Le Roi rejeté
1-1 For the glory of the Lord
to be brought upon us today through the ministering of the Word... And
it's a... This last week I've kinda been just a little under the
weather, not exactly say under the weather; it was a test I had to
take, a physical test; and that's what you heard that I was in the
hospital. It was because that I went there so I wouldn't have to come
back and forth across the river. You take a upper gastronomic and a
lower gastronomic and they have to--every few minutes they have to come
back and x-ray again.
But the--we're supposed to take them (if we do overseas missions) every
six months. Brother Roberts and them, I think, gets theirs every six
months, but I hadn't had one for four years.
1-3 The trouble--I just don't
like that castor oil. That's the only thing. And they say there's
nothing else they can give instead, so I... Oh, I got so sick when they
give me that stuff. You know, I've told you in my life story how that
stuff makes me so sick, and--and I just hate to take the stuff. And I
said to my gracious doctor friend, "If... Isn't there something else?"
And he said. "I don't think so, Brother Branham."
1-4 Oh, when that lady come in
there with, looked like... Maybe I'm exaggerating, but it looked like a
quart. It--it was a... I never seen so much; and I'd just hold my nose
and gag, but I finally got it down.
But now, in all of the trial and all that I went through, I want to
thank the Lord for a perfect examination. And I passed one hundred
percent; can go anywhere in the world that I want to go. I asked the
doctors, which was three of the best specialists that, I--I guess, in
Louisville, and I asked them, I said, "Am I at least ten percent
disability?"
He said, "You're not one speck disability." He said--said, "You are in
perfect health every way." And I am so grateful to God. Who else could
it come from but our heavenly Father (see?), of being that way. And he
said, "Your--all your flow shows in there you'd be young." He said,
"Your blood cells hasn't even started breaking or anything." He said,
"You are in very good shape, Brother Branham."
And I said, "Well, I am so glad."
2-2 And I had the privilege of
talking, witnessing to every nurse in that hospital and every doctor to
the Kingdom of God. And one certain doctor, I think he's supposed to be
here this morning... And I--I'm glad to know that there's still good
men in this world, real men, men who would take me for five days
through a physical examination, which would probably run two or three
hundred dollars for each one; when I got through, they said, "It's our
contribution to the work of the Lord that you're doing." Not even...
Said, "Why, you embarrass us to even ask us if you owe us." Said, "Just
your prayers for us."
"And inside," they said, "we find an emotional something that we can't
understand." And they said, "We, it--it doesn't seem to be..." He said,
"Outwardly, you're not nervous or disturbed," but said, "inwardly,
there's an emotion that we can't understand."
I said, "If you'll just set down here just a moment, I'll tell you."
And I went to talking about visions. It was another field to them. They
knew nothing of it. I told them about the Bible. Then I told them of
the vision that the Lord just gave me the other day, and they wept like
babies--just set there and wept. And I--and they... I said, "I hope
that you don't consider me some religious crank or some..."
2-6 Said, "By no means, Brother Branham. I believe that with all my heart." He said, "But just one thing I want to say; you don't go to school to learn those things"; said, "I believe that they come from the Almighty God." And that was three of the outstanding physicians in Louisville, the best that they had. And so, I was so happy for that and to know that maybe the Lord let me plant some seed along there.
2-7 Each nurse, talked to me...
One morning, when coming out of the x-ray room, I said to the... I
looked at a poor old woman; she was so sickly. And I kept moving down,
moving down, till I got to her. I thought she might be dying, and I
said, "I want to ask you a question, sister."
She said, "Yes, sir?"
I said, "Are you a Christian?"
And she said, "I belong to (a certain) church."
And I said, "I just want to make that a little clearer." I said, "I--I
want to know if you're a Christian, really a Christian, that if you
should pass over this sea of life into the other land, do you love
Him?" I said, "Would you really be saved?"
And she said, "Yes, sir, I would."
And I said, "God bless your heart then. No matter which way the wind
blows, you're all right then. As long as it goes like that." And if we
just get around, there's lots of fine people yet left in the world.
3-2 Now, today I have come in with a vision that I will tell you a little later, and I'd like to speak first on some of the Word, 'cause I believe the Word is very essential, the most essential now.
3-3 Now, I'm glad to see Charlie Cox and Brother, my friends standing there together--Brother... I can't think... Jefferies (I can't think of his name.), many of you other precious brethren from Georgia, from different parts of the country. My old buddy, Bill's setting here (I believe it is.) this morning and--and many... The brother from Georgia there, the people who give me this suit. You know, that's--that's one of the best suits I ever wore. It feels just so good. It's really very fine and... You mean so much to me. When I tell you what has happened this last few days to me, you'll see why I think it means so much to me.
3-4 Now, I believe if the Lord is willing, I want to press the battle harder than ever before in my life, 'cause I find out now as--of course, I could die today. That's... You don't know. Electrical cardiograms and everything, sixteen different types of x-rays, a complete physical showed that I was as normally as any person could be, a human being on earth. So I'm thankful for that. But all things, even all of that, and as thankful and grateful to God that I am that I believe He still keeps me in His service, it wasn't what He showed me just a little bit before that. See? It just made me so happy.
3-5 Now, I think tonight... It's all right, isn't it? Our--our precious brother is--is one unselfish man, is--is Brother Neville. And if any of you was here last Sunday and heard that marvelous message that he brought on, "The Cruse of Oil," it was out--one of the most outstanding messages I'd ever heard, was what Brother Neville brought by the Holy Spirit last Sunday to this little herd of sheep that God has gathered together. And if it be all right, pleasing to the Lord, and with Brother Neville and the church, I want to speak again tonight, and start a series of--of say Monday night, I mean Sunday night, and Wednesday night and next Sunday, a series that what I studied...
4-1 I wouldn't have not had to
have stayed over there to the hospital, but they was so good to me.
They give me the room for about one-third the price, and so I just took
my Bibles, my books, and wound up the bed, and set all a-hunkered up
there, and got all of my Bibles and things laying around, and I really
had a time until they brought that castor oil in. My good time ceased
right there; I--I was finished then. But, Brother Pat, I was really
sick. That stuff I just can't stand. And... But I was having a good
time up for the first three or four days.
I was having a good time, and I was studying on the Book of Ephesians.
Oh, that setting together of the church, and I think it's a beautiful
thing.
4-3 And--and if you... Now, if
you have a church that you go to, you go right ahead and stand at your
post of duty, but if you do not have a church, and you'd like to come
back tonight, and Wednesday night, and Sunday night, I'd like to take
tonight, the 1st Book of Ephesus, and the--Wednesday night the 2nd
chapter of Ephesus, and next Sunday, the 3rd chapter of Ephesus to set
the church in order. You know what I mean, it's--it's placing,
positionally, and I think it's an up-build to the church.
Now, I'm not... I'm--I'm just speaking this to the comers of the
Branham Tabernacle. And if any of you dear brethren... I know some of
you, I think, has got meetings. Our little brothers up at Sellersburg
and--and different ones had meetings. Now, look, them's revival
meetings. You attend those. They are servants of Christ, young men who
are standing in the breach that's come out. When even their own church
denied the truth and things like that, they walked right away from it,
and God called them to the ministry.
4-5 Yes, sir, I--I admire a
man... I can't even think of the man's name. But he's a young fellow:
fine, handsome-looking fellow and a lovely wife and children.
And--and Brother Junie Jackson's been having some meetings down here,
which is another wonderful, remarkable trophy of God's amazing grace.
And when they're having revivals in your churches, you go right on to
them, because that's your--that's the thing to do 'cause you don't
know--might be a sinner come to the altar, and you might be influenced
to lead that person to Christ, which will be your great reward across
the other side. This is just teaching and setting the church in order
here at the Tabernacle, helping along as we go.
