1975-07-NOR#1-LV Introduction - Working with BB Norway-TuesE

I'm certainly happy to be here with you tonight in Norway.

I've already had a very agreeable surprise.

I thought that Brother Johansson was about my age.

I was looking for a sort of a grandpa. And here he's a fine young man. With a lovely wife.

five nice children and then also see our good friends the ways a very great affection for them perhaps you're not aware of the great service he has done for God

No man has put tapes around the world as has this brother.

And I'm sure he has laid up many treasures in heaven.

And his wife has been very faithful.

Brother Branham often spoke to me about her.

He said she was a very fine lady.

And also happy to see Brother Kern. He visited me in our home in Ohio.

And also his wife. So we're not strangers. At least for a few of us. That is concerning the flesh. And we're not strangers in the spirit. And if we are. Just a little. Well, I hope we're not strangers by the end of the meeting.

Now, I usually preach word messages.

We just try to enter into the doctrine.

But tonight I want to do it a little different.

By doing it, we just may feel a little closer together.

Every now and then Brother Branham used to give his life story.

The people loved to hear it. It was certainly a marvelous story of a man's life.

Tonight I want to talk about him.

And of course I must talk a little about myself. Because I was associated with him. So I trust you'll forgive me tonight. If I do this. And then tomorrow we can start with the doctrine. And I'll do my best to help you. In whatever way I can. If you think it might be beneficial to you, then you may write questions on a piece of paper and hand them in to me. I don't care what you ask me.

Whatever's on your heart, I cannot guarantee an answer. If I don't know the answer, I'll simply tell you. If I do know the answer, then I'll be glad to help you. And this may concern personal problems.

And you may wonder what Brother Branham said about those problems.

And if I know, I'll certainly pass it on. I'm very sorry that Billy Paul Branham cannot be here.

But he had other commitments. But he sends his greetings and his love.

I feel quite confident that he will yet come to Norway. He has never been in the Scandinavian countries. And he wants to come. And I'm sure Mr. Branham wants to come also.

So you pray about it. Quite possible that they may come.

I also want to say I have a little bit of a tie in Norway. A little tie. My wife's parents came from around Stavanger. Her mother's name was Nessa and her father's name was Ragnar. I think that means something about a rocking chair.

I'm not sure but it's all right by me. He was a very fine man. He never saw this message because he never came near it. But he was a very fine person. And he tried to raise his family for Jesus.

Five years ago we were in Stavanger. And it was certainly a great pleasure.

For my wife to find a sister Larson. Had been practically reared by the Nessa family.

So my wife was able to visit some people in Stavanger.

and near there who were her relatives and they seemed like wonderful people one of her cousins is a preacher of the gospel he also has his own business and I believe he's apostolic Pentecostal faith

So we trust that he's been blessed by the little tiny message we gave him five years ago.

And just possible he'll come to see the light.

I was also glad to see Brother and Sister Leroy.

Yes, and I've known them through the mail for some time.

And he's just as fine a man as I thought he was by his letter.

It's good to write good letters. But it's better to be a letter that is a good letter. I thank the Lord for the girls' lovely singing.

That's a song that I recognize from America. But I think they sang it better than they sing in America.

In fact, they do sing it better than I've heard it sung in America.

So we praise the Lord for that. And I think I'm going to praise the Lord for my interpreter.

He sure sounds good.

Shall we

bow our heads for a word of prayer? Praise this kind Heavenly Father.

We bow our hearts and our minds in your presence.

Approaching your throne of grace and mercy.

And ask you to help us now. By giving the words we ought to say.

And helping us to stop saying anything we ought not to say.

These mercies we ask in Jesus name.

Amen.

Our brother read from Matthew 11.

And

I was agreeably surprised that he did so.

This is the story of John the Baptist.

Especially Jesus speaking about him.

And it mentions in verse 7 that Jesus said concerning John. What went you out for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? What went you out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft clothing are in king's houses.

But what went you out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I send you more than a prophet.

For this is he of whom it is written behold I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee.

Verily I say unto you among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist notwithstanding That he that is least in the king of heaven is greater than he.

I believe that these verses can be applied to Brother Branham.

At least in spirit.

He was a man of the wilderness.

And he was a man who could not be shaken by popular opinion.

His mind could not be changed by men who talked to him.

It was not that he wasn't willing to listen to people.

He was willing to be corrected if that were possible.

But he was absolutely steadfast in staying with the word of God. He was not given to indulging himself with fine things.

He did not want to live in a luxurious manner.

When other men around him would choose the finer things, he chose the lesser.

He did not want money. He refused to take one and a half million dollars at one time.

I met the man who saw the certified check.

He turned $50 ,000 down at one time.

Another time $15 ,000. Another time just $1 ,500.

But he was not impressed by money.

He was a lot like John the Baptist because his ministry was so great that surely from the time of Christ there was hardly a greater man in existence.

And we know that he was certainly a prophet.

We could say he was more than a prophet.

Because he was the messenger to this age. And since the message and the messenger are one.

Then he surely forewarned the second coming of Jesus Christ.

He was a very wonderful man. And I knew him intimately. I want to talk about him. And to do so.

I will go back a little in my life.

I was saved when I was about 18 years of age.

Two years previous to that when I was 16.

My mother and sister and I were all poisoned.

It was evidently poison cabbage that caused this malady.

But I have a very fortunate stomach. Some would not think it's so. But I do think it is so. It was easily upset.

So the poison caused me to vomit.

So the poison was quite eliminated from my body.

But this was not the case of my mother and sister.

And they became progressively worse.

But they did pass the crisis.

And my mother got better. But my sister did not get better. This went on for two years. Finally one night the doctor stayed at our place all night.

My sister was turning stiff and cold.

Her body was turning black.

And we knew that she was dying. Now previous to this. I would say about a year or and a half before it.

Our family was not religious.

We knew no salvation. We went our own way. But there was in our town some women who prayed for the sick. They had both been healed of cancer under the ministry of Dr. Price.

And I said to my mother at that time, Myrtle will not get better until those ladies pray for her.

Now, I was actually prophesying because I knew that was the truth. But don't ask me how I knew it.

So as my sister lay dying, it was perhaps that my mother remembered what I said.

And she said, would you care to go and get those two ladies to pray for your sister? Now she did not tell me to do it. Nor did she beg me.

It was in a sort of a shame -faced way that she asked me.

And I said sure. So I ran down to get them. And they finally came to pray. And that night my sister was healed perfectly.

Now I knew something great had happened.

And I knew it was God that had done it.

So I began reading the Bible. But it did not mean anything to me. So I went to the people who knew how to pray.

And not having heard sermons of invitation.

I asked them what to do to be saved.

So they gave me the simple word of promise.

And I prayed. And I believed my sins were washed away. And I was justified by the blood of Jesus Christ.

I began trying to serve the Lord.

Though I wasn't too successful.

Then as I was going to church.

I heard a very fine minister. And he opened my heart to be more consecrated.

So I began to serve the Lord a little more closely.

Then I heard a man who preached on the baptism with the Holy Ghost.

And I knew this was something for me. So I waited upon the Lord. And I was baptized with the Holy Spirit. At this time I was quite fearful that I was called to preach.

And I did not want to preach. I was glad to teach Sunday school.

And I was glad to act perhaps as an elder.

I liked to do this. Because when I was filled with the Holy Ghost. The very next morning I opened my Bible.

And I read the same chapters I'd read before.

And I could not believe that these were the same chapters.

I said, where did this come from? This was not the same book. It was brand new. Even in those days I should have understood.

That speaking in tongues was not the evidence of the Holy Spirit.

But the revelation of God's word. And that is exactly what the scripture speaks.

And that is what Brother Branham taught us. And we thank God for that. I went on trying to serve him. I got a job. And I was glad to teach Sunday school.

And open a little work in the country.

And get my salary. And testify and do what I could. But I had a fear in my heart. And the fear was I had to go preaching. Now you know what Brother Branham said about preaching.

If you are truly called. Somehow you cannot help it.

But you will fight against it. And I fought against it. So I made a little bargain with God. In those days I didn't know you couldn't make bargains with God.

I didn't know that he was sovereign. And that his word was sovereign. And he tells you. You don't tell him. But I was going to take a chance on him. So I wrote him a little piece of paper. I will be glad to be an elder.

I will teach Sunday school. I will be glad to tithe. But I won't go preaching. And I felt very satisfied. And I folded the piece of paper. And I put it away in a safekeeping place. And I said, this is my contract with God. Everything is settled. But it wasn't. The anxiety became worse. The fight against God became worse.

Until he took away my job. He would not let me alone. And I cannot describe my feelings to you. If I try to tell you exactly, you'll misunderstand.

But I hope you will understand just the same. With a fighting attitude toward God.

With rebelling against being called.

I said okay if I've got to go I'll go. And I hated to go. And the strangest peace flooded my heart.

And with fear I looked down the road. And one day I knew I must start out. Where am I going to go? I don't know.

No place to go. No money to get there. Not even a suitcase. But I knew I was going. I told some friends of mine. They used to sell aluminumware.

They had this great big old suitcase as their showcase.

They're filled with aluminumware. But she quit selling this stuff. And she said, have you got a suitcase?

And I said, no. I was very glad I could say no. Because this meant I couldn't go. How can you go without a suitcase? She said, I've got one.

