United Under One Head

Let us remain standing just a moment for prayer. O God our Father, we thank Thee again tonight for the privilege that we have of assembling ourselves together and praying. Thou has promised that You would hear from heaven and would answer our prayers and would heal the land.

And God, if there ever was a land that needed healing, it's the land that we live in. And we pray that You will heal it by sending an old-fashioned revival that will cure it of its diseases, its spiritual ailments. Grant it, Lord.

Thou has give us plenty of food, good clothes, but, oh, how we long to hear the Word of the Lord. Thou has said in the Word there would come a famine in these days, and people would run from the north to the south and from coast to coast seeking to hear the Word of God—and would fail to find it.

O God, anoint your ministers afresh. Lord, may we get out into the field with the Word, plant the real Word. If there's no Word, no seed sowed, there'll be no harvest. Give us strength now while it is day, that we might sow the seed of life to the dying and perishing millions. For we ask it in His name and for His glory. Amen. You may be seated.

Those little handkerchiefs like that, that's perfectly all right to lay them up here. We will pray over them, and we will have a great blessing in doing it; and God has always honored it. Such little simple things as praying over a handkerchief.

There's a young man here, a minister's brother's son from South Africa, who was in my meetings down there. And I was at Cape Town and we had about eight big grass sacks full of mail. We didn't have time to minister to each, and I was praying over those sackfuls of mail.

And the paper said, “Brother Branham is rather superstitious. He was praying over the mail.” It's Scriptural to do so. It's the Word of the Lord.

Now tonight I want to try to get out early. I kept you late last night, and I'm sorry if I caused you to miss your buses and so forth.

Now tomorrow night, if the Lord is willing, I want to preach on the subject of “The Handwriting On The Wall And The Signs Of The Time.”

And then Friday night I want to preach on the subject, if the Lord willing: “Will The Church Go Before The Tribulation Period, Yes Or No?”

Then Sunday afternoon I want to preach on the subject: Will The Eagle ... “As The Eagle Stirs Her Nest And Fluttereth Over Her Young.”

I got to drive home Friday night. I'm bringing Mrs. Branham and the children up. It's close, it's only about 140 miles home. They don't get to see any of the meetings.

And I'm fixing to go to Africa right away. And I just had a great message today that just thrilled my heart, of about five nations sent word to me today, and their great men of the nations. They're calling for the ministry, said that's what would save their nation from communism. Oh, I was so happy to hear that.

I was in one of the nations not long ago and a little baby died that morning at nine o'clock. And that night at about ten o'clock when I finally got to the platform, the Lord God gave a vision of this little lady and her little baby come to life, and it was healed.

And, oh, when that struck the papers the next day! And the following night there was twenty thousand at one time gave their hearts to the Lord Jesus.

This young man, Mr. Toms, sitting here—he's somewhere, I spotted him awhile ago. I wonder, Tommy, if you were in the Durban meeting when thirty thousand got saved. Was you up there that time at the meeting? You wasn't, but you heard of it. I think your father was there. Tommy was just a little boy then. He's over here in Bible school now. And there was thirty thousand blanket natives received Christ as personal Savior at one time. Oh, God is so good, isn't He?

I want to take a subject tonight, that the Lord put on my heart today: “United Under One Head.” And I want to read for some Scripture back in Genesis, the 11th chapter and just a phase of the 6th verse:

And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one....

Now, may He add His blessings to the reading of His Word. “The people is one.”

Now, genesis means “the beginning.”

And everything that there is today had ... that is, had its beginning.

And everything that there is begin in Genesis. Remember, life began in Genesis. Death begin in Genesis. And all thoughts began in Genesis, right and wrong. All begin in Genesis.

If you study the Scriptures real closely you'll find out that even the isms and the cults of today had their beginning in Genesis. If you'll just watch Nimrod and the different ones in the Scripture, all them isms that we have today begin in Genesis.

Now, today they polish it up and make it look like something else; but it's still that old evil spirit, if you'll watch the nature of it and the way it acts.

You know, a few years ago when I was just a little boy I lived in the time of prohibition. And they had old Charlie Barleycorn, they called him. Many of you can remember that hideous-looking person. His hat all caved in, his shoulders stooped over, and such a horrible looking critter he was. That was Charlie Barleycorn.

But you know, today he's become a polished-up man. He ain't no more in the little brown jug and out on the corner where the red-light district is. He lives in a bumper in everybody's ice box, but he's still Charlie Barleycorn just the same, same old evil one.

The Bible said, God in the Bible said, “My Spirit will not always strive with man.” And Jesus said in Matthew 24, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man.” Did you notice? The Spirit of God was striving with man—not man striving to know the Spirit of God, but it was the Spirit of God striving to get to man.

And, oh, how it parallels today. The Spirit of God is striving with man. And I wonder if God doesn't think just about like He did in those times. It grieved Him that He ever made man, to see how rebellious man can be against His Spirit and His program and His way of life for men and women.

Now, we see now in our text tonight that men had united themselves together. And they had come from the east going west, and they come to the valley of Shinar. Civilization has always traveled from the east to the west.

I wish I only had time, I'd like to speak on a message: “When The East And The West Meets, What Happens?” And it's already met. The east and west has met together. Man has traveled with the going down of the sun because he is a perishing creature. He's going with the sun: rises and travels westward. Now the east and the west has met. And as he goes on he gains knowledge all the time, until now the wheel is turning backward again.

Now we see that as they traveled they come to this fair land, and they united themselves as one people. And that's all right, but they had united under the wrong leadership. They had united under the leadership of man. And God wants man to unite under the leadership of Himself. He wants us to be one, but He wants to be the One with us. But man wants his fellowman to be his leader and unite under the wisdom of his fellowman.

And it is very striking to see how that man wants to be one. The reason that he wants to be one is because that God designed him for that purpose. God designed man, made him up to be one, to work together, to cooperate together. That's the make-up of man. That's the way God made him.

