Balm In Gilead

And I was a bit late again tonight on account of another emergency, a hemorrhaging woman, dying. So I didn't have the opportunity to get in right quick. I thought I'd be late, but we finally made it.

And last night while we were speaking on this new coming event, I could've said so many more things about it, that it's come ... taking place, but I would have took too much time.

But after knowing this, that the Lord had spoke some time ago about, I suppose, about three or four years ago (My wife, which is present now, would be able to know just the date. We have it wrote down.), that I seen a vision of a large tent or something that we're anticipating someday having, and where we could come into a place and stay a long time. We can get the ministers, and so forth, together, where the converts can all have homes to go to, and shift our meetings around, where they'll not interfere with the regular services of the churches. Maybe be off on Wednesday night, and have Sunday afternoon instead of Sunday night, somewhere it won't interfere with the rest of the religious services, and during a time that there's no revivals around close. Could stay, and we could have teaching in the morning, like ministerial classes, and so forth. Then in the afternoon, to teach the sick how to hold their healing when they receive it, and such as that.

I'm on my way home immediately after this meeting here for that very same purpose at my Tabernacle.

Now, then in this vision, I saw a little building sitting in a corner. And this light that was near me, it went and stood over that building, and a voice spoke, and said, “I will meet you in there.”

And I don't know; I've just wondered, oh, after that happening last week ... or, week before (it is now), down at Depauw, Indiana, with that Mrs. Wright, if it just couldn't happen again in the church out here, while this meeting's going on. I would just love to see it. And I know it would inspire me. It would inspire my brethren. And it would inspire all you out there. It would just do a lot for us. And we're trusting and looking forward for the Lord to do it, because He's good and full of mercy. We love Him with all of our hearts.

And now, we're trusting tonight that God will save every lost person, fill with the Holy Spirit every one that is not filled with the Holy Spirit, prepare every heart for His coming.

And I believe if we get in that condition, then we will be better subjects for this great gifts of God that we're looking forward to break forth upon us, to happen then; because the Bible said that when the Pentecostal blessing first fell on the day of Pentecost, they were in one place and with one accord. Everything was just ready, and it was ten days they'd been waiting for this to happen. And then, all of a sudden it taken place.

And we're hoping that we won't have to wait ten days. I hope it won't be ten minutes more until something the Lord will do for us here. However, every night we see His great mighty hand moving. And we're grateful to Him for the privileges that we now have in His mercy and in His grace. I thank Him for everything that He's privileged me to do to help His people. And I know, as I help His people, I help the cause. And that's what the Lord wants.

I know with doing something for you, that pleases the Lord. It would be a lot better, and I'd feel better to you if you said something real nice about my son than you did about me, because he's my son. And then I would.... I'd feel better about it. You would too about your children.

Well, God thinks the same way about His children, because He's a parent. And we're His children. And He wants His children to have the best that there is. And we're here to pray, and to hold with you together with the promises of God until you get your heart's desire. And we know that He will give it to you.

The one thing we have to move up to now is a supreme faith to what we have had, something that.... You cannot have that faith until you know perfectly what you're doing. When you understand.... Like you walk. You just say, “Well, I'm going home. I'm going out and start the car.” That's all a act of faith. “Tomorrow I will meet you at a certain place.” That's all a act of faith, because you've just done it so much, because it's a regular routine with you.

Well, that's the way the things of God are. After you have trusted Him and watched Him do so many things, till it becomes just like a regular routine. And that's the condition I think the Church will be in just before the coming of the Lord. So the rapture will just go right on that way. It'll just be a regular routine upon the Scriptures and the plans of God.

His precious Word is laying open before us. Before I shall read, I would like to talk to Him with you. Let us bow our heads just now. And while we have our heads bowed and our eyes closed, I would like to ask if there be those here, tonight, who would like to be remembered in this prayer especially. Would you just raise your hand to God? He will know just what you have need of. Just speak it in your heart, and He will know all about it. The Lord bless.

Our heavenly Father, this is one of the most grandest privileges that we Christians have, is to know that we can bow our heads and speak to God, with the promise, by His Son, our Lord, that if we ask the Father anything in His name, He will grant it to us. And oh, how we love to think of who made that promise, Your own Child. And we know that He is true, and He is the virgin-born Son of God. And His words are just as Yours, because His words was Yours.

And we pray, Lord God, as we come to meet You tonight for this service in the name of the Lord Jesus, knowing that You will grant our petitions and our requests, Thou did see the hands of all these Thy people, who raised their hands to Thee, as a request in their heart. Knowing that You are the infinite God, then You know every request. And I pray, Lord, that You'll answer each of them, and give them the desire of their hearts. Remember them, Lord, as Your children. They have need. And You would not give a serpent instead of bread.

And we pray that You'll bless those, Lord, who could not be here tonight, that shut off in hospitals and convalescent homes, and so sick that they could not even be moved from their beds. And I ask, Lord, that Your mercies will be granted to them. Thou art not a God that just can be in one place, but You can be everywhere answering prayer all over the world at the same time. We pray that You'll visit them all in a special way, because of their faith in Thee.

I would ask tonight, Lord, that You would bless our efforts here as we are trying to see souls come to Thee. Bless all these churches that's represented and their pastors. May their churches grow, and may they be real caretakers at the end; where our Lord, in the parable, gave the caretaker two pence and said if he needed more, he'd pay him. Father, the need is so great in this great hospital of human sin and sickness until we're asking just a little more tonight, Lord, to minister deeper and to minister more efficient. And we pray that You'll grant it to us, Your children.

Pray tonight that there'll not be one sick or feeble person in our midst when the service is over. And may the sinner that is here tonight, that doesn't know You in an experience of being borned again, may this be the night that they'll be filled with Your Spirit. Bless every one, Father, and bless the words as we read them, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

I would like to take and read just a verse of Scripture tonight, found in Jeremiah, the eighth chapter and the twenty-second verse. You who keep down the notes and the Scriptures, we would give you time to turn to this Scripture. Jeremiah, the eighth chapter and the twenty-second verse reads like this:

Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

This is rather an unusual Scripture. But you know, God is unusual, and He does things in an unusual way. And so, we can just expect the unusual when we're dealing with God.

