Strait Is The Gate

Thank you, Brother Neville. Thank you. It's so good to be back in the house of the Lord. I always enjoy getting back to the Tabernacle, no matter wherever I go. There's something about this little old spot that I like to come back to it. It's just, oh, it was my first and only church I've ever pastored, and it just seems good to get back here again. And I believe that on that great morning when the sun refuses to shine and the stars fade out their light, I believe there'll be some from this Tabernacle present there that day, that's washed in the blood of the Lamb. I'm looking for that time.

As I come through the room just now, I met Sister Arganbright back there. And she was telling me that there was some people here who was at the Kingston meeting, that visited at the time. And I'm so happy to have them here as a testimony. Wherever they are, if they'll hold their hands up, was at the Kingston meeting in Jamaica. Just, yeah, back at the back. All right, that's fine.

I see Oral's post card. I guess you've already announced his meetings. I didn't know it until, the dates, until yesterday. I think it begins on the sixth, doesn't it? Sixth through the fifteenth, Brother Roberts in Louisville . Now, go hear him. Brother Roberts is a bosom friend of mine, and a real servant of Christ. And I'm sure you'll enjoy his messages, night after night. And as he prays for the sick, I'm sure that you'll see God move, because he is a great warrior of faith, Brother Roberts is, and a man who God is using mightily. And his ministry has climbed from...

I remember when I first met Brother Roberts, he was in a little ragged tent over in St. Louis, Missouri, and I was... no, Kansas City, Missouri. And I was in Kansas City, Kansas, in an auditorium. He sat on the front seat. After the service was over, we went around to the back and was talking. They introduced me to him. He's younger than I am; Oral's in his early forties. And so he said, “Do you think God would hear my prayer for the sick?”

I said, “Brother, He'll hear anybody's prayer that will pray.”

Well, he started off, and he said, “Here I go!”

And he's a very smart man, and college education, four years of psychology, and I'm sure he's a brilliant man. And he's right up to a place now to where he's got a staff of advisors around him, and things, till, when he speaks, he thinks it out. And you'll really enjoy him, I'm sure.

And so now I would like to give just a little report on what our Lord did in our little humble meeting in Jamaica and in Puerto Rico. It was a strange thing that I went over, because many calls come in. As Leo here knows, that the phone... And through the run of a week, there's literally hundreds of places call for meetings. But yet I like to feel led where I go, like for it... If I go because the man sent for me to come, then I come in the name of that church or that organization. If I would go because Brother Neville said I should go, I would have to go in the name of Brother Neville. But I like to go when Jesus sends, so you can go in the name of the Lord Jesus, to meet the people.

And I was laying on the bed, and I had been a little tired. This valley... Sooner or later, I'll have to leave this valley, because it's just breaking my throat to such a place I just can't hardly stand it. I can be away and be back... We come the other day, Leo and I, within forty miles, after being in the swamps in Florida, throat all cleared up, and within forty miles of Louisville it stopped again. Brother Banks Wood ought to be here somewhere this morning. And the other day coming in from Kingston and Puerto Rico, where my throat had just been perfect; and I got off the airplane, still all right; and before we could get to Jeffersonville, it closed up again. See, it's the valley here. It's the bacteria in the air, or either it's God, one, trying to get me away. So, I don't understand it. I've prayed and asked so many times.

But, however, I had just woke up; it was about three o'clock in the morning. And my wife and little boy was asleep. And I raised up on the side of the bed, and I seen a great number of people had gathered at a large place, and I said to Billy Paul, “You go in there and give those people prayer cards.”

And he said, “Okay, Dad.” In a few minutes he returned, and said, “You can't give prayer cards to those people.” He said, “You see this man standing here?”

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “He was over here, and I said, 'Everybody wants a prayer card, hold up your hands.'” And said, “I went to give him a prayer card, he went somewhere else. And then I went over there, and he was over somewhere else. Now here he is way back over here.” Said, “I can't even give out one prayer card.”

I said, “Well, Billy, you won't have to give out prayer cards, because there's such a great space here till everybody can...” Prayer cards is to keep a riot... you see, and keep them in order. I said, “Oh, I can take everybody there, no more than what there is in the space I've got, and line them up and pray for them one by one.”

And he said, “All right.” And he turned to the right and went away from me. And I turned around this way as he went off that way, just watching him.

And I heard a voice come down from heaven, and said, “But at this time, I will begin to magnify.” And I looked, and I never seen such a crowd of people; they were swarming from everywhere.

And Brother Roberts' name was called, said, “Now Brother Oral Roberts is coming to see you.”

And I said, “How shall I greet Brother Roberts?”

Said, “Just the same way he greets you.”

Well, I seen Brother Roberts coming with a black suit on, and a little hat like Bing Crosby wears, them little turned up and pulled down, a little black hat. And I was standing kind of up, and he looked up and said, “Hello, Brother Branham.”

And I said, “Hello, Brother Roberts.” Shook his hand.

Said, “You got a nice crowd.”

I Said, “Quite a crowd, Brother Roberts.” And he turned and went off the way Billy did, to the right.

And I thought, “Where am I going to speak to them from?” And I tried on everywhere to find a place to speak. I was in such a situation, something down, that I couldn't see where to speak to them from.

And somebody said, “Well, come over here.”

I said, “Well, you couldn't see no better there.” And I started across the place. And I remembered this, I said, “The main thing for me to do is keep humble in my heart, always, before God and His children.”

And I come out of the vision. And I thought, “What does that mean? Maybe it means we're going to have such... Or where is he going to be at?” You see, sometimes, in visions, He don't tell you just where; He just speaks and you just... It's in parable, like. And I'm sure you that read the Bible understand that.

And then I went into the front room and sat down for a little while, and it was about three-thirty or four o'clock in the morning. I got real sleepy. I went back and laid down, and I dreamed a dream, and it was the most odd dream. And most all of you know one of the managers, Jack Moore, Brother Jack Moore. I've knowed him for years. I thought that I was out with a date with his daughter, a girl about seventeen years old, and was taking her by the hand, leading her up the hill, little Jackie. Well, I've knowed her since she was just a nursing baby. And I was leading her up the hill, and I went three city blocks up the hill, leading this girl. And we come under a big tree, and she sat down. And like a lot of the little teen-age girls today wear them skirts that, you know, kind of bulged out, and she had on one of those kind of a skirts. And she took this little skirt and kind of spread it out and sat down. And as young folks usually looking at each other, she folded her hands like this and begin to look up towards the sky. Well, Jackie is a very fine little girl, but she has a great big mouth and great big eyes, and kind of sandy hair, not too attractive, but a real little lady. And I could see her big eyes as she looked towards the sky, and how the reflection of the skies was in her eyes.

Well, I went about five feet from her, and kind of laid down sideways like this, and got a straw and put it in my mouth, and begin to chew on this straw. And I begin to think, “What am I doing up here? Why, me an old man, and with this young girl. Why,” I said, “I'm married and have a bunch of children. I don't have any business up here with this young girl.”

And I started to raise up. And, when I did, a voice came from the tree, and said, “This is for a sign and for a cause.”

And I woke up, and I almost screamed—a nightmare. I thought, “Oh, wonder if that means that I'm going to backslide or something happen to me? Well,” I thought, “if I go to trying to use my own mind, then I'll get it all mixed up, so I'll just wait on God.” And I started praying. I said, “Lord, does that dream pertain to that vision just in the early part of the night, or what does it mean?”

After waiting some time, maybe an hour (my wife was already up and had breakfast ready), then the voice came back again, and said, “Go on to Kingston, and it'll be told you there what to do.”

So, immediately I went to Kingston. And they knowed Thursday afternoon that I'd be there Friday. That's all the advertisement we had. I'm not very good at making... or estimating crowds, because I usually exaggerate on it. But the first night, I'd say we had about twelve, oh, about twelve hundred people, now, because it was just known one day. And the next day they started runners running four miles, on relay, up the mountain. One runner would run for four hours, and then let some other runner go on up the mountain. And the second night there was about five thousand. And the third night it was estimated around fifteen thousand, maybe twenty. And there were thousands times thousands came to the Lord.

