Top <<<< Previous section
The reason why the Lamb opened up the Book today is that the Christians today might be equipped to go in the Rapture. We need a certain power of transformation and we did not know how to get that. No man opened the closed Book, no, only the Lamb. He was found worthy to open the Book. And if you're a Bible reader, it was closed in the 5th chapter and then the Lamb came and took the Book and He opened the Seals. And in the 10th chapter we noticed that the Book that was closed in the 5th chapter was now opened in the hand of an Angel. We believe that angel to be Michael the Archangel, Christ's personal angel. He had that Book in His hand opened. And to show you that it has to do with you and I, it came down to the earth. The book was shown closed in the 7th heaven near the throne of Almighty God. But then to show you that the book had to do with all mankind, every human being upon the face of the earth, and the Christian church, there was a mighty Angel who stood upon land and sea, showing you that that book had an earthly connection. We believe that book in the hand of the angel represents the Bible that was shut up by symbols, parables, dark sentences, and the truths scattered from Genesis to Revelation. Since the Coming of the Lord Jesus is now upon the face of the earth, He must remain upon the altar of sacrifice. We believe that when those Seals came opened, there must have been a human being, yes, who had a gift in his bosom to hear the voice of Almighty God; and he could not be anybody who just rose up by the wayside; he had to be a gifted prophet and there was one prophesied to come. You would find that in Malachi 4:5 - "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD." We believe that with all our hearts. The world rejected that prophet after he demonstrated the power of God with signs and wonders seven times around the world, raised the dead, healed the sick and all kinds of miracles that are documented in books, tapes and everything. The religious world has rejected that prophet because he called out their sins. He called out their money-making rackets and all the unscriptural things that were going on in the churches. That prophet's name was William Branham, a hated and despised man around the world because of the truth. Yes. Jesus said, "Why go ye about to kill me, a man that have told you the truth." Yes, and they went about to kill William Branham and still do, up to today, whetting their tongues on the man of God, but he was the servant of God, anointed by the Spirit of Elijah. He was also the 7th angel of Revelation 10:7, which says, "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." None could have opened the Book but the Lamb, but He must have had a human vessel upon the face of the earth, a prophet to receive that revelation. We believe that prophet of God, but we believe that Jesus Christ is our Saviour and Lord. We do not worship this man and we do not believe that he is our Saviour but we mention his name because he is the prophet of the Lord. Just the same as we mention Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all these other prophets, we mention the name 'William Branham' and we are not ashamed of that ministry. Yes, and we bear a great reproach today, because we left our organizations, and the truth of it is we are trying to get away from the mark of the beast, because the mark of the beast is coming through Rome again, and the World Council of Churches. That's the manner of people we are tonight. So the opening of the Seals was supposed to reveal the mysteries of the Bible, and revealing the mysteries of the Bible today, we are the ministers of the mysteries of Christ, and the people that hear those things are sons and daughters of God who know the mysteries of God. There are many mysteries that were opened from Genesis to Revelation which this world knows nothing about. When the sealed book was opened in 1963, in the month of March, it set in order the fulfilment of many scriptures, and one of the great scriptures that we are dealing with since Monday night is 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-12 because it covers these four seals. First Seal, a White Horse, second Seal, a Red Horse, third Seal is a Black Horse and Fourth Seal, a Pale Horse. From the White Horse to the Pale Horse it covers the history of two thousand years. We have dealt with the White Horse and the Red Horse, and tonight we are going to bring out what the symbol of the Black Horse means; and none of us had known that before, but the Lamb revealed it. Yes, the Bible said, "Behold a Black Horse", but nobody knew what 'Black Horse' meant. So the Lamb revealed what was 'Black Horse.' He also revealed what was 'the scale'. He also revealed what was 'a measure of barely for a penny'. Tonight I'm going to bring that out: "A measure of wheat for a penny." Do you hear and understand the money-talk in it? "A measure of barely for a penny and a measure of wheat for a penny, but see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." You wouldn't hurt the oil and the wine (stimulation). And that's what we are falling under, stimulation. Truth stimulates a child of God. Revelation stimulates a child of God. Yes, but the same revelation that stimulates a child of God, depresses a child of the Devil. They can't take it boy. A child of the Devil puffs up his mouth like a frog, because he is a child of the Devil; and Cain was a child of the Devil. Yes. While Abel was being blessed, he was puffed up, his countenance fell, murder entered his heart and he slew his brother. Yes. But both of them were at the same altar and both of them were in the presence of God, but one was a child of the Devil, child of the wicked one and one was a child of God. Yes. So the Word of God in a mixed audience, in the public out there, doesn't bless everybody. No. You would think and you would marvel to know how the Word did not bless that person. Something is wrong with that person. Their motives and objectives are not right. Your motives and objectives must be right. You must come around the Gospel for the right thing. You must handle the Bible with the right purpose. You must preach the Gospel with the right purpose. You must baptize in Christian baptism with the right purpose. You must come to church with the right purpose, and you must receive the message with the right purpose; and if you have the right purpose, you would be seeking after everything that is truth. When you hear truth it would rejoice your heart. "The entrance of thy Word giveth joy." He that loveth my words, Jesus said, nothing shall offend him. Yes, we believe. So 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; theologians, great bible-schools and the seminaries tried to unfold that, of who this antichrist is. And as I told you, it's a popular subject. Many Christians heard of the topics-Antichrist; Mark of the Beast and the Man of Sin coming and they are trembling in their boots as to what those are. I am here to tell you that none of the bible-schools, none of the theologians and none of the organizations know what these are; only the Lamb. I said, 'only the Lamb', and it was under the Seals. Yes. Antichrist was under the Seals, Mark of the Beast was under