The question was asked, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Or is there not a physician there?” Then if there is balm in Gilead, and there is a physician, then, “Why is the health of the daughter of my people not recovered?” God was asking the question, “Why?”

Usually when God makes a provision for people or a way of an escape, and the people refuse to walk in that way, then God asks the question, “Why?” because all that He could do was provided. And the people just ignored it and walked away from it. And then He asked, “Why is it thus?” If He's done His part, then the rest is left to us.

Like a Scripture that's in my mind of Hezekiah [Ahaziah]. He was the son of Ahab, which was the foul king of Israel. And when he died after he had married a heathen woman for his queen, Jezebel, which had brought idolatry into Israel.... Yet, Ahab was, as we would think, kind of a borderline believer. He just would believe when the trouble struck. And as soon as they were out of it, then Ahab turned again to his idolatry.

After his death, his son Hezekiah [Ahaziah] reigned in his stead in Samaria, while Jehoshaphat was over Judah. And he did not reform any, but took the same kind of a position that his daddy and mother did before him: to worship Beelzebub, the god of Ekron.

Then one day while he was walking in Samaria in his palace, he fell through the lattice and hurt himself. And he got very sick. And he was so sick, I suppose, until the doctors could do no more for him. So he sent two of his choice servants over to inquire at another place where the god Beelzebub, to ask Beelzebub if he was going to get well or not.

Now, remember, he was a Israelite. But he had gone away from the promises of God. And when a supposed-to-be Christian, or should-be Christian takes the attitudes that he took, we cannot expect nothing but trouble.

So while they were on their way over, the Angel of the Lord came unto one who was living for God, Elijah the Tishbite, the prophet. Down in the wilderness somewhere, in his little adobe house, the Angel of the Lord came into the room, and said, “Go up there and stand in the way.” You know, you just can't hide your sins from God. He knows all about you. Said, “Go stand in the way.”

And Elijah came up and stood, waiting for them to come by. And when they come, he said, “Go tell the king that sent you, 'Thus saith the Lord, he's not coming down off of that bed. And ask him, why did he send to Beelzebub to consult these things. Is it because there isn't a God in Israel? Is it because that He doesn't have a prophet? Is that the reason that you do that, send to Beelzebub?'”

I would wonder today, when I think of this mad stricken, pleasure crazed nation that we're in. Why do we turn to drinking, and gambling, and smoking, and carrying on the way we do to find pleasure? Is it because there is no pleasure in the house of God? Is it because there's no joy in serving the Lord, that we have to hush that precious desire in our heart with things of the world? I wonder what will happen when God requires us at the day of judgment and asks us, “Why did we go to such things as that for pleasure?” when the Christian's pleasure is in the Lord. He has got joy unspeakable and full of glory for His believers. Why does the world long after things like that, to try to satisfy their longings with the things of the world, when the joys of the Lord is for the people of God; old-fashioned prayer meetings, the Spirit upon the church.

I was a sinner, and I did everything that I was big enough to do in the world. Lots of things I tried, I wasn't big enough to do. But I want to say this: that all of it put together never gave the satisfaction like one moment in the presence of the Lord God. It's all bogus and fantastics. It only speaks those momentarily pleasures of sin, only speaks that there is a real consoling and comfort, and pleasure ... lasting pleasure in the Lord. Why would the church of the living God have to resort to such things as that to find pleasure? Our pleasure is serving the Lord.

And he said, “Go tell him that he's not coming off of that bed, that he's going to die right there.” And that's exactly what taken place.

I'd like to quote when these messengers returned back and told the king that they had met a man in the way that told them thus, he said, “What did he look like?”

He didn't have his collar turned around and dressed in clerical clothes. But he said, “He was hairy all over, and had a piece of leather girded around him.”

He said, “It was Elijah the Tishbite.”

No matter how much they hate the servant of God, when he comes with “thus saith the Lord,” they know that that's the truth. The nation knows today that the Holy Spirit and the power of God is the truth. They willfully turned away from it, and God's going to ask for a reason why. “Why did you go to these things? Why did you go to the world and the mad-stricken condition that it's in?”

America is completely pleasure crazed. People will stay home on Wednesday night from their prayer meetings to watch some certain television cast, to listen to some jokes that someone has to pull. Well, I think then, if the church gets in that fix, it really needs a revival. It needs something to bring it back to the real joys of the Lord.

Just like a man that would die on a doctor's doorsteps, with a disease that the doctor had the medicine, the remedy for the disease. A man might lay right at the doctor's doorstep and die there, because that he refuses to take the remedy. If the doctor has the remedy for that disease, and the man comes so close to it till he sits on his doorstep till he dies. You can't blame the doctor, because the doctor had the remedy. But you have to blame the patient for not taking the remedy.

That's the way it was with Hezekiah [Ahaziah]. It wasn't because there wasn't a prophet; it wasn't because there wasn't a God in Israel; it was because of the stubbornness of the king. He hated him, because he rebuked him, and rebuked his sins. And he hated him. It was his own selfish condition. The reason that he had to send to a medium, or a spiritualist, to find out whether he would live or not, is because he hated the way of the Lord.

That's the way.... You can't blame the Lord. Just like you could not blame the doctor. You can say, well now, if the doctor's got the remedy, and it's for the disease that you have, and then you refuse to take that remedy, then don't blame the doctor.

It's just like it is with the Lord. He's got a remedy for all these things. He's got a remedy for sin. And if a man refuses to take the remedy, don't blame God. It's the patient's stubbornness. God's got joy unspeakable for the believer. He's got power unlimited for the believer. He's got healing, salvation. He's got glory; He's got goodness; He's got mercy. But if the subject refuses to receive the remedy of sin, and the remedy to get rid of all of his hatred and malice, don't blame God; because it's laying right at your fingertips. You can receive it.

You say, “Well, if I just had faith.” Faith is given to you. It's yours. God has it laying in reach of your being tonight, faith for anything. God promised it.

Medicines. How do they find medicine? The first thing they do to find medicine: They get some kind of drugs together, and they work on it in a laboratory until they find how to give the medicine, what will try to kill a germ in a human body. And then they go get a guinea pig, and they give him this certain disease, then inject the serum or the toxin into this guinea pig and see how it reacts. If the guinea pig recovers it, all right. Then they start giving it to human beings. And sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. But first, it's tested by a guinea pig to find out if it'll work or not.

