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WHY
THEY DID NOT HAVE OIL
APRIL
1980
MATTHEW
25:1-13
WE HAVE WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE
FOR THE DAY AND HOUR WE ARE LIVING IN. I BELIEVE IT WILL HELP ANSWER
MANY QUESTIONS IN THE MINDS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE AWARE OF THE GREAT
ECUMENICAL AND CHARISMATIC MOVE IN THE WORLD OF RELIGION. THEREFORE
WE WILL APPROACH THE MESSAGE FROM A LITTLE DIFFERENT STANDPOINT
THAN WHAT WE HAVE IN THE PAST. IN OTHER MESSAGES WE HAVE DEALT WITH
THE FACT THAT THESE FOOLISH VIRGINS IN MATT. 25 DID NOT HAVE OIL,
BUT THIS TIME WE WANT TO FOCUS OUR EMPHASIS ON WHY THEY DID NOT
HAVE OIL. WHAT WE ARE DEALING WITH IS A PARABLE THAT JESUS SPOKE
JUST BEFORE HIS BETRAYAL BY JUDAS ISCARIOT. SPEAKING IN PARABLES
LIKE THIS WAS HIS WAY OF PROJECTING A TYPE. HE NEVER SPOKE IN TYPES
THOUGH; HE ALWAYS USED PARABLES. THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS WRITTEN IN
TYPES AND SHADOWS, AND LIKE YOU HAVE HEARD ME SAY MANY TIMES, A
TYPE DOES NOT NECESSARILY CARRY EVERY DETAIL STRAIGHT THROUGH, BUT
IT IS FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROJECTING A THOUGHT. ON THE OTHER HAND,
A SHADOW IS THE EXACT PROFILE OF THE OBJECT IT LEADS TO. GOD CAUSED
THESE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES TO BE WRITTEN THIS WAY FOR THE CHILDREN
OF ISRAEL, POINTING THEM TO THEIR MESSIAH, AND IF THEY HAD ONLY
KNOWN WHAT THOSE TYPES AND SHADOWS WERE THERE FOR, THEY NEVER WOULD
HAVE MISSED CHRIST WHEN HE CAME: BUT JUST AS PAUL SAID IN ROMANS
11, “BLINDNESS IN PART IS HAPPENED TO ISRAEL, UNTIL THE FULNESS
OF THE GENTILES BE COME IN.” (THAT IS YOU AND ME) JESUS, THE
FULFILLMENT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT TYPES AND SHADOWS, SPOKE HIS PARABLES
TO THE VERY PEOPLE WHO SHOULD HAVE RECOGNIZED HIM FROM THOSE OLD
TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES, AND THE PARABLES MOSTLY PERTAINED TO GENTILES
THAT WOULD EVENTUALLY BE PARTAKERS OF THE GOSPEL, BUT IT IS ONLY
NOW THAT WE CAN LOOK AT THOSE PARABLES AND UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY
WERE POINTING TO. THEY WERE FOR OUR DISPENSATION OF TIME. THIS PARABLE
IN MATTHEW 25, DEALING WITH SOME WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS IS NOT
AN EXACT PROFILE, BUT BY USING AN OLD TESTAMENT PATTERN, OR AN ANCIENT
MARRIAGE FOR AN EXAMPLE, HE PRESENTS A PICTURE. THE PICTURE THAT
HE PRESENTS DOES NOT APPLY TO JUST ANY CHURCH AGE; IT ONLY APPLIES
TO PEOPLE WHO ARE LIVING AT THE END OF THE GENTILE AGE. THE KINGDOM
OF HEAVEN DID NOT START OUT AS WE SEE IT PORTRAYED IN THIS PARABLE.
THE FIRST WORD IN CHAPTER 25, IS A KEY WORD FOR A PROPER UNDERSTANDING
OF THE TIME WHEN THESE CONDITIONS WILL BE IN EFFECT. IN THE 24TH
CHAPTER YOU FIND JESUS DESCRIBING CONDITIONS OF THE END OF THIS
AGE, AND PLEASE REMEMBER, WHEN HE SPOKE THESE WORDS, HE DID NOT
DIVIDE THEM INTO CHAPTERS AND VERSES, THEREFORE WE UNDERSTAND THAT
WHEN HE SPOKE THOSE THINGS IN CHAPTER 24, OF WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE
AT THE END OF THE AGE, HE SAID, “THEN SHALL THE KINGDOM OF
HEAVEN BE LIKENED UNTO TEN VIRGINS, WHICH TOOK THEIR LAMPS AND WENT
FORTH TO MEET THE BRIDEGROOM.” AT NO OTHER TIME DURING THE
GRACE AGE WOULD THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BE LIKENED UNTO THIS EXCEPT
RIGHT AT THE END OF THE AGE, AND BY THE HELP OF THE LORD WE WANT
TO SHOW YOU WHY.
I
KNOW YOU NOT
Let us read verses 2-13, now, and get this parable
fixed in our minds before we say any more about it. “And five
of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish
took their lamps, an took no oil with them: But the wise took oil
in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried,
they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made,
Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then ALL those
VIRGINS arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto
the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the
wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and
you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were
ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut. Afterward
came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But
he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch
therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the
Son of man cometh.” John the Baptist was the first man to
use the term, kingdom of heaven, speaking of a period of time, or
era of time. He stood by the Jordan river calling men to repentance,
saying that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. It took the death,
burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to inaugurate this dispensation
of time, but John was the introductory voice for it. Then once this
period of time became effective another phase of it went into effect.
It is called the kingdom of God. Just before His crucifixion, knowing
what was in the minds of his disciples, Jesus said unto them, “The
kingdom of God cometh not with observation.” He knew they
were looking for a materialistic kingdom, in which their Messiah
would, as king, overthrow the Roman yoke, set up His own long awaited
kingdom, throw all the Romans out of the land, and they would be
on their way to peace and tranquility, and a time of prosperity.
Little did they know that they were interpreting their own prophecies
in the wrong way. They were putting them ahead of other scriptures
that had to be fulfilled first. It is true that their Messiah will
one day rule over an earthly kingdom in the seat of king David of
old, but that is a millennium setting. There is still seven years
of Gods dealing with the nation of Israel to fulfill the last week
of Daniel’s prophecy, and the battle of Armageddon to be fought
before that takes place. In the meantime the kingdom of God is in
the hearts of individual believers all around this old world. When
you read about the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God, associate
them together, but do not make them the same thing. Let me say it
one more time. The kingdom of HEAVEN is an era of time, while the
kingdom of GOD is His spiritual kingdom in the hearts of His true
people. That is why Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within
you.”
THERE
IS ONLY ONE GOSPEL
Let us return our thinking back to the first verse
of our text now. Then (THEN) is the first word of the parable we
are considering, and we all know that this is a future tense word.
It cannot be present tense, and neither can it be past tense, just
because it speaks of a condition that will exist after the events
described in the 24th chapter have become a reality.
Please notice also, that it does not say the kingdom of heaven will
be exactly like ten virgins that went forth to meet the bridegroom;
it only says that the kingdom of heaven will be LIKENED unto. That
is why I said, He only used this setting to put a picture in our
minds of a condition that will exist in the time of the end of the
age. It presents a certain likeness. Let me say also, the number
ten, that Jesus used in this is not to be thought of as a literal
number. It is just a figurative number used to make a point. Think
of it only as an illustration. Neither does the number, five, mean
that half of the believers will be foolish virgins at the end of
the age; He could have said seven and three and still have made
the same point. The point of this parable is that after so many
centuries of grace, when this grace age finally does come to an
end, there is going to be some believers who have been very foolish,
some who have failed to prepare themselves properly to meet the
bridegroom. I have thoroughly studied the book of Acts and all the
epistles where the Holy Ghost (the promise of the Father) was mentioned,
and there is no scripture anywhere, that should lead anyone to believe
there could have been foolish virgins in that first church age.
No. They all started out, wise. Paul did not preach one message
for a group of wise virgins, and another message for a group of
foolish virgins. Neither has there been any age since then, when
you could say that the bridegroom came for wise virgins and shut
the door against some who were foolish. Brothers and sisters: I
am saying these things to provoke your thinking. I want you to get
a true picture in your mind of what Jesus was pointing to when He
spoke this parable. I also want to be sure that you do not associate
this parable with other parables that speak of tares being sown
with the good seed. These foolish virgins are not tares; they are
virgins. Tares are not virgins. They are people who go to church
for many and various reasons, but they do not have a revelation.
They will go for social reasons, Sunday school pins, door prizes,
or just because of a feeling that they are obligated to do so, but
they cannot worship God in Spirit and in truth because they do not
have a revelation in their spirit. They only have a head knowledge
of what is written in the Bible. On the other hand, the foolish
virgins are people who have been justified by the blood of Christ,
and set aside through sanctification, so that they are not of the
world, but they do not get themselves dressed up in a full revelation
in time to meet the bridegroom (Jesus Christ) when He comes to catch
away those who are ready. That is why we see them over in Revelation,
chapter 7, coming up out of great tribulation. They will be left
here to face the Antichrist, who will have them killed because they
will not renounce faith in Christ. I just went on to show you where
they will finally wind up, but I do not want you to think that the
shutting of the door is pertaining to the rapture; it is the door
of perfecting revelation that is shut to them in verse 10, and we
will get to that later, but right now we want to give our attention
to the verses that lead up to verse 10, where the door is shut.
