Balm In Gilead

Let us bow our heads for a word of prayer. O Lord, we are grateful to Thee tonight, for this, another grand privilege that we have to come in Thy presence to offer to Thee our thanksgiving, and to sing the hymns of the church, and to worship Thee with all of our heart. And we would pray, Lord, that if there be anything against us on Thy books tonight, as we confess our wrongs, may the blood of Thy Son Jesus cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And we would pray, Father, that You would heal the sick tonight that is here that's sick and needy. May You send Your Word, and make them to believe on Thee, and on Thy provision for their health.

We pray, Lord, that You'll bless the Philadelphian church that's sponsoring this meeting tonight. Bless its pastor, our Brother Meade. And we pray that You'll supply all that they have need of for this journey. May it grow in grace, and in power, and in membership. Bless other churches who are coming in with the fellowship of this meeting tonight. We would ask that You would bless all that's present.

And our beloved Brother Joseph, who leaves us now for the foreign fields, let the Angels of the Lord go with him and instruct him, and make his path clear before him, that he will not walk and stumble, but the hand of God will be with him to uphold him. Get glory unto Thyself, Lord. And finally at the end of the journey, and when time shall be no more and blend into eternity, may we meet at Thy throne as unbroken families, singing the redemption songs, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

I am very grateful tonight for the privilege of being here in this meeting, for the farewell meeting for Brother Joseph.

As we have explained it this week that it was almost an accident that.... Oh, I would not want to place it that way. I would say that it must have been the divine leading of the Holy Spirit. I was supposed to be in the Fiji Isles this week. And next week ... or, tomorrow, I was to begin in Sydney, Australia. But somehow, something happened that I had to postpone that a few weeks before going in.

Our loyal and beloved Brother Billy Graham has left now. And maybe it's for the best that they recuperate just a little bit from the great meeting that he had, and then it's time for the full gospel to spread the country. And we pray that God will help that to be true. We are certainly soliciting the prayers of this Chicago people to be praying for me. I know that it will be a real rough job. But we do not want to shirk, no matter how rough it is; for we know the treatment that Billy got, and we know the treatment that Oral Roberts got, and I expect to go get my share. But if it's my lot....

We cannot be carried home to heaven

On a flowerdly beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize;

And sailed through bloody seas.

You know the old hymn. And we love to take our part.

And so now, I pray, Joseph, God be with you. There was just one thing that I didn't just exactly approve of tonight. I just maybe got here at the wrong time. I come in, and I heard them say that they were taking an offering to give to me. That should be Joseph. You take it, brother, see.

I got to meet Brother Osborn's associate. And he just so wonderfully gave me an invitation of Brother Robert.... or, Brother Osborn called him this afternoon, or he talked to him, wanted me to come down visit him at his home.

Brother Osborn's picture was showed here this afternoon, and I know that you appreciated it. You just see where that our efforts are put forth trying to see where they'll meet the best. And the.... Brother Osborn, as myself, he would perhaps stay on the foreign fields all the time if he was financially able. The American people has the money, and the peoples over there are needing the gospel. So you see, that's why our hearts bleed.

We love our American brethren. But the thing is, that they are dying without knowing Christ. They don't have the opportunities that you have here. When you think of Bombay and Calcutta, where up-and-down the streets that thousands lay dying, starving to death, and mothers with their little babies, their little bellies swelled way up from hunger, that mother laying begging for just a penny or two pennies to try to spare its life.... Then how can you set down and eat in peace when such is going on.

You just should take a trip sometime, then it would be different. It would be different if you ever saw it. And little black boys in Africa, who doesn't know which is right or left hand, never had a bath in his life, and standing there with his little hands out, never heard the name of Jesus in his life. He's got just as much right to hear about Jesus as our children have.

So, it's on my heart to get to them as quick as I can and help them. And I know that's the burden of Brother Osborn and Brother Joseph. And whoever visits those fields, you're never the same anymore.

And I would like to say, if there would happen to be some of the officials of this fine school that has given us the opportunity to have this meeting here tonight, I wish to thank them from the very depths of my heart for letting us have this school auditorium tonight. May the Lord bless them richly. And I believe it's written in the Scriptures, “Insomuch as you have did unto the least of these, my little ones, you have done it unto me.” May that reward return to this school.

And now, I suppose in a few days, I will be up in Cleveland, Tennessee, and then from there, down into California, and perhaps, by that time, ready to go overseas again. So, pray for us. God bless you.

And this has been a glorious time of fellowship that all the places I have visit.

And now tonight, I want to call your attention to just a line of a verse found in Jeremiah 8:22. Reads like this:

Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?

Jeremiah, many hundreds of years ago, was commanded of Jehovah to stand in the gates of the city and ask this question: “Is there no balm in Gilead, or is there no physician there?” The question is, “Why, then,” he said, “is the daughter of my people not recovered?”

The word, “Why?”: God asked that question. When God has made a way for people to escape danger, or to escape sickness, or troubles, or disasters, provides a way of escape, and the people turn it down and refuse it, then God asks, “Why? What's the reason that you don't accept it?”

Like in the Scriptures found in the book of II Kings, the 1st chapter. Ahab, the unruly king of Samaria had died. And his son had taken his place. And he was an ungodly man, just like his father, Hezekiah. And one day when he was walking in his porch, he fell through the lattice. Falling to the ground, he injured himself, and some disease set into his body. And then he called two of his soldiers, or temple guards, and sent them up to Ekron to the temple of Beelzebub, the god of that country, which was a devil god—something like fortune-tellers. And he said, “Go and inquire by Beelzebub, by the prophets of Beelzebub, 'Am I going to come off of this bed or not?'”

And as they started, the Angel of the Lord come to Elijah the Tishbite, the true prophet of God, and told him what was going on, and said, “Go stand in the way and head these men off.”

And he did. And he said to them, “Is not there a God in Israel? Isn't there a prophet in Israel that you can consult about these matters? Why do you go up to Beelzebub?”

It wasn't because there wasn't a God in Israel. Neither was it because there wasn't a prophet in Israel. But it was the king's stubbornness and his hatred for the true prophet of Israel. It wasn't because that God hadn't supplied the remedy. It was because that he was too stubborn, and he didn't like Elijah, because Elijah had predicted all the evil that happened to his father. Therefore, he had created by the habits of his home to hate the man of God, to despise him and reject him.

And if you reject the true and living God, there's only one other thing you can go to, that's an untrue god or a false god. If this people of this nation refuses to serve the true and living God, there's only one thing left for them to accept; that's the false god. If there is a true religion of Jehovah, and people refuse to walk in that religious order, then there's only one thing for them to do; that's find some other false way to walk in it.

And how foolish it seems to the mind, to the reasonable mind, that could reason out. Why take something false when you can have something true? Why would man go after the things of the world to satisfy that thirst that's in him, when God created that thirst for him to thirst after God. Why would he satisfy it with drinking, and gambling, and carousing, when there is peace, and joy, and long-suffering, and goodness, and mercy in God? Why would a man falsely fill himself full of poison liquors, to make him get out and be carefree, only to know that he's damned his soul and diseased his body? There is a Spirit of the living God that can give him eternal peace and satisfaction.

