Preached August 8–19, 2018

In the last edition, Bro. Allen was looking at New Jerusalem and its perfectly squared dimensions. We are picking up where he left off.

Fitly Joined Together

I have mostly finished with what I was looking at, but there are some things I still want to bring in. I want to go back to one verse in Ephesians. The book of Ephesians was not written in chapters. When it was written, it was all a continuing thought. Paul brought in many things, but it was a thought he had concerning what God is going to do in a people. Paul is not talking about miracles, but he is talking about a new life. Let us go to Ephesians 4:16.  Paul has been speaking of the Holy Ghost: “From whom the whole body fitly joined together.” Fitly, that is a word that carpenters will recognize.  If something does not fit, then it is either in the wrong place or it is not cut right. It is one of those two things. In 1967 Ford was on strike, so I was helping to build some apartments down in Jeffersonville on Ewing Lane. The walls were already finished, but they had no windows. As I started working, it was time to add the windows. The building was already wired and ready to go, it had the insulation in it, all we had to do was put the windows in and nail them together. We had to cut boards to get things to fit, because something was wrong. Then when you went outside, you could see the window was not exactly in the center of the room. We left it like that, but it was discovered a few days later. It was left because we had gone to far to fix it. In that building, everything, even the plywood for the roof, was cut to fit its place. It had a little strip about four inches wide on top, it was cut too. All that needed to be done was just to be put on there. But some were using saws, but they should not have been, because there was a pattern for it all. I almost fell off a two-story building because of the sawdust. They were cutting sawdust on a plywood roof. I almost slid off but caught myself right at the edge. Mistakes can cause problems. Mistakes in the Word can cause big problems. Whenever we go to saw and to work in places that are already patterned out, then we find ourself having to cover something and get new lumber because we did not go by the rules. This can happen in the family of God. If we get something wrong then we have to go back and fix it. Sometimes it is not that easy to fix because the pattern is not right. It can be fixed. We can be wrong and it can be fixed, but then on the other hand, if we use carelessness in the way we do something, then it becomes a big problem unto the whole family. We see that here. This is what Paul is talking about when he says fitly joined together. He is looking at a pattern where everything must be in order. I never did dovetail work. But it is beautiful when it is dovetailed together. If you do not know what that is, that is when you get two pieces of wood and you combine them together perfectly. It takes a pattern to cut the wood to fit together that way. Usually there are three corners, then it comes out to what they call a dovetail. That fastens the wood together. That is being fitly joined together. When we worked with Bro. Jackson to add this west side of the church building on in the early 1970s, we had a watcher that did not do anything, he just watched. He came with a suit and tie on, because he was not going to work. Not everyone wants to help, and not everyone is interested in everything fitting together perfectly. While I was working with Bro. Jackson, he spoke about finishing work. He said, “You know the finish work is really to cover up what you have been a little slack in. If you cut something too short, then you put molding around and it covers that up.” He was likening that to the gospel. Our mistakes can be covered over by the blood of Jesus Christ. We can only do it in that way.

It says here, the whole body. He is not talking about part of the body, he is talking about the whole body of Christ. He is talking about finish work. The book of Ephesians starts out at the beginning, but Paul brings the picture all the way down to completion. He brings it to where the whole body is fitly joined together. The five-fold ministry has really came on the scene to finish it up. You have had ministries through the ages, most of them even call themselves pastors or evangelists back in the 50’s, now they are doctors and so on. Everybody has a doctor’s degree. If they do not, they go to some college and they give them a so-called honorary doctor’s degree. How would you like to go to a doctor and him be promoted to a doctor’s degree without going through all the tests and everything? Fitly joined together, this is what the Bible is after. This is what the ministry is after. It is the spirit of God that makes the body of Christ healthy. He is not coming back after a sick body. I am not talking about the flesh being sick. That can be so also. But I am talking about this: He is not coming back after a few stragglers that have just stayed behind, thinking they are going to make it on somebody else’s coat tail. It has got to work. There is no other way about it. It must come together, and it will come together. There are some things and some parts that are needed still. I could name some things that are needed in the body of Christ. But then it would probably get personal. I do not want to do that. Because we are not trying to put out a fishing pole to fish, to see what is wrong. I want to see what is right, and I want to see what is right in our lives so we can learn to be able to comprehend, one with another, what it means to be joined together in the body of Christ. We must be joined together and compacted. If you want something compacted, then you must have something that is a compactor. You can put a garbage in a trash bin, or  you can put it in a compactor and carry it out almost in one hand, because it has been compacted together. I am not talking about garbage, that is just an illustration that I give you. We can be compacted together. When Jesus Christ comes back, He is not going to come back for a bunch of loose ends. I am talking about Bride people. There are going to be others that are not to be a part of the Bride that will have to go through the tribulation because they were not compacted. They had missed some of the loose ends and just did not go that way. There is trouble whenever that happens. “Compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part.” Every part measured, because we are looking for a cube. That is what we are looking for. That is what the Bride of Christ is in Revelation 21. It is cubed. Bro. Jackson said it is a cube. What I went over in the last message, that was a cube. The width, the length, the height, and depth, it is all equal. The thought he is on here in the 3^rd chapter carries over into the 4^th chapter. According to the effectual working in the measure of every part….) maketh increase of the body (increase, it cannot decrease. The body has got to grow, because we have been given growth shots, the shot of the Holy Ghost inside us will help this to happen in our lives. Increase of the body…) unto the edifying of itself in love.”

