The Church Ages - The 7th age, Laodicea, part 3

We update studies as the Lord Jesus leads us. You can find the latest update of this study at ChurchAges.net

The spirit of Laodicea was established by Lenin and the communists at the beginning of the age. Lenin was regarded as the "prophet of the Revolution" in 1917 when the Russian revolution began. After his death Stalin took over and led the communists away from Lenin's teachings. But the further the communists deviated away from Lenin's ideas, the more they began to glorify and deify Lenin as a "god".

The same would happen with William Branham who was the true prophet to the Laodicean or last church age.

He came to bring the church back to the New Testament beliefs by revealing the mysteries of the written Scripture. But the Message preachers moved the people away from being Scriptural in their beliefs by making quotes and the interpretations of quotes the basis of their faith.

Instead of saying, like Jesus, "It is written..." they preferred to say, "The prophet said..." or "The prophet meant...".

As Message believers moved further away from the Bible, they began to glorify and deify brother Branham. "The voice of the seventh angel" became the "Voice of God" -- quite a promotion. Even though the Voice of God was never promised in the New Testament.

The weakness of the church has always been to glorify human leaders.

John the Baptist set the proper example at the first coming of Jesus. Speaking of Jesus, he said:

John 3:30   He must increase, but I must decrease.

The prophet and forerunner of His coming came as a bright light to reveal Jesus as a man, and then he had to fade off the scene. God does not share His glory with another.

Isaiah 42:8   I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another,

Jeremiah 17:5   Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

As we focus on a human leader, we take our eyes off the Lord Jesus.

Isaiah 2:22   Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

Our focus should never be on a man.

Job 4:18    Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

The best of men will make mistakes.

God used William Branham’s quotes to reveal the mysteries of Scripture so that we could be restored back to the Bible beliefs of the original apostolic church. Then the focus shifts from the quotes of William Branham to proving his revelations by running the ideas through the Bible verses.

Then you must be able to prove what you believe, purely from the Scriptures.

Matthew 17:11   And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

Brother Branham’s quotes should restore us to Scripture. He did not come to turn us away from Scripture. We do not have to follow people’s interpretations of his quotes.

63-1110  He that is in you

Believe all the Message. Believe That. If it isn't written in the Bible, then don't you believe it.

63-0630M  The third exodus

I know the Message is right, for It's in the Word.

57-0825  Hebrews chapter 2, part 1

One night, yonder, He come down, an Angel, and revealed It in the Scriptures, that He was. And when I seen It in the Scriptures, then to blast across the world with It, the Message.

62-0318  The Spoken Word is the original Seed, part 2

Now, all these things I've said, if they don't jive with the Bible, or dovetail with God's Word, they're wrong, they're wrong,

How can we attract God’s attention?  God notices people who are Scriptural.

65-0429  The choosing of a Bride

While, the true Bride attracts the attention of God, by keeping His Word.

John the Baptist pointed to Jesus the Man.  William Branham pointed us to Jesus the Word, the written Scripture. The recorded sermons of brother Branham thus contain the information that we need to know in order to unlock the mysteries that are hidden in the Bible

Revelation 10:7   But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

This Scripture was not completely fulfilled during the ministry of brother Branham because his voice, recorded on tapes, has continued for many decades after he, as a man, left the scene in 1965.

Here the emphasis is on his recorded voice, not on him as a man.

He had an outstanding ministry in the supernatural. He had his personal opinions as a man. He had a family with two sons. But none of these are referred to in this verse.

The emphasis is purely on his voice. The mysteries he revealed to restore us back to the early church.

But the verse has a slightly deeper meaning because it says "the mystery (singular) of God should (not would) be finished".

This does not speak of the many "mysteries" which he did reveal. There is no doubt about the fact that he unlocked written Bible mysteries.

The mystery of God is that His Body, the church, would be as a Seed planted in the first church age. It would be buried in the dirt of the Dark Ages. The Reformation of Martin Luther saw the leaves of 'salvation by faith' shoot up. The holiness movement of John Wesley carried the Gospel pollen across the world in the missionary age. Pentecostal power was the husk that looked good in the Spirit, but lacked the truth.

Brother Branham came to restore the last church to the truth of the first church. The mystery of God is that the seed that is harvested in our last church age must be identical to the seed that was planted by the apostles.

How close are you to being caught up to meet the Lord in the air? That depends on how close you are to the beliefs of the first church age. That must become your final aim.

Revelation 6:7    And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

Only the voice of the fourth beast is referred to.  This is a flying eagle.

Is this linked to the voice of the seventh angel?

Revelation 4:2   And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

Revelation 4:6   And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.

:7   And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

These four Spirit creatures have guided the church through the 2000 years of the seven church ages.

They represent how Jesus Christ, as the Holy Spirit, manifested Himself to the church in the changing conditions of world history. The lion age was the true Word of God that was brought to us by the apostles. That Word sustained the church for the first two church ages as the truth slowly began to get lost due to the church following human leadership rather than Scripture.

The next two church ages, 3 and 4, were the Dark Ages where the true believers labored on and got slaughtered like an ox, as the Roman Catholic church did their best to destroy all Bible truth and lead the world into darkness. Tens of millions were killed.

The man-beast with human wisdom saw Reformers like Martin Luther restore salvation by faith in the 5^th age, and John Wesley restore holiness in the 6^th age. Then the great missionary age opened up.

The seventh age saw Pentecost soar into the supernatural power on the wings of the eagle. Then the incredible eyesight of the eagle symbolized the insight of William Branham, as the seventh age messenger, that enabled him to reveal the mysteries of Scripture. His voice was recorded on tapes to guide us in unlocking the written Bible mysteries after he left the scene in 1965.

In 1947 he was the first preacher to begin recording his sermons on tapes. (Other preachers had snippets recorded on other media before then.) This lasted 18 years until 1965 when he passed away.

Since then his voice has circulated via tapes and the Internet for more than 50 years. This extra length of time, as well as the marvelous flow of his information through the Internet, has enabled his voice to spread world-wide and be available at all times of the day and night.

Revelation 10:7   But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Read this carefully. The mystery of God should be finished. This implies doubt.

If brother Branham restored all things, according to Jesus, then the doubt does not apply to him. He revealed what he had to. There is no doubt about his ability to fulfill his part of this prophecy.

So what does the doubt refer to?

There will be people who listen to his voice, but who will be fooled or deceived by their Message pastors, who will guide them away from Scripture by misinterpreting quotes.

