ECOUTEZ-LE
E-1 Today has been a great and
wonderful day for me, this afternoon and through the day, of many
interviews and so forth, with the different delegations that's coming
and the planning for services in the future and so forth. And then,
once in a while on the street passing someone who is sick and see the
hand of our Lord reach out in mercy to them.
Tonight, while having a sandwich in the sandwich shop, I was really
thrilled when some Italian brethren come up, and one of them said that
he was a friend to my recording boy here, Gene Goad. Said, "Gene didn't
hardly know me any more," he said, "because when he and I run around
together we were in pool rooms. But now we're in the service of the
Lord." He said, "I--I believe it..."
And he brought his baby to me. Catholic, his wife an Italian Catholic,
and the little baby was last stages of cancer. And I prayed for it, and
the blessed Lord Jesus healed the baby. It's a living tonight after two
or three years, perfectly sound and well. And they're both saved and
filled with God's Spirit. That would thrill the heart of anyone.
E-2 Just a few moments ago, is
a darling here in the pathway, another last stages of leukemia, to pray
and lay hands on it, the faithful little mother and father... Brings my
memory to about two years ago, one day I just come in from way away,
and I so tired I could hardly stand up. Long about daylight was a call
come from a motel, "Baby, seven days to live," and they'd braved
snowstorms across Kansas and through Missouri, and Illinois, to have
the baby prayed for. I went down there, and a Presbyterian minister,
and his daughter-in-law, and his son was in the room with the darling
little thing, and the doctors had just give it seven more days.
The Holy Spirit came down and told the boy and the girl, father and
mother of the baby, their condition of what they must do and how they
must accept Christ. They with their hands up around their dying baby,
promised God that they'd serve Him reverently from that day on. And two
weeks from then the baby was skipping the rope in school, pronounced by
the doctors sound and well. It's living tonight glorifying God, because
of the glory of God.
E-3 On the private interviews this afternoon, in a room, a young woman, I'd say middle aged, come in, been a teacher for years. And something has been wrong with the lady for a long time. Even when Doctor Lee Vayle, has been introduced here, the pastor of the First Baptist Church up at Spencerville, Ohio, bosom friend of mine, was keeping the ten minute interviews with each one as they passed. And the lady come in, and in her case it was a required for God to move and to show something. She'd done everything, been prayed for. But then the blessed Holy Spirit came down and undone the whole thing, and showed the thing, and the lady was perfectly delivered. After many, twenty years or more, of torment, the Holy Spirit delivered her. The great smile on her face when her ten minutes was up, left the room rejoicing. What do we say? The faith that was once delivered to the saints is delivered again tonight to those who believe. The Lord be blessed.
E-4 Now I wish to take just a
moment here; I think it's my lot to teach tomorrow afternoon here I
believe, at the Tabernacle. Is that two-thirty? At two-thirty for just
about thirty minutes I suppose, or whatever the 'lotted time is. [Brother
Joseph says, "Two hours."--Ed.] Couldn't do that, Brother
Joseph. But He...
We have some at... It's very nice of you to say those things, because
I-I know there's just--there's one thing... Someone was trying to give
me a doctors degree not long ago. And I said, "I'm too smart for that."
I said, "I--I know better; the people does too." So... If a man knows
his limitations and..." Now with my old Kentucky "his," and "haint's,"
and "tote," and "fetch," and "carry," you know people know how I
wouldn't be a doctor of divinity. And so I--I'm just Brother Branham,
you see, so...
And so, but in the audience tonight is many real men deserving who are
doctors of divinity. How I wish I had their education and had their
ability to do that they can, but I haven't got it. So I just have to
depend on God to work on your hearts that to believe what I say, that's
all, only way I know.
E-5 So now, the Lord bless you
as I read for just a little short text, the Lord willing, in the 17th
chapter of Saint Matthew's Gospel, and the last three words of the 5th
verse. And being busy I don't get much time to read and pray, but I
would like to approach this subject tonight, the Lord willing, on:
Hear Ye Him.
Three little words. But that... You say, "That's an awful small text,
Brother Branham."
But it--it isn't the size of the text; it's the contents it holds. It's
what it--it will determine the eternal destination of every man that
hears it, and his attitude towards it. Sometimes we can't go by the
size of things.
E-6 I was speaking, or heard
sometime ago it was, I believe, on the radio that where this boy was
searching around through an attic. And he run into some old trunks, and
he opened up one. And searching through there he found a little postage
stamp, just perhaps about a half inch square. Well, he looked at it,
and he thought it was, must be an old stamp. So down the street he
realized, remembered that there was a stamp collector. And he runs down
the street real quick, and he said to the stamp collector, "I have now
found an old stamp. What would you give me for this stamp?"
And it looked yellow and old, so the stamp collector examined it, and
he said, "I'll give you this one dollar bill for the postage stamp."
Well, the stamp being one half inch and the dollar bill many, about two
by four inches square, there was much more paper in the dollar bill
than there was in the little stamp, so the little boy said, "It's your
stamp and my dollar."
And then that stamp collector, two weeks later, sold that stamp for
fifty dollars. And about two months after that, that same postage stamp
was sold for five hundred dollars. And the last I heard of that stamp,
it was worth a quarter of a million dollars.
E-7 You see, it isn't the size,
it's what is wrote on it. There's enough in this text tonight, the
value of this, because it's three words of God's eternal Word. When all
the heavens and earth will pass away, but that Word will endure forever.
Down through the ages man has taught on this same subject for two
thousand years. And it's just as inspiring to every generation as it
was to the first generation it was read to, because it is the eternal
Word of God. And if time should roll on many thousands of years or eons
of time, it would still have the same meaning.
If I'd write you a letter, you might appreciate it, but you'd be the
only one that could appreciate it, because it's from myself to you. But
this here is to whosoever will. And it never dies. My letter would
cease when, to be of a value, when you cease. But God's Word can never
cease, because it is God Himself. "In the beginning was the Word; the
Word was with God, and the Word was God."
