The Queen Of The South

Let us remain standing, just a moment, while we bow our heads and talk to the Lord, just a minute.

Lord God, we are happy tonight, because that Thou has been so good to us in the previous nights of this revival and this gathering. And how the weatherman has predicted, almost each day, there would be storms and rain, but You've not let it rain one time. And we're thankful to Thee for these things, because we believe, Lord, that You have met with us, and has blessed us; and we're just pouring out the very adoration of our hearts to Thee. And we will ask you tonight, Lord, to give us another great night tonight. May the Holy Spirit just move among the people and give us the exceedingly and abundantly above all that we could do or think. And we pray, Father, that You will continue to be with this meeting as it goes on through the other nights, coming.

Bless every minister, Thy servants, that's been here. May something being done by the Holy Spirit, that would inspire them to just buckle up the armor a little tighter, and take the sword in the hand, and move forward.

Heal all the sick and the afflicted that's in our midst. Save the lost. Get glory to Thyself, for we ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.

May be seated.

I want to thank you so much for your kindness and your attention this past five nights. How I have appreciated it with all my heart. I only wish I could stay on the rest of the meeting, but I'm going to Greenville, South Carolina, now, to the Interdenominational Ministerial Association—their convention. And then on up to the Baptist people in North Carolina, and then from there to the Full Gospel Businessmen Convention in Philadelphia. So, awfully tired, and come to you tired. Looks like that's about the only way I can go, is tired.

Someone said to me, “Billy, ain't you going to never rest?”

I said, “Just when I cross Jordan yonder. I will rest on the other side.” Getting old now, you know, so I just can't go too fast, but I like to go as fast as I can.

And now, we appreciate all. We want to thank Brother Gordon Lindsay, Brother David duPlessis, and Brother Cerullo, and many of the other brethren, and it's all that's participated in this meeting. I don't know all the men.

I had the privilege, this morning, of having breakfast with a group of them. While sitting at breakfast, the great Holy Spirit come down with visions, just moving in from place to place. I was so glad He done it, because many people, sometime, will think that it just happens in the meeting. Oh, no. That's the little minor side, that's the.... No wonder people has doubts and so forth. You just see the very rugged edge of it, see. The great part's when I'm alone with God. That's where.... See, this is when you're using God's gift. That's when God uses His own gift.

Now, when God wanted to use Jesus, His gift to the world, He took Jesus and showed Him all about what Lazarus was going to do, how many days to stay away, and then to come back and raise him from the dead. Remember, Jesus witnessed the same at the grave: said, after so many days when they'd sent for Him, “Lazarus is dead, and I'm glad I wasn't there,” because they'd been asking Him to pray for him. He knew he was going to die. And then, He never said a thing about being weak after He called that man from the dead. But one little woman touched His garment, and He said, “Virtue has gone from Me.” See, that was the woman using God's gift. And that was God using His own gift—and the woman using God's gift, see. It's God. And then, you can use it with your faith, or God can use it, and He just shows you the overall picture. But this way, it's you doing it. It's your own faith doing it.

Now, my ministry's changing. That's why I'm tired and going as fast as I can. Just remember, I say this before you tonight: there's something coming that's great and wonderful. You just remember. I will be back at Dallas again, someday, the Lord willing. And I want to come back for a regular healing campaign, come back into this area here, and meet with all you people again; have a great union revival of everybody coming in together.

You know, I believe Jacob dug a well and the Philistines run him away from it and he called it “malice.” And he dug another well, and the Philistines run him away from it, and he called it “strife.” He dug another well, and he named it, said, “There's room for us all.” So that's the kind I like to drink from, you know, where the one hump camel, or the two hump camels, or the three hump camels, or all of them can drink, you know. We can all come. That's for the Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, and church of God, altogether, see. We all drink from this fountain. And so that's the way I love it.

And now, I believe the brethren said that they took an offering for me or something. I didn't come for that. God knows that, but thank you for it anyhow. God bless you. I will assure you that not one penny will be spent for anything else, as far as I know, but the kingdom of God. That's right.

I never took an offering in my life. My wife always gets after me when I say this. I remember one night, I was pastoring the Baptist Tabernacle at Jeffersonville. I was game warden in Indiana, so I always worked for my living and I said.... We got one of them hard places, you know, where you can't make ends meet. I wonder if anybody, ever here ever hit that block? We're all about in the same boat, aren't we?

So, I said, “Honey, I'm going to take up an offering. (We didn't even have an offering plate in our church.) And so she said, ”I'm going over to watch you do it.“ (We just lived across the street—little two rooms. That one little room's where the ”Voice of Healing“ was founded.) And so, I went across the street and I said, ”Folks....“ (Now, not because they wouldn't do it—they'd do anything for me—, but I just didn't want them to do it. And I was able to work, so go ahead and do it.) And I said, ”Folks, I kind of hit a little snag.“ I said, ”I owe a little bill, and I can't make it. I'm just going to pass my hat around tonight for a little collection. You got a nickel or dime, drop in, it'd help me a little.“ Well, I said, ”Go get my hat.“ And old Brother Wisehart (He's in glory tonight.), went over to get my hat.

A little old woman, sat down in front of me, Mrs. Webber. And I seen her get down there with one of those old-fashioned aprons.... How many remember women that wore those old aprons around—had the pocket on the inside, you know? Sure. How many Kentuckians are in here, anyhow?

So, got down under there and begin to take out one of these little pocketbooks with snaps on the top, you know. Begin to reach down getting the.... Oh, my, I couldn't stand that. I couldn't have took that if I had to. I said, “Oh, I was just teasing you all to see what you was going to do.” Brother Wisehart, with a hat in his hand, I said, “Oh, Brother Jim, hang my hat up.” I said, “I was just teasing you.” My wife looked at me.

There used to be an old man (He's in glory tonight.) named John Ryan, not the blind John, that was healed at Fort Wayne. This man was from Benton Harbor, had long hair and beard. And he used to ride an old bicycle. And he come down to my house. And it backslid. Now, I wouldn't say it backslid; it just wore out. So, he gave it to me. And I had it sitting out in the shed. And I went down and got to the ten cent store, and got me a can of paint, and painted it all up. Put a sign on it and sold it for five dollars, and didn't have to take the offering after all. So, that's closest I ever come taking an offering.

But, I'm ... I.... What is give to me, God knows, that the best of my knowledge.... I got a family of children. My expense is about a hundred dollars a day at the Tabernacle, and well ... not the Tabernacle, but my office: send out thousands of handkerchiefs a week, all over the world, everywhere. I've got people working there. And it stays alive out here.

And now, I appreciate it. God bless you. And I know that was a portion of your living, maybe from something that you'd give to your children. I just hate to take it. But way I.... The laborer, the ox has to not be muzzled, you know. That's the only way I have of taking it, or I wouldn't do it. So, thank you kindly, very much. God be with you.

Now, ever up around.... If I can be any help to you, why, call me; I will be glad to help you. The night will never get too dark or the rainfall too hard, what I will pray or do anything I can to help you.

So, we're going to read some of His Word tonight, speak for a little while, and then—just a short time—and have the prayer service for the sick. The boys told me out there, that they're leaving, too, tonight, the tape boys. And we got the records back there if you care for them.

Over in the book of Saint Matthew, the 12th chapter and the 42nd verse, I read this:

And the queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon: and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

I want to take that subject. And now, we have just read a portion of the everlasting Word of the eternal God. And how we love to read it, because we can anchor our soul upon any phase of God's Word, and it's truth. Now, if all the Bible isn't the truth, then none of it is the truth.

And it's strange that people, speaking on divine healing, that they will not accept it. And they'll accept.... How could you preach salvation for the soul without including divine healing? for sickness is an attribute of sin. Before we had any sickness, we had no sin. Sickness came as the result of sin.

Now, if a big animal had his paw in my side—call it sickness—and was scratching my side and tearing me to pieces, it isn't necessary just to cut the animal's paw off. Just knock him in the head. That kills paw and all.

So then, when you kill sin, you kill every attribute of it, see. So, sickness is the result ... or, an attribute of sin—maybe not your sin, but something you've inherited. And so, when you preach salvation for the soul, it has to be for the body too. Now, it's the earnest of our resurrection. If there is no divine healing, there is no resurrection, for it's just like the earnest; the same as the joy of the Lord and the Holy Spirit, is the earnest of our salvation.

Now, sometime ago, reading in the Scriptures.... People want to say that this part's all right, and that part wasn't inspired, and this is all right, and that was for another day. Where could a man base his faith? It's either every bit the truth, or none of it is the truth, see. And now, you can take me on record as it's on tape: I make this statement tonight (and remember this), that if you will take the right mental attitude towards any divine promise that God has made, it'll come to pass. If you can take the right mental attitude towards any of God's divine promises, He will bring it to pass.