1965-1127   I have heard but now I see

Dear God, in this solemn moment, it's going to be a time like this when there really will be a clap of thunder someday, and the Son of God shall descend from the heavens with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and the trump of God, the dead in Christ shall rise.

The last month of his life and he was still waiting for the Archangel to come down. He was still waiting for a single Thunder that must utter before the mighty Angel comes down. He was also still waiting for the "shout".

Here we must think carefully.

He says, "There will be a clap of thunder… Son of God shall descend…with a shout".

Thus the "shout" was not him preaching his Message of the understanding of the Bible mysteries.

The shout will eventually come, when the Bride finally understands the Bible mysteries and is able to be restored back to the doctrines of the apostles.

The Lord cannot come before the Bride is restored.

When the Bride finally returns to the New Testament faith, then the shout will have been fulfilled.

But there is no need for brother Branham to be on earth when the Angel comes down. Especially since most of the believers who will be restored back to Scripture were not even born by 1965.

63-0421  Victory Day

We've all got a victory. We've fought through many victories. And a great victory is coming just soon, right around the corner. Our complete V-day will be soon, when the Son of God shall break the skies, and scream with the Voice of the Archangel, and He shall come again. And the graves shall open, and the dead shall walk out.

…  And someday, with your eye single-looking, He will come from the sky with a Shout, the Voice of the Archangel. The dead in Christ shall rise.

The Shout is still in the future.

This was 1963, one month after the Seven Seals had been preached, and he was looking for the "shout" in the future.

But the "shout" refers to his message. How can this be in the future?

The "shout" is not brother Branham revealing the truth.

The "shout" is when we understand the truth well enough to be restored back to the early church.

The emphasis is not supposed to be on the signpost, the end-time prophet, who gave us direction by showing us the Way, which is Jesus the revealed Word. (He told us to get restored back to the teachings of the early apostles).

The emphasis is supposed to be on the Way or the Path. We are supposed to be on the Scriptural Way that we can walk in step with all the New Testament teachings.

Once the written mysteries have been revealed, how can the Devil get to deceive the "Message believers" (unscriptural) who claim to be "in the Message" (unscriptural)? Notice the unscriptural labels that they use to describe themselves while criticizing Baptists, Methodists, and others for taking on unscriptural labels.

60-0515M  The rejected King

Then we find that the enemy set in, and he was going to come into a little bunch of God's people and was going to pluck out the right eye of every man. That's what the enemy always tries to do, is pluck out both eyes if he can, so that the people cannot see what they're doing. That's what Satan tries to do today to every Christian: pluck out his spiritual sight, that he can only follow the intellectual sense of things and not the sense of the Holy Spirit leading him.

So then when they did that, when the great defeat come, then Saul cut up two great ox and sent them to all the people. And I wished you would notice here. When Saul sent the pieces of the ox to all Israel and said, "Let every man that will not follow Samuel and Saul, let him, this ox be as this."

Do you see how deceitful he tried to represent Himself with the man of God?

How unchristian it was.

The fear of the people was because of Samuel.

But Saul got them all to follow him, because that the people feared Samuel.

"Let them come after Samuel and Saul."

Saul should have just told the people to follow him as it was his idea. He had no right to include the reputation of Samuel the prophet in his personal decision. Saul had his own leading, his own idea. Then he claimed that the prophet Samuel agreed with his ideas. But Samuel had not actually said what Saul was claiming. But the people obeyed Saul out of their fear of Samuel, thinking that Saul had the backing of Samuel.

Message pastors use and interpret the quotes of William Branham to suit their own ideas in order to get the people to follow the pastors. The people fear and respect brother Branham as the end-time prophet, so the people are scared to argue with pastors who manipulate brother Branham’s quotes.

To increase this induced fear, the Message-preachers claim that the prophet’s quotes are infallible and cannot be corrected. Eventually the quotes replace Scripture on certain issues. Brother Branham becomes the 'Voice of God', and nobody can question anything he says.

This is not how it should be.

62-1104M  Blasphemous names

Well, that's right, that would take the Roman Catholic church. But she is "full of blasphemous names," Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, all calling themselves, "churches of God." Blasphemous names!

Saying that we are "in the Message" is just as unscriptural as calling ourselves "Baptists".

Scripture never speaks of a Message church.

Why not?

Brother Branham came to restore us to the Bible truths of the early church. In the Bible they were only called disciples, believers, or Christians. That is all we are allowed to call ourselves if we want to be Bible Christians.

The early Christians mainly met in houses, which helped them to escape from the persecution of the Roman Empire when three million Christians were killed in the 250 years from Nero’s persecution starting in 64 AD. Then finally the emperor Constantine stopped killing Christians in 313 AD with his Edict of Milan.

Colossians 4:15   Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house.

A few people met in a house. No mention of a pastor as being the head of the church. Paul is speaking of a house-church in the city of Laodicea. We are in the age of Laodicea. Is there a connection?

Romans 16:3  Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:

:5   Likewise greet the church that is in their house.

They had to combat real error in Rome, as that is where denominational Christianity would really take root under human leadership. Meeting in houses as small groups is thus a good antidote to being dominated by a human leader.

We start our Christian lives by repenting and establishing a personal relationship with Jesus. Then we join a church and end up in a church relationship. Our relationship with Jesus takes second place. We accept church beliefs in place of  the Bible.

"Churchianity" slowly grows inside us in place of Christianity. "In place of" means a vicarious experience.

We become second-hand Christians, living up to other people’s expectations of us. Trying to find a quote whereby we can impress others. Jesus and the Bible take second place in our lives as the church and pastor dominate our thinking. The church stands "in the place of Christ" in our lives. Christ is the Son of God.

Why do you believe something?  Because my church says so.

This is heading towards the mark of the beast, which is denominational religion.

In   place   of             the Son         of  God

V  I   C  A R I V S     F I   L   I  I        D E I            in Latin, the language of the Romans.

5  1  100      1  5           1  50  1  1      500   1           These letters mean a number in Latin.

=  666                                                                       Adding them all up.

63-0319  The second seal

But when this awful deceiving spirit (Oh, man) incarnated--incarnate spirit, this doctrine spirit became incarnated to take the place of Christ into a man, it must be worshipped then--turned to be a worship like Christ.

A man who takes the place of Christ is a total deception.

61-0611 Revelation chapter 5, part 1

... And I stood still if people called me a prophet many times, 'cause a prophet in the English testament is just "a preacher, a prophesier, foreteller of the Word," and so forth. I'd stand for that 'cause you could just kind of push that down; but when it comes to be calling "Anointed Christ," or something, that was too much for me. So I just couldn't stand that.

