Abraham's Seed

...ministerial associations, with my campaigns, I've never had a afternoon speaking yet. This is my first one, very first to begin with. And it's all new to me, so, as you have to other times—just forget my mistakes—why, do that this afternoon too.

Usually, when having healing services, I take the afternoon, after about three o'clock, at this time, I go into prayer. I stay right in prayer for the rest of the day until they come and get me at night. Then I come out then to pray for the sick.

Being that we had to squeeze our meeting here, and compile it into just these three services ... or, three days, I thought that I would like to come and kind of have a little time of fellowship with you in the afternoon service.

As many of you are acquainted with Brother Bosworth, the late Brother Bosworth, he said to me one day, he said, “Billy, you know what fellowship is?”

And I said, “Oh, I think so, Brother Bosworth.”

Said, “It's two fellows in one ship.” That's right: fellowship. So there's quite a bunch of us this afternoon in the old ship, the old ship of Zion.

My little boy, Joseph. The other day before we left home.... He's just about three years old. You remember him.... The Lord promised him to me six years before he come. And so.... And then the next one was born—the doctors said there could be no more born—it was a girl came. So a lot of people called me up and said, “Billy, the vision meant Josephine, not Joseph.”

I said, “No, it meant Joseph.”

The doctor, our home doctor there, he said, “Just impossible. The woman can never have another baby.”

I said, “She will have one more.” So I said, “God promised Joseph, and Joseph's coming.”

So when this little fellow was born, they said, “Is this Joseph?”

I said, “I don't know. But Joseph is coming.”

So when the nurse that morning said, “Reverend Branham?”

I said, “Yes, ma'am.”

She said, “You got a fine, seven pound three ounce boy.”

I said, “Joseph, you've been a long time getting here. Dad's glad to see you.”

I was thinking maybe Billy, my boy, would be a minister, but looks like he isn't. And I asked the Lord to give me someone to hand this Book to after He's finished with me on earth. I hope to put it in the hands of Joseph as a servant of the Lord.

Now, he was laying on the little duofold (I think you may call it here, Chesterfield.) the other morning; I was trying to make him keep quiet, cause I was ... I felt that maybe a vision was coming on. And he went over and laid down on the duofold, and was looking up at a painting of Jesus I have on the wall. And he was kind of little fellow talking to himself, he says, “Has Jesus got a boat?”

And that give me a text. And then I just picked up my pen and begin to sketch off a few little things that I won't to have ... won't be able to get. I've never preached on it yet. But that's true.

When He was here on earth, He was so poor, He had not a place to lay His head; and when He went to preach the gospel, He had to borrow a boat to preach it from. But He's the Captain of the old ship of Zion.

Now, this afternoon I thought maybe we would take these two afternoons and compile something together to stimulate faith. And then at night time when the people are here, I'd speak more on the ministry that the Lord has given me. But this afternoon, somewhere, to speak on faith.

Now, all gifts operate through faith. Remember, you can't get anything from God outside of faith. “For he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.” So you must come by faith.

Some time ago, I was up in the mountains, and I was hunting elk. And storming, and I just got behind a tree until the storm was over. When the storm left, why, the evergreens had frozen from the water that was falling. It was early in the fall, middle of October, in Colorado. And then, after that happened, I was standing behind a tree watching. And I noticed the sun peep out through the crevices of the rocks way over here towards California.

And, you know, God's just so everywhere, you can see Him if you'll just get Him on the inside of you. That's what makes it so hard for people to see and understand God, because He's not in their heart. If God is in the heart, He shows you ... He shows Himself to you. And I seen the sun set, and there was God in the sunset. And then I....

As you know, my people are Irish, except on my mother's side. My mother's mother come from the reservation, the Cherokee reservation. And so, I love the outdoors so much, just enough to make me like the outdoors and woods. My conversion never took it out of me, and I'm glad.

And then, I noticed, while I was standing there in the presence of God, about forty miles from human beings, as far as I knew. It was at least forty miles to a ranch. And then, I noticed, the sun caused a rainbow as it struck across those evergreens froze over. Now, God is in the rainbow. He made a covenant—the rainbow. And in Revelations 1, when John saw Him, He had the rainbow, and was to look upon as jasper and sardine stone: Benjamin, Reuben, first to the last, He that was, which is, and shall come, so forth.

And then, the old male elk begin to bugle. He got lost from the herd during the storm. There was God in that bugle. And a wolf got to howling. And the mate answered it at the bottom of the hill. There's God in the wolf. Everywhere you look, you can see God.

And while I was standing there, I noticed a little pine squirrel. I know you know what they are, little bitty fussy thing, just all, fuss is about all there is to them. And he had jumped up on a little stump, and he was just a cutting him a great noise. Like, he's almost a blue coat policeman of the wood, makes so much fuss. And he's too big to do anything, he's just so long, a little bitty guy. And so he was just a-carrying on. I wondered, “What're you so excited about, little fellow,” because I'd got real happy standing here. I'd set my gun against the tree, and run around and around and around the tree shouting.

Now, you all don't believe that Baptists shout; I was shouting. Of course, I am a Baptist, but I'm a Pentecostal Baptist, one with the Holy Ghost. And so, then while I was carrying on there, if somebody had been in the woods, they'd thought they had a maniac out there. Around and around that tree, just screaming to the top....

Well, I was about to an explode. I had to do something. Pop off a little steam somewhere. Did you ever get so full you just had to say something? That's all, you just got to do it. As David said, “My cup runneth over,” just filled up.