E-8 So no man is any better
then his word. I'm no better then my word. You're no better then your
word. God's no better then His Word. And His Word is part of Him. Your
word's part of you. My word's part of me. So God being infallible, His
Word has to be infallible. God being omnipotent, His Word has to be
omnipotent. So you see, it's the value of it. And it's a--it's a--an
invitation to every mortal on the earth if it be received right. But if
you turn it down, then it's no value at all.
Here some years ago there was a case tried on that in the federal
courts of our land. A man had committed a crime, and the governor of
the state had sentenced him to--to be shot, or to be killed by public
execution. And while the man was in the prison waiting his time of
execution, someone interceded to the governor until the governor found
reasons to pardon the man. The governor wrote just a little line on a
piece of paper and signed his name, "This man is pardoned, Governor
So-and-so."
And when it was brought to the man, showed him by his attorney, he
said, "I will not receive it. A pardon's got more to it then that. I
believe it's bogus. Therefore, I believe someone's trying to put
something over on me."
E-9 How that the devil says
that same thing to the church tonight, "The Bible's misinterpreted; and
it doesn't mean the same. It was only for another generation." But oh,
my friend, let me say this tonight; it's for whosoever will, let him
come. Just as forceful tonight as it was the night that it fell, or the
day it fell from His lips.
The man, by rejecting this pardon, because it wasn't enough wrote out,
the man then to reject it was executed the next morning. And then here
is the governor's pardon, and here is the man executed after the
governor had signed the pardon. So it was tried in federal court. And
the decision came to this, and I want every one of my listeners tonight
to think this real seriously. And when the decision of the federal
courts of our land, and the Supreme Court, rather, of our land made
it's decision, here's what it said, "A pardon is not a pardon if it's
not received as a pardon."
And God's pardoning grace, God's Divine healing is the property of
every believer if it's received as that. But if it's turned down, then
it's of none effect. God is not guilty, because He's offered it to you.
E-10 Jesus our Lord, as He
walked here on earth, He did not just go about from place to place with
great entertainments, and the applause of men, and the applauding of
the audiences, and of the great flowery things that the men of this
world, or the teachers, would praise Him by. But every footstep that He
made was ordered by the Lord. Oh, I just love that, when He said even
at twelve years old, "Know ye not that I must be about My Father's
business?" How that brings us then to shame when we're so all the time
gadding around. And the Bible said, "That the footsteps of the
righteous is ordered of the Lord." We should walk in His ordination for
us. Walk like a Christian; talk like a Christian; live like a Christian.
And we see Him meeting with the councils of men. Oh, He meets sometime
with great councils of men. One time we see Him meet with five hundred,
again with seventy, one time with twelve, once with three. And He even
promised that "wherever two or three were gathered, I'll be in their
midst." It's God's ordination for Him to meet in the council. No matter
how small, it's His duty, and His privilege, and His love to keep the
commandments of God to meet with you wherever two or more are gathered
in My Name. He will meet with one in a secret closet, and there where
their hearts are poured out God promised to meet.
E-11 So you see that it doesn't
take great big things to bring Christ; it doesn't take great
organizations; neither does it take great churches, great gatherings;
but it takes the sincerity of one heart to bring Him.
I think in the Bible, when Philip was having a great healing campaign
and the Holy Spirit called him from his campaign and went into the
desert to meet one Ethiopian to lead him to a saving knowledge of the
Lord Jesus...
How did Jesus cross the stormy sea one time to the land of Gadara, to
come to the aid of one maniac? And left the land of Gadara and crossed
for that. Not only that, but He will come from the portals of glory to
the Cadle Tabernacle tonight for any person that will believe Him and
accept Him.
E-12 In this text that we're
speaking of tonight, Jesus was taking three of His disciples. For it is
written in the Word that "In the mouth of two or three, let every word
be established." God was just about ready to do something. And God
never does do anything without first He makes things ready. He sets a
scene for His great drama.
Let me say this tonight if I never utter another word. I believe that
God is setting the scene of the greatest drama that ever struck the
earth, the readying of the Church and the coming of His blessed Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's pulling His little flock together, and
showing the Gospel in every sign and wonder and form to the World that
those who are partakers of the world will perish with the world. And it
is a choosing time now.
E-13 And as He goes up to the
mount called Mount Transfiguration, it must have been a wonderful
place. Peter later regarded it as a holy mount he said he was in. Now,
that doesn't mean the mountain was holy; it meant the holy God was on
the mountain. Oh, I wished I could get that to you. It's not the holy
church; it's the Holy Spirit in the church what makes it what it is. It
isn't the holy man; it's the Holy Ghost in the man that makes him what
he is.
And on the road up, as God was fixing to set a drama, He taken three
witnesses: Peter, James, John. Now, I just love to look at this in this
respect, as Peter representing faith, James representing hope, and John
love, charity; hope, faith and charity, those three great witnesses.
And in the earth that is the three witnesses, faith, hope, charity. The
Bible teaches that. And He brought forth faith, hope, and charity to
give a witness of what He was just fixing to do.
E-14 Now, I know that many Bible
teachers tonight are saying, "What's he going at?" I know the correct
picture of this, brethren, is foreshadowing the coming of Jesus. But
tonight I wish to take it in a little different sphere, little
different way. It don't... Every subject in the Bible, and everything
in the Bible ties together in every Word in the Bible. The entire
Bible, every word ties into Jesus Christ, everything. Every type, every
shadow, everything ties in. So that's the reason tonight I believe
solemnly in the Word of the living God, this blessed old Bible. I
believe on any foundation outside of that it'll crumple as sure as the
world.
And we find them going up into the mount. And there was three
witnesses: hope, faith, and charity. And then God's going to do
something; He brought three witnesses from heaven. Peter, James and
John of the earth, and He had Moses, Elijah, and Jesus on the mount:
three heavenly beings, three earthly beings. Oh, I just love Him when
He does that. I'll imagine the leaves even stop blowing when this taken
place. You know in the Bible it is written, "Be, stand still and know
that I am God."
E-15 That's where the trouble is
today among the churches. God can't get them to stand still long
enough. They're running here and running here, and chasing here and
chasing there, and mission trotting, and church joining. Why don't you
stop that and stand still a minute? When God was going to take His
children through the Red Sea He made the Red Sea stand still. Why? He
showed His power.
