Lord, I believe; Lord, I believe,
All things are possible; Lord, I believe.
Let us bow our heads just a moment for prayer, and in the sacredness of this moment, knowing that we have gathered again, assembled here in the name of the Lord, to worship Him. I wonder, in this audience, if there'd be one who might have a special request that you'd like to make it known to God, tonight, as you lift your hands to be remembered in prayer. Down in the basement, and in the balconies, and around the place, just the same, He sees your hands.
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Almighty God, the creator of heavens and earth, we come to Thee, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Because, we have been promised if we would come in his name, we would have our petition. So we pray, Father, that You will forgive us first of anything that's in our way, that our prayers would be hindered tonight, may the blood of the Lord Jesus just now atone for that, as we humbly confess our wrong. We pray for each request, each one of those hands that went up. You know what was below that hand, Lord, the meaning. And I pray that You'll answer it according to Your great wisdom, Lord, that we understand that You know all things, and knowed it from the beginning.
And we pray this will be a night that'll be long remembered, because of Your presence being with us. As we stand tonight at this Thanksgiving, closing of the day, a great celebration across the nation, of how good You were to our forefathers, we too turn our heads to thank You, Lord, for what You've done for us. Now we pray that You'll grant all these things that we ask, for we ask them in Jesus Christ's name, and for His honor. Amen. (You may be seated.)
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I'm indeed thankful for the privilege of being here again, tonight, assembled in this Life Tabernacle auditorium, to speak to the people.
We're sorry. Brother Moore said they had never had, in the history of the church, so many people. They've turned more away, tonight, than they ever did in all the history of the church, from the front out there. Every place is packed inside, outside, basement, around the walls, and in the corridors and out onto the streets, and still the people are coming. So we are thankful that there is still a hunger to hear God's Word, and now we're grateful for this.
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And now, if the Lord willing, tomorrow night we may start praying for the sick people, as we usually have a night, or two, when we're here in these conventions, that we pray for the sick. And the Lord has certainly been blessing us recently of those things.
I was telling you this morning about the wife, and how that now for most three years, about, oh, five or six years ago, by taking ahold of her hand one night trying to show someone, another woman, what a vibration, you know, and she had nothing wrong with her, I found her with a tumor. The doctor couldn't find it. Three or four years passed, he couldn't find it.
Finally it showed up, about two years ago, started growing quickly; from the size of a walnut, size of a lemon, now to the size of a grapefruit. The physician . . . We was holding on, for faith. And the physician said, “You just must take it out. It's going to turn malignant. You got to be done.”
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And yesterday, or day before, knowing that yesterday she was to go for her final, before the examination, I knelt in the room, prayed . . . all my heart. And when I raised up, or started . . . Before I raised up, He told me what to say. And I raised up. And the doctor can't find a trace of it, anywhere. It's all gone, just gone, and no more.
I called her again awhile ago, and she was so happy. She said, “Last week,” said, “Bill, the pains was so bad I couldn't even sit still, couldn't sleep at night, nor nothing.” Said, “Every time I tried to turn, that big tumor turned inside.” And said, “I've got the words of the doctor here, he said, 'Mrs. Branham . . .' ” As soon as she come from the table, her and some of the sisters. “Said, 'There's not one trace, I don't know what's happened.' Said, 'There is not one trace.' And He said, 'Stand up.' And what He said do, I did it. And, the Lord answered the rest.”
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I'm looking down here on an old friend of mine. Not long ago, a friend by the name . . . He's a German. His name is D-a-u-c-h, I think, the way he spells his name. But we call him Dauch, 'cause I can't say that German word right. Ninety-one years old. I baptized him in the name of Jesus Christ not long ago. A fine man, a great supporter was to Oral Roberts and many of the men. But when he come one day to the Tabernacle, he didn't have no clothes, he wanted to be baptized, anyhow.
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The other day, he was ninety-one years old. He not only had a heart attack but a complete heart failure. His wife sitting there, is a long-past registered nurse. They had him in the hospital at Lima, Ohio, with some of the most famous doctors they had in the country. Not a chance for him to live an hour or more, he was gone; a heart failure, ninety-one years old, and a heart attack. I thought, “Poor Brother Bill Dauch, probably see him the last time. I must try to get to him.” I prayed all night. When they told me he was laying with a heart failure, I knew, at ninety-one years old, he couldn't come out.
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So, such a good friend of mine, and to my family, and I started to meet him, the next morning. On the road up, I was thinking, “What a fine man he was!” And I thought, “Someday I'll see him again.” And I went in to . . .
I drove fast, and I had a tire cutting, I didn't even have time to have it balanced or taken . . . a wheel out of line, just cut the tire to pieces going up them concrete highways. And I went in, I said, “I just haven't got time to change it.”
The man said, “You'll blow it out in another two hundred miles.”
I said, “I just haven't got time, sir. Thank you. Just let it blow out.” And I said, “I got a spare. I got to get to a friend that's dying.”
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I started to walk around there. And I looked up, and there come a vision. I seen Brother Dauch sitting in the church. I looked at him, coming, here he come down the street, and took ahold of my hand and shook it. He said, “Go tell him, 'Thus saith the Lord.'”
Here he sits. And about the very next service, I happened to look down there, and there sat Brother Dauch sitting in church, drove down three hundred miles from Ohio. I went to New York last week, there he sat in New York, right in the midst of all that. Here he is down at Shreveport, tonight, sitting here now.
When I pass through the portals of time, into eternity, if God so lets me pass in peace, someday I'll shake his hand on the other side, 'cause the same God.
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A few days ago, great things, I just can't go into tell you just what's happened in the last few days. It looks like that, I believe, in the last . . . since that experience in Colorado, a few weeks ago, the Lord has been more graciously to me, to answer prayer. And there is supposed to be a third stage, you know, of the ministry; and I can never tell it, what it is. And so I believe the Lord is with us and is going to do great things.
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Tonight, I thought, being that this was the Thanksgiving celebration, instead of preaching, I would just take like a Sunday school lesson, and lay the foundation for the service that's . . . or healing service, any service, the foundation of the gospel. And I had the brother to read out of the book of Exodus, the 12th chapter. I'm going to continue to read just . . . or just read out of there another portion that he read, over. I'd like to come back to get my thought. The 12th verse of the 12th chapter, and the 13th verse, I think it is.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
And the blood shall be unto you a token upon the house where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not come upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
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That's an outstanding scripture to me. And now I have many, many scriptures here wrote down, and some notes that I'd like to talk a few minutes from. And I would not . . . just try to make it like a Sunday school lesson, so that we'll clearly understand.
And I'm looking for a time of a break forth, of the Spirit of God, in these last days that we're now living in; for another surge of the Holy Spirit, into the church; for a rapturing faith, just before He comes. And everything is sitting straight in order for that. And I believe that we're now at the time that the Word should have preeminence. I believe that the time to lay aside our creeds and our thoughts, and come back to the Word.
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God, in every age, as I spoke last evening, He told the end from the beginning. He told what would be in each generation. Also, “God, in the sundry times, He sent forth the prophets.” When each time come for those things to happen for that age, He sent forth prophets. And the Word of the Lord always comes to His prophets, the prophet for that age. And each time, only thing that prophet did was to manifest, exactly, the promise for that age.
And when the day our Lord Jesus came on the scene, He was the manifestation of the Word for that age. He was Isaiah 9:6, “Unto us a child is born,” and so forth. And then He was also Isaiah 35 Isaiah 28:19, the same. Those, all those scriptures that were foretold, He came forth to manifest that Word. He did exactly what was supposed to be done in that day. For the Word. . . . This book is the Word, and the Word is God.
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And now it's already laid out. It just takes someone to come on the scene to manifest those promises —faith in the call of God. And I know we've been down through a lot of impersonation, and so forth. Moses and Aaron run into the same thing. But, when that comes up, stand still. Moses, when he met those supersensory perceptionists, he just let them go. They were doing exactly what he did, but he waited until the full manifestation took place. And it's promised the same thing would take place in the last days. For as Jambres and Jannes withstood Moses, so will men of this day. But, now, that doesn't stop the promise. That'll only magnify the promise. That'll make it real.
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Now I want you to notice, tonight, what we're going to speak on is: “The Token.” A Token!
Now, the first, I want you to notice what the order of this is, the order of the Passover. It must be a male sheep, and it must be tested for fourteen days. What a perfect type it is of Christ, the antetype, a male, a lamb, and He was tested for 3+ years of His ministry, through critics and everything, the clergy of that day, but was proved to hold fast to the Father's Word. Even in the presence of Satan, He said, “It is written. It is written.” Constantly He defeated the enemy, on the Word.
