Hear Ye Him

Let us bow our head, just a moment for prayer.

Father God, it's into Thy holy presence that we come now presenting ourselves as Thy servants. Our hearts are open, our minds are open. We are ready and waiting for the Holy Spirit to take charge, and to lead us and guide us in the things that we should say, and what we should do in this oncoming service now. Grant, Lord, that history will be made that the glory of God will be made known by the manifesting the Holy Spirit. Sinners might come, and backsliders be brought back into fellowship. And the sick would be healed. And that the church would rejoice and live into another sphere, Lord, closer to Thee. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

You may be seated.

Billy just asked me now, he said to find out if the people were here that wanted to get their prayer cards that couldn't be back tonight to receive their prayer cards; for me to ask how many wanted them. And raise up the hand, and he'd let me take the car back, and he would stay to give the cards to those who wanted them who....

Maybe some that could not get back in time to get your prayer card at six-thirty tonight or seven o'clock. I think between six-thirty and seven. They give them out early, so that they won't be any interference. Or maybe he could leave some of the cards with Leo or Gene here to give out. Is there any here that can't come back, and wants a prayer card, that could not come back tonight for your prayer card? Well, I suppose Billy.... I seen one lady over here, that some of you ... give her a prayer card out of the group that will be given tonight, the lady right over here. And then, as far as I know, you can give them out then between six-thirty and seven tonight.

I had the privilege of having lunch with your beloved pastor and his lovely wife, just a few moments ago. And it was certainly a fine time of fellowship. I told him when I walked to the platform, after eating all that Swiss steak, I wish he'd take my place this afternoon. And he was trying to buy me a great big steak. I knew that wouldn't work.

So, tonight, the main part is in the evening service, that when.... Now, I don't eat no more. Now, if I would have service tomorrow, I don't eat no more until tomorrow morning. Light breakfast, and then a good-sized dinner along about....

See, to me.... I know it's lunch to you all, but to me it's dinner, see. Yet, I can't get used to that. I get beat out of a meal somewhere. I don't know where it's at. We just had dinner, breakfast ... or, breakfast, dinner and supper, and I can prove we're right. It wasn't the Lord's dinner; it was His supper. So I always felt like I was beat out a little bit, if I kind of call this dinner at night time, then where's my supper going to be, see. I always lose a meal somewhere.

Well, you know, even the Lord has a sense of humor, you know, so I guess His children does too. He wants us to be happy. You know, I was reading here sometime ago, where it taken eighty percent more muscles to frown than it does to smile. So, it's better to be laughing than be frowning. Isn't it? That's right.

This afternoon we want to approach the Word. And now, just for awhile, and then so you can get out early, probably in the next forty-five minutes.... And now, that would be plenty long, if we will just put our whole heart in the Word, and let Christ have His way with us. Then tonight....

If I'm not mistaken, I believe I see my good friend, Brother and Sister Collins back there, from Kentucky, Louisville. That's mighty fine. Brother Collins, Sister Collins, good friends of mine. He's a Methodist minister, and his brother also.

And glad.... What are you all up in this country about? You're a long ways from home. Isn't this beautiful, tropical weather? This is what I like. Oh, I can stand this, but not that heat; it just melts me down. I like this.

Something about it, the snow, a dry snow and hear it crunching under the wheels reminds me when I was a boy and we used to drive the old buckboard wagon. How many knows what a buckboard is? I told my wife I should have wore my overalls this afternoon. That's just exactly right. I'm right around with folks raised on a farm like I was. Oh, I tell you, there's not much in this dressing you know. My favorite way of dress, is a pair of overalls. I just love that; raised in them.

Remember, when we used to go swimming as little boys. I never had a shirt on from about May until after September, and it used to.... Didn't.... Have what we call galluses; you all call them suspenders up here, I guess, in the North.

And I had a fodder twine. How many know what a fodder twine is? Fodder twine. There's some folks still here from the country. And I didn't have a button; I had a nail for a button. Did you ever do that? Brother Woods, what's the matter with your hand? I never seen it up.

And we would run to the creek, you know, and we would want to play banner-maker. The first one in, you know, would find out how the water was. If the water was cold, we'd hold up one finger. If the water was good and warm, we held two fingers, see. So, I was usually the first one in, because I didn't have much to take off. So I just run just hard as I could, and just when I got there, just pull that one nail, you know—you were ready. That little pair of overalls just standing in the air, when I hit the water, you know.

So, I hold up two fingers this afternoon; the water is fine. Come on in. There's something about childhood, those golden days, we never forget. Do we? It's just wonderful.

Now, turn in your Bibles, if you wish to read, to this very familiar scripture found in Saint Matthew's Gospel. The 17th chapter of Saint Matthew. I wish to read a portion of it.

Be in prayer now. And tonight, remember, come early, get a good seat, bring all your sick and afflicted, and get the sick folks up here in front, as much as you can. And then get them in, so that.... Many times, back over, you're crossing somebody. It's hard. And you speak like way back sometimes. Course, it does, anywhere. But back that way, it's crossing over, and you speak to the person. If they don't answer, then it seems like the Light moves away from them. And then I don't know what happened, you see. If you'll answer quickly. As soon as it calls, why, answer, see. Right quick respond to it, and then it works lots better.

Reading of the Word.

After six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

And was there transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment as white as a light.

And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it's good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, ... one for Moses, and one for Elias.

But, while he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

I wish to take those last three words for a text, to find a little context, “Hear Ye Him.”

You know, it's glorious to be alone and to watch God in nature. My first Bible was nature. If you can look around, you'll find God anywhere you look for Him.

I live on the Ohio River. Years ago, I heard a little story of a little boy that lived up above us there. He went to church and Sunday school, and one day he wanted to know who God was. And he said to his mommy, “Mommy, could you tell me who God is? Can I see Him?” And his mommy said, “Well, I'd ask my Sunday school teacher.” And so, he asked his Sunday school teacher, and she said, “Well, I don't know.” Said, “Ask the pastor.” And he went to the pastor, and the pastor said, “Certainly not, son. No one can see God.” Said, “God is a spirit, therefore, no one can see Him.” And that didn't satisfy the curiosity of the little lad.

So, he used to go up the river to the Six-Mile Island, with an old fisherman. And this old fisherman, old, and gray hair, and gray beard. One day come up a storm. And on the road back, the fisherman pulling his boat and the little boy sitting in the back, the stern of the boat. And as the old fisherman was pulling the boat....

Oh, how beautiful it is here in Indiana after a rain. And the leaves are all washed off and that real fresh smell. Just a little ripple on the water, enough to make your boat oars clip as you draw them. Anyone who pulls a boat knows that rhythm of the boat.

