The approach to God

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 All things are possible, only believe.
Shall we pray.
Father, we thank Thee, in Jesus' name, Thy Son, for the goodness that Thou has blessed us with. For the health, and the privilege of being out here this afternoon to gather together in the name of Thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus. Break the bread of life to every one of us, Father. We pray that the Holy Spirit will come and take the words of the Bible, God's own Word, and give it in every heart, as we have need. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thank you. You can be seated.

2 Good afternoon, friends. A privilege to be here today, this afternoon. Just a little late, but this time, it wasn't my fault. It was the staff. I was here at two-thirty, as I promised. But, they was the ones that was late, this time, and that makes me feel kind of good, you know, when they are always telling me I'm late. "Where are you going? What is your hurry?" And, now, this time, it is them the ones that's late. It comes right back.
If Brother Woods is in the church, I can't see him any where, but, if Brother Woods in here, Billy wants to see you in the back, Brother Woods. I couldn't see him here, in the recording sit here, and I couldn't see him with his wife, sitting there, but, I just ... if he's here, anywhere, Brother Woods, Brother Banks Woods, our book salesman, Billy Paul wants to see you in the back. It's about loading the books and things, to be ready to leave.

3 Now, I thought maybe, if we wouldn't have been a little late, I was going to get on a subject, this afternoon, of Melchisedec, the High Priest. But, being that we don't have too much time now, not over forty minutes, I guess, at the longest, we are going to have to change the subject.
So, we'll try another Scripture here, to read. And then, tonight... I don't like to run right up in this kind of a meeting till just the jumping off spot and then hit the prayer service, because, I'm wanting, and praying, and trusting to God, that He will give us the greatest out-pouring of divine healing power tonight, that we've ever seen in Chicago. Not because it's this meeting, but because there is such a need.

4 I get the letters and things, and they're desperate. And this morning, Billy said, over in his rooms, that the phone constantly rang from out of the town, and the people just, everywhere... "Come here. Come over here, here. Just one day, just a couple of hours. You can stop on your road." And, there's such a tremendous need. And I just pray that God will give us such a pouring out tonight, till there just ... the people that's here, it'll just have you so anointed, that you'll go into your own communities and pray for the sick and the needy. It's such an awful need.
And, now, quickly as we can, to the Word.
Sitting out there, just a few moments ago, in the car, I was waiting for the call to come in, and it was... While I was sitting there, my mind fell upon this subject, here. And I found a little scripture to read, in the sixty-fifth Psalm, and with the fourth verse.

5 It seems to be a beautiful outline. I like David's... You know, the Psalms are not only songs, but they are prophecy. Did you know that? Did you ever read the twenty-second Psalm, where the very words that Jesus spoke, his last words, at the cross was recorded in the twenty-second Psalm? "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? All my bones stare at me, and..." And all about His conditions, it was spoke in the twenty-second Psalm.
I believe there's a little ... some little re-bound here some way. Perhaps, the engineer has got a little too high. Can you hear me all right, way back? Can you hear me upstairs there, all? Excuse me, I'm a country boy, I mean in the balcony; upstairs.
That would be one for my wife to get me on. And Sister Woods, don't you report that when you get home, see. Ha-ha-ha.

6 All right, in the sixty-fifth Psalm, the fourth verse, let's read this, now, for a little background, for our thought. And, now, it reads like this:
Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
Now, may the Lord add His blessings to the reading of This Word. And, now, the psalmist, here said, "Blessed is the man who God has chosen to approach Him, that he may dwell in His courts," that God has chosen to approach Him. Oh, how we could... I believe the Holy Spirit could really dig some things out of there, if we had the time to do it.

7 Now, notice. "Blessed is the man whom Thou has chosen to approach Thee, that he (the chosen one to approach) may dwell in Thy courts, and we will be satisfied in Thy temple."
Notice, the approach to God: God has a way of approach. You know, if you are going to visit a king, there is a way you approach a king. There is a way to approach ... well, make it more simpler than that. The boy that wants to approach the young lady, to get acquainted with her. There's a certain approach. You just can't come up there and say, "Hey, there! Like to meet you, shake your hand." If she's very much of a lady, she'll let you know where to get on and off at. All right. There's a certain way you want to approach it. You want to come up with respect to the lady, and so forth.

8 And there's a way to approach all things. And there's a way to approach God. And if we don't know the approach to God, we'll never be able to get an audience with God, see. You have to know...
In a court, you just don't walk up, and the judge is on the stand, and say, "Hey, judge! I want to talk to you a little bit." Somebody would throw you out of the court room, and lock you up, see, for disorderly conduct, see. There's a way you have to approach the judge.
And we must find a way of approach to the great, divine Judge, God Himself.
When, one time, man, through angelic Beings, perhaps, when he came before the presence of his majesty, the great King of heaven, perhaps, approached in some other way. But since sin separated the relationship...

9 Now, the relationship: Now, when a man has become a son, if he is going to approach his father, he just walks up to the father, and says, "Father, I come to visit you, or to see you about something." That's his approach. But, now, to the stranger, there is another approach, you see.
And there's an approach to God for many different things. Now, if I was going to... If my father was living, and I wanted to approach him on a financial matter, it would be a little different from another kind of approach; I want to tell him how much I thought of him, and so forth. It's the approach you have to use, to meet God.

10 Now, when man sinned, back in the beginning, in the garden of Eden, he separated himself, and severed himself from all approach to God, his very lifeline. He was separated from his Maker, with no way at all to ever see Him again. Because his sin, his unbelief in trusting God had separated him.
That's the only sin there is, is your sin of unbelief. Unbelief is your sin. And, the only reason, today, that we are not where we should be, it's because of our unbelief. That's it. It's because the miracles and things isn't in the church as they should be, is because of unbelief separating us.

11 And because that the poor man out there is sinning, and murder, and stuff, in our world today, and all kinds of disastrous things happen, is because of unbelief in God. That's all. If we believe... There's just two things: You either believe, or believe not, either one.
If you do believe, then the works of righteousness follow a believer. And if you do not believe, the works of unrighteousness follows. Only thing it is ... lying, stealing, theft, and so forth, is attributes of unbelief. And long-suffering, patience, goodness, mercies, and so forth, are attributes of belief in God, faith in God.
Now, but when man was cut off without ... with no way to approach, his only life line, everything was cut off. He was left darkly, hopelessly, without any way at all to ever approach the Maker.

12 And, then, when God come down, hunting for the man... I want you to notice this: It's always God hunting the man, not man hunting for God. Did you ever think of that? That no man, at any time, or at any age, ever did, within himself, desire to serve God; never has been. His nature is against it.
Now, he might have some kind of an intellectual thoughts that he thinks that he does believe God, but when he actually, really believes God, he becomes converted, and a new creature; as soon as he believes God. He may be intellectually believing God, but when he believes from his heart, then he is converted, and becomes a member of the body of Christ. When he is converted from his heart, not from his intellects. Now...

