Daniel 2 - The Feet of Iron and Clay

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Four Gentile kingdoms then 2000 years for 7 church ages

Daniel saw a vision of a Gentile image representing four Gentile kingdoms over a period of about 600 years. The feet represented 2000 years of church history in what is known as the seven church ages.

Daniel reveals a deep prophecy based on a Gentile image.

Around 600 BC the brilliant Babylonian king and the Babylonian priesthood of the pagan Mysteries (the golden head of bright ideas) launched ideas like the zodiac of star-based fortune-telling, the birthday of the sun god in midwinter, Ishtar eggs and Ishtar rabbits in spring, a trinity of gods, and the political king enforcing religious worship as he combined political, religious, and money power in one man. The Babylonian high priest was called Pontiff.

Somehow these ideas would finally spread to the west and dominate church thinking.

These ideas would also get a boost from the Persian silvery skills of empire building and their tremendous but ruthless organizational methods. They developed a massive world empire by having a brutally cruel centralized control over everyone. Like the arms of the Gentile image, the Persians gathered the nations into the first worldwide empire. The Persian king was worshiped as a god in the East.

Then religious error benefited from the clever Greek philosophy that would eventually brazenly marry pagan ideas into the Christian faith. The Greeks would produce the all-powerful Alexander the Great who forced the Greeks in the West to worship him as a god, which the Persians in the East were happy to do.

The Babylonian mysteries would end up in pagan Rome as the famous Julius Caesar became both Pontiff and Roman dictator. After his death, he became the first Roman to be worshiped as a god. The iron legs represented the crushing power of the Roman military legions. Eliminating any opposition was a good way to remain a dictator for life. The pagan Roman emperors kept the title of Pontiff, which means High Priest of the Babylonian mysteries.

Meanwhile, salvation was of the Jews and had nothing to do with the Gentile political kingdoms.

At Calvary, salvation crossed-over from the Jews to the Gentile church. The feet thus represented the 7 church ages. The clay represented the true church. The bits of iron represented the Roman Catholic church when the Pope accepted the position of Babylonian Pontiff. In AD 382 when the Roman emperor called himself a Christian and refused to be the pagan Pontiff (the high-priest of the Babylonian mysteries) then the Pope took over the title of Pontiff.

Pagan beliefs like Trinity entered the Roman Catholic church causing her to become Mystery Babylon as Christianity and paganism intertwined. In the process, the Triune God lost His name because you cannot find one name for 3 Persons. The name of God was replaced by three titles Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The first prophecy in Genesis mentions the heel of the woman’s Seed which is Jesus Christ. Born of a virgin with no human father. Jesus was the only Man born outside of sex.

The heel of the image represents the cross where the price of sin was paid. Satan's head knowledge took a beating as it could not match Christ's sacrifice. His injured heel stopped Him walking for three days as His Body lay in the tomb.

GENESIS 3:15    And I will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Remember, Eve was punished for being pregnant.

GENESIS 3:16   Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;

Jesus, the only Man born outside of sex was killed by the mob who were born from sex. Birth is painful and undignified. Sexual crimes and sins, as well as controversies, still dominate our headlines. There is something that the churches are missing when it comes to original sin. We say that a woman falls pregnant.  Pregnancy was linked to the fall of Eve.

The great battle between Jesus and Satan happened at Calvary. The Jews crucified Jesus and salvation left the Jews and crossed-over to the Gentiles. (The word “cross” indicates this cross-over). The cross occurred at the heel of the Gentile image.  That is where the scarlet cord of salvation entered the Gentile image.

Thus the feet of the Gentile image represent the  2000 years of church history which mainly involved Gentiles.

In AD 378 the Huns and Goths gave the Romans their biggest defeat at the battle of Adrianople. This began the decline of the Western Roman Empire, which is shown in green.

The Western Roman Empire began to crumble under the pressure of barbarian invaders and refugees.

In this shambles, the Bishop of Rome took over the title of Pontiff in AD 382, which he still keeps. As the Roman empire of solid iron collapsed, so the Roman Catholic Pope or Pontiff rose to power over the barbarians in Europe.

Pagans want a paganized church

Paganism infiltrates the church making it acceptable to the barbarian pagans.

