WE ARE STILL ON THE MESSAGE, “WHAT IS PERFECTION?” THERE COULD BE MANY DEFINITIONS GIVEN FOR IT, BUT I WILL SAY AGAIN, IT IS THE PROCESS OF BRINGING AN OBJECT OR THING TO A REQUIRED STATE, OR LIKENESS. IN THE SENSE OF A PERSON, OBTAINING THE DESIRED QUALITY OR THE EMBODIMENT OF ATTRIBUTES. WE DO KNOW THIS, AS PERTAINING TO THE BRIDE OF CHRIST IT STRICTLY HAS TO BE SOMETHING THAT HAS AN EFFECT ON THE ENTIRE BODY OF CHRIST. THE CHURCH IN UNITY, AS SHE OBTAINS MORE AND MORE OF THE MEASURE OF THE STATURE OF THE FULNESS OF CHRIST, (AS PAUL EXPRESSED IN EPHESIANS 4:13) ALL THAT JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF WAS BEGINS TO BE EXPRESSED THROUGH THAT ONE BODY. NATURALLY WHEN WE SPEAK OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, WE ARE REFERRING TO THE BODY OF TRUE BELIEVERS, AND NOT TO JUST ANY AND EVERYTHING THAT CLAIMS TO BE OF THE BODY OF CHRIST. THE LARGER PERCENTAGE OF PROFESSING CHRISTIANS ARE STILL HOLDING ON TO THEIR THREE PERSON GODHEAD AND THERE IS NO WAY THOSE WHO DO NOT REALLY KNOW WHETHER GOD IS ONE OR THREE CAN EVER COME INTO SCRIPTURAL PERFECTION. YOU NEED NOT EVEN ASK IF THEY CAN BE OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, BECAUSE THOSE WHO ARE, ALREADY KNOW GOD IS ONE SOVEREIGN SPIRIT; AND THAT HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON JESUS, WAS AND IS THE ONLY PERSON OF THE GODHEAD. THE QUESTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN ASKED IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS HAVE WEIGHED UPON MY MIND UNTIL I FEEL LED TO PREACH THIS PARTICULAR MESSAGE ON PERFECTION. I BELIEVE WE CAN ANSWER MOST OR ALL OF THOSE QUESTIONS IN THIS ONE MESSAGE

When you see something that has been designed to function in unity, that is composed of more than one part, that points you to perfection. It can be expressed in animals as well as human beings. It is easy to see one particular animal doing what he knows to do, but for an example, let us look at a team of horses. You are breaking a team of horses to work together, and maybe they both initially had a very wild and ambitious spirit, wanting to break loose and each one go its own way, but sooner or later they have to be made to knuckle down and work in harmony. That is not always easy to obtain, but it is obtainable. I remember, when I was a young boy growing up we had a neighbor that logged. He would either use horses or mules because he logged out in the hills. At that time there were individuals that had caterpillar tractors, but a tractor was very expense compared to income back then. A little too expensive for a man to buy for the logging business. This man bought a team of horses from somewhere in Kentucky. One was a male, the other a female, but both of the same breed. The man that he bought them from had worked the horses so hard, he had pulled the female horse blind. This log man bought them both. I am only using this as an illustration. It did not matter how thick the brush was, he could drive them down into the woods to a log, turn them around and hook on. The male horse had good sight: the female was a little larger than the male, about 150 pounds heavier, but blind. I think often about those animals. He could start them with that log, right up through the brush and know they would go where he wanted them to go. The mare was always a half step ahead of the male, but that male horse used his head against her neck to guide her. The man would drop the lines on the ground and turn them loose. The male horse knew where the log yard was, so away they would go. They were two big Belgians. When you turned them loose, you could hear leather squeaking and brush popping as they headed for the log yard. That male horse would put his head against the neck of that female horse, and I never heard of them ever straddling a tree. That male horse would guide her one way or the other, right back to the yard. That is what you call working together. That means each one knows his or her part. When they can work together in harmony, they get something done, but not when each one is wanting to do their own thing, their own way, at any time they want to: That only brings confusion. Those animals were so well trained, that when he would move from one job to another one, all he had to do was put two short racks on the side of the log truck and drive them up on it, still in the harness. They would stand there with their heads over the cab, looking around, like they enjoyed the trip down the road. They never acted up in any way. It seemed like they knew what they were doing and why they were there, like, Well, we are going somewhere else to work. It was like they enjoyed what they were doing. That man loved those horses and I believe you can see why. I never saw or even heard of him abusing an animal. He just seemed to have a way of talking to them, that caused them to do exactly what they were expected to do. If we can learn to be like those two horses, each one knowing his or her part, there is nothing that can hold us back. You remember what I preached last Sunday, so today, I want to indulge in this part in this manner, knowing young people are looking for an era of excitement. It is an exciting thing to be brought into an anointing and to be used of God, but let me say this, There is a proper place in the whole family of God for young people to function, but please do not ever allow yourself to think that young people, regardless of how hungry they may be for the things of God, are going to be allowed to set the front line agenda for whatever God does to bring His Church to its final state of perfection. The world of religion today is doing everything it possibly can, trying to hold on to young people, but an awful lot of what they are doing is just not according to God’s way of dealing with people. Back in the late 1950’s and 1960’s, there was a young man that was supposed to have been converted by the grace of God, whose name was Nicki Cruz, out of the street gangs of New York City. There was an article printed and titled, “Nicki Cruz and the Switchblade Knife.” Denominational churches were booking him right and left. It looked like from one viewpoint, that was the kind of ministry it would take to get the job done, and I could not help but think, That might be attractive to the denominational world, because it is appealing to young people. It was exciting, but time has passed and now you do not hear any more about him. It was just like a strong wind blowing: it had an affect, but that is not the thing that is going to put God’s Church together. God never used that kind of man in beginning, no matter how professional they may have been with the sword, to start the Church: He used men that had a head on their shoulders; men that had been able to survive the corruption of society and had reached a certain stage in life where they could be counted on. As I say these things, I realize we are all waiting for the hour to come, when there will be a certain kind of move of God. Therefore I say, Young people, do not just sit here thinking you are not in God’s plan; you are; and I am going to prove it to you by scriptures. I must also say to you though, Do not think that some day there is going to be something hit a whole camp of young people, and here you go down Broadway, healing everybody you come in contact with. Get that out of your mind first of all. It never worked that way in the days of the apostles, and it has not been like that since then, so it is not going to end up like that. I do not know why some people, when they get under the anointing, think the whole world is going to repent and get right with God and all be healed. Did it ever occur to you, that the scripture says, As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God?

(Rom. 8:14) “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” That means sons as well as daughters, both. It should not take a truck load of dynamite exploding, to make some people wake up and realize it is time to be led by the Spirit of God. We have to have a head on our shoulders, to know when God has spoken to us, and in what manner, and for what purpose.