5-1 Now, I didn't bring my watch, so somebody will have to watch for me. Doc's done showed me he has one, so... My brother... So now... [Brother Branham has a conversation with his brother, Edgar "Doc" Branham--Ed.] You won't charge me too much it? All right. Well now, that's all right. Well now, I just--I don't believe the thing's right to begin with, so... Now, oh, oh, sh, sh, sh. Did you? Now, that's... This clock just moved up a whole lot better then, Doc. Said he held ten pennies back on his birthday to make me feel better. 'Cause there's two or three between he and I. So you can see where I am down the road. But oh, that doesn't matter one speck to me.
5-2 Now, I won't speak very long. Now, if there's strangers in our gates, we sure want to welcome you with all of our hearts. You are so welcome here at this little tabernacle. We haven't got much of a building. It's in a program now to build a, not a big place, but just a... This one's just pretty dilapidated, and we're going to try to build us a nice little comfortable church here soon as we--the Lord will permit us to do it. And a lot of you all are making efforts toward this, and we sure do appreciate that.
5-3 Now, I want you to turn with me this morning in reading to I Samuel the 8th chapter and begin about the... Let's begin about the 19th verse, the 19th and 20th verses, maybe, for a little text for a context. And now, as you get it, and before... We want--we'll read it, and then we want to go to prayer; and would there be any requests this morning, and say, "Just remember me?"
5-4 In our last meet--two weeks ago, or three, when I had the meeting... Say, by the way, while you're turning, the meeting starts in the Chatauqua the sixth now. We're expecting a great time, Middletown, Ohio. You that's got your vacations coming up, come on--and a big camp right on the river where all the--all the preaching you ever heard. They're all up and down the river, preachers every morning, all through the day and night. So they all congregate together. It's a big camp grounds, far bigger than Silver Hills--many times--and then a big place there where we can put between eight and ten thousand people, and it's always packed out. We have great times in--in Ohio.
5-5 And old Brother Kidd, that I went to pray for the other morning... You all remember me telling you three weeks ago; the doctor gave him twenty-four hours to live; he's up and walking around. He quoted a Scripture; a song he couldn't sing. And when I went in and looked at him the other morning and that little shawl over him (I left here about three or four hours 'fore day so I could get to him, they said he'd die that day: cancer in the prostate.)
5-6 And his precious little old
wife washed for fifty cents a day. And that's before daybreak until
after night for fifty cents to keep her husband on the field as a
preacher. Preached a two-weeks revival and took up an offering and got
eighty cents. But I seen them setting there the other morning, them two
little old couples--a little couple, rather, setting there, and his
little shawl over his shoulder; and one of his converts, ninety-two
years old just as brilliant and bright, and Pentecost to the core, and
setting there, you know...
And I said, "You know, what you old people setting out here for?"
"Just waiting for the boat to come." That's all.
Their work, all they have achieved; purpose they have achieved, and
they're ready now to go to their reward. And I said to Brother Cheive
that--to Brother Kiddson--Kidd that morning, "You will be at the
Chatauqua meeting."
He called me yesterday, said, "I'm all--I'll be there, Brother Branham.
I'll be..." Well just fine.
6-3 Many of the meeting from my
new ministry coming in... A brother, Baptist brother standing here, his
daughter, teen-age, had been kind of a little wayward, and I told him,
"I give you your daughter for the Lord Jesus," the other morning, and
when he went home she's saved, and the other one here this morning to
be baptized, and going on.
And a man, Mr. Sothmann, a friend of mine from Canada, his
mother-in-law in a dying condition, said, "You'll find your
mother-in-law when you get there, well, on her road to recovery, all
right." That's just the way it was. And just--people just coming in.
It's just in its infancy now, moving. But oh, we're expecting the
exceedingly, abundantly above all. We're in the evil and last days, but
in a glorious hour.
6-5 Now, have you got your
Bible for the reading? 8th chapter of Samuel. And I promised Gene to
stay back there at the record, the rest of this... We were just
beginning to, in our meeting.
Nevertheless the
people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nay; but we
will have a king over us;
That we may be like
the nation... all nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out
before us, and fight our battles.
Samuel heard all
these words of the people, and rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord.
And the Lord said to
Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said
unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man to his city.
Now, if I should try to choose from this this morning what I would call
a text for the next few minutes, I would like to choose the text of:
"The Rejected King."
7-2 It was a time that as, in all times, that people has never wanted God to lead them. They want their own way of leadership. And this story this morning... And when you go to your home, it would be good for you to read it all the way through. It was during the time of the--the days of Samuel, the man of God, the prophet. And he'd been a just man and a good man: honorable, reputable, true, and honest with the people, never deceiving them, and telling them nothing but straight, THUS SAITH THE LORD.
7-3 But the people had come to
a place where they wanted to change this program. They had looked upon
the Philistines, and the Amalekites, Amorites, Hittites, and the other
nations of the world, and they had seen that they had kings that ruled
them, and governed them, and guided them, and fought their battles, and
so forth. And this seemed to be that Israel wanted to pattern
themselves like these kings and like these people.
But it has never been, in any age, God's intention for His people to
act like the people of the world, or to be governed or controlled like
the people of the world. God's people is, always has been, a--a
peculiar people, a different people, a called-out, a separated, an
altogether different in their action, in their ways, in their manner of
living, than what the peoples of the world has. Their appetites for
things and all that their makeup is, has been always contrary to the
things that the people of the world desire.
7-5 And the people of Israel
came to Samuel and said, "Now, you're getting old, and your sons do not
walk in your way. (Because they wasn't true like Samuel; they were
bribers and takers of money.)" And they said, "Samuel, your boys is not
like you, so we want you to go out and to find us a king, and anoint
him, and make us a people like the rest of the peoples of the world."
And Samuel tried to tell them that that would not work. He said, "If
you do that, the first thing you know, you'll find that he will call
all your sons from your home and make soldiers out of them to run
before his chariots and bear armors and spears. Not only that, but he
will call your daughters to make bakers of bread and take them away
from you to feed the army." And said, "Besides all that, he will take a
certain taxes off of you of your grain, and all your income. He will
tax all of that to make certain government debts and so forth that'll
have to be paid." He said, "I think you are altogether making a
mistake."
But when the people said, "But we still want to be like the rest of the
people."...
8-2 There's something about men and women that they long to be like one another. And there's only been one Man ever lived on earth that was our Example, and that was the One that died for us all, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He was the perfect example of what we should be: always about the Father's business and doing that which is right.
8-3 And no matter how much that
Samuel tried to persuade the people, continually they went after him
day and night, "We want a king. We want a man. We want a man that we
can say, "This is our guide." And that has never been the will of God.
It never was the will of God, or it never will be the will of God for
man to rule over one another. God rules over man. God is our Ruler, our
King. And it's a very very much of a parallel of today, because that
man seems to have that same idea. They don't seem to be able to grasp
that God still rules man, instead of man ruling man.
So they chose themselves a man named Saul, which was the son of Kish.
And he was a reputable man, an honorable man. But he suited the people
just right, because he was a great, tall, noble statue of a man. The
Scriptures said he was head and shoulders above any man in Israel. He
was kingly looking, and he was handsome in the face. He was a brilliant
and an extraordinary man.
8-5 Now, that's the kind of man
that the people like to choose today. The people does not seem to be
satisfied with the way that God placed His church to be governed and
controlled by the Holy Spirit. They want somebody, some man, some
denomination, some certain people to govern the church that they're not
able to throw themselves completely into God's hand to be spiritual to
be led by the Holy Spirit. They want somebody to do their religion for
them, somebody that will tell them just how to do it and all about it.
So this man seemed to suit the place exactly, because he was a very
intellectual man.
And it's a whole lot like today. We like to choose such people too, to
control our churches, to control the church of God. Nothing that I have
to say against it, but just merely to make a point, that it is not, it
was not, and it will never be the will of God for such to be. God is to
rule His people, to govern each individual.
9-2 Then we find that this son
of Kish, great man, and--and his statue, and his... He seemed to suit
the people that his robe upon him would look great and the crown on his
head, way and above all the other people as he walked, would be a--a
real asset to the kingdom of Israel. For the other kings would--of the
other nations would think, "Look what a man."
How they could point their finger and say, "Looky here what a great
king we got. Look what a great man that's over us."
