WE ARE JUST CONTINUING ON FROM OUR LAST ISSUE. THIS IS THE LAST TWO SERMONS OF THE SERIES.

Brothers and sisters, I want to speak to you from the bottom of my heart. We have a convention coming up in a few days; and I am very concerned about many things. I have been asking the Lord to deal with me and lay upon my heart a message that will open some people’s eyes to the hour of time we are living in. Some of the things that I am going to be saying this morning and tonight, will be dealing with conditions and things I will be dealing with in our convention. A lot can be said about unity, but do people know what it really is? How will it affect me? What does it do for me? Unity is not a one man idea. Everybody has got to be able to see a season of time that pertains to them, whether man or woman. It is just like looking at the spring season of the year. When you feel the climate, see the things going on that affect the spring season, you begin to say, I want to do this, and I want to do that. At no other time do you say those things. Seeing the world like we see it today, lets me know we cannot keep putting unity off for the next twenty years while we do something else. There is a starting point. The starting point is not just anywhere. I am going to say some things today, and you may say, Well Bro. Jackson, you are king of bragging, aren’t you? No. I do not have to brag, because I am looking at something that affects every believer. I am going to be honest, because there are things in the Ephesian Epistle about the body of Christ, that a lot of people do not even see. I will ask you to open your Bible to the 4^th chapter, because this is our text. I am now looking at verse 12. The apostle Paul wrote this when he was in prison. He could already see what was going on among the Gentile churches that he had helped establish. He has already run into a lot of things that caused him to write the epistles the way he did, which were things that other teachers came along and wanted to undo, such as concerning the Law. I was looking at this the other day while praying, and thinking about how the apostle Paul wrote this in the finished sense. He already saw what it took to put the body of Christ together. There is no need of me having to say to you, It is going to take apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, so on and so forth. We everyone here know that every bit of that has to be in place. Therefore let us try to look at the body collectively, knowing that all people everywhere must know that, if they are called to be in the bride of Christ. Look at the denominational world today: they are no more concerned about unity than anything in the world. They have no vision of it. They do not even know what it consists of. They do not know what would bring it about, even if they did take an interest in the scriptures that teach it. They can have their meetings and come together from the Catholics, the Protestants, and what have you, and all have a good time, but where is the profit when you think of spiritual growth. They can sing and cry, wipe tears from their eyes, and you could think, Oh, they must be in love with Jesus Christ. No saints: They are only entertaining their flesh. Some people will say, Well that don’t sound good, for you to talk like that. You have to look at it from another standpoint. I think I said a few Sundays back, There has got to be one beginning point for unity to start. It does not start with the foot, because the foot is not where intelligence originates or resides. Do you understand me? It does not start where the arm is either, because the arm is just as void of revelation as the foot. No matter who makes up any certain group, and no matter how sincere they may be, unity of the faith does not start there. There has to be an expectancy there of course, but the starting of it does not originate there. It has to start from the head. When you begin to start with the head, you begin to look at a ministry. Therefore I ask you, What kind of ministry has this kind of understanding? God help me to say this with love: Unity does not start with the evangelists either, no matter how anointed they are. Evangelists never did start anything. They have a place, and their ministry is very unique, but it is not the starting point. Unity does not start with the prophets. It has to start in the realm of the apostles. The reason I am talking like this, is because I received a letter the other day from someone who evidently read one of the Contenders. He did not even sign his name, but he let me know that the seventh seal was already opened, and the seven thunders have been sounded, and that somewhere one day when the time is right, the Bride would find this. As I read that, I thought, If I could see you face to face, I would have to say, What a poor mental understanding and attitude you have about what you have heard. Did you realize there are hundreds and thousands of people over this world today, that do not see one bit further than what they read in the books of Bro. William Branham. I do not say this to condemn or point my finger. I say this with respect for my brothers and sisters of the faith Jesus talked about. Brother Branham came and brought us a simple message, a message that can be rightly understood by the Holy Spirit in the minds of some people that have sense enough to let the Holy Spirit open it up to them. The trouble is, we have a lot of people that do not know how to trust the Holy Spirit. Let us look at this for instance, We read in the Colossian letter that in Christ was all the fulness of the godhead, but what are we talking about? Are we talking about something that is material or tangible? Not at all. In Him, was the Spirit of God in the fulness of all His divine attributes. Nothing changed the shape of Jesus’ face or anything like that, but as He grew in stature and was later anointed to go about doing all the things He did, the life He lived, the way He presented Himself, the way He conducted himself among mankind, the miracles that followed, the healings and such, were all expressions of the indwelling Spirit of God. That is why He could say, I can do nothing of myself, meaning, there is nothing mentally He could choose or decide to fulfill or do anything, other than what the Father in Him would show Him or inspire Him to say and do, so those are the things He did. He did precisely what the Father (Spirit) in Him wanted done. We have to realize, that in the Ephesian letter it says, Christ is the head of the Church: and He is the savior of the body. Does it not say that? In what way then, is He the head of a tangible nucleus of people like this? Can we see that head somewhere? How do we have to understand that part about the head? Where does it make itself visible? There is only one way it can make itself visible and that is through the beginning of a ministry. Through the years I have heard people say, I am not going to let any man tell me what I need to do. That is being quite ignorant, thinking they know something and they know nothing. Such as that, might just as well tell me that they can save themselves, when they start talking like that. My point is this, When there comes a time that that invisible head which we cannot see, knows it is time for the body collectively, (still down here) to start clicking and coming together, then we have to expect that the invisible head is going to start making Himself known through the substance that will be the visible head. That has got to be the ministry. When I say this, I know there are a lot of people that will be listening. A lot of good men have preached Bro. William Branham’s message. Some things they said were good. Other things were just part of their own mind. On and on this has gone for the past thirty some years. None of that has produced any unity like there must be among true and enlightened believers. In various areas of society over the world, there are multitudes of people with different ideas as to what to expect. That is why there are a lot of the followers thinking God is going to have to send Bro. William Branham back to bring about that which is necessary. That is because they believe the word of the Lord only comes through the prophet. That of itself, in that sense, goes to show how very little they actually know about the Bible. It is a shame, that there are so many people with such a narrowminded attitude about what the Bible says and what it does not say.

