Excerpt Re Church Age Book

I want to talk to you of something that you've never heard before. And it may be a little surprising. You well know that I wrote The Church Age for Brother Branham because having read the script, having heard the field, I knew it would be less than compatible with an exposition that he actually gave us, which was so marvelous, to simply take a word -by -word treatise. from the ages when he had added so much in the seals, which later turned out to be a blessing because unfortunately Brother Branham died before I could rewrite the seals for him, and I didn't know why he was so terribly, terribly urgent. He knew he was going, but I didn't. Anyway, we wrote the church ages in order to present to the people as much as we could. the reality of the ministry and the doctrine. Now, Brother Branham, purportedly, I do not know, told Sidney Jackson in South Africa the book was thus set the Lord. I have no reason to be one way or the other. I do know that when Brother Collins was agitated because he didn't have a clue, as far as I know, as to the white throne and the second resurrection, the foolish virgin, and the whole thing, He was worried because he was sure that Lee Vail took advantage of Reverend William Brannan, prophet of God, and wrote what he wanted. And Brother Brannan being stuck in a gentleman would not refute it. I know that Becky went to him and said, Daddy, can you go to heaven without being born again? He said, why, no, daughter. She said, well, Lee Vail said that in the book. Now, you know how much Becky knew in that book. I'm not slamming anybody. Listen, kids, we're dealing with old Lee Vail up here. I don't take any drugs. The book was written according to what Brother Branham said. And if you'd like to have the churning in my stomach, the headaches I had, I would lie on a bench, having started the book, and lie on a hard bench and roll in agony and in terror. That's how that book was written. Now, that book does not contain any mistakes on the grounds of which I'm now going to divert for one second so you get the picture. When I wrote 20th Century Prophets, Brother Branham and I sat together. The witness that was there is now not living. As I read to Brother Branham, and he read beside me the script, he said, put a little point there. And he said, that's not quite right. We'll come back. So he went through the book, and he said another point. He said, that's good. He said, this could help here. When I read the book to him in its entirety, I said, Brother Branham, what about that little thing back here you said to correct? He said, forget it. It's corrected down here. Hear what I said? You're listening? Okay, listen to me. In the church age book you will find, and we're going to deal with this number one, that in there I took from the passage of Ephesians, by grace are you saved through faith. And grace means a free gift. By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It is a gift of God. The scholars admit that that which is a gift of God is grace. They make... the author of the book Redundant. And I am a stickler. I do not believe in redundancy. I have been taught that you never use the same word twice in a sentence or in a paragraph or in a page. That is why my vocabulary is so extensive and I watch myself. I try not even leave the particles dangling or the prepositions out of place. I could not truly accept what they said, though Brother Branham later on I found after having read the passage where I attributed The saving grace of God to a faith that was only in the elect, based upon chapter 13 of Acts particularly, were they who were ordained unto eternal life believed. But if you weren't ordained, you could not believe. Therefore I took in 2 Thessalonians where it says, All men have not due faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because they reprobate. I immediately drew my conclusion. that before you could be born again, you would have to have a faith dropped in your heart by Almighty God. The book was written when Brother Branham actually said on a tape, there are those whose faith, that you have to have a supernatural faith to be saved, don't you believe it, because faith is represented by hyssop, and hyssop grows in the cracks and crannies of all, and in any place you may find it. So this would sound like an error. But remember, Brother Branham taught on the stature of a perfect man. And on the stature of a perfect man in 2 Peter, the first chapter, you'll find that the basic grace and virtue is faith. And you cannot have it unless you're baptized with the Holy Ghost because it comes out of it. My doctrine was correct in the book according to Brother Branham, but a slight misplacing because it was corrected as you go down the line. You see what I mean? There is not a mistake in that book as far as doctrine is concerned. It is right. Believe me, I sat with Brother Branham times myself as much as four and a half hours and one time roughly 11 days of all the time I could put in to get glimmerings of what I needed to know. He read the book more than once. There are those who will tell you there's a big mouth living in America, which I have now. Well, I just forget what I said. Man's liar. He said, Brother Branham did not read the last chapter, so many pages of that Church Age book. He doesn't know what he's talking about because there's a man in Raleigh that used to, or does lead, a Brother Carpenter song service in Mesa, Arizona, who sat in the Ramada Inn with me and Brother Branham as I read the last chapter to bring to his attention what he seemed to be saying to the people was that men like Luther and different ones never had the baptism with the Holy Ghost. And I said, Brother Branham, I'm going to ask you a question. Were these men devoid of the Holy Ghost, or were they full of the Holy Ghost? Because these men are messengers. Oh, yes, he said before they had the Holy Ghost, there was no doubt. Remember, he said they had it measured, right? So they had the Holy Ghost for their day. There was no problem there. So I read the book to him. The poor old brother writing. They were all apologetic. He kept butting in as though he knew something. He knew nothing of what we were talking. So Brother Branham heard the chapter. This other man knew nothing about it, so therefore he being thought. thinking he was omniscient, which he wasn't quite. Lois, you're accepting myself, and you understand perfectly what I'm saying. My twin sister never lets me down. That guy

was wrong, 100%. Brother Branham not only heard, but he corrected, he read the last chapter and every word in that book. There is one bad, there are a couple of typographical errors, and one is because the book was sent to Pentecostal publishing press. And Brother Branham said, The prophet in the former reign. Pentecostals know only latter reigns. Though I quoted the scripture correctly, the former reign, the man put in latter. Now listen to me. When that book came back from the printers in my hand, the final edition, I told my wife, I said, there's a mistake in this book, and I'll take you right to it. I knew the man had put in latter instead of former. Now, we'll go a step further. Let's talk about 1977.