And he kept looking over his shoulder; and as he watched, there was a rainbow that came out and circled across the horizon. And the old fisherman, as he watched that rainbow, he began to weep and the tears come down out of his eyes, over his gray beard. And this little lad, sitting back in the back of the boat, kept watching him. He got so enthused, he ran up into the center of the boat and fell down at the old fisherman's lap. And he said, “Sir, I'm going to ask you a question that my mother cannot answer, my Sunday school teacher cannot answer, neither can my pastor answer.” He said, “Can a man see God?”

Why, he pulled the oars into his lap, grabbed the little fellow up in his arms. He said, “God bless your little heart.” He said, “All I've seen for the past forty years has been God.” If there's God in here, you'll see God out there. He will reflect Himself.

No matter where it's at.

I'm a great lover of nature. Hunt, how I love to hunt, and I watch God in the mountains. My first Bible is to watch and see a little flower, how it's standing pretty. Sometimes it's young, and sometimes it's middle-aged, and sometimes it's old. But, when the frost hits it.... But it's death when the frost hits it. It bows it's little head and sheds off its petals. Out of there drops a little black seed.

And did you know they have a funeral procession for a flower? Did you not know that? Sure. Well, as October winds come by and the fall rains just cry tears down out of the sky, and they bury that little seed, down under the ground. Then along comes the bad wintertime, like it is now, and freezes up the little petals gone off the flower. The little bulb has dried up and froze. The stalk's gone, the leaf's gone, the petal's gone, the flower's gone. The seed swells up, and bursts open; the pulp runs out. There's just nothing left of that little flower. You can't find it.

You might take up the dirt and take it over to the laboratory and examine it, there's not a thing in there you can find. But just let that warm spring sun begin to shine on that dirt just a little bit, it'll bring forth another flower, because there's a germ of life in there that no science can find. And if God made a way for a flower to live again, how much more has He made a way for a man who is in His own image. When the Son of righteousness rises, those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise again. God is everywhere. I love to look at Him, watch Him in the sunset, watch Him in nature.

This is on my heart, so I just want to tell it. A few years ago, up in Colorado, where I hunt a lot at.... I hunt elk, and I was way up high that year because the snows hadn't come to run the elk herd down. I was about thirty-five miles from a human being, as I knew of, way back high in the mountain. Not so much to kill the game, but just to be alone with God. These meetings wind you up. And that discernment and visions, it gets you to a place till you feel like you're going insane.

And did you know, most all poets, prophets and so forth are considered crazy? Did you know that? How many ever heard the famous song of William Cowper, “There is a foundation filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins”? Did you know William Cowper was supposed to be crazy? Did you know, after inspiration left him, from that song, he tried to find the river to commit suicide?

Did you know Stephen Foster, who gave America's best folk songs, when he come from under inspiration, he'd get on a drunk and finally come from under inspiration of writing, and took ... called a servant, took a razor and committed suicide?

How many ever thought of Jonah, after giving his prophecy, and a great city the size of St. Louis repented, and then went up on a hill and prayed for God to take his life after the inspiration left him?

Did you ever know Elisha called fire out of heaven and rain out of heaven on the same day; and killed four hundred priests, himself, and chopped their heads off? And run, after the inspiration left him, by the threat of the queen, Jezebel. And was in the wilderness forty days and nights, not knowing where he was at, and God found him pulled back in a cave.

Then you wonder why it makes you weak, see, see. Inspiration!

And up in these mountains, walking around. And when the snow comes, it runs the elk herd down. So, my friend, the rancher, was maybe many miles away on another divide. And I was hunting elk on the western slope.

And one day when there come up a storm, and the rain.... It'll rain awhile and then snow awhile, and then it'll turn off and fair up awhile, early fall. There come a storm, and I was standing behind a tree near a blow-down, and the storm went by. And when the storm let up, I began to notice the winds blowing. All the evergreens froze over, the big icicles hanging, where they got cold; and the sun was setting in the west. And I noticed, as a great magic eye like of God, that being the middle of the sight, the blue skies, the blue of His eye. And as He looked through those crevices of those rocks towards the west, it formed a rainbow across the valley.

And oh, I will never forget, in that storm the elk herd had got scattered. And I could hear the elk bugle one to another. Way back upon the mountain, an old gray wolf started to howling. Down in the valley, its mate answered.

My mother is a half Indian. My conversion never took it out of me. There's something about it, as David said, “When the deep calleth to the deep.” There is something about that, that thrills me through my soul.

I walked out behind the tree. I said, “Oh, God, You're everywhere. There you are in the rainbow. I can tell You're over there in that elk herd. I can hear You in the old gray wolf howling. You're just everywhere, Lord, way up high in these mountains.”

And you know, I'm one Baptist that believes in shouting. I set my gun down against the tree, and around and around the tree I went screaming top of my voice. I guess if somebody come out there, they'd a thought they had an insane person out there. Around and around the tree, as hard as I could go, screaming to the top of my voice. And I stopped and raised up my hands, I said, “Oh, great Jehovah, how great Thou art. What a wonderful place to be, way away from everybody, just alone here to see You.”

And a little pine squirrel—he's a little bitty, fusser about that long—jumped up on a stump over from me, and all the carrying on I ever heard, just “chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter.” I thought, “What's the little fellow so excited about? Surely he's not afraid of me. But maybe I excited him because I was running around and around the tree.” I said, “There's no need of getting excited. I was just worshipping our Creator.” And he'd cock his little head sideways and look down.

And he wasn't noticing me. There had been a big eagle had been forced down in the storm. He was down under that blow-down, where the trees lap together when they fall. The winds had blowed him. There had been a terrific wind.

This big eagle jumped on a limb of a blown down tree. Oh, that little squirrel just started carrying on terribly then. So I thought, “Now, Lord, why did You change the scene? I was having such a wonderful time. What is godly about that eagle that would make...? He's just a scavenger.”

But I happened to notice him. He seemed to be brave; he wasn't afraid. That's godly. God can't use a coward. Cowards die ten thousand deaths where a hero never dies. That's right. God don't want a coward, somebody afraid to take Him at His Word. He wants somebody that will take His Word, stand there on it.

I thought, “Yes, the bravery of that eagle!” I thought I'd test his bravery. I said, “Oh, fellow, do you know I could shoot you?” Those big velvet-looking eyes looked over at me, and then looked over to the little pine squirrel. And I thought, “What makes him so brave?”