GOD’S ORDAINED WAY

As I have said many times before, On that particular day of Pentecost, there were twelve men and others in the upper room, waiting for the promise of the Father. Judas was not there with them: he was already dead, and they had chosen another one to take his place, a man that had walked among them during all the time that Jesus ministered upon earth. Yes. In the upper room were twelve men, but we realize this, when the Holy Spirit came in and filled all of them, and they were driven out into the streets of the city, all speaking in tongues and glorifying God, some required an explanation. When they came into the streets acting the way they did, it was not long until something was said that demanded some speech or action from someone. When the people began to ask, What meaneth this, seeing we hear the wonderful words of God in the language wherein we were born? Did those apostles look at each other and say, Well, what do you think we ought to say? They knew an explanation had to come form someone who knew what was happening. It could not be left up to just anyone standing there, because that would have opened up an opportunity for somebody to say almost anything. Would you not say so? Therefore when it was said, What is the meaning of this? There was some standing there that knew something. It is the same today: There is someone that knows something, but not everyone that professes to be a believer is standing ready to hear and receive what is said. I want to say this to the Branham followers, You have looked for thirty nine years for God to send that prophet back to satisfy your twisted beliefs. How many times have you gone and got another pair of glasses because your eyesight got bad? New eye glasses will not help you much in this case. You could look for another forty years, but it is not going to change the picture for you one bit. The time has come, when every true believer is going to have to have an understanding and expectation based upon a true revelation. When you think God has left this whole thing in a helpless condition, you are the one that is in a bad shape. When I look back on my own life, I know it has been the grace of God, that caused Him to deal with me the way He did. That February morning, when I sat there on the couch and opened up to the 1^st chapter of Luke, something happened right then, that causes me to look back and say, Thank you Lord, for the way you let me read that verse of scripture and understand it. I knew by reading the way the angel had talked to Zecharias, that it pointed way beyond that hour of time, because he only quoted a certain part of Malachi 4. When I read that I said, He stopped, and did not quote the rest of it. Something inside me said, If we are living in the days just before the second coming of Christ, He will, (not maybe, or I think, or I hope) send that spirit of Elijah again. To do what? What the scripture says, to turn the heart of the children to their fathers, lest (or before) I come and smite the earth with a curse. Who are the children? Who are the fathers? Take a good look at yourselves. You are among the children that will have their hearts turned back to the faith of the first age apostles that first preached this glorious gospel message. When you get the whole thing all boiled down, the children are not the multitudes that have heard Brother Branham preach and hung on to his every word, because they did not hear it right. Why did I say that? Simply because, if they had heard it right, they would have understood it and looked ahead for what God would do next. Is that right? Those who have a right revelation of what he preached, are not sitting where most of the Branham following are today, negatively looking backward for God to do this, and God to do that. I want you to know saints, God does not lead you backwards. He will always lead you forward. He will lead you to a certain point: then He may let you stand there until you get your bearings, get acquainted with your surroundings, and you come to an understanding of what you have experienced. Then, after awhile, He is going to show you something else, which is another step to take forward. I say this with respect for all the ways of God, because I realize He could have left me in that denominational mess I started out in. I could have been just like a lot of others, sitting by the wayside, with this thought in my mind, Well, I am just drying out like the grain. But no, that is not the way God dealt with me. The reason I bring this approach to the subject, is because, not everyone is going to understand what unity is until they begin to see how it affects people. When it begins to affect a nucleus of people and you begin to see them move closer, closer, closer into a mutual understanding of the word of God, then you know something is going on; and it is in the process of producing a finished product, holy, and acceptable unto the Lord. They stop running everywhere looking for something, because the something they were looking for, they begin to realize they are seeing it in operation. Starting with the head, does not mean that you should glorify the one man, but if that is how it starts, it means you are going to have to respect that one man until you yourself are on a solid footing with it. I am sick and tired of hearing people say, Well I am not going to follow any man. I must say to all such as that, You will wind up being a first class fool, because you will follow yourself, and in doing so, you will go in circles. Do you not realize, that I have seen people following themselves for this last number of years; and do you not realize that they are exactly where they were thirty some years ago? They still have the same thought, the same hopeful idea, and they are waiting for something else to come along, but they are too blind spiritually, to see what they need when it does come along. It is a disgrace, for anyone to claim they have been filled with the Holy Spirit; and then totally reject a genuine revelation from the scriptures they claim to cherish. You have not had a genuine filling of the Holy Spirit when you take such an attitude, because the Holy Spirit was never promised, or given unto you to make a sterile species out of you. He plainly said, (John 16:13-15) “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. (14) He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. (15) All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.” When the spirit of truth is come, He will teach you, or guide you into all truth. He will show you things to come. Jesus also said, He (the Holy Spirit) will bring to your remembrance all things whatsoever I have told you. There is nothing in this book, that the Holy Spirit has not the right and ability to reveal to you who truly are believers. The sad part is, when God did reach down and take His prophet off the scene, many people said, Well it takes a prophet to reveal the word of God. They say, We didn’t know what it meant until he came and taught us, and no matter how much we read it ourselves, we can’t understand it. That is not right. I say, Yes you can. There are some simple things in there, that you ought to be able to see, just as you see a little rock sticking out of a water hole.

PETER UNLOCKING THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

In the book of Acts, it started with the head, and it was Peter, to whom Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and on that certain day of Pentecost he used those keys. Notice Matthew 16:19, “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Did he not use those keys when the multitude questioned the unusual event of all those who were filled with the Holy Spirit came into the streets speaking in tongues? When you read several chapters, it was all built around Peter. Was it not? You see other men coming into the picture, but for a long course, Peter was the main and outstanding spokesman. I do not say that to glorify the flesh of the man, but common sense is common sense. As the body began to collectively take shape, then these other ministries began to be brought in, because necessity demanded it. That is why later, we can see how Agabus came into the picture. Look at him at Antioch, standing up, signifying in the Spirit, there is going to be a great drought. Look later, after some men from Jerusalem have gone up to Antioch and told some of them, Except they be circumcised after the manner of the Jews, they cannot be saved. This brought the apostle Paul to the forefront. When he came back to Antioch and found that church all messed up and in confusion, he knew he must do something. What did he do? He took Barnabas and certain others of that assembly and headed for Jerusalem, to get the mind of the apostles and elders on how to handle the confused situation. There the elders, which included the apostles, discussed the matter and reached a mutual decision, so they sent letters by chosen men, declaring that they had not sent that other bunch that caused the confusion. Then they wrote letters giving some basic instructions to those believers. Let me say to you, Not every prophet, not every evangelist or teacher was involved in determining how to handle the situation. I want all of you to understand this. At that time, already in the Jerusalem group, there was Judas and Silas. They had been converted. They were at that time, already New Testament prophets. Therefore when the Jerusalem group had determined how to handle the question, or dispute in Antioch and round about, and wrote letters of instruction to them, they sent Judas and Silas with Paul and Barnabas when they went back; and they were instrumental in ministering to those believers. We will read a few verses from Acts, beginning with verse 25. “It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. Abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. They were basic and very simple, but those anointed prophets would expand on that as they were anointed to do so. That would be according to what was needed for proper growth in the stature of the Lord Jesus Christ.

MAINTAINING PROPER GROWTH

I could use many illustrations to emphasize this point of growth in the body of believers, but that should not be necessary at this time. As the body collectively grew in numbers, it was necessary for the other ministries to come along and fill in that which is lacking. The reason we can say that, is because of things that take place as the body begins to grow, so let us take a look at the physical body to illustrate this. If you saw your little baby just born and it was of a normal size; and then, as time passed, that baby remained the same weight, never growing in length (height) it would not be long until you would be complaining and crying, This baby is sick: It needs help. Is that not right? You know something has to be done, so you begin to look to the medical profession, for a professional person that might be able to assist the baby in overcoming this condition. Then, let us look at the Church of the living God. That is exactly what these other ministries are for. Their ministering enables the body to grow in proper proportion, keeping a balance. I will use an illustration in the medical profession again. You have medical doctors, dentists and chiropractors and many others. I know there are a lot of medical doctors that would not give you a dime for a chiropractor, but I will tell you one thing for sure, I would not give a dime for a medical doctor, if I have a joint out of place. I want someone who has the ability to work that joint back into its proper place. I am going to give you an illustration of something that happened to me when I was small. I would have a sore throat every winter while I was a young child growing up. Every year, when school would start I would start having sore throats. Dad would take me down to the doctor. He would swab my throat with iodine and give me a few pills to take. He told me to gargle with salt water. One day he took me down to the doctor and the doctor said, Raymond, his tonsils will have to be taken out. Naturally that did not sound good to me. We went on home with that on my mind. After we got home and the mail carrier had delivered the mail, lo and behold, here is an advertisement from the chiropractic profession. I gave it to my dad. Dad read through it, reading the testimonies of what a chiropractor can do and had done to help tonsilitis. Then he looked at me and said, Son, would you like me to take you to a chiropractor? That sounded a lot better to me than having my tonsils cut out. He took me to Dr. Allen, in Jeffersonville, a chiropractor. I was around thirteen or fourteen years in age. He sat me on a little bench, took my shirt off, and started up and down my back. Then he made an x, and came on down a little further, and made another x. He came on down almost to the tip of my spine and made another x. Then he laid me down on a table, and started with my neck, hit me there, pushed down a little, then went on down to the last X and pushed like that. He came to a certain place between the top of my shoulders, and when he hit that, in my head it sounded like a cannon went off. My, it felt like it had almost knocked me out. He said, Did that hurt? I said, No. I sure broke out in a cold sweat though. He left me lying there for a while and then I got up. I will tell you this, and it is the truth. When I got up from there, he told my dad, It may take another treatment or two. I thought, Another treatment or two! If it takes two more he will kill me! Brothers and sisters, this is the honest truth, I never had any more sore throats the rest of that winter. Neither did I have any more until the time I became eighteen and was called up in the draft and went into the army. All during the war years, I never had another sore throat. I am bringing these things out like this to make a point, which is, If in the medical realm there are certain professions that can help eliminate some of the things the physical body suffers, then I have to say, So is it likewise with the ministry that God has put within the body of Christ to bring it to maturity. Each ministry has to be able to see and understand his particular calling and ability. He is not a profession by himself. He is only a part of what it takes to put a body of believers in unity. He has got to be in unity with the other four offices of the ministry God set in the Church, in order for there to be unity in the body of Christ as a whole. I want everyone to understand, that this is not a one man show. There has got to be that starting point, but as it collectively begins to grow, it takes all these other ministries to bring the body into an acceptable consistency.

