Since interpretations of what Brother Branham said, particularly in the sermon “The Rapture,” have taken their course, this event must once again be illuminated from the viewpoint of the Holy Scripture.

Many passages in the New Testament talk about the Return of Christ; it was, after all, the main subject in the days of the apostles. Our Lord and Savior said both: “… I go to prepare a place for you …,” and: “… I will come again, and receive you unto myself …” (Jn 14:2+3). The following applies to the true preachers of the message: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Pet 1:16-21).

In the German Bible, the word “Return” is written 17 times, for instance in Jas 5:7: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the return (King James Version: coming) of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”

The Apostle John wrote: “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his return (KJV: coming).” (1 Jn 2:28). There are various comings of the Lord, but we are waiting for the second coming, for His promised Return (Jn 14:1-3).

In Lk 24:50-51 and Acts 1:9-11 we find the report of the ones who were eyewitnesses when the risen Lord ascended into heaven. They were told: “… this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11). According to Ps 47:5, our Lord ascended to heaven as the Victor of Calvary, as the Risen One Who had conquered death, with a shout and the sound of a trumpet: “God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” He shall also return with the shout of victory and the trump of God, as it is written in 1 Ths 4:13-17.

There it literally states: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Now comes the Thus Saith the Lord: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming/return of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” It cannot be said any clearer!

Anyone who heeds what is written in verses 13 and 14 also recognizes to whom the wake-up call in verse 16 is addressed. At that time, it is not about a message, which is proclaimed unto the living for years before His coming, as some people claim, but rather about the ones who are asleep in Christ. Immediately afterward, we, the living, will be transformed and taken up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord.

In 1 Cor 15:50-58, where Paul wrote about the transformation of the bodies at the rapture, he also emphasized that the Return/Coming of Christ would take place in the twinkling of an eye – not in stages. There it states: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound (see 1 Ths 4:16), and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (vv. 51-52). Whoever does not believe this, makes God a liar (1 Jn 5:10). But the fact remains: “… let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” (Rom 3:4).

The message “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” (Mat 25) has been going forth for many years. In the sermon “The Rapture,” Brother Branham said quite clearly, “A Message comes forth first. Now, ‘Lamp trimming time.’ ” (December 4, 1965). He was referring to the message of the revealed Word for our time, with which he was sent and which foreruns the second coming of Christ. Its purpose is the calling out, separation, restoration, and preparation of the true believers unto the glorious day of the Return of the Bridegroom.

At the time when He takes His Bride home, the following will be fulfilled: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Mat 24:27); “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” (Mat 24:40-41). That is exactly how it will come to pass at the Return of Christ.

Just as the bodily resurrection and the bodily ascension of our Lord and Savior were a reality, the bodily Return of Jesus Christ and also the bodily resurrection of those who are asleep in Christ as well as our bodily transformation and rapture will likewise be a reality.

Whoever does not believe that Jesus Christ returns bodily, in the same manner as He ascended into heaven, that individual is according to 2 Jn verse 7 not only a deceiver but actually under the antichrist spirit: “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” All those who teach that Jesus Christ supposedly left the mercy seat and descended in spiritual form in 1963 to claim His Own are therefore deceivers and false teachers. If that were the case, where would that leave the ones who were born in the sixties or even later and then became believers? Such a teaching is nonsensical, just as any other false doctrine.

We may thank God from the bottom of our hearts that we can believe every Word of God. The signs of the times indicate that His Return is close at hand, for this is what our Lord said with regard to end-time events: “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Lk 21:28).

The message of the revealed Word as it was given to Brother Branham is precious to us. It is, in fact, a forerunner to the second coming of Christ, as he confirmed it on January 12, 1961: “It’s the message that will forerun the second coming of Christ. That’s what the Angel of the Lord said.”

God has led it in such a way that I preach the Word and publish the sermons of Brother Branham, and this on account of a direct divine calling, which the prophet confirmed. Upon the direct command of the Lord, Brother Branham stored in the spiritual food, and I may hand it out by the direct command of the Lord and distribute it all over the world, together with all of the ministering brethren (Mat 24:45-47). Thus the last message is reaching all peoples and tongues, as the Lord Himself said it: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Mat 24:14).

According to the commission the Lord gave me, namely, “… I will send you to other cities to preach my Word …,” I travel all over the world to proclaim the Word, the full Gospel, as Brother Paul and Brother Branham preached it. The Word, the Bible is my absolute. After all, the prophet said, “He said that the evidence of the Spirit was those who could receive the Word, neither love nor speaking in tongues, but it’s receiving the Word.” (July 26, 1964). So it is important to not just hear a sermon, but the Word of God. The last message contains everything that God wants to say unto us. Thereby, the Bride of Christ is made ready unto the glorious day of the Return of the Bridegroom. All of the elect know that the time is very near now. They are ones who as the wise virgins will go with the Bridegroom to the marriage supper (Mat 25:10), as it is written: “… and his wife (bride) hath made herself ready.” (Rev 19:7).