And he looked like he kept taking his wings, you know, like a bird does, feeling: them wings are still all right, if they were still in flying condition. He knowed how to trust those wings. God gave him them wings, and he knowed he could be above that timber there before I could even get the gun in my hand. He knew that. I thought, “Oh, that's it, God.”

Somebody said, “Brother Branham, aren't you afraid when you come to the pulpit that the devil will slip one up on you?” I said, “No, sir.” As long as I can feel His presence around, the devil hasn't got a chance to do nothing. That's right. As long as His presence is there, that's all we want to know.

After awhile, he got tired of listening to that little old pine squirrel. So, he just made a big jump and give about two flops, and I noticed he never flopped his wings anymore. He just knew how to set his wings. And them currents coming up through the valley, and he just rode up. I watched him. Every time a wave would come in, just hold his wings, he'd just ride on higher, higher, until he become just a little spot. I thought, “Oh, Lord, that's it. That's it.”

Not a flop-flop here, and be a Methodist this week, and a Baptist next week, and a Pentecostal the next week. Not from Oral Roberts' healing services, to William Branham's, and to A. A. Allen's. That isn't it. It's just knowing how to set your God-given faith, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and ride away on it. Leave this earth bound, “chatter-chatter” here, and “chatter-chatter” there. “Days of miracles is passed. No such thing as divine healing. It's mental telepathy.” Just ride on away from it on the power of the Holy Spirit. Certainly. Take Him at His Word.

We find this most unusual Scripture reading this afternoon. God is unusual. God does unusual things. And many men has read this same scripture.

I might write you a letter. As your friend, you would appreciate it, because we are friends. The letter would be a whole lot to you, but to another man it would be nothing. After you are gone, that letter would just be thrown away. And after you read it once, you know all I wanted to say.

But the Scripture isn't like that. The Scriptures are inspired. Men, for two thousand years, has read this same text that I read this afternoon, and it's inspired them, and will forever, because it's the Word of God. God's Word is part of Him. He's no better than His Word.

You're no better than your word. If I can't take your word, I don't want much dealing with you. And the same you should be by me. If you can't take my word, I'm worth no more than my word is.

In your business deals, your word is your bond. Your testimony should be real. God, grant the day that when men will be what they are, what they say they are. If I wasn't for Christ this afternoon, I'd be against Him, I'd be going around tearing up the stuff. But I believe Him, and I'm ready to even give my life for Him because I believe Him, that it's right. And if His Word's not right, then He's not right. And if His Word can't be trusted, He cannot be trusted. But I'm so glad to know that I.... You can hang your soul on any certain word in that Bible, and it's true; every word of it is true. God lives in His Word. And you know, He's so great! What makes God great to me, is because He's so humble.

Did you ever see one of these people, “Touch me not”?

I've had the privilege of meeting great men in my days, been in kings' palaces. But when you really find a man that is a great man, he makes you think that you're the great man. But it's the man that just thinks he's a great man that wants to put on a whole lot (that's right) just a man that's a make-belief. I like that.

God meets in councils of men. One time He met with five hundred; once with seventy; with twelve; and with three. He's met even where even one was. That's what makes Him God. He's so concerned that He will meet with any individual, anywhere, that that person will call on Him: down into the belly of the whale, for Jonah; up into the mountain, for Elisha; down in a lions' den, with Daniel. He's God.

And here we find Him now, taking three men—Peter, James and John—and He goes up into the mountain. Peter later on referred to that mountain as a holy mountain. But Peter did not mean this, that the mountain was holy. It was a holy God on the mountain, that made it holy.

It is not the holy church; it's the Holy Spirit in the church that makes it holy. It isn't the holy man, it's the Holy Spirit in the man that does it. Not a holy man—there's no such a thing; it's a Holy Spirit. And Peter was referring to this as a holy mountain because a holy God met them on this mountain. It was a sacred sand.

And let me stop here this afternoon, and say this: that each one of you people that's been born again of the Holy Spirit, you remember the very hour where the Holy Spirit—the very spot—where He met you. And when doubts come, and fears begin to rise, there's always that certain place that you can come back to that time where you met God, and the devil can't tread on those sacred sands. It's where you met God, and you talked to Him. Though fears and things rise, it has nothing to do with it. You know you met God on those sacred sands.

Peter was in the mountain, and when God gets ready to do anything, He just never, oh, just loosely does it. He always confirms everything He does. Aren't you happy for that today, that our God makes every word manifest? He doesn't speak idle words; He told us not to. But He speaks every word just exactly.

And as He goes up here now, He is fixing to do something. And I know, many of you brethren this afternoon take this text through the coming of Christ the second time, and it certainly does refer to that. But, I want to take it on another view this afternoon, because all the Scripture just ties together, every word.

And now notice, in this, when He took them up there.... He took Peter, James, and John. I like to refer to them as hope, faith, and charity. James is hope. Peter is faith. John is the disciple of love, charity. Hope, faith, and charity.

Then, not only was there three earthly beings, there were three heavenly beings: Elisha, Moses, and Jesus. God is going to display something. Now, you say, “Jesus?” Yes. He came down from heaven. He was a heavenly being.

Now, He wanted to display something. Now, what I think He was trying to display was this. And let's take a little trip back in our minds, in the Scripture, and think of back in the old days. And I think maybe it would help some of us this afternoon to look into this.

Now, the church feels, especially the Pentecostal people, when you was born again of the Holy Spirit, you felt like that settled it forever. And that's where you made a mistake. You were just then beginning.

People think, “Well, praise the Lord, I got the baptism of the Holy Ghost, that settles it, that seals me into the kingdom, I'm a son and daughter of God.” That's true. But that don't have nothing to do with your inheritance yet.

In the Old Testament, when a child was born into a family, it was a.... I think in King James, in his translations there of the early King James. We read in there where it said, John 14, said, “In my Father's house is many mansions.” Now, doesn't that sound strange? “In my Father's house—a little house—and many mansions in it, sounds strange.

I believe it was Moffatt, if I'm not mistaken. Moffatt gave a more ridiculous interpretation than that ... or, translation. He said, “In my Father's apartment house is many apartments.”—like you're going up there to rent an apartment.

But the original Greek said, “In my Father's kingdom is many palaces.” That sounds better. Why did King James translate it that way? Because, he had the Bible order of the Old Testament. See, the king was the “father.” And all of his domain was his subjects, that was his “house.” That's the way they understood it. That's the reason English language has so many different meanings to it. That's the reason your medicine is wrote in Latin; it doesn't change; it's a dead language.

But now, notice, “In my Father's house,” he was strictly with the Bible. Back in the Old Testament, when a father owned a big kingdom and a child was born into that kingdom, he was a son as soon as he was born. But yet, that son didn't.... He would be heir of all the father had, if his character was right, but first his character had to be proved. Now, you ministers know where I'm going to: it's the placing of a son.