Christmas.  25 December.  Decorated Christmas tree.  Easter eggs and Easter rabbits. Church steeples. Lent. Ash Wednesday.

Rosary. A Bishop is the head of the church in a city. Archbishop. Cardinal. Pope.  Etc.

The church was getting used to believing ideas that are not written in the Bible.

But different people think up different unscriptural ideas and then separate from each other making different denominations.

Introducing unscriptural ideas seemed a good technique to encourage the pagans to enter the church but as these unscriptural ideas multiplied, people began to split up into different groups called denominations. Each group claimed that they were right. Each group ended up under a one-man leader as that is an efficient way to ensure the growth of the church group. The iron of Rome causes a religious man to demand to be head of the church. The ambitious head of a church soon becomes a dictator. The Pope of Rome ended up as head of the official church. Today the Pope is the only dictator in Europe.

The fourth kingdom, the legs of iron, was the pagan Roman empire that grew by breaking the surrounding nations to pieces. But finally, the barbarians destroyed the Roman empire. But then Rome revived her political power over Europe by rising up as the Roman Catholic Church and as a denominational money power.

What pagan Rome achieved as a natural empire was duplicated by the Roman Catholic Church as a spiritual empire.

DANIEL 2:40   And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

So Satan undermined the church. The spirit of denomination is so strong that different opinions can easily break the church into pieces. Then different groups attacked and bruised each other. Controversies over the unscriptural Trinity doctrine led people to kill each other. The lust for church power in the Dark Ages led to countless good people being killed and tortured because they wanted no part of the official church organization.

The Roman Catholic church arose as a political power and a money power which is represented by the little bits of iron in the feet. Iron is strong. The Roman Catholic church has the longest line of rulers, the Popes, in the western world. Thus they are strong survivors.

A one-person head of the church became an efficient way to survive, especially when they taught the three-Person Trinity Godhead. So much so, that when Protestants broke away they retained key Catholic ideas so that the Protestant churches could mainly survive on the big world stage by forming a smaller image of the Catholic system.

“Pastor” is mentioned once in the New Testament and condemned six times in Jeremiah’s prophecies. Somehow this ministry became the head of the church and the collector of the tithes money. (Did somebody mention Judas?)

Fuelled by ambition and the love of money the church world has broken up under its pastors into about 45000 different kinds of denominational and non-denominational churches. Each one claims to be right. The Gentile image kept splitting into two legs then ten toes. Splitting up or division is the nature of Gentile churches.

The love of money and the love of power over people is the strong iron of the denominational system that has people claiming to be “pastor” or bishop or cardinal or Pope.  Just as long as they are the head of that church.

Money and power produce human domination. This is the iron that has made denominational organizations so strong and effective as each leader builds an empire for himself or herself.

DANIEL 2:41   And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

But division occurs due to the fact that some individuals follow Jesus and the Bible rather than the pastor.

But Christ should be the Head of the church.

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

So there is another element at work during the church ages. Clay.

Clay is the only substance in the metals of the Gentile image that can bring forth life. So there will always be Christians who put the Bible and Jesus ahead of any organized church system. They just believe what the Bible says and are unimpressed with money, fame, and power. Their only desire is to be Scriptural.

Feet washing is important

For clay to bring forth life, it must be wet clay.

The Bible says “miry clay”. That is wet clay that has been washed in water and can be moulded by the great Potter.

DANIEL 2:43   And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

The Roman Catholic church (bits of iron) is the only church that has been around for 2000 years. It has continually opposed the Bible believers (clay) over all those centuries.

EPHESIANS 5:26   That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

These Christians are the Bride or true church because they just quote what the Bible says since they believe what the Bible says rather than unscriptural ideas like Christmas, church membership, denomination, etc.   They can only be washed clean by the Scriptures.

After the last supper, a strange thing happened.

Jesus puts an unusual emphasis on the feet when He washed the disciples’ feet.

Peter tried to object but Jesus warned him to have his feet washed. Then Peter wanted Jesus to wash his head, hands, and feet. Jesus said no. Only his feet must be washed.

Jesus was trying to teach them something that they did not understand.

JOHN 13:8   Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

:9     Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

:10     Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

Jesus was referring to Judas and the washing away of sin.

