LE PUISSANT CONQUERANT
E-1 Thank you. Such a privilege
to be here, tonight, again under this great tent to minister again in
the Name of our Lord.
Now, just before we read His Word, let us speak to Him in a word of
prayer. Shall we bow our head:
Eternal God, Who brought again the Lord Jesus from the dead, we pray
that You will forgive us of our many trespasses against You, and that
Your Spirit will come to us tonight, in the great outpouring, and may
the sinners weep their way through tonight and the--the sick be healed,
and the great signs of the Living God be done under this tent tonight,
God. Grant it.
This is Thy Word, as we are fixing to read It, and no one can interpret
it but the Holy Spirit. And we pray that He will give us the context of
the Word. Grant it, Lord, through Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen.
E-2 I just love the Word of God. I like to read It. There's something about it, that's so thrilling just to know that we're reading something that--He is eternal. And God's Word is just as eternal as He is. Any man--no man's any better than his word. If I couldn't take your word, then we have no dealings then. You couldn't take my word, you couldn't trust me. And if we can take God's Word, we can trust what He said to be true. And if we can't take It, then it's time for us to go and pray until God reveals it to us, that He is Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
E-3 Now, we're going to read,
tonight, from the Book of Revelations, and the 6th chapter and the 2nd
verse:
And I saw, and
behold a white horse: and he that set thereon was given a bow; and a
crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
I would like to, if it should be mentioned this way, to take this under
consideration as to be called, "The Mighty Conqueror."
E-4 Sometime ago, I had the
privilege of standing in Lisbon, Portuguese, and I went up to the old
galley where they used to have slaves and prisoners of war. And there
was a man... A picture had been engraved on some metal, and it was the
man, some great warrior. He was a hero, because he had taken this great
city. And then, just beyond him was a... He was a Turk. And just beyond
that was another man who gave his life at this wall, another hero,
conqueror, who he gave his life as a hero as he smashed the walls and
taken it away from the Turks, and the Spanish taken it over.
And the world has been full of heroes, and conquerors, and so forth.
And I'm thinking, tonight, of Constantine. As the great mighty warrior
was on his road to Rome, being just a little troubled about going over.
One night, when he was in his sleep, he dreamed a dream, that he saw a
white cross come before him. And a voice spoke to him and said, "By
this, ye shall conquer." And he woke all of his men up in the middle of
the night, and had them to paint a white cross on their shield. And by
that, well, they was to conquer.
E-5 And truly, if there is any
conquering to be done, it'll have to come through the cross. That's the
only way there is to conquer, is through the cross.
And we know that Constantine was a great man, but then we're thinking
again of about three years ago. I was on my way from Germany, where the
Lord had give us a great meeting. And we stopped over at Brussels. And
we wasn't too far out there, to Waterloo. And they was telling us about
some statues and so forth, they had as relics of the great battle at
Waterloo, many, many hundreds of years ago, where the great Napoleon
was defeated.
And Napoleon, we all know as being a great man, but he started out on a
good path when he was a young man; at the age of thirty-three he had
conquered the world. After he whipped everybody in the world in all the
nations, he set down and wept, because that there was no one else to
whip. And he died at a early age, a alcoholic. When he started off, he
was a prohibitionest. But when he died, he was an alcoholic. And he was
so feared by the world.
E-6 I was reading a little
book, there in the airport, that said, that the women at night, when
they went to put the little babies in the bed, as many mother says, "If
you don't go to sleep, the old booger man's going to come and get you."
Why, they'd frighten their babies more by saying that--that Napoleon
was going to get them, because he was such a murderer. The little
fellows would bright their little eyes and slip under the cover real
quick, because they thought that mighty Napoleon would get them. But he
was defeated, because he never played the rules of the game right.
And just remember this; that's a good lesson for the church of the
living God. If we don't play the game according to the rules, we'll be
disqualified at the end. You have to keep the rules of the game to win.
And if the rules of the game in this place, is a man must be borned
again to enter into the fellowship of Christ and His church, and we
might be the greatest denomination on earth, but if we haven't played
the rules of the game, we'll be disqualified at the end. We've got to
come straight with God's rules. It isn't our rules; it's His rules,
that we've got to abide by. We're running the race according to His
rules, and we have to abide by them.
E-7 So you see, Napoleon, after
though being a great warrior, and a great conqueror, he conquered
people under fear, and that's not the rule of the game. The rule of the
game is conquer by love.
There is no other force in all the world as great as love. And I'm
almost sure that we, as people, have put too much emphasis upon other
rules that (don't mean to be rude, but sometimes), that we've made
ourselves, and put so much stress on those rules, only to find ourself
disqualified.