Now, but his character didn't show up right, he didn't inherit anything; he was just a son. So, then the father, in order to get this great son of his, who he loved—he had business to be doing—so he got a tutor, trainer, over his children. And he sought through the places till he found the best man he could find, because his son's education, and the future of his son, depended on what kind of a training that child got. And that's the way it is today in the kingdom of God, that when we're born in the kingdom of God, God sought out the best tutor that He could find for the church, and that was the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the teacher of the church. How many knows that? Sure, the Holy Spirit's a teacher, but we've adopted popes and bishops and everything instead. But the Holy Spirit is the tutor, and the raiser, and the teacher of the Body of Christ. “Those who are led by the Spirit have no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” And now the Holy Spirit teaches the church.

Now, this teacher must be an honest person. Not a man that wants the father to pat him on the back, but a man that will be honest with the father. If the child is disobedient, he'd walk up with a shamed face, and say, “Sir, I'm sorry to bring this message, but your child is so dilatory. He doesn't listen to nothing. He's not concerned at all.” How the father must feel!

And how the Holy Spirit must feel when He comes before God the Father, with the character record of His church, when we're separated in nine hundred and something different denominations.

And this may make you just a little bit sick now, but I want to tell you because it's on my heart. When I was a little boy, we didn't have much to eat. We'd have corn pone and make it out of grease, where we boiled skins and rinds of bacon, and get the grease, and black-eyed peas. And every Saturday night I remember we'd take a bath in a old cedar tub, and then mama would give us big dose of castor oil. I hate the stuff. I can't stand it.

And when I used to go to take my turn—this big spoonful of that greasy stuff—I'd hold my nose. I'd say, “Mama, I just can't take it. It makes me sick.” She said, “If it doesn't make you sick, it doesn't do you any good.” That's a whole lot in preaching the Gospel. If it doesn't sicken you up a little bit, it doesn't take a hold right.

I wonder today how the Holy Spirit must feel when it comes before the Father, and tells about all of our stews and our fusses in the church. I wonder how He feels. But He's just. God can trust Him. He will tell the truth. And how He must feel when He comes before the church, and says, “The women, that professes to be saintly and godly, is out in the backyard with a little pair of dirty-looking clothes on, called shorts, mowing their yard.”

Now, you're going to hate me after this. But you're going to love me there, because I'm telling you the truth. Oh, it's a disgrace! It's a shame!

Well, you say, the ladies, with their.... Slacks, is that what you call it? Do you know the Bible said, “It's an abomination for a woman to put on a garment that pertains to a man”? What's happened? It used to be wrong. Something has happened.

Now, I don't want to hurt you. But why was it, a few years ago, when I first knew you Pentecostal people, that it was wrong for you women to cut your hair? Did something happen? The Bible didn't change. Something happened. An old brother, preacher, used to sing a song, “We let down the bars, we let down the bars, we compromised with sin. We let down the bars, the sheep got out, but how did the goats get in?” You let down the bars, that's what started it.

It used to be wrong for Christians to go to bioscopes—picture shows—and see these worldly pictures. The devil is a smart man, he brought it right into your home on a television. What's the matter? What do you think the Holy Spirit thinks when He comes before the Father?

It used to be wrong for Christian women to wear mani.... What is that stuff, you know? I don't know. That stuff on their face. My, my wife will get me for that. She doesn't wear it. But I can't think of what it is. It's make-up, pan... hoe cake, or something. It's some kind of stuff you put on your face. And go to the.... All these things, it used to be wrong. What do you think the Father thinks when He knows His church is doing that?

It used to be, a lady walked down the street, you could tell by the way she walked and the way she acted, she was a Christian. But today they all look the same. A woman said to me, not long ago, she said, “Brother Branham, they don't sell any different clothes but that, them kind of clothes.” They still got sewing machines. There's no excuse. That's right. What's the matter? We've let down the bars, something is wrong. You know that's the truth. It certainly is.

I want to leave this, before I go a little farther. Did you know what? A lady.... I don't want you to be angry with me, but bless your heart, sister, I got to be honest. Do you know, if you dress in these sexy-looking clothes that they wear out here on the street, and a sinner looks at you, and you are dressed that way, do you know you're going to answer at the judgment for committing adultery with that sinner? Jesus said, “Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” And if you dress like that, you're guilty, because you place yourself before him like that. Search through the Scriptures, and see if that's right. It's true. Well, you might be as pure as a lily. That's right. But, as long as you present yourself in some of this modern stuff....

The reason that did, is because the love of God went out of the church. And you stayed home on Wednesday night to see some of these plays, like “Who Loved Suzy,” or “We Love Suzy,” or everwhat that crazy thing is, and shows where the mind travels. That's right. And you watch these crazy things like Arthur Godfrey. How they'd ever call that Americanism, I couldn't tell you, and Elvis Presley with his “All shook up” rock-and-rolls. The reason you do it, because something is in there making them craving for that. If the Holy Spirit had that heart filled, you would have no more desire for it. The Bible said, “He that loves the world or the things of the world, the love of God is not even in him.”

Say, “What are you picking on the women for?”

All right, men, here you are. A man that will let his wife smoke cigarettes and wear shorts shows what he's made out of. There's not much man to him. That's right. Oh, I thought you was the ruler of the house. Looks like you got a new ruler.

What happened? What do you think this Holy Spirit, blushing as the prophet did, before God, to bring such news as that, that His born again church, His sanctified people, has degraded themselves in such a place like that? Then you wonder why America hasn't got a revival. There's truth. God be merciful to His people.

How can God trust His sacred gifts on a church that's built on them rotten foundations? He will never come to the church and have a revival until that church cleans up and gets right first, before God. It has to. I better leave away from that. That's the brother's job to preach that. We'll go on.

Look, there He is. I just love that old-fashioned, sassafras, back woods, sky blue, sin-killing religion. That's right. It'll save you from sin.

Now notice how this tutor would come before the father. And if the son had did wrong, the child was disobedient, how he must have turned his head and said, “Father, I just hate to bring you this message. But, oh, that disobedient child.” What would the father do? Bow his head in shame.

Now, let's change the thought. What if this tutor come before the father, and said, “Oh, sir, your boy is just like you. Why, you know, he just acts just like you do. He loves the things that you teach. He likes to run the farm the way you run it.” Oh, in a street expression, “He's just a chip off the block. He's just like you.”

