Ewald Frank

22. 4. 1976, Krefeld, Germany

Easter Meetings

We have heard the Word of God, and I think we’re all encouraged to have real scriptural faith, which has the works also: “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.” [Rm 4:3]

But when the promise was fulfilled, the Lord told him: “Take thy only son, that thou lovest, and bring him as a sacrifice on the mount I will show you.” [Gn 22:2]

Abraham was obedient to the Word of God. He did not speak about this. He just went and did what the Lord told him to do and his faith was justified by his works, not withholding one thing, but to sacrifice that which he loved the most.

There are many things we could speak about still tonight. But don’t forget this: We are children of the promise of God’s Word. Isaac was a child because of a promise. And because of that promise of God, he inherited all Abraham possessed. We are children of God’s promised Word. We are going to inherit all the things of God.

We just heard the sermon last night “Possessing all things” – because we are heirs in Christ, we are children of God, children of God’s promise. You can read this in Galatians. It’s speaking about Isaac, and the children of God are being compared, that they are also children of the promise. [Gal 4:28]

When you read in Ephesians 1, that we have received the Spirit of promise.

There is a Word of promise for the children of promise and also the Spirit of promise. These three things must come together: the children of the promise receive the Word of promise, they receive the Spirit of promise, and by the Spirit we are sealed. [Eph 1:13]

Now we have heard in the message tonight that God is prepared to do what He has done already. What He did in the beginning, He wants to do at the end. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, He is not the in-between, He is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. As He was in the beginning, so He is at the end. He never changes. His Word never changes. His power never changes. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. [Hebr 13:8]

The only thing we must do is to put all obstacles out of the way.

And, my dear friends, we have gathered here from many nations, and we think to have a responsibility. But we must watch that we don’t put obstacles in the way ourselves, but to recognize that God takes care of His Word Himself.

We don’t need to be worried. If we are in the Word and the Word is in us, then God will complete His work.

After Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians the 4th chapter about the resurrection and the translation and the taking up, he writes in chapter 5, verse 1:

“But of the times and of the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.”

And he goes on and says a few things, and then he says in verse 4:

“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”

The Scripture says: “It shall be light in the evening time.” [Sach 14:7] The light has come at the evening time. Before the midnight hour come, God has sent the light to illuminate the way, so that we can go into the midnight hour, not in darkness, but in the light of God’s Word.

Many people say: “We have Christ, we don’t need a prophet.” But my dear friends, Christ said: “Truly Elijah shall first come and restore all things.” [Mt 17:11]

If you have Christ, you have the Word. If you have the Word, you have all the promises.

And there are many in this day that approach the midnight hour, but they are still in darkness. But the children of God, they are in the light.

It was the same with Israel.

When Israel was to be delivered, the Holy Scripture says there was gross darkness in all Egypt, but in the camp of Israel there was a bright shining light.“Darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the nations…” but the children of God, they walk in the bright shining light of God’s revealed Word at this time. [Ex 10:22–23; Is 60:2]

Now we have to watch that we don’t bring things out of their place. This is my greatest concern.

I have got full confidence in the Lord. His Word is confidence. Whatever He said is the truth.

But if we just could leave things in the hands of God!

Sometimes we think we must do something ourselves.

And there are questions that we still have here. I’m not going into too many of them, and I don’t want to preach, because very quickly I’m in it.

But the question still is about the year 1977. And perhaps it comes from the book “The Seven Church Ages”, where we find the statement about the termination of the world systems and the ushering in of the millennium. And the question is whether this is so or not.

Well, my dear friends, I have got the three original quotations Brother Branham made during the time of speaking about the Seven Church Ages. In the “Ephesian Church Age” he said:

And at 1906, the Laodicean Church Age set in. And I don’t know when it will end, but I predict it will be done by 1977. I predict, not the Lord told me, but I predict it according to a vision that was shown me some years ago.

In the message to the “Thyatirean Church Age”, it says here:

I saw what looked like stumps burning, rocks blown out, and the whole United States looked bare, lying like that as far as I could see from where I was standing. And I said according to the way time is moving, it will be sometime between the year 1933 and 1977, and it will have to squeeze awfully hard to get to there.

In the “Church to Laodicea” he said:

We believe that the Laodicean Church Age started in 1906. I predict — now remember I predict, especially for you who are listening in on tapes — I don’t say it will be, but I predict that it will be, and it will end by 1977. And the second coming of Christ or the rapture may take place at any time.

I can miss that a year, I can miss that 20 years, I could miss it by a 100 years. I don’t know, I just predict that.

Now, in the book “The Seven Church Ages”, the statement is quite different. Brother Branham never spoke anything in reference to the millennial reign to start or be ushered in by 1977.

