Show Us The Father

Thank you, brother, the Lord bless you. Good evening, friends. I deem this a great privilege to be here this afternoon in the service of the Lord God. And these three days have meant much to me, to come around, meeting old friends and finding new ones. That's the way that life moves on for us, is just meeting new ones and enjoying the friendship of old friends. And then, down through Grande Prairie and also up here, I have found a real reverence amongst the people, and an anticipation for a revival. That's what you need is a real spiritual revival, pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the people.

And then I got to meet some of my old friends. Chris Berg, he's here somewhere, or usually is, and I was expecting to meet Milo . . . yes, Brother Durney, glad to see you sitting in here. Very fine. Mr. Durney was my guide the last time when we went on hunting. My friends here remember, many times I was talking of it. I hear you had a little siege of sickness since then. Well, the Lord that I was talking about there is still the same God, the great healer. How's Della? Doing all right? That's fine. Mr. Durney was really a little piece of iron, I tell you, when. . . . He was about seventy years old, I suppose, when I was up here and he was really . . . I was surprised to see the real strength in that man at that age. Anywhere Chris and I could go, he was right there ahead of us.

And a man cannot live out in a place like that without knowing God. So I couldn't stand and look up in the mountains without seeing the face of God somewhere. And I've often prayed for my friend Chris, Mr. Durney, and them. Some day when life is all finished, along the game trails up there in the never-ending forest, I hope to meet you brethren up there, renew our friendship. You'll find me along some of the game trails up there. I'll be looking around. I'll meet all you, my hunter friends and trapper friends, up there some day. Until then we want to stay in the harness for our Lord.

I was on my road going . . . had a little vacation coming, which, it's been six months in the field and it sure has worn me out. And I thought I'd take a little vacation and come up north here and see if I could catch one of those grayling you brethren were talking about, and maybe see a bear along the road. So I rode up, and they got the arrangements made with your pastor. The Lord willing this afternoon, or early in the morning, one, we're going off for a few days of rest out in the wilderness, try to return again into the field of the Lord.

I thought it wouldn't be nice, even though being tired and weary from six months straight in the fields. . . . And my work is international, as you know, worldwide. And I thought it would be fine if I'd come by and visit my friends here in Dawson Creek and Grande Prairie. And I want to thank the Lord for what great fellowship we've had together, with the pastors and the men of like precious faith, in one accord and all loving the Lord, and many of you people.

Billy was telling me, when I come in, that they give him a love offering this afternoon. I believe that was right. I certainly didn't want you to do that, my brother, sister. I come just to visit with you. And I appreciate it, though. One time . . . I was thinking the other day, they gave me one (some of you Grande Prairie people are here). I didn't even know it was done until Mr. Sothmann told me on the road home, and I didn't even have a chance to thank the precious people. Well, to the best of my knowledge, to the kingdom of God it'll go, for the best that I know how. Thank you very kindly. And I believe it's written in the Bible, Jesus said, “Inasmuch as you have done unto the least of these my little ones, you have done it unto me.” I'm that one, the least.

I'm fifty two years old, been preaching thirty years, never took an offering in my life. Never took a penny in my life, take up an offering. I always worked, made my living, and once I come this way, why, I never. . . . Just go into the cities, and they pay the expenses of the meeting. I mean the big auditoriums, where you have to get thousand, two, dollars a night. Why, they just take care of it and I don't have to have it. Always when He gives me anything, why, there's always a place to put it, so you know what I mean by it. I like to live by faith. That's what we're supposed to do, live by faith.

I see two handkerchiefs laying here on the platform, or the pulpit, to be prayed over. Now, that is not a superstition; that's a scripture. That's the Bible. Many of you maybe would want a prayer cloth. That's one of the greatest ministries I have now. Here some time ago I was amazed . . . a lady in Germany. I send thousands of those around the world. And a lady in Germany had had arthritis for about twenty or twenty-five years. And I missed catching her in Germany, we had so many—just thousands time thousands poured from everywhere, up in Czechoslovakia and everywhere. So, overseas it's not like it is here. The cities or the country's small, and many people, and a meeting like that just attracts them everywhere.

And so there was a little German woman. She got the instructions on the little prayer cloth, and it says on there to call in your friends, or your pastor, if you can; if not, one of the neighbors. Confess all your wrongs, and ask God to heal you, and place it on you, and then believe. And the little German woman, it was amazing. She put it on her underneath garment like it was instructed. She had the neighbors come in and pray. She confessed all of her wrongs, and when she got it on there she put her hand over her heart. She said, “Now, old man devil, you get out of me,” and right up she got, and went walking across the floor, after being in that wheel chair for twenty some odd years.

It's just that simple. You know there's many times that we try to reach out for something, for a certain kind of a faith, and you don't have to have some kind of a super faith to be healed. The only thing you have to have is just take the faith that you've got.

You know in the Bible the blood was applied to the doors by hyssop. Our clergy brothers know that. Hyssop is just common weeds. And what it is, the people today are trying to reach to find an orchid to apply the blood with, and it's not even applied by an orchid. It's applied by hyssop. Common, just every-day faith, just like . . .

you don't have to have any super faith. How did you come here? How do you know you're going to leave? How can you drive your car? How do you know you can move your hand? Well, you just subconsciously do it, because you believe you can do it. Now that's the way you believe for your healing. It's just settled, and that's just all.

It doesn't take some high education, some super-duper something. It just takes common faith in God. Just believe it, like you would if your mother said she would get something for you. Just believe it like that. They took the blood. . . . Hyssop, usually they find it growing in the cracks of the walls in Egypt and Palestine. They had adobe walls and the hyssop would go up it. It's a little three cornered leaf and they just pull it off like that, dip it in the blood, apply it to the door. Well, the blood, of course, being applied, we apply it by faith. And faith is common, just like hyssop, just common weeds. Just believe it and it's all over.

Now, if any of you would desire to have a little prayer cloth and you do not have it up here, if you'll just write to me, any time, I'll be glad to send it to you. Just William Branham, Jeffersonville, Indiana, and it'll come to me. And if you want one just to keep in your Bible, on Acts 19, in case of something happens, well, just send. There's no charges to nothing. We don't charge for anything. Everything's free, so just send and get it. We'll be happy to send it to you, most happy. And it's a little cloth that I have prayed over and asked God to heal you and to help you.

Oh, I could spend the afternoon just telling outstanding things that He has did through that, mighty things. But we know that people has to have their building here tonight, and we don't want to keep you too long. And it's kind of a little tight in the building, and you're pretty well packed in.

And so now we want to also thank our ministering brethren with all of our heart, to all you laity and to your fine cooperation, and I want to thank the city, the policemen and so forth.

I'll have to say this on my southern friend here, Mr. Evans. I ought to have him come up and speak a little bit so you could hear how Southerners really talk. You think that I say it bad. He come into a filling station, he said, “Could you tell me where there's a motel?”

That Englishman looked at him real strange. He said, “Yes, I've got some old tires over here.” Old tires.

He went out and said, “I want some ice cream.”

The man said, “Sure,” reached over and got him a box of aspirin and give it to him. So we are very grateful.

He said. . . .

The other day I was standing in the sportsmen's shop over here, a very fine gentleman talking to him, and we were looking at their trophies. I was trying to tell Brother Evans how much bigger those moose was than his rabbits down in Georgia. So we were looking at the big trophies hanging there, and so he said, “Somebody's getting a ticket.”

So it was Mr. Evans, so he run out, said, “Wait just a minute, brother.”

He said, “Never mind, never mind,” said, “I'm just giving you a ticket, 'Welcome back to Dawson,' a courtesy ticket.”

And he come in. With his southern talk, he said, “Brother Branham,” he said, “I sho' wish I could take one of those down to Georgia for seed. They're not quite that friendly when you cross the line down here.”

So you have a wonderful country here, a wonderful people. And got one of the most soundest countries, and if the Lord Jesus tarries, in fifty years from now this nation will lead the world. You have got natural resources, your hills are full of gold and silver; you got iron, minerals, potash, calcium, all kinds of natural resources, wood. But you haven't got many people. New York City has 296,000 more people, in the state of New York, than there is in all the Dominion of Canada, see. All the full Dominion of Canada, 296,000 more people. So you got plenty of space. And Canada is one and a third or two-thirds bigger than the United States. You've got the natural resource, but you just haven't got the people, so thank the Lord for that.

See, you still . . . if I'm selling wheat and swapping it to you for rice, but when I run out of wheat, what are we going to do? Our states has run out of natural resources. You've got it. So God bless you with it. Got a good sound government, and your banks are all owned by the government so there's no Wall Street clash here. And your little children has got a great opportunity. You got much to offer them, more than we could in any other place in the world as I know of.

My friends, I'm not here to tell you that. You know that. But I'm here to tell you something you can offer your children anywhere—that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the main thing, because one of these days as great as this little nation is, she'll fall just as certain as anything. She's got to, to give way to eternity. But give your children Christ. He is the hope, the only solid hope that we have.

God ever be with you now, as we bow our heads just a moment before approaching the Word.

I believe the Word with all my heart. I believe it's God's Word. So let's approach the author before we ask his blessings upon us.

