The resurrection of Lazarus

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Thank you, Brother Baxter. Thank you, Brother Baxter.
Good evening, friends, or good afternoon. Very happy to be in this afternoon to speak to you of the love in my heart for this great Lord that we serve, Jesus Christ. And I'm hearing that glorious old song "Only Believe," and of Paul Rader, the writer of that song. And I was a little boy setting at his feet when he was writing that song. Guess, little did he know then that would be my theme song around the world.
But when I was at Fort Wayne and was in the room there where Paul studying the first night there, and I heard that coming in over that public address outfit, "Only Believe, All Things Are Possible." I thought of that great gallant hero. How many ever heard of Paul Rader? Oh, practically all of you. Oh, what a heroic death he had. He never died; he just went to be with the Lord. He...

2 Christians do not die. There's no Scripture in the Bible that says Christians--Christians die. A man that... A person that lives in pleasure is dead while they're living. Death means "separation, separation from God." And sinners are not se... Sinners are separated from God, but Christians never separate from God. They just leave the body here to be with the Lord.
And Paul... I like it so well when he went away. He was a great character to cut up. Do you remember how he used to carry on, any of you know him? He was always cutting up. There was... He'd always pulling some kind of a little joke to someone. And he said when he was... They had the little Moody Bible Institute, they had a choir there singing. And they had the shades pulled down in the room, and they were singing "Nearer My God To Thee."
And Paul looked around and he said, "Say, who's dying? Me or you?" He said. Said, "Raise them curtains there, those shades, and sing some real good fiery Gospel songs." And so they begin to sing "Down at the Cross." And he said, "That sounds better."

3 And then he called his brother, Luke, who had been with him so long, called him up to his bed side, took his hand. He said, "Luke, we've been a long ways together." But said, "Just think of it: In five minutes from now I will be standing in the presence of Jesus Christ, clothed in His righteousness." Bowed his head and went to meet Him. "Clothed in His righteousness I'll be standing in His presence." I want to go like that, don't you?
Lives of great men all remind us
And we can make our lives sublime,
... partings, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;
Isn't that right? I love that "Psalm of Life."
And that perhaps another,
Sailing over life's solemn main,
For forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing shall take heart again.

4 Used to be, a little poems used to encourage me so. Columbus was one also that used to ... that "Sail on, sail on, sail on and on." I like something that's got some courage. I just despise a coward. Don't you? Someone who's afraid... Stand up there. If you got the right stuff behind you; stand for what you think is right. Be not only willing to live for it, die for it, or anything. If it's right, it's right. Other men has died for what's right.
And so, that's the way with the Gospel. If I didn't think it was right, and I didn't believe He was the Son of God, I'd be against Him. I'd be out here saying everything I could against Him, because I wouldn't think it was right. But I know He's right. And so therefore I'm... I believe it with all my heart.
And if just part of this is right, and the rest of it's not right, then it's none of it right. It's either all right or all wrong. And every word is true. You can hang your soul on any phase of the Gospel and believe it; for it's every bit truth. And just don't be afraid. If you're afraid don't do it, but if you know where you're standing, all right. That's different.

5 I was just... Met some brothers there a few moments ago and they said, "We'd like to take you hunting sometime, Brother Branham." I'd sure like to go, too. I love hunting.
That's where I found God, when a little boy. I seen Him in His nature. You can see God in His nature. Look in the trees; look in the birds; look in all--at whatever you want to. Look at a flower. No man with a right--with his right mind could look in--right in the face of one of those great calla lilies and say there is no God. I believe there's something wrong with a man's mind if he would--if he could look right at that flower, see how it dies and then lives again.

6 Now, you people around here are painting your yards all over with beautiful flowers. I love that. Gets pretty cold up here, I imagine. Then after awhile, in a few months from now, frost will strike that little flower, and it'll bow its little head. It'll die. And the petals will drop off the flower, and the leaves will drop off and--of the stalk. And out of that flower will drop a little black seed. And then they have a funeral procession. God brings a funeral procession along, and He sends a big cloud across in the fall of the year. And it just cries, and the rain falls down and buries that little seed down under the ground, way down.
And then the frozen winter comes along and freezes, maybe it'd freeze six or eight inches. And the little old seed swells up, freezes, and bursts open. The pulp runs out of it. Then comes on through the wearisome winter months.

7 Well, you go look for your flower. There's the bulb all dried up and gone; the stalk's gone; the flower's gone; the petals' gone; the seed's gone. It bursted; pulp run out of it. Everything's gone. Is that the end of the flower? Oh, no. See? Just let that warm sun began to bathe that ground a little bit. There's a germ of life hid in there somewhere that no man can find. That flower will live again.
And if God made a way for a flower to live again, what about you and I that's made in His image? How much more will we live again?

8 Recently I was talking to a man that said to me... We were setting at the "Agricultural Hour," in a little cafeteria listening to a broadcast. And they said they had perfected corn. Scientists had so great, that they could run it through a machine, and you couldn't tell one grain from the other. You could get in a sack here, and take a handful of corn out that had been made by the manufactures, and take a handful of corn out on this side that had been growed in the field, look at them; there's no difference. Mix them up and you couldn't separate them. Take them down to the laboratory, cut them open, and each one has the same amount of calcium and moisture and so forth in it. But said, "The only way you could tell the difference was bury the grains of corn." And said, "The one that man made never was no more, but the one that God raised lived again.
And I said to that old Methodist ministry, "You better hold my hand because I might embarrass you in here." Because here maybe two men, one... They may look alike, and both... May both be men... Maybe could give one another a blood transfusion. But in one lays a germ of life by accepting Jesus Christ, and the other one is dead in sin and trespasses.
God has a provided way if we will just get in that way and travel His way, we're bound to make the shore. Don't you think so?

9 Now, this afternoon I'm just a teeny bit late. I think I usually start around quarter after.
And Brother Baxter... I heard a remark that my wife told me that he made, saying that I was a preacher. Now, let me tell you first. That's an error. Be--for I'm not.
I'm what you call a spare tire. You know what a spare tire's used for? When you got a flat, then you put the spare on and roll in. Now, I don't mean we got a flat. Brother Baxter, I didn't mean that. Ha-ha-ha. I didn't--I didn't... My, I have to apologize for that. He will get me for that. But I meant it to get out my point that's what I'm talking about. I guess he's listening to me there. All right. I didn't mean we had a flat; because we haven't. But a spare tire is when you have a flat and you can roll in. But it's just in spare time.

10 And usually on a Sunday afternoon Brother Baxter brings me down to either tell my life story or to speak a little bit about our Lord. And it gives me a release.
Now, when you're preaching... Why, I could preach all day and night, and it wouldn't hurt me. That doesn't bother me a bit. But then when I had one case of healing or one vision before me, it takes more out of me than eight hours of preaching. See? It just tears the life out of you, see. When you're preaching, you're building up. And when this comes, it's taking down, see. There's a difference.

11 There's no need of me trying to explain these things friends. No matter how much I would try to explain them; I could never explain them to you. So you just try to understand (See?), and just believe me, that it's something that just takes the life right out of you.
One time I wondered how that Jesus could lay on that boat out there in them--in all them waves. And how could He not know that storm was going on. But I remember: He was so tired from virtue going from Him all day, and healing the people, and seeing visions, and it just... He was just so tired, He couldn't get up. So that was it. And they had to come wake Him.

12 By the way, a minister this morning said, "Brother Branham, I want to correct you on something." That's all right. I'm glad to receive that. When... Anyone who can help me and--or tell me something. He said, "I hear you say at nighttime to the people, you're conscious of those people, some of them thinking it's mind reading, when you're talking." But said, "What knocks that in the head, when you go back and tell them things they've not even thought about for years." Said, "They know then it's... And which he said; it is mind reading, Brother Branham."
And I said, "Well, I..."
He said, "Do you know what those people are thinking?"
I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "Let me give you the Scripture. 'Jesus perceived their thoughts.'"
He knew it was a... See what I mean?

13 He knew their thoughts. He does yet. Is that right? Well, you know what I'm talking about, don't you? Jesus perceived their thoughts. He knew what... They said... He said, "Why reason ye in your hearts, 'Who is the greatest among you or so forth?'"
And then when they said, "This man blasphemeth."...
He said... He perceived their thoughts, and He knowed what they was thinking about. And He said, "Is it just as easy to say, 'Thy sins be forgiven thee,' or, 'Take up thy bed and walk.'" See? Which is it? See? He... So it's just Him. It's not man. It's Christ. So have faith in Him and believe Him.

14 I remember this little... I don't believe in telling jokes from the platform, because it's not a place to joke. And I wouldn't want you to think this was a joke, because I don't believe in it from the platform.
This is... Just a little something, you know, about... When I was first ordained a Baptist preacher, my, I was so happy to get that Bible. And I just carried It everywhere I went. Because, beforehand, I thought nothing but a sissy would pack a Bible.
And so... I used to box all the time till I got my ears beat down one time. I got up to win the Bantamweight Championship of the Three Falls Cities and then in a match. And then I thought no one could whip me, and a little boy from... Billy Frick from Huntington, West Virginia, like to killed me one night. So that taken it all out of me. But I'd had fifteen professional fights and won them all. So then, he sure fixed me on the other one though. Ha.

