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...along the road. Do something tonight, Lord. Grant that there will be something take place that will be so unusual to a regular service, that all that is in Divine Presence might know that it's Your presence, the resurrected Lord Jesus. Then we will take new hope and new courage to fight the battle until life is finished. Grant it, Lord.
And forgiveness of our sins, we ask again, in the name of Thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen. You may be seated.
It's a privilege to be here again tonight to minister to you dear people in the name of the Lord. I think our microphone here isn't just right. Sir, twist it. How's that? This way? Oh, I see. I'm a long ways from being a mechanic.
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You know, I am glad to be here on this gym floor. There's something about these rooms in this state of Ohio here, and especially in this city, as I understand, it's one of the athletic centers. The basketball center is right here in Middletown. And I like athletics. I was once an athlete myself. I was a professional fighter, as you know.
And I used to come to these floors where we'd have our training, and our main fights, and so forth. And I've never left the ring, but a different ring. I'm fighting the enemy (the devil) of human souls tonight.
And I'm asking your support, as we together put our hearts and shoulders together to press this battle on. For God is with us, then who can be against us? The great Morning Star is over us, the banner of Christ, and we're bound to conquer.
So there's sickness here tonight, and sin, people who are oppressed of the devil. And we are the soldiers of the cross. Let's press the battle now as we pray and study His Word.
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I have chosen for a Scripture reading tonight, found in the book of Saint Matthew's Gospel and the 17th chapter. I wish to read just a portion.
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart.
And was there transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment as white as the light.
And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou will, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, ... one for Moses, and one for Elias.
But while he yet spake, behold, a white cloud overshadowed them: and ... a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
And if I should choose for a text, it would be those last three words: “Hear Ye Him.”
You might say, “Preacher, isn't that just kind of a small text for a group of several hundred people, to speak to them?” Yes, it is a small text, but it's a text out of the Word of the eternal God. And it's not so much of how large it is; it's the value it is. Many times we place values upon the size of anything, the quantity. But it never is quantity; it's quality that should be valued.
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Sometime ago a little friend of mine was searching through an attic in an old building that his mother and father had just moved into with their family. And he found an old trunk. Looking through some old relics and things that was in this trunk, he run onto a little postage stamp, just about a half inch square. And while looking at this postage stamp, rather yellow, and he said, “You know, that might be valuable.”
So with one thing in mind, a nice cone of ice cream, he took down the street to a friend of his that was a stamp collector. And as he got to the stamp collector, he said, “I have found a stamp. And I wonder if there's any value to this stamp.” And the collector at once, throwing his big glass on the stamp, why, he said, “Yes, son, I will buy that stamp from you.”
Said, “How much will you give me for this stamp?”
He was expecting five cents. And the collector said, “I will give you a dollar bill for that stamp.”
Oh, that meant many ice creams, so he said, “It's sold.”
And the stamp collector, having some sense of value to the stamp, later he sold that stamp for fifty dollars. And a little after that it was sold for five hundred dollars. And the last I heard of that stamp, it was sold for a quarter of a million dollars.
You see, it isn't the size of it. It's what was wrote on the stamp that makes the difference. So that's the way it is with the Word of God. It isn't how much we read. It's the value of the Word. Because it is the expression of the immortal God. Down through the ages many men has read this same Scripture, and it's never failed to serve its purpose.
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If I wrote you a letter, I believe that we are friends enough that you would appreciate it. And if you wrote me one, I would appreciate it. But if your letter was just addressed to me, after I read it, it would not be so valuable ... or, it would not be valuable to anyone else. It would be a letter that was directed to me, or my letter directed to you. And after it's once read, it could be discarded, unless you just kept it as a relic.
But, oh, it's not so with the Word of God, because it was not addressed to any certain individual. It was addressed to all of Adam's fallen race, to every mortal being. That's why it's so valuable. Just one word, you can hang on to it with all that's within you and know that it is the truth. Jesus said, “All Scriptures must be fulfilled.” He said, “The heavens and earth will pass away, but My Word shall never fail.”
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There was an old darkie one time said, “I had rather be standing on the Word of God than standing in heaven.”
And the man said, “How do you figure that, uncle?”
He said, “Because both heaven and earth will pass away, but God's Word shall never pass away.”
And how true that is. And I can assure you tonight, and I will go on record on these tapes, that any divine promise that God has made, if you'll take the right mental attitude towards that promise, God will bring it to pass, regardless of what it is. For God cannot say something one time and something contrary to that at another time, because He's infinite.
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Now, you and I get smarter, or we should. The human race gets smarter. God cannot get smarter, because He is infinite to begin with. And every time He makes a decision, every time that same crisis arises, He has to make the same decision, or He made it wrong when He made the first one.
He cannot back up and say, “I was mistaken,” because He's God. And then if He can make a mistake, He's mortal like you and I. So what kind of a hope does that give us? When we read this blessed Word, we know it's the truth. Right there we stand on God's Word.
This Scripture reading tonight is rather an unusual text. And I aim to use it rather unusual from the regular approach. But God is unusual. His Word is unusual. He does things sometimes that's unusual, because He's the great Almighty God.
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And we notice here that it was such an experience to the apostle Peter, that later when he referred to the experience, he called it “the holy mountain.” But I do not believe that he meant the mountain was holy. It wasn't the holy mountain; it was the holy God on the mountain. It isn't the holy church; it's the Holy Ghost in the church that makes it what it is. It isn't the holy man; it's the Holy Spirit.
And now, we find that our Lord never did anything just at random. Every move He made was ordained of the Father. We just go at random. But He said, “I always do those things which pleases the Father.” So every move that He made had a meaning, and it was to please God. Oh, I would say here: Would it not be wonderful if we could have a testimony like that, that we always do that which pleases God?
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So we find Him here going up to the mount, as we call it, Mount Transfiguration. I always like to look at it in the real sense that it is wrote in, that most all my ministering brethren approaches it, as a type of the second coming of the Lord. And that is true.
But there's not one scripture in the entire Bible but what will dovetail and connect with the next scripture. Every bit of it is one great big picture, all the way from the garden of Eden and the way of Calvary, back to the garden again: just one great beautiful picture.
And I do not mean to be sacrilegious by making this mistake ... or, this statement. And if it's a mistake, God forgive me. But it's like a jigsaw puzzle that you have to.... Putting it together, you have to have the Holy Spirit to put it together. Just like on the jigsaw puzzle, you get the picture to one side and look at the picture, and then place it according to the way the picture looks.
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And the Scripture is of no private interpretation. It was wrote by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is the only One who can reveal it, for it is hid from the eyes of the wise and prudent, and it's revealed to babes such as will learn. So if you don't watch, if you don't use the mind of the Holy Spirit to put it together, you'll have your scene all mixed up; for instance, like a cow picking grass in the top of a tree. And that's just about the way some of it looks. When we think that we could go to heaven by shaking hands with the preacher, or being baptized in water a certain way, or some little creed to repeat, why it's ridiculous.
Jesus said, “Except a man be born of water, and of Spirit, he will in no wise enter the kingdom.” So the picture looks ridiculous, but the only way that we could find is by receiving the Holy Spirit first in us, then He teaches us the truth and the life. He will never disagree with the Word. He's always on the Word.
So if the spirit in you says that the days of miracles is past, it's not the Holy Spirit. If you believe that Jesus is changed in the years that's gone by, if that spirit in you says that, then it's not the blessed Holy Spirit. It bears record of the Word.