And sad to say, but how true it is today with the church. They love to
say, "Our pastor is not a narrow-minded man; he is a great man. He is a
graduate from Hartford or some great school of theology. He has four
degrees out of so-and-such a place, and he's a very good mixer amongst
the people." All that may be all right and have its place, but God's
way for His church is to be led by the Holy Ghost and by His Spirit.
But they like to say that, "We have this great denomination that we
belong to. We have started back in the early pioneer days when we were
in the minority, just a very few people and small. And now we have
grown until the place that we are among the largest denominations there
is. We have the best schools and the best educated ministers. We have
the best-dressed crowds, and the most intellectual people of the city
attends our denomination. And we give to charity, and we do good deeds
and all such"; and nothing at all, God forbid that I should speak one
word against that, for that is all good; but still it isn't the will of
God that man should rule over man.
9-4 God sent, on the day of
Pentecost, the Holy Ghost to rule in man's hearts and rule in his
lives. It was not meant for man to rule over man, but we love to say
that.
It's a very outstanding thing when we can say we belong to such a great
organization: "Are you a Christian?"--that's how I fell upon this text.
When I was at the hospital, and I would ask one, "Are you a Christian?"
"I belong to such-and-such."
"Are you a Christian?"
"I belong to such-and-such."
And the little nurse came in to the bedside where I was reading the
Bible, and she was a new nurse on the floor, and she said, "How do you
do?" She said, "I believe that you're Rev. Branham here for a--a
physical checkup."
I said, "I am."
And she said, "May I rub your back, a--a make you feel a little better,
with the alcohol?"
And I said, "You may do it."
And while she was rubbing on my back, she said, "What denomination of
church do you belong to?"
And I said, "Oh, I belong to the oldest denomination that there is."
And she said, "What denomination is that?"
I said, "It's the one that was organized before the world was ever
organized."
"Oh," she said, "what... I don't believe I know just that..." She said,
"I belong to a certain church. Is it that organization?"
I said, "No, ma'am. That was only about two hundred years ago, that
organization. But this organization started when the morning stars sang
together and the sons of God shouted for joy, "When they seen the
coming of a Saviour to redeem mankind."
10-1 And she just stopped
rubbing my back, and I was stooped a little over this way so the lady
could rub (And she was from near Corydon down here.) and we got to
talking, and she said, "Sir, I've always believed that if God ever was
God, He's still God today just like He was in the old days." She said,
"Though my church flatly denies that, but I believe that it is the
truth."
And I said, "You're not far from the Kingdom of God, young woman."
She said, "If He ever was a Healer, isn't He still a Healer?"
I said, "He most certainly is, my sister."
10-2 But man wants to rule, and
rule over man; and man wants man to rule over him. He doesn't want to
have God to rule.
So this son of Kish (Saul, by name) was just an answer to what they had
wanted. The great stately man and the... Oh, he could just lead them to
their battles and so forth. But still it wasn't God's way of doing
things. God wanted His faithful old prophet to direct them and speak
His words to them.
11-1 Now, today, in our great
church age that we live in, we--I think and believe this with all my
heart, that we have exactly gone vice versa from what God ordained us
to do. The last words of our Saviour was in Mark 16, said:
Go ye into all the
world, and preach the Gospel to every, creature.
He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned.
And these signs
shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils;
they shall speak with the new tongue;
And if they should
take up serpents; or drink deadly things, it would not harm them; and
if they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover.
11-2 There is not a man; there's
no son of Kish, or no one else can produce that outside of the
leadership of the Holy Spirit. But we have made schools; we have made
seminaries, and made organizations to--to satisfy and to look like the
rest of the world.
Now, the Holy Spirit used to be the Leader in this nation. This nation
used to be governed when back in--when they wrote up the Declaration of
Independence, and there was an extra chair setting there. There is not
one speck of doubt in my mind but what the Son of God set at that table
when this nation was founded upon the principles of freedom of
religion, and freedom to all, and upon the basis of God's eternal Word.
But we have corrupted that. Politics, we have voted man in there under
buying and selling and promises of falsehood until our nation, and our
politics, and our democracy is so polluted until it's--it's interwoven
with Communism and all kinds of isms.
11-4 And many times we call into
the sessions for prayer when leagues of nations meet in there or to
have discussions. And in one certain great time recently, there was not
even one time called for prayer. How are we ever going to settle
differences without prayer? How can we ever expect in all the world to
ever do anything without the leadership of the Holy Spirit?
But let me say this with love and respects to our nation, and to its
flag, and to the republic for which it stands: we have rejected our
Leader the Holy Spirit, and through corrupt politics have brought in
men of perversed mind. And if you don't watch, they're going to make
one of the most fatal mistakes they've ever made right now: is because
that the people are desiring man to rule.
12-2 What we need in the capital
of this United States as a President, what we need in Congress, what we
need in our halls of justice, is men who have consecrated their lives
to God, and are filled with the Holy Ghost, and are led by His Divine
direction. But instead of that, we choose men of intellectual, men who
have forms of godliness and deny the power of God, men who are atheists
and sometimes even worse than that we've brought into our political
realms of our nation, not only that but in our churches.
Our churches have become corrupt upon the basis that we, in choosing
our shepherds to lead us, we have gone to the seminaries and have
selected men that's great intellectual giants, men who are very
brilliant in mind, men who have scholarships, and are great mixers
amongst the people, and are great men in the neighborhood (which I have
nothing to say against), men who are kind in their ways of walk,
careful in their ways of life, and how they conduct themselves among
other men and among people; great men in their fields... Which I do not
speak evil of; God forbid that my spirit would ever be that evil. But
still, that isn't what God chose for us. It's the leadership of the
Holy Spirit: Christ in the heart of man.
12-4 Many of those intellectual men that stands in our pulpit deny the real existence of the Holy Ghost. Many of them deny the existence of Divine healing and the power of the Spirit.
12-5 I was reading an article
yesterday (I believe it was), a series of newspaper clippings from Jack
Coe, the late Jack Coe, one of my converts to the Lord Jesus, who was a
mighty man of valor in his day, and was called to question down in
Florida, because of asking a young child to remove its braces from its
legs and to walk across the platform. And upon doing so, the child
walked across the platform normally and fell when it got to its mother,
all being a setup of the enemy of Christ.
This young woman and her husband brought our gallant brother into the
courts of the land. And when every church ought to have stood by
Brother Jack, when every churchman that mentions the Name of Jesus
Christ should've stood by his side gallantly, every man that calls on
the Name of the Lord Jesus should've fell to their knees in prayer; but
instead of that, across the headlines of the papers, one of our great
denominations said they joined hands with the atheists to condemn and
prison Brother Jack Coe. Could you imagine a church calling themselves
the Name of Christ, would join hands with an atheist to condemn a godly
man, who was trying with all of his heart to stand for the Bible? But
they did it.
13-1 And then Brother Gordon
Lindsay was at the rescue, and when the unbelieving judge said, "This
man is a fraud, because he taken the braces from that child and sent
him across the platform, and said he was healed, and he lied, and he
did something contrary to the doctor's orders; therefore, he has a
defraud case against him."
And Mr. Coe raised up, and he said, "Sir, I defy that statement. God
healed the boy."
And the judge said, "I will ask any man in this court if that statement
could be true that God could heal that boy on one end of the platform,
and let him be sick on the other end. If that statement can be proved
by the Bible, then I say Mr. Coe has a right for his statement."
And a minister raised his hand and he said, "Your Honor, sir, may I
state it?"
And the judge said, "State on."
13-2 And the minister stood to
his feet and said, "One night on a rocking sea, when a little ship was
about to go to the bottom; all hopes of being saved was gone. They saw
Jesus, the Son of God, come walking on water. And one of the apostles
by the name of Peter, said, 'If that be You, Lord, bid me come to You
on the water.'"
And He said, "The Lord said to the apostle, Peter, 'Come on.' And he
stepped out of the boat, sir, walking just as good as Jesus was walking
on the water. But when he got scared, he begin to sink before he got to
Jesus."
The judge said, "The case is dismissed."
