Questions and Answers
You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net
1 ... everybody take real good inventory of this, see, mark it down. I am only answering them the best of my knowledge by the Word of God, see. And if it isn't answered correctly to your ... another question, why I'd just love for you to put it back on the platform or something ... talk to us about it or anything that we could do. And maybe Brother Neville and I here, we might see things that we don't just agree upon. And Mr. Baxter, (one of my closest associates in my meetings) Mr. Baxter, we've been together for years, and a real Bible expositor he is, but he doesn't believe in the Millennium.
And I [unclear words] use your own mind when you're studying the Bible. If you try to use your own knowledge or your own mind, you'll certainly [unclear words].
2 Now, I feel these Scriptures... Some of them here are just little comments, and so forth, and I will try to answer them first, which I tried to segregate them. And I may have to use the concordance for a little while to get some of this out. And then, in here if I misquote or anything, you just perfectly call my attention, see, and write me a note, and tell me.
Now, before we try to open this...
3 Now, the reason I'm doing this friends, I tell you it's for a purpose, all of you know that. This meeting was for a purpose. I believe God turned me around in that snow storm yonder and sent me back for this very purpose right here, see.
And there's just been a little something wrong around the Tabernacle here for a long time. I want to find it. When I find that, then I'm going to see if I can do something about it. That's right.
And I want the church to move along in harmony. And there's just a little something wrong because you're not progressing. You're getting people saved (that's true; that's wonderful), but you're not progressing the way you should. We ought to be turning out preachers and everything. The message should be going right along.
4 I've had our brother, pastor, out, and we've went through the mill together, Brother Neville and I have. And I want to see ... as one of your pastors, it's my duty. And last evening... Just, when I see anything, it's just in the church now; that's the reason I never advertised this meeting; I just give it out. Just ... why everybody's welcome, sure we want you to come. [Break in tape]. But it's just in the church.
And I thought, If I teach on the first night, what the church today, in the age, geographically, in the Bible, where we're positionally sitting, then the church surely will wake up on that. And then speak on The Mark Of The Beast, and let them see what that is. And then The Seal Of God, that's the pro and con now, that's the dark and light now, that's either in or out now, and that's the most essential thing to be taught on now.
5 And I tell you, friends, I say this with my heart before God, humbly, I have never felt the anointing of the Holy Spirit to speak the words that I have in the last three nights. That's right. But it's just carried me away. And I'd go home, couldn't even sleep after I got home, just such anointing!
Now, I throwed these out here in hopes that I would find something somewhere, see. Get the feeling of the people all on a piece of paper here. If I don't find this this way, and the Lord don't reveal it to me, I'll keep on till I do find it. God will grant it to me. That's right. And so then when we find it, it may be just a little, old wedge buried over somewhere, but Achan had one, too. You know, we got to get rid of that thing, then we will come right on and move along in the kingdom of God.
6 Now, the Lord bless you. And now before we open up the Word... And now, each one of you has a Sunday school in the morning. Of course, I wouldn't ask you to miss your Sunday school; that's your post of duty to your church. That's right. But, now, if you don't go to Sunday school, come up and see us in the morning. And if your church isn't having services tomorrow night, on Sunday, you're welcome. We'd be glad to have you at anytime. And so the Lord bless you. And greet all the Christians for me. I don't get here very much.
I was just looking in the room there, a little paper I've got wrote in there is still sitting here as a memorial to this church. And I said, "The Lord is calling me away," and we all cried and wept. I remember the first night I went. You all remember my first call, anybody here? You all took up the money to send me over to St. Louis, where little Betty Daugherty was healed. I stayed...
7 Remember, I borrowed somebody's overcoat here to wear; I didn't have any coat to wear. And I went over and sat in an old chair car to go to St. Louis. Remember the time? And I borrowed one of the brothers' coats; it was too big for me; I carried it on my arm; 'cause it was cool and I didn't have a coat.
And then we went over, and I went to St. Louis and I met Brother Daugherty there. His little girl, all the doctors around there, specialists and hospitals had give her up. She was like a raging maniac. Ministers throughout the city had been ... everywhere, in there praying for her. And I went in and prayed for her and the poor people just looked so gray. And the little girl in there, screaming and crying, fighting.
And she couldn't make a noise like a human anymore, sounded like an animal; she was so hoarse from ... oh, around three or four months. It was spinal meningitis ... or no, St. Vitus' dance, in the spine. And her little lips was all eaten, bleeding, her little fingers just bleeding all over where she was biting her fingers, and things like that, and just screaming and going on.
8 And I prayed, went down to the church. Waited hours after hours. Sat out in the old car and waited. I wasn't going to leave that case till I heard from Heaven. And sitting there in the car, a vision broke before me, said, "Go tell the father..." Said, "Tell the woman that the other day, downtown, she bought a little, white kettle. It's never had water in it before."
And said, "Tell her to look in the third drawer and she'll find a handkerchief that's in a piece of paper, that's never been used before, Tell her to fill it with water. Stand the father on your right hand, and the grandfather on your left hand, and repeat, 'Our Father, who art in Heaven...' And as you start, let her wipe the rag across its face. Then in the middle of the prayer have her touch its hands, then its feet. Then stand and say, 'Thus saith the Lord!'"
Matthew 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Luke 11:2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
9 You know what happened, don't you? She was healed right there. And we put our hands together and walked down the street and drank a soda pop together. That's right. That's right. It stirred St. Louis. In my meeting there, fourteen thousand the first night. That's right.
It's just too bad that I got away from that; to go and just start them coming through a line, just one right after the other one, after the other one. Just go to a house and stay there till it's over, and return home. I believe that would've been better than all the meetings.
10 All right, let's bow our heads while we speak to the Author of this Word, now:
In the kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, we approach Thee, our Father. And in His name we ask for divine mercy that Thou will forgive our sins and trespasses against You. And if there's any sin in this little church tonight, we pray, Lord, as a servant standing here, as a shepherd over the sheep (as the Bible said, "Take heed to the flock of which the Holy Ghost has made you overseer over, that you feed them"), and now, Father, I intercede for them, that You will bless them and remit all their sins. Heal the sickness that's in the midst of the people. And, Heavenly Father, I pray that Your mercies will be upon us now.
Here, laying before me, written on paper, from many homes and many people, lays requests, real deep Bible questions that goes beyond the ordinary schooling. And we need Your help, Lord Jesus. And just picking these up now, walking into the room, having prayer, walking out, separating them here, and laying the ones that should be answered now to one side, and the others that has to go into Scripture, to the other. That's as far as I know at this time, Lord.
And I pray that from right now You'll take up from here on, and anoint Your people here tonight, the lips of the speaker, the ears of the hearer. And may the Holy Spirit come and take a hold of the Word now and move it right into every heart, and may it be received in a spirit of kindness, and may it be given likewise. And may, when the service is over tonight, may we go home, saying, "Did not our hearts burn within us because of His presence and His blessings?" Lord, not knowing what to say, I commit myself to You with these questions, in Jesus Christ's name, for the answer. Amen.
Luke 24:32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
Acts 20:28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
11 Thank you, friends, for your reverence. I count that ... just to show you what many ... the most of these questions was:
"Brother Bill, please carry on through next week."
"Please stay another week."
"Please stay a little longer."
"Brother Bill, please stay next week, a little longer, our souls are hungry for this kind of food."
"Does this church teach that the..." That just fell in there; that's in the wrong place.
"I have two boys, age of two..." I got them mixed up, I guess, on it, see. Here, I better get that over here, too, that's concerning a personal affair.
"Brother Bill, would you like one more week... We would like one more week of this Gospel teaching."
"My request is that you stay another week. I would like very much for you to stay a little while longer. You know we are always ... we can always learn more."
"Now, will you stay just another week longer, please?"
"Brother Bill, please preach one more week for us. We really miss it."
"Brother Bill, my prayer is that God will change your mind and make you stay another week."
"My question is: What are the flying saucers, and they are something from God sending out for a sign? And I am asking you to stay another week."
"Please stay another week."
12 [Brother Branham speaks with Brother Neville.] " Now, here was another one just said... I appreciate this asking. And Almighty God who is my Judge, standing here now in this sacred spot, before I left home, the Spirit of the Lord told me, said this question will be laying on here. And I knowed nothing about it, but I knew it would be here:
"Is Jehovah Witness a false sect?"
See, somebody... And the Holy Spirit, at the place, standing in my bathroom, before coming down here; God, who is my solemn Judge, told me that will be laying on the platform, and said I wouldn't say nothing about it; just go on, see. So, you know what I said last night, don't you? All right, that's what it was.
13 All right, now we'll start over here on some of these.
I just don't like to call right out any certain thing, and say some person or some individual like that. I just like to teach it in a way of just throw the whole thing together. And you understand, don't you? If I'd stand here and say, "Now, Brother Neville is so-and-so and certain-certain thing..." If I had that to say about him, I'd go up to his house and call him out and talk to him about it. See, I'd tell Brother Neville.
14 But, now, here is some questions. Now, I don't know where to start with; it's just a group of them laying here. It says:
"What connection did you mean about the Protestant church having with the Catholic church?
Revelation 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Revelation 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
15 What does 'the image of the beast' mean?"
Now, that was one of the questions from last ... probably was on the people's... Now, I'll try my best, by God's help, to answer them the best of my knowledge. Now if He will give me knowledge, 'cause God knows that I just picked them up, here on the platform.
QUESTION: "Now, what connection did you mean about the Protestant church having with the Catholic church?"
Now, I'll answer that one first, God helping. I said that the Catholic church was the... We find out that the mark of the beast, night before last, had to come out of Rome. Is that right? It can't come out of no other country but Rome. There's where it's seated, that's where it's placed. And I said I have nothing against Catholic people, nothing against anyone; we're all mortals trying to get to Heaven.
16 The pope is one fellow who teaches, the archbishop of Canterbury is another, and another, and another, and another; and I'm just one of the teachers, that's all. They'd teach and say, perhaps, I was a fanatic and I was wrong and so forth. And I have a right ... if I can prove it by the Scripture ... or, if they can prove it by the Scripture that I'm a fanatic, then I am a fanatic. But if I can prove by the Scripture that they are wrong in their setup, then it's wrong, the Scripture's right. And it's just not one place now, it has to come all the way through the Bible, everywhere.
Now, I said, "The Catholic church was the mother church," and that's exactly right. The Catholic church is the mother church, when it comes to church organizations. The Catholic church was the first church that was ever formed, around about ... the best history you have, about AD 606, somewhere along in there when the early fathers, the second or third around, of the apostles. They had died out and begin to scatter out in little isms.
And the Romans, being converted, the Roman Empire ruled the state, and then church and state united together and started a religion called "the Universal Religion." And the word catholic means "universal." They organized the church, which was the first time that religion (Christian religion) was ever organized in all the world's history.
17 The Jewish religion never was an organization; it was a free people. They had churches but they didn't have an organization. God dealt with a nation, not an organization. It was a nation.
And now, and then the Catholic church was the first organization. Then we picked that up in the Bible to find out what that organization was. And according to the Word of God, it was supposed to be controlled by a single man, one man. And that man was to be in a church that was set on seven hills in Rome, according to the Bible. And he was supposed to have ruling power in every nation in the world---religious ruling power. There's not another in the world.
Revelation 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
18 And Communism, we found out, was not no antichrist that Jesus spoke of. Communism is not a nation like Russia, Communism is a spirit. America is eat up with it. It's in the churches, it's in the people, it's in business, it's in everywhere (Communism, the spirit of it), it's in schools, it's in homes, everywhere.
And then when they organized this church which was contrary... And now we've taken the seven church ages, and prophecy, exactly the way God brought them on through the Bible here to us. And we found out by history and the Bible, that each age come in just according, the Bible, according to history; each one come in just at the time, through the dark ages. And then the Catholic church formed in the Dark Age.
19 Then the reformation come on, which is Martin Luther. And Martin Luther had a light, the light that "The just shall live by faith"---justification by faith---in the reformation. A German priest which denied and said that the taking the communion when he held it... And they was supposed to say "This is the body of Christ," and he threw it on the floor and said, "It is not the body of Christ; it's a wafer!" And so he renounced the Catholic church in doing so, and come out in the early reformation. Martin Luther did that, and that was a wonderful move.
Now, where Luther made his mistake, Luther organized another group just like the Catholic church did, organized the people.
Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Galatians 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Hebrews 10:38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
20 Then, directly, a new light come on. And when the new light come on, God moved out with His people. The people that was organized in Lutheran church, they had to stay with their church in order to be with the... That's just the same as the Catholics had to be, but many of the Catholics come out and was Lutherans. Well, then when Wesley come along with the message of sanctification, then many of the Lutherans couldn't leave their church; but many of them did, and made up the Wesley church.
Then after justification and sanctification, along come Pentecost. And then Pentecost... Many come out of Methodist, and so forth, and become Pentecost because it was a greater light. Now Pentecost is organized just exactly like every one of them!
21 Now, the Bible says that... These are flat words, but I'll read them from the Bible. And you listen to your doctor, or so forth, say this, and I'm your brother teaching from the Scripture. The Bible called the Catholic church "a prostitute, a whore, w-h-o-r-e." And He called the Protestant churches that followed it, mothers ... or, they were harlots of this mother. And what connection it was, that the Catholic church organized the thing and made all people believe in the light they had then ... or, what they had then. The Lutherans did the same thing. And the Bible said that she was a great woman of that type.