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And now, as we get on with our scene, we find Jesus taking three men: Peter, James, and John. And He was fixing to do something. And when God does anything, He always makes it before witnesses. He just doesn't do it loosely; He makes a witness. And in the Old Testament and in the New Testament too, three is a witness. So He took Peter, James, and John to be a witness of what God was fixing to do.
I've often thought, when He went into the house of Jairus to raise up her daughter ... or, his daughter from the dead, we find Him taking Peter, James, and John, those three. And it may just be a little thought of my own, but each of those represented something.
Peter represented faith, and James represented hope, and John represented charity. Hope, faith, and charity, these are the three greatest gifts. And God was manifesting His works through His great gifts.
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And you notice, on the mount there was three come from heaven to witness it, that both heaven and earth would know what God was doing. There was on the mount Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, three heavenly beings to watch this take place.
Of course now, it did mean and did represent the second coming, as we find that it was first they looked up and they saw Moses and Elijah, who is to return in the last days before the coming of the Lord ... or, the taking away of the remnant of the Jewish church to preach the three and a half years that's left of Daniel's prophecy to Israel only, after the church has been taken away.
Then they looked back again and saw Jesus only. Now, it meant something else. And there's where we want to get our thoughts placed just now.
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God never asked a man to do anything that He wouldn't do Himself. And in the Old Testament, we find out that they had a way.... When a son was born into a family, he was really an heir as soon as he was born.
But first he had to be proven, or raised, or tutored. Galatians 4, Paul speaks of it. And it was a placing of a son. We find it in Ephesians 1:5, that where we were predestinated to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ. God with His foreknowledge predestinated His children by adoption to Jesus Christ ... or, by Jesus Christ.
Oh, I just love the Old Testament, for it gives a foreshadow of the New. And all of it together dovetails together to make the great picture.
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Now, many times in the King James Version, we run across some strange words. For instance, in Saint John 14, it said, “In My Father's house is many mansions.” In a house, many mansions? How could a mansion be in a house? Many great mansions in a house: that doesn't seem right. There seems to be something wrong with it.
One of the translators made it more ridiculous than that. He said, “In My Father's apartment house is many apartments,” like we were going up there to rent an apartment. I'm so glad that that'll be over when we pass this scene here.
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But the real true interpretation of the Scripture in the original Greek reads like this: “In My Father's kingdom is many palaces.” But in the days when the translators translated for King James, he was called the father of his domain. And all of his little subjects lived in his house—his domain. That's the reason they could understand it better.
Now, that was very Biblical, because in the Old Testament a father owned a great portion of land and had many servants living on parts of this land, with sheep, and with cattle, and with the agricultural part of his farm. And when a son was born....
Now, remember, here's where you Pentecostal people miss the mark. Excuse me for saying that. But just that you might understand. As soon as you were born again and received the Holy Spirit, you thought that settled it. That was just the beginning.
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Now, when a child was born in a family, he was an heir certainly, as soon as he was born. But he didn't have any inheritance until he was proven. And then this father would go out, and look around, and get the very best raiser or teacher that he could find, over his child.
Now, he just wouldn't take any kind of a teacher. It must be a real absolutely good teacher, because he loved his child; and he wanted his child to have the best education he could get. He wanted his child raised with the greatest influence of righteousness that could be given, because he was a righteous man himself, and he wanted his child brought up in the same way.
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I was reading a little article the other day in a paper, that where the last flower of real democracy faded and died in one of your Ohio courts the other day, when a Mennonite family was sentenced to two years in prison for not letting their children go to a modern high school. Has this become a place, it's not the freedom of religion anymore? Democracy, we don't have any anymore. It's exactly right. Oh, what a disgrace.
And then the unjust judge tried to justify himself by saying to the father, “Give Caesar what's Caesar's.”
And the father answered him back and said, “Unto God....”
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They've never had a juvenile delinquency among the Mennonite people. They've never had any rock-and-roll teen-age stuff among the Mennonite people. And if they can produce a crop like that without our modern education, God be with them is my prayer.
I'd rather have my boy in something like that and not even know his ABC's. I'd rather he'd know Christ, and be born again, and not know the difference between split beans and coffee. Right. We need the old-fashioned Gospel preached again in the power and the demonstrations of the Holy Ghost. When our nation gets to a place that it robs us of our constitution, it shows that communist has rottened it to the core. Exactly right.
Mennonite, I'm for you. God bless you. Stay with it. I will pray for you and do all I can.
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I was so surprised a few nights ago to raise my shade and look into a YMCA. YM (young men) CA, with a bunch of young women over there doing a rock-and-roll. What does that “C” mean in “YMCA”? I thought it stood for Christ. If our churches has become that polluted, and our educational system, what's left for us but chaos?
And the church itself has become so degraded, and our places to teach this modern rock-and-roll, Elvis Presley nonsense, and then call yourselves Christians. By your fruits you are known. You know better than that.
Oh, that's what's the matter today. We've adopted a different tutor for the church of the living God, than what God gave us. He looked out the best tutor He could find. And our tutor's not some bishop or some pope, but it's the Holy Spirit was given as a Tutor to the church to raise it. And you're aware of that.
The Holy Spirit is to raise the church and to nurture it in honor and respect of the Father and of His Word. What a son God's got now. But we've adopted some men with their theology and some of their man-made creeds, and you see where we've got to? And then you holler about sin, and about communists, and our churches that polluted? Pot can't call kettle black. It's exactly right.
I know that's old-fashioned preaching, but it'll save you. It'll make you different.
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When I was a little boy, we was raised up in the mountains of Kentucky, and it was hard going. We lived in a little old log cabin, no floor on it, an old stump for a table, sawed off, a little old bed in the corner with fence rails around it, laying on a straw tick, and a corn shuck pillow. You don't know what hard times is.
And I remember mama used to have to get old bacon skins and render them out to make grease for the corn bread. And it wasn't very healthy. It's a wonder we didn't have all kinds of allergies if God hadn't have been there to help us.
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But you know what happened? She'd render out this old grease and put it in there, and every Saturday night when us little boys come home from school, we all had to take a dose of castor oil, get fixed up for Monday to go back to school. And I would come to mama, I'd hold my nose, and I'd say, “Mama, I just can't take it.” I said, “It makes me sick to even smell it.”
And she said, “If it doesn't make you sick, it doesn't do you any good.”
That's the way with preaching the Gospel. If it doesn't make you right good and sick, maybe it'll stir up your spiritual gastronomics to think over the things, to get right with God, and get away from this modern nonsense called religion. No wonder the Holy Spirit is grieved.
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This tutor had to bring the right message. He could not be a guy wanting a feather in his hat. The father wouldn't have such. He had to bring the right kind of a message to the father, how the child was progressing. And what do you think that tutor would think when he come before the father and would say, “Your son is not doing very well. Oh, he's just a roustabout, renegade sort of a child. He's not concerned.” How the father would bow his head in shame.
How the Holy Spirit then must feel, that's been sent to be our raiser, our tutor, our teacher, and bring the message of the church, of the sons of God before the Father. Why, He says, “They have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof.” How that must hurt the Holy Spirit to have to say that. But remember, He isn't looking for a straw ... or, a feather in his hat. He tells God the truth about it. It's our raiser.