Almighty and gracious God, who brought from the dead on the third day the Lord Jesus, thy Son, which has freely by his grace forgiven our sins and healed our sickness, to Him we give glory forever and ever. We are happy to be a visitor today among these precious Canadian people. We do not feel that we are strangers, but we are fellow citizens with them in the great economy of God. We thank Thee for this, that together we will stand as a united front for the kingdom of God, teaching all men and all nations to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou hast commissioned us to go into all the world and disciple all nations. And as citizens together today we join our faith and our hopes and our prayers for the people that's here.

And by the gathering today, if there be some here, Lord, who does not know You as their Saviour, may this be the day that they will make that all-sufficient decision, that “Jesus is my Saviour from today on.”

If there are those here, Lord, who are sick and afflicted, may your presence be so strong and so predominant over unbelief that every person in here will be healed. Grant it, Lord. May there not be one feeble person in our midst at the close of this service.

Heavenly Father, as we separate this afternoon from the service to go to our different homes, I don't know, this may be our last gathering time this side of eternity. And if it be so, Lord, if it's so to be that way that we will not assemble again together, no doubt if I should return, if I would live and return a year from today, many will be missing. Then, Father, what type of a person should we be? How should we approach the people, knowing maybe this is our last meeting time? With the deepest of sincerity, with all of our hearts, and our conscience sprinkled with the blood of the Lord Jesus, may we approach his Word in faith and reverence.

Then may something be done this afternoon that'll cause the children of God to grow closer to You.

And I know sitting here today, Father, in this building there are . . . many of these are what we would call frontiersmen. They are settlers, or children of the settlers. They have worked over the soil. And coming up along the trail the other day, look out there and see papa and mama and little bare-footed children, pulling the old snags out of the swamps, piling them together, trying to get some seed in the ground so they can have food to eat the coming year. My heart burned. I thought, “O God, give to them a home eternal where there won't be any snags to clear away, where they'll not plant and another eat thereof, but they'll live forever in their eternal home, their little ones to be with them. Grant it, Lord.”

Many are sitting here who knows what it means to go down a game trail, up through the forest, see the sunrise and the sunset, know that in the times of trouble that some mysterious catch that God helped them, and in tight places. I love them, Father. They are my brethren. As I expressed to my good friends sitting here today, I hope I meet them all some day, along some great game trail in glory. May we meet with all those who we love, and have fellowshipped together with here on earth. And if any be not ready for that, may they be prepared today. Get in the Word, Father, and plant the seed into our hearts that we might have eternal life, for we ask it in the name of thy beloved Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I almost just have to start on the Scriptures because you're such a nice people. And I don't say that just to be nice. I say it from my heart. If I said it any other way, I'd be a hypocrite. And I'd rather meet God an infidel than a hypocrite. I want to read a scripture for you, because I believe that what I would say might fail because I'm a man, but what He says will never fail. “Heavens and earth will pass away but my words shall not fail.” And the only way that we can approach God with assurance is coming by his Word, for He promised to honor it. In St. John 14:8,9

Philip said unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

And Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long with you . . . knowest not me, Philip?

I'd draw for a context from there, “Show us the Father.” That's the cry of the human heart, has always been. Since we know that there is a God, every mortal has tried to look past the curtain of time to find out if they could see where they come from, what's their business here, and where will they be after they leave here.

Now, we know we come from somewhere and we're here for some cause, and we're going somewhere. And there's not . . . of all the literature in the world there's only one book who can tell you where you come from, who you are, and where you're going and that's this Bible. So we approach Him this afternoon.

Even the oldest book in the Bible, Job, when he was broke out with boils, looked like everything had gone against him, and his Christian, or his religious, friends said, “Job, you've done evil.” Many people want to say because somebody's sick that they did evil. That's not the truth. Job was a perfect man. God said so. But sometimes God lets affliction hit his people to test them for their faith. He was testing a saint, not rebuking a sinner. And God does that to test.

Jesus said, the Scripture says, “Every son that cometh to God must be tried.” Tested, child-trained, and then they're proven to be right children of God.

And now in Job's case when all his riches was taken from him, and all of his children was taken, all of his friends turned their back upon him. . . . Sat seven days accusing him of being a secret sinner, yet Job knew he was not a sinner, because he stood firm on what God had promised. God required the burnt offering, and Job had offered it for he and his children; and he knowed he was justified, because he had offered God's appropriate offering.

How we could draw from that today. When we know that we come in the presence of God with faith, believing, there's nothing going to change that. God said so and that settles it.

Then when he got so in his distress, and sat on the ash heap scraping his boils, his body was broke out in boils, and his wife said, “Job, why don't you curse God and die?”

Now, he never called her a foolish woman. He said, “You speak like one.” He said, “Thou speakest like a foolish woman. The Lord gave and the Lord taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” He would not curse God. He knowed that he hadn't done. . . . He said, “I came into the world naked, and naked I shall return.”

Then when the Spirit came on the prophet and he begin to see the Just One coming, he was trying to find a place where he could go and knock at his door and say, “I would like to talk to you a minute. I've got some problems I'd like to talk over. Why am I sick? Why am I suffering like this? If I could only find his door where I can knock on his door, I would like to explain it to Him.”

Then finally God spoke to him in a whirlwind, said, “Gird up your loins like a man.” And God came down in a whirlwind said, “Job, where was you when I laid the foundation of the world? Tell me where the axles is hooked on to. When the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy, where were you, Job, if you've got so much wisdom?”

Then the Spirit came on the prophet and he saw. He said, “Oh, if I could only find somebody, some man that I could go to that had understanding, someone that I could confide in, and say, 'You are God's representative,' some man that could put his hand on a sinner and on a holy God and bridge the gap.” That's the one we're looking for—someone who can put a hand on a sinner and on a holy God and stand in the breach.

And then being two thousand years before the Just One came, he saw a vision; and he screamed out when he did because the thunders roared, the lightning flashed. And the prophet got in the Spirit, he saw a vision.

Then he raised up and said, “I know my redeemer liveth, and at the last days He'll stand upon the earth: though the skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, mine eyes shall behold, and not another. While we brought nothing into this world it's certain we take nothing out. The Lord gave and the Lord taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” He'd found that consolation. He'd found that something, that someone who could stand in the breach, and could make intercession between a sinful man and a holy God.

I'm so glad this afternoon, church—to you, my friends, that I've expressed of your hard labor and work, and your love and fears—I'm happy today that we have also found that One that can stand in the breach and make intercession for you and I who are unworthy.

I would like to speak of seeing Him and just show you how simple it is.

Many times we send our pupils away, our children, to schools for highly education. And not disregarding that, God forbid—that's all right. It takes a part, it plays a part, but not the main part. Many times we educate them away from God. We'll never know God through education. You cannot. We found that out now, that it takes a person. . . . Education is the worst enemy that the gospel has ever had. Now, just look that over and see that. Man just about thinks he can outsmart God. He cannot do it. His intellectuals is just a man. God is Spirit, infinite.

Now, we find . . . I want to speak on seeing God. “Show us the Father and it will satisfy us.” Jesus had spoke so much about his Father, and Philip was so desirous until. . . . He had just said to them, “Now don't let your hearts be troubled because I'm fixing to leave you. You've believed in God, believe also in me.” He talked about the Father's house and Philip broke out and said, “Show us the Father and it will suffice us.”

He said, “I have been so long with you, Philip, and you know me not? He that hath seen the Father . . . he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Then why sayest thou, Show us the Father?”

Now I'd like to ask this afternoon, would you like to see God? Would you like to really see this One that we're talking about? Could He be seen? We spoke on that the first night here. But I'm going to show four different ways that we can see God. Now I'm going to speak on four subjects right quick. God in his universe, God in his Word, God in his Son, God in his people. And maybe by that we'll be able to find what is God, where He is. Is He gone on? Was He something that once lived and now has passed away? No, sir. He said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Lo, I am with thee always, even to the end of the world. Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more, yet ye shall see me for I will be with you, even in you to the end of the world.”

Now, I'm going to speak first on God in his universe. Let's look around now and see if we can see Him. And if I can by the Scriptures prove that God Almighty is right here in this room this afternoon, surely it ought to settle the question of whether you'd believe Him or not. But by the Scriptures and by the evidence prove that He's right here now. You look over the top of Him all the time trying to find Him. You're jumping at something way out there when it's right here. The Bible says that God is closer to us than our arms, or members of our body, because He is part of us. He's our life.

Not long ago, speaking of God in his universe, I had an old man that went to my church by the name of James Wisehart. He was an old fisherman. I called him Uncle Jim. He was about . . . close to eighty years old. And he used to fish, up on the river. He would come over to the church. He was a Kentuckian, and the river's about one mile across. And, oh, the fine hours that old Uncle Jim and I have had on the river together, catching those catfish. Lay out on the banks all night together and talk of God, and hold one another's hands and cry like babies.

He's over on the other side this afternoon. I expect to see him some day when I cross over. The last word I heard him say to me, when I was coming to Canada, here a few years ago, he said, “One day, Billy boy, you'll return and Uncle Jim will be gone.” About two days after that he dropped suddenly and died in a heart attack, went home to meet God.

There was a certain church in our city that a little family went to this church. And the church was just more like a denomination that believed that . . . kind of taught God to be a historical something. And so there was a little boy in the Sunday school class that got enthused, and he said to his mammy, he said, “Mother, if God is so great, why can't I see Him?”