Now, what is that type of woman? Is a woman that lives and commits adultery. And the churches are committing spiritual fornications with the people, see. They are... Here's the Bible that teaches this, and they make up a bunch of creeds and so forth that has nothing to do with the Bible.
Revelation 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
22 And this is nearly twenty something years I've stood right here and ask any minister, at anytime, to come and take not your textbook, your creed, but come take the Bible (in the light of the Bible) and prove it wrong, see. That's right.
And about contradictions: They say "Contradictions!" I've offered as much as two-months' wages if someone will show me one contradiction in the Bible. It's not there. You think it's there, but it isn't. If the Bible contradicts itself, it's no good at all, you can't believe it. Every word's inspired and there's no contradiction in the Bible.
23 Now, the Protestant church, in its organization, is (according to God's Word) connected the same thing with the Catholic church.
Now, I have nothing against Catholic people. Some of my dearest friends, sitting right here now, is gross of Catholic people. Here, the night before last, when I gave a harsh message through the Holy Spirit, on Protestant and Catholic, the Catholic walked right here at the altar and shook my hand. They're human beings just the same as we are.
You can't discuss with Catholic priests, because they don't believe this Bible to be all the Word. They say it's the "church"; we say it's the "Bible!"
The Catholic says, "We Catholics go to church and worship, you Protestants stay home and read the Bible."
I said, "Yeah, you go to church and worship, but what?" That's the next thing, see.
24 Now, but God said He was in His Word. This is God's Word and I believe it. I'm a Bible worshipper. That's the reason I disagree with Protestantism and the way of this church organization, because they teach things that isn't the Word of God. So I can't help from disagreeing. I don't fall out with them; no, sir, they're my brethren. I don't fall out with them, but I disagree with them because I have to take what God says and let everything else be a lie, see.
25 And now that's the connection that... And now the Bible said that this woman, the Catholic church, which was supposed to be called, in the Bible (Revelations the 17th chapter), " A whore," and she was the mother of harlots. And we see that the Bible said that a woman represented a church. So then if she had daughters that's harlots, it couldn't have been boys; it've had to be daughters, so it had to be churches. And Protestantism was born out of Catholicism.
Revelation 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
26 And now the next beast... The next thing is this here:
QUESTION: "What does 'the image of the beast' mean?"
It's a joint question to that, and the person who asked it has a good question. What now, if... The Bible clearly teaches that the Catholic church is the beast. The Bible said that a beast means "a power." Is that right? A beast... The Bible says that the beast meant "a power." And the beast was the Vatican City, the Catholic hierarchy. All right. And now, that was the power of the church that was the beast.
Then the Protestant church come out of the Catholic church, and organized themselves a little power. That is an image.
27 If anything... If something was made in my image, it'd have to look like me. If something made in the image of this church, it'd have to look like the church.
Something was made ... a beast ... made a image unto this beast, which was Lutherism, Methodistism, Baptistism, Pentecostalism, Holinessism, all them isms formed up into an organization and made an image just like the beast. There it is!
Now, "Do you say then, Brother Branham, that all Catholics, all Methodists, and all Baptists are going...?" I didn't say that.
There's thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of born-again Christians in those churches. But, in their organization, they're trying to drive them to a creed, and they won't stand for it. A church, when it organizes, it comes under a creed.
28 And I have no creed but the Bible. This is God's creed, and the Holy Spirit is the interpreter of that, and He brings it on from one light to another. The Gospel I'm preaching today, if I shall live to see another hundred years, if we would, there'll be more light. Just constantly, it's always come.
You used to ride an ox cart---your great-grandfather, when he went to see grandmother. Dad went to see mother in a T-Model. But now we almost go in a jet plane. See, we're moving on; science, moving on; education is moving on; the Gospel, moving on. And the Bible said they would, said, "They'll run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." So that's the joint. That's the reason there's...
Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
29 The Protestant denominational churches is the image of the beast, because it's denominated just exactly like Catholicism is. And God never did order His church to be organized in any age, but has always bitterly condemned it! Now do you get it? Not the people; the church!
When they try to bring people under a light of... Here! What if people tried to get you to go back and start running around in an ox cart? You wouldn't stand for it; we are living in a better age. That's the way it is back there. If somebody tried to tell me, "Oh, the only thing you have to do is this, that." I'm living in another age! That's the trouble with ministers: They're always looking back.
30 Here! A French scientist said, less than three hundred years ago, "If a man would ever make the terrific speed of thirty miles an hour, gravitation would take him from the earth." Thirty miles an hour! Well, do you think that science would refer back to that today? Far be it! No, sir. They got him going about nine or ten hundred miles an hour, yet if sometimes, in a rocket, sixteen hundred miles an hour, and still taking him forward!
Science has taken man more forward, greater things with his mind than what ... (and that's the only thing he has, is the tree of knowledge), farther than the ministers has taken him with his spirit, which is unlimited. But here's what it is. The science ain't looking back to what science said a few years ago; science is taking what they got now and moving forward for something else.
31 But you ask the preacher; "Well, we'll see what Moody said about it; we'll see what Wesley said about it." I don't care what they said about it; I know what God said about it now! This is it and I'm still looking for greater! That's it. That's the reason...
The Bible said, "Three unclean spirits come out of the mouth of the beast." Do you know what? Unclean spirits ... they're like frogs. Did you ever notice how a frog looks? A frog is always looking backwards. He never looks forward; looking back, always back, look back.
But the four beasts that had the four different heads, in Ezekiel, was looking forward and they couldn't go backward. They were moving forward all the time. Everywhere they went, they was going straight forward. See the difference?
Now, that's the connection that Protestantism has with Catholicism.
Ezekiel 1:9 Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
Revelation 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
32 So you're always throwing off on the Catholics, but "pot can't call kettle 'black.'" That's right.
I say, "Are you a Christian?"
"I'll give you to understand I belong to the Baptist church." That has no more to do with it than to say that you belonged out here to a farm somewhere.
"Well, I belong to the Catholic church." That still don't make you a Christian. Belonging to the Baptist or Methodist church don't make you a Christian.
There's only one way to be a Christian. The word Christian means "Christ-like." And you can't do it, you can't work it in yourself, there's no way at all you can do it. You have to forget yourself, die out to yourself, and let Christ come in and live the life of Christ in you.
33 "Except a man..." Here's what Jesus said, "Except a man be born of Spirit and of water he will in nowise enter the kingdom." Whether he's Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, or whatever, you'll have to be baptized in water for the remission of your sins and receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, or you're lost. That's Jesus' own Word. So now if you're Methodist, and have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and been baptized in water, Jesus said you'll enter Heaven. If you're Catholic and have done the same thing, you'll enter Heaven.
But if you're just holding onto that creed of the Catholic church, or the Methodist, or the Baptist church, you're still lost. And that's the reason we got the condition in the world, we got today, 'cause people are just exactly... They say, "That's against my faith."
"Do you believe in divine healing?"
"That's against my faith." That's against your church; your church's creed has got that made up, see, you have to do what the church says. And then you holler at the Catholic; that's the same thing they do. And that's the beast and the image of the beast! And the Bible says, "Whosoever took it could not enter the kingdom of Heaven, but would be cast out where dogs and sorcerers, and so forth, and would be tormented with fire and brimstone (in the presence of the holy angels, and the Lamb) forever and forever.
Come out of it, friend! Get right with God! Yes, sir.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Revelation 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Revelation 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Revelation 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
34 And now, let me get this... We'll get them while we're... Now, someone asked me today, two or three times I've been asked it:
QUESTION: "Brother Branham, speaking on 'the mark of the beast,' don't you believe they'll tattoo a number in your head, or tattoo something on your hand?" No, sir! Don't never look for that.
It'll be a boycott! Certainly! No man could buy or sell 'less he belongs to the confederation of churches. That's true. Now, it'll come like a union, unionizing the thing, bringing it down in unionized religion. Mark my words, it ain't far off! You'll see it; she's just around the corner.
The reason you don't know these things, you're here at home all the time. Follow me over in these countries where Catholicism has the upper hand, one time, and you see what takes place. Brother, they tell them all what to do and what not to.
Revelation 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
35 And here the Bible speaks that the United States (we picked it up in prophecy) come up like a lamb---freedom of religion---and directly they united those things together, and he spake like a dragon and exercised the same power the dragon had before him. That's the USA! That's right.
A minister said to me not long ago, a friend of mine, said, "Brother Branham, God will never let the United States fall, because of the basis of its forefathers, founded on religion."
I said, "He let the Jews sure carried away, and they had a lot better standing than we had." That's right. God ain't no respect of some generation that's passed; you either walk the line or you're out of the kingdom, that's all. Truly! That's pretty rough, but that's good for you. That's the Scripture. And we got...
Revelation 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
36 The trouble of it is today (Some of you old-timers know this.): We got too much Hollywood evangelism. That's right. Too much of that with a whole lot of racket and carrying on, a lot of glamour, and everything like that, and tooting horns, and so forth: "Who will stand up and accept Christ as personal Saviour? God bless you, brother; you go to Heaven right now." That's a lie! That's a lie!
"Except a man be born again!" And if he's born again, the same blessing that come to him there will come to him here. And we've been through that over and over, through the Scriptures in the last week.
And find out that in the eastern people, when the Holy Spirit fell upon the Jews, which were an oriental, eastern people, the Holy Spirit fell with great signs and manifestations. The Bible said there'd be almost a time where you couldn't even tell if it's like dark or day. It was kind of a cloudy day, plumb on until the last part of the evening. And then the sun would come out a few minutes in the last evening. "It'll be light in the evening." Is that right? Well, that's the western people, the Gentiles, receiving the same Holy Spirit that the Jews received back there, with the same signs and manifestations. That's it.
Zechariah 14:7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
37 And 'course, people, the world's going to call you a fanatic, "cracked at the head." The Bible... Jesus said they would do it. You're a peculiar people, and you are odd because it's so much different.
I notice it in my own neighborhood at home; the people there... Even my little children; we try to keep them clean and live decent as can be, but you can watch the neighbors make a difference in the children, see. They make a difference.
And I know, I have a way of knowing things (and you know that; you've seen it in the meetings), know that the pastors of the city say, "Well, now, Billy's a good boy, we have nothing against him. But, you see, that's just a little different class of people than what we are." Thank God! That's right. Thank God! That's the mark. There's the mark we're talking about.
Matthew 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Titus 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
38 Look, last night, when the Holy Spirit predicted, nine hundred years before the Jews received the Holy Ghost, and told them what it would be, "The inkhorn---man with the inkhorn writer went through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark in their forehead." Is that right? Spoke of it before the church was condemned by God. And Titus besieged the walls of Jerusalem, in AD 96, and burnt the city. And there wasn't one stone left upon another one, according to the prophecy. And, today, the only thing they got left of the temple is an old wall laying there where they heaped up the stones, and it's rubbed slick where the Jews weep and wail there at the wailing wall, the only thing left of the temple. And the Mosque of Omar stands at the same place.
And Jesus said, as spoken by the prophet Daniel, "When you see the abomination that maketh desolation standing in the Holy place," then He's underlined ... in parenthesis: "Let him that readeth understand," see. That's right. There it was. And He told how many times it'd be until the Gentiles would be ... dispensation would be cut off. They trod the walls down, then God would return to the Jews. And we're right at that time! Here's the Jews returning back by the thousands, in the last few years. And you know how we went through it last night, how the Scripture perfectly ... just like reading a newspaper, and more plainer, because you get more sense out of it.
Now.
Ezekiel 9:2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.
Ezekiel 9:3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side;
Ezekiel 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Matthew 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Mark 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:
39 But, however, the Mark that was put on their head was not tattooed, was it? What was it? The baptism of the Holy Spirit. And what is the mark that's going to be for this last day? The Bible said, the Seal of God was the baptism of the Holy Ghost, for the people in the last day. Now, there's no... Ephesians 4:30: "Wherefore grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you're sealed until the day of your redemption." The Bible speaks. And Ephesians 1:13 says the same thing---many other places---that the Holy Spirit is the Seal of God.
What is a seal? A seal cannot be put on anything until it's complete. The Lutherans wasn't sealed. The dispensation of grace wasn't completed; they preached justification. Methodists wasn't sealed, (I'm getting to a question here, and we'll get to it a little later.)--- not sealed---because it wasn't completed. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the completion of the works of God.
Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
40 He said, "There are three that bear record in Heaven: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and these three are one." You can't have the Father without the Son, the Son without the Holy Ghost, they are one.
He said, "There are three that bear record in earth: the water, the blood, the Spirit, and they are not one but agree in one," (There you are) ... in one complete sealing. Justification under Luther: water; sanctification by the blood.
Justification was Romans 5:1: "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Justification by faith!
Sanctification through the blood (Hebrews 13:12 and 13): " Jesus suffered without the gate that He might sanctify the people with His own blood."
Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Hebrews 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
1 John 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
41 Luke 24:49: "Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem till you're endued with power from on high." Acts 1:8: "After this the Holy Ghost is come upon you, then you'll be witnesses of Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth." A Holy Ghost baptism was to last until Jesus returns again!
