beheaded in 66 A.D. We know he was the star messenger to the age of Ephesus, to the Gentiles; and that he wrote most of the New Testament Epistles; but God was not through dealing with the Gentile Church just because Paul was no longer on the scene: He still had much more to say to her. In 96 A.D., which was 30 years after the death of Paul, this man by the name of John, who was not a star messenger, but a Jewish apostle, had an experience unequalled by any other. We do know how old John was when the Roman government put him on the Isle of Patmos to get him out of their way, to put him out of commission and bring an end to his Christian influence. They thought if they could kill his influence, it would greatly effect the spread of Christianity. Nevertheless at that very time, God saw fit to speak to the Gentile church one more time, in a profound way. By that time Christendom was being attacked by a spirit of antichrist. God saw the seven churches in Asia, how each one to some degree was beginning to slip. The prevailing spirit of those assemblies was far from what it had been. Therefore by 96 A.D. God found it necessary to speak to them, the Gentile Church: to correct them. He spoke to seven certain churches, all in Asia Minor: yet what He had to say, when you put it all together, it collectively represented Christendom then, and throughout the whole dispensation of grace right down to this very hour. God manifested an anointing upon John, there on the Isle of Patmos, that had not been experienced by any other Jewish apostle. Not even John himself, when he wrote the gospel of St. John and the three little Epistles of John. My point is this, God was speaking to the Church in a prophetic way. Some of it was going to be understood by the immediate Christian people. The rest was not going to be understood at all until this very generation we are living in began to come close to the end of time. We are right here. (Pointing to the chart very close to the beginning of the seventieth week of Daniel) It is a prophecy unequaled by any other. Contained in it are certain types and symbols: all of which have to be looked at in relation to other prophecies of the Bible in order to get a revelation of what they point to. Thirty years after the death of Paul the star messenger, Christendom had no problem recognizing that God had spoken to them. It became written for all to read; and those that were to receive correction by those individual letters received them. The Lord Jesus did not have to come back in person to speak to them: He sent His angel. That is why I am putting so much emphasis on the fact that the Church will again be dealt with in a prophetic way; and that it would not be at all out of line for the Spirit of God to use the image of Bro. William Branham somewhere in it all. It was not the literal person of the Lord Jesus standing behind John on the Isle of Patmos. The Lord Jesus in person, in that immortal, glorified state of being is in heaven: seated on the throne of God. We have to understand that. If you can catch the picture, it is simple. That is why I say we are living in an hour when we need to get our eyes open and our mind’s unclogged. They have been clogged too long with all these Gentile, religious ideas. In front of us somewhere very soon, there is no doubt that God is going to deal with His true Bride in a profound way: yet in a way that is simple; and it is going to clear out a lot of things she has been holding on to; and put in place of all of that a very positive picture of how to see herself in relationship to the end of Gentile time. When we look into the book of Revelation, we see John on the Isle of Patmos 1900 years ago; and except for the letters to the seven individual Churches, most of what he saw taking place in the spirit would not be manifested until the very generation we are living in. In the 19th chapter, he saw the Bride in glory. That is where the bride will be during the great tribulation here on earth. She will be taken out of the world somewhere around the time the seventieth week of Daniel starts. However she will not go before the antichrist is revealed; because the signing of that peace pact with many, is what puts the finger on him. The bride Church already knows what office the antichrist will be holding when his hour to stand out finally comes. He will be the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. The Bible leaves no doubt about that. Daniel 9:26, lets us know where that prince shall come from. He will be the prince of the people that destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish sanctuary in 70 A.D. The people that did that were Roman’s. Their national origin is not what you look at. The army that brought about the destruction was made up of soldiers that may have been born in various other nations; but they were all under the command of a Roman General. That made them Romans: as far as looking at this scripture goes. “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, (33 A.D.) but not for Himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (The antichrist is that prince that shall come.) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; (That was done by the Roman Army in 70 A.D.) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” When you put this verse with all the other scriptures we have to look at, you certainly have no problem in knowing what office the antichrist will come from. We have Daniel 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 and Revelation 13 and 17, and 2nd Thessalonians 2: 1-4, just to name a few of the many scriptures that lead the true saints to the revelation they have, concerning the antichrist. To the natural mind, the terminology of the scriptures is so confusing; but to the spiritual mind that is subject to be lead by the Spirit of God, those same words put together a beautiful picture for the bride Church as she nears the time for her departure from this world.

THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY

We spoke earlier of the scripture in Revelation 19:10, that speaks of how the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Well I just have to say, Nothing in the Bible is spoken amiss. Everything has to have a meaning. Yet in the introduction, you do not find that necessarily made clear. Let us go back to Revelation 1:1-2, and read those two verses. John was giving an introduction of himself and of what he was about to record; so notice how this is written. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: (2) Who bare record of the word of God, (John had been preaching that.) and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.” From the beginning of Christianity, the Church, God has been taking out of the Gentiles a people that makes up His mystical body, all through the ages, even into this Laodicean age; and our testimony has got to be connected to the fact that it is through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are saved. My salvation is based on my faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ at Calvary. No matter what all else you believe in relationship to doctrines and things, the conclusion of your testimony is that it is all in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved, except the name Jesus the Christ. Again Paul says, There is no other foundation a man can lay than that which is laid, and that is Jesus Christ. That goes to show, all through the ages, as God has been dealing with mankind, He has been getting His church out of the world of unbelieving sinners, but only as they come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore it constitutes the fact our testimony is in the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why would anyone think it has changed, when we see in Revelation 19 where it says, “For the testimony of Jesus Christ is the spirit of prophecy,” and we know it has been the gospel all along? It lets me know there is definitely going to be a little era of time right here at the end, just before God closes the age of Grace and the week of Daniel sets in and the church is raptured, that God is again going to deal with the bride through the Spirit of prophecy. Not the church world in general, the bride exclusively. The true bride Church will be the only people on earth that will know beyond any shadow of doubt that they are of the bride of Christ. All the rest are just hoping: without anything whatsoever to base their hopes upon. Why do I say that? Simply because we know from the scriptures that those who still believe God is three persons do not really know Him at all. They are void of revelation; and the bride of Christ will be a revelated people. Furthermore the bride will know she is the bride because of the way the spirit communicates to her. It is the way the Lord makes Himself known through His word to her. With that, you have to realize she is going to enter into an era of time when she has passed from the effect of the preaching of the gospel of repentance and baptism, and moved on to perfection. Let us read what the apostle Paul wrote to the Hebrew assembly about this very thing. (Hebrews 5:12-6:3) “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. (13) For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. (14) But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Hebrews 6:1) Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, (2) Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (3) And this will we do, if God permit.” That is the way some congregations are: always debating those basic doctrines they ought to already have settled in their mind. I would remind you though, those first Age Christians could not come to complete perfection: because they could not be made perfect without us. However God did require them to grow up. There was no excuse for anyone to remain spiritual babes in that hour of time: when the gospel and basic doctrines were preached and taught in their purity: before the spirit of antichrist began to pervert them. Finally we would have to say, Perfection of the bride has to definitely be with the last generation of people that God deals with. That is why there had to be a star messenger to this Age, a man who would absolutely have a message: not some other Bible, not some other man made teaching, but a message showing people where the Church had drifted from; and showing them how to get back in the overall revelation which constitutes the plan of salvation. For that reason I can say, Along about the year 1963, God did something very profound, something He had not done since the day John had his experience on the Isle of Patmos and sent letters to the seven churches in Asia. In 1963, because he was God’s star messenger, God took Bro. William Branham out west and dealt with him in a way that vindicated His divine presence and purpose was to be worked through him. Yet somehow or other we have people today that are more interested in how many angels Bro. William Branham saw, than they are in whether God is going to do anything more for the Bride of Christ? Let me tell you, He sure will; but those who have had no interest in what God has been doing for the