Un prophète qui rougit
1 Now may the Lord add His blessings to the
subject of: A Blushing Prophet.
2 This morning we were very much took up with a
prophet who wore a secondhanded robe. And we know tonight, since
in the
Scripture, this morning, that we ourselves wear a secondhanded
robe. We…the robe. And I am so happy that it is a
secondhanded
robe, for this robe that we wear now has been reckoned to God as
righteousness, through Christ Jesus. And we’re not taking the
moth-eaten
robe of some man’s theology who has been eaten up with moths and
crickets, and so forth, saying that, “The days of miracles is
past, and there is no such a thing as the—the omnipresence of the
Holy
Spirit now.” But we are wearing a robe of His righteousness.
3 [Blank spot on tape—Ed.] Not in our own
ability, but in the—the ability of our Lord Jesus.
4 And when I come down to the Jordan, I want to
have on His robe, trusting in His. And the great shadow of the
gate that’s
set before us all, called “death,” each time our heart beats, we
go one
beat closer to that great gap that every man and woman must go
through. And when I come to that gap, along with you
believers, I’m
so happy to know that I’m not going there with this in my heart and
mind, that
I have done something great. I’m going there, confessing and
knowing that
I’m a sinner, and knowing this, that, I want to wrap myself in the
robes
of His righteousness; with this testimony, that, “I know Him in
the power
of His resurrection.” That, when He calls from the dead, I want to
come
out.
5 Now, our scene and drama is set tonight for our
text, of another day in Israel, which was about several hundred
years past
the—the time of Elijah. Many up’s-and-down’s had come in the reign
of
Israel. And now we’re at the scene tonight…
6 This morning we were at the scene of where
there was a lot of carnal impersonation, how that the school of
prophets
were up there training to be prophets. And how simple they were,
till even
they couldn’t understand the power of God. They thought the power
had
lifted Elijah up and throwed him out on the mountain
somewhere, and they
sent a search party to hunt for him. When, Elisha knew, good and
well, that
God had taken him to Glory. For, he was not. God had taken
him, and
he escaped death by going Home to God, on a chariot of Fire and horses
of
Fire. And then we seen that their seminaries and their works of
their own
theology didn’t work. It taken election and calling of God to make
a
prophet of God.
7 And now, tonight, we find Israel in a
backslidden condition. Israel had its up’s-and-down’s. It was
a very
type of the church today. Some time they were on the housetops,
the next
time they were down in the valley. That’s what takes to make us
appreciate
the good thing. There’s what they call the law of contrast.
8 The black man of Africa never knowed that he
was black, his skin, until he seen David Livingston. And he
said…Then he
realized his skin was black, because Livingston’s was white. It’s
a
contrast.
9 You would never know how to appreciate a day if
you didn’t have a night. You would never know how to appreciate
the
sunshine if you didn’t have a cloudy day. You would never know how
to
appreciate righteousness, unless you had some unrighteousness. You
would
never know how to appreciate good health, unless you’ve had some
foul
health, some bad health. It’s only those…
10 And that’s the reason I think that we’ll
appreciate Heaven so much, because we’ve lived on earth once. And
I think
the law of contrast…The reason that we appreciate the Holy Spirit so
much,
tonight, is because we lived so long in a church that told us
there was no
such a thing. The reason we appreciate it, tonight, because we
have had
the other side. And that’s the way God has intended it to be,
because His
people has had their up’s-and-down’s. You never know how to
appreciate a
mountaintop, unless you’ve been in the valley. And, so, you never
know how
to appreciate good water unless you’ve drank some bad
sometime. And then
you—you…All the way through, it’s a law of contrast.
11 Now, Israel was in one of its backslidden
states, and what a thing they had done!
12 Now, Israel was a chosen, elected, selected
people, that God had chose Israel for one specific purpose, that
the blood
of Israel should be the cleanest blood stream, for out of that
lineage was
going to come the Messiah Himself.
13 All down through the Old Testament, God
appeared in man. God appeared in Abraham, as a faith
believer. God
appeared in David, as a king. He appeared in Joseph, as
righteousness. He appeared in Moses, as prophet, priest,
law-giver. He appeared down through the ages, in the
prophet. He
always made Himself known in men, in portion, through prophet, king,
priest,
law-giver, so forth. But, in Christ, He dwelt in Him, the fullness
of the
Godhead bodily, and knowing that this Spirit must finally find a
resting
place. On Elijah, he was a man of God’s justice. He blatted
out the
justice of God. And, Moses, he was a law-giver, that you toe the
mark or
get out. In all these things, God represented. But when He
came to
Christ, He was perfect, the entire fullness of the Godhead bodily
rested in
Christ.
