William M. Branham: The Revelation Of The Seven Seals, Voice of God Recordings, 2012, Jeffersonville, Indiana

The First Seal p.129 (lines 87-104, re. the folks that make up the bride, folks raptured):

"Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah, now you talk to Him about it, see, "wherein eight souls were saved by water, so shall it be in the Coming of the Son of man." If they was eight hundred that went in the rapture tonight [1Thessalonians4,17], you would never hear a word about it tomorrow, or the next day, or no other time. They'd be gone and you'd know nothing about it. See, it'd just be the same thing.  

What am I trying to say? I'm not trying to scare you, worry you. I-I want you to be on your toes. Be ready, watching, every minute. Quit your nonsense. Just get down to business with God, 'cause it's later than you think.

Now, you remember, the true bride!

Now there is a false bride. We get that in Revelation 17. She said, 'I am a widow, and have no need of nothing,' you see, sitting upon this scarlet-color bea't, and so forth, the beast rather.

Now, the true bride will be made up of thousands of people, but it will be the Elect out of every church age [1Thessalonians4,16, 'dead in Christ']. Every time a message went forth, and the people believed it and accepted it in all the Light it was, when they were sealed away until that Day of Redemption.

Don't Jesus teach the same thing [Revelation11,15?], when He said, 'The-the sound come in the- seventh watch? [Matthew25,6? Revelation11,15]  That's the last church age. See? And said Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go out to meet Him.'

And then the sleeping virgin come [Matthew25,8], rubbed her eyes, and said, 'Suppose I ought to have some of thet Oil, too, so mayby you'd better have some.'

And the real true bride standing there, said, 'We just got enough for ourself. Uh-huh. We just got enough to get in, ourself. We can't give you nothing. If you want some, you go pray up.'

And while she was gone, the Bridegroom come, and in went the Bride. And then them remnant there, the ones that were absolutely virtuous, was left outside. And he said, 'There will be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth [Matthew25,30].' "

*used by permission.

William Branham (1909-1965) was to 20th century American preaching what Frank Capra (1897-1991) was to 20th century American film-making.

Today is our eighth in a series of excerpts from William M. Branham's two principal written works. We're not going to take time explaining his life or the miracles that attended it, or defend his preaching style or grammar, or his doctrines.

That's all being said and done, and likely will be until Jesus comes back.

Rather than get distracted, our aim is to see Branham's gift of in depth discernment, study, and then fully shouting from the rooftops about biblical passages that Christians historically, and to this day, avoid, gloss over, explain away, or outright change, according to denominational and political fault lines.

Having said that, there might not be two bible expositors or students across the whole Christian spectrum who agree with half of what Br. Branham preached.

Yet and still, in an age where preaching has become so tepid, so nuanced, so easy-pleasy, so cookie-cutter and prosperity bound, there seems to be a famine of the prophetic word, his voice is somehow still welcome. (As for this famine: https://vimeo.com/126142650 ) Why is his voice still so welcome? I'm not sure, but it has something to with the fact that his preaching still prods and wrankles all, just like Jesus', and even galvanizes some to get serious about salvation from our savior who said "not everybody who says 'Lord Lord' will get into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew7,21)

Long before anybody heard about "the prosperity gospel", Branham was preaching against it. Instead, he preached for all God's people, for humanity, not for pastorianity or churchianity, not for secular power and wealth on behalf of the potentates of the world, but for humanity, poor as well as rich. In this homespun humanity and the breath of his gospel vision, he shares much with the renown American film-maker Frank Capra.

One note of caution, Branham's ability to communicate, especially vocally, is so effective, so boiled down and rich, the apparent temptation of some is to preach his words rather than the same written word and gospel that he so loved.

In sum, anyone who hasn't sampled something of Branham's vast gospel output has missed something of the potential breath, vision, and import of our individual faith witness according to the word of God.

Hope you enjoy this series.