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And now to you holiness people: Pentecostal, Free Methodist, Nazarenes, Pilgrim Holiness. I remember the time when it was wrong for you women to cut your hair. What happened? Do you know the Bible gives a man a right to get a divorce from his wife when she cuts her hair? The Bible said that a woman that cuts her hair dishonors her husband. That's the truth.
And you get out here with these little old, dirty, nasty, filthy clothes on, called shorts, to mow the grass in the back yard, and call yourself a Christian? How must the Holy Spirit feel before the Father when He has to bring that up? Oh, you say, “I don't wear shorts, Brother Branham. I wear slacks.” That's worse. You know it's the truth.
All right. The Bible said that a woman that'll put on any garment that pertains to a man, it's an abomination in the sight of Him. That's right. That's the Scripture. That's what God said.
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But you know what's the matter? It's the weakness of your pulpits. They're afraid to tell you the truth. Right. Sometimes it's a meal ticket. I'd rather lay on my belly, and drink branch water, and eat soda crackers, and preach the truth, than to have fried chicken three times a day, than have to.... That's right. Just to be truthful, to tell what's truth. You're going to have to answer in the day of the judgment before God for these things. That is right. Oh, what a ridiculous shame.
I can remember when it was wrong for women to paint their face, especially you holiness and Pentecostal people. But something happened. I don't say this for a joke. This is no place for joking. This is the pulpit, the judgment seat.
But there was only one woman in the Bible that ever painted her face, and that was Jezebel. That's right. The Bible said she painted her face. And do you know what God did to her? He fed her to the dogs. That's exactly right. So when you see a woman with painted face, you can say, “It's God's dog meat.” That's exactly what God said it was. Now, you know that's true.
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I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but I've got to stand with you in the judgment some of these days to give an account for this Word.
“Oh,” you say, “I'm not dog meat.” What do you put it on for, to hear the wolf whistle? [Brother Branham whistles.] Dog meat, exactly what God said it was. And you think it's a wolf whistle. It's a wolf, all right.
Well, you wear.... You say, “I don't wear them.” These little old sexy, dirty clothes, women down the street here with dresses look like they were poured into them. You say, “Brother Branham, you know what? They don't sell nothing else but that.” But sister, that's no excuse. They still sell sewing machines. That's right. Certainly it's the truth.
And I want to tell you something to wind this just a minute. Do you know what? At the day of the judgment you might be as pure as a lily to your husband, but you're going to answer to God for committing adultery. The Bible said ... Jesus said, “Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” When that sinner looks upon you and lusts after you, though he never touched you, when he answers for adultery, you are guilty of committing it with him. It's what the Bible says.
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Now, you can take some of these little two-by-fours if you want to, but that's what God said. That's what Christ said. Now, that's the truth. Oh, God be merciful. What must the great Holy Spirit think when He comes before the Father?
You say, “Why you picking on us women?” All right, men, here you are. Any man that'll let his wife smoke cigarettes and wear them kind of clothes, shows what he's made out of. He's not very much of a man. That's exactly right. True. He don't love her or he'd take a board and blister her with it. You know that's the truth. Now, I don't say that to be smart. I'm telling you the truth. That's right. What must the Holy Spirit think?
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Now, I'm going to put you both together. You that'll stay home on Wednesday night to see some old vulgar play like, “We love Suzy,” or something like that, and stay out of prayer meeting, it shows what you're both made out of. That's exactly right. And that's the church.
And on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and so forth, of a morning —nine or ten o'clock—you'll listen to some immoral person like Arthur Godfrey, with all of his dirty, ornery jokes, instead of a secret place in a room, praying and reading your Bible. That's right. You know that.
And in your house that slandery, dirty, rock-and-roll, boogie-woogie stuff of Elvis Presley.... There's only one difference between Elvis Presley and Judas Iscariot. Judas got thirty pieces of silver for selling out. Elvis got a few million dollars and a fleet of Cadillacs. That's all the difference.
Selling out his birthrights as a Christian to go in such nonsense as that. And because he stands up and sings a few religious songs, you call that religious? You can't mix oil and water. You know that's the truth.
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What must the Father think? That's right. And the blessed Holy Spirit has to bring this news to the Father, how His sons and daughters are getting along. How must He bow his head.
There's one place in the Scripture where it said the prophet blushed because of the sins of the people when he stood before God. How must the Holy Spirit feel when He stands before God? No wonder we can't have a revival.
No wonder that Billy Graham, Jack Schuller, Oral Roberts, and all of those great ministers of Christ has combed back and forth through this United States, back and forth, and back and forth, and still there's no revival. It's not their fault. It's not God's fault. It's the churches fault for not falling in line with the Bible. That's exactly right. And we're ready for judgment.
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Now, remember, no matter how much of a child it was, if that child was disobedient, it was a regular renegade, it never did have any inheritance. And you talking about the gifts being sent back to the church. Where could God place His gifts? Do you think God would put His holy oil in an unclean vessel? Certainly not.
And that's what's the matter with the church tonight. That's the reason you got so much make-belief, and isms, and sensations. You're trying to adopt some sensation for the real thing. Why take a substitute when the Pentecostal skies are full of the real? It's the truth. You know that's true.
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But the Father has to hear that from the Tutor, the Holy Spirit. “Oh, they wouldn't listen to Me. They listen to the man that said, 'The days of miracles is past.' They listen to the man that said, 'Oh, you just join the church. It'll be all right. We're a great denomination that's lived for years.'” And the Holy Spirit trying to get His message to you all the time.
“I don't have to listen to them little nitwit preachers. I'll do what I want to.” Go right ahead. That shows what's in you.
A fellow said to me sometime ago, said, “I don't care what you say, what anything says; I don't believe in divine healing.”
I said, “Of course not. It wasn't sent for unbelievers. It was only sent to those who believe. It's believers that receive it, not unbelievers. It wasn't meant for them. It was sent to condemn them. Remember, the same waters that drowned the world, saved Noah.” Right.
And the same Holy Spirit, and the same old-fashioned Gospel that will take the church home someday in the rapture, will condemn and bring judgment to the unbeliever. That's exactly right. There we stand. God in His mercy....
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Now, what if the picture changes. And the son is a correct son. How he likes to be about the father's business. How he loves to do the things that the father likes for him to do. Oh, how the tutor would come to the father and say, “Sir, oh, I bring you great news. Your boy, he's.... (Excuse the expression in my typing), but he's just a chip off the old block. (We would say.) He's just like his daddy.”
Well, that's the way the Holy Spirit wants to bring it when you believe all of God's Word, when you accept the whole full Gospel, when you believe in everything God wrote it's the truth. God wants you to believe it that way.
Then how the father must swell his chest out, say, “Yes, that's my boy.” And what happened then? Later on, there come a time when that father adopted that child into the family. Or, to you clergymen there, the placing of a son is what I'm speaking of. He adopted his own child or placed him positionally in his family. Now, he was just a boy to begin with. They had to find out what his character was.
That's what God has been trying to do when He rained the Holy Ghost down on you all about forty years ago, when you had the old days, when you had prayer meetings all night long, when you wept, and cried, and prayed, and agonized for sinners. And today you have to beg them to come to the altar to pray with a penitent sinner. What happened?
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The Holy Ghost said He only sealed those who wept and sighed for the abomination that was did in the city. Who would He seal in this city tonight? Who lays on their face day and night crying for the sins in the city? Can you put your finger on one? See, the storm's about over. And that is right. But here we are.