And I thought, “Well little fellow, I'm.... What's you so excited about the way I'm acting? If you loved your Creator the way I did, you'd be doing the same thing.” And I was just talking to him.

But I noticed the little guy wasn't watching me. He'd cock his little head and look down like that, in an old blow-down where the storms—previous storms—had blowed the tree laps together.

And during the time of the hard blowing, a eagle had been forced down into this blow-down. And he was watching that eagle, great big brown eagle, gray eyed. And this big eagle jumped up on the limb. And I said, “Well now, looky here. God, why did You stop me from shouting? I seen the sunset, call of the wolf. I hear Him in the call of the elk, see Him in nature; everywhere around just God. It's good to be here. We could build three tabernacles. But why was it You made that little squirrel carry on like that? So I'd see that eagle?”

Well, I noticed the eagle. He seemed to be that he wasn't afraid. He was no coward. God cannot use cowards. No, sir. When you believe God, you've got to believe Him with all that's in you. God don't want anyone say in church, “Oh, yes. Praise the Lord. I believe it.” And then on the outside, “I don't know; I still feel bad.” He can't use that. You've got to be.... You've got to believe God in, out; everywhere you are, believe God just the same.

And so, I noticed the eagle was brave. He wasn't afraid. I wondered, “Why aren't you afraid? Do you know I could take my rifle and shoot you?” Well, if he could've read my mind, he'd knowed that I admired him. I admire anything that's not afraid. I hate a coward. And so then I noticed him how he.... “What makes you so brave?” Well, I thought, “Now, he sees my rifle setting against the tree. And he knows before I could get that rifle and shoot him, he could be in that timber, and I'd never see him no more.” He'd just fly through that timber and you'd never catch him then. And so, he knew that. And I kept noticing him, taking his feathers, you know, and moving his feathers back and forth. I thought, “Oh, yes. I get the idea.”

See, God made him an eagle, and He give him two wings to get away from danger. And he had perfect faith in those two God-given wings. And I thought, “What if the church had that much faith in the two wings that God gave them—the New and Old Testament—how he could fly away from trouble, fly away from sickness, fly away from sorrow, get away with it.

I watched him after a few moments. And oh, that little pine squirrel was just cursing him for all that was in him. And he never paid much attention to him. And after while, he got tired of it. So he just gave one great big jump, and made a one, two big flops with his wings, and he was outside the timber. And then the amazing thing: he never flopped anymore. He just jumped and made a couple of flops with his wing to get out of the timber, and then he knew just how to set those wings. And every time the wind would come in, he'd ride up on it. And I stood and watched him till he got smaller and smaller, till he become a little speck.

I stood there crying like a baby. “That's it, Lord. It isn't running from place to place, joining the Methodist, joining the Baptists, join the Pentecostals. It isn't that. It's just, get your feet off the ground and set your wings in the power. When the Holy Ghost comes in, ride up on it, just ride on away.” He rode away from that chatter, chatter, chatter: “Days of miracles is past; no such thing as baptism of the Holy Ghost; that's for another age.” That's chatter, chatter, chatter of them little old earth bound pine squirrel. Just set your wings in the faith, by faith out there and ride in the waves of the Holy Ghost when He comes in. Just ride on away, on away, on away, get plumb out of hearing distance of it.

Let's do that after we read the Word and study for the next forty-five minutes. Let us pray.

O Lord, it is a gracious thing to come into the presence of God. And we know that You hear, because You promised You would. And we're so happy to know that we have a Saviour that's the only mediator between God and man, that's at Your right hand today to make intercession upon our confession. Anything that we should confess that Jesus has done for us, then You are there to make that good. There is a bloody sacrifice laying on the mercy seat today. And we are so happy to know that we have a right to come through to that; for when we come to God, we want to come boldly. Not because that we think we're deserving, but because we have been bidden to come by the Lord Jesus, who said, “Ask the Father anything in my name, I will do it.” Oh, how perfect that is.

And let our assurance today rest solemnly upon Thy Word, for it is truth. And as it is written, “Let every man's word be wrong ... or, a lie, and God's be truth.” And we're coming today, Lord; help us to nail down and clinch on the other side Thy words of faith, that we might go out of here today better people than we were when we come in. For we ask it in Jesus' name, and for His sake, Amen.

I wish to read just one verse of Romans the 4th chapter, and pray that God will add His blessings to the 17th verse.

Now, we're going to study these two days, the Lord willing, on faith. Now, faith does not rest upon the shifting sands of men's ideas, but upon the solid Rock of God's eternal, unmovable Word. And faith can take its stand upon God's Word, the Rock of Ages, and can stand there in the face of death, rejoicing, because it looks across the country to Him that said, “I am the resurrection and life.” It believes God.

Now, the reason that I've chose today this subject of Abraham, is because we are Abraham's children. The Bible said that they that are in Christ are Abraham's children ... Abraham's seed. And these promises that was made to Abraham, was not only to Abraham alone, but to his seed after him. Now, the promises that He made Abraham was to us also.

Now remember, you don't have to be born a Jew outwardly to be Abraham's seed, because when we take on Christ, we are Abraham's seed, 'cause it was the promised child through Isaac that brought Christ; and through Christ, we are Abraham's seed.

May I quote it like this: If we be dead in Christ, then we are Abraham's seeds and are heirs according to the promise. If we be dead in Christ, dead to the things of the world, alive in Christ, then we are Abraham's seed; and all the promises is to Abraham and his seed after him. He was a father of, not a nation, but nations. God made him.

Oh, we could dwell on this for months, but we just got to hit the high spots now for the two days. And now, remember, this is to encourage your faith, that you might lay hold on God. And everything that He promised Abraham, you're heirs of it.