last 28 years since Bro. William Branham was killed will see nothing He does for the bride in these last days. He is going to play a trick on those people: that will cause some of them to say, I wish someone had told me what was going on a long time ago. It has been told; but they have not listened. God knew there would be a generation like this. That is why He willed that certain things be said by Bro. William Branham that would cause that kind to jump the track, so to speak. When I say that, I do it knowing I can stand alone if need be; or I can stand with brothers who will agree with me. You can be sure of this one thing though, You are not going to preach William Branham, William Branham, William Branham, and expect to be raptured with the bride. You may expect it; but the Bible (a book some of you have laid aside for your Spoken Word Books) presents an altogether different picture. Someone in Norway was supposed to have said that I did not say anything about the prophet. At certain times I brought in the message just what I got through saying here, and said it just like this, but somehow or other some people have the idea that if you do not constantly say, Brother Branham said So and So, you are not preaching anything worth listening to. Well they may as well not listen to me at all: for I still preach out of the Bible. I give Bro. William Branham credit for what he was: a man who loved God, and a man that knew how to give God His place; and for being God’s prophet messenger to the Age of Laodicea; but I find no reason whatsoever to worship him, nor to use his sermons instead of using my Bible. It is just that plain and simple. The spirit controlling a lot of people who claim to be following Bro. William Branham‘s teaching, makes them worse than being a Roman Catholic. The only difference between then is, they say, Bro. William Branham, Bro. William Branham, Bro. William Branham, and the dyed in the wool Roman Catholic Person cannot talk without saying, The blessed holy father, The blessed holy father, The blessed holy father. They are both controlled by the same spirit, an antichrist spirit. We will look at what that kind of spirit is doing world wide in this hour of time.

ANTICHRIST SPIRIT HAS MANY FACES

We will go to Revelation 6:1 at this time; and I hope we can learn something from what we are going to look at. In 1963, when time had come for the seals to be dealt with, God did a spectacular thing: using His instrument, the star messenger to this Age. When that first seal was opened the sound of thunder was heard: one thunder. Thunders, in scripture, whether it was at the Sinai or whether it was when Jesus was on earth, always signified that God the eternal Spirit was speaking. It means there is something profound He wants His people to understand. In the gospel of St. John, Jesus stood one day before a multitude of people and there came the sound of a thunder. Some said, Did you hear that? All they heard was a thunder. But the eternal Spirit spoke to the Son. You can read that. One thunder in 1963, meant God was speaking to a people through a particular vessel; and that vessel was His star messenger to the Age; and what followed amazed those who witnessed the profound way God dealt with those seals. (Rev. 6:1) “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.” God bypassed every school of theology and every theologian. He did not bother to ask them one thing. He reached down and took a little man whose own native dialect was supposed to be English; but in England, they make fun of the way we speak it. They accuse the Americans of butchering the English language. Well I grant you, we do; but I told Ewald Frank of Germany, (who was a man I could see was very proud that he could speak English so well, “The reason we Americans butcher the English language so badly is because our country is made up of practically every tongue speaking people of the whole earth. I can go to Louisville, Kentucky, go downtown into one store: There can be an Italian man speaking his broken English; but speaking it well enough to carry out his business. When I go in there, I learn to listen to his broken English and I do not stand there making fun of him. I can go out of that store and go down a block or two and go into another store where a man from Germany is speaking English well enough to carry out his business. He has learned enough English that he can speak to me in a broken English way; but it is sufficient for transacting our business. I have just learned to listen. Therefore in your mind we do butcher the English language; but we learn it well enough to understand each other without making a big fuss about it.” I said also, “Bro. Branham did not know enough proper English to wad a shot gun; but God knew how to use the Brother anyhow.” It makes some of these doctors of divinity really want to climb a wall when they hear someone say he was a prophet of God. They are so educated they could not even understand his terminology. What does he mean? You might hear them say. Well you have to know the man to know what he means. You have to know a hillbilly and why he talks like that, to really know what he means. I have said many times, I remember when I was