1991-05-12 - 14:30 - Bremen - ENGLISH

Ewald Frank

preached on 12. 05. 1991, 14:30, Bremen,

Topic: "God’s whole plan of Salvation!" Part 2

broadcasted on 23. 8. 2026

We have read here the word from the book of Revelation. Revelation, chapter 1. It was the final revelation that God gave to John through the sending of his angel. And for what purpose? Merely to inform him? No, to show his servants. Plural. To show his servants what must shortly come to pass.

There are, of course, people who simply say, they get straight to the point and say: “Huh, we know that Paul was a servant of God. Brother Branham was a servant of God.” That is very good. Here the word is in the plural. “To show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.” [Rev 1:1]

Herein lies the great mystery. God reveals his Word to his servants, the prophets. [Am 3:7] And this revealed Word must then be distributed and passed on.

I once tried to count how many countries Brother Branham had actually visited in person. And I could count them on the fingers of both of my hands. He was not a man who traveled the globe, even when he wanted to come to Zurich back then, because Dr. Guggenbühl had invited him and Miner Arganbright wanted to finance the trip. And at that time the Lord said to him: “Do not fly over there for the sake of this one meeting, but return to Jeffersonville and store up the food.” God is my witness. At that time, Brother Frank could not possibly have known anything at all about the storing up of the food, of this hidden manna. He could not possibly have known anything at all. But God knew all things.

There he said: “Do not fly over there, but return to Jeffersonville and store up the food.”

We shall also touch on this very briefly. For now, as we touched on a little earlier, it is not merely a matter of partial truths being proclaimed. Some take up the subject of the Godhead and harp on about it until they can’t go on any longer. Others take up baptism and still others take up other pet subjects. No, today is the time for the balanced proclamation of the whole counsel of God. [Act 20:27] This includes all the promises that God has graciously given in his Word.

I could never have known that it had already been foretold in the Old Testament in Amos 8, verse 11: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”

That surely is the message of the hour. God intended to send a famine upon the land. What did Jesus say in confirmation of the words from Deuteronomy? “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” [Deu 8:3; Mat 4:4]

And therefore, please forgive me when I read this scripture from the Gospel of Matthew. There is just one point that is particularly important to me. The whole passage we are reading is true and necessary and correct. But one point is very important to me, namely verse 47, Matthew 24:45-47. But I shall read only verse 47:

[47] Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

Not just partial truths, not just a little here and a little there, as it is written in Isaiah 28. [Isa 28:10, 13] We do not live in a time when partial truths are preached, sometimes justification, sometimes sanctification, and this and that besides. We live in the days when the full Bible truths, in the days when all the mysteries from Genesis to Revelation 22 have been revealed through the prophetic ministry. I am no prophet. Everyone knows that. But by grace I have the prophetic word.

And Peter writes the following about the word of prophecy. I would like to read it out to us from 2 Peter chapter 1.] Here I shall read verses 16 and 19:

[16] 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.

Now verse 19:

[19] We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.

Most people do not read far enough in Amos. They stop one verse too soon. I would therefore like to read verse 7 and also verse 8 from Amos chapter 3. Amos 3, verses 7 and 8:

[7] Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

[8] The lion hath roared, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?

Here we have the picture before us. When Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 14: “Let the prophets speak, two or three, and if anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.” [1Cor 14:29-30] This is not a prophecy in the sense of a prophecy that must not be interrupted, but rather it concerns men of God to whom the prophetic Word has been revealed and who must set it forth. And if one were to miss the point and another were sitting there to whom revelation is granted in that context, then that person steps forward and gets to the heart of the matter. Have we got that? We therefore do not need to be prophets if we have the prophetic Word.

We see it this way in the Old Testament too. Jonah had just one single commission. He did not predict anything. He was given a commission: go to the city of Nineveh with its 120,000 inhabitants and proclaim judgment upon them. That was all he had to do. And he was a prophet.

If we look at it this way, then God has truly bestowed upon us a ministry that is a composition of prophecy and fulfillment, a composition of the Old and New Testament, of the prophets and apostles bestowed upon us by grace. And that is not down to any human merit. It is simply a divine calling into which one is placed.

I can well remember the day when I first saw Brother Branham back then, and he said to me: “You are a preacher of the Gospel,” before we even greeted one another. You can well imagine that there were tears in my eyes. I had attended a service that Sunday afternoon in Karlsruhe-Durlach. And so, first thing that Monday morning, I wanted to greet him and speak to him. I am so grateful that God opened my heart and my understanding. I didn’t just see people born blind receiving their sight and the greatest miracles and signs taking place. My heart was on fire. Something was stirring within me that I cannot describe to anyone. I went in with the Bible under my arm, thinking: “You know the Holy Scriptures after all.”