But man always wants to have his idea about it. He wants to project something that God never intended him to do. He wants to figure his own ways out. He wants to make his own plans. He won't accept the plan that God made for him because ... it's his fallen nature.

God told him in the garden of Eden that the very minute that he even touched that tree, that trouble was in the road. But man taken from that tree, and he become a scientific worker. And the very first bite that he took, he separated himself from his Saviour or his Creator.

And so is it tonight that man still lives by that tree. And there's no way in the world for a man to be saved by that tree. And why do we put so much emphasis on scientific research, how to save ourselves, to make a bomb that's better than Russia's, to make a plane that can fly faster? Trying to save ourselves.

Knowledge will never save you: it takes you farther away from God all the time! There's only one way of salvation—that's back to the tree of life. Knowledge isn't even in the picture. It's back to the tree of life.

There was two trees: one was knowledge, the other was life. As long as the man eat from this tree, he lived. When he bit from that tree, he died.

But you see, it's his nature to try to do something to save himself. There's not one thing that you can do to save yourself.

A man said to me one time, he said, “Oh, I sought God and I sought God.”

I listened at him for a few moments and I said, “Sir, I don't want to disagree with you, but I have to. You never did seek God.” And no man never did. It isn't man seeking God; it's God seeking man.

It wasn't God going up and down the garden saying, “Adam, Adam, where art thou?” ... it wasn't man going up and down the garden saying, “God, God, where art Thou?” It was God calling Adam.

And God said in His Word, “No man can come to Me, except My Father draws him first.” You're seeking to find what's drawing you, but it's God has to draw first. The Scripture says that. And how true it is.

But we find out here that they had united under one great leader. And when you get man under leadership of man, then he gets some ideas of his own, trying to achieve something that he can design or do himself.

And Nimrod had built them a tower. And it's very strange to think that how that all the things that the devil has, he stole the copyright from God to make it. Satan cannot create. Satan is no creator; he's a perverter of something God created.

That's the reason that there is no one that knows his Bible or knows God that would say that the devil can heal. Healing is creation. And if the devil could create, he could create himself a world and some people. But he cannot create; he perverts what God has created.

What is unrighteousness? It's righteousness perverted. Everything that you see that's wrong, just do opposite and you'll be right, for unrighteousness is righteousness perverted. Then you've got the right too.

And remember that anything that man does that's outside the plan of God, it's perverted. No matter how good it looks, it's still perverted; because God has got His original idea, and He gave it to man, and man wants to make something of his own self. He wants to have something to do into it.

Israel made it's greatest mistake in the 19th chapter of Exodus. After grace had provided a sacrifice, grace had provided a savior (Moses), grace had provided a deliverance; and yet they wanted something to do themselves. “Give us the law.” And they never did keep it, and they couldn't keep it. But it all falls back to: it's God who does all good things

United under one head, the wrong head. Did you notice? The devil always wants to use a man's head, give him some knowledge. Oh, many people go to choose their minister, the one who's coming to your church: “Oh, he has a Ph.D. Oh, he's just the guy for our church.” I'd rather have a man that didn't know his ABCs and knowed God. But you see, you'd think it's because that he's got an education. He looks at the eye.

Now, that's the same lie that the devil told Eve. He said, “It is pleasant to the eye.” And the eye always is by the head. And all that it is, is death dressed up. It's garbage with a little whip cream over the top of it. That's right.

They'll see these pictures along our roads, of lovely young women standing, saying, “We smoke Chesterfields.” And it makes the young woman today want to be like that, because she wants to be popular. Why? It's the same lie; and the same liar behind it, the devil, that makes sin look pleasant. It's only death dressed up.

And they'll put some kind of a signboard out, of some little lady, nice-looking in some kind of a little immoral-looking clothes. And she thinks, “Oh, that's just pretty.” It's looking at it through the eye, but it's death dressed up. That's all it is, death—formed in the form of beauty. And remember, beauty is deceitful.

It was Satan's idea to make a better and a more prettier kingdom than Michael's. Beauty was the downfall to begin with. And the devil has used that ever since. What a thing it is today to see that the kingdom of the devil is made so pretty. And a lot of people fall for it.

Now remember, the devil is religious. Many people like to go down to a church that's got a great big high steeple on it and seats set so plushed. No wonder the preacher can't preach but fifteen minutes; you'd go to sleep in such a place. And with a great big million-dollar pipe organ, and with the pastor with his collar buttoned in the back and a long robe on, with some kind of a little ear-tickling something of some society or about some politics....

We don't want that! The real child of God, if he has to stand on the street corner or in a little old mission and hear the Word of God preached in the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost, he'll pick it.

But it's science, it's man's organization. Man organizes himself. Oh, how good it is to hear.... Sometimes the people say, “I am a Presbyterian.” “I am a Methodist.” Not slamming you, my brethren, I'm only trying to show a truth. But if you had to say you were Pentecostal, it would dampen your spirit. And that kind of a spirit ought to be dampened. You say it kills the Spirit. Well, any spirit that could be killed by the name of Pentecost ought to be killed. That's right.

Pentecost is not a organization. Pentecost is an experience that comes to all the born-again children. Oh, I know that man's tried to organize it, and has did it. They organized the group of people, but they can't organize Pentecost. Pentecost goes to Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterians, or whoever wants it. But they make an organization out of it.

That's man, the devil working on his head, something that he has to see. “Our denomination is bigger than the other fellow's.” Can't you see that old devil don't die? It lives on! “We are greater than somebody else.”

A little girl—she looks like—she was an alcoholic, and she was in one of the greatest Protestant churches in the States the other day, giving a testimony. And the people wept when she told them how that she had been brought from a drunkard's grave, where five of the best doctors in the nation said, “She's hopeless.” The A. A., Alcoholics Anonymous, give her up as a hopeless case. (And when she come to the platform, the Holy Spirit said, “Rosella Griffith, you are an alcoholic, and so-and-so and such a things has happened, but 'Thus saith the Lord....'” And she was delivered.) She gave her testimony. The people wept. And after awhile somebody said, “Oh, she was a darling child, but she's Pentecostal.”