We just have to be very careful with the statements of Brother Branham and also with the Holy Scriptures, so that we don’t misconstrue anything, but just leave it the way it was said.

Now here there is still a space left, because Brother Branham said: “I can miss it one year, I can miss it 20 years, I can miss it a hundred years.”

Well, we all believe that the time is very near, and we just wish it would be now. There has never been a time where all the children of God were just looking up, desiring to be taken away. We just feel this is not our home. We don’t feel at home here. We just wish to go. But we have to wait until the time comes. I cannot commit suicide and go! We have to wait until the proper time comes.

Then there are some, they feel the time is so very short. And the questions in here tell it: “What about the Seven Thunders? What about the Seventh Seal? What about with this and that?”

My dear friends, do not be worried. God is on the throne. He will finish His work. He will complete it at the right time in the right way!

We have to emphasize that we can only preach God’s Word. You cannot run around and try to preach something else. Now I must let you know what I mean with this statement.

We can only preach what is written in the Word of God as the Holy Scripture! If something is not written in the Word of God, we cannot preach it! We have to wait until God does it.

Now I give you an example.

Jesus Christ spoke about His resurrection, and the Scripture spoke of His resurrection. But there was nothing said about the resurrection of those who rose with Him, or about the things which happened at the same time. [Mt 27:52–53]

But my dear friends, God just gave the main event, and all the other things came with it.

Whatever God has promised in His Word, that He will do.

Now for instance, the first six seals, they have got a text in the Holy Scripture, showing forth in symbols and giving us a little thing to go by, and they were revealed by divine revelation. But it seems that some are just eagerly waiting to dig into the Seventh Seal. [Rev 8:1]

But my question is: have they understood the first six seals?

Many times we leave the things there and we try to find out something whereof the time is not yet come.

I’m not concerned, because I know God will finish His work. As far as the preaching is concerned, we can only preach the Word of God written in the Holy Scripture.

Now if God would have intended that we should preach the Seven Thunders, He would have let us know. Then something would be here about the Seven Thunders. [Rev 10:3–4]

And a brother came to me and he said: “Brother Frank, I’d like to speak about the Seven Thunders.” And I said: “What Scripture are you using?” He says: “1 Peter 1.” And he started with that.

Well, I said: “Brother, where did Brother Branham, where did he take this Scripture to speak about the Seven Thunders? Where had Paul, or any man of God? Who gives you the right to take a Scripture and to put something into that Scripture which is not even there? Let the Word of God be the Word of God. If you want to be fooled, fool yourself. But let God’s Word be God’s Word! There is enough in the Word of God that we can preach. Let the rest in the hands of God.”

There are brothers here from India and perhaps from other countries. They can tell you what the outcome is if somebody raises and says: “I know the Seven Thunder mystery.”

This is the first way to get away from the real thing.

It may not sound very much in brotherly love, but the true love of God is the love for the truth! And the Word of God is the truth! [Jn 17:17] So the true love of God is corrective, and it brings us into the Word of God.

Now we hear many things in these days, and certain labels are being put or attached to it. But we’re just interested to walk the ways of God and to patiently wait until that time comes.

And I never forget that day in Marseille, France, when I was very much disturbed because the questions came up with the thunders and so forth, and I had no answer.

I went to sleep, and early in the morning I woke up, and a voice spoke: “Get up, read 2 Timothy 4.” And while I was reading, I just came to the place where it says: “Preach the Word.” [2Tim 4:2]

There I stopped. I said: “Lord, I thank You for the answer. “Preach the Word!” Not anything, but preach the Word!”

My dear friends, heaven and earth shall pass away, all interpretation shall pass away, but the Word of God remains forever. [Mt 24:35; 1Pt 1:25] And if we are in the Word and the Word is in us, we may ask what we will, and it will take place. [Jn 15:7]

It is no need for somebody to come and say: “I will preach you the thunders.”

If I may have your attention for a few more moments. At least in this part of the earth, we have the rain in the spring time, and we have the rain just before the harvest time. The rain in the spring time can last for many days, just falling down steadily. But the rain around the harvest is a completely different rain. It doesn’t come for many days. You see the sun shining, and suddenly the clouds are coming up, and then we have the heavy showers. But then we also have the thunder.

You never hear the thundering in the spring rain. No, it’s all quiet, everything comes and soaks into the ground. But around the time of the harvest, there the clouds are coming up, and all of a sudden you hear the thundering there, you see the lightning, something is going on. The harvest is coming!

