Perseverant

Let's just remain standing a moment, before we sit down. Let's have prayer first. And I wonder tonight at the second night of the meeting, how many requests there is ... would like to make it known by an uplifted hand? “God, hear my request.” Let us bow our heads now.

Our heavenly Father, we are approaching Thee again tonight, never to be tired of listening to your children's call, always willing to answer, only asking one thing: that we will believe that we receive what we ask for. We pray, Lord, that You'll move every shadow of doubt tonight, by thy great Holy Spirit in thy Word. We pray that You'll answer every request. And we know that we have our request because we believe Him who promised it.

And now, heavenly Father, we pray that You will save sinners, heal the sick, strengthen the church, get glory unto Thyself. Help me, tonight, Lord, that I might be a vessel that'll be used of God. Help everyone here, that they will be likewise. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

See the people placing handkerchiefs now upon the platform here, upon the pulpit rather, for ... to be prayed over. We believe in that. That's one of our great ministries, is praying over the handkerchiefs, and so forth, for the sick and the afflicted. We believe that it's the Scripture. We believe that that's the commandment. An example: Paul prayed over handkerchiefs and aprons, sent them to the sick, and they were healed.

I remember one time in South Africa I had a.... Noticed it in ... I believe the picture's in the book, where we had great big what we call burlap sacks here in America, just full of mail of the day, of just handkerchiefs alone—several thousands of them. And I was praying over them, and the reporter said, “Brother Branham is very superstitious. He prays over handkerchiefs.” It just shows how the people that doesn't know the Scripture, what a carnal conception they can have of the work of God, you see, when they don't know it.

I was in Rome. I was down in ... looking at where a Greek artist had painted the conception of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, and such a conception! My! Eve looked like some kind of a prehistoric animal. And Adam! I never seen such a thing in my life. It just goes to show that ... what the carnal mind can draw up, when it's not converted to the glory of God. I believe Eve was the prettiest woman that ever lived on the earth (that's right), because she was freshly made by the hands of God without any sin to touch; Adam, the most perfect man that could have lived outside of Christ (because He was the second Adam, the most perfect man).

But the carnal mind can draw up a thought that he was a head so big, and one shoulder up, and the other one down; and Eve one leg little, and the other one great big; and oh, hair hanging down, her mouth sitting sideways. Well, my! I couldn't think the Holy Spirit ever producing something like that. But it shows the carnal mind when it gets into it.

That's the way our minds will run in the same way, if we let it get off the Word of God, with them carnal conceptions. My daughter here tonight, she said today (she was trying to pull one on me), she said, “I have 'The Ethics of Darwin,' here, I'd like for you to read, Daddy.”

I said, “Thank you. I did years ago. One time's enough of that.” But this old Bible, we never get enough of it, just soaking it in, to the glory of God.

I'm sorry that the whole church this morning couldn't have been to our breakfast. What a wonderful fellowship we had! The blessed Holy Spirit visited us and gave us a message that, oh, such a dandy time of fellowship around the things of God.

And I know I kept you a little late last night, and I'm maybe getting a little tired. This is my ninth straight meeting, and I have a little rest coming after two more meetings. But I'm going to try to let you out a little early tonight, 'cause I know you're working men, you have to go back to your work, and I don't want to keep you.

But I'm glad to see even a pick-up in the crowd tonight. It shows the interest. And friends, that's outstanding today, because we all know—we just have to know this—the revival is over. We know that. The fires are burning low, and the interest of the people is drying up.

See, we had a revival. It lasted for years. History shows that a man, an evangelist, usually his best part is his first three years, and after that he lives on the reputation of what he preached in them three years. And then, a revival doesn't last very long. But this has been going for some fifteen years, 'cause it's the last revival, I believe, and we're right at the end time. I believe the next will be pulling the church, the elect, from the groups and taking them together, and away it'll go. And so, we're looking for that to happen.

But we can see the revival fires burning down low, the interest of the people. Everybody's tired, going to sleep. Interest is gone. And to see this much interest amongst the people it thrills me, and know that there is still fire burning around here in Oregon. God ever bless you. Let's fan it tonight, just as hard as we can, with the Word. And the Word, when you fan it, will produce the Holy Spirit—the rushing mighty wind that will start the fire burning again. May God grant it.

And now to conserve the time ... you're so nice to talk to. I could talk to you for hours, but I just got to watch and conserve this time. In a few moments, after I get through speaking, I'll pray for these ... over these handkerchiefs. And you're always welcome to bring them up. We're happy to do it.

Now we want you to turn tonight on some notes that I have here, in a way of a little.... What I want to do, trying to do—it's no secret—is to try to build a faith in the people to where we can have a great climax, and something really take place that will stir the whole country.

Now we did that by the grace of God at Grass Valley, where there wasn't one feeble person left in the midst of the whole congregation, in that big auditorium—wasn't one. I never prayed for the sick. I just kept building faith, just kept on with the Word, in the simplicity of the Word, in the simple way I have of putting it. But the people just hung right on, and stayed right on. And then the great time come. And just everything in the building lifted up.

And it was that way again at Spokane the other night, when the whole front was laying full of wheelchairs, and stretcher cases, and things like that. And completely down that row went the Holy Spirit, delivering every one just as it come to it, right along like that. They laid there in those wheelchairs, and sweated it out, and everything, listening, holding on to that faith—just grasping it, and searching, and finding out. And then, after a while, all at once the Holy Spirit dropped right down, come right down the row like that, and every one of them got right up, and walked away, see. See.

The trouble of it, with we people, we're in too much of a hurry. It's just got to be done right now—can't come back no more, see. And when you get that in your mind, see, you're going to lose right there. You're on losing grounds right there. You have nothing to stand on. You must be patient. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, mount up with wings like an eagle.” I like that. Just be patient. Wait.

God's in no hurry. He let the Hebrew children walk right into the fiery furnace before He ever turned a finger. That's right. Let Daniel go right into the lion's den; let Jesus go plumb into the grave, and his soul descend into hell—then raised Him right up through the bottomless pits, right on out through the grave, and cut every avenue of the devil off, and went straight into glory with it. Sure. He's in no hurry. He's God, see. We just get in a hurry, is the only thing, you see. We miss it.

So, don't be in a hurry. Wait, watch, listen. Take the Scripture, examine it, see if it's right. And if it's right, hold on to it. If it's not, tell me, so I can get it right.

So, we see that every work must be the Holy Spirit's work. It must be his work. It's his. And it must come out of the Bible. We mustn't draw anything from some conception, or reasoning. We must draw it from the Bible.

If the Lord willing, I want to speak one night, before I leave, on “When the East and the West Meets.” I've been trying all up and down the coast to get that in. I hope I get it before I leave here. “When the East and the West Meets.” And then, if the Lord willing, I'd like to speak one time upon “The Fortified Word of God.” And ... the Lord willing.

I was looking over there in one of my briefcase today, and I think of little texts, of so forth, of tapes that's been made—around five hundred sermons or messages the Lord has given me out of his Word to place. And then tonight.... To come to a platform it takes prayer and study. I think any man ought to hide himself away, and come out of his study in the freshness of God, to meet the congregation.

I've often wondered what I would do if I had two drops of the literal blood of Jesus Christ in a charger, a glass. How I'd walk real careful with it, to be sure that I did not spill it! But you know, tonight in his sight, I have a greater in my hand—the purchase of his blood. He shed his blood for you. So how must I handle this? See, it's a great responsibility, knowing that I'll have to answer at the day of judgment for every word. And so therefore, let's approach it real reverently.

Turn in to your Bible now, so we can read some of his Word. My words will fail because they're man's word. His words will never fail. So just read in the Word. Let's turn to Matthew, the 15th chapter, and begin with the 21st verse, if you will.

Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre of Sidon.

And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.

But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.

But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord help me.

But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.

... she said Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat ... the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.

Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.

I want to take ... draw a text from that, if I should call it that, for about thirty minutes to speak. I want to take one word that I'd like to use, to build the context around it, and that's the word of “Perseverant.” Now, perseverant is to ... means to be persistent. Webster says that it's to be persistent—persistent in making a goal, persistent in what you're doing.

Men of all ages that has faith in what they are trying to achieve has been persistent. You have to be persistent. You cannot just sit back, and say, “Well, I'll see what Joe does about it.” You can't do that. And before you can be persistent, you have to have faith in what you are trying to achieve. And if you haven't got the faith, then you will not be persistent.

Now, men through all ages has tried that; but ... and has been persistent. But what you've got ... to be persistent, first, is to have faith; and then you've got to know from what source you are drawing your faith from.

Now, many men has been persistent in the wrong thing, and they've always come out wrong. Nimrod wanted to build a tower. He was persistent, but he never got to finish it. Nebuchadnezzar wanted an immortal city, but he didn't ever achieve it. But you see, the first thing you've got to do to be persistent is to get set straight and right.

Some time ago a precious friend of mine, a doctor, he came up to my house. A very fine man. If you'd like to write to him about this, his name is Dr. Sam Adair, corner of Wall and Maple Street, or Wall and Market Street, Jeffersonville, Indiana. He has a clinic. A very good friend of mine—we were school boys together. One of the finest doctors we got in the East.

And the house was full of people being prayed for, people coming in, and how they come in from everywhere, to be prayed for. And my wife come back, and she said, “Billy, Dr. Adair is here.”

I said, “Put him in the den room. We got people in these other rooms. Put him in the den room. I'll be with him as soon as I can.”

And there was a man there from the Walnut Street Baptist Church, in Louisville, with cancer in the spleen. They had taken this operation. It was no good, and the man was dying. And he was saved, and healed with the cancer. I was dealing with him at the time, to see what the Lord would speak to me about him.

So then, when we went in to see little Dr. Sam, he was sitting in there with his hands folded—just a very fine man. He was, well, the doctor that brought Billy Paul, my son, and so forth. We were very good friends. He eat at my house, and so forth. We were just bosom friends.

And he said, “Bill, I want to ask you something.” Now, we know one another well enough till I don't have to call him “Doctor.” I just call him “Sam,” and he calls me “Bill.” And so he said, “Bill, I want to ask you something.” Said, “What do you think about this city? Don't you think it needs a clinic?”

And I said, “Sure, any city needs a clinic, good doctors.”

He said, “Well, I believe this city needs it.”

I said, “I do, too, Sam.”

And he said, “Well, do you think I'm worthy to have this clinic?”

And I said, “Are you figuring on it?”

And he said, “Yes.”

I said, “I don't know any other doctor that I would rather say that I thought was worthy of having it.” Now, he's a rough, hard bark little fellow, but.... I always called him a turtle—he's soft on the inside, but hard on the out. It's just a shell he pulls himself back in. God knows the heart of a man. Everybody would've said Saul of Tarsus was a hard man, too, but God knowed his heart. The church chose Matthias, but we found out that God took Saul—the little hook-nose, high-tempered Jew that was nothing, to make something out of him.

Now, and so this man said, “Well, I want this clinic.” And said, “You know, Bill, that I want to serve the Lord,” he said, “but I'm just too mean.”