15 So then I used to always say when I was... Them days I thought, "Well, a preacher, he was just a sissy. And I just thought maybe someday I'd have to preach." And I just thought that would be the biggest sissy that could be. And then after I got saved, oh, my, I wanted to carry that Bible. And anybody, I just liked to tell them I was a minister, was a preacher.
And so the Missionary Baptist Church gave me a local exhorter license, giving me the right to marry, bury, baptize, or so forth in the state of Indiana. And then I thought, "Oh, my. How wonderful."
Somebody say, "You a preacher?"
I'd say, "Yes, sir. Yes, sir." I was happy to say a preacher.

16 And just remind me of... My father was a rider. And he was a very good shot. He used to follow shows. And he'd take guns, and he was one of the best shots I believe I ever seen. He'd take those great big marbles, and roll one of them out like that, and when it stopped rolling, he'd have two guns. And he'd take one gun and shoot and knock the marble up in the air and burst it with the other gun before it hit the ground.
I couldn't hit a lard can setting out four feet in front of me. So I was a long ways from being like dad. But he liked to ride. And he would just break horses.
That's where mother met him in the... When they was in Oklahoma, he was breaking horses. And he was a very good rider. So when I... Say, "When I get to be a man, I'm going to be like my daddy. I'm going to be a real bronco buster."

17 And I remember I used to... When I'd get the old plow horse out you know, of the day, and when we'd plow all day. And the poor old thing would be so tired. It was old anyhow. And the old watering trough was hollowed out of a piece of log.
How many every seen an old log watering trough? They was a bunch of southerners in here today. How many has slept on a straw tick? Say, I'm not the only country boy here, am I? No, my. That's as American as hickory smoked ham and sorghum molasses, isn't it?
Now, we'd get down there on the back by the barn. And I'd water the old horse. And my little brothers, I'd line them all up, and I was the oldest of them. And I'd get on this old horse. And I'd get dad's saddle, and get me a handful of cockleburs and put in under the saddle, you know, and pull it down, jump up on him.
Poor old thing so old and tired. He'd just bawl, you know. He'd hold his head down and bawl. And he was trying to buck. And he was to--he was too stiff. He couldn't, and tired. And he couldn't get his feet off the ground, you know. And I'd take this straw hat off and just swing from side to side. I thought I was a real cowboy back there and just swaying around on this old horse like that, and...

18 One day I decided I'd go out west. And I run off from home and went out to Arizona. I landed out there just in time of a rodeo. So I thought, "Now's the time I'll be a real cowboy. It's just in me from my dad." I said, "I know I'll be..." You know how kids are. I was about eighteen years old. I said, "I better go down and get me a pair of chaps." And I went down and seen a pretty pair of them. I thought... I tried them on. And when I got them on, they was about eighteen inches of leather laying out on the floor. I said, "They're a little longer legged out here, than they are in Indiana."
So I got me a pair of Levis. And I went out, and they let me come in the chutes. And they... The caller went forth, and they brought a horse out there. I seen those outlaws that they call them, the broncos. And so wild off them deserts, till they wouldn't even eat hay if it was laying before them.
And they run them up into the chute, the bull pen, start them through. And you'd have to catch-as-catch-can when they come out. I seen them come out. When I looked at one of them I realized that wasn't the old plow horse by a long ways.

19 I was going to ride and make some money though, you know. And so I got out there and stood on the corral fence with all these disfigured cowboys, bowlegged, my, weather-beaten fellows. And I was just a lad, you know, setting up there looking around at all these fellows. Looked, thought, "I wonder if I looked just as well as they did."
So this... The caller went forth, and he said... This horse was going to be rode. A certain fellow was going to ride him. And he stood up here. And they wasn't fix a saddle on him. Just catch him as he come through this chute. And just as this horse passed through, he dropped into the saddle. My, he could've put all four feet in a wash pan, and throwed the moon over [unclear words].
I looked at that horse, and he made about two jerks sideways, and just made a sunfish. And when he did that man went up, head over limb like that, hit the ground, and the blood running out of his ears and eyes. The pickups got the horse and the ambulance got the man.

20 Here come the caller by, going down through there. He said, "I will give any man fifty dollars who will ride him sixty seconds."
They caught him. Everybody set still. He come right straight to me. He said, "Are you a rider?"
I said, "No, sir." I said, "No, sir."
That's the same way it was when I was converted and got the Bible under... I was just a local Baptist preacher. I said, "Say, I'm a preacher."
And one day I was over in St. Louis in a tent meeting, and they was a holiness preacher there, Reverend Daugherty. And he was a Pentecostal preacher. And I went up to listen to that fellow preach. And his little girl had just, had been called to there. And that's...
You've heard her story. She was the first one healed like that with Saint Vitus' dance. That preacher was in a meeting there, and he started preaching, took a text. He preached till his face look like it was on fire. He just got so weak; he'd sunk in his knees like that, went plumb to the floor still preaching, come back up, catch his breath. You could hear him four or five squares down the street still preaching.
Somebody walked around and said, "You a preacher?"
I said, "No, sir." Ha-ha-ha. "No, sir." My old slow Baptist ways don't think of it that fast. That's all. So I just couldn't do it.

21 But I like to get out here on Sunday afternoon like this, where you're not under that anointing, just come out to speak the Word and not under... See, you'd be surprised at night how much your nerves are on a tension. Just like that. Demon powers moving in here things... You've been in the meetings before and see what happened. Here come a critic, run up or say something like that, you've got to be just at the point, see. One word wrong, is all it takes.
Hear someone walk upon the platform, like that man here a few weeks ago walked up there, and he said... I was just about gone. I took a hold of his hand. I was trying to keep from seeing a vision, just take a hold of his hand to pray. He laid his hand on mine like that. And I said, "Well, sir, there's nothing organically wrong with you." I said...
He said, "Oh, yes there is."
And I said, "No, sir. Let's see again." I took his hand. If it's a germ disease, it picks up. I said, "No, sir. There's not..."
Said, "Look on my prayer card." Said...
I said, "I don't have nothing to do with what you put on your prayer card, sir." I said, "Only thing I'm responsible for is here."
He said... And the brother got the prayer card and read it. He said he had TB, and I forget what all things it was.
And I said, "No, sir. You haven't got it." I said, "Now, you might've had a faith out there in the audience and was healed before you got here."
Then he turned before that eighty five hundred people; he said, "There you are. There's the make-up. My great faith out there."

22 And I turned around. Just then I seen something white move before me. There it was. I said, "You child of the devil, why would you come here on the platform to try to deceive God? You're exposed. Last night you set with a man with a gray suit on and a red tie at a table. And you belong to a cert..." Well, I won't say the church, but anyhow... "You belong to a certain church. And you two got together last night and said you'd come over here. And it was mental telepathy. That the man would pick up the prayer card and the patient would put on the prayer card."
I said, "You think the patient would put on their card their adulteries and things their living in and so forth like that? And you thought it was mental telepathy. Them would take the prayer card, and then transfer it to me by mental telepathy." I said, "That's [unclear words]."

23 And a man screamed up the audience. Said, "That's right, Brother Branham. I was the one setting right with him." And here he come running down to the platform, this man.
I said, "Them things will come upon you."
And there he fell on the platform, grabbed me by the trouser leg, and said, "God, have mercy on my sinful soul." See? Be careful what you're doing, see.
That's right. I don't care what theological teaching he has. This is God today working among His people. And what if it would been there, that it wouldn't been under the anointing. See there? Had to be careful.
But God told me He'd stand with me. That's His obligation. It's my obligation to stand here and tell the truth. It's His obligation to stand with me. That's true.

24 So it's been through the fiery test, friends. Don't believe but what it has... But thank God we're still on the victorious side today, because we're in Christ. And the half as never yet been told. It's in its infancy yet. Watch it when it comes out in its great seal yonder. It'll be a time when this old world's going to receive a shaking likes it's never had before in all the days. The great things lays ahead. Just... We can't make them come to pass, just wait as God shows them.
But when we come out like this on an afternoon, so you can just kind of let your collar down like, you know, and feel free to talk, and makes me feel good. And I hope you feel the same way.

25 I want to read some Scripture and maybe just past a few comments. And if I get too long, somebody raise up and tell me to quit, will you? Because I just love to talk so well, why, I might talk too long. And I'll try not to hold you but just a little while.
Now, there's many times in reading several little texts along. And on the afternoon like this, I don't study of nothing what I'm going to say, because I never did do that. I always just let the Holy Spirit; whatever He wants me to say, I say it.
Maybe I read a Scripture, never even touch it. Maybe He's got something else for me to do. That I don't know. But this afternoon for a familiar text to read that I have read, I want... I was thinking about, maybe the Lord would want me to preach on, "Come and See a Man." But I've been referring to that so many times this week. I thought I would read the--over in 11th chapter of Saint John, "The Resurrection of Lazarus."
How many believes that Lazarus was truly resurrected? Let's see your hands. Wonderful. How many Christians is in here this afternoon, believers on Christ? Let's see your hands. All over the building. Well, my. It's a hundred percent. All right. That's wonderful.

