Blind Bartimaeus

Remain standing just a moment while we offer a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads.

Dear God, it's with grateful hearts that we bow our heads in Thy presence tonight to give thanks to Thee for what Thou has done for us in the times gone by. And we would ask, Lord, that You would pardon us of all of our trespasses, and forgive all of our iniquity, and we would ask that You would bless us in exceedingly abundantly way tonight, insomuch that You would save every lost person that's in Divine presence, or that's listening in on the air. And we would pray also, Lord, that You would heal every one tonight of their afflictions. So happy to see You each night doing these great wonders here before for us. And we're indeed grateful to You, Lord. And we pray that You'll bless this place called the Angelus Temple, its pastors, its workers, and the school, and all that it stands for, and those who are working hard together for the kingdom of God's sake, all the churches throughout the country.

Give us of Thy presence tonight, Father, that we might lead those who are strayed out of the way back to the old path again. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

May be seated.

It certainly is one grand privilege to be back again this evening to speak again about the One that I love so well. And I'm sure that's the feeling of each individual here, thinking, “the One that we love so well, the Lord Jesus.”

Tomorrow night now, little Ricky is to be here in testimony. Many of you that's heard his ... of the great miracle that God performed for him. His father and mother is to bring him tomorrow night.

And now tonight, for a Scripture reading, I wish to read over in the book of Saint Luke, nineteenth chapter and the thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth verse;

And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passed by.

And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

Our scene opens tonight at the city of Jericho. It's located just at the foot of the mountains, from Jerusalem being on the mountains and Jericho is down in the valley. It sets kind of in the plains of the Jordan. And I think it's supposed to be one of the lowest cities that there is in all Palestine.

And it must've been on a cold morning, something, say, about October.

There was many beggars in the land in that day. And there was ... the doctors were not able to help them. Many of them were sick and afflicted in such ways that the doctors could not help them. And again, if they were beggars, they perhaps didn't have money enough to have the operations performed that could've been done.

And we're opening the scene now of this cold morning. We look and can see such a beggar (as we have read about just now) fumbling his way around some rocks that laid out a-piece from the city wall, where it had fallen down in the days of Joshua by the trumpet sounding and the promise that God was going to break the walls down.

And the one beggar that we're speaking about now, he was a blind man. His name was Bartimaeus. And he'd come late that morning to take his place which was at the gate, just something like it is today, that each man has his own place to beg or sell. And Bartimaeus had come late. Almost all the people had done gone into the city—the merchants and so forth. And it was going to be hard for him to get a coin for the day because, usually, the men, not being too rich a city, they just had perhaps one coin each day that they could throw to a beggar. And the first they seen perhaps was the first one who got the coin.

And Bartimaeus had been late getting to his place to beg. And all night long, he'd dreamed that he could see. Something had been very strange about this. He dreamed all night, tossed and rolled, that he could once more see again, for we are told that he'd been blind since he was just a young man.

And as the poet puts it, with his ragged coat on, or his little robe, and his sleeves all torn.... And it must have been a pathetic sight to see this man after being too late to sit at the gate to beg for something to eat for that day. Then trying to find himself a rock somewhere to sit down on.

You know, I think blindness is one of the cruelest things that we can think of—a person who cannot see the daylight. And if we can think of the natural blindness, how great that is, how much greater is the spiritual blindness to those who have good eyes and cannot see the promises of God.

And as he was fumbling his way, finally, over in the sunlight—the sun perhaps had not rose high enough yet to give the sun out far from the wall—he finds him a rock and sits down.

I read a little story some time ago about blind Bartimaeus. It said that.... I don't know, it perhaps was fiction. But it said that he begged at the gate of Jericho, and he was a married man, and he had a little girl of about twelve years old. And he had never been able to see this little girl. And when he.... If you sit by the gate and had nothing for an enchantment to attract the attention of the people who passed by, it was much harder to get a coin.

As we see today, they'll play a instrument or do something. Recently in India, oh, they have a cobra snake that they want to blow a little whistle to charm him, or a little monkey to beat them with a stick like they're getting a whipping or something—something to attract the attention.

Blind Bartimaeus, they said, had two little turtledoves that turned little tumbles over each other. And that would attract the attention of the passer-by.

And also in this day we find that a blind person is led by a dog that's trained to take them across the street. I just forget what they call that. (What?) Seeing-eye. In those days, instead of having a trained dog, they had a trained sheep that led them.

And said that one night Bartimaeus' wife took real sick. And he went along the side of the house and knelt down, after the doctor had left and said that he didn't know what to do for her, and he prayed to God. And he said, “Lord, if You'll just let my dear precious wife get well, I promise You that I will take these two turtledoves and offer them to You for a sacrifice.” And his wife got well.

Some time later, that his little daughter got sick, very seriously ill with a fever. And he went out the side of his house again and prayed, and said, “Lord, I don't have nothing left but my lamb. And if You'll just let my baby live, I promise You that I will take my lamb and give it as a sacrifice upon the altar.” And as the little story goes, that his daughter got well.

On his road up to the church to offer the sacrifice, he met the priest. And he said, “Where goest thou, blind Bartimaeus?”

He said, “Priest, I go to the temple of the Lord to give my lamb for a sacrifice.”

And the priest said, “Bartimaeus, thou cannot give this lamb. This lamb is your eyes. I'll give you the money to buy you a lamb. You go to the stalls and buy a lamb and offer it, because this lamb is your eyes.”

Blind Bartimaeus said, “I am grateful to thee for this kindness that you're willing to show to me. But, you see, I never offered God a lamb, I offered Him this lamb.”