THE
HOLY GHOST IS OIL
Let us try to get a vision of the conditions that
will produce a setting such as Jesus described in this parable.
Keep in mind the fact that all who go forth to meet the bridegroom
are virgins. Remember also, that it is time itself that furnishes
the setting for this condition; it will be when the kingdom of heaven
has progressed to a point close to the end of the Gentile age. They
all take their lamps, (in other words they all have light) but those
who are called foolish, do not take any extra oil in their vessels
with their lamps. (In this parable the oil can be nothing else other
than the baptism of the Holy Ghost.) But those who are called wise
have oil in their vessels along with their lamps. What does that
mean? Let me try to answer the question like this; every truth that
one receives from the word of God carries a certain measure of the
Spirit of God, and that Spirit is likened unto oil, and oil produces
light. Therefore when a person hears, and believes that Jesus Christ
is the Savior of lost mankind, and that the just (or justified)
shall live by faith, and that those who are justified should live
a sanctified life, that person has received a portion of light.
That is why you have heard me say that every one of these denominational
churches had a measure of light when they started out. Some of them
just had the light on faith. Others received more light and realized
they were to live a sanctified, holy life as well. Others received
the light on eternal security, predestination, baptism of the Holy
Ghost, etc., etc., but the fact that they built a denominational
wall around the light they had received, kept them from receiving
additional light. They were satisfied with what they had, and did
not look for anything more, but God does not stand still. He was
restoring back to the true body of Christ, all the light that the
first church age had, and that had been lost during that long period
known as the Dark Ages. Every Bible truth that anyone received belonged
to the universal body of Christ, and it is the purpose of God that
the universal bride of Christ should have all these truths in order
to be dressed properly to meet the bridegroom. The fine linen, clean
and white, that we find the bride is to be arrayed in, is her pure,
clean, undefiled revelation of the word of God. On the other hand,
white robes which we find the tribulation saints wearing, as well
as the souls under the altar in the fifth seal, are to be thought
of as salvational robes, pointing to the fact that all who wear
them do have eternal life, but they can never be classed in the
same realm as the bride of Christ that makes herself ready to meet
the bridegroom.
SLEEPY
CONDITIONS
Now let us come back to verse 5, and try to get
a picture of why they ALL slumbered and slept, both the wise and
the foolish virgins. First we will look at what could happen at
a natural wedding if something detained the bridegroom. Now no one
immediately decides to take a nap just because the bridegroom fails
to show up at the exact moment he is expected. You never did see
anyone go to a wedding and conduct themselves like that. No. The
first thing that people begin to do is look out the windows, look
out the doors, call various ones who might know what had caused
the delay, talk to each other about what might have happened, and
ever so many other things, for at first you are filled with too
much anxiety to suddenly decide to take a nap while waiting. It
is only after you have completely exhausted yourself that you begin
to think, “There is no telling when he will get here. I am
just going to sit down and relax until he shows up.” You do
not plan to go to sleep; you just sit down because all the excitement
has wore off, and you have nothing in particular left to do. The
first thing you know, your head begins to nod. You jump, look around
the room, but others are doing the same thing. Across the room you
will see a head nod a time or two, then go limp. On your right side,
you see two or three more do the same thing, and just about the
time you start to look to your left, your own head nods again and
you are asleep. You do not all go to sleep at the same time. Some
are still yaking when you go to sleep, but one by one they drop
off, until every last one of them are asleep, some just dozing while
others are sleeping soundly, (they all slumbered and slept) maybe
even snoring. I am sure every one of you can see how a thing like
this could take place at a natural wedding, if something happened
to delay the groom many hours beyond the time everyone was expecting
him to arrive. By the same token, I am sure you would all agree,
If someone suddenly yelled, “Here he comes! Everyone get ready!
You would not see everyone suddenly snap to attention. It takes
some people a lot longer to wake up than others, especially those
who are really sleeping soundly. It is portrayed like this in the
parable because the going to sleep, as well as the awakening, has
to be a universal picture. There will be wise and foolish virgins
on every continent around this old world who will have to fulfill
this parable, so it cannot be an instantaneous reaction. If the
message, or messenger sounded the midnight cry to awaken the sleeping
virgins, in America; there would have to be time enough for that
cry to reach its universal setting before the bridegroom arrives.
I want you to get the picture, then we will go into details on what
is actually fulfilling this parable. These conditions have to affect
an overall spiritual condition around the world both on the part
of the going to sleep, and also on the awakening and trimming their
lamps. Let me say again now, this parable is to portray a certain
setting that must affect believers universally, but it does not
have to match every detail of what might take place at a natural
wedding. The main thing is, do not try to make an individual application;
it has to be an overall condition affecting universal Christendom.
MIDNIGHT
- A SLEEPING TIME
Some have tried to take verse 5, and build a revelation
that Christ would come to rapture the bride at midnight. I will
have to ask that person, or those person, what part of the bride
are you speaking of? When it is midnight in Jeffersonville, Indiana,
it is high noon somewhere in the world where bride people and foolish
virgins are residing. It could be midnight somewhere in the world
when the trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ arise, and the wise
virgins who are alive on earth are changed to take on immortality,
but please remember, The bride is not going to be gathered into
one geographical location. That is why Jesus said, some would be
in the field, some grinding at the mill, and others in bed; it allows
for time zone differences. Midnight in this parable speaks of a
time when most everyone is asleep. Of course we know that is not
true in a literal sense, in our modern day society where people
stay up all night, but for the sake of allowing the parable to paint
a picture in our minds, let us think of midnight as a time when
everyone is asleep, some sleeping more soundly than others. Then
you must realize that this universal sleeping condition has to be
applied to a particular span of time in the 7th church
age, (by looking back, we can make the application) and from there
we can see the foolish virgins, and we can see why they are foolish.
They are foolish because they do not have oil in their vessels,
and that brings us to the question, Why do they not have oil (Holy
Ghost) in their vessels? For the answer to that, we are going to
take a journey through time, starting with the first church age.
FIRST
AGE - ALL WISE VIRGINS
In John 6:44, Jesus said, “No man (or person)
can come to me, except the Father (the great eternal Spirit) which
hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
By this we understand that the Holy Ghost must woo a person to repentance
before they can be justified and sanctified by the blood of Jesus
Christ. Then we learn from the 5th chapter of Acts that
only those who were genuine believers and upright in all their dealings,
dared to be identified with the church in that 1st age.
Ananias and Sapphira in their attempt to practice deception, were
struck dead by the power of God. After that, great fear came upon
all who even heard of the incident, and believers were added to
the church daily. Now when the Bible speaks of the church, (in the
New Testament) you can be sure it is referring to the true body
of Holy Ghost filled believers. No true believer in that first age
ever failed to be filled with the Holy Ghost. That is why I said,
There were no foolish virgins in that first age. It took a certain
universal condition to produce what Jesus referred to as foolish
virgins, and that condition did not just suddenly come into existence.
It came about over a span of many centuries. Therefore to begin
our search through time where we will find the condition that produces
foolish virgins, let us begin with the true body of believers that
had their beginning on the day of Pentecost, when 120 disciples
of the Lord Jesus Christ were filled with the Holy Ghost, (Acts,
chapter 2) and in a short period of time grew to the point where
they were referred to as multitudes. We are all familiar with Acts
2 already, so let us turn in our Bibles to 1st Corinthians
12:13, and see how the apostle Paul said one gets into the body
of Christ. “For by ONE SPIRIT are we all baptized into ONE
BODY, (The body of Christ, the church) whether we be Jews or Gentiles,
whether we be bond or free; and have been made to drink into one
Spirit. For the BODY is not one member, but many.” This many
membered body is a universal body which had its beginning in Acts
2, and is referred to in Acts 5, as the church. It took the baptism
of the Holy Ghost to put a person into that body; therefore there
was no such thing as a foolish virgin (a believer without oil, which
is the Holy Ghost) in those early days of Christianity. They were
all taught the same thing, and they all believed the same thing.
That is why we say that bride believers in this last age must be
restored to the complete apostolic truth before Jesus comes back
to harvest the crop that He planted in the earth beginning at Pentecost.
Even nature itself teaches us that whatever is planted will produce
more of its kind if it is a good seed and no one has a chance to
pervert it. You might ask, How could the body of Christ be perverted
to produce something other than its same kind? That is what we are
going to find out as we go along. First let us read a parable from
Matthew, chapter 13, where we will find Jesus giving us a clue.
Go to verse 24, “Another parable put He forth unto them, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed GOOD SEED
in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed TARES
among the wheat, and went his way.” He goes on to tell how
the servants of that man came later to inquire about the kind of
seed he sowed, and what they should do about the tares that were
growing in the midst of the wheat. His instructions were, Just let
them grow together until the harvest, then the reapers can gather
the good grain into the barn, and bundle the tares to be burned.
His disciples came unto Him later and desired that He would explain
this parable to them, so Jesus begins in verse 37, explaining what
it meant. “He answered and said unto them, He that soweth
the GOOD SEED is the Son of man; (Jesus) The field is the world:
the GOOD SEED are the CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM: (GENUINE BELIEVERS)
but the TARES are THE CHILDREN OF THE WICKED ONE: (MAKE BELIEVERS)
The enemy that sowed them is the DEVIL; the harvest is the end of
the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares
are gathered and burned int eh fire; so shall it be in the end of
this world.” That is enough for you to see how true Christianity
got sidetracked as we try to explain what happened as the first
age began to fade out and make room for what we call, the second
church age. Let me say once again though, Foolish virgins are not
tares; we are just using the tares to show you what created a condition
that could produce foolish virgins.