GOD HAS HIS WAYS

Go with me to the book of Acts. We are going to let the scriptures speak to us. Perfection is going to be a work of the Spirit of God, brought about in our lives in such ways it will not be something you see coming down the road. It will be accomplished within a time factor. It will be brought about by world conditions, things that necessitate the Spirit of God to work with individuals to bring about and set in motion His plan and purpose. In the book of Acts we read how God led certain ones, (and this is after the apostle Paul had come back out of Arabia) and we find in another place, where Paul had spent about three years in Arabia. He did not go to college to try to learn how to be led by the Spirit of God. No seminary can teach that. He just got away from society, alone with God; and the Spirit of God led him through HIS Word, opening up the revelation of things that had been hidden to mankind previously. There in the Arabian Desert, is where he fasted and prayed, because that conversion, the experience he had on the road to Damascus, shook him emotionally all to pieces. He was bent on going to Damascus to arrest a bunch of those Jews he considered to be heretics, and take them back to Jerusalem where he could bring them through the Sanhedrin Court and eventually get rid of them. He thought he was doing the right thing, up to the point when he had the experience on the road to Damascus. The anointing presence of the Lord knocked him off his horse. Do not think he was walking from Jerusalem to Damascus. If he was not riding a camel, he was riding a horse. When that light struck him, he collapsed. The Spirit of the Lord spoke to him. He was smitten blind. He went on into the city with the help of those with him. There, a Christian man by the name of Ananias, whom the Lord had spoken to saying, Go out into the street called Straight, and go to a certain man’s house and enter and you will find there a man by the name of Saul of Tarsus: He is praying. Well you know the story. From that time on, according to his own testimony in the area of Antioch, he went off into Arabia. He wrestled with this thing that had taken place in his life; and out of there he came, with a revelation God had given him for his hour. He did not run up and down the streets from assembly to assembly, asking, Can I preach for you this morning, can I do this or that? He went right into Antioch and sat down. He was sitting there listening, just waiting upon the Lord. We will begin reading in verse 1, of Acts 13. “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. (2) As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. (3) And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” This was the beginning of God leading this man. I have heard people say, people that have come out of denominational church systems, when you begin to give the requirements for a man in the ministry, that if a man has absolutely been a drunken sot, and has caused families to be broken up, has ran around with other men’s wives, that is a bad example for a man to try to be a minister in the bride of Christ. What about Paul? Look at all the people he had killed. We have to remember, Paul did not have any of them killed because they robbed a bank. It was for a religious cause, and he thought he was fulfilling what the Torah required by having them stoned to death. He treated them like heretics. Can we say though, that Paul, in his social life, was a rough neck, a trouble maker and carouser that ran after women? We all know better, so just leave that as it is. There were at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers. Let me say this, In the end time Church, there is going to be certain prophets also. They are not going to come down the road in Cadillacs with a big plaque on the side of the car to draw attention: They will just be dedicated and genuine fellows who are committed to serving the Lord, but men who have been used in this function earlier to prove their ability to function in this capacity. What about teachers? We cannot be without them. Notice who the Lord chose, and how He chose them. Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, (the great teacher) and Saul, were fasting and praying, and the Holy Ghost said, (Now this was not somebody suddenly one night in a service, walking over to Paul or Barnabas, I just feel led to tell you thus and so. It could be like that, but that is not the primary means the Lord uses for this sort of thing. The Spirit spoke, Separate me these two.) “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.” That means some person in that assembly had been anointed for this occasion. That person had absolutely spoke out audibly, publicly, Separate me Barnabas and Saul. How many can see that? This was not a committee running some program in the church. This was a sovereign act of God, because the hour of necessity had arrived. Paul had sat here long enough, patiently waiting until he knew the will of God for his life. Here is the other important ingredient in the entire thing, “And when they had fasted and prayed, (This means there were certain individuals in that congregation that were gifted. Before they will do anything further, and I am not saying they went on a forty day fast, or a ten day fast, but undoubtedly they had decided, We are going to fast a meal tomorrow and gather with these men, because we want to commit them to the work of the Lord.) and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” You can see here, that the Holy Ghost did set in motion the beginning of a man’s ministry. He is the man that we are going to read about today, because this man, in my view and feelings, knew exactly what perfection would be once it is accomplished. He is the one that wrote the Epistle to the Ephesian assembly. What we are focusing on here, is the beginning of Paul’s own ministry. All these scriptures we will read today, speak of what Paul had learned, how the Holy Spirit has taught him and brought him from time to time and place to place, to be able to minister to people and show them the necessity of depending upon the Holy Ghost to really know what the Lord would have them do. Let us now go to the 16^th chapter of the book of Acts. This is where Paul and Silas are on their second missionary journey. The 6^th verse says, “Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, (Notice what the Holy Ghost has said.) and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.” Somewhere the Holy Spirit has spoken to, or through one of them, concerning this trip. They were not left at their own will. They had purposed to go to a certain place, but then the Holy Ghost constrained them. We are living in a day when people seem to be so anxious to do something, especially out in the denominational realm, that they do not want to wait upon the Lord. Bro. William Branham had to put up with that kind of thing, like, many times he would say to a brother when invited to come, If the Lord speaks to me I will be there. He would always wait on that. Many times though, the one he had said that to, would not take it in the way Bro. William Branham meant it, and later on he would receive a call, Well you said you were coming, but you never did. That was because they would not wait on God to bring it about. This made him a man publicly spoken about, because the denominational world ran by programs and time was limited. On and on they go like that. They set an agenda, and they are ready to spend a lot of money to set it in motion, but they are not willing to wait upon the Lord for direction. It looks like it should have good results from the standpoint of numbers. That looks sweet to the denominational world, but in the eyes of God it is all the manipulation of the ingenuity of human beings. It has no inspiration from the Spirit of God whatsoever. That is why, when we read the Bible in its entirety, and with sincerity, we cannot possibly see the Bride coming out of all this mixture that has been put together by the instrumentality of educated men, and many times by men using political means to maneuver and brings things into certain situations. Well let me get back to Paul and Silas. They were forbidden to preach the word in Asia. “After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.” You can see by this, that those men were sensitive to the Spirit of God. They no doubt got up one morning with a feeling that affected their mental thinking, and as they meditated concerning this feeling, they began to hear, Stay out of there, do not waste your time going there. They had good intentions, thinking they would go over there and preach the gospel to those people, because they had already been that way once before: not Silas, but Barnabas was with Paul the other time. They came with good intentions, but here the Holy Spirit is constraining them. You could actually say, He is propelling them. God has His ways of moving us in a certain direction, if we are committed to His leading. Let me sat this, We are looking for a perfect Church, and we know it is coming, but we certainly realize it has not materialized yet, but believe me, it is not going to be twenty five years off, because we are moving rapidly toward it. God is going to create necessities, and in the proper time factor He will move on various ones: therefore we have got to learn between now until then, that if something like this begins to happen to us, we are not ready to run down Broadway yelling, Come here and watch God work. Go somewhere and sit down and be ready to do what the Holy Spirit tells you to do. It is just a simple matter of being willing to wait on the Lord. The Spirit suffered them not, would not allow them to go where they had planned to go. “And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; (This could have been one of those night visions like Daniel had, but it is more like a dream, a dynamic dream no doubt, because of the way they explain it.) There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored (put in motion a new route) to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.” With directions like that, they knew they would not have to hunt for a place to preach when they got there, because the Spirit of God that spoke to them to go, had already set the stage for their ministry when they arrived there.