I said, “Oh, I don't know about that.”

He said, “But I try in my work to do what I can for the Lord.” He said, “There's some of those colored people come up.” Said, “They need operations, and they haven't got no money.” Said, “You know I operate.” And that's true. Anybody that hasn't got the money, he goes ahead, does the work, anyhow. He's a famous surgeon.

And I said, “Well, I believe that.”

He said, “I want to ask you something.” Said, “Could you ask the Lord for me?”

And I said, “Yeah, sure.”

He said, “I got a little.... Where do you think that clinic ought to be built?”

I said, “I don't know.” I said, “If you back up another place, that's a flood country, and they built a flood wall.” I said, “I'd get this side of the flood wall.”

He said, “Yes.”

I said, “Well, there's a lot ... a big place up here on a certain corner.”

He said, “Well,” he said, “the undertaker's done got that place. They're building a undertaker establishment.”

And I said, “Well,” I said, “then what about down there where the old Pfau Oil Company was?”

He said, “That's taken up. They are going to put an ice cream place in there.” He said, “I've got an ideal place, Bill, but,” said, “somebody bought it ahead of me.” Said, “Some elderly lady in Kentucky.” Said, “It's where the old departmental school was down here.”

And said, “I know an old man that's kind of sweet on her.” And said, “You know what? I believe if I could give him about three hundred bucks, and you would....” Said, “She bought it for six thousand dollars.” Said, “I'll give him about three hundred dollars to get her to sell it to me, and I'll give her ten for it.”

And I said, “Now, Sam, looky here. You ain't bribing God on nothing.” I said, “If you're going to talk to God, we got to lay it out right here smooth. There's no bribing about it at all.” I said, “We just can't do that with God.”

He said, “Well, I didn't mean it that way, Bill. But that's a dandy lot.”

I said, “Why don't you do this? Let's just commit it to God and see what God will say about it.”

He said, “All right.”

I said “Well, get out of the chair, and turn around.” So he did. And we got down there, and prayed a while. We waited on the Lord about fifteen, twenty minutes. After a while the vision come.

I said, “Doctor, stand up.” I said, “You have found grace with God. You're going to build your place, your clinic. It will be a long building, it will be made out of red brick, low top. And it will almost take in a city block.” And he looked at me real strange. And I said, “It will not be at the departmental school. Forget that. It's going to be built on the corner of Wall and Market Street, where that big old house sits back on that hill.”

He said, “Just a minute, Bill.” He said, “I remember you telling me about Bill Hall.” I haven't got time to go into that about.... He laid him out to be dead with cancer, done eat his liver up; and all the specialists standing around. And I was going squirrel hunting that morning. Looked, and saw a vision of Mr. Hall. And I went and called him. I said, “Mr. Hall will live.”

He said, “The old doctor will have to see that.”

He's living tonight, preaching at the Milltown Baptist Church. So....

And he said, “I know about Will Hall, and all these things.” But said, “Bill, I just come out of court with that place.” Said, “In Philadelphia ... the owner lives there, and there's something about it that it can't be touched for twenty-five years.”

I said, “Doctor, did you ever hear me tell you anything in the name of the Lord that wasn't so?”

He said, “But, Bill, that ... I don't want to doubt you.”

I said, “You're not doubting me. You're doubting Him.” I said, “The Lord has give you that place. Now He wouldn't do it, if He hadn't already done it, see—and you doing like that. But,” I said, “He's already give you a place. The clinic's going to be there.” He scratched his head, walked out, never said nothing.

Next morning, my wife sitting there as a witness, he called me up. He said, “Bill!”

And I said “What?”

He said, “I'm freezing to death.” And it was about this time of year. It was really hot in Indiana.

I said, “What's the matter, Doctor?”

He said, “You know, they had a meeting last night in Philadelphia, and I've already bought the lot.” He said, “It belongs to me, and the clinic's going up.” There it stands today. He said, “If anybody, any time, ever doubts anything, tell them to call me,” see, “and that's anywhere,” you see. And how that is.

But, see, the little fellow was persistent. He wanted to build a clinic. It was in his heart. And he come ... even just a lukewarm church member, but come seeking God. Now that's the way to get the answer. Seek God.

A doctor was sitting with me one day, and he said, “Oh, I believe there's such a thing as divine healing,” but said, “it's just in the mind.”

I said, “No, no.”

He said, “I believe if a man would believe he could go touch a post, he'd get well.”

I said, “Sir, who could ever have faith in touching a post? You've got to have faith. It's not just loose-ended. It's got to be based upon some fundamental something.”

When a man takes his wife, he's got to base his faith in that woman; and she's got to base her faith in that man—some reason to make the goal of life. If he doesn't, then there's something wrong, and it won't work. You've got to have faith. And what's better to have faith in than the Word of God?

Like the old Southern colored brother said. He said, “I'd rather be standing on the Word of God than standing in heaven.”

Said, “Why so, Mose?”

He said, “Why, heavens and earth will pass away, but the Word won't.” So he wanted to really be there, sure. So that's exactly right. The Bible said in Revelation 21, “Heavens and earth will pass away, but my word shall not pass away.” He said in Revelation 21, he saw a new heavens and new earth, for the first heavens and earth was passed away. Jesus said both heavens and earth will pass away, but his Word shall not.

Now, we got to have basic faith on what we're doing. That's exactly how those visions can be achieved, is because it's based upon a promise of Christ. And if that angel of the Lord, that pillar of fire, that.... You've got his picture here, I guess. They have had it up here, have they? If that did not stay exactly with this Word, I wouldn't believe it. I don't care how real it seemed, it's got to come according to this Word.

And that angel of the Lord was the one ... that pillar of fire that followed Israel, or Israel followed it, rather, through the wilderness. Then it was made flesh and dwelt among us. You believe that, don't you? Sure. God was in Christ.

He said, “I come from God, and I go to God.” Is that right? After his death, burial, and resurrection, and his ascension, Saul of Tarsus was on his road down to Damascus. And all at once that big pillar of fire, of light, before him smote him in the eyes, and he fell to the ground. And he heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”

And he said, “Who are you, Lord?”

He said, “I'm Jesus.” He had returned to God.

He came into the prison as a light, let Peter out of the prison, took him out.

And now, if that be the angel of the Lord leading these people, it will produce the same thing that it did when it was manifested in the true Son of God. It will do the same thing in the adopted sons of God. For Jesus said, “The works that I do shall you do also.” If his life is in us, it will produce the same. And if it does things contrary to the Scripture, then it can't be the same angel.

But if it produces the same life that it was when it was here on earth, manifested in flesh, and promised to be manifested again the same way, then it's the same Spirit—same God, by the same Word. See what I mean? Now, then you can base your faith that that is the truth. And of the tens of thousands of visions around the world, I'll ask anyone at any time to show me where it ever failed. It doesn't fail. And it can't fail.

This what you see here is an amateur vision. It's just small things. You do that yourself. It's you. Look at Christ. He was the fullness of God. God dwelt in Christ without measure. He had the Spirit without measure; we have it by measure. But if I got a spoonful of water out of the lake out here.... The ocean, that's what was in Christ. If I got a spoonful of water, just be a spoonful of water out of it. But the same chemicals that's in the entire ocean is in that spoonful. It's not as much of it, but the same chemicals.

And if we have the Spirit of God in us, it's the same works and the same Spirit, and the same manifestations. Then you base your faith upon that. And when you see what it is, then you can be perseverant. You know where you're standing.

If I was starving to death, and someone give me a loaf, ... twenty-five cents would buy a loaf of bread, and someone gives me the purchase price of bread, which is twenty-five cents, I can shout just as loud with that quarter in my hand as I can with a loaf of bread in my hand, because I've got the evidence that I'm going to live. I've got the twenty-five cents, the purchase price, in my hand.

And when a man, or a woman, sees it anchored in them, they've got faith. They can rejoice. I don't care what your hand says, or how sick you are, you still believe it. You're persistent. You're perseverant. There's nothing going to stop you. You've got it! I don't care.... Ten thousand doctors could stand, say you're dying. You can just laugh at them, walk over the top of it. Yes. If you ... and it will happen. But see, most people just has hope, and wish, and so forth. It becomes weak, oh, very, very weak, when you go to speaking of the terms of faith.

Many people ... we've been taught lay hands on the sick, and that's all right. But, you see, what I'm trying to build here is, you won't have to say, “Brother Branham laid his hands on me.” “I was in the presence of Jesus Christ. I touched Him. Brother Branham had nothing to do with it. Nobody else had nothing to do with it. God did it.”

And I tell you this, brother: if it's ever done, God will have to do it. That's right. I want you to believe it, have faith in it. And then be persistent. Hold on to it.

And great men who has prayed.... George Washington, at Valley Forge, he was very perseverant. He prayed all night when the British was across the other side. And the next morning, no matter.... There stood our American soldiers. Half of them didn't have shoes on their feet—American soldiers with no shoes on.

Washington prayed till he was wet plumb to his waist, until he got an answer from heaven. And the gorging river the next morning.... Valley Forge didn't bother him. He went on across. He was perseverant, whether his soldiers had shoes or not, whether the opposition was great or not. Three musket bullets went right through his coat and never touched him. Why? He had prayed through till he got a hold of God. No musket, no army, no river, no difficult—whatever it is, he's going on.

Like Joshua and Caleb, when they.... All the rest of the tribe said, “Oh, we can't take it! We can't take it! Oh, we look like grasshoppers. They're giants.”

But Joshua was perseverant, for he knowed God said, “I've give it to you.” See, they were looking at what they could see. Joshua was looking at what God said. That's what.... Depends on what you're looking at. The Christian looks at the unseen. The unseen. The whole armor of Christianity is unseen. Everlasting things is unseen. The seen things are material, and the earth is the mother of all of it.

But the unseen, the whole armor of God, is an unseen affair: love, joy, peace, faith, longsuffering, goodness, meekness, gentleness, so forth, God, the Holy Ghost, Spirit. All that is unseen. That's the lasting things, the eternal things. That's our whole armor.

Everything the Christian can depend on is the unseen, the promise of God. And we look at something that we don't see with our eyes. By the way, if you see it with your eyes, you don't see it. See it means to understand it. You look at anything right straight, and say, “I don't see it,” you mean you don't understand it. When you understand.... Something that's got an understanding that God has made his promise, and something has struck you that you believe it, that's understanding that God's promise is to you. Then something's going to happen. Then, I don't care, nobody in the world can talk you out of it. You're on your road then. Nothing's going to stop you.

Washington, when he prayed through, he was ready. When men hear from God and know that it's Scriptural, then they can be perseverant. Noah, just a farmer, a man.... You notice, the lineage of Cain's children was smart, great scientists, great achievements in science. We follow that. But the children of Seth were humble, peasants, farmers, sheep-raisers, and so forth. God always dwells in humility.