TARES
ARE SATAN’S SEED
A tare is someone the devil plants within the fellowship
of true believers; God does not plant them there. The original gospel
was to produce wise virgins; nothing else. But here is what happened:
Those of that first generation began to die off, leaving behind
children that had been raised in church, but many of them had never
been born of the Spirit. In process of time all the original apostles
left the scene also, along with those first century saints who had
received the gospel message from them. By this time Satan had been
able to infiltrate the ranks of believers, and those whom he had
planted among them, began to project certain ideas and opinions
that raised doubts and questions in the church. The question that
caused the most disturbance, and finally led to the Nicaea Council
in 325 A.D., was on the divinity of Jesus Christ. A priest of Alexandria,
named Arius, began teaching in the year 318 A.D. that Jesus the
Son of God was not divine, but was only a creature made out of nothing,
like all other created beings. The Arian teaching was to counterattack
the trinity belief that had crept into the church, but like all
others who attack something, or someone, without a good understanding
of the issue, he went too far in the other direction, and caused
such a stir in Christian ranks that the Roman Emperor, Constantine,
took it upon himself to call a council meeting at Nicaea, for the
purpose of settling this controversy and establishing doctrine for
the church. The council was attended by at least 270 bishops of
what was called, “the church” at that time. They affirmed
the divinity of Christ, and condemned Arius as a heretic. Here is
their formula of the Godhead from that first council. “We
believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of all things visible
and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the
only-begotten of the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father;
God from God, light from light, true God from true
God; begotten, not created, consubstantial with the Father.”
Another council held in Constantinople, in 381 A.D., reaffirmed
the Nicene Creed, and, also clearly defined the divinity of the
Holy Spirit, which had also been questioned. This, of course, gave
them back their divine trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, all
three equal, and of the same substance. One thing you will have
to say for Arius, he knew their “Holy Trinity,” three
God belief, was wrong, but he did not have a “one God”
revelation himself, so his teaching was as far off as theirs. The
founding fathers of the Christian faith were no longer on the scene
to hold a line on the true revelation, so little by little that
white horse rider of Revelation 6:1-2, attacked and conquered in
every assembly where the original apostolic gospel had been preached.
This was Satan’s attack on the church. It was that spirit
of Antichrist, that the first age had been warned about, working
through men in the church, that did the damage.
ANTICHRIST
DOCTRINE
When you read carefully, the 7 parables of Matthew
13, and compare them with the 7 churches of Asia, mentioned in Revelation,
chapter 2 and 3, you can see that Jesus was showing how the kingdom
of heaven would be divided, or identified in 7 major spiritual changes.
It is not that God changes, but He had to allow Satan to test the
church just like he did Adam and Eve, in the garden of Eden. That
testing has brought about spiritual conditions through this age
of grace that lines up perfectly with the conditions described in
those 7 churches of Asia. As that spirit of Antichrist moved on
the scene stronger and stronger, true gospel light got dimmer and
dimmer until it reached a place in the Dark Ages where there was
little more than a glimmer, universally speaking. John the apostle,
in his first epistle, warned believers to beware of Antichrists
that would come, and went on to say, Even now there are many in
the world already. He called them false prophets. Anything that
is contrary to revelation truth is Antichrist, and John could see
that old spirit working even before he wrote this epistle in 90
A.D. How does he work? He works through men, many times right in
your own assembly, to project himself as an angel of light. That
was how he diverted people from the truth in the closing years of
that first age. It did not happen over night, but little by little,
certain characters began to change the formula of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. They could not just come right out with something
completely contrary to what the apostles had taught, for there were
still saints alive that had been taught by Peter, Paul, John or
one of the others, so what did they do? They began to present little
dressed up ideas, nothing too serious at first; just something to
cause a little mental sensation. Food for thought, I believe they
call it. The devil is a sly old bird; he knew exactly what he was
doing. At first it was just a softening up process, presenting 90
percent truth, and just enough of something else to make ears tingle
a little. When a thing like that is kept up long enough, it will
finally take a toll. That is what has been happening in this last
day message brought to this age by Bro. Branham. Certain characters
have traveled this world over giving their version of what the prophet
said, until they have created a condition where many people do not
have the slightest idea of WHAT the prophet said. Over a period
of years they have heard it all, but from so many different ones,
and each one varying a little from what the one before him said,
and just so much of this will get people to a point where they have
no idea at all of what the true version is. That is what happened
to the gospel message long toward the end of that first age. It
was not a communistic spirit attacking the church; neither was it
a Nazi spirit; it was a religious spirit. Satan will take a handsome
fellow with an overwhelming personality, and cause that fellow to
teach just enough truth to hold their religious attention, while
he charms them to sleep and feeds them poison. That is what you
have heard me say many times, Brothers and sisters, Do not follow
me because you like me. If you cannot take what you hear me teach,
and make it line up with the word of God, you had better get away
from me. That goes for anyone who stands to preach or teach the
word of God. Satan knows exactly what kind of personality is most
likely to lull people to sleep, so that is the kind of men he used.
Of course there always have been a few old saints who would not
go along with the crowd, but popular opinion, carried on the wings
of deception among the majority usually runs the show, so that about
all one can do is try to keep straight himself. Through the years
after the Nicaea Council, church bishops really came into the limelight.
By about 500 A.D. many bishops had sat on the papal chair. That
office had really become important, and those bishops really enjoyed
those pats on the back. Their political influence had become more
respected than the Emperor himself. Through the years this trend
continued until eventually those bishops became so political minded
that they began to lose their vision of the gospel of Christ. Through
politics and materialism the church became disrobed of the gospel,
and put on a worldly robe. It came down to man’s political,
earthly level. They lost the Godhead revelation. They lost the revelation
of scriptural water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
sanctification, personal faith in Christ, and finally the experience
of the baptism of the Holy Ghost after they received the experience;
we are talking about conditions that brought the church (what was
called the church) so low that they no longer had such an experience.
Remember, brothers and sisters, that did not happen suddenly; it
was a gradual process that took centuries of time. Satan just kept
on injecting his poisonous serums until just about all the life
was gone out of the church of the living God. That Thyatira age
was the darkest period in all of New Testament history. There was
no progress, no revelation, and no fellowship with God. All they
thought about in those days was art, and it seems that we are living
in a day when art is again taking the forefront in thought and conversation
among people of the world. I want you to know, God thinks about
as much of their art as He does your ten year old Sears & Roebuck
catalogue. Art has its place, and I can appreciate it myself when
it is kept in its place, but if you are a person that lives just
for art, and God has no place in your life, you are a miserable,
blind creature, and you are heading for shipwreck.
A
LEAVENING CONDITION
When we were in old Toledo, Spain, a few years
ago, we saw a place, a museum that they called, “a hospital.”
At first I thought we were going to a hospital where they treat
sick people, but it turned out to be a hospital for sick paintings,
a place where they restore them. Naturally it belongs to the Catholic
church, the system that praises Michaelangelo so much. He is the
one that did all that painting in the Vatican, a famous painter;
there has never been another like him. Brothers and sisters: Do
not take me wrong; I am not against art, but I will have to say,
I never have been able to understand why this famous painter put
a little horn on every painting he ever did of Moses. Tell me where
he got that revelation. Or maybe it was supposed to be a curl in
his hair, rather than a horn. Nevertheless, if you want to see a
lot of gold and silver, that is the place to go. It reminded me
of the scripture of Revelation 3:18, “I counsel thee to buy
of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed.” That was written to
the church at Laodicea, the church that portrayed the spirit which
would be on this 7th church age, a carnal spirit. Paul
said, “To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace.” (Rom. 8:6) That has always been
the devil’s purpose, to get the church so carnal minded that
she would be stripped of all spirituality. Under a true ministry
ordained of God, the church presses onward and upward, but under
a carnal minded priesthood she becomes sick, diseased, (spiritually
speaking) and lifeless. This is where the church had drifted to
during the Dark Ages, but that did not produce foolish virgins;
it only brought about a spiritual condition that would later produce
foolish virgins. Nevertheless, it is easy to see why the rapture
could not take place in the 16th century while the church
of the living God looked like that. The condition of the church
at that time is what the fourth parable of Matt. 13, was pertaining
to, a time when the kingdom of heaven would be likened unto LEAVEN,
which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, (which is
bread) till the whole was leavened. Now you know Jesus put every
parable right where it needed to be, Did he not? He was talking
about the woman being the Catholic church, in the Dark Ages, and
the leaven was her creeds, her teaching, her ceremonies and catechisms.
The meal had reference to the bread of life, which is the word of
God. She just kept mixing her creeds and rituals with the word of
God until she had everything the apostles taught leavened with her
dogmas. It all became a monetary thing. She took out, “The
just shall live by faith,” and replaced it with, “There
is no salvation outside the Catholic church.” She took out
sanctification, and put in indulgences, another money making scheme
of that Catholic system. Indulgences could not control the fallen
nature of unregenerate man; they just served to sort of legalize
certain things that a person could do, and still be in fellowship
with the Catholic church. This puts the person under a certain inner
condemnation, because nature itself, many times, says, “That
was wrong.” This brings the person to the confession booth,
another monetary gimmick that has no spiritual benefit whatsoever.