E-8 What if Martin Luther
would've played the rules of the game, right? There'd have never been a
Methodist Church.
What if Methodist had have played the rules of the game right? There'd
never been a Pentecostal church.
But if we fail to play the rules of the game right, God will disqualify
us and raise up out of these stones, children to Abraham. And God wants
the game played right, and we must do it. So it doesn't make any
difference how much we feel like that we're progressing on, until we
get back to the rule of the game...
E-9 I was speaking with some
Indians this afternoon, Hopi Indians, who came all the way from over in
Arizona to be in the meeting. And some of the young men was down here
last night at the altar, giving their hearts to Christ. And a
missionary had come along with them, and I said... He said, "Brother
Branham, I would love for you to ask God, if He would just increase my
work for the Indian."
I said, "I feel for them too, sir." But I said, "If God has given you a
talent, stay with that talent. And no matter what you try to do, if
that talent isn't operated, no matter how great it is, if it isn't
operate according to the rules, you'll be disqualified in the race."
E-10 And the strongest force,
that I know of, is love. "Though I speak with tongues of men and
Angels, and have not love, I am nothing, or become as a sounding brass
and a tinkling symbol. Though I have power to move mountains, and have
not love, I am nothing."
So if we're going to play this game, as we would call it... If we're
going to win, we've got to get back to the winning principle. All these
great signs and wonders, that we have seen, to God we give praise. But
if those things isn't built upon godly Christian love and respect for
God and His people, it'll fail. It's just got to fail. See? Because it
has no foundation. And in this great thing, I...
E-11 Standing sometime ago, I
was in the Westminster Abbey at London, England, and I seen the form of
the poet that wrote the Psalm of Life, Longfellow, and I thought of his
poem,
Tell
me not in mournful numbers,
Life
is just an empty dream! (Just
eat, drink and be merry.)
And
the soul is dead that slumbers,
And
things are not what they seem.
Life
is real! And life is earnest!
And
the grave is not it's goal;
Dust
thy art, to dust returnest,
Was
not spoken of the soul.
Lives
of great men all remind us,
And we
can make our life sublime,
With
partings leave behind us,
Footprints
on the sands of time.
Footprints,
that perhaps another,
Sailing
over life's solemn main,
For
forlong and shipwreck brother,
Deeds
shall take heart again.
Let us
be up then and doing,
With a
heart wherein we strive,
Be not
like dumb driven cattle, be a hero.
E-12 That's what each individual
of the church ought to purpose in their heart, to do their very best
for the Kingdom of God. And how do you serve God? When you're serving
one another. When you're taking the little end of the horn, as it was
to say. And man who has ever amounted to very much in the world, has
been men who's come down, and become not great men; they made
themselves small in order to accomplish a purpose.
I'm thinking, tonight, as I look over this audience of man--you men and
women, that's around my age, of a hero that we used to read about in
our reader, all too quickly forgotten, and that was of Arnold Von
Winkelried of Switzerland. Why, up in the Swiss mountains, you can just
mention his name today, and the expression on the people's faces will
change, and tears will run down their cheeks.
E-13 We all are familiar with
the story of how that the Finnish people, not the Finnish, pardon me,
but the Swiss people, they were just a bunch of Germans that went up in
the mountains to live in peace and not to have war, and they're still
not a warring people.
But one day, when their little economy had been attacked by an army,
and all the Finnish men had gathered into the valley in below the
mountain. They had gone there to defend their homes, and their
children; and all that they held dear in life, they went to defend it.
And when they found themselves a small group out in the field, and
looked coming onto them a great marching army, like a brick wall, every
man trained with spear, and shield, and helmets, and great armors on,
just so trained and perfect, till not one man out of step, looked like,
for an endless stretch. And here they were standing, and was standing
for right as a group all beat up against the wall, with old sickle
blades, and rocks, and sticks in their hands to fight with. What could
that little army do against such an onslaughter as they had, as their
foe come every man trained right to the spot? Why, they were helpless.
They had not one thing they could do.
E-14 But finally, a young man
stepped out, of about the age of thirty-three, and he said, "Gentlemen
of Switzerland, this day I'll give my life for Switzerland."
They said, "Arnold Von Winkelried, what can you do against such a great
host coming on?
He said, "Just beyond the mountain, I kissed good-bye my wife and three
children. And there's a little white home, and they're standing in the
door to watch me come home, but," said, "I'll never see them again
this--in this earth, for today I give my life for Switzerland, and it's
right."
They said, "What will you do, Mr. Arnold Von Winkelried?"
He said, "You just follow me, and ever what you've got to fight with,
fight with all that's in you."
And they said, "What will you do?"