She brought out this great big old suitcase. And I hated it. It looked ugly. I would have liked something nicer if you have to go and you could go nice.

But I took it home. It can take everything right down to the toothbrush perfectly.

What an awful suitcase.

So I wrapped their cord around the suitcase.

And I said, I'll go down to the station. I went down to the station. And I met a lady who went to our church.

Of course I was kind of scared and bewildered. Because I don't know where I'm going or how to get there.

And she greets me. And in sort of a rough manner I spoke to her.

And I said, what are you doing down here? She said, I don't know. I just came down.

I thought, here we go again. She said, what are you doing? I said, I'm going away. She said, what for? I'm going crazy. She said, where are you going? I said, I'm not sure. But I phoned and the train goes north.

And I think I will go to a place called Red Deer.

She said, have you got any money?

And I said, not much. And in those depression days, her husband had a good job. So she had some money. So she said, I'll give you some. She gave me the large sum of two dollars.

That is a large sum. When you worked about 10 cents an hour.

Not your 7 -8 dollars an hour now, but your 10 cents and 25 cents.

So I got on the train. And I got off at Red Deer. And I met a little new boy.

And I said, where is such an assembly?

I was looking for a kind of a penny cost assembly. And hardly anybody in that town knew where it was.

But the preacher had visited this little boy in the hospital.

So he showed me how to get there. So I arrived at the door. And very strange.

But this was the one night in the week they had services.

So the preacher invited me in and he asked me to preach. And that week the preacher had resigned.

They were going to close the door of the church and just leave the work go.

the women had been praying that day and the men had been praying and as they walked down the railway track because it was wintertime and that was the clearest track to walk on they were talking about the cloud of fire and that night I preached on the cloud of fire and God began blessing the other minister left

Devils were cast out. People were saved. People were healed. The work began to get built up.

After some time I left that place. I went to a work that you might call a pioneer work.

And it was very, very difficult. And the depression got worse.

And I was married by this time. And we had a little baby. And now comes harder times still. And the day comes when there is no food in the house.

And my wife said there is no food at all for any of us. Now what are we going to do? I said we are going to pray. It wasn't that she had no faith.

It was just that her faith was weak. She didn't understand.

She said, but we have no food. I said, I know that. We have to pray. And God sent the food on the table.

We have to pray the food in. We have to pray for patches on our clothes.

But God never fails.

But the people in the town that were called Christians did everything they could to destroy us. They lied about it. They tried to take away our Congress.

Things got darker and darker.

And very foolishly. I began to feel sorry for myself.

I began to feel very critical about people.

I was critical about God. I did not know what great thing he was doing for me.

I did not know how wonderful it was to pray food on the table.

I didn't know how tremendous it was for God to do it all for you.

So I said I'll quit and get a job.

So I quit and got a job. That's the worst thing I ever did. Because now my health began to fail. And the money came in. But that's no consolation. I was in a terrible condition.

At the age of 14, I had contracted TB of the lungs.

For eight solid weeks, I burnt and spit blood.

But I was cured of tuberculosis.

But there is something peculiar about tuberculosis. In most cases, it is not really healed unless it's divine healing.

It goes to some other place in your body. Usually to the kidneys.

Mine went to the pituitary gland.

I was dying.

It's the master gland at the back. Pituitary.

That's one of the master glands of the body.

And with tuberculosis in that gland I was dying.

My mind and my life were so confused that the impact of what the doctor's clinic said did not bother me.

If he had said you had a bad finger, it would have been just the same.

But one day I read a newspaper.

Or rather, my wife read the newspaper. And she mentioned that a certain man called William Branham was in Vernon, British Columbia.

And she read how that he was telling people what was wrong with them and they were getting healed.

Now I had not been preaching for about six years at that time.

And I had not been going to church. I was not happy about Christians. I was not happy how God trained his servants.

So I stayed away from it all. The children could go to church and that was fine.

But after myself I stayed away. When my wife mentioned concerning this man William Branham. And what he was doing. She said what do you think about it? I shrugged my shoulders. And I said, spiritists can do that.

I never said he was a spiritist. I just said spiritists can do that. How would I know about him? Though he's there and I'm here, so what?

But he came to Vancouver, British Columbia.

And we had a little girl working for us.

For my wife and I both worked.

And she was pedicab. So she was on fire to see this man William Brandt.

So she got my wife all enthused to go.

And they said, will you come along? And I said, no. Not at all. So they went. And my wife saw and heard. And she was on fire like the little girl was. So she came back and began to tell me how great it was.

And she said, I can't understand it. That little man came on the platform. He took a hold of the microphone on the stand.

And he stood on the edge of the platform. And his feet were over the edge of the platform. And he rocked back and forth on his feet until he was way beyond the perpendicular.

And he should have fallen over. But he came right back. And he'd go right forward. And he'd come right back. And he didn't preach long. But you should have heard him. And all the miracles. There wasn't anybody that didn't have a miracle there. And then she told me about a fellow. And he was a nice guy. Pentecostal little preacher boy. And he was standing on the platform. And here came an epileptic case. And Brother Branham said, close your eyes in respect to God. I'm going to cast this devil out of this boy. And this young preacher did not close his eyes.

And when the devil was cast out,

Staticus epilepticus. Which means an epileptic attack that continues and continues. It never ceases. Trump that boy and smote him down.

Brother Branham did not turn and do one thing for him.

He walked off the platform and let him lie there. For 24 hours that boy went through epileptic sick.

The human body cannot continuously stand the grand male.

You would be worn out in hours. You'd be dead.

My wife returned the next night.

They dropped the boy in on a stretcher.

I believe he was tied down. Yet his body was convulsing terribly.

That went through the song service. And the preaching service. Then Brother Branham turned.

And looked at the young man. And he said, sir, you just obeyed me last night.

But because you didn't understand. And because your heart was not against me.

You will be delivered tonight. As soon as he prayed. Cast the devil out. The boy rose. He ran and embraced Brother Branham while tears flooded the floor.

Well, they talked to me I should go.

Now one of my old buddy preachers came by that I had got out of the Baptist church into the Pentecostal church from one harlot to another.

He came and he said you ought to come with me.

And you know how you can get embarrassed. You know you just can't keep turning people down. Especially when you don't have too good an excuse.

Well here's the strange thing.

That place was packed.

I had no chance to get in. But this fellow was an usher.

And he pulled me by the hand into the auditorium.

Where several thousand were sitting. And he got me way up in the top balcony to back.

But I could still see everything. And hear everything. So I sat waiting. Certain men came on the platform and talked a little bit.

And I thought it wasn't too bad. Then this little man came on the platform. And he had something about him that was different.

And he said, now this is the last night. I will honor every prayer card.

But he said, let us think of something a little different.

Now he said, we'll put it to a vote. All you who've got prayer cards. Now you listen to me. Bring me 20. of your worst cases.

And I will guarantee healing for everyone.

Or you can all go through the prayer line where 60 % get healed for sure.

Now he said you with prayer cards alone can vote.

How many have prayer cards raised their hands? They raised their hands. They put their hands down. Now I said, how many want to see the 24 miracles?

Now remember, they're guaranteed miracles.

Hardly a hand. All right. How many want to go to the prayer line?

Hands all over and up. And you know how he would say it. So be it.

He called the paralyzed.

I was disappointed.

Do you realize what would have happened had 24 miracles guaranteed taken place?

The newspaper reporters were there. The clergymen were there.

Curious citizens of repute were there.

What headlines would have shocked the world?

It would have gone around the entire globe.

24 guaranteed miracles. But nobody wanted it. But let me tell you something. I believe at least 1400 went through that prayer line.

And there wasn't one miss. Not 60 % but 100%. Every blind saw.

And he didn't just pray, Lord, heal the blind.

And then do this. He knew right away. Take the case of deaf people. I remember so perfectly a deaf man coming. And he said, in the name of Jesus, come out of him.

He said, didn't go.

No, nothing of that. None of that at all. He knew it hadn't gone. He prayed again, in the name of Jesus, come out of him.

He said, didn't go. Then he stood back, threw himself up, and said, he'll go this time. I adjure you, in the name of Jesus Christ, come out of him.

Tell right away the man heard. Not one miss. Crippled like this. With the legs turned backwards.

Going through that prayer line. How many holes?

A young man beside me grabbed me. He said, you know who that was? I said, how should I know? See, I'm going to be tough. I was being broken down. I was crying inside. I was still going to start screaming on the outside.

Shaken from the top of my head. I was seeing something the angels had not seen.

How should I know? He said, that's my Presbyterian preacher's daughter.

They were healed by the hundred. There was one person I know that wasn't healed.

Well I knew I had to go back preaching.

So I sort of dusted off the covers.

Put it back to get some more dust.

Bought a black suit.

Preachers ought to wear black, you know. You look more like underage. So I hung the black suit up.

And I sort of went the way I was going. One day a man came to town. He had been a brother brand of me.

He had been a nusher. He did not have a prayer card. He had terrible ulcers. He was in very bad condition. Now as he brought a patient forward.

Brother Branham could have mistook him for a patient.

But I don't think he really did. He just put his hand on the brother. And he said in the name of Jesus be healed. And the fellow says great.