A perfect example for us today, always defeat the enemy with the Word of God that's written for the day!
And He said to them, “Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they that testify of me.” In other words, “If I don't do what the Scripture says is supposed to be done in this day, then I'm an unbeliever. But then who can accuse me of sin?” Sin is unbelief. He manifested every promise that God made for that day. He fulfilled it. He met the day because He was the Messiah, and that was the day of the Messiah.
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Now we notice that in the evening time the lamb was killed after dinner, in the late of the evening. The same way that the Lamb was killed!
Now notice, the whole congregation of Israel was . . . had to kill the lamb. And it was Israel who witnessed for His death and called for His blood. We'll speak on that tomorrow night if the Lord poss. . . if it's possible and please the Lord, “Blood on the hands.”
And notice, this blood was not mixed with anything else. It could not be mixed it was just blood, alone, of that lamb. And it must be struck upon the lintel and the doorpost. It could not be mixed.
That's what today, they're trying to mix everything else with this, creeds and affiliations, and all kinds of entertainments and everything, but it won't mix! There is absolutely, it will not mix with anything. The blood would not mix.
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And it must be eaten, ready, dressed people ready for the journey. When this was applied, the people must be ready for the journey.
It isn't for the unbeliever, standing outside and sympathizing with it. It's for the believer that's already under the blood, already dressed, shod, staff in his hand, his loins girded, and ready for traveling.
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The reason I chose this today, a thanksgiving day, a celebration, for it's a celebration today, of our pilgrim forefathers that God blessed to come over here to start a nation. And they did, and a mighty nation. It stands above everything in the world today, in all of its corruption, but it has to fall. It never did get big, according to the Scriptures. It never got old. It was a youth, a lamb. “The lamb then spake like the dragon before him.” It come up out of not waters, thickness and multitudes of people, but it come up out of the earth. So we find out that the lamb had two horns, which was civil and ecclesiastical power; of course, they go together now to speak like a dragon, form an image to the beast, and we still have the freedom of worshipping God in this nation.
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And now we bow our heads around our table today, to thank God for the natural food that He has grown for us and fixed for us this year. And if He had not did that, we'd've all died. Because, the only way that you can physically live, is because something has to die everyday so you can live. If you eat beef, the cow died. If you eat sheep, well, it died. If you eat potatoes, it's life, it died. If you eat greens, it died. You only live by dead substance. And if something doesn't die, you do not live.
And if something has to die so you can live physically, how much more is it that something had to die so you could live eternally. And it's by the substance of this death that I'm speaking of tonight, that we are alive tonight. Something has to die. The Passover was a type of Christ—our eternal life. Now we want your undivided attention.
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A token. He said, “The blood shall be unto you a token,” a sign. “A token,” according to Webster, “is a sign of a price that has been paid.” A token is the sign that a price has been paid.
Like the railroad companies and the bus companies. You go in and you want to have . . . You only ride on the bus by a token in many places, or the railroads. You purchase your fare, you pay for it, and they give you a token that your fare has already been paid. So that's what you have to have to get on the streetcar or the railroad company.
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Israel's lamb, slain, was the requirement of Jehovah. To escape death, there must be a substitute death. And Jehovah required the slain lamb, and the blood was a token that the requirement had been made. Now, the blood was a sign that something had died, and the blood itself was the token. It was saying that “This house has met the requirements of Jehovah's word, and therefore it is protected by this token, that our fare has been paid.”
What a beautiful type here Christ is to this. What a type of our token of today!
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The life was come from the sacrifice. And now the blood was the token, His orders had been carried out. The blood! Jehovah didn't have to see you kill the lamb. You just had the blood on the door when the death angel went through, and it was a token that the lamb had died. The blood was the token that Jehovah's requirements had been met in this house, and that the price had been paid, and the token was that. “When I see the token, I will pass over you.” When the token's there . . . showed the price. See, the blood was not death, but it was the token of the death. “When I see the blood, I'll know the death price has been made, so I'll pass over you.”
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Watch, see, the believing worshipper was identified with his sacrifice, by the token. The worshipper who believed Jehovah, and had met Jehovah's requirement, had identified himself by applying the token to himself and to his house, that was, the worshipper believed that. A perfect type of Christ of this day! Then, the blood was a token of identification, that this believer has already met Jehovah's requirement. “And I am sure the death angel will have to pass from my house, because I have met Jehovah's token. A lamb has died, instead, for my family and my loved ones that's under this blood, and there is the token that the lamb is dead.” Amen. “There's the token. God's requirements has been satisfied.” Amen. When I think of it, my heart jumps for joy.
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Now, the animal life could not come back upon the believer, so therefore the blood had to stand for the token. See, the blood, wrapped up into the animal which was started from a single cell of blood, had made all this blood that was in the animal. When this blood was separated, the life left the animal. Now, the worshipper, identifying himself with the blood, had to show the literal chemical of the blood. Why? That's all he could show because the life of the animal could not come upon the human being, because the life of the animal doesn't have a soul. But the human being has a soul. Therefore the life could not come back, so the blood had to stand for the token of the death.
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Now we have a token in this day. We've been given a token which is an antetype of that type. Of that natural token, we've been given the supernatural, supreme token. All that that foreshadowed has been given to this generation, has been given the token. Now we have the Holy Ghost, is our token, and it is our identification that we have accepted the death of the Lamb. Not only was Jesus just a human life to come back on us, but it was God Himself manifested in flesh, that brought back upon us the adoption of sons, that now we are sons and daughters of God. That is the token. It's our identification of the Passover. It's our identification that we have believed God, and God has accepted.
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Back there they didn't have the gospel as we have it today, it was taught in forms and it went through rituals, because the Holy Spirit wasn't given.
But, today, we have the substance. We don't have just the form, or just the chemicals; you could not take the blood of Jesus Christ and apply it to every heart. But God sent back the Holy Ghost, that's the token was upon the human, in the human's heart. And that is your identification that you have accepted God's plan, met Jehovah's requirements; He met them for you at Calvary, and you have met them on your knees. And God has give you the token sign, the return of the Spirit was upon Christ, is in you, and a guarantee identification of His life, death, burial, and resurrection, and alive forevermore, now in the believing church. Amen. It's a positive token—a token sign. That can. . . .
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It will be evil spoken of, sure. That's what it's there for. Egypt made fun of it, so does the people today. But still it's God's required token. They couldn't put the blood, the chemical blood of Jesus upon him like they did the lamb; because they put the chemical blood of the lamb upon him, because there was no life in the lamb that could come back on the worshipper. But here the life that was in the blood . . . Which, the life is in the blood. Now the blood was shed at Calvary, bathed upon the ground, and we have the token of the blood, which is the baptism of the Holy Ghost, to identify us as believers.
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“And these signs shall follow them that believe,” not just professors, but identified believers! “They may not follow. They probably will, perhaps they will. . . .” Jesus said, “They shall follow them that believe.” Just absolutely impossible for it not to happen! “The works that I do shall you also.” That's the identification. Jesus' identification was to manifest the Word of God, which He was. And the church's identification today is to manifest the promised Word of this day, by the same Spirit that manifested and quickened the Word then. The same Spirit quickens the Word to the believer today and manifests the same thing, showing that the token is on this person, which is the resurrected life of Jesus Christ living in His believer. Oh, that ought to set a church afire! And that's true, just as true as it can be.
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We have to identify ourself with our sacrifice. We have to be identified in His death. When a Jew placed his hand upon the sacrifice, he was identifying himself, transferring his sins to his sacrifice, and the sacrifice died. Now we place our hands, by faith, upon Jesus Christ, and are identified with Him in His death.
Not only in His death, but, if we are accepted, we are identified not only in His death but in His resurrection. By the life that was in Him, was sent back upon the believer, as a token, a memorial that death has passed from it, and God has sealed you into the kingdom of God until the day of your redemption.
Real genuine gospel, as clean as I know it! I know it's true. I've tried it. There is no other ism, no work up, no schemes, no gimmicks, no nothing. It's just pure unadulterated faith in the Word of God and the finished works that God required at Calvary, knowing that there is nothing we could do to save ourselves. We just accept what He did for us.
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Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. Then God gave him the seal of circumcision, as a token that He had received his faith. There is the gospel.