14 And God represented Himself once in the
fullness, beforehand. In the Book of Genesis, in the order of
Melchizedek, “Who had no father, no mother; no beginning of days,
or
ending of years, or ending of life.” And He was a Priest, the King
of
Salem, a priest of God, of the Most High God, Who was without
beginning or
without ending. He was none other than the prefigure of the Lord
Jesus
Christ. Cause, He was the King of Salem, which is the King of
Peace, which
is the King of Jerusalem. And He was in prefigure. Even the
patriarch
Abraham paid tithe to Him. He was a prefigure of the coming of the
Lord
Jesus. The same Melchizedek met Abraham out on the plains before
the
destroying of Sodom and Gomorrah. And—and He met him after Sodom
and
Gomorrah, when Abraham paid Him a tithings of all the spoil that
he had
taken from the king.
15 All these things is shadowed, typed up to
Christ. And now, all the shadows of the Old Testament saints,
their
up’s-and-down’s, was a shadow and type, and examples for us today.
16 Now, we find that Israel was not to mix
marriage. Their marriage was to be among one another, not no
Israelite to
ever marry a Gentile, but was to keep their blood stream
clean. And
even till this day, I believe the Jewish blood stream is the cleanest
blood—blood stream on the face of the earth today, is the
Jew. They’re
still looking for that Messiah. But, He…We know that He has
already
come; and their eyes were blinded, that we could have a chance of
repentance through Christ.
17 Now, during the time of the reign of Ezra, the
children of Israel had become backslid. They had went out and got
the
Moabite women, and they had got the women of the Amorites, the
Perizzites,
and many of the other nations. And had not only had married them,
but was
committing fornication among them, uncleanliness, and polluting
the very blood
stream, which is the life stream.
18 And what a picture that is today of our
churches, the way they’re falling away from the old-fashion hewing
line
that God laid down for the church. The precepts that we were to
live by,
the church is committing fornication with the world. It’s got out
into the
world, and begin to dally in the world.
19 Now, this had embarrassed the prophet so much,
till, when he come before God, he blushed in his face. The first
when he
heard about it, and he seen the—the moral decay of his people, it
hurt him
so bad until he sit down and anointed himself, plucked his hair out and
his
beard out, and was heavy-hearted before the Lord, in
prayer. Then
when the evening sacrifice was offered, he went into the temple
and fell
on his knees and blushed before God, for the sins of the people.
20 Now, he didn’t blush for the scarlet street of
the red-light district. He didn’t blush for the booze drinkers in
the hell
hole, although as bad as it may be. But, he blushed because the
sin of the
elect.
21 And what we need today is some more prophets
with enough God in their heart to blush in the Presence of
God, for the
sins of the people who call themselves the people of God and doing the
way
they’re doing. What a disgrace we’ve brought to this
place! The
morals of our people…
22 This is not an easy subject to speak
on. I could think of many things that were easier to speak
on. But,
brother, if somebody don’t stand out in this sinful, adulterous day
that we
live in, and call the colors, what’s going to
happen? Somebody has
got to speak the thing. Somebody has got to place it before the
people.
Perhaps Ezra didn’t want to do
it, but it was in his heart.
23 And when you see a servant of God get so
sincere till he is on his face with his hands in the air, a
praying to God,
and blushing because the iniquity of the people, then you’re going to
see a
revival start. A man cannot lay in the Presence of God, a church
cannot
stay in the Presence of God, under repentance, unless the Holy
Spirit
comes down and gives unction and power to start a move of God in
there
among those people. Just got to be!
24 Show me a man. Show me another Calvin,
Knox, Finney, Sankey, or any of those who feels the burden of the
people,
that’ll lay on their face and cry and pray before God. Send us a
John
Smith of the Baptist church again, who prayed all night for the
iniquity of the
people, until his eyes would be swelled shut the next morning,
from
weeping, till his wife would lead him to the table and feed him
his
breakfast out of a spoon. Show me a John Wesley again, a fire
brand
snatched from the fire, I’ll show you a revival.
25 What they’re doing today, we’re patting it on
the back. We are calling it this and that, and
a revival, when there’s no revival to it. That’s
right. There’s a
stirring of emotion of religion among the people, but no revival.
26 They had a religious group in that
day. They had a stirs in that day, but they needed a revival.
27 Why, my dear brother and sister, the morals of
this nation has become so low till it would make a dog ashamed. It
would
make a hound blush if it could do so, the immorals of our
people! The
people, even years ago, the things that we have, the—the nation has
done, the things that the people has done! It’s all the lack
of
prayer.
28 The church that used to, didn’t believe in
picture shows, they wouldn’t let their children go to picture
show. They
would shun picture show. And, today, why they even have…They had
the
picture show in their own house. Every house has a television.
29 In the place where they used to think it was
wrong to drink beer, in the place where they used to think…John
Barleycorn,
what a great ornery fellow he was. Today, sixty percent of
so-called
Christians take a social drink at least once a year. Then they get
on a
big spree, around Christmas, when they have their
celebration. Because,
they have adopted education to take the place of salvation. It’ll
never do
it.
30 What we need is a revival. We put corn
plasters on, take them off; another corn plaster, take it off, and
still find
the pain is there. What we need today is not social regeneration,
it’s not
intellectual talks. What we need today is an old-fashion, God-sent
Blood
transfusion from Heaven. The corn plasters won’t do no
good. We are
anemia. We need a Blood transfusion. We need to come back to
the
old-fashion Gospel that calls out for repentance before God. And
not a
dry-eyed, hand-shook profession; but a God-sent, Holy Ghost
revival with
the possession of the cleansing of the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
into
every human heart. We need a revival to start in the Church, and
sweep the
nation across. We’ll die, we’ll perish, we are gone, without that
type of
revival.