... After leaving the meeting at Canada, I found out that way up in the Eskimos or the Indians up there, it had got among them.

... And I just couldn't stand it any longer, to think that thirty-one years of ministry went down the Devil's gutter pipe, into the... When I'm gone, what will they say? "There he is, that's exactly what it was"; and all the influence that I had upon the people, then you see where it'd be, I'd be an antichrist. And I just couldn't stand it!

... And I wondered; if it would have been some enemy of mine, it would been all right, but I would just have laughed at it and went on; but when it come to being precious brothers, precious sisters, then that's what hurt me.

... I had a visitation from the Lord. And I seen a precious one's... a babying...a serpent which was yellow and black, and telling me right along, and the thing struck me on the leg. But the blood was so rich it didn't take effect on me. And I looked down, and there's where I had been bit before. And I turned quickly with a gun and shot the thing, and it hit it right in the middle of the thing.

And a brother said... I turned with my gun to shoot its head off, and he said, "Don't do that, just pick up the stick laying there by you." And when I turned my back to pick up the stick, it wiggled into some water, just a small puddle of water.

Water is doctrine.

This bruised serpent is a symbol of the 'Deity doctrine' -- of calling brother Branham the Anointed Christ.

He tried to kill it but did not succeed. It still lurks in a puddle of unscriptural doctrine, not in the flowing River of Life, the Word.

Elevating brother Branham up to the level of Jesus is a doctrine of this bruised serpent.

This doctrine evolves out of the seven Thunders beliefs, because they are not written in Scripture, and are thus just a puddle of quotes. Beware of puddle pirates, calling themselves Message preachers.

People begin to think of brother Branham as being the Christ, but brother Branham came to point out Jesus in the Word of God. He did not come to replace Jesus Christ.

1964 03 24   The seventh seal

There's no great man among us.

We're not great men, not great women--we're all brothers and sisters, all the same in the same bracket.

We're no great. One don't make one greater than the other one--not a thing at all to do. No, sir. But we're just all human beings.

Don't try to interpret the things.

Don't try to do anything more than just live a close life, giving praise and honor to Jesus Christ.

…  Don't say, "Thank you," to anybody at all. Don't say... Thinking some minister or something, some mortal man, there's anything good about him, 'cause there's not; I don't care who he is. There's nothing good to any man.

That's right. If there's a whole bunch of trumpets laying here and one of them had to sound out a certain music; it's the man; them trumpets are perfectly mute. It's the fellow that can sound the trumpet, that knows what he's going to do, that picks up a trumpet. The trumpet has nothing to do with it. The sound comes from the intelligence behind it (That's right), so all trumpets are the same;

All men are the same; all Christians are the same.

…   We don't want never put a man in it.

You forget anything about me.

I am your brother, a sinner saved by grace, not fit to live; that's exactly the truth; and I ain't saying that to be humble; that's facts.

There's nothing in me, not one sound thing at all.

But the grace of God has let my poor dimming eyes look beyond the curtain of time and see those things yonder, and I come back...

A revelation of the opening of the Seals that he saw in the future by means of a vision.

Then he came back to tell us about this future event.

Brother Branham saw the opening of the Seals as a future event. He revealed them to us in broad outline but the actual detailed opening only happens once the Bride is in Heaven, in Revelation Chapter 6.

64-0315  Influence

Here is a good example. Always be conscious of your littleness, not your bigness.

Today, we  Americans, so much, that we try to think that we're big somebody, "We belong to something big, some big organization, some great big something that's got..." Oh, great big, big, big is all we see.

And that when... One time, in the Bible, we have an example of that. There was a prophet went back in the cave and... Elijah. And God was trying to attract his attention, to come out. And there come the fire, and smoke, and blusterous winds across the mountains, and thunder, and earthquakes, and shakings, and everything else.

The prophet never even moved.

God wasn't even in it. But when that still, small Voice spoke, he covered his face and come forward.

When the still, small Voice of God's Word speaks, not a racket,

Not our big denominations, not our big something, but that still, small Voice, of the Word, that's looked over. That should call a man to repentance. God in His Word!

Yet, He covered His feet; and become conscious of... our littleness before God.

… And oh, when this comes to pass, it'll be great, big like this, and it'll be so humble you'll miss the whole thing and just go right on.

It’s an American spirit to look for something bigger and better. That is not God's Spirit.

The Pharisees used to want bigger and better.

Matthew 23:5  But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments

God works in the little groups, the gleaners like Ruth.

Zechariah 4:10   For who hath despised the day of small things?

64-0629  The mighty God unveiled before us

It was God in Christ; God in a Man; the fullness of the Godhead, bodily in a Man. God in a Man!

Now it's God in men, the fullness of God in the Godhead, bodily in His entire Church, manifesting Himself, fulfilling His Word.

… He said, "And when the Son of man is being revealed." The Son of man, back in the Church again, revealed in human beings; not Son of God, but the Son of man again, back in His Church again, in the last days. We find that He promised that in God's promises.

… And now the Glory of God is behind your skin.

"God in men".  God in people -- not in one man.

"The Son of Man again, back in His Church".

God wanting to be back again in His church like it was at the Day of Pentecost.

The emphasis is not on God indwelling one man, William Branham, as that would elevate him into the Godhead.

The emphasis is the fullness of God wanting to indwell the fullness of His entire church as He did on the Day of Pentecost.

… show this world what they need: not a world's fair, but a world revival that'll be filled and baptized with the Presence of the living God, en morphe inveiling Himself into human flesh. Hallelujah! I believe it.

… And may we see that unveiled One, that One Who came down and rent the veil of the temple; and then went right out of that veil, come right down into human veils again, on the Day of Pentecost; has ever been the same, changing from Glory to Glory.

God was in 120 people on the Day of Pentecost. We have to get back to those days. Not God in one man, God in His church.

62-0601  Taking sides with Jesus

Now, do you know, when those early men went out, sometimes there were only about six or eight of them, together? And they shook the country. Well, you know, when Aquila and Priscilla, that great revival that Apollos was having over there, there was only about six or eight men and women in that bunch. That whole church, meant six or eight. You got five or six, seven times as many here tonight as they had then.

You know, Jesus only had twelve apostles. We always thinking for something big. But God don't deal in them big numbers. It's in these little groups is where He gets it. See? Look all down through the age, at any time He ever met with men. It was in small groups, see, and spoke with them, and ordained them. It's God's good pleasure to do that. That's the way He likes to do it. And now we just want to keep God in our midst, and go, doing these things.