Preach the Word

As I said in the last message, this is being wrote by Paul in 64 A.D.  If we go on over into the book of 2^nd Timothy, then we are going to see another picture that I brought out in the last message. That is only one year later, 65 A.D. Only one year later, Titus, Demas, and others forsake Paul. Paul had lifted them up, but then they walk away. We are not the first ones to experience such things. We are not the first ones that something has happened to in the body. It goes all the way back. To me, when I was reading the first chapter, in the first seven verses of Revelation chapter 2, this is the time that we see this happening, that they had the beginning of losing their first love. We must keep these things in mind and be compacted. Do not look at me as if this is something that cannot be done. Because it must be done. This is something that has to work, it will not happen until it works. Whenever we begin to drag our feet, then somewhere the Lord Jesus Christ is going to find something wrong. He is going to find something wrong in us, and we can be expelled from making the Bride of Jesus Christ. We may go into the tribulation. But all of this has to be copied. It has to be applied in order to be Bride people. It is not something that cannot be done. It is something, as the old saying goes, it has got to be done. Because we are being measured. Our measurement is Christ. We are not measured by each other. We are measured by Christ being the head, and us being the body. As I said before, do not look at me and think this cannot be done. It has got to be done. It is not missing out on anything here, because everything that we lose out here, there is something better. There is something fitting together. We can feel the pull. As we do, it is drawing, compacting this thing together as we move into perfection. We have to be perfected in order to be the Bride of Jesus Christ. We have got to be able to comprehend, one with another, what it is. As it says there in the 12^th verse, “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” See? This is what the ministry is for, to edify the body of Christ. They are overseers, but they are not rulers. Jesus taught that the ministers were to be the ones who were to be servants. When we get out of that category then we have lost our way. “Till we all (that is talking about every one, every child of God. Do not strain at this. It is not something difficult. It is not something that cannot be done, it is something that has to be done. Till we all…) come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, (Nobody is perfect. We cannot be perfect, says man. That is not what Paul said. Perfection is completion. Unto a perfect man….) unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” I will go to 2^nd Timothy now. Why would Paul talk like this, unto the one he calls his son, Timothy? In that 4^th chapter, just what reason would he give? He has a reason to say this, because as we go on down here, we see others that have left. He is charging Timothy. “I charge thee therefore before God, (That is every ministry. He is talking to us in this hour. He is showing something as we go into the 3^rd chapter of Revelation. But you see what is happening in that first age. It started out right, but then they lose their head, which is Paul. As Paul writes to Timothy, they are about to lose their head, and they see what is happening around them. What is happening? They are losing their first love, as it says in Revelation 2. I charge thee therefore before God…) and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” He is talking to Timothy, but he is talking unto the endtime. There are two ministries that he is speaking to, he is speaking to the first and he is speaking to the last. You cannot apply this in the Middle Ages. Because they did not have the understand that was in the first and last ages. Even the ones that were Christians that lived for God, they had to steal away and find what little they could in the word, that they could understand, because the spirit of God was dealing in certain lives. Therefore they gave their life, most of them did give their lives because of what they believed. It said preach the word, so strong and so straight, as it says here. “Preach the word; (He did not say preach healing. He did not say preach miracles. That all is to follow, as in the 16^th chapter of Mark. But that is exactly what the Laodicean church ended up doing. It began right, but then it went off course. Preach the word….) be instant in season, out of season; (In other words what he is saying is be ready to give a testimony, whether you feel it is in season or out of season, always make a stand for what you believe.) reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” What is he looking at? He is looking at these that have left. He is giving a charge to Timothy because he does not see very many people that are left. The ministry is about all gone, because of the persecution. There is a great persecution in that time, because it is not long after that time until you have the second church age and it is the age of blood, of persecution. But here is Paul, still in the first age, and he is speaking to both the first age and the last. We have heard before that we are returning to the Book of Acts. But really as I look at it, we are going somewhat beyond that. We are. What do I mean? I mean that God is revealing things to us that have been hid. Just like He told Daniel, some things would be shut up until the time of the end. Here we are at the end of the age. We are just about to the wall. We are just about as far as we are going to be able to go before something happens in the Middle East. See how the spirit of God is putting us together? Even young people and children. I noticed the one that was baptized today. When he was baptized he stood there with his eyes closed. He was not just playing in the water. They are probably no older than what Samuel was when God dealt with him. Because it said he did not know the Lord. He did not know who was speaking to him. He thought it was Eli speaking to him, but it was God. Eli had to teach him to wait. It was three times I think he came to Eli, and then Eli realized this is the Lord, because the little boy does not know that, not on his own. Why would Paul say, “Preach the word?” Why would he say, “Be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine?” He is telling Timothy, do not give up. Do not give up the fight, do not give up the job which God has put you in, because this is going to be edifying to the body of Christ. Be sure that you keep this up. He is saying here, “For the time will come (It is coming soon for Timothy.) when they will not endure sound doctrine; (Brothers and sisters, this has to be done. I do not know why I keep saying that, but we have got to get there. There cannot be slack in this. If you have to, just get by yourself and tell God just what you need. If you have been a failure, tell Him you have been a failure. He is not deaf, you do not have to scream at Him. There was a preacher years ago, he would pray so loud that it deafened everybody. Finally there was a little sister that came to him and said, brother, you do not have to pray that loud, God is not deaf, He can hear you. I remember one preacher that used to come here, he was that way, an older guy who had been in World War Two. A little guy with a big voice. You heard his voice when he began to pray. He did not need a microphone, they probably could have heard him in Norway. But we look at these things, God knows exactly what we need when we pray, exactly.