WHAT PERFECTING REALLY AMOUNTS TO

In the 12^th verse of the 4^th chapter of Ephesians, we find exactly what the five fold ministry is to do; and verse 13, expresses what it is to accomplish. Eph 4:12 “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (13) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” I want us to look at this for a minute. These ministries are for the perfecting, the word perfecting speaks of a work of progress: It is something in action, something that is going on, something that is bringing something to its final state as a perfect object, or thing. We are talking about something that works in harmony for the purpose of bringing something to a perfect end. For the edifying, I took this word edifying, to see exactly what it means. Everybody in the mental state, likes to feel good. You do not like to feel depressed; and you do not like to have something on your mind that you cannot understand, or that is a problem. It is like a cloudy day. Edifying speaks of being lifted up, of filling in that which affects the mental attitude, or to give instruction or understanding to that of being able to understand as a finished thought, something that pertains to a certain thing that is important, and in this sense, something that is essential in the Christian life. Perfecting comes through the mind: It is not something you put on the finger. If we know that unity consists of something that brings us together, then we understand that if it does not affect our mind somewhere along the way, as to how we should look at it, we may be just standing and looking at something, but not knowing what is going on. Therefore I want to say, This edifying does not leave you in the dark, and neither should it leave you with questions. It brings you into the realm of information which affects your mind. Just be assured, that this ministry, all of it working in harmony, is eventually going to edify you. I may say something to you and for some reason, the way I said it, you did not understand it. Somebody else could come along, one of the others in the ministry, take the same point and say it in a different way, and it is just like a light comes on and you say, Well praise the Lord, I see that as clear as the nose on my face. When this body really starts coming together in unity, it has got to affect us in every area of our getting together. Why are we together? Why should we be together? What do we expect out of this? We have got to become a body of people that sees each other in a way of knowing we belong to each other. We do, because we are all individual members of this one great body. We want to do everything we can to help each other, encourage each other, and try to see that the other person is happy. That does not all come about in one moment of time. As that special ministry begins to move in and take its rightful position, rest assured, that somewhere along the line, even though four men may say something and you might not get one thing out of it, but that fifth one could come along and read a little simple scripture somewhere and explain something, then you can sit there with a smile on your face and say, Why did I not see that before? Well, that is the way revelation comes. You do not have to have a college degree to understand the things of God. No saints, how smart we are has nothing to do with how God works in our lives. It is how the Holy Spirit is able to break down the scriptures and put understanding in you that makes the difference, maybe by an illustration that can be easily understood. When we come on to the next verse, we see the word till, and we know the word till speaks of a process of time, not something instantly. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God. I want us to look at the word unity. Let us see what it means. It means more than just going to a charismatic meeting and saying, Hey, we are all in here. That is not unity. You can be in there crammed together like sardines in a can, but that is not the unity this scripture speaks of. Until your mind’s are absolutely thinking in the same realm, you could be standing right there together and be as far apart concerning spiritual unity as from the east to the west, you with one idea, the one next to you has another idea and so forth. True unity of the faith finds us all in the same state mind, as to how unity brings our persons together. Unity, to bring, to put, or unite more than one person or persons, or things together, to obtain a common cause. It is not my cause: it is God’s cause. It is God’s objective, that the entire body be in unity. That is the way He ordained it to be. He knows exactly how to work on our behalf to obtain that unity. He wants us to see each other as a body of people sitting together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That is when we are seeing eye to eye. We love it this way. It creates an environment that God is pleased to dwell in. I have to say, When people can begin to sit in unity, you watch, it is going to create such an atmosphere, you will not ever want to get out of it. It is going to make you feel like you are in heaven itself. I have to believe, God has a season for it to start and a time for it to reach its fullness. I believe, that once He has started moving us into this realm, He is not going to stop until He has the entire body completed. He has allowed many men to go out with their version of what they thought the Bride of Christ needed, but you cannot find any unity among their congregations. Why? Because they were trying to carry a message they did not fully understand.

GOD’S TRUE PURPOSE KEEPS ON UNFOLDING

When I look back through the thirty nine years since Bro. William Branham’s death, and think of some of the men that have gone out and preached the message of Bro. William Branham, it is a crying shame, the method, and the motive they went out with. I will not condemn any man, but a lot of things certain ones have done and said, either through self esteem, or not knowing enough about what they were trying to do, has just caused a lot of confusion. There is Ewald Frank of Germany. I have heard years ago, how he would slip behind the iron curtain to distribute his books, when he used to print some of Bro. William Branham’s messages in German. He went behind the iron curtain into East Berlin and distributed his literature. I heard how he took some of this and hid it in the panels of the doors, not knowing that when he went through those communist gates, whether they might take the panels off and see all of that or not. If they had, they could have arrested him right there. One time he went in and delivered his literature, but something told him not to go back through the same gate he came through on his way in. He chose another gate to exit and go back to west Berlin; and I heard later, that it was a good thing he did. I only bring this in to show you, the man labored hard to spread the message. In the man’s mind, the message was to turn the heart of the endtime children to that of the fathers, but I ask you, Did it? No. It got them on a track, but it did not put them on the track of true revelation and unity. It put in them a thought, because of the information they gleaned from his efforts, but they had nowhere to go with what they knew. What they received, was not all that was needed to fulfill God’s purpose in bringing Bro. William Branham on the scene. When God brought Bro. William Branham upon the scene, He knew exactly when He would take him off the scene, at the precise time his message would reach a certain stage of maturity, informative and instructive. He was to bring certain informational things that were necessary for true believers to have, and he did a wonderful job in what he was called and anointed to do. However his message did not bring forth everything that is in the chronology of the word of God. That is why we cannot say that all the people that heard it then, heard all that is necessary for the rapture. It was only a beginning. It is a shame that those same people keep looking back, saying, But God has to do this, God has to do that, in order for Bro. William Branham to complete his ministry . For thirty nine years they have said that. God is not obligated to do anything according to their understanding. Once He said it and fulfilled it, He did it and it was exactly the way God wanted it. That is why I say, There were a few men along the way that God has dealt with. They heard what he preached. God allowed them to begin to see something on out in the future. I remember well, the dream I had about him breaking the top off of the rock. In that dream, when I was walking, I was not a mile away from him in the crowd. As this great assembled crowd of people began to get closer and closer to the center where he was, I heard myself say, Listen to what he says, for he will not always be here. Then when we were all gathered around the rock, standing close, I said the second thing, Listen to what he says, for he will not always be with us. Naturally I did not realize then, what all that meant. When he took that steel bar and broke the top of that rock loose, as he manipulated it and slid this piece of rock back, he then laid the bar on top and said, Stand by this. There we were, all looking at this broken rock, and on the top was written, The rock of revealed truth. When he said, Stand by this, he then started going west over the hills. His silhouette kept getting smaller, the sun kept getting lower. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him, but I could also see that there was a small number of us watching him while looking at the rock. When his little silhouette disappeared for the last time, we that had been watching him, knew he would never be back. We were the actual ones that understood what we were reading. How many understand me now? I want to say this, I thank God today for the way He has led my life. I have to say, It is important that we begin to live a life that is led by the Spirit of God. As the body of Christ begins to collectively come together, you are going to see the Spirit of God show Himself among the true children, and you are going to see how He leads people and brings them together.