“Why,” the mother said, “Sonny, I don't know.”

Said, “Can't I see Him?”

She said, “I don't know. Why don't you ask your Sunday school teacher.”

And so the little boy, at the next Sunday school, said, “Teacher, I want to ask you something that my mama cannot answer.” Said, “Can anybody see God?”

“Why,” she said, “I don't know.” She said, “Ask the pastor.”

So the little boy, with his enthusiasm, went to the pastor, and said, “Pastor, I wish to ask you a question, that my mama or neither my Sunday school teacher can answer me.” Said, “This great God that you talk about, is He not the God of the human race?”

“Yes, sonny. Why?”

Said, “If He is God, then can anybody see Him? I'd like to see Him.”

“Oh,” he said, “Sonny, no. No one can see God. God is not to be seen.”

The little lad was disappointed. So he used to go up on the river with old Brother Wisehart to fish. One day coming down. . . . And Brother Wisehart, with his silvertip beard, was about seventy-five years old. And they'd had a lovely catch up on the river, and was coming down. There come up a storm that run them into the bank.

And they went to the bank and they rested till the storm was over—got under some trees, back under the big maples, and so forth, until the storm had passed. And then after the storm was over they pushed the boat out and started down the river, and the little waves. . . . And only an oarsman knows what it is to feel that music of the tipping of the oars against the waves, the little clatter of the waves. And the sun was setting in the west. And back in the east, from which they had come from (the little boy was sitting in the stern of the boat), and there was a rainbow come out across the sky—as God made a promise that the world would no more be destroyed with water.

And the old fisherman, as he begin pulling these oars, kept watching that rainbow.

And after awhile they noticed great big, glistening white tears running down his cheeks, over his grey-tipped beard. And the little boy watched the old man for just a few moments. He got so enthused he ran up into the center of the boat, fell down by the old fisherman's lap, and he said, “Sir, I'm going to ask you something that my mother or Sunday school teacher or pastor can't answer.” He said, “Can anybody see God?”

The old fisherman, overcome by the question of the little lad, pulled his oars into the boat, throwed his arms around the little lad, and held him into his bosom, weeping. He said, “God bless your little heart, Honey, all I've seen for the past fifty years has been God.” He had so much God on the inside of him he could see Him everywhere. That's the way you see God—get God inside of you. If you got skeptic and wonders and flusterations and doubt, you'll never see God. You've got to let God come into you, then He'll open your eyes.

Now, for instance, I noticed coming up the other day that all of our ducks from down in Indiana come up here to visit you people in Canada. They're a sociable sort of a creature. And they come up here for one reason—to make the nest. They'll be back down in Indiana again, down in Texas, and Georgia. They come down to winter with us. They come up here in springtime to visit you-all. And then when they (I know that's an awful word, you-all, but you remember, I'm a rebel) . . . so when they come up here, they go out in the slime here in your little ponds and on your lakes, and they make their little nests. They hatch their little baby ducklings, and they swim around on this lake, until after awhile there comes a snow, comes over the top of the mountains.

And along about September, when that first cold breeze sweeps down across these prairies here. . . . Now, remember, them little ducks has never been off that pond. They were born right there. And they're good-sized ducks now, mature. And there's one among them that was born a leader. God made him a leader. And the first time that breeze blows, he's never felt that before but he knows there's something wrong. What does he do? He runs right out in the middle of that pond with them little paddles, sticks that little honker up in the air, and “Honk honk, honk honk.” And every duck on the pond come right to him. What will he do? Raise right up off of that pond with every duck there, and go just as straight to Louisiana as he can go.

How does he know to go? Why?

We say instinct, instinct leads him. Well, if instinct can lead a duck from a frozen country to safety, how much more ought the Holy Spirit lead the church of the living God? The trouble of it is that we don't recognize. We listen to our leaders that . . . man-made leaders instead of a God-given leader, which is the Holy Spirit. We listen to bishops and arch-bishops and cardinals and priests, when we ought to be listening to the Holy Spirit, for that was what was given to lead the church.

Billy Junior, somewhere here, he and I just came into India a few years ago. And I picked up a English newspaper—which is a bilingual country. It said, “I suppose the earthquakes are over because the birds are flying back.” I read the article in detail. About two days before the earthquake struck. . . .

In India they're not as well off as you are in Canada. They have to pick up the rocks on the fields to make their houses, and make their fences, and so forth. And little birds go in there and build their nests in these crevices. And then on the fences, the sheep come in of an afternoon, the cattle, and stand in the shadow where the sun. . . . Them direct rays of that tropical sun strikes them, and it's awfully hot. So they'd always come in in the afternoon and stand in the shadows of the walls, the big high walls. And the little birds would make their nests, and live in these coves back in the rocks.

But one day, suddenly all the little birds, for some unknown reason, flew away from the walls, and the cattle and sheep did not come in to stand around the walls. They knew something was going to happen. What happened? The second day they never come in. And you know how they got shade? They leaned against one another and made shade for one another. I think the church ought to learn that. You Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, and Presbyterians, don't you know, brethren, that we ought to be leaning against one another, leaning on one another to make shade for one another? Trying to help one another? Not trying to condemn each other; but trying to make a little shade, a little gospel shade to stand in—for it's a weary time that we're living.

All of a sudden about daybreak the next morning there come an earthquake, one after the other, till it shook those walls down. If the sheep had been standing around the walls, they would have perished. The cattle also. The little birds would have been in their homes and in the walls, they would have perished. But what is it? The same God that run the sheep and the cattle and the birds into the ark proves that He's still the same God in 1960. Warned his animals to flee from the wrath to come. He can also call his. . . . I've got the clipping of it out of the newspaper that after the last roar of the earthquake, the little birds returned and the cattle returned. What is it?

God in his universe, God speaking to nature. Shows that He's the same God that was in Noah's time, is the same God today.

And if birds and animals can still be led by instinct, which is a God-given thing for them, how much more ought we by the Holy Spirit to flee the wrath that is to come? For we all know that our names are on a Russian hydrogen bomb somewhere. Why don't we flee the wrath? We know if we die in sin, hell would be our doom. And God—as He promised in the last days to send these same signs and wonders, that you see taking on now in the church, to be the warning signs of the last day—and we look at it and still remain in the old mud huts of the world, still stay in our unbelief. God in his universe.

I want to say this for my hunting partners. As most of you know, I'm a guide in Colorado. I ranched up there for years. And I used to remember times when we. . . . The Troublesome River Valley is . . . the Hereford Association grazes that valley. If you could raise a ton of hay you can put a cow on the forest—just this side of Estes Park in Arapaho Forest. But your ranch has to produce a ton of hay. And then of course you brand your cattle there. I believe you do down in Vernon, Brother Schultz, you still brand your cattle here. And that's to keep them from being mixed up.

And then they got a drift fence where the cattle comes down, so they won't drift back on private property. The ranger used to stand there. And when we'd bring the cattle up, after the early spring roundup, and bring them to put them on the pasture, we used to drive them up there. And many a time have I sat with my leg around the horn of the saddle, watch that ranger watching them as they go through.

Oh, there was all kind of brands. We had, I believe, we had one was called the tripod, and my neighbor was a turkey track. And the other one was Grimes, over on the other side which was the largest rancher on the valley. He had the diamond bar. There's many different brands. But you know, I noticed that ranger never paid much attention to those brands. But there was one thing he checked closely: that was the blood tag, because nothing could graze that pasture without it was a thoroughbred Hereford, because they were all registered, and he watched the blood tag. I've often thought that's the way it'll be at the day of the judgment. When we're standing there, He won't notice what brand we're wearing, but He'll look for the blood of his Son, to see if we've accepted that.

One year up there hunting, the snow hadn't come yet so the elk was high, and I was searching around up there for elk. And Mr. Jeffries, the boss of the ranch, he'd went back in another section, and I'd pick him up in a couple days. But we had done got our (what we call our dudes) our hunters out of the way, and so we were up high to get some trophies. And I was up high because the snow has to run those elk out. They're a wild creature. And I was walking along. And that time of year it'll snow, and then rain, and then the sun come out, and so forth. And there come a storm of rain, and I just got behind some trees, almost the timberline.

And while I was behind the tree, I was just standing there thinking, “O Lord, my God, I in awesome wonder, how in the stars in the skies, in the great universe, You are God.” The rain ceased. Way back over in the west the sun came out through the crevice of the mountain, looked like God's great eye looking. And because of the rain and ice hanging on the evergreens there come a rainbow across the canyon. And I looked up there, and I said, “O God, it's so good to be up here. There You are in the rainbow.” Just then a coyote howled up on the hill, and the mate answered it at the bottom. And how I love nature, the universe of God! I could hear God in the howl of the wolf, and I heard the big old male elk bugle, lost in the storm from the rest of the herd. And there standing there with my hands up in the air, weeping, because I could see God in the sunset, I could see Him in the rainbow, I could hear Him in the cry of the wolf for his mate, I could hear Him in the bugle of the elk for his herd. God is in his universe, brethren. Certainly is.

