The Handwriting On The Wall

It's certainly good to be in this morning on this Sabbath. It's a bad day, but yet, it's always a Sabbath to our souls when we think of the Lord and of His goodness. And now, I have said today, that if the Lord was willing, I wish to preach this morning's message as our brother ... the courtesy of letting me have this service this morning. And we're going to speak this morning on “The Handwriting On The Wall.”

And tonight, if the Lord willing, I want to speak on the subject, “Will The Church Go Before The Great Tribulation Period?” And I would like, if you don't have any place that you're going to church today ... or, tonight, that you would come out tonight for the message, “Will The Church Go Before The Tribulation Period?” And there's a quite a discussion of that, whether or not that the church will go at that time. So we're wanting to discuss that tonight.

And now, I gave out on the radio yesterday, our dear Brother Neville did, that this morning if there was any to be prayed for, to be here at eight o'clock. And my son was over to give out cards and there was no one at all. At nine o'clock, there was only one person to be prayed for.

Now tonight the cards—the prayer cards—will be given out. I'm glad to hear that. I'm glad to see they're making ready for one sick person which I will pray for. But the services tonight, maybe it was a bad morning and people didn't get out. So tonight they'll be giving out the prayer cards at six-thirty tonight. And we can tell by that, then how to base my message: whether it's to be to divine healing or what, or change my subject into a way of divine healing, or whether it's to be just for the salvation of souls. Now, let us bow our heads just a moment in prayer.

O God, most righteous Father, we are so happy this morning as we come into Thy sanctuary, to look up into the skies, see “How Great Thou Art,” as the brother just sang a few moments ago, and to see You spread Your great wings from skies to skies as the mother eagle taken her little ones from the nest. And before she takes them from the nest, she just swings her great wings out and lets the little ones see how great she is and how powerful. Then they can trust in her wings, because they're making their first flight from their nest.

Lord God, today we're so glad that we can look up and see the stars in the skies and the moon in the great solar system, as it revolves in such perfect harmony. Then we see how great Thou art.

And if it comes time for us to leave this nest of this world, we have confidence to know that He who set the stars in their orbits, who made the heavens and the earth, can certainly guide our helpless soul into a place that He has promised, for we can see how great Thou art.

As we feel that we're living in the last days, just before the coming of that marvelous Son of Thine, that dear beloved Saviour, we pray today that You'll remind us of how close this is, this great event. And may every soul in here just dismiss every other thought at this time.

And Father, we pray that You'll speak to us through Thy Word today, that we might see by the wisdom of the prophets in the days gone by, just how close the coming of the Lord is. When we read our newspapers and hear the radios, we know that there's something wrong. And our spirits tell us that something is altogether wrong.

And give us that, today, which we have need of. Save those, Lord, who are savable today. And heal those who are in need of healing today. We pray that You'll open our ears to hear Thy Word. Open the mouth of your servant and speak now, the things that would be appropriate for Your church at this hour, for we ask it in the name of Thy loving Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.

Over in the Old Testament in the book of Daniel, the 5th chapter and the 25th verse, I wish to read. And you who are taking your Scriptures down.... And now, we're sorry that we do not have ample seating room for those that are standing. I want to read from the 25th verse. And may the Lord add His blessing.

And this is the meaning that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

As our Scriptures this morning take us back into the Old Testament to base our thinking for the next few minutes on a historical event.... And we know that history repeats itself every so often. And in my study now, I'm studying the Ante-Nicene Fathers and can see through the Scriptures how that we are repeating again the age that has passed by. And all Scripture is given by inspiration. And our blessed Lord said that the Scriptures cannot be broken. All the Scriptures must be fulfilled. What a consolation that is to give to we, the people that read those Scriptures, knowing that what we have read cannot be broken. It gives us the most solid foundation to rest our faith on. And every Scripture must be fulfilled.

Then we find, that, in the fulfilling of the Scriptures, the Word is so great till many times it has dual fulfilling and most all of it repeats at least once.

For instance, in the Bible, in Matthew the 2nd chapter, it reads to where ... it said, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” If you'll read that Scripture and run the reference, you'll find it back over that God called His son Jacob out of Israel ... out of Egypt. And then it also is fulfilled again when He called His Son Jesus out of Egypt. And it just keeps repeating itself, because it's inspired.

If I wrote you a letter, you would perhaps appreciate that letter. And if you wrote me one, I'm sure I would appreciate it. But my letter would just be to you. Therefore, after you read it once, you know all the meaning, and the letter would be insufficient any more. Anybody else.... It was just designated to you, or yours to me.

But it's not so with God's eternal Word. It's inspired. Therefore, it's to all peoples, and all ages, and to meet all conditions. That's what makes it keep repeating itself. As history swings around, it swings with the history. And it never loses it's value, because it is the eternal Word of the eternal God. It cannot lose it's value.

And our scene this morning is in Babylon. It's very good for us that we find out a little about this great city. And I've been studying recently on Babylon, out of the ... geographically where it's set. And I was studying it out of Hislop's “Two Babylons,” one of the oldest histories of Babylon.

Babylon first appears in the beginning of the Bible. Then it appears in the middle of the Bible. And then it appears in the last of the Bible. The reason it begins in Genesis, is because Genesis is the seed chapter of the Bible. That's where the seed of everything that's on earth today was started in Babylon ... in Genesis (pardon me.) And Babylon begin in Genesis.

It was first founded by Nimrod, which was a son of Ham. And it was first called, “the gates of paradise.” Then it was called Babylon. And the word Babylon means “backslidden.” And Nimrod founded this in one of the most fertile parts of the known world. And it was a great city. And it was founded in the valleys of Shinar. And Shinar was.... The valley of Shinar was the most fertile place in the known world, a great agricultural center. And the great Euphrates River irrigated its land. The Tigris laid north, into the mountains. But the Euphrates irrigated Shinar.