Well, it won't work always on human beings. You can't be too sure of it, because medicine that'll help one, might kill the other. But there's one thing you can rest assure on: God's balm that He's got in Gilead will cure anything that He said it would cure. You don't have to worry about that. Medicines might fail, but God's balm cannot fail, because it's tested.

And then, you hear so much said today that heart disease is the number one killer of the nation. I do not believe that. I believe that sin disease is the number one killer of the nation. We've got the best doctors we ever had, got the best drugs we ever practiced with, the best hospitals we ever had, and more sickness than the world ever had: is because we've got more sin than the world ever knowed. That's it.

Sin is unbelief. The reason the people are in the conditions today, and all kinds of diseases springing up that they don't know nothing about, is because the way they live. And they live in unbelief.

God sends His mercy and His messengers across the land, preaching divine healing, and people laugh in the face of it and say there's nothing to it. He will send the Holy Spirit to take sin from a man, and they'll class them as a bunch of idiots. Then God's going to ask you, “Why did you do it?” And we're going to have to answer on that day for the attitude that we took towards His Holy Spirit and His promises.

Sin is unbelief. Any man that disbelieves is a sinner. He might sing like an archangel in a church. He might be even a deacon in a church, or something else. But if the man does not believe God's Word, he is a sinner. “He that believeth not is condemned already.”

And just look at the critical world today, against the powers and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Think of our nation today: how critical, how sin is wading in on every hand. And yet, we go to church. Oh, we're very religious people in going to church. And so was Israel. “But there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death.”

Now, we've got a truth that Jesus Christ saves from all sin, that the blood of Jesus Christ sanctifies the believer, fills the believer with the Holy Spirit. There's plenty of toxin, but the people's refusing to take it. And that's the reason we got things the way we have now.

I meet people all the time that tell me, “Brother Branham, I just can't keep from smoking.”

I met a little woman here not long ago, and she was in a restaurant. And the poor little thing looked like she had TB to begin with, because the advertisement told her that she would be thin if she smoked. Do you only realize that that's death on you does that? Do you realize that you're killing yourself by doing it? She said, “I just can't help it. I have to do it.” No, she doesn't. The reason she does it, is because she refuses the toxin. There is a balm for that.

A man told me, a Christian, supposed to be, that he had such a habit he couldn't turn his head from women.

I said, “It's your own fault.”

He said, “I just can't keep from it.”

I said, “You refuse the toxine.” That's all.

God can sanctify that spirit of yours in such a fix and such a condition. Say, “Well, just look at them on the street.”

I said, “I don't care what they are. You don't have to look at them. If God gives you the Holy Ghost, you'll look for something better than that, something higher, something greater than that.” It's because they refuse to take the toxin.

People refuse the new birth. They don't like the thoughts of being born again. And some of the modern teachers teach: The new birth is to walk up and take fellowship with the church; that's the new birth. That's wrong.

The new birth is a birth, just what it says it is. It's being borned again. Any man knows that any birth is a mess. Let it be in a barnyard, let it be on a hay stack, let it be in a decorated hospital room. Wherever it is, it's a mess, any birth.

And the new birth is no exception. It's no difference. It's a mess. When a man is born again, He makes him do things he wouldn't think he was going to do. It might make you squall, and boo-hoo, and carry on. It might make you do things that you didn't think you would do, but it brings new life. That's the main thing: is new life.

I don't care what level I have to meet it on; I want new birth and new life. I don't care we're classed as a holy-roller or whatever it is; I want new life. And new life can only come when death comes to the believer ... or, the unbeliever.

Now, we take a grain of corn, put it in the ground. It may be a pretty grain of corn, all polished up, looks real nice. But as long as it remains in that condition, that's all it'll ever be: a pretty grain of corn.

Sometimes we join church, lot of pretty things in it, and so forth. Maybe we try to pretty ourselves up to go to church, get a new something another to wear to church. Is that all church means to you? Then I'm persuaded you need a new birth. It's exactly right. That grain of corn will never produce any new life until the old grain rots away from it.

And a person at the altar can't get down there, and kneel down, and get up, and say, “Well, I've got new birth.” You have to stay there until all of your thoughts of your own self and all your worldly things has rottened away from you: dead, and rotten, and gone from you. Then new birth takes place. Oh, you might slobber and jabber, and slobber like a horse eating clover. But you'll come up from there in a new condition with a new birth, and something in you that's alive, and made you something different than what you was.

When new birth comes in, it cannot come until there's a death first. And people don't want to die. They don't want the simple leadings of the Holy Spirit. They want to take their own thinking of it. You can't think your thoughts. You got to think His thoughts. “Let the mind that was in Christ be in you.” Amen. He thinks God's thoughts, brings God's blessings, God's power to you. And it'll make a mess out of you, as far as the world is concerned, but it'll bring new life. It'll bring resurrecting life. It'll bring new thoughts. It'll bring a new person. It'll bring a new faith. It'll bring you from death unto life.

The new birth, don't matter how messy it looks, how much you have to bawl and squall, and carry on at the altar, or whatever you have to do, all the unnecessary things that you think you wouldn't do, it'll make you do it. Your all's pride and don't want to wash the lipstick off your face, some tears might do that for you. That's right. But it'll make a mess looky out of you, but you'll come up from there a different person, borned of the Spirit of God, a new creature in Christ Jesus. It'll do something to you. Men, it'll make you forsake that old cigar, make you forsake that cigarette, that bottle. It'll clean you up.

You say, “Well, there's no harm in that.”

Stay there long enough. And come up and find out if 4there's any harm in it. Let new life take a hold, and see what the old life.... You'll rot to those things. Them cigarettes, and tobaccos, and whiskey, and stuff of the world will rot out of you.