“Oh,” I thought, “how can people not look at that?” I thought, “It's good to be here, like Peter said, 'Let's build three tabernacles.' ” But down at the bottom of the mountain I thought, “Lord, why will I have to. . . ? I was born for this. I was born for the mountains. I love this, and why should I ever have to go down?” But, of course, there's sick children at the bottom of the mountain, the papa and mama that don't know God. I must leave the place and go down.

While I was standing there . . . well, to you Presbyterians I guess I got emotional. To you Pentecostals, I was shouting. I got so happy until I began to throw up my hands, and I began to run around and around that tree, screaming to the top of my voice, praising God. Why? I saw Him in his universe. Sure. And I was just screaming. . . . If somebody would've come in the woods, they'd've thought they had an insane man in the woods. But I was about thirty-five miles from civilization. I was running. I didn't care, I didn't want anybody to hear me. I was praising my God, who I could see in his universe, hear Him in his animals, see Him in his sunset, watch Him in his rainbow. Among everything, here's God.

He's closer than your right arm. You just fail to see Him. How can a flower grow without God? All the science in the world cannot make one blade of that fern. They can make something look like it, but they can't make that, because it's got life in it. God is the only life there is. Who can look in the face of a lily and say there's no God, and still claim to be sane? He could not have his right mind. Of all of our science, we could never build a lily. Make me a tree, somebody. You can't do it. Make me a blade of grass. You can't do it. That's God. God in his flowers, God in his sun, God in his universe, God in his animals, God in his creation. Something about it.

I remember one time Daddy and I were plowing. We was plowing corn. And I was just a little boy, and my horses begin to snort, so. . . . Back in Indiana on the farm. And I said, “What's the matter?” They were looking up. I said, “Perhaps an animal is coming.”

Oh, I see my old dad, he was about then about thirty years old, I suppose, maybe thirty-five. He stopped. He said, “Billy, my son, I want to tell you something.” He said, “Those horses do not see any-thing.” Said, “But you know what's fixing to happen?”

I said, “No, Dad.”

He said, “There's coming a storm.”

“Well,” I said, “my father, I do not see any cloud at all, neither do I hear a thunder or see lightning.”

He said, “You don't have to. You can't see it yet; they can.”

I said, “I do not understand it. You mean his sight is better than mine.”

He said, “Not necessarily, but you see, Billy, the almighty God has put in nature a way to preserve itself and keep itself.” Said, “That horse can smell or sense that storm,” and said, “God gives them that so they can get to safety.”

I stood there a little bit. My father was not a Christian at that time. So I thought, “Surely if God can give a horse a sense to get to safety when trouble's coming, how much more can He give to his children?”

He's in his universe. Plowed about two more rounds and I heard the thunder, the cloud was on us in about another half hour. They could sense it.

And to continue about on the mountain. As I stood there, I was going around and around this tree, just rejoicing with all my heart. You know, when I feel religious—I do right now—I kind of get emotional. I guess you might call it fanaticism, but somebody said, “Billy, you act like you haven't got your right mind.”

I said, “Well, then, just leave me alone, because I feel better this way than I did the other way.” So if I haven't got my right mind, just let me keep this one, because I enjoy this much better, knowing God in it. And so around and around the tree I went, and I was standing with my hands up, saying, “God, Thou art my Father. Oh, I love Thee. You made the mountains, and made me to enjoy it, made the wild animals. And here I stand bathing in your presence. Why can't men see You in your great universe?”

How can they explain this earth standing in the sockets, hanging in the air like this, turning perfectly, and so perfectly timed till the astronomers can tell the very minute the eclipse will come in the moon, between the moon and sun, twenty and thirty years ahead of time? There's not a piece of machinery ever invented that can move that . . . not move that perfect. Your watch won't do it. There's no watch can keep perfect time, not for any space of time. It'll lose a tick or two, or gain a tick or two. There's nothing man can do like that—but God is perfect. He's right on time.

This meeting is not providential; it is God's provided way for us. It's just in the right season, the right time. You never come here this afternoon just by chance; it was God that brought you here. Everything's moving just right. Now, whether you want to listen, whether you want to believe, that'll be up to you, but at the judgment then God will say, “You remember. . . ?” Then what can you say?

Now notice, and I was attracted. . . . (This sounds a whole lot like a little joke, but it's not a joke.) And I was running around the tree, and all at once a little pine squirrel. . . . I don't know whether you have them up here or not. He's the fussiest little thing in the woods. He just . . . well, it's just like they say the Irishman's owl, all fuss and feathers and no owl. So, he just barks and carries on. Mr. Jeffries used to tell me. . . . I said, “What makes them holler?”

He said, “He's cursing you.”

I said, “Tch, tch, tch, such language.” And as he was carrying on, just jumping up and down, and I thought, “What you so excited about, little fellow?” I said, “Did I excite you, because I was running around the tree? Watch this,” and around and around I went again. And he was just sitting there, just chattering away, upon a stump where a tree had blown down. And I said, “Did you know I'm worshiping the very God that created you?” Now, I said. . . .

I run around a couple times more, and I noticed the little fellow. I thought I'd excited him, but he had his little eye bugged out on his cheek, and he was looking down in that blowdown. And I thought, “Well, what's down there?” And the storm had forced a big eagle down. And that's what he was barking at. It wasn't me; it was that eagle. So I looked, and this big eagle jumped up. In Colorado we have the brown eagle—great big, beautiful bird. And I love eagles, because God likens his children, his heritage, unto eagles, and God Himself calls Himself an eagle. He is Jehovah eagle, Papa eagle. We're his little eaglets.

A eagle can fly higher than any other bird there is. If a hawk would try to follow him, he'd disintegrate in the air. So you try to impersonate Christianity, you just burst yourself open, that's all. Don't do you no good. Be an eagle, be born again, nature changed. Then you can walk up Jacob's ladder. Then you can climb to the highest spots, to where all things are possible to them that believe. But you got to be an eagle, a believer. Don't try. . . .

The Hebrews, when they crossed as eagles across the Red Sea, the following on uncircumcised Egyptians tried to do so and lost their life. You cannot impersonate Christianity; you've got to be a Christian. That's right.

Now, I noticed this big fellow and I stopped my shouting, or emotional going around the tree, and I looked at this big eagle. And I said, “Now, I wonder what God stopped me from shouting for? I believe that everything works together for good. I thought, ”I was having such a glorious time. Why would You stop me now to look at that eagle? The old vulture,“ I said, ”why, I don't see nothing so manly about him, so godly.“ But I thought, ”Everything up here has got to have God in it. Everything.“

You can look at the meanest person on the earth, and you'll find some good things about him. That's right. So God is everywhere. You just got to look around to find Him.

That's the reason Jesus said. . . . And I believe, if you got somebody. . . . You can love anybody that loves you, but can you love those who do not love you? That's the Spirit of Christ. See, when those will mistreat you, and say evil against you, and from your heart you still love them, then you know you're getting close to the kingdom then. So He said, “If we love those who love us only, what reward have we?”

So I looked at the old eagle, and I noticed those great big grey eyes as they was batting. And I thought, “Well, what could I see godly about that fellow? He's part of the creation, but what could I see godly about him?” I noticed he wasn't afraid. And that's God there alone.

God doesn't have no use for a coward. If you're afraid to trust Him, don't even make an effort until you're satisfied that He keeps his Word and He keeps his promise. Then there's nothing going to stop you. Right. But be sure you know where you're standing, because you'll only make yourself worse.

Then, I noticed him. I thought, “Aren't you afraid of me?” I had my rifle sitting against the tree. I said, “I can grab my rifle and shoot you.” And he just sat there. And I noticed, “Why is he not afraid?” And I noticed that he had his wings, he kept feeling them, see if the feathers was all in running order. I thought, “That's it. God has given him two wings. He's got confidence in them. He knows that he could be in that timber before I get my hand on that gun, and he's got perfect confidence in his God-given way of escape.” And if an eagle in God's universe can have enough confidence in a God given gift of his wings, how much more ought we, the children of God, to have confidence in the Holy Spirit. Even though the doctor says you're going to die with a cancer, just as long as you can feel that power of God there, let everything be a lie, and God's Word be true.

I watched him. I thought, “There You are, God. I see You now, because he's not afraid.” God hates a coward. Love casts out fear, so if you've got love you don't have any fear. Fear don't have one bit of value about it. There's not one thing. It'll hinder you.

You say, “Well, what if you're going to be shot in the morning? Wouldn't you be scared?” No, sir. Fear couldn't help me. Fear could only make me worse.

“Well, what could faith do for you? They already signed that you're going to die in the morning.” Faith can sign my pardon. Amen.

So let me take faith. If the doctor says you're going to die with a cancer, that's all he knows about. Have faith and it'll change the situation for you. If he says you'll never walk again, the man's telling the truth. That's all he knows. That's what he can look at, what he can . . . he can only go by his senses: feel, smell, taste, hear. But, you see, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things you don't feel, taste, smell or hear. It's faith, you believe it, it's a sixth sense, beyond the five senses.

Then I looked at that fellow. I thought, “Oh, I admire you.” I said, “God, I see You in that eagle.” And he looked at me a little while. He found out that I was his friend, so I wasn't going to hurt him. And after awhile he kept looking over at that pine squirrel, and I noticed that pine squirrel was the one was cursing him so bad. And he got enough of it, so he just stooped down and made a big flop with his wings. About two flops he went beyond the timber.