And he threw down what he had in his hand; he seen that great army
coming on, and he looked it all over, until he found the very thickest
of the spears. And as the story goes, he raised his hands and took
right towards the midst of the spears, screaming, "Make way for
liberty." And he screamed again, "Make way for liberty." And he run
right into those--where a hundred spears to catch him, and he threw out
his arms and got a whole armload of them, and plunged them into his
chest. Such a display of heroism, it routed the army, and those little
Swiss men with sticks and stone, and sickle blades, routed that army
out of their territory, and they haven't had a war since.
E-15 That kind of heroism has
seldom been compared with, and never exceeded. And Switzerland, today,
remembers it, Arnold Von Winkelried, hundreds and hundreds of years of
no war. That was a great heroic deed.
But oh, brother, sister, that was such a little thing, till one day,
when Adam's race was backed up against a wall. They'd had prophets;
they'd had laws, and they had killed the prophets, and destroyed the
laws. And Adam's race was backed up, helpless and hopeless against the
oncoming enemy, the devil and all of his hosts. Well trained spirit
beings, the mortal was no match for them at all. And what could they
do, they were helpless?
But there was One who stepped out in glory from the bosoms of the
Father, and He said, "I'll go down this day and give My life for Adam's
fallen race."
E-16 And when He was here on
earth, He found the darkest spot of the spears that conquered man, that
was death. And He grabbed an armful of them at Calvary and plunged
Hisself to death, and left the commission with His church, the little
ragged group, uneducated, illiterate fisherman. He never left with just
sticks and stones to fight with, but on the day of Pentecost, He put
the greatest weapon in the church's hands that it ever had. And He
said, "Follow me, and fight with all that's in you."
He led the way; He was the mighty Conqueror. He didn't conquer for
Himself and for His own glory, but He conquered for the good of Adam's
fallen race. There's never been a conqueror like that.
E-17 Napoleon was defeated as a
drunken maniac at the age of thirty-three, but at the age of
thirty-three, Christ, playing the game right, had conquered death,
hell, sickness, and the grave. Never was a Conqueror like Him or never
could be.
Ladies and gentlemen, and my brothers, and sisters, it's time, tonight
for the church to pick up that which Christ left us. "This will all men
know you're My disciples, when you have love one for the other." And
take that sword and self-sacrifice and get back to the old Gospel line
again, going out to conquer our enemy. Conquer him by love, by the same
thing that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth Him shall not perish, but have Eternal Life."
E-18 When He was on earth,
Adam's race had many fears. And it's true, they still have them, but
they shouldn't have them. As Arnold Von Winkelried ended war once for
all. And it--Christ won once for all at Calvary.
When He was here on earth, He walked up to a--a sick man, that sickness
had bound the human race, and He said, "Thou spirit of the devil, I
charge thee, come out of the man." He conquered the devil.
When a man lay in the grave dead, He conquered death for the man, or
the sickness when the maniac come out to destroy Him, and the maniac
realized that He was the Son of God; he said to Him, "Oh, if You'll
cast us out, suffer us to go in that bunch of hogs." For he knew the
authority that Jesus Christ had. He conquered the devil everywhere He
met him. And He not only conquered in Himself, but left the commission
to the church that, "Anything that you ask in My Name, that I will do."
E-19 Fight with what's in your
hands. If it's singing, sing the Gospel. If you can't do nothing but
whistle, whistle just as loud as you can for the glory of God. If you
can't do no more than pat your hands, pat them. Conquer with whatever
you got in your hand. Clap them in such a way, that all the neighbors
will love you. Whistle in such a way, that all denominations will know
that you belong to Christ. Conquer them; play the game fair. Play it
right.
We're living in a day that when this social gospel is becoming
predominate, when the--the churches are uniting themselves together and
making a social religion, and binding themselves together; it's a
terrible day. They're trying to take all the Deity, and all
the--the--the glory away from Christ, and trying to make Him just a
prophet. If Christ was just a prophet, we're every one lost. He was
more than a prophet, and today when...
E-20 A woman told me some time
ago; she said, "Mr. Branham, there's one thing that I do not like about
your speaking."
Well, I said, "What is it, sister?"
And she said, "You try to magnify Christ too much; you brag on Him too
much. You try to make Him more than what He is."
I said, "If I had ten thousand languages, I would--could exhaust them,
and could never explain what He really is. He is worthy of every
praise."
She said, "Mr. Branham, I heard you say from the platform, that you was
a fundamentalists."
I said, "According to the Word, yes."
She said, "If I'll explain to you, and prove to you by the Word, that
He was just a man, and you try to make Him Deity."
I said, "He was Deity." I said, "God was in Christ, reconciling the
world to Himself." I said, "If He's just a prophet, we're all lost."