They Shall Turn Away Their Ears From The Truth

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine.” We have been given sound doctrine. Exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine he said.) but after their own lusts (See? He goes into something else here, after their own lusts. He is looking at a ministry in this day. It has gone through television, it goes there all the time, but it has gone into people that have been called out of the denominations into a truth, but they did not want to endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts….) shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.” What is he talking about? People want their itch to be scratched, so they find a preacher who will preach what they want to hear. They want someone who will scratch their itch. He said the time will come. It has happened in our midst, the time came when they would not endure sound doctrine. The third day was sound doctrine, but it was a separating force. After their own lusts will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. “And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, (Turn away their ears, they had every opportunity, every choice. I remember one young man who wanted to meet with Bro. Jackson. He sang here many times as a little boy as he was growing up. But a day came and he stood here and challenged Bro. Jackson, because he began to dabble in the church world. First of all, he had a radio program. After that he began to challenge Bro. Jackson on the things he was teaching. He wrote up a little article, it was just hogwash. If you are listening tonight, it is hogwash. They shall turn away their ears from the truth….) and shall be turned to fables.” He is talking to Timothy here, but he said to him, “But watch thou in all things, (He is giving us eyes to see. Bro. Branham often took his Bible and said, “Give it the word test!” They never did that. Give them the word test to check and see if it is right or wrong. Whenever Bro. Jackson was living, before we had the wireless microphone, I sat here with a little cord in my hand to give Bro. Jackson slack on a microphone when he needed to move around. Then I would pull in the slack whenever he got closer. That was my job. This went on for years. He had different preachers that he depended on that stood here and preached. I always counted myself the smallest, because I thought that they were friends of Bro. Jackson, I thought they must be the real thing, until I began to listen. I guess I was not listening too well at one point, but when I began to listen to what some of them were saying, even back in 1991 and 1992. Then after that, in 1997, I got my eyes opened. Somebody had a dream that a certain man would preach the seven seals. They said he would come through here and preach the seven seals. So, he came here to preach the seven seals, but I never did hear the seventh seal. It did not happen. But in his sermon, said the seven angels that were to each age where the seven candlesticks. He went on to say they were the same seven angels that appeared to Bro. Branham there in Sabino Canyon. Then I got troubled, because I knew they were messengers to the seven church ages. They were not the seven candlesticks. I knew they were messengers. I knew those angels could not come back. Those seven angels are not the one who came to Bro. Branham. Martin Luther and John Wesley and the Apostle Paul and so forth, did not visit Bro. Branham in Sabino Canyon. But that man said it was the same seven that came to Bro. Branham out there in Sabino Canyon. And he said that they would appear here again right at the endtime when the seven thunders sounded. Bro. Jackson had preached on the seven thunders just before that, then that man came here and preached it differently. He was asked the question, “Did you hear what Bro. Jackson had to say six months ago about this certain thing?” He said, “No.” It was in The Contender. He did not hear it because he was feeding himself, he was off on his own. I did not call anybody’s name. But it says here, watch thou in all things….) endure afflictions, (They are going to come, people are going to talk. Preachers are going to say all things against it. But what do they have left now? What have they left?) do the work of an evangelist, (That is what Timothy was.) make full proof of thy ministry.” This applies to us here in this endtime too: make full proof of your ministry. God will see to it that the ministry He has given us will be carried out. It will be understood, it will be fulfilled. “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.” He is looking at the time of his death. In these verses, Paul is speaking about how the first church age will wrap up. They left their first love. They left the doctrine. What did they leave? The doctrine that Paul had put before them. That is what he is talking about. Because it was true. Paul preached truth unto a Gentile people. Whenever he was through he said, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departing is at hand. I have fought a good fight, (He did. He stood before Agripa and Felix, and all those men of that hour that wanted to challenge him. They walked away convinced he was innocent, but they could not change it because he had appealed unto Caesar. He said, I have fought a good fight….) I have finished my course, (He is saying, I am through, I have no more letters to write. I do not know if he had a few tears in his eyes or not? It does not say anything about that, that was not important. It was what he was feeling, because he knew what was before him. Because Paul had visitations of the Holy Ghost. I do not if he had received his death sentence yet or not, but he said, the time of my departing is at hand. I have finished my course…..) I have kept the faith.”

Right on down to the end whenever he is staring at his death sentence. Whenever he sees himself standing there, he is instructing Timothy. He is not worrying about himself, he is instructing Timothy, preach the word, be instant in season, out of season. He is giving instructing of what the word is, as you go back in the 3^rd chapter, in the last days perilous times would come. He is talking about us. Men shall be lovers of their own selves. Preachers, as I have said, these preachers will preach on Sunday morning, they ride out of church in their Lamborghini. They get in big airplanes. Some of them have many airplanes, and they want more. Why? Because they have failed God and they are trying to fill that with something else, which will not work. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, (My! He is feeling good, looking at death. It is staring him in the face. He is not just boo-hooing somewhere, no, he is getting ready for another journey. His body will be placed in the ground, but his spirit will go into that third heaven which he has seen before. He said it was too great for man to speak of. There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness….) which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” Do you love His appearing? It is the most important thing in your life. It is not that house, it is not that new car, it is not that bank account, but it is what you have inside you. That is what Paul is talking about. He knew there was something laid up for him, a crown of righteousness which the Lord shall give. Not to me only, but to all them that love His appearing. See what he includes? All of them that love His appearing. Come Lord Jesus! That is the day that everybody will be crying out, whenever they see Israel getting her land back. Whenever they see that temple beginning to go up, then they know that the time is right, just a few more days. A few more days to labor, a few more days to wait. “Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me.” He is asking Timothy to come to him in Rome. He has something to share with him. Come to him quickly. “For Demas hath forsaken me. (Left the first love.) having loved this present world, (Many that have left, their young people have gone back into the world. That is why I encourage the young people here, hold to truth. Go to school, get what education you can. Even if you never get to finish it, do what you can. Whenever the time has come for you to leave this world, you have been faithful. You have not used your time unwisely. Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world….) and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.” These men who Paul had depended on, who had been used for the ministry, they were walking away. They see Paul is getting ready to be executed, and they become weak. They start faltering. Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. “Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.” As I look at this, we can see ourselves in this picture that Paul is writing. We can see where these situations began there in the early church age. We can see it repeated in our age, because of what has happened in the last few years. They have left us. But on the other hand, God has added to the church such as should be saved.

The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like Unto A Net

We have looked at the that Ephesian Age in Revelation 2, which would have been the first church age. We have saw what was going on at that time, and those same kinds of situations are in our age too. It came because they had left their first love. What a fitting picture of what that is among the church world today. They had lost their first love. You see in Revelation 3 the last church age, starting in the 14^th verse. It speaks of the church as it is now. Where Laodicea was, the tide came up from the sea to the edge of the city. It was about a mile wide. The water was very shallow over that mile, it never got cool and it never got warm. That illustration of the lukewarmness was an illustration of the water that was there, but it was going to represent peoples’ demise. This part of Revelation is talking about a time beginning in the 1950’s, because that is where it began to happen. You have shades of it even in the early part of 1900’s.  When you leave 1906 at Azuza Street, it was only three years until that church was failing. They began to resist what God was doing. They accepted the tongues. They accepted the miracles. These were all great, but that was not where God stopped. Just as it is in Matthew 13:47, the net was cast out into the sea and gathered of every kind. That was talking about this age in which we are living. But then it goes on down to the end. I will read there first before we read Revelation. I will read some of what Jesus was saying in these parables. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind.” That net that was cast was when Bro. Branham began his message, and the many signs and wonders drew in the vast crowds. But before that you had other great men, men like John Lake, Alexander Dowey, men of that nature. Alexander Dowey did some great things in Illinois. He even built a city there called Zion. He was going to build a city there for the Millennium, but it did not work out that way. He was not going to allow any drinking, he was not going to allow any picture shows, nothing of a worldly nature in there. He began to fail in other places though. By the time his life ended, they were even calling him Elijah. He had preached on the three D’s: doctors, demons, and drugs. This is what he preached about. There was a place out west where there was a drought. Whenever he got into a big part of his message, they called for him to come and pray for rain. The reporters there that were checking him out. They asked him if he was going to pray for rain. He would not answer them. He went on into the town. They began to mock him and talk against him. They thought he was Elijah, and he began to claim that. Whenever a person gets off track and lets people begin to add things to their name and make them to be something they are not, then they are in trouble. So what happened? After that, they got into the town and he said, “I hear the sound of abundance of rain.” It started raining in the city where they had not had rain for years. God was doing things in those days. After that, he had set up a place for meetings in Chicago, right beside the Buffalo Bill Show. The Buffalo Bill Show had a lot of people going to it. By the time he had been there two or three weeks, then everybody left the Buffalo Bill Show to come see Dowie, because they were hauling crutches away and things of that nature, in big trucks. But then whenever it came down to the end, when he let people make him think that he was Elijah, then he got the diseases he had prayed against. He got TB, cancer, and different things, things that he had seen healed in his ministry. This was going on as the Laodicean age is coming into focus.