Now, if he was an obedient child, he loved his father; no matter what any of the other boys said on the next farm, he knew what his father wanted. He could tell from the way he'd built and what he had did, what he wanted.
And a man that's a son of God reads the Bible and sees what God was yesterday, He's the same today. He believes Him to be the same in principle, in power; everything that He ever was, the great Jehovah is still the same. The Bible said (Hebrews 13:8), “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.” That's a true son, believes that.
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Then when he proved to be a true son, here's what the father did: He took him out into a public place in the street. And then he took this son and set him up, and he clothed him with a robe, a special robe for this special occasion. And then there was a ceremony read. And this father adopted his own son into his family. And then anything that that son did was answered by the father. The son's name was just as good on the check as his father's was, because he was positionally placed in that family.
And that's what it is. When we receive the Holy Ghost, it just isn't to jump up-and-down and shout with. It isn't just to speak with tongues or run over the floor. It isn't to organize a group and say, “We got it, and the rest of you haven't.” It's to work with love and humility as Christ come to do with. “This will all men know you are My disciples, when you have love one for another.”
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And how can we expect honor from God when we're expecting honor one from another. “Oh, I might be the state presbyter, if I just hold good to the tradition. I might someday be the bishop.” How can you believe God when you have ... you respect one another in that line? How can you do it? The Bible said you can't.
But, “Oh, me and my group, we got it; and we ain't going to have nothing to do with that revival down there at the schoolhouse. We're not cooperating, so I won't go.” That shows what you are. Where the carcass is, the eagles will gather.
I'm preaching on the eagles in a few days, Lord willing. Where the carcass is, the eagles will gather. It's eagle food. Eagles love eagle food. Sheep love sheep food. And scavengers love scavenger's food. Buzzards eat buzzard's food. And if you love the things of the world, that shows the love of God is not even in you.
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And the biggest hypocrite there is in the world is a crow. A dove and a crow, they sat on the same pole, perhaps, in the ark. Now, the dove can only eat one kind of food, because the dove is one bird who does not have a gall. It can't digest rotten things.
And a real born again saint of God doesn't have anything to do with the things of the world, because he hasn't got any gall anymore. He doesn't go around fussing with a chip on his shoulder, wanting to debate and argue about something.
But an old crow can sit on an old dead carcass and eat for two hours and fly right out in the field and eat wheat with the dove. But a dove can't eat wheat and then eat the carcass. See the hypocrite? That's where the church has got. It's exactly right. What the Father must think....
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Now, notice. When there come the time of adoption, this son received all of his rights. Now, there's where God wants His children, to a place that He can take you one by one, take you out before the public and minister something to you that's spectacular, something that one of His gifts that He wants to give His church. Oh, there's all kinds of gifts that God has for His church.
But how can the Father give us gifts when we're acting the way we're acting? See, He makes it known, the whole world, everybody will see this gift manifested if God adopts you or places you positionally into His family.
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Now, then you have the Word of God, the authority of God. And then as God shows you what to do, you're led by the Spirit and you do the things that's pleasing to God.
Now, Jesus was being adopted on the day of Mount Transfiguration. God was adopting His own Son into His family. Now, He took Peter, James, and John, and He took Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. And He brought them up to the top of the mountain, and there, you notice, He was transfigured before them. What was it? Put into a public place, up high on a mountain. Can you see the similarity?
And then when He did, what did He do? He was transfigured. And the Bible said that His raiment shine like the sun in its strength. That robe that the father in the Old Testament put on his son for the day of adoption. God put His robe of immortality upon His Son in the day of adoption.
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Well, when the supernatural is done, man gets all excited. And usually there's a mixed multitude goes out. When Moses did the supernatural down in Egypt, a mixed multitude went with them: Korah. And it caused trouble in the wilderness. But finally the earth swallowed them up. The supernatural had been done, the unconverted heart went with it.
That's what's happened today. The supernatural has been done. The Holy Spirit has returned back to the church in its fullness of its power. And then when the supernatural is being done on some, others go with it just to ride on the bandwagon. They've never been converted. Their life proves it.
And then Peter got all excited too. He said, “Lord, it's a good thing to be here in this revival. Let us build some denominations. Let us build three tabernacles. Let's have the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Assemblies of God, Oneness, twoness, threeness—all you got. Let us just make us some denominations. Oh, the Holy Ghost has fallen. We will call ourself the group. We got the light.” What a mistake you made.
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Now, notice. He got all excited. And he said, “Let's build three tabernacles. Let's build a tabernacle for Moses. All those that wants to quit eating meat, and keep the Sabbath days holy, and so forth, we will build a tabernacle for those. And then we will build a tabernacle for those who wants to worship with the prophets and so forth.”
But before he could get it out of his mouth, there was a voice spoke from heaven and said, “This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him.” That's right. I'm glad He said that.
Let's look what Moses represented. Moses represented the law. No one can be saved by the law. The Bible said you can't. The law had no salvation. It was a policeman that put us in jail, but it didn't have nothing to bring us out. It couldn't pay our bond. It couldn't pay our fine. So it was the policeman that put us in the jail, the law was. I'm so glad that He said what He did.
I don't want to go in by the law, for no flesh can be saved by the law. You can keep the commandments as much as you want to, and you'll go to hell like a martin to its box. There's no salvation in the law at all.
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Well then, look at what did Elijah represent? Elijah represented the justice of God. Elijah was a prophet who had a commission from God. He went up and sat down on the mountain, and the king said, Ahab the backslidden one, he said, “Go up and take fifty men and go get him.” So they come up and Elijah stood up with the commission of God. And he said, “If I be a man of God, let fire fall from the heaven and consume you.” And down come the fire and consumed them. Would you want to stand there?
Well, the king said, “Perhaps a thunder storm passed by at that time, and that was just one of the acts of nature. We will send another fifty up.” And when another fifty come up, Elijah stood up and said, “If I be a man of God, let fire fall from heaven and consume you.” And another fifty was burnt up. That's justice. God, never let me have God's justice.
I don't want His law. It puts me in jail. I don't want His justice. It condemns me. I want mercy. God knows we all need mercy. I want His mercy. What did Jesus represent? His mercy, His love. If you're without love, hear ye Him. If the barrel's empty at home, hear ye Him. If the cruise has run dry, hear ye Him. If you've got a broken heart, hear ye Him. If you need joy in your soul, hear ye Him. If you need forgiveness of your sins, hear ye Him. If you need healing for your body, hear ye Him.
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He represents all that God was. The fullness of the Godhead bodily dwelt in Him. Hear ye Him. Justice, mercy met and paid the debt. God said, “This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him.” Methodist, your church is all right, but hear ye Him. Pentecost, your church is all right, hear ye Him. You're shouting, wonderful, but hear ye Him. There's speaking in tongues, wonderful, but hear ye Him. Your denomination? Wonderful, but hear ye Him. You can have all those things and still turn a deaf ear to Him: Hear ye Him.
What the world's looking for today is for something genuine. We've danced, we've shouted, and told lies on our neighbors. We have spoke in tongues like pouring peas on a dry cowhide, and went out and fussed about the next man's doings, unjustly. We have made fun. You've joined the church and made fun of somebody shouting in the Spirit. Talk, malice, greed, hatred, all those things are in the church.
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And you know what the world's hungry for? The world wants to see something genuine. That's what's the matter with these conversions that's so called. They're not real conversions. It's intellectual. There's a intellectual knowledge of Christ. But a born again experience gives the real Christ.
