From The Beginning It Wasn't So

Thank you, brother. You may be seated. I have noticed each night that many of the peoples have put their handkerchiefs up here to be prayed over. I certainly appreciate your confidence. And I do pray over them, and one of our ... greatest part of our ministry is praying over the handkerchiefs.

I was in Mexico City recently, and I noticed the little Mexican woman just now bringing up the handkerchief. The night before this happened (the incident that I wish to speak of for a moment), we were on a large platform, pretty near, I suppose, about like this building is across. And perhaps maybe Brother Espinoza may be in the service tonight. He was my interpreter. We were there three nights, in Mexico City, and, I think, the last night there was twenty thousand was saved. We asked if they had been Catholic or any other church, belong to any church, not to come. We wanted just those who belonged to no church at all. And they were estimated twenty thousand came to the altar. So they would come there at nine o'clock at morning, and I'd come at nine at night. They'd stand leaning against one another through the hot sun, through the day, waiting for me to come to pray for them. Faithful.

And I remember one night there was an old Mexican dad come across the platform and he didn't have on any shoes. His trousers were all torn off and he had an old hat in his hand, sewed up with twine cord, no coat, no shirt on, gray beard over his face, and he was blind. And I thought when he come, “That's perhaps somebody's daddy, and maybe the enemy's been so cruel to him.” The people in Mexico don't get to live like we do here. Their economics are very poorly balanced.

And so I looked at him, and as he got close to me (He was Catholic by faith.), he took out a crucifix ... or, prayer beads, and begin to say his prayer beads over. And I spoke to him that wasn't necessary just then. And he kept wanting to find me; he was blind. And when I got my arms around the poor old fellow, I thought, “If my dad would've lived, he'd've been about the age of that man.” And he was somebody's daddy. And there he was, almost naked, maybe had worked a many hard day to raise some little children. And then besides all of that, was blind. I had on a good suit and a good pair of shoes. I put my foot up side of his; I was going to give him my shoes, but his foot was much larger than mine. My shoulders, nothing like would meet out with him, so I couldn't give him my coat. And I thought, “Poor old fellow.”

And you know, you have to enter into the suffering of a person to have feelings for them. If it ever gets to a place that I can't feel sorry for the sick, then it's time for me to leave the platform, praying for them. When I get to a place that I can't feel the burden of sin on the people, then it's time for me to get away from here, because I can never do no good for God. It's the feeling you have for the people. You know, it's a love that you can project to the people that they know you love them and they love you, and you can feel it. And there's something that happens then.

And when I was praying for the old fellow, a vision came. He had his head laying over on my shoulders, patting me when I was praying. He couldn't understand what I was saying, because he couldn't speak English. And I was looking this way praying for him, and as I opened my eyes, Brother Espinoza was repeating the prayer over in Spanish, out to one side. And I looked and I seen the old man just a jumping in a vision with his sight. I knew he had it then. So I just pulled him up like this, and I believe that Mexican word is Gloria a Dios, something like that. Gloria a Dios, “glory to God,” Gloria a.... [A brother pronounces it correctly.] Gloria a Dios, that's it. And he hollered that way: he could see, he could see. And down from that platform he went just jumping as hard as he could jump. He could see.

And then, just a little after that, I was trying.... Billy come to me and he said, “Daddy, you'll have to say something yourself,” said, “there's a little Mexican woman standing out there,” said, “no one can hold her.” Said, “There's twenty-five men can't even hold her.” And she had a dead baby, had died that morning. And so the little fellow.... It was drizzling rain. And the mother, young, beautiful little Spanish mother, looked to be in her twenties, twenty-three, twenty-five. And the ushers couldn't hold her; she was climbing right over the top of them, this baby under her arm. And so, I said to Brother Moore, I said, “Go down there and offer prayer. How long's the baby been dead?”

Said, “Since nine o'clock this morning.”

And I said, “Well, was it pronounced dead by the doctor?”

“Yes, sir.”

I said, “Well, just go down there, Brother Moore, and pray for the baby, and maybe that'll console the little woman.”

And so he started over.... (That's Brother Jack Moore, many of you remember him, with me on my first journey up the coast here.) And he went over to pray for her. And I looked out over that great audience there, out in the open, a big place like ... about the size of the bullring, but it wasn't as.... It wasn't there because the church wouldn't let us have it there. So then, I looked out and I saw a little baby that was laying on something, and it just raised up and started gooing, jumping its little hands up and down. I knew what was going to happen. So I said, “Just a minute, Brother Moore, maybe I'd better see her.”

And the ushers.... Billy got down there and got the ushers to understand, so they moved them back. And the little lady run to the platform, fell on her knees, and she had her baby under this little blanket. And I tried to speak to her, only Brother Espinoza couldn't get over to where I was then because many ushers had cut across this way on the platform.

And I just laid my hands on the little baby. Now, the God of heaven, who's Book this is, knows that it's true. Laid my hands on the blanket, the little baby was beneath the blanket. I couldn't make the little lady understand what I meant. And she was hollering, what is that? “Padre,” (Is that what...?) “Padre, Padre, Padre.” And so I put my hands on the blanket, over the little baby. I said, “Heavenly Father, I do not know what this all meant, but I seen a little baby in front of me gooing and playing just a few minutes ago. If it's this child, let life return to it.” And that baby let out a scream, begin to kick blankets every way. That little mother.... “Brother Espinoza,” I said, “now don't publish that, Brother Espinoza, till you get a doctors statement from them.” So he went the next day and got a statement from the peoples and the doctors, and so forth, that the baby had died. And it was living, fine, well.

And the next night, I could hardly see over the rick of clothes laying there to be prayed over, of those poor people. How they ever knowed which was which. Now, I've got a lot of Mexican friends sitting here. I'm not saying this to make ... look bad, but they're real poor down in that country. And the old ragged coats, and old shawls from the mothers, tore all to pieces, laying just piled in ricks that high, all the way up and down there. Just piled them on top of each other there, to be prayed over, because then they believed.

And oh, I'm going back down again. I just must go back to Mexico. And only had three nights. And General Valdena, which is my friend that got me in by the Mexican government as a non Catholic to come and have the meeting, and so he's invited me back again in the churches. My sponsorship there was Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and so forth like that, who brought me into the city.

And I seen that little Mexican woman lay that handkerchief there, I was just thinking that story that come into my mind.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a day that's set aside where our pilgrim forefathers set that day aside to give thanks to God for what He had done for us, for blessing them, giving them crops and so forth. It's one real American day. All the other days, like Saint Patrick's, and so forth, come from across the seas. But this is an American holiday: Thanksgiving Day.

Tonight I want to say that there's so many things that I'm thankful for. I don't know how to give thanks to God for so many blessings. Be sure to remember that tomorrow. If your church has service, attend. Tomorrow night we continue on with our services here. And we're expecting you, if you can, to be out with us tomorrow night. Be sure. If you don't have church service, then at home, get the family together, sit down, take God's Word, read it. Tell your children about it. Tell them that this nation was built upon such as that: Our forefathers who fought to bring this freedom to us and left the other country so that we could have freedom of worship and freedom of speech and freedom of press and so forth. And we're thankful yet for it. We don't know how long it will last that way, but I say this, “Long may our land be bright with freedom's holy light; protect us by Thy might, great God, our King!”

We're just a little late tonight and I'm changing my subject just a little bit because I don't want to keep you long. And we're going to pray for the sick. And just before we open the Bible, let's bow our heads just a moment to speak to the author.