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Then you had John Lake. John Lake prayed for people. He would go into the fields and see people. This was kind of at the ending of the Philadelphia Age, which would have been as Laodicea was beginning. He began to pray for people, even going down the road he would stop and start preaching to people, and they would give their lives to the Lord right then. It wound up in the state of Washington, and he set up a prayer clinic. Instead of medicine, it was a prayer clinic. There were two thousand people they claim went through there and were healed under his ministry. These things happened back in the early 1900’s, as Laodicea was beginning. You had people like Charles Price and Smith Wigglesworth. They prayed for sick people and they were healed. It was just after these men that Bro. Branham came on the scene. Bro. Branham’s ministry became big in 1946. That was when this parable of the net really comes into focus. When Wigglesworth and some of them left the scene, then all this began to come about. Of course, Bro. Branham received his commission in 1933. He started building the Tabernacle that year. That was a swamp and they turned it into a church, they hauled dirt in there and cleared it out so that the Tabernacle could be built. That came just after his big tent meeting down on the river. At the tent meeting, when he was baptizing, the Lord appeared to him there at the river. The voice said, as John the Baptist went to forerun my first coming, you will bring forth a message that will forerun my second coming. That lets you know the message goes on. You will bring forth a message. But the Branham move has said he was the forerunner of the second coming of the Lord, which was not right. It is the message that is the forerunner.

But anyway here in Matthew 13:47, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind.” The net was not started back in 1906. It was in the 1940’s, whenever God began to visit with His messenger and he began to do all the things that God had him to do. It was first a healing ministry, and he took over where the men who came before left off. Some of the older men that were still living, like F.F. Bosworth, who had retired. Bosworth’s ministry came back alive, and he began to travel with Bro. Branham and speak at his meetings. They were faithful men even then. Then you have the crop of preachers that began to     come up after Bro. Branham, and to copy him. Men like A.A. Allen, Oral Roberts, and all those that came along later. Then you have Billy Graham that came on the scene shortly after Bro. Branham. Bro. Branham said Oral Roberts and Billy Graham were like the two angels that visited Lot, that blinded the people. So you can see that in the messages they brought. Some may not like to hear that, but really it did blind the people to truth, because people began to follow their direction instead of following a ministry that had been proven. It was proven here in Jeffersonville and the United States, it was proven in Germany, South Africa, and many other places where Bro. Branham went, Finland, Spain, Italy, India and all these places are where God visited people, where the healings and miracles took place. But then whenever God began to reveal truth, some of them were taken off the scene. Jack Cole was a man that had a lot of healing in his ministry. He died, I think in 1956 about the time that Bro. Branham had said that if the church does not receive the message by 1956, then it is gone. Bosworth died about that time, and the other ministers like Oral Roberts started going a different way with their prosperity gospel. You see the falling away after that time. The country music singers who had sung the old songs that brought a message they faded away, and instead you see it turn to Elvis Presley, the Beatles and all the other that came along at that time. That was the time the church world began to turn from God. Revelation 3 was beginning to be fulfilled.

The Good Were Gathered And The Bad Cast Away

“Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” Now this was coming into focus as you get closer to the 1960s. This was under the time that whenever the net was full, you had Methodists, Baptists, Catholic, all these denominational people that began to favor Bro. Branham because of the healing ministry. He never told them how he baptized. He never told them much of what he believed because he was fulfilling the scripture that God had given him in 2^nd Timothy 4, which told him to do the work of an evangelist. The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. That was exactly right. You see the message there in the scripture where it adds up to come out to where the time fit it. As Paul said to Timothy there just before he died, before he was put to death. “So shall it be at the end of the world: (Or the end of the age. It said they would cast the bad away, and Jesus already explained that with the second parable. He illustrated it with the tares and the wheat, what would happen to them at the end time. So shall it be at the end of the world….) the angels shall come forth, and sever, (That is why you have so much trouble in the church world. Sever, tear apart, because God is not interested in man’s religion. Why was He going to sever it? Why was He going to tear it apart? Because He had some people that He was going to pull out of there, and He had to sever it. In other words, break it open to where peoplecould see what is right and what is wrong. This would separate people. The angels shall come forth and sever….) the wicked from among the just.” You cannot have it all together. You see the separation He is talking about. It is a separation of the wicked from the just. You are the just. But the just had to come out of something for it to be severed. They had to come out of this thing, they had to be broke away. What broke them away was the word. Bro. Branham said, give it the word test. So when the word began to come forth, what did they say? What did they say when serpent seed was preached? They accused Bro. Branham of saying the devil had relation with Eve. He did not say that. But that caused division. That is exactly what it was. This is what He is talking about, to sever is to cut apart, to tear apart. I remember 1963 when the seals were preached, then a separation came on strong. I know the Lord spoke to me then. I remember when the seals were preached, there were many preachers that came to the Tabernacle, but they did not stay. I remember having a dream about one of them. I told him the dream. I said, I saw you going over a hill and your brakes gave out on you and there was a terrible wreck. That is what I told him. It was not two months from that time until he was gone. He went back somewhere. Because God was looking at certain people that were going to stay with truth no matter what came their way. There were decisions that had to be made. There were decisions that were made for you all to be here. This is sad, people that you knew, people you fellowshipped with, we were with them, talked scripture with them. Most of them talked about Bro. Branham. They would mention his name nine times to one time of Jesus Christ. This is the way it was. But many began to leave. “And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” I do not want to go to that place. I am sure nobody here wants to. There will be wailing. Do you know what a person does when they wail? They cry so hard that it turns into a wail. Their emotions get hold of them. “Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord.” He is getting the message across but they are not all understanding it right now. They were not lying, because they thought they knew what He was saying. They thought He was going to be with them forever. “Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe (That is the ministry.) which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven (Every ministry, all five, which are instructed unto the kingdom of heaven….) is like unto a man (Which puts it back in the singular, is like unto a particular man, which would have been William Branham.) that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” I remember Bro. Jackson telling about the first time he went to hear Bro. Branham preach. There were a lot of things that were troubling him because did not agree with everything in the Methodist Church. He said, “Bro. Branham took me from Genesis all the way to Revelation.” This convinced him of who he was and what his purpose was.