Why would a man or a woman smoke cigarettes to try to calm their nerves when He is the Lily of the valley. Where do you get opium? From the lily. That's where opium comes from. And He is the Lily of the valley. And He has all of the things that you need to quieten your nerves. You don't have to smoke. That'll kill you. I think it's Readers' Digest that says there'll be a hundred and thirty-three thousand Americans die this year from smoking cigarettes. And why would you do that to quieten your nerves, when you can come into the house of God and find peace and to rest?

Seems there's something wrong mentally, like it was with Hezekiah. It's because that you have created something within you, “Oh, I don't like to go to church. I wouldn't want to be that kind of a person, if I had to give up cigarettes, and give up my drinking, and.... I just wouldn't want that kind of religion.”

Well, it's just like Hezekiah was; if he didn't want to hear from God, then he had to hear something falsely.

There's people today.... It's just like this: a man dying on the doorsteps of a doctor's office, when the doctor in the building has the cure for his disease, but he refuses to take it. If the man has a disease, and the doctor has the cure for it, and the man may lay on the doctor's doorsteps. But if he refuses to take his medicine, he will die on the doorstep. You can't blame the doctor. The doctor would give him the medicine that would cure him, if he'd only come, take it. But it isn't the doctor's fault; he's got the remedy, but the man's too stubborn to take it. Then whose fault is it?

So is it today, that many people die in front of the church, on the steps, in the pews, die in their sins because they refuse to accept God's balm that's in Gilead. They die in their sins because they refuse it, not because there isn't any there; but they just refuse to take it. Then what will they take? They have to take something false instead. It's not because there's none there, because there is. But men and women just refuse to take it, and they die, die in the church, sit in the meetings and listen night after night to inspired prophets of God, who takes the Word fearlessly and lays it out, “Ye must be borned again.” Men and women set in the pews and die, and sink into utter despair, and annihilated from God. Not because there's not grace and salvation, but because they refuse to receive it.

“Is there no balm in Gilead? Then why is the daughter of My people so sick? Isn't there a physician there to minister this?” Sure there is. God has His prophets yet. God has His balm yet. And God's daughter is sick, and she hasn't recovered. But it isn't because that there's no balm; there isn't because that there's no prophet; but it's because the daughter refused to take the medicine. That's true.

Medicine, if you refuse the medicine, then there's nothing to be done.

Now, medicine has to be tested. They take medicine and they.... First, when they find a toxine that they think that's for some ailment, they try it on guinea pigs. And they take the toxine, after the science has worked on it for a long time, and they shoot it into a little guinea pig, and they watch his reaction. If it doesn't hurt the little guinea pig, then they use it on human beings.

But medicine is a chance to take. For some medicines that will help one human being, might kill another. So you have to watch that, because it's.... Sometimes you must be sure that you know what you're doing, and let a doctor that knows how to give it, give it to you, someone that you got confidence in.

And now, we hear so much today about heart disease. They say that heart trouble is the number one killer in America. Heart trouble isn't the number one killer; it's sin that's the number one killer in America. Sin is what does the killing. Medicine.... You might be able to patch up your body a little while. And that body is going to die anyhow. It's going back to the dust of the earth. But that soul will live somewhere forever. That's the killer, is sin to the soul. That's number one killer in America.

So many people say, “I just got to do this. I just got to do that.”

Someone said to me not long ago, said, “Billy, I would love to be a Christian, but I had a habit that I inherited from my father.” And he said, “That habit is playing cards, gambling.” He said, “It's worse than any other habit.” And he said, “I just have to play cards.”

I spoke to a woman some time ago, and she was looking so frail. She'd noticed sometime in her younger days of this advertisement on the televisions and the signboards of beautiful women smoking cigarettes. And the company says that it will make you thin. That's when they sold their product to the public.

If it makes you thin, it's because you're dying. It's TB and cancer that's making you thin. She said, “I just have to smoke. I'm a slave to it.”

Well, you don't have to be a slave to it. There is a balm in Gilead. There's a balm in Christ. There's a cure for it. You don't have to do it. You don't have to drink. You don't have to smoke. You don't have to gamble. The reason you do it, is because you refuse the remedy. You'll die on the church steps until you take the remedy that cures. That's what satisfies. That's what takes sin away.

They say, “I just can't help it.” You can help it.

What if the man, laying on the doctor's steps, said, “Oh, I know he's got the medicine there to cure this disease, but I just can't go in.” Why can't you go in? And in this case, you're even persuaded and try to pull you in for the sin of your soul. But yet, people won't do it.

What is sin? It's your unbelief. If you believed God, you'd rush to Calvary just as quick as you could. God has a remedy for unbelief. No wonder people don't believe in divine healing these days, don't believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is because that they've never been inoculated from unbelief yet.

Now, there was a time when there was no toxine for diphtheria. Many died because there was no toxine. And there was a time when there was no toxine for typhoid fever. But they got toxines today for those things.

And there was a time when there was no balm in Gilead for your sins. But there is a balm in Gilead today. For today in the house of David ... the city of David in the house of God, is a fountain open to wash and clean the unclean. “There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins, where unbelievers plunged beneath the flood, loose all their guilty stains.”

Men and women who's made in the image of God, stand and say that God's Word is not right. They doubt this, and they doubt whether it's so or not. There's a fountain to take care of that.

And I was speaking on the private interviews today and met a couple, a man and his son. I said, “You can never, never go forward, until you're perfectly satisfied, and know without a shadow of doubt you're walking in God's will.” Then when you know that you're in God's will, and walking in His way, nothing can stop you, because you know where you're standing. You know the way you're going. You know what you got in your mind; you know what the will of God is, and then you can do it.

Now, when God got ready to make an appropriation for sin in the Old Testament, it wasn't too sure, because that he took it under the sacrificial suffering of animals, like the guinea pigs and so forth. And there was no spirit in those animals who could return back to the worshipper when the blood cell was broken and the life of the animal was taken.

But God has a sure cure now. And you don't have to guess. It'll help everybody, because, “Whosoever will may come and take from the waters of life freely.” It won't help one and kill another, for it will help all: “Whosoever will may come.” All unbelievers are invited, that they might wash themselves and be inoculated from their unbelief. It's a sure cure, a double cure God has for you.

Now, it was questioned. But one day, down on the river of Jordan, when an old preacher, standing down there with a piece of camel skin wrapped around him, eat wild locust and honey for his meat.... God didn't send a guinea pig, but He sent His own Son for the test of this inoculation or balm. And as soon as He was baptized, the heavens opened, and God, in the form of a dove, descending from heaven, spoke, and said, “This is My beloved Son in whom I'm pleased to dwell in.” Come upon Him....

What did it do? It inoculated Him from everything called sin. He was tempted in all manners, like we are, yet without sin. And then in His death, He died like a man, like a human being. But the inoculation proved good on Easter morning; it raised Him up from the dead, and broke the bands of death and the seals of the grave. And He rose again to prove that this inoculation of eternal life has been proven by God's own Son that it'll raise up the dead.

When it was in His body and He walked around with it in there, He healed the sick. He did it by visions that God gave Him. He said in Saint John, the 5th chapter and the 19th verse, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing until He sees His Father do it first.” And He did by vision what the Father told Him to do.

And then, after He had proved the serum of God would cure from sin and keep you in the hour of temptation.... It would not only do that, but it would work miracles through the power of God through this balm that was in Gilead. Not only that, but after you're dead and laid in the grave, it'll raise you up again. The serum held out.