One day when the sun was setting in the west, and God showed His power,
He made the sun stand still when He showed the sons of man what He was
going to do. One day He was going to give sight to a blind man. And the
Bible said, "Jesus stood still," while God worked with Him, or worked
through Him. And I'm sure of this tonight, my Pentecostal friends,
Methodist, Baptist, and whatever you may be, if you'd stand still long
enough, don't get all flusterated, stand still, God will reveal His
Divine purpose to you. Get quiet, get still before Him.
E-16 There's nothing like those
beautiful hours, how I love to go out of a morning after the night has
passed, and the earth has become still. Go out in the flower garden.
All the fragrance of the flowers is hanging low and the perfume of
the... Here in Indiana we have the honeysuckle. How I love to take a
ride just at the break of day. But when the fluster, bluster of the day
comes, the fragrance seems to be brushed away.
That's the way the church is today; it doesn't know what it believes;
it just jumps from pillar to post. And every little thing comes along
it jumps after it; and therefore, all the beauty and the perfume of the
church has been sprayed away. That's right. Be still. Someday
everything's going to stand still. Time's going to stand still, and
it'll blend into eternity. The moon will stand still; the sun will
stand still. Men will stand still. I'm saying this tonight, brother,
that'll be a great time. The sinner will be there.
E-17 Oh, you that's running from
nightclub and everywhere trying to find peace, you'll stand still one
day. Brother, Elvis Presley will be there, and he will really be all
shook up too, at that time if he don't repent. Arthur Godfrey will be
there with all his little Godfrey's, blondes, brunettes, and so forth;
it'll be a shaking time for him. All the hail Mary's in the world will
never clean his guilty soul; it'll take the Blood of Christ. Such
nonsense as that, that four or five psychiatrist trying to keep him a
going. It takes the Blood of Jesus Christ to clean a man's soul. And
the pollution and the souls...
I might hurt your little pet idea now, your idol. This is a pulpit.
Them kind of things is what's damning our nation. All the
rock-and-rolls and boogly-woogly and all the other kind of stuff and
nonsense the devil has placed into the hearts through such tommy-rot as
that. God be merciful, let's get still once and get before God.
They stood still, God was showing a picture of what He was going to do.
God never asked a man to do anything that He wouldn't do. God made a
way for man.
E-18 Now, the picture that I
wish to place before you tonight is this: In the Old Testament there
was a--a law called the placing of sons. Or it is said in Ephesians
1:5, I believe, that Christ, God has predestinated us to the adoptions
of sons by Jesus Christ. If you'll run your reference on that, you'll
find out it comes back into the Old Testament as placing of a son, the
son being placed.
Now, in the Bible we find like John 14, it seems to be met very strange
to some of us. "In My Father's house is many mansions." That doesn't
sound right to us does it? "In My Father's house is many mansions"?
There's something seems to be wrong. I believe it was Moffatt, one of
the translators, made it more ridiculous than ever, said, "In My
Father's apartment house is many apartments," like you're going up
there to rent an apartment. That's ridiculous.
But the original translation is this, "In My Father's Kingdom is many
palaces." Now, the reason the translators translated for King James
like that, ought to the day of king of England. A great kingdom was
called a house. And the king was the father over this house. That's the
reason they put it in "In My Father's house..." It was His Kingdom. It
come from the Old Testament teachings.
E-19 Back in the Old Testament a
father owned a great portion of ground. On this he had little
buildings. And in there he had servants. And when a son was born into
his family, this son, as soon as he was born, was a son, because he was
born a son. Now, this may be a little strange, but I trust that you'll
take it and look at it first.
When the Pentecostal church and the Full Gospel people received the
Holy Spirit, they said, "This is it. We're borned into the Kingdom;
it's all settled." That was an error. When the son was born into the
family, that's true he was a son at his birth. But this father, he was
a busy man; he had much to do. So he looked out through all the
country, and he got the best tutor he could find, a man to educate his
son, and to raise up his son, and to make him the right kind of a boy.
E-20 And how typical that is of
our heavenly Father. When His children is born into the Kingdom,
they're not given a bishop, neither are they given any earthly person,
but God the Father has given the best tutor the Church could have, the
Holy Spirit, as a raiser of the Church. "When He comes He will teach
you and guide you into all truth," the Holy Spirit.
And now, when this duty of this teacher of raising the son, was to
bring word to the father how he progressed. And his conduct determined
his inheritance. If he was a good son, he would inherit all the father
had. If he wasn't a good son, then he got nothing; he wasn't worthy,
yet he was a son.
And just because you have received the Holy Spirit; that doesn't mean
that everything's just going to be poured into your hands. That's the
reason if the Church would get quiet just a little bit and quit trying
to say, "I'm Assembly. I'm a Oneness. I'm a Trinitarian. I'm--I'm this,
I'm that, and the other." You're Christ's, and the purchase of His
Blood. Got no right to break fellowships with people like that, unless
they're living the wrong life, draw any fences or barriers. We're all
one in Christ Jesus. For by one Spirit we're all baptized into one
body, the body of the believers.
E-21 Notice now, what if this
tutor, this raiser... Paul teaches it very plain over in the Gospels,
or in the books of the New Testament. I want you to notice: as this
tutor, he must be an honest man. Now, he mustn't pull any strings. The
son couldn't pull any strings with the tutor, because the tutor, or the
teacher, had to tell the father just exactly the conduct of the son.
And how the tutor must've bowed his head in shame when he went before
the father to say, "Your boy is not obedient. He's so loosely." How he
must've hid his face...
And I wonder how the Holy Spirit is, how It must, as a prophet of old,
blushed when He stood in the Presence of God, when He brings the
character and the conduct of the church in this day. How He must blush
when He stands before the Father and says, "Oh, they're all separated;
they're acting like the world. They're marrying and giving in marriage.
The women are dressing and acting just like almost harlots on the
street. How the men are smoking cigarettes, and telling dirty jokes,
and staying home at night and listening to "Who Loves Sucy," and all
those things on television, and neglecting the church... How the pastor
is leaving his post of duty for more money somewhere else... How the
deacon board is running the bookies and so forth..." How it must make
the Holy Spirit blush in the Presence of God.