Lord, that little woman laying that handkerchief up here a few moments ago brought back memories. Many of those precious people down there, I cannot even speak their language, but someday on the other side we will all speak one language. I will see them there, can talk to them. I trust, Lord, that You'll send me back to them, seeing they're so needy. Bless them tonight, Father, and around the world. I think of India, and of Asia, Europe, and the islands everywhere, poor precious people, some of them not even knowing which is right and left hand. But to see them by the tens of thousands walk up and surrender their lives to the Lord Jesus when they seen His great living presence. A God that missionaries had told them about, become a reality to them just in a few moments when they seen Him move on the scene and begin to show Himself alive after two thousand years; proving that He is their Redeemer. How we thank You for that, Father.

And here we are tonight, right in the midst of civilization, a great fabulous town here, a town of San Jose in the state of California. And civilization traveling from the east has gone westward, and here we are at the West Coast, last places. Then East and West will meet again. The prophet said, “There'll be a day when it won't be neither night nor day, but in the evening time it shall be light.” And the same sun that rises in the East, sets in the West.

And the same Son of God that showed forth His power on the eastern people in the days of His visitation to the earth, has come in power in the last days upon the western people and sent forth through this nation a Holy Ghost revival with the same powers and signs that He did to the eastern people in the days of His visitation. It is light and it's evening time. The sun is going down, the same sun. And it's the same Son of God that we worship today, and see His same actions, His same presence, doing the same things that He did. For He truly said, “The works that I do, shall you also.”

And now, Father, we pray tonight that He will manifest Himself to us again tonight, saving the lost, filling with the Spirit those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness, healing the sick and afflicted. Lord, last night when I was going from the building, seeing the first wheelchair that I've seen yet leave this building with someone in it since the meeting's been going on. My heart jumped. Right in the middle of the road I wanted to jump out and pray for the woman. But they tell me she was in the back and I didn't see her. I pray, Father, if that woman's here tonight, anywhere, that You'll take her from that wheelchair as You have the others this week. May there not be one wheelchair or cot, stretcher case, or anything left tonight. May they all be healed and go out of here rejoicing, shine forth Your presence, Lord. Tomorrow make it a real Thanksgiving Day for them. Something fresh and new that they have tasted the power of God and the resurrection of Christ.

Bless the words that we're fixing to read. May the Holy Spirit take these words and divide them to each heart as we have need. For we ask it in His name and for His glory. Amen.

May the Lord add His blessings farther as we go now. And we will speak to you just a little bit from a text that's found in Saint Matthew, nineteenth chapter, and the eighth verse. And now we will try not to be but about fifteen or twenty minutes on the text, and then go to the prayer line. I wish to read this verse, that is the eighth verse, reads like this,

And he saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

Now, I want to take that last part of the verse for a text: “From The Beginning It Wasn't So”. You know when He came to the earth, in His first visitation, He found that the teachers of His day was teaching things that wasn't so. I wonder if He returned tonight if He wouldn't find about the same: teaching things that wasn't so. Did you notice He said, “It wasn't so from the beginning.”

Now, God, as we have taught, that He is infinite. [And Brother Gene, I hope you're getting this tape; it'll be short, but catch it, please. That's one of my precious brothers, the tape boy.] God is infinite. We all believe that. And when God says anything, it must forever be that way. Don't never lose that precious treasure from your heart: that when God says anything He cannot alter it, He cannot improve it; it's perfectly spoke, and it will be forever that way. If God is eternal and infinite, His Word is just like He is.

So therefore, Jesus referred back on this subject. As we know they were teaching, giving people ... men rights to divorce their wives and so forth. And Jesus said, “From the beginning it wasn't so.”

They said, “Moses told us that we might have a writing of a divorce if we wish to put our wife away.”

Jesus said, “Moses did it because of the hardness of your hearts. But it wasn't so from the beginning. Because God said at the beginning, 'For this cause a man shall leave his father, his mother, and all, and cleave to his wife.'”

So when God said that at the beginning, it can never be changed by anything. Therefore, you can rest assured that, if you believe this Word to be God's Word, whatever God says it is absolutely perfect and can never be changed. Jesus said, “Heavens and earth will pass away, but my Word shall never pass away.”

Just like the old colored man said down south, he said, “I'd rather be standing on God's Word than standing in heaven.”

They said, “Mose, why do you say that?”

He said, “Because heavens and earth is going to pass away, but His Word won't.”

So that's about the way of it. God's Word will never perish. And God's Word is part of Him. Your word is part of you. And you're no better than your word, and God is no better than His Word. Therefore, have faith in God's Word. No matter how ridiculous it sounds, how it doesn't cope with these modern days, but still it shall come to pass. God said so; that settles it forever. The children of Abraham believed that, solemnly with all their hearts. What God says is truth. “Let every man's word be a lie, but God's be true.” Forever it stands, eternally.

So Jesus found the teachers of His day, teaching things that wasn't so. And I believe if He come today, He'd perhaps find the same thing going on. He'd find that there were people in the world (We're sorry to have to say it.), but there would be people in the world trying to teach that “Oh, them things was for another day.” But they're not for another day. The Bible said that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” That settles it.

And when He said, “Whosoever will, let him come,” that means whosoever. And we read again tonight Doctor Simon Peter's prescription for the cure of sin. In Acts the second chapter he said, “This is for you, and for your children, and for their children, and for them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” That settles it. Then the Holy Spirit, not something to take its place, but the same Holy Spirit is for every generation and every person that God calls. The Holy Spirit is for them.

Man perverts things. That's what man is. A man is a ... in his fallen estate is worse than animal. Do you believe that? It proves it. Men will do things that an animal won't do. There is man. Now man is not muscles. Say, “Oh, he is a man.” I've seen men that weighed two hundred pounds didn't have an ounce of man about him. Man is not measured by his muscles; that's beast. Man is measured by character. A man is a man by character. That's the reason Jesus was the greatest man that ever lived. There was nothing could ever measure to His character. But the Bible said, “There was no beauty that we should (when we looked upon Him) ... but we hid as it were our faces from Him.” He wasn't a great stately, kingly-looking man, but probably a little stooped shouldered fellow. “We hid as it was our faces,” He was marred. But in His character there has never been nothing that could compare with Him. He was real man.

You take the man when the white man first come to the west here, when he found the Indian out here living on his buffalo. The white man shot the buffalo just for a target. Just let a man get a hold of something or another, and he will pervert it. Just let God do something, then man comes around and perverts what God does. God set up a church once; man perverts it.

What is sin? Sin is truth.... Sin is unrighteousness ... is righteousness perverted. Just take anything that's sin and you'll notice it's a righteousness perverted. Anything that man gets to tampering with, he perverts it from its original estate. And so, unbelief is nothing but faith perverted. Sin is faith perverted, righteousness perverted. When man gets a hold of it, that's what he does with it.

He takes the church of the living God—that Jesus died for, died that they might be borned again, might have fellowship, might be filled with the Spirit, might have the spiritual gifts working among them—and what does he do? He takes and sets him up a great big something somewhere and explains all that away, and perverts it into no more than a lodge, a handshake, or a chicken supper somewhere, when God wants a church that's born again, full of the Holy Ghost and power, with signs and wonders following His church.

I think that Jesus Christ ought to knowed how to set up a church. He was the God of heaven made flesh among us. And when He was here on earth, He said, “These signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; speak with new tongues; take up serpents; or drink deadly things, it shall not harm them; if they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover.” Heavens and earth will pass away. Men will rise and say, “That was for another day.” But God's truth sails on and will forever. It'll be the same, because nothing can ever stop it. It'll move because it's God's Word. It'll never diminish.

Jesus met those people in His days, and He said, “In vain they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.” In vain people worshipping. Someone say, “Well, Brother Branham, if you worship God truly is that ... surely He'd accept it.” He didn't accept Cain. And Cain worshipped Him in just as much reverence as Abel did. Cain built an altar, Cain made a sacrifice, Cain worshipped, built a church, made his offerings, everything else. Just as religious as Abel was, but he come the wrong way.