And right in the middle of this valley, this great city was planted. And it was one of the greatest cities of the day. It was a mighty place. And it was full of scientists and the intelligence of the known world.

The city was one hundred and twenty miles around it, to take the city. And the walls were some two hundred feet across and most three hundred feet high. You could run six chariots abreast, around this wall and race around the wall. And then the city also had in it great mammoth streets. And these streets were almost equal or better than equal with the modern streets of today. They were some two hundred feet wide. That was altogether strange for a city of them days, because the streets were narrow, just for a small chariot to go through.

Sometime ago, it was my privilege to be in Oslo, Norway. And down into the old part of the city, which is well over a thousand years old, you could hardly squeeze an automobile through the city streets, because the only transportation they had was chariots or horseman. And that's the way all the old ancient cities were built.

But this Babylon had two hundred feet wide streets. The armies could march up in full armour, and all abreast, and two hundred feet wide, chariot after chariot.

And it was built something on the order of Rome today, where modern Babylon sits. Every street led to the capital, and the throne ... I mean, the throne. The throne was a great place in the center of the city, and before the throne run the great river Euphrates. And the great gates of this city, two hundred feet wide and some hundred and fifty or two hundred feet high ... made of solid brass....

Oh, it was a mammoth city. And all along its walls it had great swinging gardens. And these gardens were great places of amusement. And in the city they had purposed that they could live just about any way they wanted to live. So they thought then, if they could do that, they'd build a tower so high that if the flood waters of judgment ever come, that they'd just run up on the tower and would be safe.

Do you see: it's just the picture of modern America, trying to get a Sputnik or something to get over to the moon, thinking that we'd be safe. But God sees you no matter where you are.

And in this city they had all kinds of diversities of sin. And when any place thinks itself is secured, then violence and evil sets in.

They had the best scientists in the world. They had the best armies in the world. They had the best chariots in the world, the best trained men that there was. And the scientists and all the armour.... They was supreme. They were far above any of the rest of the nations. And really, the rest of the nations kind of looked up to them, or bowed to them.

And when a nation gets in that condition, then they think they can just do what they want to and get by with it. But remember, no matter how high the walls is, God looks down from the heavens. And God hates sin. He loves the sinner, but He hates his works: sin.

And in this great city they had become very wicked. They thought, “Well, we can just do anything that we wish to, because there's nothing can bother us. If that isn't just about the picture of our nation today: just spurning God. Now, they spurned God's mercy back there also.

They had a prophet in that city, by the name of Daniel. And you could imagine a man of God seeing sin and devisivness as it was. He screamed out against it, but they just laughed at him as if to think, “That old fellow don't know what he's talking about.”

And so is it today, that our peoples of this day has become so unconcerned about God, till we feel that we can just live any way we want to and get by with it. But you can't do it; you'll never be able to do it. God will judge sin.

Someone said to me sometime ago, said, “Preacher, our foundation of America was founded upon the reverence and the respects of our forefathers. They were religious men; therefore, God will protect this nation forever.”

He will have no more respects for us than He did for Israel. Israel was His called and chosen people. And when they sowed, they reaped what they sowed. And that goes for individuals. No matter how holy, or church we claim to belong to, or how good we try to live, God is obligated to His Word, to judge us according to what He has said.

And I've made this statement: If this nation escapes judgment, God will be obligated to raise up Sodom and Gomorrah and apologize for sinking them and burning them up, for we are just as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah ever was. And if He sunk Sodom and Gomorrah and burnt them up because of their sin, and He doesn't deal the same way with us, then He would be unjust and owe them an apology.

God doesn't have to apologize to nobody or nothing. Sin will be judged, and it'll be punished, just as sure as there's a God who can make judgment. And God's judgment is holy, God is holy. And therefore, His judgments and His works must be just and holy, because it becomes a holy God for His works and His judgment.

And oh, how this city, wading in sin.... How our nation today, wading in sin.... We just think because that we are Presbyterians, or Baptists, or Pentecostals, or something, that's all God requires. He requires justice, and that's the only thing that His law will recognize, is justice. He's no respect of denomination.

In the book of Acts, the 10th chapter and the 35th verse, the prophet said, “I perceive that God is no respect of nation or person, but will accept such as will serve Him in righteousness.” No matter what church you belong to, God expects you to respect Him. And He wants you to serve Him in righteousness. If we fail to take them the Gospel, then God will judge them according to the knowledge that they had and how respectable they was to it. Oh, blessed be His name.

As you can just simply feel in this day that we're living, something's just about to happen. Oh, I'm looking with great anticipation for some glorious morning for the troubles to all be over, and the blessed Lord shall come, and we will be caught up to meet Him in the air. Oh, it should be the very motive of every heart and the very objective of every heart to be looking for that time, to see that our troubles and trials will be over.

And when we turn our thoughts now to Babylon again to continue our message, we find in this great city that, when they got all secured, no nation could get to them. Why, they had two hundred foot walls to dig through, hundreds of feet high in the air, and great brass gates that it would take a company of soldiers to swing loose. They were well fortified. They had no need to be worried of any other nation. Now, that part was all right. But when they put sin in there, then remember, God can look anywhere and see you, no matter how fortified you are.

And I want to say this: there's only one way for the Christian to be fortified; that's under the blood of the Son of the living God. That's one thing He cannot look through and judge. If you're covered by the blood, then God will not see you. He said in the Scriptures, “When I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you.”

But these people were unconcerned about that. They had their own religions, so they lived by them. You know, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death.”

Now, in this city they had a king that was one of these modern frolic boys, oh, something like some of our radio comedians: a modern Arthur Godfrey, or Elvis Presley, or someone like that. Oh, he was a great big-time boy. And he liked his big time. So he was going to throw a little rock-and-roll party for all of his people.