Now, the first place, I want you to notice that he was a father of nations, every nation that believes on Him, believes on God, through Christ, Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise. And the promise was given to Abraham, not, “If you will....”

The covenant was altogether grace, for when He gave it—the covenant, made a covenant between Adam and Himself—Adam broke the covenant. Every time, man breaks his part of the covenant. But this time, it was absolutely unconditional, the covenant was. It was God's grace determined to save men, not, “If you will....” “I have.” It's already a finished work.

Now look. You say, “Does that apply to me?” Certainly. Many people say, “Oh, I've sought God, and I sought God, and I've sought God.” That's an error. God sought you, not you seeking God.

It wasn't Adam running up-and-down through the garden hollering, “Father, Father, where art Thou?”

It was God screaming, “Adam, Adam, where art thou.” See, he reflected then what all men was, a hider. Instead of man coming right out and confessing his wrong, and being honest before God, man tries to hide back behind some kind of a fig leaf affair. It's still the nature of man to do that. It's just in him to do it. Instead of just confessing, and saying, “I'm wrong; God, You help me,” or just taking God at His Word, he will try to find some way to bypass it. Ministers today, many of them try to find a way to bypass divine healing, try to bypass the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There's no way of bypassing it. People go right on receiving it just the same. They're going to receive it anyhow, because it's a promise of God.

Now, Jesus said—and we wouldn't argue with Him—Jesus said, “No man can come to me except my Father draws him first.” Then, it was God knocking at your heart, not you seeking God; it was God seeking you. So you see, the covenant is to you also, a grace covenant, because it's God's grace calling you. God has. You never chose Him; He chose you. Out of the millions in the world today, He reached down and chose you, because He put your name on the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. That's what the Bible said. Before there was a world, Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Because when God speaks anything, it's so perfect, it has to take place, and it's as good as done when God speaks it. Amen.

The trouble: the church is scared. “Oh, I'm afraid of this.” Don't be afraid. You say, “Oh, if I can just....” It isn't you; it's Him. “I'm not worthy of healing.” Sure you're not. I'm not. Nobody's not. But He's the one. It isn't our worthiness; it's His goodness to us: grace.

In the old covenant, what if a little mule would be born out in a pasture some night. I don't know whether you ever farmed any or not, but this mule was born with flopped ears. That's a horrible mule to begin with. And he's knock-kneed. And he's cross-eyed. His tail sticks right straight up. What a horrible looking mule. Now, if he could look around to his mammy, he'd say, “You know what? As soon as the master of the house comes out, he will knock me in the head. I'm not even worth eat ... the food I eat. I'm no good.”

But if his mammy was really instructed, she'd say, “Wait a minute, son. Just a minute. I'm going to tell you something you don't know.” That's what I want to tell you, see. “You don't know who you are, son. You see, you are borned under a birthright. And when the master of the house—I don't care what you look like—when the master of the house comes out to see he's got a new mule born, then the thing he has to do is go get a lamb without a blemish, and take that perfect lamb, and that perfect lamb dies so you can live.” Then the little mule can kick up his heels and have a big time.

Well, that's the way it is with us. We're imperfect, no good, born in sin, shaped in iniquity, come to the world speaking lies. We're no good to begin with. But God don't look at you; He looks at the sacrifice. He looks at the Lamb. He doesn't see you, because He sees Christ. Jesus died for you. Now, if you can find some fault with Jesus, then your healing might not be right. But if you don't find no fault with Him, it's perfect. Sure.

God called you by His grace, not that you would, but that God would. The Scripture said He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That was God's Word. When God speaks, it's as good as finished right then.

So how you going to stamp out the baptism of the Holy Ghost? How you going to stamp out the gifts? How you going to stamp out the church? You can't do it. God spoke it, and it's going to be. That settles it. Certainly. It'll materialize somewhere.

Then when God foresaw by His foreknowledge how He would redeem the world of sin and corruption, He slayed Christ before the foundation of the world when He spoke the Word, four thousand years before it was manifested.

Now, the book of Revelation says, “When the antichrist comes upon the earth, he will deceive all—'all'—upon the earth whose names were not written in the Lamb's book of life from (the last revival. No, no.) from the foundation of the world.” God, by foreknowledge, knew you, and called you in Christ, and put your name on the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world.

What are you scared about? Are you afraid to take His Word for anything? Don't be afraid. Call the thing right. “I am an heir to this. Oh, I know I don't deserve it, but I'm an heir anyhow. Because I'm an heir, I receive it.” Amen. That's it. There you are. “Because I am an heir....” That's it. We're heir of salvation, heir of the Holy Spirit. I'm an heir, because Jesus paid the price. Nothing I had to do, I just fell heir to it. Amen. I'm healed, because I'm an heir to it. My diseases are gone; my affliction is gone. Why? Because I'm an heir to it.

Oh, perfect assurance. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, borned of His Spirit, washed in His blood. That's our story.

Oh, then Satan can't stand that (See), because he's a defeated being; he's nothing but a bluff. Jesus paid the price, called us by grace; we're heir. What a perfect set-up that is. See, he's already defeated. I never defeated him; Christ defeated him. I'm just claiming my own God given privileges. That's all you do. You just tell Satan, “Get away from here. I've got an abstract deed on this building. It's mine. I heired it.”