SPEAKING FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Paul and Barnabas set forth on their journey, and you can read in the book of Acts what followed. That was the beginning of what took place at Philippi, the first conversions in eastern Europe. Let us just watch and learn, as we see how the Holy Spirit leads this man Paul. That is why, when I read the letter written to the Ephesian Assembly, (written to them by Paul) which was the model church in that first age of the Pentecostal Church we will say, or the outreach of Christianity, I see a man, that by his own experiences with the Holy Spirit, was very qualified to speak. It was not always through Paul, that the Spirit would speak, because we read where He was speaking to others also. Speaking to others and through others that he met, others that had the Holy Ghost, Paul found his entire life being directed by the Spirit of God. That brings us to the 20^th chapter of Acts. Paul is now on his journey back, out of this big trip he has taken. Many churches had been established. We are going to start here in the 20^th verse, when He was on his way back to Jerusalem. He has been away from there a long time. He was still a Jew and had much affection for the Jewish people at Jerusalem. Being away from there that long caused him to cultivate a hunger, or great desire to see them. He is testifying to the elders of Ephesus. (20^th verse), “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Now watch what he says.) And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit (Why did he say, I go bound in the spirit? Why did he not just say, I go, but I just don’t feel good about it. Watch what he says. I go bound in the spirit . . . ) unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save (or except) that the Holy Ghost (What is this Holy Ghost? That is the Spirit of God. He convicts us of sin, He is what draws us to the plan of salvation, He is what we have to depend on to direct us so that we can be taught what He wants us to know. Notice, Save, or except, that the Holy Ghost . . . ) witnesseth in every city.” Don’t think Paul was walking down Broadway and somebody walks up to him and speaks. He was on his way to Jerusalem, but I see him working his way back through these little congregations that he has established in months gone by. He is going from place to place giving his testimony and seeing how they are functioning and progressing. It goes to show, that somewhere the people in these groups have received the Holy Ghost. He no sooner gets there, somebody stands up and prophesies, or gives a message in tongues and interprets, My servant Paul, stay out of Jerusalem, wicked men are going to bind you and you are going to suffer many things. I am using those words to dramatize the situation. Why do I say that? Because the Holy Ghost witnesseth, speaks concerning his future. Why is this? It lets us know God was concerned about his future and what he has done in the past. He did not say, This is an idea of my own: He could say the Holy Ghost has assuredly spoken that bonds and afflictions, troubles are ahead. “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself.” So we can see, here is a man that can teach people how to be led by the Spirit of God, and from among those same people, here is the Holy Spirit telling him what to beware of, but we also see a man with his own mind made up. Let us move over to the 21^st chapter. He has come to another place. He is on his way to Jerusalem. Starting with the 4^th verse we read this, “And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: (Notice) who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.” These people that tell him that are not politicians and people from the mayor’s office. They are Holy Ghost filled Christians. Somewhere the Holy Ghost has inspired one or two of them to stand up and speak something. I have to say, Many times this is where a dream or vision can come in. It is like I said last Sunday, When you start preaching old men and young men seeing dreams and visions, and think that is going to be a great big move of just that, you are headed for a fall. You do not read it in the Bible that way. Look how it is dramatized in the book of Acts. That is only a furtherance of the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. They do not have to come by a dream or vision. I can say this, Knowledge can come like that also: I have had it happen to me. I am not ashamed of it, but I am not running up and down Broadway broadcasting it either. I have become very concerned about certain things that are going on. I have prayed about it, I have tried to read and find a solution. I have asked God to give me a dream or something. No dream came, but God has a way of taking your mind and putting a thought in there. You do not read it somewhere else, it is how God plants a thought in your own mind, like, Don’t do it, stay away from it, avoid it. You can carry that in your mind for days. You look for every avenue you can, hoping to get around it, but it will not leave you. You do not cook it up yourself. It is something that God put in there; and it stays there until the thing is reconciled. If we obey it, then many times God can continue to speak to us in that same manner. It is when we are not sensitive enough to some of these things, that we miss what God is doing with us, and when I say that, it does not mean you should go around telling everybody, Oh I have a thought in my mind, I don’t know whether I should do it or not. Carry it in your heart. Why tell the world about it? That is always wrong. By the time you get through hearing everybody else’s advice, I promise you, your mind will be so cluttered up, you will forget about that particular thought. Some things are for you just to keep to yourself: you do not tell anyone. If you can do that, then God can trust you to be a person He can lead in that way. There can come the hour then, when He will not lead you that way: He will give you a dream or vision that will let you know in a split second, Stay away from it, or go do this. As we get back to our scripture, notice “Who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.” This is another group of people, and the Holy Spirit is saying the same thing. How much more shall this man be talked to? Well they left there, so we go to the 6^th verse which says, “And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship; and they returned home again. And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day. And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. (He was one of the deacons at Jerusalem. You find that in the early part of Acts. He is now living in the area of Caesarea. They were going to stay all night there, in his house. Now young people, listen to this.) And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” I say to you young people, This is something that tells you that young people do have a place in the plan of God. It may be in a house, it may be in the local assembly, but it is not getting in a car and going from here to New York, then to Los Angels prophesying along the way. Forget it, if you start that, you just as well come home. You can see a lot of country, but you will not see much of God working in your life. It would look good to do it that way, but remember, God has young people out there also, just as He has young people anywhere you could go, that He could use the same way. He might want to use them, instead of you. Why would He need you to go from here to there? I hope you understand what I am talking about. We are talking about a Church knowing how to function in the plan of God. Those daughters of Philip that prophesied, I do not see them in their twenties: I see them in their teens. I am convinced, that as Paul sat there in that house, he could not help but feel thankful that he could be associated with people that could be used by the Holy Ghost like those young girls were. He had to be proud of it, because they not only could prophesy, they knew how to prophesy and when, because God had dealt with their young lives. God is looking for that kind of obedience in His Church