And the vision was: the little church, the girl was a virgin, just a child, and that meant the virgincy of the church. And the three city blocks up the hill was three days I would minister. And taking the little virgin church by my ministry, from where she was, on higher in the things of God, until it shook the entire island.

And, oh, ministers and people around, crying and begging and persuading, “Just a night or two more,” the city officials.

We went from there to Puerto Rico. There we were met with great, high triumph, and thousands times thousands packed the track, until it was estimated some forty thousand precious souls came to the Lord Jesus. And at the going... I hope I'd say this to my own church, but I couldn't do it out in the public, around where home folks are not, because it might be looked at wrong. But I have the judge's name here on a piece of paper, who gave the talk when we was leaving, right here, him and his staff.

And he said, “We have been honored in the island to have different ministers.” He said, “When Mr. Billy Graham has just left the island recently,” and said, “we had a glorious meeting.” He said, “But Billy Graham just brought us the same gospel that we've always heard.” He said, “Then we were honored to have Mr. Roberts on the island.” He said, “and Mr. Roberts gave us a great three-day meeting. But,” said, “the expenses was so high in the hotel,” said, “left thirty-five thousand dollars for three nights, for the hotel expense.” He said, “Then Mr. Osborn was here, which was a great servant of Christ. But,” said, “when Mr. Osborn left, there was a let down, it looked like everything was gone.”

“But,” said, “we noticed in this meeting that there really wasn't hardly anybody on the platform for Brother Branham to pray for. But,” said, “after the services was over, we'd pick up truck loads of old chairs and clubs and everything, out into the audience.” He said, “It wasn't a man this time; God came to us,” he said.

I said, “Don't expect my prayers; but your prayers out there, lay your hands on each other.” And they'd bring maybe a dozen or two at the platform; and when the discernment would come down, the people would just scream. We stayed in a fourth-class hotel and paid all of our own expenses and ways, ourself.

You helped do that, yourself, with your tithings that you send me. That's what did it. And I want you to know that out of all of that, you have a part of it. And in the great glorious day to come, God will reward you. See, you didn't have...

If the person itself goes and performs something, then, you see, when that person leaves, they think, “A big let down; God left us.” God don't leave you. He's with you always. See, it's you just as much into it as anybody. God may use a person for a certain ministry, but that don't mean that that person has an option on God. It's your own faith in God.

And they'd go out there in little old wheel buggies, that they'd take like baby-buggy wheels, and make a board, and lay the people on it and wheel them in. And after the service was over, all the race track would clear up, they'd just go along with wagons and scoop up little old carts and big old chairs, and clubs and cots and beds, and just where they just walked away and left them, because that the presence of the Lord was there. That's what we want to see. Man's out of the picture then; God is moving.

Coming back, just to help now this morning, I'm going to speak in a few minutes. And I asked the boys not to release the tape. Three days I've tried hard to think, “What will I speak on?” And this morning before I left, I felt a real stern warning in my heart to the church. I told them, “Take the tape, but don't release them for sale.”

But before we do this, I'd like to give you just a little testimony that it might do you good. It did me good. We went on a three-day's fishing trip, Leo and Gene and myself, and my son Billy Paul and his wife, down to a friend that comes here at the Tabernacle, from down in Georgia. And they taken us back in some swamp; I don't know just where it was now, near Okeechobee or something like that; I don't know the name them Seminole Indians gave it. But, however, we were many miles back.

And this Brother Evans... His brother is a sinner. He's a great fisherman, and he went back in the swamps a few months ago and they have what they call the “ground rattler.” And the ground rattler bit him, and he just barely lived. His limb swelled up, and they taken him to the doctor and they gave him shots. Those things are deadly. And they have a lot of cottonmouths back there also, cottonmouth, moccasin, alligators up to twenty-feet long.

And while we were fishing back there, I had caught a great big bass. Oh, it was a real day of relaxation. And he was so big I couldn't get him out of the water, and he just straightened out the hook and went on, or pulled himself free. We had many bass, about 150 pounds of big bass. And some of them weighing several pounds, from four to seven, eight pounds. And I caught this big one, and he got loose.

And I threw back, and I caught another one, around six, seven pounds. And I had a long pole that you had to hold up over the lily pads. And Brother Evans had... We was all wet from wading in the water, because it's just marshes. And he had pulled off his shoes and rolled up his trouser legs, and was sitting on a little dry place, kind of drying his clothes. And he seen this big fish wallowing around in the bushes, and I was wading towards him. He said, “Just a minute, Brother Branham, I'll get him for you.” And he run out there. And I had pulled it up, just the fish was about killed, laying in the pads. And he run out to pick him up. And, when he did, he let out a yelp, and here he come back. A rattler bit him.

And we looked at it, and there was the fang holes in his foot where the rattler had hit him, and it was hurting him so bad till the tears was in his eyes. Said, felt like that his bones was just paralyzing. And there we was, many miles back in the swamp. He's a big man to have to pack. And when a snake bites you, you get so sick in a few minutes till you're just about dead. And Leo was standing present. And something came on my mind: “Thou art still God!” And when he was holding his foot and gripping it, and those two big fang holes in there where the rattler had grabbed him, I laid hands on that place and said, “Lord, it is written in Thy Word, 'They shall tread on the heads of serpents and scorpions, and nothing shall in no wise harm them.'” And at that very instant, every pain left his foot. Put on his shoes and fished all day.

Went in that night and told them about it, they said, “You better go to a doctor.”

He said, “If God has protected me this far, He'll take care of me the rest of the way.” We fished three days, no ill effect at all.

God still is God. He keeps every promise. And of all my ministry, that's the first time I ever seen God come to a snake bite, because it was the first time I ever had the opportunity to pray for someone snake bit. Just lets you know that He keeps all His promises, and His words are good and true. Amen.

Remember the services tonight and this coming Wednesday. And pray for somebody now that really needs to be prayed for; that's me. And, remember, attend Brother Roberts' meeting when it comes to town, and greet him from the Tabernacle.

Before we read the Scripture, I'd like for us to stand to our feet just a minute. And without the music, let's just sing a chorus or two of this glorious old hymn of the church, “My Faith Looks Up To Thee.” All right, everybody join right in with me now, and let's sing it. And don't think of how you're singing it, just sing it to the glory of God. Will you give us the lead on it, Brother Neville?

With our heads bowed, I would like to read from the sacred writings of the Bible, St. Matthew, the seventh chapter, thirteenth and fourteenth verses. And may the Lord add His rich blessings as we read it.

Let us pray. O God, who brought again the Lord Jesus from the death and from the grave, and has presented Him to us this morning as a living sacrifice, we humbly dedicate our lives to Thee anew, on the thoughts that You would be so mindful of us. While we were yet sinners, dead in sin and trespasses, You sent Your only begotten Son, made in the form of sinful flesh, to become a propitiation for our sins, that the innocent, suffering for the guilty, might reconcile us together again in fellowship with Thee.

And, O God, if there is sin in our midst this morning, something that might hinder the Holy Spirit from bringing us the message of God to each of our hearts, we pray that, humbly, Lord, You forgive us of our trespasses. Cleanse us by the blood of the Lord Jesus. Whom we know we in ourselves we are nothing, and we confess that we are nothing, but Thou art holy, Thou art true, Thou art righteousness, Thou art the very fountain of mercy. And we humble crawl there today, as penitent souls. As a testimony has just went forth from Jamaica and from Puerto Rico, and where You have worked such great works, O God, it's the sign of the coming of the Just One.

How You delivered Brother Evans from the poison fangs of that serpent, because he was a believer, and Your words are always true. Now, Lord, deliver us from the fangs of death this morning, where the enemy has bitten and poisoned us. Let Thy healing balm, this morning, Lord, saturate our spirits and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Heal the sickness of the physical bodies that's broken down by the powers of the enemy. All that's in divine presence, may they be healed.

Speak to us now through Thy written Word, Lord. Knowing not what to say, but Thou will provide it. And You warn us, Lord, and make us ready for Your coming. For we ask this in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen.

I'm always a little late, because I've waited now. And Sunday school, I guess, is out. But there's something about it, when I come home I just feel like I got plenty time. You know, we're in too much of a rush, anyhow. So, we're just going to believe God.

