The Uncertain Sound

... very happy to be here this morning, and we trust the good Lord's blessings rest upon each and every one of you. And I didn't know that I was going to be here; kind of surprising to me. But they put the meeting off in Germany, one more week, because of something that taken place: They had to use that stadium. So, we don't go until a week from this coming Sunday.

Next Sunday, we'll be at ... next Saturday and Sunday, at the Methodist campgrounds in Campbellsville, Kentucky, for a healing campaign. Saturday night will be a healing service at Campbellsville, the Methodist campgrounds.

The next Sunday afternoon, I want to preach a Gospel message, if the Lord willing. And then Sunday night again, there will be a healing service for the people down.... That's near my hometown, where I was born and raised ... or, born. And I was raised here in Indiana. So, you who have friends that's been wanting to come to a healing service, well, the Lord willing, we'll be there next Saturday afternoon ... or, evening, rather. I guess begin about seven-thirty. Our beloved pastor is going to go with us to furnish the singing and so forth.

And there will be services at the Tabernacle here, next Sunday morning and Sunday evening. And there will be a very fine minister here to speak to you: a surprise. So, I'll just let it lay like that, 'cause we're trying to get someone who'll be a surprise to you for next Sunday. And so now, you who cannot be down at Campbellsville, to be with us in the meeting, why, come right to the little tabernacle, and services will continue on as usual next Sunday morning and Sunday evening.

We would dismiss, if there happens to be someone here from near Campbellsville; we usually try to dismiss for the services, but we have people who just can't, at the time, get out to those meetings. And we will have services especially for them and the young folks. So, everyone's cordially invited to these fine services.

Then, we happen to get a.... Now, just talk about time, how it is really increasing! Just think: I'll leave here at eleven o'clock in the morning, out of Louisville; and the next afternoon, immediately after lunch, I'm preaching in Luxembourg, and Frankfurt, Germany. Just think, from eleven o'clock here.... I leave Louisville at eleven o'clock, and the next afternoon I'm preaching in Frankfurt, Germany, with five hours difference in the time taken off of it, of the time. Just think of that. My, it's hard to believe, isn't it? So fast. But we happen, by the grace of God, to get a good through-line, the DC-9 from here to New York, and from there on by the Pan American. It takes us right straight to Frankfurt.

And then, we'll be there for several days, and then we go from there to Berlin. And with the famous Hal Herman, I'm to be with him two nights at Berlin, Germany. The famous converted movie director, of Hollywood, was converted in one of the meetings out there. And he's a German by birth. And he is back in Germany, preaching the Gospel under a great tent at Berlin. And many thousands are coming from behind the iron curtain.

It certainly is a pathetic thing. One morning, I was sitting at Zurich, Switzerland, then.... There was so many people. We had a hundred and twenty-six thousand people there at the meeting, so we couldn't get out of the place, hardly. And so, every one, you know, pathetic, and begging to be prayed for, and wanted to know what the Lord would have to say to them.

And the Lord said to me, “Get out and go down towards the seashore ... or, the lakeshore.” Switzerland is such a beautiful country.

And I said, “Billy, you walk with me.”

He said, “Now, dad, you're fixing to get all tangled up out there, and they'll have to get the police to get you out.”

And I said, “Well, the Lord is telling me to go down towards the shore.” So, I went down and walked way up along, no one.... The Germans, and Swiss, and Belgian, and French, and Italians, at the meeting. Nobody recognized me, at all. I was walking right on along there. And I have a way of kind of disguising myself, a little bit. And I doubt my own brother would know me if he'd meet me.

I was walking right along, and we went up there and sat down. Billy said, “Why, you know they know me, Dad.”

I said, “Well,” I said, “they might do it.” But I said, “The Lord told me to come up.”

Said, “But what does the Lord want you to do?” Impatience of a kid, you know.

I said, “He'll take care of that,” see.

So, we started walking back, alongside of the shore. I seen an old fellow sitting there, crying, reading, like that. I said, “There he is. That's him.”

He said, “You ain't going to walk up and talk to that man?”

I said, “No, he's going to walk up and talk to me.” I said, “Now, he is from away away.” And I said, “He's come here; it's emergency case. You watch and see if that man don't have something for me. And it's pertaining a woman's arm, see.” I said....

Said, “How do you know?”

I said, “A vision just struck, and that's the same man; that's him sitting right there.” And so, I said, “Just look the other way, and I walked on by him.”

We went walking on by. In a few moments, he said, “Daddy, that man's following us.”

I said, “I know it. And we're going to come around a bend; we're going to cross a little bridge, and he's going to walk in front of me and overtake me right there at the bridge. See if he don't.”

He said, “All right.”

So, we went on. And there he stopped, walked in front of me and overtook me right at a little bridge. He said, “Bruder Branham.” And he pulled out his little ... had a little satchel, like a lady packs, pulled out of there a little handbag of a thing, his passport. And he was from Russia. And he had a handkerchief in there that he wanted me to pray over, and tear it in six strips for a woman with a real bad arm that had been hurt and wouldn't get well, and is shrinking up. And she was the mother of five children; six strips, you see, just perfect.

And I looked at his passport. He was from Russia, up in behind the Iron Curtain. And to think that how the Lord Jesus, seeing that poor Russian.... I asked him how many was down there. He said, “There's several hundred of us has got through the line and come down to your meeting.”

I said, “How did you know I was down here?”

He said, “Well, we heard it through the Swiss radio.”

And I said, “Did you ever hear of my services up there?”

He said, “When the little boy was raised in Finland, that went plumb through Russia.” All the way through Russia; that little boy raised from the dead. So, it just goes to show, God's got His children everywhere, hasn't He?

And Hal Herman told me, said, “Billy, we'd be there....” You know, it's close to the line, there at Berlin. He said, “There'll be, maybe, five thousand people, or ten thousand people, standing. When you dismiss the service, in ten minutes (underground passages) you can't see a person.” They go back behind the Iron Curtain again. Come through like moles.

So, it just goes to show, that in the spite of all the atheistic, all of the ungodly, all the nazism, Hitlerism, fascism, and communism, will never beat out the light of the Gospel. It's still in the hearts of people. And it'll wave on, and on, and on, and on, and on. It'll never end. For Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build My church and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.”

Isn't it marvelous to know that the very reason that you're sitting in this little old hot building this morning, with fans a fanning, it's something inside of a man calling, a hidden power that the world knows nothing about. Only those who have been partakers of it, knows what it is.

Is the little speakers working up there now? A while ago, I couldn't hardly hear my beloved brother back there—the fans a going—and I couldn't understand much he was saying.

Well, we're glad this morning to see you in, out at this hot day. Don't forget Wednesday night service at the Tabernacle. And I guess you'll hear Brother Neville at the same time, next Saturday morning, and then probably he'll go right on from there down to Campbellsville then ... or, that evening, rather, for the services.

And glad to see little Edith, and the Wright family up again this morning, Sister Lawton, many of the rest of you here. And I'd like to hear Sister Angie and them singing, “He guides the eagle through the pathless air,” whatever it was, when we was coming in. I was enjoying it.

I was trying to shake hands with Brother Fleeman, back there, and speak to him a moment. And that's the way.... I didn't get just exactly what it was. Let's see. [Brother Branham quietly reads a prayer request.] Somebody here wants.... It's a prayer for a limb—a person.

Well, last Sunday night we had a marvelous meeting over at the Church Of The Open Door, the Lord doing a great miracle there. And it's about filled there house full of people this week. So, been a great time though. A lot of hot weather, but, yet, thanks be to God, we're able to be here at the house of the Lord this morning and ready to serve the Lord. Shall we pray?

Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee just now in the name of Jesus, Thy beloved Son, for all that He has did for us in forgiving us of our sins, and inviting us into this wonderful, marvelous fellowship of His suffering, and this fellowship of His glory that followed the resurrection, to know this of a certainty: that Jesus raised from the dead and is alive among us today. How we love Him for what He's done: to see Him, how He heals the sick, made that little, blind girl, reading Braille, the other night, her eyes to come open, and walk through the building, proving to the people that He's raised from the dead.

And now we pray Thee, oh, great risen God, the God of all gods, the supreme Authority over everything there is in heavens and earth, Ruler and Maker, we pray that Your great august Being will bless us today, and Thy great Majesty ride into every heart, this morning, Father, and take control of all. We ask for the glory of God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Over in the book of I Corinthians, just by the way of text, if we would call it that, for a few moments, we'd like to read a verse or two here to give us a background and a little testimony that I want to tell you before we start speaking.

I've got a few notes wrote down here of different things I want to say to you about the services, and something that happened the other day. So, I won't forget it, I hope.

Now, in I Corinthians.... God's Word always has the preeminence. It's first. Keep His Word. And now in the fourteenth chapter, and beginning with the sixth verse, I read this:

Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall it profit you, except you ... speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?

And everything without life give a sound, whether it be pipe ... harp, or except it give a distinction in the sound, how shall it be known whether it is pipe or harp?

For if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for ... battle? (Paul speaking.)

And then over in Psalms, the first Psalm, we read this. “Blessed is the man who God will not impute to him unrighteousness,” or sin. And the blessed man is a different man. David speaking, saying that how blessed he was, that, “The blessed man, he was like a tree that's planted by the rivers of water,” in Psalms 1, “and how that he would bear his fruit in the season. The ungodly would not be so, but he would perish,” and so forth. But the blessed man was God's man.

And now I want, being there's just not too many here today (And I hope it's not too hot for you to sit there for a few moments, or at least forty-five minutes.), I'd like to just talk to you heart-to-heart today.

In the Tabernacle I don't get a chance to do this too often, or out in the meetings, to teach doctrine, or to say things that I want to say, but out there, it's always on the subject of divine healing. And out in the other churches where their different mixes-up and certain denominations that teach different theology, well, then, I can't say it, because it hurts feelings and so forth. Even, sometime, the Word being preached simple and plain, it hurts feelings. And the best thing to do is just stay on the fundamental principles of Jesus Christ when we're out there, and His death, burial, resurrection, and His power and love for the people. And that way it causes no confusion.

Because I don't.... To me, it doesn't matter to me what church, people belongs to. The main thing is: if they're Christians. If you're a Catholic, if you're a Protestant, if you're Methodist, Baptist, or whatever you might be, as long as you are a Christian, that's the main thing. Christ don't look at your church you belong to, because they'll all perish and go away some day, and break up, and they'll not be thought of any more. But the principle of Christianity is the conditions of the heart towards God. And that's the thing that we like to concentrate on: is to know a brother, not by the church he belongs to, or how he wears his clothes, but what he is in his heart.

Now, my subject this morning, of course, is: “The Uncertain Sound.”

Now there's many things that gives sounds. And there's many uncertain sounds today. There is uncertainty on every hand. Everywhere you look in the national affairs, it's uncertainty. The Big-Four meetings, they come together. They write out declarations, but there's an uncertainty whether the other side will keep their pledge or not.

There's uncertainty about whether it's going to rain tomorrow, or whether it's going to be fair weather. It's uncertainty in everything that you look at, but one thing: that's in Christ, see. That's one thing that you can be assured that's certain.

And there's another thing that's absolutely sure to every person in here. I want to leave that thought to you to begin with. It's uncertain whether you're going to live to get out of this church or not. It's uncertain whether you'll ever be back again or not. It's uncertain whether you'll see another year's life. But there's one thing that certainly is sure: that's death, and the judgment afterwards. You're just as sure to meet that as God is in heaven.

You may make an appointment with your wife, and say, “Honey, I'll take you to a certain place.” Something may arise that you can't do that. You might not be able to keep that appointment.

You might tell your best friend, “Brother, I'm going to meet you. I'm going to do a certain thing. I'll let you have money, or I'll let you have my car.” All kind of uncertainty against that.

But there's one thing that's sure: that is, you're going to die, and after that you're going to meet the judgment. So, bear that in mind while we're talking on uncertainty.

Now, there is people who thinks that just so that we go into church, just so we belong to church, so we hear a good sermon now and then, and so forth, that it's all right.

Now, being it hot and everything, and I perspire so, and under this fan and all usually makes me hoarse. I just want to talk to you today, if I can, teach to you, some things that I know you ought to know: and that is, something that'll make you better, that'll help you along the road. I hope that God will help me today to pass something on to you, that'll make you realize what you ought to be and what you should be. And by telling you, will also make me realize that I've got to be a better man than what I am and what I have been. And each day, let me raise up just a little higher, closer to Christ. That's what we're here for this morning in the sincerity and in the integrity of our hearts.

I believe we wouldn't come to a church, hot today, where we have to sit here and suffer under the heat, just to be coming to church for the fun of coming. I believe there's a certain thing that you come for: that is, for Christ.

You never come to hear me. Although I may do the best I can, but I never did draw anybody to God. No one could draw it but Christ.

You come to hear the singing, perhaps. The singing is very fine. We like that kind of singing. But singing doesn't draw people to Christ. It's the Holy Spirit that draws people to Christ, see.

Preaching doesn't draw, although we try the best we can. The pastor and I, we do our very best to draw people to Christ ... or, to preach the Gospel, but it is the Holy Spirit Who has to draw your heart and give you that certain sound. We can preach the Gospel, of what we think is right, but the Holy Spirit has to give the sound that echoes in your heart. And there is a certain sound.

“There is a way too, that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death.” It's a little off the subject, but I want to dwell on that just a moment, pertaining to a certain person, that I might just take in my mind, a mythical person, and name it Mrs. John Doe.

This Mrs. John Doe, when she was brought up in church, she was a fine woman. She loved God. Oh, she went to church with her mother. She was taught to do what was right.

Now, God give us more of those old-fashioned mothers that'll teach their girls and boys how to do right, to know right from wrong. That's what we need today. We got too many other kind of examples before our young people, such as smoking, drinking, carousing, and so forth, that ought not to be, and it's by mothers, so called.

Now, notice. In the human body, our make-up, our regular anatomy that we live in here, is not made to sin. It's made to do righteous. It's made to serve God. God never made you just to work, and come home and love your children. That's all good enough. God made you to work. God made you to come home, love your children, love your wife, and the wife to be loyal and love her husband, the children love their father and mother. That's all good. But God made you....

That's just the background for something that God made you to do. God made you to be a worshipper, a worshipper of Him. You'll worship something, regardless of what it is. You'll worship your wife. You'll worship your children. You'll worship anything: your automobile; you'll worship your pleasure; you'll worship something, because it's in mankind to worship. Now, we want to know what we worship.

Jesus told the woman at the well, said, “You worship, you know not what. We Jews, we worship.... We know that we worship God, 'cause salvation is of the Jew.”

Now, and then the woman began to explain to Him how “One said, 'In the mountain'; one said, 'Jerusalem.'

He said, “The hour is coming, and now is, when the Father will seek worshippers who'll worship Him in Spirit and in truth. For God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth.”

As I was saying a few days ago, either here or somewhere, speaking on the lie detector. Now, notice close now. I want you to pay close attention. Put a lie detector on you, and you try to impersonate that truth, and try to say that it's truth; but down on the inside of you, in the subconscious, lays a place called the soul. And this intellectual mind does not govern that vibration of the system. The mind is only a director. It will direct you, and it's very incapable of bringing you to God—your mind. You cannot know God by your mind, intellectual. It's one of the resources, or the channels that would lead to it, but your soul is what governs you. You are what you are, by your soul.