MAN’S WAY

V/S

GOD’S WAY

As we leave the setting concerning Phillips daughters, we will now go to verses 10 and 11, where we see another man of God come into the picture. They were still in the same area, and still staying at Phillips house, so notice what comes next. “And as we tarried there many days, (Paul liked to stay with Philip, because he was good company, and he enjoyed the environment. It was spiritual all the way around.) there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. (This allows us to see that they had prophets also, that came into their gatherings. It mentions the name of one, Agabus. He was not an old man, but he was not a teenager either, because you see him mentioned in the earlier part of Acts. He had evidently heard through spiritual sources of communication, that this great man Paul, the man that had been among the Gentiles for many months now, was on his way back to Jerusalem. Agabus evidently has had a vision, and in the vision he had seen certain things that he, as a person, must do. So he leaves and go to Caesarea where Paul was stopping.) And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, (meaning his cloak) and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, (Now take this and go backward, back to all the place’s Paul had been testifying. Paul, stay out of Jerusalem, bonds and afflictions awaiteth thee. Everywhere he went that was what he was hearing. What was wrong with that man? He has been preaching to others about how to be led by the Spirit, but here he is refusing to listen to what the Spirit is saying, but he later pays a great price for it. He pays so much for it, that something in a letter he has written to the Romans, while he was at Corinth prior to this, never was fulfilled. What he wrote to the Romans, you can read it yourselves. To the Romans Paul wrote, I purpose to come unto you as I pass by into Spain. That is what he said. He had the future all planned out. He was telling the Roman Christians, I purpose to come to you as I pass through, on my way to Spain. That letter had already been written, but here, the Holy Spirit is saying, Don’t go to Jerusalem, don’t go to Jerusalem.) and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him (begged him) not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Then when he did get to Jerusalem and they saw who he was, the crowd rushed on him and was ready to kill him. They brought him before the centurion. They had to separate him. Read the account as he was imprisoned there for a few days. That city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. They even planned how they were going to entrap him, take him from the soldiers and kill him. You can read how his nephew was told to go tell him what the Jews were planning to do. My point in this is, This was a man that knew exactly how to be led by the Spirit of God. We can see when he first comes into the area, Don’t go here, don’t go there, and he didn’t. Then, there was the vision of Macedonia, and he went over there, and God honored it. After months and months of establishing his work over there, he had been away from Jerusalem a long time and had a great desire to see his brethren there, so he decided to go back. That was just his own personal desire. He was not led of the Spirit to go back to Jerusalem at that time. He would have been better off, to have stayed out of Jerusalem, because, from that time forward, what he saw in Jerusalem did not amount to a dime’s worth of anything; and added nothing to his ministry. Just think, the Holy Spirit was working ahead of him, because we see that when he gets to this place the Holy Spirit speaks, Stay out of Jerusalem, stay out of Jerusalem, but because of his great desire to see the saints at Jerusalem he goes on anyhow. We see in other instances how Paul was a man that really believed in being led by the Spirit, but in this case he just exercised his own human will. Take the rest of that story and see what happened to him: He never did get to go to Spain, but he did eventually wind up in Rome, as a prisoner. While in Rome as a prisoner, he wrote his epistles to Timothy. Let us go to 1^st Timothy, verse 17^th of the 1^st chapter. Listen to this, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Paul was a prisoner, but he was writing to Timothy, in 65 A.D. These are among Paul’s last writings. As for Timothy, wherever he was, he has been communicating with Paul. “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy.” Paul was not at Timothy’s place, he was a prisoner in Rome, writing to Timothy somewhere else. In that long period there had been communication between them. Paul sees the necessity to write to Timothy in this manner. “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, (This lets me know Timothy has communicated something that certain things in the Spirit has been said by someone, somewhere.) which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.” I have to say today, and I do not say it arrogantly, but if you could read some of the things I have received, you would better understand why I say some things. I received five booklets recently, all about an element of Branham followers through the Caribbean, concerning areas of South America, portions of Africa, Canada, New York City, and some from Europe. The things that are being said, taking things of Bro. William Branham’s messages and using them completely out of context and twisted the thought to suit their own ideas, bring nothing but reproach upon what our brother stood for. There are some of the most rotten supposed-to-be revelations of how God is supposed to put His Church together, based on what they have gotten. Then some within the element get to the place they realize how dangerous it has become, so they are trying to correct the whole rotten mess and what they are doing is not helping anything. All they are doing is taking a quote to correct quotes and another quote to correct more quotes. They are going in a circle. They are reading about the man, they are talking about the man, they are trying to preach the man, but they are going in circles, all because they are void of revelation that only the Spirit of God can give. Why? Because they did not hear from that man what I heard. The man I heard put me back in the Bible. I say that with firmness, and with genuine sincerity. It is a shame the way that man’s image has been dragged under the feet of carnal minded, educated people that are trying to make a name for themselves with their pretentiousness. Yet out of all this rotten mess, here and there God has got to be able to weed out and select a little nucleus of people, young people as well as older ones, stalwart, with a head on their shoulders, knowing how to listen to the Spirit of God. It is a shame, what a mess has been made out of such a precious truth. They talk about God perfecting His Church, but first they have got to have the pyramid revelation. I have a book that I cherish very much, and I will challenge any man who tries to promote any such teachings. The book I have is the history of the pyramids, compiled and written by archaeologists of England and France. Keep in mind saints, they did a lot more exploratory work in the pyramids than any American archaeologist ever thought of doing. Therefore I say to you, There is no pyramid revelation to be revealed to anyone. That is a hoax Satan has filled the mind of some with. Well why did Bro. William Branham talk about it? Bro. William Branham was a typeologist. How many know what a typeologist is? He used natural subjects to illustrate and bring out certain points of what he was teaching. In that, he would use certain scriptures to feed into it. The Church is not going to wind up as a pyramid. I can assure you of that. It is not even going to look like a pyramid. It is not going to be put together like a pyramid. However if you take the illustration he used to type this, when the Bride is perfected, the writers here tell you that the finished stone was polished and decorated on the outside, and they weighed hundreds of pounds each, but they were so precisely put together, you could hardly see where one stopped and the other began. That is perfection in the natural. Let us go to 1^st Timothy 4. I like the simplicity with which Paul wrote to this young man. You could see in the apostle Paul, he was not sitting somewhere as a big chief, saying, Now Timothy you want to watch all these that prophesy, there is a lot of fanaticism there, you never know which one is right or wrong. Did he talk like that? He did not. In the 4^th chapter and 13^th verse it says, “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.” This is just plain common sense. Timothy, you know what God said that day, when you were in that assembly and the pastor of that church stood up, you might have been sitting there, not knowing what to do. The presbyter here, meant one in charge, or pastor. Paul is trying to tell Timothy, Perk up, have a little courage. “Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting (Which means the spiritual increase you have attained. People see three years later you are greater spiritually than you were three years before. Profiting here does not mean material things, it is in spiritual progress. That thy profiting…) may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” That is just plain good old common sense, for old and young. Now let us go to 2^nd Timothy. This epistle was written in 66 A.D. There had been communication between the first epistle and this one. The apostle Paul is saying in the 2^nd verse of chapter 1, “To Timothy, my dearly beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. (That explains the godhead in simplicity, God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. We know God the Father is not a person, He is a being, a sovereign Spirit. Let me explain. You people that have written, Bro. Jackson, that is confusing when you say God is not a person. The English word, person, pertains to something that is an object. God is not an object, because He has never been seen. How can you say He is an object then? He is invisible. He is a substance, He is a being, but He is not a being that has a form or a shape. He does not exist in things like that. These things that looks like shapes, are usually how God has worked through theophany forms to convey to the earthly recipient a message of some kind.) I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; (This is Paul’s testimony to Timothy.) Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy; When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also. (He was trying to encourage him through his genetic inheritance, that he has every potential working in his behalf.) Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” This tells me that Paul, one more time, is trying to tell Timothy to take courage, look at your calling, look at your potential, your ability, and cultivate it, because in so doing you will actually be living and showing yourself to be an example of that faith that I have reminded you that your grandmother and mother had. As I have said all these things, I have tried to give people the impression that the Bride of Christ is going to come together uniquely, just the way God wants it. Once He starts putting it together, do not ever think there will be trucks with signs and tents, and crowds, going down the road, Come and see. We are not going to put on a big display that will shake the world. You cannot shake the world, and realize at the same time the Spirit of God is already withdrawing from the world. As long as the Spirit of God was dealing with the society of America, the September 11^th episode never would have happened: It is only when the overall society of America has sold themselves out to the devil, that it leaves you and me, the minority, living in a country in the shape this one is in. We can pray for it, but you are not going to change it. Look at the church world. Look at these TV evangelists. For the last thirty years I have heard them saying the greatest revival is going to be a world shaking thing just ahead. The only thing that is going to shake this world is what God does to the Middle East. I believe He is going to turn that thing around one day soon and create a condition in the Middle East that is suddenly going to begin to make men realize, especially politicians, that they have only committed themselves to a situation they do not really understand. Keep in mind, this Islamic spirit did not start out in Iraq nor Afghanistan: it started in Saudi Arabia. It come out of there into Egypt. That is why, when you read the prophecies in the right order, Israel will absolutely sweep into Egypt and make her swing through Saudi Arabia. Then, is when she heads for Iraq and the Euphrates. I realize there are people watching this over the internet that may not understand my hillbilly language, but I am saying this, Regardless of where you are or what your attitude is, I have seen so much of this Islamic bragging, and how all over the world this Islamic spirit has risen to begin a Jihad, I have no patience with it. Those who are under the spell of that spirit think it is time for them to take over the reins of the whole world. They believe it is a command from Allah. They have just set something in motion that God is going to finish. Those under that Islamic spirit have slaughtered millions in the Middle Ages, and they have boasted of their achievements, twisted the Bible to make it read like Mohammad is the great star, but there is an element of people in this world that are not accepting this lie from Satan. God is going to prove to you one day that it was not Ishmael that He accepted the offer of sacrifice from, it was Isaac, him and his seed after him. That is how it is; and that is how it is going to remain, Isaac, not Ishmael. That is why I say, Church of the Living God, God is going to take us out of here before very long, after He gets our head’s on right, our attitudes settled, and our eyes open so we can see the scriptures. Then we can look at what Bro. William Branham said, and why he said it, and know he was using it as a means to illustrate something that you did not necessarily have a type or picture of in the scriptures. I do not see how people with the right attitude and motive could ever read it any other way. I remember when he would talk about the pyramid. Let me say this to whoever hears my voice in this message, When you refuse to allow William Branham to be a man, and to see things like a man would see them, and to speak like a man would speak, then you refuse to allow him to communicate with other men in matters like that, and you give him a place he never wanted. He was not God, but he was God’s prophet messenger to this age. If the Elijah of old could say, Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have done this, tore down your altar and everything, and I am the only one left alive and they are after me, why would you look upon Bro. William Branham the way some of you do? Here Elijah sits in a cave: He was expressing the kind of man he was. But the voice of God said, Elijah, I still have seven thousand men that have not bowed their knees to Baal: you just don’t see them. Poor Elijah, running for his life. He was a man, not God. This little man you have made your god was a man too, yet he was God’s prophet. That is what you need to see. When you refuse to allow that little man to speak certain human expressions in illustrating his thought, you are missing the whole point. To him it was easy to use certain illustrative types to try to get a point across to people, because many of them did not know a bit more of what he meant than anything in the world otherwise. I have to say, That is a shame. Some people need to ask God, Help me Lord, to know how to read his messages, and also your Word.