13 But man never seeks God; God seeks man. God, His nature is holy and high. The man, in the fall, is low and degraded. And a man without God is never... I guess I might as well say it, isn't it? He's not mentally right. That's exactly right. I can prove it, that a man without God is no more than a brute. Now, that sounds very deep, but I can prove it to you.
And the only reason that we have a civilization today, is because of Jesus Christ. People says that the religion of Jesus Christ runs you crazy. It gives you your right mind! And you're not right till you do find Him. That's true. Now, I don't mean to hurt your feelings, brethren, or gentlemen, see, and ladies. I don't mean to do that. But, I mean to actually put the thing just the way it is, exactly.

14 Christ never makes you lose your mind, He gives you your mind, after you've lost it. It's the devil that makes you lose your mind. It's a demon.
Look at the maniac of Gadarene, see. When he met Jesus, he was restored to his mind, his right mind. And a man without his right mind, no matter how much intellect he has, he's still not sane yet. A man without knowing Christ is nothing more, hardly, in himself, than a brute. He'll, for passions and lusts, he'd throw the baby out of a mothers arms, and ravish her, because of his own beastly lust. That's right. Certainly, he will.

15 He'll take poisons of alcohol and stuff into his body, and tobaccos and stuff, that will poison him, and kill him, and thinking that he's a smart, educated person, see. He doesn't know any different. You've got to become born again. And then, to that man, you become foolish. But, in the sight of God, you become blessed.

16 And, no matter how much the world tries to say anything about it, you know then, that you've passed from death into life, because life reigns in your mortal bodies through Christ.
So, it's just like ... take a pig and a lamb. And let the lamb tell the pig, "Well, I'd sure hate to be a pig. Look at you wallering in that slop, and all your doing like that."
The pig, if he could talk back to the lamb would say, "You mind your own business, old boy. I know what I want. It's none of your business." See, he has no desire to become a lamb, because his nature is a pig. Now, the only way you'll get him out of the slop, is not wash him up, no, no, but, change his nature. When you change his nature, you don't have to wash him up; he'll wash himself up, if he gets his nature changed. Is that right? Sure.

17 So, just polishing, and joining church, and reading a whole lot, and knowing a lot of books, and authors, and so forth, doesn't mean that you're converted. Because you have an intellectual mind that makes you have a mental conception that there is a God somewhere, still, you're not a Christian yet, until, actually, you become personal in contact with Christ that changes your heart and nature. Then you become God's child, and old things is passed away, and all things become new again.
Now, if you notice, God, then... There's no way man could approach, so it had to be the mercy of God. It was God calling to man. "Adam, where art thou?"

18 Now, today, it's the same thing today that man can not come to Christ, except God calls him first, see. His nature. If you ever had any nature, any thought of anything, of coming to God, God is dealing with you. That's right. Because, Jesus said, "No man can come to the Father ... or, can come to Me, except..." We cannot come to God, except through Christ. Is that right? The Holy Spirit has to call us first, or we'll never think nothing of it. It will just be ... we'll just go right on, and just think of the things of the world. "Well, church is all right. Sure, I believe that's okay." But a real touch, God has to do it.

19 Now, the way that God made for Adam to approach... Now, watch. Adam made himself an approach. He said, "Now, I have got to go out and meet God." So, he made himself a apron of fig leaves to cover up his shame. And he found out that God refused that approach.
And today, man thinks, Now, I'll help Mrs. Jones, over here, she is a widow woman, she needs some coal. I'll give to the Red Cross, or to some charity organization, out of my abundance. I'll join the church. You're only making yourself an approach that God will refuse. There is only one approach to God.
Now, God refused Adam's approach. And then, God went and made an approach for Adam. He made Adam an approach to himself. And by doing that, He slayed some sheep or something, and got them some skins. And through the blood, brought the first approach, to the world, to God for sin. For without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. That's right. Only blood can make the way.

20 And God provided an approach there for Adam, in the garden of Eden, that through the shedding of the blood of the innocent, to appropriate an approach to Him. Then, Adam could once more come through the shed blood of the lamb, to the approach, and talk face to face again with God through the blood, through the approach that God provided for him.
Now, that was God's first method of approach to Himself for the people, through the shed blood. It has been, from that day to this day, the same thing. Through the shedding of blood, brings the approach to God.
Now, many times, God has give such as symbols and emblems and so forth, making a way to come to that blood. Now, for instance, we'll take Job.

21 When Job was the oldest book in the Bible. And when Job, an old man... And just before that disaster happened to his home, he got kind of worried. He had a bunch of children, and they were worldly, going out, mingling with the things of the world.
And, all of we parents know what a feeling that is when your children, your very heart, begins to mingle with the world, get out among the unbelievers.
I don't suppose Billy is present at the time; I think he's out maybe, talking to Brother Woods. But in our city, we do not have a Christian school. And, there's a bunch of worldly children, girls and boys, too. And, when I thought of sending my boy to that school, knowing that everything that I drilled into him, unless he become really converted, really come to Christ, that is, all of his nature would be changed, he'd be swept out from under my hands as soon as he got with this worldly bunch.
Because the very nature in him, no matter, being a good boy, that doesn't ... having a minister father, a religious home, where we don't approve of any of the worldly things in our home. We try to live by the grace of God, like Christians ought to live, the influence set before him. I knowed if he was lost, he'd certainly walk over a righteous home to be lost by. And I want him to have to walk over my life. And he'd have to walk over the Bible. He'd have to walk over the blood of Christ. Because I'll certainly, by God's grace, present it in front of him.

22 But if his nature isn't changed, he'll go right on just the same. And how I think of the day that Billy entered high school. And how I thought, Oh, my! And knowing that he ... yet he had, oh, he had been baptized, certainly. But had never made a full surrender, consecration to Christ.
Knowing that the nature of a child yet was in him, how my heart yearned for him, and how I'd pray, go out in my car and ride around and say, "God, don't let my boy get wrapped up in that kind of a stuff out there." How would I ... said, "God, I hope, I pray... His mother's dead, and I've been both daddy and mother to him. So, please, don't let him get wrapped up out there, and get in trouble. Some way, will You just protect him?"

23 Oh, if I had the time this afternoon, it would take hours to explain that how God has throwed the red light across Billy's path, time after time. Yes, sir. I have seen him... Here not long ago, I was sitting in New Albany. The baby was getting her teeth filled, the little fellow, at school, hurt her teeth. And then, Billy had been out a fishing, come in got a bad cold, or something. And I was with some ministers, and we were sitting in New Albany. And the wife was up with the little girl, getting her teeth worked on. I was sitting there, and Something said, "Get out of the car, and start walking."
I thought, What was that? I got out, and started walking down the street. And the Holy Spirit met me there, and said, "Turn, home, quickly! Billy is at the point of death!"
And I left him on his bicycle, going fishing. Well, he got down there, I think, and fell in the river, a fishing, and got wet, and he got a bad cold, hanging around the river. Instead of coming on back up home, he goes around over by Sam's, and asked him (That's my doctor friend.) and said, "Doc, give me a shot of penicillin. I got wet today. I don't want to get any bad cold," said. And the doctor give him a shot of penicillin, and by the time he got home, his toes were that big around... Fell out.