Now when we claim that we believe God, then God will identify our faith, by giving us the token of the blood of Jesus, that finished the work for us at Calvary, then our life is in His. The life of our sacrifice is in us.
It couldn't come by the chemical blood of the lamb, because there was nothing there to come back, just the chemistry. You couldn't transfer the blood into the human being. It won't work, an animal blood won't go into a human's blood. So the chemicals wouldn't work, showing it was the foreshadow.
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But now the life that was in the blood becomes the token. And now when we identify ourselves in His death, burial, and resurrection, by believing on Him and being baptized unto His death, burial, and resurrection. When we rise up, the Holy Spirit is there to give us a token, an eternal token written across your heart, soul, make-up, mind, body, everything else, that you are a separated person, from unbelief. You're a separated person, from the things of the world. You are separated from death. You're separated from everything. And you are a product that God has sealed into the kingdom, by His Holy Spirit.
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No devil, no sickness, no death, no sorrow, nor nothing else can bother you as long as you hold that token over it. Amen. Your unchanging faith pulsates that, and it forms a form of Jesus Christ, the image that you're walking in today.
“And when I see the token, I'll pass over you.” It's a sign, it's a sign that the price has been paid. Jesus paid the price, and you received it from Him. Holding the token in your hand, you have an assurance of resurrection. You have the assurance that everything you have need of, in this journey, is provided in that token of His suffering at Calvary, where He met the price of every curse that could be put on you. That token speaks peace. Amen.
There is no devil can stand before it. There is nothing can stand before it, because God has accepted it. And you hold the token in your hand, that the price is paid. Oh, it's a positive token.
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You know, in a court, when a trial is set, when you know that you were facing death, like this here nightclub man that just killed this Mr. Oswald. If you knowed you were facing that, or something similar to it, you would hire the best attorney you could find.
I would. If I knowed my life was at stake, I'd hire the best attorney I could find. Every person would. It's only the sensible thing to do.
Now, in this case, to know that you are going to go to an electric chair, and you're going to separate from your family, forever, as they electrocute you, or whatever it might be, because you know you are guilty. And this attorney is trying to plead your case.
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Now the attorney may think that he has it all put down. But, you see, who is the judge is going to decide the case, whether the attorney can make it clear to him that you're justified in your deed. The attorney has got to make it so clear to the judge, that the judge will see the justice of your act.
O God, if the people could only see this! Our judge is our attorney. The case is settled. It's all over. The same one is judge, is our attorney. The case is settled, we have the token. Both judge and attorney is the same person. When God was made flesh and dwelt among us, our judge become our attorney, and the case is settled. And the Holy Ghost is here for a token that we're ready to pass from here into the lands beyond.
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We are free from sin; not of sin no more, not of the world. “Little children, you're not of the world.” Our judge and attorney was the same person, so the case is settled. The case was so great against us! The case that we had sinned was so great against us, till not even the archangel could plead it; he could not meet the requirements. No angel, no cherubim, no seraphim, nothing could meet the price. The only thing that could be done to save the human race was for the judge to take the place and become the attorney, too. And that's just exactly what He done.
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If the token, or the blood, in the time of Egypt's coming out, their exodus, if the token was so the supreme sign, now if. . . . The token was not no good unless the token was displayed. The token had to be displayed. Not a sympathizer with the token; but the token must be applied.
And no matter how much anyone could prove that He was a Jew, and a covenant Jew, by circumcision, that didn't do anything about it at all. It took the token, not the covenant. He never said, “When I see the covenant sign,” but, “When I see the token!”
So, today, you might be a professed Christian, you might be a covenant with Christ; but unless that token is displayed in this late hour that we're coming to now, there is no way for Him to pass over. The token must be displayed. It must be on.
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Now, remember, a Jew could have come up and said, “I'll take you men aside. I believe that to be the truth. I believe Moses, the prophet. I believe that pillar of fire that's guiding him. I believe that's Jehovah.” Witness all of it, believe all the Word, all the message, but yet say, “Now I'm just as well off as you, because I am a circumcised Jew.” If he didn't have that blood in the night of the Passover, he died just the same.
And today, every church, every individual, that isn't and cannot display that token, of the Holy Ghost, is spiritually dying and will die. No matter how much you believe the death, burial, and resurrection; no matter how much you can repeat the Apostles' Creed, repeat it, or whatever you might do; no matter how well you're educated, and what a theological experience you've had; you might have doctor's degrees, and Bachelor of Art, and whatever more, a DD., LD., Doctor of Latin, or whatever you might be, or literature, but that won't do it. There must be the token displayed.
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It was only a shadow of the real for this day, the antetype. The token must be displayed. A Jew could furnish the evidence that he was in the covenant; but the token wasn't there, the covenant was without any effect. And so is it today, my brother, my sister.
I want you to remember this. You inside, outside, in the basement, wherever you may be, the hour has come. And everyone can see the dullness of the church today. Everybody can see the deadness of many, too many of the members. It's because that you have played around, you've took sensations and you've took other things. And you have trusted upon the wisdom of some man, upon the theology of some organization, upon the membership of your mother's church, and upon some loyal pastor. But them all are good things, have nothing against them, no more than circumcision was to the Jew, but that wasn't God's program. “When I see the blood,” and it only!
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And today the Holy Ghost is God's covenant with God's covenant people. The Holy Ghost, the life of the resurrected Christ, has got to be displayed in the church amongst the people, making Him the same yesterday, today, and forever.
No matter how loyal a member you are! You might be whatever you may be, a good man or a good woman. That sure is fine. We appreciate that. But only the token will keep you alive, God's token. You might be a student of the Bible. You might be a good person. You could even be the President. You could be anything you want to be. There is no excuses.
When God started the exodus from Egypt, calling out Israel from Egypt, to His promised land, there was no excuses. Every man had to display the blood.
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And, today, the exodus, is calling out of the systems, into the bride. No matter how much system you're in, it still requires the token of the life of Jesus Christ again. Nothing else will work. Still the token is required.
Every man, no matter if he was a loyal man. He might have been the Pharaoh of Egypt, and he was the most important man of the day, but the token had to be applied to him, no matter how important he was. Whether he's a bishop, priest, whatever, president, king, potentate, monarch, that had nothing to do with it. God only recognized the tokened covenant people. Same thing today, the Holy Spirit will only recognize the covenant people.
Death was ready to strike Egypt at any time now. God had showed them His grace, power, and signs.
I want you to know that that's followed every revival; grace, power, and signs. Grace, to come to the people; power, to make Himself known; and the sign of the time. Just exactly what He's done today, another thing. He has done it in many ways. You could take that one scripture there and run it around and around, for ten weeks here, and never leave it.
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How it would symbolize the three stages that we've come through! It would symbolize the three mercies of God, through Luther Martin, and Pentecost. . . . Martin Luther, and also through Wesley, and Pentecost, the three stages of the journey. The three stages of Israel's journey, the three messengers to Sodom, all these different things it would symbolize.
It would symbolize the ministry of today. It would symbolize the message of Billy Graham, of grace to the world; of Oral Roberts, as power to the world; and of the presence of Jesus Christ, as the last sign to the world. For Sodom got their last sign, the church spiritual, the one that was called out, got their last sign before the Gentile world was burned. Jesus said, “. . . so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man, the same thing.”
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And we find out that these great things had been displayed in Egypt, and still their desire was not to repent or believe the message.
And if that ain't the world today, I don't know the world. They have had grace, power, and seen the signs of the age, the signs of time. God writing, and with His hand in nature, great fearful sights in the skies, that they don't know, “flying saucers” they call them, and everything; sputniks, and whatever they want to call them, astronauts flying in the skies, fearful signs, earthquakes, divers places, sea roaring, men's hearts failing; fear, perplexed of time, distress between nations. All the things that He has promised, we have seen those handwritings on the wall. We have seen it with our eyes.
We see in the church where grace has went forth to call them. We see where power has been demonstrated by the Pentecostal group, to bring back again the baptism of the Holy Ghost, power. And we've seen the supernatural power of the identification of Jesus Christ Himself standing in our midst among us, and doing the things that He did in the beginning. The very same witnesses, exactly!
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Israel coming out, just as a sign like it is today. Watch what Israel got in their exodus.
The first thing they got, to thoroughly identify that the hour was at hand, was a prophet with the message. Moses came down with the message. The Word of God was with Moses.
The next thing, Moses had to be identified. And he was identified by a pillar of fire. That identified his work, that God had sent him. And Moses had the Word of God, even to create things and to bring them upon the earth.