Why not? Perfectly whole. They set him on fire. I had known him for years. He came to our town. And he gave his testimony. And of course my wife.

She was right there. And she said you got to come. I said no. I am not coming. And I didn't go. So he came to me.

And I said oh boy.

That's all I need is that fellow to come. I didn't like him too well you see. Well he was real nice to me.

Now even a bad dog patted on the head usually is a whole lot nicer than he was.

So I was a little nicer.

I sort of warmed up. And he began telling me how the Lord was healing.

And I knew the Lord was healing. Because some people I knew were getting healed.

So I finally said, will you pray for me? He did. The instant he did, I was 100 % whole.

Then I knew it was getting closer to going back to what I didn't want to do.

So I brought out my black suit.

I quit my job. And I said, I'll go preach it. Now when I formally preached, I considered myself an absolute failure.

It seemed I couldn't use my faith if I had any.

To use faith, it had to be entirely supernatural.

Like in this case. I had a young friend that assisted me.

He's a very nice fellow. A very sweet young wife.

And she was to have a baby. And of course her problem was so severe in carrying the baby. That they said either the baby goes or she dies.

Well I felt very bad about that. So we were praying. And we were of course praying in church that morning.

And contrary to what his church order established by the prophet.

We were allowing tongues and interpretation on the floor.

Since the light had not struck concerning this subject I know that God did not hold it against us. So I found myself speaking in tongues.

And I heard myself say, I will heal Evelyn.

And I got up looking kind of funny.

And I had to be honest. I said, that sure was something different.

Now I said, if that was God, she'll be healed.

If that wasn't God, she won't be healed.

But I said, I don't think I said it. So we went down to pray for her. And nothing seemed to happen. It was Christmas day.

So I went to where I had my Christmas dinner.

In a short time the phone rang.

And a strange thing had happened.

Now I don't understand it. But she vomited up a yellow thing as big and long as a banana.

The husband said it had a terrible, terrible smell to it.

What it was, I have no idea. He never took it to a doctor. But she was healed. Now that's very nice. But one day a lady brought her little baby to me.

And I want to show you how weak my faith was.

Because she didn't ask me to pray for the baby.

She said to her little baby. And maybe if you ask him. A brother will be able to pray for you. But the baby didn't ask me. So I didn't pray. You know why? I didn't believe it to be done. That's the absolute truth and if you're honest like me you'll know that you've been in spots too where you no more believe God than I have.

And that did something very deep in my heart. Because I knew I wasn't believing God as I ought to.

It seemed that my life would not produce the faith I needed daily.

It could, but I wouldn't. Now then, I knew I was going back, preacher.

And I said this to God. I will die, but I will not quit.

I will have faith if it kills me.

I will pray for the sick and they will be healed.

And I was determined.

Now in those days I did not know better.

I did not understand the truth of discernment.

That judging between is what it is. It is the gift that brother Branham had.

I did not know that he was the only one who possessed a true gift of discernment.

I did not know at that time that anyone else trying it proved that he was false anointed.

I was doing it. I didn't know any better. It came to me in this way. I was amongst people who were doing it.

In my determination to believe God I began praying for the sick. A lady and her daughter came to me.

She had been in bed for two months. She was a nurse. Her husband picked her up. Put her in the car. And brought her to our house.

There was a man who could discern them.

And he prayed for the sick. And he said now leave you lay hands on and pray.

And I laid hands on it. And a peculiar thing happened.

I knew all about it. I told her all the conditions. I prayed. She rose up perfectly normal. And that's after two months lying in bed.

And she went right back the next day as a nurse.

It was at this time that I believe her daughter was entirely covered in fatigal.

It's that scabby thing that comes on your face.

And the doctor couldn't seem to help her. She was internally healed. People began coming. And I wanted to get better at this.

So I was very happy to pray. And a couple more people came by. A man in white. And too bad that she was a preacherette. One of those days it didn't matter. I didn't know anything. Didn't know any better. But they could discern pretty good. And there's a lady in a wheelchair. And her legs were all swollen up.

She's in very bad condition with dropsy.

Yeah. And we're going to pray for her. So I said to the two people. I said, you stand back and watch me.

How many of their hands are? And you check and see if I get it right.

Then I'm going to pray. And you can weigh in if I can't do it.

So they stood back. I laid hands on her. Told her what's wrong. Then I made a little experiment. So I said to her leg. In the name of Jesus Christ, come down normally. And I laid my leg up. Boom, boom.

Normally.

I scratched my head.

And I said, that's great. It was not a part of me.

It was all I was just standing there. I don't understand it even now. But you see, it gave me greater faith. And when God saw my sincerity, He evidently encouraged me. So I went on the road. I went out preaching. And I would invite the folk to be prayed for.

I would say to the people, come on up. And I would challenge you to hide from me what is wrong with you.

And thank God. I never should have done it. But the Lord will help us in our ignorance.

If our heart is right. Until we know better. And he would help me. And they would come. And God would heal them. And I praise the Lord for that ministry. Then I quit the past dream. And began visiting churches.

And I went from British Columbia, which is in Canada on the west coast, down into Bellingham and Seattle, which is in Washington, which is in the United States. And there God blessed again. The people were healed. They were saved. And a man said to me, Brother, they'll move down here.

I'm a contractor. I've got different houses. I'll give you the key to a brand new house.

And you can have it all as you want. I said, that's very sweet of you. But I've got no idea. So I stayed in Canada.

A message came from Florida, United States.

And they said, Brother Bill, come on down and be our pastor.

And I thought, that's very nice. But I don't know if I should go or not. So I kept going around preaching. And God was blessing me. I went to a town called Chilliwack. There might have been a dozen people there. And six people came for healing. I'm trying to recall what all was wrong.

But two had very bad cold.

Could hardly talk or breathe.

One man had terrible heart condition.

And I believe another had cancer. And so I prayed for the six people.

Instantaneously there were no cold.

The heart was made perfect and stayed that way.

The cancer was healed.

And I was just happy to serve the Lord. I didn't know I had a mixed up ministry.

The discerning just gave great faith and I liked it.

And you could help people so much. A girl came to me one time and she had constant migraine headaches. Nobody could help her. Prayed for dozens of times.

So I laid hands on her. And I prayed. Nothing happened. And the pastor said brother Dale. She's been prayed for a dozen times. And nothing happened. Maybe it's her act of faith. Pass on to somebody else. And I said, no sir, I won't do that. I was trying to learn something myself. So I said, I won't do it. And in my heart I cried out to God. And like you see these flowers in natural color.

Her skull opened in front of me in a vision.

And right in that crease in the middle.

was a blood abscess the size of a navy beam.

The minute that thing was cursed she had no more headaches to this day find.

So you see I was happy in this ministry. Wouldn't you have been? A failure before.

Go through such sorrow because you weren't obeying God.

Planning suicide because my nerves were so bad.

Then God doing this wonderful thing. And I thought I was right. But I wasn't. That was not my ministry. Your brother failed a lot of folk for help.

That's not the answer. God tells us what to do. Not me tell God. So I was happy. I would go from place to place. And people rejoiced because they were being healed.

Cancers disappeared before doctors died.

It was a time of great joy. When I got this message, come to Florida. And I was in a meeting in Washington State. It was the town of Hoquiam.

And the young preacher said to me, now Brother Bill, don't go down there. We like you around here. And this fellow is going to give you a house. Come on down here. I said, I don't know. Got no leading. So the phone call kept coming.

And one day they said, make up your mind.

Now, how do you make up your mind? It's simple as God tells you. So I was with this brother again. And I said, I'd like to go maybe and I'd like to stay maybe. I don't know.

So that night as I was going to bed I said dear Lord I don't care if I go down there and I don't care if I stay here. I just don't care whether I come or go.

I really don't. Now I said, tomorrow morning, first thing, let me know.

Next morning I woke up. I knew I was gone. I went right home. Went right down to the immigration office.

And I applied to go down. They said, can they guarantee you salary or something?

I said, I think so. They sent me a guarantee. But I felt led to go to this lovely brother who said he would give me a house to use.

Why, he said, sure, brother, I'll send to bring you down here. He sent them a sealed bank statement and the account of his credit.

They said, wow, he can take six men down there. You can go.

But they said, now listen. It's got to be passed on by the Immigration Bureau.

So don't make the mistake of selling anything thinking you're going until we tell you no.

And the gentleman standing there said, yes, sir. He said our Lutheran pastor has been trying to get down there for two years and he still can't go.

And I grinned and said in my heart I am no Lutheran pastor and I am going down. He got told. I knew it. We began selling everything. And within six weeks everything was sold. And the last thing was packed. I had my permanent visa.

And I was going right down to Florida. I had a blessing time down here. The Lord blessed with a good ministry. And we were practicing gifts. Now I stand on the platform in front of the people. And I reserve to myself.

The ministry of watching in the spirit what the people needed.

And once in a while, every Sunday rather, I would see it.

One morning I saw it in vision.

The men snuffing a cigarette up behind their backs.

And I was stunned. I never smelled cigarettes in any of my people's breasts.

And I said, what goes on here? So I said, God shows me that somebody is smoking here and you should stop it.

And I found one of my best friends. Another morning I said, there's somebody here drinking liquor and you've got your hands in a cash register. Don't do it.

And a woman got mad and stomped out.