America is people who have to be entertained. They've got too much television in them. They want entertainment. They don't want the old-fashioned Gospel. They say, “We can go over here and it isn't so rough. We can do what we want to.” Go ahead. But, “My sheep hear My voice.” You know that's true.
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Oh, how God wants to bless the church. How oft would He have hovered you as a hen does her brood, but you would not. You listened to men leaders instead of the Holy Spirit Leader. You listened to men teachers instead of God's Teacher, the Holy Ghost, who would teach you behavior, make you behave yourself nice, make you be ladylike, make you the salt of the earth.
The salt creates a thirst. And men will thirst to be like you if you'll really live the Christian life. You can't do it in yourself; you've got to have Christ in you to do it. The world is wanting something genuine. That's the reason they see people that claim to be something and going out acting like the rest of the world.
That's what caused communism to rise in Russia on account of the Catholic church (that's exactly right), claiming to be something, and had no more than acted and done just like the world, no more than any other lodge: not only Catholics, but Protestant's just as bad.
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And it's come down home to the Pentecostals, acting, dressing, fashioning, looking, talkings, blaspheming, making fun, indifferent. That's rough, but it's good for you. It's the truth. But that's the reason the world can't see nothing genuine. When the people comes to a place that they'll forget all their little differences, and the love of God will shed abroad in our heart by the real Teacher, the Holy Ghost, you'll become salty, and the world will want to be like you.
You create a creation around you. You've seen people you couldn't stand to be around, yet they were nice people. They create that within themselves. You've seen people you love to be with, because they create that atmosphere around them. Your spirit's your soul. You can't hide it; you can't make believe. That's what's the matter today. There is too much make-belief in Christianity.
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There's three classes of people: unbelievers, make believers, and real believers. And that's the way the church sits today. You don't have to be a make believer or an unbeliever; you can be a real believer. And that's what the world wants to see.
That's what God wants to see. That's what He says, “You are a city that sits on a hill, a candle that cannot be put out. You're the salt of the earth. You're the light of the world.” And then acting like the world, living like the world, taking sides with the world, going to the world, doing worldly things. How can you expect God to ever put the adoption on the church? But they want to see the real.
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Here's something that happened not long ago. As you all know, I'm a hunter. I was a game warden for years. I've hunted around the world, Africa, India, all over the mountains. My mother's a half Indian. My conversion never took it from me. I love the woods. That's where I found God, in nature, going out in the woods, and see the little flowers. You can't hide it. Let it die. A log can fall over it and bury that little seed in there. And it'll rot and the pulp run out of it. When springtime comes, that little seed of life will work its way around that log and stick its little head up and praise God.
You can't hide real life, not over a bushel. Real life shows itself. It can't kill it. It'll live again just as sure as anything. The frost can bite the little flower, and it bow its head. They have a funeral procession. The fall rains cry and bury the little thing. It rots; the bulb goes out; the petals are gone; the seed's gone, bursted open; the pulp's run out; but somewhere in there is a little germ of life that no science can find. Just let the sun go to shining warm, the sunrise, it'll live again.
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If God made a way for a flower to live again, how much more has he made a way for a man to live again, that's born in His image. But you got to have life before you can live again. You can live right now; you don't have to die to receive it. You have to die to yourself. Then you won't have to impersonate nothing; you got the genuine thing.
I've watched in wild animals. I've faced lions, standing looking right at me, walk up and take his picture. I'm not afraid of them. I love them. They know it. Don't try to bluff them. They know different. They know better than some people does.
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One time I was hunting in the north woods with a friend of mine, and he was one of the best hunters I ever hunted with. You didn't have to worry about him; he wasn't going to get lost. You didn't have to tie him on to you. He was a real hunter, and a good shot. But he was the most wicked man I ever seen. He loved to shoot little fawns just to make me feel bad.
Now, it's all right to shoot a fawn. I'm not trying to belittle, sister, if your husband brings in a fawn sometime. If the law permits that, that's all right, but not shoot a whole bunch of them. The little animal's all right, the fawn, if the law permits it.
It's not wrong to kill a little animal. Abraham killed a calf, and God eat it. It's exactly right. So it's not wrong. But to go and just murder them, that's what's wrong is to murder them.
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And Burt just loved to murder them just to be mean. And I said, “Burt, how can you be such a good hunter and be so mean?”
He said, “Oh, you chicken hearted preachers.”
I said, “I'm not chicken hearted, but I have a respect for God's nature.” I said, “I may be a hunter, but I'm not a killer.”
And he said, “Oh, get next to yourself, Billy. Come on, let's go hunting.” And he just loved to shoot those little fellows, and watch them fall, and then look at me and laugh.
One year I went up there to go hunting. And he'd invented a little old whistle. And he could take that little whistle and go just like a little baby deer crying for its mammy. And he'd whistle that little whistle, and I said, “Burt, you're not going to use that.”
He said, “Oh, go on, Billy. When you ever going to get next to yourself? You'd be a good hunter if you wasn't so chicken hearted.”
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We went hunting that day, and there was a little snow on the ground, about six inches, and we'd went all up across the Carl Notch, and down over to the Washington Mountain, and come back over towards Adam. And we was getting down along noontime; we had not even seen a track in the snow. And we stooped down there at a little opening; it was about nearly noontime.
And I thought Burt had stooped down to take his lunch out—we would have some lunch and hot chocolate. And I was trailing along behind him. We were going to separate in the afternoon and take two different ways coming back. We was going to find some tracks first, then ever who found a track, we'd take off.
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Then he stooped down, and I seen him looking back into his pocket, and here he come out with that little whistle. And he give it a little squeak of a cry, like a little baby fawn, and when he did, just across the opening a big mother doe raised up. Now, a doe is a mother deer. And I could see her big brown eyes and the veins in her face, she was so close.
She raised up. Now, that's unusual for a deer at that time of day in that country. Raised up and begin to look around. What was the matter? Though it was scary for her, yet there was a baby in trouble, and she was a mother. She raised up; she looked around. And old Burt looked around at me with that real sheepish look in his face. I thought, “Oh, Burt, you won't do that.”
And he squealed it again. And the mother deer walked right out into the open. That's very unusual for them to walk out in the open in hunting season. She was standing out there. She wasn't a hypocrite. She wasn't putting nothing on. She had something real. She was a mother, and her baby was in trouble. Regardless of how dangerous it was, she never thought of the danger. It was the baby that was in trouble. And there was something inside of her. She was a mother by birth. She heard the baby cry. She got out in the open.
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And I seen Burt throw a shell up into that chamber of that 30.06. I thought, “Oh, my!” And I seen him level the gun down, those cross hairs of that scope right across her heart. I thought, “Oh....” He was a dead shot. I thought, “Just in a moment he will blow her heart plumb through her.” I thought, “How can you do it, Burt? How can you be so cruel hearted?” That mother out there looking for her baby in trouble.
And when he let the bolt down on the rifle, the deer spooked and looked. It saw the hunter, and the gun aimed. But that didn't stop her. She quivered. She knew that something was going to happen, but she was a mother. Her baby was in trouble. She was watching for the baby. I thought, “Burt, how can you be so cold hearted?”
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I seen that gun level; I turned my head. I thought, “O God, don't let him do it. How can he blow that precious loyal heart plumb out of that dear mother deer? How can he do it?” I waited. The gun never went off. I waited a little longer. The gun still didn't go off. I looked around, and the gun barrel was going like this.