God has got a way. And we must toe the mark to that way. And this Bible is the way. No text book, creeds, or nothing outside of this Bible. If it's contrary to this Word I do not believe it. But if it's with the Word, amen.

So man takes and builds churches and puts creeds in them. When Jesus came to the earth, He found precious people trying to find salvation in the church. What were they getting? Ceremonies, pouring of water, washing of plates and wearing of clothes. That's what they had: ceremonies. They didn't get salvation; salvation is deliverance. So they did not get salvation; they got a bunch of ceremonies.

If He'd come today, what would He find? Just about the same. The people are looking to the church for salvation and getting a bunch of creeds. What we need is the Holy Ghost, not creeds. Power is what we need. The church is based upon the new birth and the Holy Ghost. He'd say the same thing today as He did then. When we say, “Well, we recite the apostle's creed,” He'd say, “It wasn't so from the beginning. Show me where the apostle's creed is found in the Bible.” It never was in the Bible; there's no part of it the Bible. It's a manmade creed. If the apostles had any kind of creed, was to repent. If there's any kind of a creed that the apostle called on: “Repent, and be baptized, you will receive the Holy Ghost.” If they had a creed it would be that. But they preach the Gospel. And the Gospel came not through word only, but through power and demonstrations of the Holy Ghost, because them signs could not follow the believer unless the Holy Ghost did demonstrate it. So preaching the Word was only the seed. When it fell in the heart, it brought forth new life; and the signs followed the believer.

Now, Jesus said, “In vain they worship me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.” And they looked to the church and they got ceremonies. You know Jesus said ... called them, I believe there, “whited walls”. How it was that they washed their hands oft and they had traditions and they were just as religious to that, just as pious as they could be. But when Jesus come He turned the thing completely around. And He preached something else to them. And the churches was against Him. And they cried out, “Well, why does the elders say this?” Jesus said, “It wasn't so from the beginning.”

God runs His church. God lives in His church. We should never diminish one bit. And today when we come to receive the Holy Spirit, and people want to walk up and shake hands with the pastor and say, “Now, I believe I have received the Holy Spirit.” Some of them take communion and say they received the holy eucharist. Listen brother, the holy eucharist never come from eating communion. The Holy Spirit come like a mighty rushing wind from heaven and it filled all the place where they were sitting. And the Bible promises, not something like it, but this same Holy Spirit would be for every person that God would call into His church. “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to them that's far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Even to this night. Not something like it, but the same Holy Spirit. The same blessing, with the same signs, with the same wonders.

Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell can't prevail against it.” What kind of a rock was it? Our mother Catholic church said it was upon Peter, the rock. If that's right, he backslid a few days later. The Protestant said it was upon Jesus the Rock.

Let me tell you my version of it. He said, “Who does men say I am?”

“One said you're Elias; and one say Moses; and one say this or the other.

He said, “But who do you say?” It isn't what somebody else says. It's what we think; it's what you say. What's your opinion of it? God asks that question to every man here tonight. “What's your opinion of this thing that's going on?” Is it with the Word? Test it with the Word.

Peter said, “Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God.”

He said, “Blessed art thou, Simon: flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. Upon this rock....” What rock? Spiritual, revealed, revelation of the Word of God! “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell can't prevail against it.”

Down through the ages we've had creeds and denominations and what more, but the church of the living God moves just the same. It's in the minority (I know that.), but some day it'll be in the majority. When the redeemed of all ages rises to go with her to meet Jesus. It's the church of the living God.

The people say today like they did then. They say today, “Oh, the Bible says so-and-so, but....” There's no “but” to it. Jesus said it would be the same yesterday, today, and forever. The Bible says it and that settles it. There ain't no if, ands, or nothing else in the way of it. It's Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. God's Word is eternal.

Some of them say, “Oh, I believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but the Holy Ghost, I don't believe they have to receive it today like they did then.” See, they take the commandments of God and make them of non-effect to the people, teaching traditions of the church. Creeds and denominations, and make it traditions. We shouldn't do it. We should stick with God's Word. If God's Word is true, then everything else is a lie to it. Let's stay with the Word.

And if the Word makes a promise, God keeps that promise. If we haven't got faith enough to make it come to pass, then just say we haven't got faith enough, “Pray for me that I will have.” If we haven't got faith enough to take a little evening stroll like Enoch did and walk up home with Him, I'd never stand in somebody's way that did have that much faith. I'd bless God for that man that had that kind of a faith that could walk home with Him. Yes, sir. I'd never put a stumbling block in his way. Enoch just got tired walking around; he'd had walked with Him five hundred years and pleased Him all the time. Said, “I'm just not adjusted to the earth, so I will think I will go home with Him this afternoon.” And just walked right on up through the sky. Oh, I wished I had that kind of faith. It's going to take that kind of faith at the coming of the Lord: to take a little stroll some afternoon out here and walk right on out home with Him. Yes, if a man has that faith, I'd never put a straw in his way. I'd praise God for him just as hard as I could. Yes, sir, because we will have to be that way before we are raptured with Him in the last day.

But men say, “The days is gone.” Then we are wondering today. Now, we've had great revivals in the land. Billy Graham, Jack Schuller, Oral Roberts, great men like that who's crossed the country. And they preached and they preached and they preached their hearts out. Thousands times thousands come to the altar. And a week after that, thousands times thousands gone away. They don't know what happened to them. Then they wonder. Then we get to a place till we wonder, “How did they stick in the beginning?”

When Mr. Graham, our noble brother and friend, was in Louisville, I attended his breakfast. He certainly give the ministers a rubbing that morning. He said, “I come out here and preach my heart out and get sinners to come up to the altar. And I give the card to you, and you sit in the office with your feet up on the desk and write them a letter.” Said, “You ought to go out and visit them. Shake their hands after supper, invite them to your church.” Said, “Instead of that, you sit in your office and have your secretary to write them a letter.” Said, “It's laziness among you.” And he really raked them over the coals. He said, “Now, when Paul went into a city, he got one convert. When he come back the next year, that one convert had made thirty.” He said, “I go into a city, have thirty converts, come back the next year, I haven't got one.”

“Well,” I thought, “maybe, where did Paul go then after he got that one convert?” Paul went on to another city. But he took that convert so deep in God till he was filled with the Holy Ghost, and his heart was burning; he went out and made another convert. That's what's the matter, brother: We don't take them on deep enough in God. We just let them get all emotional worked up under a message somewhere, or some singing, but we should take them on till they are filled with the Holy Ghost, and dead and rotten to these things of the world, and borned again by the Holy Spirit of God. Then the Holy Ghost is burning in that heart. He can't sit still; he's got to move and do something. God is all through him, all over him, all in him. His whole objective is God, get somebody saved. Long as Christ is in the heart, he will do the works of the Father every time. The works of the Father and the will of the Father was to save people.

Then today, they have the nerve to say, “Wonder what happened to the God of the Bible? Where is that God?” Why, you choked Him out by your creeds. You've choked Him out by your traditions. You've tried to place Him back in history. He is a God of history. And what He's waiting on today, that same God of history. That when Moses called on Him at the Red Sea, the God of history rose and made a way. When Joshua called on the God of history, at Jordan, He rose up and made a way. When Daniel called on Him in the fiery furnace, He made a way ... or, in the lion's den rather, and the Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, He made a way. He's still the same God of history. He's waiting for His people to call Him up out of history. That same God remains God. He's God forever. But our traditions, we've taught it away from the people. What we must do is bring that living faith back to people. Bring God back.

I seen a little sign today when I was going to eat my breakfast, down in the city, said, “Put Christ back in Christmas.” I thought, “Amen, that's good, not only Christmas but every day.” Put Him back in the church. Bring Him back to the earth again, put Him in action. Let the Christ of God stand in His church, because He said, “I will be with you, even in you to the end of the world.”