GETTING READY TO MEET JESUS

I am going to use this for an illustration, that you may see how God will all of a sudden move upon a family somewhere. They never have been around this area, but their hearts hunger to be around other people of like faith, God will say, Now it is your time to move. He will make a way for them to move and they will be in the center of the will of God. I have to say this, When they move, they are moving to become a part of God’s finished product, then to be ready to go with Jesus when He comes to receive His bride. What do you care where you live, as long as you are ready to go with Jesus? As I look back to the days when Bro. William Branham was here at Jeffersonville, I notice that from the time he preached the church ages, family after family began to move here. They wanted to be here where the prophet was. From New York, Connecticut, you could name them. They no sooner got here, at the end of 1962, and Bro. William Branham was making preparations to move west. He moved west, then came back here in March and April 1963 and preached the seals. Those same poor people, all of a sudden picked up everything they owned and began to move west. Not all of their moving was in the plan of God because many of them wound up on the welfare side where they had to get help. Their moving was out of a desire of the flesh, what they thought they wanted, and they never moved the way God wanted them to. When I say that, I want you to think upon what the apostle Paul wrote in the 8^th chapter of Romans, verse 14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are (what?) the sons of God.” They are the sons of God. Is that not right? So you wait for God. If you are a child of God, a family of God, He will take you and put you exactly where you are supposed to be. That is why I say, I will never proselyte any family to move here or move there. I believe God is able to do the talking, in a simple way, to any family of believers. I will do everything I can to encourage people who are hungry for the word of the Lord, but for me to proselyte any of them, I feel like I would absolutely be bringing on untold heartaches to such people, just because I personally wanted to see them make a move. I want to see all of them move in the will of God. That is the way it has to be. When we think of unity, it is a vital and a very important factor. All these words we are talking about, are found down through the verses of scripture we are using. When we speak of coming into the unity of the faith, what are we talking about? Well the dictionary meaning for faith, is unquestioning belief in God, a combination of certain teachings that make up the complete knowledge of the one true God. It takes that to produce the actual faith. So when you break that down, it means this, We are led of the Spirit of God, to do exactly what the scriptures instruct us to do. Well Bro. Jackson, I was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, don’t you think that is alright? No. I know the Bible says we should be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we begin to take the negative side of things and say, Well Bro. Jackson, I was never immersed, I was sprinkled, but don’t you think that is good enough? No. When the Bible says baptize, the word baptize means immerse, not sprinkle, and not taking a wet handkerchief and wiping it across your forehead. You cannot dilute the word of God and have any assurance that you are in the will of God. There is a precise, and accurate way for us to live and walk before Him, to produce the genuine faith He will recognize. That is what the ministry is really for, to instruct and lead by example, until every believer learns how to be led by the Spirit of God. I have to believe, that just in front of us, God is going to start dealing with families, and with individuals in a way to cause this word of His to come alive in everyone of us that truly believe. Every verse, is going to start talking to you, not only of the true faith, but of the knowledge of the Son of God. I looked up the word knowledge in the dictionary, to see exactly what it means. All these things speak of how certain things are grasped by the mentality. That is why I said, You could tell that little finger to go jump in the creek, but it would not know what you are talking about. It has absolutely got to affect the mind of every individual. Knowledge is the act or the fact of the state of knowing or learning of that which is enlightenment. Once again, it leaves you without a question. As you grow in maturity, the body and the mind, you as an individual are becoming more and more like the scriptural example that is set before you. We everyone collectively, as these little things in the scriptures begin to really grow and take place in our mentality, after awhile we lose all those questionable, negative things concerning the way we look at others. That is because we wind up having nothing but the true knowledge of God.

LOOKING AT GOD’S PURPOSE

Let me now go back to the point I was stressing earlier. When I say that unity has to start somewhere, that means that there has got to be a voice somewhere, a voice that God has laid upon his heart to be the spokesman, to set something in motion. I want to stand here and say, For thirty nine years I have done exactly what I felt God would have me to do. Never did I know, and never did I even desire to be lifted up and esteemed as something great. That has never been a desire of mine: I love the word of God, and I am thankful for the way he has allowed me to see certain things that others did not see, but I also realize there is a purpose of God to be fulfilled. It was not until I looked back through the years and began to see the way God led and even propelled me to do certain things, that after a while I could began to see it was pointing to something to fulfill a purpose of God. There are people today that say, Well now Bro. Jackson, just tell me what you have done that gives you the right to talk like this. I am not pointing to what I have done: I am calling your attention to what God has done and why He has done it. We are to come to the stature of the fulness of Jesus Christ; and God has chosen and called certain men to take the lead in our perfecting process, and what is to be accomplished. Let us read it, Eph 4:13 “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (14) 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; (15) But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.” That expresses our ultimate goal as true children of God, so having said that, I will now get back to answering the questions sent to me. I dealt with one of them already.

ANSWERING QUESTIONS

I will read the questions this certain man sent me; and then give the answer. This man has written me three questions. I dealt with one last Sunday night. I will deal with the other one tonight. He asked me, “Explain in detail,” so I will say, If this person would be listening on the internet, Brother! Do you know what you have said? I see an eagle flying in the sky and all of a sudden he lets out a shrill scream, now tell me, what did you mean? He asked, What is meant by the first, the second, and the third pull? Now to that man, or any other person who has this question, Do you have Bro. William Branham’s sermon books on the seven seals? If you do, I would have to say, You ought to have gotten your answer right there. I am in the seventh seal book on page 562, we are down in the last two paragraphs, it carries over into the next two paragraphs which are on page 563. Bro. William Branham is explaining something here.

“Oh, what a day we’re living in–what a great thing. (I have to say this morning, (Brother Jackson speaking of himself) I thank God, you allowed me to be there when he said these things.) See the mystery and secret? The Third…Standing there, when this left me, something just come to me and said, “Don’t fear.” Now, I didn’t hear no voice–like on the inside of me spoke. I just tell you the truth, just exactly what happened. Something hit and said, “Don’t fear. This is that Third Pull.” (Now notice, there is no explanation. Let’s go further. I am going to show you how to look at this whole thing.) The Third Pull–you remember it? He said, “You’ve had so many impersonators on this, what you tried to explain.” Said, “Don’t even try this.” Do you remember it? How many remember that vision? Why, it’s all over the tapes and everywhere. That’s been about six years ago..seven years ago. It’s been seven years ago. Said, “Don’t try to explain that.” Said, “This is the Third Pull, but I’ll meet you in there.” (Now he is referring to a tent.) Is that right? He said, “Don’t try…” (To produce it.) I was standing with a little baby’s shoe (he is explaining something) when He told me, said, “Now, make your First Pull; (He is referring back to when God used the sign in his hand. How many understand me now?) and when you do, the fish will run after the lure.” Said, “Then watch your Second Pull (That is when he would be able to tell them the secrets of their hearts, where they lived, like, You didn’t come from the States. I see you traveling across water. You came here from Switzerland. No gift in the hand can tell you that. It has to be something else, doesn’t it? Now let us watch. The second pull….) because there will only be small fish.” He said, “Then the Third Pull will get it.” (Now we come over to page 564. He is talking about the Sabino Canyon event.) And in Sabino Canyon, He said, “This is the Third Pull.” And there’s three great things that goes with it, and one unfolded today…or yesterday, and the other one unfolded today, and there’s one thing that I cannot interpret because it’s in an unknown language. As I stand right there and looked right straight at it, and this is the Third Pull coming up. And the Holy Spirit of God…Oh my! That is the reason all heaven was silent!”

Now let me say this, When he came back from Sabino Canyon to Jeffersonville, he was in the third pull, because it was there. Well what was the third pull? Was it telling anything about sickness? Was it a special way to pray for the sick? No. It was going into the scriptures and bringing out revelation, what the seals were, written only in symbols. The third pull was revelational. That is why he said, the devil can’t impersonate it. It is so simple. Then God takes the man from among us; and of course all those who hung on to him in life say, But the third pull isn’t over. What was the third pull? Get that established in your mind first. It is revelation, because, out of His word, God brought the meaning of things that you and I never understood before. Those seals were laying right there in the Bible for two thousand years, but when he got through giving you and me the meaning of the first, the second, third, fourth, and fifth, and the sixth, it put such a simple meaning and understanding in your heart and soul, you could not help but say, Amen: I see it! Praise the Lord! Yes saints, the third pull was being worked in our midst, and we were privileged to witness the introduction of it. Did we not? Well if the third pull is to be continued on, is it another gift? No. It has got to be continued on in a revelatory way. I know when I say this, there are a bunch of Branhamites that would want to hang me. Well I would just have to say to them, You have already had thirty nine years to do that, and you have not done it yet. That is exactly what God used this little hillbilly for. I can show you where he said, It will be so humble. What are you looking at for humbleness? Somebody that does not know anything, yet God can take him and show him something, and it comes out and you see the truth of it. He did not ask you to put a star in his crown or anything like that. No sooner had Bro. William Branham been laid in the ground, they are all crying, Oh He has to send the prophet back, to complete his ministry. Let me just say, No. He does not have to send him back, He has not sent him back in the thirty nine years you have been looking for him; and He will not send him back until the resurrection of all the righteous dead takes place. Is the third pull still going on? Yes, it has been going on, but we are approaching the end of it, so not every Tom, Dick, and Harry is going to be able to play with it.