Jesus said to the Pharisees, said, “Why, you hypocrites. How can you speak good things?”

When, they was calling Him, “Good Master,” and so forth.

Said, “Out of the abundance of the heart speaketh the lips. And in your heart you hate Me. And in your lips you call Me, 'Good Master.'” He said, “You hypocrites.”

See, your soul is thinking one thing, and you're speaking with your lips another thing. What a case. What a horrible thing. What a deceitful thing is a hypocrite. For out of their mind they say one thing, when their soul says another thing.

Now, the lie detector will not work on your mind. It'll work on your soul. It'll not work on your intellects. There's some people can impersonate the truth. They impersonate, yet, it being a lie; and can impersonate it till they can deceive like anything.

And Satan is the best of that there is, for he deceived Eve by that way, saying them same things. And the biggest lie was ever told, had a lot of truth in it.

Now, this person, what if you could ever get this soul on the inside so in harmony with God, that your soul and God would be one together, then you could ask what you will and it shall be given to you.

Many people come to me, many times in the prayer line, and stand there, and say, “Oh, Brother Branham, I have plenty faith. I've got faith like to move mountains.” And, yet, they haven't any faith. They hardly have enough faith to get to the platform. But they are conscious of one thing, that they do believe. They are believing intellectually with their mind. And their mind will never bring them to God. Your mind is reasonings. And God has no reasonings.

If you can reason it out, your mind will tell you, “Now, looky here, the doctor says I can't get over that. It's impossible.”

Now, the doctor, with his intellect, with His intelligence, with His knowledge of medical science, he's told you the best of the travel of his mind. And you taking your mind, and using the same thing the doctors told you, you ... God can never touch that line, as long as you reason. But let's put down reasoning. God never made us to live by our intellect. We live by the Holy Spirit that's in our soul, that says “No” to any reasonings that's contrary to God's Word.

When God's Word says it's so, there's nothing in the world stands in its way. Then when you do that, you're getting down on the right side of God. You're getting down, till you can ask what you want to, and it'll be given to you, 'cause there's nothing between there. There's no reason. Let's cast away those reasonings. They stand in your way. Get your mind out of the way. And don't you say what you reason, what you see, what you think; say what God says to be the truth. And that can only come from the inside, from the heart, not from the intellects.

There's where so many people today is going to be so terribly disappointed at the day of judgment: to know that they've lived in church, to know that they have done good deeds, to know that they have treated their neighbor right, to know that they have been loyal to the people, loyal to the church, and in their mind has believed that Jesus Christ the Son of God; and be condemned at the day of judgment.

Jesus said, “Many are called and few are chosen. Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, but few there will be that find it.”

Now, to you people here this morning, I want you to sit up and take notice to this. You're old enough now. You've heard enough Gospel preaching, till you ought to be able to get off of milk and to come to a real solid Gospel diet: come to a place where men and women ought to stand. Paul said, “When you ought to be teachers, why, you have to be taught to, yet.”

Now, in the soul where the man lives ... You are what you are in your soul, not in your mind, not in your reasoning. Not because you say, “I will have a better standing. I can associate with better company if I become a Christian.” That's reasoning, see. You mustn't do that. Don't do that. Let it come from a new experience, a new birth, something that's happened, not in the mind, but in the soul, that's taken all reasonings away, and you become a new creature. And you're in Christ Jesus.

Mrs. John Doe, she was a good woman, as far as we know. She married Mr. Doe. He was a fine Christian man. At the age of about, oh, thirty, or something another like that, Mrs. Doe was an attractive woman. She goes away, and she begins to associate with the neighbors. She gets out amongst the worldly crowd. Now, notice, she gets out amongst the crowd. She begin to associate with the rest of the people—not bad people, good people, the religious people maybe in her neighborhood. She begins to associate with those people. And while she is associating with those people.... She knows that she is a good woman.

And the first thing you know, something takes a hold of her. She becomes attracted to another man. Why, he's a very attractive man. He's more attractive than her husband. And something happens into her, that she feels she falls in love with this man.

Now, listen. Way down deep in her soul, the Word of God begins to boil up, and says, “You are wrong. Your vow is that you'll stick to this man until death shall separate you, no matter what he looks like.”

What a more attractive woman or man, it'd work either way. You're vowed to this person until death you separate. But you will go to intellectual. You'll think, “Here is Mrs. Jones. She plays the piano. She's a good woman. Why, she's did this,” and.... Reasoning. You'll see the other women begin to dress immorally, that they wear those little old clothes that they wear in summertime around here, mostly—in winter if they could; just simply vulgar. And you'll get out....

Now, ladies, I want you to forgive me. I don't want to hurt your feelings. I'm not here to hurt your feelings. God knows it's not. But I'm here as a Gospel preacher to let you know what's truth, then you do with it whatever you wish to. Then when you go to doing those things, you'll begin to reason, “If this woman can do it (She's well thought of; she goes to church; she lives in ranks of society.), why can't I do it?” That's reasoning, when your soul tells you it's wrong. God covered women up, and men up, in the Garden of Eden; never stripped them, see. But it's reasoning. You'll reason it out: “The rest of them are doing it.”

Younger girls, you take heed this morning to the Gospel. The Gospel said, “Let the women dress themselves in modest apparel,” not immodest, “modest apparel.” And it's getting.... It's a disgrace.

You know what would happen in Zurich, Switzerland, if a woman come down the street dressed like these women do in America? They'd throw her in jail right there and declare her insane. Sure.

When I went to Rome, Italy, and went up to the burying grounds of the saints, they even had a sign at the gate, at Saint Angelo burial place, the catacombs, and said, “American women, please put on clothes before you enter this place, to respect the dead.” And a ornery, degraded, debauched, lowdown place as Italy, and have to speak such words as that. And our preachers are the cause of it, from the platform, by not telling the truth. That's right.

Notice, the woman carries on. She thinks she's all right. After a while, she leaves her husband. She goes off and marries this traveling salesman, because he's a handsome, big fellow. And after a while she finds out he's not the man that her husband was. See, he's not kind like her husband was.

And after a while, then she thinks, “Oh, well, I've done that; I'll fall in love with somebody else.” She goes on. She travels on. She goes to church, continually. The pastor has never took her name from the book. She goes right on to church. She lives just like she wants to live.

And the first thing you know, oh, do.... You say, “Now look, Mrs. Doe, do you believe in Jesus Christ?”

“With all my heart I believe in it.” But her actions, her fruits prove that she's not. Don't listen to an uncertain sound. Let it sound out from the Gospel here. Proves that she's not, for she wouldn't be doing them things. She wouldn't be acting that way. She'd have different thoughts. She'd be governed by a different thing: her soul.

The first time she grieved it back there, when she started running around on her husband.... Here's her intellect here; here's her soul here. There's a separating line there, that if it ever crosses, it'll never cross back again. It'll never come again. Think of it. And she keeps on.

And after a while, when she sins against this thing on the inside of her, that speaks about the Word of God, the first thing you know, she'll become all involved in this intellect, leaving the soul alone. The Bible said, “The soul that sinneth, that soul shall die.” Die means to “separate.”

Then, the soul, the conscience, that once condemns you, isn't there anymore, and you've gone altogether into intellectual. You go join some old, cold, formal church that don't believe in those things, on out into hog-eat-hog, and the first thing you know, the soul that condemns you for the first time you told a lie, the first time you put on those short clothes, the first time you did immoral acts, will become so dead to you, you won't feel it anymore. On and on you'll go. And after a while death will catch up with you.

You're living out yonder. Your pastor will come and say, “All things are all right, my sister. You're ready to go now. Everything is all right.” She'll believe the same. And the first thing you know, when it comes down....