13-3 We need Holy Spirit
leadership, not intellectual men. Saul, the son of Kish, was then made
captain over the people. And he taken two thousand men, and Jonathan
taken a thousand, and Jonathan went down to a garrison and smote a
bunch of Amorites, Ammonites rather. And when--when he had smote them,
Saul sounded a trumpet and said, "You see what Saul has done." He begin
to get puffed up.
Just as soon as a man gets to be some great Doctor of Divinity, or gets
a little something behind his name, he becomes more or less a
know-it-all. God's men are humble men. God's people are humble people.
When you see someone who says they have received the Holy Spirit and
begins to separate themselves, seemingly not having the faith, going
about trying to be something that they're not, just remember, they
haven't received the Lord Jesus.
14-3 Then we find that the enemy
set in, and he was going to come into a little bunch of God's people
and was going to pluck out the right eye of every man. That's what the
enemy always tries to do, is pluck out both eyes if he can, so that the
people cannot see what they're doing. That's what Satan tries to do
today to every Christian: pluck out his spiritual sight, that he can
only follow the intellectual sense of things and not the sense of the
Holy Spirit leading him.
So then when they did that, when the great defeat come, then Saul cut
up two great ox and sent them to all the people. And I wished you would
notice here. When Saul sent the pieces of the ox to all Israel and
said, "Let every man that will not follow Samuel and Saul, let him,
this ox be as this." Do you see how deceitful he tried to represent
Himself with the man of God? How--how unchristian it was. The fear of
the people was because of Samuel. But Saul got them all to follow him,
because that the people feared Samuel. "Let them come after Samuel and
Saul."
14-5 And how many times today
have we heard it: "We are the great church"; "We are the Church of
Christ"; "We are the Church of God"; "We are the--the so-and-so." It
makes the people get a fear and think that that really is where God's
a-working. And they don't want the leadership of the Holy Spirit;
they'd rather follow men like that, because they like to live their own
individual life. They like to believe what they want to believe.
Do you see the Holy Spirit is our Judge? God never give us a pope, or a
bishop, or anybody to be a judge. The Holy Spirit, the Person of God in
the form of the Holy Spirit is our Judge and our Guide.
14-7 Now, why is that? Please
pardon this rude and most rude expression. I do not mean it to be mean;
I say it from love. But the Holy Spirit says it's wrong for our women
to cut their hair, and it's wrong for our women to wear little shorts
and slacks and to make up their lips and face with paint; the Holy
Spirit says it's wrong. But we want men to tell us that it's all right.
"As long as we follow me and Samuel..." They like to live through six
days any way they want to, and go to church on Sunday morning--and are
fine intellectual, college graduate with plenty of degrees can speak to
them a little sermon that will--a few jokes in it that would tickle
their ears and cause them to be entertained like some movie or
television program, and say a little prayer over them, and send them
home with kind of a--a self-satisfied security that they've done their
religion.
That is not the will of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit wants you to
live godly every day in the week and every night, separating yourselves
from the things of the world. But the church don't want that. They want
some man who can--who can interpret the Bible the way that they want to
hear It. They won't listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking
through the Bible.
15-3 Many of them want to say the days of miracles has passed. That's what tickles the people. They want to say there's no baptism of the Holy Spirit. The people don't want to act any different than what the rest of the world acts. They don't want to get on the street and to have their face washed, and--and men with clean countenance and not cigarettes in their mouth, and--and cigars, and pipes, and--and the things that men do; and women wants their hair cut up real short, and--and little dresses on, and showing their forms and things that they want. They--they want men who'll tell them that's all right.
15-4 Then the other night here
come a man to tell me that because that I'd preached against such, that
a great denomination, about five of them, said, "We'll drop Brother
Branham and have nothing else to do with him. You'll either call those
tapes back and apologize for them or we'll drop you."
I said, "I'll stand with God's Word though it takes everything that's
in my life. I'll remain with the Word and I..."
Said, "Well, shouldn't you not call back such-and-such a tape?"
I said, "I have never preached anything in my life that I was ashamed
of. I'll call back no tapes or no records. I'll remain with what the
Holy Spirit says; that I'll live by and die by." I'm not trying to say
about myself now, but I'm just trying to give you an illustration of
what's going on so you will see and understand. It's people wants to be
led by man.
16-1 They didn't want Samuel.
Then before they anointed Samuel king--or Saul king (Pardon me.),
Samuel came to them again. And I'm going to speak just in language like
he would've said it today. You may read it.
He said, "What is the matter with God being your King?"
"Well, we don't see God."
"Well, I am His representative." Samuel said, "Have I ever told you
anything wrong? Have I ever prophesied anything that didn't come to
pass just as I said it would do? Have not I told you the Word of the
Lord? And I will ask you this: Have I ever come to you and begged any
of your money? Have I ever took anything from you? Have I ever brought
you anything but straight THUS SAITH THE LORD? And God has vindicated
it every time that it was the truth, and He sent a thunderstorm and
rains." You know the Scripture you--right there to prove that Samuel
was God's mouthpiece.
And as Samuel perfectly represented today, the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit is God's Mouthpiece, that speaks just exactly what the Bible
said, that believes just what the Bible said and won't vary from it one
bit. But they wanted somebody who could tell them different.
16-4 And the people could not say that Samuel's prophecy wasn't perfect. They answered and said, "Samuel, all that you have spoke in the Name of the Lord, the Lord has brought it to pass just as you said. There is not one flaw. You never did come to us and beg us for our money. You have supported yourself. You've never asked us to do any great outstanding thing for you. You've trusted in your God, and He has delivered you from all things. And your words are true; everything you spoke in the Name of the Lord has been just as you said; but still we want a king."
16-5 Can you see the
discrepancy? Can you--you see the--the cunningness of the devil can
work on a human being? Instead of yielding himself, or herself, to the
Holy Spirit and listen to what THUS SAITH THE LORD is for a pure life,
a undefiled character, for a different life, a peculiar people, a holy
nation, a odd acting people, they had rather coincide with the world,
and act like the world, and go to some church that says, "That's all
right; just act like that and go on."
Can you see what it is? They say, "There's no such a thing as healing.
Oh, the baptism of the Holy Spirit was a framework to the church." In
other words, then God taken men, took the Holy Spirit out of the church
and let the denomination build it up. Never, never. There's no such a
thing. The Holy Spirit, the Word of Truth, was to guide you until Jesus
comes. But that's the way it--it went.
17-2 Saul come into power. He
grea--he got a great following. Oh, he had beautiful armors; he had
singers; he had shields; and he had spears. Oh, he outshined all the
rest of the nations. And he brought them into a democracy that was
beyond anything that anybody had ever heard of.
And that's exactly what our denominations and churches has done today.
We have the biggest church buildings in the world. We have the
prettiest dressed people in the world. We have the highest scholarships
that can be brought. Like Saul's trained men who could take that spear,
and they could move it and maneuver it, till nations feared them. They
were a trained people and all.
But one day, there come a time that there was a challenger come out.
And it so excited the--the whole Israelite army till they stood
trembling in their shoes. Goliath made them a challenge: "If your God
is what you say he is, you are the best trained." And he challenged
them. And they didn't know what to do. Their fine polished armors
wouldn't work. Their spears wouldn't work. There was something they
hadn't heard of before was taking place.
17-4 And with all reverence, and
godly respects, and honor, and dignity, and love, and Christian
fellowship, I say this: I read the other day in a African paper where
that our son of Kish, our challenger of evangelism, when a Mohammedan
challenged him: Billy Graham... Said, "If your god is God, let Him heal
the sick like He said He'd do." And the son of Kish, with the rest of
the army, quietened themselves and left the country defeated. It's a
disgrace. Our God is God.
We have our good churches; we have our fine evangelism; we have our
paid singers; we have the best choirs, the highest spires in the
country; we have the finest men, some of the most money. We have the
intellectual; we have theology down to the point; we can preach it; we
can tell it; we can evangelize, and bring people in, and make millions
each year of converts into the church. Our paid singers, our
intellectual evangelism doesn't know how to meet a challenge like that.