My dear friends, don’t worry about anything. God will take care of all the things at the right time. He will do the right thing. He doesn’t need your advice! He doesn’t need my advice! It’s all in His plan. And we must become part of the plan of God at this time.

He never told anybody: “You make the plan and now I’m going to do something.” No, He has done it already. And we are just part of this plan of God.

My dear friends, preach the Word of God, let the rest in His hands! He will take care of it. We’re not worried.

But we’re still worried because of the confusion. Because people are coming and they have a private revelation somewhere in their pocket. They don’t come out everywhere, but if they think “This is my chance”, then they say: “Brother…”

And they use many of the quotes, like “Faith is a revelation”.

And I never forget this, the example in India. Were you there with me, Brother Davis, when we visited this man that we had heard about?

For two hours we spoke. And they all said: “We believe the prophet’s message.” And then they said: “We are raptured, and you are left behind.”

I said: “What is with you? You are here, and we are here. Who’s raptured?”

And then we went on in the talk, and the man said: “But faith is a revelation.” Yeah, and he said: “The New Jerusalem has come down on earth now.” [Rev 21:2]

You know what I said? “I don’t see the New Jerusalem here; I just see the old huts here.” That’s the thing.

But he takes all the quotations: “The prophet said, the prophet said, and the prophet said…”

My dear friends, when Jesus Christ spoke to His disciples, He did not only refer to one prophet; He spoke about all, of all the prophets, of all the Psalms. Is that true or not?

You can read Luke 24. Jesus began to speak about the law of Moses, about the Psalms, and of all the prophets, and He showed them the fulfillment of all the Scripture. [Lk 24:44–45]

We have to do the same! We must come back to the Word, to the apostles and prophets! [Eph 2:20] Then we have the picture complete. Otherwise, we make the man of God say what we think he said. And we don’t want this. We just want God to have His way.

My dear brothers, these days here we will have to account for on the Day of Judgment. These days were not arranged because we have too much money, or that we had too much time.

These days were arranged that the true Word of Almighty God could once again be put onto the candlestick. [Mt 5:15] So that all the ministers could take the true Word of Almighty God in the light of God’s revelation and go to the ends of the earth, proclaiming the message of the hour, saying that Jesus Christ is coming soon. [Mk 16:15]

It is not necessary to explain all the things. Did Paul explain the Godhead? Have you ever heard him explaining? Sometimes we think we should explain and explain until all the supernatural is gone.

The Lord Jesus Christ did not say: “Go into all the world and try to explain the Gospel.” He said: “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.” [Mk 16:15] And the power of God is in His Word. [Rm 1:16] Not in my voice.

The Word and the power of God belong together!

God spoke in the beginning, and it was light. [Gn 1:3] Whatever He said happened according to His Word, not according to the interpretation, but according to the original Word.

So my dear friends, whatever was said, take it back to the original Word and say what the Scripture says, and God will be behind you! He will back you up with the mighty power, the same power that was at the beginning!

But if you’re not certain, how can you have faith? Only if you have got the certainty, then you can speak it, and it must happen. Because faith takes the Word, and it has to take place.

My dear friends, there are many more questions that we could speak about. But I think we need a time of prayer.

I say again: These meetings are here for a purpose. And we are not in darkness. We have seen the light at the evening time. The same light brings the same result.

I have already said in one service: At the first coming of Christ, there came a light from heaven. All the shepherds saw it, and they heard the announcement: “Christ the Lord is born.” [Lk 2:9–15]

They did not only say: “We have seen the light, we heard the message, we heard the announcement. How wonderful is this!”

No, my friends, they went their way to find Jesus, because Jesus is the answer!

They could have said: “Friends, we have seen the light. That’s wonderful.” They could have said: “We have heard the announcement of the angel. We heard all the heavenly host singing.”

But then they could have been asked: “What happened after that?” And they could have said: “We walked in that light until we came to Jesus. And then we worshipped Him.”

My dear friends, not only the light.

We speak about the light, we rejoice for its coming. But the light illuminates the way to come to Jesus. And we worship Him in spirit and in truth. [Jn 4:24]

There are many places in the Scriptures where we could speak about, showing forth that God has a purpose in sending a light, in giving a sign. We don’t remain at the sign and say: “It’s a wonderful sign.” It gives direction. No, we go on, after the direction is given, and we walk in the light until we come to Jesus.

Let me tell you this: Many in this message, they speak about the light, but they have not come to Jesus! And there is the problem.