Sometime ago, there was a little woman had had a boy, and he'd had a call of God. And she thought, “Well,” she wasn't very religious herself, but she was raised in church, so she said, “Perhaps, maybe I will just send this boy away to a seminary, some good noted school, for his education, if he's going to be a minister.” So that's a very good thing to do. When you hear me talking about, “God sent us to build ... not to build churches, but to preach the Gospel....” Now, I mean when you put all the emphasis on church and on denomination. We have to have those things; you have to have a building to go into, and so forth; but whenever you just think that that's all of it, that's wrong. God is ... what's in the building, what counts, not what the building is, see. It's the builder of the house.

Now, then this little woman, after she sent her son away, and getting his education, the lady took real sick with the pneumonia at one time. And she sent a telegram to her son to stand by, that she might have to call him home at any time for her passing away. And he was called, and he had his clothes packed.

And a telegram came back the next day that his mother was all right. So, when he got home, he said, “Mother, there's just one thing that I want to ask you.”

And said, “What is it, son?”

Said, “When you sent me the telegram that you were on the very brink of death, and then the next day I get a telegram that you were all right. Mother, what did the doctor give you to make you recover so quick?”

“Oh,” she said, “Son, he never give me anything.”

“Well,” said, “how come you recovered so quick?”

She said, “Son, you know that little mission down around the corner there?”

“Yes.”

Said, “They was having a prayer meeting down there one night. And them people didn't know me, but they said that they felt led to come up here. And there was two women come and said, ”Sister, we hear you're sick.“

“Yes.”

Said, “We were felt led of the Lord to come and ask you if you'd have our pastor to come up here and pray for you.”

Why, she said, “Certainly, I'd be glad to.” And said, “The pastor come up, and read some out of the Bible, and anointed me with oil, prayed over me.” And said, “The next morning the Lord had healed me, and I was well.”

“Oh,” he said, “Mother,” he said, “Surely, you don't believe that?”

She said, “Well, son, it surely happened.”

“Why,” said, “Look,” said, “where did he read from?”

“Why,” said, “He read from Mark 16. And he said.... He read like this: These signs shall follow them that believe. And he read it out of the Bible, honey.”

“Oh,” he said, “Mother,” said, “you can't....” Said, “Them people are holy-rollers.” Said, “You can't pay no attention to what they say.”

“Why,” she said, “Holy-roller or no holy-roller, they answered the prayer ... God did.”

“Why,” he said, “Mother,” he said, “there's no such a thing as divine healing.” Said, “We learned that in school.” Said, “There's no such a thing as divine healing.”

She said, “Honey, he read it out of the Bible.”

“Why,” said, “Mother, you see those people are not educated.” Said, “You see, at the school, we learned that Mark the 16th chapter, from the 9th verse on, is not inspired.”

She said, “Hallelujah!”

“Why,” he said, “Mother, you're acting like them. The very audacity....” Said, “Why, you're acting like them.” Said, “What's the matter with you?”

She said, “I was just a thinking.”

Said, “What was you thinking?”

Said, “If God could heal me with the uninspired Word, what could He do with that was really inspired?” So, that's right. “What would that inspired part do, if the uninspired will do it?” Oh, it's all inspired.

The people today.... You will hear it though. The medical doctor will say, “Well, don't you pay any attention to that saw bone—that surgeon.”

Surgeon will say, “You need an operation, not sugar pills.”

And the both of them would say, “The chiropractor, don't have nothing to do with him.” And the chiropractors, they have nothing to do with the osteopath. And they'll all say, “Have nothing to do with the preacher.”

You know what I think? I think it's selfish motives, because we all know that medicine does good; surgery does good, chiropractic and osteopathic; and so does the preacher. Look, if they had the right motive, we would all go arm in arm to do everything we can in our powers and our ability, to make the journey of our pilgrim friends a little more happier as we go along through life. Anything different from that is selfishness, and money motive, or something behind it. Yes, sir.

Today, you could speak of a miracle. They want to take and examine it and scientifically prove it. Well, you can't scientifically prove God. Your knowledge in science takes you away from God. You don't know God by knowledge. You don't know God by science. You know God by faith, and that's the only way you can find God; is by faith, you know God.

There was two trees in the garden of Eden: One of them was knowledge and the other one was faith. And when man left the tree of faith—life—and took a bite off the tree of knowledge, he separated his fellowship from God. Every time he takes a bite, he takes himself farther away. You can never find God on that tree. It's this tree you find Him on, over here, the tree of life which is by faith. “By faith are you saved, and that by grace.”

Now, in this day, what if Moses would've lived in this age and would've seen that tree burning? Why, many of them.... He'd said, “Wait a minute. I will see till that fire goes off of it, and I will go over and pick some of the leaves off, and take it down to the laboratory, and examine it and see what chemicals are on those leaves that they don't burn.” If he thought that, it'd never've talked to him. What did he do? He just sat down and begin to talk to it. He didn't question it. He just begin to speak to it. And when that real feeling begins to move over you, that you're a sinner, and you're wrong, just go to talking to it; find out what takes place. They won't have to take you and analyze your body to see what happened. Your spirit will let you know what happened when God comes in.

God, in all ages, has had gifts that He's brought to the people. He's always made Hisself known in all ages by His gifts. And Jesus, here, had just been called Beelzebub. And He had told them that He would forgive them for doing that, but when the Holy Spirit came, and if they spoke against that, it would never be forgiven, see.

Because many people have said, “What is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?” My old southern mama used to tell me, it was for a woman to have an abortion case, take life that she couldn't restore. That was the best that she knowed. But that isn't it.

The blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is to call the working of the Spirit an unclean thing ... or, an evil thing. Jesus said, “Because they said, 'He has an evil spirit, calling the Holy Spirit in it's work an evil thing'; that's unforgivable.” There's nothing in the world, anytime or any place, could ever forgive you for that, for speaking one word against the operation of the Holy Spirit.

And remember, I want to show you how clear it is. Now, those Pharisees didn't say right out, “Say, you're Beelzebub.” But they thought it in their mind, and Jesus perceived their thoughts. Read right back in Saint Matthew 12 and see if that isn't right. They thought in their minds that He was Beelzebub. And Jesus perceived their thoughts, and they thought He was a fortuneteller. And then He said, “I'm going to forgive you.” See, your thoughts in heaven is louder than your voices on earth. Remember that. What you think.... “If there be any praise, if there be any virtue, think on these things,” said the Scripture.

And then, we noticed here, that He had referred to an age gone by. And He was upbraiding these cities where His mighty works had been done, of that discernment and healing. And He said, “Capernaum, you're exalted into heaven, but you'll be brought down to hell, for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, it would've been standing till this day.”

And then He referred the previous Scripture, just behind this verse, to Jonah: how that Jonah went to the city of Nineveh and preached to those people that was so illiterate till they didn't know which was right and left hand. And they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And He was upbraiding them for that.

Now, many people get the wrong conception of Jonah. We try saying, “He's a Jonah.” I like to stop just a minute for him. Jonah, he was no bad person. He was a real man of God. There's nothing happens providential to a real true servant of God; it all works together for good to them that love God. And Jonah was commissioned to go to Nineveh, but that ship going to Tarshish wasn't the release to the least resistance. It was God's provided way. And men who are honest and sincere in their hearts (And you be sincere no matter what happens!), it's God moving you.

Now, notice, the whale swallowed the prophet. And I've always felt sorry for Jonah. Now, we know he was backslidden, or we think he was, had his hands tied behind him, and he was down in the belly of the whale in the bottom of the sea, and a big storm on the sea.

Now, there's many people who get prayed for, and they'll go through a prayer line with a crippled hand, crippled foot, a sick stomach. And they'll, next morning, get up and say, “I'm just sick as I was.” Oh, what you need is some good Bible teaching, see. You don't look at the symptom; you look at the Word, the promise. It's never what this.... If you look at that, you'll never get well.

Notice Jonah. If there's any man that ought to have had a good case of symptoms, it was Jonah. He was backslid, hands tied behind him in the belly of a whale, in the bottom of a stormy sea. If he looked this a-way, it was whale's belly. That way was whale's belly. Everywhere he looked, it was whale's belly. Well now, there's no one here in that condition. That's right. And Jonah, what did he say? He refused to look at it. He said, “They are lying vanities. And once more will I look toward Your holy temple, O God”; for he knowed when Solomon dedicated that temple he prayed this prayer: “Lord, if Thy people be in trouble anywhere and look at this holy place, where the pillar of fire was behind the altar, if they'll look towards this holy place and pray, then hear from heaven.”

And if Jonah, under those conditions, could look towards a temple that was built by a man that later backslid, and have faith in his prayer and get the results that he did, under the condition, how much more can we, tonight, look away from our conditions to the temple of God where Jesus sits at the right hand of His Majesty with His own blood, to make intercessions upon our confession. Then, don't look at your hand. Don't feel your sickness. Look at who made the promise, at the right-hand of the Majesty on high to make intercession upon your confession. Then make it and stand true to it.