I came out holding the Bible loosely in my hand and with my head bowed, because I knew God had sent someone who perhaps didn’t need to know the Bible in such detail, not even down to every single point, but who was a prophet of God.

And then in 1958 there was a very large gathering in Dallas, Texas. It had been organized by Gordon Lindsay, the man who wrote the book “A Man Sent From God”. And Brother Branham was the main speaker in the evenings. In the afternoons and mornings many people spoke. They raised a lot of money and did all sorts of things. I was always waiting for the evening. And lo and behold, after the third evening, that was the moment I was hooked. I held it back and held it back. And then I went to Brother Branham and simply said: “I have now seen the difference between you and all the other evangelists. I have realized that there is something quite different here.” We spoke to one another. And from that time on I was sent all the tape-recorded sermons from the end of 1958 onwards and grew with the ministry in this way.

And I didn’t only join 20 years later, but had the perhaps unique privilege that the Lord granted me to get to know the divine commission and the prophetic ministry for our day directly in this way and to share in it right up to the day when this great man of God was laid to rest. I was there too, watching when the coffin was lowered into the grave.

But something happened after this event was over and I returned to my motel room. A voice spoke in my heart. Not aloud in the room—I have heard the Lord’s voice aloud on several occasions. Once very loudly on the 2nd of April 1962, when I heard it for the first time at sunrise from the upper right-hand side. I was standing perhaps 3 meters from the window, and from above on the right came the Lord’s voice in a most powerful way: “My servant, your time for this city will soon be over. I will send you to other cities to preach my Word.” Suddenly I fell over to my left and lay on the carpet. I had no strength in my body.

In such experiences one does not look at the clock, nor did I. That is why I am unable to say exactly how long it lasted, whether it was half an hour or a full hour. In any case, once I was able to get up, the first thing I managed to do was move my left hand a little towards my right, and then with the strength that was returning to me I was able to get up, and my whole body was swaying from side to side. I looked towards the same spot by the window and said: “Lord, they will not listen to me. They have all things in plenty.” And who of you has ever called out into a forest and listened to the echo, the fading sound of their own voice?

That’s how it was. At that moment I was just about listening to the fading sound of my own words as they died away somewhere.

And lo and behold, the Lord spoke a second time: “My servant, the time is coming when they will listen to you. Store in food and so on, for a great famine is coming; then you shall stand amidst the people and give out the food.” If I were to die now, if the last judgment were to take place today, then these are the eternal true words of the Lord that I heard back then on that day before sunrise. The night was over, I had gone to the window, drawn the curtains, so I had got up, I was awake, had come back from the window, had prayed briefly and dedicated the day to the Lord, when this event took place.

And then, as you know, when it was said: “A great famine is coming,” and we were to store up food, we really did store everything: flour, potatoes, oil, all kinds of food, all our cellars were full. I am not ashamed to admit this here, that’s how it was. But something was going on inside me. I was getting more and more nervous, I didn’t want to preach anymore, I didn’t know how to carry on, there was no famine, nothing came. But what did come was despair over Brother Frank. Great despair came over me, and I said: “Lord, I can no longer serve You, You spoke to me that a famine would come and that food must be stored and that I would give it out.”

Brother Schmidt is sitting here, Sister Schmidt, and many others heard me say on the following Wednesday, right there in the small congregation, which at that time consisted of about 60 people, they are witnesses to the fact that I made this known at the very first opportunity. A great sense of despair came over me.

And then came the 3rd of December of that same year, when I was sitting opposite Brother Branham, Fred Sothmann and Banks Woods were sitting opposite each other. And then Brother Branham suddenly said: “May I tell you what the Lord has spoken to you?”

And then, word for word and sentence by sentence, in the exact order, he repeated what the Lord had said to me in Krefeld at 160 Luisen Street, on the 2nd floor, on that 2nd of April, just before daybreak.

My dear friends, I could not utter another word. I knew I was in the very presence of the Almighty God, who is now using this man as His instrument. His right eye closed a little more, whilst his left remained wide open, and he spoke all those words in the exact order, and then said: “Brother Frank, you were mistaken, you thought there would be an earthly famine, and you have stored in earthly food.”

He said: “God will send a famine, a famine for His Word, and the food you are to store in is the Word promised by God, revealed in this age.”

And then he added: “And it is on the audio tapes.”

