About hundred believers are gathered today for this special event for God’s servant, who is laying down his life unreservedly for this message ever since the Angel came to him, who went as a prisoner of Christ in so many places where God led him to go, and we all, from the smallest to the greatest, count it a tremendous privilege to have him with us at this appointed time and season in this place here in Lithuania, to celebrate his birthday. Presents, words, songs or gifts…nothing really can express how much we all appreciate and love this ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ; the ministry for the second ride in this hour after the prophet is gone. It’s a tremendous victory for the Bride worldwide to find her place and position, because Brother Branham said, when the Bride knows who she is, then we are doing the greater works.
We see him minister day by day, night by night, hour by hour, minute by minute, sharing and imputing these great mystery truth to others. Yes, we know he is just the wrapping, but we want to honour and respect the wrapping of God’s great gift to His bride.
Brother Pavel begins this meeting by saying:
‘It is very pleasant to speak about you, Brother Vin. At Jesus’ time if people wouldn’t speak about Him and were enthused about Him, He said, that the stones would cry out. Therefore its wonderful to speak about your ministry, and we are glad to participate in your celebration, where we want to express our thanks in songs and speeches. Your ministry has produced something in our lives, and the light has to come into this earth of ours, just like in Genesis 1. We were once in disorder, but now we came in alignment with the SON. It didn’t finish with the prophet, but God’s garden is expressed here, where God can move amongst us. We are thankful to God for you. When we see that the Lord is pleased with all this, then we are pleased. We are all alive and quickened now by the Holy Spirit. It’s expressed in every member of this body. The greatest gift for you is to see the fruits of your labour; and that it was not in vain. ‘
The saints here wrote songs pertaining to Brother Vin’s life; of course, its all in Russian, and as promised we will get the words in English later on.
Brother Vladimir Ivanov from the Ukraine continues with giving his testimony and it’s really about how God has revived him personally through the opening of the Word, and that by recognizing this ministry he has escaped darkness and confusion, and how God used Brother Pavel in all of this.
Pastor Victor Fochin’s church in Siberia sends his greeting by the way of a video clip, where they wrote some wonderful songs, one of them as a prayer, that the Word would come to their thirsty land. A brother from his church also gives a special birthday greeting for Brother Vin and lays out how Brother Victor brought the light back from Trinidad and it lit all their lights. ‘We feel that the Garden of Eden is back in our church.’
The young couples from Vilnius present to Brother Vin a little picture when Brother Vin and Sister Sita were still a young couple, with a poem and a clock, so every time Brother Vin looks at this picture and the clock, he would remember the young couples of Vilnius.
Now we see a clip from the Sunday school children in Trinidad, followed with birthday greetings from Sister Sita for her beloved husband, and the singers, who sing “Papa, we love you.” Brother Michael Peter gives also his heartfelt greetings and sings “Nineteen again” where they added two new verses. And all the Islands including Canada have sent also their birthday greetings. Brother Vin is very touched by all of this.
A Brother from St. Vincent declares the Scripture from Philippians 1, where Paul speaks:
21. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. 25. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;
Brother Andrew Ivanov from the Ukraine has written a wonderful song: His steps are my steps.
The sisters are singing a song with such a deep meaning about the old violin, that nobody wanted until the Master took it and played it. It looked like nothing to others, but they didn’t know that when the man of God showed us the way, the picture of our lives just changed and opened the true purpose.
The young believers here also have put a presentation together with photos, poems and words from their hearts, expressing their deepest appreciation for Brother Vin and what the Word has done for each one of them.
Brother Anton reads one of his poems, that he has written for Brother Vin, after Brother Vin gave a testimony on August 11, 2015
Mysteries in our life are not haphazard…
If God in His great mind us ordained,
His mysteries in us He meticulously framed.
And only the Message gave “decoding Keys” to us
That we would walk again in our very paths.
Perhaps, our legs were making steps
In hills and valleys, mountains and steppes;
And yet so near, by the house, there is a piece of land,
Where our feet somehow did not walk on that sand…
What does it speak about? What is the gist?
In God our pre-planned journey does exist!