Why? With all of the reasoning power she has.... She's gone to church. She's give to charity. She's done everything that's right, she thinks so, everything that's right in her mind. She has followed the dictates of her mind. “I know I should go to church. I know I should be friendly. I know I should treat my neighbor right. I know I should do this and that.” But still, what is it? She has grieved away this fellow.

And then, in the hour of her death, when she gets ready to die, she is laying on the bed. And all at once, she wakes up and hollers, “Oh, my God. I'm lost.”

The pastor will say, “Give her a hypo. She is delirious.” And he'll shoot a hypo in it. And she'll try to speak. She can't speak. She'll murmur. What is it? Her soul has caught up with her before death. Not only women; men, also, who's spurned the love of Jesus Christ, who's turned Him down, made fun of it. It'll catch up with you someday, as certain as I'm standing here this morning. You grieved it so far, till you can't feel it no more. But it'll catch you sometime again. It'll all come back to you, the dirty things, the bad things, the tattling, the babbling, the backbiting, the selfishness, and things that you've done. That'll all come back to you someday, laying on the deathbed.

How the hypo needle in these last days has stopped the deathbed confessions of thousands. “Shoot the needle in him. Numb him.” He's trying to speak. What is it? His soul has caught up with him here. That soul and spirit is this thing here that the intellectual is fixing to fail. It's only in the mind. The intellectual, what you've lived by, is going to perish. But that soul that you've grieved from your intellectual, is going to haunt you through eternity. Amen.

Don't you listen to an uncertain sound. You believe the Gospel, in its fullness. Yes, sir. Oh, say, “I went to church. I did what was right. I paid my tithes.” Those things are all right, but that's intellectual.

And look, when they're trying to stop, with that hypo needle in their arm, let them be numbed off so they don't know nothing, When they're trying to speak, their soul has caught up with them. They realize that their reasoning, their mind is perishing with their brain.

“Perishing with their brain, the mind?” Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Your mind will perish with your death.

I will prove it to you. The lie detector don't take your mind; it takes your soul. The vibration of your nerves don't run on your mind; it runs on your soul. Amen. So your intellects will die when your brain ceases to function. When the blood fails to pour through the brain, and the nerves cease, then your mind goes away and your soul catches up with you.

And when this woman's soul catches up with her, and she says, “My God, I'm lost.”....

And they think it's ... oh, it's delirious. They shoot a hypo in, the needle to her, and she begins to numb off. She can't speak no more. She's trying. She's a rolling. She's in agony. And the doctor says, “Give her another one; deaden her,” until the death angel sweeps her spirit from her.

But that hypo needle might deaden the flesh; it might deaden the mind; but that can't deaden that soul that knows it's seen before God. It'll haunt her through ceaseless ages, and through eternity. That soul will still haunt and haunt and haunt, as the ages roll on.

You came from where? You go to where? You came out of eternity. You stepped into a little space called time. You go out of time into eternity. And what you are in your soul as you go out, the same you'll be. Oh, my. All right.

That a little better now? I'm getting, I notice, just a little loud with it. All right. When the.... I believe it's.... Brother Neville, I'm just preaching a little hard.

All right, into eternity, there you are.

Some pastor will come up to the woman, say, “Well, our dear beloved sister, she was such a loyal member in our church. She came every Sabbath day. She helped the poor. She helped the needy. She done all these things. Today she is in glory.”

But if the truth was only known, how into a haunting place called hell, that soul that separated from her here on earth, that she listened to an uncertain sound.... And she went off into eternity without knowing God, without knowing Christ as the new birth. She believed it in her heart. She believed it in her mind. She thought she was right, but she was wrong. It's your soul what does it. O God, have mercy.

Listen to a certain sound. The Gospel has no uncertain sound. Paul said, “If a trumpet sounds, if a soldier hears a bugle blow....”

There's many veterans here this morning. They know what retreat means. They know what these different signals of the bugle sounds. And if this bugle doesn't give a certain sound, just a big bunch of noise, how will the soldier know to prepare himself?

If one church says do this, another church says do that, and one church says do this, another one says do that, how can the Christian know what to do? One says one thing and one another.

But I tell you, my dear brother; I will tell you a place where there's no uncertain sound: That's in the Bible, God's eternal Word. It's the Gospel. And the Gospel is the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit put in action. Yes. Uncertain sounds.

Jesus, standing on earth, He knew where He stood. He knew who He was. He said, “I have power to lay My life down. I have power to take it up again.” No uncertainty about that. “I have.” Hallelujah! “I now have the power to lay it down. I have the power to take it up.” Yes, sir. No one holds Me.

Any man or woman that's borned of the Spirit of God knows where they stand, regardless of what takes place, or how many says yes or no. They know where they stand. There's no uncertain sound. Hallelujah. Oh, my.

The man who possesses it, the woman who possesses it, oh, what a blessed person they are. No wonder David said they were blessed, the blessed person. Lay him upon the operating table, and try to cut the blessing out of him, you'd never find it. It's a hidden power. It's a hidden something; oh, but it's there. Every man and woman that ever had it, knew they got it. No uncertainty about it. Every man that's born of the Spirit of God, knows when he passed from death unto life, knows the place, the hour, the minute, when death changed to life, when unbelief of the Bible changed to believe every word of it. When haughty, high-minded things passed; to humble Christians, they know when death passed to life. Amen.

Every man that had it had something different. The world knew it. Every woman had it, had something different, and the world knew it. The world can see it. Your actions prove what you are. You can say you got it, but your actions speak so loud that they can't hear your voice. Your life speaks what you are.

Samson, he was a man possessed with it. Now, a lot of people try to make Samson a great big shoulders and a great big man that'd go out, and pick up the gates of the city, and walk away. That's no.... That's not no great mystery to me to see a man do that, with shoulders that big. Samson was not a big man. All the Scripture declares him to be a little shrimp, little bitty fellow. And he was blessed. Why? He was born that way.

That's the way you get blessed, is when you are born that way; not when some priest bless you, or some preacher baptizes you, but when God, by the Holy Spirit, gives you birth. Then you're born a child of God.

Samson had it in him. And it wasn't Samson; it was the hidden power in him.

It isn't some magic word. It isn't rubbing a rabbit foot behind your ear, spitting on a horseshoe and throwing it over, that makes the magic. That isn't what makes a man live a different life, no more than joining church, or putting your name on a book, or being baptized. What makes a man, is when God, by a birth, gives him the hidden power, and blesses him by the Holy Spirit in his life, what makes him what he is.

Samson, when he walked out there, the lion come towards him. Oh, my, the lion was going to get him, a little, curly-headed shrimp, about like that, seven little, sissy locks hanging from his shoulders. And he was a weakling; he was a midget; he was a dwarf, like every man is without God. Yes. But all at once, when the lion got ready to get him, the hidden power come out. The Holy Spirit come on him, and he grabbed the lion and slew it, like it was a lamb.

That's where it is. The Christian don't fight back. The Christian don't fuss about it. The Christian sits still. And that hidden power, the blessing of the Holy Ghost goes to work for him, brings it out. Hallelujah! That's it.

David had it. When he danced before the ark of the Lord, he had it. He knowed what he was talking about, so that's the reason he wasn't afraid of Goliath. It wasn't the rock that David had in the sling that killed Goliath. It wasn't the sling that he had in his hand that killed Goliath. It wasn't the stones that he had in his pocket that did it. It was a hidden power, that blessing of God. When David let loose what he had, God took it and blessed it with a hidden power. So, it wasn't David; it wasn't stone; it wasn't slingshot; it was that blessing that was on David, that slew the enemy of David. Amen.

The Hebrew children had it. They had courage. They said, “Our God is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace. But we will never bow.” There was no uncertainty to that, no uncertain sound.