 WE ABSOLUTELY MUST READ IT RIGHT!

Let us open our Bible to the writings to the Ephesians. Since we are dealing with what perfection is, what better place could we read than in Paul’s writings to the assembly at Ephesus? This is the writings of the apostle Paul to a what we know was a model church of that age. That is what we are all striving for, that God will bring us back to that same kind of picture in our belief toward God and our performance that goes with that belief. I am going to start in the 14^th verse of the 4^th chapter of Ephesians. “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that (Listen to this,) which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” The Church is made up of living human beings saved by the Grace of God. We were all born into this world with a mind to make decisions and to learn. Many times we feel like, Well I should be allowed to believe what I want to believe: I don’t see anything wrong with me believing what I want to believe. That may sound good in one way, but suppose I went to the bank to pay off a debt and they tell me I owe them a thousand dollars. But let us just say that I take out a one dollar bill and say, Now sir, here is a dollar: I don’t see why it cannot be equal to a thousand dollars. I am only using that as an illustration, because that is how a lot of people treat the word of God. We have got to realize everything has a value, no matter what we relate it to. If you are on a journey by yourself and you are not responsible for anything else, then travel at any speed you want to, but if you leave home with a certain objective in mind and that is a certain geographical spot, then you have to know you cannot bring that spot to you: You must journey to that spot. It is a fixed point. That is exactly what we are looking at in the Bible, God’s fixed point. The reason I am going into this message this way, is not to do away with anything Bro. William Branham said. On the internet, whoever hears my voice, I do not care where you live in this world, this man I referred to was a man of God. He was the man that used many types to illustrate spiritual points. He had every right to do that. Look at the illustration I used this morning about the man that owned the team of horses, what does that have to do with the Bible? I did not use that example to replace anything in the Bible: I used it to bring out how these two creatures worked together in total unity, just like the true Church of the living God is required to do. I cannot tell you how many times I went to the woods with that man and watched that team of horses pull those logs out of the woods, one being blind, but depending upon the other one that could see, to be the leader. That blind horse depended totally upon the other horse to guide it. Never did I see those horses split, one going to one side of a tree and the other to the other side. They were always in harmony, working together. That is the only reason I used that illustration. It just emphasizes what we have got to have in the body of Christ, that same kind of attitude. Otherwise we will continue on down the road, tossed about by every wind of doctrine, thinking to ourselves, Well I don’t see anything wrong with what that brother said: it sounded good to me. We are no longer in denominationalism, where every person has their own opinion about every scripture and its application. We are at the end of a reformation period, where God is reconstructing and setting our thinking straight. He is not only restoring truth, but in so doing, there is a proper application when applied to us for our individual benefit. We have got to learn that, lest we miss the entire picture of God’s ultimate plan for His redeemed family. With this in mind, let me say to you young people, I do not want to bring anything to you that is just plain boring, so I am reading only what I feel I should read to bring out the point of the message. I realize after thirty some years beyond that man’s departure, that there are yet many people out there, still of the great controversy, because they are expecting that man to raise up from the dead to complete a ministry they think was incomplete. They are expecting him to finish up this entire thing and present the perfected bride to the Lord when He comes for His Church. His message was for that purpose, but that does not mean he has to be here in person in order for it to accomplish that: God has other men who will minister to the bride for her final stage of perfection. Listen to me, all of you! That man is not going to rise to finish up anything beyond what he has finished already, no more than Moses arose to finish up his journey to the promised land. I can say that, and I know it is true, but do you think everybody is going to believe me? No. They call me a black bird. They can call me anything they want to, but I happened to know this man, know what he believed and what he taught; and I know why God allowed him to say certain things along the way, as he went about in his calling. I do not think that in itself gave me any authority. Whatever authority I have concerning the word of God, came from the Spirit of revelation that God Himself imparted to me. I do not depend upon someone else to come and tell me what God wants me to preach. He has always dealt with me in those matters; and not always the same way.

TESTIMONY OF FACT

I have eaten in Bro. William Branham’s home and he has eaten in our home. We went to his home one time and he was in the kitchen washing dishes. I say these things to let you know he was a human being. He was washing the dishes while his wife was in the bedroom fixing her hair. When we came into the house, he told my wife to go on back to the bedroom where his wife was, that she was in there fixing her hair. Here he was, washing dishes, something a lot of supposed-to-be believers of his message would never think of doing, afraid it would affect their manhood, so I just picked up a dish towel and started drying the dishes. I don’t think that hurt my hands, and I don’t think it hurt me as a human being. I tell these things because there are a lot of characters around the world that think I don’t know anything. Well I had sense enough to listen to the man and try to search out what he said that would put me in the Bible. That is what he was sent to do, to turn us back to the faith of the fathers. William Branham was not the father, (and I do thank God for giving me the grace to know that) but he pointed to what the fathers had written (and I thank God also for allowing me to see that). I am what I am by the grace of God; and anyone else that is a true voice for God in this hour would have to say the same thing. We are not trying to minister to the bride of Christ strictly by our own wisdom.