“Well,” he said, “you can't do that, because this lamb is your eyes.”

He said, “O servant of the Lord, if I will only keep my promise to God, God will provide a lamb for my eyes.”

And how true that is—if we will just keep our promise to God, our vows, and go to our leadings.

And as we see him now sitting there in the warm sunshine, what's he going to do? Winter's coming on, and perhaps with no wood in, and the things that he would need.

And he began to dream in his mind of that night of the dream that he had, that he could see again. And it brought back memories of his childhood.

You know, I just think it's good for all of us sometime, in this day that we live in in this hustle and bustle of life, if we will just get off to ourself sometime and sit down and go to thinking about God and His goodness. It's usually when we're thinking of Him that He appears. It was while those on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, as they were thinking and talking about Him, that He appeared among them.

And he begin to think of something like this: how that when he was a little boy out there on the hills of Judea, the little yellow flowers, and how he used to get out as a little child and would pick those little flowers, and how pretty they was, especially when they were just coming up in the spring; and how he would see the blue skies and would wonder how far it was up to the skies. But since that day, his sight's been shut off from such.

Then he remembers another great thing of his childhood, of how that his beautiful little Jewish mother used to get him up in her arms after his midday lunch, and would sit out on the front porch and rock him and ... to get him to take his nap, and tell him Bible stories of the great Jehovah God, that how that God had led their people out of the bondage of Egypt, and had brought them into this great land that they lived. And he just loved to hear those stories.

One that he liked so well, was to think that when just down at the bottom of the hill at the ford, there was where that the Jehovah God rolled back the Jordan and held it at a standstill, until the mighty Joshua and the marching army of Israel crossed over. He loved those stories of the power of God.

Then there was another one that he liked real well. In the Bible, it was told about a woman, and she was a Shunammite woman. And she had a little boy such as he was. How his mama would tell him these stories, and his little eyes would snap as they looked her in her pretty face....

And then on this story of the Shunammite woman, how that the prophet Elijah was such a wonderful kind man. And this Shunammite woman respected him to be a great servant of the Lord. And she was old, and did not have any children, and how the prophet had blessed her, and told her that she was going to embrace a son. And in the appointed time, the little boy came.

Oh, he loved that story, because it was about a little boy. And how this little boy loved his daddy. One day out in the field while they were gathering grain, the little fellow must've got a sunstroke. It was about midday, and he begin to cry, “My head, my head.” And the father had the little boy ordered to be took to his mother. And she held him on her lap for a few hours, and all his breath went out of him, and he died.

And how the woman must have been so inspired, that she took the little fellow up to the prophet's bed and laid him on the bed. What a wonderful place to lay him.

And her great faith in God, she said, “Saddle a mule now, and go forward, and don't stop,” she said to the servant, “till we come to the man of God.” She thought if she could ever get in the presence of Elijah—he was the one who told her the baby was coming—then surely he could tell her why God took the baby. And I like the story myself.

And how that when Elijah saw her coming.... God does not reveal everything to His prophets. He just lets His prophets know what He wants them to know. He doesn't reveal everything to His prophets.

And this great prophet Elijah, though as mighty as he was, and blessed of God, yet he said.... Her heart was full of sorrow, and God had kept it from him, and hadn't told him nothing about it. And when she got close enough, he said, “Is all well with thee? And is all well with thy husband? Is all well with thy son?”

Now, listen at the woman. She said, “All is well.” What faith! I would to God that we could have faith like that. There her baby was laying a corpse, and her husband wringing his hands and pulling his hair, screaming and crying outside the house, and the neighbors all crying. And here she was, a mother with a choice of her heart pulled out and took in death, but, “All is well.”

She was up close to the man that represented God to her. He was God's closest representative. “All is well.” Then she run up and fell down at his feet, and begin to reveal to him what had happened.

And Elijah told his servant, said, “Take my staff and go forward. And if anybody salutes you, don't salute back. Just go and lay the staff on the baby.”

I do think that's where Saint Paul got the idea of taking handkerchiefs off of his body, because Elijah knew that anything that he touched was blessed, because the Spirit of God was on him.

But the woman's faith wasn't in the staff; it was in the prophet. And I like her determination. She said, “As the Lord lives, and your soul never dies, I will not leave you.”

If we tonight could hold onto God's representative like that! If you could tell the Holy Spirit tonight, “As sure as You are the immortal Spirit of God, You give me a promise in the Bible of my healing, and I'm going to hold on till I see something happen,” there would be miracles taking place. The lame would be jumping and running, and the doctors of Los Angeles would be surprised tomorrow to see their patients healed and well.

If we could just take ahold of God's agent. God's agent then was Elijah. God's Agent today is the Holy Spirit. Hold onto it! When you ever come in contact, and you feel the Holy Spirit on you, then hold on to it. “I will not leave You!” Stay with it like Jacob did when he wrestled with the angel. “I'm going to hold on till You bless me and give me the things that I'm desiring.”

Wouldn't it be a wonderful revival break out in the Angelus Temple, and all up-and-down the coast here, if the people that's right here tonight, and those that are listening in on the air, would take that attitude towards the Holy Spirit tonight: “I'm going to stay with You until I find out the thing that I want to know!”

And Elijah seen he had her on his hands; there was nothing else to do but go with her.

And if you'll just stay with the Holy Spirit, stay on His hands..... He loves you well enough to come to you, and bless you, and save you, then stay on His hands! Don't you remember Jesus teaching about the unjust judge? How he said, “I fear neither God nor man. But the woman torments me day and night crying after me.” How much more will God give them the Holy Spirit who cry after Him day and night.