I like to carry Jonah a little further. God, by that faith, must have put an oxygen tent down in the belly of that whale. He kept him alive for three days and nights. But look what God's a-doing. No matter what takes place, God will make it praise Him anyhow.

Now, we know that the people of Nineveh ... I am told that they were heathens, and they were living in sin and adultery. And then, they come to find out that the god of the sea was the whale. And all the fishermen along the side of the sea was out there fishing, and here come a whale spinning through the water, opened up his mouth, and the prophet walked out. Sure, they would hear it. God has a way of doing things. And it wasn't providential that he took the wrong ship; it was God's eternal promise and God's eternal way of doing things. A bringing a message: he shook shivers up-and-down their backs when he seen the sea god open up it's mouth, the prophet walk out with a Bible in his hand. Sure, they'd believe it. God always has signs and wonders: works in the supernatural to make people to believe Him. Certainly.

And he walked out of the belly of the whale and begin to go through the streets preaching. And Jesus said that those people repented. Those ignorant, unlearned, didn't know gee from haw ... or, right hand from left hand, I mean to say. (Excuse me for saying that. I didn't mean to say that. All right. How many farmers in here knows what “gee” and “haw” is? Well, you know what I mean, then. All right.) He didn't know the right from the left hand. And they repented.

And we're are supposed to be an educated, smart, intelligent bunch of people that's living in a day when a greater than Jonah is here. And what about this? To that poor, ignorant people, “I want you to notice,” Jesus said.

They said, “Show us a sign.”

He said, “There'll be no sign given to a wicked and adulterous generation, but the sign of Jonah.”

Now watch. What was the sign of Jonah? “As Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so the Son of man must be in the heart of the earth three days and nights.” So what would be the sign to a wicked and adulterous generation? The sign of the resurrection (Amen), the sign of the resurrection. Sure it is. There we are. And we're living in a wicked and adulterous generation.

As my good friend, Jack Moore, once said, “If God let's this America get by without punishing it, He will be obligated as a just God to raise up Sodom and Gomorrah and apologize for burning them up.” That's right. Sure, we are living in an awful age: a teen-age rulership, rock-and-rock, booglie-wooglie, all that ungodly carrying on of filth and gaum and untrue living. Divorce is on the run, and perversion, and homosexuals, and oh, it's awful, just like it was in Sodom, the same thing we're having.

Then the holy God's obligated. He hates sin, but He loves the sinner. And He promised that He would give this wicked, adulterous generation the sign of His resurrection. And if He's raised from the dead, He will do the same signs that He did before He died, if He's raised again.

So then, He said, “And also, the queen of the south shall rise in the day of judgment with this generation and shall condemn it: for she came from the utmost parts of the known world in that day, to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, I say unto you that a greater than Solomon is here.” Then He was trying to tell them....

Now, in the days of Solomon.... Anyone knows that when God sends His gift to the world, and the world receives it (the church receives it), then it is a golden jubilee for that people in that age. But if they turn it down, it's chaos for that age.

Look, the Jews received Solomon, and it was the golden age. Anyone knows that. It was almost a millennium for Israel. And they turned Christ down, and the temple was burned, and they were scattered to the four winds of the world.

When God sends a gift, and His church rallies around it, then that church and people is blessed. If they turn it down, they are turned down with it.

Now, notice. In the days of Solomon, God had set him up and give him a great gift of discernment. Oh, what a powerful discernment he had. And all Israel rallied around that discernment. And they all believed it with one accord.

Oh, I'd like to ask, to my good friends here, tonight, Brother Tommy Hicks and many of these men here, who has international ministries: What would happen if all of the people that's called by the name of the Lord, if every one of them would rally around the great gift of God today, the Holy Spirit, what would take place? What would take place if every born again Christian in Texas, rallied around the gift of God? Texas would be the most popular place in all the world. What a millennium it would be if we'd all rally around the gifts of God. But they don't.

And now, they all did in Solomon's days, and his great fame was knowed throughout all the world. There was no wars; they were afraid of them.

If America would've rallied around Jesus Christ, you would never have to worry about Russia coming in or nothing else coming in. They wouldn't have to expend all of our money and times making hydrogen bombs and trying to fly over to the moon with another tower of Babel. God's got the program right here for us and got His power. But we turn it down. We try to make one ourselves, see. It'll never work.

Now, notice. But all rallied around this great gift, and the fame of it spread to all the known world. And way down in Sheba, the queen, little queen, she heard of it. Why, every passer-by would come through and say, “Oh, you should be up in Israel. They've got a great God up there who still lives. Why, they've got a man up there that's anointed with His Spirit, with only wisdom that could come from God.”

Now, you see, she was a pagan. Then she begin to think. You know faith cometh by hearing. But the trouble with us: When God sends a gift, they say, “That don't belong to my denomination. Have nothing to do with it. No.” See, that's the reason we're going into chaos, see. And everyone with one accord believed it. They built the big temple and everything in Solomon's age.

And this little woman.... Every person that come through Israel, would come down there and say, “Oh, it's marvelous. You should see. Why, there never was a man on earth could have wisdom like that. It has to come from the gods. Oh, it could not come by man.” Well, you know, “Faith cometh by hearing, hearing of the Word.” And if you're really sincere, God will make a way for you to see whether it's the truth or not.

Well, I can see the little queen then. She begin to think, “Now wait. I'm a pagan. Well now, if I go up there, I'm going to have to go to the state presbyter, or the bishop, or the general overseer, or somebody, and see if they'll permit me to go. After all, you know, we haven't got nothing here but just an old dead set of creeds; they tell us about a God that once lived. But they tell me there's a real God somewhere that's answering. I want to go find out.” “Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness; they shall be filled.”

Well, of course, she went over to see the great bishops of her church. And her, being the queen, and I can hear them say, “Now, just a moment. We got Dagon; we got these other gods here. They're just....”

But she says, “You see, you've been telling me all about Dagon and about what he was, but I've never seen him make a move, yet.”

I don't mean to hurt too bad, but I want it to settle down to the place where it will get you thinking. What good is a God of Moses if He isn't the same God today? What good is a historical God do, if He isn't the same power today?

What good would it do to take a man that's freezing to death, and you met him on the street, and he was freezing, and you took him up to a big painted fire and say, “Oh, sir, two thousand years ago, that was a warm fire.” Well, he can't get warm by a painted fire. And neither can he get warm by ... or, sainted by a historical Holy Spirit. He's got to be the same Holy Spirit with the same power and warmth that He was at any time.

What good does it do to feed your canary birds vitamins, and then keep him in a cage? Make good bones and good feathers and won't let him fly? Well, that's the same way, of sending your preachers away to seminaries, and making them polished scholars, and telling you, “The days of miracles is past.” What good does it do to serve a historical God or learn anything if He won't act the same today that He was then? He's no good; it's just history. (The Mohammedans is just as well off as we are—and any of the rest of them.)

But I thank God, that we've got a God that lives, and He's just the same, and He has the same power. He lives just the same as He ever lived. He does the same things that He ever did do, for He is God. He's not a historical God, but He's a God in a time of trouble, a very present help, all times, omnipresent, ever ready.

Now so, I guess her and the bishop had it out. And I can hear the bishop say, “Now, looky here, you may be queen, but if you go, we will excommunicate you just as soon as you go.” But you know, if God's dealing with a heart, you just might as well excommunicate to start with, because they'll go anyhow. “For as the hart thirsts for the water brook, so my soul thirsts after Thee, O God.”

Farmer.... I don't mean this for a joke, no place for a joke, but I want to make a point. A farmer set a hen one time. They didn't have enough eggs to set her. How many knows what a setting of eggs is? Fifteen. All right. So, he only had fourteen; he went over and got a goose egg ... or, a duck egg, put it under the old hen. When she hatched all these fellows out, they all looked all right but this duck. He was a funny looking fellow. And she'd get out in the barnyard, you know, catching grasshoppers and carrying on, “Cluck, cluck, cluck.” But that duck couldn't understand that language at all. He was a funny looking fellow: a big long bill, and.... I don't know, there's just something wrong with him. And he didn't look like the chickens, and they all picked on him. Said, “Well, you're not our brother. (You're a holy roller, or you're ... something, you know.) Get away. You're not.... You have nothing to do with us. We don't want....”

And you know.... And the old hen, she got out behind the barn one day, and she was catching grasshoppers, and scratching in the manure pile, and so forth, and after ... feeding her chickens, of course. They fed on that.

So then, the little duck got back there and there happened to be a stream come down behind the place. Brother, he was tired of that dust anyhow, the old dry place. And he got a smell of water. He stuck that little honker up in the air, and away he went. The old hen said, “Cluck, cluck, cluck.” and he said, “Quack, quack, quack.” He was headed for the water, just as hard.... You couldn't hold him. Why? His nature was a duck. When he smelled water, his nature called it.