USING VARIOUS ILLUSTRATIONS

By the grace of God, Bro. William Branham did his very best, trying to show us how to embrace that which the apostolic fathers had written; and how to allow our faith to be restored back to what theirs was. Many times he used illustrations and types, which in no way changed the meaning of the scriptures he was dealing with. However there are those individual characters that take the types and make the gospel out of them. That is why there are some today, and literally throughout this whole world, who are thinking there has to be a ministry that will be like the capstone that went on top of the great pyramid, and that working through this ministry, is how the Lord is going to finish up the perfection of the Church. There is no such thing as a capstone ministry. It is not scriptural. Bro. William Branham used that as a type, because it was to point to perfection, how unique it was. The builders of those pyramids did not bring just any kind of rock: Each one was designed to fit exactly in the place where it was positioned. It was strategically designed and sculptured just for that particular place. I have heard him say many times, If you have a dollar bill, take it out of your pocket and look at it a minute. That is the seal of the United States government, a picture of a pyramid. The capstone is separated from the main body with an all seeing eye in it. How many times I heard him say, We know the great pyramid was never completed, it is waiting for the capstone to come down. I believed all of that. I sat there when he said it. I do not think the man just told a lie. He just did not know any more than that, and he used it as a type. Since then, there have been men that used it as the gospel.They take all these quotes and put them together for just that purpose. Young people, please keep in mind, We absolutely have to have a head on our shoulders, and be strong enough that we are willing to investigate. Investigate what I say, if you do not believe it. I admonish you, go search for it. I challenge you, disprove it if you can. I can say that because I keep my mouth shut until know what I am talking about. In this little booklet, there is an element of people, thousands of them this world over, that are holding to the promise that Bro. William Branham has got to come back from the dead to continue his ministry. In here, is the testimony of two particular men. One is the man, that on the day of his funeral, challenged me as we were coming out of a restaurant, going across to the parking lot. I was with some other brothers and this man yelled to me from across the parking lot, Bro. Jackson, are you with us? I asked, what do you mean? He said, He will rise again. I said, He will rise in the resurrection. He yelled back, No, he has got to rise before then. These characters are key individuals of this false doctrine that is promoted around the world. They are the reason people are sitting today in the shadows of time, waiting for Bro. William Branham to come back from the dead to ride this trail one more time. I know where all of that started, because the man that brought that dream to him from the state of Oregon, his own son gave me his father’s dream. I have it, word for word, so I do not have to take it from the Spoken Word book. I do not intend to print it. What would be the purpose? We have people that sit in the shadows, just reaching out for a quote to hold on to. They apply every quote to their own understanding, saying, But the prophet said it! I am saying this to anyone who has an ear to hear, He was God’s man for the hour, he brought us back to truth right from the Bible, but God willed that the man would say certain things right from his own human thinking, that would side track those who always follow the man instead of the God that man stood for. This was absolutely to test people. How stupid can we be, and how careless can we become with the word of God? I realize there are people in other nations listening to me, that may be wondering about what I am saying, but I assure you, I have the proof of everything I am telling you. I have the history for my remarks about the pyramid; and I have the word of God for my other remarks. While this book is printed in the United States, the information that is contained in it, did not originate here. The last time we were in Egypt, we had a group with us, that went into this great pyramid, Cheops, the largest of all of them, and covers acres. We were taken there and allowed to go into it, all the way up along an incline corridor to the king’s burial chamber. Inside there, you could not help but feel you were in the largest tomb ever built on God’s planet earth. Why men would go to such extreme measures to build such a monster I ask, For what reason? What is the purpose? It was known up until a few centuries ago, as one of the wonders of the world. As I said earlier, When we came from there, down into Cairo to the Museum of Antiquity, this question was in my mind about the cap stone, because according to some, that pyramid was supposed to have never been completed. That is when I asked the guide, Was this pyramid ever fully completed? He said, Yes sir! That was enough for me. I realized I could not find the answer in the Bible. I would have to find that answer somewhere else in written history. Therefore I want to say this to everyone, and God be my judge, I never went to libraries or bookstores, looking for a book about the pyramids. I said, I will keep my mouth shut, and some day I will find something that will give me my answer. A brother in Scandinavia bought this book and gave it to me. To him, it was just a book of history, but when I got it and began to explore the contents of the pages, I said, It has my answer. Please believe me though, I am not going at this just trying to tear down what Bro. William Branham said, and I pray you will try to understand my point. I am determined to tear down that thought about a Pyramid ministry though, so I say to you everyone, You do not need to think any longer that there is going to be a great ministry rise on the scene that is going to put the capstone on that pyramid. I will say again, That is only a type, just like I used the horses. Keep in mind, that horses have a nature of their own. Anyone that has ever worked around animals knows that to be a fact. Not every team of animals, whether mules or horses, will work in harmony with each other. I have driven them hitched to a cultivator, plowing corn and so forth, and one horse would go down the row, minding his own business, doing his part of the pulling, but the other wants to just tag along, always reaching out, trying to get a bite of corn. In that case you have to probe him along, in order to keep him up with the other one. Do you understand what I mean by that illustration? That is like a lot of people in congregations: they are just tagging along. They are with the crowd, but they sure are not pulling their part of the load. Sometimes animals can get so set to a routine, if you try to get them to go beyond the routine, get ready for a challenge. When my dad was going with my mother, he did not have a Model T Ford to drive: He had a little horse. Mother lived three miles from where my dad lived. He drove the horse and buggy to see my mother. When he got ready to come home, he got the horse out of the barn and put him to the buggy, and started him home. The horse knew the way home. I heard my dad say many times, he would just curl up in the seat and go to sleep. Three miles up through the country they went. He never had to worry even when he had to cross the creek. The horse knew the way home. Dad would wake up when the horse came into the barn lot and the buggy would stop. Try that with your car and see what wakes you up. Do you know what I am using that illustration for? You could depend upon that animal to do what he had been in the habit of doing, but that same horse played a trick on a man one time. My Dad lived where there were a lot of cousins in the same area. One of them had been staying with my Dad, helping them with the work in the summertime. They got to talking about an ice cream supper across the country from there, so some of them decided they would go. Dad’s cousin said, I would like to go, but I don’t have any clean clothes with me. My Dad said, Jump on that horse, he will take you home in a hurry. He got up on him and that horse went down the same road Dad had been riding him on before, and when he got on the straightway he turned him loose. Here that horse was, going at a dead run, but the guy that thought the horse was going to take him home, did not realize Dad had always rode him to a friend’s house down that road. When the horse got there, he turned right in and dad’s cousin went sliding on his belly, on down the road. You can picture that in your mind. Did he look like he was going to an ice cream supper? It was not because the animal had a head of his own, he had just been used to turning right there, and did it from habit. I say that as an illustration, because we can get used to doing so many things just by habit, that it is difficult many times to go beyond that routine. I hope you understand why I use these things. I am trying to show you how the true ministry to the body of Christ will conduct themselves; and how they will encourage everyone else to do likewise.

THE LEADINGS AND CALLINGS

OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD

I am a human being, but I can see in the family of God, that there has got to be harmony, and we have to get to where we work together, because we all have the same vision. It is not that we are all going to do the same thing, but each one of us has to understand, that what little bit we do know, we can contribute that to some benefit in the body. Even though we are in the habit of doing certain things a certain way, we need to be subject to the leading of the Holy Spirit, because He may have something else He wants us to do also. When we receive the Holy Ghost, we receive the potential for everything that is in that Spirit, all nine gifts and so forth. In the Holy Ghost, you not only have the nine gifts, but also all the callings of the ministry. That does not mean we everyone have the same calling, but we each have the potential already in us for whatever God anoints us to do or be. We have the Spirit dwelling in us that incorporates every bit of it, but we become responsible for just whatever measure was activated us. It is all by the same Spirit, but it is the measure of the grace of God that He has given to us, that depends on what I am and what I am not. With that in mind, let us talk some more about the pyramid and what history says about it. I am turning in my book here, to where it says it was never finished, but it was finished. I want to prove that to you from what this says right here in this other book. This book was compiled by many historians, both B.C. and A.D., so listen to what it says.

READING FROM HISTORY

“Herodotus, (a Greek,) who saw the pyramid about 440 B.C., by which time it was as ancient to him, (think of it then) as his period is to us, says that each of the structure’s four perfectly triangular faces was still covered with a mantle of highly polished limestone, (Watch the perfection) the joints so fine they could scarcely be seen.

(That was 440 years before Christ those masonry craftsmen chiseled those stones so perfectly?) Diodorus Siculus, the Greek historian, who lived soon after the time of Christ, described the Great Pyramid’s twenty two acres of polished casing stones, as being complete and without the least decay. (That is 80 A.D.)

“The Roman naturalist, Pliney, gives the report of natives gamboling (meaning running, playing) up the polished sides, to the delight of the Roman tourists.”

“Stradbo reports that this small opening (which was the entrance) gave way unto a narrow passage less than four feet by four, which descended three hundred and seventy four feet into a damp vermin infested pit dug from the live bedrock, a hundred and fifty feet below the base of the Pyramid. That this pit was visited in Roman times was deduced from initials supposedly written with smoking torches, on the rough ceiling by wealthy Greek and Roman tourists.”