It's the balm of Gilead, the balm of heaven that God gave to His Son to inoculate Him to bring the proof, not a guinea pig for medicine, but a Son from heaven, proving what He was. And He took it, and was anointed with the Spirit, and God was in Him performing miracles and signs. Then He killed His human life on Calvary, and He died, and went into the grave, and laid there three days and nights. But on the third day, He broke the bands and rose again. For He said, “This inoculation, this balm will rise Me up again at the last days. It'll raise Me up after three days.”

Now, He prescribed it to His disciples. And He said, “Don't go to some seminary to learn to preach, but wait in the city of Jerusalem till you've been inoculated with the toxine from heaven.” That'll take care of you. That'll hold you in the hours of temptation. And with this toxine, when you're anointed with it, it's eternal life. “I want you to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, inoculate everyone who will believe; And these signs shall follow them that believe.”

Brother, sister, because the world's groping in darkness and sin, it's not because there's not a balm in Gilead; it's because people refuse to take it. Not because there isn't a power that'll take men from the saloon, from the pool tables; it's not because there's no grace in God that'll shed in your heart, that'll make you live right and act right and be right; it's because they refuse to take it.

That's why the daughter, God's daughter, the church, is so sick. It's not because there's not a physician, a doctor of this disease. A preacher who will tell the truth and preach it, we've got them, plenty of those. It's because the daughter won't take it. There's plenty of medicine. But the people die right in the church, sinful. They die on the doorsteps. They die passing the churches, because they refuse to take the inoculation.

Now, after that, these hundred and twenty gathered in an upper room. And all of a sudden, there came down that same Spirit, like a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And one hundred and twenty was inoculated from death and from sin by the toxine of the Holy Ghost that come upon them. They went forth everywhere, preaching, signs....

What kind of signs? The same signs that was with Him, the chief Doctor, the same signs that followed Jesus their Lord, the same signs of eternal life.

A man laying in the shadow of death, they spoke the Word of the Lord Jesus, and he leaped to his feet. He got life. Why? Because they had something to give him. “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I unto thee.” The very same signs that followed Jesus when He came to be, as it was, the guinea pig to prove the Serum was right, the balm was right....

The One who came to prove it, held back nothing. But He preached to those Pharisees, and called them hypocrites and snakes in the grass. He didn't go out for popularity. “He came to His own, and His own received him not.” That's the way it is every time. “And if they called the Master of the house, Beelzebub, how much more will they call them of His disciples?” He told them what this inoculation would do to them. It would make them odd and peculiar, not understood by the world, but they were precious in the sight of God who sent the serum to save His own people.

Then we find out that they had signs and wonders, the same signs that Jesus had, for He said, “The works that I do shall you also. Greater than this shall you do, for I'll go to My Father.” The same signs of eternal life....

If the eternal life brought them signs in that day to those who had it, the same eternal life will do the same thing today, if there's still a balm in Gilead. Or is there? Has those days passed? Are they gone? Did God run out of inoculation for His church? Did He do it? If He did, woe unto the church. But on the day of Pentecost, while they were shouting and praising God, the question come up, “Men and brethren, what can we do to become inoculated?”

And doctor Simon Peter wrote out a prescription. And he said, “This prescription's going to be good for you, and for your children, and for every generation. As many as the Lord our God shall call can use this prescription. Repent every one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall be inoculated. You shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, which is God's inoculation. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

There is a balm in Jesus tonight. In the name of Jesus Christ, there is a balm. “Whatever you ask the Father in My name, that I will do.” There's a balm in Gilead. “In My name they shall cast out evil spirits. They'll lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” There is a balm in Gilead.

If you cannot be rid of your drinking, of your gambling, and that evil spirit that's making you....

You women dress immorally out here on the streets. If that evil spirit has caught you, you may be pure, factually, but you'll answer for adultery at the day of the judgment, for Jesus said, “Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her in his heart already.” And you'll answer if you present yourself like that. You'll answer before God for committing adultery with every man you presented yourself to. You are the guilty one.

You men that can't throw down that tobacco habit, and that drinking habit and that gambling habit, you don't want to, because there's a balm in Gilead.

Sitting here, was listening to me preach tonight is one of the worst alcoholics that Chicago ever had. A little lady sitting here, drunken, batty-eyed wretch, but she found the balm in Gilead one night. And now she's a mission worker for the alcoholics.

There is a balm in Gilead. It's for you. There is a Physician in Gilead. But the reason the people is sick, is because they won't receive the remedy.

Think it over. It's not because.... Now, at the judgment that God's going to say, “Well, I had no balm,” He's got it. And the prescription calls for, “Whosoever will.” It's to you and to your children, to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.“ There's plenty of balm if you're willing to receive it. Think of it, while we bow our heads for prayer.

Merciful God, who brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead, raising Him up for our justification, that we might look at an empty tomb tonight, and have perfect confidence in Thy Word to come for this great cure for sin or unbelief. For it is promised by our Lord, that whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe you receive it, and you shall have it. But people needs Thy balm, the balm of Gilead poured into their soul, the rich, royal holy oil of God, called the Holy Spirit. May it saturate every soul here tonight to believe Thee. May they take the prescription that the Apostle Peter wrote out at the day of Pentecost, and bring repentance to their heart, and faith to their soul, that they might receive joy unspeakable and full of glory. Grant it, Lord, through Jesus Christ's name, we pray.

With our heads bowed, I would like to ask this solemn question: How many people present would like to come to that fountain, would want God to put His Spirit so richly in you, like it was in Jesus, so much that you could resist temptation, that you've tasted something so much better than tobacco, something so much better pleasures than drinking will give, so much better pleasures of going to church than it would be to go to a card party. You'd like to have that. You'd love to have it, so you could live free from sin. Not because you're not tempted, but in every temptation He will make a way of escape. Would you like to take that inoculation? There's a balm in Jesus tonight. Would you love for Him to pour in upon your soul, like He did those at Pentecost? If you would like to be remembered, raise your hand? And by this, you say, “Lord, I want Your Spirit on me.” God bless you. He sees every hand. He knows every intention. He knows every heart.

Lord, You seen those hands. And as the prophet Jeremiah was commanded of You, O Lord, to stand in the temple gate and call out, “Is there no balm in Gilead?” The church was so sin-sick. He said, “Is not there a physician who could minister this balm?” Then if the balm be there, and the minister be there, then why is the church so sick?“ God grant tonight that each one who is sick of the world, and sick of their life, and their sins, and their unbelief, and flusterations and doubts.... You know their hearts. May, O Lord God, You apply that balm tonight, the Holy Spirit that sweetens, and takes away sin, and gives a desire to walk free from sin, and in the hour of temptation sustains us with His presence.

May it be so, Lord, that each person that's in Divine Presence may become that person tonight, like the apostles received it at Pentecost and the prescription was given. May each follow that line of thought and that prescription that the apostle gave us, which was recognized all down through the Bible. And even after Paul, one borned out of season, come to the end of the road, and they were going to cut his head from his shoulders, and death was staring him in the face, and the grave said so much, “I will mold you, Paul.”