Christ wasn't to die and stay dead; He died but He rose again. He's just as much alive tonight as He was when He walked in Galilee. He's just the same God. He's here in the form of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of Christ come back in the form of the Holy Ghost, and the death of Christ, the blood of Christ sanctified the unclean and cleansed them through grace that He might come and live in the church and manifest Himself, pour forth His own works, prove to the people that He still lives.

That's the real Christian principle, is the resurrection. Christianity's based upon the resurrection, not replacement. If I dropped this handkerchief on the floor and picked up another one and put in its place, that's replacement. Christianity is resurrection. The same Jesus that went down, the same Jesus went up. The same Jesus went up, the same God came down in the church. The same signs that followed back there is the same signs that follows the church.

Being the Son of God He ought to know how to set a church in order. He said, “These signs will follow them that believe.” These signs! We say, “Well, he's a good man; he paid his tithes. That's good. Alms and mints you should have done, all these things, but not let this other undone.” See, them things are good. Go to church, be a good neighbor, a good citizen; that's fine. But there's more to it than that. Like the old brother eating watermelon. They said, “How'd you like that, Mose?”

He said, “That was very good, but there's some more of it.” That's the way it is with this. Go to church and join the church is good, but there's some more of it. That is the more of it is, you must be borned again and filled with God's Spirit, baptized with the Holy Ghost and set afire. My! That's what the church needs. It needs a call back to God. Churches, denominations, and all—them are fine. That's good, but there's more of it. There's more than church, more than denominations, more than putting your name on the book, more than being baptized with water. Those things are good, but there's more of it. The more of it is Christ. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Christ in the heart that changes you, makes you a different person, a new creation.

It reminds me of the mother and father ... or, foster father, Joseph, and Mary, the virgin. When they had went up to the Pentecostal feast at Jerusalem, they took their precious Son, the Lord Jesus. And I guess they got so took up among the people, talking and doing different things that ... the regular routines, till they went three days' journey before they ever missed Him. I think the church has got caught up in that kind of a condition too. More than a three days' journey: It's got about two thousand years' journey. And now in the hour of crisis, you begin to wonder, “Where's He at?”

You know what they did? Just what the church is doing: Went back to look for Him among their kindred. Their kindred come off the same way they did. You don't find Him among your kinfolks. You don't find Him there. They went among all their kin, looking around, asking for Him. They couldn't find Him.

In this hour of crisis when communism is taking the world, when Russia, with all their free literature, is just having a revival that's sweeping the earth with communism. Then we wonder where is that great God of heaven? Where is the Jehovah of history? Where is that God that opened the Red Sea? Where is that God could tell Nathanael, “I saw you when you were under the tree.” Where is the God that could open the blinded eyes? Where is the God that could speak and the earth would tremble? Where is that God?

You'll never find Him among your kin folks. We go back to the Methodist, the Methodist to the Baptist, the Baptist to the Presbyterian, to the Lutheran, to the Catholic and all around; we still don't find Him. Go to the Baptist church (That's my church and where I was ordained in.), you don't find Him. You find fine people. But where is Christ?

Like Dr. Reedhead said to me, “Brother Branham, when I got my degree—Bachelor's degree, Bachelor of Arts—I thought I'd find Christ, but He wasn't there. When I got my Ph.D., I thought He'd be there. He wasn't there.” Said, “I've got enough degrees I could plaster your wall. And now where is He at?”

I said, “He's not in those degrees.” Hallelujah! That's right. They're all right; I wish I had them. If I had them plus what I got, all right. But if I have to give what I got to get them, no indeed; I will take what I got. Yes sir. If I could have them both, all right. But if I have to sacrifice that to have this, let me have this.

Now, now, my brother, look; they searched all around, through their kindreds. We have a revival amongst the Lutherans, amongst the Baptist, amongst all the churches; where do we find that Spirit of power? Where do we find that? Where do we see those people like there was on the day of Pentecost, so drunk under the Spirit of God that they staggered like drunk men. Let me tell you, my Catholic friends, the blessed virgin Mary was in there. That's right. And if God wouldn't let virgin Mary come to heaven until first she was filled with the Holy Ghost, dare you to try to get there anything less. But the Bible said that she was with them and the same thing they were all doing, so filled with the power of God till they staggered and acted like a drunk ... drunken people. The Bible says that.

Where do you find it? Among our kindreds? Go out amongst the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and so forth; see if you find it. No, sir. You don't find Him amongst our kin folks like that. The only way you find Him is the way Mary and Joseph found Him: where they left Him. That's where you find Him. Where did they leave Him? At the Pentecostal feast. Hallelujah! That's where the church will find Him again. Go back to the feast of Pentecost. Go back to the pouring out of the Holy Ghost. There you'll find the power of Almighty God, you'll find the risen Christ, you'll find signs and wonders of Him just exactly like He said would be. Go back to where you found Him; go back to the beginning. Jesus said, “At the beginning....”

John 15th chapter, Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” Now, the first branch that come out of that vine, they wrote a book of Acts after it. They had power to heal the sick, they spoke with tongues, they interpreted it, they had visions, prophets, power; they done the signs that Jesus did. And if that first branch come out of that vine was that kind of a branch, the next branch it bears will be the same. And every branch it bears will be the same branch. Amen!

And if we say we are the church of God, then we will bear the record of the first branch. He's the vine. If you're growing grapes and you're first branch produces grapes, your second branch will produce grapes; your third branch will produce grapes. Every branch that that tree bears will produce grapes. And if the church of the living God that Jesus Christ set up.... We Methodists want to think it was our church, we Baptists think it was ours, we Catholics think it was ours, we Pentecostal think it was ours. Let it be what it may be. But if we are in that branch, we will have the same fruits they had. You can't get pumpkins off of a grape vine. Hallelujah! The vine of Jesus Christ will produce the life of Jesus Christ, for He is the life that's in the vine and we are the branches.

That first branch that come forth was a Pentecostal branch, filled with Pentecostal power, so impact by the Holy Spirit till they staggered under the impact of the power of God. They went forth and saw visions, performed miracles, opened the eyes of the blind, healed the sick; joy was in the camp. They prayed in one accord, all of them together, until the building shook where they were assembled together. Show me a church doing that today. Even the Pentecostals getting ... so called, is getting so dry, why, they have a little ceremonial prayer. What we need is a prayer meeting that will shake the shingles off the top of the house and bring God back into the church again.

It wasn't so from the beginning. All these creeds and cold formal ritualistics and all these different things: it wasn't so from the beginning. Jesus set up a church that said, “These signs shall follow them that believe.” That was the beginning. That's what happened in the beginning. If He was here on earth today, He would not endorse our creeds and our things that we are doing. He would say, “It wasn't so from the beginning.”

Jesus said at the beginning, “The works that I do, shall you do also.” That's the way it was at the beginning. What kind of a works did He do at the beginning? The same works that He's doing now. What kind of a church did He have at the beginning? A church that was filled with the Spirit, that healed the sick and prophesied and great signs and wonders. And it wasn't ashamed of the religion. They shouted and danced under the Spirit like drunk men, and had cloven tongues like fire set upon them. And they done signs and wonders, and exploits followed them. That's the kind it was at the beginning. That's the kind it'll be in the middle. That'll be the kind that'll be at the last.

You say, “My church don't teach that.” Well, it wasn't so from the beginning. You say, “I'm a Methodist.” It wasn't so from the beginning. “I'm a Baptist.” It wasn't so from the beginning. “I'm a Lutheran.” It wasn't so from the beginning. They were baptized saints of God with the Holy Ghost. That's what the beginning was: signs and wonders. You say, “They don't.... My church don't believe in it.” It wasn't so from the beginning. “My church don't believe in seeing visions.” It wasn't so from the beginning. “My church says the days of miracles is past.” It wasn't so from the beginning. “My church don't believe in the baptism of the Holy Ghost.” It wasn't so from the beginning.