a kid: We did not even know how to speak too proper. Nevertheless we got the job done. So will God get the job done: regardless of what others may think about His instruments. Yes brothers and sisters, in 1963 God dealt with that little man in a profound way. The point is this, Out of God’s dealing with him, God opened up to His Church an understanding of what was going on in heaven. Six seals were broken consecutively. Here in such a simple way came an understanding of what the first seal was, then the second, the third and fourth. I will never forget sitting, listening to the revelation of them being brought forth. Yes it caused the true believer to stop looking forward for those four horsemen to appear. We now look back through history and see how they have been riding all through the ages. When I heard those things revealed I said, Praise God! What a wonderful picture that is. Especially when you see that black horse, how it rode in the Dark Ages. No wonder they called it the Dark Ages. Europe was fed the bread of death. That is why they call it the Dark Ages. Then when he came to that gray horse and we were made to see that it was already in its stage of preparedness, what a revelation! Every since 1964 that gray horse has been riding this earth: gathering up through that false spirit all that could be deceived. Just think of all those men who are still pushing the four horsemen on out in front of where we are: not even realizing that the first three have already finished their ride; and that the fourth one is riding now; and will continue until the end. That is why the church world is groping in darkness: God let them run after their educated theologians until they have forsaken all the light their forefathers were privileged to walk in. Because they had no love for the truth, God sent them strong delusions just like His word says He would do. Is God unjust? No. Absolutely not. They every one had the same opportunity to hear and believe the truth that we had. They chose to believe Billy Graham and Jimmy Swaggart, rather than a simple little man anointed of God for this hour. Just like the song says, When the Lord gets ready, you have got to move.

THE FIFTH SEAL

When you come to the 5th seal, you find that it has a past and a future fulfillment. When we were privileged to see that the first part of the 5th seal was pointing to that great martyrdom of Jews back in WW2, it is easy to see how the little season points to the years between WW2 and the great tribulation. That little season of time cannot be one hundred years. It is going to be no longer than what God calls a generation of human beings in the last days. It is not how I look at a generation, but how God looks at a generation. That little season and a generation have to coincide and work in harmony with the plan of God. That all has to dove tail into the 6th chapter of Hosea where it says, “After two days (which means after two thousand years) will He (God) revive us: in the third day He (God) will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.” When we begin to look at all the dispersion of the nation of Jews since 70 A.D., and how so many of them are finding their way back home after so long, we have to realize we must be getting close to that terminating point of those two days: which are one thousand years each. Therefore that little season between WW2 and the great tribulation when so many other Jews (their fellow- servants) will be killed like they were (by a madman, the antichrist) will finish out the two days Hosea wrote about; and then it will be time for God to raise them up and let them live in His sight (in the Millennium, the third day). We can read the scriptures pertaining to the 5th seal. (Rev. 6:9-11) “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: (That was the Jews slaughtered by Hitler’s purge.) And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” Yes brothers and sisters, in that dark tribulation hour just ahead, there will be slaughtered the rest of those fellow brethren that are to be martyred as those were in Hitler’s holocaust; and that will finish out the fifth seal. Saints, I thank and praise God for the Spirit of revelation He gives to those that are foreknown of Him.

THE SIXTH SEAL

We can easily understand what the 6th seal is, because it is the revelation of Jesus Christ coming back to earth and the pouring out of God’s wrath as that week of Daniel is brought to a close. We will read those verses (Revelation 6:12-17) so you can get the picture. All of that is a description of what the earth will be like when the wrath of God is finally poured out upon the wicked that are left alive then. (12) “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; (13) And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. (14) And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (15) And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; (16) And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: (17) For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Saints just be thankful to God that He saw fit to spare us from all of that. Even the foolish virgins will not be involved in that; for they will be martyred before that event comes.