26 All right. I believe I'll just approach it from another way then; instead of preaching to sinners, I believe I'll just preach to the Christians then. And may the Lord... We'll take it on divine healing. Maybe the Lord will speak to us something to encourage you on divine healing then. Maybe He will do it.
Let's turn to Rev--to Saint John the 11th chapter. And let's read a few verses of Scripture here, beginning about the 18th verse of the 9th--of the 11th chapter of Saint John. And now, you remember to, if you want to mark the Scriptures to read at this day, that we were here and we studied on these Scriptures together: now, 11:18:
Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:
And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
Then said Martha unto Jesus (Now, listen close.) Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou will ask ... God, God will give it thee.
Jesus said unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

27 Now, can we bow our heads when we... Our heavenly Father, we have read Your Word today of a great event that taken place many, many years ago. But it's new to us today. Every time we read it, it gives something in our hearts.
And we thank Thee for Thy Word that's been preserved down through the age, and for the men who's died, and their blood has stained the earth that our Bible could be given to us today. We bow our head in gratefulness and humility to thank You for their lives. And God rest their gallant souls until the day that they take on body form again and to be immortal beings.
And now, Lord, we believe that the same Jesus that raised this dead man from the grave, is here this afternoon. And we believe that He's able to raise us, and which He is raising the dead, physically dead, proving it with infallible proofs of statements from the doctors and so forth, who studies the anatomy of man and pronounces them dead; and then they come back to life by the power of the resurrected Christ.

28 And now, there are those sitting here who are feeble this afternoon, that's in need of physical healing. And we have chosen these few words to read from Thine. And may the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity, come in now, the promise, the Comforter, that You said You would send. And He would take the things of God and would show them to us. And as Your humble servant here speaks, sanctify the lips that speak. Circumcise them, Lord, taking away all words that would not be suitable. And the hearts and ears out there that's to receive it, may the Holy Spirit take the Word right straight to the heart. And may It fall on good ground, fertile, bringing forth a hundredfold. And may this afternoon, Lord, while we're yet speaking, may the Holy Ghost come into this building as a rushing mighty wind, like it did on the day of Pentecost. May the street be crowded out here with people.
God, grant it, Father. May the feeble be made well, the lame, walking, the blind, seeing, the deaf, hear, the dumb, speak, those that are bound with sickness be set free. May there be such a joy in the camp till every heart will be so thrilled till they just don't know where they're at or what they're doing.

29 God, take us away from this sense bound existence; carry us out there in those realms where all things are possible. Grant it today, Lord. Repeat us another day of Pentecost.
Now, upon the pressure of, and the sincerity that we're praying with now, Lord, I ask You in--to answer this prayer by sending the Holy Spirit, directing Thy servant's mind, and my thoughts and speech, and fixing the hearts out there to receive it.
Lord, we don't know what to say, but Thou knowest what this audience has need of. And, God, grant that faith will be built so today, that tonight will be one of the greatest climaxes that's ever come into the meetings. May there be such an outpouring tonight, till it'll never be forgotten among the children of men. Hear the prayers of Your servant, not because that we're here, Lord, but because You are here, and the time is drawing nigh that You shall come to receive Your church.
Bless us. And if there be an unsaved one, anywhere around, grant that they'll see Jesus today and be saved. For we ask it in His name. Amen.

30 Now, just for a few moments to speak on this subject of the resurrection of Lazarus and as a text to believe this.
Now, God is so wonderful. Standing at the big observatory not long ago, where you could take and look through that glass and see a hundred and twenty million years of light space, then you could see the vastness of His universe. And you could think of... We look at this sun and think this is the only sun. There's suns, and suns, and orbits, and suns, and planets, and suns beyond this till they rank in the millions, and God over all this universe sitting there governing it. Could you imagine Who God is? Could you draw any idea Who God is and what He is?
Now, I desire the prayer of you all. Because you know why I feel standing here today, and I'm conscious of these ministers setting here. There's man setting here who's graduated and got the degrees, and ministers who are preachers and know how to form a sermon and set it together and let the Holy Ghost get in there. And me stand up here with my "hit," and "hain't," and "tain't," and "carry," and "fetch," and all my poor grammar. And I feel very conscious of that. But I want to get away from that. That my brethren I know are for me and they love me. And we want the Holy Ghost to come to us today. And that's why we're here, all of us. And we want to shake away from that sense bound feeling.

31 Now, God in His great universe... Could you just imagine just... Let me give you a small picture of what I think God is, what the trinity of God is.
There is different arguments in the world concerning the trinity of the Godhead. If they would just ... they... All of them believe the same thing, but the devil's just got between them and got them all broke up. That's all.
God is just like the air. He fills all the universe. [Gap in the audio.] ... His Son. Son has to be borned of. So the Logos, which was the Son of God that went out of God, that brood over the earth...
Now, let's just picture that as being a white halo coming out of that space. That was the Son of God, the Logos. And there It was in space moving around, like a little child playing before the door of its parent. And He drawed in His mind what should be.

32 And I can hear Him look around and say, there was nothing nowhere no--just vastness of space. The Father covered all the space. And then this God become bodilized down to the Logos. I can hear Him say, "Let there be light." And an atom bursted yonder and the sun come into existence, Deity.
She begin to whirl. Millions of years rolled by. And after while a piece flew off it. [Brother Branham illustrates.] ... star. And He stood out there and watched it. And it went all down; He stopped it over here after it fell a few million years. [Brother Branham illustrates.] ... off went another one. He let it fall near a certain place, and He stopped it. What's He doing? He's got in His mind now that someday there will be an earth. There'll be mankind on earth.

33 God is from above. He's writing the zodiac in the sky. Zodiac starts with the Virgin, the first coming of Christ, ends up with the Leo, the Lion, the second coming. And He's writing His first Bible. There's three of them.
One of them was written in the skies, one in the pyramids, one on this. Everything in God is in a trinity, like a man's in a trinity. All right.
Then after He got all that written, the stars and the planets off that sun. Then I can see a big ball of ice laying yonder somewhere, this earth. And He brood over the earth, moved it over around the sun, dried it off. And He begin His creation on the earth.

34 And then after He got all His creation made, He said, "Let Us," plural, "make man in Our," plural, "own image." Now, if God is unseen, if the Logos was in the form, just mythically speaking, drama, in the form of a Halo, then It's supernatural. Then He had to make a man in His own image. John 4 says that God is a Spirit. And He had to make a spirit man. And He brought it down now; there's deity cannot be seen. Deity is the supernatural. Then He brings It down from a sacred Halo to a little white cloud, something that's more visible; that's man. He give him the rulership over the kingdom.
And he governed the beasts like the Holy Spirit leads the church today. But there was no man to till the soil. Then He put man in the image of man on earth, created him out of the dust of the earth.

35 And there's where science gets mixed up. They say, "No." He might give him a hand like a monkey. He might give him a face like a chimpanzee. He might give him a foot like a bear. But God put a soul in a man.
This white cloud, Deity, came down, not in the animal, in the man. And now, if they want to go back and dig up some old bones, let them dig up as many as they want to; all the fossils, that doesn't have a thing to do on the bearing of the Word of God. There He is.
Then here's this man. And now the man sinned. And when he sinned and fell, then that little cloud in there became marred and black. Then the Logos came down and was made flesh and dwelt among us to redeem this man back to the love of the Father. And He came in by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and chased sin out of the human and brings man back again again in fellowship with God. You believe that? Back...

36 Now, notice. Then, that's where you are. That's what's the matter with you Pentecostal people. Now, I'm... It's my lot this afternoon to preach. And I have a right here at the platform. And I don't never want to know any person from the flesh when I'm standing here.
That's what's the matter with the Pentecostal people. They don't recognize who they are. You're sons and daughters of God. You have in your hand... Look. Then Jesus, it was one time quoted in the Scripture, "Ye are gods."

37 Look. Deity... I'm a part of Charles Branham, because I was born from Charlie Branham, my daddy. I'm a part of him. I've got a forehead like him. My hair was like him. I'm a small man like him. I'm in the nature like him, because he's my dad.
And if we become in spirit sons of God, Deity dwells in the man. Hallelujah! Then you talk about blind eyes being open.
They said nothing impossible to God. God said nothing impossible with you, if you'll believe, not with God, but you. Deity's in man.
The very God that stood back there on the mythical platform of the eternities, and rolled worlds off of His hands, and created these things give you the privilege to be His son, and you're a part of Him. And God dwells in mankind, and man himself is Deity. Hallelujah! There you are. It might choke you, but study over that a little while. See?
He is... God dwells in man. And man becomes a son of God, not him in himself, but the Holy Spirit that's in him is God. The Creator lives in the creation. Oh, my. How I think of that. Then stand with an unwavering faith and ask what you will; it'll be done unto you. There He is. God. There He is.