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH DREAMS

In March 1966, I was still very content just to pastor my little mission, never thinking that there was anything further for me to do. That is when, in a dream, I saw myself out digging fence post holes. That little man William Branham came walking up to me and uttered a few words. When he came walking up to me, we never carried on a conversation, but he said, “Bro. Junie, I want you to go speak for me”. I could hear the hypocrites out there, Oh Bro. Jackson is just building up something. That is the way they have always been, but even though that gang has tried to put me down, God has kept on working with me. When Bro. William Branham said to me, (in that dream) Bro. Junie, I want you to go speak for me. I said, No. He then asked, Why? I said, They will not listen to me. He never did say they would listen to me. He just said again, Bro. Junie, I want you to go speak for me. Again I said, No. Why? They will not listen to me. He never did say they would. He just said one more time, Bro. Junie, I want you to go speak for me. When he said it that time, I could see he spoke it with meaning and authority. In my pocket, I had a pen and piece of paper. I took it out and wrote the titles of seven sermons. I will read to you what they were. If the third pull was a revelatory pull, it meant there would be things coming out of the word of God yet, but nothing any man could magnify and glorify himself in, but it would come out in a simple way. That is when we printed The prehistoric world. We printed that in 1969. There has not been one other preacher or follower of Bro. William Branham ever dared to present anything to compete against it. On the other hand, I cannot tell you how many people have come to me and said, Bro. Jackson, that is plain and simple. I can see it in the scriptures, just the way you spoke it. That was not me that was doing that. That was the Spirit of almighty God. I got the cue from what Bro. William Branham had said right here in this seals book, when a critic he met in California said to him, Do you mean to tell me you believe all that nonsense about the earth being created in six days or so on and so forth? Bro. William Branham replied, That has nothing to do with it, I believe that all the seed was laying there from some other creation. I have that marked right here in the seals book. When the time came that the light came upon it, the seed began to spring forth. I sat there when Bro. William Branham said this that morning and thought, If that is the truth, then there has to be some biblical and historical facts to back it up. That takes you to Isaiah 14:12, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” He speaks of how he had exalted himself and said, I will go up and set myself on the sides of the north. I will be like the Most High God. Yet thou shall be brought down to the pit. In Ezekiel 28, we find further reference to this. In there, it describes him and says, Thou was the most anointed cherub. Thou was perfect in all thy ways until iniquity, (which means lawlessness) was found in thee. Thou has been in the garden of God, thou has walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Look where he had been. That is not speaking of the Eden associated with Adam and Eve. That was his Eden when he was the perfect, angelic being. Then we come on over to St. John, the 8^th chapter, for a further reference to what Lucifer was and what he had done. Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees of that day, because of the way they were coming against Him. They were trying to condemn Him for the things He was saying. What does He end up saying to them? John 8:43 “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. (44) Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” He was a murderer from the beginning, and he was and is the father of every lie that has ever been spoken. This book has a lot in it, but the Seminaries do not teach it all. Why did Jude write like this and say, For the angels that kept not their first estate, God has cast them down, chained them in everlasting darkness. Peter said almost the same thing. That is enough, even without the fossils that have been found. People who look for the prehistoric remnants, get down on their hands and knees and crawl all over Africa looking for a rock, a little bone and so forth. Oh here it is! They try to prove by the natural things they find, that there was a prehistoric world. We do not try to disprove their belief that there was a prehistoric world, We just simply look in the Bible, the word of God, for our evidence and it is there. What keeps the educated people of the world from finding that evidence, is the way God hid it in very simple but enlightening language. It is the way they are written in the Bible, so that only the Spirit of God can reveal the evidence they are seeking. None of it is written to hit you in the face like a neon light. No. They are little, seemingly insignificant verses in various parts of the Bible, but oh how precious, when you see Isaiah 14, O Lucifer, (which was his name as a righteous angel). Son of the morning, how thou has exalted thyself. There had to be a beginning somewhere in time, when Lucifer did that which is spoken of right here. Isaiah prophesied about him, and Jesus spoke of him in St. John 8, and you and I know, that when Jesus said to those Pharisees, You are of your father the devil, for he was a murderer from the beginning, that takes you farther back than our Eden where God put Adam and Eve, does it not? He had to do something further back than that, in order for him to already be the fallen angel. I say these things, because the word of God has a beautiful answer for everything we deal with. I will just say to that man that sent these questions, I do not know whether or not I have gone into detail enough to satisfy you, but I read to you what Bro. William Branham said in the book, that the third pull would be so simple. Well it started with a bang, revelation of six seals, which were so beautifully portrayed, or we could say, so beautifully illustrated, but there is one more seal yet to be broken, and there are seven thunders up ahead somewhere, that will finish the job. Saints: There is something coming up the road; and I just have to say, God is getting ready to show this Church off, and it will be to this godless world very soon. There are things coming into this world that will necessitate that God will show the world that He does have a people; and that revelation is not over. We are still in the flow of it.

REVIEWING THE RESULTS OF A TRUTH THAT WAS PREACHED

Tonight as I stand here, I have so many things coming to me in this realm of unity, that I just pray to be able to touch upon these things in a way that will make this effort a blessing. I want to bring certain thoughts together in a collective way, as we look to the Lord for Him to work in our midst in the months ahead, to bring about unity. Really there are many scriptures that we can begin to see being fulfilled, things that are in the making just in front of us. I would like to take us back to the years when it was quite common for people to say, God sent a prophet that brought us a message. You know, I lived to see many of those days in the closing period of it. I know there were many times, no doubt, that his heart troubled him when he could begin to see the laxity in people he trusted. Naturally his ministry affected many of the people in the denominational world, but he was also looking at the fact, that somewhere in all of that there had to be a nucleus of people that would be able to see a truth that he was endeavoring to bring out. He felt that somehow God would bring them out of the denominational systems and begin to put them on a pathway that would bring about a different picture than what the denominational realm had painted. Actually, when I look back to that time I have to ask, Did the people that recognized him as a prophet, actually see on up ahead far enough? If his message was to turn us back to the faith of our fathers, was there any way for them to actually see in the scriptures what this would involve? When we look at the years gone by, those people sitting on the sidelines, just sitting in their homes playing tapes, constantly reviewing and speaking of his message, his message, how can they move any further like that? He brought us a truth, but it was to turn us back to the faith of our fathers. After thirty nine years, did it do that for them? I have to believe, looking at those people from the standpoint of their person, they were good people, but in reality I have to ask, What were they looking at? What were they looking to? I hope I can show you something tonight, that will encourage you to press on, seeking all available truth. As I was reading the text this morning, we know Paul wrote this in 64 A.D. while he was in jail. It is true, that on the day of Pentecost, the five fold ministry was not yet in place. How many realize that? Paul saw, that through the months and years that followed, how slowly and collectively they began to materialize. As he began to see this develop, how Christendom at that time had grown, he could also see the confusion, the carnal things that would arise. That is why he would write in Galatians, and Corinthians, and different other letters, rebuking certain things. As he looked at the large picture, he saw this evolving ministry was to be the kind of ministry that was absolutely to be the means to bring the body to its final state of unity and perfection, to get it ready for the rapture. The Bible does not say one thing and mean another. Even Isaiah 52:8 was already in writing, but it took Paul to see Isaiah 52:7, because he wrote about that in the Roman letter, how beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him that brings good tidings and so forth. It took Paul in that hour to say, This is activated: it is being fulfilled. In Ephesians 4, Paul did not actually see it in the state that he recognized, disappearing, but he wrote about it, that it is the finishing product and means to bring the body to its final state of perfection and the rapture. I hope I can say this tonight to help some people that might be tuned in on the Internet. I hope some of them are people that listened to Bro. William Branham. I would like to ask them sincerely, If you believe that he did come with a message that was to turn you back to the faith of your apostolic fathers, did you grasp the picture that God was seeking for you to find? Through the years since his death, we have heard over and over, But God has to send the prophet back, but God has to send the prophet back, it takes a prophet to finish this out. I have to say to every such person, You never saw or heard one thing that God sent that man to this generation to deliver. If his message was to turn you back to the faith of the fathers, then here it is right here, because it is plainly written how that God set in the church, not one prophet, but apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. For what reason? To just kill time? No. To minister, to collectively work together in harmony and unity, to bring an end time nucleus of people together, that has been brought out of the denominational systems by this man’s message. We are sitting here today, not because there was an A.A. Allen, not because there was an Oral Roberts, not because there was a Billy Graham, but because a prophet of God screamed out, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins.” All of us, each one as an individual, might not have heard about Bro. William Branham at the same time, but over a period of time, wherever we were, and whatever we were listening to, eventually we heard about a little man with a different kind of ministry, one little man, that had something in particular to say. When we sum it all up, he was to turn us back to the faith of our apostolic fathers. Well if those words be true, does this mean he was just going to turn us back to where we would believe there is one God, and not three? Did he just turn us back to how we should be baptized in water? Those things are parts of his message, but what he preached went way beyond those basic things. His preaching opened up the whole picture, but his preaching did not fill in all the details of the subjects he opened up. When we look at the finished picture in the time frame we now live in, I would have to say, God help those poor people to get their spiritual eyes open. I say to them, How far do you see, down the line that he came with a message? To take you where? To point you to what? Many who heard him speak, all they saw or heard was one lone man and they fail to understand that God has moved true believers to accept what He inspired a later ministry to present. I have to thank God, that He allowed me, a mortal creature that meant well, but was coming far short of His full truth, to recognize that man for what he was, and determine to follow him as he proclaimed his message. I thank God also, that He did not let my vision of that little man hinder me from seeing that there are other things in this picture that collectively have to come together, to lead us on out to the ending of time. Thousands upon thousands of people around this world, believe that God sent a prophet. From that point on though, many of them do not know what to look forward to. They just keep looking backward, believing he has to come back and finish his ministry, because they believe the word of the Lord only comes through the prophet. You who believe that, are taking it strictly from the Old Testament standpoint. I want you to know, God did send that anointing that fulfilled that prophecy of the Old Testament; and then He moved us on past that. When the time for it came, God brought that man into that third pull, the phase of his ministry that dealt with the revelational side of things. This took him out of that and puts him more into an apostolic type of anointing. I say that because what he dealt with in those seals, had already been written by an apostle by the time of John. It took the same Spirit upon him to interpret them by divine revelation, as it took for John to write all of it. Saints, we are a very blessed people.