Oh, if that hasn't been a curse! And to think that men and women who call themselves servants of Christ indulge in such stuff—records in their house on their machines. Throw the things out the door!

And this fellow thought, “Well, now, we will just have a great big time.” And he sent out a great invitation to all of the celebrity. He chose his chosen ones: the ones who could dance the best, and the women who was the most fairest, and he brought them all into a great big swinging garden just behind the palace, for a modern dance. And they were going to have a lot of fun. And all of the soldiers and all of them got on a good drunk. If that isn't modern America, I don't know where it's at. So they were having a great time.

And they lit up all the tinsel, just like a good television show. And they were back there, women, no doubt with baby-sitters at home taking care of her babies. And the Bible said he called in all of his concubines. And concubine was a legal prostitute. And the only difference is that today they're still the same thing, but not legal. And they left their babies home with baby-sitters. And they put on their new, modern clothes—their little skirts and so forth. And they went to the king's shindig, a rock-and-roll party.

Oh, can't you see America in that same place? “Oh, the king endorsed it, so it must be all right. If the king does it, well, that settles it.” Well, just because America lets you sell whiskey, cigarettes, and tobacco, and beer, that doesn't make it right in the sight of God. God will judge sin.

You say, “Well, our nation sells it.” But you ought to have the real principle of men and women that keep away from it. Our nation is governed by the devil, like all other nations are. The Bible says they are. So you can't go with the way the nation is governed.

Satan said, “All these kingdoms are mine. I will do with them what I want to.” And he said to Jesus, “I will give them to You if You'll worship me.”

Jesus knew He would fall heir to it in the millennium, so He said, “It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord Thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” That's good preaching to the church, let alone to Satan. No matter what you've got, we are commanded to worship the Lord our God, and Him only shalt we serve.

So the king set the great dinner, and he got all of the food ready, and their best beer, and their wines (the best advertised they had), and he was going to have a great big time. And he invited all the Hollywood girls, and all of them, and they all come up, and the best dancers that they had. They were all in this big garden out there having themself a modern rock-and-roll. What a time: a-dancing, drinking, making merry. Don't the Bible say they'd be that way? Said they'd be, “heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than the lovers of God. Trucebreakers, incontinent, fierce, and despisers of those that are right with God.” What a day we are living in.

Now, I want you to pinch your spiritual conscience. It was in this time, while they were having all this.... And I can just see the young ladies with their beer a drinking. And they were doing their rock-and-roll or boogie woogie, just having a big time out there dancing around. And those drunken soldiers, swinging them women around and drawing them up to them and sitting them on their laps. And they were just having a little clean fun.

That's what America calls it today: just a little clean fun. It's sin. The Bible said, “She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she is alive.” And the way our American women has lost their morals, till they hardly know what the word “moral” mean.

And I was getting after them about it not long ago. And a woman said to me.... I told her, I said, “You wear them clothes the way you do, you're going to have to answer at the day of judgment for committing adultery.”

She was a married woman; she said, “I give you to understand, Brother Branham, that I've never did anything wrong.”

I said, “But has the other men that looked at you done anything wrong? for Jesus said, 'Whosoever shall look upon a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.' Then when that sinner answers for adultery, you'll answer as the guilty one, for you presented yourself to him in that fashion.”

Say, “Well, Brother Branham, they sell them kind of clothes. That's the only kind they sell.” They still sell sewing machines. They still got goods.

It's a shame to see the way our women, of this day.... You Pentecostal women, what a disgrace. And you men, you Pentecostal men, who will let your women act like that; that shows how much man you really are. You're supposed to be the head of the house. Oh, what a disgrace. You say, “Well....”

Your wife smokes cigarette. What got her into that in the first place? She's wrong in doing it. She's poisoning herself. She's poisoning your children. She's damning the whole family and a disgrace to the church of the living God.

And you that let your children, your young girls, get out with these boys, that's getting out here in these modern rock-and-roll carry-ons.... Shame on you, mother and dad. You say, “Well, they just do as they want to.” You still got paddles. I got two up there; I don't know what they'll be, but if this old man Branham lives long enough and keeps his right mind, they may go, but they'll be full of blisters while they're there. It's a disgrace.

There's more illegitimate children born in the world today in America.... Each year, it produces more illegitimate children than the wars produced in four years of killing. Oh, it's a great sign of the end time. It sure is.

Now, I want you to notice, this king, oh, he was a great fellow. Oh, he was a good Arthur Godfrey, with all of his dirty jokes. And you women, staying home, instead of taking your time for prayer meetings on mornings, you turn on such a rascal as that and listen at him, and then call yourself Christian. What does he do but lay down there and with them girls and things. Why he's the biggest impediment this nation's ever had. “Oh, yes, he's a real American.” If you call that American, it might be a good American, but it's a long ways from Christianity. But you haven't got time for prayer meetings or read the Bible. Now, you could see where we're at.

Those women, those concubines, that were up there with the king that night, if they'd listened to Daniel, they wouldn't have been there. But notice, as the party went on, you know, and they all got pretty well warmed up with their good wines, and whiskeys, and beer that they had, and then they said, “Let's have some fun.”

Oh, yes, this modern Arthur Godfrey wanted to crack one about the baldheaded preacher or something, you know. So he said, “We will go and get the vessels of the house of their God, and we will just have a little joke.” If that isn't a good radio or television gag, I never seen one. You see, the man dies, but the spirit lives on. “Oh, we will just tell one about this, that, or the other to have a good gag.”

Here, I heard them other day on the radio, singing, “When The Saints Go Marching In,” in ragtime; “When I See The Blood,” in boogie-woogie. What a disgrace! Do you think a holy God can listen to that and be just, and not judge it?

But we're fortified; we're a great nation; we're the greatest in the world. So were they. But what took place? Said, “Go get those vessels and let's have a good time.” And they went and got the vessels of the Lord, the holy things, which.... You are the vessel of the Lord. You're God's vessels, where He pours in His Holy Spirit. And they said, “Let's get some jokes on them, the holy-roller.”

