Turn on the Light

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Good morning, friends. Can you hear me all right back there? Thank you. I'm certainly a privileged person this morning to come here to this platform after such noble testimonies that's been given, to try to place just a little more with what they have said, to bring blessings to us as we have enjoyed this morning. Now, I notice some of them are very... [A roar comes over the microphone.] That better?

2 Some of the men here, how they have spoken... Most everyone ... well, everyone up here had a real bright, brilliant testimony. How I appreciate that---that fine testimony for the Lord.
Now we're going to approach the Word. And I ... this week I have purposed in my heart not to keep people these two and three hours, sitting listening to me. I tell you why I do that, friends. I'm uneducated, and I only can speak by inspiration. Now, a man that's got an education when... He's inspired, too. But he can explain what he's talking about by his education, draw out words that will let the people know what he's talking about. Without an education I have to take symbols of nature, and express through the inspiration that I have. And that makes it pretty hard sometimes for the people to really to understand. We find that... I was very disturbed about it until I found in the Bible that God did the same manner, same way.

3 We notice, like John the Baptist, when... We don't have any record of his education. And then when he come out of the wilderness he began to speak to the congregation, the church of that day. And we notice how he expressed it. He said, "You generation of snakes!" See, that's what he was used to---nature and the wilderness---in other words, something that's slippery and slimy and deceiving.
Now, some other man might have been able to have brought down some word that would have said "impostors," or some word he could use to express that.
But John used the word "snake." I think everybody understood what he was talking about. So then, he said, "Don't begin to think to say within yourselves that we belong to this, and we belong to that, 'cause I tell you, God's able of these rocks here..." See. See, not some other great some... "God's able of these stones..." He expressed it in nature. And also, "The ax is laid to the root of the tree."
Some good educated brother, with that same inspiration, might have said, "He will annihilate." He said, "The ax is at the root of the tree." That annihilates it anyhow, see. So he knew that it was... You just have those expressions. Perhaps he never had any schooling.
Let us bow our heads just a moment. I have requests here for prayer, which, that is my ministry---praying for the sick. Now, I've got some requests in here, some very outstanding requests. And I know there's many in here. If there's some this morning that would like to be remembered, will you just raise up your hands to God, say, "I..." Now, just hold your requests while we pray.

4 Our heavenly Father, we are now approaching thy holiness through the name of thy holy child, the Lord Jesus, to ask this petition of each of the people that's wrote out their requests that I have it here in my hand---especially this brother's young, beautiful daughter that's been torn up in that accident. I pray for that child, Lord.
And I pray for all the other requests, and the ones that ... secretly to us now, only to the one that raised their hand. But Thou art the infinite God. You know every motive and all of our requests. We pray that You'll answer, because You promised, if we believe it.
And we ask now that You'll take these few words that we shall read, and inspire them to us, Lord, as we wait upon Thee. May the Holy Spirit draw nigh unto each one, and reveal to us the interpretation of the Word, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

5 [Brother Branham talks with someone on the platform.] Yes, sir, brother. Just help yourself. That's all right.
While I'm turning, now, I have... Used to be, I could remember my scriptures and things without having a note. But since I've passed twenty-five, that don't work so good. I have to remember by writing it out. Now, we're going... (Is that better? Can you hear that better? No, in the back they're shaking their heads. Maybe have to stand ... right... How would this be like this? Can you hear that? How about that? Is that better? Fine. That's good.)

6 Now, I wish to call your attention to Isaiah 42:1 to 7; and also to Matthew 4:15 to 16.
Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
He shall not cry, or lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break ... a smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment into the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Thus saith ... the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth bread unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand ... will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
To open ... blind eyes, to bring out ... prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

7 And now in St. Matthew 4, beginning with the 12th verse, we read this:
Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
...leaving Nazareth, he come and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the seacoast, of the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
That it might be fulfilled which is spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them that sat in the regions of the shadows of death light is sprung up.
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The Lord bless His Word. Now, my subject this morning is "Turn on the Light." And just as quick as I can, so you can be out for this next appointment now, which will be in about forty-five minutes...

8 ...know Mr. McAnally (I think he's present. I seen his truck outside.) Some time ago we were sitting... One of my first trips here to Arizona to go hunting, we were sitting out here near the Superstitious Mountain. I'd heard of it for a long time and heard many of the legends that had been told about the Superstition. I remember looking for it the first time before day, and a great ghostly shadow hung at the east of me, which was known as the Superstition. I'd heard about the Indians, how they wouldn't go near it, how they were afraid, how the Spanish had mistreated them in the early days when they was hunting gold. They claimed that evil spirits lived in them. All this stirred my curiosity.
But I only had a flashlight to see the Superstition first. And then I watched until, after a while, the majesty of the sun begin to move upon the darkness. And when it did, it separated the darkness from the light, and pressed the darkness back. Finally she raised to her highness, up over the top of the mountain. And it showed Superstition---just what it was. It lit up, and showed what it was. And all the spooks, and fears that I had of the Superstition, when the sun was shining in its power upon it, all fled away.

9 The sun is a king of all lights on this earth, in the natural lights. No matter how much artificial light we can have, and how many great electric rays we can produce, when that sun rises, all the rest of them dim out. That's the same thing it is with the Word of God. When the Word of God rises, all superstitions, denominational fanaticisms, and things spread away. And it shows it just exactly what it is. God, in the beginning said, "Let there be light." The light only comes---the true light, the king light---comes by the Word of God.
God separated the light from the darkness in the beginning. And the Word of God made manifest always separates the light from the darkness. People can rise up with this, that, or the other. Isms can rise: Communism, Fascism, and all other isms can rise. Superstitions, cults---whatever it might be---might rise. But when that king light of the Bible raises up, all superstitions and things...
But you see, we know it's there, but until it's a-vindicated, proves its light... Then we have no right to argue against that---because it shuts all other light out.
Jesus said, "Let every man's word be a lie, and mine be the truth." His Word is superior over all men's words, over all anything. His Word is light.