Next week her husband was in jail.

This was a common occurrence. Now at about this time a Dr. Paris Reedhead

And you've heard his name on the tapes. Came to see brother Branham. He's the man who was confronted by the Mohammedan.

When he tried to tell the Mohammedan about Jesus Christ.

And the Mohammedan told him. We've got as much. psychology is you've got in just as much religion that you can prove. But he said, you claim that Jesus used to heal the sick and raise the dead.

And you claim that he's alive.

Why aren't you doing these things? And he said, I hung my head and I shuffled my feet in the ground.

This was a very concentrated, wonderful brother.

He is a tremendous preacher.

And a great man of God of great repute.

But he heard a brother brand. And he went to see him. And he went to see him to a mutual friend, Brother Wallace Carbo. Brother Wallace Carbo. Of the Church of the Open Door.

2nd Street South.

Louisville. He had this interview with Brother Branham and Brother Branham laid hands on him and he might receive the Holy Ghost. Now it so happened that an aunt of his by marriage would go into our church and she talked about gifts.

And she talked about the good things of God.

And so he said, I'd like to meet this Brother Vale.

So he phoned me. He said, Brother Vale, I've been hearing about you. To Aunt Riley.

Can I talk with you? I said, sir. Anybody can talk to me. So we went down and had dinner. And we talked for at least two hours.

And I answered all the questions I could.

And we talked about darkness. At the end of our conversation, he said,

Brother Dale, I am so glad to have met you. I believe what you say. I am hungry to minister in gifts.

But I want to tell you something. Had you not believed in the sovereignty of God,

I would not have given you the time of day.

In other words, this was a deep student of the Bible.

And he knew the great doctrine of the sovereign power of God.

Which is foreknowledge.

Elections. Predestination. All unto glory.

As we were about to shake hands and say goodbye, he said, by the way, do you know William Brown?

That sure sounded good. And I said, no, I don't. He said, well, I do. Would you like to meet him, he asked me. Well, why did you ask a cat if it likes cream?

I said, sure, but how am I going to do it?

He said, nothing to you. You go to my best friend who is Brother Branagh's best friend and you tell him I sent you and he will take you right to him. I said, who is that good man? He said, Dr. Wallace Cobble. Church of the Open Door. Fenton Street, Southern Louisville. Now, if you're just as stupid as I am, and just as simple, you won't make any phone calls. You won't try to work your way out.

You'll be just as foolish as I was. So we jumped in the car. Where are we going to lose it? I didn't know Brother Branham was there. I had no idea he'd be home. But he said go to Dr. Cobble. And he'll take you there. So I went to Dr. Cobble.

Now this was on a Sunday morning. Now let me tell you something about Brother Branham. He is very, very punctual. He will not be made to wait unless it's impossible to be otherwise.

When it's time for that platform service, He wants to be on the platform.

But that morning he was late at his own church.

While the congregation was waiting for him to come.

He was still outside talking to Brother Neville.

And another brother I can't remember. Now let me tell you about his punctuality.

I worked with Brother Branham. And he said, Brother Dave, you are the only manager that ever put me on that platform at the right time.

And that was true. I also am very punctual.

And he said, I appreciate that. So you know what I'm saying now? It was strange that he was outside.

When we drove up you could see that he was waiting for something.

Brother Carbo got out of the car. Of course I got out also. He went over to Brother Branham. And Brother Branham greeted him warmly.

And Brother Carbo said to Brother Branham. This is Reverend Lee Vale.

He is a good friend of Dr. Parrish Reedhead.

He has come to me at Dr. Reedhead's request that I bring him to you. He would like an interview. I don't know if you know very much about Brother Branham.

But you just don't get interviewed.

You put your name on the list. You may wait for a month. But maybe years. But he smiled and said.

Now remember I didn't even know he'd be home.

But it was squirrel hunting season.

And he was home to hunt. He said, I'll be glad to see you tomorrow. I will be hunting until noon.

And then you will come and see me. And I was very happy. I didn't understand. When I got to his house, I had to wait about an hour. And then he came to the door. Dressed him maximally.

And very warmly. Took my hand. And he said brother Vale. I saw you coming. Now hold it. He didn't see me coming that minute.

He knew I was coming. He saw me coming from West Palm Beach, Florida. Now I'm going to tell you why he saw me coming. As I told you before that I used to view the audience to see what was happening.

Prophecy came forth on many occasions and was never wrong.

One morning I prophesied.

And these are the exact words that I said. Behold, I send my prophet out of the north.

And he will teach the people the things they ought to know.

And I said to the people. You heard what I said. I said, that's great.

And I said, I don't know any prophets.

Now they tell me there's a fellow named Nicholas in Sweden.

That's north of us. They tell me he can go to Denmark and speak in Danish, not knowing what he said.

And he can go to London and talk English, not knowing what he's saying. And they call him a prophet. And maybe he's going to come. I said, I don't know any prophet. But I said, I know this one thing. If I said it, there's no prophet coming.

But if God said it, a prophet's going to come here and teach us. Now,

I don't know where north is here, but north is north.

I came in such a corkscrew way I couldn't see. There's only two directions up in town I know.

But I knew where north of Florida was.

But I didn't know that God was talking about Jeffersonville.

So the prophet said, Come in, Brother Vale. I saw you coming. I'm going to tell you something I don't like to tell people.

Because people think I might be talking as though I'm smart. Or perhaps you're some kind of person you ought to admire.

But as God is my witness, he said these words and they're in the Bible.

There is a flame of fire over your head.

And it's called the spirit of prophecy.

And this is found in the book of Revelation. And very strangely, in the 10th verse. 19th chapter.

And he said unto me, I shall at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, see thou do it not. I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. This does not make me unique. This does not make me a leader. This does not make me an authority.

I believe that everybody that believes this message and believes it right is because of that same spirit of prophecy that reveals Jesus Christ who is that word and will neither add nor take one word.

That is what he told me. Now listen. William Branham's ministry paralleled Jesus Christ exactly.

And when you were in his presence you acted as many people acted in the presence of Jesus.

Both Jesus and William Branham would say things.

And you could hear them. But you didn't dare ask a question.

You couldn't do it. Your mouth was sealed. There was a strange power about it. I was confused to hear him say it.

It bewildered me. But he was so gracious and so sweet as I came in. He sat me down in a comfortable chair.

And we began to talk. He asked me where I was formerly from. I told him Canada. He told me how he loved Canada.

How unspoiled it was. And how natural. Then we went to talking about the things of God. We mentioned that there was one God.

That his name was the Lord Jesus Christ.

That water baptism in Jesus' name was correct.

We talked about the sovereignty of God. And I didn't know he believed that. But he told me about predestination. And he went from point to point.

Now, you've got to know me to know my nature.

I can be sort of silly, but I don't mean to be.

I get all tickled inside about things.

And the more he talked about these strange doctrines that I believe,

And that most people are scared to death of.

I just got feelings of good inside. Happy and funny life.

So I thought, I'm just going to see how far I can go.

And this was a tough one. I said, Brother Branham. Furthermore, I do not breathe in an eternal hell where people breathe forever. I wanted to get his reaction. He said, certainly, Brother Dale. They cannot burn eternally. Because hell is created.

And one day must end. Well, you just can't understand how I felt. Here is this tremendous, tremendous person. There's nobody like him. I don't care where you go. This man is sensational.

Let me tell you about William Branham in my own words.

I believe. That he was the closest thing. To what a man will be like in the millennium.

I hope that sunk in.

I was in his presence. This great wonderful person of God.

And here we were agreeing on doctrine.

And I thought how strange it is. This man believes these things. When the so -called great people don't believe it.

And I was astounded. I was astounded he's present.

He was so sweet and so gracious.

Here is a man who can say to the chandelier.

Swing to the right. And it swung.

And it stopped. Swing to the left. And it swung to the left. Stopped. And it stopped. Reached in an empty pocket. Pull out a piece of money. Yes. Is that serious? Come on, I'm here to test your spirit. I'm more than enough, preacher. I'm more than the man who walked you down the route. Are you scared tonight? Are you frightened tonight? Or can you believe in a man that you've reached in his pocket by the power of God?

And pull out a coin when there wasn't one there.

Or even go to Brandon as a devil.

Because many people did. Oh, I'm not human wicked. I've got nothing to do. Now I don't even know you. But I'd like to know. I'd like to know, my brother Matthew. So many people are so afraid.

So afraid when you have touched the Lord.

Let God back this man up. Let the God of heaven may these words come to pass.

Yet

people get so scared now.

I was in his presence. All afternoon. And you know something? He made me feel like I was somebody.

He made me feel like I was important.

He made me feel as though I might amount to something.

He didn't say one thing that made him sound great.

And I knew I was in the presence of a great man.

That's the way we are.

We have the greatest message in the world.

We are God's husbandry. We are the field where God fertilized seed is. The vindicated living word.

We ought to be just that humble. So we are the only ones that have the truth. Nobody else has my brother and my sister. Don't you sit on the fence. Make up your mind. Either you're right or you're wrong. This man made me feel as though I might be somebody.

He said to me, Brother Bale, I am going to come to West Palm Beach and give you a meeting.

And I said in my heart, He'd like to come. But he can't come. Look, everybody wants him. How could I have him? He says this to everybody. He's got to because he's so gracious.