He looked around to me and the tears running down his cheeks. He threw the gun on the ground and grabbed me by the legs. He said, “Billy, I've had enough of it. I can't go any farther. Lead me to that Jesus that you love so well.” What was it? He seen something real. He seen something not put-on. He seen something that was genuine.
That's what the world's looking for today. It's looking for not something put-on. It's looking not for, “I'm a Methodist. I'm a Presbyterian.” It's looking for something real. God's got it, something real. Oh, wouldn't you love to have the love of God in your heart in the same measure for Christ, that that old mother deer had for that baby? God's got it for you. “This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him.”
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Each night when you see Him here making the crippled walk and so forth and the things He's doing, discerning the thoughts of the people, and doing the things that He did when He was here on earth, that's God's beloved Son. Hear ye Him.
Let us bow our heads just a moment. Quietly on the organ if you will, sister. Real quietly.... I'm going to ask you a question. Please be sincere at this minute. I wonder in here tonight, how many even church members or sinners that has never accepted Christ.... It's often said, “I wished I could be real Christian. I wished I had something in me....”
You've tried. You've joined different churches. You've been baptized maybe different ways. But you got your ups-and-downs. Look like you just can't stay on the mountain. You go in, out, backslide, go back. There's something that you just don't have.
Would you like to have a real love for God, just as much love for Christ as that old mother deer had for her baby, that could face death, regardless of what persecution, or what people thought, you could still stand in the faith and give a witness for the glory of God?
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Friend of mine, creature of God, fellow citizen, if you're in that condition tonight, won't you please just now, as I ask you, will you just raise up your hand to God and say, “God, give me love in my heart for Christ like that deer had for the baby, that I might display Christ before people, that would cause them to come to Jesus, just as that mother deer displayed her love for her baby. Make me a real. I don't want to impersonate. I want something real. God, give it to me.”
Will you raise your hands? God bless you. That's right. All over the building, it's just.... You couldn't numerate the hands. “Though I'm a church member, Brother Branham, but honestly, I'm ashamed. The sins and things that you've been preaching about tonight, I'm guilty. But by the grace of God from this night on, God, You give me something real. I want it. I will raise my hand to You, God. By this I mean that.... You see my hand.”
God bless you, young lady, you just keep waving your hand there. God sees you. God bless you over here, lady. No doubt but a lot of them are mothers. God bless you, brother. Yes. All around, up in the balconies to my left, up in there: God bless you. That's right. All along the lines there.
Balconies to the right, would you raise your hand? God bless you, sir. God knows you. God bless you here in the middle of the aisle. Over here to the balconies to my right, the Lord bless you all along there. Many of you, young and old, with your hands up.
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The center aisle to the left, would you raise your hands now that you believe, that you'd like to take Christ tonight, and He be so real to you, so real that God would say, “This is My son. This is My daughter. Oh, I'm so pleased in them. The way they act and the way they do, I'm pleased with it.”
Would you want that kind of an experience that the world would say, “There's really a Christian woman. There's really a Christian man.”? You can have it. It's right here.
The lower floor here and to my right, would you raise your hand all down along here, the Lord bless you. God bless you. God bless you, and you, and you all back through here. God be merciful to you.
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Now, with your heads bowed just a moment, I'm going to ask: Is there a sinner here that's never been borned again, don't know what Christ is, never had an experience at all with Christ, you'd like to raise your hand, say, “God, be merciful to me. I now will accept Christ.” God bless you. God bless you.
Someone else? A sinner friend? God bless you up in the balcony. The young lady weeping there, God bless you. Don't be ashamed of that, sister. That's wonderful. God bless you over here, the hand, the young man, the young lady down here also. The man there with the brown coat on, God bless you.
Sinner friend, raise your hand to Christ, won't you? This may be your last opportunity. Young man sitting right here in front, God bless you, sir. Someone else say, “I now accept Christ as my Saviour.”
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You say, “Brother Branham, raising my hand means anything?” God bless you, honey boy here. “Does that mean anything?” Certainly, it's between death and life if you mean it. What did the Bible say? “He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come to the judgment, but's passed from death unto life.”
If you have never known Christ, and never knowed an experience of sweet peace and love from the Saviour, would you just raise your hand before we pray? Another sinner somewhere, put up your hand, will you? Sinner friend, I plead with you now. And someday the Holy Spirit that's here will be your.... God bless you, young man in the back. God sees your hand, certainly.
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What do you do when you raise your hand? You defy every law of science. Gravitation holds your hand down. But when you raise your hand, it shows that a spirit in you has made a decision, and you've put up your hand. Something said you're wrong. You say, “Yes, I'm wrong. I now raise my hand to my Creator. Have mercy on me, O God.” See what God will do for you.
Would you raise your hand, some other sinner? God bless you back there. That's right, young lady. Another, please, just before closing for prayer. God bless you, lady sitting here. That's wonderful.
Oh, there's been fifteen or twenty sinners raise their hand, and maybe four or five hundred church members and backsliders has put their hands up. Here's another over here. God bless you, lady. God bless you, sir. God bless.... That's right, sinner friend. That's good.
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Just another few before we close? I like to see you put your hand up. God bless you, young man. I just felt there was somebody else that should have done it. God bless you. This may be the last.... God bless you, young lady. God bless you, young lady back there, the teen-age type.
You're making the greatest decision you ever made, sinner friend, when you come to Jesus. He's got.... You don't want to just.... I [unclear word] you to join a church. You must do that. But, oh, get Him first. “This is My beloved Son,” said God, “hear ye Him.” Meet Him.
Oh, you'll make a real star in that church. You'll lead other young people to Christ. You'll lead other old people to Christ. Certainly, for you'll be about the Father's business with a heart full of love. No matter what the persecution, the cross is, you'll stand and be happy to bear it, because Jesus bore it for you in the beginning. Is that all now, that desires to come to Christ?
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How many here has not received the Holy Ghost since you have believed, and you want God to give you that to make you a real gallant soldier? How many's in the building, raise your hands? Oh, just look. Seventy percent. Let us pray now. Be real sincere. You're coming to Christ. You're coming to Him in your need. Doesn't mean....
I believe in emotion. I believe in shouting. I believe in praising God. I think everything has breath ought to praise God. It's what the Bible said. But now, coming to Him, you must come quietly, sanely, honorably, laying yourself at His feet, looking up into His face, and saying, “God be merciful to me. And give unto me, O Lord.” After that is done, that's the time then for your rejoicing and praising. Let us pray, each one now.
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Dear God, many hands for many things, yes, I suppose over a thousand hands in need tonight of salvation, in one manner or other has raised their hands to Thee. Thou has seen them each and every one. Though I have scolded them with the Gospel, Lord, it was not to be harsh. Thou knowest my heart. It would be better to weep for them.
But, O God, Your Scriptures are so true, and they cut like a two-edged sword to the marrow of the bone, and a discerner of the thoughts of the mind. And, Lord, we pray now that You'll take each of those sinner boys, girls, men, and women, take them into Thy kingdom just now in loving-kindness.
We know that You could not, any ways receive them unless they made up their mind. And they could not make up their mind until You called. For Thou hast said in the Word, “No man can come to Me, except My Father draws him first. And all that comes to Me, I will give them everlasting life, and will raise him up at the last day.”