the Seals, this Man of Sin was under the Seals and Son of Perdition was under the Seals. It is the same person - Antichrist, but this Antichrist has different stages of working. He is first called the Antichrist. He started to move since in the days of John. And John said, "Even now there are many antichrists in the world." Then after that, we see him took another form, and then later on he took another form. And in our day, which is the Pale horse-rider right out here, he would take another form, which will be the greatest of all. So Seals numbers one, two and three, they are all history. Why is it that the Lord revealed the history of the antichrist? You can always know a man better when you know his history. When you know a man's history you can really know who you are dealing with. It acquaints you with his ways, his tricks, whatever good that is in him. That is why the Seals were opened today, is to bring out the history of this Spirit, of how it works, that wherever you see that spirit working you would be able to identify it. The Lord is revealing the first four Seals and the Man of Sin - 2 Thessalonians 2, He is revealing the Antichrist, the Man of Sin in order to acquaint the Elect with Satan's system of deception and warfare, and to know his tactics. The Bride must know the tactics of the enemy. The White Horse - we came to find out that it was Religious deception, when Satan came into the early Church as a friend. Judas was called a friend when he betrayed Jesus. Remember that? Alright, that was Judas; he was called a friend by our Lord, and he was working under religious deception. He did not come out as an enemy of the Lord on the Mount of Olives, but he kissed him. He hugged up Jesus and kissed him but Jesus knew that spirit. He said, "Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" So now, this Devil out here is the antichrist spirit that came after the day of Pentecost and as I said, it was the same Judas spirit. So now that Judas spirit worked in the church undercover; it came in as a friend. And coming in as a friend, it worked its way right up until he received a crown, and the crown that was given to him is still in the Vatican today; and beyond a shadow of a doubt, we know that rider. The antichrist went down into a man and the man was the Pope. The Bishop of Rome became the first Pope of Rome; the Antichrist. His crown has the Mark of the Beast on it. Now, when he gained the power through the crown, he changed system and now used his Political system. He changed from Religious deception to Political power. He joined State and Church together. Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] The first organization in the world was the Catholic Church and it was a One-World religion. That's why it was called 'Catholic' Church which means 'Universal.' So then, they outlawed every other religion, and it was the first organization in the world. Jesus Christ never built any organizations. The church of Jesus Christ was inaugurated on the Day of Pentecost, but organizations started in Rome in 325AD and they crowned a Pope then, and when they crowned that Pope, he gained power, and then that became the State religion and you had Church and State joined together. When he gained that power, he jumped off from the White Horse, jumped upon a Red Horse and took up a Sword in his hand, and now, he was going to establish his religion by a sword, but it was the same Judas spirit. Oh yes. So now, he took up a sword and he passed a law: "Be a Catholic or Die." Yes! So, there was a One-World Government and a One-World Church which is called the Catholic Church or Universal Church. Now brothers and sisters, from that time on he went on martyring the saints on this Red Horse from 606 to 1586AD. And around that time, he used his Political power to destroy the church. I want you to watch his strategy now. When Satan cannot deceive you, he will get nasty. He will use whatever Political and natural power he has, against you. Yes. He would use everything that he could use against you as a child of God. So this Devil, when he climbed up there; they were not calling themselves 'heathens' you know. They called themselves, 'The only true Christian Church,' and everything that did not belong to them was supposed to die. Yes. They killed them - 68 million martyrs. Now, I want to show you something here because I want to say some other things, and that is, around that time they took away all the books that the saints had. By that time the New Testament was written, and the Pope of Rome outlawed the Bible and outlawed all Christian literature, saying that only the Catholic Church and the priests had the right to read the Bible and they alone could understand it, and they took it away from the public. Anybody that was found with a Bible was going to die. Anybody that was found praying outside of the Latin language was going to die. Nobody was supposed to pray for one another. Nobody was supposed to pray in their house. Nobody was supposed to read their Bibles, and nobody was supposed to have a hymn-book. What was it? The Devil was trying to take away the Word of God from the people. I'm coming up to the Black Horse. Now if the Devil could take away the Word which is the Light, then what is left? Now, let me hear, [Congregation says, "Darkness!"] Darkness! Now, do you see how the darkness came in? Do you see why the Horse got Black? Because, if you take away the written Word from the people, you take away the Light. Alright, you might take away the light, but if a man has Light in him and he has Revelation, that is light in the bosom. Then, he will tell somebody and light up that next soul over here. So taking away the Bible was not sufficient, and the Devil knew that was not sufficient because they were born-again Christians, men with the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and a divine revelation, and if you left one of those men alive with the Original Seed from Pentecost, it will bloom again. So the effort of the Devil was to find every Christian with whatever light of the Gospel that they had and martyr them; make sure and kill them that the light cannot go any further. That is why there was such a bloodshed and from 606 to 1586. They slaughtered 68 million martyrs under the name of heretics and put it down in their own book called the Roman Martyrology which can be found on "Smucker's Glorious Reformation." 68 million martyrs! That is only within that period 606 to 1586 now, not counting those that were killed from the time of our Lord Jesus and were slaughtered throughout the centuries, and we are not counting all whom the Pope killed by spiritual Death, his false doctrines and false teachings. It ends up in the Billions! Yes. So this man, the Bible said, "He took peace from the earth and he caused the people to kill one another." Now, you go back in history; the only man that ever done that in history is the Pope of Rome. Nobody else! So he went across there and he started to hunt down the Christians through all the Catacombs of Rome, and every nook and corner, to find any Christian who was genuine to the Word of God, and he made sure and slaughtered them. That was in order to put out the light. Do you understand me? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] Now if you take away the Bible from the people, take away their tapes, take away their books, take away their hymn-books, and then you start killing the pastors, killing the ministers, killing the deacons, and you kill anybody with a knowledge of the Word of God, then, my brother, you will plunge the church into darkness. "Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." So you see it's an automatic thing from the First Seal and the Second Seal. The automatic thing is that when this Devil here, the Pope of Rome, this wicked monster…They denied that the priests had been interfering with the nuns. While I was preaching here last night, it came over the radio that the Vatican only now admits that the priests, worldwide, have corrupted and pregnated the nuns.. Now that isn't strange to us. We had been preaching that for a long time, and we even have "The Nun's Testimony', and that woman's testimony is true. She is a witness of what goes on in the dungeons of the Catholic Church. And I believe it's going on right up in St. Benedict up here. God will unfold it. Every Pope that sits on that seat is a stinking adulterer, a fornicator, a liar, a thief and a murderer. That's the Word of God. That's what the Seals are bringing out. The Pope, sometime last year, came forward and said that he is repenting for the deeds of the Catholic Church. That shows that he admitted that what I am saying here is the truth. And he admitted the history, but, no sea-water could wash them away, my brother. The Catholic Church has crossed its day and it is doomed to Hell! Yes! Individuals in there are God's children. Yes! We are not against Catholic people; we are preaching against the system that deceived the people. Now, that is only history I am preaching yet, but history recorded these things, and when the Seals were opened up, then it brought to light the history. Now, do you see the Dark Horse? Automatically, when you take away the Word from somebody, take away the Bible from them, take away their pastor from them, and take away their brethren from them, you are going to put them in darkness. Do you see why we are so careful about anything raising up in the House of God to try to pervert the light? We are trying to save you from darkness. Yes! We are very serious about that. Any man that would rise up and try to put any interpretation in the Word of God, my brothers, that's an evil spirit and we come down against it. So far, we have been successful. Anything that tries to pervert this Message of the Hour is of the Devil. I don't care who it is, I don't care how curly their hair is, and I don't care how long they had been in the Message. When they try to pervert the Message and say "sports is alright." It's of the Devil! When you say that the women could wear short dresses, you are of the Devil! When you say that the women could wear pants, you are of the Devil! Yes sir! When you say that the television is okay, you are of the Devil and you're anointed by Satan. That's the only way to keep straight on the Word of God. Yes! Stay with the Word of God. We are going down the road, straight down the line. We were born to walk this straight line. The serpent has a crooked path. People are talking about the 'Trail of the Serpent.' My brothers and sisters, I'll give you one tip off that the man of God (the revivalist) gave us. "The serpent has a crooked trail; he can't walk straight." He was a liar from the beginning and abode not in the truth. The pathway of the serpent is a crooked pathway. That's your trail. Yes sir! And if you want to trail the Elect of God, look for the straight and the narrow way and you will divide the line. So now, this is your Black Horse. Now, do you see how automatic that is? It's automatic. Anytime you start perverting the Word of God, you are bringing darkness into the Church, darkness into the Message, and you are anointed of the Devil. Yes. "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." (1 John 1:6). "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1John 2:4). Come on, I am quoting the scripture. He that saith he hath fellowship with him and walketh in darkness is a liar. Not only that, but if he keepeth not his commandments, the truth is not in him. So now, the Gospel was perverted and darkness set into the Christian Church. There were a few sincere believers that started to run. They took a-hold of them and martyred them. Now, I must stop here again to say that the Man of Sin is Judas. The Antichrist is Judas. The Spirit of Christ came back upon the disciples and the spirit of Judas fell upon these wicked ones; children of the wicked one. So we have two spirits coming down the road which will be headed up in the end-time here. During that time, Judas established his doctrine by a sword and built his religion on blood. He was going to put that sword in your neck and force his doctrine down your throat. And if you were not a true Christian, you were going to take it, but the true Christians died by the millions. Alright, looking back into history; what was the big debate at Nicene Council? Nicene Council's great debate was whether God is a Trinity or One God. The true believers believed that He was One God. They martyred them for that. Then they changed their baptism to a Trinitarian baptism. Then they put idols in the Church, put a priest in a confession box, who you must confess your sins to, and then they ordained a Pope to be the head of Christianity. That is the Gospel of Judas. Then after that, they built schools and educated the preachers instead of having them inspired. Then they gave them doctorates, Ph.Ds, LL.Ds and whatever you have again. Now, my brothers and sisters, the black horse represents the Dark Ages, and all those things made up the darkness of the dark ages. You say, "What is the darkness of the dark ages?" Interpretations, false doctrine, sin and unbelief. The darkness of the dark ages is false doctrine, Bible schools, trinity doctrine, and baptism in titles of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Those were the darkness, because when they killed the Christians and took away the Bible, they established Judas' Gospel. Anyone who follows that kind of a teaching has Judas' gospel. Now, look at this church carefully. It is one universal church. They plunged the world into darkness. In history, this period of time is known as the Dark Ages. The world, all the writers and all the historians call it the Dark Ages. Now, the Dark Ages is when the Catholic church ruled and forced the people to become Catholics. "Be a Catholic or die!" There was only one church in existence for those thousand years. Oh brothers and sisters, let us look into that. You're talking about one thousand years, not one day or five years. Can you imagine how Truth was taken away from mankind? They took away the Bible, killed the brethren who had the Truth, and for one thousand years the popes of Rome ruled over all the earth through their religion. There was not a Bible to read no where. There was not a hymnbook to sing from. There was not a preacher on the street preaching. All that the people had known for those thousand years was to confess to the priest and give the priest all their money. So now, I am saying this and listen to what I am saying brothers and sisters, and see if it makes sense to you. I am saying that they took away the true Gospel from the people and in time they killed out the true brethren and they established a corruptible seed. They established a false seed. (Church Ages 241, 372). Now, a false seed cannot give you the born again experience. You cannot get the Baptism of the Holy Ghost by a corruptible seed. (Church Ages 170, 257). You cannot appropriate the blood of Jesus Christ by a corruptible seed. No! At that same time when the Word was taken away, brothers and sisters, the covenant was lost. Do you see how that is tied up there? The covenant was lost. When you take away the plan to the blood, though the blood is still on the mercy seat, you lose the plan to the blood. What is the plan to the blood? The plan to the blood is the Word. To appropriate the blood you must come to the Word.