I tell you God wants a people that's consecrated by the power of God, that'll surrender their intellectuals and let God come in and take over and give a new birth. That's what He wants. Let's go back to the beginning. If we want to see the sick healed, we want to see signs and wonders of the living Christ, go back to the beginning where we left Him.

We left Him at the Pentecostal feast. Three hundred years after that, come the Catholic church. After the Catholic church come, after fifteen hundred years of Dark Ages, come the Luther reformation. Out of there come the Anglican and so forth, on down. And each one forming creeds, and creeds, and creeds, and creeds, and so forth. And now the world says, “Where is that God that walked and healed?” Amen. Where is that God? Where's He at? What happened to Him? Let me call you Catholic, Protestant, Methodist, Baptists, Presbyterians: Go back to where you left Him at. Go back to Pentecost again. Hurry back real quick and find Him there. That's what the church needs tonight, friend. Back to a living faith and a living God with His living presence ever with us to the end of the world. Do you believe that? Let us bow our heads.

Heavenly Father, we've got so much to be thankful for. Not only for an inheritage of the American citizenship that we have, which we are grateful for, for we believe it's the last great hope that You have in the earth before the coming of the Lord Jesus. It's open yet for the Gospel. But we see it honeycombed with communism, because cold, lukewarm churches, many of them, Lord, even today are selling out to the devil, compromising.

O Lord God, above every thing that I can think of, I thank You for Jesus Christ who is our Saviour. For the true living church that lives within our heart, that Jesus had said, “The works that I do, shall you also. By this all men will know that you are my disciples. A little while and the world won't see me no more; yet you shall see me, for I will be with You. I will even be in you to the end of the world. The very things that I do, shall you also. Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel.” Those words are from the infinite God. Heavens and earth will pass away, but those words cannot. How far? All the world. How long? Until the world's been evangelized, until He comes. “These signs shall follow them,” into all the world, “that believe on me; In my name they shall cast out demons; speak with new tongues; or take up serpents or drink deadly things, it would not harm them; they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover.” Many other great things did He say that would go with His church.

And today, when we see men taking the commandments of God and making them of none effect to the people, trying to place them off in some far gone generation. Lord God, we are glad to know tonight that there is people in the earth who believe that You still live, that believe that You're just the same today as You was at the beginning. And I'm sure, Father, if You could stand in the midst of the world tonight, and they cried, “Oh, we great church of so-and-so,” You'd point Your finger as You did then, say, “It wasn't so from the beginning.”

We want the beginning. We want God's Word. We want it to live in our hearts and be real to our lives. Forgive us of our sins and our trespasses. O eternal God, let Thy Spirit dwell upon us tonight. And this message that's been preached, may it not fall upon stony ground, but may it fall into fertile ground, to hearts that'll receive it and will bring forth a hundred fold. Confirm Your Word, Lord, with signs and wonders. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

I do not mean to be a rude, hard cutting person. But I know what the world needs. I know what the Scripture says. I know that that's the truth. My hopes is built absolutely upon “thus saith the Lord.” What He says, I believe. Now, there's all different kinds of denomination of churches. I haven't got one ought against any. I love them all. They all belong to God. But what I'm trying to do is get this church to go back until they find that same Jesus, that same Jesus that once you started out with.

There isn't a person, there isn't a theologian in the world today, but what would have to say that the Christian church began on the day of Pentecost. Any Catholic priest would tell you that. Any Protestant preacher would tell you that. Even a Jewish rabbi would tell you the Christian church began at Pentecost. They was commissioned: not to leave Jerusalem until they was endued with power from on high. No man has the right to preach the Gospel until he's been filled with the Holy Ghost. Jesus wouldn't let the disciples preach the Gospel until first they received the Holy Ghost.

Now, that's what we're trying to get you to do, my brethren. Go back to where we left Him. Let me go with you. Let's take a trip back to where He was at the beginning. What did He do at the beginning? Now, there may be newcomers here. I want to say this “Go back.” Jesus said, “At the beginning.” That's where we want to start. And in the Christian church.... He formed and founded the Christian church. Do you believe that? Certainly, if you're a Christian you do. He founded the Christian church. The Spirit that was in Him, through His death, brought grace back to the people to sanctify a holy church to send it through the world, so that He might live in this church continually bringing His same message to the people. Anyone knows that, that knows the Scripture.

All right, let's see what He was at the beginning. When His ministry first started, He was baptized with the Holy Ghost. All know that. Saint John the first chapter. When Jesus was thirty years old He begin to ... go out to John. And John baptizing on Jordan. And he baptized Jesus in the Jordan. And Jesus went straightway out of the water, John beared record, seen the Spirit of God descending from heaven like a dove, lighting upon Him, and a voice saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

As soon as His ministry started, Andrew went and found Simon Peter. His name wasn't Peter yet, he was Simon. He came to the Lord Jesus. And as soon as Jesus saw him, He said, “Your name is Simon, and you're the son of Jonas.” And at that, he believed on the Lord Jesus, and Jesus made him a head of the church at Jerusalem.

Immediately after that, Nathanael seen what a great thing was being done, so he took off and found ... Philip, rather, and found Nathanael under a tree praying. Brought him back to Jesus, telling him what He had done to Peter and so forth. Then he said, “Now wait a minute, I don't believe that.” But when he got close to Jesus, Jesus said, “Behold there's an Israelite in whom there's no guile.”

He said, “Rabbi, when did you know me?”

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

He said, “Rabbi, you're the Son of God; you're the King of Israel.” He did that before the Jewish people. And as many as believed on Him received Him, and as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become sons of God.

The Samaritan is the next race. He appeared to the Samaritan people, a woman at the well. And He conversed with her for awhile. And He said to her, “Go get your husband and come here.”

She said, “I have no husband.”

He said, “You've got five; and the one you're living with is not your husband.”

Listen to that woman: She said, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. We know that when the Messiah cometh, who's called the Christ, when he comes, he will tell us all these things. But who are you?”

Jesus said, “I am he that speaks to you.”

And she ran into the city and said, “Come, see a man that's told me the things that I've done: isn't this the Messiah?” See, they were looking for a God prophet to come. And they knowed Him because He was a prophet. Now, that's the way He vindicated Himself to the Jews and to the Samaritans. And there's only three races of people in the world: Ham, Shem and Japheth, Japheth's people.

Now, He never did that before a Gentile. Not one time did, the Scripture quoting, ever do it to a Gentile. Why? It was left for another day. The unbelieving Jew stood there and said, “He's Beelzebub, the fortuneteller.”

Jesus said, “I will forgive you for that, but when the Holy Ghost is come, speak a word against that, will never be forgiven.” Now, that was for the Gentile age because we was going to have two thousand years of preaching before it was confirmed. And if God is infinite, if God made Himself known through Jesus Christ by performing that sign to let the people know, which He was the true Messiah, to Jew and to the Samaritan, He could never let the Gentile church be judged by an intellectual religion. The same sign will have to be done to the Gentiles.

Some time ago (Just before closing, I want to say this.) I went to India. When I went into Bombay, I picked up a paper, and I was reading there where the birds was returning back. A few days before that, all the little birds that had their nests in the crevice of the rocks.... They don't have fences like we have, wire fences; they have rock fences, where they pick them up on the field. All around the big buildings.... The little birds that had their nests in there, flew out into the field and sat down. All of the cattle and sheep that stood around the side of the fence, they got away from the fence; nobody didn't know what was the matter. Instead of standing around in the shade in the afternoon, they went out in the middle of the field and stood right in the sun, together. They couldn't understand what was the matter. A great earthquake come, shook all the buildings down. The rock buildings fell. If the little birds had been in there, they'd been killed. If the cattle had been standing under these fences, they'd've got killed. But the Holy Spirit that warned the cattle, the birds, to go into the ark to escape the judgment of God, the same Holy Spirit drove them cattle, those little birds out into the field.