Saints: This absolutely was a place people came from all over the world to tour the interior of this pyramid. I read this part to show you it was complete. They are writing about it, about how it is so perfect. We now follow this into the A.D. period. This points us now, even up to 400 A.D., this was one of the biggest tourist attractions in the entire old world. Well when Christianity came on the scene the entire thinking was adverse. Christianity (those leaders) took a holy attitude, that all these ancient, pagan places were areas of idolatry, and that Christians ought not go there: and to go there is to lean idolatry. Therefore in the fourth century, the so called Christian church had these places closed. I have read what happened to people that went contrary to their dogmatic attitude. Keep in mind, in those days Alexandria Egypt was a city built by Alexander the Great. It was a great city of education and art. It was a place known to have four hundred theaters, where plays, acts, music and all kinds of displays of things were seen. It was there, that people sent their children to get an education in that hour of time. It gives the name of this certain man that had a beautiful daughter. She helped him in his instructions with the students. When this religious system was going to do away with all this nonsense, this man was taken, and his daughter. She was stripped naked, and with oyster shells, she was scraped until she died. The man was killed. Much of the information back then, in the A.D. period, had been recorded in the libraries of Egypt, concerning all of this, but the libraries have since been stripped of literature, volumes of history were burned and so forth. For four hundred years, this pyramid remained closed. No one that survived that even remembered where the entrance was. Then it was out of Saudi Arabia, the homeland of that Islamic religion today, the religion they publish as being so peaceful and co-existent, that Mohammad the Great came. He entered Egypt with his great army. He murdered the Christians, tore down the church houses, or turned many of them into mosques and prayer places for that religion. By the time he saw this pyramid, the knowledge of the entrance to it was gone. It tells right here, that he looked and searched, so we have to keep in mind that all the written records had been destroyed before then, and there was nothing he could go to for that information, so what did he do? He and some of his men, with chisels, began to dig. After they got inside the thing, they made certain turns and finally came into a big passage way. Naturally when they went down, they finally came to this great stone. How simple it hung, just like a hinge, and they could push it out. It had been shut for four hundred years. From that time on, his men worked hard. They tore up some of the interior part. We will pick up a reading here.

“For another four centuries, the great pile lay undisturbed on the desert’s edge, its outer casing virtually intact, (This was after Mohammad the Great has done what he did.) its geometric shadows lengthening and shortening with the revolution of each year. An Arab historian who saw the pyramid in the early 13^th century, compared it to a great female breast rising from the bosom of Egypt. He remarked that it was still perfect, except for its entrance carved in it by Al Mamun. Subsequently, a series of earthquakes demolished large parts of northern Egypt and the descendants of Al Mamun’s workers wreaked their revenge on the treasureless Pyramid by stripping it (Now here comes the dismantling.) of its precious limestone casing. (That is why you see it as it is today.) to rebuild their new capital city El Kaherah, the Victorious. In the course of several generations they managed to remove the entire twenty two acres of one hundred inch thick covering of the Pyramid, (If you take one hundred inches on this side and one hundred inches on this side, and you come to the peak, it is impossible for the capstone to remain on it. Common sense would tell you, a hundred inches here and a hundred inches here, and you bring it to the top you are minus a lot of area.) and even built two bridges especially to drag the heavier stones across the river on camel trains to Cairo for the construction of a series of mosques and palaces.”

We have been there and seen it. I do not think I should have to read any more, to prove that at one time the pyramid was complete and correct. It was perfect in that way. It was in the admiration of the world. It had an unsurpassed beauty. I do not think it is necessary that I say any more along that line. Some say, But who built the thing? Who built the pyramid? It was built before the great flood. It says that in history. Tradition in here, has it that men after men, even Jewish writers have added their ideas. It is even in here, how the Hebrews had the feeling that it is possibly the embodiment of many of the things that Enoch of old had compiled. Of course you are going to have a hard time convincing me that Enoch was a man that worshiped the stars. First, you will only find that in the Genesis record. Who wrote Genesis? Moses. He wrote the first five books of the Bible. What did Paul say about Moses in the book of Hebrews? He said Moses was a man learned in all the ways of the Egyptians. Right? He was raised in an Egyptian palace. He was schooled by the Egyptian instructors, so he was a learned man. God chose him to lead the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage and through this forty years of wilderness wandering, God spoke various things to him. Moses did not write from traditional hand-me-down stories. He wrote as God dictated it to him. You will find nowhere in the writings of Genesis, that Moses ever mentioned a thing about the pyramids, yet that very man was raised within sight of the pyramids. Do not take away from Moses the opportunity and right not to say anything about them. I am of the feeling, since Moses was dictated to by God to write certain things, that if the pyramids had any specific spiritual nature about them, God would have had Moses write about them. We know he wrote about everything else that went on in Egypt, including the things he suffered. Yet when we begin to see that the pyramids were built before the flood, I can see exactly what was going on, that not only before the flood was there overall immorality, violence, but there was another class of people that had science, mathematics, education and all that as their goal. The pyramids are the monuments of their achievements. Why did I say that? Because, when you read of the full picture, you find that it is the compiling of some of the most perfect mathematical measurements known to mankind of that hour. They compared it, and they even figured the circumference around the earth from its measurements. For this reason, we cannot say it is just a pile of rock put there for no reason. Not only was it the tomb for a pharaoh, it was designed by professional men. Yes, they studied the stars, and they got a lot of knowledge from the stars. That is where they began to learn about making their calendars. Until men began to learn that, they did not know how to relate time. That is why we can say, These are memorials to the knowledge they had achieved. This, being the last one, it plainly tells me here, it was built probably three hundred years before the flood. It mentions a flood. The Bible says He will not destroy the world by water any more, but by fire. I want to use that era before the flood, how all the technological learning was embodied in that pyramid, yet all the knowledge perished with those people. Men probe its surface, and its measurements. They have never been able to fathom what caused it to be built in the fashion it was. But now, look at America tonight, violence everywhere, mothers killing their babies and disposing of them in such horrible ways. Before the sun rises in the morning, there will be more babies die, or left homeless by other violence. Look at the same time, just before the fires will engulf this planet, and the wrath of God shakes it, how we have put scientists’ toys on Mars. Enoch did not put it there. How many know what I am talking about? We are going to go down in history with some scientific long haired men, all they have is rocks on the moon, how far it is to Jupiter. We put men on the moon twice, we left a flag up there, footprints, and a few other relics. I have to say, The men who designed this trip, did not have God on their minds at all: they only had science and technology in their head. There it is, that which is our embodiment. So while one category of men build this stuff, we are trying our best to build something for God. I have to say, We are at the threshold of the end.

“The famous traveler, Ibn-Batuta, writing 730 years after the Hegira, says that Hermes Trismegistos, the Hebrew Enoch, having ascertained from the appearance of the stars that the deluge would take place, built the pyramids to contain books of science and knowledge and other matters worth preserving from oblivion and ruin.

As to the actual dates of the construction of the Great Pyramid, apart from the statement that it was built three hundred years before the flood, the legends add little. Egyptologists, who worked out the Fourth Dynasty must have reigned between 2720 and 2560 B.C. (Which puts it before the flood) believe the Great Pyramid was commenced in 2644, and that it took from thirty to fifty six years to complete its construction.”

WHY DID MOSES

NOT MENTION THE PYRAMIDS?