If we got faith to believe that God can do it, and will do it, let's take ahold of it and hold on! Just don't let it go. Stay right with it. If it don't come now, it'll come ten minutes later, hour later, two weeks later, a month later—no matter when it comes, I got ahold, and I'm going to stay with it.

Then Elijah girded up his loins and went with the woman. And as he got to the house, he did not have very much spiritual support, because they were walking through the house, screaming and going on. And Elijah went in and put them out and closed the door behind him.

Now, he did not pray. He just walked up and down the floor, waiting for the anointing to come on him, watching sideways at that little cold form laying there of that baby, but waiting for the Holy Spirit to touch him. Back and forth, up and down the floor. And when he felt the Spirit of the living God come on him, he stretched hisself across the little baby, put his lips against its lips, his nose against its nose, its hands against his hands, and it sneezed seven times, come to life. He presented it back to his mother.

From death to life, when the Holy Spirit come; that's what it does. It brings from death to life, physically and spiritually. Takes the cancer and condemns it and casts it out when the Holy Spirit comes. Takes death working in the body and condemns it to spare your life for His glory. It takes the sinner that was alienated away from God, away from Christ, a subject of hell, and cleanses him from all unrighteousness and makes him a son of the living God, when the Holy Spirit comes down.

Oh, it thrilled the little lad's heart to hear them stories. Oh, then I see, he hears a noise coming. He raises from his rock. What is it? It sounds like the hoofs of a little mule. “Oh, it must be someone rich. I will rush out quickly and ask this kind person for a coin.” And he hears a runner going before the little mule to lead it, as its little feet beats over the cobblestones coming down toward Jerusalem.

He runs out with his rags and he says, “Please, kind sir, will you give me a coin? I'm sitting here hungry. I'm a blind man, and I slept late this morning. I dreamed all night that I was going to receive my sight. And I just overslept. And every one's went in. Will you be so kind as to give me a coin?”

I can hear the voice come from the one astraddle the little mule, said, “Out of my way, blind man! Beggar, I do not have time to stop for thee this morning. I'm the servant of the Lord. I'm a priest from Jerusalem. And I understand that some fanatic prophet, by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, is going to be in this city today. And we don't want no healing campaigns down here. I've come to gather the association together of all the priests of Jericho, and to stop this thing before it ever starts. So, to one side, beggar!”

On goes the little mule with the man. Goes back and finds his rock again. He has to move over—we will say, about two or three rocks over—because the sun is creeping higher. And as he sits there, he's thinking of the story. “Oh, if I could've only lived in the days of Elijah the prophet. What a great time that would've been. If I'd have lived in that day, you know, I believe that I could have went to Elijah, and he would've prayed for me, and God would've opened my blinded eyes. But, alas, the priests all tell us the days of miracles is passed. There's no more such a thing as prophets and miracles.

“But I wonder, why could that great God who could make heavens and earth, who could open the Red Sea, who could do those miracles through His servants, why can't we do it today? But they are the learned ones. They say those days are passed and gone, long ago.”

Then he remembers that same prophet, Elijah, and Elisha, came down that same cobblestone street ... or, road, arm in arm, going down to Jordan, five hundred yards from where he was sitting, to open up that Jordan.

Oh, I can imagine him saying, “If I could hear their footsteps coming down that road now, I'd run out there real quick and fall down by their side and say, 'O great prophets of the Lord God, I believe that you're God's servants. Just offer a little prayer for me and God will give me back my sight.'” But of course, they'd been gone for years. The days of miracles were over.

Then he begin to think of something else. That after Joshua had crossed the Jordan, by being opened by the hand of God, one day just before he was going to take Jericho.... Joshua was a mighty warrior. And he was walking around, viewing over the great high towering walls, and wondering just how that he was going to get over those walls to lead his army to take the land that God promised. God promises the land, but he had to fight for every inch of it.

Sister, in that wheelchairs, and on this stretcher, God promised you healing; you'll have to fight every inch of it! The devil will make you fight with the sword of God every inch you.... But remember, footsteps is possession. “Wheresoever your foot treads, that I give it to you.” Every step you can make. You know, that gets me feeling religious. Footsteps is possession. All the land that your feet will tread upon in this promised land, it's yours!

And it's the same to every believer tonight. Anything that you can take, any divine promise of God, and claim it, and hold it, it's yours. Footprints.

And then when Joshua had not got very far yet.... He'd camped, and he was out looking over the situation. All of a sudden, he looked, and there stood a great Warrior with His sword pulled. So Joshua pulled his sword and went to meet Him. So he stopped and said, “Are You on our side, or are You for our enemy?”

And the voice came back from the One who had His sword up in the air; He said, “I am the Captain of the host of the Lord.”

The mighty warrior Joshua pulled off his helmet and laid it on the ground.

Blind Bartimaeus said, “If I could've only been sitting at this gate when that Chief Captain of the host of the Lord would've been standing there, I would've got my healing. If I'd just knowed that His presence was there.”

Little did he know, that less that two hundred yards from him right then come that same Captain, the Lord Jesus, the Captain of the host of the Lord. Then, all of a sudden, there was a noise. Isn't it most unusual, that where Jesus is, there's usually a lot of noise.

And we hear them coming out the gates, screaming, some hollering, “Hosanna to Him that cometh in the name of the Lord!” Others saying, “Thou mighty prophet of Galilee!”