10 And we know that in the beginning it must have been foggy, and dismal, and dark, as the world was turning. And when God knowed that He had a need of light... Now, His seed was already in the earth, because He'd planted it there. Now He needed light to bring forth that seed, to make that seed live---because the seed was already there.
Just like it is in each age. God has foretold us what would take place in each age. The only thing He needs is the manifestation of the light of God upon that scripture and make it live for that age, just as... And it will do it, as long as the light can get to the Word. If the Word's germitized, it will make it live if it's a promise for that day.
You might plant wheat at one time, or grain at another time. Some comes slower than others, because it depends on the season. God's Word comes in season: the law, and grace, and so forth, as we've went on down through the ages. And each time it's lit up by the manifestation of the light spreading forth the life that's in the seed.

11 By the word of God, the sun shines today. Because the very sun that we're enjoying is God's word made manifest. This very sunlight that we see outside is nothing but God's word when He said, "Let there be light."
And what if He'd said, "Let there be light," and there was no light? Then it wasn't God spoke. When God says, "Let there be...," there will be. And so we find out that the sun that we now are enjoying is the manifestation of God's word spoken in Genesis.
And we realize that God's light of the day is His Son. The one was s-u-n; this one's S-o-n. S-o-n is the Bible. He was... "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Hebrews 13:8: "He's the same yesterday, today, and forever." It's the Word of God always.
It was Christ in Noah. It was Christ in Moses. It was Christ in David that looked up as a rejected king upon the city, where eight hundred years later Christ sat there weeping over a city---being a rejected king just like David was. It's always the Spirit of Christ. And the full manifestation of God's Word was made known through Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God.

12 No life can come outside of light. Life produces... Light produces life. There can be no life outside of light, natural or spiritual. There must be... And only light can come by the Word of God.
God's Word is the life when it's manifested. It's just a seed laying here, as God planted all the seeds. Our bodies was on the earth before the world ... well, before there was any light here, any life here or anything. The calcium, potash, petroleum, cosmic light, whatever, it was here---was here when God created the earth. It only taken His spoken word to bring it into existence, just like it did botany life, or tree life, or whatever life there is to be.

13 Nothing can live, natural or spiritual, without His light. And His Word is light and life.
But when He sends His light, and makes it known to the people, and then it is rejected---then, what about that? That's what we want to talk about this morning, is rejecting this light---by them it's sent to, rejected just like it was then.
"Behold my servant whom I have delighted in. He's a light to the Gentiles, He's a light to the world." He was the light of the world, but He was rejected. That's the sad part. And it meets that condition. Every time that God manifests His light, the world itself rejects that light. Why? It's written right in the Bible. Each age ... God has 'lotted so much of His Word for each age, and He always sends somebody to manifest that Word.

14 Jesus had been prophesied for four thousand years that He would come Messiah. And when He come, He manifested every promise of Messiah. But yet, the people of the world, the churches and so forth, knowed nothing about Him, because they had done ... got in some other thing that kept them away from knowing this.
Now, what if a man just... We'll take the natural part. What if a man that's born here to walk in the light of that sun (what God's created for him), and the first thing you know he shuts his eyes, runs into the basement, closes the door, pulls down the shades, and just refuses to recognize the sun's a-shining. He denies his privilege. He denies its warming rays, its life-giving resource. He denies the light that is spread so he can see where he is going, where he come from. He denies that. What would you say to a man that pulled down the shades, or run into the basement, and closed all the light off everywhere; and just simply refused to recognize the sun was shining?
There's something mentally wrong with that person. Anyone knows that. A natural mind will tell you there's something wrong with that person, that he is ... he's ... something has happened to him. He's lost his reason.
Well, so is it in the hours that we live, when a man will cover himself up with some kind of an excuse---to actually recognize the gospel light, as it's shining forth as it is today. When a man deliberately turns away from it, goes into something and pulls down the curtains, say, "I don't believe it," there's something wrong with that person. There's just no way of getting around it. There's something wrong. Something has happened to him. And we find out that there's so much of that today.

15 Now, Jesus was... All the inspired prophets' testimonies, and all their prophecy, was brought to light in His age, that had been prophesied for His age. He lit up every candle of word that was in the Bible that was prophesied of Him. "A virgin shall conceive." She did. All right. "His name shall be called Counsellor, Prince of Peace, mighty God, everlasting Father." He was. And, "The eyes of the blind shall see." They did. Everything that was prophesied of Him happened when He come on earth. And why the people could not see that... That was...
It seems strange to us now, because we're looking back through a rear view mirror. But did you ever know, if you keep looking back that way, you'll wreck. Let's look what's ahead for us.

16 That's what they were doing. The reason that they did that, because they were living in the glare of another light. They were living in the glare of a light of another day. And that's what I believe is the matter with the world today, friends, is because we're trying to live in a glare of a light that shined in another day.
A glare is a false light, just like a mirage on the road. We go down the road and see a mirage. It's a false conception of the sun. And when you get there, it hasn't produced a thing but something false, because... You cannot walk in the glare of the sun, because it's a mirage always showing you something there's nothing to.
And when people try to tell you that Jesus Christ isn't the same yesterday, today, and forever, they're leading you into a mirage. That's all. And when you get into church, and join church (some cold creed or something like that), there's nothing there no more than what you had in the world.