And if you're born in this world, predestinated to be a son of God, there ain't enough religions in the world to hold you away from the real genuine Holy Ghost when it begins to fall. You'll go just as hard. The church might excommunicate you, run you out, blackball you, anything else.... You'll go to the “fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel's veins, where sinners plunged beneath the flood, lose all their guilty stains.” That's right.

So as this old priest and them begin to say, “Now, looky here, noble queen, you are an honorable woman, the best member of our church (the best payer we got here); we just don't want to lose you. So you stay away from them fanatics up there. If there's any god to make a move, he'd move in our organization, here, see. He'd be right here in ours. Don't you worry. We got just as big a god as they got.”

But, you know, something begin to dig in her heart. “But they tell me, that that God loves His people so well, till He manifested Himself through His people.” That's still the same God that we have. “I am the vine, ye are the branches,” see.

Notice, and then she said, “Well....” She just couldn't rest. And another fellow come by: “Oh, queen, glad to see you. Say, I just passed through Israel. You ought to see that Spirit of discernment. It's far beyond any man that ever walked on the earth; it comes from their God.” Well, her heart hungered and wanted to go.

Now, the little queen had a lot to confront, to go. She had a lot of things.... First thing, she was a woman. And then she had all these things to confront. The first place was, she had to give up her church if she went. Well, God was calling, so she started making ready. And now remember, she said, “You know what? I've served these old dead creeds so long, if that really is a God that's alive and proving Hisself alive, I'm going to support it.” So she packed up a few camels full of gold and silver.

I'm not pulling for offerings now, but, see, if it's worth anything, it's worth everything. And she said, “If it is the truth, I'm going to support it. If it isn't the truth, then I'm going to bring my money back with me.” That's a good idea. That's right. If He's God, be for Him. If He's not, then keep away from it. I want to know where the real God is. I want to know where the One that answers, the One that keeps His Word. I want to deal and have my association with men that'll keep their word to me. I want my neighbors to be the same way. And I want God. He will keep His Word.

Then, she said.... She packed up some camels and got it ready. And got gold, and frankincense, and myrrh, and great costly things. She said, “I will take my treasures up there, and if it is the truth, if that really is a gift of God working, then I'm going to support it. If it isn't, I can bring my money back, but I'm going to find out for myself.” Now that's a good idea. Go find out for yourself; don't take what somebody else says; go see for yourself.

Like Philip told Nathanael, said, “Could any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

He said, “Come and see.” That's the best way. Come, find out. If you don't believe the Holy Spirit's real, that quickens your mortal bodies, that gives you joy and happiness and kills sin in your life, come, find out once. Take Him at His Word. You don't believe He's a Healer, step out and take His Word one time. Any promise He's made, He stands right behind it.

Now notice, then another thing she had to do: Being a woman, she had to confront, now, the desert. Now, do you know how far it is from Palestine down across the Sahara desert to Sheba? Well, it takes just exactly three months on the back of a camel. Now, she didn't have like we'd have: an air conditioned Cadillac to come across that desert in. She had to come on the back of a camel to see a man that had a gift. And not just take two hours of her time, but would take her three months. And some of the people today won't walk across the street to see something greater than was then. No wonder Jesus said, “She will stand in the day of judgment and condemn this generation.”

Look what she had to do. Now, she had three months on the back of a camel in a desert. Now, remember, the desert was full of Ishmael's children, which were robbers—and all that gold on this little bunch of camels, with a few widows with her ... or, women, and some eunuchs to guard her (just a little bitty bunch of men). What would that great tribe of Ishmael do? Run right in and cut them down and take.... She had all that to confront. But you know if you're really wanting to find out truth, God will take you to the Fountain, don't you never worry about that. There's nothing will stand in your way. There's no organization, there's no papa, no mama, no neighbor, no brother, no sister, no friend, no nothing, can separate you from God if you really hunger to find God.

She takes out on the camels to go through that hot sun. Oh, what a time it was on this camel, now, for three months (ninety days), to come to find out whether it was the truth or not. And we, today, as ministers sometimes will condemn a thing and say it's of the devil before we even go search the Scriptures about it.

Now what will.... After we've had two thousand years of teaching since then, what will we do when she stands in the day of judgment? What will that woman say in the day of judgment when Dallas rises in the resurrection? What will she say in the day of judgment when the whole United States rises in the day of judgment, with this great, mighty revival that's swept the country and people's branded it fanaticism, the devil, polished up soothsayer, some kind of a evil spirit, fortuneteller, mind reader? What will they do in the day of judgment?

And she finally arrived. God made a way for her to arrive. He will make a way for you to arrive.

There's people.... I just met two boys out here. Their mother was healed in Arkansas, not long ago. And there they've been, out here, sleeping in cars and bushes; not because they wanted healing, but they just love to come. They hear that God's visiting us, and they love to watch His works.

A gangster put his arm around me out there, a man that was a gangster (killing and murdering), and has been saved. And for the past months, the man hitch hiking on the roads, all through Maine and everywhere, following around, sleeping in bushes, in the car, anywhere he could, because he loves God, and there's something in it, he says, “Just stirs my soul, Brother Branham. I must come.” God bless him. What will the mayor of the city, and the great men of this town, and the religionists of this town will do, when they stand with that man in the day of the judgment? What will happen to the preachers of this city? Many of them who turn it down say it's fanaticism, warning their people not to get around it? See, there you are. But God sends His gifts just the same. He has to do it. He's sovereign; He must do it. He has in all ages. When they turn it down, that's up to them.

Now, remember, she traveled through the desert and finally she arrived at the place. Now, she didn't come just to stay about five minutes, and the first time the preacher said something didn't agree with her doctrine, she'd grab her hat and run out of the building.

That's the way we do it today. Well, come up like a big toad frog, and sit in the meeting, “I'll find out. I'll just see what he says. If he says one word I don't like, remember, Molly, I'm getting out of here.”

And the preacher gets up and say, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

“That's enough for me,” out he goes, and then expect to stand and sing, “Nearer My God to Thee.” There you are.

She came and pitched her camp right in the door. (I like that.) She come to stay till she was satisfied she'd found out the truth. She come to stay till the revival was over. She wasn't just running around; she come to mean business. We can't sit five minutes. But she come to stay for months. She come to stay until she was convinced whether it was of God or wasn't of God.

And then I can see her the next morning as she walks into the main auditorium. Solomon, the pastor, comes out, takes the seat. And the first thing, they begin to bring cases up that no man in the world.... And she begin to watch that spirit of discernment begin to move in Solomon. She watched. Her heart begin to jump. See, God was on the inside. She begin to look, “That's just exactly it.” And the first thing you know, the next case come up. There was Solomon stood ... just a man, but a discernment that could only come from God. She watched that discernment. She said, “That would have to be a god, it couldn't be a man doing that.”

And after a while, when she was fully convinced, she stood in the congregation, and she said, “Go get them camels and pour out all the gold and silver that I brought. And I want to say this, that everything I heard was the truth, and more than I heard is the truth.” Because Solomon discerned her, too.

And Jesus said, “She will stand in the resurrection, at the last days, and condemn this generation, for she came from the utmost parts of the world to hear a gift of God, and see it operate....” in her age. And He said, “Behold, a greater than Solomon is here.”

And we've had two thousand years since then, and here, this Jesus that was talking, died, buried, raised again, and two thousand years here in the church as the vine, moving through His branches, doing exactly the same thing that He did back there, and people won't come across the street to hear it. What will take place in the resurrection? And brother, that may come before morning. We don't know when.

Remember, that sign of discernment is the last message to the Gentile church. Look, so that you'll know. Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, so will it be in the coming of the Son of man. As it was in the days of Noah.... Now watch. Noah, was a flood, and then he went into the ark. But Sodom was burnt up.

Now, watch the Angel who came to the church. (Lot was backslid. There's two other angels went to them.) But the main church was Abraham and his house. And the Angel come up as a man. And He sat down to Abraham, with His back turned to the tent. The Bible said He had His back to the tent. And Sarah was in the tent. And He said, “Abraham, seeing that you're going to be heir of the world, would I keep from you what I'm going to do?” He said, “Just about this time next month, according to the life,” (the twenty-eight days), he said, “I'm going to visit you and fulfill the promise you've been waiting for now, for twenty-five years.” And when He said that, Sarah (to His back) inside the tent laughed with herself. And the Angel, looking at Abraham in the face, said, “Why did Sarah laugh?”

What was that message? Sarah said, “No, no, I didn't laugh.”

He said, “Oh, yes, you did.” What kind of a telepathy was that? Remember, that was the Angel, and that Angel was God. Abraham called Him “Elohim,” which is Almighty God. Almighty God manifested Hisself in flesh, His Son, Jesus Christ.... And Almighty God, the same pillar of fire that led the children of Israel, manifested in flesh in Jesus Christ: “I come from God and go to God.” After His death, burial, and resurrection, returned back, and was in a pillar of fire that blinded Saint Paul on the road to Damascus, came into Peter and got him out of prison; and that same Angel is here tonight, with His picture taken many times among us, producing the same thing that He did at the tent of Abraham.