So they goes and gets it, and fills up their dishes, or the things with wine, and then this modern Arthur Godfrey, while the girls were sitting on the soldiers laps, and making “whoopee,” and having a big time, and they're frolicking and going on, and maybe a husband at home, baby-sitting, and maybe a woman at home, baby-sitting, and her drunken husband up there—just about half and half. And there they were. All this big time.... Well fortified, nothing can bother them, sure....

The greatest nation under the heavens, they were. All the great scientists was in their realm. All the great war implements was under their control. They were behind the walls, so nothing could bother them. They were having a good time. They didn't know that God could look down on them. And there, in that.... This modern teen, with his Elvis Presley jokes and singing.... They were probably having them a big time, so he said, “Bring out those holy-rollers and let's have some fun.” So he pours the wine into the vessel and he was drinking it and saying, “Oh, that's a good one.”

All the attendants and all of them, “Yes, that's good,” just like America, today, with some of their rotten gags and so forth, that they have on television and radio and in their modern.... And you people that call yourselves Christians, listening to such stuff.... Now, you can see where we're standing.

You Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterian, you good Pentecostals, something happened to you. Your desires got wrong, for what's in your heart, you'll do. You couldn't make.... It would be no great surprise to me to see a pig on a manure pile, eating. That's his nature. But it would sure surprise me.... I never did see and never will see a lamb eating with him, 'cause the nature in him is different. You don't see Christians doing those things. The nature, the nature of the great Holy Spirit won't let them do those things. The Bible said, “If you love the world or the things of the world, the love of God's not even in you.”

Now, you can judge yourselves, or the Word judges you. If you love those things, the love of God's gone from you. God has first place or no place. Blessed be His name. I'm so glad of that. I'm so glad that He's pure and holy; we can put confidence in Him. He compromises with nothing. He's God and God alone. He's not going to come down to us; we got to measure up to Him. He ain't going to come to our thoughts; we got to measure to His thoughts. He ain't going to listen to our commandments; we're going to listen to His commandments. But of course, we can do just we want to.

And I say this with respects: Ninety percent of the pastors have got so weak, they won't preach against it. It's a meal ticket to them. I'd rather half starve, and wear grass sacks to cover my nakedness, and preach the Gospel, the truth, than to have fried chicken three times a day and compromise with the devil's trash.

Getting to be an old man. And I stood for it when I was a young man. I want to stand more gallant now, for I see the hour's at hand. What do you think the prophets of the Old Testament would do if they arose today? Look at the condition.

And this fellow with his wine bottle up, drinking, having a big time, he said, “Just a minute. All you all, listen to me. Turn your radios on now.” The vulgar, dirty, filthy things that's permitted, uncensored programs.... When did it start? Look back through the history. It started back there in the days of Clara Bow. And with this scheming, ungodly Texan, went out there and made these women's underneath clothes that made them look sexy.... And this begin the first vulgar song, they let pass, was about the ladies rolling down their stockings and showing their pretty knees. They got by with that. And now it's uncensored: they can say and do what they want to. The devil's took the thing without firing a shot. That's right.

What do you think them Hollywood prostitutes in hell today would do if they could return? They'd make it different. But their influence upon the world has set the world in a flame of corruption.

Oh, blessed be the name of the Lord. What ought the influence of the Christian church to do: set the world aflame with Christianity. But instead of that, we try to pattern after them. Christ is our example, and not some Hollywood star, or some television star.

“But we're modern. We smoke Pall Malls.” And you'll go to hell for doing it. The pictures of the girls out here with cigarettes, beautiful looking women, that's a deceit of the devil. Look at her a few years after she smokes, with TB, laying yonder, dying, a wretch. But it's modern. They can put it before the young people.

And you put up a picture of divine healing or something or Christ, they wouldn't permit you to do it. “But we're modern.... We have to go like the rest the world.” All the great signs of beer, the Ortel's '92, and the Pabst's Blue Ribbon and all of those.... What do they do? They put it on those television programs, because it's tax free. The devil has so made it.

Oh God, be merciful. Can't you see, folks, we're at the end of the road? How the devil has gulched in on those things. He's permitted, because he knows his days is numbered.

So this young fellow with his wine glass, tipped it to the toast. Oh, my, I'd imagine all the men wanted to act like him. See the little boys out in the schools, when they have to pull their little overhauls down across their hips and let their hair grow out like a bunch of hoodlums, to act like Elvis Presley.

God bless that dean of that college the other day, that said, “You'll straighten up and dress like men, or you'll get out of this college.” That's a real American. He said, when they dress like that, they act like that. And that's true. And when you dress like a prostitute, you'll act like one. Oh, you have a lot to do what kind of a spirit's in you. Certainly, it makes you act what's in you. It makes you dress and act and live. Whatever's in you, it governs you. Certainly.

But now he has his glass up. Oh, how he was just in his great smile, his little shimmy he was going to do before all the people. If that isn't a good television program ... wouldn't Hollywood have went for that act? “Oh, I will tell you,” he said, “here's what we will do. You know that bunch of holy-rollers we used to have around here...?” See?

And just about the time he started to take a drink, he looked over against the wall. You know, in the garden there was a great candlestick hung up, and there was a plaster on the wall, and the lights was reflecting against this plaster from the garden. And his eyes bulged out. And he really got all shook up. The Bible said he did, said that his bones went out of joint and they beat together.

Yes, and some of these days this nation's going to be all shook up, sure enough. Oh, yes ... sure. They said them holy-rollers, them divine healers, that, this, that, and the other, what all they are.... Just wait. God's just. He will send the message anyhow. He did in all other ages. He will do it now, and He is doing it.