But he looked it in the face and said, “O death, where is your sting? And grave, where is your victory? But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ who gives us the victory.” The balm, the inoculation, that we know that death cannot hold us. Though we be a spoonful of ashes, God shall speak, and we will rise. We pray that You'll bless, Lord, in a masterous way tonight. Just let Your loving arms get to each heart, and take Your position in their souls, and lead them from this night on. I believe they raised their hands sincerely. And I know You have said, “He that will come to Me, I will in no wise cast out.” And I pray, God, that when they raised their hands and made that surrender, that You wrote their names in the Lamb's book of life, and You'd fill them with the Holy Spirit. We ask this for Jesus' sake, and in His name. Amen.

Just a little hymn now before we start the praying for the sick. “Oh, How I Love Jesus.” I'm sure we all know that. While we just sing this hymn and worship.... All right, if they'll give us a chord.

Now, all believers in here, raise your hand on this second verse, “I will never forsake Him.” Raise your hand; give Him that pledge.

The Lord bless you richly.

Just before the prayer for the sick, I would like to make just a little statement. And I wish this above all things, that you here tonight, that who believes in your heart that you love the Lord, and something is happened to you, promise me that you'll find a good gospel church somewhere, a church that teaches the full gospel, the power of God, His resurrection. Join up with those people and make yourself a church home. Don't just stray around loose on the streets; go get a good church somewhere of your choice, where the gospel and the power of God is made known, and the signs of eternal life is in there, the signs that was in Christ.

Christ said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” And the first vine to come out of the branch brought forth a Pentecostal vine that went forth preaching the gospels. Signs and wonders that followed the Lord Jesus followed that church. If that vine produced that kind of a branch, the first one, the next vine will have to produce ... the next branch will have to be like the first vine. And every vine that comes out of that branch will be like the first one. There can be no difference, because it's the same life that's supporting the first branch, supports to the last branch. And the same fruit that come on the first branch on the vine will be on the last branch of the vine.

Now, when Jesus was here on earth, He did not claim to be a healer. All knows that. He said, “It's not Me that doeth the works; it's My Father that dwelleth in Me; He doeth the works.”

What I referred to in my sermon, the balm, the Holy Spirit that came like a dove and set upon Him, and went into Him, and He was filled with God—He was God. God was in Him without measure. He's in us by measure. We're adopted children. But we're children just the same. A spoonful of water out of this big lake out here, has the same chemicals that the whole lake's got. But it's just not as much of it.

Now, we find Him going about.... Let's watch His ministry just for a moment. And we're contending that Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” We see the first branch bare that fruit. Let's see what He was, and then we can tell what the first branch was, and what this branch ought to be.

We find Jesus in Saint John 1. As soon as He had been filled with the Holy Spirit, and came from the wilderness, we find that a man named Andrew had got converted and went and found his brother, Simon. And Simon came up into the presence of the Lord Jesus, and Jesus told him who he was, what his name was, and what his father's name was—Saint John the 1st chapter. That astonished the fisherman. And He told him, said, “Your name is Simon, and you're the son of Jonas. But from henceforth, ye shall be called Peter,” which means “little rock” or “little stone.”

Immediately after that, there was one standing there by the name of Philip. And he was so thrilled by seeing this, he took off fifteen miles around the mountain and found his brother, Nathanael, a friend of his, under a tree, praying, and said, “Come, see who we found, the Messiah.”

On his road back, he begin to talk to him what He'd said about Peter, about calling his father's name. And then when he come into the presence of the Lord Jesus, Jesus looked at him and said, “Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no guile.” Saint John the 1st chapter, the beginning of His ministry....

And when he looked at Him, he said, “Rabbi, how did You know me? I've never seen You before, and You've never seen me. How did You know that I was an Israelite, a just man with no guile. How did you know that?”

He said, “Before Philip called you, I saw you when you were under the tree.”

That was Jesus yesterday. And what did this believer say? Now, no man can believe without God calls him to believe. You might have....

The meetings produce three classes of people. And one of them is a unbeliever, the next is a make-believer, and the next is a believer. That's the three classes of people that the gospel brings. It's always from Moses' time, and all the way through, always been from Eden: Cain, a make-believer; Abel, a believer. And it's been that way all along.

And he said, “When did You know me?”

He said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you.” He'd been right there all the time. But He saw him before he come to the meeting, and told him what he was doing.

He said, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God. You're the King of Israel.”

But there was those standing by who down in their heart they said, “This man is that evil one, that fortuneteller, Beelzebub.”

And Jesus perceived their thoughts, what they were thinking about. And He turned to them. Now, the Bible said they didn't say it out loud, but they said it in their heart. And Jesus, knowing their hearts, He turned to them and said, “You say that about Me, I will forgive you. But the day will come when the Holy Ghost comes to do the same thing. One word against it will never be forgiven in this world or the world to come.”

In the 4th chapter of Saint John, He had need to go by Samaria. And there was a woman of Samaria come out to get water. We believer her to be a woman of ill-fame. Jesus sent His disciples into the town, because He had had a vision on what was going to happen, because later He said so.

And the woman started to let down the bucket to get the water. And He said, “Woman, bring Me a drink.”

And she astonished, turned to look to see this Jew, and she said, “It's not customary for you Jews to ask us women of Samaria such things as that, of Samaria.” Said, “Because we have no dealings with each other, a segregation.”

He said, “But if you knew who you were talking to, you'd ask Me for a drink, and I'd give you water you don't come here to draw.”

She said, “The well's deep, and You've got nothing to draw with.”

What was He doing? Carrying a conversation. Finally, the Father revealed what was in her heart. How many knows what was in her heart? What she'd done? So, Jesus said, “Go get your husband and come here.”

She said, “I have no husband.”

He said to her, “Thou has said well, 'I have no husband,' because you've had five husbands; and the one that you're now living with is not your husband. Wherefore, you've said right.”

Now, what did she say? “You are Beelzebub?” No. She said, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Now, we know, we Samaritans, we know when the Messiah cometh, He will tell us these things. But who are You?”

He said, “I am He.”

And she ran into the city. Listen to her message: “Come, see a man who's told me the things that I've done. Isn't this the Messiah?” And they went out and believed. Is that right?

Now, that was Jews and Gentiles, Ham and Shem's people. Japheth's people is next; that's us. The Gentiles wasn't looking for the coming of Christ then. The Jews and Samaritans was. Now the Jews and Samaritans are off to one side, because they rejected Him in whole. God took a remnant out of them. And now, it's the Gentiles, for two thousand years, has waited for the coming of the Lord. God is a just God, and promised that these same things would take place just before the coming of the Messiah, because it's a pressing of His Spirit coming, getting His church ready. The balm is to return to Gilead.

Now, Jesus said in Saint John five (the next chapter), when He passed through the gate, and there was a man crippled there, and lots of crippled, impotent people, thousands of them. He went under the pool of Bethesda. And He looked all around; the Father had showed Him a vision, where a man was laying on a little pallet that had some kind of a retarded disease. He'd had it thirty-eight years. And He passed blind, crippled, halt, lame, went by them until He found this man laying on a pallet. And He said, “Wilt thou be made whole?”

He said, “I have no one to put me in the water.”

He said, “Take up thy bed and go into the house.”

And the man never questioned. He picked up the bed and went into the house.