He's so kind. He's not lying. It's just that he wants to help everybody.

I know of it. Tired and weak and worn out. After praying for hours. Staggering burnly. He sees a man on the street corner. A poor man tapping with a cane, stone blind. He thinks of his own father. Stop the car. Staggers out of the car. Stumble to the street corner. Wraps the man in his arms and prays. The light comes to the man's eyes.

So I say, I understand. It's okay, Lord. He's not lying. But he's not coming. But I'm so glad he treated me so nice. He could say brother there I'm going to come.

And I went away home rejoicing. Because here was a great big fella. That didn't pat me on the head. And say nice little boy. Run down the road. Goodbye.

That was true.

His wife told me the following story.

He went into the house and talked to her.

And again, I hate to say this, but I will do it.

And again, do not misunderstand me. I have a very definite reason for talking as I'm talking.

And you may phone Sister Branham any day you want at my expense. I'll be glad to pay the bill. He said, Meedy, honey, do you know who that was?

He said, no, I don't. He said, that was Dr. Lee Vale. He will mean something very special to me in my future ministry.

And then he kind of grinned at her and said,

He's not a believer. But we're going to make him one.

She said leave. Maybe she said leave. I'll never forget the day. A few years later. After you and brother Branham were sitting on the long coffee. That he came in with a great big grin on his face.

And he said leave. We made a believer out of nothing. I'm a believer.

I believe that William Branham was a prophet sent from God.

I believe he was that prophet sent out of the north to West Palm Beach.

And I know he taught the people the things they ought to know.

And they turned him down. After that visit I went home.

I didn't forget it. And I was so happy he said he'd like to come.

And that was just like sheer flattery to my soul. But I knew he wasn't going to come. One day the telephone rang. Now I read quite a few books. And one book I read was by Dr. Bosworth.

Christ the healer. Oh, that's a good book. And I wanted to meet Dr. Barger. I had failed to meet Dr. Kenyon. And I regretted it. And I thought, how nice if I could meet Dr. Barger.

So the phone rang. And the voice said, is this Reverend Ray? And I said, yes, sir. And the voice said, this is Dr. Bosworth. Oh, man!

You talk about a guy about to go crazy. I had met the prophet. And now Dr. Bosworth. I was just literally drunk.

And so I said, yes sir, yes sir. He said, Brother Vail, I'm phoning for Brother Vail.

And I said, yes sir. He said, he wants to know when you want him to come.

I said, what did you say?

He said he wants to know when you want him to come. You are holding him up. He has 2500 invitations he's waiting on.

And they're waiting on him. And he wants to come to you. Now when should he come? I said oh brother.

You just give me your telephone number. So I can phone you back. I've got to go get a building big enough to hold the craft.

He gave me his telephone number. I ran right downtown.

I went to the big legion.

And nobody else had ever got that auditorium in the history of the town.

And everybody hated religion down there. So they said, sure you can have it. I said, glory to God. So, I began raising money. I said, I'll give a hundred dollars. How many in the church want to give $100? $1100 just like that. Well back in 1953 that's a lot of money.

75 is not much. But back there it was worth a lot. So I went to the newspaper. And the newspaper had a policy against advertising healing meetings. They were so bitter they swore at you taking your name a God in vain.

But somehow they took the ad.

Ran the ad for days. Circulated every house in town.

Paid the boys to take out the ad.

Brother Bosworth came with Brother Branham. Brother Branham stood on that platform. And he said, God sent me to this town. And the people said they never heard him teach the way he taught.

Now Brother Bosworth is a great man of God. You know by the taste how Brother Branham thought of him.

He said he's a great oak going to sit in his shadow. He said he was a great oak going to sit in his shadow.

I agree with that. As Brother Branham was deserting and praying, Brother Bosworth put on my coattail.

And he said, Brother Dale, for 40 years, For 40 years. I have prayed for the ministry of Jesus Christ. To return to this earth. And there he is in that man. And I thought to myself. Where did he get in the Bible.

The right to pray to God. For the ministry of Jesus Christ.

I know no place that says it. Brother Branham says that three times in the Daniel series.

And I missed it myself. Until after his death. Until after he was dead. When I suddenly realized.

That Luke 17 and 26.

1726. Actually said it. It was a tremendous meeting. There was tremendous miracles. There was wonderful preaching. And Brother Bosworth himself said, I never heard him teach the way he taught.

Now remember the prophecy said. He will teach the people the things they ought to know.

And he dealt very strongly.

Especially teaching the women.

Concerning their hair.

And their dress. And godliness to the men. And he kept telling us to believe.

Now I knew that I was missing something. Because he was telling us if we only believed something would happen.

I didn't understand. But you know what he's telling us? If we had only believed that he was that one sent from God.

Nothing would have stood in our lives.

But you know what happened? We were interpreting him from our own understanding by a fundamental gospel that did not see that this was that man.

That did not understand Elijah must truly come.

Well, we typically had a great time. When he left, I went over to the motel where he stayed. And I admit I cried. I could have crawled in the bed where he was, but I knew it wouldn't hurt anymore. And I felt terrible.

But before he left, he said, keep in touch with me.

The same thing he told me, and I forgot to repeat to you,

that happened when I was in his home. And in that stay in Florida, when we visited, he said, Doc, Doc.

Why didn't you keep in touch with me as I said? Well,

I had to tell him that I thought he was just being polite.

And he said, no, I wasn't or I wouldn't have said it.

Then the day before he left Florida, he said, what are you doing down here anyway?

I said, what do you mean? He said, you ought to be setting up meetings for me.

And I said, there he goes again. He just can't help himself. He's such a lovely, sweet person. No doubt he says that to every preacher. He's going to make them feel good. But how am I going to work it? I didn't believe it. But a funny thing happened. Now this is very surprising. I was called to go up into Ohio to pray for some sick. This pastor in a reformed church had become interested in the things of God.

He had heard about me. So he said, come and preach and pray for the sick.

So I did. Death and dumb were healed. Many people chose the Holy Ghost. At least he thought so. Because they just spoke in tongues so beautifully. No coaching, no prompting.

No coaching or prompting, telling him. Very beautiful. And there were some Baptists there. And this one fellow got healed. And then another man got healed. And they said, Brother Dale, if we can arrange it,

Will you come to our church and pray for the sick?

I said, sure, I'll come. So here I am in a big Baptist church.

And I'm praying for the sick. And the sick are getting healed. And we have a lovely time. And I go home. Then the preacher there had trouble.

And they voted him out. And they said, now brother, they wouldn't come and visit us. And I was going up that way to enjoy myself in a meeting.

So I came by in that priest. And they took a vote. And they voted me in. I'm a pastor in a church in Florida.

And I voted in this church. I never told them I'd come.

I just told them I'd come and preach. So they brought me in. So I'm stuck. I'm pastor of two churches now. What am I going to do? And they buy a house for me. And they tell a full of new furniture.

Now that's not what brought me. Because I turned down a brand new house.

I've turned down a lot of property in my day brother's house.

First of all, I turned down a brand new house that could have had all my life.

So I wouldn't have to pay tax.

I turned down a lovely home given me. I refused to take.

I turned down a lovely property in the Carolinas that I don't want.

And had I taken one property in build,

I'd have a $100 ,000 property in my possession right now. I didn't want. Money doesn't mean anything. So it wasn't because of the house and the nice furniture.

I had a very nice place. Very nice furniture as far as I was concerned.

Because I'm not used to a lot of wonderful things anyway. So there was something about it so I couldn't control.

So I found myself pastoring in a Baptist church.

In 1956 I went to hear Brother Branham in Jackson, Michigan.

Without knowing it I was in the same motel that he was in.

I went to the same restaurant where he was having breakfast.

When he saw me, he motioned for me to come over. I came over and had breakfast. As we pulled our chairs back, he hit me on the knee. And he said, Doc, what are you doing pastoring?

You know you aren't any pastor.

He said, you're not qualified. Your nature is not right for you. He said, you pull up the wheat with the cares.

And I did. Didn't mean to. I wasn't out trying to hurt anybody. If you're not supposed to have a ministry, you're not supposed to have it. I hope you probably got a little lesson there.

Because if you've got gifts working the wrong way, you're in trouble.

I don't care if they're working.

You can say, Lord, I cast out devils.

I'll prophesy. So did Balaam. So did Judah. Where are they? So I said, yeah, I know. What am I going to do? He said do what I do. I said what do you do? He said I take one step at a time. The Lord opens the door.

I go in that door. Then I take another step. And I go in that door. So I said okay I'll quit.

And I'll go on the road.

But before I went on the road. And left my church. Brother Branham had said, Lee, any time you want me, I will come to you.

And I will give you a meeting.

So he was going to come to Covington, Ohio.

A little town of 3 ,000. I went down to see him in his home. And I said, Brother Branham, I feel very bad that you should come to my town.

I said it's too small. I think it would be better for you to go 14 miles from me in the town of Lima. A strange look crossed his face.

I knew that he had a revelation from God. And he said that's it exactly. Lamb is where God wants.

The building we were going to get was going to be used for a while just before us by the fundamental gospel businessmen.

They are called fishers of men in America.

They had rented this lovely auditorium.

But a fire struck it. And they couldn't have it. But by the time the army was to take place, it had completely refinished.