If you come to Jesus, you begin to speak about Him. Because your heart rejoices, you have found Him of whom all the prophets have prophesied, and you become a happy person because of your meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are not in darkness, we are in the light that came at the evening time to illuminate the way, so that we go into the midnight hour, not fearing, not in uncertainty, but in the certainty, as the Scripture says: “You have got the word of prophecy which shines in a dark place as a bright shining light.” [2Pt 1:19]

It doesn’t say “You have got the evangelistic Word” or “the teaching Word”; “You have the Word of prophecy”!

My dear friends, the Word of prophecy was revealed to this generation, because we are right in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. And since the Word of prophecy was revealed, it became a bright shining light, and we just see the ways of God. And everything leads to Jesus Christ. He is the center of the message and of the light.

What did the angels say? They said: “Christ the Lord is born.” [Lk 2:11] They did not only say: “We heard the angel’s message.” They were eager to find the Lord Jesus Christ.

My dear friends, the very last moments of time have come upon us. And the Holy Scripture teaches us that we should be sober, sober and pray. [1Pt 4:7] And then God can guide us according to His holy Word.

My dear brethren, don’t try to seek any deep revelation. God will grant all things to you at the right time in the right way. We’re not seeking them.

As the brother already mentioned: we don’t try to make the signs follow us. The Scripture says: “They will follow you.” [Mk 16:17] And if God has given you a commission, and if you have a responsibility for the children of God in your country, He will see to it that you are informed, so that you can inform others.

We are not in darkness; we are children of the light. And we walk in the light as He is in the light, and then we have fellowship with one another. [1Jn 1:7]

Many say: “We walk in the light,” and they don’t have fellowship with one another. There is a disturbance.

My dear friends, you cannot make God’s Word lie. “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.” [1Jn 1:7] But the Word of God is light, and Jesus Christ is the light of the world. [Jn 8:12]

So, my dear brothers, may God just bless you all. And may the Word of God abide in you forever. May God use you to discern if the Word is preached, or if interpretations are being introduced. This is very necessary.

And especially to my brethren from overseas, be it from Asia or from Africa, let me tell you this in love: Don’t take even any money if you find out that it’s not the scriptural doctrine that somebody brings along, but some kind of an interpretation. Just pray to God that He would help you to stand in the true Word of Almighty God! Whether you live or die, stand on the Word of God and forget the rest!

There was one man in the Bible, he wanted to buy a gift to show forth something. But Peter said: “Thy money go with you into the damnation.” [Acts 8:20]

My dear friends, let nothing be a snare to you. Trust the God of heaven and He will see you through. He will be with you, using you, and you will see that you have got more than you need.

Praise be to God. May He bless us all and be with us all, is my prayer.

Let us all stand.

Maybe once more we come here to just to pray earnestly for all our brothers, for the work of God around the earth, so that God can have His way and can accomplish whatever He purposed, so that He would return to take us to where He is.

It is just upon our hearts to see God glorified and to see that He has His way in our midst and with the children of God around the earth.

We just must look upon Him, not take sides with anybody, but take sides with Jesus. And He is the Word, and the Word remains forever.

It is our desire that from these meetings we’ll go forth with a new vision and with the unction of the Holy Spirit.

Had you something, Brother, that just was upon your heart to share within just a moment?

Other Brother

I just did have something on my heart. It is something you won’t find on any spoken word book or any tape. But I can assure you with all my heart that Brother Branham spoke it. In fact, he wrote it in his own handwriting. And he said it to me personally and it’s been a great blessing to my life. But first, before I share what Brother Branham said, I just want to read two verses from John 15. The Lord said:

[4] Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

[5] I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. [Jn 15:4–5]

In 1964, I wrote a personal letter to Brother Branham, and in brief I asked him this question: “What are the conditions to be met in a believer’s life to be sure that he will be a part of Christ’s bride?”

And this is what Brother Branham wrote to me:

You must become a part of Him, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, to be His Bride. Just as a wife is a part of her husband. And if we’re a part of Him, that is His life and our life, we will do all just as His Word teaches us to. For He is the Word, and when we accept Him, we accept all His Word.

And I believe that was surely of God.

Every one of us so assembled in these meetings wants to be a part of Christ’s Bride. But the Lord speaking through His prophet and in accordance with His, the Word of God, that we must become a part of the Lord Jesus Christ to be His Bride, just as the Word itself says as a wife is a part of her husband, so we have to be a part of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the prophet goes on to say: “That is the life of the Lord in our life. And if that life is there, then we will do all just as His Word teaches us to. For Jesus is that Word. When we accept Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, we accept all His Word.”

And I believe that has been the theme of these meetings, Brother Frank. And I believe that every one of us will go away with an absolute desire to be a part of that Word and of each a part of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His Word. Then we’ll be a part of one another, and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ will be revealed on us.

God bless each and every one of you, and thank you for your love in so many ways. God bless you.