Was no uncertain sound to David, when he said, “Do you mean to tell me that you will let that uncircumcised Philistine stand there and defy the armies of the living God?” Said, “I'll fight him myself.” Amen. No uncertainty, David knew where he stood.

God said, “David, I took you out of the sheepcote, when you were nothing but a sheep boy, and I made your name great among men, like great men of the world.”

Nathanael looked at him, said, “Do all is in your heart, for God is with you.”

No uncertainty. They knew God. They had the experience, no uncertain sound about it.

David said, “I'll go fight him, and today I'll cut his head off.” No uncertainty.... It wasn't David; it was God in him. It was that hidden power. Not a bit of uncertainty: all positive, no negative.

The Hebrew children said, “We'll not bow to your gods. We'll not worship your old formal religions. God's able to deliver us. But if He don't, we're willing to die.” Into the fiery furnace.... And you know what happened? When they took God at His Word, and walked into the fiery furnace, that hidden power come out (Amen.), stood all around them. And they had fellowship; One like the Son of God stood among them, fanning away the hot breezes, and having fellowship in the midst of the greatest difficulty they ever went through.

And every man or woman that's born of the Spirit of God, when the hour comes, make your decision and stand for God without any uncertainty. In the midst of trouble you'll have fellowship. No uncertainty....

They throwed Daniel in the lions' den. No uncertainty, he stood there. He had hidden power, not a rabbit foot in his pocket, not a charm to wear around his neck.

They make me sick with all those crosses, and charms, and everything, Protestant and Catholic both wear, no virtue in them. It's all right to have it; but to worship it the way you do: hang it in your car and think it'll keep you from having a wreck; it won't do it. Only the hand of God can do that. Amen.

The brass serpent was all right. There was no condemnation in the brass serpent. But when they begin to get away from God and worship the serpent, the prophet tore it up. Amen. There you are.

Daniel went in without any uncertainty: “God is able to deliver me from them lions.” But they threw him in the fiery furnace.... And I believe when them lions started up there to look at him, there stood a halo of fire around Daniel. Any animal is scared of fire; you know that. Those lions backed off. What was it? The hidden power that was in Daniel's heart come out and clothed him all over. It was that hidden power, that blessing of God, that was upon that prophet's life, that enshrouded him with a flaming fire; like down at Dothan that day when Gehazi looked and saw what was around Elijah: angels of fire, chariots of fire. There that hidden power was around Daniel.

Peter and John, when they passed through the gate called Beautiful, the Lord spoke to them about a lame man laying there. There was no uncertainty. They didn't have any education. They didn't have.... They didn't even belong to a church. They didn't belong to a denomination. But there was no uncertainty about their experience. They had the positive. They didn't have money. They didn't have membership. They didn't have education.

But Peter said, “Such as I have, I'll give it to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.” They had hidden power. They dressed like other men. They walked on the street. They eat like other men. But they had a blessing inside of them that give them a certainty to know where they were standing. Said, “I don't have any education. I don't belong to any church. I don't know any theology. I don't have any money. The only thing I have, I'll give it to you if you'll accept it.”

He said, “What is it?”

He said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” No uncertainty.... Not “Stand up and try, and see if you can move your foot”; not “Stand up and try, and see if you'll get better.” But “In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk now.” There you are.

The uncertain sound is ... gives the uncertain sound, what will happen. Oh, my.

Stephen had so much of that blessed in him, that when they stoned Stephen ... oh, my. He had so much of the blessing in him, so much of the hidden power, till Stephen become another person, looked up and seen Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and never even felt a clod when it bonged him in the head.

Why, I can see Stephen there. He knelt down, and His enemies, spitting on him, and everything else, and clodding him. He raised up, and looked up to heaven, and he said, “Father, lay not this sin to their charge. I forgive them, Father.” So much of the blessing on the inside of him, what happened? I tell you, then the heavens opened up. That little spirit was on him, opened the way through the clouds, through the stars, through the mist, until he seen Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He said, “Behold, I see heavens open.”

Brother, I'd rather have it than all the education, all the money you could pile before me. All my education, I'll drop here. All my mental theology, I'll leave here. All my wealth, I'll leave here. But the hidden power, that thing that made the certainty of the Gospel, will take you to heaven, and carry you through the valleys of the shadow of death. Amen.

He knowed what he was talking about. Said, “I see heavens open.” He had a blessing. He had a hidden power. And he didn't feel any clods after that. They was hitting him on the head with the rocks, hitting him on one side, and the other. Poor little Stephen, like a baby laid up in his mother's arms, and God ... and He rocked him to sleep on His bosom.

The Bible didn't say Stephen died. The Bible said, “Stephen fell asleep.” God have mercy. Brother, that's what I want at the end of the road. Put him on the bosom of God and rocked him to sleep, said, “See, son, where I'm taking you.”

He had a blessing. He had hidden power, not a rabbit's foot, not a charm in his pocket, but something in his soul that changed him and made him a different man.

Paul said, “The life that I now live....” Showed he lived a different one, one time. “Not me, but Christ lives in me,” he said. Yes.

John, the revelator, he had a certain sound to his voice. He loved the Lord. He laid on His bosom. He had fellowship with Jesus. He lived to be nearly a hundred years old. He done miracles and signs and saw visions.

And when they did, they said, “He's a witch.” So, they took him over and boiled him twenty-four hours in a big pot of grease. You know what? That hidden power come out. That hidden power that was in his heart enshrouded him all around. And when they looked in the pot of grease, that blessing was on John. And they brought him out of the grease, without even a smell of grease on him. And they said, “He's a witch. He's a fortuneteller. He's Beelzebub.”

Every man or woman that's ever tried to live for God is accused of ungodly things. “He's a witch. He bewitched the grease.” He had so much power of God in Him, so much.... Not witchery, but what was it? The hidden power of God that was in him. He looked like a man. He ate like a man. He slept like a man. He cried like a man. He was a man. But God was in His man. The blessing was in the man.

“Blessed is the man...,” said David. No uncertainty to him. That man knows what he's talking about. I don't care what the world says, what you say about him, try to make him mad, he won't get mad. I don't care how much you talk about him; he won't pay no attention to it. He'll go on, 'cause he's got a blessing in here. He'll pray for you. That's right. You might do anything in the world; he'd never pay no attention to it. Won't backbite his neighbors, and go around and stir up trouble. He'll be a peacemaker. He'll do everything he can, for he's a child of God. Blessed is that man. Yes.

When the Pentecostal people went up into Pentecost, they were just men when they went up there, but all of a sudden.... While they were up there, they were scared; they had the windows closed, the doors closed. They were afraid of persecution. They were good church members up to the time. They'd been baptized in water, up to the time. But they didn't have that hidden power. They didn't have that certainty.

One of them said, “If Thou be.... Let me put my hands in Thy side. Let me put my fingers in the prints of the nails, in Your hand.”

Another one said to the women, “Oh, it's foolish. You didn't see nothing.”

But when they climbed them steps and went upstairs, all of a sudden there came a sound from heaven, and the hidden power come down. It come into them. Afterwards they were out in the street, rejoicing and praising God, preaching the Gospel, glorifying God. They had hidden powers. They had powers the world knowed nothing about.

Now, it's the same. The uncertain sound.... Don't believe the uncertain sound. The Gospel has no uncertain sound.

Say, “Brother Branham, I believe my church preaches the Gospel.” All right.

Jesus said, “Now, I'm going to give you a certain thing to believe.” He said, “You go into all the world now and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned. And....” Amen. Oh, I feel good. “And” is a conjunction. Don't stop here—preaching the Gospel—“And these signs shall follow them that believe.” No uncertain sound. It's the Gospel. Amen. They cast out devils. “In My name they shall cast out devils.” That's no uncertain sound. The Gospel said that's the tone that's in the bell. Glory. Hallelujah. Oh, my. That's the tone of the bell, when they are casting out devils.