The floor completely finished. New drapes. The new seats covered. It was beautiful. Now, our little Baptist church had a fair understanding of the things of God. In the supernatural.

Because many had been wonderfully healed. And we had some beautiful converse brought to Christ.

So they were glad to pray for the need.

We prayed months ahead.

And it finally ended. By praying from six in the morning till ten at night.

People at home. And a prayer meeting every night and week with Sunday.

And we ask God to heal the sick.

To bring such conviction upon sinners.

They would have to hold on to the chairs. Lest they fell down.

God sent in a nucleus of hardcore believers.

And they sat right up in front. And every day I preached on faith in God.

And the fifth night. The gift of healing.

Which had lied dormant for five years.

Went into operation. And there were 15 miracles in less than one hour.

And to my knowledge the gift never operated again.

Because the people wouldn't pay the price of preparation.

It was at this time he asked me to become a manager.

I still didn't know what he really wanted.

So pretty soon his mail began coming to my place.

So I began working with him in 1958.

The meetings were always tremendous.

Great miracles were always being done.

And thus, says the Lord, always came to pass.

Now I don't want to take too much more time. So I'm going to tell you what happened in New England.

We were in a large auditorium. Which was the armory.

A couple of young kids came in. A boy and a girl. And they began hugging and kissing in the church.

This was the week that Brother Brannon had been warned by the angel of God that a terrible test was going to fall his lot.

And the day before that meeting took place, I believe it was,

he was given the power of life and death.

Now, I don't know if you can tell by the taste exactly how moral and how strict Brother Branham was.

But that sickness on the tape was not something put on.

He was very moral. Very sincere and very austere when needed to be.

He looked down at that young couple.

And he said, don't do that. They kept on doing that. He said you should be ashamed of yourself.

Don't do that in this place. For though it is an armory it is sanctified by prayer and is the house to God. It was on the left side so you pardon me if I look on the left side right at the front seat. He talked for a little while and they kept on. Suddenly I saw his face go ashen. Rocking back and forth on his heels and his toes.

Great drops of sweat pouring off his brow and down his face.

And he said, I have the power of life and death.

You are now in my hands to do what I want.

It is up to me. And if you ever thought a man could pray, I prayed.

And I said, oh God, don't let him do that.

Oh, I know some would say, Ananias and Sapphira, that's great.

No, that's not great. That's not great at all. The man came with the message of life.

And that was death. Not life. He looked at them as a strange silence was upon the house.

And men knew that they were in the presence of life or death.

Suddenly he signs to us.

And he said, I give you your life. I don't think you understand.

That night as we went home, he said, Brother Bale, what do you think? Did you think I did right? I said, Brother Branham, I am not infallible.

But I would say this. I know you were right. For you came with life, not death. And I believe this was a great test to see if you would stand with life and grace instead of judgment and death. And he said, I hope you're right because I believe the same way. The next day he told me the angel of the Lord had come said you have passed your test. They were not to die but they were to live. And they lived. Here sits Brother Wade. I sat beside him and Sister Wade in Jeffersonville.

When he suddenly toppled over And he died. And brother Branham brought him back to life.

Now you may question brother Wei. And say brother Wei were you aware of your death?

And he would have to say no. Let me tell you something.

I was also in a meeting in Hartford Connecticut.

And a dear sweet lady. well up in years who had a crippled daughter that she had to devote her whole life to.

The poor lady worked every day and she had to work with her daughter and she was physically worn out to the point of death.

And she came into the meeting.

And her poor heart couldn't stand any longer. And then she laid back on the seat. She suddenly slumped down with her head back.

Fell to the floor. Dr. Barton, my good friend, fell for her pout. There was no pout. Her body was stiffening quickly. And they got very excited. Has he lent most of your brother Branham a knee? You know, I didn't get excited. I thought we're all so what?

What does it matter what happened? I was so relaxed. I felt good. I wouldn't have the whole congregation die. I felt great. Brother Branham's attention is present.

He's given.

Faith grew as I understood it to be in a trance.

And he said Mary. Come back. She came back. She sat up. Till the day she died. She was never tired. Never sick again. That's what happened brother. Wait. It wasn't the soul that left. It was that spirit that had gone. And the spirit was called back.

I forgot to tell you that when I was in West Palm Beach at Rutherfam

he was nervous about these cords that were attached to the microphone.

Yet I had no other way for him than to wear this microphone around his neck.

And I was warned by Billy Paul that I must be very careful. And he said, don't let daddy get tangled up.

So you better believe I wasn't going to let daddy get tangled up. I would walk with the cord. Pull over here. Over here. But one day he picked up a chair. And he did this. And

the microphone cord was three times as long. I'm a failure. I can't even handle a microphone cord. How merciful God. What am I going to do? And I got scared. And I said, well, I'll just gently go and maybe you'll fall on the floor. The people got here. And this, and it fell down. He never moved one inch. Now look, I didn't blink my eyes.

The sacred Bible opened before me. Knowing there is a God in heaven. And no lie is for the glory of God. So you listen to me. The cord. Lay right by his feet.

It was no longer around him. You say, Brother Bale, what happened? I don't know. Did the court just integrate and come together?

Did it go through his legs? What happened? I don't know. But I did blink my eyes. I just did this.

And I watched those three coils fall at his ankle.

Which was worse than up here. Because once the fulcrum leverage is great. But there was one cord.

Now did you believe that same man could create squirrels by the name of God?

Always in his presence the most peculiar things were taking place.

You could not be near him at any time without seeing the supernatural.

I've got a good friend in the States. He's a great diverse. So he reads the Greek Bible. So he comes to hear Brother Branham. Just more casual. And Brother Branham begins reading. Now the Greek is not punctuated as we know punctuation.

It's emphasized.

And the teacher trains the pupils to read by using a pointer.

And she raises the pointer to raise the voice and lowers it to lower it.

This gives the emphasis.

That gives the punctuation. And Brother Branham read in the English. His voice rising and falling.

Perfect with the Greek. And this Greek kid is an educated person. He's a Ph .D.

And he said, what is with this fellow? What's he doing reading in the Greek? He doesn't know the Greek. He got confused.

Next night he jumped back. Brother Branham did the same thing. Now he didn't do that always. It was for this boy. And this boy got trapped. And he became a believer. He got to know Brother Branham. And one day Brother Branham said, Dave, I'm going to be so -and -so coming to see me in a meeting.

So Dave said, great, I'll do that. And so he winds up the car and starts the car. He starts driving down the road. And suddenly he remembers. That all he knows is that Brother Branham is in the city.

He doesn't know where he is. And he gets to the city. And the car is running out of gas.

And he thought, I better get off. And the boy said, no, no. He went on further. And the gas tank looks empty.

And he said, I got to get off. And the voice says, not yet. He doesn't know what he's running on.

He gets further down the road. And the voice says, get off. He dives into the service station. They get gas. A man opens the door. It says, good morning, Brother Dave. I've been waiting for you. Good morning, Brother Dave. Who was waiting for Brother Dave?

It's always that way, Brother Brandon.

But never forget the greatest thing about Brother Branham. Though the miracles were fantastic.

And the discerning was tremendous.

It was for one reason.

To attract the bride. Remember it was in 1946. And I believe May 26th.

The angel Lord appeared. And said I have come from the presence of God.

To bring you a gift of healing.

To take to the world.

He didn't say he took the gift of healing to the bride.

The bride was in the world, he didn't know her. And this supernatural gift attracted her.

But to her, that is the bride, he brought the word.

In 1964,

when I was working with Brother Branham,

A very dear young lady the daughter of Jack Moore had the manuscript for the church ages and she was going to try to recreate them to put them into the book that would become the church ages.

She read the manuscript And she knew she was totally unfamiliar with the doctrine. So she turned them back to Brother Branham and said, I cannot do it. Brother Branham took the manuscript back and he felt quite disconsolate, quite sad.

But he shrugged his shoulders. He said, well, that's all right. It's all right. We can't write a book. It's all right.

He came to me and said, Brother Brannum, I understand you believe as he believes. Do you think that knowing the doctrine as you do, you could do these manuscripts?

I said, I really don't know.

But I'm willing to try. She said, I've given it to Brother Branham because I can't do it. It would take two years of his time and mine to go into them and do it right.

She said, would you try to do it? Well, I said, I can sure look at them and see what I can do.

So I went to Brother Branham. And he said, I'd be glad to have you try.

So I took the manuscript. I took the books that he gave me to study.

I also took the other manuscripts that I needed.

As many as I thought were profitable.

Because I was not thoroughly conversant with all that Brother Branham taught. That I began to study. I realized that he was putting the church ages in a verse by verse form.

So I asked him if he wanted me to continue doing it that way.

And we would make an exposition using every single verse.

Now you will notice that every single verse is not in the original manuscript.

But he wanted them. So what I would do Is to study what he said.

And where there was no material.

I would research what I could.

I would have it typed up.

On paper this size. With fairly good margins.

And at least double spacing.

It gave him a chance to correct it.

To make suggestions.

Or me to ask him questions.

Sometimes he had these manuscripts.

As much as one month.

Sometimes shorter.