Don't you see that old man-made green-eyed devil? Oh, you can't polish it up. It's still sin and unbelief. I don't care if it was a Jehovah Witness or any other kind of a witness; as long as God's there I'll be with it! Correct. When God moves in the Spirit, His children moves with it.

Someone's recorder.... I'm sorry. I'm not excited, but I feel real religious. Oh, there's just something about it, gets all over you. The Word.... Not all over you, but all in you. It moves every little fiber inside of you.

Man works by his head and looks by his eye. See, the devil said to the woman, “Oh, the tree is pleasant.”

She said, “It's good to look at.” See that same devil, if he can get you to stop just for a minute, he can make you reason it out. He can make you think with your mind. But God doesn't use a man's head; God uses his heart! God works on his heart while the devil works on his head. God chose the heart. The Bible says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

Here sometime ago, years ago, the scientists said, “Well, God sure made a mistake there, because there is no mental faculties in the human heart to think with. Yeah, He meant your head.” If God would've meant head, He'd've said “head.” But He said “heart,” so I believe He meant heart.

Then you know, about five years ago, I was in Chicago. I seen a great piece in the headlines of the paper where that science had found that in the human heart—not the animal heart—in the human heart there's a little compartment that doesn't even have a blood cell in it. It was the abiding place of the soul. So man does think with his heart after all. God was right.

And we will find out every time that God is right. He thinks with his head, but he believes in his heart. Now, the devil thinks through his mind to show him something with his eye. But his heart will make him believe something that would be impossible to look at, because it's the faith that he has in his heart. He believes with his heart for things that he can't see. And the devil turns around and takes his head and makes him scientifically prove something. And his heart turns around and denies it.

Oh, if we could get away from our head knowledge and head religion to heart religion, where God could go to work in the church—out of our head, into our heart. A man believes in his heart. He thinks with his head, believes in his heart.

Now, the mind reasons things; the heart doesn't reason at all. It just believes what God says. But you see, today we're so scientific (all we Americans anyhow). We are so scientific, it has to be all proved out to us.

In the old days when someone said the Lord did a miracle, they just believed it. They thought, “That's all right. Thank the Lord for it.” But today, oh, we've got to scientific take it down and prove it. And if it can be proved scientifically, then it's not faith anymore. Oh, I hope you get that. If it's scientific, it isn't faith anymore.

What if Moses would have said, “Wait a minute here. Let me stop for a minute. What kind of a chemical spray has been put on that tree? Them leaves are on fire, but they're not burning. You know what I'll do? When it quits burning, I'll pick off some of those leaves and take them down into the laboratory. And I'll have the chemicals analyzed, and just find out what kind of a scientific thing this is.”

If he would have had that kind of a thought, God would have never said, “Take off you shoes.” What did he do? He walked up humbly. He didn't care what the fire ... how it was burning, or whether the tree burnt up or not; he was searching for God. And every other child of God will believe it the same way. He heard a voice that said, “Take off your shoes, Moses. You're on holy ground.”

If you go down to the meeting tonight, and you come down to find some kind of a fault—“The people make too much noise. The preacher preaches too long. I can scientifically tell you there's people there that's weary. They oughtn't to stay up that long at night”—go ahead. But those who come with their shoes off, with their head knowledge left behind, and a heart open for God, you will hear a voice say, “I am the resurrection and the life.”

“I will go down and count how many members of my church attended that revival. And I will hurry right back to tell the pastor that our good Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist brethren are down there. What a disgrace.” Well, there you go again, back with the head. God deals with the heart.

Now, the reason that that little compartment that's in your heart.... God molded you that way. That was for a purpose. That little place in your heart.... All the rest of your body belonged to you, but that heart belongs to God, that.... God made Himself a little room in there, so He could sit in the controlling tower, that He could guide you. Blessed be His holy name! Oh, if we would let Him be the pilot and the Holy Ghost the copilot, we would be guided over the sea of life. It's His control room.

But what did man do? He listened to his fellow man and accepted the devil in there. And the devil come into it, and he guides him to the things that he can see. God guides him to the things that He said.

No wonder people can't believe in divine healing, with the devil sitting up there saying, “Don't you believe it.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Devil, that's right.”

But God sits in the heart and makes His Word real to every one that believes it. Though it may not come to pass, maybe they can't do it, but they believe it anyhow because God said so.

Abraham, when he was told he was going to have a baby by Sarah, she was sixty-five years old then, and he was seventy-five. What a ridiculous sight. An old man, sixty-five ... or, seventy-five, and a woman sixty-five, going downtown buying up all the pins and the Birdseye, “Going to have a baby.” Well, what do you think the doctor would have thought? He'd've said, “Sir, we want to make arrangements for the baby.”

“Ever had one before?”

“No.”

“How old are you, Sarah?”

“Sixty-five.”

“What? How old are you, Abraham?”

“Seventy-five.”

“What you doing with all those little booties and things?”

“We're going to have a baby.”

“Oh, I can scientifically prove to you she's twenty years a-past menopause. Why, you're ignorant.”

But Abraham called those things which were not as though they were, because God said so. And as the years went by, he got stronger. The first thirty days, Abraham said, “Sarah, how you feeling, honey?”

“No different.”

“Bless God, we'll have it anyhow.” That's right.

The first year passed. “Sarah, how you feeling, honey?”

“No different.”

“Praise God, we'll have it anyhow.”

Twenty years pass. “How you feeling, Sarah?”

“No different.”

“Praise God, we'll have it anyhow.”