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Take the backsliders back tonight, Lord. Fill with the new birth, the Holy Spirit, these who have raised their hands. God be merciful. Create in them, Lord, a birth that changes from a church creed to a real service of God. And may they have a real love in their heart to display as a Christian, like the old mother deer that we spoke of tonight had to display a mother's love, and her being an animal. Grant it, Lord.
As that deer led that cruel hearted man, because he seen something real, led that cruel hearted man to a loving sweet saint now, passed from death unto life right there on that snow bank, O God, help us to do that. Will you, Lord?
Help us to make our lives so sweet and so full of the Spirit, so gentle, and kind, and sweet that the whole world would long and would see Jesus. It is written that, “We are written epistles of God read of all men.” And we know our character hasn't been just right, so forgive us, Lord. Take us tonight as Your loving children.
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Now, I present them to You. They are the fruits of this message tonight. And now, You are giving them to Jesus as love gifts, for they are love gifts from the Father to the Son. No man can pluck them from the hand.
God, may they live sweet humble lives, join some good church now, become a real loyal member, receive Christian baptism, and be filled with the Spirit, and become Your servants. May, if I never see them or shake their hands in this earth, may I do it in another land when we sit down at that great wedding supper.
I'm thinking of it, Lord. When I look across the table and see those ones, I say, “Seem like I ought to know you.”
“Oh, yes, Brother Branham, I was the one at Middletown that night. Oh, I'm so glad to be here.”
Then tears of joy will run down our cheeks, and the King will come out in all of His robes and glory, and will wipe all tears from our eyes, and say, “Don't cry, children. You're all home now. Enter into the joys of the Lord, that's been prepared for you since the foundation of the world.” Grant that to be our lot, Lord. Until then keep us healthy, happy, spiritually filled with Your Spirit that we might serve Thee. In the name of Thy Son, who we gladly hear, in Jesus' name. Amen.
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Would you give us a little chord, “My Faith Looks Up To Thee.”? How many loves those old-fashioned songs? Oh, how many feels just like you're all scoured out? Don't the Gospel do something to you? Just the reading of the Word, just scours us out.
Let's all sing this glorious old hymn of the church now before the healing service.
My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Saviour divine;
Now hear me while I pray,
Take all my guilt away,
And let me from this day be wholly Thine!
Let us sing, all together now.
My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Saviour divine;
Now hear me while I pray,
Take all my guilt away,
Nor let me ever stray
From Thee aside.
Let us hum it.
While life's dark maze I tread,
And griefs around me spread,
(Let's raise our hands to Him now.)
Be Thou my Guide;
Bid darkness turn to day,
Wipe sorrow's tears away,
Nor let me ever stray
From Thee aside.
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Lord God, receive us, Lord, as Your worshipping children. Many souls have just come to You, Lord. They're refreshening back there in the blessings of a new experience. They've passed from death unto life.
And now, I pray Thee, Father, that You will help us now as we humble our hearts in Thy presence, that You will let these newborn babies know that You're Jesus, that it was You that spoke to them, though they know it in the way of faith, believing it now. But make it real. May You come to the platform and just do like You would when You were here many years ago in the form of the flesh. But now You're in our flesh. You said, “A little while and the world will see Me no more (the unbeliever), yet ye shall see Me (the believer), for I will be with you, even in you, to the end of the age.” Grant it, Lord. We love You with all our hearts, Lord. And we worship Thee in the Word, and in the Spirit, and in the song.
Now, heal our sick people, Lord. Take sickness out of our midst. God, give these people faith tonight like they have never had before. Grant it, Lord.
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Now, I pray that You'll help me. Use my eyes, and mouth, lips, all that I am, Lord. I'm unworthy. These my brothers and sisters are unworthy, we realize that, but we're submitting ourselves to You. And by Your grace we're looking for You to fulfill Your pro....
[Break in tape.] He never did work completely through an organization. He works through men, individuals. And every man that ever raised up was independent from organizations. Look through the Scriptures; search the history, and find if that's right or not. Every time the organization church was against the moving of the Spirit, every time.
Search the Scriptures; search the history; find out. Through Moody, Sankey, Finney, Knox, Calvin, any of them you wish to, men of God who is raised up, has been that way. You have to stand alone. The prophets in the Bible when they was raised up contrary to their belief, but God went right ahead with His message anyhow.
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Now, I am not a healer. All can bear record of that. I have no way of healing people. There is.... [Blank spot on tape.]
Speak the Word, Lord. If that would be sufficient, but God's good. He has set in the church, gifts: first, apostles or missionaries, both the same: Apostle means “one sent.” Missionary means “one sent.” Apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors, they're all predestinated gifts of God. Gifts and callings are without repentance. They're placed in the church to bring the church together, hold it together for the glory of God.
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Now, each day we give out a hundred cards, and call from one place, then another. The reason we give.... Did you see there's about two thousand people here tonight with their hands up to be prayed.... [Break in tape.] ... “prophet” stumbles the people. I don't claim to be a prophet. I claim to be His servant. If I be His servant, a true witness, God's got to vindicate His Word and say it's right. If I'm not a true witness, then God will not have anything to do with an error. How many knows that? [Break in tape.]
She's home tonight praying for her preacher boy. I got three little children at home: a little girl Rebekah, one, Sarah, little boy Joseph. I'd love to be with them. I don't get to see them very much.
But you say, “What are you doing, Brother Branham?” I'm waiting for Him. He knows you; I don't.
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If the audience can still hear my voice. The lady seems to be moving from me and she's all nervous about something. She's very much upset. She's suffering with a nervous condition. That's correct. If that's right, raise up your hand. You believe? You said you would.
Now, you said, “That was a guess, Brother Branham.” Watch; just talk to her a little more and see. I don't know what was wrong with her now. The only way I know it, is by my tapes, see. That was some voice that told the truth. It wasn't mine. It's Something using my voice. Do you understand? The Spirit of God.... Each one of you is a spirit. Now, you believe. Let's talk to the woman just a little more.
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Whatever it was, lady, I don't know now, but it was the truth. He's always truth. He's the very fountain of truth. Yes, I see the lady again. It's turning dark around her. She's nervous, worried about something. It's a nervous condition that she's suffering with. Then she has a growth. That's a lump, and that's on your breast. That's on your right breast. That's correct.
And then, you're interested in some.... I see a man up here before me. And he's looking to you. He's calling you “mother.” It's your boy, and he has something wrong with his back. And it's dark around the boy. He once was a Christian, but he's backslid. You're not from this city. You're from another city called Waverly, Ohio. That's “thus saith the Lord.”
You be the judge. Was those things true, whatever He said? If that's right, wave your hand to the audience so.... What is it? It's something that was back somewhere else. She be the judge. She knows, and you know that has to come from some supernatural power. Are you like the.... Are you a modern Pharisee that says, “It's of the devil.”? If you do, you get a devil's reward. If you believe it's God, you get God's reward. What do you think? It was God? Then you have His reward. Go, and God be with you, for you will receive what you've asked for.
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The Lord God bless you, lady. I do not know you. We're strangers to each other. If that's right, would you raise up your hand so the people can see? Been in my meetings twice before, 'fore I come to the city, although I don't know you. Your first time in the prayer line or anything? All right. Now, be real reverent.
Now, I do not know you. But God does know you. And He's just as willing to help you. And if I could help you and would not do it, I'd be an awful person. I wouldn't be fit to stand by this pulpit. I'd be an impostor. God forbid that. I want to be His servant. But you're....