Notice. Abraham. He was just an ordinary man, come down from the tower of Babel with his father, and they settled down in probably was up in the land of the Shinar, come on down into the city of Ur in the land of the Chaldeans. He was just an ordinary man, not nothing—not no saint, no god. He's just an ordinary man (Yes, Assyrian.) Just an ordinary man, nothing about him any different than any one else, no more than there is you, just an ordinary person. But God saw something in him, and He called him. God seen the same thing in every borned again man and woman here. Now, Abraham wasn't afraid to put his to work. Are you? The same faith that He gave Abraham, He gives it to you freely, if you'll use it.

Say I have a gun. It'll shoot. It's a good true shooting gun. I hang it up on the wall. I say, “Yeah, oh sure, I got a gun.”

“What do you do with it?”

“It hangs on the wall.”

That's faith. People say, “Oh, I'm a Christian. Oh, I believe God can.” But what do you do about it? Put it to work. Turn it loose. Do something with it. Get out and hunt up the devil where he says, “You still hurting.” Say, “You're a liar.” Pull a bead on him. Get him in the scope. Don't be afraid to pull the trigger, because it'll go off as sure as anything. Yes, sir. It'll boomerang on him. So hold on.

Abraham, like God, called those things which were not as though they were. Anything contrary to God's promise was a lie to Abraham, anything contrary. So then when Abraham started out, when God called him....

Now watch. The first thing God did to Abraham, was called a absolute separation. Exactly. You've got to separate yourself from all unbelief. Get away from it. That's it. You've got to get away from unbelief.

God called Abraham to separate himself from his kindred, from everything that he had, that he might walk with Him. Give him a strange land. That's the way every sinner when he gets saved, he comes into a strange land, among strange people. God calls for a separation.

And He said.... Abraham.... He was going to give him this baby. Now, Sarah was sixty-five, and Abraham was seventy-five. I want you to notice how He speaks to him to start with. Now, we say we're Abraham's seed. Now, Sarah, sixty-five.... Forty, fifty, sixty, that's twenty-five years past menopause, lived with her since she's.... She was his half sister. Probably married her when she was eighteen years old. And here she is sixty-five years old, and Abraham seventy-five years old, and God told Abraham that He was going to give him a child by Sarah. “Now, separate yourself from all the unbelief, and I will bring it to pass.”

And if you notice, He never brought it to pass till Abraham completely did what God bid him to do. Abraham wandered, and done everything else, but God never did bless him till he absolutely separated himself from all that He told him to do.

And God will never bless you and bring it to pass until you're ready to separate yourself from everything contrary to God's Word, just separate yourself from it. I don't care what the doctor says, what the psychiatrist says, what anything else says. God said so, and that makes it right.

I can hear God give him the commission today, “Well, I'm....” We got a mixed audience, multitudes here in a audience. Listen to me now. You'd listen to your doctor. About every twenty-eight days—you know what I'm speaking of. I see Abraham get up the next morning after he'd told Sarah and said, “Sarah, dear.”

“Yes, honey.”

“Is there any difference?”

“No. No difference.”

“Well, glory to God. We're going to have it anyhow. Go down to the store and buy you some booties, and buy some Birdseye, and some pins, and get ready, because we're going to have the baby.”

“Well, honey, I'm sixty-five.”

“That makes no difference. God said so. That settles it.”

That's Abraham. Seed believes the same thing. If God said so, that settles it. That's all there is to it: God said so. That's the first thing. You can see nothing else but God's Word, God's promise. It's already happened, because God said so. It's a finished work when God said so.

Why is it I depend on those visions like in Africa? See those blind, deaf, and see it before it happens, and stand out and challenge to five hundred thousand in Bombay. Why? God said so. Got to happen. God said so; that settles it. If it's always God, it's always right.

So don't try to use your own intellectuals; use your heart. Now remember, you don't never try to reason; we cast down reasoning. In the garden of Eden, the devil took a man's head to work through; God took a man's heart. And the man's always working to what he can see, and faith makes him believe things he cannot see. But he believes it because God said so. That settles it. That's just the story of faith.

Now.... Then Abraham goes out. Could you imagine an old man sixty ... seventy-five and a woman sixty-five, go downtown, say, “Doctor, we would like to make the reservations at the hospital for a newborn baby.”

“Oh, your grandchild?”

“No, no. Ours.”

“Yours? How old is this woman?”

“Sixty-five.”

“How old are you?”

“Seventy-five.”

“And you're gon.... Oh, well, Yes, sir. I.... What is your address? I will call you later. Whew, he's off at the head.”

Every man that believes God is considered the same way, because faith is ridiculous to anybody except he that's got it and God who's gives it. The world is so intellectual till it doesn't see faith.

It was just as real to Abraham as the sun shining or anything else, because his heart said so. God stays on the control tower in your heart, controls your emotions, controls your faith, controls all you are. When God comes into the heart, He takes over.

Now, we can see Sarah. Now, we're going to wait another thirty days ... twenty-eight days. “How you feeling honey?”

“No different.”

“Hallelujah, we will have it anyhow. God said so.” A year passes. “How you feel, honey?”

“No different.”

“Praise God, we will have it anyhow.” Ten years pass. “How you feel, honey?”

“No different.”

“Hallelujah. It's going to be greater than ever. Now, instead of sixty-five, you're seventy-five.” Plumb on till she was almost a hundred. He was still.... He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong, giving glory to God. Instead of getting weaker, he got stronger.

And we come up in the prayer line, and go to the meeting, and see the presence of God; we say, “Lord Jesus, I believe You healed my hand.”

In about a hour, get outside, “How's that hand you said is....”

“Well, I don't know.”

Next morning. “That hand any better?”

“I just can't see it....” Sons of Abraham?