Well, if God thinks enough of His cattle and His birds to send them to safety, how much more can He send the Holy Ghost in this last days, just before the great judgment is coming, to send you into Christ, for safety. The only place that you could be redeemed and resurrected, the only place there is salvation's in Christ. And the Holy Spirit is here tonight, trying to bring you and woo you out from the things of the world into Himself. How do we get into Christ? The Bible said in I Corinthians 12, “By one Spirit we are all baptized into one body.”

And we are right now seeing the very same thing that Jesus said would take place. His own Word spoke it, “As it was in the days of Lot, so will it be at the coming of the Son of man,” the same thing. Look at your country here, how it's perverted. Look at the newspapers. I seen an analysis, where homosexual is on the increase about twenty percent over last year, on the West Coast. The sins of Sodom. Look how everything's being perverted. The waters, the streams, everything's contaminated. The diseases, viruses, that the doctors know nothing about. We're at the end time. Flee to the rock. Flee to Christ, get into Him quickly, church. Don't notice my illiteracy, or not having an education. You listen to what I'm telling you by the Word of God. And God backs that Word up, to say it's true. Believe Him, and you shall be saved.

We're going to pray for the sick just in a moment. If I can find Billy again.... I'd forgot to ask him to give.... Give out prayer cards? C-1 to 100. He give out prayer cards, he said, C-1 to 100. Where did we start at the last time? 25? Where was it before that? 1, we started at 1. We started at 25? Let's start at 50 then tonight. All right, C-50, who has it? We just start anywhere. Just so that you.... You see, we just anywhere we can.... Doesn't make any difference. Some people, you give them a prayer card, if it isn't number 1, they'll throw it down. So we might not start at number 1. Just wherever the Holy Ghost lays upon our mind when we get here.

Who has prayer card C-50? Raise up your hand. All right here. All right, lady, right here. 51, 52, 53, 54, 55. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 56, 57, 58, 59, 60. If you can't walk, let us know. Somebody will pack you. 60, have I got it? 61, who has prayer card 61? Raise.... 61, 62—62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67. 67, I didn't see your hand, prayer card C-67. Look at somebody's prayer card; they may be deaf. 67. Do I see 67? 68, who has prayer card 68? Now, if you get your prayer card, you ought to use it, ma'am. Prayer card 68, 69, 70. Did he say 100? 68, 69, 70. Maybe they stepped out to the rest room, somewhere, but let's just give them a minute, because there's three in a row; that shouldn't be like that.

All right, want you look this way just a minute. How many doesn't have a prayer card, and yet you believe Jesus Christ will heal you? Let's see your hands. All everywhere now that doesn't have a prayer card. Amen. Have faith in God. Don't you doubt, but you believe. All things are possible to them that believe.

Oh, just think now, just in a moment. Think! In a moment, the words that I preached, God has to speak if they are truth; or if He doesn't, then I've misrepresented Him. And if I've misrepresented Him, His Word has misrepresented Him. Did not Jesus say in John 14, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also.” I said that to a man one time, he said, “Oh sure, we got great churches, denominations, that's the works that He didn't do.”

I said, “He said, 'The same works that I do, shall you do also. Greater than this shall you do.'” You show me the works that He did first, then show me the greater. In the original translation doesn't say greater; it says more. More than this because the Holy Spirit would cover the whole earth at that time, this time now. “More than this shall you do, for I go unto my Father.”

“Yet a little while and the world,” listen to this, “and the world sees me no more; yet ye shall see me.” Now, watch. World, cosmos, means “the world order.” “The world will see me no more.” Now, if you're of the world, loving the things of the world better than you love the Word of God and Christ, then you'll never see Him no more. Is that right? Yet you may be religious, might belong to a church. “The world will see me no more; yet ye shall see me,” that's the church, “for I (I is a personal pronoun; that right?) I will be with you even in you, to the end of the consummation”—the end of the world. The world's never come to an end yet, so Jesus is in His people. Jesus Christ, God's Son, by the Holy Spirit, is in the people working out. That's the life; the life that was in Jesus is in the church.

How many know that Jesus Himself, as a Son, did not do one miracle? Jesus said so. “The Son can do nothing in himself.” John 19:5. The Son, Jesus, the Son of God. “The Son can do nothing in himself but what he sees,” not hears, but “sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son likewise.” How many knows the Scripture, reads that? Sure. Then He saw by vision what the Father was doing, then He did just what the Father had told Him to do by a vision. See that?

Now, watch. The Father told Him one day, “Lazarus' going to die; I want You go away; it's going to be so many days.” Jesus, without warning of anything, obeyed the Father and went away. They sent to Him, said, “Lazarus is sick, come pray for him.” Jesus just went on. They sent again. He just kept going on. Finally, after the time was fulfilled that the Father had showed Him, He said, “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. For your sake I'm glad I wasn't there.” Because they had been trying to get Him to pray for him; He wouldn't've done it. He said, “Now for your sake I'm glad I wasn't there, but I go wake him. I go wake him.” Watch Him stand at the grave. He might have been small. But when He pulled that little figure together, straightened up after standing there crying like a man, when He straightened Himself up, He said, “Lazarus, come forth!” “If you say to this mountain, Be moved; and don't doubt in your heart....” Amen. Amen. Can you see Him shining in His church? “Lazarus, come forth!” And here he come, wrapped in grave clothes. He never said anything about getting weak about that; look what a miracle that was.

But a little woman touched the border of His garment, Over in another land. But she believed Him. No doubt. She had a blood issue and she had probably sold all the implements off the farm and everything. And maybe her husband was gone, or the doctors could not help her any, and she had lost all that blood. She'd had it for a number of years. And she said within herself, “I'm just a little insignificant woman, but if I can touch His garment, I will be made whole.” Because the garment that holds over that man that was meek as He could be, yet could stand like the wrath of Jehovah and beat them, look upon them with anger and kick them out of the building, plait ropes together. He was both God and man. God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. That's the reason He said, “It's not me that doeth the works, it's my Father that dwelleth in me; he doeth the works; not me, but him. He's in me. And he that's in me will be in you, after I die to sanctify you, so that he can come into you.”

Now, are you...? Did them other two...? What was that? Forty, what was them numbers? 67, 68, and 69, have they come in yet? Huh? Well, okay. Now, watch this way. Does He live? If He lives, is He still the vine? Is He the High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of your infirmities? How many of you out there you say didn't have a prayer card? Raise up your hands now. All right. If you got a sickness, could you touch His garment tonight if He is the same yesterday, today, and forever? Does the Bible, the New Testament, the book of Hebrews, brethren, say that He's the High Priest right now, that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities? How many of you minister brothers knows that's true, just so [unclear words] congregation? See? See? How many of the congregation ever read that? Sure.

Well then, if He's the same.... Is He another High Priest or the same High Priest? Well, if He's the same High Priest, He'd act the same way then. Is that right? Now, what am I declaring to you? That He isn't dead. His body, His corporal body, has been resurrected; it did not decay in the grave. But God raised it up and set it on His throne. Do you believe that? His Spirit descended on the day of Pentecost and has been working in His church ever since. Well then, if He is the High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of your infirmities, if your faith will touch Him, won't He turn just like He did when He was touched by the garment that time, and tell you just what's wrong and what you had, and the way He did it then? He'd act the same way, wouldn't He?