They know nothing of it. They know nothing of His healing power, of the
baptism of the Holy Ghost, of a power that can take a shadow of a man
dying with a cancer and set him free. They know nothing of it. They
haven't been trained in that field, as Saul and his manmade group was.
18-1 But let me say to the
people of God and to you children, that you might know that God never
leaves you without a witness. Not knowing to Saul: Saul knowed nothing
about it; God had a little David back over behind the hill somewhere
that wasn't feeding sheep on ecclesiastical weeds. He was leading them
beside still waters and in green pastures. He was mindful of his
father's sheep, and if something run in, an enemy, to grab one of his
father's sheep, he knowed the power of God to deliver that sheep.
God's still got a David somewhere that knows what it means to deliver
one of God's sheep by the power of God. He still knows all about it. He
had trusted... He didn't know nothing about Saul's armor, and neither
did he want any of it. He didn't want any of their denominations; he
didn't want the old armor upon him. He said, "I don't know nothing
about it. But let me go in the power that I know of."
18-3 He had fed his father's
sheep. He had took care of the pastures. He'd given them the right kind
of food, and they live and thrive. "Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God man shall
live." The true shepherd feeds them Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. And if the enemy grabs one in sickness, he knows
the power of God.
Look at, little David stood there, said, "That guy is a warrior from
his birth. And from his youth he's knowed nothing but a spear and a
armor. He's well trained. He's a theologian. And you know nothing about
it?"
He said, "That is true, sir. I don't know nothing about his theological
training, but there's one thing I do know: that when an enemy come in
to take one of my father's sheep, I went with the power of God. I
delivered him. I brought him safely back to good health again. I
brought him back to the shady green pastures and the still waters. And
the God that delivered the lion into my hands, and I slew him when he
took one of the--the lambs, and He let me slay the bear; so will God of
the heaven go with me to slay this uncircumcised Philistine." We need
leadership of the Holy Spirit.
19-1 I don't know my days. No one does. The other morning I was laying in my bed. And I was--had been asleep, and I dreamed that Joseph was sick, and I'd picked him up to pray for him. And when I woke up I was very upset. I said, "Well, maybe Joseph is going to be sick." And I looked going before me in a little dark shadow, rather, of a brownish color, and it seemed like it was me. And I watched it and coming behind it was someone white, and it was Him. I looked over to my wife to see if she was awake that I could show her, if she could see the vision, but she was sleeping. I said, "Oh, I'm sorry, Lord, but that's been my life. You've had to drive me to everything that I done. Every time anything would happen, I'd think it was You doing it, and I realize it was Satan trying to keep me away from it." I said, "If You could only lead me." And as I looked I seen the prettiest face I ever saw on a Man. He was in front of me looking back. He raised His hand and got ahold of mine and started moving this a-way. The vision left me.
19-2 Last Sunday morning I
was--had wakened up early. That was on Saturday, this vision. On S...
I've always wearied. I've always thought of dying that me, being fifty,
it's--my time is not--didn't think was too long. And I wondered what I
would be in this theophany, celestial body. Would it be that I'd see my
precious friends and say a little white fog going by and say, "There
goes Brother Neville," or he couldn't say, "Hello, Brother Branham."
And when Jesus come, then I'd be man again. I often thought that.
I was dreaming that I was out west and I--coming down through a little
sagebrush place, and my wife was with me, and we'd been trout fishing,
and I stopped and--and opened up the gate, and the skies were so
pretty. They didn't look like they do over the valley here. They were
blue and the pretty white clouds. And I said to wife; I said, "We ought
to have been out here a long time ago, honey."
She said, "For the children's sake, we should've been, Billy."
I said, "That's right..."
19-5 And I woke up; I thought,
"I'm dreaming so much. I wonder why." And I looked down and she was
laying by me. And I raised up on my pillow, as many of you people have
done, put my head upon the--the headboard of the bed, and put my hands
behind me. I was laying there like this, and I said, "Well, I just
wonder what it will be the other side. I am already fifty, and I
haven't done nothing yet. If I could only do something to help the
Lord. For I know I won't be mortal. Half of my time is gone, at least,
or more than half. If I live to be as old as my people, still half my
time is gone. And I looked around and I was laying there fixing to get
up. It was about seven o'clock. I said, "I believe I'll go down to
church this morning if I am hoarse. I'd like to hear Brother Neville
preach." So I--I said, "Are you awake, honey?" And she was sleeping
very soundly.
And I don't want you to miss this. It has changed me. I can't be the
same Brother Branham that I was.
20-2 And I looked, and I heard
something kept saying, "You're just starting. Press the battle. Just
keep pressing."
I shook my head a minute and then I thought, "Well, I probably just
thinking like this, you know, a person can get some imaginations." and
I said, "I just probably imagined that."
It said, "Press the battle. Keep going. Keep going."
And I said, "Maybe I said it."
And I put my lips within my teeth, and put my hand over my mouth, and
there it come again; said, "Just keep pressing. If you only knew what
was at the end of the road." And seemed like I could hear Graham
Snelling, or somebody that sing that song like this; they sings it
here, Anna Mae and all of you all:
I am
homesick and blue, and I want to see Jesus;
I
would like to hear those sweet harbor bells chime;
It
would brighten my path and would vanish all fears;
Lord,
let me look past the curtain of time.
You've heard it sang here at the church.
And I heard something say, "Would you like to see just beyond the
curtain?"
I said, "It would help me so much." And I looked, and in just a moment,
I--one breath, I'd come into a little place that's slanted. I looked
back, and there I was laying on the bed. And I said, "This is a strange
thing."
20-4 Now, I would not want you
to repeat this. This is before my church, or my sheep that I am
pastoring. Whether it was I was in this body or out, whether it was a
translation... It wasn't like any vision I ever had. I could look
there, and I could look here. And when I hit that little place, I never
seen so many people come running, screaming, "Oh, our precious
brother." And I looked, and young women, maybe in their early twenties
(eighteen to twenty), they were throwing their arms around me and
screaming, "Our precious brother."
Here come young men in the brilliance of young manhood, and their eyes
glistening and looking like stars on a darkened night, their teeth as
white as pearl, and they were screaming, and grabbing me, and
screaming, "Oh, our precious brother." And I stopped and I looked, and
I was young. I looked back at my old body laying there with my hands
behind my head. I said, "I don't understand this." And these young
women throwing their arms around me...
21-2 Now, I do realize this is a mixed audience, and I say this with the sweetness and with the mellowness of the Spirit. Men cannot put your arm around women without a human sensation. But it wasn't there. There was no yesterday nor tomorrow. They didn't get tired. They were... I never seen such pretty women in all my life. They had hair way down to their waistline, long skirts to their feet, and they were just a hugging me. It wasn't a hug like even my own sister setting there would hug me. They were not kissing me, and I was not kissing them. It was something that I--I have not got the--the vocabulary; I haven't got the words to say. Perfection wouldn't touch it. Superb wouldn't even touch it nowhere. It was something that I never... You just have to be there.
21-3 And I looked this a way and
that way, and they were coming by the thousands. And I said, "Now, I
don't understand this." I said, "Why, they..."
And here come Hope; that was my first wife. She run and never said, "My
husband." She said, "My precious brother." And when she hugged me,
there was another woman standing there that'd hugged me, and then Hope
hugged this woman, and each one...
And I thought, "Oh, wh--this has to be something different; it--it
can't be. There's something..." I thought, "Oh, would I ever want to go
back to that old carcass again?" I looked around there and I thought,
"What is this?" And I looked real good, and I--I said, "I--I can't
understand this." But Hope seemed to be like a--oh a guest of honor.
She was no different but just like a guest of honor.
21-4 And I heard a voice then
that spoke to me that was in the room, said, "This is what you preached
was the Holy Ghost. This is perfect love. And nothing can enter here
without it." I am more determined than ever in my life that it takes
perfect love to enter there. There was no jealousy. There was no
tiredness. There was no death. Sickness could never in there. Mortality
could never make you old, and the--they could not cry. It was just one
joy, "Oh, my precious brother."