At that time, nothing had yet been published in print, not a single sermon by Brother Branham, they were recorded only on audio tapes. And he added on that 3rd of December 1962: “Wait with the giving out of the food until you receive the rest of the food that goes with it.”

And then you can understand what I said earlier: We do not live in the days when partial truths are preached, but when the whole counsel of God is preached. And we preach neither Paul nor Brother Branham, but we rejoice that God had a Brother Paul and a Brother Branham, and both brought the same message, both had the same Holy Spirit, both were angels and messengers in the church of the living God, one at the beginning, the other at the end. And so the Lord has indeed graciously visited us in these last days to bring about the restoration, the calling out, the preparation, and the completion of His Church.

I know that some find it hard to grasp that God simply takes one man, and not a hundred or three hundred men, but that He takes only one. I know it is not entirely comprehensible to me either, but I have not determined it to be so. But look, God had only one Moses, only one Enoch, only one Noah, only one Elijah, only one Joshua, only one. If there are two, then something might go wrong. When God has one, one man in God’s hand, with him God can accomplish whatever He wishes to accomplish throughout the world. And so let us trust in the Lord.

About three years ago, at a very large conference in Florida, I saw quite a few things there. I saw the Rolls-Royces of the great evangelists, Billy Graham with his private jet, Oral Roberts with his private jet, all the great evangelists, great things. And then one of them, Dr. McIntire, made an announcement, saying: “If you are interested in knowing what these gentlemen earn, I’ll keep everything else to myself, I’ll tell you the salary of the greatest evangelist: exactly one million dollars a year.”

Well, I listened to it all, it was, after all, a huge conference, a world conference, but I realized what it was all about. One honors the other, one lifts the other up, and throughout those days we heard nothing but the jumble of God’s Word, religion, politics, and all sorts of things, until I had enough, and so I said: “Either you let me stand behind the lectern or I’m leaving.” It simply has to come to that. And what is it? God always needs people who are not controlled by others or in the hands of others, but in the hands of God.

I had to think of Brother Branham, a man dressed in humble clothes, many years ago, he wasn’t as well off as we are today, but a man sent by God with God’s message to God’s people.

We feel at home here now. You can be angry with me, though there is no need, but I’m simply an insider, and I would like to know everything so that I can report back to others as well. But as I do get to the bottom of things, I haven’t just believed what people say. For example, I hope we have the picture of Brother Branham on the notice board. Indeed, here we have the picture of Brother Branham with a pillar of fire above his head. Every time he prayed for the sick, this light would appear. Just as in an X-ray, he could see the sick person before him, and in it he could see every detail, just as one might see in an X-ray. He would then know where the people came from, who they were, what their names were, whether they’d been to the doctor, every detail.

I’ve witnessed all this myself who knows how many times, both in Europe and in the USA.

And Brother Branham said in a sermon that this picture had been confirmed by Dr. George J. Lacy and is hanging in the art gallery in Washington, and that was something I wanted to look into. I knew, of course, that he is a prophet, but Ewald Frank simply has to get to the bottom of things. I can’t just say: “He said that.”, and leave it at that, no. I flew to Washington. On a trip to Tucson, I stopped off in Washington, and I tell you, it was already past 11:00 a.m., and I’d started searching at about 9:00 a.m., going from building to building, from room to room. I was about to give up, but you’re not supposed to give up that quickly, are you? And lo and behold, it must have been just before 12:00, perhaps a quarter to 12:00, when I actually walked into a room, there was a nice elderly gentleman there to whom I said: “Listen, this and that is what I’m here for.”

And I brought the picture with me, of course, I said: “I would like to see this picture here.” He said: “Calm down, you are a bit worked up.” I was, I’d been searching and was on the verge of driving off empty-handed. And lo and behold, he said: “Come with me.”, and I went with him. But do you know what he said next? He held the picture in his hand and said: “Sir, there was no public interest in it, one day it will end up in a drawer, there is too little interest in it, it is not intended for the world.”

And if you were to ask all the great evangelists today who were inspired to serve God through Brother Branham’s ministry, they would have been very happy to use his name in earlier years, but later on they no longer did, because they were concerned with the size of the gatherings, and with much more than that, the finances had to add up as well. But let me state clearly here today: We are living in the last days, and God has promised in His Word.

And I would now like to read to you very briefly just a few scriptures to illustrate the current situation as it stands and how developments are unfolding in accordance with the prophetic word. In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 24, the disciples asked the Lord Jesus three questions. They went up to the Mount of Olives, and then the questions began in verse 3b:

[3] Tell us, when will this happen?