It serves to relieve the person of that inner feeling of condemnation,
but it does nothing whatsoever in the way of changing the sinful
nature of the individual. Instead of the genuine baptism of the
Holy Ghost, they put in the ritual of confirmation. When a child
reaches a certain age, all the family’s friends and relatives
are invited to be present when the child is confirmed, (received
into the church). Oh what a departure from Paul’s teaching
on how one gets into the church, (1st Cor. 12:13) “For
by one Spirit (the Holy Ghost) are we all baptized into one body.”
You never would have seen Paul, nor Peter, going around with a wheelbarrow
full of wafers confirming people into the church. No! Praise God!
The first 120 disciples that received the Holy Ghost, received it
without the priest and his wafers! So did the next 3000 souls, a
little later! I cannot help but wonder where they ever got the idea
for such a mess. You pardon my expression, but that is the most
fitting word I can think of to describe that conglomeration from
the Dark Ages. Can you even begin to imagine what this world would
be like by now if God had never moved upon anyone to break away
from that old manmade system of dogmas and creeds? There is one
thing for sure; we would not be enjoying all these modern conveniences
that we have grown so accustomed to. Instead, we would probably
be crawling around on broken glass, half starved, doing penance.
Saints: We ought to thank God without ceasing for what we have,
both spiritually and materially. We are, without a doubt, most blessed
by God. We have been privileged to live in an age when God is restoring
to His true church, all that Satan robbed her of during that Dark
Age period. Of course we still have that condition of the blind
leading the blind. But, Praise God! We are not all blind! Some of
us have received 20-20 spiritual vision, and we are privileged to
see what Peter, James, John, Paul, and men like that, saw more than
1900 years ago. Hallelujah!
WHO
GOES TO CHURCH?
We are going to show why the foolish virgins did
not have oil, but I feel that it will be clearer to you if we show
the conditions (spiritually) that led to such an hour when there
would be both wise and foolish virgins. It is a condition that came
out of the reformation. The reformation is over, and time is running
out. The big gospel net has been cast into the sea of humanity,
and it has gathered of every kind. The sorting process is taking
place now, and it is the Holy Ghost that is doing the sorting. From
that great gospel sweep of our age, there are innumerable thousands
filling the church houses every Sunday, but they are not all bride
people. Many of them are tares, (make believers) others are foolish
virgins, and the others, wise virgins getting dressed for the marriage
supper, soon to take place in glory. Many people through the years
have read this parable in Matt. 25, and thought the foolish virgins
were lost because it says the door was shut and they could not get
in. Let me remind you again as we go along, These foolish virgins
are not lost; they are virgins. It is important that you keep in
mind the fact that, spiritually, they are virgins. It is only the
door of bride perfecting revelation that is closed to them. For
the most part the foolish virgins are caught up in this great charismatic
move. Some have asked me, Bro. Jackson: Is it possible that some
of the foolish virgins could even be in this message? My answer
to that, is this, That is where some of these odd teachings spring
from. Yes, they very well could be. I will add this, though, If
there are foolish virgins sitting in assemblies where the bride
is being taught, (and only God knows) they will still never get
an understanding of this until after it is too late. They can hear
the same things that others hear, but they will just simply not
understand. I will say though, most of them are still in organized
churches, and they must stay there until time reaches a certain
hour. Then, within the ranks of their ecumenism, something will
happen to set off a tremor and cause them to realize that there
is something missing in their lives, (revelation truth) and that
is when they will run to the wise virgins and try to get in, but
the bridegroom, from within, shall say unto them, I know you not.
Simply stated, that just means that He does not know them as His
wife. Now saints, try to get a proper picture. These literal words
are not actually spoken to anyone. Remember what I said in the beginning,
A parable is just to bring out a point, and is not fulfilled in
every detail. Besides, it says, The kingdom of heaven is LIKENED
UNTO this; not literally like this. So what happens? Something happens
in their ranks that causes them to realize that they need something
more than just the Holy Ghost sensations in their lives, and they
know where the people are that have what they need, so away they
go. Now when they get there, no one slams a door in their face and
refuses to let them in. The parable simply lets us know that they
have waited too long. The Holy Ghost just doesn’t open up
these “bride saint” mysteries to them. They can hear,
but they will not understand. Brothers and sisters, just so you
will not misunderstand, let me say this, Many individuals have come
through the charismatic ranks right into this revelation who were
never in denominations at all. God just simply spoke to them right
in their state of unbelief and moved them right into the stream
of His perfecting will. Is that understood? Individuals here and
there do not affect the parable, nor are they affected by it. The
parable covers a universal condition that will prevail at the time
of the end of the age. It applies to the masses of people, instead
of mere individuals. It is true that these masses are made up of
individuals, but please, brothers and sisters, Do not try to pick
out those who are foolish virgins among people you are acquainted
with; only God can do that.
SEVENTH
CHURCH AGE - LAODICEA
Let us turn our attention back to the Thyatira
church age where we left off on our journey through time. Some have
asked me if we do not still have Thyatira church age conditions
present, even in our day. Yes. That is Romanism, but you must realize
that until the Reformation started, you only had they Thyatira church.
Coming out of the Dark Ages you did not have what we now call, “The
Philadelphia Age,” nor Laodicea, nor Sardis church age conditions.
These conditions came as God began to work through the various reformers,
restoring apostolic truth back to the body of Christ. We have been
in the Laodicean age since around 1906. This is the age that, “THEN,”
applies to. “THEN shall the kingdom of heaven be LIKENED UNTO
ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the
bridegroom.” THEN, is only effective in the 7th
church age which is the Laodicean age, an age in which spiritual
conditions are comparable to those in the church of the Laodiceans,
(Rev. 3:15-18). The message to that church was, “I know thy
works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold
or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor
hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (Notice now) Because thou
sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;
and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in
the fire, (pure faith) that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment,
that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest
see.” Now this is the only age that foolish virgins come in,
and every one of them will have to die for their faith during that
terrible tribulation hour. Why will they have to die? Because they
were foolish in the years leading up to that hour. Well what made
them foolish? The reason they are called foolish is because they
thought for years that they were ready to meet the bridegroom, and
did not even have the Holy Ghost, when the Bible plainly teaches
that He is coming after a church which is without spot or wrinkle,
which is His body, and we are only in that body by the baptism of
the Holy Ghost. Why did they not have the Holy Ghost? What made
them think they did not need it? That is what we want to deal with
right now. Actually they will all have the Holy Ghost eventually,
but not in time to be dressed in a wedding garment acceptable to
the bridegroom. We have already talked about how Satan stripped
the church during the Dark Ages. When Martin Luther began to get
a little glimmer of gospel light, it was mainly limited to the scriptural
fact that the just shall live by faith instead of church creeds
and dogmas. He protested against the Catholic church, and through
much hardship and many trials, became the founding father of what
later became known as the Lutheran church. His 95 thesis which he
nailed on the church door at Wittenberg, Germany, October 1517,
actually inaugurated the Protestant movement against the Catholic
church, or we will say, Romanism. He denied the jurisdiction of
the pope over Purgatory, and was bitterly opposed to the pope collecting
money for indulgences, and for releasing souls from Purgatory, even
if he had any jurisdiction there, and he certainly had come to see
that man’s salvation did not depend upon his good works and
proper standing in the eyes of the pope, but rather depended upon
his personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not know anything
about the baptism of the Holy Ghost, but he sure opened up the road
for justification by faith. Following him with various scriptural
truths that God had revealed to them, were men like Calvin, Knox,
Swingley, Huss, Wesley and others. All of these men, coming out
of the Dark Ages, were instrumental in rescuing Christianity from
the death grip of Romanism. The reformation, or restoration, was
not an instantaneous thing though. It has been a slow process restoring
truth and revelation to the church, just like stripping her of these
things was a slow process. Through these various reformers, and
over a period of many years, God restored the revelation of eternal
security, and predestination, sanctification, and finally, the baptism
of the Holy Ghost. But please be aware of the fact that followers
of these different reformers built a denominational wall around
the truth that each of them taught and stood for. They organized
into Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, Nazarenes, and dozens of other
names that they are called by, each group feeling that they have
all that is needed to be right with God. Each group had a primary
theme, but many times rejected what God had restored to some other
group. Pay attention now, I am showing you why, in these last days,
there are a lot of virgins that do not have oil. John Wesley cam
on the scene in the 1700's with the revelation burning in his bosom
that the just were not only to live by faith, but that they should
live a separated, holy life, clean from all worldly habits and involvements.
Faith, eternal security, predestination, all these were apostolic
truths that belonged in the body of Christ, but none of these produced
the revelation that those who were justified by faith, should also
stop using their bad language, cool their hot tempers, stay away
from the beer joints; in other words, separate themselves from worldly
entanglements, but John Wesley did receive such a revelation. Lutherans,
Baptists, Presbyterians, and such like, rejected John Wesley’s
message. But, even though these just simply could not see it, that
revelation did catch fire and sweep the land. This revelation eventually
became fenced in by a denominational wall also. They called themselves
Methodists, and taught sanctification as the 2nd definite
work of grace in a believer’s life. Baptists did not want
any part of Wesley’s sanctification, and Methodists believed
that the Baptists teaching on eternal security of the believer,
was right out of the pit of hell, and so on down the line of denominations.
Each group was ever so busy perfecting their own revelation, but
they had the door closed to everything else. Most of them believed
that a person receives everything he needs the moment he believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Naturally to each group, believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ for justification was seen only through their
own denominational teachings. Now I grant you, in every age there
was a certain amount of manifestation of the Holy Ghost. A few people
spoke in tongues, and others received certain supernatural visitations,
yet not in any measure to cause that to be their primary teaching.