Now, here's a woman. I don't know this woman. She's a little older than I am, but this is.... We're strangers, I suppose, to one another. We don't know each other. But here's a.... When you go home, you read this case right here now, (You'll find it in Saint John the fourth chapter): Jesus and a woman talking. Now, she's not that same woman, and I am not Jesus. But His Spirit is here. His Spirit. Then He sent gifts into His church. What is a gift? Is a way, a secret, that God gives a man to know how to relax himself, and just throw himself aside, and let the Holy Spirit move through him, see.

Now, if I don't know that woman, never saw her in my life, how would I know anything about her? I couldn't know her. But I'm sure that He who I'm speaking of, knows her. And He promised that the works that He did, I'd do also. And he can't fail. I can fail, but He can't. If I can just get myself surrendered to Him, then He will talk to the woman. Now, if she's sick, if she's needing help, financially, physically, whatever it is, I don't know. Whatever it is, Jesus has already appropriated that for her, How many knows that? But that might.... What if He was standing here, what if He was standing here with my suit on, that He gave me? What would He do? Would He say, “Now, come here, I will heal you”? He couldn't say that. He's already did it. He would only declare Himself to her that He was the Son of God and this was His promise. Is that right? That's what He does tonight through His church.

Now, if the woman with her hand up, both of us are past the middle age, knowing that we've got to meet God; now let her be the judge. If the Holy Spirit.... How many seen the picture of it? Let's see your hand. Oh, they got it back there; I think the boys has. They got it. Signed by the government. The only supernatural being was ever photographed in all the history of the world. That's right. They got it right here on picture now, hanging in Washington, D.C. in the Religious Hall of Art. The same pillar of fire that led the children of Israel. Because the same one, Jesus said, “I came from God, and I go to God. If I do not the works of my Father, then believe me not. But if I do the works, though you don't believe me, believe the works.” Now, do the same thing tonight. If this Spirit that I'm speaking about, the Holy Spirit that's on the born again church, if that Holy Spirit don't do the works of Jesus, then it's not of Jesus. But if It does the works of Jesus.... Now, the scientific world knows that It's the same looking object, the pillar of fire that followed the children of Israel. Now, if that was the life that was in Christ, and bore them kind of fruits, then if it's in the church, it'll bear the same kind of fruits. Is that right? That's the way it was at the beginning.

All right, may the Lord bless. Now, each one of you that hasn't prayer card, look this way and believe. Now, tomorrow night we're going to change this kind of a prayer line altogether, I believe. The next night we're going to change it all the way around again, see. And whatever.... If you have a prayer card and not called in the line, hold that prayer card; we're going to get to it. You just remember, hold it.

Now, I've made a statement from the Bible. I quoted the words of Jesus Christ, that He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now, first, here's a woman like it was at the well. We meet, know not one another. If the Holy Spirit can use me to tell her what her troubles is like He did the woman at the well, how many in here would accept it and believe that it's the truth, if both of us with our hands up, saying that we never met before.

Now, sister, I just going to say a word or two till I can ... like He did. He begin to carry a conversation with the woman until He found where her trouble was. And then He said.... He got to talking to her, said, “Bring me a drink.” You remember the story? “Bring me a drink.”

And she said, “Why, it's not customary for you Jews to ask Samaritans such. There's a segregation; we have no dealings with one another.”

He said, “But if you knew who you were talking to, you'd ask me for a drink.” And then she said.... He said, “Go get your husband.”

And she said, “I have none.”

He said, “You have five; and the one you have now is not yours, so you said right.”

Now, she didn't call Him like the church of that day did. They said, “He's Beelzebub, the devil, a fortune-teller.” She said, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Now we're looking for a God-prophet to come, called the Messiah. When he comes, he will do those things. But who are you?”

Jesus said, “I am he.”

She left that water pot and took off as hard as she could, said (she wanted to spread the news), “Come, see a man, that told me these things: isn't that that prophet Moses spoke of, that the Lord our God should raise up? Isn't this the very Messiah?” Now, here we are at the end of the age again. Anyone with normal mind knows that we're at the end of the age; we are.

Our sister standing here now, if you can still hear my voice, she seems to be moving from me. I see her, she's suffering, she's got a growth on her body. And that growth is on the left breast. That's “thus saith the Lord.” That is true. You believe now? Let her be the judge. You say, “Brother Branham, you might have guessed that.” No, I never. I've never seen the woman. Let her stand there a minute. You're a fine person. Your spirit's just royal; you know it's a welcome; you're filled with the Holy Ghost. You're not from here. [Sister says, “I've been forty—or thirty-eight years.”] Thirty-eight years with the Holy Ghost. You don't come from the city though. You're from Fresno. That's right. Miss Baucher, you go back home, you're healed, Jesus Christ made you well. Amen. God bless you, sister. Go on your road. Do you believe?

How do you do? We're strangers to each other. The Lord knows us both, doesn't He? If the Lord Jesus will tell me your troubles, then you'll believe Him, with all your heart? You're not here for yourself. You're here for someone else. And you also come from Fresno. That's right. And you're standing for your friend that's got mental troubles, that you're praying for. Isn't that right? Do you believe now you're going to find him different? Go and find him that way, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have faith in God.

How do you do? We're strangers to each other, but the Lord Jesus knows us both. Do you believe He can reveal your trouble? That would let you know that He loves you. You're a Christian, a believer, and from San Jose. That's right. And you're standing for somebody else. That's your husband in a mental hospital. That's right. Take that handkerchief to him, don't believe.... Pray that God will send him home to get well. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Have faith in God.

Are we strangers to each other, lady? We are. Just a moment. An evil something struck by this woman, it wasn't on her. It's a dark spirit. That's not what's wrong with her. Now, somebody in the audience, just a minute, here it is. Young lady sitting here having epileptic spells. That's true, is it, lady? Raise up your hand if that's true. All right, go home and believe, and it'll leave you. What did she touch? What did that poor girl touch? The High Priest.

That isn't what's wrong with the woman. The woman's suffering from a nervous condition. That is right, isn't it, lady? This lady here. She's also got a bladder trouble that bothers her. That's true too, isn't it? And you also got a growth that's under your left arm. That's right, isn't it? Go home and be well. Jesus Christ will heal you if you'll just believe with all that's in you.

Do you believe, sister? With all that's in you? I do not know you. Never seen you in my life. We're perfectly strangers. There was an older person appeared here then, a vision. Let's see just a moment. The Lord God of heaven knows the secret of every heart. The Bible said, “The Spirit of God, and the Word of God, is sharper than a two-edged sword, discerning the thoughts of the mind.” Oh, it's your mother that you're praying for. That's right. It's your mother. And she's not here. She's not even in this country. She's in a country that's real cold, Michigan. That's right. She has multiple sclerosis. That's right. Send her that handkerchief. While the Spirit of God is on you, take it and send it to her, and believe with all your heart and she will come out of it if you believe. God bless you, lady. You believe with all your heart?

If God doesn't help, you must die; you know that. Cancer. Now, just a moment, that hideous thing. Now, there's another demon like that in here screaming out. A woman shadowed with a dark shadow, but that spirit of cancer is screaming to something else for help. It's another cancer, laying on that cot. He thought he'd get by with that, but he didn't. Rise up, sister. Have faith in God. Go home, be well. You too, sister. Jesus Christ make you well. Let's praise God for His goodness. Hallelujah! What did she touch? The High Priest.

You believe, sir? With all your heart? If I didn't say nothing to you, you'd still believe you was healed, wouldn't you? Go home, eat your supper; that stomach trouble's left you. And you can go home, be well.

You got a nervous heart. You believe He healed you? Go on your road rejoicing, saying, “Thank You, Lord Jesus.” And be made well.

Come, sister. It's a blood condition, anemic. You believe He will heal you? Go on your road rejoicing, say, “Thank You, Lord Jesus, for healing me.”