She said, "If I'll prove to you, by the Bible, that He was just a man.
Will you accept it?"
I said, "Yes, ma'am, if the Bible said that."
She said, "When He went down to the grave of Lazarus, in Saint John the
11th chapter, the Bible said, 'He wept,'and if He'd been Deity, He
could not weep. So that made Him nothing but just an ordinary good man."
E-21 I said, "Sister, your
argument's no good. I said, "You failed to see. You saw the man, but
you failed to see the God in the man." I said, "It is truth. When He
went down to the grave of Lazarus, He was weeping like a man, but when
He pulled those little shoulders back together, and looked at the face
of a dead man, that had been dead and his soul was four day's journey,
and He said, 'Lazarus, come forth.' That dead man stood on his feet
again; that was more than a man speaking there. He is a mighty
Conqueror. That was God speaking through His Son.
And He was a man, when He come off the mountain, that night, hungry,
had nothing to eat, and looked around on a fig tree to find something
to eat. He was a man when He was hungry, but when He took five biscuits
and two little fishes and fed five thousand, that was more than a man.
That was God speaking through His Son, Christ Jesus, Deity in man."
E-22 It--truly He was a man,
when He was on the back of that little boat, that night when ten
thousand devils of the sea swore they'd drowned Him. It was flopping
around out there like a bottle stopper on a mighty sea. And the devil,
seeing, said, "Now, we've got Him." But when He woke, put His foot upon
the brail of the boat, looked up and said, "Peace, be still," and the
waves and the winds obeyed Him. He was more than a man, when He did
that.
He was a man, when He called for mercy at the cross. He died like a
man, but on Easter morning, when the seal of the Roman government was
broke and the tomb was empty, He rose again. He might have died like a
man, but He raised again like God. He was a God-man.
No wonder the poet said,
Living,
He loved me;
Dying,
He saved me;
Buried,
He carried my sins far away.
Rising,
He justified, freely forever.
Someday,
He's coming. O glorious day.
No
wonder, blind Fanny Crosby could scream,
Pass
me not, O gentle Saviour,
Hear
my humble cry;
While
on others Thou art calling,
Do not
pass me by.
Thou
the stream of all my comfort,
More
than life to me,
Whom
have I on earth beside Thee,
Or
Whom in heaven but Thee."
E-23 He was more than a man; He
was God's mighty Conqueror. Oh, how, we should love Him, how we should
praise Him, how we should love one another, as He loved us, and gave
Hisself for us, that we might be more than conquerors, through Him, Who
conquered sickness, death, hell.
We see Him here on earth as a Conqueror. We see Him stand there by the
side of the grave and conquer death in that man. His soul was four
day's journey; I don't know where he was; neither do you. But wherever
he was, He conquered it, and brought it back. Corruption knew it's
Master. Amen. And the soul of this man had been dead, come back and
lived again in a mortal body, and set at a table and eat. And never was
a man could do that before. He was God's mighty Conqueror.
E-24 The sickness--He never
preached a funeral. Death couldn't stay in His presence. How could
death and life dwell together? They can't do it. That's the reason
today, brother, when the church is borned again of the Spirit of God,
death and life can't hold together. Something takes place. Christ comes
in and conquers our passions; He conquers our desires. He conquers all
that's ungodly about us. And because He lives, we live also. He
conquers everything that's ungodly. He's already did it; it's laying at
our hands just to receive.
We see Him in His earthly ministry as a Conqueror. Certainly, we do.
But now, let's watch Him after He died. He still went on conquering. He
never ended at the grave. The Bible said, "His soul descended into
hell, and He preached to the spirits that were in prison, that repented
not in the long-suffering of the days of Noah."
E-25 I can see Him as the
heavens and the earth turning black, the rocks a belching out of the
mountains. The whole heavens, the moon, the stars refused to shine. He
conquered it. And when He went down, descended down, and knocked at the
door, where those lost souls was, and when the doors came open, and
those people who laughed and made fun of Enoch, who made fun of Noah--I
can hear Him say, "I am that One, that Enoch said would come with ten
thousands of His saints. Why didn't you believe Enoch? Why didn't you
believe Noah?"
Everything had to know that He'd conquered. When He shut the door on
them, the days of mercy was passed. On down into the lowest pits of
hell, He went. And He knocked at the sooty doors of the devil's hell.
And the devil comes to the door, as we could look to see, and there he
said, "Well, here You are, after all. I sure thought I had You, when I
killed the prophets. I was sure I had You, when I had John's head cut
off in prison. But now, after all, You've got here."