This had nothing to do with washing dust off his feet as that was done when they entered the house. At this stage, they had already eaten supper. Their feet had already been washed clean from dust at the door.

It had nothing to do with humility as Jesus said that Peter could not understand then. He would only understand later.

JOHN 13:5   After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

:6     Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?

:7     Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

What was the big lesson that Peter had to learn later?

God showed him a vision of eating unclean animals three times. Slowly Peter realized that this meant that the unclean Gentiles that the Jews avoided were to be saved by the Gospel as well.

ACTS 10:10   And he (Peter) became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,

:11     And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:

:12     Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.

:13     And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.

:14     But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.

:15     And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

:16   This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.

Peter’s big lesson.

The Gospel must also go to the Gentiles.

The saved and Spirit-filled Gentiles are the wet or miry clay in the feet of the Gentile image. They are wet clay because they have been washed in the water of the Word. The apostles must take the Word of God, the Gospel of salvation, to the Gentile nations.

Only the feet of the Gentile image, representing the church ages, can be washed.

The head representing the Babylonian kingdom was long dead in history. Babylon was conquered in 539 BC.

The hands representing the Medes and Persians’ world empire was long gone, having been conquered by Alexander the Great in 331 BC.

Khrushchev banging his shoe at the UN was FAKE NEWS

This dramatic story fooled almost everyone.

As the seventh angel, William Branham, begins to unfold the mystery of the seventh church age then the mass media begin to print false and modified news reports. Error seeks to corrupt the truth as Satan fights back to stop the truth from becoming known.

The story in the press was that in 1960 Khrushchev, the head of Russia, lost his temper in the United Nations and for the first and only time in modern history, took off his shoe and slammed it up and down on the rostrum where he was speaking.

Khrushchev banged his fist on the podium and the photograph was expertly touched up to look like he had a shoe in his hand.

People then imagined this fantasy picture to be the reality. This was stretched further into an "iron and clay" confrontation between American President Eisenhower (worker in iron) and the head of the Soviet Empire (USSR) who was Khrushchev.

The claim was made that Khrushchev means clay in Russia. None of the 6 Russian letters in the word "Khrushchev" are the same as the 5 Russian letters in the word "clay".

President Eisenhower was not at that UN meeting in 1960 in New York.

Even brother Branham got caught up by the press reports.
61-0806 THE  SEVENTIETH  WEEK  OF  DANIEL
Did you notice exactly here just before Mr. Eisenhower went out, the last Protestant of America in the--in the president, which I doubt there'll ever be another one, but--but when... Just to show that... Just if people would wake up. When he met, there were... The last meeting that they--he met with Russia, there were five eastern communistic countries represented, five western countries. Mr. Khrushchev was the head of the eastern countries; Mr. Eisenhower was the head of the western countries. And Khrushchev, as I understand and been told, that in Russia, the language, "Khrushchev" means "clay," and "Eisenhower" means "iron," in English. There's your iron and clay will not mix. And he pulled off his shoe and beat the stand with it and everything else. It won't mix. But it's in the days of these empires that the rock Stone, that was hewed out of the mountain without hands, smote the image in the feet.

I cannot blame him for this because respectable newspapers reported this event.

The one genuine photograph we have from UPI (United Press International) shows Khrushchev with one of his tight new shoes on his delegate's desk or table.

So Khrushchev did take off his shoe and did put it on his desk or table.

No photograph shows him waving the shoe or banging it on his delegate's table. Some say he did, some say he did not. With a lack of photographic evidence, the truth is lost in the mists of history and is replaced by conjecture, which is people believing what people want to believe. The darkest spot on planet earth is the closed mind that only believes what it wants to believe.

The red oval indicates his shoe on the delegate's table or desk.

But this removal of his shoe dramatically brought the idea of the foot to the attention of the world.

Taking off the shoe reveals the foot.

In the end time, we need a revelation of the seven church ages that form the feet of the Gentile image.

Brother Branham revealed the mystery of seven church ages in 1960.

REVELATION 1:20    The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

Angels are messengers. Each candle represented a church age.

Each church age had an anointed messenger to get them on track.