God ordained men in the small groups.

The Catholic Church (the Beast) has a succession of man-appointed Popes.

The Protestants copy this. Today we have pastors succeeded by their sons as pastors. A Protestant succession from father-to-son. Empire building.

In the last age God is not looking for a church experience.

He wants each individual to have a personal experience with Him, because He knows that the church is blind and lukewarm, with bits of Scripture that is mixed with bits of quotes and lots of human opinions.

You are influenced and manipulated by others in your desire to belong to a group. Babylon thrives on forced submission to an exalted human leader. In this process you lose your personal experience with Jesus.

65-1128M  God's Only Provided Place of Worship

Out there in Tucson, is listening in this morning, I once wondered... I've always constraining people, "Go to church, no matter where you go." And I seen the people kind of pulling back, and going this way. And I thought, "What's the matter?"

I went to some of them, "The first day you're there, they'll approach you, 'Join our church.' If you don't do it, you're not welcome." See? See? It's a forced thing, it's forced upon you, see, and that's Babylon. But in Christ, you come in by election; not by force, your heart pulls you in.

God did not put His name then in Babylon. Closely now. He cannot put His Name in Babylon, the churches. Oh, they, they put His Name in there, but He never. No.

In 1965 brother Branham was doubting his own advice which was when he had told people to go to church.

The churches simply force your conformity to their beliefs.

This includes the Message churches.

They are also pastor-dominated, and do not want you unless you agree with them. You are not allowed to think for yourself. You are not allowed to disagree.

65-1128M  God's only provided Place of worship

Now, He said, "The place that I'm going to meet you and receive your sacrifice is where I choose to put My Name. You come in at this gate, this door where I choose to put My Name. There's where you come."

Well, they put, "This is the Church of Christ." If there's anything that's wrong in that declaration, it left out one word: "anti." Uh-huh, all that He taught, they disagree with It. Modern Pharisees.

When we take on any name other than Christian or disciple or believer, then we move into the anti-christ camp. Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal. In-the-Message.

All unscriptural in terms of the early church, whose example we should follow.

As soon as a Message or denominational church disagrees with Scripture, it becomes antichrist. The pastors become Pharisees.

The word Pharisee can be made to mean  Phar- I - see  or  Far-I-see. Pastors are splicing and interpreting quotes to see far into a mystery that is not even written in the Bible, such as their versions of the seven Thunders. Trying to interpret what is not written is just foolish guesswork that can only impress the Bible-illiterate. The seven Thunders were never written so they cannot refer to seven things that are written in the Bible.

The Pope also believes mysteries that are not written in the Bible like Trinity, purgatory, Christmas, Lent, etc.

So believing in what is not written in the Bible cannot put you in God’s will because you are behaving the same way as the Vatican, which is mystery Babylon.

Ephesian Church Age -- Church Age book, chapter 3

Oh, yes! In Revelation 12, that old whore had many daughters. These daughters are just like mother. They set the Word aside, deny the work of the Spirit of God, subjugate the laity, and make it impossible for the laity to worship God unless they come through them or through their pattern, which is nothing but a blueprint of unbelief from Satan himself.

64-0629  The Mighty God unveiled before us

...that God is calling an exodus, to come from behind the fleshly curtain who tries to impersonate, who tries to join church; not Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, altogether, but Pentecostal churches.

It is an individual affair. It's you and God. You have to go in, not your group, not your church, not your pastor, but it's you who has to go in.

This is the heart of the matter. The third exodus is not joining a church. You may fellowship in a church but you put the Bible first. You do not compromise any Bible truth in order to be accepted into some church.

An individual affair is not a church group-think experience. You think for yourself from Scripture. The pastor does not think for you.

Brother Branham revealed the truth and now each one of us has to receive a personal revelation of the revealed Scripture.

We have two options before us.

Either we are restored to the early New Testament church

or else

we return to the habits and example of the mother harlot Rome.

The Pope is the only dictator in Europe. His dictatorship style of leading the church has infiltrated the Protestant churches.

Nowhere does the Bible call a pastor the head of the church. No Scripture says that the pastor is the shepherd of the sheep.

Ephesians 5:23   For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church:

So our age has us being deceived into following the pattern of the Roman Catholic church

For example, the Roman Catholics accepted Christmas around the year 350 AD as a direct imitation of the Roman sun god’s birthday, established on 25 December 274 AD by the Roman emperor Aurelian. Nowhere does the Bible ask us to celebrate the birth of the Lord. Yet today Christmas is the main festival for the Protestant churches and Message churches.

Take your eyes off the Bible and you end up copying Rome. Their thinkers are very clever. Very deceptive.

That is why Revelation 10: 7 said "should be finished".

We are too busy following Rome’s example to finish the mystery of being restored back to the beliefs of the early church.

After all, Rome is "Mystery Babylon", with all her enticing attractions. There are 1200 million converts attracted to Roman Catholicism. So she is an attractive church, represented by an attractive woman in Revelation Chapter 17.

When questioned about a sign of His coming, Jesus first replied that our biggest enemy would be deception.

Matthew 24:3   And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

:4   And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

If the people are deceived by their leaders, they will not return to the beliefs of the first church age.

The first church of the New Testament never had a pastor in charge of the church. The early church never attempted to understand the unwritten mysteries of the seven Thunders, nor the silence of the seventh Seal, nor find out what the unwritten new name of Jesus is.

They only preached what was written in Scripture.

II Timothy 4:2   Preach the word;

Luke 4:8   And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written,...

The early church checked everything with Scripture, even when it was spoken by their great messenger Saint Paul.

Like Jesus, they replied to the Devil with, "It is written …"

Acts 17:10   And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

:11   These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

"These" -- Plural. They searched and checked. At Berea they had a fresh and honest approach. They questioned and examined the ideas to get a personal revelation.

They checked with the written Word. They had the freedom to think for themselves.

They did not conform to a pastor’s opinions and become parrots.

Once brother Branham left us in 1965, the seventh church age fell prey to many problem areas.

In 1966 a whole different era started.

All we had was his voice to guide us back to the Bible, and many Message preachers who misinterpreted quotes to mislead us.

Addiction to cell phones has made people voracious consumers of what is often useless information.

This symbolizes the unscriptural ideas that we so easily consume and believe.

Building up a spider web of spliced and misinterpreted quotes caused the invention of false realities that are overstated by endless repetition and mostly not supported by Scripture.