E-26 I can hear Him as He said,
straighten Hisself up, said, "Satan, I'm the virgin born Son of the
living God. My Blood's still wet on the cross. I paid the price. I've
conquered, and I've come down to take over, strip you of everything
that you claim that you had." Reached over to his side and jerked those
keys of death and hell off of him, kick him back into the place where
he belonged. He conquered hell. When He rose, He had the keys of death
and hell hanging on His side.
What's the church scared about then? Amen. He conquered Satan; He
conquered sickness; He conquered death; He conquered hell. He's on his
road out. Remember, there's some more faithful that went on too. They
were in a place called paradise. They could not go into the Presence of
God, because they had worshipped under the shed blood of lambs and
goats and so forth. It never divorced sin; it only covered sin.
And that's it today, friend, you can't cover your sins and get in; it's
got to be got rid of. And there's only one thing will do it: that isn't
your church; that isn't your baptism by the water; that's the Blood of
Jesus Christ, that covers sins and divorces it. The only means of
conquer that there is, is through the Blood of the Lord Jesus.
E-27 And let's say it's about
four o'clock the--on Sunday morning. Sarah and Abraham are walking
around through the paradise. And all of--at once, there comes a rap at
the door. [Brother
Branham knocks--Ed.] And
Job goes to the door, and he opens back the door to see who's knocking,
coming in this morning at this time of day. And he looks, raises his
hand; he said, "That's my Redeemer, that I saw back there when the
lightning was flashing. I know He liveth, and at the last days, He will
stand on the earth. That's Him."
Abraham said, "What did you say, Job?" He looks over his shoulder,
said, "Come here, Sarah, look here. Look Who's at the door, this
morning."
"Why," Sarah said, "that's the One that had His back turned to me, and
I laughed in the tent, and He knowed it. That's it. That's Him."
E-28 Here comes Daniel running
up, and looks over Sarah's shoulder; he said, "That's the Rock, that I
saw hewed out of the mountain without hands."
Just then, Ezekiel come running up; he said, "That's the Wheel in the
middle of the wheel, that I saw turning, way up in the middle of the
air."
There's the mighty Conqueror. Oh, my, as we hear them then, said, "Come
on, children, you were faithful over a few things. Come on; we're going
out this morning. You've been in here long enough. We're going higher."
Oh, God, let that be the desire of the church. Let's go higher. Pull up
our stakes out of Egypt.
E-29 Abraham said, "Father, can
we just make a whistle-stop, as we go through? I'd like to look the old
place over."
"Sure, I'm going to be talking with My disciples for forty days. Look
around awhile."
You know, the Scripture says that many of the saints rose, after His
resurrection, went into the city and appeared to many. Abraham and
Sarah walking through the city, "Wasn't that wonderful?" Said, "Sarah,
look at the old place." Oh, my, I feel real religious right now. I
really do. "Look it over. There's the city of David; there's all those
beautiful spots. There's the altars that I built. Blessed be the Name
of the Lord."
E-30 After forty days, He was
standing, giving His last commission, "Go into all the world and preach
the Gospel (not build churches, not make organizations, but preach the
Gospel; we did otherwise.). These signs shall follow them that believe;
in My Name they shall cast out devils..." and so forth, as He goes on.
As He was speaking, gravitation become conquered. There becomes light
under His feet, as hundreds of brethren, watching. And He begins to
move up, on up, ascending up, Him and the Old Testament saints, going
into glory. They went on beyond the stars, beyond the moon, beyond the
stars of stars. And they come in sight of the great City. Oh, what that
must have been, Jesus out in front, as that great Conqueror, marching
on.
And all of a sudden, the Old Testament saints come in the sight of the
big beautiful City, and they screamed with one great blast that shook
the heavens. "Lift up, ye everlasting gates, and be ye lifted up, and
let the King of glory come in."
E-31 You know, they said, when
Hitler conquered France, that he stood by the Arch of Triumph, while
German soldiers, by the endless miles marched through, and the planes
blacked the skies. They were all there to celebrate Hitler's great
coming into France. How they brought Stalin into Germany, but oh,
brother, when the church brought Jesus in that day: "Lift up ye
everlasting gates and be ye lifted up, and let the King of glory come
in."
And the Angel said, "Who is this King of glory?
And the Old Testament saints, cried back, "The Lord of host, mighty in
battle, the great Conqueror. He led captive captive and give gifts unto
men." The Bible said He did.
E-32 And you talk about a
welcome home? As the Angels over them great pearly gates, as they swung
open, and Jesus, right down through the streets of glory, with the Old
Testament saints behind him, singing, "All hail the power of Jesus
Name." And He come up in the front of the Father's throne, and said,
"Father, here they are. They were faithful over a few things."