That is point one: There shall not be left here one stone upon another, with regard to the temple. [Mat 24:2] First question: “When will this happen?” Second question: “And what will be the sign of Your return?” Third question: “And of the fulfillment or the end of the age?” [Mat 24:3] So three questions. Then the Lord gave a very clear answer, going into detail: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, disasters of every kind will come”, and so forth. [Mt 24:6-7] And then in verse 8 He says:

[8] All these are the beginning of sorrows.

So these disasters, these famines, these floods, all these things that are now shaking the earth to and fro are the beginning of sorrows. And as it is written in the prophet Isaiah that the earth will sway to and fro like a hammock: Isaiah 24, verse 19:

[19] The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.

[20] The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

Now let us read from the prophet Isaiah chapter 13, specifically verses 6 and 7:

[6] Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

[7] Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:

[8] And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.

You may then read on, as it is written here in verse 11:

[11] And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

[12] I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

[13] Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts…

And so forth.

I’m reading only a few passages so that you, my dear listeners, may at least take something away from today’s sermon. And this shall be a day that God has ordained and prepared for you, so that you may never again remain the same in time and in eternity, but may truly experience the Lord and recognize that we have come very close to the return of Jesus Christ.

In Joel chapter 2, it speaks of the day of the Lord. Likewise chapter 3 speaks of the day of the Lord. Perhaps the final verses of chapter 3:

[31] The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

And then in chapter 3, verse 15:

[15] The sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

And so forth.

Many things are yet to come to pass, and they will happen shortly. I shall now read from 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 to show us that it is not only wars and rumors of wars, not only famines and times of distress, and all those disasters that are to come, but that the day of the Lord will come and Jesus Christ will bring His own home.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5. And so that you may see it in the context to which it belongs, please note 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 from verse 13 onwards. There we are told of the Lord’s return, of those who have fallen asleep in Christ and will be raised, and of those who remain and will be transformed, and then together will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And now I read: “And then we shall always be with the Lord.” [1Th 4:17]

But now we come to chapter 5: “But of the times and the seasons…” So previously regarding the return of Jesus Christ, and three things will take place at the return of our Lord: the shout to wake the dead in Christ, and then the trump of God and the voice of the archangel. [1Th 4:16] And the archangel is Michael, as is attested in both the Old and New Testament. [Dan 10:13; Dan 12:1; Jud 1:9; Rev 12:7]

What is now taking place is the wake-up call as described in Matthew 25: “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” [Mt 25:6] This wake-up call to the living Bride is now being sounded: “Get ready, fill your jars, be filled with the Spirit!” This is the calling out. Matthew 25 is now taking place. And in connection with this, it is also said: “Those who were ready went in with the bridegroom to the marriage supper, and the door was shut.” [Mt 25:10]

There are people who say that the wedding is already taking place. They have corrupt minds; they are not right upstairs; they need to have their heads put right and afterwards their hearts as well.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 we read:

[1] But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.

[2] For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

[3] For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

I shall now read verse 4:

[4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

Why do we not live in darkness? Because light has come at the end of the day of salvation. The day of salvation has a beginning, it has a course, it has its evening, and then comes the midnight hour. And at evening time God wished to give light so that we might walk in the light of the revealed Word right through the hour of midnight and see the divine path illuminated before us. So: “…but ye, brethren, are not in darkness.” [1The 5:4] Hallelujah! Praise God! He has revealed His Word to us. Today we can say: “Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light on my path.” [Ps 119:105]

What is this all about? Here we see something truly marvelous. The Lord Jesus described the beginning of sorrows, the time that was to herald the end, the gathering of the people of Israel, the breaking forth of all nations into independence, and so on, the global catastrophes. Paul looks to the end of this age, and he writes: “When people say, ‘Peace and safety,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them.” [1The 5:3]

What have we had for the past eight years, when Mr. Gorbachev, whom I like very much and for whom I prayed very often—I have not prayed as much for all our chancellors and presidents put together as I have for Gorbachev alone. I knew on the day he took power that he had been placed in that position by God. No one could take that away from me. I have always simply said: “Lord my God, bless this man and carry out through him whatever is politically ordained in Your plan of salvation.” And look, God used him.

After the hot war—how many millions did it claim, was it 55 millions? People are unsure about the exact figure. In any case, over 55 million fell victim to the Second World War. Then came the Cold War, one superpower against the other. Who wouldn’t want to test their strength at least once? That is in human nature and in politicians, too. Stalin was on one side, Hitler on the other. The soldiers were at the front fighting, but these people wanted to test their strength against one another. The superpowers would have liked to test their strength, but that was not how it was in the prophetic Word.