And they took me up and set me up on a great big high place. And I
thought, "I am not dreaming. I'm looking back at my--my body laying
down there on the bed." And they set me up there, and I said, "Oh, I
shouldn't set up here."
And here come women and men from both sides just in the bloom of youth,
screaming. And one woman was standing there, and she screamed, "Oh, my
precious brother. Oh, we are so happy to see you here."
I said, "I don't understand this."
And then that voice that was speaking from above me, said, "You know it
is written in the Bible that the prophets were gathered with their
people."
And I said, "Yes, I remember that in the Scriptures."
Said, "Why, this is when you will gather with your people."
I said, "Then they'll be real, and I can feel them."
"Oh, yes."
I said, "But I... There's millions. There's not that many Branhams."
And that voice said, "They're not Branhams; them's your converts.
That's the ones that you've led to the Lord." And said, "Some of them
women there that you think are so beautiful were better than ninety
years old when you led them to the Lord. No wonder they're screaming,
'Our precious brother.'"
And they screamed all at once, "If you hadn't have went, we wouldn't be
here."
22-4 I looked around and I
thought, "Well, I don't get it." I said, "Oh, where is Jesus? I want to
see Him so bad."
They said, "Now, He's just a little higher, right up that way." Said,
"Someday He will come to you." You see? Said, "You were sent for a
leader. And God will come, and when He does, He'll judge you according
to what you taught them, first; whether they go in or not. We'll go in
according to your teaching."
I said, "Oh, I'm so glad. Did Paul, does he have to stand like this?
Does Peter have to stand like this?"
"Yes."
I said, "Then I've preached every word that they preached. I never
divvied from it one side to the other. Where they baptized in the Name
of Jesus Christ, I did too. Where they taught the baptism of the Holy
Ghost, I did too. Whatever they taught, I did too."
And them people screamed and said, "We know that, and we know we're
going with you someday back to earth." Said, "Jesus will come, and
you'll be judged according to the Word that you preached us. And then,
if you are accepted at that time, which you will be," and said, "then
you will present us to Him as your trophies of your ministry." Said,
"You will guide us to Him, and all together we'll go back to the earth
to live forever."
I said, "Do I have to return back now?"
"Yes, but keep pressing on."
23-3 I looked, and I could see
the people, just as far as I could see, still coming, wanting to hug
me, screaming, "Our precious brother."
Just then a voice said, "All that you ever loved, and all that ever
loved you, God has given you here." And I looked and here come my old
dog come walking up. Here come my horse and laid his head up over my
shoulder and nickered.
Said, "All that you ever loved and all that ever loved you, God has
given them into your hands through your ministry."
And I felt myself move from that beautiful place. And I looked around.
I said, "Are you awake, honey?" She was still asleep and I thought, "O
God, oh, help me, O God. Never let me compromise with one word. Let me
stay right straight on that Word and preach It. I don't care what comes
or goes, what anybody does, how many Sauls of--sons of Kish rise, how
many this, that, or the other, let me, Lord, press to that place.
23-6 All fear of death... I say
this with my Bible before me this morning. I've got a little boy there
four years old, to be raised. I've got a nine year old girl and a
teen-ager that I'm thankful for, that's turned the way of the Lord.
God, let me live to bring them up in the admonition of God. Above that,
the whole world seems to scream to me. Ninety year old women and men
and all kinds, "If you hadn't have went, we wouldn't been here." And,
God, let me press the battle. But if it comes to dying, I am no more...
It would be a joy; it would be a pleasure to enter from this corruption
and disgrace.
If I could make up yonder, one hundred billion miles high, a square
block, and that's perfect love. Each step this way, it narrows until we
get down to where we are now. It would be just merely a shadow of
corruption. That little something that we can sense and feel that
there's something somewhere, we don't know what it is.
Oh, my precious friend, my beloved, my darlings of the Gospel, my
begotten children unto God, listen to me, your pastor. You... I wish
there was some way I could explain it to you. There's no words. I
couldn't find it. It's not found anywhere. But just beyond this last
breath is the most glorious thing that you ever... There is no way to
explain it. There's no way; I just can't do it. But whatever you do,
friends, lay aside everything else till you get perfect love. Get to a
spot that you can love everybody, every enemy, everything else. That
one visit there to me has made me a different man. I can never, never,
never be the same Brother Branham that I was.
24-2 Whether the planes are
rocking, whether lightning's a-flashing, whether the spies has a gun on
me, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. I'm going to press the battle by
the grace of God while I preach the Gospel to every creature and every
person that I can, persuading them to that beautiful land yonder. It
may seem hard; it may take a lot of strength.
I don't know how much longer. We don't know. Physically speaking
the--from my examination the other day, said, "You've got twenty-five
years of hard, good life. You're solid." That helped me. But, oh, that
wasn't it. That isn't it. It's something within here. This corruption
has got to put on incorruption; this mortal's got to put on immortality.
24-4 Sons of Kish may rise. I
have... All the good things they do, I have nothing evil to say against
it: giving to the poor and to charity. And you remember, why, Samuel
told Saul, "You'll also prophesy." And many of those men are great
mighty preachers, can preach the Word like archangels, but still it
wasn't God's will. God was to be their King. And brother, sister, you
let the Holy Spirit lead you. Let us bow our heads just a moment.
I'm so
homesick and blue, and I want to see Jesus,
I
would like to hear those sweet harbor bells chime.
It
would brighten my path and would vanish all fear;
Lord,
let us look a-past the curtain of time.
Lord,
let me look a-past the curtain of sorrows and fear;
Let me
view that sunny bright clime.
It
would strengthen our faith and would vanish all fear;
Lord,
let them look a-past the curtain of time.
25-1 I am sure, Lord, if this
little church this morning could just look a-past the curtain: not an
affliction among them, nor never could be, not a sickness, nothing but
perfection, and it's just one breath between here and there, from old
age to youth, from time to eternity, from a weary of tomorrow and a
sorrow of yesterday till a present time of eternity in perfection.
I pray, God, that You will bless every person here. If there be those
here, Lord, who does not know You in that way of love... And truly,
Father, nothing could enter that holy place without that type of love,
the new birth to be borned again. The Holy Spirit, God is love. And we
know that that is true. No matter if we move mountains by our faith, if
we did great things, still without that there we could never climb that
great ladder yonder. But with that, it'll lift us beyond this earthly
cares.
I pray, Father, that You will bless the people here, and may that every
person that has heard me this morning tell this truth, that You be my
Witness, Lord, as Samuel of old, "Have I ever told them anything in
Your Name but what was true?" They're the judges. And I tell them now,
Lord, that You taken me to that land. And Thou knowest that it's true.
And now, Father, if there be some that doesn't know You, may this be
the hour that they say, "Lord, place within me the will to be Thy
will." Grant it, Father.
25-4 And--and now you with your
heads bowed, would you raise your hands and say, "Pray for me, Brother
Branham. God will within me."
Now, while you're right where you are, just real sweetly, why don't you
just say to Father, "God, within my heart, today I renounce all things
of the world; I renounce everything to love You and serve You all my
life. And I will, from this day henceforth, follow You in every
Scripture of Your Bible." If you have not been baptized in the
Christian baptism, "I will, Lord. If I have not yet received the Holy
Ghost..." you'll know when you received It. It'll give to you; It'll
give to you the assurance and love that you need. Oh, you might've done
different--had sensations, like you might've shouted or spoke with
tongues, which is fine, but if that Divine Love isn't there... Believe
me now.
Say, "Lord, place within my heart and in my soul the reaching of Your
Spirit, that I might love, and honor, and have that Divine Love in my
heart today that would take me to that land when my final breath leaves
me." While we pray, you pray yourself now. In your own way, you pray.
Ask God to do that for you.
I love you. I love you. You precious gray-headed men setting here,
who's worked hard and fed little children. You poor old mamas who
stroked the tears from their eyes, let me assure you this, sister dear,
it isn't that way across the other breath yonder. I believe that it is
absolutely in the room. It's just a dimension that we live into; this
is just a corruption that we live in now. "Will in me, Lord, Thy will
to be." You pray while we pray together.