Why? God said so. It wasn't in his head, it was in his heart! God don't speak in the head; He speaks in the heart. That's where God lives. If God's on the throne, He stirs you. He makes you go where ... and see the things that He wants you to see. And you turn your eyes from things that the devil talks about. You stay right with God.

And we, being Abraham's children.... The Bible said that we, being dead in Christ, take on Abraham's seed; and we're heirs according to the promise. And we can't believe God for twenty-five minutes. And Abraham believed Him for twenty-five years, and then had to take the child up to kill it to confirm the oath again. And then we're the children of Abraham. I wonder sometimes. If we were the children of Abraham, we'd have Abraham's faith in God, and we'd call the things contrary to God's Word as though they were already happened—if we were the children of Abraham.

Now, I know this is rude, friends, but it's truth.

Now, we notice then, God takes the heart. He takes control. Now when sin came in and upset your heart, and the devil come in and blocked it all off; but then God sent His own Son made in the likeness of sinful flesh to cleanse that heart, so that He could come in. He made a way, appropriation, or preparation, come down and appropriated a way that He could cleanse your heart so that He could come in. He can't come into your heart with all that sin and unbelief there.

“I'm a Presbyterian.” “I'm a Pentecostal.” “I'm a Nazarene. Glory to God! Hallelujah!” I want to be a child of God, regardless, see. But as long as you've got that idea, God can't come in there. You're just a Presbyterian. You're just a Pentecostal. You're just a Nazarene. But when all them ideas can get out of there, then God can get in and get a hold, and go to stirring you right. See? God has to come in, to be ruler.

We unite under the heads of different denominations. God wants us to unite under His head. We unite under our own head, and God wants to unite us under His leadership of our heart. What a difference man has made in it.

Now, you can't stand neutral. I want you to understand that. You cannot stand neutral. You have to have one or the other.

Sometime ago the great evangelist Billy Graham, who I believe to be a servant of God, and other great evangelists.... But Billy Graham said in Louisville, Kentucky, at his breakfast, he picked up the Bible, he said, “This is the standard.” He said, “When Paul went and had one convert, he went back a year later and he had thirty out of that one.” Said, “I can go in the city and have thirty thousand, and come back in a year and not find thirty.”

Well, maybe they was Billy Graham's converts, maybe they were William Branham's converts. If they are, they're not going very far, I will say that. But if they're God's converts, they'll remain forever! I thought, “Billy, I'd like to say something here.”

Billy, Oral, myself, other men, evangelists, pastors, what do we do? Go out into the field and we preach, and when it is ... the man repents of his sins. He comes up to the altar and says, “God, forgive me.” And He does forgive him. Then what happens? The unclean spirit goes out of him. Then what do they do? They turn him over to some old “morgue.” I hate to say that, but that's the truth.

I always felt sorry for a corpse. They take them into them old morgues dead, and then they're going to be sure they stay dead. They put fluid in them to be sure they can't come back to life.

That's about the way with some of these old, cold, formal churches you got around here. It's injection of some old man-made doctrine to be sure that you stay dead! You know that's right. That goes for every denomination. Go in there and indocumate them with some kind of an old doctrine. Oh, you say the Doxology and you repeat the Apostle's Prayer or, Creed and you....

Where is the Apostles' Creed found in the Bible? There's no such a thing. If the apostles had any creed, it was “Repent!” I think Peter spoke the apostles' creed in Acts 2:38. He said, “Repent, everyone of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, to them that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” They had a creed, that was it. But not one of these man-made creeds.

Isn't it strange to see how that the devil takes his pattern? Here sometime ago, noticing at the grave of Mohammed, at Mohammed's grave there's a white horse that stands there. It's been there for two thousand years. They change the guards about every four hours. What are they doing? They are expecting Mohammed to raise some day and get on this white horse and ride the world and conquer it.

Did you know Jesus is coming on a white horse? See how close it looks? How the church and all of its creeds and denominations, how close it can look, just like the real thing? The Bible said in the last days the two spirits would be so close it would deceive the very elect if possible. It isn't communism; it's churchism! That's right. That's the deceiver.

Notice communism, Russia. Russia wants to unite all the world in one, 'cause they've got a oneness desire in their heart. But they want to unite them all under communism. That's their idea. See, that's manmade. Well, the UN wants to unite them too, all under the UN. To what? Unite them together in a military power.

Man is not surviving by military power; man survives by the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ! Not by military power, by sputniks, and so forth. We survive and live by the power of Jesus Christ.

But see how they ... notice how they do it? Look here at Nimrod. He wanted to unite the people under one and build a tower. What was it type of? Jacob's ladder from earth to glory.

What about the Catholic? They want to unite the whole world under one, Catholicism. What about the Protestant? He wants to unite them all under one, under the federation of churches. Just as wrong and black as the Catholics are. It's the same old lying devil! It's true. That's a fatal mistake.

What do they want? They want them all to be a federation of churches. “We're all under one head, as long as I can be ruler.” Catholics want them all under one head, pope can be the ruler. Russia wants them all under one head so communism can be the ruler. UN wants them all under one head so we the United States can kind of be the boss because we're the biggest nation.

It's all the same devil: and every nation in the world is controlled by the devil, so the Bible says. “Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”

I stood up over the grounds of the Pharaohs and the Caesars, and have to dig twenty feet down to find where their thrones sat. Every earthly throne will fall, every nation will fall, every building will crumble, every manmade creed will die, but Christ will remain forever and forever!

Why unite under something like that? It's lost to begin with. But all of them wants united under that.

Now, you can't stand neutral. You just can't do it. “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks in dry places.”

The man goes down, he gets saved. He's taken back to the church. Well now to be sure that he doesn't get straying away under some other church, they indocumate him: “Now, if you're going to be in this church, you've got to follow our creeds. You've got to keep all this other stuff out of your mind.” Don't tell me. I know.