Laodicean Age

We will go to Revelation 3 now. “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, (I wonder why he put that in there, these things saith the Amen? The word of God, this is the finish. When you get through it, you say Amen. What does that mean? So be it. Let it be so. Saith the Amen….) the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” This Amen here is Christ. In Him is Yea and Amen, as Paul said. But it is the finish. These things saith the Amen, which is the finish. The message that was brought was to last until the end. The Amen will come whenever the Bride leaves here. “I know thy works, (See? Laodicea actually opens up in 1906. Before that time you did not have any foolish virgins. They were either believers or unbelievers. Then whenever this message began to come, then they began to spread out. They had an experience with the Lord, but they did not understand it. But as Laodicea went on, God was going to separate out the wise, the element that would makeup the Bride of Christ. They were were going to be separated from the unbelievers, from the foolish virgins, and from all the other categories. God had already saw them. I know thy works…) that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or not.” Laodicea had that lukewarm water that flowed near the city, because of the shallowness of it and because of the sun heating it to a lukewarm condition. They never knew cold water and they never knew hot water from that. It was just lukewarm. Jesus used many illustrations from something that they could see. It was that way so that they would understand. Because who was He preaching to? He was preaching to a bunch of fishermen. Of course there were other people in the crowd, but these are the main ones. He was speaking to those apostles. Because at times He took them away, just as He talked to them in the second parable, He did not have everybody around. He just had the apostles around when He was telling them about that. And Judas is an illustration of some that would be in this last time. He sat and listened to the word, but he had something else in mind all along. He just could not get something out of his craw, he kept it there.

“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” I cannot stand warm coffee. I want my coffee hot. But if I am drinking a soft drink, I want it cold. Anything to me, if it is lukewarm, is not as good as either cold or hot. Jesus did not like it either. Maybe we favor Him that way. “Because thou sayest, (See? They are talking now. He is listening to their conversation. This is what the Laodicean church of that time was saying, but it was to illustrate our time that we are living in today. Because thou sayest….) I am rich, (They can say that, they are saying that now. A church in Louisville was built for $77 million. My! Then they have added on since that, so you are looking at least a $100 million when you look at that thing. Why? Because thou sayest, I am rich. But listen to what He says. Because thou sayest, I am rich…..) and increased with goods, (My! They got everything, but when they go outside they have a cigar in their mouth. Or they cannot wait to go to some kind of entertainment. It will not be long until it will be football season. Then what do they do? They rush home to watch the football game. This is in their mind when they are in church. They pick out their team. They get more excited about that. They sleep through church, but get excited about the football game. A bunch of big brutes running into one another, tripping each other up and everybody yells. They would never raise their hands for the Lord, it has always been something else. They are rich, they have everything, they have entertainment. Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods….) and have need of nothing; (That is settled in, settled into the world. The church world has settled into the world, having need of nothing. They sit there and sleep while the sermon goes on, talking about what went on last week. Some churches today  do not even read the Bible. Did you know that? Other churches just take out the parts they do not like. They make a new Bible.) and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” They have been stripped of the word. This is what He is talking about. He is talking about riches in the world. They have big plans already planned out for next year, for the next ten years. Because they do not believe in the coming of the Lord. Bro. Branham called them the Methodist lodge, the Baptist lodge, Catholic lodge, Pentecostal lodge. They are just lodges. People have a membership and they pay their dues. “I counsel thee (He is getting serious with them here.) to buy of me gold (Do you think He is talking about gold? I counsel thee to buy of me truth, because that is the riches. The truth of the word of God, that is where your riches are. I counsel thee to buy of me gold….) tried in the fire, (Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? They were tried in the fire. There is a trial to test and prove things.) that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, (This is His counsel. I counsel thee. That counsel is the same as Paul said to Timothy, I charge you. I counsel you. I am talking to you. A counselor is someone who talks to you. The Holy Ghost began to speak in 1963, saying, “Come out of her my people, that ye be not partaker of her sins.” Who is “her”? Catholicism. Who are her daughters? Denominations. Remember she had daughters and she had abominations. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment….) that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, (God so loved the world, but then man has a choice. Does that mean He does not love everybody? It said “as many as I love”, what happens to those that He loves? They come out of that thing. As many as I love….) I rebuke and chasten.” Like it is in Hebrews 12. If you do not have chastening then you are not a child of God. Sometimes it is chastening. The greatest chastening that God can put on anybody is to withdraw His presence for awhile. How many want that? David cried out in the 51^st Psalm, he cried out in repentance toward God, restore to me the joy of thy salvation. Do you need restoring? Ask Him, tell Him you need refreshment, tell Him you need a touch of His Almighty Hand. He said behold I stand at the door and knock. Someone asked, why does He stand at the door and knock? Because there is no way to get in unless you open the door and let Him come in. The doorknob is on the inside. He is very particular with who He visits. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, (The voice is His word. If any man hear my voice….) and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” He is talking about some of those old sayings of the Middle Eastern countries. If you should go to their house, they will insist that you take tea or something of that nature. During that time, they did. That is what He is talking about, Come in, let us have a drink together. But what He is talking about is fellowship. Sup with Him and He with me. Remember the Samaritan woman at the well? He began to talk with her, give me a drink. That is the illustration that will fit this time. He is asking her, he is counseling her, give me a drink. He is speaking about the time we are living in now, “To him that overcometh (or her) will I grant to sit with me in my throne, (We are headed for the throne room. I will grant to sit with me in my throne….) even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” What a privilege, what a promise that God would say something like that through His Son. He is speaking to our generation. He is not interested in what you have got, or how much you own, because when you get there, all of us are going to be dressed alike in shiny white robes. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”