31 I’m so sick and tired of seeing little petty
Hollywood revivals, so-called, where people come in and get
emotionally
stirred up for a couple hours, and, or a day or two, or a week or
two, and
go out and that’s all of it. Brother, you can be in a…worked up by
a
revival. You can have emotion. You can have good
intentions. All
those things are fine, but we don’t need that today.
32 We need a baptism of the Holy Spirit, to
change the emotion, and the intellect, and the view, the habits,
the life
of the people, and put them back on the right road again. Outside
of a
Blood transfusion from Calvary, all of our reformations won’t do any
good at
all.
33 We don’t need a U.N. We have a U.N. there, and
what’d they do? God’s Name is never called. They’re afraid to
call
It. It was once asked, by a clergy group, “Why didn’t they have
prayer?” They said, “Might offend somebody else, one of the others
who
didn’t believe in God.”
34 Oh, what we need is a revival. Don’t make
any difference who it offends, we got to preach the Gospel and call our
colors
to work. Right. I wouldn’t give you a dime for any program
that left
God out of it, whether it’s the U.N., or a big-four, whatever it
might be.
35 Until this nation wakes up to the place, that
we are dying without the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ; until
individuals
wake up to the—the cause, that we are dying! The reason we are
dying, is
without the original, the way, the remedy, the cure that God gave us at
Calvary.
36 No wonder it makes a man blush! No
wonder! A real, true preacher look upon his congregation and try
to lead
them before the throne of God. And visit their homes, and find
them smoking
cigarettes, telling dirty jokes to each other, entertaining in the
back
yard, with beer parties; walking around on the streets, their
young women,
and middle-age, and so forth, and even grandmother with a little
shorts
on. Mother out on the street with a baby on one arm, dressed
sexy
enough to attract the attention of any bootlegger that walked the
street; and
calling themselves Christian. It would make any true man of God
blush, to
bring such a person in the Presence of God. Right!
37 And all of our joining church and getting a
better class, has come to nonsense, and it did in that day and it
will
this. Bring us back to God, not with an injection of education,
not with
an injection of religious reformation, not in the injection of
some kind
of man-made theology. But an old-fashion baptism of the Holy Ghost
sent
down from God, out of Heaven, in a pentecostal experience of
burning out
the carnality. And replacing in there the jewel that God intended
to be in
there, of a son and daughter of God. Till we do that, brothers and
sisters, we will still have bobbed-haired, make-up, on sexy-looking
women; and men drinking, smoking, and calling themselves
Christians;
because they don’t know no better. In their heart, that very root
of
carnality lays there, and we need a church cleaning-up, from the
basement
to the pulpit. Amen. And that’s right.
38 What we need today is some blushing
prophets. God…Sometime people come in the prayer line, to be
prayed for,
look like they’re going to a house of ill-fame. That’s
right. Coming
to ask God for something, and looking like a Jezebel. What we need
today
is a house-cleaning and a heart-warming, of prophets of God who
will stand
in the pulpit and call the thing out, and tell what’s right and what’s
wrong; and
preach the Gospel without compromising, until sinners fall on the
floor,
and weep till God sends the Holy Spirit to clean up their
life. Amen. We know that’s right. That’s right.
39 I preached here not long ago and said
that every woman in this city was guilty, in one way or the other, of
adultery. They are. The women go downtown here and they can’t
hardly
buy a dress, unless it’s so like they was poured in it. I’m not
here
to…This is my own church. I have a right to preach what the Holy
Spirit
tells me to do. Right.
40 Let me tell you. I’m not criticizing you,
my sister. But don’t the Holy Spirit teach you different? If
it
doesn’t, I’m afraid you didn’t get the Holy Spirit. That’s
right. The
Holy Spirit is not “shouting.” The Holy Spirit is not “dancing in
the
Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is not “speaking in tongues.” The
Holy
Spirit is righteousness. God, give us a Holy Ghost revival of
God-sent
righteousness.
41 Don’t you realize that when you dress yourself
like that and walk down the street, and men looks at you in the
wrong way,
that at the Judgment…You may be as pure as a lily, before your
husband. But, at the Judgment, you’ll be guilty of committing
adultery
with the guy that you’ve presented yourself to.
42 No wonder it’ll make a person blush! No
wonder! What does it do to God? When, the Bible said, in the
beginning, that, “It grieved Him, that He made man.” It grieved
the heart
of God, when He looked upon them in the days before the antediluvian
destruction, that He ever made a man. What
happened? “The sons
of God saw the daughters of men was fair.” It was a
perversion. It
was a sex mix-up. It was that thing that drove the children of God
from
the garden of Eden. It was that thing that drove God’s judgment,
to bring
peace upon the earth. It was that thing that caused them
destroyed. It was that same mixing up, between women and men, that
caused
Sodom and Gomorrah to sink in the bottom of the Dead Sea.