And the others saying, “Away with Him! He's a witch! He's Beelzebub! He does nothing but deceive the people. He's a spiritualist. He's a mind reader. Away with such a hypocrite!” And they were throwing at Him overripe vegetables, I suppose. I can hear him, as some saying one thing and the other one, and the great rush coming on....

And, do you know, where Jesus is, there's usually a mixed multitude like that. It's always that way. There's a mixed multitude: some for Him, and some against Him.

But He comes walking on. I can see Him as He walks quietly, a little frail-looking body, as He moved on up the side of the road, and some screaming one thing and another. And all of a sudden, there comes a sharp voice that blind Bartimaeus can hear. It's that same priest that talked to him a few hours before. Said, “Say, You divine healer who done that fake job on that man called Lazarus, if You are the divine healer and can raise the dead, we've got a whole graveyard full of them up here. Come raise up some of them.”

You know, they've been dead a long time, but that spirit still lives today. “If you can heal, do this. If you can do so much, do this.” God cannot work against your faith; you've got to believe it. If you believed it, you wouldn't ask such questions as that.

Same one that said on the cross, “If Thou be the Son of God, just come down and we will believe You.” Same fellow that met Him in the wilderness, said, “If Thou be the Son of God.... If Thou be.... And You're the great miracle worker, let's see You perform a miracle here before me and I will believe it.”

God doesn't clown for people. He's got a purpose of doing things. God doesn't do things just at random or to please unbelievers. He works His will to fulfill His promises.

And as I see him sitting there, and he started to raise up, and the crowds was pushing him over, and he falls to his knees; he said, “What is all this disturbance? Who is it passes by?”

And some of them pushing him back, “Oh, sit down.”

And finally, I can see a kind hearted lady bend down over the old blind beggar, kind of lifts him back to his feet. And he says, “Kind lady, would you be so good and kind as to tell me what's all this rush and disturbance about?”

“Oh,” she said, “sir, perhaps you don't understand. That is that Galilean prophet that's going by.”

“What Galilean prophet, my lovely lady? What Galilean prophet? I have never heard of such a one.”

“It's Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David. Are you acquainted with the Scriptures, blind sir?”

“Yes, I am acquainted with the Scriptures. I was just sitting here in the warm sun thinking about the great Jehovah God.”

“Well, this man who's passing by is Jesus of Nazareth, His Son, who heals the sick and does good kind things to people.”

“Oh, you don't mean that that's the Son of David? Now He's too far down the road. I will never be able to get through that mob.” He's almost a hundred yards to the road, and then maybe two hundred yards down the road. “How will I ever do it? But if He is the Son of David, the Spirit of God is in Him. And if He's the Son of David, He'll hear my cry.” And he screams, “O Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Why, Jesus could not have heard him, physically, because everyone was screaming one thing and another thing. But what was it? His faith touched Him. And He stopped.

Remember, He was on His road to Jerusalem to be offered for a sacrifice for the sins of the world. And the burden of all the world rested upon His shoulders. And all of that, and the screams from one side to the other, yet the faith of a blind insignificant beggar stopped Him in His tracks.

Faith of one individual little insignificant person here in this building tonight will bring Him from glory to this building here, to prove that He's still the Son of David—the same yesterday, today, and forever. No matter how poor you are, what color your skin is, whatever you are, that doesn't matter. He will stop at the faintest cry of faith.

“Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

Jesus stopped, said, “Bring him here.” What was happening? Said, “What would you that I would do?”

He said, “That I might receive my sight.”

He said, “Why, your faith's already made you whole.” What was it? God had provided a Lamb for blind Bartimaeus' eyes.

That same Lamb is provided tonight for every spiritual or physical blind person in this world that will have enough faith to cry out from your heart, “Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” He will take away the cancer, He will take away the sickness, the blindness, whatever's wrong with you. Just the faintest little cry, God has the Lamb provided, the same yesterday, today, and forever.

It was the man's faith that stopped Him. It was the woman's faith at the.... She pressed through the crowd and touched His garment and He turned around.

It's the same Jesus who could tell Simon what his name was, and what his father's name was. It's the same Jesus could see around the mountain fifteen miles and tell Nathanael before he come to the meeting, “I saw you when you were under the tree.” It's the same Jesus that seen the prostitute at the well, that looked into her face and said, “Go get your husband and come here.”

When she said, “I have no husband,” He said, “That's right, you've got five.”

And she said, “Sir....”

Not like the priests of that day. They said He was Beelzebub, a fortuneteller, a devil spirit: “These things were done by an unclean spirit.”

But this little woman said, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. We know—we Samaritans know—that when the Messiah comes, this'll be the sign that follows the Messiah, for He will tell us all things. He's the God-prophet that Moses said would rise up. And You must be His servant. But we know when the Messiah cometh, He will tell us all things. But who are You?”

It was that voice could say that, “I am He.”

And she ran into the city saying, “Come, see a man that's told me the things that I have done.”

And that testimony of that little woman stirred the whole city, until the men believed the Lord Jesus. And then He never healed any. He sent Philip down after His resurrection to heal the sick.

That same Jesus can come to the Angelus Temple tonight, in the same power of His resurrection. And your faith can call Him on the scene, if you'll just let Him do it. For He is the Lamb of God, been slain since the foundation of the world, who healeth all thy diseases, and forgives all of our sins.

Let us bow our heads and speak to Him.

Lord, just how could we speak to You, Lord, in such a way and have the vocabulary that we could express our hearts to how we love You and thank You? We who have witnessed Your resurrection power, we who have found You dear to our hearts, we pray, God, that You'll come just now. One word from You will be more than we could say in a million lifetimes, for man can say most anything that he desires; but one word from Thee, O Lord, will confirm Your Word to be true.