And the token that God give them, by the blood, was the identification, or the assurance, rather, that they would be passed over in the time of death.
The same thing has happened today, same thing. The Word of God has been brought to us; the pillar of fire is among us, identifying Jesus Christ raised from the dead—the same yesterday, today, and forever—and the assurance of the baptism of the Holy Ghost upon our hearts, putting our love to God. The exodus is on again.
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Israel coming out, as I said, is a type like the church coming out, or the bride coming out of the church. The bride will be the remnant, will be the little group, the selected, the predestinated.
When a woman lays out a piece of goods, lays her pattern upon it, the way she's going to cut it, and she has got her own way of making a choice. But what is left out of that pattern is the same kind of goods that was in the pattern, but it was ordained for her to take this. She fixed it herself.
God did the same. “And the remnant of the woman's seed that was left upon the earth.” Today is the calling-out of the bride out of the church, the exodus for the rapture. For, the church truly goes through the tribulation period, as you Pentecostal brothers has preached it. I believe that. The church goes through it, but not the bride. No, sir!
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Someone discussing that with me, not long ago, said, “The church will have to go through for a purification.”
I said, “That is true, because she rejected the blood.”
But if the tribulation period catches the bride, His own wife, in the tribulation? No, sir! The blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed us from all sin, and there is no more purifying. And the blood of Jesus Christ, and that token, as identification that it has been purified. Amen. That's the token of the bride, wearing the ring.
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Moses' ministry, of Israel, was. . . . All his congregation was gathered into a place for prayer and worship. When these things come, as he was reading tonight, they had to stay and keep up. So is the congregation of the Lord assembling themselves together, out of every creed and doctrine in the world. They come from all parts of Egypt, to where they had been and gathered into one place.
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Here, we could. . . . We could read Hebrews 10:26, and see it mighty plain. As we see the great end-time signs in the earth, warning us the time is at hand, we should love one another more than we ever did in all of our lives. There should be such a hunger to get to church! There should be such a hunger for us to get to one another! It should be a love affair.
I can't hardly wait to get to Tucson. Oh, God healed my little wife! She is part of me. I can't hardly wait to get there! The hours, I'm counting the days and the hours, when I can get there to be with her.
That's the way the church ought to be. Just seeing that, the power of God, what it's done for us, we should be counting the moments, getting together in love, that we can fly away, some day, to meet Jesus.
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Somebody said, not long ago, said, “Brother Branham, you scare the people, saying, ”The coming of the Lord is so near!“
I said, “They shouldn't be worried about that. That should be the most happy thing we know of.” Yeah.
“And He will appear the second time, to all those that love His appearing,” who love and longing for it. It's a love affair. And how we ought to love one another, because we're fellow citizens in the same body! We should have love, one for another.
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Warning us, the time is at hand! Believers should be separating themselves from the things of the world, the cares of the world. That's the reason I've hammered at women, and so forth, the way I have. And, then, separate yourself from these TV programs! Separate yourself from this Hollywood evangelism! Come back to deepness and sincerity! We stand in the pulpit, and jump up-and-down, and laugh and holler, and carry on, women dance over the floors, clothes on them real skin tight, and all kinds of jewelry and stuff hanging on, with bobbed hair, and some of them with make-up on. And they got an intellectual pastor there, a preacher that can put the word together so perfect. That isn't it. We don't come to the altar of God, laughing, carrying on, and cutting up. We come to the altar, with sincerity and deepness, because there we are dying. You don't go to death, laughing and jollying, if you got your right mind. It's an insane person that does that.
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Here a few weeks ago, when I was watching a program, out of one of the filling stations I was standing in, of our great brother, Billy Graham, when he was making his greatest revival he had . . . or had the greatest revival in California. I was watching this television, was catching the face of them coming to the altar. Kids punching one another, and fighting, going along the altar, and laughing and cutting up, no sincere, chewing chewing gum, looking all around. Go right in there and say “yes,” they make a confession and come back out. Billy said he can have thirty thousand of them in one year's time, he ain't got thirty left. There is no sincerity. There is no more sincere.
People is not ready to confess. They want to pray, “God, You heal me, do this, or do that, do that.” But when it comes to dying out, and confessing your sins and getting right with God, it isn't seen no more. That's the reason we don't see no more healings than what we have. That's the reason I'm preaching these things. Let's get things ready for a healing service. You've got to get the things first. God heals you for His glory. And we must be ready for His glory.
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Now that's what Egypt had to do. Remember, they tested the lamb for fourteen days. Egypt. . . . He said, “Get all the filth out of your house. Put every, all the leaven out.”
You can't have no leaven. When this mark is come into your house, this token, you cannot have a leaven in it. That's the world. You can't love God and mammon, the world, at the same time; all the cares of the world, all the cares and your creeds, and your fusses, and your difference. You are coming to Jesus Christ!
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Could you imagine a Jew in the Old Testament coming down with his lamb to make an offering? He was obeying Jehovah, what He said do, to him. That went on. He accepted the sacrifice. He seen the lamb die. His hands was bloody with the dying lamb. He went back home, justified, because he come in sincerity. That was fine.
But after awhile it become a tradition. And men said, “You know, this is the Passover time, we better go do this, and I've got to offer a lamb.” It become a place till you could buy a lamb, get somebody else to offer it for him. It become a creed. It become a dogma in the church. And God said, the very sacrifice that He required become a stink in His nose, because it was offered without sincerity.
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And we Pentecostal people are getting in that same stage. That's right. We've come down till the sincerity is gone, among us. We come in and try to take in people into the church, like the other church does to get big crowds and so forth in our churches. We should never do that.
We've got to come to sincerity, and there die as dead as we can be, that the blood of Jesus Christ and the token can come upon us. It makes a person a different person. A woman can get up from there and go away, she wants to obey every scripture is in that Bible, regardless of what takes place. A man, the same way; no denomination, no creed or nothing else can ever separate him from the love of God that he found there at that altar, if he'll continue to follow in the way of the Lord. But today we don't have the sincerity to it, we just take it as just a tradition, “Our fathers did this.”
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Just like Thanksgiving Day. Many people today never thought, tens of thousands times thousands, and millions of America eat dinner today in a thanksgiving celebration, with a turkey on their table, and never as much as offered a blessing, returned thanks. But they wouldn't have this without having it. On the same table where they had the turkey, a quart of whiskey and a lot of beer. Sitting around the table. It's become a tradition.
You say, “That's ridiculous. That's not even Americanism.”
I'll turn it right back into your lap. To come to the altar with a dry-eyed confession is a tradition. You should die there to your sacrifice, as you identify yourself that you are dead. Amen. Buried in Christ, the world is dead behind you. And you're to walk in a new life with Christ Jesus, in His resurrection. Loving His Word, taking His Word, watch Him identifying Himself in His Word, as giving you the identification that you've passed from death unto life. What a time that we're living in! Yes, sir.
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Now we see that we're living down at the last hours, the believers must accept all the Word.
Notice, it was not just to get together and talk about it, that all the Jews come together and say, “Now I'll tell you what, tell you, fellows. You know, I believe that Moses is right, because, look, we see God identifying Himself with Moses. Because, we see that pillar of fire, we know what happens. We know all the identifications that God has given Moses. It's right. You know, he said, 'We've got to have the blood on the door.' I believe that. But, you know, after all, I believe I'm just about as good as anybody. I'm really a covenant Jew. I've been circumcised and I pay my offerings and tithes into the congregation. Why, even the priest, I eat dinner with him. Well, I'm just as good a man as the rest of you are.” That isn't what happened.
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We're not to come together to talk about the message. We are to come together to get in the message. And the message is Christ, He is the Word. We're to get into it, get beneath it. Yes, sir. That's what we're supposed to do.
He was not responsible for any persons out from under the blood, not one; no matter who he was, he was not responsible. All had to take not only himself, but his whole family. They're only safe when the token was displayed.
We cannot feel safe until this token is displayed. That's right. You must come under this token, God's Holy Spirit. And it displays to you Jesus Christ, because it comes and lives in you.
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As I said last night, and up in New York, at one of the messages. If I told you that Shakespeare lived in me, I would do the works of Shakespeare. 'Cause, I couldn't help it, I'm no more myself, I am dead. Shakespeare and I can't live together in here. Shakespeare was a poet, and I'm a minister, we can't live together. But if I am dead to myself, then, and Shakespeare lives in me, the works of Shakespeare I'll do. The life of Shakespeare in me will be lived out like Shakespeare. If the life of Beethoven lived in me, I would be Beethoven. If the life of John Dillinger lived in me, I would be John Dillinger. That's right.