“You're a holy God. He believes in being holy. You're a great, all-powerful God. He says, 'Amen' to it. You're a great God, to work miracles. He believes every word of it, and practices the same.” Oh, how it must please the Father. “Yes. That's my son. Sure.”

You know what happened then? When that child come to a certain age, that boy, if he had been a bad boy and was not exactly what the father could trust him, he never had any inheritance at all. You brethren know that from the Scripture. But if he was an obedient son, and when he become to a certain age, that same son was taken out into a public place, before the public, and he was put up on a high place, and there the father put a robe on him, and he adopted his own son into his family.

And on this placing of this son, that son's name was just as good on the check as his father's was, because he had been proven. He was obedient, and his name was good, just the same as the father. That's what Jesus meant when He said, “Ask the Father anything in my name, I will do it.”

Notice. Then when God never asked anybody to do anything, but what He did it first. He pronounced death upon the human race. He was made flesh and taken death for us.

Now, he was going to adopt His own Son into His family. He took Him up on Mt. Transfiguration, a high place before the public. He brought three witnesses of the earth. A three is a confirmation. We know that. He had three witnesses of earth, three witnesses of heaven.

And there He clothed Christ, and He over-shadowed Him, and His raiment shined like the sun in the middle of the day: that robe that He placed on Him, showing that He had accepted Him. He was about the Father's business. He did just what the Father showed Him. God was with Him. Peter said, at Pentecost, “Jesus, of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by signs and wonders, which He did.” Jesus said, “I do nothing till the Father shows me first what to do.” Obedient.

Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if the church was in that condition today? Obedient to the Father, reverent in the Holy Ghost. In those tight places, when you're afraid to speak up, it's like a gentleman: you stand where you should stand. Like a lady, you take the place; not with the world, but with Christ. Reckoning yourself dead to the things of the world. And in the conferences and gatherings where you ministers stand, and your conference begins to talk against the supernatural, against this, and “this was for another age.” Take your stand. God will honor you.

Oh, how my thought goes to the day that David danced around the ark, and his wife laughed at him. But God said, “He's a man after my own heart.” Sure, you can't stand with man and God, too. If you're a servant of man, you can't be a servant of God. If you're a servant of God, you won't be a servant to man.

There, standing, God overshadowed, and clothed Him with immortality. And a voice came from heaven, speaking that He had accepted Him.

Now, notice. Lets drop back. Time is about gone, but I want to get something to you.

Peter got all excited: the supernatural had been done. There stood Moses and Elijah, both been dead for years. Here they were standing, alive, standing there with Jesus. Witnesses. Two of the mightiest prophets that ever walked the earth, standing by the side, to watch God adopt His own Son. It give Him all the powers, in heavens and earth, given into His hands.

He will do for you the same, if you'll stand after you receive the Holy Ghost, and make yourself a Christian, and act like a Christian should. If you'll put your faith in God's Word, and your eyes towards heaven, and let your pants' legs be bagged at the knees. Be reverent before God. There'll be someday that God will take you over to a side and give to you a power and a gift that the whole world will know He's been with you. That's placing a son to his position. Hallelujah!

Oh, I feel religious right now. Yes! He will do it! He promised it. He's the unfailing God. Oh, where the church has missed it by just saying, “Well, I spoke with tongues; I've got it now.” Oh, you just got started. Sure.

That's the reason today we find people so against the supernatural, and against the things of God, is because they've been disobedient. If they'd lived up in that realm where they should be, they'd recognize these things.

Notice. God over-shadowed His Son. And Peter, as soon as he got a vision of something being done supernatural, he got all excited, just like the earthly church does. Let a little supernatural take place, and they get all excited.

And Peter said, “Lord, let's build three tabernacles. Let's make some denominations now. I'll tell you, we will just build a tabernacle here for all those who to keep the Sabbath, and the holy days, and the law. We'll build a tabernacle for all who wants to worship the law; that will be one organization. And then we'll build another tabernacle for all those who wants to worship the prophets. And then we'll build a tabernacle for all who wants to worship Christ.”

Isn't that just like today? Denominations, splitting up brotherhood! One says, “Oh, I believe in the keeping the Sabbath.” Other one, “I don't want to eat meat.” And this one, “You can't drink a soft drink.” This one, “You have to do this.” And this, “You have to do that.” Denomination, barriers drawed, lines drawed. If you're right in your heart, the rest of it will take place all right.

We're Hoosiers, we got oak trees out here. And, how, they've all kept their leaves through the winter. When spring comes, you don't have to go pick off them old leaves to let new leaves come on. Just let new life come, and the old leaf drops off. You just need new life. And if the new life, that you think you've received, doesn't pattern with God's Word, you've got the wrong life in you. The life of Christ will produce the works of Christ, will produce the faith of Christ, will make you act as Christ, make you love Him. He will be first in your life. Your objectives, your motives, and everything, will be altogether different. It'll be for the glory of God.

And before He could even get through speaking.... Did you notice? And while He spake these words, a voice came from heaven, said, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him. Turn your head away from Moses—Sabbatarians and law-keepers. Turn away from the prophets in the Old Testament, and the justice of God.

Moses represented the law. No man can be saved by the law. Everything that you do legally, that's legalistic. You can't do nothing to save yourself; it takes the grace of God to save you. No matter what you do, you're doing it in yourself; it doesn't have nothing to do with it. It won't be long till you'll be just like.... That's what happened to the church.

You say, “I will let my hair grow long, Brother Branham; I want to look like a Christian.” If that isn't coming from the inside, it'll soon rub out again. Certainly it will. You get that “holier-than-thou” attitude. That's wrong. But if the Spirit of Christ comes in, it'll actually bring forth new life. There's nothing legally, it's something that's in your heart, that sprouts forth these things. You'll get away from the walls of these modern Babylon buildings, that's fixing to fall, anyhow. I just feel that in my heart.

Here sometime ago, when I went to India, just as soon as I got in to India, I picked up a paper. Three days before that, they had an earthquake. But way before the earthquake ever come, all the little birds flew out of their nest, and went out in the fields, in the trees. All the cattle that stood around the big stone walls, went out and stood in the fields, away from the walls. When the earthquake come, it shook the walls down. God was preparing, preserving the animal life.

But, today we see the handwriting on the wall, and the church, in its religious acts, and its denominations sinking, and it's failed. If God can warn a bird, and a cow, and a horse, and a sheep, and a dog, and a donkey to get away from the walls before they fall.... Come out of it, and come into Christ. Run to the center of His mercy, which is Calvary, and call out. No matter how long you've been a Methodist or a Pentecostal, run to Calvary until your whole makeup is changed, and you become a new creature in Christ. Amen.