E-22 Let me say this. You say, "Brother Branham, every time you come here you beat down on the people." Well, if you... Maybe they need it. We've got to tally up with this Book. Let me say something, sister. What's happened to the holiness church? What's happened to our people? I appreciate the decency that you do show. But did you know, years ago it was wrong for you to cut your hair? The Bible says it was. Well, why do we have so many bobbed haired women today? It used to be wrong for you to wear that manicure, ever, how that's the wrong name for it, but that stuff you put on your face, paint. There was only one woman in the Bible ever painted her face, and God fed her to the dogs. That's right. So when you see a lady wearing that, you can say, "How do you do, Miss Dog meat." That's exactly what she is in the Presence of God. Now, that's the truth. It's wrong. There's your example in the Bible.
E-23 And the one thing I want to
ask is this: We're supposed to be living in the height of civilization;
sometimes I wonder. The women of the churches today, modern, and a lot
of Pentecostals whose got this liberation of women... Did that hurt? It
ought to. They take off just as much clothes as the law will let them
take off. And then you say you're a Christian living in civilization.
In the dark lands of Africa where the Ethiopian women come to my
meeting by the thousands, raw heathens, blanket natives, who did not
know which is right hand or left, coming with just a little clout over
the front of them here on a string around their waist, their whole body
exposed, but when God came down in His power and saved them from sin,
no one said a thing about clothes, but when they started to leave the
audiences (I stood looking, weeping.), women folded their hands like
this to cover themselves so they could get out to put some clothes on.
Then we call ourselves civilized. We call ourselves Christians with the
Holy Spirit. Shame on you preaching liberation of women. Brother, we
ought to preach liberation from sin. God deliver us from all that stuff.
E-24 Notice, if a raw heathen,
that don't know right from left hand, the Holy Spirit Itself teaches
her that she's naked, then you claim to have the Holy Ghost and
stripping off everything that the law let you do, there's wrong
somewhere. Oh, my, what the Holy Spirit must think when It comes in the
Presence of God, how His children are acting. Say, "What about the men?"
You brother, it's your time. You call yourself a man and the head of
the house, and if you let your woman strip herself off and get out
there at that lawn mower with a cigarette in her hand before men, that
shows how much man you are. That's just the same. That's right. You
know that's the truth.
What we need is an old fashion Holy Ghost revival to clean up the
church. That is right. I'm not saying that jokingly; this is not a
joking place, because we're dealing with eternal destination for men's
souls that I'll answer for at the day of judgment. But that's true. No
wonder the church has to go after all kinds of little isms, and
fantastics, little sensations and things.
Why take that substitute? Why don't you clean up and stand still?
Pentecostal skies are full of the real Holy Ghost that'll make you what
you should be. Why do you take anything like that, little isms? Because
you're trying to live in sin and possess the Holy Ghost at the same
time. She's took Her flight and left you. That's what's the matter with
the church. That's exactly right. So much, we'll get on that a little
later on.
E-25 But then, if that child is
obedient, a very good child, how the Teacher would like to stand to the
Father and say, "Oh, Sir, Your little boy is a perfect gentleman. Oh,
he's so up-and-at-it, not home with the television, but at prayer
meeting every night, at his post of duty, on the street testifying. He
lives a life above reproach. He's just about the Father's business.
When they're eating lunch at the mill, or wherever it is, he has Your
Book under his arm. He reads It; he testifies to the other men. After
evenings when he goes home and washes up, it isn't out in the back yard
with some beer, but he's out somewhere giving testimony to the love of
God that's in his heart." Say, "You know, Sir, oh, You got such a fine
child."
I can see the Father pushing His chest out, say, "Oh, yes, he's a chip
off the block. Yes."
E-26 Sometime of the evening
when the children are asleep, Mrs. Branham and I slip into the room and
look at little Joseph. And I look at him as he's laying there sleeping,
and I say, "Mama, do you know he's got big eyes just like yours."
She say, "Yes, he's got lips like yours."
It's the features of both of us that's represented in that child. Oh,
how that God wants to see the reflection of Himself, and His church
reflecting the power and glory to the world.
In the Old Testament when the beaters was beating gold... When you get
gold that's full of pyrite (That's fool's gold.), it really shines
better than the real gold. It's got sludge and everything in it. But
the beater used to beat the gold. And the way he knowed he had all the
dirt out of it, he seen the reflection of himself in it, like a
polished mirror. He beat it, and he beat it, and he beat it, until he
seen his own reflection.
That's what the Holy Spirit is trying to do to the Church, is to beat
it, and turn it over, and beat it, until Christ reflects in the Church
to the people, proving His resurrection. He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He's trying to get the people to beat the world out
of them. The devil's pouring it in. And the Holy Spirit, if you'll just
stand still and let Him, He will beat your life, until the loving peace
of Christ reflects into your life.
E-27 Now, this child was
obedient, then there come a certain day when this child become matured.
That's the day the Pentecostal church ought to be now. You
Presbyterians ought to been that way a long time ago, Baptist and
Methodists, but what's the matter?
Then there's a certain day come, that when that father draw all the
people around the regions that had come into the city, or some great
place. And he took and set this son on a high place, and he put him on
a beautiful robe. And they had a ceremony, and that father adopted that
same son that had been born, he adopted it into his family. Or in other
words, he placed him, positionally what he was in the family, and then
he become an heir of everything the father had. In other words, his
name on a checkbook was just as good as his daddy's.
And that's where the church should be today; it should be to a place...
And I say this to myself and to you: oh, what a pity it is when I walk
around and see the sin, and the afflictions, and the sickness of the
people and so forth. We ought to be to a place in faith in God, so
separated that what we ask the Father in the Name of His Son, He'd
grant it to us. That's right.
E-28 He took him into a place,
and there he adopted him into his family, or as a special time when he
set him apart. The church ought to be that way tonight, an Angel come
to you, set you apart and tell you your position, where you're at. Not
a bunch of men to lay hands on you, that's earthly. I mean God; God
sets you apart in a place where you belong. God does it; your Tutor
does it. He's present when it takes place.
Now, notice, God was doing here just exactly like He asked man to do.