“You got to follow our denomination. You must be baptized by pouring a little water on top your head [or some way].” Some of them baptize three times face forward, sometimes three times backward. What difference does it make anyhow! But you fall out and fuss about it. Shows it's manmade. It's got to fall, for “every plant, that my heavenly Father hasn't planted, will be rooted up.” It's got to be.

“But upon this rock....” What rock? The spiritual revelation of Jesus Christ. “Upon this rock I will build My church: and the gates of hell can't prevail against it.”

The Catholics says it was Peter. The Protestants says it was Christ. But Jesus said, “Upon the.... Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven has revealed this to you.” A spiritual revelation of the Lord Jesus, “upon this rock I will build My church.”

Not because some man told you. “Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you.” Not because you learned it in a communion, not because you learned it eating kosher bread, not because you learnt it in a bunch of creeds; but because the Holy Ghost has revealed it to you. “Upon this rock I will build My church: and all the gates of hell can't prevail against it.” Showed they would be against it, but they'll never prevail.

Now, as we go on.... The unclean spirit, then what does he do? He goes over and he gets into this person and he begins to tell him this. And you know what he does? It's just like what Jesus said, “You compass the seas to make one proselyte.” And what is he when you get through with him? A more twofold child of hell than he was to start with. You can deal better with a street harlot. You can deal better with a prostitute on the street or a drunkard in some dive than you can with some of these old moss-backed, so-called Christians. It's exactly right.

They sit down there and blow up like a toad frog eating buckshot, and just carry on awful—when they know no more about God than a Hottentot knows about Egyptian knights. You know that's the truth. Go down and see the glory of God, and somebody get healed, and say, “It's psychology.” How can you believe when you've got nothing to believe with? If God is on your heart's throne, I tell you, He will agree with every Word. Knowledge will say, “It can't be done.” Science says, “It can't be done.”

“God so loved the world, He give His only begotten Son.”

Unbelievers say, “I doubt that.”

God says, “Amen.”

The Bible said, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

The Holy Spirit say, “Amen.”

The church creed will say, “Well, He is in ... so much He is.”

“I'm the Lord heals all thy diseases.”

“Well, He used to.”

But the Holy Spirit on the heart will say “Amen” to every word of God, 'cause He wrote it. He is the writer, He's the author.

But the unbelieving, scientific, polished scholar with DD.D., Ph.D., LL.D., all that kind of nonsense, they'll disagree with it because they don't know no different. Like the old colored man was down in the South, he kept singing. And his boss said, “Sambo,” said, “what makes you so happy?”

He said, “I got heartfelt religion.”

“Oh,” he said, “there is no such a thing as heartfelt religion.”

He said, “Boss, you made one mistake.”

Said, “What was that?”

“You should've said there's no such a thing as heartfelt religion as far as you know.” But he knowed different.

That's the way it is with the true born-again experience of God! Man says there's no such a thing as the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it shows he hasn't got it. He trusts his creeds; we trust what God said.

Now, what happens? You can't stand neutral. You've got to be filled with something to survive. Notice, you might be filled with one thing over another. You say, “Brother Branham, I'm kind of on the fence.” No you're not. The Bible plainly says that all that was not sealed with the Holy Ghost received the mark of the beast. All that didn't have the seal of God in their foreheads had the mark of the beast. You've got one of it now.

I'd like to test it just a little bit and see where we're standing. Oh, the mark of the beast, remember, is a religious mark. Certainly it is. You might be filled with religion. You could have all kinds of religion. That doesn't save you at all. You can just be a religious fanatic, if you want to be: Touch not, taste not, handle not, smell not. That don't have one thing to do with the Holy Ghost.

You might be filled with a bunch of malice. You might be filled with a bunch of prejudice, so full that you can't even sit and hear one sermon preached. You might be filled with a lot of hatred: you despise everybody that don't agree with you. You might be filled with a lot of nonsense, too. You might be filled with a lot of Arthur Godfrey's dirty jokes, so much that you think so much of that you won't go to church on Wednesday night or something. You might be filled with Elvis Presley's rock-and-roll. That's true. But you're filled with something, and your own life bears you record to what you're filled with. “By their fruits you shall know them.” You're filled with something. You might be filled with a bunch of laziness, just too lazy to do anything about it.

Well, you don't have to be that way. Christ died that you might be cleansed from all of those things. You might be filled with a bunch of creeds. You might be filled with a bunch of denomination. But God don't want you filled with that. God made a place in there to put Himself in. God wants you to be filled with Himself.

What takes place when you're filled with God? When you're filled with God, you're filled with the Holy Ghost. You're filled with power. You're filled with love, with joy, with peace, with long-suffering, with goodness, with meekness, with gentleness, with worship.

You're filled with joy. David said, “My cup runneth over.” And if David had a cup running over before the Holy Ghost come, what would it be now?

You're filled with something. And when you're filled with men's ideas, if you're filled with churchanity, if you're filled with creeds, you're only building yourself a Babylon that's got to fall. If you fill yourself up with a modern world, if you fill yourself up with lust, if you fill yourself up with pride, if you fill yourself up with your denomination—you're lost. There's only one way to endure, that is to put the original thing that God made that compartment in your heart to be filled with, and that was the Holy Ghost.

The disciples said one day, said, “Will You at this time restore the kingdom?”

He said, “It is not for you to know the hour. The Father has put in His own mind. But you shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, then you will be [not until then], then you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world.”

My loving friends, may I say this to you tonight. God wants us one; but He wants us one, not under the foolishness of man-head, but He wants us one united under the holy Godhead. United as one person, one man, one woman, one church, one people, one view, one purpose, one motive, one objective: that's Jesus Christ. One thing, to serve Him; one love, the love of God; one brotherhood, brotherhood of man; one fellowship, of the Holy Ghost—then we're united.

That's what God is building this day, regardless of what the devil does. He is building a tower, and that tower is made out of a united people: made out of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostal, Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness. It's made out of all the born-again people that's got the baptism of the Holy Ghost in their heart filling that little apartment and looking straight to God for deliverance.