You see, ladies and gentlemen, dear brothers and sisters, one must also know the prophet Daniel in order to understand the Book of Revelation anew, or to understand it fully. Anyone who does not understand Daniel will not be able to understand the Book of Revelation at all. The prophet Daniel saw four beasts, and the four beasts represented the four world empires: first the Babylonian Empire, then the Medo-Persian Empire, then the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great, and then came the last, the Roman Empire. [Dan 7:3-7] The prophet on the island of Patmos no longer saw four empires; he saw the final empire with its ten horns and seven heads, because he was only to see the empire that would ultimately form part of the final development. And that is why all empires must fall, and the Roman Empire must re-emerge in its former might and power.

How many of you were good in history? Very often the Roman Empire was referred to as follows: “The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.” Have you read about it? You can look it up. What happened? We had two divisions. We had a religious division between Catholics and Protestants at the time of the Reformation. Then we had a second division which ran through our country after the Second World War: East and West. Europe was divided, the world was divided religiously and politically. But now the prophetic Word does not speak of two powers here in Europe, but as Revelation 17 says, that this great world church is riding on this one beast—not two beasts, but one. [Rev 17:3] There was a reunification of East and West, and that is why I have always said that our divided country would be reunited.

And that is what Brother William Branham said in March 1962. Please note: the wall was built on the 13th of August, 1961, and in March, I believe it was 21st of March, 1962, Brother Branham said: “When East Berlin is returned, the Roman Empire will be restored as it once was.”

The prophet John saw a head that had been wounded as if unto death. [Rev 13:3] It was not the whole beast that was wounded; one head was wounded, and that leading head was none other than Germany, and the Reformation brought about that wounding. And that wound has been completely healed. Everything is rosy; the division is over. Rome says: “Come to me, we are the mother church; come back into our bosom, all of you.” Herein lies the danger. In the end, there are two outcomes: some will be sealed with the Holy Spirit into the body of Jesus Christ and will have the Lord Jesus as their head; others will fall prey to religious deception, mistaking the Antichrist for Christ, and say: “This is the unity we have been waiting for.”

When the Pope made his last visit to Geneva to the World Council of Churches, he said: “I am the highest authority in Christianity,” and not a single person contradicted him. If I had been there, I would have said: “You are the highest authority in the Roman Catholic Church, but the highest authority in the church of God is Jesus Christ our Lord, for He is the head and no one else.” So we find ourselves in the midst of the final phase, one might almost say, of a religious and political development.

Who of you knows where the Treaties of Rome were concluded in 1957? In Rome. The name says it all: the Treaties of Rome. Who knows what Adenauer, Schumacher, and De Gaulle said and signed back then? They divided and allocated how Europe was to be shaped, where industry would be located, where crops would be grown. Everything is so intertwined today; one cannot do without the other at all. That is how interconnected everything is. And now it is no longer just Western European politics that is being shaped; now pan-European politics is being shaped, just as Bible prophecy suggests and as is now coming to pass before our very eyes. What did I say? De Gaulle said back then: “Here the foundations are being laid for the pan-European house.”

Now very recently, in the last few years, everyone has been talking about a pan-European house, and most of all Mr. Gorbachev. And politicians are happy to add: “In this house there’s room for all the peoples of Europe.”

Who was it—I should have remembered the name—one of our politicians, just as the topic came up, he actually quoted John 14 and said: “In our Father’s house are many mansions,” and applied this wonderful passage to current political developments. [Joh 14:2] On the one hand, I was pleased that he knew the Scriptures so well, but on the other hand, I thought: “That’s not quite the right context.”

But you see, ladies and gentlemen, I am completely swept up in this matter. I know the time is short; the Lord’s return is imminent. Where is the church? Where is the Bride of the Lamb? Where is the calling out? Where is the unity? Where is she adorned? What does the completion of the church of Jesus Christ look like?

You see, God has indeed attached a direct purpose to the final message found in Revelation chapter 18, verse 4: “Come out of her, my people, and be ye separate; touch not the unclean thing, so that you may not share in her plagues.” So this is God’s message: back to the Word! Everything must be restored in the church of Jesus Christ before His return. And Brother Branham was the only man I knew who had a restored apostolic and prophetic ministry. And what God caused him to say and do that we believe, and we will see the same things in the consummation that also came to pass through him.