Each group had their primary theme, and they stuck just to that,
because they did not know any better. It was not the hour for God
to perfect the church, He was just restoring truth, making it available.
I do want to say this, In the days when Methodists had the fires
of sanctification burning in their hearts, they had just as much
eternal security as any Baptist ever thought of having. Will you
accept that? Many of those Methodists lived a life so devoted to
God that they were more eternally secure than a lot of the Baptists
who believed in the doctrine of it, but did not live the life. On
the other hand, to turn the picture around; many of those old time
Baptists loved God so much, and wanted their lives to please God,
so much, they lived just as clean as any Methodist. They were just
as sanctified as any of those who believed the doctrine of sanctification.
They did not drink, smoke, curse, or any of those things, simply
because they, personally, believe it was wrong to do such things.
They did not know anything about the sanctification message, but
they lived sanctified lives just the same. On the fringes of Methodism
you had the Nazarene and Pilgrim Holiness people who were really
bringing the sanctification message to perfection. They built Bible
schools and seminaries simply around the doctrine of sanctification,
and I will have to say, some of them did definitely have a genuine
Holy Ghost experience. There are many evidences of that fact recorded
in various historical writings of that period of time. Many of them
did not know what to call the experience they had, but as we read
what is written about them, we know what it was.
MANIFESTING
GOD’S PRESENCE
I want to take this time to relate some things
at this point of our message. We have in our possession, my wife’s
family tree. It goes back to Sweden, and naturally, carries various
branches of mankind which came through in the Daniel Boone period
and settled in this part of the country. We read of one old fellow
who settled in this part of the country back in the 1800's; it said
he used to have spells while working out in the corn field. What
he was having was Holy Ghost spells. His testimony was that he loved
God so much he prayed constantly. Back in those days people did
not have the mechanized equipment to plow their corn with, like
we do today, so they had to use a plain old garden hoe, both to
plant and to cultivate their crops. This old fellow would be out
in the field working and praying when all of a sudden he would start
shouting, dancing, and slinging his hoe. Many people got scared
and ran away from him, because they did not know what was taking
place. He said when that would happen, it felt like fire was leaping
off the ends of his fingers. It was also noted that other people
who did believe in God, had great faith in this man’s prayers.
They would bring a certain prayer request to him, he would pray,
and the particular need would be met. I believe you will have to
agree; that old fellow had the Holy Ghost. Brothers and sisters,
my point in telling this is to call your attention to the fact that,
no matter how dark the hour might have been, (spiritually speaking)
God always had a few people who walked in fellowship with Him, as
individuals, while the church as a whole was in darkness. These
individuals had a certain measure of the Spirit of God working in
their lives, some more than others. It was just that they did not
know what to tie their experience to, scripturally. Since the Reformation
was an era of time within the kingdom of heaven, and God’s
objective was to restore truth to the one body of believers, in
order to end up the age with a church believing exactly the same
as the one in the book of Acts, it was necessary that basic doctrines
be restored before people’s attention was drawn to Holy Ghost
sensations. You need a word foundation to land on when the sensation
wears off. Whatever the first church had, the living element of
the bride of Christ will have also before she leaves this old planet,
in the rapture. That is why she is pictured in the 19th
chapter of Revelation, as being arrayed in fine linen, clean and
white. That is also why Paul said, He, (Jesus) would be able to
present her to Himself, a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
It is because all man-made ideas and opinions will be washed out
by the washing of the waters of the word of God. (You can read that
in the 5th chapter of Ephesians.) That will make the
end-time church just like the first age church. Remember what I
pointed out earlier now, and do not get fine linen clean and white,
mixed up with white robes; for the white robes speak only of eternal
life, while the fine linen speaks of the perfected bride of Christ.
The foolish virgins will already have their white robes when they
go into the tribulation, but they will be spotted and wrinkled by
man-made creeds and Antichrist doctrines, and only martyrdom will
clean them up. When I say this, please remember that I am referring
to their salvational robes being dirty, and not their physical lives.
Wesley’s sanctification message cleaned up a lot of lives,
but it did not rid them of anti-word doctrines. They lived clean
moral lives, but still carried 80 percent of their Catholic, Dark
Age creeds, instead of apostolic truth.
PROTESTERS
SANCTUARY
We are coming into the 20th century
now, in our journey through time, and we will see what conditions
were present that began both to make wise virgins as well as foolish
virgins. We have already spoke on some of this, but just to keep
a proper sequence as we continue our story, let us go right through
them again. People are always asking. When did the 7th
church age start? How long will it last? Why does this parable in
Matt. 25 have to take place in the 7th church age, and
so forth. The age started when God began to move upon some folks,
with the baptism of the Holy Ghost, in such a way that it produced
an oil message. We do not have any scripture to tell us how long
it will last; we only have scriptural signs that we must watch,
so that we will know when the end is drawing nigh. Then to answer
the third question, the parable could only come into effect in an
age when there would be Holy Ghost filling stations in various places,
or it could not be said to the foolish, “Go to them that sell,
and buy for yourselves.” In other words, go to your charismatic
meetings until you get the oil you need; they are the ones who make
merchandise out of the Spirit of God. Can you see now, that there
has never been another age when this parable could be applied, before
this age? Of course you can. Pentecost began making its debut around
the turn of this century, about 400 years after the reformation
started. Timewise we would have to look to January 1, 1900, in a
place called Topeka, Kansas, where old brother Parheim (I believe
that was his name) with a group of Methodists had been fasting and
praying for a revival, a move of God. They were asking God to do
something to get hold of the lives of sinners. Right at that time
they were living in the dying hours of the Welch revival which fell
in the islands off England. Many letters had been written back and
forth concerning what had taken place in that revival, so these
old saints were seeking God for a visitation in their midst, in
like manner. Let me say this, Pentecost, as the world has come to
know and understand the Pentecostal message, could not have fallen
in Africa, nor Europe. As you here at Faith Assembly will probably
remember, Bro. Paisley pointed out in a message, that, if the messenger
to this age was to come with a message that was different, then
it could not come from that Old World where the old mother system
was still in power. It had to come from a nation that had been founded
in an hour right at the time when the reformers started out, or
when the Reformation started. When Martin Luther was just a lad
growing up, there was an Italian man named Christopher Columbus
who loved to sail the seas. He got the idea to try and find a new
trade route to the Dutch East Indies; in other words, a short cut.
While almost every other seaman believed the world was flat, and
that it would be dangerous to sail too far, for fear of dropping
off, old Columbus believed the world was round, and that one could
go to the East by sailing west. He went to every King’s palace
in Europe trying to get someone to give him some boats. Finally,
he found a queen who would listen to him, and she gave him the necessary
boats for his endeavor. Then he rounded up a bunch of crooks and
thieves for his crews, and set sail, looking for a new trade route
to the Dutch East Indies. After many days and nights on the sea,
instead of reaching his intended destination he discovered the whereabouts
of this North American continent, and made it known back in Europe.
Naturally the news spread fast throughout all Europe, and before
long Spaniards were coming from Spain to Latin America, then into
Mexico, and from Mexico into Southern California, Arizona and New
Mexico. The Spanish Conquistadors took gold from the Indians, and
took it to Spain. I could go into much detail telling about all
the gold we saw in a large Catholic church there in old Toledo,
Spain, three years ago, but I will forego that, and just say this;
Columbus died the year before Martin Luther was ordained a priest,
but he had opened up a route into this wilderness land where Luther’s
protestors came to in 1620 fleeing that old mother system. Christendom
out of Europe came here to this wilderness land in order to get
away from Catholicism, and be able to worship God according to the
conviction of their own hearts. Little by little various parts of
what is now the United States was settled, stating at Lost Angeles
and moving eastward. Those who came were carrying the message of
Luther, “The just shall live by faith.” To that was
added “Eternal security of the believer, and sanctification,”
but God did not drop the Pentecostal message until the new continent.
“The United States,” had been settled from seashore
to seashore. Then God began to set things in motion that would eventually
produce the Holy Ghost baptism, message. On January 1, 1900, those
saints out in Topeka, Kansas, began to experience something out
of the ordinary as they fasted and prayed and sought God for a revival.
This one woman began to speak in tongues, and that caused everyone
to go to the Bible for an explanation of what was happening. In
that search of the scriptures they began to recognize a message
of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Several weeks later, Bro. Parheim
and some of the other folks began moving out into other areas, with
testimony of their new experience. Finally they worked their way
into Texas where an old colored brother named Seymour heard the
message of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. He did not have the experience
yet, himself, but he knew that if he preached anywhere at all, he
would have to tell about this experience. That caused him to want
to cancel an engagement to speak in Los Angeles, for he was a Nazarene
preacher, and it was Nazarene people who had invited him to come.
He knew he could not preach to anyone without telling of this experience,
so he called L.A. with his mind made up to cancel his meeting, but
they persuaded him to come anyhow. Most of you know what happened;
he slowly began to lay the foundation for this message, and as time
went on, certain ones began to be filled with the Spirit of God.
This brought about a split in the church, and moved old Bro. Seymour
and his group into a warehouse building where the real outpouring
started. By this time it was not only affecting Nazarenes, but also
Methodists, Baptists, and even Catholics. These fundamental denominational
churches even got to the point where they would get hold of mean,
ornery characters, and send them into those meetings to break them
up. I read of one such man who went to church for that purpose,
and while he waited for the right moment, the Spirit of God got
hold of him, and instead of breaking up the meeting, he ran trembling
to the alter, crying, “God have mercy on me!” It was
things like this that caused the message to be noised far and wide.