The trouble of it is today that we American people, we are always looking for something big and bright (and God don't do that), something noisy. God can draw more water with the sun in five minutes than we can pump out of a noisy pump in forty days. Sure. But we are looking for something big, and noisy; God is looking for something that is small and quiet.

The rushing wind, the thunder, the smoke, the earthquake—none of those things ever attracted the prophet Elijah, when he was in the cave. But when he heard that still, small voice, God was in there. Then he come walking forth. None of the rest of it could attract him. It's something there that's got to anchor. Something's got to take place.

Noah, he was very persistent after he heard the voice of God to build the ark. Could you imagine what a day that was? Could you imagine the opposition he met, when they had a greater civilization then than we got now? They built pyramids. We couldn't build them. They built the Sphinx. Take sixteen flat cars to let the leg lay on it. We couldn't build it. We haven't got the power harness to do it yet. But they had it. They could ... they could embalm a body, make a mummy that would look natural to this day. We couldn't do that. They had a coloring that we didn't have. Many achievements they had.

Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of man.” Notice in there now. They were smart. But Noah had talked to God. No matter how much his message didn't meet with their scientific thoughts, he still went on because he had heard God. He built the ark just the same. Let's look at it a moment, while we're on the subject.

I can see the time come. The people laugh at him, standing around every day and watch him fitting the timbers in, he and his family. They said, “Say, Noah, I want to ask you something. [Great scientists.] You know, we can shoot the moon with our radar. I want to ask you something. Show me where there is rain up there in the skies. Show me where there is water up there. There's none up there.

“Noah, you said it's going to come down. Now, where is it at to come down? We can scientifically prove there is none of it, with our instruments here to do it with. Stop, man. You're an insane man. You're going mad. Quit building on that nonsense ark. Come on down and join up with us, the rest of us. Let's eat, drink, and be merry.”

But Noah had heard God. And he said, “I don't care if your instruments shows there's nothing there. If God said it will be there, He's able to put it there.” He was persistent. He put the gunwales in the boat, and fixed the sides, and got ready. When he got it all built, he stood in the door of the ark, and preached salvation only by the entering of the door. They laughed at him.

One day he began to notice, here come the male and female lion, the male and female horse. All of them began to come into the ark. God said, “Get ready, Noah. I've had enough of their carrying on, of their unbelief. I'm going to send the judgment that I promised.”

Well, brother, sister, I say this. I hope you don't think I'm a fanatic, but I believe that that very same repeating is at hand. God's got enough of this scientific, moon-shooting, missile-dropping age that we're in. Why, it's another tower of Babel. Don't you know that God will destroy this earth? He said He would.

That's the reason I'm out here tonight. That's the reason we're trying to press forward to get every soul that we can, because the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah is the same as it is now—not willing that any should perish, but....

And God sent every kind of a gift that He can before the people. And still they stay without the kingdom. It's because much of it comes from the pulpit. We know that. A denial of days of miracles, denial of the Holy Ghost, and so forth, that brings that.

Now we notice what taken place. One day when Noah went in, and his family, I can hear them say, “There's your old stinking animals. Go on in and live with them now.” Oh, their great classical age, you know, that they lived in! And so, then the door shut behind.

There was some borderline believers that used to attend the meetings of Noah. Well, just like there is now. People sit around all the time in the church, but they never make a move to come forward. They enjoy hearing the pastor preach, and something another, but they never make a move forward. So then the first thing.... They never want to put their hands into it so they'd be identified with it.

Brother ... oh, brother! Oh, I'm so glad to be identified with it! I want my credentials known that I'm one of them. The greatest honor I ever had—to be identified with the people that's called crazy for the gospel's sake. Right!

Now. When Noah's time came for the flood, then some of them borderline believers said, “Now, he was a nice old man. Now, there might be something happen, so I tell you what. We'll go up and stand around the ark, and if it really starts falling rain down from up there, like he said, or water, you know what? We'll knock on the door. And he's a gentle old man, he'll let us in.” Yeah; but it wasn't Noah that shut the door. It was God that shut the door. So they....

Now, you see, after you have become a Christian, many people think, “Well, after I become a Christian, that settles it. All I have to do is just say, 'Well, glory to God. Everything's mine.'”

No, sir! You're mistaken. You fight every inch of ground that you take. God told Israel down in Egypt, “I've give you that promised land.” But he told Joshua when he went in, “Everywhere the soles of your feet treads, that I give you.” It was already give to them, but they had to fight every inch of it. Other words, footprints meant possession. Just keep walking. Now, they had to fight it, but God had give it to them.

And then ... and Noah, when he went in and sat down in the ark, he went in in the month of May, on the 17th day of May, when Noah went into the ark according to the Bible. Now. And I hear him say....

He got down here on the lower floor on justification, and there was all the creeping things. He got up on the second floor on sanctification, and it was all the birds. But he went on to the top where the light was shining down, to the baptism of the Spirit, in the ark. So he got up there, and he told all of his family, said, “Now, you sit around. Now in the morning, the sun ain't coming up. Black clouds, smoke-like, will be tearing through the skies, and water will be falling.”

But the next morning, the sun come up just as hot as it ever did. I'd imagine there was some disappointment about Noah, but he was already shut in. The second day passed. Nothing happened. And he was there seven days—seven days testing him.

Every son, every child that comes to God has got to be tested. God will move down in a meeting, and show great signs and wonders, and you'll wonder. Then He'll test you on it, to see if you really mean it or not. Amen. Test you, to see if you really believe it or not.

Then He let Noah sit there and sweat it out, for seven days. But on that seventh morning, the sky was roaring black. Great big drops of rain began to fall. The sewers began to fill up. The street raised water in it, way up high plumb on the ark, floated. People knocked, but on and on it went, and the wicked drowned.

Noah was persistent because he heard the voice of God, and held on. And 120 years he preached the message. Never growed weak. He growed strong. He believed God. He was persistent.

Moses, the runaway prophet, he had all the education that could be stuffed into him because he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter. And he had all the theology. He was so smart, he could teach the Egyptians wisdom. And with all he had, with the understanding that he was borned a spiritual life, or to be a prophet....

Prophets are not made; prophets are born. Prophets ... there's a gift of prophecy in the church; but prophets are born. They have the Word of the Lord.

Jesus Christ was the Son of God all the way before the foundation of the world. You believe that? The Lamb. And Isaiah saw John the Baptist 712 years before he was born, a voice of one crying in the wilderness. Moses was born a proper child. Jeremiah, God said, “Before you was even conceived in your mother's womb, I knew you, and called you and sanctified you, and ordained you a prophet to the nations.” Before he was ever born from his mother's womb, he had the Word of the Lord from childhood up. That's ... he was a prophet.

And here was Moses. Knowed he was a prophet of the Lord, but he hadn't had that experience yet—something to make him persistent. He run away because he found out his military act didn't work. And then he went out into the wilderness. Was there till he was an old man, eighty years old—whiskers hanging down low, and perhaps his bald head done turned brown from the sun shining down, from herding Jethro's sheep.

And was out there one morning, and he heard ... looked up on the hill, and there was a bush on fire. He turned aside to see this bush. And when he was there he heard a voice say, “Take off your shoes.”

Now what if Moses said, “I'll just take off my hat”? That don't work. That's the reason the Bible.... I believe that every word of it's got to be fulfilled. “Take off your shoes,” and he took off his shoes.

He said, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I've heard the groans of my people. I remember my promise to Abraham. [Amen. How glad I am He's remembering it again today, that He would pour out his Spirit.] I remember my promise, and I'm going to send you down to deliver them.”

And he made all kinds of excuses, but He said, “Surely I'll be with you.” You know sometimes ... then, when there's something like that happens, you get very persistent.

And Moses was very persistent. He didn't wait till he formed an army. You know, sometimes when you get persistent, and hear the voice of God, it makes you do things ridiculous to the carnal mind. You act strange, funny. You're an odd person. Look how ridiculous Moses acted. The next day we find him with his wife sitting straddled a mule, with Gershom on her hip, and an old man with whiskers hanging down like this, and a beard a-blowing; and a little eighty-year-old man with a crooked stick in his hand, going down the road. “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”

“Where you going, Moses?”

“Going down to Egypt, to take over.” One-man invasion! Why? He'd heard God.

Say, “Moses, wait a minute. The sun got too hot. There's something wrong with you. Your mental condition is not right, Moses. Go back.”

Try to stop him! You couldn't do it. God had told him he was going to take it over, and he did it. Might act funny, but he knowed what he was doing. He had the mind of God. He knowed the will of God. He knowed what he was doing, and away he went. And any man that can get in that condition, know exactly what God's called him to do, something's going to happen. Yes, sir.

I don't care who it is, how sick you are, or what all about it, you've got to believe it. And then you become perseverant. There's nothing going to stop you. That's right.

Little David standing there on the ground that day, he looked over there, and there was that big old Goliath standing over there—fourteen-inch fingers, weaver's needle spear in his hand. And there was Saul, head and shoulders above the whole army.

Old Goliath.... You know, that's the way the enemy does, when he gets you in a place that ... wants to kind of rub it on a little bit. He said, “Let's not have no bloodshed.” Said, “Let one of your men come out and fight me, and if he kills me my nation will serve you. And if I kill him, then your nation will serve me.” See how they want to do it? 'cause he thought he had it.

But he said it one time in the face of a man who knowed God. Not just a military trained man—he knowed nothing about it. But he knowed God. Little old David, the Bible said he was ruddy. Little bitty old fellow out there, stoop-shouldered, little sack on his side here, and a little scrip bag with some sheep food in it—come up there to visit his brothers.

And he said, “You mean to tell me that you'll let that uncircumcised Philistine stand there and defy the armies of God [saying the days of miracles is past]?” Oh, my! what a man that was! The least man of the whole bunch, just a kid.

What? He knowed.... He said, “One day a lion come in and got my father's sheep, and took it out. I went after him with my slingshot, and I brought him back. A bear come in, and I slew the bear.” He said, “And the same God [Hallelujah!] that delivered me from the lion and from the bear will deliver that uncircumcised Philistine into my hands.” Stop him if you could!

Oh, Saul.... They just brought him up before Saul, the general. And Saul said, “Now, son, I admire your courage. But, you know, you haven't much education on fighting. You don't know how to do it. Maybe we'll just put you on.... Try on my vest.” And he put that great big thing on—poor little David was bowlegged with it on. He come to find out that his ecclesiastical vest didn't fit a man of God.

So he said, “Throw the thing off—I don't know nothing about it. I don't know nothing about this here ... all this here how to say 'Amen' just right, and your word and grammar just right.” Said, “Let me go the way that I've trusted God. Let me go with what I trust in.” Amen! Amen!

And you know what happened? Sure. He was persistent; not one quiver in his blood. Walked out there and picked up five rocks, J-e-s-u-s. Wrapped the slingshot in five fingers, f-a-i-t-h, faith in J-e-s-u-s. And here he comes, trusting God to do the rest.