That was before (not the water) the fire. And this is the last message before the fire. Sodom will burn. And God will be innocent, because He sent His Angel, His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and people has turned it down flatly, because of intellectual conceptions of the Gospel instead of a born again experience. How can you see God unless God's in you? How can you get blood out of a turnip? There's no blood in it. Same way you can't get a believer unless God's in there to make him a believer. It has to be, not an intellectual, but an experience in the heart.

You know the old disbeliever said, many years ago, that God made a mistake. Said, “There was nothing in the heart, no mental faculties to believe with; He meant in your head.” If He'd meant “head,” He'd've said, “head.” He said, “heart.”

Now, two years ago I was in Chicago, and big headline: Science has found out that in human heart, (not the animal), in the human heart, there's a little teeny cell ... or, little teeny compartment, rather, that doesn't even have a cell in it. And they said, “It's the occupant of the soul.” After all then, a man does believe from his heart. You think with your mind, but you believe from your heart, see.

The mind will reason. You say, “Now, now wait. I'm in this condition. Maybe the lady there with that little child. My child's passed.” Oh, no, sir! Maybe the young fellow in the wheelchair, the man with the crutches, (see) “I—I—I'm too bad.” Cast them reasonings down. Let that message that I tell you, soak down into your heart; then there's not enough devils in the world could make you look at anything else but His promise. You'll do like the prophet said, “These things are lying vanities. I will look to Your holy temple, Lord. You made the promise, and there I stand.”

Abraham called those things which were not as though they were, after he had met God. That's the first thing: you have to have an experience. If you don't have an experience, you won't have faith. Every man, every Christian that calls the name of Jesus, has no right at all in the pulpit until he's had a backside of the desert experience.

Doctors might be able to come and explain it out to you, doctors of divinity: These that ... out and that way ... and twist the Scriptures around. But if a man's ever come to that backside of the desert, like Moses in his forty years of training; but five minutes in the presence of that burning bush, he knowed more about God than they could've trained him in a million years. They might explain all this away, and that away, but if you've ever met God, you've had an experience. You know you and God alone stood on those grounds, and Satan can't put his dirty, nasty feet on it. That's right. You know, as Job said, “I know my Redeemer liveth, and at the last days He will stand.” Satan can't put his feet on those grounds where you and God stood alone. They're holy and separated from anything else. You were there. You was the person it happened to, and you know it's real.

That's the reason in these meetings, when I see His Scripture produced, that He would do these things, and watch Him move up, see Him take the picture for the scientific world, the unbeliever, so they're without excuse; and then see Him come out to the church and manifest Himself, move through poor mortal beings: a man hold himself out and say, “Lord God, here I am.” A little woman sitting out in the audience: “O Lord, here I am.” And watch that Holy Spirit come back and bear the fruit of the vine that it's coming from.

[Blank spot on tape.] What will it do in the day of judgment? What will happen to this adulterous generation, seeing that sign of the living God, who's been living after two thousand years? The queen of the south shall rise and condemn it, because she stood at the gift of Solomon and said, “Truly, it's of God. Truly.”

But people's afraid to stand today. Don't be afraid to make your stand for God. If you don't stand for Him, you'll stand alone.

Danny Greenfield.... Not long ago a famous preacher went through Central America, here. And he said he dreamed one night, he died. And said, when he died, he thought he went up to heaven. He knocked at the door, and a door keeper come, he said, “Who approaches this holy place.”

He said, “I'm Danny Greenfield, from America, the evangelist.”

Said, “Just a moment, Mr. Greenfield. I will look on the book and see if I see your name.” Went in and looked on the book; He said, “Sorry. No Dan Greenfield here.”

He said, “Sir, I was an evangelist in America, and I held great meetings, and hundreds of people received the Lord Jesus.” Said, “Surely, you overlooked my name.”

He said, “There's no Dan Greenfield here, sir. You're not registered.”

Said, “What can I do?”

Said, “The only thing,” the Angel said, “the only thing I know you can do: you might appeal your case to the great white throne.”

He said, “Well, if that's my only hope, I will have to do it.”

And said, seemed like he started off, moving. And he moved through space for a long time, real swiftly. Said he begin to come into a light. And as he got deeper and deeper into the light, it seemed like it wasn't coming from any certain place, but just a great light. Said he got slower and slower till he got right in, seemed like the midst of it, and he stopped. He said, “Such a feeling.” Said he trembled all over. And said “Directly, a voice came from there that would've shook the world to pieces. Said, 'Who is it, approaches My throne of judgment?'”

He said, “I, Danny Greenfield, the American evangelist.”

He said, “Mr. Greenfield, you have come to My justice?”

“Yes,” he said, “Lord, I have come to Your justice.”

He said, “I will judge you by My holy laws.” He said, “Danny Greenfield, did you ever tell a lie?”

He said “I was just ready to say, 'No, I never....'” said, “but I thought I had told some things that wasn't altogether the truth.” Said, “He said, 'Yes, Lord, I've told lies.'”

He said, “Danny Greenfield, did you ever steal.”

He said, “Surely I could answer that. I thought I'd been honest.” But said, “In the presence of that great light, I remembered a lot of shady deals I pulled.”

And brother, sister, you may think you're all right under this light, but wait till you get into that light. Better be sure.

He said, “I knowed that the next great blast would come: I'd hear that great voice say, 'Separate from Me forever, you worker of iniquity.'” Said, “Just as I was listening for that voice,” said, “I heard the sweetest voice I ever heard in my life.” Said, “There was no mother's voice could ever be like that.” And said, “I turned to look, and I saw the sweetest face that I ever looked at.” Said, “No mother's face could be that sweet.” And said, “He come close, put His arm around me. He said, 'Father, truly, Danny Greenfield wasn't perfect in his life. But here's one thing Danny Greenfield did do: When he was on earth, he stood for Me, and I will stand for him here.'”

Who would stand for you, tonight, friends, if you were going tonight? Let's bow our heads and think of it, just for a moment.

The queen stood when she seen the gift of God working. She stood and she said, “It's all true.” And tonight, while God's greatest gift, the Holy Ghost, is moving in this audience, I wonder if you'd make a stand tonight to your feet and say, “God, be merciful to me. It's all true that I need You. And no one can stand for me in that day, but You. And I'm going to stand for You now, so that You'll stand for me in that day.” While we're thinking, waiting a moment, if you feel your need of Christ, will you just raise up your hand? God bless you, lady. God bless you, young lady. God bless you, sir. God bless you, lady. God bless you, you, you, you back there. Way down in here to my left, the Lord bless you. To my right, over here now, anywhere, inside or out? “God, I feel my need of You. I want to raise my hand.” God bless you, young fellow. “I want to raise my hand....” God bless you, lady, sitting here. God bless you, young lady.... Oh, them teen-age girls, God bless their souls. Young fellow back there, that lady, God bless you. Outside, men or women outside of Christ who.... Won't you just say, “Lord God, right now....”

I may never see you again, friends. I may be back here again, someday. I may never live to come back.... God bless you, lady, sitting here. I may never live to come back. And if I would, and this group of people, of this size, tonight.... If I'd come back a year from now, there's many of you wouldn't be here. You'd be gone. The next time I see you, in my life.... Many of you here, the next time you see my face, will be at the judgment bar where the queen of Sheba will be standing there. She made her stand.

Are you good enough in yourself, you think, to stand there? Are you really trusting His mercy? And you want to stand.... You want Him to stand for you. You don't want to try to stand in your own righteousness, you want His grace and mercy. Someone who hasn't raised their hand, would you just raise your hand and say, “God be merciful to me? I now need You, Lord. Here's my hand.” God bless you, young lady. God bless you, young lady. My, the teen-age girls, everywhere.... God bless you, another one back here. That's right. God bless you, lady, here.

These little girls, just a trap.... America's god is a woman. You know that. It's on her money. America, her god is a woman. Hollywood and all the immorals and things has proved it. God bless this little baby girl, not over about ten years old, with her little hand up.

Not nothing against my sisters. They're the cream of the crop. Ladies, you're God's daughter. Certainly you are, but oh, how this fashion world takes the lady and strips her clothes and.... Oh, what a pitiful thing. And you.... Lot of times, young men, with your eyes lusting and looking.... Turn your head, brother. If you look you'll be guilty of adultery. And sister, if you present yourself like that, no matter how clean you try to live, God will make you answer for committing adultery with a sinner that looked at you. Do you need His help? If you do, just raise your hand, just before praying now. God bless you. That's good, all right. God bless this young lady over here, too. Let us pray now.