That is why we say the Laodicean church age had its beginning in
the period between 1903 and 1906; that is when those great revival
fires burned so brightly. The message was fought tooth and toenail
by the main fundamental organizations, but out of Los Angeles went
the Pentecostal message. In that hour it was just a message of the
baptism of the Holy Ghost with the manifestation of speaking in
tongues. In that hour they had no revelation on the Godhead; it
was just a message of being filled with the power of God. They did
not lay aside, “The just shall live by faith,” and neither
did they lay aside sanctification; their new revelation made these
others more enjoyable. It was a glorious thing, just to know that
Jesus Christ had taken up His abode within. Preachers and missionaries
from all over the world came to this message, so that by the time
WWI finally caused the world travel to be stopped, the message had
already been around the earth. It had become a universal message,
and please remember, The Holy Ghost message is the oil message that
produces two groups, wise and foolish, and neither group had gone
to sleep yet, speaking from the years of about 1908 - 1912.
GOD
MOVES SOVEREIGNLY
During the years between 1908 and 1912, other developments
began to take shape. God began to move upon individuals to take
on the name of Jesus in water baptism. I read one account of where
two brothers in the faith who had not seen each other for quite
some time, met at a convention and began to talk. One said to the
other, “What has the Lord been showing you?” The other
brother was a little reluctant to answer for he had been awakened,
startled, one night, as he heard a voice saying, Will you take my
name? He heard it so vividly, and it made such an impression upon
him, he knew it was the Lord that had spoken. He could not go back
to sleep; therefore he just picked up his Bible to read some scripture,
and it opened right up to Acts 2:38, so he began to read. “Repent,
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost.” The first man asked him again, “What has the
Lord been showing you? Hasn’t He been revealing anything to
you? I was reading the scriptures one night, when, all of a sudden,
right before my eyes, was Acts 2:38. It seemed like that verse just
jumped right out of the right out of the Bible and stood before
my face. It became so large; I just simply could not get my eyes
off of it. That caused me to start searching the scriptures, and
everywhere I read in the book of Acts where anyone was baptized
in water, they baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Upon hearing this, the other man began to relate what had awakened
him from his sleep one night, and how he had made the same discovery
from reading the book of Acts. That was how God began a process
of restoring more of His word back to the church. “Howbeit
when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all
truth; for He shall not speak of Himself: but whatsoever He shall
hear that shall He speak.” Now what is the Spirit of truth
(the Holy Ghost) to do? Guide us into all truth; not error. It just
kindly makes you wonder how folks who have supposedly had the Holy
Ghost for years could take off after strange doctrines all of a
sudden. Nevertheless I remain a firm believer in the fact that the
Holy Ghost will guide us into all truth if we will allow Him to.
THE
OIL MESSAGE
As God continued to pour out His Spirit upon hungry
souls, and the oil message picked up momentum, it began to inspire
people to believe that Jesus would come soon. This became their
theme, and the very heartbeat of their revelation, “Jesus
is coming soon.” That inspired more songs to be written in
that hour, songs of the bridegroom, songs of a soon to come wedding,
and so forth. When you go back through the old song books, you will
not find songs of this type in them. Songwriters and singers in
the days of those fundamental revivals, did not use terminology
like that. It was only after the Pentecostal revivals began to sweep
through the ranks of Christianity, that terms like this began to
be used. In that hour Pentecost had not yet become a great denomination;
it was just a fellowship of people with a message of being filled
with the Holy Ghost, but no matter how much they believed Jesus
would come very soon, He would not come in an hour when the bride’s
faith was not yet purified. The oil message was not enough. The
church must have a revelation of the oneness of God, and have time
for the revelation to be perfected before Jesus would come. Up until
that hour believers, in general, still believed that God was three
persons. They were on the threshold of something to add to their
oil message, but they would not all receive the next phases of God’s
restoration truth. That brought a split in the Pentecostal ranks.
The Godhead message began to be preached as God dealt with various
individuals about the name of Jesus, and the oneness of God, and
meanwhile the oil message still continued to spread out and enlarge
its scope among the ranks of Christianity. World War I caught the
Pentecostal ranks divided into two segments, one group believing
that God is three persons, and the other group knowing that He is
one. As this revelation began to be purified in certain ones it
caused them to realize more and more that faith in God must be more
than just a theological concept: it has to be a living reality.
When that war period came to a close the oneness of God message
really caught fire. It spread out like a forest fire, still the
trinity side went right on with their oil message. God meant for
that oil message to run its full course; in other words, it had
to create an overall situation throughout all Christendom that would
make people know there was such an experience as being filled with
the Holy Ghost. It took that to divide the virgins into two that
would fulfill the parable of the wise, and the foolish virgins.
On the wise virgins side you had two groups, trinity and oneness;
they were called wise because they all recognized their need for
the Holy Ghost (oil) in their vessels. Over on that foolish virgin
side you had the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and so forth,
just to mention a few. They were called foolish, because they could
see no need for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. They believe they
received everything one needs when they believed, and especially
in former years, when they looked upon the Pentecostals as a bunch
of fanatics. Nevertheless this condition makes up the two groups
of virgins who went forth to meet the bridegroom, for they all looked
for the soon return of Jesus for his bride.
DENOMINATIONAL
FENCES AROUND PENTECOST
As we come on into the 1920's, Pentecost did what
all the other reformation groups had done; they began to build themselves
into a denomination. Because of conditions as a result in the split
among their ranks, the trinity side, because they would not go on
with God, was forced into building themselves a denominational fence
around the baptism of the Holy Ghost. At first it looked like the
oneness element would not even be able to survive as they were forced
out on their own, but God was with them; they were carrying a truth
that must be restored to the body of Christ. Eventually, though,
they also built them a denominational fence around what they had,
and took the attitude that they had all that there was to have.
That is what a denominational spirit does, it closes your eyes to
everything beyond what you have. When both elements of Pentecost
were comfortably established as major denominations, that started
them all going to sleep. The wise virgins who had oil in their vessels
went to sleep spiritually, right along with the Baptists, and all
the rest. This condition fulfilled verse 5, of our text, “While
the bridegroom tarried, they all (both wise and foolish) slumbered
and slept. The wise virgins, like all the rest, had reached a point
where they could see no further light, so they went to sleep right
along with all the foolish. This brings us well up into the 1930's,
in our following the route of the church through time, and let me
remind you again, We are not just looking at the church in America.
No. Anything that has to do with fulfilling this parable must reach
around the whole world in its scope, and that takes time. You may
see things right around you that seemingly fulfills this parable,
but those conditions must be world wide before they can fulfill
the parable. (Saints: I hope you are following me. It is important
that you understand this, if you want to know where you are in time.)
There had to be a worldwide condition where one could say, “All
of Christendom is asleep.” Then, according to the parable
there came a cry at midnight, (midnight signifying a time of night
when everyone would be asleep; that began to awaken the sleeping
virgins, and that cry must be heard throughout the whole earth in
order to fulfill the parable. As a result of the midnight cry, all
the sleeping virgins, both wise and foolish, began to awaken and
trim their lamps, and that is when the foolish began to discover
that they needed something else. What they went to sleep on was
not sufficient, standing alone, to get their light shining again.
We will go into that cry condition in a few minutes, but right now
I want to say this, Jesus will not come for His bride until every
last one who will make up that bride, has heard, and had time enough
to get dressed up in every single truth that is found in His word.
I will agree with anyone on the fact that we are living very close,
timewise, to His coming, but I disagree with the idea some have,
that He could come just any minute now. There are still some events
and conditions that must affect the universal body of believers
before that can take place. His first advent was timed precisely
to fulfill all scripture that pertained to it, and His coming for
the church will be also. Every bride person will be completely dressed
and ready to go when He comes, and every world condition will have
to match that which the scriptures speak of. That is, “THUS
SAITH THE LORD.” That is why the apostle Peter could look
those Jews in the eye one day, and say, Through ignorance you have
crucified the Lord of glory, the very Messiah you have looked for
stood right in your midst and you rejected Him, and allowed Him
to be put to death. He went on to say, Nevertheless it had to be
like this in order to fulfill all that the prophets of old had spoken
concerning the crucifixion of Christ, how He would suffer all these
things, be crucified, buried, then rise the 3rd day.
Everything happened precisely according to what was written, as
His first advent, and it will be exactly in harmony with what is
written when He comes again. Praise His name! Wherever the little
bride of Christ is, in her universal scope around this world, she
has got to be awakened, brought out of her sleepy denominational
structure, washed by the washing of the word until she has a pure
revelation. Her Holy Ghost experience will lead her to that. Some
of you still believe, or at least hope that when the Lord Jesus
will rapture the bride, He will take a few from every denomination.
I am here to tell you, That is not so. Anyone who holds to a denomination
until the rapture takes place will certainly not have any place
in the bride of Christ. The only hope they have left is to be a
foolish virgin, and wash their robe in the blood of the Lamb through
martyrdom. Now please do not try to tell me the foolish virgins
are not in denominations. They are. Even the wise were in denominations
before the Holy Ghost began to lead them out. When the midnight
cry went forth all of Christianity was living under a denominational
cloud, but it was the midnight cry that started them coming out.