ABOUT THE SEVENTH SEAL

Regardless of what some say, the 7th seal was not broken. Thirty years have passed since the first six were opened and revealed and the question could be asked, Where is the seventh seal? Where does it fit into the picture? The seventh seal pertains to the coming of the Lord. It will be broken to the Gentile bride as time moves to the point where God is getting ready to turn His attention back to the Jews for the seventieth week of Daniel. Revelation 8:1 shows the breaking of the seventh seal and the half hour of silence in heaven; and the rest of chapter 8, deals with the seven trumpet angels in connection with the ministry of the two prophets in the first half of that week. In chapter 10, we see a glimpse of what takes place when the seventh seal is broken. A mighty angel comes down from heaven with a little scroll open in His hand. He sets one foot on land and the other foot on the sea, (which shows universal dominion) and cries out with a loud voice; and when He cries out seven thunders utter their voices. What are we looking at? What does such a picture portray? Again I say to you, This is an angel anointed to portray the image of the Lord Jesus Christ: when He leaves the mercy seat and comes to earth to claim all of those whose names are written in the little scroll He has open in His hand. All of those names written therein have been interceded for and it is time to take them to glory; but first those who are still alive, and of the bride Church, have to hear the prophecies of the seven thunders which will be ready to sound at that time. This is why I have said, The thunders spoken of in the 3rd verse will not sound their voices 10 or 15 years in advance of the week of Daniel starting. No, saints, when the seventh seal is opened and this mighty angel comes down from heaven and cries with a loud voice, it will be time for those seven thunders (anointed men) to begin to sound their voices to the bride Church: to give her final instructions pertaining to the coming of the Lord. When that takes place, it will be time for the Spirit of God to turn back to the Jews: to finish out Daniel’s prophecy; and the rapture of the Gentile bride will be close at hand. I have never been able to see a rapture of the Church taking place years before the seventieth week of Daniel starts; and then have time just dragging on waiting for God to go to the Jews. It will not be like that. There is always a linking, or we will say, a connecting point. We have to bring all these things together. Notice verses 5 and 6 of chapter 10. “And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up His hand to heaven, And sware by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer.” That literally means, There will be delay no longer. The time of transition is at hand. The gospel goes to the Jews and the bride goes up: to be with the Lord at the marriage supper. Hallelujah! But everything will have to be in God’s order. We cannot rush it up, nor can we delay it. When the Lord gets ready, we have to move.

REEMPHASIZING CERTAIN IMPORTANT POINTS DISCUSSED

After looking at the various points of this message, I want to bring in this statement. In the 1st chapter of Revelation as God was speaking to John, remember, this was an angelic being acting in the person of Jesus the Christ. That is why it closes out in chapter 22, verse 16, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” Notice in the 1st chapter, verse 8, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” That all comes from the speech of deity, but it is an angel being anointed and used to come to John and do the speaking. I am not educated in English; but when I said earlier, The angel speaks in the first person, I hope all of you know what I meant. It literally means the angel is not speaking of himself. The spirit that has anointed the angel is causing him to say and speak forth the mind, the words of the one that is to be exemplified. You say, Bro. Jackson, I still do not get the thought. Think of it like this, When Jesus was here, and they looked at Him, He was a literal man. Right? They saw a literal person standing there. Yet when you would hear Him say this, I and the Father are one, or The words that I speak unto you are not mine, but they are His that sent me: you know He was representing another other than Himself. Over and over He said those things; because the Son was not seeking to draw attention to His person. The words spoken were to draw attention to the divine deity that was actually doing the speaking. That is why at the end of His ministry He could say He had given to them the words the Father gave Him. He has manifested Him, declared His name, and it was all done through a man. Yet you come to the experience John