24 My mother-in-law there called him right quick, and he run up there and called a specialist out of Louisville, had the ambulance up there real quick, took him to the hospital, laid him in there, and give him two shots of adrenaline over his heart. And his heart gone plumb on ten over twenty, something like that. I rushed home real quick. Them ministers with me said, "How do you know Billy...?"
I said, "You watch and see."
We entered into the gates, there stood my mother-in-law, in the yard, screaming to the top of her voice. Said, "Billy is dying, in the hospital." I just dumped them all out as quick as possible, and got out to the hospital.

25 A couple of days before, I said, "Billy, you're treading on dangerous ground. Get out of the company you're in!" I said, "The Lord Jesus showed me last night, just before I went to bed, while standing in the room, there, after prayer, I seen you not listening to what I was saying. But you jumped from a window, and I seen you turning, head up, and heels up, like that, going over, and over, going through space." I said, "You must stop running with that kind of company!" Well, a kid, he just kept on.

26 Then, I rushed to the hospital out there, and here come my little doctor friend, down the hall, threw his hat down the hall said, "Bill, I just believe I just almost killed your boy, just a few minutes ago!" He said, "We got two specialists here." Said, "We give him two shots of adrenaline, right over his heart," and said, "still, he's laying there unconscious!"

27 Me, trying to be as a father, as a minister of the Gospel, straightened up, start walking slowly. I said, "All right, Doc, you're my friend. You done the best you knowed how."
Said, "I didn't know that he'd be allergic to it, Billy. I've give it to him before." He said, "I don't know what happened." And he was wringing his hands, 'cause we're bosom friends.
And he started down the hall, I said, "Can I see him, doc?"
He said, "Well, we got tubes in him." Said, "Go ahead."

28 And I slipped in real easy, and watched where he was. Pulled the door down behind me, and there Billy, his face just black as it could be, and his eyes set back. They was pumping respiration to him, gurgling, and a tube through his nose, and everything. His tongue out; his mouth way back; and his eyes set; just as black as he could be. I thought, There he is. I knelt down, I thought, God, will You take my only boy? Will You take him, Lord, since I've packed him on my arm? And I know, Lord; children You understand. I pray that You'll help him. Just as quietly as I could before God.

29 And Almighty God, who is my Judge, here before this sacred desk this afternoon, approaching Him through Jesus, the Son of God, His own Son, who died to save mine. And while I was in prayer, here repeated that vision again. I seen his feet and head flying around and around, as he was going down, down, turning like that, the vision, which was a few nights before. And, I seen two arms reach out and catch him, like that, start bearing him back up, like that. In a few moments, I looked up, Billy looked, and he said, "Daddy, where are ... where am I?"
I said, "Everything's all right, son. Everything's all right."

30 I went around there, and Doc was standing there talking to the intern. I waited till he left. I put my arm around Doc, I said, "It's all over, Doc!"
He said, "Do you think he's going to make it?"
I said, "He's done made it!" Christ! Amen. Talk about an approach.
Yes, Job thinking maybe that his children might sin, 'Peradventure," he said "that they may sin and I don't know about it." So he only had one way that he could make the approach. And that was under a burnt sacrifice.

31 So he took the burnt sacrifice, and made an offering for his children. He sacrificed for each and every one of his children, that maybe (Listen, see) maybe they had sinned. Maybe they never sinned around Job. Maybe he didn't know nothing about it, but knowing that they were out in the world, alone.
I tell you, what we need today is more good old-fashioned praying mothers and daddies for their children. If we had that, would be the greatest support to do away with juvenile delinquency I know of. First, give me old-fashioned mothers and daddies who pray for their children.

32 Looky here, boy, girl, this afternoon. If you've got a mother or dad like that, the Holy Spirit's speaking to your heart, that's your mother's prayers you're walking over the top of. Remember that. And you'll never prosper at all, till you turn, and surrender yourself to Christ. That's right.
Now, Job said, "They may have sinned." So he offered the best that he had, all that he knowed, because that's all the approach he had to God. So, he killed one lamb for his own approach. He killed another one for one boy, and another one for another one, making a burnt sacrifice for each one to have a way of approach to God. God seen the honesty and sincerity.

33 Oh, you say, "Brother Branham, now wait a minute. I don't believe that the influence of the father... I believe it's an individual affair." True! But we are commissioned to pray for one another. That's right. And, to offer up our loved ones to God, that He will save them.
Now, notice, in all of this, Job kept his mind on God, and offering the sin offering, that if they did sin, maybe the approach... You say, "Well, was that New Testament, too?"
Yes. Certainly does. Well, he said, "If I get saved in my house, should I leave my house?"

34 Not unless you have to. I'd stay right there. For Paul told the Philippian jailer, said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou and thy household shall be saved." That's right. The sanctified wife sanctifies the husband. Live like a Christian. Be like a Christian. Pray all the time. Believe that God is there, and is going to answer your prayer. Offer it through the provided approach.

35 That's the way Job did. He had an approach; that was through the burnt offering. So, he had taken a burnt offering, and went out and offered it, and approached God in behalf of his children. You see it? He had an approach. So, he used the approach in behalf of his children. Now God, "Here I come with this lamb, I am offering it for John. Now, if he has sinned, Lord, I pray You forgive him." See, through the approach of the burnt lamb, because that the only thing he had, to approach in.

36 Now, if you ever notice, how that when the disaster struck Job's home, and the children was all killed and everything and all Job had was destroyed, God wasn't rebuking Job; He was only purging Job. Amen. I like that word: a purge.
The branch that bears fruit, then God purges it, that it'll bring forth more fruit. The trouble of it is we think sometimes God is angry with us. But He's only trying to purge us, that we'll bring abundance of fruit--giving us a few trials. The Bible said that they are worth more to you than precious gold.

37 Did you ever know that every son that cometh to God, must first--first--be tried: whipped, child-whipping correction? It's not easy. When God gives you a whipping... You go out here and say, "Well, I'll mingle around a little bit." And God give you a real old-fashioned spanking for it. And I tell you, if we had more of that in the natural today, we'd have better children. God wants His household straightened out. So He gives you a little whipping, so you can get straightened up. Makes you love Him more.
My father used to give me whippings, and I thought, Oh, my! I wish I could call the old gray-headed brother, father of mine, back from the other lands today. I would respect every whipping he ever give me. I never got even as much as I needed. I thought so then, but I don't now, because it corrected me. Though he didn't do right himself, yet he wanted me to do right. Amen.

38 He wants us to. If the earthly parents wants us to do well, what about our heavenly parent, the Lord Jesus? He has to correct us. And the Scripture says, "If we cannot stand chastisement, or whipping, child-correction, then we become illegitimate children, and not the children of God."
See, if you're really born again, (Get it now.) if you're really born again, there is nothing can separate you from God. That's right. "Neither starvation, perils, trials, suffering, death, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus."
You say, "Well, I started to be a Christian one time. Everything began going this way, and that way, and I thought, My, I was better off the other way." You never did come to God, brother. If you ever really come to God, and got a taste of the heavenly gifts of God, partakers of His divine nature, why, you could no more become a sinner again, unbeliever, than a stalk of corn could become a cocklebur. That's right.