His Son had been obedient, he had minded the father. He hadn't been
gadding about in places and say, "You see who I am? My campaign's the
biggest there is in the country. Yes, sir."
He'd been obedient. He'd been obedient to the father. He hadn't been
gadding around the things of the world, associating with them; he'd
been obedient. And God took witnesses of the earth, Peter, James, and
John, brought down Elijah and a Moses from heaven, and stood them
there, and adopted His own Son. He was glorified in the presence of
these witnesses. And the--God came down and overshadowed Him. And the
Bible said "His garments glistened like the sun." You see the robe, the
glorification of Him? He put Him on a robe before the witness of
heaven, 'fore the witnesses of earth.
E-29 You know Peter got all
excited. 'Course it is enough to make a man excited. He got kinda
excited when the supernatural came. Listen close. That's what makes men
get excited. But you shouldn't be excited. You see, that's what made a
mixed multitude go out of Egypt, that perished in the gainsaying of
Korah. That's what's made the Pentecostal church is the confusion it is
tonight. The supernatural's been done, and a mixed multitude went out.
Peter got excited; he said, "Lord, this is so great we better start
some denominations here." That's right. "Let's build a cathedral here,
or a school. And we'll call this a school for the law, for Moses and
all his. Yes, we'll have that."
E-30 Now, who could be saved by
the law? No one could be saved by the law. The law didn't come to save
us. The law was to magnify our sins, to point them out to us. And
listen, to you legalist believers, I want to ask you something: There's
not one thing you can do to be saved in yourself. No sir. You are saved
by grace and that alone, and you have nothing to do with it. God chose
you in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's right.
There's not one thing you can do to merit. So you keep all the
commandments you want to, join all the churches you want to, you're
still lost. You might know your catechism, say Hail Mary's. You might
know the Apostles Creed, the Doxology; you might know all the doctrine
of the Bible. But to know the Bible is not Life. To know the church
creed is not Life. But to know Him is Life. Alone to know Him... You
might be baptized this way, that way, this way, that way, or sprinkled,
poured, whatever it may be; you're still lost until you know Him. To
know Him is Life. The church in its condition...
E-31 Notice, there they were.
And Peter said, "We'll just build a tabernacle here for Moses." Now,
the law only puts you in jail. The law only puts you under
condemnation. The law only magnifies. It was the policeman that come,
and caught you by the arm, and said, "You're guilty, and you're under
the penalty of death." The law has no redeeming grace. Grace come by
Jesus Christ, not by the law. I don't plead for the law; I don't want
nothing to do with the law.
Well then, Peter said, "I'll tell you then; we'll build a us another
tabernacle: we'll make it for Elijah." What did Elijah represented? The
justice of God. Who wants justice? Brother, I don't; I want mercy, not
justice. We're all borned in sin, shaped in iniquity, come to the world
speaking lies. We are guilty from the beginning to the end. There's not
one of us could redeem one another, if we're archbishops, popes,
whatever we might be. We're prophets, or whatever, even if we were
Angels, we would still be unfit to redeem one another, certainly. I
don't want justice; never do I call for justice; I want mercy. God,
give me Your mercy.
E-32 Look at Elijah, the
sternness of God's justice set upon the mountain under the--the will of
God. God told him to. And the king sent a bunch of men, said, "Go up
there and get him."
When they got close to him he raised up the line of God's justice,
said, "If I be a man of God, let fire come from the heavens and burn
you up." Fire fell and burned up the fifty.
"Well," the captain said, "You know, that must've been just the
lightning; a storm went over. We'll try it again. You know, it's just
one of the acts of nature." So he sent another fifty.
And the justice of God raised up in His prophet, and said, "If I be a
man of God, let fire come from heaven and to consume you." And fire
came and consumed them. The justice of God... Mercy brethren, we don't
want justice.
E-33 But Peter had no more then
got it out of his mouth, when he wanted to denominate the church, when
he wanted to have denominational barriers, one for this and one for
that. A voice spoke from heaven and said, "This is My beloved Son; hear
ye Him." And when they looked back they saw Jesus only. The law had
passed away; all the judgments had passed away; and God said, "This is
My beloved Son; hear ye Him."
What did He represent? God's love. "God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but would have Everlasting Life."
God, His nature, is so loving, that when Divine love... That's what the
church needs. That's where we're standing, not in the need of Bible
doctrine, not in the need of denominations; we're standing in the need
of the love of God. That's been my theme and will be till I die. The
love of God is what the church needs.
E-34 If we had the love of God
in the Assemblies, in the United, in the Church of God, in the
Methodist, in the Baptist, then denominational barriers would be broke
down, this Cadle Tabernacle tonight would be packed to the streets
here, and the power and glory of God, and an old fashion revival would
sweep this city and...?... out.
If the people in this city that's called by the Name of the Lord Jesus
as believers, would come together in that condition tomorrow night, a
week from now, a bootlegger and a whiskey joint wouldn't be found in
this city. What's the matter? Lacking of love.
What did Jesus represent? Moses, the law. Elijah, his sternness, his
justice. What did Jesus represent? His love. And when God being love,
and He was--so loved the world. And when Divine love is projected it
produces its subject. God could do nothing else but send something to
take the place of His love. So the law couldn't do it; His justice
couldn't do it; so love took its place.
O dear
dying lamb, Thy precious blood
Shall
never lose its power,
Till
all the ransomed Church of God
Be
saved, to sin no more.
Ever
since by faith I saw that stream
Thy
flowing wounds supplied,
Redeeming
love has been my theme,
And
shall be till I die.
E-35 Love, God's love, it'll
take the place of speaking in tongues, and that's all right. It'll take
the place of gifts, and wonders, and signs, and everything else. If you
haven't got love to accompanies that, what good does the signs do you?
God's tried to do it across the nation, but it wouldn't work. The
greatest of all the gifts is wisdom, the second is knowledge. If you
haven't got knowledge, you haven't got wisdom, how can--to control your
knowledge, what good's your knowledge going to do? See what I mean?
Seek the first things first.
We've gone after gifts; we've gone after this; we've gone after that,
because the supernatural was done. But, brother, don't seek gifts;
don't seek favor with denomination; seek the love of God. Do it,
brethren.