43 It was told by the prophets. It was told
by the Lord Jesus, that, “As it was in those days, so will it be before
the Coming
of the Son of God.” We look today, and see that the church is
taking its
pattern not out of Bible, out of Ruth and out of Naomi, and out of
Sarah
and the ones in the Bible. But they’re patterning, even the women
of the
church, after Hollywood and the very drags of the devil.
44 And how that our people, who call themselves
Christians, go out here and get this evil man’s ways. These
records of
Elvis Presley, ever what his name is, one of the most deluded,
devil-possessed people that I ever heard of in my life. Arthur
Godfrey and
such as that, and listen to them kind of nonsense on your
radios; and
refuse to hear the Gospel sermon preached in the Bible. God have
mercy on
you. What kind of a spirit have we got among us? That is
right.
45 No wonder the prophet of God blushed before
the—the Lord. He knew that was unrighteousness. And he stood
and
pleaded the case, and said to God, “We’re unrighteous.”
46 And we are, friends, until we can come back to
that spot of a Blood transfusion. Quit trying to put on
plasters. Quit
trying to put on some salve. The healing can’t come unless the
blood
stream is right.
47 That’s the reason the people has got
diabetes. If one would ever cut himself, it probably will never
heal. Why? Because the real red blood cells is eat up.
48 And the whole church has become
diabetic. And every little cut that comes, instead of walking on,
you pick
at it. It can’t heal. Selfishness, greed, immorality,
everything else
that’s in the calendar of God’s “wrong-doing,” the church is
picking up those
habits. Men drinking, smoking, telling dirty jokes. Women
cutting
their hair, wearing make-up, doing all kinds of things, dressing
themselves
immorally to face the people. All those things are because it’s a
lack of
the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. Amen. That may seem hard. Sure, it’s
hard, but
it’s the Truth.
49 If we don’t belch forth the judgments of
Almighty God, you’re going to be caught one of these days in an
atomic
explosion here, that will send every soul out into Eternity, to
meet a God
who will only recognize the Blood of His Son, Christ Jesus. I’d
like to
see you come under the Blood. My advice, to you, is to get right
with
God. My advice to you.
50 Well, why can’t we have faith? Why can’t
we have greater healings than we do have? Why can’t we get ourself
soundly
builded? Is because we’re putting on corn plasters; because we’re
putting
on stickers; putting on pieces of tape. We are trying to cover the
thing
up, instead of saying we need a transfusion. We’re without
Blood. We’re without Christ. Don’t let yourself be fooled.
51 Don’t let the devil pat you on the shoulder,
saying, “Well, I go to church.”
52 The devil does, too. That’s
right. He sure did; come up to God, went to church up in
Heaven; come
before the Throne of God, with the sons of God, sit down with them; had
an
audience with God. He said, “Where you been?”
53 Said, “Walking to and fro, up-and-down, on the
earth.” That’s where he had been.
54 So, the devil goes to church. The devil
belongs to church. The devil acts like a Christian. He’s a
deceiver. And if he didn’t act like a Christian and act like a
church, he
wouldn’t be a deceiver; no man could be deceived. Only thing, it’s
difference as black and white. It’s contrary to one
another. But
He…The Bible said, “It would be so close that it would deceive the very
Elect
if possible,” that spirit in the last day. Friends, we’re
there.
55 It’s time for the prophets of God, oh,
brother, for the preachers, if you would say it, across the
nation, to
fall on their face.
56 Why, though, there’s nineteen million Baptist
churches…Nineteen million Baptists, rather, in America; thirteen
million
Methodists; eleven million Lutheran; ten million
Presbyterian. Mercy,
think of that! And constantly to ball game, to amusement. And
on
Wednesday night, and sometimes on Sunday night, stay home to listen to
the
television and the radio, of old short jabs and jokes they pull
from
Hollywood. Your soul is rolling on that kind of stuff.
57 When, you ought to have your Bible out
somewhere, laying out before God, on your knees, a praying for the
sins of
the country.
58 And I’m guilty with you. I have made my
mind up. By the help and grace of God, if our God will give me
strength to
do it, I’m determined to press towards the mark of the high
calling in
Christ Jesus, till death shall set me free. God be my helper to do
so! “Help me,” is my prayer. Seeing the works, and seeing the
things
that I have seen and you have seen, and lagging behind, and become
a spiritual
anemia.
59 And this tabernacle which is known throughout
the entire world, this little concrete-block place sitting on the
corner,
God has lifted you up before the nation. Right.
60 I think of what David, one night, when he
said, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, and the ark of my
God dwells
in the tent.” He said, “I’ll build Him an house.”
61 Nathan, the prophet, said, “Do all is in your
heart, ’cause God is with you.”
62 That night, God appeared to Nathan and said,
“Da-…Go tell David, ‘Who was you, David? You were…I took you from
a
sheepcote, from attending the sheep. And I made you a great name,
like
great men of the nation.’”