You just don't stay long enough. Stay there until you're thoroughly dead. Then after you're dead, stay there till you rot. There's no chance of a rejuvenation again. That's an awful word, but it's the truth. You don't have to get Webster's Dictionary to hunt that up, because it's just plain old sassafras preaching. But it'll save you, brother; I'm telling you. It did for me. And I know that it will for anybody that'll accept it on those basis and hold on to God and say, “I believe it.” Stay there. There'll be something happen in your life. A change will come over you, that everybody that knows you will know something happened to you. You won't have to tell them; they'll see it in you. Your wife will see it in you. Your children will see it in you. Your neighbors will see it in you. Your boss will see it in you. Everybody will see it in you, because you'll be sealed, marked. You don't live after your own lust anymore; you're dead. You're buried. You're a new creature in Christ.

There was a time in this country where they didn't have toxin for smallpox. Many people died with smallpox. But there's no excuse today. There's plenty of smallpox toxin. And for other diseases, they have it.

There was a time where there was not much of a toxin for sin. But there is now. There's plenty of toxin for sin. Under the old covenant, back in the time of the Old Testament, there was a shadow or a type: that was, they offered a lamb for sin.

Now, when the lamb died, the blood was shed. The blood cell broken, the spirit that was in the lamb could not come back on the believer. When a man sinned in the Old Testament, he went forth and put his hand upon a lamb. And the priest cut the throat of the lamb. And as the little fellow was dying, kicking, bleating, red blood just bathing its little white wool, the sinner held his hands on the lamb until it stiffened out and was dead, realizing that that lamb died in his place. He was sorry that the little fellow had to die for his sins. But yet, the spirit of that lamb could not come back onto the believer. Therefore, there was a remembrance of sin continually.

But when a man goes up, puts his hands, by faith, upon the head of Jesus Christ, and feels the pains of sin that He died for him at Calvary, and the tearing, and the gobs of spit upon His face, and the thorns over His brow, and can see what Jesus Christ did for him, and accept it upon those basis, the Spirit of God comes back into the believers. It kills the very nature of sin in him. It makes him a new creature. He cannot go on like he was, because he is a new creature.

Now, all those lambs were a shadow, or a stepping stone pointing to a time when God would bring the real toxin down. So God never chose a guinea pig, neither did He choose anything else. But He tried the serum out on His own Son. Virgin-born Son of God came down to the earth, and God gave Him the toxin, the toxin test.

It happened on the bank of Jordan when He was thirty years old. John bear record after he baptized Him, said, “I saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove.” And it went upon Him, and He was filled with God's toxin. And He proved it and stood the test. He walked before sickness, and sickness vanished from Him. He walked before the cripples, and the cripples walked. And when He was put to the test, when they spit on Him, whipped Him at the back, riled upon Him, tried to get His temper up, He said, “I could speak to My Father, and straightway He would send Me twelve legions of angels.” Well, what was the matter, why didn't He do it? The toxin was holding.

He was put to the test. There He went to Calvary, mockery spit all over His face, His face bleeding where they jerked handfuls of beard out of His face, beaten, when He could have spoke one word and it would've changed the whole thing. But the toxin held. He died. He had the sins of the world. Every sin that was ever in the world was placed upon Him. Under that burden of sin, with all the weight of sin laid upon Him, He died. He died until the sun went down in the middle of the day. He died until the stars wouldn't shine. He died till the moon wouldn't shine. He died until the earth had a nervous prostration, shook so hard with the chill until the rocks run out of the mountains. He died a death that nothing could die. The toxin held. And when He died, His soul went to hell, because it had the sins of the world upon it. And He was in hell three days.

But on the early Easter morning, the toxin begin to go to work. He rose on the third day, and appeared here on earth again. And He said, “Because I live, you live also.” The toxin worked with temptations. The toxin worked in every trial. The toxin worked in death. The toxin worked in burial. The toxin worked in resurrection.

Then He told His disciples, I want you to be inoculated with it. And I'm sending you forth with a kit to go into all the world and inoculate every one that will believe. There is a balm in Gilead. A hundred and twenty climbed into an upper room, and closed the doors, and barred the windows. They stayed there for ten days waiting for it to happen.

While they were in one place in one accord, all of a sudden there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind. It was God's balm coming down. When it struck them in the room, cloven tongues set upon them like it was fire.

Out into the streets they went. They had the results. They showed that they'd been inoculated. They showed that something had happened. All the fear and things they had vanished away as soon as they got the injection of God's toxin of the Holy Ghost that was poured out upon them. It made them slobber, stammer, act like a bunch of drunk people, but they were receiving new life. God was placing His life into that hundred and twenty. They screamed; they shouted; they spoke in tongues; they run; they acted like drunk people because they was inoculated. They were inoculated from styles of the world.

That's what's the matter with the Pentecostal church today. It's got too stylish; it's too much like the world. What we need is to get a lot of that took out of us. We need another Pentecostal inoculation of the Holy Ghost to take the starch out of the Pentecostal church. It's right, my dear brother, sister. That's true. We need an inoculation, a new inoculation of the Holy Spirit.

And it was.... “Oh,” you say, “that was just....” Someone would tell us, “That was just for the apostles only. They was the only one who got the toxin.”

Oh no. No. He said, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Or is there no physician there?”

Oh, yes, they got a physician. Sure they had. Doctor Simon Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost. And the people said, “We'd like to receive this too.”

He said, “Repent every one of you; be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” What? “For the promise is to....” Who? How long is this prescription going to last? “Unto you and to your children, to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call,” shall be inoculated. Hallelujah!

Not with a handshake, not with a name on a book, but a mighty rushing wind that comes from heaven that fills the soul with inoculation, that takes sin away from you, takes the world out of you. They went forth as new people, inoculated, filled with the Holy Ghost. It's God's promise.

“Is there no balm in Gilead?” Is there no Holy Spirit today? Is there not.... What did Jesus say? “Go ye into all the world,” and inoculate them, in other words. “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” And after they're inoculated, they'll show that they're inoculated.

You know, there's some after affects of it. Amen. There's an after affect. You know, if you get inoculated for something like diphtheria or something, and there isn't some reaction, why, your inoculation didn't take.

And if you get up at the altar and say, “Bless the Lord; I believe I received it,” your inoculation hasn't taken yet. If you go back out and start smoking and drinking, doing the things you did do, your inoculation didn't take yet. If you can sit in meetings like you see now, like you've seen this week, when the Holy Spirit moving, performing, and you can hold your peace and go out and say, “There's nothing to it,” your inoculation didn't take yet. That's right.