And the revival is just about over. Do you remember as “thus saith the Lord”? I said, America made her final decision in 1956. Watch, since then. She's gone, and there's nothing left but judgment and chaos. Look what's happened in that much time. Just watch it, how it's going to keep faster and faster. We're at the end. We're living in the shadows of His coming. “There'll be signs in the heavens above and in the earth, men's hearts failing, fear, perplexed of times, distress between the nations.” How the people will be heady, high-minded, how the daughters of Zion, the church will walk haughty, high-minded, with the way she'd walk, and mince and twist as she went. Where are we at? We're with Belteshazzar's big rock-and-roll party. And the church has been caught in the tide through television, through radio, through Hollywood; there we are. Real Christian women bobbing off their hair, wearing make-up on their faces, dressed in them little old dirty clothes, because reprobate people has told them there's no harm in it.

A Christian woman preacher sent a girl down here the other day that looked like she was poured into her clothes. She said, “Oh, Brother Branham, you're from the old school. Our pastor liberates women.”

I said, “Liberate them from what?” They're liberating them from Christ and common decency. Oh, very famous, the woman is ... certainly. But anything that does that's a child of hell. “By their fruits you shall know them.” What a day we are living in. Sure, I don't know it says what kind of clothes you wear and so forth, but woman, do you realize what you're doing? You're making yourself a sex mark to every old scalawag rascal that comes by. But you want liberation. It shows what spirit that's in you. You want to get free from church, free from Christ, free from the Holy Spirit, so you can live like the rest of them. That don't exclude the Branham Tabernacle. That includes the Branham Tabernacle. “All, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Here we are. Oh, what a day, what a time.

And he's all shook up. And he looked and over against the wall, there was a part of a man's hand. And it was writing on the wall: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. Oh, all of them begin to watch this modern Godfrey, that had so much popularity. What's the matter with him? He's all shook up, sure enough. He's standing. The Bible said his knees were beating together. And something had happened. What? He couldn't understand it. He thought no one could get to him. But God can get to you. No matter where you are, He knows you. He knows your works.

So he says, “There's only one thing to do. That's call the pastor.” So he went and got the pastor, and the cardinal, the archbishop, and the popes of his church; and he brought them all in. He said, “What does this mean?”

Now, you're going to see a modern America. They never knowed nothing about the supernatural. So they couldn't understand it. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Could you doubt then that they'd call the Spirit of the living God a fortuneteller or a devil? They know nothing about the supernatural. They're all wrapped up in their denomination. They know nothing of it. They say, “Oh, that's just a little mental telepathy.” But the handwriting's on the wall.

He did that sign before the Jew, by the closing of theirs. He did it before the Samaritans, but not the Gentile. Why? He had to wait till the Amorites' sins had heaped up. Now the handwriting's on the wall for us.

What are they doing? Are they listening to it? No, sir. They're just going ahead with Arthur Godfrey, and Elvis Presley, and Pat Boone, and all the rest of them. Modern, young folks, teen-age, violence.... That's the same thing it was there. Exactly. And he brought in all the pastors, and they said, “Well, we don't know that. Uh, maybe.... Oh, that's maybe a shadow somewhere.”

The king had better sense than that. And he said, “I will give any man a part of my kingdom, and I will clothe him, and I will put a gold chain on his neck if he can interpret that.” But they didn't have the gift of interpretation. They knowed nothing about it. They believed the days of miracles were past. Isn't that our modern preachers? Isn't that our general overseers, our bishops? They know nothing about the supernatural. That's the reason they can call the Spirit of the living God an act of put-up. Oh, God be merciful to an adulterous and filthy generation, perishing from the face of the earth.

There he was. He's still knocking his knees together. There was something wrong. He knowed there was something wrong. Oh, there was a supernatural sign. “How did it get in here? Where did it come from?” It come from above. It come down where there was no walls. It could come in. And today we've rock-and-rolled. We've took our children to televisions and uncensored programs. We've let our floors and our tables become full of old dirty, sexy love stories instead of the Word of God. There isn't a kid in this city but what knows more about Arthur Godfrey, or Elvis Presley, or Pat Boone, or David Crockett than they do know about Jesus Christ. That's straight, but it's, oh, so true.

No wonder there's a falling away. And what does the pastors know? They don't know what's the cause of it. They are the cause of it.

And there he was standing. So was Belteshazzar cause of it, letting his kingdom get in such a place. And today in all this stuff that we're going through, we thought we were fortified. We think we're the best and greatest nation on earth. We've got all the science here. And little did Belteshazzar know, that he didn't have all the scientists.

There was a nation called the Medo-Persians. They'd got some scientific work too. Which is now the Medo-Persians are the Indians, the Hindus, in India as our brother just spoke. They finally wound up in India as the Hindu—Medo-Persians. And they had scientifically found a way that they could by-pass the river Euphrates. They couldn't get through the walls, but they by-passed the river and was coming under the gates. Science is working somewhere, a great ungodly, heathen nation at that time.

And God put a sign on the wall to let them know that their days were finished. And God's put a sign on our wall and our great rock-and-roll party. And there's a sputnik flying through the skies. Oh, we thought we had it all, didn't we? We thought we knowed it all. But Russia, according to our own science, is five years ahead of us. And when we're caught up in five years, they'll be ten years farther the other way.

God's letting an ungodly nation, letting an ungodly people, that took those Jewish scientists up there.... And they're far ahead of us. We're putting our time to wine, women, and big time, and they're working day and night, how to blow us up. There's not one thing that could keep them from doing it right now. Look the condition we're in, the whole nation.

You remember that army officer...? Brother Roberson and I were talking yesterday. They interviewed him. One of the great scientists said, “I don't want you to scare the people, but I want you to tell us the truth. Is there danger?”

“At any minute it can happen. The only thing, we're just bluffing one another. We started our little missile up and it fizzled out, three foot off the ground. Now, we put another one up; it's fizzling out.” Why? We've poisoned our minds with cigarettes, with women, with whiskey, with big time, and it's displeased the God of heaven. And the Scripture predicts that Russia will do it.