Here is an example in my own handwriting. Here is an example in my own handwriting. Check these thoughts on King David and see how you feel about them. Now here is his daughter's own handwriting and there is a letter now I believe that the home of our brother in Sheehan written in Sister Smith's own handwriting where she will acknowledge that this is her handwriting.

So contrary to what you have heard these manuscripts were not read to Brother Branham in a truck.

As he drove around. And did not know what was in them. Here is what he said. And here is his daughter's rights. This is well stated.

Christ will reign over all in the millennium.

Remember that when Constantine gave the church.

Catholic in brackets.

It's freedom and also. It gave it its freedom.

And also united church and state.

Also making them rich in property.

Pope.

On throne.

Reigning in Christ's stead. They thought the church had entered the millennium.

While they still reigned in sin and death.

But we know that God in the true millennium.

Christ will reign over the earth. Where no death or sin will be.

Also in the back page you can see the same handwriting.

What I want to show you is this. When Brother Branham said it's okay if people leave this place you can go if you care to.

On a certain tape he said the church age book is full of doctrine.

Because if we just mention the serpent seed, they will say, what is that? So the doctrine must be explained.

This is how the book was written.

At other times it could not be done that way.

I had to go to him and sit with him. On one point alone I took four and one half hours.

This was on the baptism with the Holy Ghost.

Now before I tell you about it, let me tell you something else. One day I suddenly realized that I was interpreting Brother Branham from my own understanding of a fundamental penicopter. What other way could I do it?

Knowledge only increases from knowledge.

You don't do algebra until you learn your ABC's in the mathematics.

So I realized I'm not thinking his thoughts.

This changed my whole conception.

And I had to go to him to find out what he was saying.

So we came to the baptism with the Holy Ghost.

And I knew I was missing it. It just didn't make sense.

Something was wrong. So I went all the way to Phoenix.

About 1800 miles.

And I began talking to Brother Brannon. I said, are you saying this? No, I'm not saying this. Okay, are you saying this? No, I'm not saying this. I was about out of my mind. After four and a half hours, I said, Brother Brannon, are you trying to tell me

It's a rebirth. And the baptism with the Holy Ghost is one and the same thing. And he said, now you've got it, doctor. And I said, hold it right there, Brother Branham. What are you going to do about your own true experiences?

Now I'm going to tell you something about Brother Branham. he could be very sharp and put you right on the spot and he said what two experiences and that can be pretty funky and I said you ought to know you had them

I said that one time the cross of light spoke in other tongues and you ran out rejoicing with sin forgiven.

And I said when you talked about rain pelting your body the Holy Ghost coming in.

I said what about it? Now let me tell you what he did to me.

He drew himself up from the veil. Pointing his finger under my nose. We don't go by experience.

We go by the word of God.

Now you do what you want.

I'm not mad. I'm not mad at anything.

But I'm just going to tell you something. You weren't there and I was.

You didn't lay your last penny on the altar.

You didn't lay your life down for a prophet.

I gave him everything. I gave up my means of living. I took not one cent from the tabernacle or anybody else.

I refused Brother Branham to take it out of his pocket.

Because he would have helped me. I laid it all down there.

I know what I'm talking about. It took me two weeks to learn what little I learned about the Lamb's Book of Life.

And that is so hard to understand. I just barely understand what I wrote.

I took 45 minutes on one telephone call.

I was being criticized by a brother. And he said, Brother Branham does not believe how you're saying it.

I got upset. Because I was sure I understood how he said it. I phoned him that night. And he answered the phone. As I recall. which is very unusual to get in.

And I said, I've got to talk to you. He said, fine, Brother Vail, go ahead. I said, Brother Branham, I'm going to read what I wrote about predestination.

I read it. He had already read it and passed on it.

And I said, have I got it right? He said, yes, you got it right. And I said, hold it, brother Brandt. I am going to tell you what I mean.

Then you tell me if you mean the same thing.

I broke it down word by word. I went into more scripture. I explained it. And then I said, Brother Branham, is that what you mean?

He said, exactly, Brother Van. And here's some more scripture. Now I want you to do something for me. Because it seems some people can understand better even than a lot of preachers can understand.

I want you to get the Israel series. The Israel theory.

And I think it's Israel at the Red Sea, but I'm not sure.

Brother Branham had preached on the sovereignty of God.

Which is election and predestination.

And he left his church for a while. Then he came back. And he found the people disbelieving in it.

And he said, what happened to you? You've become a cult. You've become a cult.

For not believing. And he dressed them down like I've never heard anything.

Now listen. We have, it seems like, strange doctrines.

Serpent seed sounds very strange.

If you like I will preach on it letter by letter and scripture by scripture.

I'll be glad to do it for you. I can show you point by point what the prophet said is the word of God in this Bible.

I can show you that woman was the tree.

I can prove by scripture word by word that it was absolutely sex in the garden.

There is no doubt every word he said is just the floor.

But what is wrong? People just don't want to believe what he said.

They want to compare it with what they think.

What does it matter what you and I think?

Have you ever heard a man debate?

And one man says, I think. The other guy says, I think. What does it matter what you and I think? I want to know. What does it matter? My brother's an engineer.

What if he thought a certain valve he put in was the right valve and it wasn't?

Now you tell him, brother, what good do you think it is? No good, right?

We've got to thus test the Lord's mission.

I don't understand it all. I'm not in the authority on it. I was privileged to study under William Branham.

In many cases he told me what to believe and why I should believe it.

When he said put your own thinking aside he meant it.

Now you don't start putting aside say Lord I put my thinking aside so that you can tell me what Sister Smith is going to do and Brother Brown.

That's very sweet. But that's not it. It's when it comes to what he wrote from this Bible.

What his message was contained from here.

You and I put every one of our thoughts aside.

Because you and I can prove nothing.

Brother, sister, listen to me. I want to pin your faith back to the prophet's word and only the prophet's word.

When I talked about myself, I did it for a purpose.

It's veiled except to those who understand why I said it.

But don't get this idea.

That I'm an authority. I'm not. Don't listen to Levi. Listen to those tapes. Check what I say by those tapes. Check what you say by those tapes. Remember what he said. He said once you see this message.

That's all you will see in the word. Then do you see in the word. Then look for it. And if you don't see it here, then you know you haven't got what the prophet said. Listen to me. He corrected the errors.

In here, he corrected the errors.

I never sent him a blank piece of paper.

Neither do you have a blank piece of paper.

You are fundamental thinkers to begin with.

That's your Pentecostal finger. So was I. And I found that I was thinking different thoughts from here.

You've got to put your finger in the past. You've got to go right here. Not here, but to the book. From what the prophet said. And I'm going to tell you something. If you believe what he said and you're seeing it you'll see it from Genesis to Revelation.

He said the seventh seal started back in Genesis.

Who will tell me what it is? I can't tell you. Until a man can. And identify what the prophet said.

He's not telling you anything. Because the prophet said when you see it. With your spiritual understanding. You'll see it here. Precept upon precept. Line upon line. Word upon word.

I didn't believe he sent a prophet. How could I? I didn't know he sent one. But he sent one. And you know how we knew? Because God revealed through manifesting his scripture in human flesh.

There's many mysteries you don't understand that Brother Branham preached. Don't worry about it. Don't try to figure it. Because he said the harder you try to figure the worse mistakes you make.

If it's hard to understand just wait for it. Maybe he's got a manifesto.

And when he does, he'll see it. He said, behold, I send you the prophet. He said that in the Bible. And he said to me, behold, I'll send my prophet Abraham.

And that's Bible. And he did it. And I knew he was a prophet. But he didn't know what kind.

I didn't know he was malarkeyed. I didn't know he was malarkeyed. I didn't know he was malarkeyed. I didn't know he was malarkeyed. I didn't know he was malarkeyed. I didn't know he was malarkeyed. I didn't know he was malarkeyed. I didn't know he was malarkeyed. I didn't know he was malarkeyed. I didn't know he was malarkeyed.

It was dark and dismal. You know like when a cold fog comes in. We were milling around the outside. And somebody said Brother Branham is dead.

In fact I believe they said he's been killed.

And I said he is not dead. Now I said it as though. Somebody might say, this is a bunch of roses.

And I said, that is not a bunch of roses.

That's how I said, he is not dead.

I was saying that. I couldn't believe that he would be dead. It was too foreign to me. We milled around the outside. Pretty soon somebody came. He said Billy Paul is here. His daddy is dead.

And I said him rise the third day.

Now listen I said it. It wasn't a voice speaking through me. It wasn't God. I knew what I was saying. I said it and the dream left. I told Brother Branham. And by this time he knew he was going.

He said nothing. And because he said nothing I said to him.

You know Brother Branham. You had been off the scene for so long.

And your meeting is so small. When compared to others. That people actually think you're dead.

And I kind of smiled and he smiled back. I said, yeah. Just the other day somebody said to me, William Branham is no longer living, is he?

I said, he sure is living. I was just with him. And I said, do you know what I believe that dream means?

He said what? What should I tell you? When Paul was on earth he had a great ministry and it faded. Jesus had a great ministry and it faded.

Peter had a great ministry and it faded. Everybody that had a great ministry and their ministry faded.

Now I believe that death signifies the fading of your ministry.

But I'm looking to see that you've got a greater ministry than ever.

He said, well, could be. And that ended it. But he went back to Tucson. Before he did, though, he went up in the attic of his house. He searched about a half a morning. Or however long it took. And he brought down two photographs.