63 Who was it in this little tabernacle sitting
here? A little old back-wash, kicked-out something sitting on the
corner
of Eighth and Penn Street, till hardly Jeffersonville knew where
it was
at, and the people that come here. And today, God, by His mercy,
has
picked you up and made you a great people. Bombay, India knows
where this
tabernacle is setting. Durban knew you; all these other
nations. Africa
knows where this place is; India, Germany, England, Finland, Sweden,
Europe,
Asia, they all, way down in the islands of Thailand, and down in
there,
they know all about it. And God has made us an example to the
people. And to think, then, after God doing that, and we turn
around and
dillydally in the things of the world, and become a very spiritual
anemia. Why, we ought to be the lighthouse that’s set on a hill, a
candle
that cannot be hid. O God! I’m as guilty as the rest of you.
64 What I mean, I want—I want an old-fashion,
God-sent repentance, and a calling back to God, that when men and
women
walk in that door, on crutches, they’ll walk out without
them. When the
blind is led in the door, they’ll go out seeing. When the deaf
comes in
deaf, they’ll go out hearing. When sinners come in, black and
smutty with
sin, will go out, washed in the Blood of the Lamb. Can’t we do
it? God called Israel and made them an example. God called us
and
made an example, but we have let down on God, and it blushes us in the
Presence
of God.
65 To think that, the things that He has done for
us! How He’s lifted us up from the sheepcote! How He has made
us
known, all over the world! How He has done the great thing for
us! And, yet, we dillydally, and mingle around and go out, and
we’re not
seem to be sincere. We don’t have prayer any more, and things just
don’t,
like, going right. And we’re try to put on little programs, corn
plasters,
to ease the pain. You can’t ease the pain until you get good, rich
Blood
in there to heal the thing. Right!
66 You cut an old corn out, and you’ll get
yourself a diabetes, and it’ll take your foot off. Don’t try to
dismiss this, and bypass this, and
cut a corn
plaster on this.
67 But the thing to do is come straight out
before God, and say, “God, I am anemia, and I need Your Blood to
cleanse
me from all my sin.” That’s my prayer, trust that it’s yours.
68 Think of these things, friend. One of
these days; it’s just as apt to happen before daylight in the morning,
as it is
to happen fifty years from today. One rocket bomb, one of those
cobalt or
hydrogen bomb could…The whole nation is on an alert.
69 You seen it in the paper the other day where
they’re requiring science, the Pentagon, to answer the flying
saucers. It wasn’t myth. It wasn’t something it
imagined. It was
real. It was an intelligence. They flew in battle
formation. They could stop. They could start. They could
stop. They could tell. It was an intelligence. They know
it. The people laughed. They said, “Flying
saucers?” made a fun
out of it.
70 But you know what I’m thinking? Jesus
said, before He comes, there will be signs in the Heaven
above. Did you
notice? Before He started, destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of
their
sex affair, He sent Angels down to investigate it. Angels has
come to
the earth in the last few years. They’ve been seen among people; I
mean,
honest Blood-washed people who knows it. They’ve even stood and
had their
pictures taken. That’s right. Angelic Beings has visit,
taking word
back to the Father, that sin has heaped till the stars can hardly
shine. [Brother Branham knocks on the pulpit five
times—Ed.] The
moon…The whole world is reeling like a drunk man coming in at
night. Right.
71 Sin among the Christians, among the
Elect! They’ve sold their birthrights out, for
popularity. The
minister has swapped the Gospel for a social party. He has swapped
the
old-fashion Blood-washed Gospel for intellectual with the
people, to
preach intellect, talk of society, and mis-use the Gospel. Many of
them
has went out into the fields, a preaching, and used the Gospel for
personal
gain, to make money. Many of them has got big barns and cars, and
things
that they never would have had, personal gain. Not all; I’m
thankful that
there is still a remnant.
72 In the days of Ezra, when Ezra begin to weep,
and to call out and to rebuke the sin, you know what happened? All
the
elect, that trusted God, gathered around him.
73 What we need today is men and women…Your
preachers is preaching, those churches, and call sin “sin,” and rebuke
it, the
real people of God would gather right up around you, and stay with
you. That’s right. It’s time to call out, and say which is
which,
separate right from wrong. God grant it to us, that we’ll have the
courage
to do it.
74 Just think what could happen. As I was
telling you, I believe, this morning, or heard someone say it, that
upon…One of
these watchers that’s watching; I forget what you call it now, for the
bomb, or
planes to come. Not long ago, there was a program come through
somewhere,
that they had called out the big fleets, with three hundred jet
bombers
with atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs hanging under them.
75 Not long ago, at the big airport in
Shreveport; one of the boys was converted over there in the
meetings at
Brother Jack. He said, “We got atomic bombs hanging right in our
hangars.”
I said, “Aren’t you…”
76 “In the…” I mean, “In the—in the planes; and
we’d go up and practice with them, daily.”
I said, “Aren’t you afraid?”
77 Said, “They haven’t got the triggers in
them. But we’re so on the alert, that within the space of a
minute, sixty-seconds, we could have the triggers in there and
gone. And fueled up and ready, they could fly to England with
them,
immediately.”