"A little while and the world sees Me no more, yet ye shall see Me for I will be with you, even in you, to the end of the world; doing the things that I do, you'll do also." Through His Spirit, working through the church! He said, "You'll be made fun of." Said, "They called me, the master of the house Beelzebub, the chief of fortunetellers," said, "how much more will they call them of his household now?" Said, "Blessed are ye when men shall say all manner of things about you, rejoice and be exceedingly glad, 'cause great is your reward in Heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."
That's scripture. There it is. So, you see, you just got to have it, friends. Now, you've got to make your choice; you're a free moral agent.
Matthew 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?
Matthew 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
John 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
42 But that's the connection with the Protestant church and the Catholic church. Together they are both, according to the Bible ... who only holds to the church; not Jesus, now; to the church. People in the church that's holding on to Jesus Christ and praying for God to open up the way and make them ... give them light, that person's saved, I don't care what church he's in. That's right. But if he's just holding on to his denomination, he's taken the mark of apostasy, which is taking the place of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Contrary! And the Catholic and Protestant both, alike, the Bible said she was a whore; they were harlots (her daughters). Is that clear now? All right.
Revelation 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
43 QUESTION: "So the Holy... Does the Holy Ghost still given by the laying on of hands? The disciples did this---Peter, Paul, and so on---and is it still possible? Paul received it in this manner."
Yes, dear brother, sister, whoever wrote the note. The Holy Ghost is absolutely to be received by laying on of hands.
Now, many people call me... I've been marked as a Pentecostal, saying I was pentecostal. I never belonged to a Pentecostal organization. I'm absolutely free from all organizations, and by God's help I aim to stay that way, 'cause I can stand right in the breach and say, "We're brothers! Come here, let's come reason together."
Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
44 When I first started back there, by the grace of God... And you people here... And my secretaries and them sitting here knowing: I could be in contact with ten million people, or more, in the world today. What an organization could be started, see. That's right. But I don't want an organization; it's against the Bible. I'm trying my best to get the people to be saved that's in the organization. That's the thing. And what influence the Lord has give me with people, I'll certainly use it for His glory instead of placing it on some organization. I'll put it on Jesus Christ where it belongs. No organization can save you; it takes the blood of Jesus Christ.
45 But now, in laying on of hands... Now, I'm going to differ with my... Now, you dear Pentecostal people, now don't fall out with me. But now when you come to a place and say, "We will go tarry for the Holy Ghost." What a word's been used in Pentecost!
And I'll say this ... not hurting your feelings. The greatest support I have on the field is the Pentecostal people, because they believe the message of divine healing and the power of God. The rest of them turn their nose up at it.
But just individuals out of the church, who's predestinated to eternal life, they'll come. That's all. But those who are not, cannot come; and God said so; said, "They were predestinated to condemnation." He's not willing that any should perish, but, being God, He seen they would condemn it. So that's all, He foresaw it. And that's what the foreknowledge of God is: to see those things. And He predicted the church just where it would be standing right to this very day. And God knew it from the beginning. Before the foundation of the world, He knew the church would be just the way it is today. He knew before the foundation of the world I'd be standing in this pulpit tonight. He's God, He knows the end from the beginning.
Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
46 Now, the Pentecostal people has taught... Now, I probably get plenty back on this, but I must be honest if I've got to come to the Word. There is no such a thing as "tarrying"! You've been in error. Tarry doesn't mean "pray," tarry means to "wait." After the ascension, after Jesus Christ ... the crucifixion, the cleansing of the sanctuary. And after the day of the atonement, the resurrection... The day of the atonement, when He was killed, and then it's forty days until the ascension, and then Pentecost. The word pentecost means "fifty." It meant fifty days after offering of the atonement.
And then after the atonement was offered, everything had to come out perfect, letterly, geographically, everything just as God said. And Pentecost: It was a jubilee time, when they brought the first fruits of the harvest in and had a jubilee.
47 Now, the first fruits of the church, the Holy Ghost church, the church that was to last these two thousand years till Jesus come, the first fruits come at Pentecost. It was ten days before Pentecostal time; it was forty days after the cleansing ... after the killing of the sacrifice, until the ascension of Jesus Christ. He said, "Go up to Jerusalem and wait until you're endued with power from on High." Acts 1...
Acts 2, "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were in one accord, in one place. And suddenly there came from Heaven a sound as a rushing mighty wind, filled all the house where they were sitting. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and begin to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Acts 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
48 And then the religious world, on the outside, the great orthodox churches, come up and seen those people staggering and acting like drunk people. And they come up and laughed at them and made fun of them, said, "Look at this bunch of Galileans! They're all drunk!" See the misunderstanding?
And to my Catholic friends, the blessed virgin Mary was with them. And if God wouldn't let her come to Heaven without receiving the Holy Ghost and being like that, do you think you'll get there anything less, sister? No. So, let's get off our high horse; let's get off.
Acts 2:13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
49 Don't pay no attention to what the world's got to say. Look what God's got to say! This is the Word of God. We have to build it according to this blueprint, 'cause He said to Peter, "Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Everything else will take place. It showed the gates of hell would be against it, but it'll not prevail. And the people thinking they can stop it? You could stop the sun quicker. That's right. You can't stop it. God has ordained it to move on.
Here, when I first got converted, even my poor mother back there thought I had gone crazy. My mother-in-law said, "He ought to be sent up to the insane institution." The preachers of the city said, "He'll burn down pretty soon." I've been burning a long time, it's still burning, and better all the time. Why? It can't burn down; it's God! Instead of burning down, it's spread around the world now.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
50 Just the same thing He said when I baptized right down here on the Ohio River (many of you was standing there twenty-three years ago), right on the Ohio River. That light (Angel) come right down to where we as at, and said, "As John the Baptist was sent for a forerunner of the first coming of Jesus Christ, your message will bring the second coming of Jesus Christ." And it's done it. Well, He hasn't come yet, but look what it's done; it's swept the world around, see. And today now, just thinking, the effort that's went forth, there's been literally millions.
Even the Catholic Sunday Visitor spoke of it, of how many millions that come in around, just of the effort.
Others hear, they say, "That's the truth! I'm ready to sell out right now to these things of the world, and go preach the real Gospel."
And that's the reason they call us "full Gospel"; they make fun of full Gospel. But, brother, I don't want a half of nothing; it's got to be the whole thing to me. If part of it's good, the rest of it's good. The full Gospel!
51 Now, notice, the Holy Spirit come back there. The pentecostal people waited, "And there suddenly there came a sound from Heaven like a rushing mighty wind, filled the house where they were sitting."
Not one time did they ever have to wait after that. While Peter spake these words to the Gentiles, the Holy Ghost fell on them, even before they was baptized. Is that right? While... Acts 10:44:
But while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on ... them which heard the word.
And they of the circumcision ... and many as come with Peter was astonished because ... on the Gentiles ... was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then said Peter,
Can a man forbid water, seeing that these has received the Holy Ghost like we did in the beginning?
And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. (That's right; no waiting, no tarrying.)
Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Acts 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
Acts 10:45 And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
Acts 10:47 Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?
Acts 10:48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
52 The apostolic way: God has no set rule; when the heart's hungry, He will give you what you're hungering for. If you want the Holy Ghost, it can fall on you right now.
Peter, when he went down to preach... Peter had the keys of the kingdom. (I've got a question to get to that in a few minutes.) He had the keys to the kingdom. He opened it up to the house of Cornelius; he opened it up down to the Samaritans; he opened it up over here; but remember that Philip had went down there and preached to them and had baptized them in the name of Jesus Christ, and Peter came down and laid hands on them.
And, now, he done something for that sorcerer down there. They had Simon the sorcerer, said, "I'll give you some money, to give me that gift that whoever I lay my hands upon receives the Holy Ghost." Is that right? Something happened! (Not some of these archbishops with their collar turned around in the back, come around and lay hands on them, said, "I give you the apostolic blessing.") Something happened when Peter laid his hands on them, and when they do yet.
I've seen them just fall like flies like that, as the Holy Spirit strikes them by laying on of hands. Yes, that is the apostolic doctrine of laying on hands. God bless you. If you're a little different from that, just write me a note tomorrow night. All right.
Acts 8:5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.
Acts 8:17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
Acts 8:18 And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
Acts 8:19 Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
53 QUESTION: "If two thirds of the people of the world have not heard the Gospel yet ... the Word of the Gospel, how much..." (Beg your pardon. It's wrote with ink, and I've been perspiring here and it's run into it. Let's see.) " If two thirds of the people of the world has not yet heard the gospel, how can our Lord come now?"---since they haven't heard the gospel, two thirds of them?
Well that's exactly right. I'll tell you what I think. Here not long ago, when Dr. Reedhead, the president of the Sudan Mission, the greatest full ... the greatest apostolic ... (I beg your pardon) the greatest fundamental mission in the world: the Sudan Mission. Dr. Reedhead, with so many degrees till he didn't even know how many degrees was upon him, come to my house up there a little over a year and six months ago, and stood in my house, him and this Hyman Appleman, this Baptist minister, which has received the Holy Ghost now, and preaching down in Mexico. And he come to the house. He said, "Brother Branham," said, "do you deal with the Pentecostals?"
And I said, "Yes, sir."
54 And he said, "I'm Doctor Reedhead."
I said, "I'm glad to know you. Will you come in?"
He said, "Yes, sir." He said, "I want to ask you something." Said, "I understand that you was ordained in the Baptist church."
I said, "That's right." I said, "I come out of it," I said, "because I couldn't stand that. I believe to preach what the Bible says, not what the Baptist church says. And I have nothing against the Baptist church; they're just as good as any other church." And I said, "I come out of it so I could be free."
He said, "Well, of course, you know we're Baptist."
And I said, "Yes, sir."
And he said, "I want to ask you something. What about this baptism of the Holy Ghost?" Said, "I've been in and seen them kick over chairs and stomp and holler and carry on."
I said, "I've seen all that, too." But I said, "Brother, behind it all, there's a real genuine article of the baptism of the Holy Ghost."
And he said, "Brother Branham, can I receive it?" He said, "I've got so many honors!" He said, "I'm a doctor, I'm this, I got my PhD, I got my bachelor degree, I've got every kind of degree and honorary degrees from all over the nations and things like that," said, "and where is Jesus Christ?"
I said, "Well, brother, He's right here in the room."
55 He said, "I stood and talked to a staunch Mohammedan, just been educated in America, and I said, 'Renounce your old dead prophet and receive a resurrected Lord Jesus.'"
"He said, 'Kind sir, what can your resurrected Lord Jesus do for me any more than my Mohammed can do?' Said, 'Both of them wrote Bibles, we believe it.' Said, 'Both of them died.' And said, 'And both of them promised life after death to us, and we believe it.'"
He said, "Oh, but, you see," he said, "we Christians have joy."
"Said, 'So do we.' Said, 'I can produce just as much psychology as you can.' (And that's right.) He said, 'Well, look, our Mohammed... You claimed your Lord Jesus raised from the dead.'"
And Doctor Reedhead said, "Why, He did!"
"Said, 'Prove it!' Said, 'Prove it!' Said, 'You've had two thousand years to prove it, and only about one third of the world has ever heard about it.' Said, 'Let our Mohammed raise from the dead and the whole world will know about it in two days.' (He's right.) He said, 'Our Mohammed never promised us nothing but life after death.' He said, 'Your Lord Jesus promised you and you teachers that the very things that He did you'd do also.' And said, 'Let's see you teachers produce that now, and' said 'we'll believe He raised from the dead.'"
He said, "Brother Branham, I scooted my foot in the dirt like that and changed the subject."
With all those degrees! Why? Where is God in those degrees? God's not known by PhD's and DD's and LD's, and so forth.
56 God's known by simple faith, by the baptism of the Holy Ghost---the only way. God in you brings you a son of God, changes your nature. And the very same thing, God the Creator who made all things and spoke the world into existence by His Word, that same Spirit in you, you believe everything God says and there's nothing impossible, if you can believe it!
You won't stand back to one little creed and say, "I don't believe, accept that. I can't believe God will do this. I can't believe." You limit God by your unbelief! That's it.
57 So Dr. Reedhead stood there, said, "Brother Branham, could a man receive, really, the Holy Ghost?"
I said, "Yes, sir, Doctor Reed, you can."
He said, "If God knows my heart, and I believe you, knowing and under inspiration right now, I want you... Do you believe I'm telling the truth?"
I said, "I know you are!"
He said, "How must I receive it?"
I said, "Kneel."
And he knelt there by the old coffee table. (I just picked up from up here, the man is sitting back there who fixed it just a while ago up here.) Sitting there, broke the glass on top of it as he kneeled down. He said, "God, have mercy on my sinful soul." And I laid hands on him, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost come upon him right there. That's right.
And he's just set that Baptist church afire everywhere now! They're all around there. There it is. Yes, sir.
The Gospel cannot ... Jesus cannot come until the...
58 Listen! We pass tracts all around over the world. You can't go in any little corner 'less there's been tracts passed, somebody coming through there with theology. You go overseas today and call yourself a missionary, and watch them laugh at you. Walk into India and say, "I'm a missionary."