We ought to learn to look from a certain angle
That God’s ordained life we would “untangle.”
‘Cause He had thought about all items and details:
Our height, the number of the hairs, our nails.
And hairs on our head are even numbered –
It shows Omniscient God Who can’t be cumbered…
All mysteries in our life are not haphazard!
They are unique, peculiar and not without hazard!
And if we deeper look inside of our heart,
We’ll see how all these secrets in our life did start.
We are so glad that God has ministers in His Abode,
Through whom He does all mysteries for us “decode”!
These servants can tremendous help provide
To show how threads of “misunderstood life” are untied.
As church, we enter a special time and season.
After the wilderness experience – there is a reason…
It’s simply not another blessing or “recreation”,
But rather a special move of God in us and revelation!
The children sing a song about not to leave them behind, but to hold their hands and go deeper, and deeper in the Word, so they can fight the battle.
Brother Pavel’s sister in Moscow also gives her greetings and testimony over Skype. She is streaming regularly Brother Pavel’s services, and had met Brother Vin many years ago.
Brother Valerie and his wife Anna sing a special, that she wrote, and they sing it in English and Russian. Its about the victory in His Love Divine, and especially written for Brother Vin.
Sister Ona Sokolovahas has also written a tremendous song for Brother Vin, which expresses the thankfulness to God on behalf of the saints here. Here is the refrain:
“We want to thank you for being brave and strong,
though directing us in God’s full word, it took so long,
but God’s provided grace has brought us to our place,
now we can carry on and shine in purity, in Love divine.”
Brother Vin now speaks:
From the depth of my heart I want to sincerely express my gratitude to you for the great outpouring of love. I am so thankful that God appointed these days to be here. Within the last 6 month or so it seemed that such a great tiredness came upon me, and I desired so much more coming out of our church, because sometimes you give unreservedly of yourself, you toil day and night, because you are convinced you believe in what you do. You are not satisfied with how much you do. You need greater strength to do more. The Bible says, knowledge increases sorrow to the person who do not know, they don’t understand, but when you know and your consciousness is already awakened to the lateness of the hour, to the urgency of the message. And when you look at temporal things to think, may be I should take a vacation or do something for myself, and see how much has to be done, and how little you have done, and you could enter into the life of the prophet, when God took him beyond the curtain of time. Just before he left the body, he talked to himself, that he had done so little, measuring himself with the Lord Jesus. He saw the wealth of blessing to have the ministry of Elijah, the ministry of Moses, the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, to have the kind of gifts that he had in his life, and the magnitude of the works that God had done through him, in the sense that he had given him such great gifts, and then to see, how little he had done. Standing where we look from, we will think he did very much, but he was not comparing himself with other men, but with what God had given to him, and what God was requiring of him. And his heart had to be in a certain condition to think those thoughts. A selfish though cannot think those thoughts. He said ‘If I had a million lives, I give them all to Jesus.’ It sounds like a nice statement when you read it, but it really shows the depths of gratitude in his life. How much he appreciated what the Lord had done for him. When he sat back and thought that he could have killed the six boys or the policeman, he said ‘Had it not be for the grace of God, I would have been a murderer.’
But then the Angel appeared to him, materialized in front of him, he looked back in the Bible and seen how many people had an experience like that, he could see what a great favour had been bestowed upon him. And that makes you want to give more of yourself, because grace is what God has done for us, and works is what we do as appreciation for God’s grace.
Being here over these days had really done something special for me. Because as I think back in my first experience coming into Eastern Europe, to me it was a vey special chapter that was ordained in my life. Many times back home I was thinking back on the times, I would try to think why did God include that when he was planning my life? Sometimes you carry certain things, you try to preach to people, and they don’t get it, and you question yourself. May be you took the wrong approach, may be because of people’s background they fail to look closely of what is there. If you love people and you want to project love to them, and you made a great sacrifice, and somebody may be couldn’t see the measure of sacrifice, and that is just put aside like it is something ordinary, you know, you don’t feel too good about it. Because this is your life, and you do all for the Lord and His people. Because we feel we are called to do this. And over those years you look to see somebody grasp these things, and so God tests you and tries you with these things. Sometimes it takes patience. The farmer waited with patience after sowing the seed. He waited for the former and latter rain, he might sow the seed, but God has to send the rain and it takes a lot of patience to see the fruit.