And I noticed what he did. I shall never forget it.

Listen, you trappers, hunters, he knowed how to set his wings. And as the breeze come up the mountain, every time the breeze would come, he'd just ride up on it. Another breeze would come, he'd ride a little higher. Then another breeze would come, he'd go a little higher. He never moved a feather, he just knowed how to set his wings. And I stood and watched him until he went plumb out of sight. I stood there and the tears run down my cheeks. I said, “That's it, God. That's the idea. It's not [break in tape] . . . and flew on away. O God, that's it. Just know how to put your trust in his Word, and say ”It's truth.“

God in his universe. You believe He's in his universe? He's in his flowers. Can you see Him now, what I mean? In the sunset, the sunrise, in the holding of the earth, the turning of the solar system, all that He is. I could take hours and hours just on that one subject—God in his universe.

Tell you what. I believe you have a paper about twice a week here at Dawson, don't you? Now, you let the news commentator say, “Tomorrow. . . .” It's coming fall of the year, and they'll say, “Tomorrow it's going to be fair weather. It'll be pretty and warm tomorrow.” And you see that old sow take them shoats off the north side of the hill and bring them around over on the south side of the hill—she knows more about that weather than all the commentators in the world—you look for cold weather. You see those rabbits getting back way up under the brush piles, and the newsmen say, “It's going to be fair weather,” don't you believe that. It's fixing to rain. See, he knows more about it than all the news commentators does, because he's got a God-given instinct. He's part of God's universe. God in his universe.

Now God in his Word. And I'll try to hurry so we can hurry up. I'm getting late. That's the trouble with me. I talk too much, I hold you too long. But the beans won't burn, and if they do, we'll put some more on. Now, this is food that you need for eternal life. God in his Word. Now, the Bible said that the Word of God is a seed that a sower sowed. Now we know . . . you farmers here, do you know that when you sow a seed, if you sow wheat, why, it'll bring forth wheat, if it's put in the proper care. You sow oats, it'll bring forth oats, in its proper care. Well, that's what the Word of God is. If you take any promise of God and place it in the right atmosphere, it'll produce exactly what it is in its life.

Like a hen. Usually the right procedure is to take an egg, and put it under a hen, and she'll hatch the chicken. But you could take the egg. . . . It's the atmosphere what counts. You take that same hen egg and put it under a pup, and let the pup's body keep the egg warm, it'll hatch a chicken. See, it's atmosphere. And that's the same thing it is here this afternoon. That's what I'm speaking for. If we can get the right kind of a heavenly atmosphere, something's going to happen. See, atmosphere.

God's Word is a seed.

Now, you take a little tree, like a little. . . . Many of you people have orchards. You take a little apple tree (now watch this), you set that little apple tree as a slip, it's just about that big. Come from a seed. Well, usual, every apple that'll ever be in that tree is in it right then. Did you know that? You say, “How many apples will that tree produce?” Maybe a hundred and fifty bushel, two hundred bushel, five hundred bushel, in the life of the tree. But now all five hundred bushels of apples is in it when it's just about that big. If it isn't, pray tell me where it comes from. See, it's in it.

Now, what do you do with the tree? You set it out, put it down in the ground and plant it, and then you water it. Now what's the little tree do? The little tree has to draw water from the earth. And it has to drink and drink and drink, has to drink over its portion. And as it drinks, it begins to push out. And after awhile it pushes out limbs, then it pushes out leaves, then pushes out blossoms, then it pushes out apples. It's just drinking and pushing.

And that's the way that a Christian is. We are planted in Christ Jesus, which to my interpretation is the inexhaustible fountain of life. And the only thing we have to do, if you're sick, if you need something, when God fills you with the Holy Spirit, you are. . . . By one Spirit we are all planted, baptized into one body, and the only thing we have to do then is just drink. Drink, until we push out divine healing (glory); and then take away the old worry and doubt, and push it away and bring in new life, produce new fruits of the Spirit. Just drink, drink, the seed.

I was with Mr. Durney . . . some of my people here will know that I've told this. We went up on the mountain to get a goat. And on the road down we come through an old burn or something. And about a bear I'd seen down there, I guess you remember it, Mr. Durney. The old bear, I said, “His hide's pretty heavy to have to pack down that mountain.” And I was looking him in the face, and I was getting a little tired. So as it got along up towards dark that night I noticed we come into a place where the burn had left a few snags standing up, and they were just as bare as they could be.

And we were resting a little bit and I thought there that . . . going to the horse, and the wind blowed. And when the wind blowed, the most hideous sound, went “Ooooooo.” I thought, “My, looks like tombstones. This is a weary place.” And I thought, “Father, what is this?”

It reminds me of somebody trying. . . . I say, “Are you a Christian?”

“I'm a Presbyterian.”

“I'm a Baptist.”

“I'm a Methodist.”

You know what it is? It's you trying to hold on and get to heaven by belonging to an organization. Now, that organization is all right, but, remember, every time that an organization springs up, God leaves it. You don't go to heaven by an organization; you go to heaven by this new seed of God being born in your heart. That's right.

And I heard that mournful noise, and I said, “This is a weary place to be. I hope we don't make a fire and stay here.” And the moon had come out, and them old shiny trees like that. I thought, “Isn't that a horrible thing?” The old tombstones-like place, weary. What was they saying? “Once we were great swaying pines, but the fire burnt us over.”

And that's the way it is today. When I asked, “Are you a Christian?” they don't know what it means to be Christian, many people.

They say, “Oh, I'm Methodist.”

“I'm Baptist.”

“I'm Pentecostal.”

“I'm Presbyterian.”

That don't have one thing to do with it, except that little seed's come in here. Then you can belong to anything you want to, you're a born-again Christian then. But without that you're lost. God is a seed, his Word is a seed.

I noticed another thing, Mr. Durney, Chris, that I noticed those little pine trees. I thought, “Well, now, that's those great big denominations says, 'Oh, we once had a John Wesley, we once had a Martin Luther, we once had a Sankey, a Finney, a Knox, a Calvin.' ” That's right, but you see what you got now? Them men believed in God, practiced divine healing, and all kinds of miracles. That's right. But now what have you got? A denomination with a weary wind blowing.

Every time God sends down a rushing mighty wind, like He did on the day of Pentecost, you know what you say? “Wooooo, don't go out to that, it's of the devil. Wooooo, the days of miracles is past, there is no such a thing as divine healing. Wooooo, we got it wrote on our creeds, no such a thing as divine healing.” Dead, not flexible.

Now, notice. Then beneath that there'd been some seeds fall out of them pines. And if you ever studied pine trees, the only way they can reproduce themselves is that heat to fall and open up that cone and let the seed go into the ground, and up come a new generation, another tree. And when the wind blowed, them little fellows didn't groan; they just frolicked in the wind. I thought, “Well, what's He blowing the wind for?” Well, you see every time the wind blows, it moves the little tree, and it pulls on the roots, loosens it up, so it can go down and get a better hold.

And I thought, “That's it, Lord.” I thought, “Mr. Durney will think I'm crazy, but I do feel like jumping up on one of these limbs here, and running up and down here like one of them squirrels, just screaming at the top of my voice.” That's it. We once had a church that believed in divine healing, we once had a Martin Luther, we once had a John Wesley, but now what are you? A dead statue. But beneath all of that, blessed be the name of God, we still have the seed of God that's produced another church; something that's brought forth a church that believes that God is the living God, and when God sends that rushing Pentecostal wind down, they just sway and frolic in it.

You say, “They're green.” But they're having a good time, and they're growing. If they're green, they got life. If you're not a little bit green, why, you don't have any life.

A little Norwegian, here not long ago, come in and got saved in the meeting. He went back up to his boss, he said, “Oh, glory to God.” He said, “Praise de Lord, I done got the Holy Ghost.”

His boss said, “What you talking about?”

He said, “I went in the church,” and said, “God give me the Holy Ghost. Wery, wery good, I feel.”

He said, “You must belong to that bunch of nuts down there.”

He said, “Praise God for the nuts.” He said, “You know what?” Said, “You take, like an automobile, if it didn't have any nuts in it, it'd be a big bunch of yunk.”

That's the way. If we can't have somebody in here that's got enough strength and enough power and enough faith in God to hold the thing together, what have we got but a big denominational junk? Right. Praise God for the nuts that holds the thing together.

As I preached to you last night, when a man gets the Holy Spirit he acts crazy anyhow. But he's only acting that to the people of the world. To God, He's a glorious Father.

Look at David when he danced around the ark, and his wife sat up there and said, “You embarrass me, a queen.” In other words, “I am a king's daughter, and you run out there and run around screaming around that ark, dancing like that.”

David said, “You didn't like that? Watch this.” And around and around he went again, dancing around, and said, “Watch that.”

And God looked down out of heaven and said, “David, thou art a man after my own heart.” That depends on whose heart that you belong to. If you belong to the heart of the world, you'll act like the world; but if you belong to the heart of God, you'll do things the world knows nothing about. So much. The seed goes on and on and on.