Edifying Itself In Love

Let us go back to Ephesians 4:15, “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him (See? I talked about measures on this. May grow up into Him….) in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, (These last words are what I want to dwell on.) maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” What is He saying there? I have given this over to you, through the Spirit, that you may edify one another in love. It is our responsibility. Our responsibility here in this endtime is to be able to edify one another. That takes the joints and puts them together. He said in the 15^th verse, speaking the truth in love, not hate, maketh increase of the body. Increase means more, more, more. More truth, more love. Perfection is coming about in this. The body is edifying itself. He has laid the responsibility on the ministry in this time to edify the body of Christ and then the body of Christ is showing love back to that ministry. It is just an elevation of one to the other. I have a couple other scriptures to go to here. 1^st Corinthians 4. “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; (That is the truth, I know nothing by myself.) yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.” So we are in His hands to edify one another. We are stewards, as ministers of God. Go to 2^nd Corinthians, 5:17. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, (Reconciled, or brought us to himself by Jesus Christ….) and hath give to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, (to witness) that God was in Christ, (God’s Holy Ghost was in Christ.) reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; (Not holding their trespasses against them.) and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.” See? He is building here, He is giving to us the word of reconciliation. “Now then we are ambassadors (Ambassador Charles, Ambassador Kevin, ambassadors….) for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: (That is what I read there in Ephesians,  edifying the body of itself in love, in care, in concern, not in contempt. Now we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us….) we pray you in Christ’s stead, (He is not here, but His body is. His body is the church. He is the head. He is the one that gives instructions. We are the one carrying them out. I am talking about everyone, not just the ministry, we are all carrying out the instructions. We pray you in Christ’s stead….) be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, (Made Him to be sin for us, why?) who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” That we might be the righteousness of God in Him. Do you understand it? Do you understand the depth and breadth and height? We must understand the requirements.

Bro. Allen’s Testimony

I want to say a few things before I go on into the rest of this message. I had never thought of it in this way, but for a reason I was born. I was born during the time when there was great stress in this country, here in the Ohio valley especially during the 1937 flood, which was the time that I was born. I always felt that God was real, but I never did turn my life over to Him until I was twenty-one years of age. I never was baptized or anything like. I was not a rebel, I did not drink, I did not know what anything like that tasted like. I still do not know what beer or whiskey tastes like. Because that was not one of my desires. I said I was not a Christian, I went to church up until I was around seventeen years of age. Then I had other things to do, which I felt like was more important than going to church. So I was out of church most of the time for four years. It was during that time that God began with me, even before I became a Christian. I felt the need, because I had other ambitions and I was feeling the need to be able to talk and to reason about religious things, that was before I became a Christian. Especially in the fall of the year, before January, just a few days before my birthday, I turned my life over to the Lord. There was a change. I did not make the change. I smoked some, I never was a chain smoker, but I did smoke. Whenever the Lord saved me, I gave it up immediately, I never did smoke another cigarette. This was all taken away from me, because in a few months after that I was going to listen to the call of God, which He had dealt with me when I was a sinner. You may not understand that, but different people have different things different ways. I never resisted the call. The thing about it is I felt the call in my life early on after I became a Christian. Several weeks later I preached my first sermon. Whenever I did, that was before I had the visitation of the Lord there in the bathroom where we lived. That is when He spoke to me and said, I did not only call you to preach but to pray for the sick. That was strange to me. I grew up in the Methodist Church, they never prayed for anybody’s sickness, never. I never saw it happen. I did not know where I would ever be able to use that. It was just a mystery, but God provides a way. Why am I telling you this? I am telling it for a purpose. Whenever all this began to come about, God began to deal with me, I began to fast during the summer of that year. For the next three or four years I spent at least a third of my time fasting. I would come off a fast and go right back on it. Because God was dealing with me. He was, it was strong at all times. I could not wait to get back before Him whenever that time come. Then two years later in 1961, I received baptism in the name of Jesus Christ and was baptized two years after I had started preaching. I had been baptized in the trinity form in a cold creek in February of 1959. Whenever I thought that would satisfy my longing, but it did not. There was something inside me that was kind of like a worm gnawing on the brain. Why am I telling this? I want to say something in this, maybe that will help somebody. There are a lot of things I just never did think of. I never knew what the pull was in my life. In 1961 I heard Bro. Branham preach the seventy weeks of Daniel. I was there for the meeting. I dismissed the service in the Methodist Church on Sunday in order to be there. I become a real believer in this truth. I followed it all the way I could. It got me put out of the Methodist Church at Burkesville because they did not want it, did not want to hear it because I refused to baptize in any other form except the name of Jesus Christ, I told them that. I went from there to 1963 when I heard the seals preached. Whenever I heard the seals preached, then Bro. Branham went over Revelation 18 where it said, come out of her my people. I began to make my way out. God began to deal with me to do that, to make my way out of the Methodist Church. I spent four years in there. Some of it was because of influence, because a certain preacher that was in this, he encouraged me to stay in there. I was ready to leave in 1961, but he turned out wrong. I saw what was going on. I believed that Bro. Branham was a prophet. I believed in Malachi 4:5-6, I believed that, but I never could elevate him to the place they were elevating him. I knew there was a God above the whole thing. From then on time goes on until the death of Bro. Branham. I spent three years, three summers I will say, under his ministry, the last three years. I began to see at the end of it the revelation was more or less drying up, because of the things he was preaching was the things that could have been used in other places maybe. I know they would not like that because they said from 1963 on everything he said was thus saith the Lord, even if he told his wife to cook him something to eat, that was thus saith the Lord. There are people here that know those things. A couple sisters I know of, knew something about that. But time went on. 