But being in your company these days…I am trying to express this over the years to the people… many times they look to the minister and they rejoice that he could bless them, but little do they realize that they can bless you more than you can bless them. You go somewhere to preach, and they may rejoice, in something you preached which they didn’t know and enjoy it. But that is your gift, you can give out something, but they also have a gift in them, that the Holy Spirit is using them to bless you.
And I am so greatly blessed how much you blessed me. It means something to them; they want to tell you, express to you the blessing when you sit and listen, you realize, that this also is ordained of God. God didn’t put us on a one-way street with these things. Its a two-way street. You can go through life, I am send to bless people, but then the needs you have and the way in which God can use you, and you are feeling so tired the last six month, and coming here, I feel refreshed, I feel motivated, I feel like I am stimulated. You see, it’s what you value in life. To somebody who is may be born into a rich family; the family has a fleet of cars, they have a few houses, they have a lot of things…and that person walks away from all those things, and the next thing you see them sitting under a tree somewhere, talking to a farmer; the farmer is explaining to them what he does, and that is something greater to them. To meet a farmer and talk, that’s a rare thing for a rich man. And he might get down there and discover something, that he couldn’t discover where he was.
Sometimes you meet a brother and sister, and they talk about what God has done in their lives. You might be a minister, seeing the dead raised, the sick healed, and a lot of supernatural things, and then you meet a person who has a certain story and you feel like you need that, that they have something more than what you have.
Brother Branham made a statement ‘If the rapture takes place in the morning, many of you would make it before me.’ He said, what I mean is, if we have to go in our merit, with what God has done in my life, what I know and how little I have done, having all of this, and what God may give you and what you have done, many of you go on before me.’ He said, I don’t say this to look humble.’
When I look at some of you, the songs the sisters wrote, that means more to me than somebody with ten thousand dollars. Money is no value to me, tomorrow you could hear, the stock market crashed, thats no wealth. Somebody has a big house and one grain of match, its gone. That can’t be wealth.
When somebody gives you something eternal, you could share it with somebody; you have it, they have it. The value is not diminishing, it’s becoming greater and greater. And that’s what we have, eternal life, Jesus Christ. And when that comes out of somebody’s heart, and this is the mystery of God, it is really Jesus blessing His children, because if any good thing comes out of us, He is the source. He wants us to first bless each other and this causes us to bring more unity with each other. If I go somewhere, may be take a two month vacation, eat, drink and be marry and have free time, but coming here and being in your company, sitting in the different homes, the little times we talk, hear your testimonies, see what God is doing for you, that makes me know my life is worthwhile. I don’t want to live and get old and can’t see no purpose why I live, because everything God makes it serves His purpose, and there is a resurrection for it. That’s why God made a tree, and we see it year after year, the leaves fall off, but the tree is made for a purpose. The winter is coming, the leaves fall, the life goes in the ground, the sun comes up, it goes down, it comes back up. Because God’s creation doesn’t deviate from God’s purpose. Everything else that stays in God’s provided way still does what God designed to do in the beginning. It is man who goes out of God’s way, and then destroys a lot of things. But the Word has come back to us, and He has brought us, His elect, back into God’s provided way, and when you can walk into a church and the people are walking in God’s provided way, there is the supernatural power. Because God cannot work His will with a man who is out of alignment with Him.