E-36 Love constrained Him.
That's what He was: love in His great bosom, went out to Adam's fallen
race and redeemed them through His Son, Christ Jesus. Laws, prophets,
denominations is all faded away, "This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him."
Love takes its place.
You can't impersonate love. You've got to have it. It's got to be a
product that God has given you. It's not what you imagine. It's
something God had done. Like I was talking today to someone. When I get
ready to leave and go overseas, I don't get my wife and say, "Here Mrs.
Branham, tell you something: Thou shalt not have no other husbands; I'm
your husband. Let me hear you being out with somebody else, you know
what you're going to get when I get home? Thou shalt not flirt with
anyone else."
Now, wouldn't that be a home. That's about like the church is. "If you
go to that revival, I'll give you your papers to your church." That's
right. Oh, we're the ransomed church of God, there you are. Oh, we need
love, sure we do.
E-37 Now, she don't catch me by
the collar, and pull me around, and say, "Wait a minute, my young man:
Let me hear you being out with one woman while you're gone, you're
going to get it when you come home." That isn't it. It isn't law; it's
love. I love her; she loves me. When we get ready to go, we're both
crying a little; we kneel down on the floor and pray God would take
care of me and help me, and for God to help me win souls for Him. And I
pray that God helps her and takes care of the children. We raise up and
I kiss her good bye; she says, "Billy, I'll be praying for you while
you're gone, honey."
"All right, dear." That settles it. No more thought of it. Why? I love
her. If I was overseas and away from home for a year, I don't care who
the who the woman was, if she walked up, some young girl, or some
woman, and say, "Billy, would you take me out to supper?"
I'd think, "Meda wouldn't want me to do that." But if I knowed that I
could get by with it, if I knowed I could come back and tell her,
"Meda, I took some girls, or women, went out to supper. I did, this,
that, or the other. I--I--I tell you, I held her hand before I left,
you forgive me, won't you, Meda?"
I believe she'd do it. But brother, I wouldn't do it for nothing. I
wouldn't hurt her for nothing. I love her. And as long as I love her,
she don't have a worry. And as long as she loves me, I don't have a
worry. And as long as you love Christ, you don't have a worry, and
Christ loves you, you know. It's love that does it. Not something that
I do to merit it, it's God's Divine love.
E-38 In closing you might say
this. Some time ago, as you know I like to hunt; I just love to hunt,
not so much to kill the animal, but to be in the wilderness. And I used
to hunt up in the north woods, way up in northern New Hampshire, and up
in Maine. And I used to hunt with a fellow up there, little old Yankee;
he was a nice boy. I liked him real well. His name was Burt Caul. And I
thought a whole lot of him; he was a dandy hunter. I loved to walk,
twenty-five and thirty-five miles a day through the wilderness. He was
a good walker, come right along. And he was a good tracker; he was a
good boy, good hunter. But he was the most cruel hearted person I ever
seen. He would just love to shoot little fawns just to make me feel bad.
Now, if the law says he can have a fawn, all right. But not eight or
ten of them a year.
E-39 So he liked to do that just
to be mean. And he used to shoot those little fawns and laugh. I'd say,
"Burt, how can you do that?"
"Oh," he'd say, "you chicken hearted preacher, thought you was a
hunter."
I said, "I'm a hunter, but I'm not a killer."
And he said, "Aw, ain't that all right?"
And I'd say, "Abraham, sure, killed a calf for God to eat. That's
right. But Burt, not to be brutal just like you are."
He said, "Aw, you're chicken hearted."
One year I went up there, he said, "Come here, Billy, I want to show
you something." And he'd made hisself a little whistle. And he could go
just like a little baby deer, little fawn, crying. I said, "Burt,
you're not going to use that?"
He said, "Aw, get next to yourself preacher."
E-40 We went hunting that day,
and we were out in the wilderness walking around. We'd been maybe a
half a day. It was getting near dinner time; we hadn't even seen a
track. It was a great opening like that, and the snow had been melted
off pretty well there where the sun had hit. And he kinda stooped down.
I thought, "What's he going to do?"
I seen him reach in his pocket; he comes out with this little whistle.
I thought, "Oh, my." And he took that little whistle and he went just
like a little baby deer crying. And no more then he'd did that, till
just across the way a big beautiful mother deer, called the doe, raised
up. She looked around.
I can just see her now, those big brown eyes, those big ears, the veins
in her face; how pretty she stood. She looked around. I seen Burt look
up at me and grin; I thought, "Oh, Burt, you're not going to do that."
Smiled and he ducked his head down. I couldn't watch it; I turned my
head. And I heard the chamber come back as the--the lever come to pull
his cartridge up into the barrel. Oh, he was a dead shot.
E-41 And I knowed that deer
wasn't standing over thirty yards. And I looked around again; I seen
him level that steady nerve, putting that cross hair right across the
heart of that mother. She looked around; she heard that baby's cry. She
come walking right out into the middle of that little place, right out
in the open.
Why? She couldn't help it; she was a mother. She by nature was a
mother. She wasn't putting that on, but she was a mother to begin with,
and there was a baby in trouble, and she must get to it; it was in
trouble. It was something in her. Any other time she'd been scared to
death; that's what she was hiding back in the bushes for, to keep away
from that light place till it got night, and then she'd go out and
feed. But the baby was in trouble. The mother instinct called her. It
was duty.
E-42 She walked out, listening
again with those big ears up. And I seen his nerve as he quieten down;
I turned my head; I thought, "Oh, God, don't let him do that."
I knowed in a few moments time, just a second or two, and that bullet
of that .30-06 rifle would blow that mother's heart plumb through the
other side of her. And I thought; that gallant display of real love,
that mother loving that little baby so much that she was walking out
there... And I looked, and she'd seen the hunter; she stopped. Those
big ears come to a point; she caught the scent of him, and she stood
there. But the mother's love, she couldn't help it. She went walking on
hunting that baby. It wasn't put-on; it was the real thing. She was
walking right in the face of death, because she was a mother.
I turned my head, I said, "God, how can that cruel hearted man do that?"