"Well, what are you going to teach us?" They know more about the Bible... Some of their kids over there know more about it than some of the teachers here in America knows about it. After all, it's an eastern book. And, remember, they had the Gospel hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years before America ever come into existence. Saint Thomas: The great church that he preached in, is still standing today in India. They don't need any of your teaching; they know all about it. They said, "What are you going to teach us?"
"Well, we're American missionaries."
59 "What are you going to teach us? how to drink whiskey? That's what you all do over there in your churches! Smoke cigarettes? Going to teach us how to divorce our wives, and so forth?" Said, "If you're going to do that, we don't want it." And said, "You're coming over here with some new theology or something another, you're going to try to teach us some of the Word, we know more about it than you do." And that's right. He said, "But if you're coming to demonstrate what the Word says, we'll receive it." Amen! There you are. That's the thing they're hungering for.
Mark my word, write it in the pages of your Bible, for it's "Thus saith the Lord." Remember, when we land in India, you're going to hear of tens of thousands times thousands being saved. The Holy Spirit... I've wrote it here in my Bible, it's wrote in tens of thousands of Bibles right here (like the resurrection of the little boy) by a vision that He said, "There's three hundred thousand of them in there." And you see if that isn't right! There's how the Gospel's going to be preached just overnight. She'll just sweep like that from place to place.
60 In Africa, when those thirty thousand in only one altar call received God, I said, "Raise your hands and receive the Holy Ghost." I said, "Don't wait for some American missionary to come over, teach and learn languages in the churches." And mothers washing over boards to send a missionary over there; and ride around in a nice big car, living on the fat of the land; sure, pass out a few tracts and come back. They don't want that; proved it.
I said, right here at the Jewish Hospital a few nights ago in a meeting with the ministers and doctors, on the subject of divine healing, I said, "You called me a holy roller, and you said I had had a nightmare when I told you of the Angel of the Lord." And I said, "And our own church has sent thousands and spent millions of dollars, of sending missionaries to Africa; and when I got there, they was packing little mud idols, trying to get help from the mud idol, and call themselves 'Christians.'" I said, "And what you called 'fanaticism' won more souls to Christ in five minutes' time than our millions of dollars and thousands of missionaries has done in the last hundred and fifty years."
They shut up, that was it! There it laid. I said to them men, I said, "Don't you try to get educated; just take this Gospel and go on out yonder in the native lands where white man can't even go, for the diseases."
61 And I've got records, right by the Durban paper, it said, "Even if one old man couldn't even know which was right and left hand, receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and was baptizing on the average of a thousand a week." That's how the Gospel's going, just in a little bit. It only needs about six months to cover the world. All right.
62 QUESTION: "Will you explain about Christian Science?"
All right. I won't speak about your religion, my brother or sister, whoever put the question. Christian Science is psychology. And divine healing is the power of God! Christian Science has mind over matter; Christian Science denies the blood of Jesus Christ. Christian Science... No, I got Mrs. Eddy's books up there, and read them all, see. That's right, Christian Science denies the Deity of Jesus Christ, and puts Him a "prophet." Jesus Christ was not a man; He was God! He was divine! And they think it's mind over matter.
63 If I've got a cramp in my arm or in my stomach, or a pain in my head, I got sense enough to know it's hurting, and it ain't whether I'm thinking it's hurting. But I know that God's power can take it away, not me thinking about it, see. So Christian Science (I'd say this along with the other that was asked me) is one of the modern-day isms, and a deep, dark error. That's right. Not hurting your feelings, friend, ever who wrote it, but I must be sincere. Because you who wrote it, and I, together, will stand one day in the presence of Jesus Christ to give an account, and I'll have to answer for what I say. Now, I wouldn't answer unless I knew. All right.
64 QUESTION: "Now, when we're... When we live far from here to... We live too far from here to attend the Tabernacle, where do you recommend we attend, assemble ourselves together, seeing that the churches are after the mother church, or Catholicism?"
My dear brother or sister, whoever wrote it, I wouldn't tell you what church to attend. But what I would do, this, my brother, sister; if you haven't got the baptism of the Holy Spirit, see, well, you get the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and then you go to some congregation where there's other people who's got the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Congregate yourself with them kind of people.
65 I seen a man, here not long ago, that was born ten years since he ... or, not born, I beg your pardon, it was ten years since he had seen any sight. He belonged to a great church, and he lived at Kennett, Missouri. And he was a shoe cobbler years ago, and went blind. And the man come on the platform, and the Holy Spirit told him who he was and what was wrong with him, told him how long he had been blind, and told him of some little, dirty deed that he had done. He said, "If God will let me live to get there, I'll make that right." And, when he said that, his eyes come open; and this very same Bible, he read chapter after chapter out of it.
He returned to his church and was giving praise. And the pastor told him, "It would have happened anyhow. Why, you just merely got worked up, there was nothing to it. There's nothing to that stuff. It's of the devil!"
I challenge anyone to show me one Scripture where the devil can heal. If you will show me where the devil can heal, I'll prove the devil's your father (that's right), if you'll do that. It's not in the words of God. It cannot be proven. And you might want to try it, you're welcome. But that's been met by bigots and everything else, brother, so don't say that.
Look! And that same man got to (in his heart) believing it. And three months later he was in my services, just as blind as he was in the first place. There you are.
66 So keep out of them isms. Congregate yourself with somebody who believes, associate yourselves. The Bible said, "Yoke yourself not up among unbelievers." "Be ye separated," saith God. Come out! The Bible said, "Come out from among them, and touch not the unclean things, and I will receive you. I'm the Lord who stands in the midst of the church." That's right. Come out! Don't associate with such!
But get yourself among some church, some good church, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Campbellite, whoever it may be, it don't make... Where real true believers are in there, they don't care what the church creed says; they go there to meet with their brothers and sisters and worship God, together. All right.
2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
2 Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
67 QUESTION: "Last night you spoke of the great multitude that no man could number, from every tribe, nation, that are mentioned in the 7th chapter of Revelation. Did I understand you correctly to say that they are the bride of Christ?" Yes, you understood me, they are the bride.
Now if you'll notice, just exactly in Revelation 7, he saw the hundred and forty-four thousand. Now, I'm not accusing you of this, my brother, but the hundred... Usually a Jehovah Witness is the one that believes that hundred and forty-four thousand will be the bride. And that's an error! John knowed every one of them, and called them by name. They were every one Jews. He said, "Twelve thousand, is Gad; twelve thousand, is Zebulon; twelve thousand, is Benjamin; twelve thousand, is Judah." Is that right? And there's twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve times twelve is a hundred and forty-four thousand. Is that right? He said, "All the children of Israel." John recognized them.
Revelation 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Revelation 7:5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
Revelation 7:6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
Revelation 7:7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
Revelation 7:8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
68 Then he looked this way, and he said, "Why, here stood a great multitude that no man could number, of all kindreds, tongues, and nations; stood with white robes, in their hands ... and palms, and waving, and shouting, and singing hosannas to the King." He said, "Who are they?"
He said, "That's the ones that's come out of great tribulation and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. They are before God, and they'll serve the Lamb in His temple with Him. Day and night, they'll not leave Him." There's the bride (see), the wife, the Gentile bride.
Remember, the bride is a Gentile. He said, "He will come and take a people out of the Gentiles for His (what sake?) name's sake."
Now, there's a-many young lady in the world. But I've taken one woman, that was Meda Broy, and she's Mrs. William Branham now. She ain't a Broy no more; she's a Branham now, see.
And that's how it is: You take on Jesus Christ and become a bride, members of the bride.
Acts 15:14 Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
Revelation 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Revelation 7:10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Revelation 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
69 QUESTION: "What are the Latin words over the Vatican City? We want to know how they add up to six hundred and sixty-six, and what they mean."
Well, it isn't over ... the Latin ... the Latin words isn't over the Vatican City; it's over the throne of the pope where he sits on his throne. It's wrote up there, "VICARIUS FILII DEI." If you wish to, in the morning, I will bring it wrote out, everything, put it on a piece of paper, and if you want it, why, I will bring it to you in the morning. Where you can spell it out in Roman letters, VICARIUS FILII DEI; the word means "Instead of the Son of God"; he is the successor to the Son of God.
The Catholic church believes that Peter was the first pope, he was the successor of Jesus Christ. Which that's an error! All right. Then they claim that every pope following him is a successor; and the pope now (it is now), is a successor of Jesus Christ. And there it's wrote up over there, "A successor of Jesus Christ, 'VICARIUS FILII DEI,'" wrote on there. Take the Roman letters and just write it (X for ten, V for five, and so forth like that), as you spell "VICARIUS FILII DEI," and draw a line, and you got six hundred and sixty-six. Write it out and find out.
70 Now, I got The Facts Of Our Faith, it's called, the Catholic church, 'cause my people were Irish Catholic. So I know what I'm speaking of, see.
And it absolutely is the truth, that's right, that there... And the Bible said that "He will be sitting in a church, or a place, or a church that sets on seven hills in Rome, and his power will go to all the world. And he's called the antichrist."
And out of that church come forth little churches that was born after that, and said, "She was a whore, and they were harlots that followed her." That's right. There you are. 'Cause they organized in the same thing, and had their creeds and doctrines. Just a little less... Not as powerful as she is, but they still have power. And beast means "power." There you are. So they got... The Catholic's got the biggest power. The Methodists, and then the Presbyterians, and then the Lutherans, and then the Baptists, and then so forth, and on down. Them was little, organized powers, "My church! My church! My church! My church!"
But the true believer says nothing about it; it's, "My Christ! My Christ! My Christ!" That's the difference, you see. How do you know? The Holy Ghost bears witness with signs and wonders.
Revelation 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Revelation 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
71 Here's a little one, kind of a little throwback. I hate to read this, but somebody put it up here:
QUESTION: "You asked the reason why this Tabernacle didn't go on. The reason why, is grounds that some of the deacons deny the gift of tongues and healing. We all know that to be truth."
Let me know who he is, while I'm here on this campaign, and that will be quickly removed.
72 QUESTION: "Please explain if a Christian should observe feet-washing, and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ (name) instead of the name of the "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." Please.
All right. I had about three of those in here that asked that same thing.
Feet-washing, well, I might as well start on that. All right, now you may differ, that's all right. Let me just read a few, just a moment. Or if you want to read it, get St. John, the 13th chapter, just a moment. I want to ask you something here. And listen to what Jesus Christ said, Himself, and then I will take you on over in the Testament and show you it's still observed on. Begin at the 2nd verse:
Now supper being ended, the devil have ... put in the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;
Jesus knowing ... the Father had given all things into his hands, ... He came from God, and He went to God; (He came out of the Spirit, into the flesh, and returned back in the Spirit, see.)
And He riseth from the supper, and laid aside his garments; ... took a towel, ... girded himself.
After that he poureth water into a basin, and begin to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter said unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
Jesus ... said unto him, What I do now thou knowest not ... but thou shall know hereafter.
Peter said unto him, Thou shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered and said unto him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. (Oh, could you imagine that! All right.)
Simon ... said to him ... not my feet only, but ... my hands and my head.
And Jesus said unto him, He that is washed ... save ... needs to wash his feet, you're clean every whit: ... but not all.
For he knew who should betray him; therefore he said, You're not all clean.
So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and had set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done unto you?
You call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye ... ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example, that you should do to one another as I have done unto you.
... happy are ye if ye know these things and do them.
John 13:2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;
John 13:3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;
John 13:4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
John 13:5 After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
John 13:6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
John 13:7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
John 13:8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
John 13:9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
John 13:10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
John 13:11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
John 13:12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?
John 13:13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
John 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
John 13:15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
John 13:17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
73 Over in II Timothy, Paul said, writing to the church, "Don't let a widow be brought into the church until she has washed the saints' feet." That's right. A feet-washing was observed all through the Bible days. And by God's help, if I keep my right mind, and God helps me, I'll observe it till I die. That's right. It is exactly a commission of Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 5:9 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
1 Timothy 5:10 Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.
74 Now, here's going to be a stinging question:
QUESTION: "Why would a person be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ instead of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?"
75 I got two or three, here's one right here:
QUESTION: "Brother Bill, what is the false baptism that you were speaking of last night, if it is water or Spirit? If it is water, and you said Jesus Christ's name, why did Matthew 28:19 ... it say 'Father, Son, and Holy Ghost'? Please explain."
Now, these are kind of stinging, but I believe I got another one here somewhere, the same thing, oh, it's about three places. I'll try to get to it. Let's see. Will you bear with me for a few minutes? All right. Now, let's just start now and answer these questions. Maybe we can skim through them, and get them maybe (the rest of them) tomorrow, if nothing else at Sunday school, or sometime. But these people perhaps, are asking this, and tomorrow is baptism. Now, whichever way you're baptized, that doesn't matter to me. But I want to tell you the apostolic doctrine of the Bible, see.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
76 Now, we found out, last night, that when the Catholic church was organized, that it come out with false communion, saying that when you receive the holy Eucharist, meaning holy communion there, you receive the Holy Ghost. That is not the Holy Ghost, that's a wafer.
The Protestant church shakes hands, puts their names on the book; that's what they call receiving it.
Now, but the real way to receive it was the baptism of the Spirit.