ASSEMBLING FRAGMENTS

As I think of all that has been revealed to us, I would just like to be able to put a few fragments together for all who need it. It is very strange, how Bro. William Branham mentioned many things through time in his messages, but those little things seemed to be so small and unimportant to many, that they never esteemed them as being anything worthwhile. I have to say though, That is a shame. Right at the time when Bro. William Branham was bringing the revelation of the first six seals, people were sitting there thinking only this, He sent Malachi 4, to turn us back to the faith of the fathers. It does little good to say to them, Just what is that faith of the fathers? What does it embrace? The faith of the fathers embraces the framework of every doctrinal subject that is written in the entire New Testament, but we have to turn loose of preconceived ideas and allow the Spirit of God to open our understanding also. It is one thing for the ministry to have a revelation, but that is only part of the picture: His revelation has to be given out to his hearers in a way that they can understand; and that comes only by the Spirit of God. The same Spirit that enables the preacher to preach it, has to be upon those who hear it, in order for them to receive it by revelation. When that little man was asked the question, ( on page 494 in the seals book concerning questions and answers.) “Would the Bride of Christ have a ministry before the Rapture?” I look at that question and have to say, That is bigger than a little match. That questions involves a great thought. Notice what Bro. William Branham said. “Sure.” He did not say, Well I think they will, it is possible, we all hope so. No. He said, “Sure.” Listen to what else he said. “That’s what’s going on right now.” It was. Where are they? That statement lets me know, every subject that was to be fulfilled was already out here somewhere. He went on to say, “It is the message of the hour-the Bride of Christ. Sure.” Saints, I have to say, In all those years that he ministered, and the things he preached, God was causing that man to say things in such a way that out there somewhere, the heart of a man here and there, who would fulfill his place in the ministry, would hear the part that would touch his own heart. He would then begin to realize, That is for me. It was not done in a public way, it was done in a way that only those affected would know of it. We have to look back and see how it would affect the individual, the inside of a man that was hearing the true message. At that time, it was the message of the hour, so it was not something twenty years off. It was something to be understood then, with the potential for the future. He himself expressed this. Therefore I must say, If there are any Branham followers listening to me tonight, let me say this to you, When you so enthusiastically quote Malachi 4, that he came with a message to turn you and me back to the faith of the fathers, then come on, let us get back to what the faith of the fathers was. What did it embrace? What did it materialize? “She consists (she is made up of) apostles, (We are not looking at a group of prominent men, well dressed, with halos over their heads, all decked out for some kind of graduation. She consists of apostles…) prophets, (Not another Old Testament prophet, but New Testament prophets.) teachers, (No, not a bunch of men going off to some seminary somewhere to graduate after three or four years of studying theology.) evangelists and pastors.”