38 Now, before this Redeemer could come in the days of our text, when Jesus had become very popular. Although He was born with an awful scorn, He came in by the way of a stable door and went out the way of capital punishment (Did you know that?), considered a fanatic, laughed at, spit upon, made fun of, and the very God of Glory. He came in by a stable door.
Why was Jesus born in a stable or a manger? Did you ever think of that? He had to be. He was a Lamb. Lambs are not born in houses. Lambs are born in the barns and fields.
Abel led his lamb away by a grapevine. Sacrificed him on the altar, and Abel died on the same altar his sacrificed lamb died. And every believer, that comes to Christ, must die on the same altar with his dying Lamb, Christ, and die in Christ to be a new creature: die out to the things of the world and become borned again, a new creature in Christ Jesus. Die on the same altar of self sacrifice. All right.

39 Notice. But before God does anything on this earth, He always sends a message, warning, getting things ready.
Oh, I just, I feel kindly religious right now. Look. All right.
I believe that there's a move going on now. God's warning as it was in the days of Noah, getting the people ready. Something's about to happen. The atomic powers and things are about ready to burst in upon us. Millions will die in a split second. But oh, my, God getting His church ready for the rapture, the coming of the Son of God.
Notice. Then before God sends something to the earth, He always sends His message. God sends His Angels to vindicate or to verify certain things.

40 Now, there's minor Angels and there's major Angels. Now, just before the coming of Jesus, God sent Gabriel, the great Archangel.
Look. For four thousand years they had been looking for the Messiah. Now, the old prophetic wheels were coming together. Just about time. The people had got off in their ecclesiastics and so forth. Some of them know no more about God than an Hottentot would know about Egyptian night, yet they can tell you all about the Scriptures.
You try to fight the devil one time just by knowing the Scriptures. He knows it better than any of you. "It's he that doeth the will of My Father."

41 Notice. Then they had it all figured out just how it was to be. But God has never had Himself, left Himself without a testimony. Now, before the coming of Jesus... Let's take God sent Gabriel down from glory.
Now, you can hear of minor Angels coming. But when Gabriel comes, something major's on the road. When Gabriel comes... He's the Archangel. And there's something great fixing to happen.
Listen. Gabriel announced the first coming of Christ, and Gabriel will announce the second coming of Christ. There you are. For He will sound the trumpet of God. All right.
The first coming... Let's take--go back a little bit in some drama. I can see an old priest by the name of Zacharias, wonderful old character. Him and his wife Elisabeth, good people, served the Lord with all their heart. And he--mission at the temple was to burn incense over the altar while the people were praying. And they were keeping all the laws and the statutes of God, walking before God, blameless.

42 And I can see Zacharias at the temple that day making a sacr... people was praying, and he was burning the incense. And then, look. Coming down from glory comes the great Archangel, stands by his side and said, "Zacharias, fear not. For when you... After the days of your ministration here, you're going home to be with your wife. And you're going to bring a child, and his named will be called John." What a salute to that man.
He said, "How can these things be?" I want you to notice. A man of the Scripture, a man who knew all the Bible, a priest, an elect failed to believe God's Angel. All right. Watch.
Then... When God determines anything, His foreordained will has to come to pass.

43 Then I can see Gabriel say, "Because you have not believed my word... I'm Gabriel that stands in the Presence of God. They'll be fulfilled in their season. It's already spoke. But you'll be dumb till the day the baby's born."
Now, Zacharias had many examples. There was Sarah, past the age of bearing, ninety years old, forty years past the menopause. But because she believed God, she had a son, who the world's been blessed by.
There was Hagar... Hannah, I mean. Hannah, past the age of bearing, went to the temple one day up to Shiloh, staggered in there, fell down at the altar, and threw up her hands, and screamed until the people thought she was drunk. She wasn't drunk. She was just misunderstood.
A lot of people said the other night; they was going down and said, "That must be a bunch of holy-rollers up there, all of them screaming and carrying on." You're not crazy. You're just misunderstood. That's all.

44 Hannah was in deep sincerity. And a priest even staggered out and ask her if she be drunk.
She said, "I'm not drunk, but I'm praying, 'God, take away my reproach.'"
She wasn't looking to see what kind of hats the women were wearing, what kind of clothes they were dressed in. She went there to worship God and to ask Him for something.
And if you've come this afternoon, no matter whether you're in crutches, wheelchairs, whatever you are, if you come to ask God something, ask and you shall receive.
And she was misunderstood. But when she raised up and the priest saw that she was sincere, he said, "The Lord, God bless thee." And she thanked God, went home believing. God could've put the baby in her arms right then, but in nine months little Samuel was born. She took him to the temple.

45 Now, Zacharias had all those things as examples, but he failed to believe the Angel. And God told him... Or the Angel told him he'd be dumb. Then he went home. And his wife conceived.
About six months after that, a little virgin was packing water one day. About eighteen years old, she was engaged to a widower, about forty-five, Joseph, who had four children. And she... Let's say it was Monday, that's about the worst day for women, because they wash. I have to still pack wash water on Monday when I'm home.
So there... Oh, let's say it Monday. And I see her coming from the well. And Nazareth, the meanest city there was on the earth, worst than Erie... Yeah.
And there she was packing water, but she was a virgin. She lived right. I don't care how mean your city is; you can be a Christian anywhere. Amen. She believed God.

46 The oriental type was to pack water on their head. I can imagine seeing the little virgin come along packing water upon her head. And all at once a big light flashed before her. There, standing in the light, stood that mighty Angel, Gabriel. Said, "Hail, Mary. Blessed art thou among women." What a salutation. She wondered at His way she--that Angel approached her. It frightened the little virgin. It would frighten you.
It did frighten me. And I noticed that she didn't understand. He told her about her cousin, Elisabeth, going to have a child, being old and past age. Mary and Elisabeth were first cousins. John and Jesus were second cousins. And told her that she was going to have a baby not knowing any man.
Now, look at the difference between a priest, who had plenty of examples by the Word, failed to believe the Angel's message. But the little girl... Never had a baby been born like that. But she said, "Behold, the handsmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to Thy Word." Hallelujah. Don't get scared. I know where I am.
Look. Hallelujah means, 'Praise our God.' And He's worthy of all the praise. All right.

47 She believed Him. She didn't question. She believed Him. Said, "The Holy Ghost will overshadow thee, and that holy thing which is born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
She said, "Be it unto me according to thy words."
And right away she started testifying and telling people that she was going to have a baby, knowing no man, before the baby ever was born. Before she felt anything, before there was any life, any evidence at all, she went testifying that it was so. God give us some more Marys around Erie here, that can take God at His Word. Before you see, feel anything, take Him at His Word. Hallelujah.
Oh, my. I feel pretty good. Don't think I'm crazy. If I am, I'm happy; just let me alone then. All right.

48 Oh, brother. Anyone that'll dare to take God at His Word, God said so. She said it's so and went to testifying of it. If God said that He would heal you if you believed Him, take His Word. Don't look how crippled you are, how blind you are. Take Him at His Word and start testifying about it. God's under obligation to bring it to pass. Amen. All right.
You think I'm pretty noisy for a Baptist? Oh, Baptists get a little excited, too. I'm a different Baptist. I'm a Holy Ghost Baptist. Amen. That's right. I got the Holy Ghost. So... That's the kind of Baptist we ought to have with the Holy Ghost. If some of my brethren would step out and get the same thing, the Baptist Church would come to life again. That's right. Oh, my.

49 I can see her rejoicing, happy, going and telling everybody she's going to have a baby, knowing no man. Could you imagine that? I know... The Angel told her about her cousin. And right up through the hills of Judea she went to see her. She just couldn't stay no longer. She'd heard the good news.
And I can see Sarah... or Elisabeth, rather, setting knitting, maybe. And she seen Mary coming. And she run out and threw her arms around Mary and begin to hug her.
They had love for one another in them days. We've lost that today. You know it's the truth. That's right. People don't even... You can't even... Anyone go downtown, you can't speak to them hardly unless you're up in some big rank like they are. And then they go downtown and speak; they just give some kind of a silly grin. Oh, brother, I like an old-fashioned pump-handle handshake. Get right down to the bottom of it. What are you anyhow? Amen. That's right.
No love for... You don't even know your neighbor's dead until you read it in the paper. There's no love for people any more. You lost that.

50 A long time ago when we used to run out of money, we'd go over to the neighbor and borrow fifty dollars to hold us over. Why, we didn't have to sign any notes. We trusted one another. You can't borrow five dollars now without a ten dollar security on top of it. That's right. No love...
The Bible said, "Because the love shall wax cold the love... Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."
That's what the matter with the world. They're dying for love. We got plenty of teaching, plenty churches, but we need a love of God. Hallelujah. Know what's the matter with me today...
Look. I tell you, brother. There they were. I can see her happy, rejoicing. And she run, threw her arms around her, and oh how happy she was; because that she heard about it.