We're united then as one. We won't fuss no more then. We won't argue no more. We will act like men. We will dress like men. We will dress like women. Sons and daughters of God. Our character, our conduct, our faith will prove. When God says anything, we'll say “amen” to it. If the Bible says for us to do certain things, we'll do it. We won't argue back, we'll just go and do it. That's what God wants us united under. Oh, how we ought to act in this present day.

Here sometime ago, down in the Southlands, they used to have the slavery for the colored folks. And the Afrikaans, the Boers that went down into Africa, bought those slaves or captured them, and brought them over here and sold them to the southern people for slaves. And they just sold them like you would a automobile. It never was right. And they sold them down there for slaves. And they were sad. They'd have to whip them and make them work because they were sad.

They'd go around and—brokers—and would buy a human being, just like you'd go to a used car lot to buy you a used car. Oh, it was wrong. And when he would buy them, buy four or five here for a certain price and take them and sell them to another man for a certain-certain price. Buy the great, husky, healthy; breed them big men to bigger women to make bigger, huskier slaves—like animals.

One day a certain broker come by an old plantation and he said, “I would like to know how many slaves you have for sale.”

He said, “Oh, perhaps maybe a few.”

Said, “May I look them over?”

Said, “You may.”

And he went out on the plantation and he begin to look around. And he found them out there hollering at them, scolding them, because they were sad. They'd never go back home no more. Mama was over there, Daddy was over there, maybe baby was over there, husband over there. They'd never see them no more. They were here for slaves, they'd die in this soil and buried here. They were sad.

But this slave buyer happened to notice one young man. They didn't have to whip him. He had his chest out and his chin up, just everything just at the moment. And the slave buyer said to the owner, he said, “I'd like to buy that slave.”

“Oh,” he said, “but he's not for sale.”

He said, “He's so much different from the others.”

Said, “I know it.”

Said, “Just set your price, what you want for him.”

He said, “I told you he's not for sale.”

He said, “Is he the boss over the rest of them?”

Said, “No, he's just a slave.”

He said, “Do you feed him a little different from the rest of them?”

Said, “No, they all eat out at the galley together.”

“Well,” said, “what makes this man so much different from the other slaves?”

He said, “You know what?” He said, “I wondered about that one time myself till I found out.” Said, “I found out that over in the homeland in Africa his father was a king of the tribe.” And said, “Though he's an alien and he's away from home, but he still knows in his heart that he's a king's son. And he conducts himself like a king's son.”

What ought we to do? How should we act? How should we conduct ourselves? As sons and daughters of the King, we should dress, act, live, talk, testify like sons and daughters of God. Though we're an alien, we're in a strange land amongst the dying world, but yet we're sons and daughters of the King, Jehovah God. We ought to agree with His Word. We ought to say “amen” to His Spirit. We ought to unite ourselves together as brethren and as sisters and conduct ourselves as kings' sons and daughters.

Oh, my! This is kind of hard for a Baptist, but I feel real religious right now. I believe I could almost shout. You don't think they shout, you ought to get around me sometime. Oh, I feel good, for I know the Spirit of the living God is here! I just seen something happen that set my soul afire. Oh, blessed be His name!

God will have a church united one of these days. It's not far down the road. We will be one. Our purpose will be one, like the great temple when it went together. There wasn't a buzz of a saw or a sound of a hammer for forty years.

God's cutting them out of the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterians, all funny looking blocks. But one of these days the Holy Ghost will come, that rejected cornerstone; and the building will go together without a murmur one of these days. Just exactly.

The stone that's been rejected is the chief cornerstone. You builders of these denominations, remember that. The rejected stone is the chief cornerstone. He is here tonight. I believe Him.

Oh, how wonderful. How glorious! I know that He's present! Oh, I wish you felt like I do. I know you think I'm.... I may look silly, but I'm not. You may think that I don't know where I am, but I do. Oh, it is the Spirit of the living God. I just can't preach no more. There's just something, the joybells of glory has just set in on me. I never had it to happen like that. There's just something....

I know there's coming a time, there's coming something that's going to take place. I see it in the near future. The Spirit of the living God falling fresh on His church, there's going to be something take place. I hear the sound in the mulberry bushes.

Something just spoke to my heart and said, “Fear not, preacher. They'll be one, one of these days! They'll believe.” It may take persecution and things to drive us together, but God will drive His church together just as certain as I'm standing in this pulpit. Under one, that's Christ. Christ will be the head. No denomination will be the head. Christ will be the head of every believer. Hallelujah!

Don't get scared at hallelujah. Hallelujah means “Praise our God!” He's worthy of every praise that we could give Him. Yes, sir.

Here sometime ago I was preaching, and a lady walked up to me and she said, “Brother Branham....” She belonged to a certain religious cult. And she said, “There's just one thing about your preaching that I don't like.”

“Oh,” I said, “there's a whole lot, I guess, lady.”

She said, “But just one thing, you brag too much on Jesus.”

“Oh,” I said, “lady, I can't brag enough! If I had ten thousand million tongues, I couldn't praise Him enough. He's so real.”

She said, “But you try to make Him divine.”

I said, “He is divine.”

She said, “He was just a prophet.”

I said, “If He was a prophet, He's the world's greatest deceiver. But He was more than a prophet. He was the God of the prophets.”

She said, “You try to make Him divine.” Said, “You said you were a fundamental.”

I said, “I am.”

She said, “If I prove to you by the Bible that He was just a man, will you accept it?”

I said, “If the Bible said so.”

She said, “Saint John 11.” She said, “The Bible said that when Jesus went down to the grave of Lazarus, the Bible said, 'He wept.'”

I said, “Is that your Scripture?”

She said, “It certainly is. He couldn't be divine and weep.”

I said, “Lady, your argument is thinner than the broth made out of the shadow of a chicken that's starved to death.” I said, “That has ... holds no water with God.”