God in his universe. You believe it? God is in his Word. Do you believe it? Watch how He keeps his Word, confirms it. Look how He told Abraham, look what He told the apostles, look what he told the prophets. Look how He promised in this day. God's in his universe. God is in his Word.

Now, God in his Son. Do you believe God was in his Son? (Now we have to hurry.) God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Do you believe that? One comment on God in his Son (so we can hurry). I was talking to a woman not long ago that belongs to a church that does not believe that Jesus was divine. She believes that He was just an ordinary man—a prophet or something, but wasn't divine.

He was either God or the greatest deceiver the world's ever had. He was God. God, manifested in a body called Jesus, his Son. Not just a man, not a teacher, a philosopher, but He was God manifested in the flesh. I Timothy 3:16 says, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: for God was manifested in the flesh, seen of angels, received up into the heavens.” Why, sure, He was God.

And this lady said, “Mr. Branham, I enjoy your preaching, but,” she said, “there's just one fault I find with you.”

I said, “Thank you, if you can just only find one fault, that's very good.” And I said, “I've done found ten thousand million of them. Perhaps people's found more than that.” I said, “If you just find one I thank you for that comment.”

She said, “But if you'd just clear that one up.”

I said, “What is it, lady? May I know? If I'm that close to being all right,” I said, “maybe I can clear that up.”

She said, “You brag too much on Jesus.”

“Oh,” I said, “what?”

She said, “You brag too much on Jesus.”

I said, “I couldn't brag enough on Him, sister.” I said, “If I had ten thousand tongues, I couldn't praise Him enough. He's worthy of all the praise.”

She said, “But you make Him divine.”

“Oh,” I said, “He was divine.”

She said, “He was just a man, Mr. Branham. He was a good teacher, a philosopher, but He wasn't divine. You make Him divine.”

I said, “He was divine.”

And she said, “You said you was a fundamentalist, you stayed with the Word.”

I said, “Yes, ma'am.”

She said, “If I show you in the Word where the Bible shows that He's not divine, will you accept it?”

I said, “Yes, ma'am, but you can't do it. But I'm gentleman, Christian enough to listen to you.”

And she said, “I can prove it to you.” Said, “You take St. John, the eleventh chapter,” said, “when Jesus went down to raise up Lazarus, the Bible said He wept.”

I said, “Sure. Why?”

“Why,” she said, “that showed He wasn't divine.”

I said, “Is that your scripture?”

She said, “Yes, that's it.”

I said, “Sister, that's thinner than the broth made out of a shadow of a chicken that starved to death.” I said, “Is that all you've got? My!” I said, “Don't you understand? He was both God and man. God was in Him.”

And she said, “How could He weep if He was divine.”

I said, “All right, let's carry the subject on. I'll admit that He was a man, but He was a God-man.” I said, “He went to the grave of Lazarus, He wept like a man. But when He stood there and pulled them little shoulders together, said, 'Lazarus, come forth!' and a man had been dead four days. . . . His nose had already fell in, the skin worms eating in his body, his soul was four days' journey somewhere—I don't know, and I don't believe you do either—but his soul had been gone from him for four days, his body corruption had set in. And He said, 'Lazarus, come forth!' And a man that had been dead four days stood on his feet and lived again. Brother, that was more than a man to do that. That was God in a man.”

Sure, He was a man when He come down off the mountain that day, hungry, looking around on the tree to find some figs to eat. He was hungry. He was hungry, like a man. But when He took five little biscuits and two fishes and fed five thousand people, that was more than a man. That was God in a man who could break that bread and multiply loaves and cooked fish, produce it. That's right. He was more than a man.

And it is true He was a man when He was laying out there on that boat that night that storm come up. Ten thousand devils of the sea swore they'd drown Him. He was so tired from seeing visions and praying for the sick. And the little old boat, like a bottle stopper out there bouncing up and down, the devil saying, “We got him now. He's asleep.” He was a man when He was tired, sleeping; but when He put his foot on the brail of the boat and looked up and said, “Peace, be still,” and the winds and the waves obeyed Him, that was more than a man. That was God speaking through that man.

He was a man when He cried at Calvary, “My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He was a man when He was crying for mercy; but on that third day when He broke the seals of death, hell, and the grave, and rose up, He proved He was God. Though the poet . . . it's inspired the life of every poet or every author that ever wrote a song. Any man that ever amounted to a hill of beans believed that to be the truth.

Eddy Perronet, when he was in his great prime and they was persecuting him, he wrote the song:

All hail the power of Jesus' name,

Let angels prostrate fall,

Bring forth the royal diadem

And crown him Lord of all.

One other one wrote, “All hail the power of Jesus' name, let angels prostrate fall.” Oh, my! How could you. . . ? “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other grounds is sinking sands.” What could I say?

Old blind Fanny Crosby, what did you think about it? She said:

Pass me not, O gentle Saviour,

Hear my humble cry,

While on others Thou art calling,

Do not pass me by.

For Thou the stream of all my comfort,

More than life to me.

Whom have I on earth beside Thee

Or whom in heaven but Thee?

Let it be whatever it might be—cherubim or a god—whom in heaven but Thee? One said:

Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me,

Buried, He carried my sins far away,

Rising, He justified freely forever,

Some day He's coming, O glorious day.

It's the hope of the church, God in his Son reconciling the world to Himself. Do you believe God is in his universe? God is in his Word? God is in his Son?

Now, God in his people, and we'll close. Can you see Him in his universe? See Him in his Word? See Him in his Son? Now let's look at Him in his people.

God stays with his people. After they're dead, He's still with them. There was an old man about eighty years old who had a double portion upon him. His name was Elisha. He had Elijah's spirit, which was typed Elijah the church, and Elisha . . . or, Elijah the Christ, and Elisha the church with a double portion upon it. And he was dead and had been dead for years, and his bones was laying in a grave. And they were taking a man one time to bury him, and the enemy was coming, and they throwed this dead body on the bones of that godly man, and he rose up to life again.

God in his people. He knows where every bone is at. He knows where Mama's buried, He knows where Papa's buried, He knows where Grandmother and Grandfather is buried. He's God, and He's in his people. Sure He is.

There was one named Paul, and they took from his body handkerchiefs or aprons, a godly man who was a prophet of the Lord. And the people believed it so much till they took from his body handkerchiefs and sent out to the sick, and evil spirits left the people. Off of a man's body! God in his people.

There was a little old fisherman, so ignorant that he couldn't even sign his own name. The Bible said in Acts, the third chapter, that he was an ignorant and an unlearned man, named Simon Peter. Had no education, not a day of schooling. God was so in him until the people noticed that God was in him. They laid in his shadow (O God), and were healed. God in his people. Do you believe that?

There was a hundred and twenty people after his death, burial, and resurrection, climbed up into an upper room to wait. They were cowards that closed the windows. They were afraid of the Jews, they were afraid to make a testimony. So they hid themselves for ten days in an upper room. And all of a sudden there came a sound from heaven like a mighty rushing wind, filled all the room where they were sitting. They unbarred the windows and unstopped the doors and into the street they went, preaching the gospel in other languages. What was it? God in his people.

Jesus said, “A little while and the world will see me no more, yet ye shall see me. Because I live you can live also. The works that I do shall you do also. More than this shall you do, because I go to my Father.” And He said in St. John 5:19: “I do nothing until I see the Father doing it first.”

You was here the other night when I preached on that. Jesus, how did He make Hisself known as Messiah? Because He could perceive their thoughts, and tell them what was wrong with them and what they had done, and so forth like that. And the Bible plainly says that was a sign of the Messiah. God in his people. “The works that I do shall you also.”

The woman immoral come to the well to get water and there sat a Jew. He said to her, “Woman, bring me a drink.” Contacting her spirit. What happened? “Bring me a drink.”

And she said, “It's not customary for you Jews to ask we Samaritan people such a thing.”

He said, “But if you knowed who you was talking to, you'd ask me for a drink.” What happened? He found her trouble. We all know what it was.

Said, “Go get your husband and come here.”

She said, “I have no husband.”

He said, “You truly said the truth, because you've had five, and the one you're living with now is not your husband. Thou has said the truth.”

What did she say? “I perceive that you are a prophet. We know when the Messiah cometh He'll do these things, but who art thou?”

He said, “I am he that speaks with you.” A sign of the Messiah.

She run into the city and told the men of the city, “Come see a man who told me who I was, what I've done. Isn't this the very Messiah.” What? That same thing's prophesied in the last days to return again to the church just before the end time.

Oh, I know we got carnal impersonations of it. I know we got those who act like it and pretend to be. But remember it takes a bogus dollar to make a real one shine out right. And we have to be a real one before there can be a bogus. Amen. Now I feel religious right now. Yes, that's right, because God is in his people. Do you believe it?

If God is in his universe say, “Amen.” If God is in his Word. . . . God is in his Son. God is in his people. Now let's see if He is. We see Him in his universe, Word, so forth—let's see if He's in his people.

Now, I've promised to pray for the people here this afternoon. Now me praying might help you. I just join my faith with you, but, my brother, until you believe that God is here in his people, till you can see that very God that we talked about manifest Himself right here among his people. . . . How would He do it if He come here? If Jesus stood here this afternoon with this suit on that He gave me, and you'd walk up to Him and say, “Lord Jesus, I'm sick, will You heal me?”, you know what his words would be? “I have already did that, my child.” He did that at Calvary. How many knows that to be the truth? It's the truth. He did it at Calvary.