51 Now, I can hear her say... Put her arms around her, and begin to love her, and they was hugging one another. I like that. Don't you? I like to see women meet one another like that?
And I like to see men grab... Awhile ago a man come out there, and took a hold of my hand, just put his arms around me, a young fellow; said, "Brother Branham, I was in your meeting. And my little girl was healed." With something, I forget what it was. And said, "You stood and said 'thus saith the Lord' that child will be a certain thing." Watch. He said it was just exactly like that. That's right.
And he put his arms around me. I like that. Amen. I'm just an old-fashioned, backwoods, sassafras preacher. I like it. Yes, sir. I believe in it. I believe in old time, sky blue, sin-killing religion. It don't whitewash you, but it washes you white, makes you a new creature in Christ Jesus. Amen. Makes the devil mad.

52 Notice. Here not long ago I was down in Florida. What gets me is to see people who think they're better than somebody else. Brother, we got plenty of it. That's right. What are you anyhow? Six foot of dirt.
I was passing by a museum not long ago, and they had the analysis of a man's body that weighed a hundred and fifty pounds: worth eighty four cents. That's right. A hundred and fifty pound man has got enough chemicals about him to make eighty four cents, just about enough whitewash to sprinkle a hen's nest. And oh, I don't know, a little bit of calcium you could hold on the end of a pen or something. Worth eighty-four cents, then you'll put a five dollar hat on it and stick your nose up. It if was to rain, you'd drown. Some woman are at the... That's right. And you'll think you're something. That's right.
Brother, what the world needs today, is not a new man or not a new president, but an old-fashioned Saint Paul's revival and the Bible Holy Ghost preached back in His church in its power. That's right.

53 We're talking about meetings and revivals. We're having protractive meetings but not a revival. We need a revival. Tear down, go down to the bottom, let the priest hold to the altar and weep. Amen. Amen. Don't get excited. That means 'so be it.'
I used to have an old dog. He'd tree anything in the world but a polecat, skunk. And when I'd get him treed, he'd run around and around, bay the skunk, but he wouldn't go and get him for me. The only thing I had to do was hold up the brush pile and pat him and say, "Sic him, Fritz." Brother, he went and got the skunk.
The worst skunk that I know of is the devil. And brother, if you want to tree him this afternoon, just holler, "Amen." That's "Sic him." We go get him and tree the fellow. That's right.

54 Now, notice. Down there one time in Miami, there was some kind of a Duchess or something like that. Brother Bosworth said, "Brother Branham, the Duchess of something, some island, something wants to meet you."
I said, "Well, who's she any more than anybody else?" See?
He said, "Well, she wants to meet you. Will you wait just behind the tent?"
And I said... Well, he's the manager, so there wasn't nothing I could do. And I said, "All right."
When he stepped outside of the tent, there was a little old place there, a little--had roped off. And here come a woman through there with just about enough clothes on to wad a musket shotgun. She had earrings hanging plumb down like this, looked like the devil had been using her neck for a saddle and using them for stirrups. He'd rode her all over hell anyhow. That's right.

55 Here she come down through there packing a pair of glasses, held out on a stick about... You know people ain't going to look through glasses out that far, holding it out like that, holding them out on a stick like that. And she walked down through there, you know, with her stick out like that, looking like that, looking down. Why, it's a wonder she didn't run over something. She looked like that.
And she walked up to me. She said, "Are you Doctor Branham?"
I said, "No, ma'am. No, ma'am." I said, "I'm Brother Branham."
She raised up her hand. She said, "I am charmed to meet you."
I said, "Get it down here, so I'll know you when I see you again." That's right.
Brother, what are we anyhow? Six foot of dirt. Hallelujah. It's the grace of God that changed our hearts and [unclear words]. And not we in ourselves but it's by His grace are we saved.

56 The other day I seen a little old woman passing into a big church there in the city. And she'd come down, and her daughter and them had joined the church. And she walked in there, a little old calico dress on, ever what you call a goods. And she walked in there, and the preacher said something and she said, "Praise the Lord." And everybody stretched their neck like a goose on a pond, looking around like that to see what it was. Why, it excited everybody. They never heard anybody say, "Amen." She was from up in Kentucky there where they still got a little religion left.
So then, she come around there. And the preacher said, "And Jesus Christ, the Son of God..."
She said, "Glory." And so the preacher said [Brother Branham clears his throat.] Said, "I'm interrupted." Oh, brother, if you don't say it, it interrupts me. All right.
Notice. And then he said a few more words and she said, "Praise the Lord. That's right." And the ushers come and put her out of the church.
I thought, "Oh, yes. Her name might not be in Who's Who, but I bet it's wrote in the Lamb's Book of Life." There's where I want mine. Brother, not "Who's Who." I want my name in God's Who's Who.

57 A day that we're living in is a great matching time. Do you believe that? Paint your steps red and watch all the neighbors get theirs red right away: matching time. Everybody wants to impersonate somebody else: match.
I always said I didn't care whether my shoes matched my trousers, or my shirt matched my coat. I want my experience to match God's Bible.
When He said, "You must be borned again," when they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, I want that. I want my experience to match that. Amen.
Peter said, "This is that." If this ain't that; I'm going to keep this till that comes. I'm going to do that. Amen. I'm having a good time with this. All right.

58 I can see Mary throw her arms around and saying, "Oh, Elisabeth, how sweet it is to see you again." And said, "I've just been told that you're going to have a child in your old age."
I can hear Elisabeth say, "Yes, Mary. That's right. I'm going to have a child. But it's worried me, see. It's six months, no life yet." Altogether subnormal, see. Life comes at about... You feel life three to four months, something like that, two and a half months. Said, "But there's no life yet."
And Mary said, "You know..."
Oh, my. I know I'm suppose to stay here, but I can't.

59 Look. Said, "You know, the Holy Ghost come down and overshadowed me, and told me I was to have a baby also, knowing no man. And I should call His name, Jesus."
And just as she said, "Jesus," little John leaped in the mother's womb, begin to jump like that, received life. The first time the name of Jesus Christ was ever spoke by mortal lips, a dead baby come to life in the wombs of a mother.
Brother, if It will bring a dead baby to life, what ought It to do to a born-again church. Hallelujah! That's right. No wonder it will make a cripple walk, the blind see, deaf hear, the name of Jesus Christ.
Little John dead in his mother's womb, and Elisabeth said, "Whence cometh the mother of my Lord to me?" Said, "For as soon as thy salutation come to my ears, my baby leaped in my wombs for joy." What a baby (Hallelujah.), what a Name: "My baby leaped in my womb for joy when your salutation come to my ears."

60 Brother, what ought It to do to a borned again bunch of people? But you can't curse that Name, and make fun of that name, and doubt that name, and get the joy out of It. You got to reverence It in your heart. Believe It with all your heart. All right.
Then they stayed up there a few days. Then after while little John was to be born. When he was born... At the age of about nine years old, he didn't go off to some kind of seminary or cemetery. It's a seminary, I mean to say. It's all about the same. It's a dead place. That's right.
You know what? A seminary preacher always puts me in the mind of an incubator chicken. A little old incubator chicken will chirp, chirp, chirp, and ain't got no mammy to go to.
That's just about the way with an incubator preacher, with reading, writing, and arithmetic, and know no more about God than a rabbit knows how to put on snowshoes. You know that's the truth. That's right.

61 I ain't got nothing against, but we need today... I'd rather have a man with my boy, who didn't know the difference between split beans and coffee and know the Holy Ghost, than to have all the education in the world and try to pump into him. That's right. Hallelujah. I feel pretty religious.
Look. Let me tell you something, brother. "It's not by power, not by might, but by My Spirit." saith the Lord. There it is. Yes sir. He believed Him.

62 And now, notice. That... What kind of a baby was this to be: out in the wilderness at nine years old and staying? And when he come out at the age of thirty, brother, he had the chips flying, too.
He come out on the banks of Jordan, preaching the Gospel. He stirred all the regions around about Jerusalem, come out to hear him standing on the banks. He wasn't dressed up with a great big fine tuxedo suit on and his collar turned around. No. He had on a pair of old hairy trousers and a sheepskin belt around him like that. But he stirred all the regions around about Jordan. What was the matter? He preached Christ by the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.
And I tell you brother; yet when it's preached in its power, yet in Its simplicity, It'll attract the nations anywhere, the attractions of the Gospel of Christ. Amen.

63 I'm glad Brother Baxter told me I could come down: feel pretty religious.
Notice. Then the first thing you know, what did he do? He stirred the regions. One day along about eleven o'clock in the day, he was preaching and there stood a little old priest across said, "You mean to tell me, Rabbi, that the time's coming when we won't have the daily sacrifice? You're wrong."
He said, "There'll come a time when a Man will be the sacrifice."
"Oh," he said. "It can't be so."
Got so many he had to stand him on the other side of the river, his crowds got so big. And after while, I notice and here come One coming walking down. He said, "Behold..." "Behold" means "to look at." "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." There He comes, an ordinary little Fellow walking down through there with His blue robe on and His hair a blowing, about thirty years old. Oh, what a Man. Brother, I tell you; there's the Prince of all princes, King of all kings, Lord of all lords, the Son of the living God, God's divine promise.