The biggest cause of confusion and error amongst those who believed brother Branham was the end-time prophet, was the great Cloud of 1963.

We need to understand the truth about this Cloud in order to realize how ignorance and wrong statements launched so many mistakes.

It also sadly demonstrated that Message people are too lazy to check the facts. They are not like the people of Berea.

It all started on February 28, 1963. A thrust assisted Thor rocket was launched from pad 75-3-5 at Vandenburg Air Force Base in California carrying a Keyhole 4 military surveillance satellite. The rocket started to veer off course and was intentionally destroyed at an altitude of 44 kilometers (144,000 feet) at 1:52pm. The rocket had a solid state booster which also exploded with a huge amount of smoke. The rocket was still very low in its trajectory so the liquid fuel in its tanks was quite full. Thus the amount of smoke caused by the explosion was excessive. The prevailing winds blew the smoke cloud eastward towards the city of Flagstaff in northern Arizona.

But, at that height the air is so thin that the smoke particles were too spread out to be visible in daylight.

The dispersed smoke particles cannot be seen from the ground against the sun's glare from the blue sky.

The invisible smoke cloud drifted invisibly eastwards during the afternoon. A high altitude cloud, above 20 km height, is too spread out and cannot be seen against the glare of sunlight .

No visible natural cloud can form between 20 km and 80 km as there is not enough water vapour in the air to form a cloud.

Between 80 - 85 km, complex chemistry involving tiny fragments of water vapour and methane can form electric blue noctilucent -- shining at night -- clouds on microscopic meteorite dust particles if the temperature is below minus 123 degrees Celsius. But this does not happen at 40 km which is why the scientist James McDonald ignored noctilucent clouds.

Let us understand noctilucent smoke clouds.

A few noctilucent clouds can form nearer to the north pole between 80 to 85 kilometers high.

All the rest of the natural clouds form below about the height of 20 km as 99% of the water vapour that forms clouds is below the 20 km height.

Thus there are no natural clouds between 20 km and 80 km in height. If you see a cloud between 20 and 80 km it has to be artificial or man-made.

When a gallon of petrol burns it forms a gallon of water vapour. This water vapour from jet engines or rocket motors can form artificial clouds between 20 km and 80 km. But the scientist James McDonald found no evidence of jets or rockets over Flagstaff.

The smoke and debris from the Thor rocket explosion could also form an artificial smoke cloud in this region between 20 km and 80 km.

Artificial clouds that are between 20 km and 80 km high are usually only visible just after sunset and before sunrise. The only time we usually see the international space station is the ten minutes or so when it is overhead just after sunset or just before sunrise. Why is this?

Smoke is so thinly dispersed at 40 km height because the air is so thin that the smoke cannot be seen against the glare of the blue sky. Only below 20 km is the air thick enough for water vapour to get closely packed and dense enough to form clouds that are visible from the ground.

When the sun sinks below the horizon then for a brief while after sunset the sunlight reflects off the bottom of the cloud. When the sky above is black, this thin smoke cloud, if at an altitude of about 40 km  becomes visible for about half an hour. Higher clouds can be visible for longer.

When the smoke cloud arrived near Flagstaff at 18.40 evening time just after sunset, the sky was dark enough for the smoke cloud to be seen.  Then suddenly a much larger supernatural Cloud appeared about 20 miles in front of it, also at a height of about 42 kilometers (30 miles high). This bigger Cloud was briefly visible for 28 minutes.

Why this second cloud is supernatural, made from angel's wings, is that there is no other physical means to make a high altitude cloud artificially. Today we could do so by spraying chemicals up there. But that technique was not employed back in 1963.

This photograph was taken from Winslow which was in the path of the moving clouds.

This is what baffled scientist James McDonald. There were two clouds. One was created by the exploding rocket. There was no explanation for the other cloud.

The following picture is NOT a photograph, but just a picture to show how the two clouds were visible.

The normal clouds were dark after sunset. The shiny white clouds that reflected the sunlight were proof of their great height. That is what attracted people’s attention

No natural clouds can form at this height. There were no jet aircraft or rockets around Flagstaff to provide exhaust gas fumes to form an artificial noctilucent cloud.

So the bigger Cloud could only be formed from angel wings. It was a sign in the heaven, which we call the atmosphere. No normal cloud can form at this height.

William Branham knew nothing about the Cloud. He was 200 miles south of it in Tucson. He only learned about the Cloud from an article on page 112 in the May copy of Life magazine.

This is the photograph taken on 28 February 1963 from the Tucson observatory. There was no face in the Cloud.

In 1965, the last year of his life, brother Branham described the Cloud as a sign in the heaven (or sky).

65-0718  Trying to do God a service, without being the will of God

And then in that great observatory, so that the world will be without, they're still wondering what happened. In Tucson, them big observatories took the picture of it up there; still wondering what happened. What is it? They still put in the paper, "Does anybody know anything about what, how it could have happen?" There is no fog up there, there's no air, there's no moisture; thirty miles high in the air. Oh, my!

"There shall be signs in the heaven above. And when these things take place, earthquakes in divers places, then shall appear the sign in the heaven, of the Son of man." "That day," in Luke, "the Son of man will reveal Himself again; being revealed, Hisself." And the world will look like Sodom and Gomorrah. Oh, my!

Matthew 24:29   ….., and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Natural heaven is the sky or atmosphere. All the natural laws of atmospheric physics were broken when this "impossible" Cloud suddenly appeared at a great height. The Cloud had to be super-natural.

Matthew 24:30   And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:

This is the key point. The Cloud was not an event in itself.

The Cloud was a sign, high up in the sky, that an event was to take place.

Eight days later, two hundred miles south of Flagstaff, the seven angels that formed the Cloud would meet brother Branham near Sunset Peak (also called Sunset Mountain) and commission him to reveal the seven Seals of Revelation Chapter 6.

This is the cover of the book with those sermons.

It was not the actual opening of the Seals, which only happens when the Bride is in Heaven after the Rapture.

Amos 3:7   Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Before the event can happen in Heaven, it must first be revealed on earth by a prophet.

The Cloud had no face in it.

Brother Branham was not under it as he was 200 miles south in Tucson. Nobody spiritual was under the Cloud on 28 February 1963

The hunting season only opened the next day on 1 March 1963 at Sunset. On 4 March 1963 brother Branham preached a sermon "A Absolute" in Houston Texas.  According to his daughter Becky, in her book 'Return to Sunset', he got to Sunset Peak on 6 March 1963.