26-2 Reverently, Lord, upon the
basis of Thy Word and Thy Holy Spirit, we are so glad that we know
where our birth comes from. We are glad that we were born, not of the
will of man, nor of the will of flesh, but of the will of God. And we
pray today, Father, that these who are now asking for pardoning grace,
that Your Spirit will do that work, Lord. There's no way for me to do
it. I'm just a man, another son of Kish. But we need You, the Holy
Spirit. God, let me be as Samuel, one who tells the truth of the Word.
And you have vindicated It so far, and I believe that You will continue
as long as I stay true to You.
May they all now receive Eternal Life, Father. May this day never
depart from them. In the hour when they come to leave this world, may
this, what I have just said to them, open to a reality. And as we set
here mortal today, looking at our watch, thinking of our dinner, of
work tomorrow, of the cares and toils of life, they'll not be then.
They'd all fade away. There will be no cares: one great joy of
eternity. Give them that type of Life, Father, everyone. And may... I
ask you this, Father, that every person that's here this morning,
that's heard me say this vision, may I meet every one of them on the
other side. Though there may be men here that would disagree with me,
and women too, but Father, never let that stand in our way. May we meet
them over there when they run too, and we grab each other, screaming,
"Our precious brother." Let it be like it was shown there, Lord, to
everyone. All that I loved and all that loved me. I pray that it'll be
that way, Lord. And I love them all. Let them appear, Father. I offer
them Eternal Life now. May they do their part to accept it. For I ask
it in Jesus' Name. Amen
27-1 We have just a few moments to pray for the sick. I see we got a little sick girl here and a lady in the chair. Now, to my most precious brethren, sisters, please do not misunderstand me. I--I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened. But God, when I die, let me go back there...?... Just let me go to that place, is where I want to be, wherever it was. I'm not trying to be a Paul that was caught up in the third heavens. I'm not saying that. I believe that He was just trying to encourage me, trying to give me a little something to push me on in my new ministry coming up.
27-2 Would it seem irreverent if
I read something here just a minute? Would it be all right? One of the
nations leading magazines... Billy Graham: "Dr. Billy Graham Invited To
The Islams." On the front page of the "Afrikaans Times," February 15,
1960. The writer of the article, who was a Moslem (Mohammedan) thinks
that miracles should follow the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, the
same, yesterday, today, and forever. We quote:
It is this Christ promised His followers when He said, "He that
believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; even greater
than these shall he do." Has the church ever done the works that...
the--the attributes of Christ in the Bible; can it today? Can any of
the church distinguished...?... perform even half the miracles
performed by Christ? Not to say greater works. Can you as an individual
renown, advocate of the Christian rise to the--raise the dead to
physical life? Can you walk on the seas? Can you heal the sick and give
sight to the blind? Is not this according to the above-mentioned error
set forth of the Mohammedan? Or set... Or the test by Christ which
follows as the statements of somewhere in your belief?
27-3 Much to the Moslem article
is plainly one misstatement after another. They discredit this Moslem,
but he was right. But here's what they had to say.
The best answer to which to read the Bible and to know the Koran. The
Koran suffers that the--by--suffered by the comparison. The claim of
Mohammedism is outstanding and out-pacing Christianity, is pure
b-o-m-b-a-s-t-i-c (bombastic I suppose) imagination. The writer
nevertheless has touched a vital point regarding miracles belonging to
the church. But here again we doubt the writer's sincerity. For who
could point out and could dispute the miracles done by Reverend William
Branham before the Moslems in South Africa, when ten thousand received
it, Christ the Saviour, under the ministry of William Branham at
Durban, South Africa, and elsewhere throughout the world, or to T. L.
Osborn in East Africa. Of course we stand one hundred percent for Billy
Graham. We've talked the point of question is of no value--this point
of question is of no value."
28-1 But in the midst of every
bit of it, he told me--said we was fanatics; we didn't know what we
were doing. They had to witness in their own paper that God did do it
anyhow. God's just as much God today as He ever was. You might not
think that they don't believe it; they don't see it. It isn't hid; it
isn't done in a corner. And hundreds of thousands of people setting
there watched that. When they seen that crippled afflicted boy come
there, the Holy Spirit tell him about his life and things, and what
took place, and there, and see ten thousand Moslems lay themselves on
the ground flat, and accept Jesus Christ as personal Saviour...
We still got T. L. Osborns, and so forth, that still feed sheep food. I
guess Brother Osborn hasn't had--been down amongst the Moslems yet.
They claim they're so predominant. But we still have a God Who can
deliver the sheep from the lion; can deliver the sheep from the bear.
28-3 And it done me good to know
that they'd have to write it and recognize it. When they think they
don't. They'd walk away and turn their back and said, "All them days
are past." The Moslems said, "Are--they, the whole Bible then is past.
You're all wrong. You're worshipping a man. A man that died, and his
name was Jesus, and He died long years ago, and there's no such a thing
as Him being a-resurrected." But they couldn't say that at the Durban
meeting.
There He stood doing the same thing that He did and proved to them.
Now, even the--the denominations has to come back... The very person
that wrote and told me that I'd have to with-trace my teaching on the
Bible was the one that had to write that in their paper. God will make
them praise Him anyhow there regardless. That's right. He will make
them praise Him anyhow.
28-4 We got a little sick girl setting here. That your child? What's her trouble, sister? Ma'am? Brain hemorrhage, [Brother Branham has conversation with mother of afflicted child--Ed.] No, they are... Four years in all? Oh, he's from Maringo or somewhere down there? Peoria. Is this the girl you just...?... There's only one thing, mother, can...?...shall save the girl. That's God. You know that. Oh, I'm so glad of that. Have you been down and prayed for her, Brother Neville? Since Brother Neville went down and prayed for her she's gotten better. Still have shepherds that know sheep food.
29-1 What's your trouble, sister
dear, setting in the chair there? Yours. Cancer, well, if I just ask
you something, maybe right here. How many in here has been healed
by--of cancer, raise up your hand? Look here, sister.
God is the Healer. We know that. If I told you, I could go down there
and take that hemorrhage off of the girl and make her well, I'd tell
you wrong. Or I could take the cancer off the woman... But I know one
thing: there was a bear, a cancer, a tumor, a blindness, and even death
grabbed some of God's sheep one day. And I went forth with the power of
God; I slew him and brought that sheep back. That's right. And we go
forth today, not with any great something so-and-so. I go forth with a
plain little slingshot of prayer. It'll bring her back. You believe
that, don't you, sister? You believe too, don't you, sister?
29-2 How many of you believe
with your heart now? Now, you bow your heads while I go to pray. [Brother
Branham leaves the platform to pray for the sick--Ed.] All right.
Dear Father, a beautiful young woman lays here that can never walk no
more or get around, except You help her. The enemy has caught her;
she's beyond the reach of any doctors. The enemy has jerked her so far
out yonder in space till the doctor couldn't even do a thing. But she's
not out of Your reach, Lord. She's right where You can put Your hand on
her. On the basis of the Word of God I lay my hands upon the--the young
woman and condemn this brain hemorrhage; in the Name Jesus Christ, call
her back to a normal woman again. She'll live to the glory of God. May
she be well, walk in and out of this church like others do after coming
to know you. Give praise to God. So be it through Jesus Christ...
29-3 As the softening of her
hair, just a few more rounds and she would be in that land yonder where
I saw...?... not old no more, but young, but her loved ones set here
weeping, and they love her. A great enemy has grabbed her and jerked
her out of the reach of the doctor, a fearful lion of cancer. God, I
come after her. And I--and I come to bring her back. I slay the
lion...?... in the Name of the unseen Christ to Who I'm an ambassador
to. May it leave her, and may she be well and live many years yet to
the honor and glory of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Our heavenly Father, as just not in great armor, not with a polished
spear, like You said...?... come forward here. But with a common little
slingshot of faith I come for this soul and this body, that the enemy
of cancer has grabbed her beyond the reach of the doctors, but I come
forward this morning, Lord, getting her back to shady green pastures
and still waters. In the Name of the triumphing Jesus to which I am His
ambassador with unfailing faith I believe she shall be brought back by
the power of this prayer. And may so be it, in the Name of Jesus...?...