That's all you have to do. Have faith in Jesus, his death, burial, resurrection, his omnipresence, his being now, his promise, his gifts, his manifestation. That's all you need to do. Have faith, and meet any kind of an obstacle. If it's called cancer, paralysis, whatever it is, meet him on the ground.

A God that can raise up your sinful soul from a life of sin can set you free from any sickness or disease you've got. You've got to have that faith. Be persistent. Hold on to it. Don't turn it loose, you see.

But you can't bluff it. It won't take a bluff. You might be all right to bluff around here. But you get on over yonder and meet the witch doctors and them! Them devils, don't you try to bluff them. You've got to have what you're talking about on the mission fields. Correctly.

Now here, you're in a intellectual group here in America. They take intellectual things. That's the reason the ministry didn't go too good here. Just intellectual—intellectual. Well, I wasn't sent to that group anyhow. I was sent to the group like Abraham was—one that was called out. Yes.

There, Samson. Now a lot of people thought that Samson had ... I've seen his picture painted with ... looked like he had shoulders the size of a barn door. Why, no. A man that size? There would be no mystery how a man like that could pick up a lion and tear him in two. But he was a little, curly-headed shrimp, little bitty old guy—seven little locks hanging down his back like mama's boy, little sissy. Now, to see a guy like that slay a lion, ah, ah, there's something.... No wonder the Philistines wondered where that hidden power come from.

Why? How could he be so sure? He was a Nazarite. He had a vow from God. Do you know that every child of Abraham is a Nazarite? with a vow from God, swore by Himself.

Little Samson, little curly-headed fellow, seven little locks hanging down his back—a lion come roaring out. Samson was a little bitty man standing there. But you notice, the Spirit of the Lord came on him. That made the difference. Look at him standing out on the field that day, where a thousand Philistines surrounded him. He looked around. He couldn't have nothing to fight with. And he looked down and picked up the jawbone of a mule.

Well, anybody knows an old bleached-out jawbone of a mule.... And them Philistines helmets was better than an inch thick, with brass; and the vesture of what they call “mail,” which was lapped-over metal, down like that; and with spears, and great shields—a thousand of them. But the Spirit of the Lord come on that little shrimp. He reached back there, and felt them seven locks. He knowed he was still a Nazarite. Hallelujah! He took what was in his hand, and he beat them skulls right in with that old jawbone.

Anybody knows you hit one of them skulls with that old jawbone, it would fly in a million pieces. But God was there to hold it together. And he beat down and killed a thousand Philistines. He was persistent. Why? He wasn't afraid. He could feel that Nazarite vow with him. Hallelujah!

When a man or a woman can feel the presence of Jesus Christ, and know that you're born again of the Holy Ghost, let nothing stand in your way. Persistent. When God speaks down and says, “It's you. I give you faith tonight. Your healing is sure. It's my Word,” then you can be persistent. Sure.

John the Baptist was so persistent that he was going to see the Messiah.... Now John was born.... We don't have much of him. We know his father, Zacharias, was a priest out of the lineage of the priests. But John never followed the footsteps of his daddy. His message was too great. He couldn't afford to go in the ecclesiastical way of that day. He could never. John knew.

The old parents, being old when John was born, they knowed it must be something, this boy ... heartache for them. They knew their boy. They'd never be able to see him, because old age would take them before his time come, but they knew he'd be a prophet. The Lord had spoke of it, and they knew it. How it must have hurt the old couple.

We are told, according to history, about nine, ten years old, the boy ... the father and mother died, and he was left alone. Instead of going down to the seminary to do the way his father did.... His job was so important, God couldn't get him mixed up. Some of them guys would've said, “Now, John, you're to introduce the Messiah, aren't you?”

“Yes, sir. That is right.”

“Well, do you know, Dr. So-and-so, Holy Bishop So-and-so here, don't you think he's just the right man for that?”

“Oh, I think....”

“Oh, no, Rabbi, you're wrong. Holy Bishop So-and-so is just so....”

Now could you ever get such a nonsense, mixed-up.... John wouldn't get mixed up in such stuff as that.

You know where he went? He went to the wilderness, alone with God. God told him out there ... met him in the wilderness, and said, “John, upon whom thou shall see the Spirit descending and remaining on, He is the one that will baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire.”

John was so sure he was going to introduce Him, stood on the banks and he said, “There's one standing among you now that you don't even know.” Amen! He knowed He was coming then. They'd looked for him for four thousand years. But he said, “There's one standing among you right now that you don't know. He's the one.”

You can't say “this one, that one.” See, he had to get his training right. He had to know that Messiahic sign. He had to know what that Messiah would be. God would show from heaven what that Messiah was. John said, “I didn't know Him. But He that told me in the wilderness, 'Go baptize with water,' said, 'On who the Spirit descends and remains on....'”

And John said, “I bear record [Amen!] that that is the Son of God, 'cause I seen the dove coming down.”

Nobody else saw it. Nobody else was looking for it. But John was looking for it, and John saw it. I don't care how many fails in their healing; you believe that it's you. You take a hold of it. I don't care what Jones done, or the rest of them. You hold on to it, and be persistent when God reveals it to you, that his Son has made you free from sin and sickness. You hold on to it. Be persistent. Yes. John knew.

(Say, I better quit. I'll never get to my text.) You know what? This woman was a Greek, that I was speaking of, and she was of another nation. And ... but she heard of Jesus. How does faith come? By hearing, hearing the Word. You say, “How...?” Well, she heard of Him. He is the Word. So He was the Word, and she heard.

Now, she had a lot of opposition. But listen to this now. Faith finds a source that others don't see. Faith finds a source that others can't see it. Faith is ridiculous to everybody but God, and the fellow that's got it. It's ridiculous to everybody besides God and the person that's got the faith. Now, it's a surety to them. It's a sure to God, and it's a sure to the person that's got it. But the rest of them thinks you're crazy. Always have. But it's sure to them.

His word is a sword. Hebrews 4:12 says that the word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword. Now, the sword of faith ... the sword of the Word must be handled by the hand of faith. Nothing else can wield that sword but faith in the Word.

Now some people can take the Word, and cut away enough to join the church. That's about far as they get. Others can cut in, cut out every promise of God, cut down the promise of the Holy Ghost, cut out in divine healing. It depends on how strong that hand of faith is holding that sword.

Every promise is yours. It's sharp enough to cut everything that there is around you away, and make you a son and daughter of God, free from all. It depends on what kind of a hand that's holding that sword. It must be a hand of faith.

This poor woman might have had many hindrances, but her faith didn't have any. No. You may have a lot of hindrances. Maybe your doctor says it can't happen. But if you've got faith, it don't make any difference what anybody else says, your faith don't have no hindrance. Your faith sees it. It's the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Abraham called the things which were not as though they were, because God said so.

Could you imagine Abraham, that old man? Now, he's seventy-five years old before God ever calls him. Sarah's sixty-five. That's about twenty years past menopause. God said she's going to have a baby, and He's going to ... “through him I'll bless the world. With him, all nations ... call you the father of nations.”

Could you imagine an old man seventy-five years old, and a old woman sixty-five, going down now to the doctor and saying, “Doctor, we'd like to make arrangements for a hospital room. Going to have a baby.”

The doctor would say, “Sir, how old are you?”

“Oh, just seventy-five.”

“How old is she?”

“Sixty-five.”

“Oh, sure, sir. I'll tell you. You slip out.” He'd call the psychiatrist, and go down, say, “Examine the old man's mind. There's something wrong. Don't let that man on the street. He's dangerous.”

Why? Everybody that ever takes God's Word is considered that way. God takes the foolishness of preaching to manifest Himself by—his Word, believing his Word.

I see the first twenty-eight days passed. Now, Abraham had lived with this woman since she was a little girl. It was his half-sister. She married him about eighteen years old. And so, he went over, and said, “Sarah, how are you, honey? Any different?”

“Not a bit.”

“Glory to God, we're going to have the baby anyhow. Get the booties ready, all the Birdseye, and the pins, and everything. Get ready. We're going to have it.”

“How do you know you're going to have it?”

“God said so.”

The second month passed. “How you feeling, Sarah?”

“No different.”

“Glory to God! It's another month greater miracle. Hallelujah!”

A year passed. “How you feeling, dear?”

“No different.”

“Glory! It's a year greater.”

And twenty-five years passed. “How you feeling, Sarah [old and feeble]? How you feeling?”

“No different, dear.”

“Glory to God! It's twenty-five years more a miracle!”

And we say we're Abraham's seed. Uh-huh. We got the Holy Ghost. “Well, I was prayed for last night, but I sure didn't get healed.” You're a poor excuse for Abraham's seed. Abraham called those things which were not, as though they were. Amen! Hallelujah! For he believed that what God has promised, God was big enough to keep his Word. There we are. Abraham's seed, let me not get on that.

Now, this woman had a lot of opposition. She was a Greek. Now, she belonged to another denomination, and they'd say, “Now, wait a minute. You're a Greek. Don't you go down, 'cause our pastor's not sponsoring. [Excuse me. All right.] Anyhow, you know you belong to this. Don't you go down there now, because....”

But that didn't stop her. She had faith. Faith had caught a hold. Why? She had a daughter that needed healing, and she knowed there was a healing power. She heard about Him healing others. Faith cometh by hearing, and here she was. She moved on anyhow. That didn't hinder her.

Maybe she met another group, and they say, “Now, look dear. Now, Melinda [Melissa, something another, whatever they might've called her. Hope there's no one here by that name. But, anyhow, it's all right. It'd be a compliment.],” say, “listen, Melinda. You know what? The days of miracles is past. There is no such a thing. Don't you go down there. You're only going to bring disgrace.”

She was perseverant. Faith had done anchored in there, no matter whether the pastor was cooperating, whether her denomination believed in it or not, whether her people believed in it, whether anybody believed besides her. Faith is an individual thing. Yes, sir. It's her. Whether the days of miracles was past for the rest of them or not, it wasn't for her.

There was a fellow told me not long ago, said, “I don't care how many people you'd heal, or so forth like that.” Said, “I don't believe in healing.”

I said, “Certainly. It wasn't for unbelievers. It's just sent for believers. That's all it's for—just believers.” Oh, your unbelief gets you nowhere; just hinders you. That's all. It don't stop God. God goes right on doing it just the same.

They say, “You can't get the Holy Ghost. It was only given for the twelve apostles.” That don't stop God. He goes right ahead doing it, people getting it. They might not be able to explain it, but they got it just the same.

I can't tell you how a black cow can eat green grass, and give white milk; but she does it. Just exactly right. So I can't explain it. I don't know how it's done, but it happens anyhow. I don't try to explain it. If you can explain God, then it's no more faith. Everything that you get from God comes by faith. Amen. You can't explain it. You can't explain God. You believe God. Amen.

Now, “Days of miracles is past.” She was persistent. Another fine sister met her on the corner perhaps, and said, “Where're you going this morning?”

“I'm going to meet Jesus of Nazareth.”

“Oh, He isn't of our denomination.”

“Don't make any difference. I've got a daughter has need, and she's going to be healed. I'm going to get her.”