When I spoke cancer awhile ago, a funny feeling come over you. It left you. Just go ahead, go on believe now. In the name of the Lord Jesus.

Diabetes. But believe with all your heart, it'll leave you. Go believe it now. Don't doubt.

Nervous, lady's trouble. Also got a heart trouble that's bothering you. You believe? Go believe in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Have faith. Do you believe it? What about you out there with no prayer card? Do you believe God? Have faith in God. Touch His garment. What did that poor little dying woman touch there?

Here sits a man sitting way back here looking at me. Got something wrong with his leg, and sinus trouble, sitting right there on the end of the seat. You believe, sir? All right. With a white shirt on. Stand up on your feet and receive your healing. Jesus Christ makes you whole. You believe?

Here sits a little Mexican woman sitting, looking at me, right here now. You believe, sister? With all your heart? Right here? Throat trouble. Have faith in God. Rise up and be well.

Do you believe with all your heart? What about you, lady? We're strangers to one another. God knows us both, doesn't He? You're suffering with a nervous condition, real nervous. Let me say something too. You're Catholic by faith. That's right. That don't have nothing to do with it. You come here to believe that you was going to get well. God's going to honor.... You believe me to be His prophet, His servant? You do. All right. You come with somebody else. That's her sitting right down there. She's got a rash all over her. That's right. She's Catholic also. There's three of you together. The other lady's sitting right next to her. She has something wrong with her foot. She's Catholic too. That's right. Do you believe me to be God's prophet? I tell you something: You've got a husband that's sick too, the lady on this end. He has heart trouble, doesn't he? If that's right, raise up your hand. God bless you. Go home. You're all three well. Go home and believe the Lord Jesus.

Have faith in God. Do you believe Him? With all your heart? Then let me show you the glory of God. Lay your hands on one another right now while the whole building's filled with the power of God. Lay your hands on one another. Didn't the great Holy Christ say this? The One who knows the secret of the heart? “These signs shall follow them that believe.” God bless you, sister. “These signs shall follow them that believe; If they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover.” Pray for the people sitting next to you.

Lord Jesus, we come with the name of the Lord Jesus, presenting it to God our Father, praying that You'll heal the sick and the afflicted. Let it be, tonight, Lord, that every sick person that's standing in Divine presence may go from this building tonight perfectly normal and well. They have their hands laid on one another, while they've stood here and seen the power of the resurrection of Christ to make well the people. Let it be so, Lord, that they will believe from this hour on. In Jesus' name.

And while you have your heads bowed just a moment, would there be in the church tonight, in this building, someone who doesn't know Christ as their Saviour, would like to walk up here forward just now to confess Him in the presence of the Holy Ghost, to take Him as your personal Saviour? Would you come while we keep our heads bowed and sing the verse of this song? Will you do it? “Almost Persuaded.” While we sing that, would you walk up here, take Him as your personal Saviour, right here tonight? You'll.... This will be a thanksgiving you'll always remember. You'll have something to be thankful for. Will you come while we sing now?

“Almost persuaded” now to believe;

“Almost persuaded” Christ to receive;

Seems now.... (Won't you rise up and come up

here just a moment?)

Go, Spirit ... (Could you turn the Spirit of God

away, who's talking to your hearts right now?

Now, don't say He isn't, because I know He is.)

“Convenient day, on Thee I'll call.”

With your head bowed now, listen. Christ, the Son of God, His Holy Spirit.... In the Bible, when He was here, the Holy Ghost dwelling in the fullness of His power, in the Son of God, done these very same things that you see do tonight ... are being done, rather. He did these things, promised that in the last days, just before His coming again, that the church would rise in this same power and would do the same things. Every Bible reader knows that Jesus Christ promised that.

Now, He's not concerned on what church you belong to. He isn't concerned to what denomination you go to. He's concerned about you as an individual. Have you received Him as your personal Saviour and been filled with His Spirit? If you haven't, then you should come. If you have, then no matter what church you belong to, you're still His. But that you accept.... Jesus said these words, “Except a man be born again, he will in nowise enter into the kingdom.”

Now, I leave it with you. Here He is. I'm willing to pray. He's present here. The whole building's charged with His presence. The same kind of a service that taken place in the Bible is taking place here before your eyes tonight. The same Jesus, the same actions, the same fruits of the Spirit, everything, the same signs, the same wonders, the same miracles, the same Spirit and a picture of it, here before us. And it's proving among us. I'm looking straight at it now. Here it is. Will you receive Him as your Saviour. If you will, come forward when I sing, just one more time now, “'Almost persuaded' harvest is past, 'Almost persuaded' doom comes at last.” Will you sing it with me, and let every person that doesn't ... is not sure of your salvation, come now.

“Almost persuaded,” (Won't you come?

Time is fleeting.).... is past!

“Almost persuaded,” doom comes at last!

“Almost” cannot avail; “Almost” is but to fail!

Sad, sad, that bitter wail, “Almost—but lost!”

Now, with your heads bowed, I'd like to ask you this question: Is there some in the building here tonight, that would like to be remembered in prayer, just didn't even have the courage to come up. And that last word.... Here comes two men, leading an old woman, coming to receive Christ as their Saviour. Some of the workers come forward. If you, in this building, want to be remembered and it won't be lost almost, but will have another chance, raise your hand. Say, “I ought to have come myself.” Would you raise your hands? I want to see if there's any sinners among us. Be that much.... Witness with your hands up, that you ought to have come. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. I knew it couldn't be wrong when the Holy Spirit told me to make that call. I knew that He couldn't be wrong. I knew. Is there others that would raise their hand, say, “Pray for me, Brother Branham, while you're praying for this dear woman.” God bless you, lady. God bless you, sir. God bless you, lady, see. God bless you, sir. God bless you. And God bless you. God bless you. That's right. The Lord bless you, and you. And back there, the Lord bless you. All right. Let us bow our heads while we're praying for her.

Lord Jesus, let the Holy Spirit now come to this poor dear person standing here. May she receive that what she's asking for. When we were making calls for the sinner, she ... oh, she had someone to lead her up. May she receive the blessing that she's asked for.

Remember, Father, those out there in the audience, that raised their hands. They know that they should have come. Give them another chance, Lord. I pray that, not to be evil, but that they won't have any rest tonight, or tomorrow night or any night until they finally surrender to You. That seems horrible to pray that way, Father, but Elijah prayed that there would not even be any rain fall on the earth until the nation repented, and for three years and six months it rained not. Now, Father, I pray that these people who know they should receive You, that You'll.... You've spoke to their hearts, but the enemy is trying to hold them back. Lord, make it miserable for them, till they finally repent. Grant it, Lord. May they not be lost, but some glorious hour, maybe in the next hour, before they leave this world, may they have that golden opportunity again, to receive Christ, their Saviour. Grant it, Lord.

Forgive us of our sins. Bless us. We're thankful that we believe in our hearts, that You've healed every person. To see this stretcher-bound woman, a few minutes ago, laying here, dying, now she's up, giving praise to You. From death unto life, You have brought her. Others in the building. When you said to Your great church, “These signs shall follow them that believe; If they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover.” These believers laid their hands on each other and have prayed. Certainly they shall recover.

Thanking you for all that You have done. Praying that You'll be with us and bless us, in the further part of the service. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Lord bless you now. Let's stand to our feet while we sing, “I love Him, I love Him because He first loved Me.” All together now. You in the room, you standing there for the prayer line, go back home, claim your healing. You're well. Go back home and say, “Thank you, Lord Jesus, for my healing.” All right. All right. Everybody feel real good in your soul, raise your hands and say, “Praise the Lord.” All right. All together now.

I love Him, (Let's raise our

hands to Him) I love Him

Because He first loved me....

God bless you.