We have the promise in Acts chapter 3, a very important promise, namely concerning the return of Jesus Christ and our completion on that glorious day. Acts chapter 3, here we read from verse 19:

[19] Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

[20] And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

[21] Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

It is not enough simply to speak of the return of Jesus Christ; we must know what must happen before the return of Jesus Christ, namely that everything must be restored and brought back into its rightful state before God. Until then the Lord Jesus must wait in heaven. As for the earthly thrones and rulers, God had foretold the following for the end times in the prophetic Word of the Old Testament. I shall read from the prophet Haggai chapter 2, verses 5 and 6:

[5] According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.

[6] For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

Chapter 2, verses 21 and 22:

[21] Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;

[22] And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen;

When the overthrow of thrones began, I was overjoyed. When Gorbachev paid his last respects to Comrade Honecker in Berlin, he said: “Life punishes those who are late.” Did you all read that in the newspapers? Some report: “Life punishes those who are late”, others: “History punishes them.” But history can of course be part of our lives, and our lives can be a part of history. In any case, he said—no, he even wrote it in the book, he wrote it in Mr. Honecker’s book: “Life punishes those who are late.” And lo and behold, he was late and had to set off for Moscow.

What was it? The time has come. Here we read: God will shake heaven and earth, overthrow kings from their thrones. [Hag 2:21-22] The whole of Eastern Europe was transformed within a very short space of time; they were overthrown from their thrones. And so that you ladies and gentlemen may know that this is directly linked to the second coming of Jesus Christ, I shall read to you the passage from Hebrews 12.

For in Hebrews 12, this Word by the man of God in the New Testament has been confirmed to us to bring the context home to us. I am so grateful that I do not need to write the New Testament myself, but that it has already been written, though we simply need to find the connections, to see them and to be able to place them. Someone said to me recently: “Oh, Brother Frank, you know what, if God has truly called you, and we believe that you are to pass on what was revealed to Brother Branham, but we’ve heard that you think you have to put everything into context according to the Bible. That’s not necessary”, he said. I said: “Beloved brother, that is the most necessary thing of all. Just imagine there were loads of food here, all sorts of fruit, and I didn’t know how to put together a meal. I’d put red fruit jelly in here, pepper there, and salt over there, and end up making something that nobody could eat. If God has left us spiritual food, then the combination must be right, and some cooks spoil the porridge.” So everything is already ready; we need only come and sit down and eat before the Lord at this well-ordered and richly laid table.

Hebrews chapter 12, verse 26:

[26] Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying…

Haggai 2:6, we just read it…

[26] Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

[27] And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

[28] Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

So this man of God in the New Testament, in connection with the coming of the kingdom of God, announced that heaven and earth would then be shaken once more, and as the prophet said, kings will be cast down from their thrones, and God will take responsibility for this final prophetic phase of the plan of salvation.

Let us please summarize this now. We cannot possibly carry on like this. We have now united 312 different churches and denominations within the World Council of Churches, and they all say: “We are right; we have the truths; we and once again we.” And we say it again too; I say it as well: Yes, where then is the truth? Now like Pilate, we might cry out in great anguish: “What is truth?” [Joh 18:38] We have a right to know what truth is, and even more than that, that truth remains God’s truth, namely that the Word, just as it came from the mouth of God, is also passed on again.

Just one example: When the pope says that the popes are the successors of Peter, and that they have been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven and can forgive sins, then we know that this is not true, but they invoke God’s Word and say: “It is written in Matthew 16.” Of course it is written, but not so that the popes might twist this Word and lead people astray. The Word has its place, but in the right context. If the Word of God is not left as it is, and in the context in which God placed it, then we can cause great harm, and that is indeed what is being done far and wide.

The devil too makes use of the Word. He came to Jesus and said: “It is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning thee to keep thee, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.’” [Mat 4:6] Of course it was written, but the devil took the word out of context, and he still does so today. He takes God’s Word out of context and plunges people into ruin. And that is why it is essential that the Word be truly proclaimed, and that it may be said of us as those who preach it, as it is written in the last chapter of 1 Kings 17.

I love this passage more than anything. In 1 Kings chapter 17, the following text is recorded at the very end where the woman said:

[24] And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.

We all know that the Word of God is truth, but is it still truth in the mouth of the Catholic priest or the Greek Orthodox priest, the pastor? Is it still true in all churches? Has it remained the truth, or have people preached their own interpretations of the Word and placed them on the candlestick so that the actual Word can no longer be found? They hear the various teachings of different denominations, but the Word of God has become a rare thing. And that is why we simply must pay attention to whether the Word is being preached to us just as it came from the mouth of God, or whether we are interpreting it ourselves.