“You know what? I tell you, I know your husband is a businessman here in the city. He'll leave you. As sure as you go, you're going to have a divorce case.”

She was still persistent. She was going, anyhow. She was very perseverant.

Some of them said, “You know, Melinda, when you come to church the next time, you're going to be the laughing stock of the church, because you're going down there just to make a sap out of yourself, mix yourself up with that bunch of holy rollers. There you are, see—you're going to be classed as one of them. Everybody in church will laugh at you when you go next Sunday.”

She was still persistent. Nothing going to stop her. She was going on anyhow. What? Faith had anchored. She was perseverant. Nothing was going to stop her. She was going to go on anyhow. Yes.

And then, here come one of the elders of the church, and said, “You know what? If you go down to that meeting, I'm telling you what's going to happen. You're going to be churched. That's all there is to it. They will put you out of the church. As soon as you associate with that bunch of people down there with that fanaticism, you're sure going to be put out of the church.

She was still perseverant. She was going. Nothing was going to stop her. She was going to get there.

Away she went. Finally she arrived. Now she thought it was all over. That's it. So when she comes to Jesus, she said ... she heard the rest of them calling Him, “Son of David.” She said, “Thou Son of David....” Now, she was a Gentile—no “Son of David” to her, him, that. Said now, “Thou son of David, have mercy upon my daughter.” And she met a disappointment after she got to Jesus. Oh, how strange. But she did. She had a disappointment.

Jesus let her know that, “I'm not sent to your race. I'm only sent to the Jews.” Oh, my! Wouldn't that have knocked some of the wind out of us Pentecostals! Not her. She had a hold of something. Said, “I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I'm not sent to you. Your race, your kind of people, I'm not sent at all.”

After she had passed through all these barriers to get to Him, and then when she got to Him, hearing Him say that “I'm not sent to you, your race,” will that stop faith? No, sir.

And then He said, “By the way, you're not nothing but a bunch of dogs.” Oh, my! Would that have knocked us Pentecostals! Oh, my! We'd have blowed up like a frog eating shot. We'd have ... why we would've ... it would have been terrible.

But she wasn't a hotbed plant. She didn't have to be sprayed like a hotbed plant. She wasn't a hybrid, like some of the crop of today. She had a hold of faith. Hallelujah! The trouble of it is today, we got too much hybrid stuff. Exactly.

I read a piece in “Reader's Digest” not long ago, where people ... our women eating this hybrid beef, hybrid corn, and all that stuff, corn flakes, that they are growing narrower in the hips. And twenty years from now, if something isn't done, science says that the woman cannot have her baby. It's a-killing. Anything that's hybrid is wrong.

I come down ... I seen a great big sign on ... said, “Funk's [or something like that] Hybrid Corn, the best.” Great big, fine ears; but it's no good. It's not worth nothing. You try to plant it over, and see what will happen.

Now that takes science and proves their own argument's wrong about the origin of man. You take anything and cross breed it, hybrid it, and it can't breed itself back again. You take a mare horse, and breed it to a jack, and it will bring forth a mule. But that mule cannot breed back, and get another mule. It kills it right there. That's right.

And anything I think is ignorant is a mule, a hybrid—great big old long ears, sit there. You know you can't tell them nothing. Got too much mule religion today. That's what's the matter with the world. They sit there with that long sanctimonious face, you know, and say.... I say ... preach divine healing, and the power of God, and they say, “Haw, haw. Days of miracles is past. I don't believe that old stuff. Don't you.... Haw, haw.” Just old, ignorant, mule religion. That's all. Don't know where you come from. You can't never teach him nothing. No matter. He'll wait all of his life to kick you 'fore he dies. You know that.

I've handled horses, worked on a ranch. I know what I'm talking about. The thing's just an old ignoramus. He don't know where he come from. He don't know who his pappy is, who his mammy is, or nothing else.

That's the way with some of these hybrid religions today. They don't know who their papa is. You say, “Are you a Christian?”

“I'm Methodist.” “I'm Baptist.” “I'm Presbyterian. I'm....” You don't even know where you come from.

But, oh, how I love a good thoroughbred horse. Brother, he can tell you ... they can look on his pedigree, and you can see who his papa was, his grandpapa, and his grandmama, all the way back because he's a thoroughbred.

I like to see a real thoroughbred Christian that's born of the Word of God. He knows where he come from, he knows who his father is, he knows who his mother is. It's not some social denomination. It's the power of God, the Son of God. He died to Himself, and he's born again, a new birth. He's a new creature in Christ Jesus. He's gentle. You can tell Him something. He'll punctuate every word of God with an “Amen.”

“Do you believe this?”

“Amen!”

“Days of miracles is here.”

“Amen!

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

“Amen!”

I know where he come from. Yes, sir. He's a son of God. Yes, indeed. But that mule, that hybrid, squeezed off here and took his papers from one church over to another, and over to another one. Why don't you put it up there one time, on the Lamb's book of life, where it won't come off? Amen! You know I feel pretty religious right now, myself. Talk about ... I feel like I could shout. Yes, sir. Oh, sure. She didn't have to spray her over. Hybrid.

Oh, you say, “We got the best churches.” That's what's getting wrong with our Pentecostals—getting right the same thing. Oh, we think about some great big, fine building, some intellectual minister can stand up, and go out and endorse mixed bathing, and everything else, and all this other kind of nonsense. Let the women bob their hair, wear shorts, and everything else, and call it liberation of women. Nonsense! That's right. It's a sin, and a disgrace.

What we need today is a good old-fashioned St. Paul's revival, and the Bible Holy Ghost, and the power of God back into the church again, to bring it out. Yes, we do. That's exactly right.

[Tongues and interpretation come forth from the audience.] Blessed be the name of the Lord. How we thank God. Praise God. Yes, sir. Amen to that. We believe God sends it. Notice, and we accept it correctly. God wants real borned-again Christians. He wants men and women who are real sold-out to God, and not....

You know, Hollywood shines, and people are patterning too much ... we are too close to Hollywood. The gospel don't shine; it glows. Hollywood shines with glamour, and the church is shining with glamour; but the Holy Spirit glows with humility.

Here not long ago I was supposed to speak in Chicago, and a certain minister, because of the differences.... I didn't belong to his organization. They'd made a bid, and the people wanted me to come speak for them. I couldn't have done it anyhow, but he said, “Oh, no.” Said, “He's a regular crank.” Said, “All he does is bawl out people,” and so forth like that.

And he got some great big doctor of divinity to come. He come up with enough papers and intellectual sermon that would've done anything. He got up there, chest swelled out, great big turned-around collar, and begin to speak, you know, with his words so fluent, like that. And oh, my! And he found out it didn't go with children of God. They just sat there and looked.

And after a while he found out it didn't go. So he closed up all of his notes, and went down off the platform with his shoulders all humbled down like this.

There was an old saint sitting over in the corner, punched the other one, said, “If he would've went up the way he come down, he'd come down the way he went up.” That's just about the way it is today, brother. We ought to come down. We got to come down to the Holy Ghost again, down to the Bible, back to the real Word of God.

This poor little woman, she had all kinds of things to hinder her. When she got to Jesus, He called her a dog, and said, “It's not meet to take the children's food, and cast it to the dogs.”

And watch! If that'd been one of us Pentecostals, “Well, I'll never go back and hear that holy roller again. Yes, sir. People was right.”

But what with her? Not her. She had a hold of faith. She had something she was going to achieve—the healing of her daughter. No matter what He said. Look, the truth ... and humility will always admit the truth is right.

She said, “It's truth, Lord. I am not of your people. I'm not a Jew, and I am nothing but a dog. That's exactly right, Lord. And it's not meet for You to take the children's bread, and give it to us dogs. But Lord, the dogs eat the crumbs under the children's table.” She was only after crumbs! When ... we're not invited to crumbs; we're invited to the table. But she was after crumbs.

Remember, she was a Gentile. She had never seen a miracle. But something had anchored in her that she believed in one. She didn't have to see nothing done. He didn't have to prove to her He was Messiah.

She was like Rahab, the harlot. When the spies come and found Rahab, the harlot, they ... she didn't say, “Bring me up Joshua. Let me see how he wears his clothes, how straight he stands. Is he handsome? Does he comb his hair? How does he...?” She didn't..., “Let me see him do it.”

She said, “I have heard. That's enough for me. I've heard.” She was persistent. She said, “I know we're going to be destroyed. What can I do? Show me favor. Let me save my father's house.” Oh, her name's infallible. She's one of the great-grandmothers of our Lord Jesus Christ—certainly, because she believed.

Now, this woman said, “Lord, I know I'm no good. I know our nation is a bunch of heathens. But I know that we're nothing but a bunch of dogs, but I'm just searching for some crumbs, Lord. My daughter's sick over there, and I know you can do it.”

And then she fell down and worshipped Him. Oh, my! That just kills me. She fell down, said, “Truly, Lord, I'm nothing but a dog.” Look what the poor little thing had fought through to get there.

And then when she got there, and He called her a dog, and everything else, that didn't stop her faith. And sometimes we can be prayed for, and say, “Huh. There must not be nothing to it. Don't feel any different.” Abraham's seed, persistent, Christians, ought to bow our head in shame. That's right. Yes.

But she, no matter what ... even when she was in the presence of Jesus Christ and was rejected by Him, she still held on. Jesus said, “For this saying, the devil's left your daughter.”

See, she knowed how to approach the gift of God. She didn't come, say, “Well, I'll go see what He does. And if He can do these things, maybe it's mental telepathy; maybe it's psychology; maybe it's some hoax; maybe it's a make-up.” She'd have never got her healing that she asked for. But she come in the right way, and she received what she asked for. Faith always admits the Word is right. She was persistent.

Just a few more words now, before we close, a remark I want to make here. Martha: when she came to Jesus, she was persistent. Remember, Jesus had left her home, left Lazarus, and when he got sick.... And them people had left their church. They had done everything, and come out and entertained Him. They had seen Him do miracles; but when it come time for their family, He was gone.

And they sent messengers to Him, and He ignored the messenger, and went on further. And they sent another messenger, and He ignored that one. Sure. Went on.

Why? He just said, “I do nothing till the Father shows me.” The Father had told Him. Then when Lazarus died, He said, “I'm glad for your sake I wasn't there, but I go wake him.” Remember, at the grave He said, “I say this for their sake.” He knowed what was going to happen, 'cause the Father had showed Him.

But notice, He tried Martha. Here she come running out, and ... “Lord, if You would've been here, my brother would not have died.” Now, seemed like that she would have upbraided Him, and say, “Why didn't You come? Look what we've done for You. We've fed You. We've entertained You. We left our church, we left all of our friends to follow You, and everything. We come out of everything we was in to follow You. And then when our brother was sick, you....”

Looked like she had a right to do that. But sometimes you say we got a right, but you forfeit your rights. A lamb won't have nothing but wool. That's all he can bear. But he has to forfeit that.