I'm not “amening” myself, but amen means “so be it.” And that's right. Surely we'd have the gumption of a bird, or an animal. If they can do it by instinct, what could God work through the Holy Ghost!

Now watch, as we move on. The law was the policeman. The law hasn't got any grace in it. It tells you, you are a sinner. It's just to show you that you have done wrong. It's a policeman that puts you in jail, but there's no grace to get you out. No matter how many things you do within yourself, you can't do nothing to help yourself. A leopard couldn't lick the spots off his skin if he had to; he only brightens them.

So, the law puts us in jail; grace brings us out. I don't want law; I don't want to be judged by the laws. I could never stand it. The law only says, “You're guilty and you've got to die.”

But what did Elijah represent? Elijah represents the justice of God. The stern prophet had the message of God. He stood up on the mountain. The king said, “You know what? I will send up there and get that holy-roller.” And he sent fifty men up. And when he got up there, what happened? Elijah stood up and said, “If I be a servant of God, let fire fall out of heaven and consume you.” Justice! They've treaded on grounds that they should not tread on. Would you want that? Certainly not.

Oh, the king said, “Perhaps maybe, there was a storm passed over. That's what. It's been some natural thing.” So he sent another fifty. And Elijah stood up and said, “If I be a man of God, let fire fall from heaven.” And another fifty went out. That wasn't no storm. That was the justice of God. Treading on grounds that they had no business.

You know, it's been said, and it's well-proverbed that “Fools will walk with hobnailed shoes where angels fear to trod.” And that's true. “Silly people....”

These newspaper writers, call you a bunch of holy-rollers, or some divine healer, or some scandal name, and say things like that, but angels would be scared to say one thing against it. “But fools will walk with hobnailed shoes where angels fear to trod.”

Your pastor will raise up and say, “Well, that's a bunch of telepathy. There is nothing to it.” “Fools walk with hobnailed shoes where angels fear to trod.” Certainly.

Jesus said, “These signs shall follow them that believe, and it would be better for you that a millstone would hang at your neck, and drown in the depth of the sea, than even to offend one of such.” God, when He brings his children in a place, and ordains them and overshadows them, and positionally puts them into the place that they are supposed to be, then fools say such remarks as that.

Now, what did He do? Would you want justice? Do you want the law? You can't be saved by the law. No, sir. I don't want justice. I'm a sinner by justice, but bless God, I'm a Christian by grace. He turned their head. That's a horrible picture there.

But while they were yet speaking, Jesus said, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him.” What can He do for you? He can wipe away your sins. He can take your guilt away. He can take God's law and make it righteous. He can take the justice of God upon His own self, and bear the sins that you have committed. “This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him.” What did He represent? The love of God.

I don't want His law. I don't want His justice. I want mercy.

My cry is: “God, don't judge me, but have mercy on me. Don't give me justice; I'm condemned. But give me mercy by Jesus Christ.

“This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him.” The law is passed. Look back, the law was gone, justice was gone, because it was met in the cross. And they saw Jesus only standing there; God's love to a lost world. He didn't have to go to Calvary, friends. He didn't have to go to Calvary, but He went anyhow, because He loved you, he loved me. That's why He went to Calvary.

The high priest didn't know that he was giving Him the greatest honor He ever had when he mocked Him. Said, “Let's see that miracle-worker there.” Put a rag around His eyes and a Roman soldier hit Him over the head with a stick. Said, “You who sees visions, You prophet, tell us who hit you. We will believe you.” The devil speaking.

He never felt no virtue, but the little woman that touched His garment, and He turned and found her, she got what she asked for: mercy. Certainly.

The high priest said, “He saved others, himself he cannot save.” That's right. If He saved Himself, He would lose others. He gave Himself, so He could save others. If He had saved His own life, we'd have been lost, but He gave His life that we might be saved.

Brother, sister, no poet.... They went insane trying to find the word to express the love of God. There's never been a poet.... One of them said, “If all the ocean was ink, and every stalk on earth a quill, and all the skies of parchment made; to write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.”

It's love! Not love for one another, not love for the world, but the love of God. The love for your wife is phileo love. The love for God is agapao love, a million miles higher. Every love out of agapao love is perverted love, which has an end. And everything that had a beginning has an end. And human love had a beginning and it has an end.

Oh, the blessed eternal God, love of God, had no beginning and it'll never have an end. When the oceans has wept themselves in the deserts, and the world has got so full of sin, till the heavens has turned its back on it, and it staggers out through space, like a drunk man coming home. The love of God shall still endure, saints' and angels' song.

Men and women, hear me today, as your brother. Let all your little isms, and your little sensations drop! Find the love of God. I'd rather have His love than every gift He's got in His kingdom. Give me His love. That's what the world is looking for today, is to see a display of real love. It'll win souls when you got love. They can tell it when you got love. We got to much make-believe love. We got too much, a love, a phileo love, trying to make it agapao love. We need real godly love.

Here sometime ago in the great north woods where I used to hunt, I had a friend up there named Burt Caul. He's one of the best hunters I ever hunted with. Tracker, just perfect. And oh, he'd stick with you through thick and thin. He knowed the woods; but one of the cruelest hearted men I ever seen. He would shoot little fawns just to get me to holler about it.

Now, it's all right to shoot a fawn; if the law says you can shoot a fawn, that's all right. It's all right to kill a calf. Abraham killed one and fed it to God. That's exactly right. It's all right, but not to kill a whole bunch of them just to be mean. It's your attitude, it's your objective, and your motive again. That's where the church stands today, on that. If your objective and motives is right towards God, the love of God will stream down like a fountain. That's right.

But not because, “It's my church. I want to see it my town, I want to see it my....” That isn't it. But, oh, love of God, come into my heart. There's when He comes.

Burt was mean. One year I went up there, he had made him a little whistle. He could take that little whistle and cry just like a little baby fawn (that's a baby deer) crying for its mammy. And he'd blow this little whistle. I said, “Burt, you're not going to use that.”

Said, “Oh, you chicken-hearted preachers.” Said, “You're too chicken-hearted.”

I said, “Burt, I'm not chicken-hearted, but you're cruel. I like you as a man. I think you're a fine chum and a good hunting partner, and a real man to be with in the woods. I trust you in any snow storm when she's blinding. You're a good man, Burt, but your heart is not right.”

He said, “You're just too chicken-hearted.” Said, “I like to watch them tumble.” I knew he was lying.