So now, I am saying that the Catholic church was built upon a corruptible seed of deception, of idolatry, of trinity and of paganism. They changed from pagan Rome and now became papal Rome. It was the first organisation. That organisation ruled for a thousand years and was known as the Catholic church. From that time on, that the Catholic church was built upon that corruptible seed, there was not one catholic born again, there was not one catholic with the seal of God, there was not one catholic with the true blood line of Jesus Christ, and there was not one catholic that came under the new covenant. Not one! Now I'm coming up to something, and you could already see what I'm coming up to. Any organisational person will agree to that because they know the history. They preach against the pope. They preach against the Catholic church and they know these facts that I'm talking about. But there is something involved here. Yes! If you are admitting that the Catholic church took away the Bible, took away the light, took away the Truth, plunged the world into dark ages; but there was a handful of little Christians, and were not for the mercy of God they would have snuffed the life out of them. They were left with a little Spirit of God and a little bit of the Word. Not that original thing at Pentecost. Just a little bit of Spirit and a little bit of the Word. Martyrdom was so great (even under the black horse now, he's still martyring. He never did drop his sword) and it went on like that; and when the Lord saw that they were going to snuff the life out of those few brethren, the Lamb cried out and said, "Hurt not the oil and the wine." Don't destroy it! And there was a little measure of Light that remained but not the Light of Pentecost, not the Light of the Gospel, not the Light of what Jesus left upon the earth, not the Light that Paul had and not the Light that Peter had. They had a little bit of Light to realise that the pope is antichrist and we must believe in Jesus for our salvation. That is about what they had.
Now, these people had a little anointing and a little bit of the Word but the thing to get them born again was taken away from them. I will say that what was left to them was a survival measure of the Word, and survival measure of the Spirit. They did not have the original baptism like they had on the day of Pentecost, they did not have the original birth like they had on the day of Pentecost. No. They were not born again because the Catholic church destroyed it. Up to today! Now, I'm still dealing with the Dark Ages here; a thousand years of Dark Ages. History gives you the account of what went on through those Dark Ages. Now, the first church that came out from the Catholic system was the Lutherans, then Methodist was born and then so-called Pentecost was born in 1906. I'm here to tell you, brothers and sisters, that when they came out of the Catholic church they brought out the doctrines of the Catholic church with them, yes, with a little reformation in it. Methodist done the same thing and Pentecost went a little higher but, I tell you, they never had the restoration of the Truth.
That restoration of the Truth was promised today to come by a Prophet called Malachi 4:5-6. "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers..." and that was Pentecost. The ministry of William Branham was to restore the whole Word of God that was destroyed by and buried under the Catholic church and was kept away from the public for a thousand years. Luther never restored the Word, Methodist never restored the Word, and so-called Pentecost never restored the Word. They had more Truth than the Catholic church but they never restored the Word. The Dark Ages crept in. The pope was boss and the Catholic church was boss throughout the whole world. They preached what they wanted, taught what they wanted, killed who they wanted and they kept alive who they wanted for a thousand years. Not a preacher could open his mouth. They killed Tyndale because he tried to bring back the Bible to the public. They killed John Huss and many, many people for trying to bring the Word back out to the public. They took the Word, the Bible, and had it hiding in the dungeons of the Vatican. Thank God that He used the Catholic church to preserve the Bible even as God used Pharaoh to protect Moses. The pope took away the Word and said that it don't belong to the public; he would secure it. And look at how God does His business. He found an elected son of God called Luther, who was a priest, and he went down in the dungeon and seen the Bible; (glory to God!) He seen the Bible and his conscience was troubled about the things going on in the Catholic church, and he pulled out the Bible from there, started reading it and he realised that "You don't have to confess to a priest, ...the just shall live by faith", and he stole the manuscript from there, and when he did, he translated it (glory to God!) into the German language and from the German language it came back to the English language and the Bible came to the public. Yes! The Lord took the Bible and passed it through the Dark Ages, hid it right in "Pharaoh's house" and then brought it back to the public. It's the same Word will destroy "Pharaoh!" God uses the devil like that. Yes! Look at the safe place He hid it. He hid that right in the dungeons of the Vatican; secured it, and the very thing is going to come back now (just like Moses) and destroy Rome. And Luther, the Priest, translated the thing into the German language from the Greek and then brought it to the public. It was in Hebrew and some was in Greek, and then they changed it from the Greek into the German language, and from the German language they brought it now into the English Language, and when it came into the English language over there, it inspired a king, God bless his heart, king James, and he authorised the translation of the Bible into the English language, yes, making sure that there was not one word added or one word taken away from it. He said, "Just like they had it in the Catholic church, translate it just like that!" So we believe in the king James version because it was protected by the Lord. You say, "The Lord use a king?" Yes, he uses heathens too. He used Cyrus one time, and He troubled his spirit and said, "Build me a temple in Jerusalem." And Cyrus