64 God is under obligation to take care of His promise. When God brought Israel out of the wilderness back there, out into the wilderness, rather, He promised to take care of them. And what God promised, God's under obligation to do. When they needed water, they went to the rock. When they needed food, God rained manna out of heaven. He opened up the Red Sea.
Look at that manna falling down, what a beautiful type of our church today. As God led Israel in the natural, He's leading the church today in the spiritual.
Watch this. Then when they crossed over the Red Sea, all the taskmasters was dead. The Red Sea, the blood of Christ, the man come through the blood be sanctified from the things of the world set over on the banks over here of a new land, a new people.
There was Miriam; she got real happy. She got a tambourine and she went to dancing. Down the banks she went dancing. The daughters of Israel followed behind her dancing.
Moses got in the Spirit and sang a song in the Spirit. If that ain't an old fashion Holy Ghost meeting, I never seen one in my life. There you are. After they'd crossed over into a new land, then God said He'd take care of them.

65 Then I noticed that night, they didn't have any bread. They didn't care for any. But God rained manna down out of heaven, fell on the earth. And they went out and picked it up and eat it. They said it taste like honey. Did you ever eat any of it? Oh, it's good. My! You ought to taste some, honey.
You know, David of old? He was a shepherd. He was the one who said it taste like honey. It taste like honey in the rock. David speaking of that... He used to carry... The shepherds used to carry a scrip bag on their sides, and they put honey in there. And when their sheep would get sick, they'd put this honey on a rock, and the sheep would go and lick on this rock. And licking this honey off the rock, they'd lick the lime out of the rock and would get well, see.
They'd put the honey on the rock and get the sheep to lick. And they'd licked the honey. And licking the honey, they got some of the lime out of the limestone rock. And the lime got the sheep well.

66 In the old days when people used to get mad dog bit, they would take them and put them on a madstone. If they stuck to the stone, they got well. If they didn't stick, they died.
And I said awhile ago, the worst mad dog I know of is the devil. If he's bit you and made you sick, get to the Rock, Christ Jesus. Stick to it; hang to it; hold on; don't you leave; hang to the wings of the cross and you're sure to get well. Amen.
That manna again... Let me give you something else here. I just love them old nuggets, don't you? Yes, sir. Brush them up; look what they look like.

67 Then God told Aaron... Now, He said, "Now, don't try to keep any of that over. If you keep it over, it'll spoil."
That's what's the matter with a whole lot of the Pentecostal people. You keep it over. "I had an experience twenty years ago." Brother, that experience has got wiggletails in it today. What about right now?
You say, "When I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, I had joy, peace, and longsuffering." What about now? That experience back there is done gone. What about a new one today? Each day they gathered new manna. And a manna is a perfect type of the Holy Ghost coming from God, the sustainer to take them through the wilderness, as the Spirit is the Sustainer for us today to take us through this journey. We're on our road to the promised land. Is that right?
"In My Father's house is many mansions. If it wasn't so, I would've told you. And I'll go and prepare a place for you." Is that right? We're on our way to the promised land.
Notice. And we're fed daily by the Holy Spirit coming down from God out of heaven, sweet to our souls like honey in the rock. I have to have it every hour of my life or I die. That's true. It has to come to me or I can't live. It'll come--have to come to you or you won't live. That's right.

68 Now, notice. I want you to get it close. Well, let me show you this type first.
Moses told Aaron, "Go out and get several omers full of it, and put it in behind the holiest of holies." Then it'll come to pass that every generation after them, coming in after they made the journey, and was a--become a priest, and become worthy to go in and be a priest, they could go in there and get some of this manna, of the original manna, and taste it and eat some of the manna. Then they would tell them what it was all about. Keep this up in behind the holiest of holies. It'll stay back there. It won't spoil back there, because it's coming directly from heaven, the power of God upon the holiest of holies.

69 And that every priest knew that when he become a priest, he had a right to taste some of the original manna that fell at the beginning. Now, that was their manna to give them all through their journey something as they--a memorial that God brought them from death to life, and would--fed the children of Israel.
And on the day of Pentecost when our Manna come from God out of heaven after the church was inaugurated and the baptism of the Holy Ghost was to come, Jesus said, "Behold I send the promise of My Father upon you. But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until you're endued with power from on high. After this, the Holy Ghost is come upon you, You'll be witnesses of Me, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Erie, Pennsylvania, and to the uttermost parts of the world." Amen.

70 Notice. Now, they went back there. Just as they crossed the Red Sea, so did the disciples go back after the pouring out of the red blood of Christ to cleanse the church. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come... Oh, my.
Now, look at the way we got it today. In the Protestant church, we walk up and say, "Do you be--take the... Do you believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Son of God?"
"I do."
"Put your name on the book. Be will put you on six months probation, take you in the church. Go ahead drink, smoke, carry on, do anything you want to."
In the Catholic church, we walk up and stick out your tongue, take the communion, the holy eucharist. All right. Then you become a member of the church.
Now, neither one of them is right. When the day of Pentecost fully come, there wasn't a priest come up the road with a communion box in his hand. There wasn't a minister walked out of the seminary and said, "I'm Doctor Jones now. I'll take you by the right hand, and give you the fellowship of the church, and take you in by letter."

71 But when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in one place in one accord, not saying, "I'm Methodist. I'm Baptist. I'm Lutheran. I'm this."
They were in one place and one accord. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound, not up the road, not from the seminary, but from heaven, a sound like a rushing mighty wind. And it filled all the house where they were sitting. And the Holy Ghost fell upon them. There they went out into the streets, staggering stammering going on like a bunch of drunk men.
Wait a minute, friend. The blessed virgin Mary had to go in there and get the same thing. And if God would not suffer the virgin Mary to come into heaven without receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost, don't think you can wrap yourself around some church and get in with anything less. You're going to get the Holy Ghost or be out. That's all. That's all. That's the Gospel teaching, brother. It might burn you up, and scorch you, and blister you, and everything else, but it'll do you good.

72 Now, as a little boy, we had to take castor oil all the time. We didn't have nothing to eat, boiled old meat skins to get the grease to put in the corn bread. And we'd have to take castor oil every Saturday night. Old tub, reach down there and get ... take an old tub bath... Mom would scrub us and put some more water in the teakettle, and pour a little bit more water in, and scrub the ... on us. Then hold your nose and take castor oil. My, my. I took it till I was so sick. When I'd even come into the kitchen, I started gagging. And I'd hold my nose, and I'd heave and gag. And I'd say, "Mama, this stuff makes me so sick."
She'd say, "If it don't make you sick, it don't do you any good."
That applies this afternoon. If this don't make you right good and sick, it won't do you any good. So ... keep her up; get right; that's the only thing to do. Start over new. Amen. The old-fashioned Gospel will give you a good, what you need. Amen. You know that's right. That's right. It'd make a new creature out of you in Christ Jesus. Might make you throw some things out you don't need in you. All right.

73 They had to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, or God didn't recognize her as one of His. All right. And when they received the Holy Ghost, out into the streets they went screaming acting like a bunch of drunk men, like that, staggering around.
And today they talk--taken the Holy Ghost, put a wafer under your tongue, or shake hands with the minister. Oh, brother, I'm sick and tired of that old dry-eyed confession. There's no more to it than there is a ... like a fellow trying to get a drink of water out of an old dry rag somewhere. That's right.
What we need today is a good fresh baptism of the Holy Ghost come down and stir up the people again.
I was watching your lake out here the other day. When I went down there, it was having a big revival. The waves were just a jumping and a bouncing and a jumping. I said, "There's no more water in it when it's smooth, but it's got a revival." That's what we need today: the wind blowing on us, kind of shake you up a little bit.

74 Notice. And then how glorious... Now, Peter said then, "Now, looky here." All the men and the brethren run together and said, "Look at these guys (religious people); they're all full of new wine. Look at them women up there. What did I tell you. Why, they're all full of new wine."
There come Peter stepping out there. I guess he was a soapbox preacher. That's what they said I was. So all right. He got his soapbox, or stump, or whatever it was and got onto it and said, "You men of Judea, and you that dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known unto you. These are not drunk as you suppose, seeing it's the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet, Joel."
He preached such a sermon, brother, till he shook the stalactites of hell down in the devil's eyes. That's right. And when he did, he said... They seen all this. Said, "This was what was prophesied to be."
They said, "What can we do to be saved?"
He said, "Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins. And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

75 What is it? It's the same promise. The same manna that fell on them to give them eternal life, like the manna that carried the children of Israel through the wilderness, the same baptism of the Holy Ghost carries the church through to glory. And every man, as the Priest was then... The middle wall partition's tore down. Every man that'll come to Christ, and believe that He is, and a rewarder of those who seek Him, and give up their sins, and throw their arms open to God, can have, not something that looks like it, some imitation of it, but a genuine heart full of the real baptism of the Holy Ghost, like fell on the day of Pentecost, make the same signs, wonders, and everything else take place. Hallelujah. You know that's right.
Make you act the same way, like a drunk man. Carry on just like they did on the day of Pentecost. Every believer has a right to receive It, just like every priest coming into the priesthood could get the manna. Hallelujah! My, wished I was twice my size; I'd make twice as much noise maybe.