Heavenly Father, we're taught that in the book of science, it claims that a man can't raise his hand, scientifically, because gravitation holds his arms down. But when a man raises his hand, it shows it's something besides science; it's a spirit that can make him defy gravitation. And what made him raise his hand? Because the Angel of God was there and said, “Son, daughter, you're wrong.” And they made a decision, and they raised their hand upward, from whence the Creator shall come, and recognized that, by raising their hand to their Creator, “I'm wrong, O Lord ... [Blank spot on tape.] ... me.” God, You'll never let one of them go wrong. I pray with all my heart. These are Your Words, Jesus. I quote them over again, so Satan will know that it's Your Word. You said, “He that heareth My words and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath (present tense) eternal life, and shall never come to the judgment, but hath (past tense) passed from death unto life.” How we thank You for that, Lord.

Those hearts.... I believe, Lord, they come.... Those hands come from true, honest hearts. And again it's written, “No man can come to Me, except My Father draws him first.” So You're here. They are the gems of this message, tonight, Lord. I pray that You'll keep them, now. And You will present them to Your Son, as love gifts. “No man can pluck them from His hand.” Raise them up in the last day and when the queen of the South stands, may they stand in the justice of Jesus Christ at that day, because they've come: maybe not from the utmost parts of the earth, but maybe against creeds and denominations that would've kept them away; against the wicked devil that would send these young girls out in the road houses, smoking cigarettes, and wearing shorts, and carrying on. He would've kept them there. And these young men, from drinking and carousing. But tonight, they stepped right out, raised their hand up: “Lord God, be merciful to me.” Then, I know they're Yours, Lord. I expect to see them in a better world, where there's no more sickness or sorrow or death. They're Yours, Father, and we present them to You. May they find a real good church home, be baptized, and there, be filled with the Holy Ghost, and live true until death shall set them free and they come in Your presence. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

Now, immediately after the service is over, you that raised your hands, I want you to come up around here, after the healing service, and praise God for giving you that grace. Thirty, forty, fifty hands went up around the building; I want you to come and pray around here, after this is over.

Now friends, all that I have said in the nights, all that I have said would be ... just fall by the wayside, if God doesn't make Hisself known that He's still the same God. Now, I want you to know this, and I say this with all respects and godly fear: There isn't a man in this world that could do anything for you except, first, your faith be in a finished work that Christ did at Calvary, see.

There is.... Paul Cain here, somewhere, sitting here, a great ministry. Tommy Hicks, many other, Brother Culpepper, many of these, here, Brother Lindsay, went around the world, many of them, preaching, great revivals. Ask them if they ever healed anybody. Certainly not. They've preached the Word. God did the work. No matter how much the Gospel is preached, how present God was, if you draw back and don't believe it, they could never help you. They might anoint you with oil, put hands on you, or do anything in the world, it would never help you until you ... your faith moves from here down into here, you say, “Yes, God, I believe it.”

Look. What is faith? (I got a minute, have I?) “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Now, seeing isn't believing. It isn't. Many times.... Come here, Paul. Here's a man standing by me, got on a gray coat, dark hair. How many believes that? Sure, you see it. I don't see him now, but he's still there. You want to argue with me, “He's not”? How do I know he's there? Because I feel him; I've got another sense. I feel him, see. Now, I cannot feel him now, but I see him. Now, what is.... (Thank you, Brother Paul.) What is faith? “The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things you do not see, taste, feel, smell, or hear. You believe it. And if every person in here believes that Jesus Christ is present and is going to heal you, just the same as your sight (if you can see) says, ”That shirt's white.“ It's settled, see. If the sense of faith says, ”It's right.“ just the same as the sense of sight says, ”It's right,“ it's over; you don't need praying for or nothing, see. It's all over.

Now, what is it? Here's faith. Let me show you. I'm starving to death, and I'm standing here hungry. And you pass by and say, “Hello, Brother Branham.”

I say, “How do you do.”

“What's the matter, Brother Branham?”

“I'm starving to death.”

“What'll save your life.”

“A loaf of bread.”

“All right. Here's twenty-five cents, Brother Branham, for a loaf of bread (the purchase price.)” Walk away.

Well, I take that twenty-five cents (It's not just make believe); I'm holding twenty-five cents. See? All right. I can start rejoicing and be just as happy with that twenty-five cents as I can with the loaf of bread. Why? Because I've got the purchase power of a loaf of bread. Now, I may not have it, and I may have to walk five miles to get it. I may have to go over bridges, and down over briar patches, and across the creek, and over the foot log, and up over the hill, but all along, I can be shouting and I can be just as happy with the quarter as I can, before I get the loaf of bread as I have after I've got it, because I've got the purchase power of it. I've got the thing that buys it. It's settled; I've got twenty-five cents. That's what it takes to buy bread.

No matter whether my hand comes straight, my ears come open, as long as something in my heart says, “It's finished,” Hallelujah, I can shout the praises of God, “I got it.” Yes, sir. 'Cause why? I've got the purchase power. I believe it.

Now, what is this Bible? The truth or isn't it the truth? If it isn't the truth, away with it. If it is the truth, believe it. Jesus made a promise, “A little while, and the world won't see me no more.” That world: Kosmos, the Greek word which means “the world order.” Many times the church, the so-called church, “the world, they won't see Me anymore. They can't see Me. Yet, ye shall see Me (that's the church) for I (personal pronoun), I will be with you, even in you to the end of the world. The works that I do, shall you also. More than this shall you do.”

Now, the King James says “greater,” but if you look the right translation, how could it be greater? Raised the dead, stopped nature, done everything: more, because why? It'll be all universal. God was in one place in His Son, Christ. Now, He's in the church, universal. Why, there's ten thousand times more being done now, than there was done in the days of Christ, because here, we're going through something here; another man's going through persecution; and another one is raising the dead; and another's opening the blinded eye, all over the world, right now. His great church, universal.... Hallelujah. Oh, you're going to call me a 'holy-roller' anyhow, so I might as well holler “Hallelujah,” because it means, “Praise our God” and He's worthy of all praises. He's here now. After being dead....

Now, if you went to a pumpkin vine, you'd expect to find pumpkins. If you went to a watermelon vine, you'd expect to find watermelons. You went to a grape vine, you'd go to grapes. And if you've come to the church, you don't expect theology and arguing and fussing. You expect to see the life of Christ, the vine, moving in the branches, bringing forth the same Spirit that lived in the Lord Jesus, for He lives. He's alive today. If He is, He will do the same works. Jesus said, “If I do not the works of My Father that sent Me, then believe Me not.”

And you people here, that's just received Christ awhile ago, if God doesn't come into this church tonight and do the same thing He did when He was here in the Lord Jesus, like He's always done, then believe it not. But if He does, then rejoice. Heathens has gods, but they're dead. We have God that's alive (not a painted fire), a living Jesus. And if He comes and performs.... Remember, He said, “The Son can do nothing in Himself but what He sees the Father doing.” Saint John 5:19. Did you ever read it? How many ever read that? “The Son can do nothing.”

Now, no scriptures can be broken. Jesus said so. So Jesus never did one miracle until He saw the Father do it. “Verily, verily, I say unto you (that's absolutely, absolutely, I say to you), the Son can do nothing in Himself but what He sees (not hears, not revealed, but what He sees) the Father doing, that doeth the Son likewise. For the Father worketh and I worketh hitherto.” See it?

Then, when a woman one time, where He saw no vision for her, she touched His garment, went out and sat in the audience. He said, “Who touched Me?”

They said, “The whole multitude.” And Peter rebuked Him.

He said, “But I got weak.” And He looked around till He found the woman. Told her a blood issue had been stopped because her faith had saved it. That right?

Now, I want to ask you minister's something. Does the Scripture say that Jesus Christ tonight is a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities? Does He say it? Well then, if He's a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities, how would you know you touched Him if He didn't act the same as He did then? If He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He will have to act the same as He did yesterday, today, and forever. If He did that sign to prove at the closing of the Jewish age.... But remember, not one time did He do it to the Gentile, only to the Jew and the woman at the well, Samaria. The Jews recognized it (the true Jew): “That's the Messiah.” “You're the Son of God, the King of Israel.”

But there were those who stood by, said, “He's Beelzebub, the prince of the devils,” see. Still the same today.

But He said, “Don't go to the Gentiles.” Why? We were heathens in those days. But now, they were looking for the Messiah. Now, we've been looking two thousand years for Him, have we? Well then, when our age is closing, if God (as I said last night), if He acts one time upon anything, He's got to act the same every time or He acted wrong the first time, see. He can't take anything back.

We get smarter. He's infinite to begin with. He don't get any smarter. He can't because He's perfect, always. So His first decision is every decision the same. So at the close of this age, He couldn't be manifested Himself to us, as our creeds and our denominations. He's got to manifest Hisself the same as He did them. He didn't recognize their creeds. He come and showed signs by perceiving their thought, doing what the Father told Him to do. And they called Him a devil, a fortuneteller. He's got to do the same.