And while I was praying, I noticed the silence. I heard nothing; I
thought, "Why don't the gun fire?"
And when I turned to look, I seen the rifle barrel going like this. He
dropped the rifle on the ground, and turned around, and grabbed me by
the pants leg, and he said, "Billy, I've had enough of it. I can't
stand it no more. Tell me about that Jesus that put that kind of love
into a man's heart." There on that snowy ground, that cruel hearted
man, by the display of a real genuine love, led that man to Christ.
E-43 When the Church of the
living God gets to a place and get out of its little old isms and
sensations, until it can display the real genuine love of God, then
you'll be the salt of the earth that'll create a thirst in the heart of
the sinner, that'll make him want to be like you. God grant it to every
disbeliever tonight, as we bow our heads.
"This is My beloved Son; hear ye Him," the heart of God.
Dear Jesus, as my mind slips back to that little opening upon the top
of the--or the side of the mountain that day, some twelve, fourteen
years ago, near that place called Pond of Safety, to see that old
mother deer that she could not help it; she was a mother by nature.
God, she had to display her love, her gallant love, because it was her
nature.
O Jesus, there's people in this building tonight, that's joined church
years ago, maybe some of them has not, but they're human beings that
You projected Your Son to them, and the love of God to them. And they
just cold formally joined the church, or maybe neglected it altogether.
But they've always wanted the time that when they could have the real
thing. They've had their ups-and-downs and ins-and-outs. God, grant to
every person tonight, while Your great Presence is here, that they will
accept Jesus, the Saviour, and let Him place into their nature, into
their character, the characteristics of Jesus Christ, that they might
love one another, and love You so much, that they'll go home, and act
like Christians, and live like Christians, have fellowship with all
Christians, and be Your children, and be such in the neighborhood,
until as that mother deer displayed the love of a mother, and one
unbeliever to Christ, may they display the salt of the Kingdom of God
in Christian love, until they'll win their neighbors and all around
them to the Christ of God. Grant it, Father, Thou knowest the heart of
man. Please, Holy Spirit, move into this audience and touch every heart
just now.
E-44 While we have our heads
bowed, our eyes closed, this may be the last time that God will ever
touch at your heart. "Oh," you say, "I belonged to church for years,
Brother Branham." That's not what I mean. "Oh, I have danced in the
Spirit, Brother Branham." That's isn't still what I mean." "Brother
Branham, I've spoke with tongues; I've had the interpretations. I've
even prayed for the sick, and they got well." That's still isn't what I
mean, friend. I'm meaning the love of God, something in your heart that
just makes you just puts Christ first in everything.
If you haven't got it, will you do something tonight? Would you raise
up your hand, not to me, but to God, and say, "God, give me the
Christian love for the brethren, for the church, that that mother deer
had in mother love for the baby?"
Would you raise your hand to Him? God bless you, lady. God bless you,
sir. God bless you. God bless. That's right. Too innumerable to count
at the time, hundred or more hands up in here of people. That's right,
God bless you. God bless you, there, sure. Is there another? God bless
you, you, lady, you, you.
E-45 [Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.] If lady, if there was one
thing that I could do, if you're in need of finances, or healing, or
whatever it is, if I--there was one thing that I could do to help you,
and wouldn't do it, I wouldn't--I would be a hypocrite, or I'd be an
unworthy person. But I have nothing; I have a little bit of money; I
think about forty dollars. I'd be glad to share it with you. As far as
your healing, if you need healing, Christ has already died for that.
If--if you need salvation, if you need a spiritual lift, whatever it
is, Christ died for that. Anything was in the atonement belongs to the
believer.
But I say now that you're a believer, because your spirit seems to be
welcoming. See? I--I know you're a Christian. I don't mean a
hitchhiker; you're a borned again Christian. That's right. You are a
Christian. And if God will reveal to me what you're here for, lady,
will you accept it as Christ? You know it'll have to come through
supernatural. The lady, it's been a standing something; I see it start
back long ago. And something about the throat. And it's developing into
something severe. You're scared of cancer. That's right. Now, if that's
right raise up your hand.
Now, there's nothing showing to her. But if I'd say... Well, I don't
see a crippled person, but if I'd say a certain man... Here I see a
little boy down here. If I say, "That boy's crippled."
You'd say, "Sure."
But this is a healthy looking woman, what about her? There's the
mystery. There's the miracle; there's the miracle. Now, look, more I
talk to the lady...
E-46 It's a gift that God
promised: apostles, and prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors.
Is that right? A spirit, a seer...
Now, if I'd talk to the lady... How many would just like to forfeit a
little time and talk to the lady, let's see your hands. All right. All
right, sister, now, what did He tell you, just your trouble? Now, see,
the only way I know what was said; it'll have to... I have to pick it
up on the recorder. See?
Now, if you'll just be reverent and believe with all your heart, maybe
He would do something else, we'd find something, maybe a cause, or
what, something about it. I do not know.
E-47 Now, there's something
strange, the lady is some sort of a worker, or--or something in a
choir. No, she's got some kind of a robe, women, and it's a, oh, it's a
Four Square church that you're associated with. You are a teacher in
the Four Square Church. That's exactly right. And you're losing your
voice, and therefore you cannot teach any more. And you come from
Chicago. And you... I see someone you're shaking hands with, an elderly
man that's a little bald... It's Brother Bosworth. You know Brother
Bosworth, or associated with him. And I see a lady that I know; it's a
lady kindly... Well, see if I get... It's a Mrs. Domico. You're some
way associated with Mrs. Domico. That is the truth. That's THUS SAITH
THE LORD. That's... You believe now? Go and receive your healing in the
Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Have faith. If thou canst... How many believes? Just believe. If that
isn't Christ the resurrection, the same yesterday, today, and forever...
E-48 While they're bringing, how
about some of you out there, do you believe? You just receive Christ a
few minutes ago, lady, setting on the end of the seat. I seen you raise
up your hand to accept Christ. You got your hand up now. Do you believe
me to be God's servant? You got a prayer card? You don't? All right,
you don't need one. Do you believe that God can reveal to me here what
your trouble is? You believe that God can reveal it? Then the cancer
won't kill you; you can be healed if you believe. Amen. All right, God
bless you now. Just go on your road rejoicing.