78 The great hangars are setting out in the
oceans, everywhere. And they’re saying to Russia, “Dare you
drop one
bomb! Just drop one atomic bomb on the U.N. or somewhere there,
and look
what happen!”
79 What will it be? It’ll be an onslaught go
to Russia. And if they would do that, and start dropping those
atomic and
hydrogen bombs, it would cause a chain reaction that would burn
the earth
to—to a wick, just in smelt. You know, it wouldn’t disagree with
Scripture
a bit. “For the earth shall burn, and the heaven, too.” The
atoms of
the earth shall burn.
80 We are living in a dangerous day. We’re
living in a day when men of the world are scared to death. The
great men,
they’re—they’re afraid who is going to burst that first bomb. The
first
bomb that goes off, then the whole thing goes into a—a rally.
81 It ought to be the happiest time in the world
for the Christian. Times are going to change. The old is
going to
become young. Oh, my! Death is going to fleet
away. Sickness
will be no more. No more prayer meetings for the sick. No
more prayer
meetings for the lost. But God shall come and take the Elect from
the four
winds of the earth, and shall gather them under His own wing, and
we’ll
live and reign with Him forever in His Heaven.
82 Oh, brother, sister, friend of mine, if you’re
not prepared tonight, may you be prepared at this hour. I give you
an
invitation to come to Christ Jesus, tonight, and receive. You
that’s been
different, you that know that you are not where you should be with
God, I
invite you to the altar with myself. I invite every one of you to
come
here, and not only to say, but to stay here until God has cleansed
your
soul from everything that’s unlike Him, until you can go out of
here a new
person. Not with a corn plaster on, but go out of here with a
Blood
transfusion that purifies your blood and gives you new Life and
new
hope. Go out with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Go out, not
shouting, not dancing, not so much…Them things are all right. They
all
belong in the Church. They all belong in the Bible. But what
I’m
talking about is the Holy Spirit, God’s love.
83 A young man was talking to me the other
day. His mother, a dear woman. I’ve knowed the woman, met her
once or
twice. And she said, “Oh, honey,” to her boy, “come here, I want
you to
look. I have the oil in my hand.” Well, I have,
too. It’s where
I been sweating. Now, said, “I got oil in my hand.” Said,
“What do
you think of that?”
84 And the boy looked at his mother, and said,
“Mother, I want to ask you something.” She was want him to pray,
want him
to pray that she’d have a closer walk with God. He said, “When the
oil
come in your hand, did it take away all your condemnation? Did it
give you
a sweet experience with God, when the oil…”
“No.”
Said, “Then I’d leave it
alone.” That’s it.
85 Oh, the world, the religious world, the
pentecostal people, are looking for fantastic. The world, the
educated
(so-called) world, the denominational world, is looking for some
great
solution that they can en-better their denomination and get more
members
into it, “a million more,” you know.
86 And the—the nations are looking for some kind
of a police force that can bring all the world to their knees, and
bring
righteousness.
87 Brother, it doesn’t come by pentecostal
fantastic. Neither does it come by Protestant organizations or by
Catholic
hierarchy. Neither does it come by pentagons, or turning new
pages. It comes by a surrendered life to Jesus Christ, through the
baptism
of the Holy Ghost. Anything short of that, it’s wrong.
Let us pray.
88 I’ll ask our sister to come to the organ
there, the piano, at this time. While we’re in prayer, while every
person
has their head bowed, and every person in prayer. I wonder, at
this
moment, if you would test your spirit against the Word of God. Are
you
right?
89 After this service, as I told you. I got
a mother-in-law laying yonder, at the very point of death. I got
to see
her. She is dying. Other friends, that I know of here, that I
visit,
that’s laying at the point of death, people who has sit in this
church. Oh, brother, sister, you’re coming down there,
too. You got
to come down there.
90 Now, you say, “Well, I—I know that, Brother
Branham. I’m aiming to get that thing fixed up, some of these
days.” But it may not be “some of these days,” for you. This
may be
the only day.
91 How little did that man know, coming from
California, going to Michigan, the other day, with his little wife
up
here, driving the—the car; him in the pick-up, going to their new
home. He
had just retired from the Navy. How well did he know when he
started off
that morning, maybe from a tourist port, that his wife and baby
would be a
corpse in a few minutes? But, just above Henryville there, their
car
collided with a bus. And the driver made the—the…his vehicle do a
jack-knife, almost, but it killed the woman and the little girl. I
trust
that their soul was right with God.
92 A few weeks ago, when Brother Wood and I went
up here to an airplane that fell back behind the place here, and
watching
them pull pieces of eight men’s body, when heads and legs and arms was
all over
the place. Picking up the body, and the entrails falling out of
the man’s
body; a good man, perhaps, a famous man from Chicago. When that
man got in
the plane that morning, I wonder the night that he went to church, if
he had
good intentions. Did the pastor give an altar call? Did he
rebuke
sin, and the man had a chance? Or did he go out like an
animal? Was
the man, in the sight of God, a son of God?