17 Let me tell you, don't refuse the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which brings the warming rays of the Holy Ghost upon you---makes you a new creature in Christ Jesus. Don't try to walk in some glare of another age. Now that glare might have been all right in the other age---it might been all right for them.
It proved so in the day of our Lord Jesus. He was the scriptural light of that day. He was the light. He wasn't the light until He come on the earth to vindicate the promised Word. You know, He said there that "John was a bright and shining light, and you loved to walk in his light for a season." Certainly, because John had been prophesied by Isaiah 712 years before his birth, that a voice of one would be crying in the wilderness.
And then also, Malachi, the last of the prophets, four hundred years before his coming, in the 3rd chapter of Malachi he said, "Behold, I send my messenger before my face to prepare the way." Here was John on earth, making that written word live. He was the voice of one crying in the wilderness. And he also was preparing the way before the Messiah.
And Jesus said, "You love to walk in his light," because he was that light, bright and shining light.
And John, he said, "Now, I must decrease. My light must go out. Because why? I have served my time that's prophesied of me. Hear ye Him. He's the one. Follow Him."
Living in that day, it proved that...

18 Now, the Jews thought that they were worshipping in the true light. They thought they were worshipping this same God that they were turning down. The very one that they thought that they were worshipping, they were crucifying. They were making fun of the very God, and making Him a laughingstock of the people---the very God that they thought they were worshipping.
May I say this with reverence and respect, but to bring light. Because, as a brother said a while ago, we're living later than you think we are. One of these days something's going to happen. It's going to be too late. But people take on the mark of the beast not even knowing what they're doing. "Blind lead the blind, they all fall in the ditch," Jesus said. And we're living later than we think.
Many honest people follow that, not even knowing what they're doing. But the hour is at hand, now, when the light is shining, the gospel light in its power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, manifesting itself that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He 'lotted that for this day. The things that He promised to this day must happen in this day. If the church won't accept it, God's able of these stones to rise children unto Abraham. He'll get His message over because He's always done it. He always will do it.

19 People thinking that they're walking in the light (the traditions of the fathers), and the first thing you know they're walking in a glare of a light---not the same light---rejected the very light that they claimed to be worshipping. His works thoroughly vindicated who He was. Jesus said Himself, "Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and they are they that testify of Me. Who can condemn me of sin?" He said, "Who can prove that I have said anything, or any claim that I have made, that the heavenly Father hasn't vindicated that through Me?" Has proved to you that He was the light of the hour, because they all prophesied that this Messiah should be this way. And here it bloomed to life, but their traditions had separated them from the real light of the Word.

20 Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and whatever it might be---they'd got the world so gaumed up, like they did in all ages, that they could not see the real light; it put their eyes out. They was used to walking in the glare. Next day it'll be this, and tomorrow it'll be this; we'll join this, it'll be that, we'll join that. We can find it's a false mirage. Jesus Christ is just as real today to a human heart as He ever was. His power and His living presence is just as real today as it ever was.
"Lo, a little while and the world won't see me no more. Cosmos, the order of the world, won't see Me no more. Yet ye shall see Me, for I'll be with you, even in you, to the end of the world. The works that I do shall you do also; even greater than this shall you do 'cause I go to my Father." That great promise is today. The world is as blind as they can be. But there is a "ye that shall see Me."
And that's what we're trying to get today. What the Full Gospel need is: to express Jesus Christ in the power of His resurrection, and all the fullness of His promises; that the Holy Ghost manifests these things and make them right; that God has promised, and He will do it. Yes, sir!

21 He had been thoroughly a-vindicated by the Word and by the works that He was doing. But none of them wanted to believe it---proved His light was the Word. The Word said it. "Search the Scriptures."
But their traditions that they were living in, a glare of another age... They said, "We believe Moses. Moses ... who we believe. We don't know which you come from. Where'd you get your education? What can you prove that you're this?"
His works testified who He was, if they'd only read the Bible. They was reading it, but they couldn't see it. "My works identify Me."

22 A man's knowed by his credentials, the credentials of the Word of God---if he's sent by the Word of God, and with the Word of God.
Same in every age. It's always been. We can't live by yesterday's light. Yesterday's light is history. We know nothing about it. You can't get warm today by the sun that shines yesterday. That's what's the matter with the churches today. That's what's the matter with the people. They're trying to live by what happened yesterday. You can't warm by a painted fire. Certainly not. It has no heat in it. Yesterday's sun has no heat in it.

23 The sunlight is sent to the earth, in the natural, to ripen the grain for the advancing harvest. Each day brings forth a new sun. The sun that's shining today bringing the wheat up in Canada, that same sun... Why, if it didn't have no more sun than that this coming July or August, it could never ripen the grain. It's got to be stronger, more powerful. Each day it grows and matures to bring the grain on. Now, if the grain itself, if it begins to mature, the grain comes on. If it stays right with the grain, it only builds the grain.
Each day it... The husk around it, the part---calcium and whatever goes in it---builds right into the grain as the sun gets stronger.

24 But you take the sun that shines in August and put it on the wheat today, it would kill it. Certainly. You can't do that. It must come in its season.
So must God's wheat and grain ripen just in the season, the season it's in. But how could a sun... A wheat would die, the fruits would die by the sun that lives today---shines today, rather. It's oncoming harvest. It's ripening. The grain should mature with the light.
But the thing is, today the church-grain don't want to mature. It wants to stay like it was back in Moody's time, Sankey, Finney, Knox, Calvin. They were all right. They were the light of the hour. But this is another hour, this is another day. This is the advancement of the gospel, coming to its maturity. So we can't live in what Luther said, Wesley said, or some of the rest of them. We're living in the light that was predicted for this day. We're in the seventh church age; not the third or fourth church age. The grain should be able to receive it. If it doesn't, it falls off and it means nothing to it. The grain is matured with the light, if it goes ahead with the light.