Immediately, what taken place? The Jews found fault with that. And so, they questioned Jesus. In other words, “Why didn't you heal all the rest of them? You're such a great healer; make all the rest of them well.”

This Saint John 5:19, listen what He said, “Verily, verily (That's, 'Absolutely, absolutely') I say unto you, the Son can do nothing within Himself. But what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son likewise.”

Jesus said before He died for our sins, to be the atonement, so that the balm of Gilead could come back to us to carry the work on, He said, “These things that I have done, you shall do also. More that this shall you do, for I go unto My Father. A little while and the unbelieving world will see Me no more. Yet, ye shall see Me (the church, the believer), for I (personal pronoun) will be with you, even in you to the end of the age.”

That is Jesus, the Son of God, who's still, by His death at Calvary, who shed His blood, sanctifies His church, and puts it in order, and puts His Spirit back in His church like He did on Pentecost. And the Pentecostal church went forth, the first church, and performed the same kind of signs that Jesus did, because God was with them, working with them, confirming the Word with signs following.

Now, Lord, it is Your service; it is Your church. It's Your people; it's Your gifts. These are sick and needy. Let Thy Spirit, Lord, Thy balm, through each and every sick person that's laying on the great physician's step tonight, may they see and understand that He's not dead, the great physician, but has raised from the dead, and is living in His church. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, let Him speak from here, and declare whether He is alive or not. Now, we know the Scripture claims it. But will He keep His Word? If He's God, He's got to keep His Word. If the Scriptures isn't right, then we could worship and take the Koran from the Mohammedan, or the Jains, or the Sikhs, or whatever religion we desired. But all the religions in the world is false but Christianity.

I've stood with the Bible in one hand and the Koran in the other one, and challenged the Mohammedan priests to come forth. Yes, sir. God is God. He's God of Elijah. He's the same God today that He ever was. If He ever was God, He's still God.

So, let's not rush now to get into the prayer line. Let's come reverently, in order. Let the prayer cards begin with number 1. Is that.... It starts with number 1? [Blank spot on tape.]

One day in her great troubles, Jesus came along. Don't you believe He's just as interested in you as He was that woman?

Now, if you have no prayer card, then perhaps right now, and you're sick.... Your troubles is doubled, it seems like. But Jesus always comes to those who are in double trouble. Don't you believe that?

And she was very seriously sick. So one morning, say she was sitting on the front porch knitting. And she seen a little boat tossed out into the river ... or, the Sea of Galilee. And as she looked, twelve men ... thirteen men to be exact, landed in the willows down by the lakeside. And while the boat was coming along, and the people begin to get out, there was something begin to tug at her heart that she should go down to the seaside. And when she got there, she found there was that prophet of Galilee.

Oh, He was called a heretic. He was called “out of His mind.” How many knows that Jesus was declared insane? He certainly was. How many knows that every one of the apostles was declared insane? Absolutely. Jesus Christ was declared insane. “We know that thou art mad and have a devil.” What is mad? Crazy, insanity.

Paul. “Paul, thou art mad. Too much learning has made thee mad.”

But he said, “In the way that's called heresy, that's the way I worship the God of our fathers.” I like to stand by Paul's side, be a fellow citizen of the kingdom of God and suffer with Him here, and also reign with Him there. In the way that's called heresy, crazy....

And this little woman come down. Of course, perhaps maybe, her church members were there, and they would've made fun of her. But she thought that Jesus was correctly the Son of God, so she said, “He's a holy man; He's from God. If I can only touch the border of His garment, I believe I will be healed.” Is that true? So she pushed through the press until she touched the border of His garment.

And everybody was shaking hands with Him. “Good morning, Rabbi,” (Reverend, whatever, teacher, pastor) and hugging Him.

But Jesus stopped all of a sudden. The little woman was scared, so she run away, and say she went out in the audience to set down like you are now. Jesus turned around and said, “Who touched Me?”

And Peter said, “Why, Lord, all's touching You. How can You say such a thing, 'Who has touched Me?' Everybody's touching You.”

He said, “But I perceive that I have gotten weak. Virtue has gone from Me.” In other words, all them touches was all right, but they wasn't the right kind of touch. “I perceive that I've gotten weak.” If it would make Him weak, what would it do to us, a sinner saved by grace? We would never stand it if He didn't say, “More than this shall you do.”

“Greater” is the King James translation, but the Greek is “more.” You couldn't do greater. He done as far as stopped nature, and raised the dead. There could be nothing greater done, but more of it, because He'd be.... The balm, the Holy Spirit that was in Him, B-a-l-m was spread out all over the earth in His church. “More than this shall you do, for I go unto My Father.” He divided Hisself with every believer. Don't you believe that? Every believer, His Spirit He divided with every believer. “And more than this shall you do, for I go unto My Father.”

Now, the woman touched His garment, and He looked around. Everybody, “Not me. Not me.”

And finally, there was a great power in Him, the anointing of the Holy Ghost that could perceive the thoughts of the people's minds. So He looked out over the audience, and that little woman was thinking, “Oh, I've done something wrong. Maybe I've done wrong. But, O Lord, You know I needed it.”

And Jesus looked at her, and told her that her blood issue was healed, because she had believed. He picked her right out of the audience and told her her condition.

Now, you out there without a prayer card would say, “Oh, I wished I could've been standing there. I would do the same thing. But, alas, He's dead and gone.” Oh, no. He rose again. He's not dead, but He is alive forever more. And the Scriptures.... To any of you Bible students, or teachers of theology, the Scripture says in the New Testament, the book of Hebrews, that right now, Jesus Christ is a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities.

How would He act if you touched Him? If He's the same Jesus, He'd act the same way He did, because He can act no other way. So you look to Him tonight, you without a prayer card. How many in here does not have a prayer card, and you want Jesus to heal you, raise up your hands, anywhere? Now, you just look to Him.

Remember, I'm your brother. There's not one thing about me could heal. I'm just a man. I have no powers to heal. No other man has any power to heal. There's no such a thing as a divine healer. But there's no such a thing as any kind of healing besides divine healing. God is the only One who can create, and you cannot heal without creating.

When you break your arm, the doctor don't claim to heal your arm; he sets your arm. God heals it, see. The doctor can remove a growth, but God has to create the cells to heal it back. Medicine does not heal. It only assists nature; God is the Creator who creates. So there's no other healing but divine healing.

When people say that there is no divine healing, they just got the thing turned right around. There's no other healing but divine healing. God said, “I'm the Lord thy God who heals all of thy diseases.” His Words cannot fail.

Now, I'm going to ask for your undivided attention, ask for no one to move around. Be real reverent. Sit quiet, and be reverent. And watch, believe, pray. Now, have faith. Now, just believe.

Now, just imagine in your mind now of the Lord Jesus coming into the presence of this audience in a visible body. Now, just try to visualize that.

Now, I'm going to pray for the sick. But that.... Just that you might see, there's people raised their hands awhile ago, they had never been in the meeting....

Now, I'm going to ask you this question before we start. Now, if there's any in this prayer line that's been used to coming in the prayer lines, and knows that each person, I stop with them to find out if the Holy God of heaven would reveal to me sin in their life, I would.... Many of you has been in the meeting, and see where their sin's called right out and tells them. How many's seen that, let's...? Sure. Well then, see, you have to watch those things.