I said, “You fail to see. When He went down to the grave of Lazarus, He wept. That was a man weeping. But when He pulled them little shoulders together, said, 'Lazarus, come forth,' and a man had been dead four days.... Corruption knew its master, and the spirit knew its maker, and a man had been dead four days stood on his feet. That was more than a man, that was God speaking through a man. He was both God and man.”

It's true, when He come down off the mountain that night hungry, looking around on a bush to find something to eat, that was a man hungry. But when He took five biscuits and two little fish and fed five thousand, that was more than a man. Yes, it was.

He was a man when He was out there on that sea that night, when He'd been so tired and virtue going from Him from healing the sick all day long and visions. He was a man, tired, laying there when the waves didn't even wake Him up, when ten thousand devils of the sea swore they would drown Him while He was asleep. He was a man when He was tired and sleepy; but when He put that foot up on the brail of the boat, looked up and said, “Peace, be still,” and the winds and the waves obeyed Him, that was more than a man. Sure He was.

I want to unite under His power. I want to unite with you men and women tonight under His power. He did cry at the cross, “Father, why has Thou forsaken Me?” He died as a man. But on Easter morning, when He broke the Roman seal and rolled away the stone and rose triumphantly, He proved He was God. He's thrilled the hearts. He looked like God, He acted like God, He is God. That's true.

No wonder the poet said:

Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;

Buried He carried my sins far away;

Rising, He justified freely forever:

Someday He's coming—oh, glorious day!

That's right.

No wonder blind Fanny Crosby could say:

Pass me not, O gentle Savior,

Hear my humble cry;

While on others Thou art calling,

Do not pass me by.

Thou the stream of all my comfort,

More than life to me,

Whom have I on earth beside Thee?

Or whom in heaven but Thee?“

That's right. “On this rock I'll build My church. I'll unite My church together under the domain of the Holy Ghost, and all the gates of hell can't prevail against it!” Certainly. Amen. That's who I want united under, under the power and the leadership of the Holy Ghost, to witness to every word of God that it's true. Amen!

I believe that God could electrify this people in here just now to a healing service like you have never seen before—if we just believe it. I believe that His presence is here, the King. There's a shout of the King.

Many of you denominational preachers look down upon this bunch that scream and shout, and you got the same idea that Balaam had. They've done wrong, that's right. So have you, but you got a way of hiding yours. That's right.

You say, “Oh, that Pentecostal preacher run away with another man's wife.” So did that Baptist and that Presbyterian. But the papers keeps yours still. Some man's sins goes on before him, you know; some follow. Give me the united power of the Holy Ghost and take all the rest of it away!

I will agree with Eddie Perronet when he said:

All hail the power of Jesus' name!

Let angels prostrate fall;

Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown Him Lord of all.

Amen. Certainly. That's it.

That's it, brethren. United under one head, God. One leadership, Holy Ghost; one purpose, the kingdom of God. That's Him. Oh, how glorious. How I love to see Him. His great powers are in here now. I'm not going to even call a prayer line. God will call you from this platform. I believe that the King is in this camp.

Balaam looked at the morals. He failed to see that brass serpent and that smitten rock. That's what's the matter with the churches today. They're stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears. They fail to see that Holy Spirit going ahead of the church. Where God is, supernatural signs take place.

Christ, the head of the church, wants to unite us together tonight as one heart, one purpose. All you Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, we ought to unite together as one heart and one person: under one King, God; one domain, heaven. All the church of the living God, Presbyterian, Mennonite, all that you are, God wants us. He's here, His Spirit is here. May He prove to you tonight that I've told you the truth.

How many people here is sick, raise your hand. All right, believe. Just believe. Believe that the King is in the camp. Believe that the nail-scarred Christ, His Spirit, is in the camp. Let Him come into that little apartment of yours that He wants to come into. Let Him come in and say, “I'm the King. Don't pay no attention what the bishop says; I'm the King! I'm the King: you believe My words. I am the same King that walked in Galilee.”

“Art Thou the King of the Jew?”

He said, “You said so.”

Believe now. All you that's sick, let's start over on this side. Some of you sick people over here, do you believe God? You believe that Jesus has raised from the dead? Have faith, now, and believe.

What about this little lady sitting here with her head down, on the end of the row? Do you have a prayer card, lady? You don't? Do you believe God? Do you believe He's the King? Do you believe I represent Him as a servant like these other men do, these preachers and so forth?

I'm not a preacher, as a preacher would be, a educated man. But I do know what I'm talking about. I only got a seventh grade education, but I read all the seventh grade books. See? I might not know His Book too well, but I know the Author real well. That's the main thing. If I know the Author, He will reveal His Book.

You don't have a prayer card, you say? Do you believe God could tell me what your trouble ... would you believe it was the resurrected Jesus? If you believe that, that female trouble will never bother you no more. You believe it? You accept it, raise up your hand.

That's your husband back behind you. That's right. You're a man and wife. I don't know you, never seen you. If that's right, raise up your hand, sir. You believe God? You believe what I tell you is the truth? You got a stomach trouble. If that's right, raise your hands up and wave them, both of you now, if that is right.

What is it? The King is in the camp. Why? He said, “These things that I do, shall you also.” What about over here? Do you believe? Way over in the balconies there, do you believe, some of you? Have faith in God.

What about that man sitting there with his shirt collar open, right up here in the row. Do you believe, sir? Yes, sir. You had your head back, praising God. You look like an honorable man to me. I will see if God will speak. You be the judge. You're praying for a condition in your nose. You got growths in your nose. If that's right, raise up your hand. Am I a stranger to you? Wave your hand. All right. Go on; be healed now.

What did you think, sitting next to him there, mister? I seen you watching him so close. Then you bowed your head to pray. Am I a stranger to you, the man next to him? All right. Sitting right down here, the second row. You don't want prayer for yourself, you want prayer for somebody else. That person's not here. You believe God will tell me who it is?