25 So should the church bring forth the bread of each age, that Jesus commanded that, "Man shall live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." The bread that we need is in the Bible. It is the complete revelation of God's plan. It's the complete revelation of Jesus Christ. We add nothing to it, or take anything from it. Whosoever does, his name will be taken out of the book of life.
We don't need any creeds to add to this. It's written just the way it's supposed to be. We don't add nothing to it; take nothing from it. Preach it just the way it is, and God is ... will manifest it. Every promise that He promised, He'll manifest it just the same. We're not supposed to take from it, or add to it. Just leave it the way it is.

26 But you see, today we find the people like it was somewhat in that day there: trying to live back in the glare. The church should ripen as the wheat ripens, that man shall live by ... not by bread alone, but by every word of God, the bread of life---not just part of the Word; every Word of God, every age.
Just don't stay and eat beans and potatoes all the time. There's other things goes with it, as we go on into the full course of God's great dinner that's set before His people, the power of the Holy Ghost, the rejoicing of it, of the power in the Spirit that has been given.
"The works that I do shall you do also. Because I live, you live also," the promises that Jesus made to His church. And yet today, we find people trying to go way back into some other age that's gone by.

27 Luther's age---it was a great age. He saw the faulty of the Catholic church, saw the communion. That young priest, he saw that that was wrong. It wasn't the literal body of Christ; it was a piece of bread that they had blessed. And he saw that the wine wasn't the literal blood; but it represented the blood. So he protested the thing, because the hour of that time was there. And no matter how many priests they had, and whatever more they had, God got ahold of a man that could make the light shine. Amen! Accepted justification by faith, and he made the light of the Lutheran age shine. After that come along, that lived its time out.

28 There come another time, that the church should get away from its sins and be sanctified. Along come John Wesley---a little Anglican man from over in England there, that belonged to the Anglican church. But he saw the light on the gospel. It was the hour for that Philadelphian age to come forth. And when he did, he preached the second works of grace, of sanctification by the blood of Jesus Christ. There was nothing could stand in its light.
He was considered a fanatic, just like Luther was. But he protested all the rest of them was, and shined forth the light, because it was the light of the hour. God found a man---John Wesley---who could turn on the light. He found also a Luther that turned on the light for that age.
Then along come the Pentecostal brethren. They come back in their age of the restoration of the gifts: restored back the gifts of speaking in tongues, the gifts of healing, and things to the church. Now they did just exactly what the Scriptures said they would do. And when they did, they manifested it. That's exactly right.

29 But did you realize, we've moved on from that? We're in the bride-time, the selecting-time, the time that the bride ... they said we would have. "All the caterpillar left," said Joel 2:28, "all the caterpillar left, the palmerworm eat; and all the palmerworm left, the locust eaten."
Each one of those organizations (if you've read the seven seals of the Bible), each one of those reformers went forth and preached the Word, but left something off. Then what did they do? After the reformer was over, and the light begin to dim out, instead of walking along into further light they organized it. And when they organized it, "We believe this light. This is the light. This is it." What did they do?
Wesley come right on, and moved away from them.

30 What did Wesley do? They organized after him, and his brother John and Charles. And along come Asbury and those. And after their days, they organized what was called the Methodist church. What did they do? They rejected further light. They just said, "This is the light. This is it."
Then along come the Pentecostals, and showed them up, that God still sends down the baptism of the Holy Ghost. He still brings down His power of healing, which they'd denied. What did they do? Walked right away from them because it was another light.

31 What is it now? We've passed around sixty years. The Pentecostals has organized, "We are this. We are that." And God's walked right away from it.
Now He's bringing forth a bride, an elect out of that group, which there'll never be another church age. The Philadelphian church age was Wesley. And the Laodicean church age is the Pentecostal organization, which all goes right straight into the mark of the beast. That's the Bible, as this brother was saying a few moments ago. That is true. Right. They're... All them organizations, because they refuse to walk in front of their light... They organized themselves and said, "We believe this." When God does something, check it with the Scripture.

32 The Pharisees said, "We have it."
The Sadducees said, "We have it."
But God had it! God's turned on the key, and showed the light. It was rejected, like it's always been. The Catholic church rejected Luther. Wesley rejected Luther. And so, also the Pentecostal rejected Wesley. And the Holy Spirit today is rejecting the Pentecostals. You're getting just as formal and cold as the rest of them. Everybody can see that. I love you. You're the closest thing there is to the Bible that I know of, and that's why I'm with you. But listen, open your eyes and see the day that we're living in. It's time for the key to turn again, and the light to come on, to take out a tree.
The Bible said, in Malachi 4, He would send forth and restore again the original faith that was with the people. He promised it. He's always done it. He sent His word and the prophets came, because the word came to the prophets. And they had the Word and made it live.

33 The organizations and systems of the time turned it down---every age. So will they do it today. God's just as able today to rise a man now, as He was then. He never did raise a organization. Ask any historian, look through the history. When a organization organized, it died there, and never raised again.
God speaks to individuals. Right. And God promised to do it again in the last days, and that He'll do. What God has promised, that He will do---to turn on the light that can a-vindicate the promised scriptures of today.
Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man." You show... You see what they're doing. Look at Jehovah, what He's done. Our Father has set everything in position. There's Lot down there in the world, down there in Sodom with all the sin---lukewarm. There's a messenger down there preaching to him, too.

34 There's Abraham's group---the elected---pulled out, the one with the promise, waiting truly for the son. Lot was looking for a son also. But not in the form that Abraham was looking for him.
What happened? Just before it happened, God come down and manifested Himself in flesh, and declared that He was the Word. For the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword and a discerner of the thoughts that's in the heart. Jesus said, "So shall it be again, at the coming of the Son of man."
These promises are divine. They were spoke by the lips of Jesus Christ. Both heavens and earth will fail, but they never will fail. God is still able of the stones to rise children unto Abraham. Oh, yes.