76 Brother, I feel real good about it anyhow. What this church needs today is a good revival, not a new doctrine, a new order, just a stirring up of what you already know about.
Not long ago a brother and I were walking out along a creek. We found an old terrapin. I don't know whether you have them here or not, tortoise, turtle. And he was the funniest looking thing. He spread them feet like this, you know. And I said, "Look at that funny looking fellow."
And when we got down to him, he pulled back up in his shell like that. Puts me in the mind of some of these Christians, when you go to pouring the Gospel on to them. Them old lukewarm church members pull back up in the shell, "I belong to so-and-so. Dr. So-and-so said so." Get in there.
I said, "I'll make him walk." And I went over and cut me a long switch, and I poured it on him. That wouldn't do no good. You can beat them into it.

77 I said, "I'll fix him up." I took him down at the creek and dumped him under the water. Just a few bubbles come up.
Brother, you can go down a dry sinner and come up a wet one, just a few bubbles. You can baptize them this way, that name, up and down this way, back and forward, and sprinkle him, anything you want to he's still a sinner. That's right.
I went and got a piece of paper, and built a little fire, and set the old boy on it. He walked then.
Brother, what we need today is preachers back behind the pulpit that preach the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Holy Ghost and fire baptism coming down upon the people. It'll make them walk then, not out here on these beaches on Sunday afternoon stretch themselves in a bathing suit. It'll make them walk to church. Not down and play golf on... O brother, does that scorch you.
Walked down there this morning, little ladies laying all around down there on that beach... Little women, I can't say ladies. Ladies don't do things like that. But lay down on the beach there with a bathing suit on stretched out for a suntan.

78 I got a daughter. She's six years old. Let me ever catch her laid out like that; she'll get a son-tan. But it'll be Charlie Branham's son tanning her with a board just as hard as I can. I'll have her going home with a real tanning she won't forget about for a long time.
Some of the people out here talk about them old mammies up in Kentucky being illiterate and so forth. They can come out and teach you how to raise your daughter. That's right.
You put them little old clothes on your girl, and stand her out here on the street, and then some boy make a remark about her, and want to send the boy to the penitentiary. It's you the one that needs the whipping. That's right.
Brother, if the love of God is in your heart, where it ought to be, you won't dress your child like that. Whew, I better shut up. These boys come to preach the Gospel to you.

79 Brother, I believe in being what you are. Amen. And I believe the power of the Holy Ghost cleans you up from such things as that. Don't you degrade yourself laying out there.
Listen, brother, by your diet you're known. Buzzards eats anything. Doves know their diet. That's right. They have no fellowship one with the other. Birds of a feather, flock together. Keep away from them places; love God. If you love the Lord with all your heart, you haven't got no room for such stuff as that. That's right. What we need today is another... Talk about a revival, and people acting like that. All right.
Let's go on with the text. All right. Anyhow.

80 I can see Jesus after He was become popular, got out, and the miracles began to follow Him. He called them out and said what they were. God was with Him, manifesting Himself to Him.
And then one day He went to live with Martha and Mary and Lazarus, was His buddy. Then when He got over there to Lazarus... He left the home one day, not because He had to, but because His ministry was shoving Him away to another country. And because to fulfill a vision God had give Him.
Watch. He left the home. And when He left the home, sorrow and sickness come in. And when He leaves your home, sorrow and sickness is coming in. All right.

81 Lazarus took sick. Theologians believe he died with hemorrhages of the lungs. That I don't know. The Bible doesn't say nothing. Some of the writers said it was. All right.
He got sick. And sometimes God tries your faith. Do you believe that? Every son that cometh to God must be tried. Think it not strange that fiery trials come, because it's only done to perfect your faith, draw you closer. Their worth more than the gold to you. All right.
Then when these things begin to take place, Mary and Martha sent and said, "Have Jesus to come back and pray for him."
And Jesus just ignored their call. He went to another city farther away. Well, then they sent again. He still ignored the call.

82 Now, if your pastor would do that. Oh, my. You'd say, "Why, the old hypocrite," Now, they never told me to say this. But you'd say, "The old hypocrite. I'll go over and join Doctor So-and-so's church. If he won't..."
Don't you know that all things work together for good to them that love God? That's the reason He ain't got no--can't help you. He's a man of God, but he can't help you till you believe in him. You believe your pastor if he's a good man. If he believes in divine healing, and preaches it, and stands by it, and lives the right kind of life, he's got just as much right to pray for you as any man on the face of the earth. But you've got to believe him and have confidence in him as God's man.
And they sent again and He just kept on going. Now, watch. Here's the part I love. He turned around and said, "Our friend, Lazarus sleepeth," and what he really was.
And he said, "Oh," he said, "If he sleepeth he doeth well."
Then He told them in their regular language, the way they know. Said, "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I'm glad I wasn't there. But I go wake him." Oh, my. God... Watch at the grave and see if God hadn't already showed Him about it.
"I go wake him." They returned back.

83 Well, the first day passed at the little home. They took Lazarus out, embalmed his body, put him in the grave, the breadwinner. We're taught that Lazarus was a scribe at the temple. And Martha and Mary made little tapestries and things like that: their parent gone.
And so the breadwinner was gone then: dark time. The second day passed. They went to the grave and mourned. The third day passed, the fourth day passed. Corruption sets in in seventy two hours, three days and nights. The skin worms was working through his body. All hopes was gone, darkest hour the little family had ever seen.
Did you ever hit that hour? I've hit it in our home. Love ones be taken away and darkness.

84 Darkest hour the little family had ever seen. And then Jesus come along. He usually comes when it's the darkest hour.
I was laying yonder in Mayo's Hospital. Mayo Brothers looked at me, and they put me in examinations. Said, "Reverend Branham, we're sorry to inform you of this. But you're finished. Nothing can be done for you. You're finished."
And then Jesus come along. Oh, my. O mercy!
It may be your darkest hour now, brother, setting there shaking in the chair. I've watched you for two nights. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Jesus come along about this time?
What about you, setting there with cancer, the doctor says you can't live? Your darkest hour and then Jesus comes along.
He's always there just in the darkest hour.
When the Hebrew children was making their last step in the fiery furnace, then Jesus come along.
When the woman with the blood issue had [unclear words] paid all of her money out for doctors, and none could do no good, then Jesus come along. He's right there. Don't be weary. If you love Him, stay right with Him. He will be there. Jesus come along.

85 Some of them said, "The Master's come."
Now, Mary had always been, or Martha a little dilatory. But her heart was burning. Here she pulled down her veil over her face and away she went.
I hear some of them say, "Where is that holy-roller preacher that preached divine healing? Uh-huh. When the trial come, He run away. Didn't He? Where's He at now? Where is that divine healer?"
Martha and them had left the church, because it was strictly said anybody that followed Jesus would be put out of the temple. So there they was. They couldn't have fellowship in their synagogue no more. Lost their church, lost their pastors, lost their friends, lost everything, and everything was gone. All hopes was gone. They was sitting alone. And then Jesus come by.
Then Martha... I can see her pick up her garments, put it around her, start running out. I can hear some of them say, "Now, wonder where she's going?"
Now, I'd just always imagined that Martha knew down in her heart if she could ever get to Jesus, she'd find out all about what she wanted to know.

86 Now, back in the Bible there... Like the Shunammite woman, Martha probably read this. The Shunammite woman when she lost her baby... I think it had a sunstroke. God give her the baby. And it'd raised to be nine, ten, twelve years old. One day about out about eleven o'clock in the field with its daddy said, "My head. My head." Went in and had a sunstroke. And it died.
Now she said, "Saddle an ass and go forward. Don't stop, lest I bid you. Go to the man of God to Mount Carmel."
Now, she knew that God was in Elijah. Now, listen closely now just before my closing.
She knew that God was in Elisha. And if she could ever get to Elisha, she might not get her baby back, but she would know why that her baby was taken. And her husband said, "It's neither new moon or Sabbath. He won't be there.
She said, "All is well. Go on." And they went a ride... "And don't slack, lest I bid you."

87 I can see her come up to the man of God. Now, he didn't know. God don't tell His prophets everything. He said, "Here comes that Shunammite, and there's something wrong with her. She's got grief in her heart, and God's hid it from me."
Is that right? He didn't know what it was. So he come up ... she... He said, "Is all well with thee, with thy husband, and with the child?"
I love this. She said, "All is well." She'd got to the prophet. She knew everything was all right then. So she rode up by the side come off... She jumped down and fell down at his feet.
Gehazi pulled him back from around her master. What was that? Keeping her away. He said, "Let her alone." Said, "She has sorrow. God's hid it from me." And so she revealed it to him that the baby was dead.

88 Now, look. Here's where I think Paul got the idea, minister brethren, of laying handkerchiefs on the sick. He said, "You take my staff," told Gehazi. "You take my staff; and if any man salutes you, salute him not." That's what's the trouble when we get a commission today, we got to stop and do other things. You see?
But said, "Don't salute him back. And take my staff and lay it on the child." Now, Elisha knew that God was in him. And whatever he touched was blessed. And if he could get the woman to believe the same thing... I think that's where Paul got laying handkerchiefs off of his body. He knew God was in him and what he touched was blessed, but if the people would believe it.