But now, remember, if God has permitted sickness to come on you to bring you to discipline, and you refuse to discipline yourself before God, then step out of the line. Don't come in there, because it might make you worse. If you're sinful, and you got unconfessed sin, make it right with God before you come to God for prayer.

Now, I do not heal people; I only pray for people. But if anyone here that's sick, I can tell you by the Word of God, that you've been healed since Jesus was wounded for your transgressions, and by His stripes, you were healed. You've been saved.... Every sinner's been saved since He died for you. He settled it. The Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, Jesus said, “It's finished.” It's finished. Now, the only thing you have to do is to accept it.

Now, here is a woman. Say, like this first one here, it gives a beautiful picture of what I spoke of Saint John, of the 4th chapter: A man, Jesus, a Jew; a woman, Samaritan of Samaria. They met for their first time. Now, this is a perfect picture again: a white man, a colored woman meeting together, same thing, two races of people. But Jesus let her know that God was God over all races. Our colors, where we was raised at, and the way we're turned, that has nothing to do with it at all. God made of one blood, all men: Yellow, brown, black, white, whatever it may be, we are one blood from Adam. And our racial affairs has nothing to do with God. He's a God of all creation.

I suppose we are strangers to one another. This is our first time meeting. God knows us both.

But here is a beautiful picture of the well again. Now, if the lady doesn't know me, I do not know her, we have met for our first time. Now, if the Lord God will do something here on the platform like He did in the Bible, the way I've been talking to you about, how many would believe that He was present and would accept it? All right.

Now, remember, this is not me. The Holy Spirit.... Now, if it happens, you're going to take your opinion. There's only two things you can say will take it ... that'll do it. It has to be supernatural, 'cause I don't know the lady; she doesn't know me. And we've met for the first time. You see that God still got the balm in Gilead. If Jesus is raised from the dead and works through His church, then let Him work through His church now. See, it's God's Word. It's not my word at stake; it's His Word at stake. He was the One that made the promise, not me.

Then there's two things you can say: You can take the critics condition and say it was an evil spirit that did it. If you do, you'll never be forgiven in this world nor the world to come, said Jesus. If you believe it's God, then you can have what you ask for.

Now, I don't even know that you're sick. But imagine you are. And if I come and said, “Well, she's in the prayer line because she's sick.” And I'd say, “Lady, I'm going to lay my hands on you. You go and you'll get well.” That's true (See?), because God give that permission. “They'll lay hands on the sick; they shall recover.” But you'd still question about my sermon: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. You could still question, “Is that Word right? Could it be right?” But now, if He comes and anoints me, and performs the same thing here, lets me know something that's in your heart, what you're here for, or something about that you know I know nothing about, then you know, that would have to be the Messiah. Would you believe it was? Would you be like the woman at Samaria, would go tell your people, “Come, see a man that told me the....” Not me now, Brother Branham, your brother, but that the Lord Jesus has raised from the dead and working through His church? Would you believe that? The audience has said they would. May the Lord grant it: my prayer.

Now, I'm talking to you just like Jesus talked to the woman. He said, “Bring Me a drink.” I said, “Come here.” See, we're just talking as Jesus and the woman talked. And I perceive that you are a Christian; you're a believer. That's right. Because as your spirit begins to move, I.... Now, you could have been a critic or an unbeliever, see. But your spirit begin to feel welcome. Did you ever see that picture of the Angel of the Lord they have in....

Oh, hundreds have seen it, haven't you folks. Now, you that's seen that picture, that Light's standing between me and the woman now. You're looking at that. You've seen it ... see it. All right, the lady suffers with a stomach trouble. If that's right, raise your hand. Now, do you believe?

Now, you might say, “Brother Branham, you guessed that from that woman.” Well, we will see if it was a guess. Let the Holy Spirit.... Because she's a Christian, let it be said that it wasn't a guess.

She's got something on her heart, someone she's praying for. That's your mother. That's your mother. She's not here. She's not even in this country. She's from Ohio. That's right. And she's suffering with a gall bladder trouble. That's right. You're not from here. You're from Waukegan, Illinois. Your name is Mrs. Payne. Go home. You have received what you asked for. Your faith has made you whole. If thou canst believe....

What do you think about it, sir? You want to go eat your supper? Get over that stomach trouble? All right, just go eat your supper.

You believe the arthritis will leave you and you'll be well? Just start walking, saying, “Thank You, Lord Jesus.”

Come, sister. You believe the back trouble's left you when you come up the steps? Just go praising the Lord.

You believe that the nervousness that's been bothering you so long will leave you now? Just start on your road rejoicing.

Just have faith and believe God. Don't you believe? Amen.

Watch just a moment. Something happened in the audience. It's the man going, walking there. Turn this way again, sir. There something never struck you right. Someone you're praying for. That's right. You were a little disappointed when you left the audience, when you left here. Your wife is in a terrible condition. That's right. She's not here. She's got a nervous condition, hasn't she? Go back to Benton Harbor; believe that God will make her well.

That you might know, that man sitting back there, turned and said to his friend just beyond him there, he's from Benton Harbor also. And he's praying for his pastor who is almost got a nervous breakdown. That's “THUS SAITH THE LORD.”

I challenge your faith to believe God. Just have faith now. Be reverent, and believe with all your heart.

Believe, sister, that the heart trouble will leave you, and you won't suffer with it no more. You believe? Then just go rejoicing in Christ.

Come, little fellow. You believe this'll going to leave his face? Lord, in the name of Jesus, I pray for him that You'll heal him. Amen. Don't doubt.

Come, sister, believing now with all your heart. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray for my sister. Amen.

Now, the Bible said these signs shall follow. The visions make me so weak I stagger under it. You see, I just have to stop for a minute. All right. You know that I know what's wrong with you, but there's no need of telling you. Believe? You believe if I.... You believe I know what's wrong with you? Well, then go eat your supper; your stomach trouble's left you. You can go....

See, just have faith. Just believe with all your heart. Now, don't look for the visions now, because they make me too weak. I'd have to leave before the prayer line got down.

You believe, don't you? You believe that God could reveal to me what your trouble is?

Just so that the people won't think that it's just one person or something.... People out in the audience without prayer cards, just believe. Have faith in God. Don't doubt. Believe. Let somebody in the audience believe. Pray for something you have need of. I'm watching for a light, the Holy Spirit to call me.

Here. There's a lady sitting right back here with her head bowed. She's the second one. I see somebody keep appearing before. It's a man. She's praying for her brother that's got a nervous condition. That's right. Raise up, lady, if that's right. Stand up to your feet. That is true. All right, you can have what you asked for now. I do not know you, is that right? I do not know you, and you don't know me; but that's exactly what you was praying about. Is that right? If it is, raise your hand so the audience can see it. All right. Go home and find it the way you believe. Amen.

Someone else pray and believe.

I do not know you. We're strangers to each other. If God will reveal to me what you're here for, what's on your heart, will you believe me to be His prophet ... or, His servant? Then it wouldn't be me. My mother's about your age, and I would be anything but a deceiver to some dear mother. You're not here for yourself. You're here for somebody else, and that's your nephew. He's in Ohio. He was hurt in the war, real nervous, hurt on the head. And you're standing here in his behalf. May God of heaven reward you, and you find him to be well in Christ's name. Amen.