Shortly after Bro. Branham’s death, I became more acquainted with Bro. Jackson, his ministry. I came here a few times, walked out the back door with him, walked through the parking lot and somebody put their hand on my shoulder. I looked at behind Bro. Jackson, but there was nobody there. But I felt that hand on my shoulder, I have told this before. Through that, things began to happen that I found my home. This went through 1966 and 1967, I completely laid everything aside and started coming to Faith Assembly totally. Whenever this come about, I saw people come and go through the years. This did not just happen ten years ago. It did for a big fallout, ten years ago, but I saw it happen during the time of Bro. Branham, at different stages. I remember Bro. Jackson  had a lot of friends that followed him whenever Bro. Branham was living. Then he did not go along with church order in 1963 and people began to part his company. They did not want anything to do with him. The Martin boys in Missouri, and different ones that he cared a whole lot about, they departed company. He went to Bill Podaris’s in North Carolina. In 1968 they departed company, because they felt like a person should be able to drink wine. The preacher got drunk, shot his wife twice, and pleaded an accident. Things went on and on through the years, then in the middle 1970’s somewhere, maybe 1980, Bro. Bud came. Homer Brown, who has died just a few days ago, left in 1976 all together. Then Bro. Bud came on the scene. We became close to Bro. Jackson, he and me and Bro. Jackson. I know Bro. Jackson said we were like three peas in a pod. We lived that way for years and years until the death of Bro. Jackson in 2004. In 2004 Bro. Jackson died and Sis. Jackson had us out there that Saturday morning, Bro. Bud and me. She said to us, now there is a great weight laid upon your shoulders. I did not know exactly what she was talking about, but it was not long until I found out. She was right whenever she said that, because she wanted to include both of us in this. We worked together through the years. It come down to the time of Bro. Bud’s illness. God always has something prepared. Along came Bro. Kevin and Bro. Charles, which has supported that type of ministry that has come from Bro. Branham on down the line through Bro. Jackson. I know whenever Bro. Jackson said they were trying to cut him out of the five fold ministry, because he knew he had that calling upon him, because he dreamed he had a letter with his name on it, that he was ordained to be an apostle. I believe that. I have believed that through the years, I believe it now. But God had something in mind that I did not see. I did not know what was going to happen in 2004. It was like there was something that was lost, in the way that people began to talk, ministers began to talk that there would never be any more revelation, because Bro. Jackson brought it all. This was more or less the way they said it under Bro. Branham, it is all over, there will not be any more. But God has kept on going. He has brought men into this truth that love the truth and they are determined to follow truth until the end of the road. There will be an end of the road at some time. Just a few months before Bro. Jackson died, he mentioned at different times, I did not know why, he mentioned at different times before Bro. Bud and me, he said, you are the one that was under Bro. Branham’s ministry. I did not know why he was saying that. I had no idea, he said it at different times, you are the one left from Bro. Branham’s ministry. I am not bragging this morning, but I am saying I do not know of another true ministry, pastor of a church, that was under Bro. Branham’s ministry, that God has kept in truth. I know there are brothers that are in truth, the brothers here that are in truth, but they did not see the ministry of Bro. Branham, and they did not know the early ministry of Bro. Jackson. But there is a reason for that.

Ye Cannot Serve God

I want to go to Joshua 24. I want to read quite a bit here because this tells a story of what I am aiming at this morning. Verse 5, “I sent Moses also and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did among them: and afterward I brought you out. And I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and ye came unto the sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen unto the Red sea. (This is Joshua talking here.) And when they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.” Joshua is talking to a younger generation of believers, because all the men over twenty years old, except Joshua and Caleb died coming out of Egypt. So the ones that were twenty are now much older, they are not young people as they were at that time. Because they are now sixty years old or so, even older than that. “And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you.” God is not bragging here, but He is telling what He did. “Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand.” See? Balaam went to different places in to curse them, but each time he ended up blessing them instead, and his curses did not do any good. “And ye went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho: and the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Cananites, and the Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered them into your hand.” He is talking about a host of the land of Israel, when He is talking about the Jebusites, they were the ones that held Jerusalem. Here now He is telling how He fought against them. “And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.” See? God did the whole thing with hornets. You are not going to stand too long before hornets. “And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat. Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. And if it seem devil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Here he is telling them, make a choice. The choice is in that person. Do we choose to follow truth no matter what? That is a choice of ours. Have we made a choice to follow the word of God and the revelation that came to us through the different ministries leading up to our time? Do we really know what God has done? Because God, in the life of Bro. Branham, began to bring truth. If it had not been for that, we would not have the revelation we have today. It has filtered down to this hour through the ministry of Bro. Jackson. They tried to cut Bro. Jackson out of the fivefold ministry. But God used Bro. Jackson for a purpose to uphold truth, when the whole rigamarole of preachers could not decide which side they were on. God had to keep a stable force in there to show us the way until we came to this hour. The ministry is here to fulfill Ephesians 4:12-13. That is what they are for. We are servants. I am really on the bottom of the list as far as you all are concerned, because I am your servant. The servant serves others before he serves himself. But God has given the ministry to break down the word, to be able to present it unto you in a fashion that it can be eaten, as it talks about it in Matthew 24.  Where the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. So it is a whole group of eagles there, feasting upon the same carcase, which is the word of God. This is giving us a privilege. I would not hold anything back that the Lord showed me, just to hold it back to a certain time, unless the Lord showed me to, which he has not. As I learn, He said, come and learn of me, I am meek and lowly. I am meek and lowly, in other words, He is saying that you can eat with me. That is exactly what happens in Revelation 3, that we feast with Him, and He with us. “And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed.” This is the people’s answer to Joshua. “And the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the Lord; for he is our God. And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the Lord: (He is challenging them. He is trying to put a Godly fear in them, that is what he is doing. You cannot serve the Lord. They had done said, “We will serve the Lord.” But Joshua says, “You cannot serve Him.” He wants more of a direct answer than what they have given him. He is after a direct answer coming from the heart. It is something they must say from within, it is not just words. Joshua said unto the people, ye cannot serve the Lord….) for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.” See? He is making it look impossible, to get a commitment. If God spoke to us with that kind of language, what would we do? Would we turn around and say, “I have no a chance?” No, he is wanting an answer. That is exactly what he is after, an answer. “If ye forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good. And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the Lord.” Now they are getting down to business. We will serve the Lord. “And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves (He is after that commitment. They have chosen this from their heart now. Now they are responsible. This is like the ministry of this hour because we are putting ourselves in the same lot as the people. You, without us, are not going anywhere, and we without you have no where to go. So it is a confession on our parts that we are responsible for what we preach and what we say. It is our responsibility to build the people up, to make them feel that they are children of God, and that God is watching over them in all their trials and tests and everything that comes their way. We are trying to be a benefit. We are not just trying to help you walk a little better, no. We are trying to benefit you to where you can walk better. There is a difference there. Joshua said unto the people, ye are witnesses against yourselves…) that ye have chosen you the Lord, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses.” He gets the answer that he wanted from the very beginning. Now there is a reason Joshua has been talking this way There is something he wants them to do. “Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, (Get rid of those old habits they had learned in Egypt, and was passed down to them from their fathers and mothers. I do not know how many little idols they had, but God is giving them a chance. God chose them to be examples to the nations. Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you….) and incline your heart unto the Lord God of Israel.” He is giving them this free way, this opportunity to put away the things that have hindered them. We have that opportunity too. Jesus himself said, I am the vine, you are the branches. He includes the whole body in that. We are connected. Every branch must bear fruit. He is looking for that. Sometimes there are ways that we have to change, thoughts we have to change in order to elevate our faith to where it meets our talk. That is what he is looking at here in the children of Israel. In order to live and to be like Christ, to the measure of the stature of Christ, there are things that I do not need to know, it is between you and God. I hardly ever ask any questions of people, but who wants to be in the Bride of Christ, raise your hand? That is going to be the most glorious thing you could ever have. That is a privilege. “And the people said unto Joshua, The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey.” Now they have committed themselves. This is a whole chapter of the thought of a man that is fixing to die. Just like Paul, Joshua is giving his last message to the children of Israel. He has lived before them, they have seen his life. He said, “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” But now he is putting it to them: you and your house.