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And if the life of Jesus Christ lives in the person, they become identified with Him. It's Christ in you. Not a church member, not a system, but a resurrected power. It's the Holy Ghost, is a token upon you, that your life says “amen” to every scripture, the promises written in there.
And you are not yourself no more. You are Christ's. You don't think your thoughts. You don't think your thoughts, you say, “I think.” You have no thought coming. The life that was in Christ is in you. The mind that was in Christ is in you. The works that was in Christ is in you, and Christ Himself is in you. You are dead; your life is hid in God through Christ, sealed in there by the Holy Ghost. You're not your own.
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You're not responsible for anybody. The whole family must be brought into, and the token must be displayed. It had to be. If it wasn't displayed, then it was of none effect. You could believe in it, you could say, “Oh, yes, I believe it.” But that didn't do it. You say, “Well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll put it in a bucket, and I'll sit it over here on the wall. But really, I think, as long as I have it in here, if I have the blood over here.” No, sir.
You can't be a secret boy about it. No, sir. You've got to have it! You've got to have it on display. That was the purpose of putting it on the door, so He could see it on the lintel and on the doorpost. It's something you're not ashamed of. You want the whole world to know that you are dead, and your life is hid in God through Christ.
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Talk about a Thanksgiving Day, I tell you, not a tradition, not at all. We got too many traditions now. What we need today is a refreshing, a baptism of the Holy Spirit back in the church; not a celebration, but a filling. Then that ought to be our Thanksgiving Day celebration, as we'd call it. It ought to be the Holy Spirit coming into our lives. If we could eat a turkey like our forefathers eat, we ought to receive the Holy Ghost like the forefathers had. Amen. Not a tradition, but a commandment from God. We should receive it.
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Look at Joshua, if you read Joshua, the 2nd chapter. I've got wrote down here, “Read it.” I haven't got the time. But I want you to know, when Moses and Joshua were on the road through the wilderness, coming to the exodus, they sent out some ministers, spies, to go spy out the land. And remember, there was a Gentile over on the other side of the river, by the name of Rahab. She was a harlot. Poor kid was a streetwalker, perhaps turned out by her family. But we find out that when she seen those men and knowed that they were men of God, she was a harlot, and she wanted to know if there could be any mercy could be granted to her.
God gives mercy to those who call for mercy. All that call for mercy shall receive mercy.
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Notice this harlot, she said, “I'll show kindness.” Watch, she didn't have to see Joshua. She didn't know the way he combed his hair or the clothes he wore. She said, “I have heard that God is with you.” That's all she wanted to know.
And I tell you, today, brother, it ain't how you comb your hair, or what you do, or what kind of clothes you wear, what kind of a Ph.D. you got. “I hear that God is among you,” that's the main thing. We want to know where God is among this.
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Watch the organizations. Look where they're going to. Is God among the organizations? If it is, then He's leading them straight to the council of churches, and back to the mark of the beast. God is not in that.
God is in His Word, for He is the Word. That's exactly. “I have heard.” And faith cometh not by hearing the council, but it's the Word. Hearing the Word!
They seen this, and they knowed. She knowed it was the truth. She asked for mercy, watch, for both her and her family. She asked for her and her family, just like they did in Egypt.
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Notice, there was given to her a token—a red token. That the scarlet string that she let the spies down out of the window, was to be a token. God would not, destroying angel. . . . God's destroying angel would not come near her as long as she had that token. But, what if she'd said, “Oh, I let them down. I done a good deed. So now to keep anybody from criticizing me, and seeing this scarlet rope hanging out here, I'll pull the rope back up”? Then the judgment angel would have never passed over her house. She had to have the token displayed. It had to remain there.
Hallelujah! Oh, it means “praise our God,” in these hours. Remember this. I'm not in here for a living. I'm not in here preaching for a living. No, sir. I can work for that, yet. I don't do this for that. If I thought that there was any other way besides this, right. . . . Remember, this is I, I've got to meet God. It's my soul that's got to be meet. It's not only me, but I'd have more condemnation. The Word of God is God. That's God's program that's laying there, and that's the truth.
I believe that the scarlet thread had to be displayed, or the angel, destroying angel, would have never honored anything else but that token when it was displayed. The messengers gave her a token, and she must keep it displayed.
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Notice, Jericho had heard what God had done, but did nothing to take the warning.
The world today, it's not shut up in a side somewhere, the whole world knows these things goes on. The whole world has known. The Episcopalians, the Catholic, the Lutheran, all the denominations know that there is a God that works in His Word in this day, and keeps His signs and wonders a-moving. It's not just shut up in a corner. They heard it, but they did not want to receive it.
His great power and His signs had been displayed, but they didn't want to receive it. Just the same as it was in Sodom, His great signs and wonders had been displayed there, but they didn't want to receive it. So there wasn't nothing left but judgment, was next. They must believe the whole Word, to be safe. But they thought they were safe, perhaps, in their great big organization of Jericho, their city. They thought that was good enough, but it wasn't so.
But one little harlot. There must have been some tape boys slipped in there and played some of the tapes. The predestinated seed caught it and believed it. So, anyhow, they got in there for a message. They had church that night in her house. She used her house for a church, to receive the message.
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O God, let us open our hearts and receive the message, that Jesus is alive tonight. He is right here among us. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Open up your house and let the messenger, the Holy Ghost, come in and identify you by His own presence, the token that's upon you. Then you don't have to take anybody else's word for it, He is there to speak for Himself. And He is the Word. That's right. It's God's token, to identify His own self.
She used her house for the messengers. Then she got all the city, that would believe, under the same token. That's the way the church should be doing today. Getting everything that will believe under the token. The token is the Holy Ghost. Just remember, they must get under the Holy Ghost.
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And when God had destroyed his angels. . . . The destroying angel come through, and when they seen the sign of the token, her house stood. The rest of Jericho fell down. But just the sounding of a trumpet, just think, and the whole walls fell down. They went straightway and utterly slayed everything there was in there, but all that was under that token was safe. Why? The messenger of God had come. They had told them the truth and they got under the token. Yes, sir. But many of them didn't want to believe it. So if they didn't want to believe it, they had to take the circumstances.
Same life that was in the token of Egypt, see, same thing like the life token in Egypt.
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When they put the string down, that was the token. In that Gentile world, there was no blood applied for them yet, but they give a symbol of the red, of the token. So, when they saw the token; Joshua, a type of Jesus, was true to the token and sign that his messengers had preached, when Joshua give orders that no one should walk up to that house where that token was (no, sir), because no one was to be killed under that token. And Joshua really means “Jehovah-saviour,” same as Jesus does. And when he sent his messengers, Joshua, another type to the Gentile world, and the Gentile, that little minority that believed and displayed this token, even the destroying angel recognized that token, see.
That's the only thing He'll recognize today.
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He never recognized the president of that company. No. He didn't recognize the chief men, the war lords, the great men. He never recognized them. He only recognized where the token was displayed. Many of them might have believed it. Many of them might have believed that they were going to be taken, but that didn't stop it. The token had to be displayed. Yes, sir. That's all. All under it was saved in Egypt. And the same time, all under it was saved in Jericho.
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The bloody Lamb is our token tonight. In Hebrews 13:10 and 20, it is called the “everlasting covenant,” if you'd like to read it. God's blood-bound promises made us free from sin and flesh. It is an everlasting covenant, to worship Him and show forth His promised signs. The New Testament is the new covenant in His blood. The Bible said so. The New Testament means the “new covenant,” blood life, new life token in us. Where the old blood stood for a simple sign of the chemistry that a lamb had died, the Holy Ghost is the life that was in the person of Jesus Christ that's displayed in you and I, tonight. Outside of that, there is no mercy. “Only when I see the blood, I'll pass over you.”
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I'm trying to press upon your minds, friends, that the hour has struck, that something has got to be done by it. We must do something. It's either in or out. That's all. The hour has come where the token must be there. If this ever. . . . If this church ever expects to remain alive until Jesus Christ comes, the token will have to be here. That's all. If death don't, it'll take the death mark. And soon, it's in congress right now, the big machine set up to make all churches come into that federation of churches.