Then what would He do? He'd say, “Can't you believe I was wounded for your transgressions and with my stripes you were healed?” Now He could prove that He was the Lord Jesus. He could do it. How would He do it? By showing He was the Messiah, He was the Lord.

How did they know it in them days He was the Lord?

Because he showed the sign of the prophet and everybody believed that He was. Now it hasn't been for two thousand years till this last day that we're living in, and we know it. Now, if Jesus will come this afternoon and perform the very same things that He did when He was here on earth, will you believe He's amongst his people and will accept Him? Let us bow our heads.

Gracious Lord, we pray this afternoon now. I have been very lengthy speaking to the people because I don't know when I'll ever get the opportunity again. Now I have brought it up to this far, Lord, that You're in your universe, in your Word, You're in your flowers, You're in your creation, You're in your Son and now brought it to your people. And now, Father, I can't go no farther than this. It takes You from now on. I pray that You'll help and will confirm your Word with signs following, that this people might know that You're Christ, that You are the Son of God and we are your servants.

And if there, by chance, be somebody here who is not a believer, may they accept You as their personal Saviour. If there are those here who just joined church and doesn't know what it means to be in the presence of the living Christ day and night, may

they accept it this afternoon. Heal every person that's present, Lord. Surely if this same God that I've talked about can show Himself that He's alive here, and we see the characters of the Bible. . . . “Lives of great men all remind us,” said the poet, “we can make our lives sublime; with partings, leave behind us footprints on the sands of time. Footprints that perhaps another, while sailing over life's solemn main . . . And a forlorn and shipwrecked brother in seeing, shall take heart again.” O God, let us be your servants this afternoon. Come now, Father. We see You in your universe, and in your Word, in your Son; now come and prove Yourself alive among the people.

And when we leave from this building today to go to our different homes, say like those who came from Emmaus. . . . They'd walked with You all day after the resurrection, but they didn't realize it was You. Many here, Lord, has served You, and You've kept them out of troubles and things, just . . . and they maybe didn't realize it was You. But that night when the sun was going down, like it is now, You stopped at a little inn, and they invited You to stay with them. You made out as though You'd go on, pass them by, but they constrained You. And may men and women here today do the same thing, constrain You, “Come in and abide with us, Lord.” And then when You got inside and shut the doors, You did something like You did before your crucifixion. They knew that that was the Lord Jesus, for no one could do like He did.

Now, Father, I pray that in the name of Jesus Christ that You will come in our midst now and prove that these things that I have said about your Word and about You are the truth. Let us see You do the things this afternoon like You did before your crucifixion. Then we know that Jesus has risen from the dead and is alive forevermore, and He lives among his people. It'll give people confidence in your people, Lord. It'll make men and women have confidence for their prayers and for their instructions of how to meet You. Grant it, Father. We commit ourselves to You with the Word, in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And while we have our heads bowed, would there be those here this afternoon who has never received Christ as Saviour, before you see one thing done would say, “Remember me in your prayers, Brother Branham, I now believe.”? [Break in tape.]

Let this lady, just come right here, lady. Now here's where all that I've preached, and all the Bible says . . . something has to happen. Something has to happen, or God is found a false witness of his own Word. That's right. Now to you people who do not believe that Jesus is just as great as He ever was, now what about this? Here's a Bible scene. I want you to read St. John 4, where a man and woman met for the first time. We are meeting our first time. Is that. . . .? So the audience can see, just raise up your hand, so we both . . . and the Bible laying here. This is our first time meeting.

What's she here for? What's the matter with her? Why is she standing here? I don't know. I never seen her. This is just the first time meeting.

Now, Mr. Durney, I want you to see this. I told you on the trap line that our God was God. Just stand right where you are there just a minute. Stand there. Here's a lady that I have never seen in my life. I know nothing of her. I never seen her. She's a total stranger. Now, if the Holy Spirit will reveal to me what's wrong with the woman, then that will have to come from some spiritual resource, because the human being would not know that. You remember me telling you out in the camp that night? You remember the night we got the news . . . the Mounted Police called me and I didn't know what was the matter. I thought my boy had fallen in a plane, or something. He was in school. And that night the Lord revealed to me that there was nothing wrong at home. That was back in your camp.

Now, that's the same God that's right here now. Here it is before you.

I never seen her in my life. Now if all you people in here know that. . . . This woman and I, before God's Word, promises that we (here before God) . . . we've never met before in our life. Now, she might be sick, she might have domestic trouble, she might have financial trouble, she may be not right with God. She may be some ill-famed person; she may be a saint of God. I don't know nothing about her. She's just standing here.

Now, if this ain't exactly the same thing that happened in St. John 4 when Jesus met a woman at the well. Is that right? How many will admit that? That's right. Now, Jesus told the woman what her trouble was, and she said that was the sign of the Messiah, and the Messiah is the Christ. How many knows that? All right. Then if that was the Messiah yesterday, and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (and then me, being a man, I couldn't know her), then it'll have to be the Holy Spirit, the Messiah (which means the anointed one) will have to reveal to her what that is. How many knows that He perceived their thoughts and knowed all about them? That's right. Now that was sign of Messiah.

Will all of you believe? Let her be the judge.

Now if I walked up and said, “Lady, you're sick. [Lay my hands on you.] Hallelujah, you're going to get well.” That's a good Pentecostal way, and that's right too. It's exactly right. But she'd have a right to doubt, because she wouldn't know whether I was commissioned to do that or not.

But now what if the Holy Spirit goes back and tells her something that's wrong? Something she has done, something that she'll know whether it's the truth or not? Then if He knows what was, that proves that He knows what will be. Is that right, brethren? Do you believe that?

What a challenge. I've seen this happen before half a million people at one time. I've been preaching hard. It's a different anointing. Therefore I'll have to talk to the woman just a moment, see what . . . the anointing would come.

But thanks be to God, here it is. If anybody ever seen that picture of the angel of the Lord, let's see your hands go up. Sure. It's copyrighted worldwide. That same light, pillar of fire, that you see in that picture that science has examined. . . . George J. Lacey, the head of the F.B.I., examined it, said, “The light struck the lens, Mr. Branham. That mechanical eye of the camera won't take psychology.” That light is hanging between me and the woman. At the day of the judgment you'll see that that's right. Can't you see that?

The woman's moving back from me.

The lady is suffering with a tremendous nervous condition, and she has spiritual problems that bother her. That is right, is it? If that is the truth, raise up your hand. Now do you believe? Now, it had been . . . somebody might have said, “You guessed that, Brother Branham.” Let me talk to her a little more. She's a fine person and the anointing is on her. Let me just say this to you. I don't know the woman, never spoke to her till just now, but that woman is aware that something's on her right now, a real sweet holy feeling. If that's right, raise up your hand, lady. Now, she's a Canadian here with you. See?

I'm looking right at it, that. . . . It isn't a glare; it's a glow, amber light right around the. . . . You say, “How do you see it, and I don't?” Well, it's another dimension.

How did Paul see that pillar of fire down there and them with him didn't see it? How did the wise men see the star that led them to Jesus, and no observatory ever reported it? Mystic star in the sky for two years. Nobody saw it but the wise men, because they were the only ones looking for it. I don't know what I told you. The only way I know is on that tape down there, but whatever it said was right.

Now let's just see again. Yes, nervous. Your trouble comes mainly about this time of day, late of an evening, when you're really fatigued, wore out. Have real funny, weary feelings come on you. That is right. You get nervous once in a while and drop things. Not long ago you were standing near a window when the sun was going down, you feel real nervous, rubbing your hands. That's the truth. How would I know where you were standing? How would I know you did that? Before you come to the meeting you prayed to God that you'd get a prayer card. You were very happy when you received it. That's “Thus saith the Lord.” That's true.

Here's another thing. God tells me that on your heart you're praying for somebody else. That's a friend that's dying, that's got cancer. They don't live here. They live in Fort St. John and the person's shadowed with a dark shadow. That person is a sinner, dying with cancer, thus saith the Lord. Are those things true? Raise up your hand. Now is there a shadow of doubt in your mind? Is He Jesus Christ? Is God among his people? Do you believe, sister? Take that same handkerchief with you, lay it on the person and don't doubt, Jesus Christ will make them well. Go believe.

Do you believe with all your heart? How can any man tell a person who they are, where they come from, what they did before they come here, what they did two or three weeks ago and what they got on their mind, and who they're praying for, but Almighty God?

Now is that true, brethren? I want you to know that Christ is alive. Do you believe, Mr. Durney? Do you believe with all your heart? Then accept it. Go sit down and believe with all your heart, your trouble's finished. God bless you. Amen. I seen that shadow come over the man. Believe on the Lord, Mr. Durney, accept Him as your personal Saviour, don't doubt, and I'll meet you over there on that great game trail.

I'm a stranger to you, lady, I do not know you, but God does know you. That is true, isn't it? Do you believe if God can reveal to me what's wrong with you that you will believe it as being a personal thing to you? So the people will know that we're strangers, let's just raise up our hands like this. I have no idea . . . you look like a good healthy woman to me, but you're suffering with a growth, and that growth is causing other organs not to function. That is your kidneys and bladder. That's the truth. Do you believe? All right, Jesus Christ will make you whole. Go, believe with all your heart.