39 It's your nature. You're made up. You've come the right approach. You come your own approach. You come God's provided approach one time, and see what happens. Yes.
Job was taking his children through every ... the only provided approach there was, the burnt offering. And a little thing I want you to notice. After all the turmoil, and everything was over, and then, God taken all of his sheep, and his cattle, and his horses, and things, then, at the end of his chastisement, or purging, God doubled to him.
If he had ten thousand cattle, He give him twenty thousand cattle, see. Oh, isn't that marvelous? God purged Job for the purpose to bless him.

40 Say, "Brother Branham, I'm a Christian and I got a sickness now. I wonder why it come." God may be purging you (Amen.), giving you some trials, make you draw a little closer to Him. (Pray awhile!), then heal you, that you can have a testimony.
Christ heals you. You say, "Well, I heard He healed others." Then you're a ... the husbandman is the partaker of the fruits then. See it?

41 I thought it was awful hard when I was getting mine. And if it had just been me, I would have failed. But something in me, not me keeping it, it keeping me. The question is not whether I'll hold out or not; it's whether He held out or not. And if He held out, I'm sure to be there then. The question isn't whether I can do it or not; it's whether He did it or not. I believe He did it. That settles it. Amen.

42 If that is coming from my heart, which I trust to God that it is, then it's not whether ... what I'd do; it's what He has done.
You say, " Well, then, what about... Does it give you license to go sin?" No, brother, certainly not! What does it do? If you sin, and go on out into ... what we call sin--drinking, and carrying on, and doing things wrong--it shows that your heart is not right in the first place. It's got to come from here. Then, when you come that way, God's way... And notice.

43 At the end, and after Job had done everything laid in the way, these provided ways of approaches to God for all of his children, he approached for his children, praying in their behalf. If you ever notice, at the end of the road, Job restored back double. God gave him double of what he had. Purged him, and restored to him.

44 He had ten thousand head of cattle, he had twenty. He had ten thousand head of sheep, he had twenty. If he had thirty thousand head of goats, why he had sixty. God doubling to him. And then, again, I believe he had seven children. And God restored his seven children. Did you ever notice? He never doubled his children, He just restored his children to him. Amen.
Why? How did He do it? Through the approach, the burnt sacrifice. That's right. Yes, sir.
They were all in glory, waiting for him to come. God restored Job his children, after they were dead. He never restored back, making him fourteen children. He restored his animals and so forth back, but he restored to him. Because why? He come God's provided way of approach through the burnt offering. That's the approach.

45 Abraham, when he was old, he come from the land of Chaldea, in the city of Ur, and sojourned. God separated him from his people, from all of his associates. Separated him away from his loved ones, and sent he and Sarah into a strange land to be with strange peoples, to be a sojourner. Aren't you glad you're a sojourner?

46 A sojourner, a pilgrim. Amen. A sojourner, one that is sent out. In other words, Abraham was a missionary, or an apostle. He was sent of God to a strange land. And the word apostle means "One that's sent. " Missionary, the same.
And in this land, he was different from the rest of them. So he was an apostle, pilgrim, and a sojourner. And that's what every believer that comes to God today, through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, is called out of his habitation.
You women and your card parties, and dances at night, and your routing, and all your drinking. And you men with your sin. God separates you from those things. Calls you out to be a, what? An apostle. Sent away from that audience ... or, crowd, into a different type of people. To be a, what? A pilgrim to the world, a stranger.

47 Oh, I love that old song. They always sing it when we're baptizing:
We're pilgrims and we're strangers here,
We're seeking a city to come.
The lifeboat soon is coming,
To gather the jewels home.
Oh, I just love that old song! I can almost hear the water splashing when we go to singing that.
We were singing that when the morning star, the Angel of the Lord, made its first appearance over where I was standing, in public, for the first time in my life, at the foot of Spring Street, in the Ohio river, in June '33, as a young, Baptist minister, there baptizing.

48 Now, Abraham was called for separation, to sojourn as a pilgrim and a stranger. With what? A promise that God was going to bless the world by him. Called out when he was seventy-five years old, Sarah being sixty-five, ten years difference in their age.
And he set out, and waited twenty-five years--still trusting, still believing, professing to be a stranger, coming to God through the approach and everything. Still believing that he was going to have the son. And then, after he was a hundred years old ... or, ninety and nine... Fifteenth chapter of Genesis we find that God, after Abraham getting way up in the twenty-five years now, God approached Abraham.
He said, "Now Lord, I'm getting old, but how? I believe You're going to do it. But I don't know just how You're going to do it." Amen. Oh, not doubt it. It's going to be, Lord, but could You just show me a little way that it's going to be?"
There's where your little special blessing comes. You see? "How you going to do it, Lord? Now I am old. You're going to do it. But just, could You show me how You're going to do it?" I love that, don't you? "Just how You going to do it, Father? Could You show me?"

49 God said, "Come right here, Abraham. I want to talk to You just a moment." He said, "Abraham, I am the Almighty One, Almighty God. Walk before Me, and be perfect. That's how I'm going to do it. I am the Almighty One."

50 The word in Hebrew, El ... Almighty, means "El-Shaddai," which means "the Almighty One." Or, El means "God," and shad means "breast." Shaddai is in the plural. "I am the Almighty, the strong One, the all-sufficient One." You see it?
Now Abraham, watch what that name was that He appeared. "I am the El-Shaddai." In other words, "I am the breasted-One, Abraham." The God... Really, the word s-h-a-d comes from ... in the Bible, it means, like the woman, the place, the nursing place of the baby. In other words, "Abraham, I am the strong One. I am the life-giver." Not only a life-giver, like the baby fretting, "I am the satisfier."

51 The little baby, if he's fretting, sick, still got the tummy ache, as long as he's laying on his mothers arms nursing, it satisfies him. Oh, my! Do you get it? He may be sick, and his little head swimming around, and everything else, but if he's laying on his mother's breast nursing, it pacifies him.
No matter how sick you are, what's taken place, how long the Lord is answering, as long as you are laying on His breast, pulling from the Word, it satisfies the believer.

52 "That's My approach," He said, "that's the way I'm asking You to approach Me. I am your satisfier! Do you believe it?," He said. Amen. "I am the One that'll satisfy you as you draw from Me, life. Abraham, you're a hundred years old, but you're just a baby to Me." See?
Well, he said, "Look at my flesh, how it's wrinkled up, and my hair is gray, and my shoulders are stooped."
"But I am the life-giver!" Amen. That's it, Abraham. Do you see it?
Abraham believed God then. 'Cause he had approach through a symbol, through a name.
So have we an approach through a name: Jesus. What does Jesus mean to us? Saviour! Amen. El Shaddai to Abraham, satisfier, strong one, salvation-giver, strength-giver. The same thing that El Shaddai was to Abraham, Jesus is to the believer. Oh, my! Doesn't it just carry you away?