I was telling some women here not long ago (shame them, dressing the way they do, with these little ... look like a skinned wiener with them dresses on like that) how they're going to have to answer at the day of judgment for committing adultery. You might be as pure as a lily to your husband, or to your boyfriend. But you remember, Jesus said, “Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already.” And when that sinner answers for committing adultery, who did it? You. My Pentecostal sisters, get back, come back to the old-fashioned.

That lady said, “Why, they don't even make no other dresses but that.” But they still make sewing machines, and sell goods. There's no excuse. That's right. It's exactly right. That's right. I believe that. So there's no excuses. We just might as well fold it up, and get back to the real gospel, and back to the Word of God again, and get right. That's right.

(Martha had a right.) She said, “Well, it's my American privilege if I want to do that.

I said, “Yes. But you said you was a Christian.”

She said, “I am.”

I said, “Then you're a lamb, and a lamb forfeits its rights.”

As an American Christian, American citizen, I've got a right to drink, smoke, do whatever I want to, buy liquor. But I forfeit that. I'm not of.... I live in this nation, but I'm a pilgrim. My home's above. Every other Christian that's born of above lives from above.

My wife, sitting out there, said to me.... We went to a supermarket. It's a strange thing at home. We found one woman had a dress on. All the rest of them.... And they sing in choirs, and everything. She said, “Billy, what is that?”

I said, “Honey, it's the American spirit.”

She said, “Aren't we Americans?”

I said, “No. We live here. This is our natural place. But we are from above. Our people act like up there. The spirit from up there come down on them. And if I go into another country, they say, ”That's a Yankee. He's from America.“ If you go to Germany, you got a German spirit; Switzerland, Switzerland spirit. Wherever you are, you got a spirit of that nation.

There's a spirit amongst people. Oh, mercy! Get to the right thing. It's false! If you can have a bogus, why not get a right one? Why would we forfeit the real thing for a bogus one, when the whole skies are full of genuine Pentecostal blessings? Why would we take a substitute for anything? Amen. Believe with all your heart. Don't you doubt a bit, but you believe that God's Word is right. Yes, sir.

Now. Martha walked up to Him, said, “Lord, if You would've been here my brother would not have died.” Oh, my! That's persistent, breaking through every barrier. “If You'd have been here, my brother would not have died.”

He said, “I am the resur.... Your brother shall rise again.”

She said, “Yea, Lord. He was a good boy. He'll come in the general resurrection.”

He said, “I am the resurrection and life. He that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

She said, “Yea, Lord. I believe that you are the Son of God that was to come into the world.”

No matter how much He had disappointed in other acts, the time had come where she caught faith. You know where I believe she got it? When she read the Bible, and seen where that Shunammite woman....

That day, God's representative.... God's never without a representative in the earth. Always, every age. And his representative then was a prophet, Elisha. And she was old, this Shunammite woman. Had no children. And Elisha prayed for her, and blessed her, and prophesied, and told her she'd have a child. And she had it. By about ten or twelve years old, the child must have had a sunstroke. He cried, “My head, my head!”, about the middle of the day. Father had a servant bring him in, sit him on the mother's lap. And the baby died. What an appropriate place to take the baby, and lay him on the prophet's bed, where the prophet had been laying.

And then she said, “Saddle a mule. Go straight, and don't you speak to anybody, but go on.”

And when the prophet come.... God don't always tell his prophets everything; just what He wants them to know. And said, “Here comes that Shunammite.” He said to Gehazi, said, “She's got sorrow in her heart, but God's kept it from me. He said, ”Is all well with thee? Is all well with thy husband? Is all well with the child?“

Look at that. I like that. She said, “All is well.”—her baby dead.

But she was before the servant of God. She knew if God could tell that servant she'd have the baby, he could tell why He took the baby. So she stood there. Then she fell down before him, begin to reveal.

Now, that's where I think Paul got laying handkerchiefs, you see. He said, told Gehazi, “Take my staff, gird up your loins. And if anybody speaks to you, don't you speak back. Just go on, lay this staff on the baby.” See, he knowed whatever he had touched was blessed, if he could just get the woman to believe it.

But the woman's faith wasn't in the staff; it was in the prophet. She held him. She said, “As the Lord God lives and your soul never dies, I'll not leave you.” And Gehazi ... I mean, Elisha went with her. And he went there, and laid his body upon that dead baby, walked back and forth in the room, put his face upon the baby, and the baby sneezed seven times, and come to life. And why? Because that Shunammite woman, “Don't stop. Don't have any social affairs. Get to the Word.”

And she knew ... Martha knew if Elisha ... if God was in Elisha to bring forth, to anchor that faith, how much more was He in Christ, the Son of God? So that's the reason she was very persistent in the face of Jesus. So was the Shunammite woman in the face of Elisha.

There's a woman just down the coast here I was telling about. She come up home, and I was ... come in. And the woman's from out here somewhere. She ... some of the people that's here knows the woman—the trustee, one of them, sitting here now, that helped pack her out. She had a fifty-pound tumor, out like this. And I'd walked into the church. I couldn't pray for the sick that night. I'd just come in. I was going to go out.

And so, that woman was so persistent, she had come so far, she had the deacons and trustees to pack her around to a little door where I went out. And when I went out there, she held her hand across and caught me by the leg. And she said, “Brother Branham, I believe that if you will ask God, God will heal me.”

And I just stopped, and laid my hand upon her. And I said, “Sister, may the God of heaven honor your faith.”

She was this big. They had to pack her. And so, they sat her down there at the little back door, at the back of the church. And about three months after that, she come through there shouting, and screaming, just as flat as I am.

And about a week or two ago down here at the Cow Palace at Los Angeles, the South Gate, I was saying something or another about it there one night. And she jumped up from there, and said, “Here I am yet.” Just perfectly normal.

Why? She was persistent. She had traveled, she had spent her living, she had come over every kind of a thing, in a little old trailer, trying to get there. They had to pack her food to her. And how her husband had to do! But she was persistent. She was going to stay with it. Sure. Her faith had a hold of the Word, and she was going to stay with it.

Micaiah, when there was four hundred well-dressed prophets standing there saying to Ahab and them, “Go up. The Lord's with you,” Micaiah said, “Go on up, if you want to. But the Lord told me, and I seen Israel scattered like sheep on a hill.” Why? When four hundred prophets prophesying contrary to what he was, how could he be so sure? Because his vision compared with the Word of God. That's the reason he knowed it. Oh, how I wish I had about an hour now to preach right there.

If your vision don't compare with the Word, forget about your vision. When you know your vision is lined in the Word.... The great prophet had told Ahab.... He cursed him, and told him that the dogs would lick his blood on account of righteous Naboth, the things he'd done. And how could God...?

No matter how much these prophets prophesied, and said.... Why, they had a reason, now. They said, “Look here. Ramoth-Gilead, Joshua gave that to us. That belongs to us. That corn that's being raised over there, it ought to be feeding the Israelites—not our enemy. Sure, that's right.” See, intellectually they thought it was right.

That's where you come intellectually trying to place something, and sometimes faith is very contrary to that. The doctor say, “Looky here. You can't live, man. This cancer's wrapped around you.” But let faith anchor there one time, and watch what happens.

Micaiah stood there in the midst of them. I can hear them meeting. You know, they'd put him out of the ministerial association. So they said, “Micaiah, if you'll prophesy the same thing the rest of the board does, you know, they might take you back.”

He said, “Me? I'll say only what God puts in my mouth to say.”

Oh, brother! What we need is some more Micaiahs, sons of Imlah, you know. And here he stood there with that great, powerful.... He said, “Go on up....” And he prophesied contrary, because he was.... With four hundred men standing, one of them smacked him in the mouth, even.

Said, “Take this fellow back, and put him in the inner courts in the jail, and put him in stocks. And when I return back I'll deal with him.”

He said, “If you come back at all, God didn't speak to me.” Why? He was persistent. He knowed where he was standing.

The blind man that had been born blind, his eyes were healed. He couldn't argue theology with them. They said, “We know this man is a devil. He don't agree with our organization.”

He said, “It's a strange thing to me. You're the leaders of the land, and here a man opened my eyes—had never been done in all the world that we ever knowed of—and then you, the religious leaders, you know not whence he come. That's a strange thing.”

He had pretty good theology to argue with, don't you think so? He sure did. One thing he knowed. He said, “Whether He's a sinner or not, I don't know. But wherein I was once blind, I can now see.” Amen. That's one thing he knowed for sure. He was persistent with it.

So was Nathanael persistent to recognize Him to be the Christ, when he saw that mysterious thing take place, when He said, “I saw you when you were under the fig tree.”

He said, “Thou art the Son of God, the King of Israel.”

That little woman was persistent at the well, when He told her she had five husbands. When He did that in front of the Jewish educational group, they said, “He's Beelzebub.”

But this little woman said, “I perceive that You're a prophet. We know when Messiah cometh, He'll tell us these things.”

He said, “I'm He.”

Now stop her. Into the city ... she said, “Come see a man who told me what I've done. Isn't this the very Messiah?”

How could you stop Simon Peter from preaching the gospel, even if he couldn't write his own name, when Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, and you're the son of Jonas”? He knowed that was Messiah. There's no way of stopping him.

Here not long ago down in Mexico (I'm closing), we was having a meeting there, and I had a great thing. It's a great Catholic country, and all of you, pretty near—you ministers—know General Valdina. He was the one taking me in.

The government ... the bishop of the Catholic church went up and told the president, said, “Well, you're bringing a non-Catholic in here.”

He said, “Well,” said, “General Valdina says he's a reputable person.”

Said, “Well, there isn't nothing like that in here.” Said, “We can't do that.”

He said, “They tell me that thousands of people come out to his meetings,” the president said.

He said, “Well, nothing goes out there but just the ignorant and unlearned.”

He said, “You've had them five hundred years. Why are they ignorant and unlearned?”

Guess that would crop off the feathers, see.

When we come down there, we had just three nights to stay. The second night there, I'll never forget it. An old Mexican come across the platform, poor old fellow. You all know Brother Espinoza, nearly all of you. I think he belongs to the Assemblies of God. He was my interpreter, standing by my side. “Businessmen's Voice” had to pack this article. You can't print nothing in print unless it can be proven, you see. So then here ... unless you're sticking your neck out for something that's in trouble.

So this poor old Mexican come across. He was blind. He couldn't see where he was going, you know. And he got close to me. He was barefooted, his old feet rough, his trouser legs tore off, up like that; an old ragged coat on, no shirt, an old hat in his hands sewed up with cord, dust all over.

I looked, and his white cataract eyes.... And he was going across there, and he reached down in his pocket, and got a little ... beads, and started with a “Hail, Mary,” you know. And so I told him, “Put them up.”

And Brother Espinoza stopped him. He put them in his pocket, and he mumbling off something in Spanish I couldn't understand—don't know Spanish.

So he began to mumble something, and I thought, “Poor old fellow.” And here I was in a good pair of shoes on, good suit. That old man maybe lived and never had nothing but a bunch of amoeba lettuce to make tortillas out of. And anyhow, get about....