Then 7 angels came to him invisibly on 8 March (8 days after the Cloud was seen) and told him to go back to Jeffersonville to reveal the Seals in Revelation Chapter 6. The angels then left invisibly.

Then brother Branham made a big mistake.

Prophets can make mistakes. But that does not stop them being prophets.

John the Baptist, fore runner of the first coming of Jesus, at the end doubted if Jesus was the Messiah.

Jesus never criticized John for that massive mistake. He just corrected the prophet John by referring to the Scriptures.

We must follow this example when brother Branham makes mistakes.

55-0607  The True Vine and a False Vine

But God, in His prophets and in His seers and so forth, absolutely knows that these things as God will reveal it.

There's many things He don't reveal to His servants. Look at old Jacob setting on a stone. Setting up there and brought his boy's coat back... And you knowed he was a prophet. Brought his coat back and said, "A beast killed your boy." That was wrong. He didn't know the difference for forty years.

Look at Isaac, setting up there total blind, and here come Jacob up and said, "I'm Esau." He blessed him, for Esau--and a prophet...

Look at this Elijah, setting there and here come the Shunammite women and fell down by him like that. Said, "God's troubled her heart and kept it from me." They don't know all things. They just know as God will let them know. They're not infallible people.

The Bible said, "Elijah was man subject to like such passions as we are," his up and downs, and differences.

Brother Branham assumed that the seven angels formed the Cloud when they left him at Sunset Peak.

But the Cloud was eight days earlier and it was 200 miles north of him.

From that unfortunate mistake, many wrong doctrines would emerge.

After brother Branham died, this picture was published and sent around the world.

To the Message-believers, the Cloud was no longer a sign, it was Christ Himself.

Something was going very wrong in their thinking.

The Cloud was no longer over Flagstaff city -- the Message-believers had moved it to 200 miles south to Sunset Mountain (also called Sunset Peak or just Sunset).

Error breeds error.

Many Message believers, especially in South Africa, believed this Cloud was actually the coming of the Lord on 28 February 1963, the day before the hunting season opened. There was no way that brother Branham would have been hunting illegally on that day.

Notice this huge deviation.

Brother Branham never said that "the Cloud was the coming of the Lord", but his followers decided to interpret his quotes that way. They even painted "Jesus has come" on a mine dump in Johannesburg.

So a new age dawned after 1966 -- changing brother Branham’s quotes to fit your interpretation of his quotes.

Fanaticism produced Fake News to replace Scripture.

Pearry Green had made a Photostat of the back cover of Life magazine which he showed to brother Branham. That is the first time brother Branham heard of the Cloud.

But the Photostat was not a true copy and had dark and light areas.

This photostat gave the appearance of a face which reminded brother Branham of Hoffman’s head of Christ.

Once brother Branham had left the scene his followers then published this modified photograph.

Many believed that this was the actual photograph that was taken over Flagstaff on 28 February 1963.

But that was not good enough as it lacked a rainbow over the Head of Christ, Whose face suddenly appears in the Cloud. This is not reality. This is Photoshop.

Back to Photoshop. Now Hoffman's head of Christ is really in the Cloud.

Notice how much the Cloud photograph has been changed. This symbolizes how Message preachers have changed the sign that God showed in the heaven to fit in with their ideas that are based on a mistake that brother Branham made.

He never stood below the Cloud. He never saw the Cloud. The Cloud was never over Sunset Mountain (or Sunset Peak).

But changes never seem to stop, once they get going.

Notice the faint rainbow over the head.

How did the faint rainbow suddenly also appear?

The Cloud was on page 112 of Life magazine and on the back of that page was  a Honolulu moon rainbow on page 113. But Revelation Chapter 10 had nothing to do with the moon.

God’s covenant with the earth in Noah’s day was a rainbow produced by the sun.

Let us pretend that the moon rainbow on the back of page 112 somehow was able to bleed its colours through the page as if you were looking through page 112. This is what you would see.

The rainbow looks very faint because you have to look through the page to see it.

Let us draw a brightly colored rainbow just for clarity.

Let us add the shadows from the Photostat to the Cloud in order to show the face.

But the rainbow is in the wrong place. It is not over the head. It runs parallel to the cheek.

Let us put in the face using photoshop.

But His Head is lying sidewise. He is not standing vertically.

Then we have to turn the photograph through 90ᵒ.

But the rainbow is not over His head. The Cloud photograph was turned through 90 degrees to look like a man’ s head when he is standing upright.

When the head is upright, the rainbow is not over His head.

This interpretation is totally wrong for Revelation Chapter 10!

Revelation 10:1   And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

And the Cloud does not represent the Head of a Person who is standing on earth. The Cloud never came down below 42 kilometers in height.

The Cloud would the Head of a Person who is floating parallel to the ground.

Thus the Cloud does not represent Revelation Chapter 10 with the Angel coming down.

Look how flat the surface of the land is. There is no Sunset Mountain where the Cloud was photographed. Sunset Mountain is 200 miles south of Flagstaff city.

What does a picture of Revelation Chapter 10:1-3 look like?

Revelation 10:1   And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:

: 2    And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,

What did the original Cloud look like?

The Cloud is obviously not the fulfillment of Revelation 10: 1 - 2.

So what went wrong?

Message believers thought that brother Branham was infallible and that they could build up their faith just on his quotes.

They felt that there was no need to follow his quotes through the Bible.

This is sheer laziness. Reading and checking with the Bible is hard work.

It takes a lot of reading just to know what is written in the Bible.

And a lot more effort to find out where all the relevant verses are in order to understand a topic.

Message preachers say that you cannot correct the prophet.

So if he got his facts wrong, you must just repeat his mistakes. (How silly can people get).

The angels came to brother Branham 8 days after forming the Cloud. They formed no Cloud on that day.

Then came a big problem. Different quotes sometimes contradicted each other.

Some say the Cloud was the coming of the Lord. But then other say brother Branham preaching the revelation of the seventh Seal on 24 March 1963 brought the Lord back to earth.

So we have a different date for His coming as this is a month after the Cloud.

63-1110M  Souls that are in Prison now

The Seventh Seal brings Him back to earth.

But then things get a bit more difficult because he says the seventh Seal never opened, it remains a top secret.

64-0719M  The Feast of the Trumpets

The Seventh Seal hasn't opened yet, you know. That's His Coming.

And then in the last year of his life he claimed that he was still waiting for the coming of the Lord.