53 Just makes things seem so petty, these little things of the earth here. So like ... so juvenile to even think of them. We ought to be great giants in God today, not little, bitty children. As long as Christ has been with us and blessing us, and doing the things He has. And we see His great works, and still babies.
Paul said, "When you ought to be able to give meat, you're still taking meat. Not able to take meat, but still given milk." That's right. Still have to take the milk, sincere milk of the Gospel, when you should be strong and eating meat, see.
My, when we see what God does, and His great mighty workings, His Word vindicated, we should be big and burly. That's right. You know why? We just don't eat enough.

54 Now Abraham, "I am the strong One, the all-sufficient One."

55 He was the all-sufficient One for Daniel when he was in the lions' den. He was a strong One that could appear there in the form of a light. And a lion couldn't even approach His presence.
He was the strong One in the fiery furnace with the Hebrew children, when His power, sufficient to keep even the smell of the flames of the smoke off of them. The all-sufficient One. Amen.
And what did King Nebuchadnezzar say? He said, " I see four! You put in three, and I see four, and one looks like the Son of God." The all-sufficient One; the approach. See it? Notice now. Here He is. Wonderful.

56 Now, Abraham being old, yet God promised him, and said, "This is the approach now, Abraham, that you're coming this way, through the offering of the blood. And I'm behind the blood now, as the nurser, the strength-giver, the satisfier, the strong One, the all-sufficient One." Just think of that. Now, "I am the breasted One." Oh, did you notice it? He never said, "I am El Shadd," but Shaddai; double. Amen. The compound.
He never only died for our sins, but He died for our sickness. He was wounded ... our approach. Who is our approach? The Lord Jesus. What was He wounded for? Our transgressions, one breast. What else was He striped for? "And by His stripes, we are healed." Another breast. Who is He? The I AM! The great El Shaddai, the strong one! The all-sufficient one! The breasted God to the believer! Amen and Amen.
The double cure. Not the double remedy. Doctors has remedies. God has the cure! The church has the remedy, but Christ has the cure--the double cure!

57 No wonder, I believe it was Charles Wesley said, "A double cure save ... no, make me pure. Be of sin a double cure. Save from wrath, and make me pure."
How that God can save you from your sins, and from your sickness. The breasted One, the El Shaddai.
In Israel, He was the approach. And when Israel come to a place that they had to be redeemed, God provided them approach. Before He could take Abraham on, He had to show him the approach. Before He could take Job through the fiery trials, He had to show him the approach. Before God could take Israel out, He had to see the approach.

58 So Moses commissioned them to kill a lamb, and to sprinkle it in a sign of the cross, on the door. And believer, inside the door, after sprinkling... Notice it. Get the significance of the order of the Scripture. The believer, once behind the blood, could no more go out, only through the approach. Had to go through the blood.
Death was in the road. The death Angel couldn't touch the blood. "When I see the blood I will pass over you." And the believer had come through the approach. God was going to give them miracles, going to take them away from the garlic pots, and let them eat Angel's food. But He couldn't do it till He had an approach. Amen.

59 He was going to take them away from the old muddy waters of Egypt and give them living waters out of a rock. He couldn't do it until He made an approach. They just couldn't do it by desire. There had to be a provided approach.
They was going to see the Red Sea opened. They was going to see miracles take place. But before they could see this thing, they had, (let that soak deep), they had to come through God's provided approach. You see it, Christian?

60 Just not because they desired to see it, not because you want to see something happen. If you want to see whether Christ is right or not, come through God's approach to Him. Then you'll know.
Now, the uncircumcised tried to come the same thing, to do the same thing, and they drowned! If you don't want to get wrecked-up in life, you quit pretending to be a Christian, 'cause you are going to find yourself wrecked-up out here somewhere. Yes, you come through God's provided way of approach.

61 If I started to go home this afternoon, and cut across the fields, I'd find myself sunk down in a mud puddle somewhere. The highway has an approach to Jeffersonville, and I must go the way of the highway. It's easy running, if you'll just get in the road. Die out to self. Come through the blood of Christ, then you can approach the Father.
And He'll give you the Holy Spirit, that'll make you a believer. 'cause it's not you that's believing anymore; it's the Holy Spirit in you. Your nature is changed. Oh, I wish we had more time, but my time is gone. Oh, I just love the Word, don't you?

62 Look, before they could see miracles, they had to come the provided approach. Before they could see the Red Sea open, they had to be a partaker of the glory. Notice. Before they could become a partaker of the glory, they had to come the provided approach to God, to be a partaker of the divine approach, of the divine articles. And before you can ever become a partaker of this blessed, heavenly calling, you have to come through the provided approach. Not self-sustaining, not intellectually, but death to yourself, and are re-born again in Christ Jesus through the offering of the blood.

63 Then you say, "My, why didn't I know these things a long time ago?" You were trying to come through your church. You was trying to come through your organization. You was trying to come through the auxiliary, or something, another. You was trying to come through your own good works, through your merits.
You'll never see it. And you can't approach it, until you die out to those things, and come God's provided way of approach, which is Jesus Christ, being filled with the Holy Spirit. God's provided way for sinners to come.
You'll never be able to nurse from the Old Testament's goodness, and the New Testament's goodness. You will never be able to nurse joy, and peace, and satisfaction, and healing from your body. You'll stand off and criticize, say, "Oh, it might've been a long time ago, but I believe the approach is all dried up now." Listen, if Christ is the approach to God, then God is El Shaddai. Amen. So come the provided way. Don't try to bypass. Come the provided way.

64 Beautiful parable, if we had time to go into it, of the wedding supper. How that the bridegroom give out the robes, and invited everybody. And robes made everybody look the same. They stood at a door, and as they come by, giving their passes in the Orients and India, and so forth--very beautifully, still carried on. They give out the robes. And everybody was invited received their robe. I like that.
So then

65 when they come to the door, there was a man at the gate that took their invitation. They had on a robe and they come in. Come in another one, and another one come in. And then when they got in there, and the dinner was set, he found one that was there but didn't have on the garment. What happened?
It showed he come in a window. Bypassed the door, and come in another way. He didn't come the provided approach, because the gate-man would have turned him back. The robe makes them all look alike. Whether you are rich or poor, bond or free. When the robe goes on you, you look like the others. You can't show off fancy clothes and everything when you got the robe on.

66 So then, it showed that he'd come in by a window, or come the back door, or bypassed the door. Jesus said, "Friend, what are you doing here?" And he was speechless. See, God's got an approach, and we must come that approach. And every man that comes that approach dies to self, comes to Christ, regenerated, born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, the robe of God's righteousness given upon you, and you live for Christ from then on. You're coming God's provided approach.

67 Then you got new life in you. The old life of sin is passed away. The old carnal thoughts that God, way yonder, years ago... God is a living being, not only out yonder, but right in here now. All things that He said is the truth. And you believe it, every bit.