Jesus said, “These signs shall follow them” after they're inoculated: “In My name they shall cast out devils, speak with new tongues, take up serpents, drink deadly things, lay their hands on the sick. These signs shall follow them” that's been inoculated.

Brother, sister, there's plenty of it here. The house is full of it. The room's full of it. My heart's full of it. Other hearts are full of it. There is balm in Gilead. No need for the daughter of God's Church to be laying sick with sin. There's no need of unbelief in the church. We should have all that out. With these new things that God's sending us, we could reach right up and grab it, say, “Amen,” and walk right away with it. There's plenty of balm in Gilead. Do you believe it?

Let us bow our heads just a moment. Dear heavenly Father, we come to Thee just as humbly as we can. We know there is balm in Gilead. We know that, because once we were sinners and now we have been saved by Thy grace. Once we would never have darkened a door like this, but now it's joy unspeakable and full of glory to come into a meeting of people where the Holy Spirit is falling. One time we were blind, but now we see. Oh, we love You, Lord. And no doubt that there's plenty in here the same way.

And Father, there perhaps are those who doesn't know what it means to really ... to receive the Holy Spirit, to sacrifice their own ways, and let the Holy Spirit take over, to lead them, and to teach them, and to give them sweet blessings, to make them stay from the things of the world, and to sustain them in the hour of temptation that they sin not. Many doesn't know that, Father. Many are tempered. Many are lustful, the people that's called by Your name. I pray, Father, that tonight, that You'll just hear my prayer and pour out Your Spirit into the midst of this people, that every person in here may be so taken up with the Spirit of God until it sanctifies their soul so completely that there'll be no more worry in their hearts, there'll be no more unbelief there, that they'll be filled with Your Spirit, hearts full of love, burning with faith and with desires. Grant it, Lord. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ask it. Amen.

I know that sounds rude in the expressions of inoculation, but that's exactly what it is. “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there?” Sure there is, look at them. There's plenty of physicians. There's plenty of balm here. The house is covered tonight. The presence of God is here. The good things, the goodness and mercy of God is here. Then why should we want for anything else? Because His balm is here; His physicians is here. Then why is the people still sick? Why is the daughter of My people still sick if....

Because why? Because just.... You must reach up and receive it. The Holy Spirit's here. Don't you believe that? I can prove that. I know it.

What makes these people.... To you who doesn't have the Holy Spirit, what comes upon them that just sends their souls into shouting for a few moments. It's a baptism, something that sways down across them and fills their hearts with power and goodness and mercy. And the Holy Spirit makes them just raise their hands and scream. They cannot contain it any longer. What is it? It's the balm. It's the balm to their soul that lets them know that they have passed from death unto life.

How many in the building here tonight will be honest before God and say, “I have never accepted such an experience as that. I've never experienced a truly dying out and being borned again, Brother Branham. I'm honest with you. I'm honest with God. I've never experienced it.” Would you just raise up your hand, be that honest? Say, “I've never been borned again. I don't know....” God bless you, young lady. That's might fine for you to.... God bless you back there, sir. Another? I'm just going to ask you that, so you be honest before God.

Listen. You must be. You've got to be. If you ever expect to make heaven your home, you must be honest with God. Make a stand for Him. Come out and show your colors. Don't be afraid.

Here some time ago, a noted evangelist, about fifty or sixty years ago, by the name of Daniel Greenfield; he crossed this United States holding revivals. And he had great revivals everywhere.

And as the story goes, one night he went to sleep, and he dreamed that he died and he went to heaven. And said while he was standing near the gates, he was waiting thought, “Now, I will enter into this great place of God, because I've preached the Gospel, and I've won souls to Christ, and I will be taken care of.”

And while he was standing there, someone come at the gate and said, “Who approaches this holy place?”

He said, “I, Daniel Greenfield, from the United States of America, an evangelist.”

“What did you say your name was?” come the voice from the inside.

“Danny Greenfield.”

“He goes back in and looks over the books,” says his dream went, “come back out and said, 'Sir, I'm sorry. I cannot find your name here anywhere. I can't find it on these books.'”

“Oh,” he said, “you must be mistaken.” Said, “I was a minister, an evangelist.”

He said, “Sir, there is no one registered here by the name of Danny Greenfield.”

He said, “Well, what will I do?”

“Well,” he said, “if you wish, you might appeal your case to the great white throne, the judgment.”

He said, “Well, if that's all I can do, that's all I'll have to do, I guess.”

So he said he was taken away, as his dream went. Said he was going through space real swift. Said all at once, he begin to slow up because he come into a light, got slower and slower as the light got brighter and brighter. Finally he come to a stop in his dream. And he said the light wasn't coming from any certain place, but he was standing right in the midst of all this light. And said he thought, “Oh, what a place to be.”

And said he heard a voice come that was very rough, and said, “Who approaches My divine judgment?”

And he said, “I, Daniel Greenfield, an evangelist. I was told at the gates that I could not come in. So I've come to stand before Your justice, Sir, at Your great white throne.”

He said, “I will try you then, Daniel Greenfield, by My laws.” He said, “Daniel Greenfield, did you ever tell a lie?”

He said, “I thought I'd been truthful. But while I was standing in the presence of that light,” he said, “there were many things that I remembered that I said that wasn't just exactly truth.” He said, “Yes, I've lied.”

He said, “Did you ever steal, Daniel Greenfield?”

He said, “I thought, 'If anything I'd been—was honest.'” But he said, “In the presence of that light....”

Now, brother, sister, that was just a dream. But that's the truth too. When you stand in the presence of that light of God, there's going to be a whole lot of things that you'll think of, that maybe that you're not doing now. That's going to be a dreadful time at the white throne judgment of God.

He said, “Oh, I thought I'd been honest,” but said, “I remembered then that there was several things that I'd done that was kind of shady.”

He said, “Daniel Greenfield, were you perfect? My laws require perfection.”

That's what Jesus said, “Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

“My laws require perfection. Daniel Greenfield, was you perfect?”

He said, “No, Lord, I wasn't perfect.” And he said, “I was just ... felt like that my bones were coming apart.” Said, “I was expecting to hear that great voice blast forth and say, 'Then depart from Me into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.'”