35 We are, in our journey, are something like Israel was. Israel in their journey had to get new manna every day, for new manna fell. We are supposed not to live in the light of Luther, live in the light of Wesley, or live in the light of Pentecost. We're in another age---new manna. What happened if they tried to keep that manna over? It contaminated. It would kill them.
That's the reason we got so many spiritual-dead, so-called Christians. They're eating a glare of another day. They're eating manna that's already contaminated.
Just like the husk upon the wheat: if it doesn't go into the wheat, it goes off of the wheat. And when light is rejected, there isn't but one thing to do: turn it into darkness. Any portion of the night would refuse to see the light, goes back into darkness. So does it in the gospel, and every age it's been proven to be so. We're living in that time.

36 Yesterday's manna is contaminated.
I hear people say, "Forty years ago, I did so-and-so." That's right. But what about today? What about the church on fire we talked about yesterday? What about the church today? What about you as an individual today? For yesterday's won't do for today.
It was all right yesterday. Luther's message was the light of the hour, like John's was. But there rose a greater light. So was Luther a great light, and we enjoyed him for a season. But there come another light and shut his off. What it ought to have done was blend with it. And it'd went on to the perfect loaf of bread, went on to the perfect manna of God. But what did they do? They organized. Man's got into it. Instead of God leading it, man and his systems got into it. Blinded it all.

37 Oh, this bride tree today, it's been pruned. Any branch that doesn't bring forth fruit is pruned. Jesus said so. St. John 15. What's happened now? We see that it's been cut off, pruned off. Remember, the very heart of the tree is right in the center of the tree. The fruit will always ripen... The last place the tree will ever bear fruit is right on the top of it, because it's the freshest that comes from the center of the life that's in the seed.

38 It's a bride tree.
Jesus was a (bride) He was a tree. They cut Him down. He was the tree of life that was in the garden of Eden. They cut Him down and hung Him on a Roman tree to make fun of Him. What did He do? God raised Him up the third day from the dead. And today there's a bride tree. It started back there at the beginning, way back at the day of Pentecost.
Listen, you people who belong to church. The church never started at Nicaea-Rome. It started in Jerusalem. On the day of Pentecost started the church. And then what did they do? They just kept organizing, and God keeps cutting off the branches. Then they organized the Lutheran---cut off the branches; Wesley---cut off the branches; Pentecost---cut off the branches, until it's come... But God's going to have a bride tree. "All that the cankerworm eat, and the caterpillar eat, I will restore, saith the Lord."
Malachi 4 tells us we'd be brought back to the original faith like it was on the day of Pentecost, the faith of the fathers. We believe that it will come. I believe it's time for it now. The limbs are withered, and dried up. And they'll be taken off from the tree, so that the fruit can bear itself right in the top of the tree.
Oh, my!

39 All these lights were all right. The church today is that light, plus what it has received today. It's to finish the harvest, as we find out that the tree itself, or the wheat must mature with the light, raising itself up from a blade to a grain. And from a grain on, it matures with the light. Light of other ages only bear record of this age. The light of Luther bore record of the light of Wesley. Wesley bore light of Pentecost. It's the same life, only matured on by the light. If the people could only see it.

40 Some time ago I was reading a little article where the queen of England (not this queen, the other queen), she went to see a paper company that'd been making such fine paper. And when she was interviewed by the president of the company... He'd taken her through. She wanted to see how that fine paper was made. He'd taken her and showed her all the great presses, and things. And in those days they made paper out of rags. We well remember that. So, he went into a room and opened the door, and there was nothing but a bunch of rags.
The queen in astonishment said, "What's these dirty things?"
The man, or the president of the company said, "That was clothing yesterday, see. It has become dirty. We do not throw it away. But it's the paper of tomorrow."
She said, "I don't understand this."
He said, "You'll understand it tomorrow."

41 So when they run these rags through the press, through a certain procession of cleansing, and a certain thing it had to go through---a process---when it come out it was beautiful sheets of paper. The president thought he would show the queen something that she never knew. He put her profile on it, and pressed it into this beautiful paper. When the queen received it, she seen her own profile. And what was dirty rags yesterday, because it went through a certain process...
Oh, if Luther, Wesley, and all them could see that: that yesterday's stuff can only be used as it goes through a process, when the Holy Ghost reveals the light from justification, to sanctification, to the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And now---the last hour at the coming of Christ---it's got in it the profile, not of the queen, but of the King of heaven that represents Himself, as the church has become closer into the minority. The ministry has to be the same kind of a ministry that He had.
Those who died in Luther's day, down at the bottom of the pyramid, like (not a pyramid teaching, but just for an example)...

42 That pyramid is so perfect, as any of us that's been there... You can't run a razor blade hardly. They had no mortar in it, as far as we know, the architecture of it was so great. Now, they lost the headstone. They don't know where it's at. Now, when that headstone returns, it'll be just like the rest of it. It will blend in with the stone that's left open. If you should put the headstone on it, it'd have to be that way. And when Jesus returns, He'll find a church that's washed, without spot or wrinkle. And it'll be the same ministry He had that'll bring back the headstone.

43 Like my hand here in the shadow---it's a shadow only it's darker. As my hand becomes more, it's a negative here, a positive here. As the negative and positive it gets denser, and darker, darker, darker. And finally it claps together, and negative and positive becomes one. That's when church and Christ unites together as a bride, with the same Spirit that was in Him will be upon her---when that church comes from justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost into the last days---and honing her down now for the coming of the Lord.
Oh, don't be the rough part on it, Pentecostal brother. Shine up with the Word, and believe every bit of it. Don't get out into these isms and things as we see going on today. Don't be astonished at that, because the headstone's coming, crying, "Abba, Father," pretty soon---"My God, my God."
Yes, I believe that with all my heart. Do you see it? You know what I mean? It's Christ now, taking the rags of yesterday (the Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and so forth), and He's putting it through a process. What kind of a process? A process of the Holy Spirit---what they had plus, making it till He's pressing His own image, when the church and Christ becomes one in union. God grant it. I trust that you see it. If you do see it...