And you'd better really have the token shining. But the hour is here for the exodus. And this time we're going to a promised land, the promise of eternal life. This token shows that Jesus Christ. . . . The Holy Ghost shows that Jesus has met every requirement for us, that we are, in our nature, fallen sons of God. And we have no power within us. We have no life within us. We are a fallen race of people, from Adam. But when we can display the token, that the Word and we become the same, shows that Jesus Christ met the requirement for our sin and death, and has displayed His token within us. Oh, how simple it can be! You are condemned. We were all condemned. There is no way to save ourselves, and God sent us a token. He killed His Son at Calvary for us. And the life that was in that blood, when it was shed at Calvary, has come back to be a token upon us.
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God's everlasting, eternal token, it's eternal life by the eternal God. And anything that had a beginning has an end, and everything had a beginning besides God. And God is the only form of eternal life there is. And when God places His Holy Spirit in you, which is God, and when God places Hisself within you, you're as eternal as God is. Because, you're a part of Him, because you become a son or a daughter of God and you are displaying His Word. Hallelujah! I feel religious. That's true. God identifies it Himself. You've got eternal life, and that's God in you. And this Word is God. And that Word lives and produces itself. Just exactly what God has ordained for this age, you have it amen. The Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit being displayed. Yes, sir. What is it? The Holy Spirit, the Word has been quickened to you by the Holy Spirit, to vindicate this age, that you have passed from death unto life.
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And now you are His. Oh, because He is, we have the right to all that He has purchased for us. Every promise in the Bible is yours. It belongs to you, when this token is upon you and God has sealed you. Now we want to check ourselves just for a moment. When God has give you the true baptism of the Holy Spirit, then the life of Jesus Christ is within you. Now, that's true. Every theologian will have to admit that to be . . . it's the new birth. You are borned anew, of the Holy Ghost. And because that God has did this, and you know you're no good in yourself, and you accept what God has did, then He seals you into His kingdom, by the Holy Spirit. And everything that Jesus purchased and promised you, in the Bible, is yours. It's your property because it's paid for. Amen. Life is mine; He paid for it. Life is yours; He paid for it. Healing's mine; He paid for it. Healing is yours; He paid for it. Freedom is mine; He paid for it. Heaven is mine; He paid for it. He's paid the price. Everything He purchased belongs to the man that holds the token. Amen. “Pass my token [upon the street car], on that day of the judgment, and I'll pass over you.” Amen. Holding it in! Holding your confession in the Word, that Jesus Christ has died for you. And when He does it, He displays Himself through you. Amen. Yes. When you recognize the token, the life that it took for the blood to speak!
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You'll say, “Blood speak? Wait a minute, Brother Branham.” The blood speaks. The Bible says it does. All right.
The blood speaks. Remember, the covenant blood is not recognized without the token. Now the Word assures us of the promise. The token is the sign that the purchase has been made for us, and God has accepted it.
When you go and say, “I want a ride to New York City.” What do they do? They give you a ticket. What is it? It's a token. It isn't money. It's a token, but it takes money to buy it.
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Now, when you want eternal life, you receive a token, showing that the price has been paid. It isn't the blood, but it's the token of the blood. It's the life itself. Amen. Full obedience to the whole Word of God, to God's entire Word, will entitle you to this token.
How do you do it? Peter said, on the day of Pentecost, “Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, the token. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
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When they seen that wonderful display of the power of the resurrection, Peter got up there and quoted the Scriptures of Joel, and so forth, give the promise for that age, and showed the requirements of that age had been met in Jesus Christ, and that He had sent back a token of His death. And that token was upon them. And He said, “The token is to you, and to your children, and to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call, will have to have this token.” Amen. It's not they ought to have it—they shall have it! You shall receive the Holy Ghost.
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When you fully obey the Word of God, in full surrender to it, you're entitled to the token. Yes, sir. Obedience! “Not he that saith, 'Lord, Lord,' but he that doeth the will. . . .” And when we pray, we must have the token to present with our prayer.
Just exactly like we do when we go to the bus station, say, “I want to ride.”
“Where you going?”
“So-and-so!”
You've got to have the token, if a token is required. You must have the token. You say, “Well, wait a minute, I'm Mr. Jones! That don't make a bit of difference, you've got to have the token. ”Well, I tell you what, I'm in a hurry to my work. I ain't got time to fool.“ You'll either have the token or you won't have the token. If you don't have the token, you won't ride.
If you got a ticket and go out here to the airplane, and say, “I want to go to New York City.”
“Ticket? Token?”
You say, “Well, I'll tell you, I haven't got it. I'm a pretty good sort of a guy. I'll pay you someday.” No, sir, you have the token, you have to have it in your hand. It has to be displayed. It has to be. Oh!
You see what I mean? You've got to have it! You ain't got to just think so; it's got to be identified token. Right. It entitles you, when you pay the . . . when you accept the price that's been paid. Yes, sir.
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Paul tells us, talking about speaking of blood, Paul tells us that the blood speaks. You believe the blood speaks? In Genesis 4:1, or 4:10, God told Cain, He said, “Where is your brother?” He said, “His blood . . . his voice. . . . The blood of his . . . the voice of his blood calls out against you.”
Now we also find in Hebrews, the 12th chapter and 24th verse, that the New Testament, the blood speaks better things. The blood is speaking. Then the blood has got a voice. And the voice of the blood is the Word. Hallelujah. That's what makes it whether it's right or wrong. The Word is identified by the voice of the blood. The voice of the blood is the Holy Ghost. That brings life. It is life, and it brings life to the Word and quickens it. Amen, amen, amen.
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Sure, the blood speaks, it speaks a better thing. The Old Testament, the blood spoke of guilt. In the New Testament, it speaks of redemption. In the Old Testament, it spoke of death and sorrow. In the New Testament, it speaks of resurrection and life. It speaks of healing. It speaks of joy. It speaks of power. It speaks of life. It speaks of heaven. And that same blood that was shed upon the ground, that called out after his dead brother, or called out after his brother that had killed him. The blood of Jesus Christ covers all of our sins, and speaks peace and resurrection, and power and life, and healing. And all the redemptive blessings that the blood was shed for, it speaks for us. Certainly, the blood speaks oh, my!
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We must believe for ourself, like they did down there in Egypt, and also for the house; like they did in Egypt and Jericho, and so forth. And we find out, I got a scripture wrote here, called Acts 16:31, where that the Roman centurion was to take his own life, and he was going to stab hisself to death, and Paul told him to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou and thy house shall be saved.” It's got to be a household. What made so many little kids . . . What makes so many women on the street? What makes so much juvenile delinquency? Because we're not able to get our household under the blood.
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Some people said, “Well, I belong to church. Mother went up there, and I was dedicated there, as a baby.”
You must display the token. Yes, sir. Move out all the worldly trash, all the things of the world, 'cause you can't love the things of the world, all your unbelief in God's Word. Remember, He promised these things in the last days. Anything in your life, that's against that, move it out, and get ready and bring the token in. Then apply the token, in prayer, with consecration, and be convinced and concerned about it.
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If we could read here, Ephesians 2:12, it would be a-startling to us. Notice, “serve the living God,” with living signs, living ordinances. Hebrews 9:11-14 tells us the same. And we don't serve dead articles or oracle, we serve the living God, with the living signs.
Not, “I go to church. I joined. I know the creed. I know the catechism.” That's dead forms.
But the true token of the blood, speaking out, speaks of a living, resurrected presence, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever; right, living right now among us. Amen. “It speaks better.” From not dead forms and creeds, but a living token of a living resurrected Christ that lives in us. No, they deny there is such a thing, but we know it's true. But we who believe the Word, know that God promised it and He keeps His promise, know it is His living presence, for He does as He did.
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If it's in you, and you say, “Well, I don't steal. I don't lie.” Well, that's just something that you can quit. You can quit stealing, quit lying, a good moral man does that. “I keep the ten commandments.” They did that before Jesus died. Yeah.
But, the thing of it is, Christ living in you! Hebrews 13:8, “He is the same yesterday, today, and forever,” proving that God has raised Him up for us, from the dead, according to His promised Word. It's an identification that Jesus Christ is a-living tonight. We accept His sacrificed blood, that He gave His life. The token seal of the Holy Ghost is our promise. Ephesians 4:30, said, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed until the day of your redemption.”
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Being baptized by this token, into the body of Christ, I Corinthians 12, now we are subject to gifts of the Spirit that's in there. The world don't believe in gifts. The church don't believe in gifts. But God's Word says there is gifts. And it takes only that token to identify those gifts. Absolutely.