77 And, now, the Catholic church brought out catechism. Luther had it, the Methodist church has it, Episcopalians have it, many of the other ones have it: catechism. Many of the traditions of the Catholic church still hangs on to the Protestant church; which forms her right in with it, according to the Bible.
But there never was a person, ever, in all the pages of the Bible, ever baptized in "the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost." There never was a person baptized in "the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost" until the early Catholic church. It's not in the Bible, nowhere! And if anybody can find a piece in there, and tell me and show me where one person was baptized using "the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost," please show me, for I've went through and through and through and through and through it, for twenty-some-odd years now. And it's an error. It's a Catholic creed and not a Bible command.
78 Now, we'll find out why. We're going to your question, dear brother. St. John... I mean, Matthew 28:19. All right, let's go back over. You turn with your Bible with me, so you can read with me. This is the place where it's spoke of. One place in the Bible of...
Didn't Jesus say, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established"?
I can take you in the Bible where it said, "Judas Iscariot went and hung himself"; and "You go do likewise."
I can take you to where Jesus said, "When the Son of man (which Himself was) which now is in Heaven shall come again," and standing right here on earth. And said, "The Son of man which now is in Heaven," and standing right here on earth.
You have to know God to know His Word. You can't... No wonder you say, "It contradicts itself. It's confusing." Because God said He wrote it that way to hide it from these scholars and so forth. And let people get humble at the altar, and God will reveal it to you.
Matthew 18:16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
Matthew 27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
John 13:3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;
2 Corinthians 13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
79 Now, here's the Scripture, Matthew 28:19, only place in the Bible it ever mentioned these titles:
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Now, the way you're baptized is "In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Ghost." That's not even in the Scripture. But it is here, "Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name." Now look right at your Bible and see if that says "in the names" or "in the name."
Now, you say... Now, here not long ago in a meeting, a fellow said, "There's a contradiction in the Bible." Said, "I wish you'd explain it to me. Why did Jesus tell the people to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost, and Peter turned around and baptized them 'in the name of Jesus Christ,' in Acts 2:38?" Said, "If that don't contradict itself, I don't see a contradiction."
I said, "Just because you haven't sought God right."
He said, "Brother Branham, does it make any difference if I'm baptized this way or that way?" It certainly does, and I'll prove it by the Bible.
What if ... what if Moses... God told Moses, coming up to the bush, said, "Moses, take off your shoes; you're on holy ground."
He said, "Now, Lord, I'm a reverent man. My shoes are a little hard to take off, so I'll just take off my hat." He never said "hat"; He said, "shoes." And what the Bible says is truth. Now, if...
Exodus 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
80 Here, this is ten days; this was the ascension. And when Jesus was taken up, He commissioned His disciples to go into all the world and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And ten days later... They went up to Jerusalem, and waited in the upper room until the Holy Ghost come; then when they began to preach and go on... They said, "What can we do to be saved?"
Peter said, "Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." Then he went to the house of Cornelius, he said, "Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ." He went over and found some people was already baptized, said, "You got to be baptized over again in the name of Jesus Christ." And went down to Samaria and said, "Baptize them in the name of Jesus Christ..."
And not one time was them titles ever called over a person. Never! "Now, there's a contradiction then," you say. No, it's not. Just ask the Holy Spirit now, and watch Him reveal it to you. Open your heart.
Now, don't hold prejudice; if you do, God can't talk to you. But if you won't hold prejudice, say "I'm looking for really truth, Brother Branham."
Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 8:14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:
Acts 8:15 Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:
Acts 8:16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
Acts 10:48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
81 If Jesus told the disciples, "go do this," and they went and done something over here different, and yet God blessed it, and all through the Bible. Now, did they do what Jesus told them not to do? If they did, they disobeyed, and God will never honor disobedience. If He would, He would have honored Eve and stopped the whole thing in the beginning. When God says anything, He's got to keep His Word, He's sovereign. So then either Peter made a mistake...
"Oh," said, "that's what the apostles said." One fellow said, "That's what the apostles said; I'm going to do what Jesus said."
Well, if the apostles did what Jesus told them not to do, then what? And if the apostles which wrote this Bible ... Paul wrote all these, and Paul was the one made them be rebaptized again, and if Paul wrote this, biggest part of this New Testament, then what kind of a Bible have you got written that you're trying to read?
Acts 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
Acts 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
82 Let's just make it just this... Ask real sensible and see what the Word says. Now, this is for education, for you to know the Word of God.
Now, if Peter baptized "in the name of Jesus Christ" after Jesus telling him to baptize "in the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost," he done contrary to what Jesus said. Is that true? Now, there's got to be something there. Now, let's just find out, and ask the Holy Ghost to show us. Now, the first place: now let's take ... let's take the first Scripture, Matthew 28:19:
Go ye therefore ... teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father ... Son ... the Holy Ghost:
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
83 Look down on your Bible and see if that says "in the names of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost." Does it? No, sir. Did it say, "in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Ghost"? It said, "in the name." Is that right? Well, the "name" was singular. Is that right? Well, which name did He want them to baptize, the name of the Father, or the name of the Son, or the name of the Holy Ghost? He said, "in the name." Well, frankly, there isn't either one of them a name.
How many fathers is in here? Let's see your hand. All right. Which one of you is named Father? Father is not a name; father is a title. How many sons are in here? Sure, every man, every male, they're sons. Well, which one of you is named Son? It's not a name; it's a title. Is that right? It's not a name; it's a title. Well, which one of you is named Human? How many humans is here? All of you. Well, which one of you is named Human? There is no such a thing; that's what you are. The Holy Ghost is not a name; that's what it is. I'm a human. So neither Father, Son, nor Holy Ghost is name"; they're just three titles that goes to one name.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
84 Now listen closely. Look here. I'll take this on just like a baby basis. If you said, well, like you was reading a storybook, and it said, "John and Mary lived happy ever after." And you wonder then, "Who is John and Mary?" Well, the only way you'll ever know who John and Mary is, is go back and read the beginning of the story and go through it. Is that right?
Well, if Jesus said here, "Baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," and Father's no name, and Son's no name, and the Holy Ghost is no name, what ... who is this Fellow? We want to know who He is. Now, the best thing to do... That's the last chapter of Matthew, the last verse. Let's turn back to the first chapter of Matthew and the first verses, and start off, find out who this Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is. Now, I just want to do this for the children, there, so they'll get it also.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
85 First thing, is to straighten out you on your trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Now, in the first place, not one place in the Bible is trinity ever mentioned. You find it and show it to me. There's no such a thing. It's Catholic error, and you Protestants bow to it. Notice, now, what is this? Now, I said this is who? Father. This is who? Son. And this is who? [Congregation says, "Holy Ghost!"] Now, the Father is the father of who? The Son. Is that right? Now, this is Jesus' Father. Don't get them mixed up, now. This here is the Father; this is the Son; and this is the Holy Ghost. Is that right? Now, the people put it, "Three different people, three different Gods, three different personalities." No wonder the Jews can't understand it. All right.
86 Matthew, the first chapter, starts off with genealogies of Jesus Christ, "Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob," so on, down like that till it comes down to the 18th verse:
Now the birth of Jesus Christ...
Here it is, the 18th verse:
Now the birth of Jesus Christ (follow me with your Bible) ... the birth of this man Jesus Christ was on this wise: When ... his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph ... she was found with a child of God, the Father.
Did I read that right? What does it say? [Congregation says, "The Holy Ghost."] Found with a child of who? I thought somebody said this Man was His Father? The Bible said this Man was His Father.
... she was found with a child of the Holy Ghost.
Now what kind of a child you got? As Jesus plainly said God was His Father. Is that right? God is His Father. Well, what's the Holy Ghost got to do with it then? If the Bible said the Holy Ghost was His Father, and Jesus said God was His Father (and you said God was His Father, and now the Bible says it here), if there's two different people, God had nothing to do with it; the Holy Ghost is His Father.
Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
87 Now let's read a little farther:
Joseph her husband, being a just man, was not willingly to make her a public example, but was minded to put her away privily.
But, behold, while he thought on these things, ... the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. (Not God, the Father; God, the Holy Ghost.)
See where your tritheist idea would go to? It would put Jesus a illegitimate child. Certainly. That's an error. No Scripture for that. Now, you'll have to admit that God the Father, God the Holy Ghost, is the same person, or Jesus had two different daddies. Is that right? Of course, it's right. The Bible said, "The Holy Ghost was His father," and the Bible said, "God was His father." Now, which is His father? The Holy Ghost and God is the same Spirit; it's the same thing.
... all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, by the Lord, saying,
... a virgin shall conceive ... and bring forth a child, and they ... (this One)
... and they shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
And ... this was all done, that it might be fulfilled...
... and his name shall be called Emmanuel, which is by interpretation, God with us.
Matthew 1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
Matthew 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
88 Now, who is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? Did Peter do wrong? He done what Jesus told him. That's three titles.
I'm a minister, and I'm a father, and I'm a "Reverend," (they call it---a title), but none of that's my name. My name's William Branham.
He was the Father, He was Son, He was Holy Ghost. You try to make three Gods, friend; it's wrong; it's error.
There's three dispensations that the tritheist got mixed up with. God the Father was the Spirit that hung over the children of Israel in the pillar of fire. Is that right? God was there. Then God was made flesh and dwelt among us (is that right?) in His Son. Now He's condescending down till He's come into the heart of man, by the Holy Spirit.
89 God is like a three-foot rule ... or, a three-foot rule, yes. The first twelve-inches was God the Father; the second twelve-inches, God the Son: the same God; third twelve-inches was God the Holy Ghost: the same God. Jesus said...
You say, "We got the Holy Ghost in us." That's right.
But Jesus said, "A little while, and the world seeth Me no more. Yet you'll see Me, for I..." ("I" is a personal pronoun) I will be with you, even in you, to the end of the world." Where's the Holy Ghost at then? "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come again and be with you." That's it.
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
John 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
John 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
90 You see, you misunderstand it then. It's one God in three dispensations. The dispensation of the Fatherhood, Sonship, and Holy Spirit, it's the same God. And when He said, "Go baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit," it was Jesus Christ. And that's why we baptize in Jesus' name.
Now look, let's get the baptisms here. The first time baptism was ever mentioned in the New Testament, was John the Baptist. Is that right? (I'll place this up here.) You see, you have to get your Godhead straightened out before you can get baptism straightened out. That's John the Baptist, first baptism.
Second time baptism was spoke of, was Acts 2:38, where they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, at the new church. The second place was Cornelius's house ... or, I beg your pardon, Samaritans (Acts 7:48 and 49.) And Acts 10:49 was where he baptized them at the house of Cornelius. And the next time baptism was spoke of, and calling any names or titles, was over in Acts 19:5.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Acts 8:16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
Acts 10:48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
Acts 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
91 Now, when they were baptized at the day of Pentecost, they were baptized (Acts 2:38) in the name of Jesus Christ. Is that right? Write it down, look it up.
The next, Philip went down, two days later, and begin to preach to the Samaritans; and preach to them, and heal the sick, and had a great meeting down there, and baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter went down and laid hands on them, they received the Holy Ghost.
Peter went up on the housetop a few days later, was hungry; he saw a vision. God sent him over to the house of Cornelius. And while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on them, and they begin speaking in tongues and carrying on like they did the first place. Peter said, "They haven't even been baptized yet." So he commanded them, every one, to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Acts 8:17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
Acts 10:10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
Acts 10:44 While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.
Acts 10:46 For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter,
Acts 10:48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.
92 Every person in the Bible was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul ... I mean, John's disciples wasn't baptized in the name of Jesus Christ; they were baptized unto repentance. Let's turn over to I Corinthians... I mean, let's turn over to Acts, the 19th chapter, just a moment. And read this just a minute so you'll see, my friends, that it's not ... the Scriptures doesn't contradict itself. Well, look here:
And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul ... passed through the upper coasts of ... Ephesus: he finds certain disciples,
He said unto them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? ... they said ... We know not whether there be any Holy Ghost.
... he said ... then what was you baptized?
"Oh," they said, "we've been baptized."
Said, "How?"
... said, Unto John...
... He said, John only baptized unto repentance, saying ... that you should believe on him who's come ... that is, on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when they heard this, they were rebaptized in the name of ... Jesus Christ.
... Paul laid his hands upon them, and the Holy Ghost come on them; and they spoke in tongues, and prophesied.
The great Saint Paul...
Acts 19:1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
Acts 19:2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
Acts 19:3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
Acts 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
Acts 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Acts 19:6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
93 Listen! What if you had been baptized by John the Baptist, the same man that baptized Jesus Christ? A holy man, where Jesus said, "There never was a man born of woman, as great as John the Baptist." He's the chief of all the prophets. He led Jesus out in the water and baptized Him right in Jordan. Brother, if I was baptized by him, I'd feel pretty good about it. Is that right?
But Paul turns around and says, "That won't work now." Said, "You've got to be rebaptized again."
"Oh, we've been immersed, though, Paul! We was immersed by John, right out in the River of Jordan."
He said, "That won't work now. You've got to be baptized again."
"How?"
Said, "John baptized unto repentance. This is for the remission of sins, and no other name under Heaven is given among men, only the name of Jesus Christ." And they had to be rebaptized again in the name of Jesus Christ.