44 It reminds me of a story that... When the great Welsh revival was on, some great men here in the nation thought they'd go over and see the Welsh revival, what would be taking place. And as they went over to find out, they'd see what building it was held in. When they got to Wales, they went around, begin asking about where the building was. They seen a happy little officer standing on the corner, with his little Tommy hat on. He was swinging his club around, and around like that.
And so these men walked up to him and said, "Sir, could you tell me what building the Welsh revival is held in?"
He said, "Yes, sir! I'm it. I'm it!"
Why? He was shedding forth the joy and the light of the Welsh revival.

45 So ought the church of Pentecost today. Ask it, "Who is Jesus Christ?"
"The same yesterday, today, and forever."
His light of His gospel ought to be shining forth with the Word of this age, revealing Jesus Christ to the nation just like it was then. He was so filled with the Welsh revival, till he was the Welsh revival! We ought to be so filled with Christ, till we reflect Him in the power of His Word that's 'lotted to us to this day.
Brethren, don't be stooped in things of the world. Don't. These cares'll take you away. Stay with the gospel. Watch every word. Don't go back to what some father said. Let's go right now what Jesus said was to take place in this day. Yes, sir! We are supposed to be the light of this age, manifesting the gospel.
Luther was His light, Wesley was His light, Pentecost was His light. But we're farther up the road now. We're coming into the bride---called out, the elected. Remember, if you are, you're just like that officer. He had it in him.

46 Remember, this is the seventh church age, the Laodicean church age. According to Revelations 3, they reject Christ. Of every church age that was mentioned in the Bible, the Laodicean age is worst of all of them. It turned Him out, rejected Him, put Him on the outside.
Did you see the moon black out the other night, before the pope went (over to Rome) from Rome to Jerusalem---Jerusalem, the oldest church? The moon is the type of the church, always reflecting the light of the sun in the absence of the sun. And it blacked out. I drawed that on a blackboard here three or four years ago, and showed the churches in hundreds and thousands of homes across the nation.
What was it? A shadow: the first time a pope ever left to come back here, coming in the name of Paul, and so forth. Went down through those places, had to bless the river to cross it, and so forth. What does the river need blessing?

47 What's the matter with this church age that we're living in today? Can't you see it? God declaring it in the skies, declaring it in His Word, declaring it on the paper, declaring it amongst the people. Can't you open your eyes and see the hour? These are they that testify the truth. This is the light of the hour.
Watch. The great ecumenical move is going into the council up there now, just forming an image of the beast in Revelations 17, exactly what it said it would do. You Pentecostal people going to sit still for that, and go into it? The forcing hour's come. Now's the time to rise and trim your lamps, and shine with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the power.

48 I know this is unpopular, when many of my Pentecostal friends sat with the pope, and things, and say, "A very spiritual feeling." To me it's wrong. It's against the Bible. Let the Word of God be the truth. Yes, sir. It's time now. We see these great moves going on in what looks good to the natural eye. Sure.
Caiaphas looked good to what he was revealing to the priests in that day. All that day, but Jesus was the light that was making the Word live. But their councils, and so forth, had blinded their eyes to it. He said, "Let them alone. The blind lead the blind; they'll all fall in the ditch."
We are back to that time again, brothers and sisters. We're back to that hour again. Notice, why? Same cause. We find that these great lights that we've lived in, in the days gone by, they were all right. We have nothing against them. But this Laodicean church age, be careful. Remember, it is a Christ rejected.
And that's exactly what it is now.

49 This great council has moved around to unite all the Protestants together, this ecumenical move. And what is it doing? It's blackening out the very Word itself, and the Word is Christ. How can they do it, when the Christian Science, United Brethren, and many of them people in other great organizations?...
Some believe the virgin birth, some don't. Some believe this, and that. How can you join yourself with unbelief? How can two walk together unless they be agreed? Come out from among them, and be separated. And thank God for His Word, and stay by it. Jesus Christ is obligated to manifest His Word.
The thing we need today is a rising of a Malachi 4. Another prophet will rise in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and will produce exactly what He promised to do. Then men blindly will forsake it, and walk right into the darkness as they always did.

50 Watch now. We find out---the same cause---that the day that they reject the (churches), reject the message, crucify the Word, take the Word out... Now, if you don't belong to it, you can't even have your church. They'll close it down. You've got to come into it. If you don't do it, you're closed down. Then what about it? Oh, stand for that which is right! Remember, it's crucifixion time again, nearly.

51 False light caused the greatest robbery the world ever had in England not long ago. The greatest robbery that was ever performed was done by a false light. Seven million dollar robbery was done by a false light, that slowed that train down. And Scotland Yard couldn't find the man, they got away with it so slick. That was known as the greatest robbery that was ever done by robbers in the natural. It robbed the world of its greatest robbery.
And the greatest robbery that was ever done to the church of Jesus Christ was done by false light---a glare of some other age, and rejecting the light that's predicted for this age. Amen! False light, a glare of yesterday. Don't walk in the glare of yesterday; walk in the warmth of the sun today. Don't pull yourself down into denominational shade, saying the days of miracles is past.