He said, "Get up here, Son, and set on the right hand, until I make all
Thy foes, Thy footstool." There He stands, tonight.
Lo,
behold the mighty Conqueror.
Lo,
and behold Him in plain view.
For He
is the mighty Conqueror,
Since
He rent the veil in two.
E-33 There has never been
nothing conquer like our Lord Jesus Christ. What this world needs
tonight, is some reality. What this world needs tonight, is something
that means something. What the world's looking to see in you
Christians, is something that's genuine. They're so tired of seeing
church played. They're so tired of being fed up. "I'm Presbyterian. I'm
Methodist. I'm Catholic. I'm Pentecostal. I'm Nazarene." That isn't
what the world's a hungering for. They're hungering for the true Bread
of Life.
Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth, but if the earth has lost
it's savour--or the salt has lost it's savour, it's not good for
nothing but to be made roads out of."
Salt is the savour, if it contacts. You just be salty; the world will
get thirsty. God give us men and women who are real, men and women who
stand gallantly. You're weakest link in your chain, is the strongest
place. That tells the chain, no matter how strong other things are,
that weak in one point. There's where you want keep covered.
E-34 Here, sometime ago... As all of you know, that I'm a hunter. Not to kill the game, I just go to live where--out to see God, get out in the nature. Sometimes I get so sick and tired of smelling gasoline and cigarettes, till it make you vomit. I like to go way up into His cathedral up on top of the mountain somewhere, there be alone, not hear the hums of airplane motors and so forth, but to hear the everlasting whisper of God's voice through the winds as it comes through the pines. That's God to me. Oh, there's something real about it.
E-35 I used to hunt up in the
north woods, with a friend of mine, Burt Caul. I met him a few days
ago, and shook his hand, and had dinner with him, while I was in New
England, in those country up there, in the--a healing revival. And one
day...
I would go up there to hunt, each fall, and one day going up, I was
talking to Burt. And he was one of the best hunters I ever seen. I...
You never had to worry about him; you would know where he was at. You
didn't have to hunt him up; he knowed where he was at in the woods. He
was a good hunter, but the meanest man I ever knowed. He was just cruel
as he could be. He loved to shoot little fawns, just to make me feel
bad.
E-36 Now, that's all right to
shoot a fawn, you Texas boys, here, you hunters. If the law says you
can have a fawn, that's all right. No matter the age of the deer.
Abraham killed a calf, and God eat it. That's right. So there's no harm
in killing them. That's exactly right. But just to be a murderer,
that's different.
Did that stump you? He did do it. He eat the calf, drink the milk of
the cow, and eat some corn cakes. It's exactly right. Eat the butter,
that the milk was churned from, He certainly did. And God did it, and
vanished right before Abraham.
You say, "That was an Angel." Abraham said it was God, Elohim. That's
right. Was God. Oh, I'm so glad, that He holds it in His hand. How
great Thou art.
E-37 Someone said to me, "You
believe, Brother Branham, that was God?"
I said, "Sure, It was God." That... Our great Creator? He just... We're
all made out of sixteen elements. He just reached down and got some
petroleum, cosmic light, and--and atoms, and [Brother
Branham makes a blowing sound--Ed.] blowed a little body,
stepped into it, and put His Angels in there, and walked to Abraham.
Certainly. Eat the meat, and was hungry, and vanished out of his sight.
That same God knows where I'll be buried. He knows where you'll be.
E-38 Not long ago, I was combing
these two or three hairs, I got left. My wife setting back there, she
said, "Billy, you're just about baldheaded."
I said, "But I haven't lost a one of them."
She said, "Where are they at? Tell me."
I said, "Where was they, before I got them? They're there waiting for
me; someday I'll go to them." They was. Every hair of your head's
numbered, and not one of them can be lost. These hands that used to be
a little boy, these shoulders that's stooping under preaching the
Gospel, someday will spring back again to the picture made in His
image, stand in His likeness, washed in His Blood, redeemed by His
grace, I shall stand (Yes, indeed.), and no fear to death. There He
come.
E-39 And one day, I went to
Burt, and he'd made him a little old whistle. And he'd make that little
whistle go like a little baby fawn crying. I said, "Burt, you're not
going to use that?"
He said, "Oh, Billy, get next to yourself. You're just a
chicken-hearted preacher. That's the way with all of you." Said,
"You're a good hunter, but you're too chicken-hearted."
I said, "Burt, I'm a hunter, but not a killer. I don't like to see you
do that." I said, "Don't use that, Burt."
He said, "Aw, go on."