We would then ask You, Lord, that You would save every person here. And if we find favor in Thy sight, of our faith.... Not because that we are so holy, we do not confess that. But we confess that we have faith in the One that was holy, and have confessed our sins, and asked pardoning, and have had the witness of His Holy Spirit upon us. We stand justified by His works.

We ask, Lord, that You'll come into our midst now. Take our faith, all that we can gather together. Let the great Holy Spirit come in and carry on the works of the Lord Jesus, that precious body that sits at Your right hand tonight as a High Priest to make intercessions upon our confession. Save the lost and heal the sick. We ask it in Jesus' name.

And while we have our heads bowed, before there is one visible thing done, how many in this great audience tonight would raise up your hands to God and say, “God, I've been thinking about You all day long. Draw near to me now; I need You.” Would you just raise up your hand to Him? “I need You, Lord. Draw near unto me.” God bless you.

Would there be one in here who is not just right with God, saying, “Lord, I believe now; before I even see You do one thing, I want You to be merciful to me. I've done wrong, and I'm going to confess my sins right now to You. Have mercy on me.” Raise your hand, will you? God bless you, you, you (oh, my) across the building, in the balcony. Dozens of hands.

Lord, before they have even seen one move of Yours, and this little chopped up message, somehow, the Holy Spirit has drawn near, the Captain of the host of the Lord. Now, prove Yourself, dear Lord, by performing signs and wonders just the way You did them before Your crucifixion, and these people will quickly receive You as their Saviour. We commit the service unto Thee now, Lord. I've spoken of You, now You speak, Lord, and confirm what I've said to be truth, if You so find it fit to do that tonight, Lord. In the name of the Lord Jesus, I ask it. Amen.

Our sister on the piano.... Now, you who raised your hands just a few moments ago, I would've called you right now. But being that.... I did that for a purpose. Somehow tonight, I feel strange, that the Holy Spirit is near tonight. I see it like a expectation over the audience to receive something. Oh, what a night it could be. The Holy Spirit, I'm sure He's here. I'm positive of that. And if you'll just take a hold of Him now, and say, “O Lamb, You were the One who were slain for me also. I hold to You now for my healing, my salvation,” whatever you have need of.

Now, in the church He has sent gifts. Some are apostles. Apostle and a missionary is the same word, meaning, “one sent.” Why the missionary wanted to be called a missionary, I don't know why. Because a missionary and an apostle both means, “one sent.” A missionaries, or prophets.... Apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors, that's the offices of the church. And these offices should be alive with the Holy Spirit; not set in by men, but set in by the Holy Spirit in each church. Apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors—these are offices that God set in the church. Man has nothing to do with it. God puts them in the church.

Oh, we have, of course, some make-beliefs, and.... I don't mean to say that critical, friend. Don't take me wrong. But I mean in this day, when we have a social gospel that's being preached so much, that's just a regular routine to go to church and ... that's wrong. God lives in His people.

He's alive, working among His people, resurrected, and calling out His people, and wooing them to Him. And these true offices of God witness the same thing, because they're filled with that Spirit of Him that lived on earth in human flesh in the body of Jesus, which sits at the right hand of God now to make intercessions, and His Spirit is down here moving among His people. Blessed be His holy name. Moving in His people, a lively church, filled with the Spirit, all of His gifts and wonders working perfectly in the body.

That ought to make any man want to come.

Right now, when we see that most anything can happen in one.... Before this service closes tonight, we may all be in eternity. A hydrogen bomb could strike Los Angeles. And no doubt “Los Angeles” is wrote on one in a hangar way in the East now somewhere. You know that. They've set timed on every city in the United States, and we got every bomb timed on them. Just let one pull, that's all.

They got a bomb that'll blow a hole in the ground a hundred and seventy-five feet deep for a hundred miles square. Where would you get to hide from it? Why the concussion would go plumb into the volcanic. The concussion would break every bone in your body if you could go a thousand feet in the ground. You can't hide. We're not going that way anyhow; we're going this a-way, up like this.

So, blessed friend, in the Bible time, the last church, before God destroyed Sodom with fire and brimstone, He came to His church, His elected church. He sent two ministers down to preach in Sodom. But He came to His elected church in His ... in a bo.... [Blank spot on tape.]

Jehovah God did that, and sat with His back turned to the tent talking to Abraham. And He said, “I'm not going to keep any secrets from you, Abraham. You've waited for this promise. And about next month, I'm going to appear to you at the time of life for Sarah.” And Sarah, in the tent, laughed to herself. And the Angel said, “Why did Sarah laugh?” And the Bible said He had His back to the tent. What did He do? He discerned her spirit. What was it? Just that sign was given just a few hours before Sodom was burned. That's the last sign.

What did He do just before He come to His own, His own received Him not? He came and told Peter who he was. He told Nathanael where he come from. He told the woman at the well. Both Jew and Samaritan, but never one time before the Gentiles, not one time. Why? He spoke that it would come.

But now is the end of the Gentile age. We're at the end. We've had signs and wonders of miracles of healing, evangelists, and powers, and so forth; but what is the last sign? God is infinite. And if He does one thing one time, He's got to do it again on the same circumstances rises; He's got to perform the same thing. This is the end of the Gentile age. Now, all this is Scripture. Now, is it truth? Will it work? May God grant it.