Their economics are so poorly balanced, it's terrible. Maybe Pancho gets about.... He's a brick mason, get about fifteen pesos a day; but have to work about ten days to buy himself a pair of shoes. What about little Pedro, with ten kids, and making about three pesos a day? What's he going to do to feed them? Martina can have one tonight, and Pancho can have one. But somebody'd have to do without one, because they've got to save enough to buy a grease candle to burn on a million-dollar gold altar.

It's not right! I told them it wasn't right. I said, “It's not right! You have to pay nothing. Christ died to free you.” A million-dollar gold altar, with a candle on it; and starving people to death, with some priest to bless it. What's a candle got to do with it? Christ died. His blood saves us from sin and trespasses. It's a free gift of God. You don't do one thing to merit it. It's the grace of God.

He come across there. I took him in my arms, and I thought, “See if my shoes would fit him. I'll just slip them off.” There was a big banister there. Give him my coat. But his shoulders were much bigger, and his feet much larger.

I thought, “Poor old fellow. Probably never eat a decent meal in his life.” And I thought, “And there, nature.... Look what's happened to him. He's blind, poor old fellow. If my daddy would have lived, he'd have been about that age.”

You have to feel for people. If you can't, you can never help anybody. That's ... you've got to feel for them. You've got to take it upon yourself. And I just put my arms around him, and I said, “Heavenly Father, be merciful to this poor old man.” I said .... I looked out there, and I seen him standing, looking at me, out in front of me out there, with his eyesight. I knew if he ever opened his eyes, it was over.

I just waited a few minutes, and he hollered, “Gloria a Dios!” Glory to God! you know. There he could see as good as I could, walked around on the platform.

Next night, there was a.... Platform was just about as long as this, just piled that high of old shawls and things. And you talk about having to come and sit a half hour, or a hour or two in church! They come at eight o'clock that morning—not sit down—stand leaning against one another, leaning like sheep in that hot sun. And I wouldn't be there till nine or nine-thirty that night. They stayed all day long, nothing, just standing there, waiting to come.

That night, pouring down rain, they were so many (Oh, my!), that big ring out there, and I couldn't get in. They brought me around the other side, and put a rope around me, and let me down on the platform off the top of that ring—pouring down rain. Any of you know Brother Jack Moore? I guess many of you do. And he was with me, and Brother Espinoza, down there in Mexico City.

And I got out, started to preach. And I was preaching “Faith the Substance of Things Hoped For, the Evidence of Things not Seen,” and Brother Espinoza giving the interpretation. And as I was preaching, Billy come, my son, and caught me by the coat. Said, “Daddy, you're just going to have to do something.”

I said, “What's the matter?”

He said, “A little woman standing over there....” Said, “I've got 150 ushers or more, standing out there.” And said, “Mañana....”

I called him ... Mañana means tomorrow. That's the slowest man I ever seen in my life. He was supposed to pick me up at seven o'clock, and he'd get me about nine. So then, I always called him Mañana. And he'd give out the prayer cards, and he'd done give out all the prayer cards.

And a little Mexican woman who had brought her baby over—Catholic, now—to be prayed for the night before.... And I talked about the Bible, how Jesus was ... she had watched that discernment go out there, and pick out those people out in that audience, and see them rise up off them cots—simple, just believing it—and seen them rise up like that.

She had a little sick baby there with pneumonia, trying to keep it quiet. She didn't get a prayer card or nothing, and it died the next morning about nine o'clock in the doctor's office. And here she took that baby. Instead of taking it to the mortuary, she brought it over there, and stood in that rain all day long with that dead baby. And Mañana never give her a card. She didn't have a card, and she wasn't going to be in the prayer line, but she was determined to get there anyhow.

And they had 150, 200 ushers that couldn't stop that little woman. She would run between their legs, jump over their shoulders, get up on top of their shoulders, and start jumping from one another, with a dead baby in her arms—a little bitty woman.

And Billy come to me, and said, “Daddy, you're just going to have to go over there and do something about it, because we can't do nothing with her. She's disturbing that whole section, the place over there.”

I said, “Brother Jack Moore....” I said, “Brother Jack, go down and pray for her. She don't know me, and she won't know but what it's me. She can't speak English. And just go tell her, and go pray for the baby.”

He said, “All right, Brother Branham.”

He started off, and I said, “Brother Espinoza....” Brother Espinoza may be here. Are you here, Brother Espinoza? How many knows Brother Espinoza? The Mexican.... Sure, I knowed you did. So, he was standing there, and I said, “Brother Espinoza, go ahead, say ... was I saying.” I said, “As I was saying now, as the Lord Jesus, by faith he operates his gi....”

I looked, standing here in front of me, and there was a little Mexican baby with no teeth—just laughing, looking at me. I thought, “That must be that baby.” I said, “Don't say it, Brother Espinoza. Wait a minute.” Brother Jack was going off the platform about then. I said, “Just a minute, Brother Jack.” I walked over. I said, “Billy, open up the line, and bring her up.”

They was holding her down because it wasn't right. The other people had prayer cards, and they'd come there and got the cards. So they have to treat everybody right. Or you let one come without a card, then you got a riot, sure enough, in something like that. So she had to wait.

So I said, “Open up and bring her.”

And he said, “Daddy, she hasn't got a prayer card.”

I said, “Bring her on.”

Said, “What's the matter?”

I said, “I just seen something.”

So they brought her up. And here she come up there and she knelt down on the floor, and she said, “Padre.”

I said, “No, no, no. Get up.” A beautiful little woman, looked to be about in her twenties, and a little Mexican thing in her little hair, hanging down over her shoulders like that, and her great big eyes, and the tears running down her cheeks.

She said, “Padre...,” saying something, and I said....

Brother Espinoza said, “I bring to you, father, my baby. He's dead.”

And I said, “Since when did he die?”

Said, “Nine o'clock this morning, at the doctor's office.”

“What was wrong?”

“Pneumonia.”

So Brother Espinoza ... I put my hand on top of that wet blanket, just soaking wet, and it pouring down rain. And I put my hand on that little wet blanket.

I said, “Heavenly Father, I don't know the persistence of this little woman. But a few moments ago when I looked out on the audience, I seen a little baby looking at me grinning out there.” She had the blanket laying over, holding it like this. I said, “If that was the baby, because of this little woman being so persistent that You're going to heal the baby....”

And about that time it went “Wah!” and began to kick its legs like that. It was alive!

I said, “Brother Espinoza, don't put that.... Put a runner after that woman, and go down to the doctor's office and let him sign a statement.”

And he found the doctor, and the doctor signed the statement. “I pronounced the baby ... respiration all gone this morning at nine o'clock.”

The baby was cold and stiff, and been dead since nine o'clock that morning, and come to life because a little woman was persistent. She had seen something happen, and she wasn't going to take “No” for it. That goes to show that the same God that was inspiring this little Greek woman could inspire a Spanish woman. And He can inspire the same thing tonight, if you'll believe it. Do you believe it? Oh, be perseverant!

Lord Jesus, I believe that You are the Son of God. You suffered under Pontius Pilate. You were crucified, died, buried, rose again the third day, and alive forevermore.

You promised “A little while and the world [cosmos, world order] will see me no more. Yet ye shall see me, for I [personal pronoun] will be with you, even in you, to the end of the world.” Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.

“I believe You, Lord. I am persistent tonight. Faith has caught a hold somehow. I believe that You'll heal me. I believe that You'll save me. I believe that You'll give to me the desire of my heart, and I'm holding on to You.”

Let us bow our heads just a moment now. In your own way, silently pray just for a moment now, praying “Lord Jesus, be merciful to me.”

Now, Lord, this church, this group of people, is waiting patiently. I have spoke extensively. They're praying, Lord. I have told them that You're not dead, that You've raised from the dead. I've give them every promise. I told them last night the promise that You've made, how that the ending up of Abraham's time, ending up of the Jews, the Samaritans....

And now, at the end of the Gentile's age, here You come to do the same thing. The Pentecostal age started about forty, fifty years ago, right here on the West Coast. How they spoke with tongues, and interpreted, the power of God among them! How they seen the sick healed, everything take place!

But now the last sign has struck among them. You're coming, Lord. Not much longer. That's why I'm standing here tonight, Lord. I believe You. O God! Make these people persistent. May the seed that's been sown anchor down into the hearts of the people. May they see it. May they believe it. May they have faith and believe You with all their heart.

ACTS2:41,47

Now, Father God, the old trend is to lay hands upon the sick. We know that's the way they do it. The old trend was come to the altar, kneel down and pray. But in the Bible it said, “As many as believed was added to the church,” was baptized. We believe in all these things. We still think it served a good purpose, and it's good. We believe it.

But how much greater, when Jairus said, “Come lay your hand on my daughter, and she'll live.” But the Roman, the Gentile, said, “I'm not worthy that You come under my roof. Just speak the word, and my servant will live.”

You said, “I've never seen faith like that in Israel.” God, may we never let it down. May we be able ... may what I'm trying to do, God, to let the people see that You are their Saviour. You're the one who does the healing. You're the one who furnishes the faith. God, I pray that they will not doubt. And then, when ... if they will not doubt, then faith will come automatically right into their hearts, and they'll understand.

Let us see You, Lord. One day after the resurrection, Cleopas and his friend was on the road down to Emmaus. And they talked with Him all day long, and they didn't know Him. But late that evening, He went in the room with them, and they closed the doors. And then He did something just the way He did it before his crucifixion, and they knew that no one else did it that way, and they knew it was Him. So, they hurried back and told the people, after He had vanished out of their sight, that truly the Lord is risen.

Father God, we've laid aside our task of the day. We're here tonight. The room is closed in. Come, Lord. Do something among us tonight, just like You did before your crucifixion, that we might light-heartedly, like they were, go back along the road saying, “Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us along the way?” Grant it, Lord.

One word from You will confirm everything that I've said. And if I've said the truth.... And I know, Lord, You'll only confirm truth. You'll have nothing to do with lies and errors. You'll only confirm the truth. Now, Father, I pray that You will confirm what's been said to be truth.

I commit myself to You with your Word, with your congregation of people, and their faith that they have accumulated. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray that You'll move on the scene, now, and prove to be with us after two thousand years. There's no death to Him. He's alive, forevermore. Grant it, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

I'd like to ask the congregation.... Now, just fixing to close, just a moment. And I'll ask you, if you will, be just as reverent as you can for about three minutes. We're just a little too late to call a prayer line, but I'd just like to ask this question before we close. Is there somebody here that's convinced that He's the Son of God, and you're not a Christian? I can only ask you.

I know it's proper to give great long altar calls, and so forth. But we shouldn't do that—and sympathetic stories. But if you don't come upon the basis of the Word of God, it doesn't make any difference. See, you're not there anyhow. You've got to come knowing that you're a sinner, and Jesus died in your stead. You've got to come and confess your sins. Are you here...? And I won't call you up here. I'm just going to ask you, while you're here, and you're convinced that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and you are a sinner in need of Him, would you just raise your hands and say, “Brother Branham, I believe in your prayer. Pray for me. I am a sinner, and I want you to pray for me.” That's all I'll ask you to do.