And said, “Just as I was just about to collapse where I was standing,” said, “I heard the sweetest voice I ever heard in my life.” And said, “I turned to look,” and said, “I saw the sweetest face I ever saw.” He said, “No mother's face could look like that one.” And said, “He walked up close to me, and put His arms around me.”

“He said, 'Father, it is true that Danny Greenfield wasn't perfect in earth. But there's one thing that he did do: While he was on earth, in every temptation, in every trial, he stood for Me. Now, I will stand for him here. Let all of his sins be put to My charge.'”

I wonder tonight, friend, if you're called tonight to the white throne, is there Someone that would stand for you? If there isn't, while we bow our heads, I'm going to ask you if you'd like to take Christ, and make your stand for Him now; and from henceforth, under every temptation, every strain, you'll stand for Christ. Will you stand right now to your feet while I offer prayer for you? Stand right up. You that's bothered with sin, with flusterations, temptations; and knows that if you were dying tonight, that you would ... be no one there to stand for you, because He might be asking you now, “Stand for Me now, and I will stand for you then. For, if you will witness Me before men, him will I witness before My Father and the holy angels.”

Now, while we have our heads bowed, how many in the room will stand right now for prayer, just before we change the service. Say, “I want to make a stand for Jesus Christ. Right now I will stand to my feet.” You that raised your hands a few moments ago, stand to your feet now. Let's offer prayer right where you're standing. Stand up. May be the last opportunity you ever have. The Lord bless you, lady. The Lord bless you, back there. The Lord bless you. The Lord bless you, sir. That's right. All over the building, just remain standing a few moments for prayer. God bless you back there, young fellow. God bless you over here, my brother. That's.... God bless you, sir. God bless you, lady. God bless you, lady, the Spanish lady. God bless you, sir. God bless you, sir.

Make a stand. “I will stand for You now, Jesus. You put my name on Your book.” God bless you, young lady. Just remain standing till we pray. “You stand for Me now, I will st....” God bless you back there, the brother and sister that stood up. God bless you, the young man in the back. God bless you, sister, standing there. He looks at you.... God bless you, sister, as you stand. God bless you, young man. That's good. God bless you. That's fine. The Lord be merciful to you.

Just stand to your feet. Say this.... God bless you, young lady. God bless you over there, sister. “I will stand for You now, Jesus. And at that day when the breath is struggling from my body, my veins are cooling off up my wrist, the doctor walks in the door and says, 'There's nothing I can do,' stand for me, Lord Jesus.”

You remember the last words of Max Baer the other day? “Oh, God, I'm going.” What if he wasn't ready? All the great things that he did as the world's champion fighter, the great body, and everything, yet, wouldn't do him a bit of good now.

But you're making your stand. Will there be others who makes their stand? Will stand up just a few minutes? Just stand to your feet just a few minutes. “He that will stand for Me here, I will stand for them there.”

Now, I wonder, while their heads are bowed, every head bowed, I wonder if you, standing, if you would appreciate me praying with you? Would you come right here at the altar just a minute? Let me pray with you. Prove to God. Prove to Him that you're sincere, that you really meant that when you stood up. You come right down here and stand here by me. Let me pray with you here just a minute. Every one of you now come. That's right. God bless you. They're coming, all the way over the building, coming right down to the altar. That's right. God bless you.

“I want You to stand for me, Jesus. I'm going to stand for You before this audience to show my sincerity.” Come right now.

Just as I am...............

(Come, young man, young woman. Come right on now. Walk down here. Let's have prayer.)

But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bid me come to Thee,

O Lamb ... (God bless you, friend.)

I come! I......

(God bless you young man, young brother, the greatest thing you've done in life.)

Just as.... (Will there be others come?)

am, and waiting not,

To rid my soul from one........

(Maybe it's a temper, that blot. Just one dark blot. Won't you come?)

To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,

O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

Will you come while we sing just once more? Is there a sinner left in here? Would you come right now? There's balm in Gilead. There's something for the sin-sick soul. Won't you come tonight, my brother? Won't you come, my sister? I'm here as your friend, to try to help you. The greatest thing and the greatest move that you ever did, would move right up here now. I say that with all the sincerity of my heart with God's Word in my hand. And His angel is here present now. His angel is present. The Holy Spirit is here.

If thou canst believe! Won't you come while we hum now? [Brother Branham begins humming.] Move out, won't you? Come on. That's it. God bless you, sister. Come on. Come, friend of mine, come right on down, won't you? This great sacred time, it seems like it's almost breathtaking to me. That's right. Move right out. God bless you. Here even comes a crippled boy. Come.

If you have never felt that great inoculation, that something that gives you new birth, not just to shake hands with the minister. That's good, but I'm meaning new birth. If this poor crippled boy could move down here on his crutches, surely, surely you that's able.... That'll stand against you at the day of the judgment. God's going to say, “Why didn't you? Why didn't you come? (See?) The Physician was there. The balm was there. The evidence was there. And I even caused a crippled boy that could hardly wag his way to the altar, move right up himself.”

Now, He's here. You believe that? Look here. The people out in the audience is drawing visions right now across the audience. That's true. I suppose there's not a prayer card in the building, but the Holy Spirit's here.

I see a man sitting way back out here in the audience, looking right at me. He's all tore up. Reason I noticed, he's got a child that's about dead with heart trouble. He's sitting right back there, second from the end, looking to me, praying for that child, that that child will be healed of that heart condition. You believe he will, sir? Raise your hand. That's true, isn't it? You don't have a prayer card, do you? No prayer card or nothing, but wasn't that.... Ain't that what's on your heart? Here he is. Somebody's looking in the back. Stand up just a minute there, sir. Right here.

I do not know the man. I've never seen him in all my life. I've never laid eyes on him in all my life, but that's exactly what he's sitting there praying about, see. What did that? What did he do? His child's going to be healed. What did he do? He touched the Great Physician. He touched the High Priest. There's balm here in Gilead.

There's a lady sitting over there that's got eye trouble, hemorrhages at the eyes. She's praying also that the Lord Jesus will heal her. You believe He will do it, sister? You believe it? If you do, raise up your hand. Raise up your hand. You believe it? Stand upon your feet. Stand up just a minute. I do not know you. You have a prayer card? You don't have any prayer cards. No. All right, you don't need one. You believe with all your heart? That'll stop right now. In the name of Jesus Christ, go home and be well. You believe it?