He did the same to the Samaritan. What'd that woman say? She said, “Why, come see a man that told me the things I've done. Isn't this the very Messiah?” I said last night: She knowed more about God than half the preachers. And that's right.

Now, if He manifests Himself the same tonight, how many will believe Him? It's your meeting. God bless you.

Prayer cards.... Where's Billy? 1-100, what in? R? Prayer card “R,” 1-100. Can't all line at once, but as soon as I come down the line as far as I can, I want some of them to take over after I leave. I will try to get the whole group if I can. Who has prayer card R number 1, raise up your hand? Would you raise your hand? R number 2, raise up your hand. R number 2, right there. 3, R number 3. Number 4, over here. All right, sir. Number 5. Come here, sir. Number 5, who has R number 5? Would you raise your hand? Look at somebody near you. These people here, maybe in these chairs, can't get their hands up. R number 5, raise your hand, will you? Have I missed it? Shake your hand way up if you can. Now, look at your neighbor's card. Somebody, may be somebody deaf, can't hear. R number 5? All right, losing their place. All right. R number 5. Number 6, right there. Number 7. Number 7, do I see it? 7, 8. Now if number 5 is out, comes in, let us know. Number 8, number 9, raise your hand quick. All right. 10, 11, 12, 12, did I see it? 13, 14, 15, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18, 19, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. That's good. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 30. How much room you got out there? All right.

Now, just remember, as your number's follow, when that line goes to going a little bit lower now, start 30, 1, 2, 3. We don't care how many stands; we just don't want you to have to stand too long, because in discernment.... Now, let's stop right there and just let everyone stand for a ... I mean, everyone be seated just for a moment or two. Just be real reverent now, real reverent.

How many in the building here, that doesn't have a prayer card and you want God to heal you, and you believe you have faith enough to touch His garment, and He will turn around, the High Priest? Raise your hand, say, “I want prayer, Brother Branham. God, heal me.” Raise your hands way up high, now, see. All the way around.... All right. Then.... You haven't a prayer card, now, and you want God to heal you. All right, now, you just watch this way. Be real reverent. Believe with all your heart. See if God doesn't do it.

All right. How many they got lined up down there now? Dr. Vayle, how many is lined up? How you coming on? All there but number what? Number 5, has number 5 come in, yet? Was it R or P, which was it? R, R number 5. You sure you looked, everybody ... think somebody deaf now, because sometime ago, I get a letter said, “Brother Branham, I was deaf and nobody.... I didn't now you called my number.” See, and then I don't like that. “I couldn't raise up, Brother Branham, and nobody looked at my card.” I wouldn't want that to happen, see. Certainly not. Now, that don't mean they're going to be healed. It just means they're called by their number.

Now, all right. We will start the prayer line anyhow. Now, if Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.... Now please, friends, I want you to be just as reverent as you can be. Quiet, reverent.... Now, while especially, the anointing is going on. Then, if someone is made well, or something happens, of course you rejoice. I believe in shouting, and praising the Lord, and all that goes with the Gospel. I believe in a full Pentecostal square meal. I believe in all of it. But you see, we have to approach God quietly, sanely, reverently. Then when we get what we ask for, then turn and thank Him for it. Everyone understands that, don't you?

Now, be real reverent. And I want you to don't move around, see. Each one of you are a spirit. How many knows that? Sure you are. And if you move (See), after you have the grip of [Blank spot on tape.] and you move, then it interferes. And don't take a flash picture during this time.

Now, all right, you can start your prayer line now. Is this.... All right. Now, there's a woman here to begin. Now, let's just not be ... don't be nervous now. Sit quiet. Don't think what time it is and nothing. It has nothing to do with it. Let's watch. If Christ is risen from the dead, why, brother, sister, we got everything to be happy about. If he hasn't risen from the dead, then “let us go and eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”

Now, if He is the Son of God, and He keeps His Word by appearing here on the platform in the form of Spirit, in this picture here of the Angel of the Lord, that was in Moses ... with Moses in the burning bush, made manifested in Jesus Christ, the works that it did then.... Then He said, “A little while.... I come from God; I go to God....” returned back in the form of the Holy Spirit in a pillar of fire again.

Now you say, “Brother Branham, was that that what struck Paul down? It was a light. Nobody else saw it but Paul. And it said, ”Saul, Saul, why persecute thou Me?“

He said, “Who are you, Lord?”

He said, “I'm Jesus.” Is that right? He said, “I come from God and go to God.” When He was on earth He said, “I was the I AM that was in the bush.” So then, you see, “the works that I do, shall you also.”

Now, if that Angel that's got its picture on that paper, if it doesn't produce the same life that Jesus did when He was here on earth, then this is the wrong vine. It's the wrong thing. If it produced great things of something else, then that's what it is. But it'll have to produce the same kind of a life. Look. “As My Father sent Me, so send I you.” How many knows the Scripture says that? Well, look. The Father that sent Him, went in Him. The Jesus that sends His men, goes in His men. “If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not.” Now, if we do not the works of Christ, then believe the message not. But I've read it out of the Bible, and if He doesn't do the same thing, then all right, He isn't the same. If He does, we will all be happy.

Now I'm just trying to get you quiet, see. That's why I've taken this time for: quieten you. One case will prove it.

Now, the lady.... I don't know her. We're strangers to each other, I suppose. All right. Just so that the people might know, we don't.... I'm not asking you to swear, because the Bible says don't do it, but the people might know.... I have never seen you in my life, and we're total strangers to one another, just raise up our hands so the people can see. I've never seen or heard of her in my life, know nothing, not one thing about....

There isn't a person here, out in there, that I know. I thought I heard Brother Young Brown awhile ago. Some of them said he was in the meeting, but I don't know where he's at. Brother Young, if you're here, God bless your heart. But I don't know.... Some of them said he was at the meeting yesterday and today. I haven't seen him, but that'd be the only person that I can see in this building.

How many of you out there know that I don't know nothing about you? Raise your hand. Sure. Now see? This here.... What's these people up here for? Just to get the anointing started. Then it moves out into the audience to whoever you are out there, sick. Just look up to the High Priest and say, “Lord God, let me tonight.... Let me just touch You. And then You speak right back through your branches and prove.... That's the way You did it when You were here yesterday. That's the way You'd do it today. You're forever the same.” See if He does it.

Just be sincere. Now here is a picture, a Bible picture, Saint John 4. Here's a man and a woman, meeting for their first time in life. And in Saint John 4, Jesus met a woman at the well, a Samaritan. I'm a lot older than the woman. We're different ages, probably born in different countries, and the first time we've ever met in life. Now, if I walked up and said, “Sister, hallelujah, you're going to get well. You're sick.”

She might be an infidel. She might be here as a deceiver. You've seen and heard of them come in the line too, haven't you? Yes, sir. Remember that one that night was going to hypnotize me? Come in there.... And said, “The devil sent you in here. And because you did that, you'll have to be packed out.” He's still paralyzed, see. So, you see them on the platform drop, and so forth. Just let the Holy Spirit.... We're not playing church. This is God.

You say, “What are you stalling for, Brother Branham?” For that Angel of the Lord. That's right. If He doesn't come, I will have to pass the woman through. I will have to do just as I would if it wasn't this gift. Now, you don't have to have the gift to do it. That's not one thing to do with her healing. And it's only to let each one of you know, if He does it, that there's a supernatural Being here that's proving the thing that Jesus promised that would take place. Then if He keeps that promise, He keeps every promise.

Now, I want to talk to her just a moment to see that if He would say something to us. Now, not knowing you, never seeing you in my life, if the Lord Jesus would tell me something.... If I said, “Well, you're sick.” That could be a guess. Lay my hands on you and say, “Go on. Get well. Praise the Lord.” That could be all right. He could do it. And it could be God that did it, speaking through me. But then, you could wonder about that. But if He goes back now, somewhere down in life, maybe many years or whatever it is, as He did when that old fisherman come: told him who he was, told him his name, told him what his father's name was. What about that?

When He told Nathanael, “I saw you when you were under the tree.”

He said, “You're the Son of God, the King of Israel,” see. Now, if He would tell me one thing about you that you know I don't know, it'd have to come through supernatural, certainly. Then you'd say, “If He knows what was, He surely will know what will be.” Now, the Holy Spirit's here. That Angel that you see on the picture, is not two feet from where I'm standing right now. That's “thus saith the Lord.” Remember, I will meet you with the queen of Sheba, in the presence of Jesus Christ at that day.

I take every spirit in here under my control for His glory. Now do as you're told and be reverent. The woman is a Christian. And I'm not saying that because she's crying. Hypocrites cry and infidels and everything else, and make believe. But the woman is a Christian. And the woman's suffering with a condition of her back. And that's what she wants me to pray for. That's right. If that's right, raise up your hands, straight up in the air. There it is. You believe now?