Our Lord was giving this stern warning to the people of His generation, the people that were very religious. And He said, “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth to life, and few there'll be that will find it.” Now, it wasn't because they wasn't religious. They were very religious. And because that they had trusted in the church and certain creeds and denominations, and had believed (to an extent) in God, they thought everything was all right. But He was telling them that there would be few that would enter in.

And I'm wondering this morning if I could not liken that generation to this generation. See, it was at the closing of the Jewish dispensation, and He was referring back to different ones and different endings of different dispensations, and was telling them that the very thing that had been done in former dispensations was being done before them. And they failed to recognize it. And let's see some of the things that He was speaking about.

They, for instance, could not believe that God was in that man. That was the biggest obstacle that they had to climb over, was how Him being man yet made Himself God. They could not see how God could dwell in human flesh. And in all ages, in all times, God has always dwelt in man. Man is God's agent. In every generation, God speaks to His people through human lips. He always chooses someone or something that He can use.

And He referred to them, as being such a stumble, about Abraham. He said, told them, “If you call yourself the children of Abraham... Abraham your father, he saw my day and rejoiced to see it” Abraham, the prophet. And no doubt that Jesus was referring to them that He had proved to them that He was Messiah, because the sign of Messiah was following Him. And it had been that way through every generation, that's the sign of the Messiah. But yet Him making Himself God, the Messiah Himself, that stumbled them. They could not understand it.

Now, when Abraham (who they called their father) met God, He was also in flesh, because He eat the meat of a calf, eat cornbread, and drinking milk, and butter, in the presence of Abraham, yet He was God. Abraham recognized Him, God, and called Him “Elohim,” which is The Almighty Jehovah. A man wearing clothes, with dust on His body, and sat under a tree, for shade, and eat meat and drank milk. Then those cold, cruel-hearted, selfish, righteous Jews could not believe Him to be the Son of God, and called Abraham their father. And He was letting them know that He was doing the same things, in His flesh, that God did in another flesh when He met their father, Abraham. And Abraham believed it. And they couldn't believe it.

You see, when Abraham was sitting under his tent because he had made a choice. And that choice is brought before every person that's born in this world: The tree of good and evil is set before every person. And when Lot, his nephew, and the herdsmen began to argue about the grounds, Abraham, being a just man, said to them, “Just let there be no arguments among us. You just choose your way of going.” That place comes into every believer's life. And it's before you this morning, and it's before me.

Lot didn't think that he was going to backslide, but he went to looking towards Sodom where things were easy. And there's many times that we look towards the easy way. “I'll join this certain-certain church, and, you see, nobody will say anything against it, because it's the biggest church in the city.” The easy way! Many times we do that, when we're wrong!

Remember, if you follow Christ, you'll be hated by people, for all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And if you come to Christ, you'll not come by any church or any denomination or any creed. You'll come by the blood; that's the only avenue in. And you cannot bring no one with you; you'll come alone and stand on your own confession and your own faith. You'll not ride in on the pastor, or on your mother's faith. You'll come as an individual when you come to God. And many times we make those foolish choices.

What if Lot, when he seen everything easy... He saw where there was much money and much popularity, because he'd be a stranger, and a smart man, educated, a lot of psychology, and he could do certain things and yet maintain his religion. He thought, “I've got faith in God, so I'll just go down into Sodom and I'll make some extra money, and I'll become a great man, maybe a wonderful preacher.” See, you have a choice to make.

And the laity has a choice to make. “I'll go down to this certain church there. Oh, everybody in town thinks this is the most! Why, the mayor of the city belongs to this church.” Now, he could belong to a church that was really good, but still you have to judge that church and its people by the Scriptures. Sometimes they go because it's a popular way, the people dress better that go to certain places. There's where we make a fatal mistake.

Now notice this. And Abraham, the only thing he could do was take second choice. And sometimes second choice is better than first, if it's took like that. Notice, wasn't long, when Lot seen the big city, he didn't see his wife turning to a pillar of salt, though; he didn't see the fire burning up the city. But Abraham took the way with the Lord's despised few. He stayed in the desert.

And, yet, what if Sarah would have said... Now remember, Sarah was the prettiest woman in all the land. There was no woman as fair as Sarah. Everyone, seen her, fell in love with her. Now, how easy it would have been for Sarah to take that kind of a choice. But she chose to stay with Abraham.

Oh, women, don't let the devil blind you, being popular and joining this and that. You stay with Christ! For, the hour is at hand, great destructions are laying ahead, worse than Sodom and Gomorrah, for this country. Sodom and Gomorrah will be a credit to it.

Now, while Abraham had took the way that was given him by God, and had the leanness of the land, he wasn't prosperous at all. But yet he knew one thing, he served God and he believed God.

So one day there came three men, and they were well dusty and worn, and Abraham felt sorry for them. He said, “Come by and sit down under the oak just for a little while. And while he was standing there talking to them, he recognized that they weren't just ordinary men. By their talk, they were different. And Abraham went and killed a calf and had it dressed, and had Sarah to make bread and get ready to feed them.

Now remember, two of them were angels, angels in human flesh, and one of them was God Himself. And the one that was God had His back turned to the tent.

And Sarah stayed in the tent. I like to see a woman keep her place like that, not going out and telling her husband what to do, every time someone comes around. But she stayed in the tent, no doubt, maybe washing the dishes or doing something.

And this one who was God, He kept looking around towards Sodom, and He told them what He was going to do. And two angels went down in there to preach the gospel. But one stayed in the back; that was the one that was God. And He said, “I'm not going to keep from Abraham the secrets that I know, because he's going to be the heir of the world.”

Oh, we got a right this morning, church, to know the secrets of the coming of the Lord. For, “Blessed are the peacemakers: they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst: they shall be filled. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” Then, if the church of the living God is to inherit the earth, there is no secrets kept from it.

“All the Father has told me, I have told you,” said Jesus. And they could not believe Him.

So in the days of Abraham, as He was referring to them, He said that as Abraham was talking to the angel, and His back was turned to the tent, and He told Abraham He was going to visit him with a child. And Sarah, in the tent, laughed. And He said, “Why did Sarah laugh?” What was He showing? “Why did Sarah laugh?” It was just a few hours before destruction when that took place. Just before destruction, that fire come from the heavens and burnt up the city, and that sign was performed.

And Jesus said, “You do error,” to the great doctors of divinity, to a religious nation where literally millions were believers. He said, “You do error, not knowing the Scripture, neither the power of God.” To a generation like that, that were well-trained men, that were scholars and raised church. When a child was born, it was the property of the church. You had to be an Israelite. Eight days after your birth, it was circumcision, and you were an Israelite to begin with. And the priesthood came from the Levites, which were trained through hundreds of years in the Scriptures. Yet Jesus said, “You do error, not knowing the Scriptures!” They knowed them in their own book of learning, they knowed it by their catechisms, they knowed it by their own theology. But Jesus said, “You don't know It, the Scriptures, neither do you know the power of God. If you'd have knowed Abraham, you'd know me. If you were Abraham's children, you'd know me, because Abraham rejoiced when he seen my day, for he foreseen the day. When I stood before him back there in a body of flesh and performed this, he knew it was me, and he called me 'Elohim.' But here I do the same thing before you, and you call me 'Beelzebub.'”

Oh, they'd say, “We have Abraham to our father.”

“Call Abraham your 'father.'”

He said, “We belong to the church. We are a religious nation. We are a great people. We are God's people!”

Jesus said, “You are of the devil; he's your father.”

But I liken that generation to this one. Today, when there is literally millions of people that profess Christianity, and know no more about God than a Hottentot would know about an Egyptian knight. There's men and women today, literally millions of professing Christians that claim Christ, that don't know the first principle of the power of His resurrection, and never tasted His goodness. They've never felt His power. Their eyes are blinded to the truth.

Said, “You are blind leaders of the blind. If the blind leads the blind, won't they all fall in the ditch?”

Then they thought, “We are Christians. We are believers. We belong to the highest churches there is. Our rabbis are the best trained scholars there are.” And yet Jesus told them they didn't even know the Scriptures.

See how God's hid it from the eyes of the wise and prudent, and revealed it to babes such as will learn? Oh, the great power and the infinity of God! How good He is to those that desire to walk upright before Him! He'll withhold no good thing.

And to see the day that when our nation, our world, is corrupted with the same thing!

Jesus wanted correctly straighten them. They said, “Oh, Abraham is our father. And we'll be in glory; don't you worry about that, because we believe in God. We are professors, and we believe in God, and we teach our people. And who are You to come around here with a mysterious little old sign and try to call it God? You are nothing but a Beelzebub.” There you are; they had their creeds and their denomination.

Jesus told them, “You're the devil.” Think of it!

And I'd liken that generation to this today when we got millions joining churches, we've got tens of thousands. And God comes down to live in His church again, and to do the same things that He did there, to make Himself the same yesterday, today, and forever. And people turn their back from it, constantly, some to be popular, some to keep from making a choice. It's forced to the people. You have to make a choice. You can't stand neutral. You've got to say “yes” or “no.” You'll never leave that door the same person you come in. You can't do it. You've got a choice to make. Make it for Christ this morning.

They thought everything that belonged to the church would be saved. Jesus said, “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and but few there will be that'll find it.”

Let me warn you this morning, church, be careful. It takes time today, in our self-righteous, self-sufficient generation of hypocrisy that we're living in. An hour that when men and women stand in the churches and in the pews, and sing the anthems of God, and walk out of that church and smoke cigarettes, and drink whiskey, and go to dances, and live for the world, and tell dirty, smutty jokes, and call themselves “Christians.” When men and woman can walk from the pulpit or from the church, and from the place of the power of the resurrection, where that same Messiahic sign is a-moving among them, and not be a new creature in Christ, there's something wrong. When the papers can blast it; and from coast to coast, back and forth, from the frozen regions of the North to the tropical jungles of the South, God sends it, and people constantly turn their back upon it. Then what can we say? What can we do? We turn back to the Scriptures where He said, “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and but few there will be that will find it.”

He said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man.” Listen, in the days of Noah, the world was populated about like it is today. Their science was exceeding ours. They built sphinx and pyramids and done things that we cannot do today. An exceeding, great, smart people. And remember, science says today, “It's one minute before midnight.” It's one minute before the clock strikes the dead hour. It's later than we think. I hope that the... trust that the Holy Spirit will sink this into every believer's heart, “as the days of Noah.”

How many was saved in the days of Noah, out of that generation? Eight, eight out of many millions. He said, “So shall it be in the coming of the Son of man.”

“And as it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man.” Over the tens of thousands, there was three saved.

You'd say to me then, “Preacher, what about all the thousands that's going to come with Him?” Now, brother, that was made up through many generations.

I'll be surprised if a dozen comes out of this generation. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and but few there will be that find it.”

Oh, I know the churches, what they say, “If you put your name on the book and you become a member, you're all right.” There's no such Scripture as that. If everything's got its name on the book, and in a church, there'll be billions times billions times billions, everything will go in. Then all kinds of spirits will be in there, and what kind of a condition will heaven be in? Think of it now.

Someone would say to me, “Now wait a minute, Brother Branham. So-and-so, I heard them speak in tongues; I know they'll make it.”

That don't mean they'll make it at all. Paul said, in I Corinthians 13, “Though I speak with tongue of men and angels, and have not love, I'm nothing.”

“Oh, I went to So-and-so's meeting. Oh, he did great, mighty works. I seen him make the blind to see.”

Still he could be lost. “Many will come to me in that day and say, 'Lord, have not I preached in your name, prophesied? Have not, in your name, I've cast out evil spirits? Have not, in your name, I've done many great works?' He'll say, ”Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I didn't even know you.'“ ”Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and but few be there will be that will find it.“

Let me give you some estimations that'll shake you. According to medical science, in the city of Chicago, according to doctor's statistics, that there's thirty thousand abortion cases in Chicago alone, in thirty days, that the doctors has. How many of these little pills and things they take of abortion cases?

Statistics shows, in the United States, that there is more illegitimate children born than there is holy wedlock children. Did you know the Bible said, in Deuteronomy 14:2, that an illegitimate child, it would take four hundred years for that to run out? Their children's children's children's children's children cannot stand in the congregation of the Lord, four hundred years, ten generations, forty years in a generation. Their great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was an illegitimate child, he's out of the picture! Now what? Show me where it was changed.

What do we come to? And now the illegitimates, because of adultery, and sinful women dressing on the streets like men, which is an abomination in the sight of God, cigarette smokers, cocktail drinkers, so-called professed Christians. God forbid such a bunch of prostitutes! That's right. Then call themselves Christians? No wonder Jesus said, “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, but few there will be that would find it.”

They won't humble themselves. They're starchy. Look, when David was told of his sin that he done, quickly he repented, and God loved him for it. You tell them of their sins, they'll say, “I'll never darken the door again.” Why? They got plenty of places to go. They can go to those illegitimate dens that'll put up with such. But it's time that preachers put on the full armor of God and preached the Word without compromising, gospel. Men should humble themselves.

There's no sincerity amongst Christians anymore. They want to say, “I'm a Methodist, I'm a Baptist, I'm a Pentecostal.” That doesn't mean [Brother Branham snaps his finger.] that to God.

“I spoke with tongues, I performed miracles.” We lay all the emphasis upon that, and that's one of the most blinding things that they could do. Sure. The rain falls on the just the same as the unjust. The rain waters the crop the same as it waters the weeds, Roy. The same rain, the same Holy Spirit fall upon people. That still don't mean... Their nature's got to be different, from the inside out. Not an outward manifestation or demonstration, but the inside Spirit of the living God that makes that person a new creature, that humbles his heart or her heart before God.

You say, “Preacher, you mean to tell me you doubt a dozen out of this millions and four billion people in the world?” I doubt whether there'll be a dozen that'll make the rapture. Think of it! I'm telling you what Jesus said here in the gospel. Think of it!

What's it got to? Because the immorality got amongst the people, illegitimate children started being born; that blots them out. See, we could stand here for hours, placing those things, and you can see that we're living in a corruptible, damnable, rotten-to-the-core generation of people. No wonder they can't see no signs, no wonder they won't hear the gospel; they're hardened, yet just as religious and pious.

Didn't Jesus say that the Spirit speaks expressingly, in the last days they'd be heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than of God, trucebreakers, incontinent, fierce, and despisers of those that are good, having a form of godliness? See? Oh, you can shout, sure. You can speak with tongues, sure. Faith will cast out devils, sure. But that ain't what we're talking about.

Then you would say to me, “Brother Branham, what is the mark of a Christian? Who will be saved? Will you, Brother Branham?” I'm trusting that to God. I don't know. I'm believing that I am. I'm comparing my life daily with the Word. If it don't live up to this Word, then there's something wrong, I got to go back and get right.

“Well, say, Brother Branham, when people speak with tongues, don't that mean they're saved?” No, sir! No, indeed! I've heard witches and wizards speak with tongues. All kinds of nonsense. I've seen people speak with tongues and live with another man's wife. I've seen people speak with tongues, and jump-up-and-down and shout like the house was on fire, and go out and pull crooked deals and steal, tell lies, and everything. How can you expect it? No, sir.

Belong to church, deacons in the church, pious as they could be. Why, you think they'd buy gasoline on Sunday? No. But on Monday do something that's dirty and rotten and low-down. God dwells in the heart, not in outward; it's something comes from the heart.

“Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and but few there will be that will find it.” As it was in Noah's days, eight out of those millions; as it was in the days of Sodom, three out of millions; so shall it be in the coming of the son of man.

And we see the corruption that we're in. You see every imagination... Man, he gets out there and the devil makes smart preachers stand in the pulpit and let people get by with it.

The other day a person said, “I wouldn't have you in my pulpit; you would make my women go crazy.” No, they're already that way. It'd bring them to their right mind, tell them there to quit wearing these clothes and things. Well, somebody's got to do it.

I said to my wife, “Have I gone crazy, myself? Am I insane?” But what's the matter with me? Something on the inside can't hold still. I got to tell it, I don't care what anybody says.

Say, “You're going to ruin your ministry.” Well, any ministry that the gospel will ruin, ought to be ruined. God give us boldness to stand for what's truth and tell the truth about it! It's a sin, a disgrace!

“Strait is the gate,” said Jesus, “and narrow is the way.” And you think millions, and all you Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, Pentecostals going in, you'll be fooled at the day. Jesus said, “Many will come and sit down in the kingdom, say, 'I've a right to be here. '” He said, “But the children of the kingdom shall cast them out. There will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Better take inventory this morning, Christian. There will be ten times millions times billions of professed Christians, staunched in their life, that'll miss the gate. Jesus said so.

“How many's going in?”

I don't know how many's going. Only thing is, God, let me be one of them! That's it. He's the judge. Let me be one.

You say, “Brother Branham, how can you tell then when a Christian...?”

I don't know. But let me tell you what the Scripture says. Surely you believe that. When the Holy Ghost was sent to the earth, God spoke through the Holy Ghost. He sent an angel forth first, and He said, “Go through the city and among the people, and put a mark upon their forehead, of them that sigh and cry for the abominations, correcting those things.”

What is abomination? A woman that'll put on a garment that pertains to a man. It makes God sick. Did you ever get around where something's abominable? How sick it makes you; you can't stand it. A woman that will put on a garment that pertains to a man, that's the way it makes God feel. You might sing in the choir, you might pray every day, and shout every day, or live for God every day, you're condemned in the presence of God. That's exactly what the Scripture says. “An abomination!” And those who uphold such will have a part with such.

God give us grace to stand against such. If you have to stand by yourself, stand there and hold the Word of God in your hand. It'll never fail.

Now we've come to a day where the abomination of the people... And the angel's went forth sealing again. Find me one person in Jeffersonville, if you want to know who's going to make it; find me one person in our city that sighs and cries, constantly bothered and wearied, and praying for the abominations that's done in the city. Can you raise your hand and put it on one person? Then take this scripture, “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth to life, few there will be that find it.” That's the only ones that was to be sealed.

Oh, I can show you plenty going to church. I can show you plenty that sing in the choir. I can show you plenty teaching Sunday school. I can show you plenty that's the head of great societies. I can show you plenty that shouts, plenty that speaks with tongues, plenty that works in the gospel work.

But show me one that's down in their heart so troubled over the sins of the world. Show me a preacher that can stand today and condemn those denominations. Show me a preacher that'll stand and say the things, and condemn them denominations. He better not, he'll be kicked out; that's his meal ticket.

No wonder Billy Graham told Jack Moore, said, don't see how my meetings stand. Said, “He's not Baptist, neither is he Methodist or Pentecostal.” Said, “And all of them is against him.” Sure, I'm not saying that... The reason I said, I can't say it out in public. I say it to my own church. I'm having a struggle, because the trying hour is on me.

They say, “If you'll come, it'll be all right; don't you say nothing about that.” You just might as well save your breath.

I'll preach what God said preach! That's right. One of them eight will be somewhere. One of them will be somewhere. But at that day I don't want to be guilty of saying I compromised because of some creed or some church doctrine, or some denomination. I've preached the truth!

They say, “Why don't you... Why don't your ministry, Brother Branham, that seems to be so great, why don't it sweep out like these other men's does?”

That's it right there. That's it. I go into the city, do you think the Assemblies of God would cooperate with me? Not what I believe, they don't. Might get one once in a while. You think the Methodist would? Try, and find out. Be my manager for a week. If you go in, you'll go in in the name of Jesus. That's right.

Oh, of course, they get you there, sure, get you there somewhere in a place so that you won't be in connected with them in any ways like that. And then when you leave, say, “Oh, now, Brother Branham is kind of off at the brain just a little bit, you know. He...”

If I'm off at the brain, then the Bible's off in the teaching. That's what the Bible said. Yes, sir. Watch.

Jesus said, “Why do you call me 'Beelzebub'?” You believed Solomon, his sign of discernment. You believed his day. The Queen of the South come from the uttermost parts of the earth to see that gift, and she believed it when she saw it. And you sit and look at it daily, and don't believe it.“

His own brothers didn't believe Him. Said, “You go up to the feast.” He said, “But I don't go up now.” He went up another way, because His own brethren didn't believe Him. That's right. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and but few there will be that find it.”

When it come to the disciples, to the showdown, where were they at? A woman and a man stood by the cross with Him, John and Mary. The rest of them was gone.

This is the showdown. This is the time. This is when God's a-doing things. This is when the Messiah is on earth. This is when the power of God is moving in His people. And they call them “holy-rollers, crazy, insane,” oh, such as that. But the hour is here.

There is sure going to be some great disappointments at the judgment.

Oh, the bootlegger, he knows where he's going to be at the judgment. So does the beerhound know where he's going to be. So does the prostitute know where she'll stand. So does the gambler know where he'll stand. So does the drunkard know where he'll stand. He'll not be disappointed.

But where the disappointment is going to be, is those who thought they were right. That's where the disappointment. When they got up there, said, “Sure, we cast out devils in your name. We're preachers. We belong to certain-certain churches. We done great miracles. Oh, we preached! Why, I've been a steward in the church. I've been bishop. I've been this.”

“Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never even knew you.” There you are. That's the disappointment. He said, “The children... their children will come in and sit down in the kingdom, say, 'We got a right to be here,' and they'll be cast out into outer darkness, where there'll be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” Strait is the gate, narrow is the way, that leadeth to life, few there will be that find it.“

To you, my dear people, this morning, listen to this. I never made this up. I'm responsible for telling it. That's all I'm responsible for. If I never preach another sermon in my life, that is the truth: there's just going to be a few people saved. Just remember that: just a very few. You be one of them.

“Who are they, Brother Branham?” I don't know. Nobody else knows. We work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

But you be lined up with God. If your heart don't beat just with that Bible, then there's something wrong, there's something wrong. No matter what your church says, you can't go in by that. You got to go in by what God said. This is the book you'll be judged from: the Bible. Stay with it.

“Oh,” you say, “well, I've been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” That's correct, that's Bible. But if that life doesn't follow it, it didn't do you much good to be baptized.

You say, “Well, I've received the Holy Ghost.” That's good, that's what you should have done. But if that life isn't in there...

Remember, the weed receives the same power that falls on the wheat to make it grow, makes the weed shout, too. The little old weed stand right up and just as happy as the wheat is. That's right, lives by the same life. And a sinner can stay in the presence of God, shout the victory, and live like a Christian. But if there isn't something different in the heart... He could have the same power to cast out evil spirits. Jesus said so. He could preach the gospel just as good as any other preacher can do. That's exactly what Jesus said so. The Bible teaches it. Yes, sir. “Though I speak with tongue of men and angels, though I give my body to be burned as a sacrifice, I give all my goods to feed the poor, I have faith to move mountains, I do all these things, I preach in his name, I cast out devils in his name,” he said, “I am nothing.” So, he could do it, and “nothing.” Get the idea?

Now, the thing to do is, from your heart be a Christian. Now, enter in at the strait gate. For broad is the way that leads to destruction, and millions times millions in this generation of believers will go in thereat. Because, strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, just you and Christ alone.

“Narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and just a few there will be that will find it.” Now, that's the words of our Lord. My! What was He doing? Standing there, discerning their thoughts.

And he said, “He's Beelzebub. Well, how can he be God? He's a man. Where did this wisdom come from?” they said in His own city.

When you walk into the city here, it seems like... I don't say this any disregards to you people; you're Christians, you love me. You walk into the city here, and it seems like the power of Satan knocks you down. This place is condemned. This city is condemned.

What did Billy Graham say when he entered Louisville? He said that's the most demon-powered place he'd ever seen in his life. Placed it in the paper, said, “You can just feel the oppression of the devil.”

'Course, I'd feel it. Why? This is my own home. When Jesus returned to His own home, He said, “Many mighty works He could not do, because of their unbelief.” Said, “A prophet is not without honor, a preacher, unless it's in his own country, among his own people,” see. You can't help it, the Scripture says so, see.

Now, when you walk in the city here... And don't tell me I wouldn't know. I walk up to people that shake my hand and say, “Oh, Brother Branham, I love you.” And you know that's a lie! You know it's a lie. If God can tell me discernment of heart, why can't He tell me that? Sure, and right among in your own people around the city.

When they see you, said, “Well, you know, I seen where a certain-certain.”

“Where? Where was it?”

“Up that...”

“Huh! We know that guy!”

You feel it. Let me tell you, you let somebody come at your house that don't like you very much, sit in your house just a little bit and feel that funny feeling. Multiply that by fourteen thousand now, then you get what I'm talking about. Then you get into a place where everybody loves you, that welcome feeling, just, oh, my, you could just stay there forever, see. That's it, see, it's a spirit. And people don't know what it is, they wonder why the people's so contaminated.

What makes good women... What makes good women put on them vulgar clothes and get out there? What makes, even now when it's still cold, little sixteen-year-old girls, with clothes on that she oughtn't to wear before her mother, and out on the street? It's because, not that child (that child don't know any better), but because some preacher in the pulpit has failed to hold his post of duty. That's exactly right. Sure. Women get on the street, and all sexy dressed and things like that, and sinners look at them and don't know that she is actually just as guilty as she lived with that man. Jesus said so. Jesus said, “Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart, and will have to answer for it at the day of the judgment.” Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way.

I know you think I'm a hard guy. I'm not hard. I'm your brother, and I love you.

Flee the wrath that is to come! Go to the cross and cry until your heart is filled with His Spirit, that'll turn your back from everything of the world, and walk godly before Him, with your heart burning for Him. Love. Not a duty. Christ is not a duty, to serve Christ; it's a love that serves Christ. It strains you... constrains you, till every pulsation of your life beats with Him. That's when you see sin.

And He wept upon the earth. It grieved God in the days of Noah, when He seen the hearts. And Jesus set upon the hill, and said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have hovered you, but your hour has come and your house is left desolate.”

So shall it be at the coming of the son of God, the hearts of the real true believer is broken. He sees right now there ought to be a revival sweeping this land. How can it be through a bunch of illegitimates? How can it be, when they're condemned to begin with?

The kingdom of God is like a man that throwed a net in the sea, and when he brought it forth, he had turtles, terrapins, snakes, frogs, some fish. Wasn't him to decide which; he just throwed it up on the bank. That's what the gospel does. That's what Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, myself, and all other preachers that's preaching the gospel, throw it out, pull it in, “There they are, Lord.” And what are we doing every time? We find out, before you can get back again, they're right back out in the pond again. What is it? To begin with, it was a turtle. That didn't change him, to get caught in the gospel net. He was a turtle to begin with. He was a terrapin to begin with. He was a snake to begin with. He was a hypocrite before he ever come into the church. He had no desire even to quit his drinking and gambling and smoking and lying and stealing. He just come in because he was a-scared of hell. You're making yourself more a candidate for it, when you do that. That's true. “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, and few there will be that will find it.”

Let's pray.

Lord, oh, search me, Lord. Try my case right now, Lord. Don't let me have to come before judgment before You, after preaching this way. Oh, if there be any unclean thing in me, Lord, take it away, please. We see a day that we're living in, when men and women are becoming so starchy. They're ashamed. You said one time, “There's no even blush amongst the daughters of Zion.” Their modesty has been so taken away till they don't even blush no more. O Lord, think of it! And know that the timepiece yonder is beating away; just a minute or two more, and the great destruction will come; then let him that's filthy be filthy still.

God, wake us all up this morning. Shake us, Lord! We see the signs appearing. We got our eyes open to know that. We see millions, millions, Lord, that's turned their back and gone away. I wonder, what can I do, what can I do, O Lord? Is there anything, Lord? If it takes more preaching, more prayer, more anything, help me, Lord, that I might bring the message to the people. What can I do? But they continually turn it down. You do Your great signs and perform Your wonders, and yet the people march right on. Is it Your Scripture must be fulfilled? Is it the time that “No man can come to me except my Father draws him, and all that the Father has given me will come to me”? Lord God, grant this morning that people will wake up and see this last sign of the earth. I pray, God, that You'll grant something to the people.

Bless this little people here this morning. God, start with Brother Neville, Lord. Heal his body. He's sick this morning, Lord; stomach's upset. I pray that Your healing hand will be upon him. Stir his soul.

God, go out amongst this congregation. There's men and women sitting here that I may never see them again until that day at the judgment, then I've got to give an account. But I've read Your Word, “Strait is the gate, narrow is the way, and but few there will be that find it.” O Lord, let this be that “few,” some of them, will You, Lord? Grant that every person here.

I pray as a man could only pray. Lord, these people would do anything for me, as far as to help me. If I was hungry, they'd feed me. If I needed a suit, they'd buy it. They'd go together and buy me a car, to preach the gospel. They'd do anything in that way. O Father, search their souls this morning, please do, and let them search it out before You. I don't know, I trust that every one of them is in that elect. And put me there, too, Lord. And if there be any reason in me that I wouldn't be there, Lord, You just reveal it to me; I'll make it right right now. I want to be sure, Lord, that on that morning there'll be no trouble at the river. I want to go in that day. I don't know when that'll be; it may be yet today. So, help me to know, help these people to know.

And when we see our hearts are unconcerned... Oh, we enjoy a good message to listen on the radio, or go to the church. We appreciate a good message. We don't mind speaking of Jesus somewhere. But, Lord, is sin so a burden to us that it brings tears to our eyes, sighing and crying and standing against it, everything, the abominations that's did in the city? Lord, let the angel of God see that upon us, and mark us. Grant it, Lord.

Even so come, Lord Jesus, now and prepare our hearts, and give us Thy true signs that You're in our midst, that we might know that we're receiving the last sign before the end of this generation.

We see the illegitimacy, when men living in the nation and having babies born by other men's wives, and little girls on the street, and hundreds turned away from schools every year and teen-age becoming mothers, and there's no respect, and how that the women are becoming poison themselves by smoking and drinking, and televisions and so forth that's corrupting the minds of the children. O Lord, how long can it stand? And You, a holy God!

O Father, I'm strangely feeling today that something must be done quickly, Lord. I don't know what to say, but I pray, Lord, that You'll place in our hearts of what to do. Grant these things, Lord. We ask them in Jesus' name. Amen.

The hour is at hand. Every sensible person that's got reasoning know that something's fixing to happen. There's not a person in this building, that's got its right mind, but knows that this world cannot stand under these conditions. We can't stand, friends. There's not one thing, as your pastor and your brother, there is not one thing that I can guide you towards this morning but to Jesus Christ. There isn't a thing that I know. Just think of the things that's prophesied to come before the rapture takes place; everything that I know of is done fulfilled.

You say, “What about the mark of the beast?” That's to come in the tribulation. The church will be gone then. Won't have to mark these; these done gone, see. The marking is going on now. The marking is the showing forth, the brand. Flee to God, flee to Him quickly!

I wonder this morning, while we're waiting here just a minute. And I feel like you do. I can sense your feeling, each one of you trying to think, “O God, search me out!” That's the way I feel, too. I realize that these messages like that, friend, is not popular amongst the people. You condemn them and you just make them low. Somebody's got to do that. I wish it had been maybe somebody else. But if it falls my lot to do it, if I have to be the scrub woman, let me scrub. If I'm... David said, “I'd rather be a door mat at the house of God, than to dwell in tents with sin.” That's right. Whatever God wants you to do, do it. Don't be ashamed. If there's...

Remember, I know that's a great thing. Say, “Brother Branham, you say only eight souls will be saved?”

I don't know how many will be saved; I couldn't tell you. But I say one thing: they'll be so few, in a day like this. Just think, in that day where He was at, how many was saved. Think of the day of Noah, and the day of Lot, and all them, He said, “So shall it be in the coming of the Son of man, because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way.” You see, you go in by yourself, with Him, and that's all, see. “And but few there will be that find it.” How many believes that's the gospel truth? Jesus Christ, see, “Few there will be that find it.” Just a very few. Be one of those few. I know that's hard, it's strenuous. And it strains on me to say it, feeling the human love for you, but the love of God constrains me to tell you.