1977 is what Brother Branham said could possibly by prediction be the end. In the book it is stressed, I am predicting, I am not prophesying. So therefore, instantly, if you have any intellectual capacity whatsoever, based upon what you know of Brother Branham within the book, you would know that this man was not saying, thus saith the Lord, he was not prophesying. In there you will find The visions were enumerated one through seven. You will also know that five of them had come to pass. Based on Brother Branagh's calculation, which was his own prediction, by the speed at which five had already been processed by God, it would be 1977 possibly. Only by not a pure calculation, but a guesstimation. He was saying it could be. Later on, he corrected himself and said that things would have to be squeezed in pretty mightily to get there. Also, Brother Branham said, you cannot see certain events fulfilled or great things fulfilled until all the events are in. Now, notice the language in that book. In that book, and I cannot quote it exactly right now, but I can quote you the part that I want to quote you. And that is that little phrase, after he said, I am not prophesying, I am predicting. And enumerating these things, the little phrase is, by divine revelation. And I'm going to tell you something. When I wrote 20th Century Prophets, there was certain phraseology I did not like.

I would go back over and over to change it, and I couldn't do it. In the Church Age book, there were certain passages I wrote I could not allow to be printed. I could not change, for some reason, why it was said by divine inspiration. And now you're sitting here. I

won't say too much because I could be insulting you, and I don't mean to. But look, if I had already told you the

patience of which five came to pass and two will come to pass, then you knew. that every time I said, thus saith the Lord, or prophesied, there never was one iota of faith.

Then I write in that book for Brother Brannon, or he writes it,

putting all these into an equation, and then saying, this is a guesstimation. I'll ask you the question, using the divine revelation that God gave. I'll ask you, what was the divine revelation? Now, somebody tell me.

I don't want to... take you out now and I don't want to get you bombed out. But look, kids, this is the

divine revelation were the seven visions. He

never had more than this divine revelation than that. You

follow what I'm saying? This has thrown everybody that needed to be thrown because they thought it was being said. Thus said the Lord 1977. It wasn't.

You wonder why it's in the book. I'm not God. Understand

what I'm saying?

There are three types of people that Jesus mentioned. The prophet, the wise man, and the scribe. The prophet is the living word of God made manifest. He cannot be judged because he is God to the people because God is in him. And he's not as Terry's former friend from British Columbia that has God, has God, has God. Is

that my sarcasm alone? Thank you, dear. I knew you would. You

got guts.

I'm not standing here as Lee Vale. I am Lee Vale.

Jesus said, who's seen me has seen the Father. And William Branham said, when you've seen me, it's just like when they said, Jesus said, when you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Well, I don't think I... I'm glad. It

reduces the crowd. When

I was a kid, my

sister used to make the best caramel pie. You every... I

could sit down and I saw that I got what I wanted. I ate the whole thing before you got there.

No Jerusalem, here comes a sheep like a hog.

William Branham said, I'm

not God.

There are three classes of people, the prophet, the scribe, the wise man, and the scribe. The prophet is the infallible word of God. He's the living word of God made manifest. He is God to the people. In him dwells God. You can put whatever measure you want, but Brother Branham had to have the measure for this particular hour of whatever role God was posing himself in, which was absolutely prophet, which was judge, and so on. What is the wise man? Now I'm going to flatter myself and Brother Valentine. Hey, Terry. a deceiver. Flattery. Not flattery. Be honest. Because if I'm not honest, I'm a deceiver. And if you believe me, you'll burn, but I'll burn extra.

The wise man is the man who can handle the scripture, preferably known as the teacher. The

scribe is the man who only writes it down.

Therefore, you see, nothing changes.

I took what Brother Branham said, as thus said the Lord, and I wrote it handling it, as I was given. way by God to handle that word. And so therefore in that book you have that picture of where it says by divine revelation and it has shown many people a curve and this is scriptural. I did not do that on purpose.

I knew perfectly in my mind what I meant when I wrote it and so did Brother Brangham.

And ignorantly I thought anybody would just pick it up because

it was all there in front of you. Hey! I got six apples. I got six peaches. I got six oranges. I got six pears. Makes wonderful marmalade. Try it sometime. Take a cup of each and a cup of sugar to match and boil it. Put it in jars and take it.

But there's something needed. It's all laid out.

Maybe I've got eight pears. I've got six peaches. And I've got this. I'm supposed to take one of each. Now, if I've only got six peaches and six pears and six apples, I can't have eight oranges. And I thought it was that simple. The divine revelation was the same.

Now let me tell you, I have laid open views I've never done in any public office. What

I'm telling you now, my knowledge, there is absolutely nothing in that book that is in error.

Because even the little thing that was in there corrected itself absolutely by the truth. that when you are born again, you do have that measure of faith.

I misplaced a little bit, but the prophet completely overlooked it on the ground of how he corrected the 20th century prophet Lee. Just leave it. Don't touch it. Made manifest on him. So, that's it.