AS I SEE IT

As the Church of the living God became a product that was started on the day of Pentecost, to continue until Jesus comes for the rapture, over a period of months and a few short years, necessity lay out there among the multitudes wherever the little groups would begin to form, for there to be shepherds that God would raise up, men with a vision of how to be a shepherd. That is what it means to be a pastor, to be a shepherd, to take charge of the leadership, to hold together. I have to say to you, All the things Bro. William Branham preached in those years of his ministry to this church age, were to produce something in the plan of God. He was laying out scripture that would eventually affect the finished product, in those of that faith that the end time children were to be restored to. It is just not faith restored back to one God, water baptism, sanctification, predestination, it is absolutely to be taken over by a ministry that knows how to take it; and in an every day way, put in motion words for a congregation or the people, the body of Christ to collectively grow on. I have to say, It is virtually pathetic, that so many people through the years, did not know that much about the scriptures. With one ear they heard enough to say, Yes, he came with a message, yes he fulfilled Malachi 4:5-6, but they still do not see one thing that his ministry was pointing us to. Did he fulfill all that God called him to? I have to say to the multitudes that have followed Bro. William Branham through the years quoting verbatim, word for word, that which he spake, If you read this, you can say, Yes Bro. Jackson. You agree to the letter, but you do not accept the fulfillment of it in reality. I have to say, God did not let that man toil, stand and preach with tears in his eyes many times, praying that God would fulfill the things he was sent to do, and then let carnal minded people who sat there, make void all of the work, because all they saw was one outstanding individual. No. God laid His hand upon some men who received a revelation of what is to be accomplished as this grace age moves toward an end. I just have to thank God for what I saw. It was the mercy of God that allowed me to see it. I could have been stuck off on the other side of this world somewhere and only heard about this message of truth as other men talked about it, but I am so thankful to God that I was privileged to see it with my eyes, hear it with my ears, and allowed to make a choice. Over the process of time, I could not help but understand that this man came with a message to put us back on the right pathway, but I also began to realize it was up to every individual to make the choice to receive it in a proper way. I could see that this pathway has its future application for our benefit. I am so thankful that as God went to work on men’s hearts, I was among that number. Around this world there are little bodies of people that have heard what we have taught. There are people around this world listening to us on the Internet even tonight. This Internet ministry is not something I put together, or that we three put together trying to make a name for ourselves. This is definitely something God designed, and let us walk into it. Once we walk into it, it is not only an opportunity, but it is a situation made available to the world; and we cannot help but accept the fact that God wants to use it this way. It has presented an opportunity I had never dreamed of, for us to present to the world, the revelation God has given His five fold ministry, of the work that is to precede the end of His grace to Gentiles. When God sent that little man, he brought everything out of the scriptures that God ordained for him to bring out, up to that strategic hour of time when he would be taken from among us. Yes, there are those looking back, believing all seven seals were revealed. I know the seventh seal was not broken, but those who believe it was, do not even want to listen to me. Nevertheless, in the seals book, Brother Branham plainly tells you the seventh seal is not broken. I believe that seventh seal was never to be touched as far as its revelatory meaning, until it is time for the thunders to sound. The first six seals, the real meaning of them was taught. Believers have them opened to allow them to look back, as well as to the future. Carnally, look what the greater percentage of that certain group did with what they heard. Oh we know this, and we know that, but did it bring them any further down the road of life, toward any finished condition? No. They only sit and read, looking backward. I have to say though, Those six seals were to give the oncoming people that eventually would make up the Bride of Christ, the information that would historically acquaint them with the spiritual things that have been going on right on through time, and we would be able to know how to relate that with the time frame that we now live in. However when we take the seventh seal, we think of something that is going to be so informative, so enlightening. Well it is not going to be for the multitudes of religious people. Did you know all those six seals that we find written in this book, they could be read by denominational people, but are they interested? Can you even get them interested enough to just read what is available? You may find one, here or there. They may start and read one page, or half the book, and say, Well it is too deep for me: I certainly do not understand it: What is he talking about? Brothers and sisters, It is not for them to understand, because they are not the ones the prophecy is being opened for. He came to them in their hour, but out of all this, God caused His word to speak to a small nucleus of people here and there. I have to bow my heart and say, Thank you Lord, you could have left me shut up somewhere in an old cold institutional church, just believing what grandma and grandpa believed, never having a revelation of something to point us on ahead in time. But thanks be to God, the fact that He sent a prophet, that was the fulfillment of something strategic in this hour, and when he brought the revelation of those seals, as we look back it has acquainted us with the history of a former time of Christendom and how it progressed, what all it was faced with, and of what has happened in the world. When we do have all that, we mainly, only have history in our minds, but when we come to that seventh, we are not looking for history, we are looking for the promise and revelation of something that deals with when Jesus is coming. Why is He coming, and for whom? He is coming for His Bride that is destined to rule with Him for a thousand years. He is not coming for everybody that heard about Bro. William Branham, or read about Bro. William Branham, or read about Raymond Jackson. He is coming for the those whose heart has been changed and been revelated concerning the scriptures. That will be those that have been enlightened and brought together spiritually, to see eye to eye. They are working in harmony just as every beat of your heart works together for a common cause, the rhythm of it is right on time. We are no longer living in Isaiah 52:7, we are living right under the fulfillment of that next verse. We are living in the day when those watchmen are guarding a revelation. Well who are these watchmen? They cannot be any other than that five fold ministry, carrying the message of the hour. It has got to be in the Church. There is nothing coming out on the balconies of heaven and announcing to any particular people down on earth, Now you everyone get ready down there, the watchmen up here are already in agreement. The prophecy is hanging, but those watchmen are not something that is traveling over this world with a degree of theology out of a seminary. They are men that have been enlightened. Men whom God has dealt with and put a picture together in their hearts. They are beginning to see the frame of this thing. Each one in his own way within his calling, begins to see certain details about the picture. He feels that wherever and however, when the time comes, and he is given the opportunity to do something or to say something, God will have him at the right place at the right time to speak to the people, to fulfill the ministry God has called him to. It is absolutely going to create harmony, unity, and create great joy, because it is going to bring some enlightenment that former generations did not have. I want to say this tonight, A lot of people will say, What do you think the seventh seal is? I am not interested right now, what it is: I am interested in seeing the people that are going to hear what is revealed and get in shape to fulfill the purpose of God. I will say this, You will not hear the seventh seal, you will not hear the seven trumpets, and you will not see what is meant in John, chapter 10, how thou will prophesy again before nations, kingdoms, and so on and so forth. I say tonight, The true Church that is mentioned in the scriptures, that is to be restored back, are not going to be a bunch of denominational people that are still hanging on to traditions of religion. Those who hear and receive, are going to be a nucleus of people that has been brought out of everything contrary to the truth, by the way the Spirit of God has moved and worked in their lives, as they yearned for His leading. A lot of people think, Well God called me one day when I was just sitting by the roadside, thinking mostly on natural things of life. I am thankful God called me one day, when yes, I had a lot of other things on my mind, but when He shook me and brought me to the realization of how valuable and important time is to me, then He began to make me realize, it is more important for me to get my life right with God, than whether I get next year’s corn crop put out. I say that with sincerity. I believe we are living in a period of time right now, every potential is here in the word of God and it behooves us to take a good look at ourselves. It is one thing to be concerned about what you are going to plant next year in your fields, but if that is all that is on your mind, that is nothing that will prepare you for the kingdom to come. There is nothing in that crop that will prepare me to get ready for the rapture of the bride saints. Upon my mind, there had to be constantly a thought, the coming of the Lord is first, and the planting of the corn comes second or third. I want to be sure my heart is in tune with God. As I began to look in the scriptures and see how God has been dealing with getting the right message out to the world, That just causes me to say, I thank God that He allowed me, the mortal creature that I was, to be able to travel over this world and take the things that Bro. William Branham had brought, break them down in a simple way that we can see, and then compare it with the scriptures, along with other things that God has let come out of His word. Thirty nine years after his death, we are beginning to see just how close we are to the soon coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every day I hear of our involvement in the Middle East, and every day I also hear about these Muslims and all the turmoil and chaos some of them are causing. Every day, I hear our politicians say, Well not all the Muslims are terrorists. Did you know, I would like to send every one of them to a school where they could study the history of Muslimism. I do not say that every Muslim has been a terrorist, but that religion never grew by those that sat at home tending to their own business. It grew by those that were out with weapons, with instruments of warfare, killing and making life miserable for those that did not agree with them. It started in Saudi Arabia, the motherland of it, but slowly, through the centuries it spread. It spread because of those that were on horseback with swords and spears, ready to kill. A few years back the Muslim theology was, The time has come when we Muslims will rid the world of all hypocrisy, Christendom, Buddhism, Hinduism, and every other religion. Muslimism is going to come out on top. That is why, slowly and underground, they began to form the little clicks, the little armies and terrorist organizations, because they had learned through the years, how to begin to sow the seeds that would help bring this about. Now look at the time we are living in. We live in the greatest nation that has ever been. Thank God, because He was the author of it, but I have to say tonight, Our leadership has brought our nation to its brink of decay and it is no longer the nation that was founded by God: It is a nation that has sold out to the devil and all his evils. We have let thousands and thousands of illegal’s come into this country, that are ready to blow this country to pieces, and take innocent people and create a genocide just so they can get in control of everything. I have to say, When we see this, it tells me Christendom has not another century to play around. It is time we get our heads together and ask God, Help us Lord, to truly be united. I have to believe there is going to be a uniting, and it is not going to take God ten, to forty years to get it done. When the people that are to be affected and enjoy it, get that vision in their hearts, you will begin to see it. They have got to want it themselves. When they begin to want it, then they begin to seek after it, then the God of heaven begins to set in motion the means and the ways that this unity is going to be brought about. Unity is not something we can just keep pushing off because we have other things we want to do. Unity is hanging right in front of us. As I said this morning, This man wrote these different questions and I think I answered one of them. Listen carefully. He asked the question, Will the seven thunders also be seven men who will also have individual five fold ministries, or will they be exclusively outside the five fold ministry? Well I think there is only one common and sensible way to look at this. They are all a part of that five fold ministry and it is not going to be seven men in one locality. The Church is universal. Right? Wherever the Church is, in the world, there is going to be an element of that ministry that God has raised up to fulfill his end time scriptures to minister and bring the people into unity. No true seed will be overlooked.

ABOUT THE THUNDERS

There will be no thunders heard until unity has already had its universal affect. Therefore brother and sister, be sure you are on the right side of the road, on the right side of the fence, and you are listening to the right side of things that are being taught. When the thunders are sounding, you could be a million miles away from all of it because you have been looking at the wrong thing. Nevertheless all who are of the bride will be in the right place. I am persuaded that those thunders are vital, because they will be informative, but they are not going to be scattered out here within the realm of a bunch of carnal minds that would gamble with them. Once that little element of people that are united, are thinking as one, living as one, because they are led by the Spirit of God, they are ready for the thunders. Then when that information comes down and they get the understanding of what those thunders speak, it will acquaint them with the coming of the Lord, and they are then living within a time frame. I must say to you though, Do not think the thunders will come one day and bingo, the rapture the next day. It would be nice if those things would happened that fast, but they will not. I have another letter at home, and that person asked me to explain in detail, what is meant by the shout, the voice of the arch angel, and the trump of God. We have written in the Contenders and we have said many times, that Bro. William Branham’s message years ago was the shout to the virgins of this age. He could only see that it took something else to bring about the materialization of the two status’. I have to say to a person who thinks like that, You have failed to read the verse of scripture that Jesus refers to in Matthew 24. When He comes to the time to speak about these virgins, what did He say? Then. How many learned in school what the word THEN referred to? Did you find out what the word “then” means? Then is pointing you ahead. Isn’t it? Then shall the kingdom of heaven, not as it was in the Dark Ages, not as it was in 500 A.D., but THEN, at some future time. Jesus is jumping the ages and pointing you to the end time. Well why did He say then? What about it, is so important? Because it is referring to a time when the kingdom of heaven would have the two categories of virgins. What produced that condition? Christendom did not start out that way. Paul’s gospel did not start with the intention of producing some foolish and some wise virgins. It was after everything began to go off into the Dark Ages, that the true gospel of Christ began to be overlooked. It had already been changed, this and that before the entire thing went into the Dark Ages. Then as the time came to around 1500 A.D., that is when the then condition started. Listen to me. Along came the men who brought that Reformation message: They had an anointing on them that they could point the finger and condemn everything in the Catholic realm, even though they did not have the revelation of the gospel that Paul had. Even though their revelation only went so far, it was freeing souls from that old Catholic dogma. Luther, Calvin, Knox, John Wesley, Fox and others came right on down to Pentecost at the turn of the century. People were sitting there in those denominational, man made systems, then when the Holy Ghost dropped, not all of them responded. There was a small category of people that caught the message of the Holy Ghost. Among those that did, some were Methodists, some were Baptists, Presbyterians and so forth, but did all of the rest wake up? No sir. The others just sat right there in their systems and kept right on with their religious programs. They pretended to be wise virgins, having all there was to have. That is why the parable says, that at the midnight hour when the cry or the shout came, Behold the Bridegroom cometh, they all began to awaken. Now may I say this, they did not awaken simultaneously. When the shout came, some heard it. I have used this illustration many times, When I was in the army, and that reveille call was made, somebody that heard that trumpet would say, Hey boys, it is time to get up, but lying over there in bed is old George. Eventually he begins to rub his eyes and say, Did somebody say something? I am showing you how slowly some people react to the announcement of something. It was the same way when the Pentecostal message began to hit the world, not all church goers responded instantly. Do you catch the point? Some did, but that is where the two pictures began to manifest. From the time of the shout and onward, there has been the wise and foolish virgins, but the shout, or midnight cry, was not sounded by any other than the prophet messenger to this age. I will say no more on that at this time. As I make my final comments, these seven thunders, to me, definitely have to be seven outstanding ministers of the overall ministry that God has put in the Bride. They have ministered to help unite, perfect, and bring the Bride to its united and perfected state in time.