93 Think of those things, friends. They are
important. They are not only important, they’re the most important
thing
to you this hour. This is the time when you’ll make up your
mind. This is the time when you may make your decision of this
life, for
the life hereafter. May you do it while we pray.
94 Heavenly Father, as we read in the Bible of
what You said about sin, and those who do it and not confess. We
realize
what it means to die without knowing God. We know that by
experience of
others, that we have seen go. Those who intended, those who put it
off too
long. God, those who have professed and not possessed what they
said they
had. Those who had acted like Christians, and yet never was a
Christian. Their life proved it, and their death made it manifest.
95 Now, Father, I pray that You’ll speak to every
heart here tonight. And myself, Lord, for being dilatory, for many
things
that I could have done and did not do, I confess my wrong. I
confess the
wrongs of this people. I confess the wrongs of this nation. I
ask You
to have mercy, Lord. I’ve got three little children there to
raise. And we’re living here on a hot spot, and, God, there’s no
need of
running. You know all about it. God, I want to be right with
You.
96 Someday, if the atomic bomb don’t get us, a
wreck will. If a wreck don’t get us, some disease
will. Something has
got to take us. But we’re so happy to know that there is a way of
escape. “The Name of the Lord is a—is a tower, and the righteous
run in
thereat and are safe.” God, may the sinner friend, tonight, boy,
girl, man
or woman, see the open door, the opportunity, and run to Christ
this hour.
97 Now while we have our heads bowed, is there some
here, or, I know there is some here that would like to say, with
an
uplifted hand to God, “I’m ashamed of my life. And I—I want
to
confess my wrongs before God, and ask for mercy.” Raise up your
hand to
God. God bless you. God bless you. God bless
you. There’s
many of you, many of you. Yeah. There’s many of you here,
too,
that…God bless you.
98 Many of you here, who has professed
Christianity for a long time, and know that you have failed to toe
the
line with God, know that you’re doing things right now that you
ought not
to do. And you’re going, unconfessing them, just loosely floating
along
with the tide. Looking at the kind of programs you should not look
at. Look at the kind of magazines and reading the literature that
you
should not read. It’s not becoming to Christians. Listening
to the
jokes of vile—vile and dirt and smut that you know you shouldn’t do;
both men
and women. You know of places where you could have spoke and did
not do
it, and you’re guilty, maybe, the sin of omission.
99 I wonder if you’d raise your hand to Christ,
to have mercy on you, and forgive you. Raise your hand. God
bless
you, young lady; as the woman walked out, to come to the altar, to
confess
hers. Raise your hand to God. God bless you. That’s
right,
mister. That’s right. God bless you. Raise your
hand. You
know you done wrong.
100 I wonder if you have the courage, tonight, to
meet me here at the altar. Let’s kneel around here and say, “God,
be
merciful to all of us. We’re in need of You.” God bless you,
lady.
101 To see these young women coming, weeping,
life before them! They’re at the crossroads. They are victim
of
circumstances. What? Do you realize, old men, when we were
boys, our
boys has got ten times the temptation that we had? Sister, do you
realize
that your daughter has ten times the temptation you had when you was a
girl? What will her daughter have? Look at the things, the
pictures
the devil is a painting.
102 Oh, how we need to pray! Now we’ll go
back to you again. Brother, do you realize we don’t pray half as
much as
our fathers did? Pastor, do you know we don’t put as much time on
our
knees as the pastors before us did? Women, do you realize you
don’t
instruct your daughter, and pray with her at night, like your mother
did
you? Then, what about it, who is guilty? We are
guilty. There is
no way around it. We are guilty.
103 I’m guilty. I’m guilty of not doing the
job of God, like I should do. I’m confessing it, that I’m
wrong. I’m
asking God to be merciful to me. I look out here and see the
opportunities
I have missed, because of petty things, little, old insignificant
things
that didn’t mean nothing. I’m ashamed of myself, as a Gospel
minister
before you. I repent before God, and ask God to forgive me, and
the church
to forgive me, for being so dilatory about the work of
God. By the
grace of God, and by the help of God, I’ll—I’ll not listen to
what…Everyone
trying to tell you something to do. They got a program. They
got
something for you to do. Nonsense. I know God’s program; it’s
written
out here in the Bible. And I’m ashamed of myself as a minister of
the
Gospel. One million souls won; I ought to have ten million souls
won. I’m a way behind.
104 What about you? How many souls you won
since you’ve been in Christ? Christianity just goes from one to
another. How many souls you won since you been a
Christian? If you’re
not winning souls, you are guilty, you are barren, you have brought
shame on
the Church and the Gospel. How many people you get out for
Wednesday night
prayer meeting? If you’re not doing it, you ought to be ashamed of
yourself before Christ. You’re guilty, and your place is at the
altar. I invite you to come with me, for repentance. [Brother
Branham
pauses—Ed.]
105 Then will you bow your heads, and keep it
bowed a minute, while I feel my guilt and would like to
repent. Just bow
your head. [Brother Branham leaves the pulpit and kneels at the
altar—Ed.]