Now, the same Holy Spirit that performed in the days of Abraham, performed in the days of Christ, promised to be here to do the same thing. He's here. Now, if I've told you the truth, God's obligated to that truth.

If I don't keep my word, I'm not a man of my word. If you don't keep your word, you're not a man of your word. Now, I might promise you something and I couldn't do it, but I'll come tell you. If I owe you something, and hide from you, I'm a hypocrite. If I come tell you, “I owe you, but I can't pay you, but I'll do the best I can,” then you forgive me and help me, see.

We all owe God something. We owe Him our lives. Let's be honest about it. Walk out and say... Don't say, “Well, now look, I'm Presbyterian. I'm Methodist. I'm Pentecostal. I'm Church of God. I'm Nazarene. I'm Pilgrim Holiness.” Don't think that! There'll be millions of those in hell. You be a Christian, in Christ.

How many will say, “Brother Branham, remember me in prayer now, I want to raise...”? God bless you.

Lord, You see their hands. The hour is here, the great Holy Spirit has hushed this building this morning. I sense Your presence. I realize that You're here to honor Your Word, “I the Lord hath planted, and I'll water it day and night, lest some should pluck it from my hand.” You sent forth Your Word to do a purpose, and it'll have to do that, Lord. The Scripture says that You're the same yesterday, today, and forever.

They could not believe; them people in Your days could not believe that the Holy Spirit was in You. And You made Yourself (being a man) God, which You was the virgin-born Son of God that came to the earth to redeem us from our sins. And because that they seen the Spirit of God in You, they tried to make it different. And You told them, Lord, “It's not Me that doeth the works; it's my Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. You called Abraham Your father. Abraham saw my day Sure, he did, when he was standing by Him, saw Him do that works and signs. he saw my day and rejoiced.” Said, “You err, not knowing the Scripture neither the power of God,” how that God could overshadow a virgin, and bring forth a Son by a virgin birth and dwell Himself in the fullness of His power, in that one Man.

And how He could take that same blood from that body that He gave as a sacrifice, and sanctify a people, that Himself might live and continue His work to the end of the consummation. O God, wake people up to see that. Grant it. Save everyone that raised their hand. Cleanse their hearts. Lord, my hands are up. Cleanse me, O Lord. This is a house of correction. This is the place where we should be washed. Let the Holy Spirit wash us this morning, and cleanse us from the corruption.

We pray, Lord, that there'll not be a person leave here but what will be filled with Your Spirit. Maybe there won't be one emotion from the outside when it happens. But, Lord, go on the inside, pull off the shell and show us what we are, Lord. Grant it. And then fill us with Your Spirit, with a heart that's true and pure. And in this time of persecutions and hard trials, You'll grow sweeter and dearer to us as we walk along, waiting for that day while tears run down our cheeks, for the sins of the city. May the Holy Spirit look down and say, “There's one that I can mark; he's Mine, she's Mine.” Grant it, Lord. May it be found among us today. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

I want to know Him now. Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me on, let me stand. Let me stand here, Lord, against everything that's called wrong, everything that looks wrong. I don't care what anyone says, let me stand, Lord. When I've done all I can do, help me stand. Take my hand and pull me through it, Lord. Do something, let me stand. When them things come, and the treasures of this world and all of its pomp and its glory; blind my eyes to it, let me only see Him who died for me. If it costs every friend I got, if it costs everything I got; that don't mean one thing, I surrender it all on the altar. That's it, let me stand, Lord. And someday when the breath's a-blowing against my face, and I know that my heart's gone and my days are finished, and my time's up and my card's taken from the rack, I want to not cross Jordan alone. He'll be there. When the darkness I see, He'll be waiting there for me, I won't have to cross Jordan alone. If I'll stand for Him now, He'll stand for me then. I'll live for Him who died for me, how happy then my life will be. That's the way I want to stand.

I guess there's sick people here. Do you have any cards? I forgot. Did they give out cards? Is any cards give out? Anybody got prayer cards? No.

All right, I'm just waiting for the Holy Spirit. If you just only believe, just have faith, don't doubt. If God will reveal to me your troubles... Whatever it is, I don't know; if you raise your hand, you don't know me and I don't know you. Then if God will reveal here, would you believe it was the same angel that brought the message just before the destruction back there, it would be the same angel that was bringing it right now before another destruction. Would you believe that? If you would, raise up your hand. All right. All right, may the Lord grant it.

He's sitting close to me. There's another one sitting close to me, is Mrs. Snyder here, or this Mrs. Murphy here, what her name is, sitting right here. I know them.

I don't know this man; he's a stranger to me. But God knows him. If God will reveal it now... How many know that it's...

Now, don't look at me. I'm a Kentucky hillbilly, as far as that's concerned. I don't even have enough education, hardly, to write my own name. But there's one thing I do know, I know Him. And that's all I care to know. Now, don't pay any attention to what my grammar and...

And you might think that my sermon this morning was all out of line and everything; you line it up with the Bible one time and see if you ain't right on the zero target. See if your scope ain't in when you put it on there. Don't line it with our own thoughts, but line it with what He said. “Strait is the gate, narrow is the way, and few there will be that will find it; because broad is the way that leads to destruction, and wide is the gate, and many will go in thereat,” millions times millions will go in there. One out of a million will probably be the way it comes. There you are. That's what He said. Now, He never give that number, but He said, “As it was in the days of Noah, eight souls. As it was in the days of Sodom, three.” Out of the whole thing, three was saved, by fire. So will it be.

Now, if anybody is real spiritual, I want you to look at this man sitting here; he's watching me just as constant as he can. Raised up his hand, I don't know him; never seen him, I don't know nothing about him. He's just sitting there looking at me. But, see, he's making a contact, he's praying. Now, that's right. Now, if the Lord will tell me... That man sitting that far from me, this is our first meeting, and there he sits there. If the Lord will reveal to me what he's... I couldn't heal him. I don't... I couldn't do that, because God's already done that. But it would increase your faith. Everybody sees now, He's right here, just the same Spirit. And remember, Jesus promised this, before the end-time. It's always been the last sign.

The other day, Leo and I was sitting on the street, and some of us talking. And I keep feeling there's a change coming, a change coming. When we spoke of it, it won't be a change in my ministry, because it can't be no more, but it'll be a change in me. I've always been a weakling and just let people lead me and guide me, and send this way and that way. If I'd have done something the Lord told me to do a long time ago, I wouldn't be in the trouble I'm in today. I'm going out this next week to be alone with God. Yes, sir. I must hear from heaven. I don't want to be a weakling; I want to stand on my own convictions.

The man... Keeps coming right back to him, he's sitting right back, because that man is believing, he's actually believing. I watch the audience everywhere, and it falls right straight back to the man. He has need, he's burdened, but he's burdened for somebody else. That's right. You're praying for somebody else. You got somebody else on your heart. That's right, isn't it? It's a friend. If I tell you what's the matter with that friend, will you believe me to be God's servant? It's alcoholic. That's right. If that's right, raise up your hand.

Do you believe? Somebody over here raised up their hand, a woman back in here, someone. Yeah. You don't know me? I'm a stranger to you all? I don't know you, but God knows you. You believe that? If God will reveal to me what's on your heart, will you believe me to be His servant? Little lady, what you're troubled about is that baby there. That's right. And that baby has eczema on its face. The doctor can do nothing about it. You're a stranger here, you and your loved one sitting there. You believe God can tell me who you are or where you come from? You believe it? Would you accept the healing of the baby if He would? All right. You can go back to Somerset, Kentucky, where you come from, and believe that he'll get well. The eczema will leave the baby if you can believe it.

When I mentioned that word, somebody standing back there in the hall, from Somerset, Kentucky, praying, with a heart trouble. You believe that God would make them well? If you believe it with all your heart, and believe that God would heal and make well.

Here, I believe someone's hand come up right long in here, right along... a lady. Yeah. I seen your hand. Am I a stranger to you, lady? I don't know you. We've never met. Do you believe me to be His servant? You do? You got a burden on your heart, or something. You believe if God can reveal it to me, you believe it's the same Spirit that was in Christ? Your husband sitting there, he believe the same thing, too? Would you believe the same thing? It's about your little girl sitting next to you there. That's right, she has cancer. But do you believe that God will heal her? If you do, raise up your hand. All right, lay your hands over on the child.