65-0725   What is the Attaction on the Mountain

We send greetings up in the mountains, Prescott, Arizona, to Brother Leo Mercier and his group that's up there waiting for the Coming of the Lord. We send greetings to those in Tucson, that's gathered tonight, waiting for the Coming of the Lord. Down into Houston, Texas, to those who are waiting for the Coming of the Lord. Up in Chicago, to those who are waiting for the Coming of the Lord. Up on the East Coast, New York and Connecticut, and the great groups up there, that's waiting for the Coming of the Lord. We don't have room here to seat them, so we just have to send them the Word through the--the medium of the telephone. We send greetings to Brother Junior Jackson tonight, and his group down in Clarksville. Brother Ruddell, up on sixty-two, and his group, waiting for the Coming of the Lord. And we're gathered here tonight at the home church, the tabernacle, waiting for the Coming of the Lord.

But error does not stand still. Error mutates like a virus.

"If the Cloud is not the coming of the Lord, then it must be the coming down of the mighty Angel of Revelation Chapter 10."

Message believers refused to believe that the supernatural Cloud, that was seen for 28 minutes just after sunset as it moved east of Flagstaff at a height of about 42 kilometers, was just a sign in the heaven.

This Cloud had to be something far more dramatic.

So the spectacularly high Cloud suddenly became the Angel of Revelation Chapter 10 coming down. Even though the Cloud never came down on 28 February 1963.

And when the seven angels came down on 8 March 1963, they never formed a Cloud -- either on their way down, or on their way up.

Some claimed that the Cloud was not the Angel. But that the Angel of Revelation 10 did come down. However they are unsure about such details as where or when the Angel came down.

But they all insist that the Angel came down during brother Branham’s life time on earth.

This is essential to develop a major wrong doctrine.

If the Angel has come down, then the seven Thunders have already uttered.

And that is what Message preachers are desperate to claim, so that they can "reveal" the seven Thunders that are not even written in the Bible.

At this point the Message preachers deviate from Scripture, and most of the Message groups learned to place quotes and the manipulation of quotes above Scripture.

Quotes are manipulated just like they manipulated the original photograph of the Cloud of 1963.

So why two clouds?

63-0623   Standing in the Gap

And he said that he went up the mountain. And when he did, I was standing there. And a Voice came from the Cloud, (Wasn't it, Brother Roy?) and said something on this order, "This is My servant. And I've called him to be a prophet to the age, to lead the people just as Moses did. And he's been given the authority, he could speak into existence." Or something like that, like Moses did, like speaking in the flies. And we know about the squirrels, and so forth, and things that's already took place. Little Hattie Wright back there, I suppose you know what taken place at the house. And He told him that I had done what Moses had done.

Malachi 4: 4   Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

:5   Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

Something about Moses is linked to the ministry of brother Branham.

Moses led the first exodus which brought the Jews out of Egypt. Children were killed by Pharaoh. The first exodus was in two parts. Moses brought them up to the border of the Promised Land. Then he died and Joshua took over to take them into the Promised Land. The red path shows the first part of the Exodus under Moses.

What was the significance of Joshua taking over when they got to the Jordan River?

Jordan symbolizes "death to self".

Jesus was baptized in Jordan.

Baptism is a symbol of death. Under water you cannot breathe.

61-0316 The Church choosing Law for Grace

"Jordan" means "death."

Got to die out to yourself before you cross over. That's right. Go over there; people live in a lukewarm condition. The Bible said so.

Them brethren out there on the mountain, they were blessed. They had--they prospered. Well, they had plenty to eat. Manna fell out of heaven. That was all right, but they were still out of the promise. Just like the Laodicean church, the Pentecostal church age. They've got blessings. But God didn't deal with them; He couldn't take them to the promised land, 'cause they wasn't conditioned to go until they got to a place that they realized they were dead in their theories. Then God took them over.

Brother Branham could only reveal the truth to us of Scripture.

We have to die to ourselves and allow God to enable us to cross over as individuals.

Joshua then represents the Holy Spirit.
60-0515E Adoption, part 1

Our Ephesians, our Joshua, which is the Holy Spirit.

"Joshua" means "Jesus, Saviour."

Joshua means the Holy Spirit representing it in the spiritual as that was in the natural, that He is our great Warrior. He's our great Leader. As God was with Joshua, so is God in the Holy Spirit, moving us about.

The second exodus was Jesus bringing the church out of the Jews. Herod killed the children. Jesus died and rose from the dead. That finished the first part of the second exodus. He then left the scene and the Holy Spirit came down into the church to produce the Book of Acts and guide the church through the seven church ages.

The third exodus is the Bride coming out of the church.

We are the spiritual children who must be turned back to the beliefs of our apostolic fathers in the first church age.

Those who twist up brother Branham's quotes into unscriptural beliefs simply take the spiritual children to their death in the Tribulation. Consider how many variations of "The Message" there are in the world today. They obviously cannot all be correct. Many people are being misled.

Brother Branham, by 1965, had taught us how to understand the written Scriptures. He then left the scene and the Holy Spirit, like Joshua, has to guide us into all truth so that we can return to the beliefs of the first church age.

John 16:13   Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; 

Today, too many Message preachers speak of themselves and uplift their own importance.

Daniel 11: 14   And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall.

Whatever this prophecy means, it shows that Satan gets human leaders to exalt themselves. Then the people take their eyes off Jesus, the Word, as they focus on their important leaders. Thus the preachers rob the people of their relationship with Jesus and His Truth. "Follow my leader" becomes the accepted theme as people cease to be strictly Scriptural.

If the Holy Spirit is our Joshua, then we should be following the Bible verses on every doctrine that we believe.

People cling to the Bible-ignorance of their chosen church with diminished expectations. They do not expect to understand the whole Bible because their leaders do not.

We bend reality to fit our perceptions. Eventually all ten virgins, wise and foolish, are fast asleep at the end.

65-0718  Trying to do God a service, without being the will of God

And then in that great observatory, so that the world will be without, they're still wondering what happened. In Tucson, them big observatories took the picture of it up there; still wondering what happened. What is it? They still put in the paper, "Does anybody know anything about what, how it could have happen?" There is no fog up there, there's no air, there's no moisture; thirty miles high in the air. Oh, my!

"There shall be signs in the heaven above. And when these things take place, earthquakes in divers places, then shall appear the sign in the heaven, of the Son of man." "That day," in Luke, "the Son of man will reveal Himself again; being revealed, Hisself."

In the last year of his life, brother Branham says that the great Cloud was a sign.

Matthew 24:30   And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:

The sign of the Son of man in heaven.