Since interpretations of what Brother Branham said, particularly in the sermon “The Rapture,” have taken their course, this event must once again be illuminated from the viewpoint of the Holy Scripture.

Many passages in the New Testament talk about the Return of Christ; it was, after all, the main subject in the days of the apostles. Our Lord and Savior said both: “… I go to prepare a place for you …,” and: “… I will come again, and receive you unto myself…” (Jn 14:2+3). The following applies to the true preachers of the message: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Pet 1:16-21).

In the German Bible, the word “Return” is written 17 times, for instance in Jas 5:7: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the return (King James Version: coming) of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”

The Apostle John wrote: “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his return (KJV: coming).” (1 Jn 2:28). There are various comings of the Lord, but we are waiting for the second coming, for His promised Return (Jn 14:1-3).

In Lk 24:50-51 and Acts 1:9-11 we find the report of the ones who were eyewitnesses when the risen Lord ascended into heaven. They were told: “… this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11). According to Ps 47:5, our Lord ascended to heaven as the Victor of Calvary, as the Risen One Who had conquered death, with a shout and the sound of a trumpet: “God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” He shall also return with the shout of victory and the trump of God, as it is written in 1 Ths 4:13-17.

There it literally states: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” Now comes the Thus Saith the Lord: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming/return of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” It cannot be said any clearer!

Anyone who heeds what is written in verses 13 and 14 also recognizes to whom the wake-up call in verse 16 is addressed. At that time, it is not about a message, which is proclaimed unto the living for years before His coming, as some people claim, but rather about the ones who are asleep in Christ. Immediately afterward, we, the living, will be transformed and taken up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord.

In 1 Cor 15:50-58, where Paul wrote about the transformation of the bodies at the rapture, he also emphasized that the Return/Coming of Christ would take place in the twinkling of an eye – not in stages. There it states: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound (see 1 Ths 4:16), and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (vv. 51-52). Whoever does not believe this, makes God a liar (1 Jn 5:10). But the fact remains: “… let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” (Rom 3:4).

The message “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” (Mat 25) has been going forth for many years. In the sermon “The Rapture,” Brother Branham said quite clearly, “A Message comes forth first. Now, ‘Lamp trimming time.’ ” (December 4, 1965). He was referring to the message of the revealed Word for our time, with which he was sent and which foreruns the second coming of Christ. Its purpose is the calling out, separation, restoration, and preparation of the true believers unto the glorious day of the Return of the Bridegroom.

At the time when He takes His Bride home, the following will be fulfilled: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Mat 24:27); “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” (Mat 24:40-41). That is exactly how it will come to pass at the Return of Christ.

Just as the bodily resurrection and the bodily ascension of our Lord and Savior were a reality, the bodily Return of Jesus Christ and also the bodily resurrection of those who are asleep in Christ as well as our bodily transformation and rapture will likewise be a reality.

Whoever does not believe that Jesus Christ returns bodily, in the same manner as He ascended into heaven, that individual is according to 2 Jn verse 7 not only a deceiver but actually under the antichrist spirit: “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” All those who teach that Jesus Christ supposedly left the mercy seat and descended in spiritual form in 1963 to claim His Own are therefore deceivers and false teachers. If that were the case, where would that leave the ones who were born in the sixties or even later and then became believers? Such a teaching is nonsensical, just as any other false doctrine.

We may thank God from the bottom of our hearts that we can believe every Word of God. The signs of the times indicate that His Return is close at hand, for this is what our Lord said with regard to end-time events: “When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Lk 21:28).

The message of the revealed Word as it was given to Brother Branham is precious to us. It is, in fact, a forerunner to the second coming of Christ, as he confirmed it on January 12, 1961: “It’s the message that will forerun the second coming of Christ. That’s what the Angel of the Lord said.”

God has led it in such a way that I preach the Word and publish the sermons of Brother Branham, and this on account of a direct divine calling, which the prophet confirmed. Upon the direct command of the Lord, Brother Branham stored in the spiritual food, and I may hand it out by the direct command of the Lord and distribute it all over the world, together with all of the ministering brethren (Mat 24:45-47). Thus the last message is reaching all peoples and tongues, as the Lord Himself said it: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Mat 24:14).

According to the commission the Lord gave me, namely, “… I will send you to other cities to preach my Word …,” I travel all over the world to proclaim the Word, the full Gospel, as Brother Paul and Brother Branham preached it. The Word, the Bible is my absolute. After all, the prophet said, “He said that the evidence of the Spirit was those who could receive the Word, neither love nor speaking in tongues, but it’s receiving the Word.” (July 26, 1964). So it is important to not just hear a sermon, but the Word of God. The last message contains everything that God wants to say unto us. Thereby, the Bride of Christ is made ready unto the glorious day of the Return of the Bridegroom. All of the elect know that the time is very near now. They are ones who as the wise virgins will go with the Bridegroom to the marriage supper (Mat 25:10), as it is written: “… and his wife (bride) hath made herself ready.” (Rev 19:7).