68 Then you don't criticize the others. You don't find fault with your pastor, and with all the other ... the women that talks this way. You pity them and pray for them. You are coming God's provided approach then, see. What if Christ had found so much fault in you He wouldn't have died for you. But see, He was God's approach our approach to God through Him. You get it? Now notice.
When Israel needed healing, El-Shaddai ... when they needed healing, he had an article, a divine article there, which was represented way, a serpent, that they looked and believed, and was healed. Now, I wish we had time. But of course it's getting late. Let's bring it to a close now.

69 Now, all those fine things ... many other characters is praying in my heart right now, but I just have to hurry. Watch.
Now, what about the Christian approach? How do we approach? One day, as God did in the garden of Eden, taken an innocent lamb, which was in figure, Christ Jesus. And slayed it for a covering, taken off the lamb, stripped the lamb, and put it upon the sinful man, that he might have the covering of the innocent.
God took His Son to Calvary and stripped His flesh from Him, pouring out the blood, the life cell is in the blood, giving up the Spirit that He might take the righteousness of Jesus Christ and cover the guilty. There is God's approach.

70 Is there any divine articles that goes with it? Yes. Then God, in His mercy, after setting Christ at His right hand, sent back the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is ordained in the church as symbols. Apostles, teachers, evangelists, gifts of healing, miracles, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues; signs and wonders to accompany the church as it goes along, for your article. Divine thing, something to represent that the divine forgiveness, the Holy Spirit is present, which came out of the very life of God: the Lord Jesus Christ. His presence is here.
The preaching of the Word brings His presence. The working of miracles brings His presence. And when you come, you say, "I'd like to approach God." Some says, "Well, now, how would I approach Him?" Come His provided approach, is through Jesus Christ His Son.
Then He has other things: teaching of the Word, He has preaching of the Gospel, He has visions, and signs and wonders, and miracles, and all that come right up to His divine approach, that you might lead up to Him, and lay hold on everlasting life.

71 Way, some time ago, thinking of the breasted One, the El Shaddai, just before closing. Oh, it was years, before the Angel of the Lord ever appeared to me. I was sitting in my room, praying one night ... or, my mother's house, rather. My mother is just an old-fashioned country woman. She had washed her clothes, and put a big basket over in the corner, a chair it was, and throwed the clothes on a chair. And I was ... right after I had lost my wife, about three or four years afterwards. And I was batching, trying to, and I'd come in. And I said, " Mother, I--I--I want a talk with you a while."

72 She said, "Sit down, Billy." And I sat down, and we got to talking about the Lord. And so, I went on in the other room, and I said, "I just feel like I want to pray a while, mom."
And she said, "Well, help yourself." And I went into the room, knelt down there and began to pray. And I prayed till about one o'clock. And I raised up and I thought, Well, I believe I'll wander on up home. And then, I looked in the corner, and I thought I seen mother's chair of clothes, something white, but instead of it being there, it was that light, moving, coming towards me.
And when it got on me, I looked, and I seen a little old house, what we call "shotgun" house: little two or three rooms straight in a row. And so... And I walked up to it, going from the south to the north. And when I got into the place, it had red paper on the wall, a little old poster bed, and a little boy, laying there. He had little, bitty, tiny lips, and he had little, blue overalls on like. And his little body was twisted around, and around, and around. His little arms wound up against his side. Each leg twisted around, And his body twisted till it looked like something had been holding from right here, and twisted his body up to here.

73 And I thought, Oh, mercy. This must be one of them... I didn't even know it was visions. I had just been taught that it wasn't and it happened, I couldn't help it. And there I was, standing there looking at the little fellow. And I thought, Oh, my! That poor little fellow.
And the father went and got it, and brought it over to me. And I heard a voice standing here. I never seen the Angel before. And never seen it for years after that, but I'd always hear the voice. And He was standing here, said, "Now, lay your hands on the baby."
And I laid my hands on the baby, and I seen it hit down in the corner, drop out of his fathers arms, and just hit on one leg and it unwound. Hit on the other and it unwound. Then the rest of his body unwound. And then he come walking across to me, and put his hands up in mine. And he looked like he had a little a ... like a little mustache of buttermilk ... or, chocolate milk on his lips, like this. He said, "Brother Branham, I'm perfectly whole."

74 And so, I come to, out of the vision, 'cause it was early in the morning, and somebody was knocking at the door. And when it was, it was a man hollering, "Mrs. Branham, is Brother Branham here?" Mother, she didn't, couldn't wake up. And I was kind of coming out of it, you know, and I was sitting there. And I heard her say, "Billy?"

75 And I said, "Yes."
She said, "Someone's at the door!" And I went to the door and opened it up, and it was Mr. Emil.
He said, "Hello, Billy."
And I said, "Hello there John," I said, "I haven't seen you for so long." I said, "Come in." And he sat down, and I kept rubbing my face, 'cause my face gets real numb when those things happen.
Some people has asked, and I got a letter the other day said, "What makes you always rubbing your face?" It feels numb, feels real thick. And so I was sitting there rubbing my face. And this has been about sixteen years ago, I guess.
And so, he said, "Well, look, Billy." He said, "The first thing I want to say, that I'm sorry that I did what I have."

76 And I said, "What's the matter, Mr. Emil?"
And he said, "You remember over on the banks of the river that day, when you were cutting corn down there in the bottom, and we were there fishing, and you talked to us about the Lord Jesus Christ?"
I said, "Yes."
"And you took me, with your overalls on, me and my family, and went out to the river and baptized us."
I said, "Yep."
Done it, them things many times. When I was a game warden, walked around in my uniform over in the water, and baptize, and get up and dry off a little bit, and run around, get in my car and take off again, on patrol. See, it don't matter, you don't have to have so much pomp and stuff. And when a believer is ready, baptize him. It's time to be baptized. God ain't no ritualistic affair, anyhow. It's, "He that believeth and is baptized."

77 He said, "Well, Brother Branham," he said, "I had two little children then, two little boys."
And I said, "Yes, I remember." It had been four, five, six years before.
He said, "Well, I'm sorry. I took the road that's wrong." He said, "I had been working up here in one of these power plants," said, "I killed a man." And he said, "I hit him with a hammer; we was in a fight. And he hit me first, and he was going to kick me into a big vat there, where they had some of that boiling cottons, or ever what it was," and said, "and he hit me, and I grabbed a hammer and hit the man, and it killed him." He said, "I ... I served a year for it, 'cause it was self-defense."

78 He said, "I come home, instead of going to God, I started drinking, and doing wrong." Said, "I lost my oldest child." He said, "Brother Branham," said, "just an hour ago, the doctor, here of the city, Doctor Bruner, just left my house. My other little boy is dying with pneumonia." He said, "Doctor says he can't make it till daylight." He said, "I thought I'd come ask you if you'd forgive me for what I done, and would come and ask prayer for my baby?"
"Why," I said, "sure, brother." I said...