With this kind of information available, I would have to ask, Why did Moses not write about the pyramids? It was not important, because it had no spiritual significance. If it had any spiritual significance, he would have at least written about that part. God was telling him what to write, and just look how unique he writes the story about Enoch, when he was born and all. He gave the whole genealogy from Adam on down, the seventh from Adam, how he walked with God. Why say all that, then not give him credit for such a thing, if there had been any benefit in doing so? Personally, I cannot see that man Enoch walking with God the way he did, and at the same time worrying with building a pyramid. He left this revelation, when he began to see the wickedness, the corruption and perversion become so prevalent, then he said by naming his son, When Methuselah is gone, then it will come. What will come? Judgment. Why did he not talk about the pyramid? It had no spiritual significance: no more than our flag on the moon. That is all you can say about that. I hope you understand my point. I am as worried about that flag on the moon, as that play toy on Mars, that toy that came up against a rock and could not go any further, and as far as I know, it is still parked there. Give these long haired scientists millions of dollars, and they sure like to play. There is not enough space for them down here, so they have to play in space. I ask you, Is any of that going to contribute anything to the spiritual welfare of mankind? Not one bit. On the other hand God, in a very simple manner, and out of this one and only book, is painting a picture of something very beneficial in our hearts. While they go ahead and play with their knowledge and science and technology, one of these days God is going to put a little group of people together here on earth, that will leave a testimony of what it is all about. It is right to say, We are going to be the ones that are going to say, Your world is ready to be destroyed right in front of your eyes. As for the great pyramid, I have tried my best to show you what is available to know about it, that it was built before the flood, that it is not known for sure who was responsible for building it, and that it is of no spiritual benefit to anyone to know who built it. Having said that, I will now take you to the part on how the currency comes into the picture. Right here in the book, it shows a picture of it, what we have on our dollar bill. It says here, that this picture, is the reverse of the seal of the United States of America.

“According to Manly P. Hall, an expert on Masonic lore, not only were many of the founders of the U.S. government Masons, but they received aid from a secret body existing in Europe, which helped them to establish the United States for a peculiar and particular purpose, known only to the initiated few. The Great Seal, says Hall, was the signature of this exalted body, and the unfinished pyramid on its reversed side is a springboard setting forth symbolically the task to the accomplishment of which the U.S. government was dedicated from the day of its inception. The eagle was apparently intended to represent a phoenix, or symbol of the immortality of the human soul. Great currency has been given to the pyramid and phoenix symbols by placing them upon a one dollar bill.”

FALSE PREDICTIONS

The article I have been reading from history, goes on and tells how the Masonic order wrote a lot of literature in order to compile this information into their belief, and that there had literally been a gospel written in this pyramid. I have read some of it. The George Wright family had a book about the gospel written in the pyramid. It tells in that book how this particular order measures this, and measures this, but they also determine that from standing in the great corridor, looking down toward the main entrance, every six thousand years there would be a certain star that you could see at night. They said according to that, the end of the world should come at that particular time. Do you know what happened? It came that time, and never happened. My point in saying that is this, If men back then could presume that certain things that were built could have certain meanings, and they begin to indulge in the measurements and calculations, which caused them to write a lot of things for the future, why did they not come to pass? Because they were the works and predictions of natural man. By this measurement they calculate something, by another measurement they calculate something else, but when they bring about some kind of finished end, and then it does not happen, that blows the whole thing all to pieces. That being as it is, I do not think I should have to spend any more time reading to you about the pyramid. It is still there. Not only did it exist before the flood, it is going to be in the Millennium also. It covers many acres. It casts its shadow across the desert floor. It is not the oldest one though: There is another one in Egypt known to be five thousand and some odd years old. In fact, it is so old, a long time ago they found the entrance to it. They went into it, but they saw that the stones were so weak and crumbled, getting so soft, they filled the entrance full of sand and closed it to keep explorers out, because they were afraid that at any time, there could be an earthquake and cause something to crumble and fall. Now it is just a memorial of a bygone era. I hope I have said enough to prove to you that this one was complete, but that it was dismantled and the polished stone used for something else, and who used it and why. This proves how they used the eye and the capstone, by saying such and such. When Bro. William Branham used it as a type, I can see a very beautiful picture. When mathematicians in our century of time have measurements of it, these measurements are so accurate and precise, they determine certain angles, the fluctuation of the bodies of stars in heaven, so you have to understand there was something unique, scientific wise, about this thing. Why though, should we busy our mind trying to learn spirituality from it? It is not a memorial of spirituality: it is a memorial of man’s technology. As I said, It is just like our little play toy on Mars. That little piece of metal can stay parked against that rock for the next million years and it will not affect the fulfillment of the word of God one bit. Just think of it, God is going to put a Church together by giving revelation of His word to those who hunger for His truth and man’s wisdom will not have one thing to do in it. Some believe it is going to be because of a group of preachers called the capstone ministry, so they can be heard to say, I am in the capstone ministry. Well Praise God, I am not in any such man made mess. I would rather be driving a team of mules, hauling hay out of the field, than to be so deceived. Be careful, what you grab hold of, trying to get a revelation out of it. We are living in the greatest intellectual era the human race has ever lived in. They have no place down here to embody all their scientific technology, so they park some of it out in space somewhere, that being the wide open frontier for them. They are saying today, that it is the open frontier, so let us go. They are even planning to put people on the moon, to live there. I heard the other morning that they have found a place on the back side of Mars, where there is ice. They believe it is possible there was life there at one time. These intellectual giants have to have something to play with, so they have to build memorials to what they have achieved. The sad part is, none of what they give attention to is about God. I do thank God for what He has taught us: otherwise we might be looking to some of their foolishness. We have enough to deal with as it is, but I assure you there is no capstone ministry coming down the road with new revelations: Revelation will come from the same kind of ministry that Paul talked about. But how do we know it will work now days? It is the only thing that is going to work, but it is evident that it is the very thing they do not want. They don’t know how to get in it. They would rather have some super to hang to. I hope you understand what I am talking about. You get to the place where you believe in somebody and you trust somebody. Never do I want to be guilty of saying anything to mar the image of the man that God used to put us back in the scriptures; and beyond that, I could not care less what those people running here and there trying to be something special think of me. I am about as afraid of them with their threats, as I am of a mouse running across my toe. Let me read some of this to you.

“The Bride is awaiting the resurrection of Bro. William Branham, who will come forth in his new ministry, the third pull, and the seven thunders, for the rapture of the church and to give a last witness to lost souls. (Now it goes into an explanation of how we should look at this resurrection. I will not repeat the names here, but I think some of you, if you listen carefully, will know who they are talking about. That man that asked me the day of the funeral, Are you with us? I said, He will come forth in the day of the resurrection. How many know who that man was? Here is what went on between two of those important characters, who are looked upon by that certain element of today, as great men because they knew the prophet. Quoting from a certain book, and I will not mention the man’s name, he writes…) Bro. Branham had spoken highly of him and said that if you wanted to know what he believed, just ask Bro. So and So. (I am leaving the name out.) He stands as a beacon to Bro. William Branham’s message, shedding light from the scriptures. (Now we go to this other man.) It was midnight when I arrived at this man’s room. I got him out of bed. I implored him, help me to understand. “I am just like you,” he answered, “I don’t understand either.” He went over the visions, including the tent vision. He said, Unless God has cut the work short, he has got to rise.”

Brothers and sisters, thirty six years have passed since Bro. William Branham left the scene, and there has been many people during this time who have heard this message, but they have been sitting in the road with quotes, waiting and preaching. They cannot believe anything in the Bible: Therefore they cannot see anything in the Bible that God is yet going to fulfill. It has to be their way or no way at all. I heard the man (Bro. Branham) when he was telling me how to get into the Bible. Therefore when he said, Get back to the book, he was talking about this book, (the Bible), not this, (the book of quotes). I will do always do my best to defend the man and his message to this age, and also to expose those who have perverted his message. I am thankful for God’s word of truth, and that He allows me to see what truth is. That is why I do not fall for any of their foolishness. May God help all of us to keep our eyes focused on Him, (God) and His message that He reveals to us in His time. Amen.