MIDNIGHT
CRY CONDITION
Let us look for a moment at what, universally,
conditions were that constituted the midnight condition. As you
all know, when the Pentecostal experience first began to sweep through
the ranks of Christianity, taking one here, one there, and two or
three from somewhere else, it caused a great stir among the fundamental
ranks. They persecuted the Pentecostals, and fought against the
baptism of the Holy Ghost, and a person had to have the real thing
in order to endure. But time changes conditions, wears out resistance,
and gives people a chance to settle down. That is what happened
with Pentecost. As time passed on and both elements had formed their
denominations, feeling that there was no further revelation to be
had, they just began to settle down to wait for the bridegroom to
come. They began to come out of the side street missions, and storefront
meeting places, and build nice comfortable church houses just like
the fundamentals had. They become recognized as major denominations,
and the persecution ceased, looking at it from a worldwide viewpoint.
Now Pentecost is asleep along with all the rest, not looking for
anything else, but just waiting for the Lord to come. When this
condition reached a universal scope it had conditions right for
the midnight cry. You will notice in verse 5, that Jesus used two
words to describe their sleeping conditions, “SLUMBERED and
SLEPT” this lets us know that some of them were sleeping more
soundly than others. Some were just in a very light sleep, while
others were in a deep sleep, snoring so loudly that it was hard
to awaken them. It was the fundamental people who were in the deep
sleep, snoring so loudly. Pentecost went to sleep, but they were
not sleeping so soundly, therefore when God sent His messenger to
sound the midnight cry at the close of World War II, it was Pentecost
that first began to recognize this man as a messenger from God.
It was his unusual ministry of healing, and the gifts of the Spirit
that God manifested through him, that caused Pentecostal people
to take heed of his ministry. We all know it was necessary for God
to introduce Brother Branham through the avenue of these gifts.
If he had just stepped on the scene preaching doctrine without first
having some kind of vindication that people could recognize, he
would have been rejected by every denomination including Pentecost.
No. God does not work like that. He vindicates His man, then that
man speaks, THUS SAITH THE LORD. God created conditions right within
the Pentecostal ranks to accomplish that. A preacher who had a sick
daughter heard about Bro. Branham and his unusual ministry, and
all the way from Missouri they reached him. Come and pray for my
little daughter. God gives him a vision in which he sees certain
things in certain positions in the place where the little girl was.
Therefore when he went to pray for her, he waited until everything
in the room was exactly like he had seen it in the vision; then
when he prayed he knew what to expect. (May I say, I was permitted
to see that person alive and healthy, years later.) This kind of
thing went on until the man’s name and ministry was well known.
That gift was a drawing attraction to get the attention of Pentecostal
people, and once he became identified within the ranks of that,
it gave opportunity for the message that actually created the midnight
cry condition. It was the message he brought to this age which began
to awaken folks from their sleeping spiritual state. Contrary to
what some say, his message was not a new one. He is not the one
who restored the doctrinal truth that the Just shall live by faith.
Martin Luther did that. He was not the one who restored the doctrine
of sanctified life, John Wesley did that, and Pentecost already
had the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the oneness of God, so he
did not restore that. “What was his message then?” you
might say. His message to this sleeping generation was, “Wake
up church of the living God! You need every truth that Luther, Calvin,
Knox, Wesley, and all the others preached, as well as the Pentecostal
experience and message, to be dressed properly in this Laodicean
age. If God has called you to preach, preach the whole gospel just
like the apostles did.” Pentecostal folks began to take hold
of his doctrinal teaching as he layed emphasis on getting our spiritual
experience in line with the Bible and away from man-made creeds.
You would have to agree, his message is what would have to be termed,
“the midnight cry,” that began waking the virgins out
of their sleeping conditions, and cause them to start dressing themselves
in the revealed word of God. As Pentecostals broke the ranks of
their denominations in order to follow truth, this also began to
spill over into the fundamental ranks. They began to take note of
the fact that this man’s ministry was different than anything
they had heard of. Little by little it had its affect within their
assemblies as individuals would get hold of enough truth to pull
them out of their organizations. The Pentecostals, who already had
the oil were ready to move right into the stream of restored truth,
but those fundamentalists who were awakened by the midnight cry
had to first go get oil (Holy Ghost) in their vessels before they
could enter in, and according to the parable they are gone too long,
and when they finally do come back with their Holy Ghost experience
it is too late for them to enter into the bride’s revelation.
The shut door in verse 10, just simply means that the Holy Ghost
does not open up their understanding even though they come begging
for it. In other words you must move when God says move, or you
just may never have another chance. Let me say also, the fact that
we use general terms in dealing with a subject like this, does not
in any way mean that all of what was called Pentecostal entered
into the revelation. It was only those hungry souls that loved truth.
Many of those fundamental people received their oil and moved right
into the truth also.
WHAT
DO MEN SAY?
God took His messenger from the scene over 14 years
ago, but the message he stood for is still having it affect to the
ends of the earth. There have been many opinions expressed about
this man and his ministry, what he should have done, and I say he
fulfilled exactly, the portion of God’s word that he was ordained
to fulfill. What others have done with what he said and taught is
quite another story. One brother was telling me of a book that his
son checked out of the library. It was a book written about various
evangelists including Bro. Branham, written by a worldly man, and
from a denominational viewpoint. I will not use any names, but the
man who was interviewed to get certain information for the article
said that as long as Bro. Branham prayed for the sick and used the
gift that God placed in his life, he was greatly used to help humanity
and God was with him. During those days, said he, Bro. Branham had
great crowds of people in his services, but when he started preaching
doctrine, his ministry began to decline. He also said Bro. Branham
was a childish man. I have not heard of anyone saying anything about
him that those 1st century people did not say about Jesus.
As long as He healed their sick and crippled bodies, and fed them
loaves and fishes they thought He was wonderful, but there came
a day when He looked them in the face and said unto them, “Except
ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have
no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath
eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” He
went on to say, “There are some of you that believe not. Therefore
said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given
unto him of my Father. From that time many of His disciples went
back, and walked no more with Him.” They even called Him a
devil, and accused Him of casting out devils by the power of the
prince of the devils (or demons.) Some of them in their accusations
called Him an illegitimate child, and a blasphemer, so tell me this,
If they say and do such things to the Savior of all mankind, why
would they, who have the same spirit in them not say similar things
about the man in our age who gave them the exact same reasons that
Jesus did? Out of all the multitudes that followed Jesus, how many
of them actually obeyed His last words to them and waited in Jerusalem
for the promise of the Father? You know as well as I do. It was
only about 120 souls. I would have to say, His crowds declined considerably
when he started preaching truth to them; do you not agree? Coming
back to what this preacher (who was well acquainted with Bro. Branham)
said about Bro. Branham’s ministry starting to fail as a result
of him preaching doctrine, his ministry did not fail. His voice
was an instrument used by God to sound a message in the earth that
has had the whole Christian world going through an evolutionary
change every since. People have been awakened to the fact that they
need to get back to the word of God, all over this world, as a result
of his ministry.
BIRTH
OF CHARISMATICS
In the year 1962, right out on the West Coast where
Pentecost got started, a little charismatic group began to function.
It was not the Pentecostals that started the charismatic move of
our day; it was a few Baptists, a few Methodists, Presbyterians,
Lutherans, Episcopalians and others that you would never expect
to do such a thing, that actually got this thing started in little
prayer groups in their basements. What was it all about? It was
the awakened foolish virgins seeking oil. In our parable, what was
the first thing the foolish virgins realized they needed when they
were awakened? The Holy Ghost. What was the first thing the wise
did when they began to wake up? Shut themselves in with the bridegroom,
not in the rapture, but in a revelation of truth. The Charismatics
which started out in basements in 1962, then moved to the living
rooms, then to the school house, and eventually on to college campuses,
now has Catholic priests and nuns in leadership roles around the
world, and they number into the multiplied thousands. What is it
all about? It is foolish virgins seeking oil. Bro. Jackson, Will
they get it? Yes. If they are virgins and not tares, (make believers)
they will, and we are not just speaking about foolish virgins here
in the States; this covers a universal setting and that takes time.
Nothing about this parable should be looked upon as something that
takes place instantly, not even the cry. Bro. Jackson: How can we
tell the foolish virgins from the tares? We can’t. Only God
knows that, but why would we even need to know? Wise virgins have
no business running to charismatic meetings. Those meetings are
accomplishing a twofold purpose of God. The foolish virgins are
getting oil, and tares are being tied together in bundles to be
burned. The end result of all this ecumenism will fulfill another
parable Jesus spoke. It binds all the tares together, getting them
ready to be cast into the fire, just like Jesus said. Brothers and
sisters: Please do not get the idea that I enjoy saying these things.
I do not, and I take no pleasure in knowing what is going to happen
to people who have to face the great tribulation at the end of this
age, but I do have a responsibility before God to preach His word;
and there are times when saying what God’s word says makes
one sound proud. Let me tell you, I have nothing to be proud about.
If it were not for the mercy and grace of God I would be just as
entangled with denominations as anyone else. If we escape hell,
it is by the grace of God. If we escape the great tribulation, it
is by the grace of God. Brothers and sisters, we are not worthy
of anything that God has ever done for us. If we would really take
time to realize just what God has done for us, it should make us
the most humble people on earth. Being a wise virgin is nothing
to be puffed up about when you stop to realize that Jesus said,
“No man can come unto me except it were given unto him of
my Father.” Hallelujah! Saints, I am thankful to be one of
them that God foreknew from before the foundation of the world,
one of them that has entered into revealed truth. No Gentile has
ever been privileged to walk with Jesus after the flesh; Gentiles
have always had to walk with Him by faith, believing His word and
resting upon His promises. We see Him in the spirit only, but we
are privileged to have the same revelation as those who walked with
Him in the flesh for 3 years. That leads me to say this, The rapture
will not take place until every predestinated wise virgin is in
the revelation, and spiritually revelated. By the time that last
wise virgin enters into the revelation, world conditions will be
such that they will cause the foolish virgins to come, crying to
get in, into the revelation. But according to the parable, Jesus,
from within will say to them, I never knew you, or, I know you not.