How do you do, sir? We're strangers to each other. Now, be just... If
you can be seated just a moment. See? When you move, each one's a
spirit. And with you moving, it interrupts the contact that I have with
the spirit world, which is the Angels of God and the Holy Spirit, in
the audience.
Remember Jesus taking the people and put them all out of the room when
He rose Jairus' daughter? How many remembers that? Taking the man out
of the city... See, be real reverent. See? How many's ever read my
book? He said, "If you'll be sincere and get the people to believe
you," and when I say anything, believe it, that's the thing, believe
it. And if God doesn't vindicate it's the truth then I'm a lair. Then
it He does vindicate it's the truth, it wasn't me, it was Him.
E-49 I don't know you, sir, but God does know you. He knows all about you. But if... Here's... The other one was a woman; this is a man. Now, if God will reveal to me what your trouble is, will you believe? You're very seriously sick and a shadowed with cancer. It's in the rectum. That's right. You're not from this city; you come from away from here didn't you? You're in a city what sets on kind of a side of a hill. It's got a big fountain in the street. I see you've had... It's Hot Springs, Arkansas, where you're from. That's right. That's right. They call you Mack, don't they? That's right. Let me tell you something: you--you got a good spirit. I'll tell you something else: your wife's here with you. She wants to be prayed for too, doesn't she? If I'll tell you what's wrong with your wife, will you believe me to be His prophet? She's got colon trouble, colon and bowels. That's right, isn't it? All right, you all return back to Hot Springs and rejoice. What the Hot Springs water wouldn't do, salvation in Christ does it, in the Name of Jesus. Amen. Only have faith, just believe.
E-50 Sir, you there praying with
your head down. You believe He heard you? You do? Leroy, I'm talking to
you, Leroy Carl. You're from Midland, Pennsylvania, aren't you? I never
seen you in my life, never knowed of you. But you're suffering with a
rupture, and you're praying for Christ to heal you. If that's right
raise up your hand. All right, go home and receive what you asked for.
You touched him. Amen. Don't get scared of Him knowing names; He knows
who you are, certainly He does.
That man can stand if he will. I never seen him in my life, as I know
of, is that right? But you were setting there praying for God to do
that. Now, He's answered your prayer. Now, you just be... Believe,
believe with all your heart, you can have what you ask for. God bless
you.
E-51 Do you believe, lady? With
all your heart? If I could heal you, I'd do it. I can't, Christ can.
But Daniel told, in the Old Testament, to the monarch, that God knowed
the secrets of the hearts of the people. When God was manifested in the
flesh in Christ Jesus, He knowed the secrets of the hearts and
perceived their thoughts. Is that true? If He's the same yesterday, in
Daniel's time as He was in the days of Jesus, He's the same today in
His Church, or His Bible's wrong. So His Bible's not wrong, so He's
declaring Himself to be the same.
May I just have this lady, then you all draw your conceptions, whatever
you think. By the way, you're not here for yourself, because I see a
man. And that man is in a terrible shape. And it's not--it's--it's your
pastor. And you're not--you're--he's from Columbus, Ohio. He's
originally from Illinois. And he's had a heart attack; he's paralyzed.
And his name is Ginter, Ganter. That's right. You believe me to be
God's prophet. Then that handkerchief you got in your hand, send it to
him. In the Name of the Lord Jesus. God bless you.
E-52 You believe with all your
heart? What about you out here? A line of you. Somebody believe. Just
start having faith. See, this could just go on, and on, and on. Well,
what does it do? It only vindicates His resur... I challenge your faith
to believe. What a thing. The Bible said He's a High Priest that can be
touched by the feeling of our infirmities. Is that right? He is now a
High Priest. He always has been a High Priest. And He's now a High
Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities.
Well, the woman touched His garment, and He turned and recognized who
she was and told her her condition. And her faith healed her. And if
He's still the High Priest that can be touched by infirmities, He is
the Vine; we are the branches. The branches bears the fruit. You touch
Him and the branch answers back. Is that right? Do you believe it?
E-53 What do you think, setting
there, lady? You believe with all your heart? You do? If you do, you'll
stop that coughing then. Amen.
What are you, lady, that raised your hand next to her? Do you believe
with all your heart? Your throat trouble will be done with then. Amen.
What about you, lady, setting next to her? Do you believe with all your
heart? You do? You got trouble with your legs, with your back, and
trouble in your stomach. Is that right? Then you can have it.
What about you setting next to her? Do you believe? You got arthritis.
Or you did have. All the way from Chicago... That's right.
You believe? Why can't you believe? Wait, we got another patient here
before us, the lady's been brought here. I know you not, lady; God does
know you. You was very happy when you was called to this platform,
because this is your last night here. You have to go home right now.
It's true. That means you're not from here; you're from a place called
Canton, Ohio. That's right. You want me to pray for you being nervous.
The reason you're going home; you got two children that's got to have
an operation pretty soon. That's right, isn't it? Go home and find it
so, as you have believed. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
E-54 I challenge... Don't move
around. I challenge your faith to believe it. Don't you believe it? Do
you believe it? What about down in the prayer line, do you believe it
with all of your heart? If thou canst believe, you can be healed every
one of you. What is this the sign of? This is the sign that you are
healed, that this is not a fiction story; it's the truth of a
resurrected Jesus, the same yesterday, today and forever. That's the
idea. Sure, "Hallelujah" means "Praise our God." He's in our midst,
He's worthy of all praises. You could not over praise Him.
You believe He healed you standing there, lady? Then go on your road
rejoicing, saying, "Praise the Lord." Amen.
What about the rest of you? Do you believe with all your heart? This is
the hour of your healing. I challenge you to believe it, every one of
you. The Bible says so first. The Spirit witnesses it. Christ
vindicates it. I'm telling the truth. You are already healed, and have
been since Jesus died for you. You've got to have faith enough to reach
up and get it. Do you do it? If you do, rise to your feet and claim it,
in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Let us raise and give Him praise.
Heavenly Father, I will now challenge the spirit of doubt and ask it to
leave this building and go from hence. In Jesus Christ's Name.