And not one place in the Bible, or all the history for the first six hundred years after the death of the last apostle, did they ever baptize any other way but in the name of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 3:13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
Matthew 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Mark 1:9 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
Luke 7:28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Acts 19:3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
Acts 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
Acts 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
94 And go ask any Catholic priest that you want to, ask them who changed that, and see what they tell you. Get the catechism and read it; say, "Sure, some of the Protestants will be saved because they bow to our baptism." They changed it. They said they have the power and authority to do it, and you believe it. That's what they say, that's what they claim, that's what the Protestant church bows to. But, Scripturally, it's absolutely not one ounce of Scripture about it. They had to be baptized over in the name of Jesus Christ.
95 Now listen, quickly now, so we get right... I don't want to hold you too long on these questions. Look, in the day when Jesus come down off the Mount Transfiguration with His disciples, He said, "Who does men say that I am, and what do they say?"
"Some says Thou art John the Baptist, some say You're Elias, some say You're a prophet."
He said, "But who do you say I am?"
And Peter said, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God."
He said, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona," said, "for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you. You never learned this in some church; you never learned this in some seminary. But My Father has revealed this to you, and upon this rock I will build My church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
Matthew 16:14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
Matthew 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
Matthew 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Mark 8:27 And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am?
Mark 8:28 And they answered, John the Baptist: but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets.
Mark 8:29 And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ.
Luke 9:18 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?
Luke 9:19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again.
Luke 9:20 He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.
96 Now, the Catholic church says, "It was Peter. They had a rock there, and it still lays under the Vatican City" (and that was in Jerusalem ... or, in Palestine). And they said that that was the rock.
The Protestant church says, "It was Peter who they built the church upon." If that's so, it backslid a few days later. That wasn't it.
The church was built upon the divine revelation of God. "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, Peter, but My Father which is in Heaven has revealed it to you. And upon this rock (spiritual revelation of the Word of God) I will build My church, and the gates of hell will never prevail against it."
That's where I say---Luther, Methodist, and whatever they are, whatever, Pentecostals, and whatever they are, doesn't make a bit of difference---when the church of God moves on, in the power of the inspiration, she will move right on and on and on and on. And no denomination can stop it; nothing in the world will stop it. "Upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it." Spiritual, revealed truth!
Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
97 Now watch. Now the next, He says, "And thou art Simon, and I will give unto thee..." because he had the spiritual, revealed truth. That's the reason he knowed the difference between "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," and "the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." He had a spiritual revelation. That's what you're understanding tonight, where the Holy Spirit is opening it up to us.
He said, "Thou art Simon, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. And whatever you bind on this earth, I will bind it in Heaven. Whatever you loose on this earth, I will loose it in Heaven." Did He say it? St. Matthew, the 16th chapter: "Whatever you bind on earth, I will bind in Heaven. Whatever you loose on earth, I will loose in Heaven. And I will give you the keys to" what? "The kingdom of Heaven." What is the kingdom of Heaven? The Holy Spirit. The Bible said, "The kingdom of Heaven is within you..." I mean, "the kingdom of God," excuse me. "Kingdom is within you."
Matthew 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
98 Now He said, "Some standing here won't see death until they see the kingdom of God coming in power." Just a few days later was Pentecost, see. "Some stands here," right in that same thing He was saying, "Some of you stands here... You've been transfigured; You won't see death until you see the kingdom of God coming in power."
The Bible said, "The kingdom is within you." When Jesus rose from the dead, remember, he had on His side the keys of death and hell. Not the keys of the kingdom; that was given to the church. Now, Peter had the keys. Do you believe Jesus would keep His Word? If He doesn't, brother, He wasn't God. That's all. Now, He said, "Peter, I will give you the keys to the kingdom," in other words, "to the Holy Spirit. Whatever you bind on earth, I will bind in Heaven."
Matthew 16:28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Luke 9:27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
99 Now look what an error they made: go out and forgive sins and so forth like that. What an error! Let's see. They put the keys on him. Now, He set his face right straight to Pente... or, right straight to Jerusalem.
He was crucified, died, rose the third day, was on earth forty days among men, ascended up into Heaven. Told them to wait till they seen the kingdom of God come upon them; at this time the Father will restore the kingdom in a spiritual form to them. They went up to the city of Jerusalem and waited there for ten days and nights, and, all of a sudden, the baptism of the Holy Spirit (the kingdom of God) come with power upon them. Is that right?
Acts 1:3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Acts 1:13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Acts 2:3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
1 Corinthians 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
100 Now watch! Peter, uneducated, couldn't even sign his own name (A pope? Yeah, a pope!) stood up on a little soapbox or something and begin to preach. He said, "You men of Judea and you that dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and hearken unto my words. 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. 'It'll come to pass in the last days,' saith God, 'I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and on My handmaids and maidservants will I pour out of My Spirit and they shall prophesy. I will show wonders in the heavens above; and the earth below, fire, pillars of fire, and vapors of smoke.'" On he went, speaking of David and so forth.
Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
Acts 2:15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
Acts 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Acts 2:18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Acts 2:19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
101 And when these critics stood there, said then, "Men and brethren, what can we do to be saved?"
"Oh, be careful, Peter. You got the keys hanging on now." Is that right? The first Gospel message!
Jesus, a few days before that, before He was crucified, said, "Peter, I give you the keys. Whatever you bind, I'll bind it; whatever you loose, I'll loose it. Now whatever you do, I'll recognize it in Heaven." If He's a Man of His Word, He'll keep His Word.
And here he is sitting here, the Holy Ghost has fell for its first time, and Peter was asked, "What can we do to be saved?"
"Watch out, you're sticking the key into the kingdom for the first time. Jesus told you, a few days ago---it was ten days ago---said, 'Go baptize people in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.' What are you going to do? But He give you the keys because you had a spiritual revelation. 'For My church will be built, and the gates of hell can't prevail against it.'"
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
102 And take your creeds and dogmas, and whatever you wish to, but it'll fail miserably (it has been), but the power of the Living God shall move on and on into eternity. Like a streak of radium, she moves on (notice) without end.
"Peter, you got the keys. Whatever you do here, God's got to recognize it in Heaven." Is that right? "What do you say, Peter? What can we do to be saved?"
Peter said... Don't go say, "Hail Mary," there's no such a thing, do a novena. Don't come and shake hands and put your name on the church book and have them sprinkle a little water on you; no such a thing. That's Catholic dogma that the Protestant church is bowing to.
103 He didn't say "All of you go... Now, Jesus told me, a few days ago, for all of you to go and be baptized in the name of 'Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.'" Not a man that had spiritual revelation, wouldn't say that.
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. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall ever call." That's it. Then the key stuck in and it locked, it locked in Heaven.
That's the reason Paul said to John's disciples, "You've got to be baptized over again in the name of Jesus Christ, to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost."
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Acts 2:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
Acts 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
104 You didn't know it before, you know it now. Huh! It's all right. That's up to you. That's true. But a tritheist, triune baptism was never recognized in the church, the New Testament; only in the Catholic church. And the Protestant church bows to it. Watch! Many people would fall out with you for that. But, brother, you've got to make your choice.
Now you say, "Brother Branham, I was baptized in the name of the "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I got the baptism of the Holy Ghost."
I don't doubt your word. I have no reason at all to doubt your word. I believe it. I believe God give them the Holy Ghost up there before they was baptized at all; but when Peter told them what to do, they went and done it. That's right. Now you know what to do. That's right. And if you refuse to walk in light when light's brought forth, you turn to darkness. Right. Amen. All right. Excuse me. I don't want you to excuse me for hollering "so be it" to God's Word. No, sir. I'll holler "Amen" again. That's right. Yes, sir.
QUESTION: "Why baptize in the name of Jesus Christ, Brother Branham? Why do you do that instead of the "Father, Son, Holy Ghost?" Because the Bible teaches that. That clear?
QUESTION: "Why do you wash feet, Brother Branham?" Because, the Bible teaches that, I believe in the full Gospel.
All right, now: "What is the false baptism that you spoke of?" That's it. That's exactly it. Nowhere... Read back in the Testament and find where one person...
105 Now to you dear people: I'm not hurting your feelings; I don't want to. I ask you to be humble and look at this thing in the face, and see what it looks like. Look at it in the face of the Bible, not in your church or some foolish, silly thing somebody's got puffed up in their head, but look at God's Word. Sure.
Do you think that God Almighty would give me the ministry He's got around like this, with supernatural signs and things which has never been seen since the New Testament, and let me walk in error like that? Certainly not. And, brother, when I come back from overseas, I'm putting the biggest part of my time not on divine healings and miracles but preaching the Word of God. That's exactly right. Truly.
106 QUESTION: Now, let's see: "Does this church teach that you have to speak in tongues to receive the Holy Ghost?"
No, sir. No, we don't. Speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Ghost, see, not the Holy Ghost. It's a gift. This tree bears nine manners of fruit. Is that right?
If you look on an apple tree, got apples, you say it's a apple tree. Look on a tree, it's got pears, you say it's a pear tree. No matter if it's got sycamore bark on it, and got pears on it, the life of it is what? The life of it is pear tree life. Is that right?
107 Now, this tree of God bears nine spiritual fruits. Is that right? All right. There's all different... Said, "One is given teach, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues," nine different spiritual gifts grow on this tree of God. Is that right? Well, now, just speaking in tongues isn't the only one; there's others in there too.
Now, you can speak with tongues and still not have the Holy Ghost. Now, just remember that. I've been right... I've seen witches and wizards come up speaking in tongues, and they ain't got the Holy Ghost. You know, I've seen them come up shouting and jumping, and they ain't got the Holy Ghost. I stood in a corn-dance here not long ago, out in a little piece from Douglas, Arizona, up there. Seen that corn-dance when they have it up there, and that wizard come out there and carried on terribly, and everything, carried on and throwed dirt over him there. That didn't mean he was saved. The man was a witch doctor.
1 Corinthians 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
1 Corinthians 12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
108 I stood in India ... in Africa and seen witch doctors come up and challenge me like that, with their enchantments, and even drunk blood out of a human skull. That's right. You better know what you're talking about when you face that. But I've seen the power of Almighty God bind that man till he couldn't move; so then his eyes blast you like that, and they pack him away. Yes, sir.
Brother, God is real! That's right. But God is a Spirit, not confined only to speaking in tongues or this, that or the other. I say that any man that... That's the trouble in the church here. See, Pentecost went wild on that one thing. They got down to the people, instead of laying hands on them, and them receiving the Holy Ghost, they got them down at the altar and begin to beat them on the back and holler, "Say it! Say it! Say it!" and say a word over and over, till they got confusion and not tongues.
109 If a genuine Holy Ghost person is born of the Spirit of God, he will live a godly life. Some of them men was living horrible lives, and you know that, and their fruits proved that there wasn't. Jesus said, "By their fruits you shall know them." And the fruit of the Spirit is not speaking in tongues; that's a gift of the Spirit.
Peter never said, "Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost"; he said, "Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost," when they heard these tongues and people speaking. It's one of the Holy Ghost gifts that they received. Amen. All right. Got to hurry.
Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Matthew 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
Luke 6:44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
110 QUESTION: "I have two boys, one's two; and one's five, and they have been sprinkled. Should they be baptized by immersing?"
Well, now, sister or brother, whoever you are, that's up to you. I've got a little girl... My little boy, Billy Paul, was sixteen years old, and I baptized him in the name of the Lord Jesus right here. My little girl's eight years old; she come to me and got up on my lap, and she said, "Daddy, I want to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to be baptized." And I baptized the little girl at eight. When them little kiddies want to be baptized, baptize them. If they not, why, just go ahead; that's up to you, whatever the Lord said.
111 QUESTION: "Will only those who have the baptism of the Holy Ghost be in the rapture of the church, or will all believers be indicated?"
We haven't got time to justify that. But, brother, only the Holy Ghost bride will be in the rapture, see. The Bible strictly... The others won't be lost.
Look! Who's going to judge the earth? Saints. Daniel said, "I saw him come to the Ancient of time, and he came with ten thousands times ten thousands of his saints." Is that right? The rapture, the church had gone on. Then they come down, and the judgment was set.
And the books were opened. Is that right? And another book was opened which was the book of life (the sanctified believer that hadn't received the Holy Ghost).
Daniel 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
Daniel 7:10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
112 Didn't Jesus teach that ten virgins went out to meet the bridegroom, and five of them...? All of them were virgins, pure, holy. And these went to sleep and didn't get the Holy Ghost; and these got the Holy Ghost and had oil in their lamp. And when the bridegroom come, the voice come, shouting, they said, "Oh, let us go. And give us some of your oil."
He said, "Go to them and buy (pray up), get it now." But they couldn't. And while they was gone, the virgins went into the wedding supper. And they were cast into outer darkness where they were weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. Didn't Revelations, last night, in the 12th chapter (night before last) teach that the red dragon spurted water out of his mouth to make war with the remnant of the woman's seed, that had faith in God and kept the commandments of Jesus Christ?