had no rest nor peace. He said, "All the people that are from the captivity and all that are from Jerusalem, the Lord hath commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem. Take gold, take silver, take animals and take what you want and go up and build the house of the Lord! (Ezra 1:1-5). Oh yes, glory to God! Our God, my brother, is a miracle worker and He commanded king James to translate the Bible into English because He knew that there was a Prophet coming to interpret that Bible to us! Let us thank God for our Bible. Lift your hands and thank God for the Bible. [Congregation worships in the Spirit.] Thank you Father, praise your name Lord, praise the name of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord, praise ye the Lord, thank you Saviour, blessed be the name of the Lord. If you only knew how far this Bible came from and how many men shed their blood in order for you to have a copy today in your hand. You should try to read every word of it and you should hug up that Bible and kiss it. Men died like flies trying to bring back that to the public, and here we have it throwing away. I saw one Bible on a bench there for days. It was opened up right on a bench there. I picked it up and put it away. I said, "It doesn't matter whose Bible that is, that is God's Word." You're so careless with your Bible. That is terrible! That's a terrible way to treat the Word of God children, yes, it's dripping with blood in order to bring that manuscript to you. Let us cherish our Bibles, let us read our Bibles. Now, if the Lord had not hid that Bible for a thousand years in the dungeon do you know somebody might have perverted it? Do you see how the Lord works? Somebody might have perverted it, but the Lord hid it right under the pope; the same one that was trying to destroy the Bible and destroy the child that was coming. Pharaoh was trying to destroy the child that was coming. The Lord took the child and put it in Pharaoh's palace. It was the safest place. Glory to God! Isn't our God wonderful? Our God is wonderful. Yes, the very one he's trying to destroy; the deliverer. He took the deliverer, put him in a little basket, touched the heart of Pharaoh's sister, and then when she saw the child her heart yearned upon him and she took him as her own son and grew him up right in Pharaoh's palace to destroy him eventually. The very thing that was in the dungeon, my brother, is coming again and it is going to destroy Rome! It's going to destroy the Catholic church! It's coming in power. Thank God, praise the living God, praise the name of the Lord! Now, before I go further, the black horse here represents the dark ages and people in darkness. The Bible said, darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people but I shall arise and shine upon thee. [Isaiah 60:1-2.] It represents the Dark Ages and all the people that were in the Dark Ages. This man here, the rider, is the pope of Rome, still with the crown, and he has something in his hand, and what he has is a balance (a scale). We still have some of those scales in Trinidad. A plate on each side with a handle in the middle, and boy I tell you, a businessman could steal a lot by that kind of scale. He could make that scale weigh how he wants, and he has it in his hand. So, he's going down the road with a scale in his hand. He still has his sword in one hand and scale in the other hand. What does that represent? So now, while he's going forward, brothers and sisters, a voice spoke out and said, "A measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny." It was something on sale. A fellow who has a scale going down the road, he isn't walking with that scale for nothing. No! He's selling something. In this case here, barley and wheat are symbols. People read, "Barley and wheat" and they don't know what they mean. The angel of the Lord, the Lamb of God, whispered into the ear of William Branham His servant when the Seal was opened. He said, "Now, barley, my son, and wheat are natural staffs of life. It's natural life; when you eat them, you could still die. You could eat them all the days of your life and you wouldn't get younger; you get older." So now, they represent false salvation that the Catholic church was selling the World. False salvation! Do you see where the penny comes in? Pennies, money. So now, this fellow here invented a money-scheme. The greatest money-schemes that were ever invented was by the popes of Rome and the Catholic church, and this represents the money-schemes. Oh yes! This pair of balances in his hand; he was selling a false salvation; the Catholic church, universal church, world church, selling false salvation, represented in wheat and barley. You could eat wheat and barley from now until you get old you aren't going to get any younger; you're still going to the grave; and he's selling wheat and barley here; false salvation to the whole world in the Dark Ages. Now, salvation is not for sale. Jesus said, "Freely you have received, freely give." [Matthew 10:8.] Now, this fellow is selling a certain salvation. I'm going to name out some of the things that he's selling. He has invented the greatest money scheme in the world. A money spirit comes from the Catholic church and it traces back to Judas. My brother, if you don't see that this is Judas in this man, this ought to show you that this is Judas, because he loves money just like Judas who sold the Word for money. We are identifying the man of sin, we are identifying the antichrist and we are identifying Judas Iscariot. The spirit of Judas is in all the popes. Schemes invented to gather the treasures of the world. The Dark Ages was the time when these money schemes were invented. He was going to bring out your penny don't matter how deep you bury it in the earth. Brothers and sisters, the great thieves come in the night. They steal a lot in the night. So, in the dark ages, this money thief came in the night. Oh yes, and these are the kinds of schemes he's selling now, for salvation. The Catholic church's daily revenue in America alone, is ten million dollars ($10,000,000.00 US). Ten million dollars daily the Catholic church receives in America alone by her money-schemes and she had been collecting money from way down in the dark ages. The Catholic church is the richest church upon the earth and the pope has the most gold and the most money in the world. In 1969, by count, he had a hundred and sixty eight billion dollars in solid gold. Multiply that by so many times that gold went up since that time. How did he collect it? He had the scale in his hand and he was weighing out salvation for man. How much money you pay is so much salvation he sells you. Oh yes! Do you see the scale? [Congregation say, "Amen!] My brother, he's only going to bless as much as you put money. How much money you put on one side of the scale that is how much salvation he would put on the next side. If that is not the operation of the Catholic church, I don't know what. How much money you pay determines how close your coffin comes to the altar when you die, up to today! So now, the money-schemes they invented were: he started to sell novenas. O, think of how many novenas he sold alone. Can anybody count? My brother, he told them that when they're