Paul, Ireneus, Martin, Columba, Martin Luther, John Wesley, William Branham.

These were the champions of the faith that God used to help the people find the truth in each age.

At Belshazzar's feast the first Gentile Babylonian empire ended.
DANIEL 5:5   In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

The Hand wrote on the wall next to the candlestick that the first Gentile kingdom of the Babylonian mysteries was doomed.

The candlestick represented the seven church ages.

Next to the candlestick means it was outside the candlestick.

In other words, when the church ages are over then the handwriting is on the wall of time.

Mystery Babylon, the Roman denominational church and her Protestant or non-Catholic daughters are doomed to be thrown into great Tribulation that ends our final Gentile church age of the Laodiceans (which means people's rights).

The prophet Daniel, during the first Gentile kingdom of Babylon, revealed the history of the Gentiles in symbolic form. Much truth was sealed from our eyes by our ignorance of the full meaning of these symbols.

DANIEL 12:4   But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

At the end-time of the last Gentile kingdoms when human knowledge increases dramatically, God would use a prophet, William Branham, to reveal the secret of the Seven Seals in 1963. These mysteries would enable us to unseal Daniel’s prophecies as well as the other mysteries in the Bible.

Khruschev’s shoe in 1960 was a “sign of the times” to warn us that the 2000 years of the church ages, represented by the feet of the Gentile image, is drawing to the end when the mysteries of Scripture will be known.

The revelation of the mysteries of the Word shows that we are at the end. We are in the seventh or last church age.

God is interested in the clay in the feet. The clay represents the Christians who are not impressed with the man-made traditions and commandments of the denominational organizations.

The early churches were each run by elders, not by one man.

They only believed what was written in the Bible.

DANIEL 2:42   And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

The iron of denominational churches is strong and flourishes. The soft clay of individuals who try to be Scriptural is not a good method for building up a big church. They will be small and scattered and unnoticed. The early church met in houses.

The first evidence found of a building used as a church dates from around AD 220. The early church met in houses or in the open air or in underground caves or catacombs.

So we have no evidence of a church building from the first church age which ended around AD 170 when Bishops were elevated to be in charge of the church congregation or laity. This elevation of a holy man above the laity was started as a deed that soon became a habit until it was accepted as a doctrine of the Nicolaitans.

REVELATION 2:6   But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

The Christians of the first church age of Ephesus (AD 33 - 170) hated the actual deed of having a man elevated above them as head of the church in the same way that God hated this elevation of a man as head of a church congregation.

But, by the third church age of Pergamos (AD 312 - 606) the church had been brainwashed into holding onto the doctrine of having a man called a Bishop being elevated to be the head of a church. God still hated this idea but the church-goers accepted and held onto this doctrine of Bishop-elevation to be the head of a church. A man as the head of a church was so firmly established, that to this day each church still insists on having a pastor as the head of the church. This doctrine is unscriptural.

REVELATION 2:15   So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

Pushed out of the mainstream churches for asking too many Bible questions, the clay-Christians have little option but to break away from the unscriptural but popular church doctrines. The true church of Bible believers will be very weak in comparison to the mainstream churches.

Ten toes and Ten horns and the Little horn

The Gentile image had ten toes.

This compares with a beast or power that John saw that had seven heads and ten horns.

The colour of the beast was scarlet which is the colour worn by Roman Catholic Cardinals who basically run the Catholic church under the headship of the Pope.

John only began to see when he was in the wilderness which is a lonely place for those who are not wanted in the main church groups.

REVELATION 17:3   So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

These ten horns have power as kings. They are not crowned but have a king’s power. They are dictators.

Ten powerful dictators will rise up at the end time. Their countries did not exist in John’s day.

REVELATION 17:12   And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

But these ten dictators will briefly unite to rule during the Tribulation. The beast or power that Satan has his eyes on is the position of the Pope.  Daniel prophesied of a little horn or little power.

DANIEL 8:9   And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great,

The Vatican City, inside the city of Rome, where the Pope lives is the smallest independent state on earth. The Vatican City is tiny and is near the original seven hills that Rome was built on, as shown on this map.

Vatican City has less than 800 citizens and occupies about one square kilometer. It is the smallest country on earth.