So we are living in the end times. Now the Cold War has also come to an end. The thrones of the nations have been overthrown, and the whole of Europe, including our own country here, has changed overnight. It was almost impossible to keep up with the news given the rapid succession of events. And now just be honest, the whole world is amazed, and so are we. And the Bible does indeed say that the whole world marveled at the fact that this wound had been healed, and the whole world was astonished and watched to see what was happening. [Rev 13:3]

We are living in a very significant period, whether politically, economically, or religiously, and we are now approaching the climax of world history just before the return of Jesus Christ our Lord. And when the day of salvation draws to a close, the terrible day of the Lord, which will burn like an oven, will descend upon humanity. [Mal 4:1] And there the Lord gave us this promise in the Old Testament and confirms it in the New Testament. I am delighted about this. I shall read both Scriptures to you, from the prophet Malachi the penultimate verse, Malachi 4, verse 5:

[5] Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.

And then in Matthew 17, Matthew 17, here we read verse 11, Matthew 17, verse 11:

[11] And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elijah truly shall first come, and restore all things.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 21, he is asked—I shall read it out so that everyone may know:

[21] And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.

What was it? You see, because his ministry fulfilled the first part of Malachi 4, verse 6, which is connected to the promise of Elijah who was to come before the great and dreadful day, he too was called Elijah. We have written about this; there is no need to go into further detail here and now; all of this can be read through at your leisure.

Let us now return once more to the day of the Lord. We have read from the prophet Isaiah, from Joel, and also from 1 Thessalonians 5. Let us now read from 2 Peter chapter 3, and here it is mentioned again in connection with the return of Jesus Christ. I shall read two or three passages from 2 Peter chapter 3. First of all, verse 2:

[2] That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

[3] Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts…

And so forth. Verses 8 and 9:

[8] But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

And then verse 10:

[10] But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

And so forth.

So the day of the Lord will burn like an oven when the time of grace is over, and the Lord Jesus returns to take the Bride church into glory. For this is indeed what will happen: There will be a brief revival, a mighty work in which God will do great things within His Bride church. When this work of God reaches its climax now at the end of the time of grace, then great things will happen, and then the Lord will come, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are alive and remain will be transformed, and together we will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. [1The 4:16-17] For thus it is written: “We will not be ahead of those who have fallen asleep.” [1The 4:15]

If anyone thinks that we have already gone on ahead of them and that Christ has come as the Bridegroom, let me say this once again: Such people have corrupt minds, have no understanding of Scripture, and are bringing disorder into the kingdom of God through what they say. God is a God of order, and if we see and understand this correctly, then we also recognize that He has arranged all things in a marvelous way. Let us submit ourselves to this divine order.

Now to the climax and the actual goal: God has promised to bestow a prophetic ministry before the return of Jesus Christ, because this is a prophetic age, a period in which Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before our very eyes in every area and in every respect. In order for us to receive divine information and clarity through revelation from God Himself, it was necessary for an anointed, prophetic ministry to take place in our day, through which the mysteries of God from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 are made known, so that we may gain an overview and insight into the entire plan of salvation of our God, and so that we may be placed and called out, prepared, and brought to completion until we have become one heart and one soul, where all opinions, all differing teachings, all movements have come to an end, where everything flows into Christ, where we no longer say: “Ha, that is his teaching, ha, that is his teaching,” no, where it could be said: “And they are all taught by God,” they believe together in the Word revealed by God.

And here is a point: if one had left all the sermons where they are and not picked out cherries from the cake as quotations here and there, and then layer these on top of one another, which do not belong together at all and do not fit together. Imagine if you were to take whatever you wanted from my 30 lectures and then mix them all together, what would that produce? That’s actually forbidden. It would be forgery, it would be forbidden. And today there are experts who have their own specialities: here and there they pick out bits and pieces, piece them together, and in the end something completely different comes out. I know this, after all, I am no novice in the kingdom of God. So no one has the right to tinker about like that.

God has sent the prophetic ministry, we pass on the teaching, and we rejoice over all those who have ears to hear what the Spirit has to say to the churches.

And with that, I would actually like to conclude. I once asked the Lord on my knees in very earnest prayer: “Why did you say: ‘I will send you the prophet Elijah’? Why not: ‘I will send you Moses or Abraham or Isaiah, Jeremiah’?” After all, there are quite a number of prophets in Holy Scripture. And whilst I was thus in prayer before the Lord, I opened 1 Kings 18 and read from it. And when I came to the passage where Elijah took the twelve stones according to the twelve tribes of Israel and rebuilt the altar of the Lord, it was as if scales had fallen from my eyes. I said: “Lord, I thank you with all my heart. You have sent a man of God who is gathering together the doctrines of the twelve apostles, who is bringing them together, who is rebuilding the order of God in the church, who is putting all things in order just as it was in the beginning, so that you may answer once more and confirm your Word.”