Prayer cards is give out today? Going to take K? K. All right. We can't stand too many at once. K number 1, who has it? Prayer card K number 1, would you raise your hand? (If they would turn the big light out in the balcony.) K number 1, would you raise you hand? K number 2, would you raise your hand? Right here. Come here, lady, right down here. Number 3, raise your hand. All right, over here, this lady here. Number 4, raise your hand. Number 5, raise your hand. All right, right here. Come right down this way. Number 6, you K number 6? All right. If you can't move out of the chair, just leave her sit; that's all right; she's in the prayer line. That's all right. Just let me know when 6 is called. K number 7, raise your hand. K number 8, raise your hand. 9, raise your hand. 10, raise your hand. 11, 12, 13, 14, K14? 15, 16, 17, 18; just keep marching on. 18, 19, 20.

Did you notice in the room last night, it seemed like if the discernment was going on, the people seemed to rally. But if they didn't rally, well then it was.... When the Spirit of discernment would come, that would make them rally. Sure, it should.

I want to speak to the audience just a moment. My ministry is just a little later sign to the church than laying on of hands. Laying on of hands was a Jewish custom. When Jairus' daughter was dead, Jairus said to Jesus, “Come, lay Your hands on her.” But when the Roman Gentile, his servant was sick, he said, “I'm not worthy that You even come under my roof; just speak the Word.” That's it.

Now, we've had signs of laying on of hands, all down for two thousand years. But now, we're at the closing of the age. It's something different now. My ministry is this: it's through a Spirit of discernment, that it might manifest Jesus Christ's present, that Lamb that we are speaking of that's been slain.

Now, how many knows that there's not a man on earth can heal you? You know that. No one can heal you. If it is, then the Scripture's wrong. And Psalms 103:3 said, “I'm the Lord who heals all your diseases.” So then, you see, there's no man can heal you. God does the healing.

Did you want to put the sister in the line? What was she, 6 or 7 there, wasn't she, or something? What say? Number 6. All right. If you want to sit right there, well, that's perfectly all.... What say? Whatever, if you want to put her in line or leave her there. When six's times comes, I will go pray for her. All right, sir, just sit there. All right, sir. All right, sir.

All right. And the rest of you all that's in your chairs and things, and can't get up like that, just set right there, and that's perfectly all right.

Now, the ministry is to make known the Lord Jesus, His presence. Then if God promised this and He keeps that promise, how much more supernatural and greater is that than anybody to be healed. How many knows that? Why sure.

It could be a little case of just.... If you was crippled, or lame, and maybe you sat and tried, you could get up and maybe take a few steps; but to see something so supernatural, it goes down into the life of the person, and brings things out and reveals the secrets of the heart. That proves His presence. That's right.

Then you should believe, everyone. And the whole group could be healed at one time. Do you believe that? All believes that? Raise up your hand, all you who will believe that.

Just don't put no more in the prayer line right now. I want to see how much you believe it. Come here, Billy. Just stop the prayer line and come up here a minute. Come on.

How many in this audience does not have a prayer card and you believe that Jesus Christ will heal you? You look this way and pray. Does the Bible say He's a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities? And if you touched Him, He'd act the same way He did then when He was here on earth, if He's the same High Priest. Now, you look this way and believe with all your heart. Have faith.

How many you got in the line now? Twenty? That's enough right now. Bring them on.

Now, you stand there just a moment, lady. The woman, I guess I have never seen her. I guess we are strangers to each other. That's right. We'll just both raise up our hands that this is our first time meeting. The visible audience can see this. And the radio audience, we're here with a massive big crowd in the Angelus Temple tonight. And there's sick people all over the place. And you in radio-land who's listening in....

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, when He appeared here in the last day with the Gentile people, as He promised to do, He will have to show the sign of the Messiah, His resurrection, just like He did when He was here in a physical body. He's here now in the corporal body of His church when we're united together in prayer, and the Holy Spirit is present.

Just like Paul, when he looked down and said, “I perceive you have faith to be healed.”

When he was out on a ship that night, and the little ship tossed about, and ten thousand devils had swore they'd drown Paul, and every lick of lightening come down with a glaring demon on the waves; and yet the Angel of the Lord come to Paul, and Paul run out and said, “Be of a good courage. For the Lord God, who's servant I am, sent His Angel, and He stood by me; there's none of us going to be lost.” He knowed what he was speaking of. That same Jesus lives tonight.

Here's a woman that's a total stranger. I know nothing of her, never seen her in my life, and she's never seen me. We both got our hands up that we never met or seen each other. And here lays the Word of God at this sacred desk.

You said that if Jesus was the same, He'd act the same and do the same like the Bible said He is the same.

Here's a man and a woman, just like Saint John 4, when Jesus our Lord met the woman at the well, and He'd never seen her before. She had a trouble. And He talked to her just a minute till He caught her spirit, and told her what her trouble was. And as soon as she was told her trouble, she said, “I perceive that You are a prophet. And we're looking for the Messiah to come to do this.” All that knows that's the truth in this visible audience, say “Amen.”

Jesus said, “A little while, and the world won't see me no more. Yet, ye shall see me, for I (a personal pronoun), I will be with you to the end of the world, even in you.”

Then if I told you I had the spirit of John Dillinger, the outlaw, you'd expect me to have guns and be mean. If I said I had the spirit of an artist, you'd expect me to be able to paint the picture of the artist.

The Spirit of Christ is in the church, it'll do the works of Christ. It's got to; it's the same Spirit.

Now, I'm a man, sinner saved by grace. But by a divine gift.... Now, if that woman's sick, I don't know she is. I don't know, have no idea what she's standing there for. I have nothing to know. I don't know who she is, where she come from, nothing, how.... She might be financially in trouble. She might be spiritually in trouble. She might be physically in trouble. I don't know. But if God would reveal to me about her, how many would believe then with all your heart? All right. Be reverent now.