Yet the Roman Catholic church is the richest organization on earth.

That is the power centre that Satan will usurp in the end as it will give him incredible political, religious, and money power and influence.

The Devil has access to heaven to accuse us.

Once the Bride Christians are changed into new immortal bodies then they cannot sin and Satan can no longer accuse them. Then Christ, as the Archangel Michael, kicks Satan out of Heaven.

REVELATION 12:7   And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

:8     And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

:9     And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The Bride goes to the Wedding Feast to eat. The foolish virgins and the rest of the world go to the Beast where they will be eaten.

So when the Bride is caught up to Heaven then Satan is cast down and looks for a place on earth.

That is when the Roman Catholic church will pay for being the world’s richest church because they will be Satan’s target.

The 1.4 billion Roman Catholic church members will give the final Pope an immediate worldwide following.

REVELATION 12:12   Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

The Devil only has three and a half years of great Tribulation to take over and rule the world. The world is in for an awful time.

Satan will enter some man and somehow take over as Pope. Probably calling himself Pope Peter the Second.

That is the price that the Catholic church will have to pay for building up the most powerful religious organization on earth. It makes them an obvious target for the Devil when he needs a new home.

Rome’s founder was Romulus. Rome’s first emperor was Augustus.

Western Rome’s last emperor was Romulus Augustulus. So the last ruler had the same names as the first rulers.

The Catholic church claims that Peter was the first Pope. So watch out for Pope Peter the Second. If you see him, that will most probably mean that you are in great Tribulation or that great Tribulation is about to start.

DANIEL 11:21   And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

The final Pope will not be elected in the usual manner by the Council of Cardinals.

He will usurp the position in some cunning manner.

Concerning the ten toes of the Gentile image in Daniel.  These are the 10 horns of the beast in Revelation 17.

REVELATION 17:13   These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

These ten dictators in different parts of the world will give the final Pope their military power.

Somehow this religious-political superman will dominate these ten dictators until they all share his vision of a one-world church-and-government and thus they unite together as a world-dominating military super force.

It takes months for America to move an army to a trouble spot in a far-away country. It is far more effective if there are ten dictators in different parts of the world. Then wherever trouble breaks out there will always be a strong military force that is nearby which can be used to speedily suppress the trouble.

Clay and iron do not mix

DANIEL 2:43   And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

The mainstream church organizations with their mixture of Scriptural and unscriptural beliefs will dominate the church world. Iron is strong and dominates. But there will always be individuals who insist on being Scriptural (being clay) and they will never fit into the denominational organizations. Nor will they really be wanted by the big church organizations. The clay and iron will never really mix well.

Christians who want to be Scriptural just cannot be impressed with church traditions and opinions.

1961-0806  THE  SEVENTIETH  WEEK  OF  DANIEL

And notice the overspreading of abomination to make desolation, the overspreading of abomination... What is abominations? "Filthiness." See? To make desolate, what is that? "To do away with." The overspreading of this to do away with that. See? The overspreading of that Roman power to conquer all the sleeping virgins, Jews and all... We'll all be Roman or we won't be nothing. He'll break his covenant in the middle of the week.

Overspreading of the abomination... If it was the abomination in Jesus' time when the Rome come over there with their propaganda, it'll be Rome again--it'll be abomination again to the church... To make desolate, and shall continue unto the consummation... What will he do? He'll continue it on unto the consummation. That's the end.

DANIEL 2:44   And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom,

The rise of the ten dictators will be one of the last signs we see before the coming of the Lord.

It is interesting that countries like Russia, Turkey, and Iran seem to have democratic elections but yet in reality they end up ruled by a one-man dictator. Iran is ruled by the top Muslim cleric rather than the elected president. The Pope is the only official dictator in Europe.

The rise of dictators and elected leaders who rule like dictators is a sign of the times.

To control the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that ravaged the world in 2020 and 2021, democratic governments were forced to apply ruthless dictatorial lockdown rules that devasted the economy. This was the first step towards getting the world to accept dictatorial rule.

Meanwhile the church world is in trouble.

COVID-19 closed down churches and stopped big gatherings in churches. The churches were powerless to stop the spread of the virus. Countries had to rely on their overworked and very brave medical workers.

No end-time prophecy or parable concerning the end-time church is complimentary.

God is not impressed with us.

Jesus warns that when He returns He does not want to find us sleeping.
MARK 13:34    For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.

:35   Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:

:36   Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.

:37   And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

Yet, in the parable of the 10 virgins He warns that everyone will be fast asleep.

That means that none of us know what is actually going on.

A virgin is a clean woman, symbolizing saved Christians.
MATTHEW 25:1   Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

:2   And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

:3   They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

:4    But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

:5    While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

The wise and the foolish saved Christians are all fast asleep at the end.

Who keeps them asleep? The preachers that they listen to.

1963-0320 THE  THIRD  SEAL
Now, that's what's the reason today that the revivals that we're supposed to have... We have denominational revivals; we haven't had a real stirring. No, no, no, no. No, sir. Don't think we got revivals. We haven't. Oh, they've got millions and millions and millions of church members, but not a revival nowhere. No, no.
The Bride hasn't had a revival yet. See? There's been no revival there, no manifestation of God to stir the Bride yet. See? We're looking for it. It will take those seven unknown thunders back there to wake her up again. He will send it. He promised it. Now, now, watch. Now, she was dead.

The unknown seven Thunders back there in Revelation Chapter 10 that utter just after the resurrection that the mighty Angel performs.

1964-0119 SHALOM

But, remember, if it goes plumb into the shadows of death, "I am the resurrection and Life; I'll raise him up again." And when the great Director comes down and bears that stick down, then, "time shall be no more." When that Angel, of Revelation the 10th chapter, puts one foot on land and one on the sea, and a rainbow over His head, He swore, "time shall be no more." When that time comes, you'll rise up from among the dead. While the rest of them lay there, you'll go in.

The seven Thunders can only give rapturing faith to the Bride after the resurrection has happened. The dead saints from the seven church ages can only be taken up to Heaven after they have been resurrected.

One Thunder and the shout are still in the future

The single Thunder, the shout, and the voice of the resurrection are in the future.

I THESSALONIANS 4:16   For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

The living and the dead are caught up together. The catching up is the manifestation of rapturing faith. Claiming to have rapturing faith while you are still in this mortal body is fake news.

I CORINTHIANS 15:52   In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

I THESSALONIANS 4:17    Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

In the last month of his life brother Branham was still looking for the single Thunder of Revelation 6:1 and the shout (the Message) and the Voice (of the Archangel for the resurrection) and the Trump (the catching up).

1965-1127E 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 shout was not referring to the days from 1947 - 1965 when brother Branham preached the Message. He knew what he was talking about but we did not. Most of us were not even born or saved then.

The shout only happens when the Bride takes the quotes back to Scripture and proves the Message by linking up the Bible verses. When we can prove the Message doctrines by preaching them from the Bible, then that will be the shout. Because the Bible is God's Word not our Word.

1965-0429   THE  CHOOSING  OF  A  BRIDE
While, the true Bride attracts the attention of God, by keeping His Word.

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

The final church age is partly Scriptural (hot) and partly unscriptural (cold). This makes us lukewarm and thus we make God sick.

:16    So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

God vomits the last church out of His mouth where His Word is.

Church-goers claim that the Bible has faults and contradictions and is wrongly translated in parts. They say that the difficult verses that they cannot understand are merely irrelevant details. This is the strong binding force of Churchianity.

Scientists have discovered that iron has the strongest binding forces of all the atoms.

Iron is the symbol of Roman Catholicism. They have even bound non-Catholic churches into their unscriptural Trinity, Christmas, Good Friday, one man is the head of the church beliefs, and fault-finding the King James Version of the Bible as having mistakes so that it is not the Absolute.

Jesus is the Word. So whatever they say about the Bible they are making the same criticisms about Jesus.

When the churches reject parts of the Bible, they are actually rejecting Jesus.

As the churches reject parts of the Bible, so God rejects the churches.

The only hope today is for individuals.

Jesus stands rejected outside every church door but He appeals to individuals inside the church.

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.

Today, the clay in the feet of the Gentile image are the individuals who still have a desire to prove what they believe from Scripture. Those who want to believe what the early church believed. This is true Christianity.