One of his wife.

And one of himself. When they were very young. And he took the Peking squirrels again. In every way he could he told her he was gone.

Then she said, Bill, why do you talk that way?

You may have lost some of your hair.

It may be a little gray. But the doctor said you're like a young man.

You're going to live for a long time. He turned to his head. The tears dashed down his cheeks. He drove down the road.

The house he wanted for her was now finally ready. He'd ordered furniture. But somehow the salesman hadn't turned the slip in.

He took his daughter and went to Houston. He grabbed the car and went to Phoenix.

He shopped all day with her. Got furniture for every room in the house.

So he could move it all in. And he did something that William Branham had never done before.

He never sighted anybody. He never sighted anybody. He never sighted anybody. He never was. Firm and strong with anybody. But he said to the furniture company. If that furniture is not in my home by next Monday noon.

It's going right back. You have no safe. The furniture is in by Monday noon.

Brother Branham never spent one day in that house.

But he wanted something nice for his wife. So God gave him that house. He had already told her previously.

Meeting. We don't need to live in Tucson anymore.

My work is done in Arizona. You tell me where you want to live.

Arizona? Colorado? Back in Jeffersonville? Whatever you want. You can have it. Well, she couldn't make up her mind. So, she built the house there. Now, it's about time to go to Jeffersonville.

Thursday night is rolling around.

He makes the phone call to Brother... Collins. Brother Collins had talked to him for several weeks. He had misunderstood the church aid book. Because he being a Methodist was interpreting in the light of Methodism.

And he said, Brother Branham, that book is full of mistakes, isn't it? He said, Brother Vale just wrote that book on his own and you said it was okay.

And he said, I thought Brother Branham was just polite.

And wouldn't say one word against Brother Vale.

And he didn't say a word to me. And he said it became an obsession.

I thought that book was really wrong. And he said, Brother Branham, let me stew. He said, Brother Branham, let me just worry.

But the Thursday night before he left, He phoned Brother Collins home. Brother Collins was not home. But he said to his wife, it's all right, Sister Collins. I'm leaving tomorrow morning.

Wilbur will not need to phone me back.

I just want you to give him this one message.

He is wrong in his thinking. The church aid book is not wrong. It is right. The next morning he left and for the only time in his life he did not kneel with his family and pray for safety.

He went to Brother Welsh Evans. He went to Brother Welsh Evans. Who has a garage. Is an excellent body man. And a mechanic. And tried to persuade him. To follow him to Jeffersonville. But he didn't think he could go at that time. But you can see by all the evidence that Brother Branham knew that he was meeting his death. It was not I suppose until the last two weeks that he really realized how he would go. Because he'd already told of the vision how that he saw his body crumpled in Christ.

And there was a hole in his throat. He told Sister Dawn.

That it possibly could be a martyr.

That somebody would shoot him. But the fact is. It was tracheotomy. Where they cut a hole in his throat. And this is what the hole was. And his body was terribly crushed.

I don't know if you heard about his funeral.

Not the day he was buried. But the eulogy. The different ministers spoke.

And when we went outside.

An airplane formed a white mark across the sky where there was already a tall white cloud and it formed a cross.

And the sun which you cannot look at with your naked eye could be looked at with the naked eye. And it was visibly jumping like this. Which cannot be seen without special glasses.

For the sun actually does that. The sun would turn red. It would turn black. It would turn purple. And at four o 'clock in the afternoon.

From the left hand side of the sun. There dropped clouds of blood ripped to the earth.

So when the sun came between the clouds. The sun was behind the clouds. And the clouds were between the sun and the white building.

The building turned pink.

And from the right hand side. Clouds of pure gold dropped to the earth.

And when the clouds came between the sun and the white building.

It would turn gold. And you could stand and watch. And suddenly hands appeared on the sun.

Like a clock. What it means, I don't know. But the little hand was about two minutes before the twelve. And the big hand was on the fourth.

Could it be the end of the fifth seal? Fourth seal? I don't know. The bride goes in the fourth seal. I cannot tell. But I know God was giving a last great fruit to a great cross.

I believe he was that one that God sent.

You say, Brother Wade, is he coming back? He certainly will on the resurrection, or I have no hope. Will he do something then? I don't know. I have no answer. If I have an answer, I'll tell you. But I will not speculate. I feel many people speculate, but I cannot.

I have no word for it. I have nothing to say. I know he said he wouldn't go until his work is finished.

I know he said when that great one came, he would increase, and the great one would increase.

I don't know but I believe that great one could have been Joshua.

Or rather is Joshua.

Who is the Holy Spirit. And we are the Caleb. Who believe the Word. But I'm dedicated to what he says.

I might not have to understand it all.

But I've got to believe it all. I don't know what all his visions meant. They were his visions not mine.

I don't understand all the gospel. But I know one thing. He's right. Because God answered back to him. For when he said thus saith the Lord.

The Lord brought it to pass. And the Bible says you fear that man.

That's in Deuteronomy.

This book. And in the book of Acts, the third chapter, it says you hear that.

That's the right thing. If you ask the prophet a question, Brother Balaam, what does it mean when that which is perfect is coming? He said, what is perfect?

And who is God but the Word? And by His grace we believe we have the perfect revelation of the Word for this hour.

The Lord bless you. I hope that this talk has been of some value to you. You understand things in the prophet's life.

To also understand what little tiny place I have.

And I did speak tonight in my defense and I make no apology.

Because many things have been said that are wrong about the church age book.

I have been accused by Americans that I led Brother Branham astray.

That I taught him the doctrine.

I would be very flattered.

If I gave him any thought to talk.

Even just about having a good meal.

I never taught him this word. He taught me. I'm the one who had to learn. When he first talked to me about serpentine, I said, I don't see it. I said, I know some do. But I said to me, what does it matter? If it was an apple, a pancake, who cares?

It was disobedience. It was disobedience. Isn't that enough? And he said, no. Now I know why. He taught me about the rapture.

I used to believe we went to the tribulation.

It's right in the book I think called Oneness where he talks about it.

But he showed me it well. I simply did my best what I could with the book.

And I want you to know what really transpires.

Not to say anything against anybody else. That's their business.

But this time I'm in the focus. Not somebody else. And I love you with all my heart. And for defending myself that is not the purpose.

But I want you to know this. The church age book was written for one thing primarily.

That was for the doctrine. And an exposition. Of the church age. And you'll find a great controversy over 1977.

Many people are very upset about it. Why are you mad now?

Let me tell you something right now my brother and I. I am not going to boast now. But I'm going to tell you something for your good.

And we're ready to put it on record. The story went around the world for years. That Brother Branham had seven great visions.

Then there was another vision where a hand came out and turned the calendar.

They said 1977.

I wrote that down as part of the book.

And he read it. And he said, Brother Vail, where did you get this?

Well, I said I got it from what was supposed to be you.

He said, I didn't say it.

Well, I said, you must have because it's supposed to be on tape and everybody said it. Let me just show you what kind of man Brother Branham was.

He said, Brother Vale, I've got a very poor memory.

Maybe I could have had the vision and forgot it. But he said, we've got one little way to prove it. He said, I'll bring my vision book tomorrow.

And if I had that vision, it's in the book.

So I said, very well, Brother Vance. He brought the vision book Sunday morning.

He said, come in the car, Brother Vance. We went through the book. No hands lifting the can.

Now, when we discuss these things, that 1977 was not to be taken as either for the rapture or for placing you right in the millennium. It is a date which is a pivot point

So it could go one side or the other.

The idea is simply to know that this is the age.

Now the book says by divine inspiration and many people don't understand what the divine inspiration was.

It's simple. You've read it. It's the seventh region.

And according to how fast the first five came to pass, he felt the last two would be fulfilled by 77.

And what was the last one? The blowing up of America.

which as I recall he said we would get a bomb and the Vatican would get a bomb at the same time.

Now I'm just about positive that's what he said though I can't recall his name.

So you can see what it's all about. No date was set as to being exact date.

But it's in the vicinity.

Now remember as it was in the days of Noah.

God slowed down in mercy.

Is this another example of slowing down?

So don't ever worry about dates.

It's foreign to Brother Branham to worry about dates. He didn't believe in it. He said, listen to me. This message foreruns the second coming of Christ.

It could be ten years from now or twenty years from now or a hundred but then again tomorrow.

So don't worry about dates. Stay with the word. Because he was right. And as you stay with that word I know God revered you.

Now again I send you an invitation. As long as I am here. And you think you can have any possible use of whatever I can do for you. I am here to help you. And I'm not as mean as I sound.

And I'm not grouchy. What I do when I come to a principle I may be very hard and I may be firm and sometimes it sounds like I'm a little extreme.

But I mean nothing to anybody as individual. No harm to anybody. So if I can help you. You want to ask any question. Anything at all. If there's any knowledge I know.

I'll be glad to share. Just look at me as your brother. I'm not a founder of all knowledge.

I'm not an authority. And I'm not a leader. And I don't ask you to listen to what I say.

But I trust by the grace of God. I'll be able to say what the prophet said.

What is in the word. And the Bible said you listen to him.

And he's the only one. And I'm trying to be the kind of a man that will point you to the word of a vindicated God.

I trust you understand. May the Lord bless you.