This Cloud-sign was 42 kilometers high. It never came below that height.

On 28 February 1963 there were no angels that ascended or descended. Seven angels briefly used their wings to form the Cloud for 28 minutes after sunset near Flagstaff, 200 miles north of Tucson where brother Branham was.

He knew nothing of the Cloud.

The Cloud was not drawing attention to him as a man. It was drawing attention to the future revelation of the seven Seals.

John the Baptist was a forerunner of Jesus as he was on earth when Jesus came.

Brother Branham was not the forerunner as a person. His message of revealing Scripture is what will get the Bride ready to receive the coming of the Lord.

His voice, the voice of the seventh angel, will go forth to reveal the Bible mysteries.

59-1217 What was the Holy Ghost given for

"As John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first coming of Christ, you'll have a Message that'll forerun the second coming of Christ." 

63-0318 The first seal

Takes the Book and... of Seals and breaks them and shows the seventh angel,

for this alone, the mysteries of God, is the ministry of the seventh angel.

Not the man William Branham, but the truth that he revealed.

Most of the living Bride were probably not yet born when the man William Branham died over 50 years ago. But they all hear his voice and read his sermons today.

But there was a second smaller cloud. A smoke cloud that was 20 miles behind the main Cloud.

The smoke cloud up at 42 kilometers height from the exploded rocket fulfilled the prophecy of Joel about signs in the heavens, pillars of smoke. Not a cloud made from water vapour, but a high altitude man-made smoke cloud.

Joel 2:30    And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

The sign in the heaven for the Laodicean age exodus from the church was both a natural smoke cloud and a supernatural angelic Cloud. A combination of natural and supernatural.

The first Exodus of Moses and Joshua started with a sign. A bush (natural) on mount Sinai (also called mount Horeb, the mountain of God) that burned without being burnt up (supernatural).

A combination of natural and supernatural.

Moses then led the Jews out of Egypt and Joshua took them into the Promised Land.

Exodus 3:1   Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

3:2   And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

The second Exodus began with a sign. A supernatural virgin-born Baby in a natural man-made manger. A combination of natural and supernatural.

Jesus led the church out of Judaism. The Holy Spirit then led the church through the seven church ages.

Luke 2:12   And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

The third Exodus is for the message of brother Branham that revealed the mysteries of the Bible to lead us out of the churches. These revealed mystery-truths should take us back to the Bible beliefs of the apostolic fathers. To do this he had to reveal the seven Seals in order to explain the mysteries of Scripture. So his sign in the heaven was two impossibly high clouds. A supernatural Cloud, and a natural smoke cloud from the exploded rocket. Just like Moses had a supernatural fire in a burning bush as his sign.

But if we mess up and misinterpret his teachings, we will end up believing something that the early church never believed.

This picture is NOT a photograph but it shows how the rays of the setting sun could illuminate the two impossibly high clouds. It was their great height above the dark natural clouds that attracted people's attention.

The 7 angels who formed the supernatural Cloud came down to brother Branham eight days later to commission him to reveal the seven Seals. On that day the seven angels were invisible. No cloud formed.

But the revelation of the mysteries of Scripture is to give us a personal faith and experience with Jesus.

Malachi 4:4   Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

4:5   Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

4:6   And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Modern day Christians are the children who have to turn back to the Bible beliefs of the apostolic fathers, who wrote the New Testament.

Moses handed over to Joshua. Brother Branham, when he died, handed us over to the Holy Spirit as the only One who could individually make us understand the Scriptures, now that the mysteries had been revealed.

Revelation 3:14   And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write;

Notice -- It is not God's church any more. It is now the church of the Laodiceans. Each group makes up their own version of the Message. Some quotes, fewer Scriptures, and lots of man-made opinions. Each church has their own viewpoint that suits them.

Revelation 3:20    Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Jesus, the Word, is outside every church.

He is not interested in the variations of "group-think" that happen in the church.

He appeals to to individuals who want to be Scriptural.

The final stage of the third exodus is when individuals have the courage and insight to be strictly Scriptural.

Another Scripture of the end time refers to the evil of the denominational church system, and the need of an inner personal experience with the Lord. Not a group church experience.

Revelation 18:1   And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

:2     And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Babylon, the denominational church system where a church is subject to a human leader. Where the people are compelled to believe what is not written in Scripture.

An angel, a messenger, gives us a blunt warning of the evil of man-dominated churches who force people to believe human quotes and traditions instead of the Bible.

Revelation 18: 4    And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

This was not the angel telling us, "Come out of her, my people" (in this third and secret exodus). This is not a human voice from some man on earth. This voice comes from Heaven.

This was another voice. This was the inner conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Because in the church that has been invented by the Laodiceans, Jesus stands outside the church and appeals to an individual. This is only possible because Scripture has been replaced by human quotes and opinions. If that person wants to meet Jesus, he or she will have to move out of the unscriptural church beliefs.

In the last age God is not looking for a church-experience. He wants each individual to have a personal experience with Him, because He knows that the church is blind and lukewarm, with bits of Scripture that is mixed with bits of quotes and lots of human opinions.

You are influenced and manipulated by others in your desire to belong to a group. Babylon thrives on forced submission to an exalted human leader. In this process you lose your personal experience with Jesus.

The third exodus was not just brother Branham's ministry on earth.

The first exodus continued under Joshua after the death of Moses.

63-0318 The first seal

Takes the Book and... of Seals and breaks them and shows the seventh angel, for this alone, the mysteries of God, is the ministry of the seventh angel.

65-0725   The Anointed Ones at the End TIme

Notice, the very day when this messenger... Not when he starts on, but when he begins to declare his Message. See? The First Pull, healing; Second Pull, prophesying;

Third Pull, the opening of the Word, the mysteries revealed.

No more, there is no more higher order to reveal the Word, than prophets.

But the only way the prophet can be vindicated is by the Word.

And, remember, the Third Pull was the opening of them Seven Seals, to reveal the hidden Truth that's been sealed in the Word.

65-0725 What is the Attraction on the Mountain

So I've got my mind set on this Message, that's that Third Pull, and it's the one I must be loyal and reverent to.

So the third exodus is when the Holy Spirit guides us into the truths of the Bible.

That could only happen when brother Branham opened up the deeper mysteries as the Seals got revealed.

So the smoke cloud (natural) and the supernatural Cloud combined in the sky to vindicate that he was to reveal the Seals, and thus give the Bride the revelations that they would need so that they could understand the Bible for themselves.

You must believe the Bible out of a personal conviction. Not because others say those things.