52 Jesus said, "These signs shall follow them that believe. In my name they shall cast out devils. They shall speak with new tongues. These signs shall follow them."
They say, "It's all right for the apostles; not for us." That's a glare.
Jesus said, "These signs shall follow them that believe, to all the world." Yes, sir.
Now what's the matter? Walking in the glare: it's caused the greatest robbery. It's taken Christ from the church. See how can Christ manifest Hisself in a word that's promised today, by some cold creed of yesterday? It doesn't warm the seed. No, sir. The church's greatest robbery---warm. But remember, that cold creed light will not ripen the seed of today. It denies the seed. It's a fog that's upon the earth that denses. It's time for God to rise and turn on the light again, make His Word to live. Certainly. Light---that cold creed won't ripen the grain. It certainly won't.
And remember, civilization has traveled with the sun.

53 As I told you in the beginning, I have to watch parables, way nature runs. I haven't the education to do it. I don't want it. I'd rather have more of God than all the education in the world. I have Jesus Christ. I see Him live His Word right through, and that's all I need to know. And if a man is borned of the Spirit of God, he'll search the Scriptures and see if it's the answer for today.
The answer of the day is Christ. Christ is the Word. When the Word comes to life, it shows the light that's promised for the day. In this dark Laodicean age just a few... "As many as I receive, I chasten, I rebuke. Repent," Jesus said, "and return back." Turn to the Word. He is the Word. Come to Him. Yes, sir.

54 Watch the light. It will come from the east, going west. We're at the West Coast. It had three stages, didn't it? It had three stages, across the water three times. From Paul across the Mediterranean, come into Germany. Germany lit up with Luther. Across the English channel, over into the United States, and now... All the way into England, then England come across the Pacific to the United States. And she's worked her way down through Luther's message on down through, until the last part of it is here on the West Coast again.

55 And from the ripening of the grain from all the way back from Luther, all the way down through the age, it ought to be the fullness of the gospel now. The power of God to ripen the light that's been shown through justification, sanctification, and the Pentecostal age, ought to ripen the bride tree for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; that Christ could be manifested in His church as one person---Him and His wife, Him and His bride. Amen!
This is the hour we're living in. This is the light of the day. Walk in it. Be saved, all the ends of the world.

56 Church glare of this day was very deceiving, Jesus said in Matthew 24. He said it would deceive the very elected if possible, see. Not Luther wouldn't (receive), Luther couldn't deceive a Methodist. A Methodist couldn't deceive a Pentecostal. That's right, see. But what about the bride? That's what put the Pentecostal's eyes out. Yes. See, you went back to your creed, to your form, organized: got a bunch of men telling you what to do.

57 The Bible promises these things.
We need men and women that's filled with the Spirit of God. If you say you've got the Spirit of God in you, and God makes a certain promise in here, how can that Holy Ghost punctuate it and say, "Well, it might be all right for another age. We don't believe it that way." That ain't the Holy Spirit. A man that's filled with God, Him and the Word is one. Certainly it is. It's the product of a union, a union between God and man.

58 How can a woman that's going to be a (husband) of a man ... contrary, doing the things that he don't want her to do? How can we flirt with the world and denominations, and organizations; and turn down the light of the hour? How can it be done, brother and sister?
With godly love and respect for each one of you, how can we accept these things? How can we hear it? It throws right back in our lap again. Don't condemn Lutherans because they condemn Catholic. Don't condemn Wesley 'cause he condemned Lutheran, see, like that; when you condemn the thing that's happening today, and turn from it; when you see your church is going into this great ecumenical move and so forth, leading you, every one, into the mark of the beast, and you've got it.
Many honest-hearted people walk right straight into it. You say, "They're good people, holy people." So was those priests. If I had to take the holiness of Jesus Christ, or the fruits of the Spirit... Many of you have went on this---now, no disregard to it, I believe every word of it---many will say, "Oh, I spoke in tongues, I got it." That ain't it. No, sir.
Many of them say, "The fruit of the Spirit, that's it." Is it?

59 Let's put Jesus on trial, God forgive me, for a moment. Let's bring you up, and I'll be the priest. I say to you, "This young fellow come into the city, called Jesus of Nazareth. Don't you listen to Him. We believe the fruit of the Spirit. Now looky here, your kind old priest: his grandfather, great-grandfather, all were priests. He sacrificed all his young life. He stayed right in this seminary. He watched, he believed, he done everything they ever taught him. He knows the scriptures from A to Z. He even writes it himself, writes the scriptures himself---the scribes does. And here he is, a grand man. You know he is.
"What happened when your mother was giving birth to you? Who stood by your bedside? That kind old priest. When Mother and Dad was going to separate, who put their arms around both and led them back to God? That kind old priest. Yeah.

60 "And here, Jehovah requires a lamb for a sacrifice for sin. The business men---they live in cities here, and they sell their goods and so forth, their products and produce, and whatever they're going to sell. They don't raise lambs. And what did the priest do? Made a little stand up there for them to sell lambs, so this man could go and clear his soul with Jehovah.
"What did this fellow Jesus of Nazareth do? What church did He come from? What denomination does He belong to? What fellowship card? We'll kick him out. We don't want nothing to do with Him because He condemns every one of us. What did he do? He goes up there and takes that where men are trying to get their souls saved [the churches we would call today, you spiritual-minded people], He kicked over the table, throwed out the change, took ropes and tied them together, and run them out, and called that godly old priest of yours 'the son of the devil.'
"That kind old man that loaned you that money when you was in trouble! Who's going to stand by you and bury you when you're dead? That kind old priest. He's got the fruit of the Spirit. But does this Jesus of Nazareth have the fruit of the Spirit?"

61 You can't judge by speaking in tongues. Neither can you judge by the fruit of the spirit. But it's a manifestation of the Word of God brought to light. It's the light that does it, the man that walks in that light. Jesus Christ was not depending upon speaking in tongues, though He did it. He was not ... the fruit of the Spirit, though He did. You couldn't judge it. But He believed and punctuated it and God lived every Word of the promise of that day through Him. That's the light of the hour. That's the evidence.