“They shall speak with new tongues.” I don't mean the uncertain sound now; they speak with knowledge, with revelation. They had the real gift of speaking in tongues. There's something takes place when they do. That's no uncertain sound. That's no sound of unbelief, not at all. If it's a lot of carrying on, like we see a lot of times, that's unbelief. But when you speak with words, with interpretation, with revelation, (Hallelujah), that's the Gospel bell tolling. There's no uncertain sound.

“If they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover.” That's no uncertain sound.

You dear people belong to the Church of Christ, back there, you say, “That's of the devil.” It is? Then the Bible is of the devil, see.

The Bible said, “They'll lay hands on the sick; they shall recover. I will be with you, even in you to the end of the world.” No uncertain sound.

Be careful; you hear a lot of church theology that's uncertain sounds. It don't cope with the Bible. Paul said, “If the trumpet don't give a certain sound, how can we know who it to prepare for battle?” Yes, sir. Oh, my.

Jesus said, “These things that I do shall you do also; even greater, for I go unto My Father.” No uncertain sound, not a thing.

Peter said, on the day of Pentecost, in Acts 2:38, “Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” That's no uncertain sound.

There wasn't a place in the Bible, anywhere, from Genesis to Revelation, where God ever sprinkled a person. That's an uncertain sound. There never was a place where anybody was baptized any other way than in the name of Jesus Christ. Anything contrary is an uncertain sound.

Read the Bible. That's what the Gospel's made out of. This is the seed. The seed will bear its fruit. Whew. Kind of warm, isn't it? But it's good.

The kind of fire we need is “Holy Ghost and fire,” to burn carnality and churchanity out of us to get us back to sons and daughters of God; where this mental theology and what you learn in the seminary out here, and so forth, will pass away, and God can get into your heart. That's what counts.

Not if you'll say a “Hail Mary,” or not if you'll go down and say the “Apostles' Creed” at the Protestant church; that has nothing to do with it, not a thing.

Jesus said, “Except a man be borned again, he will in no wise enter the kingdom.” Amen. No uncertain sound, not a bit.

When Elijah went up there.... Look, let me show you something. When Elisha was watching Elijah, he goes up and watches him. Said, “What do you want?” A type of Christ and the church.

He said, “I want to see something.”

Said, “What do you want?”

He said, “I want a double portion of your spirit when you leave.” That was a hunger. That was theology. That was mental. He was hungering for it. His mind wanted it. His soul cried for it. That don't mean he had it.

Elijah said, “You've asked a hard thing. But if you see me when I go away, all right, it'll come to you.” Brother, he watched that prophet, every move he made.

And when that final call come, and Elijah was summons to on high to appear in the presence of God, God sent him down a chariot ride. Glory. Oh, my. Sent him down a chariot with horses of chariot ... horses of fire and a chariot of fire; said, “My beloved servant, step on. It's been well done.”

Said, “All right, Elisha, I see you're watching me.” He pulls off his coat and throws it back. Picked up that same coat and put it on. No uncertainty, walked down to the river. Hallelujah. He seen what Elijah done. He opened it for him to cross that way. He said, “If He's still the same, and His Spirit is upon me, it'll open again.” No uncertainty. He whips that around, and said, “Where is the God of Elijah?” And the sea parted from side to side, and he walked across. Did you notice? He didn't have to go to the school of prophets to get him the education. Glory. Whew. No education to that boy. Watch. Mental theology was finished. He had it in his soul. Watch him; he done like Elijah done.

Jesus said, “The same cup that I drink, you'll drink. And the same baptism that I'm baptized with, you shall be baptized with. And the same things that I do, shall you also.” What did He do? Spoke in tongues, cast out devils, preached the Gospel, healed the sick. The same thing that He did, we can too. And at the end of our days, as He raised from the dead, so will we who are in Him.

I can't get my boy up at morning. He looks like he just got his day and night turned around. I said, “Billy, you'll never be no account laying there like that. Get up. If you don't do no more than go out and wash your teeth, and go out in the yard, look at your car, and come back in and sit down, read. Don't lay in the bed: no good, laziness.”

God have mercy on these lazy-hearted Christians, become no good: know so much about it, and tell so little to other people about it.

He said, “Daddy, I just can't get up early.”

I said, “Look, Billy, one of these days, you ain't going to have no daddy to take care of you. Daddy is going to be gone one of these mornings. You come in the room and look; perhaps, daddy will be laying there. You'll shake him, but he won't wake.” I said, “Then they'll haul me down, this little old church, in a box. You'll pass by, your handkerchief in your hand, crying, look down, say, 'That's my old dad. I wished I'd have listened to him.'” I said, “But remember, Billy, I've always been an early riser.”

Hallelujah. [Blank spot on tape] ... blessed trumpet sounds, I'll come forth in the first resurrection. I believe in rising early (Hallelujah), some glorious day by the grace of God. I believe this Gospel that I preach. I believe it's the honest truth.

Elisha's robe don't have an uncertain sound. There's no uncertain sound.

The Congressman Upshaw.... There was no uncertain sound when the Holy Spirit told me up yonder, before the doctors could even find the ameba. There was no uncertain sound, when the doctor said that I was dying, and it [unclear word]. God healed me. It was no uncertain sound. It was no uncertain sound at Green's Mill that night, when the Angel of the Lord walked up to me, He said, “For this reason you was born in the world.” No uncertain sound.

I went and talked to some preachers about it. They said, “Billy, you had a nightmare.” But there's been a million souls won to Christ. There was no uncertain sound. That was the voice of God speaking to a pauper: no uncertain sound. Oh, I just can't preach when I think of that.

I was telling the wife, sometime ago. I may have told it here before. You know my family's background. I love my daddy. He has gone on. He died in my arms, praying. But he drank. All my family drank. They done great, harmful things; yet, disgrace to society. My brothers drink; not because I want them to. I cry for them, pray for them, everything else.

It used to be, before God called me, I'd be standing on the street, talking; somebody, on account of the name, they'd, “Oh, Branham. Hmmm, get away.” Somebody else come by, look for somebody, say, “Get away from him.” All right, then they'd get away. They wouldn't talk to me.

I said to the wife, the other day, “Now, I have to slip out in the woods somewhere and hide to keep people from all over the world, coming.”

What did it? Because I studied a lot? Because I learned theology? Because I got an education? Because I joined some church? No. That would've been an uncertain sound. But something sounded one day, down in my heart, not in my mind in my heart. God came in. It's been good ever since. That's amazing grace.

The other day I was amazed above anything that's happened in a long time. I'm a great lover of nature. You know I am. I love animals. I just think they're wonderful. I was sitting in my door. Brother Leo and Gene was there. And Brother and Sister Wood was down there. And little Billy Gilmore, the milkman, was standing there. And at ten o'clock in the morning, down the road come something a limping, pulling a leg behind it. It turned into my gate, and come up to my steps. It was an old possum. At ten o'clock in the day ... they're blind at that time of day. They're blind, all, in daylight. They're a night animal that runs at night. They prey, and prey around, and get their food at night. All you know that. A possum is a edible animal.

And he turned into the gate. I went out to meet the possum. I took a rake. I thought, Strange. He may be blind. What makes him act and reeling like that?“ I laid the rake over him. And he turned and looked at me; he growled. I thought, There's something strange.

And I happened to look down in her pocket. A possum is one thing, besides the kangaroo, there's only two that has a pocket they carry their young in. And in the pocket of the possum, she had eight or nine little hairless babies in there. And a dog had got a hold of her, or either a car, broke her leg, her shoulder bone. Green flies all over her, maggots in the ears, and so forth, and here she was, hobbling up like that. And she growled because she thought I was reaching for her little ones.