Matthew 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Matthew 25:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
Matthew 25:3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
Matthew 25:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Matthew 25:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Matthew 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
Matthew 25:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Matthew 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
Matthew 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
Matthew 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
Matthew 25:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
Matthew 25:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Revelation 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
113 To you women, you lay down a pattern. It's a nice piece of goods, the same goods in it, but you take like this and lay your pattern just the way that you're going to cut it. And then you cut it. That's up to you. But you take the goods that you cut, to make your garment out of, and the rest of it is used. It's just as good a goods as the rest of it, but by election you have chose that. Is that right? The rest of it is just as holy and just as good, and just as expensive as the rest of it, but that was your choice.
And God has promised that we are going in the rapture by election! And the Bible said, "And the rest of the dead lived not for one thousand years." Is that right? So only... You'll not be lost, but the Holy Ghost filled bride will go in the rapture. The rest of them will come through judgment; while they didn't.
Revelation 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
114 QUESTION: "If you are supposed to be baptized in Jesus' name, why would Jesus say in Matthew 28, "Be baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost?" That's just what I just got through explaining, that one.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
115 All right, are you getting tired? I know you are. But...
QUESTION: "Doesn't God have respect for the baptism of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? Isn't there people being baptized in the name, in these names, have received the Holy Spirit? Did Jesus come to glorify the Father? Wouldn't this baptism be recognized?"
Yes, Jesus came to glorify the Father. Look. In St. John the 14th chapter... I'm just about... I've got... If you'll just wait just about three more, we'll have it over, I believe. Look, and then we get some new ones tomorrow, then... 'Cause I'll really get some back from tonight, I believe. Notice... This is church, though; this we're going on.
116 Look, Jesus come to manifest the Father. Look, in the beginning, God made man in His own image. Is that right? Well, what is God? A Spirit. St. John the 4th chapter, Jesus speaking to the woman at the well, He said, "God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth." Is that right? If God made man in His own image, what kind of man did He make then? A spirit man.
In Genesis 2, there was no man to till the soil, and God made man out of the dust of the earth; not in His image, but in the image of animal life. And he put the spirit of man in this animal man here, and he become a living soul. Now, that's the difference between a man and an animal. The animal don't build automobiles, and he doesn't do things like that to help his living and so forth like that. He's an animal, dumb brute; he hasn't got a soul. He can't read and write; he can't talk, speak; he's a dumb brute. But a man is in flesh like a brute, but he's got a soul of God in him what makes him immortal. And he can invent; look what he can do. He's almost on equal with God, because he's a son of God; even in his fallen estate, He's wonderful. Look at him, see. That's it.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
117 Then when man fell in flesh... And if God sent another individual besides Himself down, He was unjust. The only way God could justly do it was take the man's place Himself.
What if I made Brother Neville die for this woman here? What if I made this woman die for this woman here, if it had been that I had the rule over you? I could not be just and do that. If I pronounced death, and want you to live, I've got to take your place to justify you.
And then God who was in the image of Spirit ... without image, rather; the Bible said God's without form. All right. Then God had to take on form, and He overshadowed a virgin and created in her a blood cell, without sexual anything to do with it, and created a blood cell that developed into the Son of God. And God came down and dwelt in His Son, Christ Jesus, making Him God on earth.
When St. John... Thomas said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us."
He said, "I've been so long with you and you don't know Me?" He said, "Why sayest thou, 'Show us the Father'?" Why, He said, "When you see me you see the Father. I and my Father are one. My Father dwelleth in me."
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
John 14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, shew us the Father?
118 A lady, here not long ago---I was talking there---jumped up, said, "O Brother Branham," said, "I know what you mean. They are one; sure, they're one." Said, "You and your wife are one, too. That's the kind of one they are."
I said, "I beg your pardon." I said, "They're not." I said, "Do you see me?"
Said, "Sure."
I said, "Do you see my wife?"
Said, "No."
And I said, "Then there's a different kind of 'one' than what me and my wife are," see. I said, "That's right."
Jesus said, "You can't see me without seeing the Father." Certainly not. It's the second part of the three-foot rule, the same rule. It's God. Jesus Christ was either God or the greatest deceiver the world ever had.
John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, shew us the Father?
119 Listen. A woman said to me not long ago, said, "I'll prove to you..."---a Christian Science woman. Now, Christian Science friend, be reverent just a minute, see. They said, "I'll prove to you that He wasn't nothing but a man." Said, "You put too much bragging on Jesus."
I said, "If I brag day and night I could not give Him what's coming to Him." I said, "No wonder..."
Why, Isaiah tried to name Him, he said, "He's Wonderful, Counsellor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God, everlasting Father." All that. "He's Alpha, Omega, the beginning and the ending"; "the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star"; "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." "In Him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily," said the Bible. The fullness of God was in Him.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
120 She said, "I'll tell you, when He went down to pray for Lazarus, to raise Lazarus up." Said, "I'll prove to you He was just a man."
I said, "Let's see you do it."
Said, "The Bible said He wept. And that proves that He was a man: He could weep,"
I said, "Sure. That was the Son that was weeping."
He was a God-man. He was a triune being just like I am, you are; we're soul, body, and spirit. He was Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the Deity of God; that's who He was. He was Deity Himself! How could He do anything there when His own children crying for His blood? If it had been someone else... That was His own children crying for His blood; no wonder He wept for them. How would a man ... and His own kids crying for His blood, how could He feel? Either condemn them to hell forever, or give His life; He was God giving His life for His children! Deity dwelt in Him. That's who He was.
The woman said, "Looky." Said, "Reverend Branham, I will prove to you. When He wept, it proved He was a man."
John 11:35 Jesus wept.
121 I said, "Lady, He was a man when He was pray... when He was weeping, that's right. He was a man when He was weeping, but when He straightened His little frail body up and said to a man that had been dead four days, 'Lazarus, come forth,' and a man that had been dead four days, and rotten, and the skin worms crawling through him... Corruption knew its Master, and the soul knew its Creator. And a man had been dead four days stood on his feet and lived again! That was more than a man."
He was a man when He come down off the mountain that night, hungry, looking around over a tree for something to eat. He was a man when He was looking there for something to eat on that fig tree. But when He took five biscuits and two pieces of fish and fed five thousand, that was more than a man! That was God in there! The one Creator who could take cooked fish and break it off and it was still cooked fish, took baked bread and broke it off, what kind of an atom did He let loose? Hallelujah! He was God, the Creator of atoms and all things! That was more than a man!
Matthew 14:19 And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
Matthew 14:20 And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.
Matthew 14:21 And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
Mark 6:9 But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.
Mark 6:10 And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.
Mark 6:11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
Mark 6:41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
Mark 6:42 And they did all eat, and were filled.
Mark 6:43 And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.
Mark 6:44 And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.
Luke 9:14 For they were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company.
Luke 9:15 And they did so, and made them all sit down.
Luke 9:16 Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude.
Luke 9:17 And they did eat, and were all filled: and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.
John 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
John 11:44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
122 He was a man when He was out on that boat that night after preaching all day and healing the sick, so tired, till ten thousand devils of the sea swore they would drown Him. That little old boat out there bumping around like a bottle-stopper, the great waves a-flashing from place to place, and Him laying, so tired till the waves didn't wake Him up. The devils was a-roaring, said, "We'll get Him now while He's asleep." But, when He woke up there, He was a man. He was so tired. But, when He put His foot on the brail of the boat, and said, "Peace, be still!" and the winds and the waves obeyed Him, that was more than a man! That was God, the Creator who made the Heavens!
No wonder the apostle said, "What manner of man is this that even the winds and the waves obey him?"
Matthew 8:27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
Mark 4:37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
Mark 4:38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
Mark 4:39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Mark 4:41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Luke 8:25 And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.
123 That was more than a man. That was God. He was a man when He was tacked at the cross as a sacrifice to take away sin. He was a man with nails drove in His hand. He was a man with thorns over His head. He was a man with mockery soldiers spit on Him. He was a man was bruised, striped, and wounded. He was a man! He was a man when He cried, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He was a man crying for help. But on Easter morning when the seals of death broke loose at the tomb, that was more than a man! He proved He was God!
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!
Oh, mid rendering rocks and darkening skies,
My Saviour bowed His head and died;
The opening veil revealed the way
To Heaven's joys and endless day,
No wonder Eddie Pruitt screamed out:
All hail the power of Jesus' name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
124 That's that great Person, the Lord Jesus. He was Jehovah, God enveiled in flesh. The Bible said, "Whatever you do in word and deed, do it all in His name." The Bible said, "The whole family in Heaven is named 'Jesus,' and the whole family on earth is named 'Jesus.'" Let's pray in His name, live in His name, teach in His name, die in His name, be buried in His name, baptized in His name, resurrect in His name, go to Heaven in His name. That's His name, and His bride is named "Mrs. Jesus." He will take a people out of the Gentiles for His name's sake.
And I'm not a Oneness. No, sir. You trinitarian people, get that away from you. I am not a Oneness. No, sir. I'm not a Oneness, neither a trinitarian. I believe what the Bible says. That's correctly. Amen. Whew! I get too much on one. What was that? Did I get it out? Let's see, what was it? Oh, yes, that's right, about how the Father was in Christ. He was a man; He was a God-man.
Ephesians 3:15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
Colossians 3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
125 QUESTION: "Does not the Pentecostal church baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?"
Some of them.
126 QUESTION: "If a person dies without the baptism of the Holy Ghost, will he be lost?"
No, sir. If he's a believer, he will come in the resurrection, the second resurrection. If he's got the baptism, he will go in the first resurrection. Now, you have to almost take my word. If that ain't satisfying, then you ask me; I'll give you Scripture for it. I'm trying to get this two or three more here, then we're finished.
127 QUESTION: "Brother Bill, does the Bible say anything about gambling?"
Yes, it does, but I can't call it right now. I know the soldiers gambled for His garments, and so forth like that, but I can't say.
128 QUESTION: "Will you explain I Corinthians 15:29?"
Get it for me in there, if you will, Brother Neville: I Corinthians 15:29. We'll get it.
Now, maybe tomorrow I can get that for you again. Like that letter, how it's spelled out, "VICARIUS FILII DEI." If you desire it, let me know.
129 QUESTION: "Will the prophecy of Ezekiel 38 and 39 be fulfilled before the rapture?"
I think not. I think the next thing we look for is the rapture of the church. And then that, when Gog and Magog comes down is the Russian armies who comes in after...
Look! Mr. Bohannon used to be the superintendent here in the Public Service Company, a very fine Christian man. And he talked to me one day, he said, "Billy, I tried to read, and I tried to ask my pastor to explain Revelation." Said, "We got over there and we got it all mixed up." Said, "John must have been eating something that night and had a dream."
I said, "Mr. Bohannon, shame on you."
He said, "Well, no one can understand that."
I said, "Not no natural man, but the Holy Spirit can reveal it."
He said, "Well, looky here, Billy." He said, "The bride was standing on Mount Sinai. And here was the water spurted out of the mouth where the dragon was making war with the bride. And the bride was in Heaven at the same time. Figure that out."
130 I said, "Mr. Bohannon, the only thing that you got, you got three different things mixed up, calling it the bride. You're calling the hundred and forty-four thousand who stood with the Lamb on Mount Sinai, the bride. They were not. You're calling the ones... Spurted the water out of his mouth to make war with the remnant of the woman's seed which was not the bride; that was what was left. The bride was in Heaven; the hundred and forty-four thousand there; and the nominal Christian going here to the persecution. That's right."
131 Read, brother, now, if you have it.
[Brother Neville reads I Corinthians 15:29]:
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
Now, my brethren, there's one people that believes that. They baptize for the dead; that's the Mormons. And I've been in their temples many times, they are very fine people, you may be a Mormon. Now, I am not trying to hurt your feelings.
But, my dear friend, you can't be baptized for your father. That's a act he had to do. The way the tree leans, that's the way it falls.
Paul speaking here was talking about the dead in Jesus Christ. If the dead rise not, why are you baptizing in Jesus Christ's name then, if the dead rise not? See what I mean? Then you're... "Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." If the dead raise not.
But, he goes ahead and glorifies God for the resurrection of the dead. And we're baptized to Jesus Christ, unto His death, burial, and resurrection. That's why we're baptized unto the dead.
1 Corinthians 15:29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
132 All right. I believe now, this is just about one more after this one.
QUESTION: "Brother Bill, please tell me how to obtain the baptism of the Holy Ghost? Is it by prayer, surrendered life, accepting it as we do healing? I know what it is to have faith for healing when you prayed for me here. Do you pray and lay hands on for the baptism of the Holy Ghost? I was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Please tell me if I should be rebaptized in the name of Jesus, as you spoke recently."
Now, my dear Christian friend, I'm not telling you what to do. I'm only laying the Scripture down. And you know how the Holy Ghost can come right now while we're speaking. The Holy Ghost is a gift of God, see. That's a gift of God; it could come while we're speaking. And I tell you, if the people were taught right...
Some of you old-timers here, let me ask you something. You old-timers that's in the Tabernacle, watch when I baptize people, and you ministers take this for an example. I taught those people till they had that life cleaned up before they went to that water. And I had them believing that God was obligated to keep His promise. As soon as they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit was right there to receive it; and when they come up out of the water, they received the Holy Ghost. That's right.