62 When a man who tells me that the Holy Ghost's falling in them will deny the Word of God being so, there's something wrong with him. There's something wrong with our seminaries, and so forth, when they teach men all this here brainwashed theology, and stuff of today. Them men would have done the same against the Word of God, and lead them right into that ecumenical slaughter down there. Why, certainly it's wrong. I speak that in the name of the Lord! You watch, and see if it isn't true. The light, the light of the hour!
Those cold creeds can never bring a harvest. We've got to have a church that's washed in the blood of the Lamb and become one with the Word be the church. Church glares of this day, Jesus said, are very deceiving, almost the elected if it was possible. Just the elected---But as it was in the days of Noah, when eight souls were saved, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man. Very, very few will be saved at that time.

63 What does it do? It leads right on to the slaughter.
We find that in this present darkness that we're living (I'm closing by saying this), in this present darkness that we're living---these days that we're now living in---when light is done turned out in the heavens... It's turned out here once before to show us. Showed by the Bible in the seven seals what was taking place, and here God declares it right in the heavens. Comes right down, and declares it on earth. And the church is walking right into it.
Who'll save that little Word-keeping bride then? What's going to happen to her, when she's turned out into the cold by herself? She won't be cold. The vindicated Word of the promise this day... Oh, yes. It's like a... It's puzzling. I know it is to people, to see the church just say ... why, it's just almost the same thing. Jesus said it would be that way. If He'd ... it would deceive the very elected, if it was possible. Oh, yes. Yes, sir.

64 This reminds me of a fellow in Florida not long ago. He was talking, said he had a Chevrolet car that went out on him in Florida. He said he took it to the garage. And this mechanic was going along there, and he got everything set together. And he couldn't get it to start. And he was nervous, running around over the building, picking up this... And the man standing, saying, "I'm waiting on my car, sir. I'm late. Can't you get it?"
He said, "I'm doing all I can do," real nervous and carrying on. And he walked along.
Directly a well-dressed gentleman walked up, and looked at him a few moments. And he said to the mechanic, after he let him butt his head around a little while, he said, "Why don't you just touch this? You're not getting any current."
So he said, "I never thought of that." So he just turned that other little thing, ever what it was there, and he got the current in. The car started. He turned around and said, "Who are you?"
You know who he was? The chief engineer of the General Motor. He made the thing. He designed it.

65 In this hour, brother, when we wonder what's the matter with our revival, what's the matter? We got the material and everything. We got the mechanics, but where's the dynamics? That's what we need to move Jesus Christ in on the scene. What's the matter?
I tell you there's one here today, hallelujah, called the Holy Ghost, that can touch the dynamics. He is the dynamics of the mechanics. We stand today, us Pentecostals---one of the greatest churches in the nation, thousands time thousands added each year---but where is that Holy Ghost? We've accepted by speaking in tongues, and we've seen how it's acted. Methodists accepted by shouting, Luther accepted by faith, and so forth like that. That isn't it.
It's the Word. It's the Word turned on the light, turned on the mechanics, and they become dynamics. They're dynamics. When the dynamics comes to the mechanics, it starts the thing rolling. That's right. Take the Word. If there's one little thing messed up on it, it won't start.
Lay aside every weight, every ism, every creed---that the dynamics, the Holy Spirit, might flow through the Word, and vindicate the Word that's promised to this day. Then the great church of God will rise to her feet, like a jet propelled plane, take off to the skies to meet her Master. That's exactly right. Until we do that, it won't work. That's what about. Yes, sir.
Who'll do it? Who'll keep it in this day that we're thinking about? Remember, remember, brother.

66 It reminds me of that little story (not going back to stories), but a friend of mine was standing in Carlsbad, New Mexico, when we was there holding a meeting up at Carlsbad. And there was a bunch of people went down into this cave. Oh, I never did like that stuff, down there where it's deep---about a mile in the ground. I'm satisfied up here. So they went down through... I want to go higher, not lower!
So they took this fellow, went down in there. And there was a man friend, and his little girl and little boy went down with them. And they went way down into a big basement. Oh, I guess hundreds, and hundreds, and hundreds of feet, below the surface of the earth---went down there. And the man there by the switch all at once turned off the switch. And it was so black and dark, till you couldn't even see your hand, moving it down in front of your face.
A little girl, a little thing, was real scared. She begin to scream to the top of her voice. "Oh, it's dark, it's dark, it's dark," hysterically screaming.
Her little brother happened to be standing... He screamed out in the dark as he said, "Fear not, little sister. There's a man here who can turn on the light." Hallelujah!
What's the little church going to do? Don't worry. There's a man here today that can turn on the light! That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, yeah. The Lord Jesus Christ.

67 Remember.
The (blind), the rich men in the days of the birth of Jesus, they wasn't put out and blinded from the glare of Jerusalem, when they got there asking about Him. Their theology couldn't explain it. But when they turned aside, they followed it to the eternal life, like you Business Men today. Don't watch the glares of these organizations, but hold on to the Word. It leads you to the light.
"Fear not, little sister. There's a man here who can turn on the lights." There's a Christ here who can make His Word live, just the same as He was then, vindicating Himself that He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do you believe it?

68 Let us stand. I got fifteen minutes before the time to go to the next meeting. Would you like to raise your hands and say, "God, turn the light on me? I believe the Word. I believe the mechanics; put the dynamics in me, Lord." Raise your hands, and cry out to Him, "Lord, turn the lights on."
There is a man here that can turn on the lights. You're getting communism, and eat up with all kinds of cankerworms of organizations. But there is a man here, who can turn on the light. That man is the Holy Ghost, Himself, Jesus Christ manifested in the Spirit.
Lord Jesus, touch each one of these hands. Not only hands, but run down the arm into the heart and turn the light of the gospel on. In Jesus' name...