Be strong. We can't wait on Him five minutes, and Abraham waited on Him twenty-five years, getting stronger all the time. And we begin to weaken the first minute ... time you get off the platform. If it isn't a spontaneous miracle, then you begin to say, “Oh, I don't guess.... Maybe I ought go back when Brother Roberts comes. Well, maybe Brother Branham'd give me another prayer card and I will go through.” Abraham's children?

When God's Word has come to be made true and real to your heart, anything contrary anytime is a lie. God told the truth. Right. Going to happen anyhow.

“How's your hand?”

“No different that I can see, but praise God, it's healed anyhow. God said so.”

I remember old John Ryan. He come through the prayer line at Fort Wayne, been blind for years. And he's Catholic by faith, and he came through the prayer line.

Now, to you Catholic.... You know, I'm Catholic too. You knew that, didn't you? Sure, I'm Catholic.

I met a fellow the other day. He said, “Billy, the strange thing to me is, that you ... your sincerity, and yet not Catholic.”

“Oh,” I said, “I am a Catholic.”

He said, “I didn't know that.”

I said, “Oh, yes.”

“Aw, now....”

And I said, “Sure. Yes, sir.” I said, “Now, is it true....” My people were Catholic. And when.... I said, “Is it true that the Catholic church teaches that this is the history of the Catholic church: Jesus Christ ordained the Catholic church, twelve apostles, made Peter the first pope?”

“That's right.” He will agree with that.

I said, “Well then, you know, when He set up the first pope, Peter, and He set up all the apostles, and they wrote this....” I said, “Now, of course, you said the church has power and authority to change anything they want to.” They believe that, see. They don't teach the Bible, because it's something in the past. I said, “Then I just believe what the first bunch of Catholics taught. So I'm an old fashioned Catholic.”

“Peter said, 'There's no other mediator between God and man,'—the first pope that walked with Jesus. And now, you got all kinds of dead women and dead men interceding and things, see. I don't.... I believe the old fashion Catholic. And you know, Jesus, the Establisher, said in the last book of the Bible, 'If any man take anything out, or add anything to, the same will be taken out of the part book of life.' So I'd just rather be an old fashioned Catholic, see.”

So this man come to the platform, and he said.... He passed by, and the Holy Spirit came, said, “You are blind, sir. Your name is John Ryan.”

“Yes, sir. That's right.”

And I said, “You beg for your living, and sell pen ... or, newspapers, it is, on a corner.”

“Yes, sir, that is right.”

I said, “You've been blind from an explosion—happened years ago.”

“That is true,” see, he said.

And I looked back, and I seen the old man seeing in a vision. I said, “Thus saith the Lord, you're healed.”

He started off the platform; he said, “But, I ... I don't see.”

I said, “That has nothing to do with it. You're already healed. God said so. I'm seeing it in a vision.”

He said, “Well, what shall I do?”

I said, “Just keep praising God for healing you.”

So he come back in a few minutes; he said, “But I'm not healed yet.”

I said, “You told me you believed me.”

He said, “I did.”

I said, “Do you still?”

He said, “I do.”

I said, “What are you questioning me about then? Go on, believe.”

So he said, “Well, what must I do?” He said, “I'm Catholic.”

I said, “Well, that's all right. But I want you to keep believing.”

He said, “What must I do?”

“Keep thanking God for your healing, just like Abraham did: Call those things which are not as though they were.”

And the next night, he was sitting up in the second balcony. And every once in awhile, he'd say, “Everybody keep still.” He'd raise up and say, “Praise the Lord, for healing me.” Sit back down. I was preaching, he'd just stop me. And every.... He'd get out on the corner selling his papers, holler, “Extree: Praise the Lord, for healing me. Extree. Praise the Lord, for healing me.” And selling his papers....

About two or three weeks after I left, a little boy led him across to the barber shop. Now, he's preaching divine healing on the land ... on the field today. And so, led him across to the barber shop to get a shave.

Well, a little smart aleck barber, you know, had more intelligence than he had gumption to know how to control. So he set him back in the barber chair, and lathered up his jaws, and shaved about one side down. He said, “Say, dad, I heard you was up to see the divine healer when he come up.”

Said, “Yeah, I was up.”

He said, “I heard you got healed.”

He said, “Yes, praise the Lord for healing me.” And his eyes come open. And he jumped up out of the barber chair with the towel on his neck and the barber chasing him with a razor in his hand. Down the street they went. “Praise the Lord, for healing me.” See, he stayed with it. Stay with it. Hold on. God said so. That settles it. Stay right there. Oh, it'll take place if you can believe it. Hold on; that's what Abraham....

Why, the doctor said, “Old fellow, you'd better go back home, because you're getting a little bit off your mind.”

“Glory to God, we will have it anyhow.”

Maybe the doctor sent a runner out and said, “Hey, what about that baby case?”

“Going to have it anyhow. Praise the Lord. Going to have it anyhow. It's all finished. God said so. We got the boots; we got the pins; we got the Birdseye. We got everything ready; it's coming.”

“When's it going to be here?”

“I don't know. But God said it anyhow; we're going to have it. Amen. That settles it. I don't know when it's going to be; that's up to His wisdom. But we're going to have it.”

When a man takes God at His Word, you're going to get it. I don't care what takes place; God said so. That settles it forever. That's all of it.

Then, we see.... The first thing you know, Abraham hadn't got to the place yet. He took.... Instead of going by himself, like God told him to do, separating himself, he took the old man along, his dad. And then, that was trouble till he was gone. Then here come Lot along, his nephew. There started arguments.