Do you believe now? Just have faith, don't doubt.

Do you believe me to be his servant? You're not here for yourself. You're here for your husband. He's an unsaved man and you're praying for him. That is right. If that's right, raise up your hand. Go, believe. You know what the Roman centurion said, as I have said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou and thy house shall be saved.” Did that mean because he believed his house would be saved? No. If he has faith enough for himself, he can have faith enough for his house. Believe with all your heart. You and your sweetheart will live together in that paradise of God beyond the river. God bless you. Go and receive what you have asked for.

I see everything's begin blinding to me, see, getting. . . . I just can hardly see the audience at this time. Be reverent now, real reverent.

I do not know you, lady. Now all that preaching for about two hours, and yet it never phased me a bit; but just look, just about three or four visions and what it's done to me now. I'm just sacking down, see. How many knows that Jesus, a woman touched his garment, and He perceived that virtue had gone from Him. Is that right? That's strength gone.

Lady sitting right back here, suffering. Do you believe with all your heart? Got heart trouble, trouble with your eyes, nervousness. Do you believe with all your heart? The lady from Grande Prairie, Mrs. Thompson, believe with all your heart and be healed in the name of Jesus Christ. Will you believe it? All right.

I don't know you. You're a stranger to me. If Jesus will reveal to me your trouble, will you believe me to be his prophet, or, excuse me, his servant? That word prophet kind of staggers the people, that's the reason I say. . . . Just something I want to tell the woman, the reason I held my hand over the microphone. We are two people met, maybe like our Lord and the woman at the well. She was probably a young lady. But you're suffering with a trouble with your throat. That's right. It was caused from polio. That's right. If God will tell me who you are, will you believe me to be his servant? Mrs. Duncan, you go home and be well, Jesus Christ makes you well. Don't doubt.

Sitting over on this side right there praying for your unsaved wife, sir, do you believe God will save her? All right, you can have what you've asked for, God answers your prayer.

Who was that lady just passed, going down the aisle? Was you prayed for? Was you just prayed for? Oh. I saw the light in the corner. Oh, I see it's a man with back trouble sitting there. Mr. Pettigrew, you believe with all your heart and Jesus Christ will make you well. Your loved one has arthritis. Believe with all your heart and they'll be made well. If thou canst believe with all your heart, all things are possible.

How many of you believe now with all your heart? I'm getting so weak, it's just staggering me around and around. How many has got . . . emptied over there. Somebody else with prayer cards over on that side get into the line over on that side.

How many ministers here that believes that this ministry is the Lord Jesus Christ? Raise up your hands. Ministers.

I want not leave this audience in this kind of a shape lest you all think that I'm the only one has a right to pray for the sick. Your pastor has a right to pray for you just as much as I. Now he might not be a seer. They only come one in a generation. But remember, God never at one time. . . . So it will clear up something that's bothering your minds that I can already perceive. In the Bible there was never but one time . . . one seer at a time. Elijah and then Elisha, and then Isaiah, then Jeremiah, that's right.

All the people that has prayer cards C's stand up over on this side, over on this side, please. Prayer cards C's. I want to know the ministers here that would come here and stand down here with me and help pray for the sick just a minute. Could I get some of you brethren, so that your audience here will see that you are sons of God?

I'm so happy to know that you are sons of God. (Man, you ought to be a believer, just at this crucial time. Don't worry about the child, he'll get all right.) Now, wonder if we could get right down here, brethren. Let's walk down off the platform to stand, make a double line there, right up and down like that. Yes, brothers, yes.

(Come right here, sister, walk right in behind. Say, by the way you're already healed from [unclear words.] Now come around this side, so that you go back down this line.) Now, I want some of you brethren to come right here, stand right down here. I want you to stand right here. I want to stand between you. I want you brethren, now, just stand there just a moment. Wait. Go down so you can lay hands on the sick. How about if you stand over by this brother right here? That's good. Now come right here make a line, so each one of you can pray.

Now, audience, I want you to understand. The Bible says, “These signs shall follow them that believe.” There is a little lady here that I had an interview with this morning, and she was at Grande Prairie. She's a tape customer of Brother Leo Mercier, Brother Gene Goad, and they told me to look for her, a Sister Brown. And so she was at the Grande Prairie meeting, and the Holy Spirit told her about a woman having . . . I think, what was her name? Was that Brown or . . . Sister Brown had a rose on her hat and told her about her condition. And of course I never seen her in my life. And then I said, “Each one lay your hands on one another.” (The lady may be here this afternoon.) I said, “Each one of you lay your hands on each other.” And everybody laid their hands on each other, because the Bible said, “These signs shall follow them that believe. If they lay their hands on the sick they shall recover.”

And then when they did that. . . . What I do that for, brethren, is for you, audience. Don't wait till an Oral Roberts, or somebody comes, or some minister that has the ministry of that. Your brethren, your pastors, right. . . . Do you believe me to be God's servant? I tell you, in the name of the Lord, these men has the same authority to pray for you as anybody does. They are God's servants. Any minister that believes in divine healing—whether he's Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Congregationalist, or whatmore —if he believes in God he has a right to pray for the sick.

Now, look, the little lady, she laid her hands on somebody, and all at once she felt a hand lay on hers which was larger. And she looked around. There was nobody around her. The ladies behind her she knowed, and they didn't have their hands on her. And she felt that hand and she said she just shook with the power of God.

Then this morning, at the breakfast table, I was having dinner with her . . . breakfast, at the Windsor hotel, and the Holy Spirit said, “She wants you to lay hands on her.”

And I said, “What shall I do, Father, what will be your sign?”

Sitting between us (she was across the table) there was all kind of dishes. Said, “She will take her hand and move those dishes back, making a straight way for you to lay your hand across on hers.” And just then she reached down and pushed the dishes back, not knowing.

I said, “Sister, why did you do that?”

She said, “Something just told me to do it.”

That settled it for her. Sister, are you in the building now? Are you here this afternoon? Sister Brown? Standing right here. Right here. See, He's God, isn't He?

Now, I want every person in here just stand in this line, and as soon as that line finishes out, let the other prayer cards just keep coming around, then. . . . All the prayer cards just continue to line up over here, and then after they get through, all that doesn't have prayer cards and wants to be prayed for, you line right up behind them. Now before we do it, let's all bow our heads to Almighty God.

What if this was your mama standing in the line? What if this was your wife? What if it was your sister? What if it was your mother, or your daughter, or your son? Remember it's somebody's. Would you want everybody to be sincere if that was your mother, or your wife, the mother of your little baby, dying, cancer-ridden? Wouldn't you want somebody to pray sincerely? Now, you pray.

Heavenly Father, I am presenting this afternoon, first of all by a divine gift, the resurrected Jesus to prove that He is among his people to show Himself alive. And now, next, secondarily, I am presenting your servants, the ministers, the men that You have called. Some of them's been preaching many, many years longer than I. They're far better qualified as ministers than myself. And I want the congregation to know that their pastor is your servant so I am . . . by a divine gift presented You to them; now I am presenting your servants to them, and I am one with them, Father, your servants. And we are taking the Word of our Lord.

Now, Lord Jesus, Thou does know all truth and You'll never honor a lie. And it's proved by tens of thousands of times around the world without one failure of the visions, which proves it to be true. Before there was scientific research, before lie detectors, in the presence of the camera, and whatmore, You've proved to be God. And now You are God this afternoon. And You made this statement, the last thing You said when You were going away, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. These signs shall accompany those that believe.” And these are believers, Lord. You said, “In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; If they should take up a serpent or drink a deadly thing it shall not harm them; and if they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover.”

Now, Father, You proved Yourself alive to keep your Word. You watch over your Word to confirm it, and now I'm presenting to this community and to the regions around about, Jesus Christ and his servants. And we as your servants, Lord, are going to follow your instructions regardless of what the unbelieving world says about it. We're going to lay our hands upon your sick, suffering children, and we believe that they will be made well. We accept You as our healer right now.

Every person in the prayer line, those who are coming in the prayer line, I ask you now in the name of Jesus Christ to accept Jesus as your healer. Don't you doubt. When these men of God . . . and we lay our hands upon you there's only one thing would keep you from getting well—that's your unbelief. Do not disbelieve, but believe God. And we're standing here now praying for you as you pass by this audience. Not only that, but some three or four hundred people assembled here this afternoon will be praying for you. And every prayer. . . . And now you believe.

Now, for the rebuking prayer, with your heads bowed.

Satan, we as a church of God speak directly to you. You are a devil, a tormentor, and you have bound the servants of God by your bluffing spirit, so we as human beings have no power against you. So we do not come to meet you in the name of a church, or an organization. They are defeated. But we come to meet you in the name of our conqueror, Jesus Christ. We are hailing his name and his presence before the people as a conqueror of every sickness and every disease as put under his feet, and we as his servants are carrying out his commission. We charge you in the name of Jesus Christ, turn every one of these people loose. We'll follow his commission by laying hands on the sick, and they shall recover, for we speak it in the name of Jesus Christ.

Only believe, only believe,

All right, everybody praying now while the sick come through. . . .