We started hunting that morning, about six inches of snow, good
tracking weather, as any hunter knows. And we hunted--I was a little
late in the season, 'fore I got there. I'd been in the meetings quite a
bit, and we'd hunted all morning and found nothing, because them
white-tail deer, up there, they really know how to hide. And they got
away, under the daytime, especially.
E-40 And it was along about noon, why, Burt set down at a little opening about the size--half the size of this tent, and he was setting there. I thought he was going to get his coffee jug out, or his--wasn't coffee we drink, it was hot chocolate. And I thought he was going to get his--his--his jug of chocolate, and we'd have some sandwiches, then we'd separate and hunt back, because we hadn't even seen one track all morning. The deers were scared. They stayed under brush piles in daytime and in the thickets, so you couldn't find them.
E-41 And I noticed him, as he
set down there, when he was getting into his pocket, and I was standing
up. And he pulled out this little whistle.
I thought, "Surely, Burt, you won't do that." And he looked up at me
with them lizard-looking eyes, and he said--laughed, and he started to
blow it. I said, "Don't do that, Burt."
But when he blew it, just across, about twenty yards from me, a great
big mother doe stood up. Now, a doe is the female deer. Why, she was so
close I could see her big brown eyes, and those veins in her face,
beautiful looking animal, her ears standing up. What was it? It was a
baby crying.
And I looked down to Burt, and he looked up at me again; I thought,
"Burt, you won't do that. Surely, you won't."
E-42 And he blew it real easy
again. And usually, that's very unusual for a deer to stand up like
that at that time of day. And she walked right out in the opening. Oh,
they never do that. And she walked out so you--she could be seen.
And I heard that rifle, as he pulled back the--the lever, on that
.30-06, a hundred and eighty grain mushroom bullet in there. And he was
a dead shot. And as he leveled down that rifle, I thought, "Oh, God,
surely he won't do it. That loyal mother, she wasn't playing church;
there was something real in her. She's a mother. A baby was in trouble.
She wasn't just acting that way. She had something in her that was
real, genuine. She was a mother. She wasn't just acting that way.
There's something making her do that. It was because she was a mother."
E-43 And she walked a few feet
farther. I thought, "Oh, Burt, could you blow her heart out of her like
that?" I knew if that rifle fired, he'd blow that loyal heart plumb
through both sides of her. Why, he'd turn her flip flops, at that close
to her. I thought, "That precious mother, hunting for her baby."
And the deer looked around and saw the hunter. She quivered, but, no,
she didn't run away. She was a mother. She stood there. The baby was in
trouble. Oh, how real it was.
I turned my head; I just couldn't look at it no more. I thought, "God,
I can't see him do that, kill that poor precious mother, and her there
with that--with something in her that was driving her, a mother." And I
listened for the gun to fire. I turned my back. I thought, "God, don't
let him do it." I waited a minute; I didn't hear the gun. I looked
around, and the gun was going like this. He couldn't do it.
He looked around, the big tears running down his cheeks. He threw the
gun on the ground and grabbed me by the trouser leg; he said, "Billy,
I've had enough of it. Lead me to that Jesus that you're talking about.
Let me know that Christ that brings love."
E-44 What was it? He saw
something real. He saw something that wasn't put on. He saw something
that wasn't hypocritical. He saw something that was genuine. And there
on that snow bank, I led that cruel hunted--hearted hunter to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and become a sweet humble Christian. Why? All the
preaching didn't do it. It was, he saw something real.
Oh, church of the living God, the world's looking for something real
tonight. Would you love to have enough Christ in your heart, that you
could stand in the face of death? Even you sick people, that's sick,
could you just take Him at His Word, live or die, stand here on His
Word? You, that's had these differences, and all these little troubles,
and denominational barriers, wouldn't you love to have something to
display, that when you walk down the street, men and women say, "If
there ever was a godly woman or man, there it goes." Something real, a
life that tells.
E-45 Let's bow our heads, just a
moment while we think of this. What is it? Love conquered that hunter.
And God's love conquers. Would you love, tonight, in this building,
which I know you do... All in here, would love to have Christ so real
in their heart, just Christ would be just as real to you, as the love
was of that mother for her baby. Would you just raise your hands,
quietly, while we are waiting? No matter how long you've been a
Christian, I just want to ask you. God bless you. God bless you. That's
fine. Hundreds of hands, all around.
"Lord, make in me... Let me rise, Lord, as a woman or as a man, let me
rise a saint. Let me rise from my seat to be something real. And, God,
let me display Your love so in my heart, that cruel hearted sinners
might follow, and watch me for an example, and follow me to Calvary.
E-46 Is there some more, while
we're waiting, just a moment? Put your hands up. I know--that didn't
put their hands up awhile ago. God bless you, sister. God bless you,
young lady. God bless you, honey. That's good.