You see, God wants you to do what He says do. Don't hang on, say, “Now, I would go down to that meeting. I'd bring Suzy down, but her mother doesn't....” That don't have nothing to do with it, see. Separate yourself from every unbelief. Then God will act in your stead. He will act for you.

Now, we can see them going down. And first thing, some arguments come. And now, Abraham, acting as a Christian would do, showed that God's faith and Spirit was in him: he gave Lot his own choice. That's the way a Christian's spirit does. It always goes the extra mile, or gives the coat. “Now, you look up. Here's the land. We will not argue; we're brothers. You just.... If you go east, I will go west. If you go south, I will go north. But we won't argue; let's be brothers, for we are kindred.”

I was talking to a young man awhile ago. We was talking about God. And I said, “You see the Spirit of God in a man. He meets someone, it's like through a shady glass. But he knows that something in there is his brother.” What a love. Someday when that veil's taken away, then we will know as we're known.

But Abraham, giving Lot the choice. Now, of course, Lot, being a man of the world, he looked around for the best. So he looked around to see where ... the meeting that would pay off the best. So he looked around to find out where it would be the greatest for him. So he begin to look towards Sodom. Now, he saw Sodom—the fine watered fields of the river, as she watered the plains there, and grass, plenty of grass for the cows—and this was all barren up here.

That's the way people make their choice today. They say, “Well, if I want to be religious, I'll.... Here's a church that's already established. It's a great church; it's a big church, got plenty of money; it's fine people.” Be careful. By faith, we choose (see), by faith.

Now, Lot saw Sodom in all of it's goodness. But he didn't see his children burning up down there. He never saw his wife standing out there in the plains as a pillar of salt. He didn't see those things. He thought maybe a few extra dollars he could make. But he never seen those other things.

That's what we got to look by faith and see. Like Moses, looking out the same window that Pharaoh did, upon the same people. Pharaoh called them mud-daubers. That's all they was, just a bunch of slaves. But by faith, Moses saw them to be the promised people.

When I left the Baptist church to come over to be with the full gospel, well I.... It's quite a thing. But I thought this: “They've got something. They've got the Spirit.” Now, I'm not degrading the Baptist church. No, sir. They're my brothers, see. But I seen something great. I seen the possibilities of a united church, like we are here this afternoon. Oh, my. The different phases of them all come together as one. That's when God's going to move. That's what's holding back the millennium. Oh, that's what's holding back the Spirit of God from taking this great church, is because it's been separated, but when we come together.... “When the people that's called by my name shall assemble themselves together....”

So then, Lot went on down. We understand that he got in trouble. And then, as soon as Lot went away, and God got Abraham.... When Abraham had fulfilled everything that he promised God ... or, God promised him that He would do him, after.... Then, God came to him. Now, when you separate all yourself from all the tags that God don't want you to have, then God will come to you.

Now, said, “Rise up, Abraham. Look east, north, west, and south. It's all yours. I give it all to you.” The meek shall inherit the earth, we know that. “Notice. Look everywhere; it's all yours. Get up. Don't just sit there; get up and walk through the land, see how you like it.”

That's the trouble with people today who call themselves Christians. Somebody say, “You know, if I owned anything, I'd want to see what I got. I'm nosy. If somebody'd give me a house, I'd look at every inch of it. I want to see what it looks like, climb up.”

That's the way it is when I become a Christian. I want to see what I'm heir to. Amen. Oh, my. Find a whole storehouse full of promises. It just ain't, “Go put your name on the church book and do the best you can.” You're an heir. Hallelujah. Look through the storehouse; why it's a great big arcade. You was baptized into it. It's yours. You heired. I'd go around and look at this counter, and see what I got here, and go over here, see what I got over here. Anything that looks a little bit too high, I get a stepladder and climb up to it. If I see anything that looks a little out of my reach—like divine healing or something—I'll get on Jacob's ladder and keep ... climb till I get up where it's at. I want to see what it's all about.

You're heir to it: heir of salvation, heir of divine healing, heir of every redemptive blessing Jesus died for. You are the heir to it, for you are Abraham's seed. You're heir of the whole thing. Amen. I feel religious. Amen. Know that I'm an heir.

You may think I'm just a little crazy. But if I am, just leave me alone. I'm more happier this way than I was the other way. So I like this way the best. And so.... But I know that I'm a heir, heir of salvation, heir of every promise.

Why you Pentecostal people. You sing:

Every promise in the Book is mine,

Every chapter, every verse, every line.

Then act like it. Amen. Walk around and see what you got in here. It's all yours. You're heir to it, so walk around. Take possession. It belongs to you. God gave it to you. What a beautiful promise there.

Then we find out that trouble set in down in Sodom. Kings come through and took Lot, run away with him and his wife. And Abraham heard it.

Now, Abraham played the part of a Christian again, of Christ going out after the fallen brother to bring him back. Christ went out after the fallen brother to bring him back.

Here's just a little something on the side now. You smear this butter on after you get home and think about it.

Listen. As soon as they got back, Abraham, from the slaughter of the kings, kings come out to meet him. And Melchisedec came to meet him, which was the King of Salem, which was the King of Jerusalem, King of Peace. He had no father; He had no mother; He had no beginning of days nor no ending of life. He's still alive, ever-who He was. He never was born; He never had a papa, and never had a mama. He never had a day He started; never have a day that'll end. Who was He? Watch this guy.

As soon as the battle was over, what did he bring out? Bread and wine, the communion. And they took communion after the battle was over. Let's fight now, bring back the lost brother. Jesus said, “I will drink it anew with you in the Father's kingdom.” After the battle's over. Amen. Melchisedec came out, met Abraham, and gave him communion.