John 5:19 The Son cannot do nothing of Himself, but what he seeth the Father do. John 4:34 My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. There was a harmony between the Father and the Son, and that’s why we seen so great things done through the Lord Jesus. And then we seen the prophet. And then the same harmony must now exist between the Bridegroom and the bride, because the Head and the body has become one. That’s a mystery like husband and wife, pastor and congregation, that’s why we call it church family. That’s why we call each other brother and sister. These are not religious terms, this is a realization of how God has set up his Kingdom. And when we can look at each other and see Christ in each other, this is a great victory, because our eyes see through our heart, and until that heart becomes a new heart, you will not see Christ in a person. He has to be on the inside to be seen on the outside. Brother Branham tells us these things. I see Christ in you, and you have confessed you see Christ in me, and you tell me, I have been a blessing. I had more faith in God’s servant than he had in himself. When I told him ‘you can do it, do the work,’ because I am not seeing him, its not that I didn’t want to be there, but I know it’s more important for him to discover, that God is already doing through him, what he had ordained for him. Because in the last four years or so, this had been …the Holy Spirit made that emphasis so strong to try to show people the things that they are looking for are in their lives already, but they look for God to do it. And God has done it and is doing it. And in the message ‘Go, tell, ‘ Brother Branham is talking to come in the Third Pull, and he was waiting for God to confirm it to him. And one day God told him, ‘What are you waiting on? I confirmed it to you, you need to step out.’ And when he realized it, he testified what was happening in his life, and that God told him, he would have a new ministry, and then he said, ‘I am stepping out by faith.’
This was Moses, waiting ‘What must I do?’ He said ‘What are you crying to me for? Speak the Word and go forward. Didn’t I confirm your birth, protected you, preserved you? Didn’t I confirm to you that you are the one I spoke about and you delivered the people with a mighty hand? Did I bring the frogs, when you called for frogs, for flies? Like you stood at the Red Sea, and you ask Me what to do.’
It’s like a policeman, who is seeing somebody breaking into a house. And he runs to the major “I see a man breaking in the house.’ And he says, ‘You are trained and commissioned to keep law and order in the city, what you asking me for? You are empowered.’
So the last few years I see when that key strikes in the hearts of believers, they know God has planned their lives, that it is God who brought you in the message. He might have used somebody to talk to you, put you in the car to bring you to church, but nobody can bring you to the Lord. No one can come, unless the Father draws him first. ‘And all the Father has given Me, will come.’ Flesh and blood cannot reveal this to you.
He might use me to preach, but God, the same one who inspires me to preach, it’s really Him who is quickening and revealing it you. So when you miss that detail sometimes, you are still waiting for something more to happen and it’s already happening.
That’s when Elijah offered the sacrifice, and saw the fire come down, then He knew that was the sign, God accepted the sacrifice. He goes on the mountain, a type of Calvary. Then he tells his servant, ‘Go and see if there is a sign of rain.’ And the servant went and said, ‘I see nothing.’ Elijah didn’t get discouraged; he saw God accepted the sacrifice, and he knew the blessing had to come. God required the sacrifice, he made the sacrifice and He gave his approval by accepting the sacrifice. He sent the servant seven times, and when he came back ‘What do you see?’ ‘A cloud this big, the size of a man ’s hand.’ Three and a half years no rain. ‘What does a cloud this big do?’ He had an attitude. ‘You sent me to look, and there was no sign of rain, you sent me back, are you satisfied?’ When he said, he saw a cloud this big, Elijah started to shout ‘I hear the sound of abundance of rain.’ The prophet says, he saw the first little sign that the thing started and the cloud began to raise, it got bigger and bigger, until it filled the whole heaven. He was so weakened to walk before; he couldn’t go further to look and see, so he sent his servant. But when he seen the thing started, he was so rejuvenated.
Look at myself here, I see something, it’s happening. And I meet individuals writing songs; the human mind cannot write these words. God is releasing something. It’s coming may be normal. You get up in the morning, check your mail box. You check your mailbox in your computer; somebody writes you while you sleep in the night, its there. It has a sender. Its not anonymous mail. When you see the inspiration, but you have spam, too. If it doesn’t fit in the Word, that is spam, but when it fits in the Word, you know it’s the origin. And you realize that God is communicating. You begin to think, and then you have to see, God is not sending somebody’s mail to you, but He is sending things, that pertain to you. You begin to see it’s about you, and then you begin to yield and surrender.