Where are we at? We're at the end. Every nation is scared to death. I believe that they could set a missile right now and destroy the whole nation. In one five minutes' time, it will become nothing but powder and back to the gasses that you were in the beginning. They can do it.

Oh, we've had a rock-and-roll party. We forgot God. We've went too much for television, too much for the world. And they've been preparing all the time, just like the Medo-Persian. And now the supernatural has come, and the handwriting is on the wall—not on the wall, but in the sky. And now, we're all shook up. Oh, yes, our modern scientists are shook up; our nation's shook up. It can happen before this service closes.

But I want you to notice another. I want you to remember, that while they were still in that condition, under that drunken stew, there was a little queen. She hadn't been at the rock-and-roll party. She must have been out reading Daniel's prophecy. She wasn't indulging in their sin. And she come running in. When the king didn't know what to do, she come running in, and she said, “Oh king, live forever. I know you're all shook up. You're all bothered. And your pastor and none of your counselors, your pope, and your cardinals, and your district men, and your superintendents, there's none of them can interpret it for you. But there is a man. There is a man in your kingdom; he knows the supernatural. Oh, blessed be His name.

Church, there is a man in our midst today. He can read the supernatural. He can write the supernatural. There is a man. Oh, I trust that you'll meet Him. I trust that He will enter to your heart right now. He will speak to you women. He will speak to you men and will let you see the condition you've got into. He's the only one who can read your condition. I can preach till my voice would be no more. I could cry until the tears scalded streaks down my cheeks; it would do no good, because I'm just a man. But there is a man. His name's Jesus. He can tell you what this means. Won't you slip off and talk to Him just a little bit.

What's the meaning of these sputniks in the skies? What's the matter? What is this modern Babylon that we're trying to build a machine to take us to the moon? You'll never make it. What's it all about? Science don't know. They're in a mad rush for something, and they don't know what it is, but there is a man. There is a man who knows what it's all about; He was the One who wrote it here. He knows how to read this Word. Oh, He knows what it means, for He's got “thus saith the Lord.” He promised it, “The works that I do shall you do also. If they call Me Beelzebub, the Prince of the house, how much more will they call His household.” The handwriting's on the wall. The sputnik's in the skies, great earthquakes everywhere, volcanoes coming up, tidal waves a-breaking the shores.... What is it? The handwriting, not only in the skies, but on earth. “There'll be signs in the heaven and on earth, men's heart failing. (”Oh, we don't know what to do.“), perplexed of time, distress....” What is distress? Distress between the nations, all of them. Just let one missile fly; that does it. What is it? There is a Man who can interpret it.

She went and got this man. God, give me strength this morning. God give me power to bring that Man to your need today, bring Him to you. He's the One can interpret your case. He's the One can tell you where you made your mistake. He's the One can tell you where you left off. He's the One who can tell you where to start.

And she went and got Daniel, God's representative. And he walked up. Could you imagine a holy prophet saying, “Oh, king, I'm honored to be here. Oh, if I can just say the right thing, I will get that chain of gold.” Oh, you....

Can you see where it's at today? “If I can tickle the ears of my people, keep these things the way.... I don't care what they do. They pay heavy in the treasure. They do this, that, or the....”

“We will build a great big church and put a big spire on it.... We will make this, that, or the other.”

Oh, God be merciful to such people. Give me the truth. Yes. “Oh, if we talk anything like that, brother, our people would get up and walk out.” They won't if they love God. They'll love to hear it. A real man of God doesn't look this way and that way. He doesn't look to see if somebody says, “That's good. You're doing well.” Or to see if somebody said, “Oh, you oughtn't to done that.” He don't care what anybody says. He's enjoying the company of the Holy Spirit, and he's only looking upward and onward. He doesn't care what the preacher says or what the other people says. He's enjoying the company of the One who sent him. That's right. He's only to please One.

Look at this. He said, “Oh Belteshazzar, you should have knowed better than this. Don't you know your father, Nebuchadnezzar (which really was his grandfather)?” Said, “Don't you know your father (which was the succession of the kings)?” “Belteshazzar, don't you know better? You had an example back there to what God did to your father when he got heady, high-minded, and let his kingdom go like that. You've got an example of what he did.”

And so have you got an example of what God did to those who didn't walk upright before Him. These are not mysterious things. This is not a hard message; it's the truth. You've got an example. You know what He did back yonder to the women who danced before the idols. You know what He did to the men who went after strange women. You know what He done to the drunken sots, and the homosexuals, and the perverts of Sodom. It's no strange thing. You know these things.

Said, “You should have known it. There's your example by your grandfather. But now, this is the meaning of the writing:

God has numbered your kingdom. You're weighed in the balance and found wanting.“

Oh, if there ever was a time that Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostals—they're weighed in the balance, God's balance, and found wanting. They've called the Spirit of the living God an unholy thing. They've done despite to the works of grace. They've thought of big churches and organizations. You Assemblies of God, you Church of God, all you.... You Oneness, and Trinitarians, Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic, you know you've gone back to Babylon. You had an example of that. And this Branham Tabernacle knows that you've been warned of those things years ago. But now you're weighed in the balances and found wanting. Fussing, fighting, holding grudges, and stewing.... You think God could work in a place like that? Never. There you are. Indifferent, unholy, without natural affections, trucebreakers, false accusers that's the day that we're living.

But remember, said, “You know this,” but right at the same time Daniel was giving his prophesy and telling that king.... (Could you imagine him sugar-footing it around to get a gold chain? Could you imagine a man of God compromising with the devil to be popular? Never.)

You can have your televisions, your programs, you can have your great churches, you can have what ever you want to; let me be not popular, God, but let me be honest with the Holy Spirit to tell the truth. I don't care what happens or goes. We got one thing to do; that's carry out the commission of our blessed Lord. But here we are. We're in this day and it's upon us. There's nothing can be done now. We've done crossed the line. What a condition.