We don't give no gold stars out, and this, and make so many of this. I don't believe in that. If the Holy Spirit can't make you know that you're are a sinner, then there's no need of me trying, see. So then, if you believe that you're a sinner, and need Christ, say, “Pray for me, Brother Branham.” Raise up your hand. I'll do it.

All of you Christians? How many Christians are here, then? Raise up your hands. All that's filled with the Spirit, and Christians? Praise God. That's good, fine. All right.

Is there sick people here then? Raise up your hand that's sick. I'm here as God's servant to serve you. Raise up your hand. You say, “I have need of God, and I have something wrong with me.” Pray.

You without prayer cards now. I just want the ones without prayer cards, 'cause the prayer cards ... probably tomorrow night, or whatever. When we do, we'll pray for everyone that's got prayer cards. You without prayer cards, I want to say something to you.

Last night, I told you, and tonight I tell you again, we know what He did when He was here on earth. If He was back here again on earth tonight in a physical body He would do the same thing He did then because He is the same. Is that right? Now, what would be any more than to see the Holy Spirit move in this audience like this, and perform the very works, and prove to you that Jesus Christ, your Saviour, is right here among you? How it ought to thrill your souls. How you ought to say.... Oh, mercy! There's nothing....

I seen that done one time in South Africa. One time on the platform, and thirty thousand blanket natives broke their idols on the ground, and come to Jesus Christ. Ten thousand Mohammedans. You know, they work for years to change one of them. That's the old Medo-Persia. It don't change, see. That's right. Bombay, India, I don't know, I just don't know how many. You couldn't number them—just oceans of black hands up. One time.

Now, we Pentecostal people who claim to kiss the rim of the golden blessings of the cup of God, how can we stand still, and see the Holy Spirit moving around us? Christ Himself with his Word, proving that He's here? And then just sit still, and say, “Well, I wish that something'd take place.” He can do no more.

And remember, I'm telling you, in the name of the Lord.... If you believe me to be his servant, in the name of the Lord, you'll see no greater sign than you're seeing now. You'll never see it. Now, you mark it down in your Bible. If you do, then you call me up. You're seeing your last thing. Just remember, the church is going. It's going into Laodicea—just where she's at now.

Now you pray. You believe. Now, just be real reverent. No matter where you are, just pray. Be real quiet. See, each one of you is a spirit. And when that Holy Spirit comes to the anointing, every spirit that moves, see, you can feel it. It's just tense. That's the reason Jesus led a man outside of the city to heal him. Too many there, see, too much.... He took ... at Jairus' house and put them all out before He rose his daughter, raised her up, see. Just too much unbelief. They was laughing at Him and everything, see. You can't do it where unbelief is. It just won't work.

But I'm asking God tonight to prove that I've told you the truth. Let Him speak. Men can speak.... But I've told you the truth. You be persistent, and say, “Tonight is my time. That little old preacher don't know me, knows nothing about me. But, God, You're a high priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities, and I'm touching You by faith. I believe I have it. Let me touch You, Lord. Then You speak back through Brother Branham and tell me, like You did when You spoke through Christ, the Son of God, and told Him the woman with the blood issue, and blind Bartimaeus, and all the rest that He did like that. By a vision tell me.” You pray. Just be in prayer.

There's a lady sitting right back here to my left, right through here, on the end of the row. She's suffering with trouble with her ears. You believe that God will heal you and make you well, lady? You, that's looking at me. You believe He'll heal your ears, and make you well? You do? All right. Have you a prayer card? You don't have a prayer card. You don't need one. See, that's that unknown faith that you have. You wasn't ... didn't even expect it hardly, but faith is a hidden thing. Now you just believe with all your heart. But if you don't believe, and won't accept it, your ears will get worse. Now just remember. If you'll believe it, you've touched something.

What about down through here, down through this part of the aisle? Somebody that's got faith, that wants to believe? Just touch his garment. Not me—won't do a thing—I'm just a sinner. Here's a man. Yes, right then, when he bowed his head, right here, praying, “Let it be me, Lord.”

Stomach trouble. That's your trouble. I'm a stranger to you. Is that right? That's your trouble, though, isn't it? Got a peptic condition, sour in the stomach, and everything, always upset. You've had it for a long time. Let me tell you something else. You're not from here. This is not your home. You're from Portland. You believe with all your heart, now, you can go back, be made well. You accept it, and believe it will be made well? God bless you. Go on your road, believe.

There's a lady sitting right back here, looking at me right here. There's that ... can't you see that light over that woman? Look here. Look real close, right here, see. She's suffering with an arthritis. If you'll believe with all your heart, you can be healed of the arthritis. Mrs. Trapp, if you'll believe with all your heart.... She's going to miss it. I never seen the woman in my life. I seen it was fixing to leave you, lady. That's the reason I had to call your name. Don't get strange at that. Jesus of Nazareth told Simon Peter who he was, and who his father was, see. He's the same Jesus.

Now, if I'm a stranger to you, lady, raise up your hand—the lady that was just called. Sure. Never seen her in my life. She's just a woman sitting there. You believe it. Do you believe? That proves the presence of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Here sits a woman sitting right here looking at me. There's a dark shadow over her. She'll die, if something don't help her. She's got cancer. You believe that God will heal you, and make you well? If you do, you can be healed. But you got to believe it. Have faith. Don't doubt it.

I see that cancer dance, that sign, from over that ... went over on a man. He's sitting looking at me. You believe with all your heart, sir, that God will heal that cancer on your hand, and make you well? I'm a stranger to you, but God knows you. By the way, you should believe it. You're a missionary, wanting to go back to Formosa again to preach the gospel. You believe God can tell me who you are? You know I'm a stranger to you. You believe God can tell me who you are? Mr. Graves, believe with all your heart, and you can go back, and be healed, made well.

Do you believe Him? Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. You believe? How many believe it with all your heart, raise up your hand. Now, in his presence, why don't you lay your hands on one another and let me pray for you here? See. And it concerns me. It will help me to go on. There it is, across the building. Go talk to these people. You know where they've been, six or seven of them, or whatever it was here. Just ask them. Some of you in the audience, in the balcony back there, believe.

I challenge any of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, believe it. Be persistent. Hold on to it. I challenge you to lay your hands on one another as believers, and pray for one another, and believe that you'll get well, and you'll do it.

I challenge any person that's been a sinner and hasn't believed, to stand on your feet now and ask for mercy, and you shall obtain mercy, if you mean it from your heart, if you held back a while ago—which, there's a dozen of you sitting in here that ought to've raised up as sinners. Now tell me I don't know; I do know. Now I know you're sitting there unbelieving. I could call your names. You know that.

How many's been in meetings, and seen that done before? Sure you have. But what it does, it hurts the congregation they come from. Jesus said, “Let the weeds and wheat grow together.” He's the one that will bind it up, see. But you're sitting here. How could you hide yourself? You had better stand and accept Christ. Let me tell you, you'll never be any closer in his presence till you see Him face to face.

For let me say to you, here's my Bible here before me, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has raised from the dead. He's here tonight, in the form of the Holy Ghost. He's the one that permits this work to be done. Remember. Believe Him.

Put your hands on one another now, and let's pray one for the other. I'm going to pray for these handkerchiefs first. And while I'm praying, you be praying for the person you've got your hands on. They'll be praying for you.

Heavenly Father, I bring these handkerchiefs to You. They are representing sick people. We're taught that one day Israel was on its line of duty, going to the promised land, and the Red Sea got right in the way. Israel, in the line of duty, following the commandments of God, and the Red Sea got right in its way, to cut them off from the promise. One writer said that God looked down through that pillar of fire, and the sea got scared. And it rolled back itself and made a dry path for Israel to cross over in the promised land. You're still the same God tonight.

Sickness and disease has cut people off from walking right in the line of duty. And You said, “Above all things, I would that You prosper in health.” And may the God who gave the promise not only look through the pillar of fire, but through the blood of his own Son, Jesus Christ. And may them diseases get scared, and move back off of the people. For we ask it in the name of Jesus Christ.

Now, Satan, you who've bound the people and hindered them all these years, kept them bound in sickness, we come as representatives of Christ. And we adjure thee by Him, who gave us the authority to do so, leave the people. Come out of them in the name of Jesus Christ.

May the power that raised Christ from the grave break every doubt above the people's hearts, that they might receive their healing just now, in the name of Jesus Christ.

All that believe it, stand up on your feet in the name of Jesus Christ, and accept your healing, regardless of what's wrong with you. Amen! I will praise Him, give Him praise everyone.

I will praise Him, I will praise Him,

Oh, praise the Lamb for sinners slain;

Give Him glory all ye people,

For his blood has washed away each stain.

Now to get the coldness off, and the shackles broke from around us, the spooks drove away.... What's the matter, people? Can't you realize that we're entering in after the message into a spirit of worship? Let's just raise our hands to God, and worship Him, and say:

“Praise the Lord. Praise be to God. Thanks be to the Father, who gives us the Son of God, resurrected from the dead, alive forevermore; Alpha, Omega, the beginning and the end; the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the morning star; He that was, which is, and shall come; the root and offspring of David.

How we praise You, almighty God, for your omniscient presence, for your visitation to us tonight; for the power of your resurrection; for the assurance of salvation; for your great manifestation of your word in this last days that You promised that You would do it. In the face of criticism and formality, and everything, You still remain God—the same God yesterday, today, and forever. How we thank You for it, Father. Amen, amen.

Oh, don't you feel good? Say, “Praise the Lord.” Oh, that don't sound like Pentecost to me. “Praise the Lord!” That sounds better. Amen! Glory to God! I love Jesus! Praise God! Amen!

I will praise Him, (Let's raise our hands

now. Sing it.)

I will (make it ring out) praise Him,

Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;

Give Him glory all ye people,

For his blood can wash away each stain.

Do you love Him? Say, “Amen.” Do you love your neighbor? Say, “Amen.” Now let's shake hands with one ... somebody around you, in front of you. Just stand still. Just shake hands with somebody around you, saying, “Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.” Don't you feel good? Amen. Now, let's sing it again.

I will praise Him (raise your hands),

I will praise Him (real big now),

Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;

Give Him glory all ye people,

For his blood has washed away each stain.

Let's bow our heads now just a moment. Do you believe in an old-fashioned revival? Do you believe in the power of God? Do you believe in old time religion? Oh, it don't whitewash, but washes white, and makes clean as snow. Do you believe it with all your heart? Let's pray hard, now, that God will start one of them revivals. Let's put our shoulders, friends.... We've got to keep pressing, pressing. Let's be persistent. We must see this happen. It must happen. We must do it.

Now, while you have your heads bowed, I'm going to present the pastor, now, the chairman of the meeting, here at the platform, and let him take the service to whatever....