79 He said, "I'm going down to get my cousin," which, afterwards become one of my associates, Graham Snelling. He said, "He's a Christian, I thought we would all get to pray." Mother come in.
I said, "I'll make ready and you come on back and pick me up." Mother made ready ... or, I made myself ready, rather, and went out.
And mother said, "Billy, what was the matter in there?"
I said, "Mother, it's a vision." I said, "This man has got a little boy, I believe it's going to be healed." She didn't know him. And I said, "Well, I believe he's going to be healed this morning."
And she said, "You going ... you're not going now?"
And I said, "Yes, I'm leaving now. He's coming back after me." A few moments, he picked me up. We started up the road, and he said ... going along up there by the old shipyard, over on the side of the river going up.

80 And I said, "Mr. Emil," I said, "Where do you live at?"
He said, "I live in above Utica, up in the country."
I said, "I haven't heard from you for years." I said, "Don't you live in a little long, like a shotgun house, like that?"
He said, "Yes."
And I said, "You come up through a little gate like this, and go up some rocks, up, and there is some big sycamore tree standing."
He said, "Yes."
I said, "You got red paper on the walls."
He said, "That's right."
And I said, "Your little boy is laying in a bed, at the right hand side of the door, when you go in, little, iron, poster bed."
He said, "Was you ever there?"

81 And I said, "Yes, sir."
He said, "Well, when was you, Billy," said, "I have only been living there about two weeks." Said, "We come down from Ohio."
And I said, "I was there about an hour and a half ago."
And he said, "Why, Billy, I--I--I don't understand."
I said, "Don't your little boy wear a pair of blue corduroy overalls?"
He said, "He has them on now."
I said, "That's what I thought." And I said, "Isn't your wife kind of a black-headed woman, kind of thin?"
He said, "Yes." Said, "You was at my house an hour..."
I said, "Yes, Mr. Emil, I was at your house an hour, or hour and a half ago in vision, or some kind of a spirit that taken me up there." And I said, "The Lord is going to heal your baby!"
And he pulled the brake up on that old Model-A Ford, and fell over his wheel and screamed out with his hands up. Said, "God, be merciful to me! I'll serve You, God!"
And there I put my arms around him and led him back to the Lord Jesus Christ.

82 Two or three years ago, I was in Florida. I heard someone holler, "Billy!" I looked around. I always called him ... we worked a little together, we called him, "Sir John."
And I said, "Sir John."
[Gap in the audio] ... over there on the side of the street by the post office, and I pulled in. He is living down there now.
So we went up to the house... Now I'll show you just how perfect it is.
Now, and I seen, in the vision, a scene, before the baby was given into my hands, the little mother was leaning against the wall, like this. And an elderly lady... Now there was a red duofold suit sitting in the room also. And an old lady come in from the door, that way, and was wiping her glasses, sitting in this chair, over on this side. And a young, blond-headed boy, young man, was sitting on the duofold here, they looked out the window.

83 So, when I walked in ... 'course not knowing about it then, how to take it, or what it was, 'cause I didn't know what it was. And so I walked into the room, and as I got in there, I looked and there laid that little boy laying there. And the mother with this here stuff over his nose you know trying ... and crying and going on. He was just barely living.
I seen what the vision was. The pneumonia had choked him all out, but here he was going [Brother Branham makes a gasping sound.] Little, bitty fellow. And I seen that little brown-haired ... just a boy. And I said, "Bring him here, Mr. Emil, you'll see the glory of God."

84 So the little boy ... man picked up the little boy in his arms, excitable, and run him over to me. Watch how I move there, see. I didn't come the provided approach, see. I said, "Bring him here." And I got in myself, because I seen the vision was going to make him well. But you have to come God's approach, see. And they brought him over there. I just laid my hands on him. I said, "God, I pray that You'll make this little fellow well. You said you'd do it." And the little fellow gasped three or four times, and passed completely out.
I looked at him. And his mother begin to scream, "Oh, he's dead, he's dead, he's dead!"
And I thought, Well, what's happened? Oh, I thought, my, there it is. Oh, here is Graham Snelling standing here, he's the blond head that is supposed to be sitting over there with curly hair. But there is supposed to be an old woman sitting in this chair here. There was the furniture and everything, but it wasn't right. I didn't come the right approach.

85 And that woman wasn't supposed to be standing there by her husband. She was supposed to be leaning against the door. And I thought, O God, I've killed the baby. Oh, my!
And the father laid the baby down, and she started screaming and crying and everything. I just stood there. I thought, Oh, my! What have I done? What have I done? And I waited just a little while, and the baby... Oh, just barely living, got worse right now.
And I thought, Oh, if I kill that baby, oh... Not killed it myself, but been the cause. If I'd obeyed what He told me to do, but I just let... And that's true, folks. God in heaven knows it's truth, here before this Bible.

86 And I thought, well, now... I walked over and sat down there. And it come daylight, sat there about an hour. And it come daylight. Mister Snelling said, "Well, I've got to go to work," he said, "I..."
I thought, Oh, my! If they take him, that's the blond-headed man that was sitting on that duofold... If it does, the whole vision is ruined, and I've spoiled the whole picture. Me sitting there. Oh, my heart just a bleeding in me. They'd say something to me, I wouldn't even answer. I just sat there. I couldn't tell them. Because I thought, maybe God, in some way, would rectify it and fix the picture again. So I just sat there, just looking.
And they said, "Brother Branham, do you want to pray again for the baby?"
I said, "Thanks." And I thought, Oh, where is that old woman, and oh. And Brother Graham went and put on his coat.
John said, "Brother Branham, do you want to go back to Jeffersonville with us?"
I said, "No, thanks." I had to stay there. I thought, It'll be night before ... and that baby can't... I don't see how it can make it another hour. And there it was in that condition, daylight coming. And usually, you know what sick people ... right about the break of day. So, I thought, Oh, here it is, my, what I've done.

87 And the first thing... Mr. Snelling put on his coat and started to go out. And Mr. Emil told his wife, said, "Well, good-bye, honey." Said, "I'll be back, as soon as I take Graham, on down so he can go to work." And said ... working there at one of those plants.
He said, "I'll be back after a while, and I'm not going to work this morning."
And she said, "All right, dear."
And I was sitting over there, I thought, Oh! And I happened to look up, out the window, and here come the baby's grandmother, walking with a little satchel in her hand, with a pair of glasses on, too ... gray-headed, walking around, going into the back. Now every time, she witnessed, before, she always come to the front door. But she went back to the little kitchen to come in.

88 And I thought, Oh, that's her, that's the woman. I didn't know it was the grandmother of the child then, but I knowed it was the woman was in the vision. And so, here she come walking right... And I thought, Here it is! Here it is! The grace of God is going to override. I thought in my heart, you know, didn't say nothing, watching the old woman.
And she come around and went in the back door. And, when she opened the door, I said, "Who is that?" And Brother Graham was standing at the door, him and Mr. Emil fixing to go out.

89 So the mother went to open the kitchen door to look in to the kitchen, and the mother of the baby, the young woman looked out there, and said, "Oh, it's mother." And John and Graham just turned around. And when they did, I raised up from where I was sitting, because Graham was supposed to be sitting there.
So I raised up and looked back and the mother come. She said ... called the baby by name. She said, "Is the baby still living? Is it better?"