You just stand there, lady. You be the judge. And may the Lord add His blessings. For this, right now, the word from God could prove whether I've told the truth or not. That's right. So He's able to do it. Whether He will or not, that I don't know.

But I see you've had an examination by a doctor. And it's stones, gall stones and kidney stones or something. That's right, in the stones. That's exactly right. And you should be operated on for it, he thinks. If that's true, raise up your hand. Now, do you believe?

Now, that they might cover over every guess, so that the critic might not be able to criticize. Now, you get ready, and if something else is told the woman, I don't say He will, but if it is, then you just rejoice, and take ahold of that Holy Spirit that's in the building right now, and hold on to it. And you out there in radio-land, do the same thing.

I don't know what I told you. But whatever it was was the truth. I remember you raising your hand. See, it's another world. It's a Spirit world you go into to see something that has happened. Yes, I see it coming back again, a rather strong looking man, giving a examination. Gall stones. That's right. And stones in the kidney, suggest an operation. You're from out of town. You're from the east. Phoenix. Phoenix, Arizona. Yes, sir. And if God will tell me what your name is, will it help you? Mrs. Rose Wagner, you can go home now and be made well. God bless you. All right. God bless you. God bless you.

You believe now with all your heart? That should settle it. It's the great Holy Spirit that's in the building, Jesus Christ's promise being made fulfilled. It should make each one of you hold on to God and say, “Yes, Lord, I know You're here. I'm going to hold on now. I'm not going to let You go. I'm going to be like the Shunammite woman to Elijah. I'm going to hold on until I get the desire of my heart.”

Here's a little lady that they brought up here too. We're strangers to one another, I suppose. God knows us both. If God will reveal while the Holy Spirit is present the things ... something that you know I know nothing about, if I never seen you and never knowed you, well then, there's got to be something supernatural.

That woman keeps appearing that was just here on the platform just a few minutes ago. Where did she go, that was healed? A woman.... Oh, is that her standing way back in the audience? Look this way; I keep seeing you stand here. Yes, it's something on your heart you're praying for. It's your brother. He's got heart trouble, over there from you. But he's not from Arizona. Being as you spoke it out here at the platform, “Arizona.” He's not from Arizona; he's from Indiana—Indianapolis, Indiana. Go home, sir, Jesus Christ makes you well.

Do you see the Holy Spirit? The man not.... Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hold to God's unchanging hand and His promises, and you can have what you ask for. It's God's mercy and goodness. How great Thou art, Lord. How great Thou art. After nineteen hundred years, He's still alive! And when there's no more moon, or stars, or worlds, He'll still be alive, and His subjects shall be with Him, still alive. Oh, we go into an eternity. No one can explain what eternity means. It's forever, more than forever; “forever” is a space of time. It's infinite.

If God will reveal to me, lady, you who are standing here, what's your trouble. I didn't mean to be rude, but there kept being this woman—another woman—standing, kind of a red hair. And you're a gray haired. See, I knowed there was a difference in you. And it was something else on her heart that wasn't completely satisfied. Then there's a man kept appearing. And I seen there was something connected by it, that....

But if the Lord will reveal to me what's your trouble, or something about ... you will believe me as His prophet ... or His servant? You're suffering with a heart trouble. That's a leakage of the heart, the doctor says. That's right. If that's right, raise up your hand. You believe now? Now, just a moment. There's something else on the woman's heart. She's concerned about someone else, because there was a girl appeared by her. That's right, isn't it? Now, just watch just a moment, and see what the Holy Spirit will say. Yes, it's a girl; it's your little granddaughter. And she's in some sort of a school. She has spells. That's right. That's true.

Here's another thing that you're needing. You've always wanted a close walk with God. You're not walking just right with Him now. And your husband also is needing a closer walk with God, right back there. That's right. All right, you just believe with all your heart, and you all walk close to God, and God will deliver your little granddaughter and make her well. Now, you believe and go home. And God be with you and bless you. Amen. God bless you.

Let us thank the Lord. Just say, “Thank You, Lord Jesus,” for His goodness and mercy. Be real reverent now. Be real reverent.

This person who's approaching.... Here's a perfect picture of John, fourth chapter, a white man and a colored woman. That was a Jew and a Samaritan. Now, lady, I suppose we're strangers to one another. The Lord has just brought us together this first time. If God will reveal to me, like He did the woman at the well, the something in your heart, the secret that you're here for, will you believe it and know...? You know whether it's the truth or not. And if He knows what has been, He surely will know what will be. That is just as true as it can be. You have many things wrong with you. You have fallen, just had a fall, and you hurt your stomach, your knees too. And here's another thing. You are a lady preacher. That's THUS SAITH THE LORD. You're healed. Go home. Jesus Christ makes you well.

Blessed be the name of the Lord. Have faith.

Right in line with the woman, sitting here, in this second row back here, lady—that person, second person sitting there, suffering with a head trouble—do you believe Jesus Christ will make you well back there? back here in the second row? If you'll believe it with all your heart, you can have it.

You have cancer. That's shadowed to death. You only have one hope, that's in Jesus Christ. Do you believe that if Jesus Christ, so concerned, would know what you're here for, and would reveal to me what your trouble is, do you believe that He will make you well now? If I tell you where the cancer's located, would...? It's in the bladder. That's right. Is that right? Now, you believe Him? All right, you can go home and Jesus Christ makes you well. God bless you. Amen.