If you just... Shepherds, teach your sheep, get them in the Bible here. Get away from that old textbook of some church and get down here in the Bible where God talked, and you won't have those troubles.
Yes, laying on of hands is how we can receive the Holy Ghost, by some anointed person laying on of hands.
133 QUESTION: "Brother Bill, is it out of order for someone to get up and give messages in tongues while the preacher is giving out the Word?"
134 This person's got three questions here, and the other one is:
QUESTION: "Also, is it out of order to do likewise when the altar call is being made?"
135 Third one:
QUESTION: "Also, is it out of order for someone to stand up in church and reprove a minister for something he has said or done during service, and him behind the sacred desk? All these things has been done at the Tabernacle several times."
Now, let me get to this right quick now; this pertains to the church now. Now, to you strangers in our gates, I've got to give the church a little spanking now, so you just kind of hold off for a minute, if you will.
Listen, my children. Those gifts are wonderful. Nobody knows how I appreciate you, and I love you with godly love. But those gifts can be harm to you if you don't use them in the right place.
Look at people today, fine men out on the field, praying for the sick and charging money for it. That's wrong. If a man's got faith for healing and praying for the sick, he ought to be gentleman enough to pray for people without money. Thank God. Brother, I want to say that, not for myself, but for the glory of God, not one time have I ever taken money from people or anything like that; and turned down, literally, a million, five hundred thousand dollars, in one offering. And you know it. It was right here at the paper, see. That's right. It's not for... When you do that, you're going to lose your faith out yonder with God.
136 Now, you people that speak with tongues and has got gifts of tongues, God bless you. You're needed in this Tabernacle. I want you here. But, now, the thing is in order; don't never do it while the preacher's preaching. If you do, you're out of order, see. You mustn't do it. For the Bible said, "The spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophet." And when a man is preaching, he's got the floor, he's got the audience, the Holy Spirit's going to speak through him. When he's finished, then's the time for the message, you see. So don't get out of order; if you do, then you interrupt and you grieve the Holy Spirit with the message that's going forth.
1 Corinthians 14:32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
137 Here not long ago, I was in a meeting up here somewhere in Washington; many thousand people were sitting there. And my manager, which is a real Bible expositor, he was standing there speaking on divine healing, anointed, the Holy Spirit was speaking. A lady raised up and begin to speak with tongues, and he waited just a moment, then he started on. The Holy Spirit begin ... grieved, you could see it amongst the people. He started to speak again, and she raised up; and he said, "Sister, sit down, in the name of the Lord." Said, "You're out of order." And the ministers took her over there and let her know.
138 Now, what it is: Those gifts are in the world; they're in the church now. The gifts are in the church, but the poor little children get those gifts and don't have the teaching to know how to control it. If you'd miscontrol it, you'll do more damage than you will good, see.
Just like a man going out, praying for the sick and somebody getting healed, say, "Now, you ought to give me a thousand dollars for it." Now, he's done more damage than he has good. Been better if the man went ahead and died instead of bringing such reproach upon the cause of Christ.
139 Now, when the pastor or the evangelist, or whoever it is, is preaching, hold your peace. Paul said to do that, you see. Now, and then he said, "You may all speak, one by one." That's true enough. And he said, "I would that you all speak with tongues. That's good."
But you can't speak with tongues unless you have the gift of tongues. And no doubt at all but what there's many gifts of that in this church now. There's many gifts of it over here in the Methodist church, there's many of it over here in the Baptist church, if it was only preached so the gift could go to operating.
1 Corinthians 14:5 I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.
1 Corinthians 14:27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.
140 If you put seed in the ground and don't cultivate it, what's going to happen to it, see? It will lay there in dry dust, and rot; it'll do no good. These gifts have been in the church all along, but just now the water's begin to fall, the Pentecostal rain, to water it and bring forth fruit. Now, use it in the right place.
Now, it says, well, I believe the next question was there, the person asked, said:
When you're giving an altar call?
No, I wouldn't think then. If you noticed, and take Corinthians and read it, there's some of you here, if you got gifts of speaking in tongues, then you watch. In the Bible, when they had ... after the service was over, the blessing of God come down upon the congregation, then they begin to speak, then they begin to magnify God. And, every time, it was a direct message to somebody. Not... You have to watch that now, see. It isn't just something in fleshly. It'll be a message to somebody, for somebody to do something, or something to edify the church. It'll be something to glorify the church.
141 There's where the Pentecostal people has brought reproach to their name. The very name "Pentecost," you can mention it and the people will just walk away and say, "Nonsense," because they seen a lot of carrying on, which the people being in sincerity but wasn't taught.
Paul said, "When I come to the Pentecostal church over there," said, "I'll set it in order." It's got to be in order, and everything must be done orderly, just as the Spirit ordered. So he said, "Now, if you come in, and all of you begin to speak in tongues; and the unlearned comes in, he will say, 'Well, aren't you all mad?' and walked out."
That's just what the Pentecostal church did. He said, "Now," and said, "if one of you prophesy and reveals the secrets of something, one of you be a prophet," in other words, he said, "then won't the people fall down and say 'God is with you'?"
1 Corinthians 14:23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
1 Corinthians 14:24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
1 Corinthians 14:25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
1 Corinthians 14:40 Let all things be done decently and in order.
142 Well, how could I deny the gift of speaking in tongues when I'd have to deny the gift of prophecy, I'd have to deny these other gifts? Now, most of the churches, the big churches, the Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness, and so forth, they think if a man speaks in tongues he's a devil. That's blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which there's no forgiveness. That's what the Jews done: made fun of the people with the Holy Ghost, and were condemned and lost for it. Correct. Jesus said, "If you speak one word against the Holy Ghost, it'll never be forgiven you in this world or the world to come." So, be careful. If you don't understand, sit still.
Matthew 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
Matthew 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
Mark 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
Luke 12:10 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.
143 And you people who's got the Holy Ghost and called into offices, teachers... Now, could you imagine, here's me standing here trying to teach, and here jump a man up, side of me, and start teaching right at the same time, another man standing out here singing a jubilee song? Well, what a confusion!
Well, that's the way it is about speaking in tongues. Let it come orderly, just as the Spirit will give it, you can speak with tongues.
Now you say, "Well, Brother Branham, I can't help it."
Oh, yes, you can. Paul said you could. He said, "If there be one of you among you who speaks with tongues and there be no interpreter, let him hold his peace." No matter how much it wants to speak, hold your peace. That's a gift, brother. I pray, God let me have a revival here some of these days where we can get into them things for you, see. Where you can see it's a gift, and that gift wants to operate all the time, see. But you've got to have the wisdom of the Holy Spirit here to know when and how to operate that gift.
1 Corinthians 14:28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
144 You say, "Well, glory to God, the Bible said when the Holy Ghost is come you don't need any teacher; He's the teacher Himself." Oh, brother! How can you be so little to read the Scripture? Why did the Holy Ghost set teachers in the church, then?
Say, "I don't have to have anybody teach me; the Holy Ghost teaches me." It does, through a teacher. He set teachers in the church.
He said, "Are all teachers, are all apostles, are all gifts of healing?" The Holy Ghost set these things in the church: He operates them all, and each one of them operates orderly.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
145 Now, it's just like my foot; one of them say, "I'm going this way," the other one say, "I'm going back this way." Now, what are you going to do? The hand said, "I'm going to go up," and the other one's going around this way. What kind of a shape is the body going to get into, see?
But, now, if the mind here says, "Foot, Move forward, both of you. Hand, you go with them. Head, you stay straight. Arms, you do the same," everything walking in harmony. Now, when I get there, I haven't used my arms. Now, the foot's done its duty; the pastor's through preaching; now, arms, you do your duty, see. See what I mean?
Well, what if the arms was reaching out like this, "Oh, where's it at? Where's it at?" And you keep reaching for it, see, you're not there yet, see. Hold your peace, arm. It'll be time for you to be used after while; wait till you get over there. See what I mean? That's the gift, that's the gift of the Spirit in operation.
146 I love the Lord. Don't you? Amen. Listen, I know one thing I can say for you: You sure got patience; twenty minutes after ten. Now, friends, look, like this now. These is the best of my knowledge. I have to hurry through a big bunch of them like that. If you don't agree with that, don't fall out with me. You be my brother, see. I love you, and I only say these things because that is in my heart. That's what I believe, and that's the way I explain it, and that's the way I bring it, is from the Bible.
Now, if you say, "Brother Branham, I just don't believe it that way," that'll be perfectly all right, see. We'll never think any difference, we'll just go right ahead as brothers and friends.
147 And if you say, "Well, I believe if I belong to the Methodist church or Baptist church, I'll be saved anyhow." All right, brother, that's perfectly all right. I'm still calling you "my brother," because you believe Jesus Christ, see. That's right. So we're going to be brothers and friends just the same.
But I'm just laying down to this church, this few days here, the doctrine that this church stands for, see. That's what the church stands for. And if there's a deacon here that doesn't believe in the baptism in Jesus Christ's name, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or the gifts of the Spirit being manifest, that deacon, right here while I'm standing here, doesn't deserve to be in the church until he gets made right. That's exactly right. And the board ought to see to that. Exactly. This church is not controlled by deacons; this church is controlled by the Bible and the Holy Ghost, alone. Yes, sir. Now, so them things, we believe that's the doctrine of this church.
148 We don't have any membership at all. There's nobody a member here, but everybody comes is a member, for we believe that we're all members of one body by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
And we constrain you, my dear Christian brother or sister, to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Ghost. If you've already received the Holy Ghost, after you have been baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost, God bless you. You say, "Brother Branham, what should I do about it?" The question was answered. I can only say like Paul said: You must be baptized over.
Now, look here, Acts... Let's read this: Galatians 1:9. Write it down, you that's writing it up. Paul said... This same man that said this, he taught this saying. You believe that now? Is that right? Paul told them they had to be rebaptized again in the name of Jesus Christ.
And Paul said, "If an angel from Heaven..." Galatians 1:8: "If an angel from heaven would teach you anything else besides this, let him be unto you accursed." If he's a archbishop, if he's a pope, if he's a minister, if he's a prophet, if he's a reverend, if he's an angel from heaven, or whoever it may be, he said, "If they teach anything else besides this, let him be unto you accursed." Is that right? And he repeated it again. He says, "As I have said, so say I again: If they teach anything else but this, let him be accursed." Is that right?
So the Lord bless you. I read it from the Word, and you make your decision.
Acts 19:3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.
Acts 19:4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
Acts 19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Galatians 1:9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
149 Now, how many loves that good old song:
My faith looks up to Thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary,
Saviour divine;
Now hear me while I pray,
Take all my guilt away,
And let me from this day
Be wholly Thine!
I want to ask you something, you in this church. As a dying man preaching to dying men, realizing that this may be the last sermon I ever preach; and I try to preach every sermon that I do, like it was my last one, as a dying man to dying men. I ask you, my brethren, and my fellow-citizens of this community and country, do you really feel that you need a closer walk with God after these services? God bless you. I, as your brother, speaking to you, my sincere prayer is to you, that you will receive this closer walk with God.
150 And may, at the day of judgment, when these nights that I've been preaching, there'll be as a great tape recording played on that day, and my voice will come out, and I'll have to stand there and give an account, for my words will either bless me or condemn me at that day. And that's been my words for the last twenty-some-odd-years, as a little boy of about twenty years old, preaching the Gospel, and I'm forty-five now. And I've never changed it a bit, because I couldn't change it as long as the Bible stays that way.
I've rooted it into bishops and everything else, and I've never seen one yet that could speak contrary to it, according to the Word. They say... Well, now, I... This priest, here a few days ago, he said, "Reverend Branham, we don't take the Bible; it's the church to us." So you can't talk to that man. But if you're going to base it on the Bible, that's different, see.
151 I pray that God will... Every one of my Catholic friends in here, and every one of my Protestant friends, and even... They're no more... If any... I just love every one of you. God knows whether that's true or not. Watch in the prayer line, when the blind and lame, it doesn't say, "Catholic."
Here sits a man right here on the plat... right here, a Catholic, dying with cancer, eat up; he come to my house, and the Holy Spirit come upon him, healed him of that cancer. He never told him whether he was Catholic or not; I never said a word to him. He come over and was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and received the Holy Ghost. There sits the man right there, a businessman in Louisville, see.
He don't ask whether you're a Catholic or not; it's whether your heart is hungering after God. "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Is that right? Amen. The Lord bless you.
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
152 How many knows this good old song, Blest Be The Tie That Binds? How many people here over forty years old, raise your hands with me and say, "I remember the old song, from forty years, Blest Be The Tie That Binds"?
Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.
Don't you like them old songs? Listen, I want to say this: If we had more of those old songs instead of so much of this carrying on that we do have, I believe the church would be better off. I like those good, old songs that was penned by the Holy Spirit, them old-timers.
153 I used to remember an old colored man, used to sit out behind the house, down there in the mountains of Kentucky. When he'd get weary, he'd sit on that old log and he'd beat his hands on the log. I remember him just as well ... had a little rim of white hair around his head. He'd sing that old song, you know the song:
I will arise and go to Jesus,
He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Saviour,
Oh, there are ten thousand charms.
Not much melody to it. How many ever heard that old song? My. That's fine. Listen...