Now, you say.... Now, you're not saying it tonight; but you might think that I was guessing that. Find out. She's a good person. She's not looking at me; she has her eyes closed. I don't have to look at her. God's just as great over here as He is over here, see. May He grant it.

Yes, I see the woman. She's suffering with a trouble in her back. That's right. And then she has trouble in her breast also. That's right. That's right, isn't it? And you might know me to be God's prophet ... or, His servant, rather: you got somebody on your heart you're praying for. That's a aged couple. It's your father and your mother. They're ill. And another thing, if you believe me to be God's prophet ... or, His servant, you've got a dear friend that's a neighbor of yours that you're praying for. And besides that, you're praying for all of them to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. I hear you ask it at a bedside, before you come. That's right. If that's right, wave your hand like this, back and forth. You have received what you've ask for. Go on your road rejoicing, because you shall have what you ask for. Find your father and mother well.

If thou canst believe.... Now be real reverent. Don't doubt. Do you believe that the same Jesus that knowed the woman's heart at the well, is the same Jesus here tonight, in a form of the vine, and we're His branches? How many believes that now? Then it should be settled. Now, be just reverent. We got a few standing here in the line. I just trust that He will do something else for us. That's enough; that proves it.

Which is it, six? I'm not beside myself, but you can imagine, visions, and being weak as I am, you don't know where you're at sometimes. Oh, you say, “That's strange.” Did you know Elisha didn't know where he was at for forty days and nights, and God found him pulled back in a cave? after a vision come to him. Daniel was troubled at his head for many days from one vision.

We're strangers to each other. It's our first time meeting? You just.... Somebody give you a prayer card. And when them prayer cards was given out, they were brought up here before the people and all mixed up together, and just give them to wherever they will. You don't know where you get, because sometimes we start from one place and another. Doesn't matter. Just a prayer card with my name on it and a number on it. That's all. But God knows you. Now, if He will reveal to me what you're here for, will you believe me to be His servant? And you believe then, that it would be a Spirit, you'd have to know that there's some kind of a Spirit in here that would know that, because it couldn't come through a human being. That would be a more of a miracle than to see that little crippled baby get up and walk. Did you know that? Psychic emotion could bring that baby up and walking. Right. Psychic emotion can bring that boy from the wheelchair. Psychic emotion can't foretell and tell what will be and what has been. Can't do it. That takes Spirit of God.

The lady is here. She wants me to pray for her for something's wrong in her mouth. That's pyorrhea of your gums. That's “thus saith the Lord.” Just a moment. I seen something else appear. It's a child. Oh, you got a child that's got bad feet. That's right. “Thus saith the Lord.” And you're not from here. You come from the northwest. You're from the panhandle. You've come from a city called Lubbock, Texas. Return. You have what you asked for. Jesus Christ makes you well.

Have faith in God. Now, don't doubt. Don't doubt, just believe with all your heart, with all that's in you. Just have faith. Have faith in God.

We are strangers to each other. Is this our first time meeting? Now, be real reverent. Something keeps taking place back in here. Now, don't doubt. Just believe with all your heart.

A lady sitting there with a little checked looking dress on, pink, or green, or ever what it is, looking right across this way, praying, with arthritis. You believe the Lord heals you then, sister? You believe it with all your heart? If you believe it, you may receive it and God will make you well.

It's moving in the audience; it goes across to a lady with her head bowed, right back here, sitting with her head bowed, the second woman in. She's suffering with a liver trouble. What did you touch, sister? I don't know you, do I? If that's right, wave your hand. I never seen you in my life. You believe me to be God's prophet ... or, (excuse me for saying that) His servant? All right. I never seen you. Your condition, where a dark streak hung over you, it's passed away. Your faith has healed you.

I want to ask you something. If that isn't the Spirit of Jesus Christ, acting the same as it did yesterday, what is it? That you might know me to be His servant, the lady sitting next to you, there, being that the Spirit's on you, she's suffering with heart trouble that she wants to be healed. If that's right, lady, stand up on your feet. You believe me to be God's servant? I don't know you, do I? That's right. Lay your hand on the lady sitting next to you, that just raised up. She's got back trouble she wants to be healed of. Stand up, lady, Jesus Christ makes you well.

If you believe me to be God's servant, the lady sitting next to her is a lady that's got trouble in her side. She's got side trouble. Is that right, lady? It is right. Stand up and raise your hand. Your faith has healed you.

Does that take all the superstition away from it? It's God. I don't know those people, but your faith has healed you. Go home, you're well. What did they touch? They never touched me; they're fifteen yards from me. It's the High Priest, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, the resurrected One. Don't doubt. Believe.

I'm sorry. It was in the audience. I just have to work as the Spirit moves. It's such a weakening affair. Are we strangers? I don't know you, and you don't know me? If God will tell me what you're here for, do you believe me to be His servant? You know something's going on. That feeling.... Between you and I stands that light. You're moving from me, you're moving way away. I can tell you right now: You're not from around here, because you're from a wooded country, where there's much heavy timber and woods. And you're suffering with a female trouble. And you've got a desire in your heart to have a baby, and you can't have the baby. And you've come from Denver, Colorado, “Thus saith the Lord.” That's right. Go home and receive your child. God will give it to you if you believe.

Now, be real reverent. Have faith. Don't doubt. Believe with all your heart. With that foot trouble sitting there, you believe that God will make you well? You accept it, believe it, that He will do it? All right. It's over then. God bless you. I don't know you, young man, do I? Never seen you in my life. That's right. But you was sitting there praying, wasn't you? See, I never seen him in my life, but you're healed, young man. Your faith has made you well.

This elderly lady sitting here with the glasses on, had a foot trouble, too. She's been suffering, and when I said that to that person, then she had faith, too. You believe that God healed you also? That's right. I don't know you, do I? But when I said “foot” to that man there, it made you jump, didn't it? The Holy Spirit struck you and healed you right there. You are healed. Your faith makes you whole. Amen. Have faith in God. Don't doubt.

Sitting back there with a handkerchief up to your face, crying, with that stomach trouble.... Forget it. God healed you. I challenge your faith in Jesus Christ's name, to believe that that's Him anointing me, a doing it. Now, you know why? You know why that woman was healed? That devil thought he'd catch that. This man right here's suffering with stomach trouble. That's right. You have something wrong with your stomach. That's right. And see, that spirit was moving from there, calling to that demon out there for help. There's a black streak running from the man there. I saw the vision between them. I tell you something else, sir. You believe me to be His prophet? All right. That sore in your mouth will go away, too. You believe that He will do that? All right, sir. You're not from this country, either. You're from Oklahoma. Your name is Mr. Meadows. Return back. You're healed. Jesus Christ makes you well.

Come believing. You believe God healed that arthritis while you was sitting there? Go on off the platform, rejoicing, saying, “Thank the Lord.”

I want to show you.... You have a nervous heart. And there's so many pulling out there. Let me show you; come here, just a minute. Here's the reason I can't call it now. The Holy Spirit's trying to.... I will show you something that's ... (not me, but the Lord will, if you'll just believe me). Looky here. Watch here. Here's the reason I can't call it. Everybody out there suffering with nervousness of any type, stand up to your feet. See, now, how can you call that? Stand on your feet just a minute. Have faith.

Come here. Stand right here. Look to me. Do you believe me to be His prophet? If God will reveal to me what's your trouble, will you believe it? You got asthma, coughing. All with asthma, stand on your feet. Everywhere that's bothered with asthma, coughing, stand on your feet.

Heart trouble.... Stand right here. All with heart trouble, stand on your feet, believe.

You got a mental nervousness. That is deep thinking, crossing bridges before you get to them, taking other things that don't happen the way you always think it does. It's a mental nervousness. This whole group's somehow or another, bound with that. Move over to one side, just a minute. Have faith in God and believe with all your heart.

If God can heal right here, He can heal out there. How many believers is in here? Raise your hands. Does God keep His Word? Look, Jesus said, “These signs shall follow them that believe. If they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover.” Did He say it? Why, who said it? The same Jesus that's here now, speaking, (not a dead God) a risen God. One is here, greater than Solomon. It's the resurrected Jesus. He's in your presence now, and you're in His presence. Lay your hands on one another. Every sick person in here, lay your hand on the person and pray like you do in your own church. There's only one thing to keep you, every one, from being healed, all at this one time: that's unbelief. And I'm going to ask these ministers to stand on their feet and pray with me that we will cast out unbelief.

If you can get the devil of unbelief out, this is going to be the greatest night you ever seen. All you in the wheelchairs, everywhere, get ready to walk out.

Almighty God, in the name of Jesus, come to our rescue. Thou the morning star, the Alpha, Omega, the beginning and the end....

Oh, Satan, you are exposed. You've lost the battle. Come out of this audience, in the name of Jesus Christ, move out of here.