So Elijah was so rejuvenated, he couldn’t climb the mountain before, but then he out-run Ahab’s chariot. It’s amazing what revelation can do for you. Don’t underestimate that. I get that this morning, walking across to the house and I said ‘Lord, I have 64 years today, I feel so healthy, I feel so strong, so youthful, my mind is not weary, and I am singing ’19 again.’ What has done this for me? Being in your presence. That’s why I say, a congregation looks for a minister to bless them, but you do not know how you can bless us, and God has given you a servant of God.
We were in New Zealand in 2013 and he stood up there… if you saw the video, I was thinking, he is causing trouble for me now, but I begin to understand, what God has done, and now I am seeing him as such a courageous man. I was saying yesterday to arrange meetings like this, it’s an expression of faith. That what has happened to him, can happen to others. This is investing in something eternal. When you are convinced then you are concerned. The reason people are not concerned, they are not convinced. I admire him, because God didn’t take away the evangelism from him, though he was doing the work of an evangelist and he had training that sent him into far places. Because being a pastor he might just look at his own church, but God makes him see beyond his church. He began to see the body of Christ and he sees some churches are in a weak condition, some churches are small, cannot support themselves, some churches are dying, and over those years in having to go thousands of miles for a small group of people, it cultivated a burden, and he sees not only the needs of his church but of the body of Christ in his area.
What God has done in this assembly, it’s because that He had to bring greater awareness of the work in that assembly. We can read about the church in Antioch, and their influence; we can read about the church in Ephesus and their influence because we see these were two of the great churches in the New Testament, and when we look today, then you realize how much assemblies can have godly influence. Two thousand years ago the Book of Acts… where do we get our inspiration from? From God. And when we look at those assemblies and how God worked, Paul went into the uttermost parts of the world, going out of Antioch, it’s the same today. God gives such wonderful helpers. I am amazed about the amount of gifts in the church, the quality, and then to see the service in the lives of the believers, this has really impressed me. It is in the services, when we went in the hall, to the fellowships in the different homes, and we are here this evening, having something not like a church service as such, but have gathered together in the presence of God, look at the variety of situations, and you see what comes out, you see a trained church, established, in unity and cooperation, give such support to each other, just keep cultivating that. Because the same way Antioch’s and Ephesus’ influence lasted two thousand years, the Holy Spirit in those churches, and God took the picture in the Bible, that is historical, because that life is here among the believers.
Look at the young people involved in the work, the respects. You can hardly find somebody doing nothing, because of the consideration that they have. Church is not coming for attendance, they are involved and participating and make themselves available and they are determined to walk in the footsteps of these who are examples. And that influence flows out. I am so blessed to see Brother Victor’s church, and. Brother Anatoly’s church, the picture he gave me.There is an old Chinese proverb, that says ‘A picture is worth more than a thousand words.’ I look at the picture as if I look into the Bible. I look at the painting, hear the story, there is something to see.
I am thankful, that we have such message, a message of redemption and grace, and the power of God, perfect love, perfect faith flows out of this message, flows into our hearts, and it reflects in our lives. May God continue to bless you. I am so grateful that God appointed me to be here, and God fixed this. He could have chosen a different time for the meetings. If He really wanted me to come, He could have chosen a time where may be I would be not spending my birthday, but back home. But sometimes God wants to us show the willingness of our commitment. You are willing to give up certain things to be here. And you make me feel home, because I am home. I believe God made me part of this work in 1989. God knows the love I have for the families, for the pastor, for the church, the friends that I made. Said to these brothers here, I was telling them the other night, ‘I know you all when you were small, and you made yourself available, you interpreted for me in different places. Then they come and marry, have children, still walking with the Lord. But from the very beginning I didn’t see in them boys their age, but I see them of what they are doing. And I live to see their families and children, now they are ministers, preaching the gospel. When I hear them talk, they have a grip on the Word. I am glad that God choose you. There was many ministers where I was in the meeting, and God connected me with one. So today I am here. And all the different ministers that were there from Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, from all over, and I had to climb over criticism of people, rumours. I have only Christ Jesus over me and have nobody to influence me in what I am called for. The man was not an educated man, he was not a cultured and refined man, yet I look beyond all the culture and refine and walk with the man. Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. Decisions, choices determine what your destination will be. I am here because of a decision; I had to listen to the voice in my heart. And I am thankful that I obeyed God, because when I came so tired and weary, I thought, I couldn’t get encouraged. But over the last few month I was getting irritable, not really discouraged, but I accepted God willing things, and I didn’t know how it would turn out. But now I am renewed in coming here, I feel refreshed and healed. Thank you for your love and consideration, the attention you give me, for the kind words, the songs, and making me feel so welcome among you. I am not the Word I am carrying, but I am the wrapping. So many think that I feel a special way, knowing what I know, but I am so conscious, that what comes out of me is not me. People associate with me, because this is the vessel, but the vessel knows itself.