I believe there is a baptismal service just now?
Would you raise your head just a moment. The pastor has just told me
these people were very, very sick. They'll be all right. Just don't...
It's okay. God's promise never fails. We go after them.
29-4 They've got a baptismal
service this... There's some people that must go. We're going to have
service again tonight. Is there anyone here that could not come
tonight, would want us to offer prayer for you now, that cannot be here
tonight? Would you come right here then? You that cannot come tonight,
I'll have more time; form a prayer line tonight. They got to baptize
these people.
You got a little boy there... All right. Yes, brother. Thank you very
much. Is it all right if I read it after a bit, or... Thank you, sir.
Now, if you just give us just a minute or two longer, we--then we'll
have the--the service for the--for the baptismal. I know you want to
see it. And those who are wishing baptism this morning, well, you--the
ladies go over here to change their garments, and the men go over on
this side. And then, while I'm praying for these sick people, then you
may be making ready for the baptismal service. And those now that...
29-6 Now, tonight I'll try to
run a--a little prayer line tonight, right away, as soon as I come in.
And we're going to start in the first Book of Ephesians tonight. And
we'll be very happy now to have you in if you have no church to go to.
But if you have your own pastor and church, then you--you attend your
precious church to where you support. If you, that have to go, and are
going to leave at this time, God bless you. Be with us again when you
can. We'd be happy to have you.
Are you to be prayed for through here?...?... Now, the rest of you
while you bow your head a minute, we want to pray.
Father, I thank Thee today for the little shepherd's sling, the prayer
that brought the lion to his knees, and the little lamb was jerked away
from him, and took back to its mama and daddy. I pray for our brother.
I ask that You'll bring him safely in too, Lord. May the blood pressure
and troubles of his body cease. I go after him, Lord, bring him back.
In the Name of Jesus Christ, so be it. Amen. God bless you, brother.
30-2 Going down I see another
little blind boy. One more thing I'd like to say. I was having, very
sick, was vomiting, and I thought... I don't want you to miss this if
you can. I thought, "God, what would I give if I could hear somebody
stop outside."
My wife would say, "Billy, there's an old gentleman here to see you."
And here come in a little bald-headed fellow with the gray whiskers
hanging around his face.
He'd walk in and say, "You're Brother Branham?"
I'd say, "Yes, sir, I am."
"My name is Simon." Put his hand over on me and look at me a minute,
say, "You're a believer, Brother Branham?"
"Yes."
"It'll be all right." Simon Peter of the Bible... How I would
appreciate that. He wouldn't have to say much, just put his hand on me.
It'd be all right.
And then what come to me: "By God's help and by God's grace, there's
tens of thousands of the people believe the same thing if I come to
them." And I thought, "Lord, let me get to everyone I can then. Let me
just--just..." I thought if Simon would or just Paul, some of them just
come in and say, "You Brother Branham?"
"Yes."
Put their hands over on me and look at me and say, "All right, Brother
Branham," just walk out. I'd get well. I'd be all right, Sure. I
said... "Boy, my courage would pick up right then." I'd say, "I'm going
to be all right." Yes, sir. And there's people believe that same thing
today. And that's what I'm coming down here to do: lay hands on you,
ask God.
30-6 I want to go to this little
boy, sis, in just a minute, this little blind boy. How long has he been
blind, sister? Ever since birth. Hi, little boy. Oh, you're not...?...
Now, just a minute.
O gracious God, beyond the reach of doctors, at the birth of this
little boy, being born blind, and he can't see, this beautiful, lovely,
little boy... And the enemy, before the little fellow had a chance in
life, jerked him beyond the reach of the doctors. But I'm coming right
after him this morning, Lord. This simple little slingshot of
prayer...?... let me bring him back, God. And I meet the enemy, the
devil, in the Name of Jesus Christ, and I claim this boy for God. I
claim his sight for God, giving him back this what Satan robbed him
from. May he have it in the Name of Jesus Christ, it will be. Now, so
be it.
Now, sister, dear, now don't you have one speck of doubt, for this
little boy is going to be all right. I want you bring him back here at
the church and show the people that he can see...?... give him his
sight in the Name of Jesus Christ...?...
30-7 Yes...?... Lord
Jesus...?... this little one that we have offered so much prayer for,
but this morning I come again in the Name of Jesus Christ, packing this
little slingshot that You gave me; You've helped me with this, Lord, by
Your power to take the... out of the mouth of...?... out of the mouth
of death itself, raised up the dead after they'd been pronounced dead,
and laying stiff and cold. I come after this enemy, in the Name of
Jesus Christ. So bring her back to good health again. Grant it; so be
it done for the glory of God.
And you're to prayed for... You are a believer? Lord, I bring her in
the reach of this little sling. In the Name of Jesus Christ may it
leave her and never come back. Amen...?...
Well, that same little slingshot that went and got for that heart, and
for your daughter, and...?... Dear heavenly Father, I come after the
enemy, using this little sling that You give me, for You said if you
get the people to believe and be sincere when you pray...?... go now,
as I send it to her request. In the Name of Jesus Christ may it be so.
Amen.
30-8 All right, sister. Now,
we're... Nerves is beyond the reach of doctors. They could give you
something to kind of quieten you, but it'd make you worse after...?...
Now look, we're going out after it this morning. We're going out,
bringing it back. [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]
Lord Jesus. [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] I... [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] five [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] little stones, f-a-i-t-h,
in the slingshot of prayer, and I'm bringing back my sister from the
clutches of that nervousness...?... doctors...?... I'm bringing her
back to peace and shady green pastures and still waters; and I do this
in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen...?...
All right. It isn't muscular dystrophy. Father God, this little girl,
we're so glad that it wasn't muscular dystrophy; but regardless of what
it is, it's still in Your reach, Lord, and I come with a little sling
of faith in this sling...?... And I press this stone with all the
strength that I can throw it, in the Name of Jesus Christ may it hit
the mark. May our little sister be well. I do this in the Name of Jesus
Christ...?...
30-9 As this young mother and
her little offspring, a little one that she wants to meet over yonder
on the other side, in that glorious land that I just spoke of. And
they... The mother won't live to raise the little fellow. And neither
can the little fellow live long without Your help, but I'm coming with
this sling, with all of the strength in that aim that I can take at the
enemy. In the Name of Jesus Christ, I sling this at him. They shall be
well for the glory of God, in the Name of Jesus. Amen...?...
Oh, well that's so nice. I'm just glad, for that ministry then was a
great ministry pointing them to...?... She is going to be worse? Our
heavenly Father, Satan has jerked this little mother beyond the reach
of the doctors yonder. They can only sling a drug out that way, Lord,
that'll only tear around and around and hardly make her know where
she's at, and then when she gets through, she's worse. But I'm coming
with this slingshot of faith with a stone directed with direct aim, to
zero in on the target. In the Name of Jesus Christ, I take this
nervousness from her for the glory of God.
30-9 Dear God, Brother George
laying yonder dying not long ago, see what a faith did for him. Now
he's got rheumatism, Lord. He realizes they could give him some
cortisone or something that would be kinda ease the pain but it won't
take the thing away; so we aim this prayer in the Name of Jesus Christ,
may the rheumatism go. May he go home and be well. Thank you very
much...?...
How do you do. Oh, my. Yes, ma'am. Did you hear it all? Just beyond the
reach of mortal kin. You a believer in the Lord Jesus? I see a
beautiful woman over there...?... You'll be young again forever. I know
you want to live now to His glory. Going fast to the--the other...?...
Your son... Can't you find him? Oh, he can't be...?... grief
strickened, I see.
Sister dear, I want you to get...?... here. Is she here to...?... All
right, you tell her. Well, she's going to tell you what happens just
beyond your breath here that precious boy is waiting for you. You'll be
young like him...?... just...?...
Dear heavenly Father, life's race has been run. There's not much more
left, and her precious boy's just across the river. He can only look
back...?... just...?... She's waiting for the boat...