I said, “That possum has got more motherhood about her than a lot of women, especially this woman throwed her baby in the river the other day to get rid of it.” I said to Gene and Leo, sitting back there, I said, “Come here and I will teach you a sermon.” I said, “Look at the morals of this woman. Look at the morals of this lady. It's a dumb brute, but she's got more lady about her than forty percent of American women.” Right. I said, “She has got just about an hour to live from the looks of her, but she'll spend that hour fighting to protect them little ones. And these women go out here and have little babies, and smother them, and drown them, throw them in fire, and things: worse than dogs, worse than animals.”

The little lady wouldn't wait. She wouldn't even stop, partly. She went straight to my steps, exhausted, and laid there. We tried to get her up. She was gone. She was still grunting, suffering so tremendously.

Mrs. Wood come up, and Mr. Wood and them, said, “Brother Branham, I believe the humane thing to do would be kill the possum. Them poor little babies will starve.” Said, “It's the only thing you could do, would do it.”

Someone else come by and said, “Brother Branham, won't you kill the possum?” Said, “Kill her. She's dying.” Said, “She's laying there suffering.” Said, “Take the little ones out and kill them. They'd be better off.” Said, “They haven't got a soul. It's just a dumb brute, just an animal.” Said, “The poor little things will starve to death. The poor mother laying there, and them little babies nursing that milk from her, and you know what condition she was in.” Said, “They'll die.”

I said, “It's true, I'm a hunter, but I'm not a killer.” I said, “I love to hunt, but I don't kill just to be killing. That's a killer.” That's right. I don't kill nothing that I can't eat, or something I can't make use of, or something that's destroying. Not kill to be killing, that's a murderer. Couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it.

And I knowed sensibly, in the mental realms in the right way of thinking, the humane thing would be to do, would be kill the possum and them little ones. The possum was dying, would never gain conscious again. And the little ones would starve to death. And drinking that old curdled milk from their mother would probably die in misery. The best thing to do is put them out of their misery. That was the sensible thing. But something down here wouldn't let me do it.

Crowds begin to come. I had a call, went out. That night, Brother Wood and I were riding out on the road—and Sister Wood and my wife. Coming down from up around towards Scottsburg, where I was trying to get a little mental rest, Brother Wood said, “You see that little puppy back there on the road?” Said, “It's going to get run over.” I whirled my car around and went back. We picked the poor little fellow up.

He was full of fleas and lice, and mange eat him up. Well, what would be the sensible thing to do? Kill him. I couldn't do it. I brought the little fellow home, got me some flea power, and sprayed him, got me some mange cure; give him a good, decent meal. Got him hid away up there, trying to get the little fellow to get well. He wants to live.

There's something about life that's real. Don't impersonate Christianity; get life, live. Don't just have to battle yourself around, say, “Well, I'm a Christian, I oughtn't to do this and I oughtn't to do that.” Live. There's One who cares for you.

That night, at ten-thirty or eleven o'clock, there, the little possum was still laying unconscious, green flies all over it, shoulder broken out, laying there suffering, dying.

Long, later, Billy come in. There laid the old possum, laying back there, them little ones trying to nurse the little more milk from her, life coming from the mother. She was still groaning terribly. She'd try to get up, and she couldn't do it. She'd try to get up, and she couldn't do it.

I couldn't get that poor old possum off my mind. I thought, God, I ought to go in, and get a gun, and kill that possum, but I can't do it. What's the matter, Lord? I walked up and down the floor. Daylight come, old possum laying there. I went back, thought, O God, there she is, that hot sun, laying right at my step. Started walking back through the floor.

The blessed Holy Spirit stopped me, said, “You called her a lady. You took up for her, for being a real mother. And I sent her to your house to be prayed for, and you're letting her lay there like a woman at your doorstep.”

I said, “God, forgive Your stupid servant.” I walked out there and said, “God, if You are merciful enough to deal with a dumb animal, who has got lady enough about her to raise her babies, to send an ignorant possum to my doorstep to be prayed for, O God, heal the possum. In Jesus' name, I pray.”

The old possum turned over and looked at me, raised up on her feet, picked up her babies and put them in there, as if to bow her head, and said, “Thank you,” and took off to the woods, rejoicing. She knows a lot more than preachers do, sometimes. She'll follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. If God can deal with a possum, how much could He deal with a human, if they'd [unclear words]. No uncertain sound about that. God uses animals to teach services: sure does.

He used a mule one time to rebuke a backslidden preacher.

Great Saint Francis of Assisi, who you Catholic people claim was a Catholic, but he wasn't. He protested the Catholic church as hard as I do. But there wasn't no other church in that day, so they took him and called him a saint. When he went out on the street to preach the same Gospel that I'm preaching now, the birds was chattering in the trees. He said, “My little sisters, I'm going to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Keep still while I'm preaching.” And every bird hushed their mouth.

This is no uncertain sound. We're living in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. His blessings is here.

A God that could floor an airplane down yonder, and hold it for the sake of a poor, ignorant, colored woman, who didn't know her ABC's, to heal her boy with a venereal disease.... You know the story.

God that could speak to an ignorant possum, when there's preachers in this city that would laugh about Divine healing; people would turn up their nose and say I was crazy, because I taught it. And God, dealing with an ignorant possum, because she was a lady, because she loved her children, because she was ready to die for them.... The same God....

We're sent here on this earth for different things. Some are sent to preach the Gospel. Some are sent to prophesy. Some are sent to pray the prayer of faith. Some has gifts of healing.

The same God that spoke yonder in our room that night ... or, down here on the ... driving in that vision, and told me Brother Bosworth was laying yonder at the point of death, in South Africa.... And the Holy Ghost beat the telegram here, twenty-four hours. That same God, the same God, for respects of loyalty.... O God, bless your heart.

Loyalty: I'd give the last drop of my blood for the blackest or yellowest woman in this world, that would want to live true to her husband. I'd die for her, like I would my own wife. I respect, as a lady.

What do you think Jesus Christ did? And why can't you be loyal to Him, and to forsake your selfishness and your indifference? Can't you forsake your church, petty things, and come to Him and be loyal?

That poor ignorant possum, and the Holy Spirit.... And me up there on vacation, not even prayed up, and that poor little lady possum laid at my doorstep. When the sun was hot, she laid there faithfully. When the night come, her eyes would come open, she could see. But the Holy Ghost wouldn't let her go. She laid there all night. She couldn't get up. And then, in the early morning, showing she had been laying there around twenty-four hours, waiting for her turn to be prayed for, for she was an animal.

And when the Holy Spirit said, “Go out there and pray for her,” the God of heaven healed her. She quickly gathered up her little babies in her pocket, and looked back to me, with the saddest-looking eyes I ever seen, as if to say, “Thank you, kind sir.” And down the road she went.

She passed four other houses closer to the road than mine to turn into the gate. One, two, three, four; fifth one she turned in: J-e-s-u-s. She dropped into the gate. She didn't wait out there in the bushes. She didn't wait in the shade. She took up through the sun to get to the doorstep. She laid there patiently, not growling, not murmuring, waiting for her turn to be prayed for.

And then when I obeyed the Holy Spirit, God restored the health to the possum. She picked up her babies and went back into her place of abode: No uncertain sound. God, who numbers the feathers in the bird wings, knows where every one of them is. The God who numbers the hairs of your head, God who rides on the wings of morning, He who created the heavens and earth, knows every creature and every being. He is God. This is His Word. Heavens and earth will pass away, but it never will. Don't be deceived by doctrine of men. Believe God, and live. Shall we pray.

Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, Thy beloved Son.... No uncertain sound, no uncertainty about this: He's the Son of God. He's virgin born. He came here under the power of God. He came here through the virgin Mary. He suffered, bled, and died, under Pontius Pilate. When they would delivered Him up, the Jews crucified Him, and denied the Just One. And it is written, “Why do the heathens rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?”

O God, truly, by stretching forth Thy hand to heal, that signs and wonders might be done in the last days to prove that this is the former and latter rain. The power of God is here. The Son shone at the day of Pentecost on the Eastern people. It's shining on the Western now. They mocked, and made fun of it, and said it was make-belief, and called them witches, and fortunetellers, and unbelievers, and even killed them, burnt them at the stake, and throwed them in oil. But Thou was with them to deliver them.

Thou art here today. You're here for the closing hour, for even greater blessings, “for the former and latter rain should come together.”

And now, Father, if there be any uncertainty in any person's experience in this room; I pray, Father, at this hour, they'll confine their faith, not to their mental way of thinking, not to reasoning after men's doctrine, but to the believing of God's Word to everlasting life. These blessings we ask in Jesus' name, Thy Son.

With our heads bowed, I wonder if there's a person in here now, would reverently raise your hand, and say, “I do this, not to the preacher, but to God. God, change my way of thinking. I've tried to reason how these things would be. I tried to reason what my neighbors would say if I was ever born again, if God ever blessed me in such a way that I would shout, if God ever blessed me in such a way that I would have an experience that would make me weep, and I'd have to leave my associates. I've tried to reason it all out, God. But today, I won't reason anymore. I'm right now raising my hand to You, God, and saying this is my testimony. If You'll take reasonings out of me, and let my soul take its place to believe Your Word without reasoning, I'll believe it's a certain sound given to me.”

Will you raise your hand? Anybody in the building, wherever you are. God bless you, you, you, and you, and you, and you. About eighty-five percent of the building.

A reasoning? Cast down reasonings. Cast them down. God don't want you to have reason. Reason always tries to find a way out. Faith don't reason. Faith just believes. Your mind, what makes you reason. It's a liar. The lie detector proves that. God's Bible, first, proves it. But your soul is immortal, brother, sister. Your reasoning power will leave you when death strikes you, but your soul will be with you through eternity. Won't you believe God's Word today and accept Him?

In a word of prayer, someone else would raise your hand? Say, “Remember me now, Brother Branham, while you're praying. I want to cast away reasoning.” God bless you, little lady. There's another one. God bless you, brother, I see you. God bless you, brother, I see you. God bless you, brother. You, and yes, sister. Somebody else? Somebody else raise your hand, right quick, say, “Remember....” God bless you here, brother. God bless you, brother. Cast away reasoning. God bless you, sister, I see your hand. God bless you, sister, I see your hand. Don't reason anymore. Just believe. God bless you, sister.

Someone else, just before we pray now? I'm going to pray and ask God that He will help you. He sees your hand. God bless you, young man, I see your hand. Someone else? God bless you, brother, I see your hand.

Oh, the blessedness of believing. The blessing of not trying to figure it out. The blessing of just resting on God's Word, and say, “It's true,” and go on. It's life. It's life. It's real living.

My dear, loving, old mother-in-law sitting back her.... When I was telling her yesterday about it, she said, “Billy, I had a clock that I couldn't make it run.” Said, “I just couldn't stay without that clock. I didn't have money to buy me another one.” So said, “I got down and said, 'God, make that clock run for me, will You?'” Said she looked up, and it started running, just run perfectly.

Her refrigerator, she said, a couple days after that, wouldn't defro ... kept defrosting; just a little spot there it would hold ice. She done everything she could do to keep it from defrosting ... or, keep it from defrosting, 'cause she couldn't keep her butter and stuff in it. Poor old thing, she's a widow. Her husband is in glory. That's my father-in-law. Give his last testimony, over here to my left-hand side, before he went home.

She got down, knowed she didn't have money to buy another refrigerator. She said, “God, will You be merciful to me again? You know me. Start my refrigerator to freezing again, will You?” Said she got up and went, looked in her refrigerator, and it was froze around.

Be simple. Just ask. Don't try to figure it out. Don't try to study it. Just believe it. Don't mentally figure it out. Just believe it with your soul.

Our heavenly Father, many raised their hands this morning. They want prayer. I pray, God, that this will be the final touch today; they won't reason anymore; they'll go, believing. Grant it, Lord. It's a certain sound. It's the Gospel sounding the glorious jubilee year. The time of deliverance is here.

Won't You, please, Father, take each one of them into Thy loving care? And give them of the sincere milk of the Gospel now. And if they have already taken that, may they receive strong meat now, and become full Christians, never no more to tattle with the world, and indulge in the world, but be real men and women, believing the certain sound: that the Gospel is true, no matter who says it's not. The Bible, every Word is truth. “Men teach for doctrine the commandments of men.” But God's Word will never fail. May they believe it today.

And those who did not raise their hands, really convinced, but did not raise their hands, we pray for them also, Lord, that You'll be merciful to them. These blessings we ask, Father, because that someday we're coming to judgment. And this morning's message will be brought into view at that day. And then may their soul not haunt them, in saying, “You should've did this.” But may it be peace in the valley when they pass through. For in Jesus' name we ask it.

..... of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy wounded side which flowed

Be for sin a double cure,

Save from wrath and make me pure.

Dear God, if there be in the midst of the people, this day, any afflictions, any diseases, anything that's wrong with their physical being, we pray, Father, as the Holy Spirit is here, just screaming out the blessings, cleansing our souls from all unrighteousness, through the blood of the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, may He, today, with His great persuading Spirit, His great healing virtues, let every clean soul look yonder to Calvary and say, “There He was wounded for my transgressions, and with His stripes we were healed.” Grant it, Lord.

Now, with our heads bowed. If there is any to be prayed for, for sickness, would you stand to your feet, wherever you are. God bless you. That's right, just stand right up. [Blank spot on tape.]

.................. fountain,

Free to all, the healing stream,

Flows from Calvary's mountain.

In the cross, in the cross,

Be my glory ever; (O God.)

Till my raptured soul shall find

Rest beyond the river.

Dear heavenly Father, You see all these standing, Father. They're standing testimonies that they believe You, Father. You who could send that poor old possum into the gate, You who could make that big dangerous bull stand there, and back off, You who could make those hornets go into the box, You who could bring that dog to life—my old hound—after being drug sixty miles an hour, for two miles, laying stiff, dead.... I loved the old thing. Prayer brought it around. Prayer put that possum's leg and shoulder in to its place—that little mother—sent her back into the woods, rejoicing. The hand of the living God.

These Christians has their hands laid on another, Lord. And I have my hands laid on this brother, as giving a point of contact for every one in the building. We're believers, Lord. We believe these things. We love You.

No uncertain sound: We've seen You heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out evil spirits, take cancers away, make the crippled to walk, save the soul, sanctify the believer, fill with the Holy Ghost, give immortal life; hear them dying, praising, testifying, glorifying God, believing You're coming again.

We need help, Lord. Grant, Lord, that everything that's asked for will be granted: Souls will be saved, above all things, backsliders restored. And we pray that sick bodies will be healed just now. I send forth this prayer of faith in Jesus Christ's Name, for the healing of the sick, the saving of the soul, restoring of those who are out, through Jesus' name.

My faith looks up to Thee, (Shall we stand.)

Thou Lamb of Calvary, Saviour Divine;

Now, hear me while I pray,

Take all my guilt away,

Nor let me ever stray

From Thee aside.

Now, you that can, raise your hands, while we sing this.

While life's dark maze I tread,

And griefs around me spread,

Oh, be Thou my Guide;

Bid darkness turn to day,

Wipe sorrow's tears away,

Nor let me ever stray

From Thee aside.