And in Him is all the fullness. In Him is all the fullness of God, all the fullness of the promise. When we're baptized into Him, we have every promise, that God made, laid at our fingertips. No sin is there. No death is there. And even sickness can't stay in His presence. If Satan then puts his hands to you and tries to tempt you into something, you hold your token in your hands and show it, that you are a redeemed product of Jesus Christ. Amen. Let your unadulterated faith wave that token there, and say, “I am a product that Jesus Christ bought.” Amen. Sickness flees!
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What made that big tumor disappear in my wife yesterday? When just a few days ago, she was ready for the operating table, and now they can't find a thing. It's because the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that token of God, that He still lives, has destroyed it.
Why does these things happen? is because God promised it. You are a product. Hold the token in your unwavering faith in His promised Word. God once gave us the token. . . .
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As I'm closing, I don't want to hold you too long. We're going to be out by nine-thirty.
God gave the world a token, one time, it was a rainbow. He gave them a token, that He would never destroy the world no more by water. And He has ever remained true to that token. Amen. He has never failed to display it. God made a token, said, “I'll give you a token. And when I promise you this, every time a rain comes, I'll show you this token.” And God, when He makes a token, He displays His, 'cause that's what He promised to do. And He expects us to do the same thing. He ever remained true to His token.
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And if we are borned of the Spirit of God, we ever remain true to it. If you're some kind of a mythical work-up, you had some kind of an excitement, joined some church, made some kind of an emotion, maybe spoke with tongues, or shouted, or jumped up-and-down, or sang in the Spirit, as you call it. I've seen all those things displayed amongst heathens, see. That doesn't spell a thing. But when really the product, the new life of Jesus Christ, comes into a man or a woman, he is a new creation, the old man is dead. He is finished. He's done. That token must always display.
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God displayed His. Look, all these thousands of years, he has never failed to display it to us. He is loyal and true to His token, showing us that He never fails to honor what He has done. Never fails to honor! We see the rainbow, and that shows that God gave us that promise. And He said it will be that way, and He never fails to honor His Word. He'll forever honor His Word. He proves it, in that. Every token He gave, He keeps His Word.
Oh, God, He promised us a token. “And when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And the blood shall be a token unto you.”
Oh, sinner, tonight, how can you walk away from this place, out from under that token? How can you take any chance on any church membership or anything else? How can you afford to do it, seeing we're living in a time when there is no hopes in politics, there is no hope in future? The only thing lays is the coming of Jesus Christ, the coming of Christ to get His church.
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How could you sensibly walk out of this basement, walk out of this room, or somewhere, and trust yourself into some creed or something that you've been quoting, that does not show any token sign of life and the regular Jesus Christ, and coming forth and producing the same yesterday, today, and forever, and manifesting His Word as He promised to do; and then could stand and say, “The days of miracles has passed,” with the very token of God Himself in your life?
God is displaying His token now. And He'll ever be true to it. In the hour of your death, the angels of God will come and pack you from death, and before the great judgment strikes the world.
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And we read over there in St. John 5:24, “He that heareth my word.” Now, the real translation of that is not “he that heareth.” That's the King James. The real translation, in the Hebrew in that, is this, “He that receiveth my word.” Not “He that heareth”; anybody can hear it, sinners and everything else. But, “He that receiveth,” can take it all. Not, “He who receiveth one of my words.” “He that receiveth my word, and believeth on him that sent me.” When you receive the word, you receive Him. Everything He said do, that you are willing and happy to do “He that receives my word and believes on him that sent me, has eternal life, and shall not go through the judgment, but has passed from death unto life.” Oh, what a promise! “When I see this token, I will pass over you.”
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He expects us now to display His token to all of Satan's unbelieving cults and denominations of this world, that we believe that what He has promised. Like the seed of Abraham, He is able to keep. No matter how scientific, how many astronauts, how many scientists, raise up and prove this or prove that, and next year have to take it back, we don't care what they say. All of our education can never give you life.
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I live in a city where the University of Arizona is. And what do I find up there but filth and gaum, and the high schools and things of that city; the other day, they had four hundred teenage boys and girls with their clothes off, with kegs of beer, dancing in a big place up in Sabino Canyon up there. All these young kids come from homes, and so forth, around there, and find them up in there, from the university. What have we got? University can tell you what a seed is made out of, but it can't give a seed life. Your education only takes you farther from God.
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There is only one can give you life. There is only one can give you life, and He will do it. If you'll apply the token, tonight, He is here to give Hisself to you and give you life. Jesus Christ is your life. Won't you receive Him, tonight, as we bow our heads?
Everybody reverend, inside and out, in the basements and wherever. This is a solemn time. This is a time to be thankful. This is a time that you thank God at your table, today, you people, I hope you did, for the food that He had give you. The dead substance, that something died so you could live, and you thank God for raising it up for you to live by.
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Now, tonight, why don't you accept, not that natural life which has to go back with the dead substance to the earth, but why don't you accept the eternal life, where He gave something, raised it up, His own Son; that you could be conformed unto His own image, by the renewing of your spirit, to take away yours and to receive His, which is the token that you have life. And He'll pass over you and will raise you up at the day of the resurrection.
This would be a real thanksgiving. This would show your gratefulness to God who made a way for you, and placed eternal life before you, upon His own table, and is inviting you to it tonight. How could you turn it away? How could you sit at the table and be grateful for natural food, in a tradition that our pilgrim fathers did, on a Thanksgiving Day; why not now when it's made so clear to you, tonight, by this simple little way of preaching it?
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Why don't you accept it now, and say, “I want that kind of life, Brother Branham. I'll accept that. Jesus died for me. And I, maybe I've joined church, I've had a creed; but really to see the life of Christ just pulsating me, till the world is dead, and living His life in me like He lived it here on earth, I don't see it, Brother Branham. And I want to have it. I want to be sure.”
You can't afford to take a chance. We're too late now. We're getting too late for these chances. Let's receive it now.
Now, I cannot bring people to this altar. I cannot do it, there is not enough of room here. But altar calls is a tradition, again. Altar calls started in the days of Wesley. The real, “As many as believed was baptized,: the Bible said.
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How many in here, that I can see visibly, up in the balconies, around in the corridors, and up-and-down the walls, and in the pews, I don't know how many is outside or down into the basement. But how many of you, that wants that token, the Holy Spirit in your life, that'll display itself right before you? Right before the cults and things of this world, that you can see that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the blood has been applied. Would you raise your hands, and say, “Brother Branham, I now, by raising my hand, signify to God, I want that in my life. Pray for me, Brother Branham.”
There is twenty hands or more, I guess, up. Is there more? Just put it up. If I don't even see it, He will. Way up in the balcony, up in the glassed-in rooms up there, if you will just raise your hands, God will see you. On the outside, God will see you. Down in the auditorium downstairs, God will see you if you'll raise your hands.
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Brother, sister, now to you people who has received Christ years ago, and maybe you feel that you have received that token. I hope that it's right. If you have, you don't have to worry about it. It reflects itself. How could I keep from being Beethoven if he lived in me? If Christ is in you, just look at yourself in God's mirror here, the Bible. See what some Bible character looked like, see if you picture up with Daniel, with Ezekiel, with the Christians of the early church. See if you picture up with them. Are you worldly? Do you love the world or the things of the world? Has all that died and you become a new creature?
Back over to my right, back into the wing here, would you lift your hands, and say, “Remember me, Brother Branham, I truly want to display that token. I want it in my life. I must have it.” God bless you. God bless you, and you. Many of you, yes, the Lord sees you. God bless you.
I wish there was some way now, after you've thrown up your hands like that, and no doubt there is probably as many downstairs, nearly, as there is upstairs here, and so we just wonder, “What can I do now?” Here I've told you the Word, I'm . . . in the simple way that I have, because I'm just a simple person. And that's what you want to be right now, just simple. Just make yourself simple. And God is so simple.
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If you've never been baptized in Christian baptism, come. They will baptize you, tonight, if you want to be baptized. Be thankful to God that there is a way to live. You was thankful, today, that you lived in America. Thank God that you got a church here that believes the Word of God. You thank God because He give you food to eat, that you might live a little longer, now why not receive Him and be thankful for the Holy Spirit that gives you eternal life. Why can't you come and accept that? Is there another one that hasn't raised their hands, would like to do it now, visibly here that I can see? All right. God bless you, young lady. God bless that young woman. And God bless you. That's fine.