had and find that it was all done through the ministry of an angel. Through an angelic being anointed to declare and manifest the image of Jesus, the immortal Christ, who is in heaven. That is why when John turned, he saw one like unto the Son of man. That is what he was supposed to see; but keep in mind, it is how the anointing, the Holy Ghost had anointed the angel to portray the personage, or the image of Jesus Christ to the church. That is why everything in the second and third chapters of the book of Revelation is printed in red letters. It is speaking how Jesus is High Priest. His image is being preached and proclaimed through the Gentile Church. Every bit of it is in God’s plan, to mold you and me into the image and likeness of Jesus. Not the fleshly profile of the man, but the spiritual image of Him. You and I have to see the characteristics, the spiritual attitude and the motives and everything that caused Jesus to go about doing the things He did. He walked completely in obedience to the mind and will of the Father. When you leave the 3rd chapter and come to the 4th chapter, watch that. You do not see any more red letter words until you get to Revelation 22; but you do see an angel talking to John. I want you to notice, when we come to the 19th chapter. We have read it already; but the 10th verse shows us that John is being escorted by an angelic being. “And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” To me, that says the day will come, after the Church begins to move toward an hour of complete perfection, being separated from all the religious mess she has passed through, and looking forward with a true picture and understanding of what God is doing in their respective lives, God will absolutely speak to her through the prophetic utterances of His anointed ministers. Keep in mind, these anointed men, not from one nation, but from all over the world, as God anoints them, they are not going to be preaching doctrine, baptism, repentance, and holiness and those things. That all belongs to the gospel that brought her to this hour. They are going to be used to bring forth a prophetic, informative picture of how people should see themselves in relationship to where they are; and of how to look toward the coming of Jesus Christ. By that time, the makings for this last week of Daniel will be laying on the political table of world politics. We will see things in the Middle East that will begin to stand out vividly. Israel, now ready to trade land for peace, will be maneuvered by the hand of God more and more into a place that will allow God to fulfill all these scriptural prophecies that somehow or other politicians, right now in Israel are willing to ignore. The Bible tells us that the day is coming that God will make the governors of Judah a terror to them round about. By the time Rabin, Peres and all of those get finished compromising, it will be hard to even guess what is going to take place next. Regardless of how things may go for a little while, we do not have another 25 or 30 years for playing around with the things that are presently pressing for attention. Everything is moving very close. When we see it start clicking, I want my heart to be in good shape with the Lord. Just remember, When the time comes for those thunders to sound, the Church will already be perfected: completely clothed in righteousness. She will just be waiting on the coming of the Bridegroom. When those thunders sound, I am convinced the Bride, all over this world, is going to be told things she has never known; and at this present time could not know. Right now, she is not in a mental shape to even grasp what God has in store for her, in a prophetic way. Why do I say that? There is still too much carnality present. She is still too deeply involved in the things of this world: planning for another thirty or forty years here. Some of you young people will never see the day you have to wear false teeth. That is just my way of saying, There is not that much time left. If the Bible is true, and I know it is, some of you will never see a gray hair. Why do I say that? Because I see a generation and a people that God is dealing with. Right now, to the religious world, you cannot see it; but if you will begin to listen how people are beginning to feel in their hearts, and how they suddenly see themselves in the word, this lets me know we do not have another fifteen years to listen to men throw this message in seven different ways. It is time we found out for sure, that there is a message to be followed; but also that there are a lot of other things injected into the message that are not part of the message. They are things God just allowed various one’s to tack on to it, to give carnal mind’s something to play with.