And some of you mothers, I want you to notice something here too on the tithe paying. Now, Levi was yet in the loins of Abraham when he met Melchisedec, and the tithe that Abraham paid to Melchisedec was allotted to Levi. For the Bible said that Levi, who received tithes, paid tithes for he was yet in the loins Abraham when he met Melchisedec, which was his great-great-grandfather. I wished I had enough time here to preach on: “Sowing To The Wind And Reaping The Whirlwind,” for you.

Listen here. That's what America's done. Look at these.... Way back a long time ago, the old flapper of long ago. Her daughter today is a chorus girl. What's her daughter going to be? See, what you do bears something upon your generations to follow you. Sin goes to three or four generations, and righteousness does.

For there, He allotted that to Levi, paying tithes, when he was in the loins of his great-great-grandfather. Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, Jacob begot Levi. There you are. Great-great-grandfather.... He paid tithes in the loins of Abraham. What a beautiful thing there, folks. Live right. It'll do something to your children to follow you. On, on, keep living right, doing right, separating yourself from the things of the world, and live godly in this present world for Christ Jesus.

Now, let's skip just a little farther. We got about seven or eight minutes yet according to the time on the clock. Now, let's go just a little bit farther.

Then God wanted to make this oath ... or, confirm this oath to Abraham. Now, he's getting real old. Now, I want you to.... Now, take your cherry pie now, and get your fork to lay the seed over to one side if you hit one. And then if you don't, then you lay your seed over and keep eating pie. And if you're eating chicken, I never eat the bones, but it never stops me from eating chicken. I just keep on eating chicken, lay the bone down. That's the way you do now, the same thing.

He's going to confirm the oath to him. So He said, “Abraham, get me a heifer of three years old, and the ram, and so forth, and a turtledove, and a pigeon.” So if you notice, Abraham made the sacrifices ready, and cut them in half, and laid them up against each other. But the turtledove and the young pigeon, he did not separate. Oh, if we had time to go into that on that divine healing (see), why he didn't cut those. But however, when he laid them together, Abraham watched then and kept the birds off of the sacrifice until the sun was going down.

Oh, now watch how He's confirming this oath. And oh, my Arminian brethren, sit still just a minute and listen to this. Notice. Just as the sun was going down, a great horror fell over Abraham, death that's due to all men—horror. Then after that, come a smoking furnace: every man due to go to hell. But after that, come a little white light and passed between these. Oh, my. Do you get it, what He's speaking of? Christ, you see?

Now, notice. Now, here in America, when we make a covenant, we go out and have a sandwich, and talk it over, and get up, and shake one another's hands. It's agreed. That's the way we make a covenant. In Japan the way they make a covenant, I understand, is get some salt. And they pitch salt on one another. That was a covenant, making a covenant. And we shake hands. Every place and every nation has it's customs.

But Abraham, in the Oriental country, the covenant was, then, if they made a covenant, they wrote it out on a piece of paper, a piece of script of some sort. And then they killed a beast, and cut the beast open, and stood between this beast's body; and took this piece of paper, and took their oath, and tore it apart; gave one to one party, and the other party taken the other; and took an oath, that let their body be like this dead beast if they ever broke this covenant, see. And then when they come together, both those pieces of paper had to dovetail one against the other one, because you cannot duplicate it in any way, the way it's tore; it has to be the same.

So you see what happened? Look. God, through Abraham's seed, took Christ to Calvary. And He tore Him apart. Tore the soul away from the body. He raised up the body and took that part of the covenant, and set it on His right hand, and sent the Holy Spirit back to the church. So the church will have to be filled with the same Spirit that was in Christ, at the resurrection. It's got to dovetail, one against the other. Hallelujah! What is it? Abraham's seed. Glory. Oh, I feel very religious. Yes, sir.

See, you could join church; you could do anything you want to, but the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead has got to be in you. Amen. He tore Him apart. We got the Holy Ghost; He's got the body. Someday it'll join together; we'll be one. “That day you'll know that I'm in God, God in me, and me in you, and I....” Oh, at that day.... You get it? Confirmed it with an oath by Himself, that that's what He would do.

How can you get in? How can you have faith? No wonder these people.... Lots of people in the world today don't believe in divine healing. They've never received that covenant. When God gives you the covenant, He gives you the Spirit: the Christ. The thing that was in Abraham comes in you. You believe it just like Abraham does. He chooses you by faith, and takes the Spirit that was in Christ, and put in you. As I said last night: maybe a spoonful. But it's the same kind of chemicals that's in the entire Christ. You're part of it, because you're sons of God, daughters of God, borned of the Spirit. Then that same Holy Spirit makes you call anything contrary to God's Word as though it was not. There you are. That's the covenant that He made with him. Then after He made the covenant....

We're in 17th chapter now, starting at eleven, and we go over to seventeen, hit the high spot, and then we will close, because we just got a few minutes.

After He did that, then He appeared to him in the 17th chapter of Genesis, and He appeared to him in the name of God Almighty, great God Almighty. I like that name. Almighty: If He's Almighty God, He can do all things. And if He cannot do all things, then He's not Almighty God. I like that.

And the word from Elohim: El being God, He's.... Actually the name was El Shaddai. I may not pronounce that word just right: El Shaddai. Now, El is “God,” like Elohim. Shad is “a breast,” like on a woman. Shaddai, is plural, “breasts, breasted.” Then He is the breasted God.