Way back in there. The Lord bless you. Way outside now, put up your
hands, say, "God..." Look friend, you say, "What difference does that
make, Brother Branham?"
Oh, friend, let's not be cold and stiff any longer. Let's realize where
we're standing. Let's raise up our hand, say, "God, be merciful to me,
a sinner, I..." God bless you, way over here in this aisle. I didn't
see you awhile ago. The Lord bless you, back over here. Be real honest.
E-47 You say, "Oh, Brother
Branham, I've spoke in tongues; I've shouted." That's good. I have
nothing against that; that's the works of God. But look, friend, if you
haven't got love to go with that, no one'll believe you, no one'll
believe you. That's wonderful. I believe in that, but you have love
even without that, they'll believe you quicker. That's right. You get
the real love of God, these things will take place for themselves, but
first get God. Get God, get the real thing. Get the tree, it'll bear
it's own fruit.
Will just someone else now will raise your hand, that didn't awhile
ago, say, "God, be merciful to me." Don't you think He's standing there
looking at you? God bless you, young lady; that's good. Little lady
here, maybe... God bless you, the lady setting here. It may be the last
opportunity you ever have. Bless that little girl back there, a little
boy it is, bless his little heart.
Say, "What does that child know about it?"
Jesus said, "Suffer little children to come to Me, forbid them not, for
such is the Kingdom."
E-48 God bless you, sister, with
your hands up there. God bless you, young man. That's fine. I pray that
God will make a little preacher out of you, honey, another little boy.
Real quietly, now. Think of it. What if this is your last night? You
won't have any chance after this. When you leave this life, it's all
over. You might have wasted many years along, but what about it now?
Let's start tonight. God bless you, lady. Just waiting a little bit
might meant so much to you. You've past from death till Life. You raise
your hand to God, and mean it, and see if God doesn't create something
in here, in you. Certainly, He will. God bless you, sister, young lady
there, just a teen-ager. Right in this ridiculous rock-and-roll,
boogey-woogey age, see a young girl raise her hands to serve Christ,
God bless you, young lady. You couldn't do that by yourself. Christ is
here. "No man can come to Me, except My Father draws Him first. And all
that comes to Me, I'll give them Eternal Life, raise them up at the
last day."
Another hand? God bless that young woman, her little friend setting
there by her.
E-49 You say, "Does that mean
anything?" It depends on what you meant, when you raised your hand. I
know we have little creeds, and little things that we do this, that, or
the other, but Jesus said this: "He (personal pronoun)--He that heareth
My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath (present tense)
Eternal Life (That's Zoe, God's own Life.), and shall never come to the
judgment, but hath (past tense) passed from death unto Life." That's
what He said.
Whether you want to run to the altar, whether you want to kneel at your
seat, whether you want to raise your hand, where you want to make your
surrender, it matters not. It's the condition you meant when you went
to the altar, knelt at your seat, or raised your hand. It's all what
you meant, what you thought about God.
E-50 Would there be just a few
more, before we pray? All that's in need for God, for anything, raise
your hand, just now. "God, be merciful to me; I have a need of You."
God bless you. God be merciful. Think of it now; this may be your last
hour.
God willing, tomorrow night, or next night, I want to preach on the
handwriting on the wall, the sputnik in the sky, drawing God close to
the end of the age.
Was
shed for me,
And
that Thou bidst me come to Thee,
What if this is the last hour to separate you between mercy and
judgment?
I
come...
Would you just raise up your hand? "God, be merciful to me." God bless
you, back there, young fellow, weeping with your hand down. No doubt a
many an old mother's prayers went up for you, son. God heard you. He
saw you. He's standing there by you. He's the One told you to raise
your hand.
E-51 Someone else, just before
we offer prayer? Sincere... God bless you, young man. I've notice,
right along a row, a young lady raised her hand. Now, three young
people, setting in a row, there's one more left in that row, that
hasn't raised their hand to accept Christ, just now. "Make in me, oh,
God, something real."
Maybe you do belong to church, oh friend, that--that just--it's nice to
belong to church, but oh, my, if you're not borned again, you're lost.
See? Think of it. Jesus conquered; He will give you something in your
hand to fight the battle with. Once more now, before we pray. Be sure
you've made the right decision. If you've raised your hand, you know
you have. If you haven't... God bless the little lady here. Bless you,
honey. All right.
Way back in the back, yes, a little teen-age girl. God be wonderful to
you, sister dear. Let's bow our heads real reverently now. Every one in
prayer.
I'm going to ask Brother Cerullo, if he will come here and lead this
prayer for me. I'm getting hoarse. With your heads bowed, every one.
Pray now, and God be with you.