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Just really mean it now, just genuinely mean it. This closing hour now, we got five minutes till closing time, till nine thirty. Let's just sit still just a moment, inside and out. Let's think of this, sincerely. It's not. . . . It does bring emotions, certainly. But let's not think of emotion right now. Let's think of the sincerity of what we're doing, “By faith I lay my hands over on my sacrifice, Jesus Christ. I want to be identified in His death. I'm through with the world. I'm through with Hollywood. I'm through with fashions.”
The women, “I'm through cutting my hair. I'm through wearing immoral clothes. I'm through wearing make-up. I'm through playing cards. I'm through with the trash of the world.”
You men, likewise, “I'm through with drinking. I'm through with smoking. I'm through with lying. I'm through with jokes. I'm through with jesting. I'm through with all these idle words that the Bible said we'll give an account for.”
“I want the seal. I want the token in my life. I'm laying my hands, by faith, right now, upon my sacrifice, Jesus Christ. I'm identifying myself as a dead man [or a dead woman, boy or girl]. I die now, with Him, because He died that I can live. And I'm accepting my life, in Him. And, O Lord, make it known to me, tonight, that eternal life now dwells within me.”
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Think those thoughts. Believe those things. Let this entire group of people standing here, up, down, and around the place, let them all take that deeply and sincerely. You will see a healing meeting that you've never seen before, when that starts. What we need now is healing of our soul, a faith, a something in us that takes ahold of the Word, that when you see the Word made real. “Just speak the Word, and it'll be so.” Like the Roman said to Jesus, “Just speak the Word, and it'll be so.”
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Heavenly Father, I realize that my prayer now is between the living and dead. What must I say, Lord? What kind of a words can I use? What expression can I come to You with, Lord? I don't know what to say. They have raised their hands. You know what was behind it, whether they meant it, or just doing it as routine, or whether they really meant it. If they meant it, Lord, I know You mean Your Word. You are ready to display anything that You promised.
And I pray for those people now. Each one of them, I claim for Christ. Each one, I claim as a trophy for this message tonight, of the blood of Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost which came from the blood. The chemical, sure, He gave His blood. He raised up his flesh, but he gave His blood. The chemicals dried up a long time ago down there at Calvary. But the token that was in the chemicals . . . the Holy Spirit that was in that chemicals is just as fresh and real tonight, as it was the day that the cells were broken in His body. That is the token. That's the token, the everlasting token, it's eternal life. I pray that it'll come upon each one now that's got their heads bowed, and if they will receive it.
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They are thankful, tonight, Lord, that You made a way. They are thankful for Jesus Christ, the dead substance that You raised up for our justification, to show that if we take of His life, we can live forever. May it come upon this group, those that raised their hands. And maybe some of them, knowed they should have done it, but has put it off so long, till after a while there is a scar cut there. There is no more desire. God, shake that person again. This may be the last night on earth that they'll live. Tomorrow may be too late.
How did Mr. Kennedy know, that going down the street, laughing, that in one more minute, he would be laying in his wife's lap, dead. Last week he was happy, rejoicing, playing with his children, tonight his body is molding in the grave. A renown man, our president, but death is no respect of anyone. It must come.
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And now, Lord, may we prepare for that death in this hour. I accept it, Lord, anew. I covet myself anew with You, tonight, Lord, as I stand in the pulpit. As I spoke to the people this morning, about Your visitation on top of the mountain, Lord God, I promise You, anew, let me live as long as You have desire of me living, and let me be true to the principles of this Word. May I so live, till I can dismiss my own thoughts, dismiss my own life, and let the life of Jesus Christ reflect through it, in his promised Word of this day. And may this great promise come upon everyone that's present now, for we ask it in Jesus Christ's name.
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With our heads bowed now.
There is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from Immanuel's veins,
And sinners plunged beneath the flood,
Lose all their guilty stain.
Lose all their guilty stain,
Lose all their guilty stain;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stain.
Now with our heads bowed. You that made that, accepting, “Jesus Christ, I want You. I want Your token.” See, it's your prayer that saves you, it's your faith that saves you. Do you believe now with all your heart, and you're ready for Christian baptism, would you just raise up your hand? Just say, “I'm ready.” God bless you. God bless you. That's right. Downstairs, I don't know how many is down there. Just promise God. Back in the wing here, to my right. “I am now believing Jesus Christ, and I am ready for Christian baptism.”
“Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” What for? What are you baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for? For the remission; to remit! “. . . not another name under heaven given among men.” For the remission of sins. “And you shall receive the token. For the promise is unto you, and to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
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And if God calls you, and you raised up your hand, then the promise is unto you. Be thankful. Make yourself up here and identify yourself with Christ, while coming for water baptism. The minister will meet you here and make ready for baptismal services, when you want to be baptized. I suppose they got robes and things ready right now, in the basement, for the baptismal service, if you desire so. Don't put it off, tomorrow. Do it now. “He that puts his hand on the plow, and even turns to look back, is not worthy of plowing.” [Blank spot on tape.]
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“My Faith Looks Up To Thee.” Sister Anna Jean, if you will accompany at the piano. “My Faith Looks Up To Thee,” while we stand up on our feet just now, to give testimony to God. Let's each one now, sing this old hymn of the church, for the future, that if we leave here, this world before next Thanksgiving again, the day of Thanksgiving, that every day in our life shall be a thanksgiving, that the Word still lives, that we are identified with Him, in death, burial, and resurrection.
And now you downstairs, you up in the balcony, and you outside, in the corridors, someone will meet you here now, to take your application for water baptism, just in a little bit.
Let's close our eyes now, raise up our hands for our thanksgiving offering to God, downstairs, upstairs, everywhere. All right.
My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
O Saviour divine;
Now hear me while I pray,
Take all my sins away,
Nor let me ev. . . this day
Be wholly Thine!
While life's dark maze I tread, (be a light)
And grief around me spread,
(display your token)
Be Thou my guide;
Bid darkness turn to day,
Wipe all my fears away,
Nor let me ever stray
From Thee aside.
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[Tongues and interpretation are given from the audience.]
Just be real reverent. With such a call as that, I feel that I should call those candidates to come up here before this altar. Does your faith look to that? You remember one time when the congregation was standing, and the Spirit fell upon a man and he prophesied. Speaking in tongues with interpretation is prophecy. So, I'm asking the candidates now, if you will come forward, you who doesn't know assure that you have this. Did you hear that warning? You haven't much more time. There might be your last opportunity, tonight, you might grieve it for the last time.
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Will you come, while we keep our heads bowed. And sing again lowly, “There is a fountain (make it right, here now) filled with blood drawn from Immanuel's veins.” All right. With your heads bowed. Come, candidates. I want to. . . . God bless you. Come right on up now, upstairs; or downstairs, go up and gather yourselves together, and send a minister down there now to take care of it. Walk forward now. You that's coming, come up right now. Don't put it off any longer. Don't let Satan say, “Oh, some other time.” Do it right now. Right now, quick, move. Have your staff in your hand. Staff in your hand, your loins girded; the Passover is coming.
. . . . . . . guilty stain.
Lose all their guilty stain,
Lose all their guilt. . . .
Just keep coming out, come right on down, come right on up around.
And sinners plunge. . . . . . . . . .
Don't try, just don't take a chance. It's too late to take a chance, friend. If you're not sure, come now. Now is the time.
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fount. . . (Oh, a real thanksgiving!)
. . . his day;
Someone's thankful that God sent His Son that He might be identified with the people.
. . . . . . . . . . . vile as he,
Wash all my sin. . . .
Let the lady down the aisle. That's right. Come right on, sister.
Wash all my sins away,
Wash all (Oh, what a time now!) . . . away;
Oh, and there may I, though vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
Oh, the fountain's here now. Let's raise our hands, everywhere, in thanksgiving to God. Thanksgiving!
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Father, God, receive our thanksgiving, tonight. Receive these people into Your kingdom, Lord. We give Thee thanks and praise, through our Lord Jesus.
Some of you brethren go down amongst these people now. Come right down amongst the people.
Praise be to God! I'm thankful, tonight, for the Holy Ghost, and for the things that we know He's doing.
You around the altar now, surrender your lives right to Him. Let this be the time that when life comes in.
Lose all their guilty stain.
Just be thankful to the Lord now, every one of you, just with thanksgiving. He promised you the Holy Ghost; be thankful for it. That's what they were doing, thanking and blessing God, for the promise. Just believe it now! Brother Don, come.