A TIME TO BE WATCHFUL AND READY

The hour is now upon us, to emphasize the necessity for the Bride to be ready to hear these thunders in order to be ready for the rapture. God is not going to inform everyone in the religious world. Only the Bride is going to be informed of something concerning the eminent coming of the Lord. Right out of the ministry, universally, those thunders will sound. I want to say something now, and I hope it does not sound like I have gone off the deep end. Because so many people through the years have said, Oh, but we need a prophet, I just want to say, What we need is somebody with some common and spiritual sense, if you understand what I mean by that. Whoever those seven men are, and whatever those thunder messages are, we know they will be sounding something that is not even written in the Bible. I am just going to give an example of how it may be. I will say that brother number one, wherever he might live, when that hour of time comes for him to fulfill his part of the thunders, God can take the image of William Marrion Branham and send him to that man in a dream. The man in the natural might never have known him, because Bro. William Branham lived before his hour. Nevertheless as his attention is drawn to the image, he will have communicated to him certain words to prepare his mind, and gives to him an indelible thought he will never forget. He can say, Brother: These words you will communicate. When he comes out of that, it has left a shock in his soul, as he realizes that such a means was carried out. Why do you say it that way Bro. Jackson? Did you ever read in the scripture, where it speaks of a day Jesus was standing before a multitude and said these words, (Matthew 16:28) “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.” Six days later He took with him Peter, James, and John and went up unto a high mountain, away from the multitudes. Up there all alone, all of a sudden, the glory of God came down and Jesus was caught up in that. The three disciples saw His clothing, how it changed. Then they saw something else. Out of the past they saw the image of two men, Moses and Elijah. They were saying something to Him. What were Moses and Elijah saying? They were talking to Jesus and telling Him, You are going to suffer this as you are brought before the tribunal. You will go through these hours of agony as they try you. Jesus already knew from the scriptures that He was to die, but nothing is written that let Him know what He was going to suffer, the mental anguish as well as the physical pain. The three disciples were seeing all of this in a vision as they slept. (Luke 9:30) “And, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias: (31) Who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.” They spake to Him of the things He was mentally and emotionally going to suffer. That scene in itself, was also His way of saying, before His second coming, He will send Moses and Elijah to Israel. The reason I have said it in this way, these three disciples heard words that were communicated and it was all in a vision. It was not Moses and Elijah in literal bodies. God just used their image to communicate the things He wanted Him to know. Now I ask you, If God could do that in the beginning of Christendom, do you not think He can and will use the same means here at the end time? I will ask also, If he (Brother Branham) could come to me in a dream in March 1966, and tell me, I want you to go speak for me, what keeps you from believing God could use his image the same way again? I wrote the titles of seven sermons on a piece of paper and handed the paper to him saying, If I can speak on this, I will go. He looked at it and smiled and said, Perfect. When he walked away, I started following him. He never told me what to preach, but God allowed me to know what to preach, in due time of course. Some people of our day would say, You people are crazy, believing in communicating with the dead. No. They have that all wrong: God knows exactly how to acquaint you with the spirit world, and how to instill in every chosen vessel, that which He would have them to know. I hope all of you understand my point. I am saying, When the time comes, over this world, God takes seven simple, godly, honest hearted men that have paid the price of following His word, they have denied all recognition, all popularity, all these other things that the world can heap upon you, and they have only done one thing, and that is to guard and cherish a vision and understanding of the word of God, and they put God’s people first. God knows the simple way every man has labored faithfully, and He can come to him and send that kind of image of a prophet, just like He did it at the beginning of Christendom. There is nothing to keep Him from doing it again, here in the end time? I believe you understand my point. From the different parts of the world, let seven men begin to tell you what God has told them to say, and they begin to tell you how it was communicated to them, you cannot say this is garbage. Everything will be so unique, so precise, so simple, you cannot help but see the framework of it right in the Bible. Before the Bride leaves here, I believe she is going to walk in some unusual steps. Yes, to the natural world, they would look upon it as foolishness. But I have to say, Get ready for a lot of strange things because after those three disciples have seen this up there, notice, then when the whole experience is over and they are leaving the mountain, Jesus said to them, See that you tell the vision to no man until after the Son of Man has risen, meaning after the crucifixion. So I will have to say, The seven thunders are going to be seven honest, God-fearing servants that have faithfully labored and done the things they are supposed to do. This is the first time I have ever put out what I said about Bro. William Branham’s image being used, because I know there are a lot of people out there that say, Oh but God needs to do this. No. God does not need to do anything to fit your carnal ideas. He has a lot of things He can do, that will seem strange to the skeptics, but they will not be in on those things: they are for true believers. If He can take the sincerity of some men and in that final hour, give each man a particular thought, that collectively goes to the unfolding and understanding of the eminent coming of Christ for His Bride, and you stand before your group of people and say, God sent His prophet William Branham to me in a dream the night before last, and when you begin to relate the sincerity, the accuracy of what was said, I would have to say, That is going to take all the guesswork out of it. Can you understand that? I did not say it is going to be that way, did I? I only use that as a possibility, because He did it like that in the very beginning of the first age.

ANSWERING ONE MORE QUESTION

There is one more question I want to get to before finishing this message. “What is meant by the tent ministry of Bro. William Branham? Was he able to carry out this aspect of his ministry, or has it been left out by God for special individuals in the Bride of Christ?” I will say exactly what I told a man one time on the telephone. I remember when he had the vision about it. I remember how he told it. He told it back then, that he believed with all his heart the day would come that God was going to give him a tent, and he would no longer have to depend upon the Businessmen’s group, and this group and that group for arrangements. He said, I believe that I could have a campaign manager go to a certain city and acquire the facility of a ball park or something like that. I could go there by God’s leading. He would not go anywhere until God would lay a certain city upon his heart. Only then, would he say, Go and make the arrangements. He said, once it was made, then I feel like we could move in and set up the tent and stay two or three weeks, maybe a month, whatever God would lead us to do. Once he began to tell this in a public way and it got on tapes, it was no time until here came the carnal minded individuals from Canada and all over, saying, Oh, I want to be a truck driver, I want to drive the tent pegs. They all wanted to get into the inner circle. Whatever happened, they wanted to be there. Did you know, from then on is when people began to play with the thought, William Branham is our Messiah, William Branham is the Lord. That is how carnal minds react. On and on they began to play with those thoughts and began to worship him. When he went west and made a circle, then went into Canada, at that time we expected him to be gone two or three weeks. But I got a telephone call one night, Bro. Jackson, we have heard that Bro. William Branham is going to be at the Tabernacle in the morning, for a very important meeting. I thought, Oh my, what has happened? That is the morning I saw that little man come out of that prayer room onto the platform looking so weak he could hardly talk. He told the dream about the snake and how he had shot it, the snake was wounded and crawled off into the grass. He believed it would die, but he brought out that morning, that the spirit of that thing had gotten into some people, causing them to believe and perpetrate the idea that he is the Lord, he is the Messiah, he is this, he is that. They began to make little medallions and pass them around to the people up there in Canada. I asked this, and I do not care who hears me, What if God would have let that man have a tent? Look at the thousands of people that would have been drawn to that tent, but look at the carnality of the characters that would have been standing in the doorway, as well as moving among the people and saying, Oh you have got to believe this. Do you believe he is this? They would have sown their rotten seed and made him the object of idolatry. Instead of God letting him materialize that desire, I just have to say, That is one thing God cut short to prevent what I have just described to you. Nobody else will fulfill it. That was to be a part of his ministry. God used the man to accomplish everything He had called him to do: He will not come back to finish anything the carnal bunch are holding out for. I am glad tonight, to have been privileged to see and hear what I did; and I cherish the reality, and the beauty of it and know that we have something in our hearts that we can treasure. There is something coming up the road; and I pray that we everyone be found faithful and willing to do the will of God as He finishes His work in the bride of Christ. Amen