JOHN LOOKING AT THE THRONE

When you get to the 4th chapter of Revelation, you find that John is in heaven: standing right before the throne. There, is the immortal Christ invested with all the ancient authority of the Creator. That is why His face now looks like a sardine stone. Notice as John stood looking at that throne, and around about that throne was this rainbow, and around that throne was these 24 elders, and even around that was an innumerable company of angels. Listen carefully. The immortal one sitting in the throne is a silent figure. But John is being escorted by an angel. Even when it came to the seals, who was talking? Both an angel and an elder. Read it. It is all right in there. The immortal Christ sitting on the throne did not say a word. Even when John saw the Lamb, that Lamb came right out of the throne. That was the Spirit’s way of portraying that the one literally sitting there in an immortal body form was the Lamb of God that had been slain, buried, and then raised from the dead. As far as John was concerned, he saw a literal animal coming right out of the throne like that. You and I know, that such an animal having seven horns and seven eyes, would be a freak of nature. In the Law period on earth, could you have offered such an animal as that on the Jewish altar? Absolutely not. It would not have been accepted. Therefore you have to realize the animal was not literal. What John was seeing was only symbolic of the attributes and authority delegated to the person who was sitting there holding that little scroll. Authority was to be delegated unto Him by the Eternal Spirit; and this shows transition of authority. That is what it brings out; and the person sitting there is silent: saying nothing. It is the angel that is escorting John and one of the elders that do the talking. Having seen that, let us go directly to the 21st chapter. He is already in heaven. He has been moved from one scene to another. He saw many developments of things take place. In the 21st chapter, in the 9th verse, we find these words, “And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither.” This is one of the seven vial angels entering the picture here; and as we move to the 15th verse of that same chapter we find this, (It is not in red letters.) “And he that talked with me had a golden reed.” Who was talking to John? An angel. Do you catch the point? The person of the throne is not saying a word. It is an angel doing the talking. Go to the 22nd chapter now. “And he showed me a pure river.” Who did this? An angel did it. Go on down to the 6th verse. “And he said unto me.” It was not the person of Jesus doing the talking; but notice the 7th verse. The same one that said, “And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done,” said all of this. But now we come to some red letter words again. “Behold, I come quickly.” That should tell you the angel speaks in the first person, because the angel is not saying, behold I come quickly for himself: but for the One he represents. The words are in the first person, pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, behold He comes quickly. It is all carried out through an angelic being. It is things like this, that many years ago got some of the old oneness people all on the kick, that when Jesus went away His body was dissolved and went into gases, and the spirit of life that He was, went back and infused itself with the Father. Therefore they make it Jesus only and say He is not coming again in bodily form: He only comes in spirit form. That is as wrong as wrong can be. The reason I say these things, is because of the various ideas people have about the Godhead. You take in the Trinitarian church world for instance: they emphatically declare that they see three thrones in heaven. They may as well say that, when you look at what they teach. It makes no difference how you present the 4th and 5th chapters of Revelation to them, they still see three thrones in heaven. They refuse to see it any other way. There is no where in the entire Bible, New Testament or the Old, that you see three thrones in heaven. There is only one throne, and there is only one person seen sitting on that throne. That is the immortal Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was taken up and invested with all the divine glory and majesty of the Father’s complete being. God manifested that in the person of His Son, and positioned Him in heaven delegating all authority to Him, that He should be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body. Since you and I do not know Jesus by having had contact with the flesh man, we have been taught by the apostle Paul: that we must know Him by the Spirit, and so it is the Spirit of God, because it is omnipotent, it is omniscient, and it is always omnipresent. He can take that Spirit that He is, and project an image to you and me; and convey to us through that image any thing He sees fit to. That is why with John here He was using the office of an angelic being to inform him, and make possible all these things we see written in the book of Revelation, which is a prophecy. Just a couple more verses, and we will conclude this. We come on down to the 9th verse, a verse we have already looked at, and find these words, “Then saith he unto me.” It is still the angel talking. It is not red letters in the red letter editions. Then we come on to the 12th verse, and notice there. The angelic figure is not speaking to draw identification to himself: However it is red letter words. Therefore the angel speaks in the first person. “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, (the same thing said in the first chapter) the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” It ends right there. It becomes black letter words again. Then in the 16th verse it says this, and notice how it is worded. “I Jesus (the first person) have sent mine angel (that is who John had been looking at; and that is who had been escorting John) to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” From there on it goes back to black letter words. It is how the angel communicates and leads and directs John. Now Bro. Jackson: Why did you bring all those things in? So we can have a better picture of how Revelation was written, and of how to understand it. Who was it actually doing the talking? Who did John really see? Not the literal person a lot of people think he saw. It was an angel doing all of the talking. That is why I say, Somewhere in front of us, I do not know when; but when that time does come, God is going to use seven men, just as simple as simple can be; and they are going to speak to the bride of Christ, those prophetic things He wants her to hear. That is why I believe He could use the image of Bro. William Branham, the prophet messenger to this Age, to convey to them certain things. Because the age of Gentile Christendom has become like it is, I have no problem in seeing how God would use that image, for that purpose. These men can no doubt have a vision or a dream, seeing that man come to them and begin to speak to them of things relative to present tense world conditions and how to look at the coming of Jesus Christ for His Church. That is why I believed it was typed back there on the Mt. of Transfiguration: when Jesus took with Him three disciples; and allowed them to see the vision with Moses and Elijah talking to Him about what was facing Him. As I was telling a brother on the telephone yesterday, When Jesus took Peter, James, and John and went up on the Mt. of Transfiguration, there was given a prophetic type that before Jesus could come as He was seen all glorified in His Millennium appearance, He would be forerun by two prophets who were characterized there in the vision. I said also to the brother, Notice, in the vision the disciples did not hear these prophets talking to Jesus about the Millennium, which they were to forerun. They heard them talking to Jesus about the things He, the Son of God, was to soon suffer at Calvary. If it was important that Jesus, our Lord and Savior, who being the man He was, and already seen Himself in the Psalms, in Isaiah, and also Jeremiah, and knowing every one of those scriptures pertained to Him, to have those prophets of old speak to Him like that, why should it be so unthinkable that the prophet to this age do likewise for the Church that was brought out of Babylon by his ministry? Why was it necessary for Jesus to be spoken to like that? Keep in mind, He was told things that He would have to suffer. I have to say, These were things He did not see by reading scriptures pertaining to Himself. Do you catch my point of illustration? God could have sent an angel to Him; but it was the image of two prophets sent to Him. Just think about it: those three disciples were allowed to see that. That is why Matthew wrote about it in that manner. God used the images of two old prophets to vindicate something. That was the two greatest anointings that have ever rested on mortal man. Moses and Elijah were both mightily used of God. That is why they will appear in the Jewish sector as time goes into this week of Daniel. They will minister for a thousand, two hundred and threescore days. If God can do that for the Jewish people, then here is what I am looking at: In Revelation 10:7, where it says, (By this time the seven thunders have already sounded.) “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” The word should is not an instantaneous expression. It is just like me saying, I hear you’re getting ready to build a new house. Yes sir. Do you have the plans? Yes sir. Do you have the contractor? Yes sir. When do you figure you will have it done? Well the contractor says if there is good weather we should have it done in three months. Do you see what the word should is applicable to? It pertains to a progressive period of time. You would not get a contractor to say, Well the way things are going right now, I would say ten years. You would not even want a man like that. You want a man that has the means and knows what he is doing. That is why in that verse, the mystery of God, meaning the calling out of the church, the body of Christ, should, it will definitely be completed. It is also why that angel cried in the 6th verse. When he cried, the seven thunders uttered; and he then sware by Him that liveth forever and ever that time should be no longer. Why then? Because both times the word should appears, it is pointing to the time that elapses after the thunders are sounded. Some will say, Bro. Jackson, I have a problem here. That is what gets me. That is why I brought this out like this. They have everything Bro. William Branham ever said memorized to the core. They think everything God is going to do has to be exactly the way they have memorized all of that. That is why I say, Sure he saw seven angels; but what he saw in Arizona has nothing to do with these seven men. Well don’t you believe they have to be under those seven angels? What does that have to do with God’s plan? I believe there is more than seven angels in the whole family of God. Those seven angels are the seven spiritual angelic beings that walked with these various men through time. They can absolutely be all manifested in and through the ministry of that man, because that is pertaining to the gospel message; but this is something different than that. What kind of angel do you think he had? I have just read it to you: if you caught the picture. Sure there was an angel guiding Paul. Sure there was an angel guiding John. It did not have to be the same one either. If that were the case back here, then we have to look at something way back here. That is why I say, God is going to pull a trick on those who think they have everything figured out by something Bro. William Branham said. It is not a game of hide and seek. It is not a game of riddles. It is how we understand the Spirit of God and how through time He has shown that He can work in conjunction with man, using angels, or even the image of a man, a prophet, in order to put forth His purpose. Since the Gentile church world is so bitterly against the name William Branham, I can see God using His image with the bride of Christ: to lift it up. That is vindication that He was God’s messenger to this age. May God bless you every one. Amen