Brother Branham stands worlds apart from Muhammad, to Joseph Smith, from all the prophets and prophetesses who have ever lived. He did not come with new or special revelations; he came in accordance with the Old and New Testament in the Spirit of God to reveal in their entirety what God had spoken through the mouths of prophets and apostles and had caused to be written down, and to set it upon the lampstand for the church. He did not bring one teaching that lay outside the Bible; on the contrary, he took the Bible in his hand, held it high, and said: “This is my absolute.”

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s Word remains forever.” [Mat 24:35]

And a true man of God will bring the true Word of God. I am grateful to the Lord that from the mouth of this man of God, the Word of God has been the pure truth, and that we can have this unadulterated Word today.

This is a divine treasure for which we should be grateful to him, the living God, who promised the time of refreshing and said that Jesus Christ will remain in heaven until the time of the restoration of all things. [Act 3:19-21] In James 5, he also gave the promise of the latter rain in connection with the return of Jesus Christ. [Jam 5:7-8] There are many scriptures that could still be mentioned and considered.

Our time for today is up. We have made you aware, we have highlighted a few points. It is now up to each of you to look into these matters, and I have one request to make in this connection: do not go to different preachers, do not go here, do not go there. Turn to prayer, come before the Lord.

If in the days of Jesus someone had gone to Caiaphas, to Gamaliel, or to the high priest to ask: “What about John the Baptist? Who is this man?”, then the answer would have been quite different from what the Lord Himself said. The Lord says in Matthew 11: “It is he to whom the Scripture refers: Behold, I send my messenger before me.” [Mat 11:10] One must simply go to the Lord with divine understanding and divine action, which form part of God’s plan of salvation, and not to the scribes and Pharisees, not to religious denominations, but quite simply to the Lord and say: “Faithful God, if all this is truly so, then show me the way.” And I tell you this: God will do it, he is faithful.

And then you will no longer be under the influence of other people, you will automatically come under divine influence. Then you will see what you did not see before, recognize what you did not recognize, and your joy will be great.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people with whom He is well pleased. [Luk 2:14] To him, the almighty God, be praise and honor for everything in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let us stand for prayer.

Heavenly Father, together we come before your holy presence. Lord, I’m deeply moved, overwhelmed by your grace, by your Word. How faithful you are, oh God. Amidst all the many voices, may your sheep hear your voice and follow you.

Beloved Lord, I pray for all who have joined us in this service today and heard the Word. Be with them, oh Lord, just as you were with the disciples on the road to Emmaus: walk with them, speak to them, and open their understanding for the Scriptures.

Beloved Lord, back then you took the prophet Isaiah, read from him, and said: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” [Luk 4:21] We, too, take your Word, the prophet Isaiah and all the prophets, we take the Gospels and the Epistles, the whole Bible right to the Book of Revelation, we read in it, and time and again we cry out: “Lord, my God, today this scripture has been fulfilled before us!”

Beloved Savior, your church from among the peoples and nations is particularly close to your heart. It is the church that must be called out and prepared, in which you will do great things in a short time to come. Beloved Lord, you will reveal the power of your resurrection, the power of the Holy Spirit in your living church, and then you will raise the dead, transform the living, and take them up. Then you will come upon Israel with your grace and your Spirit and send the two prophets, so that they, too, may speak prophetically, not merely preach, but prophesy.

Beloved Lord, we are preachers, but the message you have given us is a prophetic proclamation of the prophetic Word, of the entire plan of salvation of our God. Lord, this is being done by your commission, in your name, according to your Word. Lord, I’m not here to speak for myself or my own cause in my own name; I’m here in your name, for the sake of your Word, to tell your people what you have promised for this time and what you are doing now.

Lord, bless us all, save the lost, heal the sick, and set the captives free. Confirm your Word to us. We praise the power of your blood through which we have been redeemed, the power of your Word, and the power of your Holy Spirit. And we ask you, faithful God, be with us all and bless us so that we, too, may believe according to the Scriptures, and when you return, may pass from faith to sight. To you, the Almighty God, I commend us all, and I ask you to be with us until the end of the world. I also thank you for this day in Jesus’ holy name. Hallelujah. Amen.