What a consolation to a man now one hundred years old, holding on to a promise for a baby through his wife at ninety years old. “I am the breasted God. I'm the strength giver to my people who's got my promise. I've got a breast for them to nurse their strength from. You're ninety.... You're a hundred years old. Sarah's ninety. But I am the breasted one; I'm the strength giver.” That's all it takes.

“Say, Brother Branham, the doctor told me I have cancer, was going to die.”

“But I am the breasted One. I'm Elohim. I'm El Shaddai. Oh, Abraham, you little old drawed up, shriveled up looking fellow (That's right.), hundred years old, stooped over, long whiskers and long hair, stooped back; and little old Sarah, just about big as your fist. But I am the breasted God.”

How is He breasted? One.... He was wounded for our transgressions, with His stripes we were healed. Every believer of Abraham, He's still the breasted One. If you need salvation, He's got what it takes to give you salvation. He's got two breasts here, the New and Old Testament. You just lean right against it and begin to nurse. Say, “Well, I've been a awful sinner.” Just keep nursing. Watch how your “I's” begin to clear up. You get away from that allergy you've had, spiritually allergy, that anemic condition, you're blood's all gone. Just nurse from His strength. Draw from His promise: “I'm the Lord that healeth all of thy diseases, that forgives all of thine iniquity, the breasted One.”

And another thing. Just like a baby when it's sick, and fretting, and all upset, and disturbed, and.... If the mother will take that little baby, and put it upon her bosom, and just pat it a little, and when.... It's not well yet, but as soon as it gets ahold of the mother's breast and tastes that milk from the mother, it begins to be satisfied.

And when a child of God.... Here it is, get it. When a child of God begins to break through that dark mist of unbelief, and gets ahold of God's promise, and begins to draw from it, draw from it, it shuts up about its sickness then. It begins to draw from it; it's satisfied. They don't say, “Well, my hand's no different.” It don't even look at the hand any more. Why? It's looking at where its strength's coming from. My strength cometh from the Lord. Hallelujah! Hallelujah means “Praise our God.” He's worthy of all the praise. He is the breasted One. Lean up against Him

and begin to draw. Get the first big mouthful. How much vitamin that's got in it. My!

Then again: “I'm the Lord that healeth thee. He was wounded for our transgressions, with His stripes we're healed.” I'm a child of Abraham. I've got just as much right to that breast as Abraham did, because God said so. It's mine. What is a breast? It's a promise. God made the promise. It's yours. It belongs to you. It's to every child of Abraham. Every son or daughter has a right to the same promise.

Now, what if the mother gave the baby the breast, and the baby refused to take it? The baby will die. That's all. And the baby doesn't just ... time it take its first mouthful become a big fat healthy baby. But it's laying there drawing, and satisfied while it's drawing. First thing the warm milk gets into its little stomach, and its little bright eyes begin to roll around. Mommy pats it. She knows it's coming along just fine. You just take God one time like that, you children of Abraham, say, “Lord God, I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe that You sent Him to the earth. He was wounded for our transgressions; with His stripes we were healed. I'm laying right against that promise right now. I believe right now that I swallowed the first big mouthful. I feel it warm as it goes down into my heart. I believe I feel better already.” Do you? Sure. Oh, my. The little toes begin to wiggle, little hands begin to move. Something's taking place. Why? You're nursing from the breasted God that your father Abraham nursed from. Oh, God, have mercy. Believe Him with all your heart.

Let us bow our heads. How many in here desires to come up to God's promise now, up to Calvary, look at the right and the left hand: Wounded for our transgressions, with His stripes you were healed, the breasted God. You have a right to these things. Will you raise your hands to God and say, “Be merciful to me, oh, God, and let me now draw from that breast.” Raise your hands if you desire it. God bless you, everywhere. Wonderful.

Lord, oh, we appreciate You so much, the great Holy Spirit, the confirmation that You keep Your Word. Did not our Lord look down through the time and see how men would stretch the Word, and make it say things that it was not intended to say? Oh, we realize that, Lord, but we're so glad that He said this: “I will not leave you comfortless. I will pray the Father, and He will send you another Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, and He will abide with you forever,” One that would confirm the Word. And You said, “When He comes, He will testify of me and will show you things to come.” How glad we are today, Lord, to have the presence of the Holy Ghost.

And there to let the sick man or woman just now that raised their hand, see maybe for their first time that breasted God yonder at Calvary, to see the blood ... by the same blood, from the same man. Both streams flowed parallel, one to the other. He was wounded for our transgression, with His stripes we were healed. Let that man or woman, boy or girl, that's here now leaning hard upon that bosom of God, may they separate themselves from every unbelief, every reason, everything that's contrary to faith. For their faith is now looking to You, that they're going to nurse from this day, from this hour, from this minute from the bosom of Almighty God. And they're going to receive their strength again. Blindness is going to leave, and sight's going to be coming back. The cancer, the tumor, the disease is going to depart from the body, and strength and health is going to come back. Grant it, Lord.

And if there be those here, Lord, who doesn't know You as their Saviour, and has never received of Your Spirit, may they pull right up on the other side and take ahold, and say, “Lord, You are God. And I'm Your child, because You're calling me now by Your grace. I'm unworthy. I know I am. But something tells me that You're calling me and I'm coming. Here I am, Lord; I'm just on Your hands [unclear words]. [Blank spot on tape.] ... constantly....

May every church grow and prosper, and great revivals break out through the country, revival fires be burning on every altar. Grant it, Lord. May there be such a kindling power of this little get-together here, and this brotherly come-together will be an example to all churches everywhere: What God will do. May this San Joaquin Valley just be one roaring for a revival from church to church. Grant it, Lord. For we ask....