The nation is conglomerating in sin and folly. The handwriting's on the wall. The Spirit of God revealing itself, and the people coming back and said, “Beelzebub.”

Jesus said, “Speak that against Me, I will forgive you; but when the Holy Ghost is come, one word against it will never be forgiven, in this world or the world to come.”

A good example of that at Pentecost, after Pentecost and then when Titus in '96 take the walls of Jerusalem, when they rejected the message. Certainly, here we are.

And right at the same time, when the prophecy was being given (listen now, in closing), while the prophecy was being given, what taken place? What taken place? The same time that the prophecy was being given, the Medo-Persians were coming under the gate. The temple guards had been slaughtered. The castle guards were spread out in the streets. Listen. Ten minutes later, those modern young girls, beautiful, those modern women, away from their babies and children.... What happened? What was taking place? They would be strung into the streets. They were ravished by soldiers. Their bellies was split open, and the disgrace that was brought upon them because they failed to listen.... But it was too far.

Listen, friends. There isn't a thing, this very hour, in the next twenty-five minutes or ten minutes, for Russia to send up it's satellite and sweep it over here across this nation, train it's missile, say, “Surrender, or in two minutes you'll be nothing but dust.” They can do it right now. Think of it. They can do it right now.

What would happen? Plane load after plane load, ship load after ship load, of ungodly communistic soldiers would swallow our lands, would grab our girls, and take them into the street and treat them like cattle, ram a sword through them, go into our homes and take our wives out and bust the babies head against the wall, and ravish our women. You say one thing, it belongs to them.

You say, “Will our Pentagon surrender?” Sure it would. That'd be the only sensible thing for it to do. It would have to do it. If it didn't, we'd be nothing but powder in a few minutes. We'd have maybe a few more hours of life, but what a slaughter. What? They may be loading on the planes right now. The ships may be in harbor. Soon, these things that we're talking about can be a reality. There's not one thing left for it to happen ... to keep it from happening according to prophecy. Here we are. And next week, you don't know what condition you could be in. The handwriting is on the wall. We're a weighed in the balance and found wanting.

Now, if these things are true and you see they are true, then how close is the coming of the Lord? Tonight, I want to continue. Where will the church be when this takes place? Now, you who've always been taught that the church will take the tribulation, come find out. If this is so close, if this destruction is so close, how much closer is the coming of the Lord? For it'll take place before the church ever.... Before one rocket hits this country, the church will be in the arms of Christ and gone. We're at the end. It can happen any time. Let us pray.

I want the deep thinking people in here, I want those who really know that that man has been talking to you in the last few minutes.... “And yes, I've been wrong. And I want to get right with that Man, 'cause He's the only One who can read this handwriting. I want to be right.” Would you just raise your hand and say, “Pray for me, Brother Branham.” God bless you, sir. God bless you, lady. God bless you, sir. God bless you, young man. God bless you, lady, you, you, that's right. God bless you. God bless you, sir. God bless you, young lady. God bless you, young woman. God bless you, girl. God bless you, little one back there, the little teen-age girl, the little boy. God bless you, you're just in the turnings of life.

Oh, it could happen, and it's going to happen. It's got to happen. And these brittle threads that you're walking on is going to break, honey. And your poor helpless soul, what's going to happen to you? Time shall be no more. Time will then blend into Eternity. The handwriting on the wall ... a scientific proof.... They're trying to get to the moon like they did in Babylon. Everything is repeating. The God of heaven can't hold His peace any longer. It's time. When? I don't know, but it's time.

False prophets are lying,

God's truth their denying,

That Jesus the Christ is our God,

Those Gentile days numbered,

With horrors encumbered,

Return, oh, disbursed, to your own.

The day of redemption is near,

Men's hearts are failing for fear,

Be filled with the Spirit,

Your lamps trimmed and clear,

Look up, your redemption is near.

It's later than you think. Won't you just now, under conviction.... If you feel that you've been wrong.... I don't care how long you've belonged to this tabernacle. I don't care how long you've belonged to your church, how many times you spoke with tongues, how many times you danced in the Spirit, if you could still see the world hanging on you, come here just a minute. Come here, lost sheep. Return, oh, dispersed, to your own.

Would you come here just a minute, let me shake your hand? Stand here and let's pray together. I'm inviting you. Get right up out of your seat now and come here. You're interested in my prayer. I'm inviting you to come. That's right. The Lord bless you, my dear brother. Stand right here at the altar just a minute.[Brother Branham steps away from the microphone, and greets those who came forward.]

[Blank spot on tape] ... call it right then. If we're strangers to one another, raise up your hand. That's what's wrong with you, isn't it? You have faith. You're from down in Kentucky. God bless you. The Holy Spirit.... God bless you, lady. God bless you, lady. God bless you. God bless you.

The day of redemption.......

[Break in tape.] ..

.mind reading. If that ain't the Spirit of Christ, I don't know where it's at. Why do you linger and wait then? Can't you see it's Him? “The things that I do shall you also.” And this was the end time sign. Listen to it tonight and find out if this ain't the end time sign. Come, will you, you who believe that God has spoke to your heart this morning, saying, “Then you ought to be ashamed to do the things that you've done.” Will you walk out? “Well,” you say, “I'd hate for my sister to see me.” How about your Lord?

Oh, you want to be saved. You don't want to go to the devil's hell, but you won't receive Him as your Lord. Lord's “ruler.” Lord takes over all. You want to have your own little private life. You want to live the Christian life the way you want to, but you won't live it the way He wants you to. Let Him come into your heart and say, “Oh, I've let You into my heart, Jesus, as my Saviour, yes, but I've never let You have control, 'cause I wanted to act a little like this. I want to be modern.” Oh, He ain't your Lord yet. Elvis Presley and Godfrey's spirits' still got you, the devil. Sure. Won't you come where Christ is a moving. See His Spirit....