praying they have to use a chaplet to say the "hail Mary mother of God." What blasphemy! "Mother of God, pray for us now and at the hour of our death, amen." How many chaplets the devil sold to the whole world! Chaplets alone, you can't even check the money, and every catholic has to have one. So, he invented some of the greatest money schemes. Then, he made small crosses, big crosses and bigger ones and he sold them. Then he sold idols, big and small. Do you know how many statues of "St. Peter," "St. John" and "Mary" that the Catholic church sold? Then, he started selling prayers. He said, "If you don't pay me I am not going to prayer for you. No money no prayers." Then, to christen the babies there is a charge you have to pay, and when you come to marry he would charge you a fee for marriage. You talking about a beast system! Then people still sympathise with the Catholic church. After sitting and hearing this, you want to say, "Brother Bruce is too hard against the Catholic church. I don't think he should come out so hard on the pope." Behave yourself! The pope is the antichrist! He's a stinking devil! He's the man of sin! He's Judas Iscariot! Away with him! He's bound for hell and the lake of fire! [Congregation say, "Amen!]This devil killed our brothers and sisters - sixty eight million martyrs, and we will have mercy on him? We hate the system with a vengeance and there is a stone coming rolling down through Babylon. I saw a stone cut out from the mountain that smote the image on his feet and the kingdom of the messiah was set up! (Daniel 2:34-44). We are part of that kingdom! If you belong to that Catholic church, come out of it! It's the system of Satan. History alone proves that it is wrong. When you die he's still charging you. I said, when you are dead he is still charging. When you become old, the priest comes by your house and you have to sign away your house and sign away your land. The Catholics have the best pieces of land in the most prominent places in the world. Funerals. How much money you pay it is so close they bring your coffin up to the altar and he isn't finished with you as yet. Do you think when you are dead he's finished? He is going to rob every penny you left behind for your children, your wife, your husband and your relatives. My brother, if you leave a cattle behind, he is coming for that too. Yes. Remember the story of Riviera, the priest? They took his mother's cattle after his father died, and the priest was laughing going down the road with the cow. Oh yes! I tell you, this priest isn't finished with you as yet. He's coming to tell your wife and children that you went into a place called purgatory, and they carry you into a certain place to see how fire is burning you, and they draw pictures of the flames in purgatory, and how daddy is burning there. The son has to pay so much money to "take you out of purgatory." You talk about this wicked priest! Milks money from the children, from the mother, from the father, to "take you out of purgatory," and have you in bondage all the days of your life. You want to tell me that is of God? It is of Satan! My brother, look at the system. The pope invented something called indulgences. Now all that indulgences is, is actually forgiveness in advance for sin, and you have to pay ten thousand, twenty thousand, fifty thousand, or one hundred thousand according to how rich you are. So, in other words, a paper is signed there before you do the wickedness. Before you commit adultery, you have something signed by the pope, that you are forgiven before you do the crime. Yes. So you call it indulgences: "pardon from sin, before you commit the sin." So it comes like I call Brother Moore and say, "Brother Moore, you are a real good fellow, give me fifty dollars. I am selling cheap and I am going to permit you now to go and kill this man." Yes. And Brother Moore gives me fifty dollars, I put it into my pocket and I signed my name under that, "Pardoned." That is before the crime is committed. You want you tell me that is God's servant? [Congregation says, "No!"] That is Lucifer from hell! [Congregation says, "Amen!"] That is anti-Christ, Lucifer from hell incarnated in a man! That is what went on. Alright, we have found in our Bibles here tonight by the opening of the seals, the root of religious money-schemes. Right in your Bibles, I am showing you the root of religious money-schemes that started with Judas, went on to the man of sin and came through the Catholic Church. We will take a fresh breath of air, because I am coming with something here. I am showing you in the scriptures the root of all religious money-schemes that concerns Christianity. It started with Judas, where Judas sold the Word of God, Jesus Christ, for money and sent him to the cross, and this scheme was perfected by the popes of Rome. This is the scripture. Do you see the word mark there "penny?" My brother and my sister, there is where it started. I am here to tell you tonight that there is no scripture in the Bible where the Lord commissioned any Christian to beg for money publicly or privately. There is no example of that in scriptures, in the ministry of our Lord, or his Apostles. There was one place where Brother Paul asked the saints to lay up in the church, where as the Lord prospered them. Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] Now, my brothers and sisters, I am here to tell you tonight that this spirit was borrowed from the Catholic Church by other organizations because it is not a scriptural thing. Yes. This money begging and money-schemes were borrowed by the organizations from the Catholic Church and they reformed it in certain ways, but the root of it is in the Catholic Church. The root of the love of money was in Judas. Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] Now, excuse me if you are a Pentecostal; by these money-schemes, we have Pentecostal preachers, so called full gospel preachers who have become millionaires, and billionaires through the money schemes that they have borrowed from the pope. Yes. Hear the scheme that Oral Roberts came up with. He said that God told him to find eight million dollars, otherwise God is going to kill him. Isn't that a scamp? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] I want someone to show me from Genesis to Revelation, where God ever told a servant of God to find even a penny, or a million dollars, otherwise He would kill him? There's not one scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Therefore, it is the anti-Christ spirit that rode Oral Roberts, and made him a millionaire and schemed the people, and because they loved him, and didn't want to see him die, they found the eight million dollars and gave him. If he had to get one farthing to make up the eight million dollars, and I had it in my pocket, I would have let him die. Oh yes, because he is a thief and a robber. Yes. They are millionaires and billionaires because of these money-schemes. I am going to name out some of these money-schemes. I challenge the world, and I challenge everybody in this country to prove me wrong. You cannot prove me wrong. We are standing upon the Word of God. I am asking, where is the scripture for pastor's love offerings? Did Jesus ever pick up a pastor's love offering? [Congregation says, "No!"] Peter, James, John, Paul? [Congregation says, "No!"] Who ever picked up pastor's love offering in the Bible? Where did we ever hear of that? My brother, they sound like a bunch of sissies seeking attention. That is what is happening. Right on the newspapers we read where one preacher, right on the corner, picked up one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars and bought a brand new motorcar. Yes. He sounds more to me like a politician than a preacher, with a big Afro hairstyle. You are a sissy! You are a sick preacher, seeking attention. Yes. Where are the scriptures for that? I'm asking the theologians for it, I'm asking the Bible trained ministers, I am asking the PHD and the LLD, show me the scriptures for the pastor's love offering. You cannot! But I will show you where it originated around the supper table with a love of money that Judas had, and it was perfected in the popes of Rome. And when a pastor will preach that doctrine then he has the pope's spirit. He has a catholic spirit upon him. Oh yes! Show me one scripture for the mission fund? Jesus sent his apostles and disciples on many missions. Brother Paul made three missionary journeys and no missionary fund was collected. And Brother Paul accomplished more than all those bastards, in one missionary journey. Millions of people were saved and he never picked up one penny. The order of a preacher is in Mark, chapter 6 and Luke, chapter 10. Jesus said, when ye go forth, carry neither purse nor script. Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] And then, when you enter into a city ask who is worthy in there and then enter into that house but don't go from house to house eating; the Lord will take care of your needs. Oh yes. I say that the mission fund here is of the devil. "But preacher, how do you expect the people to go abroad and all these other things?" If they were preaching the true gospel, God would make a way, the same way Paul took ship; went by roads, had a lot of travels and never established a mission fund no where. Where do you get the scripture now, for pastor's family trip, to go on a world tour, and bleed the poor people in the church? And if he has a dozen kids, boy I tell you, the church is broke when he finishes. I heard a man begging for money. He said, "How many love pastor so and so? Let us give him an offering." They passed the offering plate, picked up a certain amount of money and when the money came in, he said, "That is not enough! Dig deep into your pockets. How many love pastor so and so?" And they passed the offering plate again. Boy, I tell you, they got me so angry in that meeting, I quarreled from there to home, and I am still quarrelling about it. Yes. Where do you get scripture for pastor's family trip worldwide? There is only one obligation that the Christian church has, that is their tithes, and their offering. My brother, because that scripture is in the Bible, they nail the poor people. Those who cannot pay tithes, they are expelled from the church. You are a money Satan! You love that money more than the sheep's soul. We don't have any tithes packet with anybody's name here. So, I don't know who is a thief. You and God will decide that. Yes, Malachi Chapter 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings." That is scriptural. But no where did the Bible say to give everybody an envelope with their names, and when they don't pay their tithes put them out of the church. Pastor, you are a money Satan! Superintendent, you are a money Satan! PHD, you are a money Satan! Yes! You endanger that man's soul because he did not pay his tithes. The first day you joined the church and the very day you got baptized, there is a man coming to you to take your name, give you an envelope and tell you your obligations. You are after money more than the souls of mankind. Offering is by freewill. Nobody is under obligation. Yes. Besides that, they have all kinds of funds on those envelopes. I had one of them. I am sure that when that person finishes paying those funds, they have no money for their families. If Jesus was here He would tell them who they are. He would have said, "Scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! ye devour widow houses and for a pretense make long prayers." (Matthew 23:14). Yes. Tithes and offering, various funds, I cannot even name them. Then, there is a certain time in the church that they ask everybody to bring their pay packets without opening them, as a sacrifice to the Lord. "You've got to do it in faith." My brother, we don't practice no such stealing here. We don't practice any such thing. It is of the devil! Any ministry, any church and any pastor that's doing that, is of the devil. You are a money Satan! You have the pope's spirit. You have a catholic spirit upon you. Yes. And they have invented like the pope, other means to rob the widows and rob the poor. And when they cannot pay the money, they would say, "Who would raise your hand by faith and pledge a thousand dollars to build the church of God, and who would pledge five thousands dollars? I know that you are not working; I know that you don't have an income, but then do it by faith." If that devil that was talking had faith, he would have faith that God would send the money somehow. So, he doesn't have any faith but he wants the people to exercise faith. So, an old lady stands up; she is walking with a stick, she is getting a little pension, and she would say, "Pastor, I will pledge a thousand dollars." "How are you going to pay it?" "Well, by faith. I'm getting my little pension and I will pay it somehow pastor. I don't want to go to hell and we have to build the church of Jesus." Devouring widows' houses. You devil! you are going to pay for that. And if this goes over the radio, I want you to hear my voice: you are devouring widows' houses and for a pretense you are making long prayers over the radio and over the television. You are a big thief even as the pope himself. Yes. They invented that for the poor people. And they would call the poor old lady and the poor man in the office and say, "How do you intend to pay?" "Pastor, I would try to pay a hundred dollars a month." You'd better find that hundred dollars a month. Have I ever done that to you children? [Congregation says, "No!"] No, because we have the truth here, that is why. Then, to hold the people in bondage, these scamps, these devil possessed, so-called full gospel preachers, preach a doctrine now, that if you are poor in the church, you have a spirit and you are possessed with a demon of poverty. I am here to loose the bands of wickedness and let the oppressed go free. "The reason you are not prospering is because you are not giving what little you have to the Lord. You remember the woman with the widow's mite? Find the mite and bring it, you would get rich." "And besides that, come up here all you poor people, let me cast out the demon of poverty." They lay hands on them and try to cast out the demon of poverty. My brothers and sisters, and these people would go home and sell what they have, probably sell their shoes, sell their dresses, sell the cattle and sell any item to come and bring it to the preacher, so that they might get rich. How many say that is a Judas? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] That's got to be a Judas, yes sir, a lover of money. I am here to challenge you theologians that Lazarus was a poor man and he begged at the gate of the rich man, and when he died the angels came down and carried him away in Abraham's bosom. Is that right? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] Where are you theologians, superintendents and the great expositors of the Bible? You blind guides! John the Baptist was a poor man. He ate locust and wild honey, and he wore camel skin and lived in the desert. Are you telling me that he had a demon of poverty? Are you telling me that Jesus had a demon of poverty? Jesus said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head."(Matthew 8:20). He borrowed a donkey to ride and he was buried in a borrowed tomb. You blind guides; repent and let the people go free. "Pharaoh, let my people go, set the captives free." Look at men with the Spirit of God coming up to gate beautiful. Are you telling me that they were demon possessed? You superintendent, you Judases, you money lovers! Are you telling me that Peter, James, and John had a spirit of poverty? When they met the man at gate beautiful, they said, "silver and gold have I none." And they were filled with the Holy Ghost; not a demon. James, do you want to tell me had a demon? John, had a demon? You have the demon superintendent! Priest, you have the demon; you have the demon of Judas inside of you. Peter never had a demon. John never had a demon. But, they said, "Silver and gold have I none but such as I have give I thee, in the name of Jesus Christ rise up a walk." (Acts 3:16). Yes sir! What they had in them was the Holy Ghost that they received on the day of Pentecost. They had just received it and they were manifesting the power of God by raising the man that was crippled from his mother's womb. All these money demands are of the devil. Jesus never made any money demands. Moses never made any money demands. John the Baptist never made any money demands. The Apostles never made any money demands. And hear these shameless beggars and money satans; they come from America, from all parts of the world and you have thousands of them here in Trinidad. In order to embarrass the poor, they stand up in the house of God and they would say, "We will form the thousand dollars line, we will form the five hundred dollars line, and over here, we have the multiple thousands line." So, the people line up. Psychology. So, there is a group of people there who don't have money now; they are poor. They are embarrassing those people. Yes. The whole congregation is looking down upon them. Oh yes. Psychology. They say, "We will form now, the hundred dollars line and there is no one dollar line here. There is no five dollar line here." They embarrass everybody to pull out their money from their pockets. They are going to pay for their deeds. And sometimes they pass a big bucket. Oh yes. And in one meeting down in Trinidad here, a bandit looked and saw how those preachers were collecting money. They had about ten ushers going around with buckets collecting the money, and a bandit found a bucket; he wasn't a Christian nor an usher; and he went through the congregation collecting the money also. Imagine something like that. These are the kind of thieves we have behind the pulpits. These are the kind of money schemes we have behind the pulpits. Yes, and I call them shameless beggars. You talk about some shameless beggars. They embarrass us preachers. I am ashamed to tell anybody that I am a preacher. From the time you are a preacher, you are considered to be a money Satan in the eyes of the public. I go to many places and refrain from saying that I am a preacher, but still somehow or the other people point me out. They say, "You can't hide, you are a preacher, you are a man of God." They brought shame upon Christianity, and I call them "shameless beggars." Shameless beggars for money over the radio, over the television and on the mission field. The first thing when they come upon the radio and television is to give somebody their bank account number. And don't tell me I'm lying preacher. Half of the sermon is to preach for money, and the next half is a sermonette. You are preaching Judas' gospel. You are establishing Judas Gospel. I am sending forth this challenge to anybody to come and to prove to me in the Bible, where in the scriptures did God ever commission his church to beg for money, privately or publicly. You are a shameless money beggar. Anybody that so shamelessly begs for money as a preacher, you have a devil upon you, and the only devil I know that sold the Word of God for money was Judas. That means you have Judas' spirit upon you. I hope that fits every radio preacher on the field, every pope, every cardinal, every priest, every superintendent, and I pick up the challenge any day. Yes there we are. Organizations, every one of them, are built upon the darkness of mother whore; believing in a trinity, baptizing in father, son and Holy Ghost titles, wearing of hat instead of having their hair long. Contrary to the Bible. (1 Corinthians 11:14-15). Allowing a woman to preach, contrary to 1 Timothy Chapter 2 - 12. Is that right [Congregation says, "Amen!"] The reformation never removed the darkness of false doctrine from the world. No sir! The Dark Ages is passed in history, but the darkness prevailed, and organizations were built upon the same kind darkness of three gods, false water baptism and all those other dogmas and creeds. And to prove that the darkness still remained up to our age, I quote the scriptures to you now. How many want to hear it? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] "And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." (Matthew 25:6). At the time when Branham came as the forerunner of Jesus Christ and made that cry by the opening of the seals, darkness was still prevailing, and Laodicea was in complete darkness and blackness. The Dark Ages is passed, but the blackness and darkness of the Dark Ages still prevailed until the coming of William Branham. Let the musicians come forward. Praise him; give him a praise offering brothers and sisters. [Congregation worships in the Spirit.] Praise him, Praise Him. Praise ye the Lord. Oh brothers and sisters, did you catch what I said there? I said that the darkness from the Dark Ages prevailed until the time of the coming of William Branham, when a voice cried out from the midst of that midnight darkness and said, "And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." That is the only time; and the real fulfilment of that was at the opening of the seals. Put one and one together. You are not born again by the moonlight. A seed does not come forth from the ground by moonlight. No, my brothers and sisters. It comes forth from the ground by the morning light. In closing, the opening of the seals restored the incorruptible seed.
You must understand the event of the opening of the seals in order for you to be born again. The opening of the seals actually brought back the incorruptible seed that the Catholic Church destroyed. Isn't that wonderful? [Congregation says, "Amen!"] Oh yes. Give us a song there brother. |