Took this little whistle that day we went hunting. We had hunted all morning, hadn't even seen a track. Along about noon time, we sat down to eat a lunch. There's a little opening there, was bare ground. He reached over to get this whistle. The snow was about like it is on the ground now, maybe not hardly so deep. And he pulled this little whistle out. I thought, “Oh, my.” And he cried like the little baby fawn crying for its mammy. And when he give this cry, just across the way about forty yards away ... or, hardly so far, a big mother doe (that's the mother deer) stood up.

Oh, she looked beautiful; great big ears, big brown eyes, big veins in her face. Why, I was looking right at her. What was it? She heard a baby cry. She, by nature, was a mother. She wasn't a hypocrite. She was a mother. The baby was.... She wouldn't raise up any other time. What did she do?

Oh, Burt looked at me with that sheepish grin, and he pulled back the bolt on the rifle, and throwed a shell up into that chamber of that 30.06. And oh, he was a crack shot. I seen him level down that scope, them cross hairs right across that mother's heart. And here she come walking out into the open, looking. She'd never walk in that open any other way; she was scared. But what was it? She was a mother. The baby was crying. “Where's he at? He's in trouble.” She'd take the chance.

She walked out right into the open, and I seen her turning sideways. When I seen that steady hand of Burt's, I thought, oh, God, don't let him do it. “Burt, how can you be so cruel? That mama looking for her baby, and you're going to blow her heart through her. How can you be so wicked?” Holding that rifle.... I turned my head....

Under my voice, I said, “Lord, how can that man be so wicked?” I knowed that in the touch of that trigger, and that bullet would blow her heart plum out of her. There she was.

She saw the hunter. Did that stop her? No, sir. Any other time she'd been like Houdini, an escape artist. She would have been gone! But what was it? She was a mother. Something in her, inside of her, meant more than life. Baby was in trouble; she was looking to see where that baby was.

I waited, and I waited. The gun never went off. I looked around, and there was the rifle going like this. I looked at him; the tears was running down his checks. He threw the rifle on the ground, and grabbed me around the legs and said, “Billy, I've had enough of it. I can't do it. God be merciful to my wicked heart.”

Right there in that snow drift, I led that cruel-hearted man to Christ, which today is roaming the woods up there, a real sweet, meek-hearted Christian. Why? Not because I was there, but because he seen the display of a real love.

Not a hypocrite, not pretending to be (they'll run at every little scare), but a real mother who could display a real, genuine love.

Brethren, the world is looking today for men and women who can display the love of God like that. Oh, blessed be His name. I just can't preach no more.

Oh, have you got it today? Does Christ mean more than life? Could you display? No matter if the women says, “You're old-fashioned.”, if the men says this, that, or the other. Are you willing in your heart to display the love of God that's come into your life? Could you stand at that hour? That's what will stand in the day of the judgment. And when the great trials are going on, God wants children who will display His love. Let us bow our heads just a moment.

I wonder, just before we pray, if there would be one in this building—which there is, I know—that would say, “Brother Branham, I've been a Christian. Yes, I believe God, but never have I ever had something in me like that. I still got a temper, I have malice and jealousy. I have a place where I think evil of my neighbor. I've been too much in my own denomination. I've been too selfish. My life hasn't been right. Truly, I want that love of God, that I can display to the world, that Christ lives in me. Something in me that makes me stand for Christ, like there was in that old mother deer, that would make her stand for her baby, because she was real, she was a mother.”

If you just joined a church or you have got some confession and you really never have had this experience of Christ real in your heart, and you want it, would you just raise your hand, say, “God, be merciful to me.”

God bless you, lady. And you, lady. You, sir. You, lady. And you, my sister. You, sister, God bless you. You over here, sister. Back there, yes, that's right. Over to my left, the Lord bless you. Good. God bless you, sister with the baby. God bless you back here, lady.

“O Lord, make me, O God.... God bless you, lady. ”Make me, oh, to be Your servant. Take all the world away from me. I know, Lord, I've listened to things I ought not have listened. The times I've been sitting there reading magazines and things, when I ought to have been reading Your Word. The time when I was downtown shopping, and gadding around, when I could have been standing in prayer. God, forgive me, I now raise my hand and say, “Be merciful to me. God, give me something.” God bless you, sister. “Give me something.” God bless you, sister.

“Give me something, O Lord, that will make me a real Christian, like that mother deer was.” It was in her. God bless you, brother. It was from right in her. She didn't have to put on nothing. She walked right into the face of death. God bless you, young lady. God bless you, young lady. God bless you, young mother there. God bless you here, lady. Yes. What do you do? He sees you. Certainly. “Make me, O Lord. Take me now and mold me.

“Oh, I've been a church member, Lord, for a long time, but never did I ever have anything like that. I can see now what the minister is talking about; it's the genuine. It's what the wise virgin had in her lamp. And I've been thinking that I had that, but my life proves that I haven't. I don't stand as a gallant Christian. I still act like the world. I love the things of the world. I love to enjoy these jokes and things that they crack on these television programs. I enjoy that.” If you do, the love of God is not even in you. That's what the Bible said.

Did you know that Belteshazzar was a jokester, Hollywood fellow just like they are today, like Godfrey and them? Wish I had about two weeks' revival here with you. I'd like to bring that out and show you that's in the Scriptures. Do you want Him? Do you really want Him, friends? Be sincere. God bless you, my brother.

No matter how long you've been professing, if it's not in you, why not be honest with God.

Let me tell you, the same Angel of God that stands here at night time is right here now. That's right. He sees you. God bless you, lady. He records your name. You be honest. Don't just raise your hand, say, “Well, I ought to do it, maybe.”

Right down in your heart you really mean business with God. Watch what happens as soon as you put your hand up: something comes back into your heart and says, “I'm the Lord. This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him. I will lead you, child of mine. I will make you different. Your life will be different.”

You who raised you hands, will you stand up to your feet quietly, just for a moment for a word of prayer? And you who did not raise your hands, would you stand up, too? The rest of you keep your head bowed. All that wants to be remembered now, stand up just a minute.

......wounded, broken spirit

Save me by Thy grace.

Saviour, Saviour............

Would you stand up, say, “Lord, you know what I have need of now, to become more like You. I've had temper. I've had indifference. I've had jealousy. I've had selfishness. Take it out of me now, Lord. I'm going to believe You right now.”

“I haven't had the nerve to stand, and tell my boss, I was a Christian. I haven't had nerve to stand and tell that person who was criticizing, they were wrong, they should be ashamed of themselves. Make me like that, Lord, who can stand as a post of duty, as a Christian, like that mother deer could stand as a deer.”

If the love of an animal, the love of an animal for its offspring! Oh, my! Heavenly Father, think of it! If the love of an animal would make it stand at death for its offspring, what ought the love of God to do to a creature of His creation? Will you stand like that deer today, take your spot before the church here?