Sweet Spirit, sweep over my soul.

Sweep over my soul............

Won't you pray? I know you think something's wrong with me, but when I can see the church, the unconcerned of the church.... What do you think would taken place if George Washington in his day would've seen the same thing take place that's just took place right here? What do you think righteous men and great men of years gone by would've done?

When Charles G. Finney hollered one word, “Repent or perish,” and men fainted in the street.... And today the Holy Spirit can put the writing on the wall, and show Himself present, and men sits there and looks around, women. Oh, it's coldness.

But remember, “As it was in the days of Noah (There was eight saved.), so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man.” Your invitation is, “Come.” I invite you to the altar with the rest of these. If you know that you've done wrong, why don't you come? Stand here; show God you're willing to make an effort. But if the Holy Spirit can't, then I know I can't.

So let us bow our heads now. Want to offer prayer for this woman. She got her hand up here on the cot. My sister, Jesus Christ can save your life, and Him only. Do you believe that He will? Are you aware of that? If I be His servant, He said in His Word, “Say to this mountain, be moved and don't doubt, but believe that what you said is coming to pass, you could have what you said.” Will you serve Him all your life? Give the rest of your days to His glory?

Lord God, as I hold the hand of this woman, that's laying here dying, she might not even last till tonight's evening service, if You don't help her. I see her too weak to even sit up. She had to lay down. Then You said, “The prayer of faith shall save the sick. God shall raise him up. I pray that You'll heal the woman right now. And in my poor heart as I knowed her spirit is here, I say to the disease of her body, ”Depart, in the name of Jesus Christ, so our sister can live.“ From this hour, may the suffering and weakness go. May she be well for the glory of God through Jesus Christ.

The Word has been said. My objective and motive, as far as I know, is right. Then that wasn't me. That was Him. Now, go about the business, rejoicing. Forget all about being sick. Rise up and take your cot, go on home rejoicing. Stay for service tonight though. Watch the Lord God.

O God, standing in the midst of this hour of death, death to sin, death to indifferences, death to sickness, the departing of diseases.... Your great Spirit, here, interpreting their conditions.... I pray for these who are standing at the altar, who knows that the handwriting on the wall is sure. They don't have to take my word for it. They've got Your Word now. They've got the newspaper's word. They got the scientists' word. And we know that You, being a just God, You could not let Babylon go in their condition, without giving them their judgment. And neither would You let us go without us getting our judgment.

And we're praying this morning, Father, that these who are standing here will escape that judgment, as they come safely under the arms of Jesus, as they come to listen to the Man that can interpret the spiritual, the supernatural.

They've heard Your voice speak and they've come to listen to You. When You spoke, they rose from their seat; they come. They're not ashamed. Some of them, Lord, has been Christians a long time, but they're not ashamed to witness that they've been wrong. And Thou hast said, “If you will witness Me before men, him will I witness before the Father and the holy Angels.” Be Thou merciful, O eternal God, and give Eternal Life to these who are now seeking it. May their precious hearts be satisfied with the goodness of God.

I present them to You, Lord. They've done something just now that's defied all the laws of science: they got up out of their seat and walked here. Their hands went up. Shows there's a spirit in them, moving. And that spirit that moves them has been convinced by the Word of God that they're wrong. Their actions has proved that they recognize they're wrong. And they were reverent and respect enough ... respectable to come up to the altar to confess their wrongs and ask for mercy. Thou will in no wise turn them down. Grant, Lord, that each one may be now filled with Your Spirit, in the name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus.

Now, while we have our heads bowed, I wonder, you who are standing here this morning, that you feel that you've done the right thing, you've come on the invitation, not of your brother, but you come on the invitation of the great, holy God. And because that you have done this, and His Spirit has called you to recognize that you've been wrong, and you want to be right, and you have prayed to Him who said, “If a man lacks wisdom, let him ask God. Ask the Father anything in My name, I will do it.” Coming with that sincere heart, your faith based solemnly upon God's Word, do you believe that you now receive that what you asked for? If you would, with your heads bowed, would you just raise your hands to God, say, “I now believe.”? God bless you. That's fine. “I now believe that I've found what I have asked for.”

May the grace of God ever richen your souls, and bless your spirits and make you eternally His in the kingdom in the world that is to come. May His eternal grace never leave you. May He sustain you in the hours of temptation. And if the great bomb should strike, and the great time should come, may you be caught away in the rapturing of His blessed church to be with Him forever.

You in the audience, with your heads bowed, and you'd like to be remembered in prayer, though you did not come up, but you'd like to be remembered, would you raise your hands? God bless you. Do you know.... Just look at the hands, ninety percent of the audience. Do you realize this is a searching out time? This is a time that must be searched out. This may be the last Gospel message that's preached.

Before the message begins tonight, you know, that bomb may strike the earth. There isn't a thing to keep it from being so. They're set. They're ready. All it takes is a few drinks of vodka, and here it would come. And the only thing that holds it off right now, is the grace of God, trying to get His church together. Won't you hear me as your brother? Hear the Scriptures, as your Saviour, and let Christ be supreme Ruler in your life. Grant it, while we pray.

Pray now, each one in your own way. If you're Baptist, pray the way the Baptists pray. It don't make any difference. You just pray. You say, “God be....” It's no time to argue denominations now. We're done passed that age. We're come. Brother....

While we're standing here, it isn't right for evangelist, which no doubt after while there's going to be a baptizing. Easter Sunday I aim to be here for a big baptizing. And if you've never received Christ and been immersed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you long to be baptized by immersing, we're inviting you to come, even right now if you want it. We're ready. The pastor must have something to say. I'm going to ask him to pray this prayer while we're waiting. All right, Brother Neville....