90 And the wife said, "No, it's just about dead, mother." And she put her hands up on the wall and started crying, like that you know, just boo-hooing against the door like that, kissed her mother.
And the old woman... I thought, Where you going? Watched her, and she went over and sat down in that chair, and took off those glasses, 'cause coming out of the cold weather, it had frosted on the outside, and was rubbing her glasses. I thought, Perfect! If Brother Graham will just go sit down on that. And Brother Graham, being relation to them, started crying, 'cause the young woman was crying, and went and sat down in the same place! Oh, my!

91 Now it's right! I stood there. I said, "Mr. Emil, will you forgive me?"
He said, "Why?"
I said, "Do you still have confidence?"
He said, "Yes, Billy. Why?"
I said, "I spoke out of turn a while ago." I said, "I'm sorry, and I'm repenting before God. That's the reason I haven't said nothing for these two hours or more. I didn't wait for the vision, (Brother Graham raised up), ... what was revealed to me."
He said, "Well, what, what do you mean?" I said, "Everything is in order. If you still believe me, bring the baby here now."
And the father picked up the baby, walked over there. I said, "Heavenly Father, forgive me for my stupidity, for my error. Now, fulfill what You said You would do."
Laid my hands on the baby. It threw its arms around its daddy's neck, and said, "Daddy, daddy, daddy!"

92 And everybody begin screaming and shouting. They thought they had the Salvation Army up there, on that hillside. Then, when the little baby ... after a few minutes, I said, "Now, let us go."
Said, "Brother Bill, is my baby well?"
I said, "According to what was showed me, the baby come out of the corner, and it twisted three times. One on this leg, this way. And one on this leg, back this way, then its body untwisted." Three steps, meaning three days. I said, "For what told me, three days, this baby will be normal and well."

93 So, they laid it back on the bed and it was talking to its daddy, couldn't even breath hardly, before. We went and got the car, went home. I told the church that Wednesday night. And I said, "How many wants to go day after, or tomorrow night, and watch when I go up to the door, and see if that little baby..." (they don't know nothing about it up at home now), I said, "see if that little baby don't come to me and put its hands in mine, and say, 'Brother Bill, I am perfectly whole,' and have milk on its mouth." I said, "See, if it don't." See? And a whole truck load went up.

94 And they gathered around the windows. And I got out of the truck, went and knocked on the door: just poor people, no rug on the floor, a [unclear word] begin to fall across there. And the children ... the child was playing on the floor with another little kid, which had come up to visit, from a neighbor, a little girl. And when I knocked on the door, Meda, my wife which now is... We wasn't married yet. She was standing close to me, three or four people.
And Mrs. Emil said, "Oh, it's Brother Bill." She said, "Come in Brother Bill. I want to show you something."

95 I looked at them, like that. We walked into the room. And when we stood there, the little boy was playing with some blocks over in the corner, raised up and looked at me, been drinking milk, and had the little mustache across his mouth. Walked over and took a hold of my hand, and said, "Brother Bill, I'm perfectly whole now." What is it? Three days, nursing on El Shaddai! God's divine promise, coming God's divine approach. He has an approach. Do you believe it? Shall we pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank Thee today. Oh, how our hearts burn, because we still have the divine approach. We have every article of the Bible, vivid evidence, right here now, all-sufficient God to provide everything that we have need of.
And God, today, I approach now, through the all Supreme Sacrifice. For the law having a shadow of good things to come ... the burnt offerings, just a shadow, as Job come through the shadow. But not the very image of the thing could never make the comer unto perfect. But this Man, Christ, died once for all and settled it forever. God's one and only approach to Himself, through Jesus Christ, His Son. Through the shed blood, through the wooing of the Holy Spirit, I ask today, that this road be opened to every person in Divine Presence. Grant it, Lord. The night is coming on, healing service is coming.

96 And, Father, just now, if there be any here that's wayward and indifferent, doesn't know You, doesn't know just how to come. Maybe they have just went along, and never tried really to come and get born again, and then approach You. They're trying to approach You on the outside. May they come in, through Christ, just now. Come to the breast of the El Shaddai, which was wounded for our transgressions.
And then in return tonight, lay their head over on the bosom of the mother, God. The only One that could give us birth rightly, is God, our mother and our Father, and our Redeemer, our Loved One. Oh, all in all. God grant it, just now.
Sweetly, while the music is playing. May every wayward soul, just now, come to the entrance of the gate of the paradise of God, and say, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner, just now," or a backslider, "for I come Thy provided way through the Lord Jesus. Accept me, Father."

97 While we have our heads bowed, I wonder if there would be one, two, how many, anywhere in the building, raise up your hand and say, "Brother Branham, I've been just a little dilatory. Kind of jumping around, kind of hoping to come to God through some kind of an experience, or, maybe because I had a feeling, seen lights, or... But, just now, I am laying that all aside. I'm coming God's way. I'm coming by the way of the cross, just now. I raise my hand to Almighty God." Say, "God be merciful to me."
God bless you. God bless you. God bless you, you, you, you. God bless you. Keep praying, everywhere. God bless you. God bless you, you. Oh, my!
Up in the balcony, somewhere up there, somebody say, "Brother Branham, just now, by faith, I've moved up to the door. I see it. I see that none of my ways could do. My own thoughts is no good. My own thoughts about divine healing is no good. I'm trying to beat against an iron wall. The more I come, the more I beat, the worse I get. I can't get nowhere, Brother Branham. So I'm going to accept what you said just now. I'm coming God's provided way. I'm coming just as simply, unconsciously to any surroundings around me. I'm coming to the Lord Jesus, by the way of the cross, and accepting Him as the strong One, as the El Shaddai."
God bless you, dad. Old, gray-headed man with his hand up, feebly shaking, wants to be remembered. Shall we pray.

98 Lord Jesus, look at them, a dozen or more hands around maybe two dozen raised their hand. Some old fellows, poor brothers that's wandered along, maybe joining church, or trying to do good. That was all fine, Father.
You seen them when they went up to the church and put their name at the church. You seen them, Father, when they done those good deeds to the people; give their substance, fed the widows, hauled the coal for the poor old woman that didn't have any, chopped the wood for the neighbor, helped that man out on the side of the road, put the nickel in the parking meter to keep the cop from giving their brother a ticket. Maybe a man they'd had never seen, but they just passed by and felt sorry for him. That was good. You seen it, Lord. You love them for it.
And now You spoke to their heart. And they want to come through Thy provided way now. Not by what they've done, but by surrendering their own will to Thine, and receiving Thee as their Saviour. Just now receive them, Father. For we ask in Jesus' name.

99 With your heads bowed and in prayer, if you will. I'm going to ask Brother Joseph if he'll come and finish the altar call, while I slip to pray, get ready for the healing service.
I want every one that raised their hand to come here and personally pray to the Lord Jesus. While the music is playing, you in prayer. God be with you till I see you tonight.