You say, “But, Brother Branham, I've shouted right along side this woman I'm sitting by, or this man.” Make any difference what you done. Have you got the gallant.... Is there something in you that will make you stand up, say, “Yes, I will take my place. And wife—whoever it is—might see I'm before God. I want to be right. I will take my place; stand here. God, You see me. You know my wrongs; make them right, Lord. I don't care what the neighbors say, what anybody else says. Don't care what the church says, I want to know what You think about me, God. And Your spirit is condemning me right now, tell me I'm wrong.”

This is your invitation. You may never have another. Now, you that's on your feet, be humble now. Ministers, Christians, all's standing, be sincere. Now, remember it's nothing hocus-pocus. It's nothing that you put on you. It's you believing God, and accepting what He said. “He that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out.”

What made you raise to your feet? These young girls, these middle-aged women, young mothers, ministers, Christians, what made you raise to your feet? “No man can come to Me except My Father draws Him.”

What about that fellow sitting in the building today, and that woman that knows they're wrong, and won't stand to their feet? What about it then? What's going to happen at the end time? Be without an excuse. God has revealed Himself here, and showing that He is God. What will it be at that day? “He that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white like snow, though red like crimson, white like wool.”

No matter what it is, confess it now to Him, say, “Lord, I've been wrong, by not standing at times when I should. I've been wrong, Lord, because I didn't ... I did things that was wrong. I'm guilty of sin. And make me, O Lord, to be Yours today. Create in my heart that which would be good in Your sight, that I might be Your servant from this day on. And I promise You, Lord, as I stand here before men. You said, if I would confess You before men, You would confess me before the Father and the holy angels. I'm wrong, Lord, and I'm standing and asking you to take away my sin. This may be my last day on earth. I want to stand before You blameless, and I can't do it no other way but through Thy Son Jesus.”

If you've been wrong, women; if you've lived wrong, been untrue to God or husband or family, stand. Men, if you've been untrue to wife, family or God, stand. Might as well confess it now. It's going to be throwed across the canvas of the sky one of these days. Many are standing.

Let's bow our heads now.

Lord God, Jehovah, we're thinking of that great name, Jehovah-Jireh: the Lord will provide for Himself a sacrifice. Here are those standing, Lord, who knows that they've been wrong. They're not ashamed; they're standing right up, willing to get rid of it: tempers, selfishness, indifference, negligence. They're wrong, Lord. They know they're wrong. They want to be right.

Thou hast said, “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled.” That's Your Word. You can't go back on it, Lord, and you never will. Far be it from the judge of all the earth and heavens, to ever say anything that would be wrong. Then forgive our weak faith, and let us move up right now to into that blessed place. Shoulder to shoulder we stand, arm in arm, heart in heart.

Lord, I take myself and place it with these people who are standing. Be merciful to them, Lord. You let me preach the Word. They heard it; they believed it. And they've come, and I'm bringing myself with them, Lord. Hear us, O God, hear us. Forgive us of our trespasses, and give unto us that which we are so desiring in our hearts.

We realize that we're eternity-bound creatures. Our heads are bowed to the dust where You taken us. And someday You will bring us from that dust, just as sure as there's a star shining in the sky. You promised that You would do it, and You will do it.

Forgive us of our sins now. Help us to go from here today, new creatures, with new objective, new motives, and them all be according to Thy will. Let us stand with a firm, fast faith. Let us act, and be as Christians should be. Make us an example in the neighborhood, that when we pass by, that the women might say, “There goes a saint of God, if there ever was one.” Sweet, meek, gentle. “There goes a saint in that man across the floor yonder. If there ever was a godly man, there he goes. His life proves it. I'm his neighbor. Such a Christian, such an honor to live by him.” God, grant it.

Now take what's lacking, Lord, in us, of being what we should be, and place in us, Lord, that which we lack. Take out that which we need not, and place in that what we need, to make us as gallant Christians, million times farther, and more than the mother animal was for her baby. Grant it, Lord. We stand in need of Your sanctifying power. May it be given to us, through Jesus, Thy Son.

As you stand, praying.... Don't be too quick to sit down. Just think a few minutes. Who raised you up? Who made you raise up? What was that? Who did it? Christ. That's who is standing by you. That's what's made your heart change, is Christ. Do you believe with all your heart, you that's standing, that that thing that was wrong with you when you raised up, you believe that Christ takes it away from you now; and you can go from here, a different person, and live sweet and humble and meek and loyal to Christ, the rest of your days? If you do, I want you to defy the laws of gravitation again. That something in your heart has told you that, I want you to raise your hands, and say, “I truly believe that from this hour on I will be His. And the things that was wrong with me has gone. I can now take my place with Christ.”

God bless you. A hundred percent, hands up everywhere. That's right. Now, you're His. Now, all sin has passed away.

A sweet thing. I'm noticing perhaps a mother standing (and you all, while you're in prayer) and a little boy with tears, and his own little eyes turned red. He raised his hand with his mama. Oh, I'm just so glad the Holy Spirit is here to catch those little things, you see. It means so much. It's just so real. God bless you, is my prayer. Go now, and be a real gallant Christian. May God rest your gallant soul.

Someday, if Jesus tarries, if it's ashes to ashes, and dust to dust, and earth to earth, you'll never forget this day. I speak in the name of Christ. Amen.

God bless you. And you can be seated now.

I don't know. I just feel like I was just all scoured out. There's something that the Word does: it just scours through us and finds those little old weak spots, and we confess them, the church moves on. The church must move on. Live gallant, be faithful at your post of duty. Love the Lord with all your heart, and God will give you the desire of your heart. “He will withhold no good thing from them that walk upright before Him.” You believe it? How good it is. How good, how sweet.

I told your pastor today: I thought Brother Moore at Shreveport, Louisiana, had one of the sweetest churches that I ever walked into. It's just that real sweet spirit. I thought that was the only church that I ever went into, that had that portion of that spirit. I've changed my mind since I come here. You have the sweetest, meekest ... just so ready. It shows you've had a good Gospel teacher behind you, that sets you on the Word. God bless a man like that!

Jesus said to Peter, “You love me?” He said, “Yes, Lord.” He said, “Feed my sheep.” Feed them. What does men live by? “Not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.” That makes real sturdy sheep. I'm so happy for you. God bless you.

Now, the evangelist don't have all to do with the meeting. It's the pastor, also. Now I want our dear Brother Summerall to come here for the words that he will now say.

Prayer cards will be give out this afternoon, between six-thirty and seven o'clock. And now, till I see you again, God rest your gallant soul. Pray for me.