Bro Branham said, this is the sovereignty of God. They had no religion when the Angel came and talked to him. Watch something about God. It just dropped to me right here. He could have chosen to come in a day when he didn’t carry the water for the whisky. But the day he is carrying the water to make the whisky – this was an illegal operation – and he is carrying it, and that is 1916. 1914 to 1918 the first world war, Revelation 7:1. The angels didn’t hold the winds to stop the war yet. But a seven year old boy, born 1909, walking with a pale of water and God knew where he is going with the pale of water. And God came down and told him ‘You have a work to do when you get older.’ God could have said ‘Seraphim hold their wings over their face, crying holy, holy, holy day and night.’ He could have waited when he was not doing anything. ‘May be when he prays at night by his bed, I will come down.’ God came down when he carried the water for the whisky. God wants us to see how He thinks, and God who planned his life and all the nations fighting with the mustard gas and poison gas, in the midst of the war, God leaves all that what is going on on the battle ground, and God finds Himself in the hills of Kentucky talking to a little boy and tell him about the work.
This is the God of this message. You might not be walking all where you need to be walking, but be confident, that God who began the good work in you will perform it, even until the day of Jesus Christ. He is the Author and Finisher of your faith. We are His workmanship created unto good works in Christ Jesus. And when He is finished, we are all master pieces in His hands. This is one of the best birthdays among 64 birthdays. I got many presents in times past, but I got a lot of love out of your faith, out of your gratitude, and with the love in your hearts you have blessed me, you have healed me with words of healing, courage and strength. I sat right there before Almighty God, and I said ‘Lord, when somebody does something for you, you want to express gratitude for answered prayer, because you are praying for something and God answers you, and you give thanks. And before you give thanks, you have to realize that something you needed and you asked for, you have received. And He certainly knew what I needed. You have done so much for me and I feel indebted to you. I myself cannot give you what you need, but He who blessed me through you, my prayer is that He will bless you through me; that before I leave, that something you have desired from the Lord, that God has given it to you.
I so admire Brother Pavel. The work that already began to abound in you, will flow everywhere, because when the power of that church rises, it will pull his brethren. I feel when I came – I was in Brother Daniel’s house for lunch – and I saw Brother Vladimir and Brother Eugene from Kazakstan, and when I saw them coming, something went through me and I told him, ‘you have some brothers here, they are sent for something.’ Because they came with difficulty, but God made the way for them to come. And I was sensitive of that and I believe that in the days to come all of this that has been taking place over these days, will bring great benefit to the Kingdom of God. Christianity is based on sacrifice and I believe God has accepted the sacrifice. This is the investment this church has made in the Kingdom of God. I am so inspired. When I see the sisters sing, and the little children… I saw a little video with the little children, and I already put in my order. A few things I seen here, I already put on my list, ‘I need this, and I need that.’ Some things grow better depending on the climate. We have things in Trinidad; they grow certain things, but it’s so hot. But in the same way, we may have certain seeds there, but when I see some of those seeds growing over here, I want to take back some of the fruit, so we can partake of it. When we cannot get it to grow as a church, we still can eat it and be strengthened by it. Not that I want to talk a lot, but its hard to leave people that you love…
The sisters baked, decorated and displayed such a rich table; one cake even represents the Tree of Life; it is just so amazing how much of thought the saints have put in to make this day special for Brother Vin and all of us.
The day ends with continued fellowship in the Word, and we are altogether blessed with the things that God is doing for us.