Brother Frank

Let us all worship.

[Sister sings in tongues in german language]

The bride is being prepared now in most beautiful raiment.
I have led her out of the deepest darkness of night.

I have led her to this place here, for the Word of the hour is being fulfilled here today.

My servant is filled with my Spirit and Word,
and the sword of the Spirit he uses continually.

America has not recognized that my hand has turned towards this country in blessing, therefore let them go.

[worship]

My dear friends, maybe you have perhaps missed the first part of the singing in another language because we were a little loud, it wasn’t heard too well.

I was shocked by hearing the message. Actually, it’s too hard to be said. But let me tell you this: Not only the words, but like a poet would sing so that everything at the end just comes out right — in the German language, it just was one hundred percent for everyone who understands German.

It says here:

The bride is being prepared now in the most glorious raiment, for I have led her out of the deepest darkness of night. For I have led her to this place here, for the Word of the hour is being fulfilled here today. My servant is filled with my Spirit and Word, and the sword of the Spirit he uses continually.

Now comes the part that actually went as a sword into my heart. But all who have listened to the letter of Billy Paul will know what what this is. Here it says:

America has not recognized that my hand has turned towards this country in blessing, therefore let them go.

You be the judge. I don’t want only two or three to judge, I want you all to judge. We have read the letter where it was said that we don’t have a part in what pertains to the message of the hour.

My dear friends, I especially would address Brother Johnson, Brother Fulcher, and all the rest of our brothers from the States: Don’t take this personally, because the elect are in every country. But the majority of those believing the message, they actually — I don’t want to say this, but you say what they say… yeah… they just do not see that God does what He pleases to do.

Many times it was emphasized that the storehouse is in Jeffersonville and that all should come there, and the Easter meetings were always arranged.

But, my dear friends, the storehouse is in our hearts. Praise God. That is where the Word of God is. There is a Scripture in the Old Testament: “Don’t go to Bethel, don’t go to Gilgal, but come unto me.” [Am 5:4–5] We can go to the places, we can go to Jeffersonville, we can go to Tucson, we can go to Mexico, we can go to Zurich, we can go into any place.

And Brother Branham said that he has felt a special anointing in Zurich, Switzerland, when he saw the German eagle, so watching the English horse rider.

Remember that? In Africa. Yes.

But don’t worry about it. It just came to me before I came to Africa.

We’re actually very sad in our heart. For many years we have invited all that we could. I invited Billy Paul a number of times, I invited Roy Borders a number of times, and I invited others. Many times I felt very badly because they would say “yes”, and then it was all different.

But at the same time we can say that God is not a respecter of persons. [Acts 10:34] He just does what He pleases.

And now we must tell you that in one of the prophecies, or in which a vision was shown before, that God has turned also to Russia and all the Asian countries. And we know that all the nations must be brought in.

Brother Branham said he wished that this Word would be taken into all the countries. He could not go to Poland, he could not go to Romania, he could not go to Hungary, he could not go to Czechoslovakia. But we could go to take this Word of God into all these countries.

And my dear friends, when I just was in Warsaw, we just had meetings in Poland. A brother came from Russia and he testified of something most wonderful. He wept very much. He said in the year 1937, they have read a Russian brochure about the supernatural in Brother Branham’s life. And he said since that time they were always longing to hear about this man again. They had a prophecy in Russia, that outside the limits of their country, from across the ocean, a message would come forth for the preparation of the bride. The man was shaking like this.

And when he saw us there, he just said: “Brother Frank, I’ve not seen Brother Branham, but now I’ve seen you, and you have brought the message that God has given.”

My dear friends, we have seen many tears of those receiving God’s Word everywhere.

The time is advanced and we have to come to a close. We’re so grateful to the Lord. And I say again: May no one misunderstand. There was a time of blessing in this country during the Reformation. There was a time of blessing in England during the time that followed.

And let me tell you this, just for your information: Wherever God used one of His messengers, there were the blessings of God. But after a certain time, then it became different, in this country and in all the other countries.

So, what will come now is something to manifest who is the true seed of God.

We’re not to judge this; we have to watch ourselves.

We have not made us a certain seed; God does it all. And whatever He does is right.

But we just know — not only from experience, because we don’t go by experience – but by the Word and by the Holy Spirit, that He has turned His face towards this part of the earth.

And we just praise Him for it. Maybe there comes a time when He will leave us and go on somewhere else. We don’t know.

But right now we know He is still with us and we’re so grateful for it.

And we just believe that all our brothers who have come will go forth from these days with a new zeal in their heart to proclaim the message of the hour, the revealed Word of God.

May God bless all of our brothers.