If God will reveal to me what you want from Him, will you believe me as His servant? Then surely if He will let me know that by a divine gift to prove His resurrection to you, He's wanting to show to this entire group His power, that He is not dead. He's alive.
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You're here to be prayed for. You're extremely nervous. And then you've got a sore on your body that you want me to pray for. I cannot see the sore, but do you believe God will tell me where it's at? It's on your left leg. That is true. Then you also have something wrong with your back, you want me to pray for.
Then I see somebody appear that you have been praying for for some time, in your room by the side of a bed recently, where there was a drapery like hanging down. That's right. And that's an elderly person, real elderly. Some like your father. And his trouble is in the ... is a bronchial condition, real bad. He's not here. He's in another state. Looks like Oklahoma to me. That's exactly where it is, there; it's Tulsa. That's exactly right. Amen.
Do you believe now? Then go on your road and rejoice, and send the handkerchief to your loved one, and be made well. Amen.
If thou canst believe. Oh, He is the all sufficient Jehovah God. Now, be reverent.
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[Break in tape.] ...places, and maybe our first time meeting. Have you seen me before? You've saw me before. All right. But I don't know you. So the audience will know that, sister (see), would you just raise up your hand? I do not know you, have nothing, no more than.... We're just meeting. You've saw me some.... [Break in tape.]
There's a black shadow over the woman that's to kill her. I see her in a doctor's office. And he's got the blouse that you were wearing, down. And it's a cancer on the breast. And he wants to take your breast off. And I see you shaking your head, and resenting it, for you wanted to put your trust in God for your healing.
You're not from this city. You're from a place called Cleveland, Ohio. Your name is Marian Napa. You can go on your road, and rejoice with all your heart, and believe God, and you shall receive as you have believed, if you'll just take His word for it and believe.
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Have faith in God. Come right here. Would you hold her, brother? All right, sister dear. God be merciful. Perhaps those poor old wrinkled hands has done a many days work. That I do not know. But God does know. Oh, if I could help you, mother, I'd do it. I can't help you, but as your brother in the Lord Jesus, if this, I'm.... Many ministers, they are preachers who can preach the Word. I'm not a preacher. I have no education.
[Break in tape.] ...nervous and you're weak. And then the reason that you're walking kind of slow and crippling along, is because a stiffness that's been set in in your limbs, just like a muscular condition that's making you stiff in your limbs. That's “thus saith the Lord.”
I see something else that's predominant to that. It's a desire that's on your heart. Do you believe God can reveal the secrets of the heart? Did not the Bible say ... didn't Daniel say to the king that “The God of heaven reveals the secrets of the heart.”?
You're all sad about something. And that's for a boy, your boy, your son. And your son has had a breakdown, a nervous breakdown, and he's in a hospital. And that is in another city, and that city is Cincinnati, Ohio. And you're interested in him, because he's shadowed too. He's a sinner, and you're praying for his soul. That's “thus saith the Lord.” That is true.
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Do you believe you receive what you ask for? Does the Bible say, “These signs shall follow them that believe; if they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover.”? Do you believe that? Let us pray.
Lord God, this poor mother, and I ask it in Jesus' name that Thou will bless her, Lord, with Thy blessings. Give unto her, this dear old woman, the desire of her heart, I pray, for the glory of God. Amen. God....
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[Break in tape.] ...glasses on, that's praying. You had your eyes up in the air, sir, praying. You were asking God, “Let this man call me, and I touch Your garment.” That's right, sir. You were praying that. If God will reveal to me what your trouble is, will you believe me as His servant?
You got trouble with your head. You can't even work. If all those things that I've said is right, raise up your hand. I do not know you, do I? But you're healed now. Go on back. Your faith touched something. It was the Son of God. [Break in tape.]
Here it comes. Can't you see that light, mystic light moving there, yellowish, green, amber looking color? It settles down to the man. There he is. You are suffering, sir. You was sitting there praying. And you're suffering with a trouble in your chest and in your stomach. That is right. You're not from this city, not even from this state: from Virginia. If you believe the Lord God, you can go home and be well now. Your faith touched Him.
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[Blank spot on tape.] ...with her head down, praying. Do you believe me to be His servant, lady? You was praying when I was talking to that man, “Lord, let me be next. That right? You believe that that throat trouble has left you? It has; swallow.
[Break in tape.] ...has been operated on. I see him in a room for an operation. And it's something in the side. It's appendix and stomach affair. That is right. And you.... That won't heal up. There's something wrong. It keeps swelling, that operation, like a rupture from it. It won't hold together.
Do you believe that He knows where you're from? You're not from this city. That operation wasn't. You're from a city called Mansfield, Ohio. Return back. It'll get well. Don't doubt. Believe the Lord God. [Break in tape.]
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Got trouble with your arms? You got arthritis too, haven't you? Uh-huh. You believe God knows who you are? Your name's Flossy. Your last name is McGowen. You're from a place called Miamisburg, Ohio. That's your husband sitting by you. His name's Frank. What do you think about it? God will heal you too, you believe, sir?
What do you just raised up your head there, next to the man that's got heart trouble. Do you believe God will heal you? What about the one sitting next there, you believe, lady? You believe He will heal that arthritis? Then you can go home and be well. Just have faith, don't doubt. [Break in tape.]
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If God will reveal this woman's condition, how many of you will with one accord will say, “That'll be sufficient.”? You just keep them coming, they just.... Well, you.... It just wears you down. You just.... You get so weak till I look out over the audience, and it just looks like one great big milky mess up there. What it is, it's your faith. I can't hardly tell which is which. It's just pulling.
You're believing, if you would just accept it. There's only one thing. That's a little shadow hangs over you. And that's darkness. That's unbelief. If that little shadow would ever break, and you'd go beyond that in your faith, there would not be a feeble person in our midst. This doesn't heal people. This only brings you to a realization that the Healer is here.
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Our time is way past. I think we're supposed to close this auditorium before this time. The people has been nice.
Lady, be the judge. I don't know you. I've never seen you. If God will reveal what's your trouble, will you believe me? You're nervous. That's what you want prayed for: extremely nervous, mental nervousness. You're one of those kinds that's always crossing bridges before you get to them, building up things that never happened; yet you're a Christian believer. That's right.
I don't know you. You believe He knows you? You believe He could tell me who you are? Would you believe? All right, Dorothy, you can have what you ask for. Your last name is Glascoe. Go on your road and be healed.
If thou canst believe, all things are possible. Do you believe with all your heart? Do you believe that God's Word is true? Now, Brother Vayle or the boy, one's patting me on the back. That means that I've had enough.
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Look. Surely you couldn't disbelieve anymore. Listen to me as your brother. I have told you the Gospel truth, and Christ has confirmed that to be the truth. Here I tell you the truth. Every one of you is already healed. Jesus did that for you nineteen hundred years ago. He's trying to make you believe it. Do you believe it? Then lay your hands on each other and pray the way you do in your church. Pray for one another. The Bible said, “These signs shall follow them.” I will pray and cast out this black spirit.
Oh, Satan, you see that you're lost. You're deceiving the people. Thou devil, come out of the people. Thou unbelief, Satan, we cast you out. In the name of Jesus Christ, leave this audience. Come out of the people.
Now, see it's He and give God praise. You're every one healed. In the name of the....