Here sits a man, sitting right back here looking this way. He's suffering with arthritis. You, there, your name's Mr. Hayes. Stand up. While he's standing there, do you have a prayer card? No, sir. You don't know me? I don't know you. Is that right? But that's what you was praying about. That's right, raise your hand up. All right, go home. It's left you. Jesus Christ makes you well. There's balm in Gilead.

A man right here looking at me. I don't know him. Got some kind of a jacket on, like. He's got trouble with his legs. That is true. Do you have a prayer card, sir? I don't know you? You don't know me. If that's so, stand upon your feet. There you are. Look to me. Do you believe me to be God's prophet? Do you believe me to be that? I will tell you something else. There's something like rolling waters I see between you. You're a missionary. That's exactly right. You've been ministering amongst dark people, like India, or somewhere like that. I believe it is India. Is exactly right. You've got a question in your mind. You don't know which way to turn now. Isn't that right? If that's right, raise up your hand. It'll be settled. Go on back. Jesus Christ will take care of that for you.

Do you believe? There is a balm, the Holy Spirit that.... Don't the Bible say that the Spirit of God is quicker and sharper than a two-edged sword, discerning the thoughts of the mind? Is that right? Is Jesus Christ the High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmity? Then He's here.

Now, friends, you standing here, you penitent people, Christ is here. He's going to help you. Let's bow our heads, everybody, while we pray. Confess your sins.

Look what Jesus said: “No man can come to Me except My Father draws him first.” Then here He is. He's drawed you. You're here, because why? The Father drawed you. “And he that will come to Me, I will in no wise cast out. He that'll stand for Me here, I will stand for him there. He that witnesses of Me here, I will witness for him in the presence of God and the holy angels. But if you're ashamed of Me here, I will be ashamed of you before God and the holy angels. He that comes to Me, I will in no wise cast out, but I will give him everlasting life, and will raise him up at the last day.”

That's the words of Jesus Christ, who's got this church anointed right now. The same One that lets me know the different things with the people out there, is the same One that spoke to your heart and brought you here. If He will let me do that and prove it to you, that it's the truth to fulfill His Word, then I'm telling you the truth. And when you raise from your feet, your sins are forgiven.

Now, let us pray and thank Him. Lord Jesus, You said in Your own Word, according to the Gospel of Saint John 5:24, “He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall never come to the judgment; but has passed from death unto life.” These standing here, penitent people, are the fruits of the message tonight. They heard Your voice. They heard Your Word, and they have come. They've come upon the conviction of their own spirit. There was something by the side of them that spoke to them and said, “You're wrong. You must stand and you must go.” And they raised to their feet and come forward as Your servants here has bid them to do. They stand with tears in their eyes, with their faces turned to the dust where they were taken from. And if Jesus tarries, they will return to the dust.

But the dust can't hold them. Grave can't hold them. Death can't hold them. At Your second coming, that dust will come together, and they'll stand in the likeness of the Son of God, stand justified with One who stands for them at that day, that they stood for this night.

Forgive them, Father, of every sin. They're happy, because that You have did this. It's Your Word; it's Your promise. You cannot break Your promise. If You keep Your promises for all.... You keep them all Your promises, none of them can fail. So here's these penitent souls that's come tonight. We thank You for them. And we pray that You'll be with them through life's journey. Give them now the baptism of the Holy Spirit as they go in to bow on their knees, going in to kneel and to thank You for Your goodness for saving their souls. Then fill them with the Holy Ghost. May they find a good church that preaches the full Gospel, that stands, and brings the inoculation from sin to the people, that their souls might be fed on manna from above. Grant it, Lord. And may they ever faithful live in that church until death shall set them free. Grant it, Father. I commit them to Thee in the name of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.

Now, they will take you to the room where we will be meeting back there just in a moment for prayer. Go right back to this room here and kneel down. And they'll be meeting you back there just in a moment. We want you to kneel down and thank God now for saving you.

Now, to the rest of you. Is there any here that hasn't got the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Would you raise your hand and say, “I'm a Christian, but I haven't been filled with the Holy Ghost. I would like to receive the Holy Ghost.” Would you just raise your hands? Would you come here then? Would you come up here and go with them? Come, let's have a word of prayer together. Let me lay my hands on you, and these ministers here....

You know, Peter went down and preached. Philip had went down and baptized the people at Samaria, but they hadn't received the Holy Ghost as yet. Peter went down and laid hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. Now, that's exactly what the Scripture says.

Now, won't you come, come for this consecration? Come for the time that.... There's plenty of balm in Gilead. Don't you believe that?

All right. Let's just make our way to the room now, so we can go in there, have hands laid on, pray, and receive the Holy Ghost. Right now is the time. Don't put it off another hour. One more hour may be too late. We don't know just how long we're going to live. But we know one thing: If we got eternal life, we can't die. Isn't that the truth, my brethren? We cannot die.

Did you ever chase that word down? “He that believeth on Me, has eternal life.” If you'll take that out of the Greek, it's the word Zoe, which means, “God's own life in you.” You are no longer yourself, but you're a child of God.

Here a few weeks ago, my wife sitting back there, she and I was going to a grocery store to get some groceries. And I was amazed to find one lady with a skirt on. And I said, “Meda, what about that?”

She said, “What I'm asking you, Bill,” said, “you come back from overseas, you say they do this in France; they do that in England; they do this in another place. And is this what they do in America?”

I said, “That's the spirit of America.”

Said, “Aren't we Americans?”

I said, “No.”

Said, “What are we, German?”

I said, “No.”

“What are we?”

I said, “We are pilgrims and strangers.” I said, “That's the reason, the American spirit on our women. They don't do those things on our men. They don't drink, our brethren, and things like that.”

The American spirit drinks. That's a national spirit. Every nation is governed by the devil. The Bible says so. Satan said, “These kingdoms are mine; I will do with them whatever I want to.”

Jesus never disputed his word. But He knowed He'd fall heir to every one of them in the millennium, so He just let him go on. That's true. Because He knowed He'd be King over.... “The kingdoms of this world,” said Revelations, “has become the kingdoms of our Lord.” And the living, the redeemed lived and reigned with Christ on earth for a thousand years. So we know that there is coming a kingdom where Christ will be King. Then we won't have any war. We won't have any sickness. We won't have any immorality.

But you take people today. Good women, fine young ladies get out here on the street and dress immorally to just lust, to make men look at them. What is it? The poor children has a spirit of lust on them and don't know it. You might be as pure as a lily. You might be a virgin. But at the day of judgment, you're going to have to answer for committing adultery. Jesus said, “Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her in his heart.” And if that sinner looks at you, then when he has to answer for it at the day of judgment, who did he commit adultery with? You. Why did he? Because you presented yourself that way to him. Open your eyes, seeds of Abraham. Sure.

I said that to a woman one time. She said, “That's the way they make clothes. That's the only way they make.”

I said, “They still got goods and sewing machines. You don't have to do that.” That's true. You don't have to. It's a spirit that gets on you through television programs, newspapers, advertisements. That's the reason people smoke. They say it makes them slim. They see these movie stars smoking cigarettes. Well, because she does it....

If you're borned of the Spirit of God, you don't have that kind of spirit. Your Spirit come from above, where holiness and purity and cleanliness.... O God, why can't I make people see that? You have to be borned from above. And when your above comes here on earth, you're a pilgrim. This is not your home. You don't belong here. You're just sojourning here. But our home is above; we seek a city to come who's builder and maker is God. That's the reason we're peculiar to the world. That's the reason the Spirit of God gets into the meeting and makes peculiar things happen, because it's a peculiar people. They're not of this world.

Sin. Sin, it's a curse. And there's a remedy for it. You say, “Well, I want to act like the rest of the women.” Sarah was your example; Mary was, not someone in Hollywood, or some TV star. And you're born of above, you're.... You usually act like they do in the country you come from.

I went in to Rome just recently. And I went to San Angelo, the catacombs. And to a disgrace, it had a sign set there, “American women, please put on clothes and honor the dead.”

I was down at Zurich, Switzerland. And everybody seemed to be doing pretty good till Miss America came in with a cigarette holder about that long, and a little poodle dog, and set it upon the table. The man told her shouldn't do that, and she blowed up her lips and let her know that she was American: enough to be disgraceful.

I was in Canada just recently on a meeting. And when a.... The Americans was up there, at a certain lodge. I wouldn't call their name. They was having what they call a little clean fun. Men and women.... It was horrible. Why, the elevator was full of whiskey bottles when I went up. And I said, “What's the matter?”

That Canadian boy said, “They're up here.”

I got off on about the tenth floor. When I got off and started to look, coming down the road, there come a young married woman, two of them, with wedding bands on their hands, just with their underneath clothes on, having a little clean fun, drunk with a whiskey bottle in her hand, men trying to fall out of the doors after them. Questioning them, they were both mothers.

Oh, God, what's going to happen to this country? You can't keep from striking judgment. You Christians, rise in the name of Christ and condemn this thing. In the days when sin was in the camp, when Balaam taught the people to sin, Moses said, “Who'll stand for me and God?”

And Levi pulled his sword and said, “We will stand for you.” And they took that sword and cut every sin out of the camp. And God made the rest of them pay tithes to them, and they become the priesthood.

So is it today. God's looking for somebody who'll take the sword of the Word. Some people's afraid to say those things. Don't be afraid. God be for you, who can be against you? It's time that the church stood in its place again, cut sin. Jesus will come someday and there'll be a rapture. Those who stand for Him now, He will stand for them then. You love Him? Oh, how I love Him.

I love Him, (Everybody now.) I ... (How many

Christians in the building? Raise your hands.)

Because He first ...(Isn't that wonderful. Let's

stand to our feet now. Everybody, stand to

your feet.)

And purchased my salvation

On Calvary's tree. (All together now.)

I love Him, I love Him

Because He first loved me

Now, let everybody turn around and shake hands with one another when you say it. Turn around and shake hands one with the other; say, “God bless you. I'm glad to meet you here tonight. Glad to be with you, so happy.” All you pilgrims, shake hands, everybody. Say, “I'm happy to be here with you tonight.” How glorious. How good. Don't that make you feel real good?

All right. Now, look back this way again. Let's raise our hands to Him now and sing again, “I Love Him.” All right. (Have that a little high. Get it down so we can sing it, sister.) All right, all together.

I love Him (Raise them up real high), I love Him

Because He first loved me

And purchased my salvation

On Calvary's tree.

Let's have the women to say first, “I Love Him,” and then the men next. All right, women:

I love Him, (Now, the men.) I love Him

(All together now.)

Because He first loved me

And purchased my salvation

On Calvary's tree.

There's so many things happening out there; I just can't call them. You mark my word: In the name of the Lord, there's sick people here right now that's healed that.... You'll find it out. I just noticed a man get up out of a wheelchair, picked up his wheelchair and start to walk away with it, over here in the corner.

See, the Spirit of God is here. That's what it takes to heal. The Spirit of the Lord is with us to heal the sick. The inoculation is here. Oh, how wonderful. How do you feel, brother, fine? Wave your hand if you feel good. Push that old wheelchair, and come across this way so the people can see you pushing your old wheelchair. Here he comes, pushing his wheelchair, giving God praise and glory. Let's sing it. I Love Him, with all the....

I love Him, I (Oh, praise the Lord.

Coming by, waving.)

Because.................

Lord Jesus, I pray for these, and for this one, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray, Lord.

And purchased my salvation

On Calvary's tree.

Now, it's so late to call.... There ain't no prayer cards out anyhow. Tomorrow night, if the Lord willing, we will go in, give out prayer cards at six-thirty, ever what time they do, for tomorrow night, for the prayer line.

Let's just raise our hands and give Him a big praise offering. What do you say? Everybody, just give up your hands.

Praise the Lord. We thank You, Lord Jesus. Take this, all that's done, Lord. Save those people back there, fill them with the Holy Ghost. O Lord God, have mercy. Grant it. Give these people a vision of Your coming. We see You coming. We see the coming of the Lord, the end of time. I pray, God, that You'll move us with Your Spirit. Grant it, Lord, in the name of Jesus....