You will notice, He does not say, “Ye workers of iniquity,”
like He did to another group. No. These are all virgins, and He
does know them, or we will say, He knows about them. This just simply
means that He does not know them as His wife. He even knows every
tare for that matter, but He knows no one intimately except the
bride, the wise virgins, those who are following His word, by revelation.
This may sound a little strange to some of you, but I assure you
that before the rapture takes place, every wise virgin on the face
of this old earth will have the same revelation of God’s word.
They will see every scripture the same way; there will be no more
private interpretations of any part of it. Every foolish virgin
will try to get into the revelation, but instead will be purified
in the great tribulation through martyrdom; and every tare will
sell out to the Antichrist and be damned.
STEPPING
OVER THE WORD
For an illustration, I layed my Bible on the floor
here one night, and said, Anyone who will step over that word to
satisfy the desires of their flesh now, will step over it a dozen
times for a loaf of bread when the Antichrist demands it. That is
your tares. Foolish virgins in that hour will have become very wise;
they will refuse to step over the word of God, and they will be
killed because of it. When they actually have to face that hour,
that is when God will give them the grace to be loyal to their faith
in Christ Jesus. Just like I said earlier, only God knows who they
are, and where they are; we do not need to know. Most of us will
be very busy, and will not have extra time on our hands to examine
other folks, if we just keep our own lives clean before God. You
who have oil still must keep the wick trimmed in order for your
lamps to give a good light. When you think about your body being
the vessel that holds the oil, and your revelation of God’s
word being the wick that the oil (the Holy Ghost) flows out through
to project your light, you should realize how important it is to
have all that carnality trimmed away. If our wick (revelation) gets
all crusted and carboned up with a lot of man made ideas and fleshly
desires, we will not give off a good light. That is why all the
virgins begin to trim their lamps. They have all been asleep and
their wicks have become charred; but when the foolish virgins try
to trim up their revelation, they find that there is no oil there
in the vessel. While they sleep their revelation becomes hard and
crusty; the spirit of God cannot flow through it. Those who organized
eternal security, and went to sleep with that light, slept right
on until after the spirit of God had left their denomination. It
has been the same with justification by faith, predestination, sanctification,
and every other truth that men have built a denomination around.
There was a time when people in those denominations carried a precious
truth that had life in it, but when they failed to move on with
God, He left them. They continued to run their programs and go through
the motions, but the Spirit of God had already moved on and left
them, leaving only the skeleton to go through the form. When those
reformers received revelation on those various truths, their revelation
came by the Spirit of God; therefore we know that those who received
those truths by revelation did have a measure of the Spirit of God,
but since each truth revealed was to be added to all other revealed
truth; when they refused to accept further revelation God just moved
on and left them. Their organizations were then dead; they could
not give life to anyone, yet we do know that through the years many
sincere souls have turned to those systems when the Spirit of God
would convict them of sin. A lot of make-believers also joined them
and helped run their programs, but when time came for God’s
messenger to sound the wake up cry, it was only those sincere ones
who heard the cry. Those make-believers had no ear to hear the word
of God; they fought against it instead, for those foolish virgins
among them who were waking up and going for oil were disrupting
their programs. Besides, they did not like all that talk about receiving
the Holy Ghost. Nevertheless, the foolish virgins did begin to move
out and search for oil. That is when the charismatic groups began
to spring up in various places across the land of America and around
the world. What really happened was, those who were serious about
serving God, began to hear things that made them realize they needed
to be filled with the Holy Ghost, as God’s wake up message
found its way around the world. They had been told that they received
everything they needed when they walked down the aisle and shook
the preacher’s hand, but the midnight cry caused them to hear
some things which made them realize they did not have all there
is to have. The only catch to it is this, When they went out to
get the oil in their vessels, they got themselves so wrapped up
in buying and selling, (receiving the Holy Ghost, then helping others
to receive) they have not allowed the Spirit they received to lead
them to the bride’s message; a few have and we praise God
for that, but multitudes have not. They are still out there buying
and selling, dealing only in the Holy Ghost and speaking in tongues,
and divine healing. Catholics have sanctioned these charismatic
meetings, added their influence, and even to the point where they
have taken over many of them. You may ask, Is Catholicism being
converted? Not the system itself, only a few individuals who have
found that God is not in those systems. The system itself has capitalized
upon all this ecumenical fellowship, as a way to get the protesting
daughters (PROTESTANT DENOMINATIONS) back home, back to Catholicism
where they all sprung from through the years of the reformation,
and the poor old foolish virgins are going right along with it all
up until now. They are out there enjoying their ecumenical fellowship,
believing they have finally found the true stream of God’s
perfect will, while the bride has been locking herself into a revelation,
where she is dressing herself to meet the bridegroom.
ECUMENICAL
COUNCIL WORLD CHURCH
During the interval of time when Bro. Branham was
delivering the church age messages, and other key message like the
Seventy Weeks of Daniel, and also the Seven Seals to those wise
virgins who had been awakened, Pope John 23rd was calling
his ecumenical council in an endeavor to work out some of their
differences and give the protestant daughters a chance to come back
home. We have watched this ecumenical council at work through the
years since then, binding all these protestant churches together,
getting them ready for the ONE WORLD CHURCH, and we know from the
word of God that somewhere up ahead, something will happen in their
ranks that will cause those foolish virgins to stop and take another
look. They have enough of the word of God in them that they will
not allow themselves to go past the point of no return with this
great Antichrist movement. They will turn back before they become
locked into a one world church system. Something will cause them
to realize that they have left the only people who are truly following
the word of God, and they will try to turn back and get in with
them, but by then it will be too late for them to get into the bride’s
revelation; the Spirit of God just simply will not open it up to
them. “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; (not
for the rapture, but to open their understanding to a revelation
of truth that will enable them to dress themselves properly to sit
at the marriage table of Jesus Christ) and they that were ready
(ready to follow the word) went in with Him to the marriage; and
the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying,
Lord, Lord, open to us. But He answered and said, Verily I say unto
you, I know you not.” Like I said already, that does not mean
He does not know them in the sense of life itself, It just means
He does not know them as His chosen bride people. There has been
no intimate relationship based upon the revelated word. Therefore
the knocking on the door setting is really just a situation where
the foolish virgins are trying to understand the bride’s message,
(and they have all the words at their disposal) but the Spirit of
God will not open up their understanding. They will read the same
messages you read, but they will not be able to comprehend. The
door of revelation will be shut to them. Why? Because they stayed
in their denominations too long. As time passed, this charismatic
revival (they call it that, but it really is not) began to draw
so much attention, and its effects felt so strongly around the world,
and especially after the Catholics assumed so much of the leadership,
it caused all the old line denominational churches to realize that
this ecumenicy is something they are going to have to identify with
or be left out in the cold. Now the charismatics are not longer
just foolish virgins seeking oil, their ranks are filled with make-believers
also. It is no longer necessary for the foolish virgins to separate
from their denominations; they can stay right in there with them,
and speak in tongues all they care to. Up to a certain point they
will be carried right along with all the one world church plans
of the ecumenical council, but there will come a day, and very soon,
we believe, that something will come rumbling down from Vatican
headquarters that will be so obviously antichrist, no true virgin
will have anything to do with it, no matter how foolish they may
have been. They will then have to take a good look at the whole
ecumenical set up, and when they do, they will see just how apostate
and corrupt it has become. Satan’s doctrine of, “It
does not matter whether we believe alike or not, just as long as
we have the Holy Ghost and love each other,” will suddenly
become a great eye opening, soul searching thing for these foolish
virgins. They will break ranks with that system, and it will be
too late for them to get in with the bride, so they are marked for
martyrdom. When the bride is gone to the wedding supper, and the
beast is in full control, nothing outside of that one world church
will be allowed to live. We are speaking in general terms, you understand,
for we know that God will have some moral mortal people on earth
that He will preserve and protect to fulfill the last verses of
Matthew 25; people from every nation kept alive to repopulate the
earth in the millennium. There is one thing sure about it though,
no foolish virgin will be preserved alive. Every last one of them
is seen in chapter 7, in the book of Revelation, coming up out of
great tribulation, having washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the lamb.
TWO
NOTABLE MARRIAGES
I do not know how many years God has purposed to
have these two conditions, wise and foolish virgins, in the earth;
I do not need to know that, for Jesus said, verse 13, “Watch
therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the
son of man cometh.” I do know that the condition has already
been present in the earth for 16 or 17 years though, ever since
Bro. Branham began to pound the pulpit (the Bible stand) crying,
Come out of her (spiritual Babylon) my people! Get out of those
denominations and get back to the word of God. During that time
some who supposedly go into the revelation have been kicked back
out to fulfill another parable, the one where the man was thrown
out into outer darkness because he did not have on a wedding garment
(Matt. 22:11-13.) That just lets us know that, not everyone who
claims to be in this message of truth is really in it. You hear
them say, ̶ |