A Stone Of Witness

“And Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.” There is something there, he setup a large stone, this was going to be a reminder. Rocks do not talk, but if something is dedicated to God in this way, every time they see that stone it will remind them of the covenant that they made with God. So, we are making covenants. We are standing up something as a witness that we are going to do this. “And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, (See? He took a stone.) and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard (In other words, every time that they go by this stone, there will be, seemingly, a voice, but it is really the voice of God, because they made their covenant there. Maybe things would go wrong somewhere, in somebody’s life, they walk by that and that is a reminder, get this thing straight, straighten it out, do not let it happen again. Joshua said unto all the people, Behold this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it hath heard…) all the words of the Lord which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inheritance.” This is his last message. It is a good message, it is a timely message for us. We do not have a stone, or a God made stone, we do not have that, but we do have the word. This is the witness. Now listen, “And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel.” See? God had to have a witness and He has witnesses here among us. You know who you are that lived under Bro. Branham’s ministry. There had to be someone that could relate back to that, to let people know how God lived and worked in that man’s life. Right on through the years up until this time, there had to be somebody faithful enough to be able to stand from that time until this time. Many of you today have come in under Bro. Jackson’s ministry. Even the early ministry that you can remember. See? Time has gone on until we get down here at the endtime, that is the reason that I speak to you these things. God has left a witness of truth unto a people that have come through time and saw and knew the prophet God sent. God did not send God. God sent a prophet to witness unto a people because of the great things that God was going to do. It was not the miracles. The miracles is what drew the people in the net. But then whenever they were drawn to shore, which is Matthew 13:47, there was a separation. There is something there I never did see until now. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind.” The net was the drawing power of the miracles in Bro. Branham’s ministry, which was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind. Methodists, Baptists, Catholics, Pentecostals, he gathered of every kind. But then he began to call them the Methodist lodge, the Baptist lodge, Catholic lodge. He called them the lodges, just like some of the lodges today. Because it is nothing but a membership where people can go and get their conscience a little bit better, for a day or two. It makes them feel better for a day or two, but there is nothing there, there is no substance there to feed on. It is just a manmade organization. All this homosexuality that is going on now between these priests and all, is known to the pope. He will not say anything about it. He will not bring it out publicly because so many in the top leadership are guilty. “Which when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.” That is our hour. People have thought that we were just too harsh. It said they cast them away. “So shall it be at the end of the world: (He is talking about the end here.) the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just.” Do you want to be just? I am sure you do not want to be the wicked, do you? “And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Most of this last part is for the endtime, because there is not another age. This is the end. There are fall-outs. Whenever Bro. Branham began to preach the things like serpent seed, there was a big falling away. Then it kind of eased up after awhile. People began to come to the meetings in droves. I remember the meetings at Park View school, there were an estimated twenty-five hundred people. This was the biggest gathering I was ever at. He preached Marriage and Divorce because of the things that were going on. Then we come to verse 51, “Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe (Every scribe: that is talking about this time. It is not talking about fifteen or twenty years ago, because they were not scribes. They did not even love the people. If you do not love people, you have no part in the ministry. Therefore said He unto them, therefore every scribe….) which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man (Every scribe is like unto a man, every scribe is like unto one man. I will go on with that.) that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” Bro. Jackson said when he went to the Tabernacle he heard something that answered his questions. He said, ”I heard it preached from Genesis to Revelation, I had never heard anything like that before.” By the time he left there, he was convinced that Bro. Branham the Elijah for the day. What does the scripture say? Things new and old. Revelation came forth, both new and old. And every scribe is like unto him, to bring out things new and old. This is for our time. We are to bring out the word of God to fit the hour, to fit the Bride of Christ. The ministry is a responsible bunch of people. You see this when it is pulled to shore and the separation begins. John talks about it in 1^st John, about loving one another. He that loveth is of God. He that loveth not has not seen God. They do not know anything about Him. I am trying this morning to put the ministry in their place, of their responsibility. I will go to Ephesians and read that 12^th and 13^th verse of the 4^th chapter. He has said here that there is a fivefold ministry in the 11^th verse, I do not have to read that again. But I want to read this. This is a continuation of the 11^th verse. “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, (That is what I am trying to do in this message.) for the edifying of the body of Christ.” That is my responsibility. That is my ministering brothers’ responsibility, to edify the body of Christ. We are servants. The Bible in some places calls us overseers, but it does not call us over-rulers. “Till we all (Everybody is not coming at once, but till we all. I cannot transform these young boys or young girls into grown people. But I want to see you in favor with God. I want to see God work in your lives and I believe He will before it is over with. We are going to be surprised. 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.” In the 15^th verse he says, “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.” We must recognize the head. How did the head work when He was here? He got twelve disciples out of fishing boats, still smelling like fish. Some of them probably had some salty language. He did not go around and just pick perfect people, they would not listen. He did not pick me because I was perfect, he picked me because I was a sinner and I knew it. But He said, wilt thou be made whole? That is my message. I am putting the responsibility on us as a ministry. But the responsibility goes on to you. God, I feel He needed somebody as a witness to these ministries, just as He did with Joshua. Joshue was a witness to those that over-lived. That is why I felt that Bro. Jackson kept preaching that back there, at different times right at the last. He said to me different times: you were there under Bro. Branham’s ministry to be a witness. I did not know why he said that, but I believe there was a purpose in it.

…continued in the next edition.