If thou canst believe, all things are possible. Come, believing now. Don't doubt. Believe. Just be reverent and believe.

Come, sir. Lord, I pray that in Christ's name that You'll heal our brother. Amen.

All right. Come, sister. Do you...?

When you're passing by here, don't pass by like by Brother Branham. I'm just a brother, see. But as you come by here, know you're fulfilling what Christ asked you to do. Receive your blessing, because He promised it to you. See, I can't give it to you. I can tell you by His gift what you're here for, but.... I can't heal you.

You know that, don't you? But if you'll believe that you receive it, your arthritis will leave you. Do you believe it? All right, you go and believe it with all your heart.

All right. You must believe, sister, if you live, cancer would kill you. But do you believe that God will heal you of it? Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, grant the healing of this woman. Amen.

Do you believe, sister? God, in the name of Jesus Christ, grant the healing of our sister. Amen.

Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, grant the healing of this man.

Come, sister. Do you believe, sister? You believe you're going to get over the arthritis now, and you're going to be well? You have other things too, but that's the main thing to you. Lord, in the name of Jesus, grant the woman's healing. Amen.

All right, sister. We see you walking on the cane, and we know that only God can heal you. I can't. But if I pray for you, you believe God's going to let you get well? Come here, then. Lord, I lay my hands upon this woman. One day, pulling down through the streets of Jerusalem, drug an old rugged cross, dragging out the bloody footprints of the bearer. He fell under the load. His little frail body fell. And Simon come and helped Him pack the cross. Here's one of his children, limping along here on a cane. I lay my hands upon her in the name of Jesus Christ. May she be well. Amen. God bless you, sister, and heal you and make you well.

Come, brother. God, grant the healing of this young man as I pray. In the name of Jesus Christ, may he get well. Amen.

Come sister. I know you. I believe.... Aren't you Sister Domico's friend. All right, sister. O Lord, this little servant of Yours who has looked to You for healing, how we thank You for.... In that little group, You took that hideous cancer away. And I pray for her, Lord God, that You'll heal her and make her well in the name of the Lord Jesus. While Your Spirit is present, may our sister reach up now and receive that gift of God in Christ's name. Amen. Bless you, sister dear.

All right, come. Now, little lady, that's a shame. It's a nervous heart that makes you that way. But you want to serve Christ. Is that what you want to be well for, to serve Him? Come here, let me pray. I got a little daughter, Rebekah, about your size. Dear God, I left little Rebekah at home to come pray for this girl. Lord, be merciful to her, and grant that she will be healed. As we follow Your instructions by laying hands on the sick, You promised these signs should follow them that believe, that they would be healed. Now, let it be, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. Bless you, sister, make you well.

Have faith in God. Just be real reverent. Don't doubt.

O Christ of God, heal my sister as I lay hands upon her and ask in the name of Jesus for her healing. Amen. Believe now, sister.

Sister Sims, I know you. Lord God, this dear woman who's cooked meals for me, and has been kind to me, Thou has said in Thy Word, You will be merciful to those who show mercy. “Insomuch as you have done unto the least (that would be me) of My little ones, you have did it to Me. If you should give one of My disciples only a glass of water in the name of a disciple, you will not lose your reward.” Grant the desire of her heart through Jesus' name. Amen.

Brother Sims, God bless you. Father God, I pray for Brother Sims, pray that You'll give him the desire of his heart, and grant those blessings, Lord, as he's been kind and showed mercy. You are merciful to those that show mercy, shall obtain mercy. And grant, Father, that the desire of his heart be given in Jesus' name. Amen. Bless you, brother.

Just have faith. Don't doubt. Believe. Do you believe, out in the audience?

The lady right behind the lady with her hand up is suffering with trouble with her eyes. You believe that Jesus Christ will make you well? Sitting right on the outside row here, you believe He will? Yes. All right.

Right there with the foot trouble, sitting right there. Do you believe that God will make you well? All right. You can have it. Believe with all your heart.

Now, if you believe.... The lady with her ... got her hands up there. See, that's it. That's the one.

Now, lay your hand over on this other lady, the second lady here, the woman with the foot trouble. You all lay your hands on one another now. Put your hands over on each other, and we will pray. All right, lay your hands.... That's right. Lord God, they are believers, or they'd never been able to touch Jesus. I pray, Father, that You will give to them the desire of their heart. They have touched the High Priest that's called them out. May they be healed through Jesus' name. Amen. Don't doubt now. Go home and be well for the kingdom of God's sake. Amen.

Are you the lady to be prayed for? Do you believe me to be His servant? Are we strangers to each other? We are? And do you believe that God can reveal to me the secret of your heart? You're real believer. You are here for a female trouble. That female trouble was caused by a child birth. You're Mrs. McCullough. You return home, you can be well. Jesus Christ makes you well.

Come, sister, believing. O Lord God, have mercy and heal our sister in Jesus' name. Amen.

Come, my sister dear. Father God, I lay my hands on our sister in Jesus' name for her healing.

Now, the church is going to praying for these sick people out here now. Start praying.

Father God, I lay hands as I weaken down. In the name of Jesus Christ, heal our sister. Amen.

Come, my brother. Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ, give to him the desire of his heart. Amen.

Almighty God, as our sister comes, grant to her her healing in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

Would you come, sister. Get over the nervousness. Now, just go on, you're healed anyhow, so you....

All right, come. And when I said nervousness to her, it happened to you too, so you can go on. Your nervousness is finished also. Believe now with all your heart.

Come now. Have faith out there. Believe in God. Be reverent, and pray.

Lord God, I lay hands upon the woman, because it's commissioned by my Lord who's present now to make known His gospel. May our sister be healed. Amen.

Come, sister dear. You have a disease that lot of these people out here are suffering with. You want to see how many's suffering out there? Nervous heart....

How many out there's suffering with a nervous trouble, raise your hand? Raise your hand. How could you ever call them all, see.

But do you believe now? All right. In the name of the Lord Jesus, let my sister be well. Amen. God bless you. [The sister talks to Brother Branham.] Is that right. We will certainly do that, sister. This is already addressed to her. All right. They got some of them right here. We're going to take them right in a few minutes and pray for them. God bless you, sister. God bless you.

Come, sister dear. Now, Lord, who raised Jesus from the dead, I pray that You'll give to our sister the desire of her heart as she's reverently stood in the line, waiting. I pray this prayer of faith in Christ's name. Amen. Bless you, sister. Don't doubt now. Believe with all your heart.

And gracious God, I put my hands upon this woman who Thou has fed and raised all her life, giving her the breath that she breathes. You hold it in Your hand. May I lay my hands upon her in the name of Your Son Jesus, and may she be healed. Amen. Amen. That's right, sister. God bless you.

Come, my sister dear. You might think you're a little old, but you're not. God never called Abraham till he was seventy-five, then give him the promise when he was a hundred ... or, fulfilled the promise. So you can be healed now. Lord God, give unto this sister her desire. Amen. Bless you, sister.

Come, sister dear. Just look at the people's praying for you. You have to get well. Lord, I pray that You'll heal her in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Come reverently, sister, believing. Nothing is impossible with God. Father, as she holds the Word of life in her hand, may it become real to her for her desire in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you.