Would you believe the King was in the camp? That'd be His ... the one that touched His garment? You're touching Something, you know it. You're praying for your wife. And your wife has high blood pressure. That's exactly right. If that's right, raise up your hand. All right. Receive it. Believe it!

If thou canst believe, you can have what you ask for. Oh, how wonderful. All of you in here, wherever you are, start believing now. The King is in the camp, the Spirit of God. I can only speak as He shows me. Certainly. “If thou canst believe,” Jesus said, “all things are possible.”

Now, what did the Bible say? The woman touched His garment. She went and told others, “Touch His garment.” He turned around and found who she was. He didn't know who she was, but He knowed what her trouble was and told her she was healed. The Bible said, “He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.” If thou canst believe. If thou canst believe. He certainly is the great I AM.

There's a little man scratching his ear there, looking at me. What do you think, sir? Do you believe? You believe me to be His servant? The light's hanging over you, sir. If God will reveal to me what's your trouble, will you believe me to be His servant? Stand up on your feet. You....

All right, you won't be hard of hearing if you'll listen just a minute. Not only are you hard of hearing.... Now you hear me? You got asthma also, don't you? Coughing, uh-huh. Makes your heart flutter. You're not from this city. You're not from here. You're not from this city. You're from another city. That's right. You believe that God will make you well? You believe that God will heal you? Come here.

Bow your heads just a moment. [The man says, “I believe that Jesus has the same power today that He had when He was here upon this earth.”] Eternal and blessed God, we don't ask for miracles. We ask for mercy. Give unto this man mercy. Take the enemy away from him. Take the deaf spirit out of him so that he can hear, for the glory of God, in the name of Jesus. Every head bowed.

How long you been that way? [“I've been feeling that way, worse, for a year and a half.] You believe that God can heal and make you well? [Man says, ”I sure do.“] He's already done it. I'm just barely talking. Now ... now you're all right. Now, I want you to go back to Franklin, Ohio, where you come from. And Mr. Wesley Miller (that's who you are, from Franklin, Ohio), you return back, you've got your hearing, you're well. Your asthma's gone. Go rejoice now and be happy. God bless you. He can hear a whisper.

Oh, how great.... What'd you think, sitting there by him? Do you believe with all your heart? Yes, you have a kidney trouble, and also a heart trouble. You are also from Franklin. All right, Miss Baker, rise up to your feet and be well, in the name of the Lord Jesus.

“If thou canst believe, all things are possible.” Do you believe? Have faith in God. He's here. He's marvelous. He's great. He's powerful.

I see a lady sitting on the end with her handkerchief up, looking this way. There's the light over the woman. Do you believe, lady? Am I a stranger to you? You got gall bladder trouble. That's right. You're not from this city either. You're from a place called Hamilton, Ohio. Your name is Mrs. Henderson. If that's right, stand on your feet. Now, go back home and be well, in the name of Jesus Christ.

Have faith in God. What did you think, the little lady sitting behind her, rubbing your nose with a handkerchief, weeping? Do you believe God? You do? You've touched something then. Have you got a prayer card? No? You don't need one. Do you believe that intestinal trouble you've been suffering with has left you? If you do, wave your hand back and forth. All right, then you can go and be well.

I challenge you to believe it. Hallelujah! “If thou canst believe.”

What do you think, sitting here, jerked your head just then looking at me, and handkerchief in your.... You've got heart trouble, don't you? You're from Lebanon, Ohio. Mary, if you believe, you can go back and be well. Stand up on your feet, Mary, and let the people know who you are. All right. God bless you.

Let's say, “Praise be to God,” if you can believe.

Here, this lady sitting right here, you got a nerve trouble. Sitting there wiping your eyes, you believe that God will heal you of that nervousness? Little thin-looking woman. If thou canst believe, you can have it.

Put your hand over on the lady sitting next to you there, while the Holy Ghost is close to her there. She's suffering with diabetes. That's right, lady. Raise up your hand if that's so. Raise up.... That's right. You believe?

What do you think, sitting next to her too? Do you believe, with all your heart? You've got a liver trouble and a nervous trouble, the lady with the white-looking coat on. Do you believe that God will heal you now? Raise your hand and you can receive it and go home.

Hallelujah! The King is in the camp! King who? King Jesus.

Way back in the back, several rows back, there sits a little lady sitting about three in, sitting next to two ... them two colored ladies. You got sinus, lady. You believe God will make you well?

The colored lady sitting there next to her has got varicose veins. Do you believe that Jesus Christ will make you well, colored lady? If you believe it, you can have it. “If thou canst believe.”

The colored lady sitting next to you there's got stomach trouble. Don't.... Back here, can't you see who I'm talking to? The light? If you can believe it, you can have it. I challenge any person in here to believe it.

What are we? United under one great Kingship, that's Christ. Christ is here. Oh my! That little heart that's in you, that little thing that beats down here that's got all kind of superstitions and doubts, all kinds of fears, how many would like to unite that heart to Christ tonight? Raise up your hand. Amen! How many wants all the world took out of your heart, all of the sin took out of your heart, all of the unbelief took out of your heart, and you want to take all the denomination and creed out of your heart, so you can unite to Christ? Thanks be to the living God! Stand on your feet then! Amen!

Just a minute. I seen something. Lady, you stood to your feet then. Do you believe me to be God's prophet? You got trouble in your side, don't you? That's your husband sitting there on that stretcher. Sir, you're going to die laying there. That's a cancer, it's killing you. Do you believe me to be God's servant? Would you take my word as God's servant? Pick up your cot and go home and be well in the name of the Lord Jesus.

He's here. The King is in the camp. All right. Jesus Christ lives. What about the rest of you? What is that got him united? Under the power of the living God. Look at him running, and praising, leaping, and praising God. The King is in His camp! Hallelujah! The rest of you stand to your feet. Give God praise.