Have faith in God. Don't doubt. Believe with all your heart. “If thou canst believe.”

This the lady, the next one? All right. We're strangers to each other also. I don't know you; I have never seen you.

Sitting right back there with high blood pressure, you believe Jesus Christ will make you well? If you believe it with all your heart, have faith in God, you can have it.

Yours is complications, just many things wrong with you. That's right. It's caused by an accident. I see you standing there.... Oh, trucks.... A truck hit you; that's what did it. That's right, isn't it? Raise up your hand if that's true. Now, if God could bring me to that scene, when I seen that thing happen, you believe He's going to make you well? All right, you have your healing. Then go on your road and rejoice. Say, “Thank You, Lord Jesus.” God bless you.

Now, this.... Put your hand on mine, lady. If God will reveal to me while I'm looking across the building this way, if God will show me by a vision what's wrong with you and me looking this a-way, will you believe with all your heart that it's Jesus Christ the Son of God? You will? Then you're asthmatic condition, coughing, it's over now. Can go home and be well. God bless you. Have faith.

Put your hand.... Come here. Do you believe that God can tell me, looking up toward the heavens like this, what's your trouble? Diabetes. Believe, go home and get well. Have faith.

Do you believe God? Coughing, asthmatic. Go home.... Lady's trouble, all leaves you now. Go home and be well.

Now, if you just keep believing like that, it don't even take a discernment. Your trouble's in your back. Go home, say, “Thank You, Lord Jesus.” You'll get well and be well.

You must have prayer, because it's cancer. O Lord, I cast away this evil devil called cancer from this dying woman. I place between her and death the blood of Jesus Christ. May it leave her. Go home rejoicing, saying, “Thank You, Lord Jesus.”

You had it also, sir. Believe now. When it left her, it left you too. Go, believing with all your heart. Believe now.

Heart trouble. Just keep on moving along, saying, “Thank You, Lord Jesus,” and believing.

Trouble's in your back. Believe with all your heart and go home and be well, in the name of the Lord Jesus.

You believe Jesus Christ will heal you and make you well if I lay hands...?

Thanks be to God. If that doesn't mean something, look at out there.

Lord, bless our sister, and send her home to be well in Jesus' name. Have faith now.

You're afraid you're going to be crippled all your life with that arthritis. If you'll believe with all your heart.... Do you? Just go off the platform like a young lady, believing God will make you well, and He will do it, if you'll just believe.

Your heart bothers you. You believe that Jesus Christ will make you well? Come here, let me lay hands on you. Lord God, in Jesus' name I pray that You'll heal the man. Amen.

All right, come.

Right down here. The lady sitting right across this here, looking at me, has got internal troubles, got a scarf around your neck. You believe Jesus Christ will make you well, lady? sitting back here, the last row over there. If you'll believe it with all your heart, accept it in the name of the Lord Jesus and be made well. God bless you, sister. That's right. That's right.

What did she touch? What happened to her? She touched the High Priest, the One that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities.

All right, you've got sugar diabetes. Do you believe Jesus Christ will heal you? Then go home rejoicing, saying, “Thank You, Lord Jesus.”

Believe God will heal you of this tumor, and you won't have to have an operation? Go, and the Lord Jesus bless you.

I know this woman coming here. I know who she is. Won't have to have discernment. This woman I know well. It's Mrs. Peterson. Now, she's a friend of mine, was just at the house the other day. I want to pray for her. Blessed Lord, I come in the name of Jesus to pray for this dear mother of Israel, as it would be said. I ask that You heal her. Let the blessings of God rest upon her, and condemn this trouble in her body through Jesus Christ's name. Amen. God bless you, Sister Peterson. She's a friend of mine from Minneapolis.

All right, sister down here, you going to believe now, you was in the line? That's your husband sitting there. Tell him, put your hands over on you like that now, and you can just get right up and go home tonight and be well. Now, just believe. Keep your hand on her just a minute.

Right up here in the balcony, about three rows up and two in, a lady sitting there suffering with varicose veins. Do you believe, lady, that the Lord Jesus will make you well? Yes, you looking around. You believe it with all your heart? If you can, accept it right now, and you can go home and be well in the name of Jesus Christ.

How many more of you in here would want to receive God's blessings just now, and believes that God will make you well? All right, brother.

Someone else slip down here, put your hands on this person here. I can show you the kingdom of God coming near to you. Do you believe that's the same Lamb of God? On this other lady here, too.

The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world and the sickness of the world, He's present now to heal. Do you believe that? How much more ... what else could He do? If He was standing here with this suit on, He could do no more than what He's doing right now. He was wounded for our transgressions; with His stripes we were healed—past tense. Your healing's already completed. Do you believe it? In His presence, He who is here now, He's blessing your soul. Take a hold of Him! Lay hold!

Do not think I'm a fanatic. I'm not a fanatic. I know where I am. And I know what I'm talking about. The Holy Spirit's here and will make every one of you well, if you'll believe it!

O Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, I cast away the demon power of fear from this audience and from the radio audience. And may those out in radio-land, rise up from their beds, rise out of their wheelchairs, get up out of the hospital room, walk around, go rejoicing, holding on, because Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God has raised from the dead and is present. Come up out of the wheelchair.

There comes a lady out of this wheelchair now, that was sitting here in a wheelchair; she's accepted her healing. They're trying to get another lady coming from the cot.

Let's stand on our feet and give God praise. Rise up every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Stand to your feet now. You've had hands laid on you. Every one of you can be made well. Sing and give Him praise.