Now, little lady, we see your crooked limb. That's probably polioed, and you know that God can heal that. Oh, how many I have seen Him heal. I prayed for a little lady here some time ago, was so crippled, she had two crutches on her, two braces on. And she was laying in bed that night when they removed the crutches, and the next morning, her mother fainted. Here she come walking across the floor, normally and whole. God had come to the bed through the night and made her whole. O Lord, I lay hands upon this young girl. Lord, she will always be twisted if You don't help her. Let it be for her, Lord, will You? I pray the sincerity of my heart with a fervent effectual prayer to Thee. Let it be with this girl also, that she will be made well through Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Bless you, sister, and give you what you ask for. You believe it, don't you? Then He will never fail you.

Come, sister. Almighty God, I lay hands upon our sister in the name of Jesus Christ for her healing. Amen. Believe now.

You believe, sister dear? Lord, as I lay hands upon the woman as she comes, not to a man, but to God, we pray, Father, that You'll heal her in Jesus' name. Amen.

Lord God, bless this little lady, and may she be healed, and may the request in her heart for another loved one be granted too, in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, see, He knows all things. All right. You believe now, sister.

Father God, as I lay hands upon our sister, and ask reverently in Jesus' name that You'll heal her. Amen. God bless you, sister.

Come now. You want to get over your arthritis and be made well? Just believe Him now that you'll receive it. Lord, in Jesus' name, heal her of arthritis and give her the desire of her heart. Amen.

Come, my sister. Father God, as I reach out to take hold of this woman's hand, I pray that You'll heal her, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Amen. God bless you, sister.

Father God, I catch the hand of this woman, and by the feel of her hand, she's worked hard. O Lord God, may her reward come. May she be healed in Jesus' name. Amen.

Come. A blind man, a brother, God gives sight to the blind. You believe that, don't you, sir? If there was any way that I could open your eyes, I'd be glad to do it. I can't open your eyes; I'm just a man. But I can pray for God to do it, who can do it. And you believe, and He will grant it to you. The audience pray with you for the blind man.

Dear God, this man's sitting in darkness. But You came by a city gate one day, and a blind man cried for mercy. And You just spoke to him and said, “Receive thy sight,” and You turned and went on down the road. You had not gone very far until the man begin to notice that he could receive his sight. And he begin to rejoicing, and started following You, praising God. O Lord God, who sent Jesus to die in our stead that our unrighteousness might be not imputed unto us, but that His righteousness might atone for us, let it be tonight, as I, Your unprofitable servant lay hands upon the blind man, may he receive his sight in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. God grant it to you, my brother. Go, believing, and it will happen if you believe it.

Father God. In the name of Jesus, grant the healing of this woman for Your glory. Amen.

If thou canst believe, all things.... Are you believing with me? Is every doubt vanished from your hearts? All unbelief is gone.

There's a colored lady sitting back there with a red hat on, praying for her stomach condition. You can receive your healing. That's right.

That did it. I do not know the lady; I've never seen her. You say, “How did that happen, Brother Branham?” I don't know. The woman was sitting there praying. Ask her. And something she touched. And when it did, I seen the Light go over and break, and there was a vision: the woman with a stomach trouble, backing away. Rich foods makes her sick and nausea, and acids on her teeth and things. It's a peptic ulcer. But, she's going to be well now.

Well, look at her. She's twenty ... she's fifteen yards from me. We don't know each other. What happened? I've never seen her. She couldn't touch me, could she? But she touched something that's present. What was it? To fulfill the Bible, the High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. The woman's sitting there. She has no prayer card; she'd been in the line. So, she just begin to believe. And what happened? Something happened.

The same thing happened when someone touched Jesus, a woman, with a blood issue. He turned and said, “Someone touched Me.” And He looked around till He found her, and said, “Thy blood issue is gone. Your faith has made you well.” Now, the same Jesus, not me.... She touched Him. I'm a man; I don't know her, I just ... intellectually....

But the Holy Spirit is here, the One I spoke of, the balm that's given to the church. She touched the High Priest, and He turned and showed what it was. Now, isn't that Jesus the same yesterday, today, and forever? Not Brother Branham the same yesterday, today, and forever, but Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's who it is. It's our blessed heavenly Father, who we love with all our hearts. Do you love Him?

Now, is that all? Oh, I'm sorry, sister. You're one of the patients. All right. We are strange too, aren't we.

Now here, just a moment. For the rest of you, this is the last one in the prayer line here, but not the last one to be healed.

If we're strangers to each other.... It again comes to a white and colored. I don't know you; you don't know me. If that's right, so the people will see. We've never met. This is our first time. But if Jesus will reveal to me the secret of your heart, will you believe that it's Him doing it?

Will the audience accept Him right here, that He knows the secret of your heart, and will give to you? See people in the prayer line with the cards, people in the audience without cards. It doesn't matter. But, it just makes me so weak.

The lady's trouble is on her limbs. It's something that just itches and burns. And you've been to the doctors, and the doctors can do nothing about it. You believe God can tell me who you are? Mrs. Howell, go home; it'll leave you. Jesus Christ will make you well.

Is every person in here believing with all your heart? Now, how many believers are here, now raise up your hands and say, “I believe.” Now, I'm going to tell you what the Bible said. The Bible said, “These signs shall follow them that believe.”

Now, all of you that's sick, raise up your hand. Now, let each one lay your hands on one another. If you're believers, lay your hands on each other. See, it's not just for myself; it's for His daughter, the church. “Why is My daughter not recovered? If there is balm in Gilead, if there is a Physician, then why isn't My daughter recovered?” See, now it's all here. Do you believe the Physician is here? You believe the balm is here, the Holy Spirit? Then, just receive it.

Now, lay your hands on each other. Now, don't you pray for yourself; you pray for the person that you got your hands on. They'll pray for you. And that way, God will heal every one of you. Are you ready to pray? Lay your hands on each other now; let's bow our heads.

Lord, there is a possibility that there's men and women sitting here that we will never meet again this side of the river. But when I come to that last day, and we have to stand in Thy presence as we're standing now; with all my heart, I told the people Thy truth, quoting it from Your Word, that the last words that You said before You left the earth.... According to the Scriptures, You said, “These signs shall follow them that believe.” And the last words that come from Your lips said, “If they lay hands on the sick, they shall recover.”

Now, in this school auditorium tonight, there's many hands of believers laying on the sick. And they are praying. And hear us, O God, and pray that You'll answer prayer, every prayer that's being made at this time. May the power of sickness be broke tonight in the life and bodies of each of these people. May the Holy Spirit speak in a special way just now as He has did, and letting the people know that Christ, the Son of the living God, is not dead, but is alive forever more, and is here with us. May His presence and power pass through this audience, on through every lip and into every person. May the blessed Holy Spirit's power sweep and break the shackles of sickness, and all them be set free. Hear the prayer of Your servant, Lord, as I command all sickness to leave the bodies of these people in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

All that accept Jesus as your personal Healer, and believes that God has healed your body, stand to your feet as a witness unto this great healing power of the Lord God. I don't care if you're crippled, whatever's wrong, stand up on your feet and accept your healing.

All right, Joseph.

If you believe it with all your heart, raise your hands. In the commission of the Holy Spirit, by the Word of the living God, I pronounce every one of you healed according to your faith, in the name of Jesus Christ. God bless you. Go and rejoice.