89 So Gehazi went forward. And of course the baby never woke, because the woman believed in Elisha. She said, "As the Lord, God, liveth and your soul never dies. I'll not leave you."
So Elisha girded up his loins and away he went. Went to the house, and there the dead baby laid, and the people screaming. Well how appropriate. She'd built him a little house. So she took the baby and laid it on his bed, where he had laid. That's a good place to lay it, wasn't it? On the bed.
Then the prophet went in. He walked up-and-down the floor. Walked back-and-forth, up-and-down the floor, and then laid his body upon the baby's dead body. And it sneezed seven times and come to life. God was in His prophet.

90 And Mary thought... Martha, rather, said, "If God was in His prophet, surely God is in His Son." So away she went to meet Him. Oh, brother oh, Hallelujah. Away she... I'm not excited. I know right where I'm at now.
Now, watch. Here she went to meet Him, going right on through them critics, you know pushing on by them, saying, "The days of miracles is past." She wanted to get to Him.
Now, look like when she got to Him she could have upbraided Him, scolded Him, saying, "Why didn't You come to my brother? We left everything." Well, that would been the 1951 version of it, but not then. So if she'd have done that, the miracle would never been performed.
But she run just as hard as she could. And she got to Him. She fell down at His feet. Oh, I love that. Now, she come in simplicity. She come in the right approach.

91 If you can get what I'm talking about now. There's a way to approach: simplicity. Don't never think you're better than somebody. Don't think God owes it to you. You owe it to God. Come humble. "Nothing, Lord. I have nothing. I come humbly."
Down there in Mexico when them Spanish would come, them Catholic; as soon as they'd see them things happen, they wouldn't want to be prayed for. If they could even get near, just pass by, that's all they wanted to do. And I never seen one turned down yet.
Humble, of course we've got so much education; we know all about it and all the details, see. We know too much about it.

92 But here come Martha; she run up and fell down at His feet, and she said, "Lord..." That was His right title. Was He the Lord? "Lord, if Thou wouldest been here, my brother would've not have died." Oh. "If You'd been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, Lord, whatever You ask God, God will give it to You."
There you are. There you are. Humble, laying at His feet, a man, looking up and calling Him what He claimed to be, no matter if the world said He was a holy-roller, and He was Beelzebub, a spiritualist, a fortuneteller, she said, "Lord, if Thou wouldest been here, my brother would not have died." Confessing her faith in Him, giving Him His right title of what He was. "But even now, whatever You ask God, God will do it." Oh, I love that.

93 You say, "Brother Branham, I been this way a long time." But even now... "Brother Branham, the doctor told me I had heart trouble. I might die at any minute." But even now, Lord.
You say, "But, Brother Branham, I'm eat up with a cancer." "But even now, Lord, whatever You ask God, God will give it to You."
He's sitting at the right hand of the Father to make intercessions. "Even now, Lord, whatever You ask God, God will give it to You."

94 I can see Him. He wasn't very much to look at. The Bible said there's no beauty we should desire Him. He wasn't a great big six footer. He was a little frail Fellow. He straighten His little frame up, stooped in the shoulders as He was. Said He was gray in His beard before He was thirty years old. Stooped in His shoulders up like that, said, "Thy brother shall rise again."
Oh, my. She said, "Yes, Lord. I know he will raise again at the last day." Them Jews believed in the general resurrection. Said, "I know he will raise at the last day. He was a good boy. And God will raise him up at the last day."
I can see Jesus say, "But I am the Resurrection and Life. I am," not "I will be; I was": I am (present tense.); I am the Resurrection and Life. He that believeth in Me shall never die." Oh, my. He said, "I am the Resurrection and Life," saith the Lord. "He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whosoever liveth in Me shall ... and believeth in Me shall never die." Said, "Believeth thou this?"
She said, "Yea, Lord. I believe You. I believe You're just what You said You were. I believe You're the Son of God. I believe You're the Lord of heaven that come down here on earth. And whatever You ask God, God will give it to You. I believe that You're the Son of God that was to come unto the earth."
Oh, my. Something has to happen. Something has to happen. Things were coming like this, coming together. Oh, my. Said, "Where have you buried him?"
"Come, and see." Here He goes.

95 A little lady, belonging to a certain church, tried to argue with me not long ago, a scientist church, knowed everything scientifically. She said, "Reverend Branham, do you mean to tell me that you believe He was divine?"
I said, "I know He was divine."
She said, "He was just a man."
I said, "He was more than a Man." I said, "He was the God-Man."
Said, "He wasn't nothing but a man."
I said, "God, was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." I said, "He was divine."
Said, "He wasn't. He was a man."
I said, "He was a divine Man."
She said, "It's impossible, and I can prove it to you by the Scriptures that He wasn't divine."
I said, "Look, lady. Almighty God overshadowed a virgin. And we know that a baby that's born through the man, that the blood cell comes from the male sex." You believe that, don't you?

96 Here, I notice you all have chickens and things around here, birds in springtime. An old mother bird can go out here and lay a whole nest full of eggs; and she could hover them, and stay on that nest, and keep them warm, until she gets so poor she can't fly off the nest. If she hasn't been with the male bird, them eggs will never hatch. They'll lay right there and rot. Is that right.
I think that's about what's the matter with the church today. We just got a big nest full of rotten eggs. It's time to dish the thing out, and start over new again. Somebody that's been in contact with Christ... Yes, sir.
And there... But when that hen can lay an egg, it'll never hatch unless she's been with the male bird. The germ comes from the man. You're not... The blood cell comes from the man.

97 And we are redeemed through the blood of Christ. And God Almighty is a Spirit. And He overshadowed the virgin Mary and created... God the Creator, created the blood cell in the womb of that woman, knowing no man by sexual desire. You believe it? And that blood cell developed into the Man which was the Son of God. And through that unadulterated blood of the Son of God, creative blood by Jehovah, without sexual desire; through the shedding of that blood on Calvary's cross redeems us from sin and sickness. Hallelujah.
Brother, I'm ready to die for that this afternoon. If you don't believe that, you're lost. That's right. I believe it with all my heart. Yes, sir.

98 I said, "Yes, He was divine. He was the created Son of God." And I said, "God was in Him reconciling the world to Himself."
She [unclear words], " He was just a mere man. He wasn't divine." Said, "I'll prove it to you by the Scriptures. Will you receive it?"
I said, "If you can prove it by the Scriptures, I will receive it. And if I'll disprove you ideal will you receive it?"
She said, "I'll prove you first that you're wrong."
I said, "Let's have you at it?"
She said, "When He went down to the grave of Lazarus," Said, "He went down to the grave; he cried." Said, "That showed he wasn't nothing but a man, because he had sorrow in his heart. He cried. He was a mortal."
I said, "Yes, ma'am. I'll agree with you that He cried like a man when He was going to the grave of Lazarus. But when He stood there in that little frail frame straightened up, said, 'Lazarus, come forth.' That was more than a mortal there. That was God speaking through His Son." Hallelujah. And a man that had been dead four days stood on his feet and lived again. You believe that? Yes, sir.

99 I said, "It's true, woman. He was a Man when He come down off the mountain that night and was hungry. He looked all around over a tree to find some food. He was hungry like a man, hunting for food; He was hungry. But when He took five biscuits and five little fishes and fed five thousand, that was more than a Man. That was God in His Son speaking forth, the Creator Himself." Hallelujah.
Whew. Going to call me holy-roller anyhow, might as well have a big time while I'm here. Let me tell you brethren. Yes, sir. Watch.
He was a Man when He was hungry, but He was God when He fed five thousand. He was a Man when He was laying on the back of that boat, that night when the troubled seas was troubling and bouncing, when ten thousand devils of the sea swore they'd drown Him that night. Laying back there on the back of that boat so tired He couldn't move, when even the mighty waves didn't even wake Him, He was a Man when He was asleep; but when He rose (Hallelujah.), come up there, and stuck His foot on the brail of that boat, looked up and said, "Peace be still," and the waves and wind obeyed Him. He was God when He ho... When the winds and waves obeyed Him, He was more than a mortal Man, He was God.

100 Brother, when He died at Calvary cross, He cried, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He died like a man. But when He rose on Easter morning, He broke every shackle of hell, death, and the grave. He proved that He was God, Emmanuel. He raised on high today. Believeth thou this?
He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Believest thou this? He's here right now. Believest thou this? He's the One that's working among us. Believest thou this?
I believe the Holy Ghost is circling this building now. Believest thou this? I believe we can heal every one of us right now. Believest thou this? Hallelujah. Believest thou this?
The Angel of God is circling this building right now. I believe that any man or woman in here that wants to be healed, can stand at their feet right now and be healed. Believest thou this? Stand to your feet. Hallelujah.
O God, Author of life, Giver of every good gift, send Thy blessings to this people just now. Heal every one, Lord. May Your mercy fall. May Your power be here healing everyone just now. May they come forward and be well in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Hold your hands. Praise Him. He's here now. He's healing people; virtue's going out. Hallelujah. Believest thou this? He's here.