Lord Jesus, in the presence of Your Spirit, I condemn the devil that's killing the child. I place, by faith, the blood of Jesus Christ between that killer and the child. Let it live. Amen.

Have faith in God. Don't doubt. “If thou canst believe, all things are possible.” If you can believe, all things are possible, correctly.

Somebody else back in there raised up their hand, somewhere, you, a lady over on the end. You believe me to be God's servant? I don't know you, you don't know me. You believe that God can reveal to me what's your trouble? Would you accept Jesus to be your healer or provider, whatever it is, whatever it... You believe it then? All right. Then that nervous break that you've had... That's what you had. If that's right, stand up on your feet, if that's right, just so the people will see that it's the truth. All right. It'll leave you now. You go home and be well. God bless you. You're from Kentucky, too. That's right.

The lady sitting next to you is from Kentucky, also. She is, also. I don't know you, do I? But I can tell you you got something wrong with you. If I can tell you what's wrong with you, you accept Christ as your healer? It's in your hip. If that's right, raise up your hand, way up high so the people can see. All right, go home now, it'll leave you. Your faith makes you well.

I challenge you to believe. I challenge your faith to believe.

Here sits a lady here, praying, got her handkerchief up to her face. I don't know you. God knows you. You're from Joliet, Illinois, and you got a tumor. That's exactly right. You might wonder... (Yes, that's the woman Rosella brought. That's right. Wait, she told me about that, but she never knew I never knowed the woman. That's right. Just happens to be the woman's faith was great.) I'll tell you one thing you know that I don't know. You're praying for this child sitting here on the end of the seat, that's sick. That's your child. That's right. Amen. You know I didn't know that.

There it is; it's the Holy Spirit! Do you believe it? Do you accept it? Then if that's right, what I said about “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way” is right. Jesus Christ, God's Son, is right here now. The Spirit of the living God is right here. Do you believe it? Then, to let you know that I'm not nobody to heal, I'm not a healer, but the Spirit of God just chose me to manifest Himself. I don't have no education. I have no knowledge of anything. But it's His Spirit that does it, you see, and He wants you to know that I've told you the truth.

This is the truth, that Jesus Christ makes every one of you well right now if you'll believe that. Now just as... If it worked in Kingston, which the missionaries, or whoever it is back there, seen it work in Kingston, by the thousands being healed, why won't it work here in this America where we have the way it is now. Why can't we believe it? Because we can't cross that little riffle yonder. Do you believe it? Raise up your hands.

Now, those same hands, lay on somebody next to you, let me pray for him from right here, and don't you have no more doubt in your heart. This will end it.

Oh, my, Brother Neville! How I've wished, how I've prayed, how I... You might think I'm beside myself; I'm not. I know right where I am. If I could only get this little thing over to you! Do you realize that Jesus Christ, God's Son, here in the midst of the people this morning, right now, present right now, is showing Himself?

Well, you say, “Brother Branham, you said that.”

How did I say it? I don't know you. There's another woman with TB. You're healed, sister. Bless you. I beg your pardon, you was praying for a woman with TB, because it's a gray-headed woman. Yeah. All right, believe it. All right. He's here. It's His presence.

Now, here's what He said, “These signs shall follow them that believe. If they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover.” How can He lie? See, it ain't on Him, it ain't on me, now it's on you. Now you believe.

I'm looking at a little woman sitting back there just now; she's got a lot of faith. Her and her husband just newly come to the Lord. She sat right in this meeting, had a rupture that the doctor was going to operate on her just before, and her baby was fixing to be born. And the doctor was going to operate afterwards, but the baby was born and they can't find no hernia no more. It's all gone, see. Why? She just sat like... She never was up here at the platform like that. She just sat back there and believed it. Is that right, Mrs. Green, I believe it is, back there? That's right. See her hand? The doctor can't even find the rupture; it's all gone. Why? She believed it, just stepped out and said, “It's right!”

Now you do the same, and every affliction you've got will have to leave. God, who can send something into a human body, to that phantom of that serpent bite that was in that man's foot, poisoning, to kill him, and can stop it and kill it right there, how much more can He kill the sicknesses in your body. Because that man was in distress and he had to have help. You've got to, too. If you don't have it, you die.

Now keep your hands on one another. Don't you pray for yourself, you pray for the person next to you. That's Christian-like.

Learn this, learn this, that as you do to others you do to Christ. When you be good to somebody else, you're being good to Christ. If you mistreat somebody else, you're mistreating Christ. Oh, my!

Oh, if I could only get this to be go over, if I could just let the people see it, what I'm looking at and what I'm feeling, and what I know that's going on, see. How Christ is pushing after that message this morning, to get right down into the hearts of the people and create something there; not an excitement, not an emotion (it comes with it), but to create an undying faith there that won't say... give an inch to the enemy.

Now, He'll hear my prayer, He'll hear yours. You pray for one another now, while I pray for all of you.

O Lord, this great crucial moment, we realize that this is going to mean the difference between death and life to many. And I tremble in Thy Presence, for I know, Lord God, that I must pray with all my heart. I realize that even though that there may not be a sick person in our midst in another five minutes, that every person here will recognize that You're here. Here they stand this morning, Lord. Let them people raise up their hands who knew that I know them not, and nothing about them. But Your Spirit knows them. You know the secret of their heart. How much more do You know their afflictions and their sufferings? Then, Lord, let it be today, let it be even now that Your Spirit will touch their sick bodies. Grant it, Lord. They're praying one for the other.

And I pray, dear God, that the Holy Ghost will make it so real to them that they'll never disbelieve it again. And there is another sickness, Lord, which is far greater than this physical sickness, is a spiritual sickness. May every heart be opened.

Lord, how can it be that You stood there by the side of Abraham, and performed this same thing, told Sarah which was behind You, the Scripture said, “in the tent she laughed,” and You told her. And Abraham recognized that that was Elohim, the great God. In a few minutes You were disappeared out of his sight.

And, Lord, when Jesus stood and did the same thing, and said, “You called Abraham your 'father,' and yet you say you know the Scriptures.” Said, “You do err, not knowing the Scriptures neither the power of God.” And they called Him “Beelzebub.”

But You promised that in the last days that You'd pour Your Spirit again. The prophet said, “In the evening time it shall be light.” And here we are.

When this illegitimate world is tumbling under sin, like a drunk man stagger home at night, soon she'll be blowed into mist. There'll not even be volcanic dust, hardly, left of it. And we see the time ticking away.

O God, take every doubt away from us. Move us into that cycle just now. Come, Holy Spirit. Hold out Your great wings, brood over this little audience of people just now, and let Yourself saturate into their hearts, and let them know that You're in Divine Presence, that it's You, “I'm the Lord who heals all thy diseases.” And may Your presence do something to their heart that will cause them to go from here this morning, believing with all that's in them. May every sick and afflicted person be healed.

For, as Your servant, I stand and condemn every devil, condemn the sickness, condemn Satan.

You have lost, and you're nothing but a bluff. And we call your hand on it this morning, in the name of Jesus Christ. And as His servant, preaching His Word and telling the people the truth, to get right and to line up with God's Word, I condemn you, Satan. In the name of Jesus Christ depart from every one of these people who's come from far and near to be healed. You get from this audience and from this people. I adjure thee by the living God. And the Bible said, “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man shall availeth much.” And many righteous men have their hands laid on the sick this morning here. Oh, Satan, you would like to get them to think it was me, then you'd take the glory from them. But it's their faith in God, too; they believe God. And you'll have to move, by their faith. So take your journey away from here, and go into outer darkness where you belong. I condemn you, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the authority of God's Bible, my commission by an angel. Now go, in the name of Jesus Christ, and let them be free. Amen.

Do you believe, all your hearts, that you're healed? Raise your hand, say, “I now accept Jesus Christ as my healer. All shadows has vanished from me. I now accept Him in the fullness of His power, in the blessedness of His presence. I accept Him.”

Now let's raise our hands real sweetly to Him now.