106 Our Heavenly Father, I bow upon this altar
and ask forgiveness of my sin. I ask forgiveness of the sins of
those who
are around the altar. I ask forgiveness for this church, for the
body—for
the body of believers nationally and internationally. I ask for
mercy for
us, being so dilatory concerning the things of the Kingdom. I ask
that
You’ll pardon us of our sins, and take away our—our—our
transgression. And
forgive us for being so stupid, for the stupidity of the
people. How we
have come short! How we have taken bodily exercise! How we
have done
things that we ought not to have done! How we have sinned before
You!
107 And on this Sunday night meeting, Father,
seeing the blushing prophet of the Bible, we blush tonight. I
blush before
You, because of the sins of the people. The people, my nation, my
people,
I’ve been ashamed of them, Lord. To see our young ladies walking
the
streets and acting the way they are! To see the prostitution, the
young
men living in—in all kinds of life! See them staying home from the
church,
and reading old magazines they ought not to read! Looking at
uncensored
programs! Listening to Hollywood’s dirty jokes! Listening to
old boogie-woogie
music of the devil, that’s hatched out from men that’s of ill-fame
and got
vile conscience, the devil’s influence, to inspire the works of
the devil
on!
108 O God, I’m ashamed of myself for not rebuking
in the way that I should. O God, take away my guilt. I ask
You to do
it. I ask You to forgive these people that’s here, first, us
all. Help us to raise from this altar as new men and
women. Help us
to go from here as Christians ought to go.
109 Help us to “Lay aside every weight, and the
sin that doth so easily beset us, that we might run with patience
the race
that’s set before us.” Looking not to the television, not looking
to the
comedians of the world, but, “Looking to the Author and Finisher
of our
faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who despised the shame of the cross
and bore
it for us, and suffered without the gate, that He might sanctify
the
people with His Blood.”
110 Cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and take
us as Thy own children, tonight, and receive us in this prayer of
repentance. And give us, Lord, peace and joy. And may all
beds,
tonight, as we lay, thinking of this night’s meeting, may we think
of the
conditions of the world, that the Bible has revealed to us
now. May we, as
we think of it, our faces struck out for shame, and may You bring peace
and
happiness to every heart. We are repenting, Lord, before Thee, on
this
altar.
111 God, help me as I’m breaking forth now, by
faith, and praying that it’s in Your will, that many, many, many
hundreds
of people may be won for Thee. And help me to have faith and
courage, as I
move on; not looking to anyone but to Thee, the Author and
Finisher of our
faith. God, grant it.
112 Forgive every deacon of this
church. Forgive the pastor. Forgive the lay members,
Lord. Forgive everyone, of all of our sins. Forgive us,
Lord. Forgive every stranger in our gate. And may we feel the
impact
of the Holy Spirit on our life, because we are humble before Thee,
tonight, repenting with all of our heart, that You’ll receive us
and make
us a humble, quiet, sanctified, humble people for Your
service. Grant this
blessing, Lord, at the altar we’re upon. Give it. And bow our
head
and hearts before Thee. In the Name of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus, we
ask
this. Amen, and amen.
I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me;
How I long to rise in the arms of faith,
And be closer drawn to Thee.
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
113 Along the altar, tonight, among my brethren
that’s up here on the altar, I’m glad to see, tonight, about as
many as
men as there is women. Usually, it’s the women that can easily
break. Their hearts, there’s something about them, can easily be
touched
because of the feminish. And they’re—they’re ladies, and you can
sometimes
touch them. But I’m so glad to see the Holy Spirit can touch men,
too, and
bring them to the altar.
114 And I wonder how many of you at the altar,
that’s knelt now, that feels that you have made a consecration to
God,
that you’re going out of here tonight, to live a better life, by
the grace
of God, and to do more for the Kingdom of God, and for His
cause. Would
you raise your hand to Christ, if you’re around the altar, say, “I
believe
that now I have repented.” May God bless you.
115 How many of you back there feel that you
repented in your seat; feel like you want to do better? God bless
you.
Now let us stand.
116 You here at the altar, face around that way,
if you will. Now, you here at the altar, raise your hands out
there, that
you desire their prayer, that you may continue on. Will you raise
your
hands to the ones in the audience? All right. Now you raise
your
hands back here, at the altar here, that you may desire their prayer,
too. That we’ll…God will help us to do. May the Lord Jesus
bless us.
Now, don’t forget the Sunday
night service.
117 Have you a word to say, Brother
Neville? [Brother Neville speaks to Brother
Branham—Ed.] Tuesday and
Wednesday night…Where is that mission located? [Brother Neville
answers.] 1628 West Market, this coming Tuesday and Wednesday
night.
118 And then on Saturday and Sunday, I’ll be at
Madisonville, Kentucky, at the auditorium there. And then we go on
up into
New York.
119 Now, the reason we’re letting out early, I
got a mother-in-law that’s very, very ill, and they’re calling for
me. Now let us…
120 You got a word to say, Brother
Neville? [Brother Neville says, “No.”—Ed.] Nothing.
121 Let us bow our heads just a moment, while we
pray. All right. Slowly now: