The Queen of Sheba
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1 ...now while we bow our heads. Gracious Lord, we come to Thee humbly, in the name of Thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, to pour out to Thee the adoration of our hearts, trying to express our love and gratitude to You for sending Him to the earth; that while we were yet sinners, Christ took our place in death, dying the innocent for the guilty.
On earth He was given the lowest name that there could be given man; but when You taken Him into Your hands and raised Him up, He received the highest name that could be given. He had no place to lay His head when He was on earth; but now He looks down to see heaven from His throne. We pray, God, that while you're looking down tonight, that You will remember us. Let Thy grace rest upon each of us.
Desperately in need of Thy Spirit, we would pray for mercy for the sinner, the unbeliever, for those who have wearied themselves away from the house of God. May they wind their way back tonight. Heal the sick, Lord. Show Your presence among us. And may there not be a feeble one in our midst when we leave tonight. Hear us, Lord, for we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. You may be seated.
2 I could say one thing, that people certainly didn't come out to church tonight just to be seen on a night like this. We Southerners would stay home on a night like this. But it shows that you love the Lord. So, I'm so thankful for that, that you do love our blessed Lord.
3 And now, the services tomorrow, I think I'm to be with a brother in his Bible class for a few minutes just before he preaches. And then, tomorrow afternoon is an evangelistic service. And tomorrow evening is the closing of our little get-together. And I just trust to God that everywhere I go, from henceforth across America, I could find faith and people like I have found here. That's right.
So, I got several big meetings booked, and then for overseas. And so you pray for us.
4 And now, if you're visitors here, out of the city, I'm sure that Brother Summerall would be very happy for you to be here tomorrow, and he's got perhaps classes for the children and for all. I'm sure you'd be welcome here tomorrow morning if you're not at your own church, have a church of your choice to go to; why, I'm sure you'd be welcome here.
5 Now, tonight would be the last night on the tapes. You people have tape machines and like to hear your name and what the Spirit said to you in the line; Brother Mercer here is one of my associates in the meeting (He's a recorder), and Brother Goad, they take these tapes then the books and so forth. Now, tomorrow they won't have them because we've never permitted them to sell or do any transaction of business like that on Sunday. So, we'd be glad if you'd take care of that tonight if you desire them.
6 Now, I wish to turn for a Scripture reading in this blessed Bible. If the Lord willing, tomorrow afternoon or tomorrow night, I'm asking this, that evangelist singer (I believe he's a home singer here): Brother Golden. I got his record this morning. I certainly like his singing. Pardon me.
And the little ladies that sing, too, remind me of my wife and my sister-in-law when first started preaching, the little Baptist Tabernacle. They sang all the time, a little trio like that. It's brought old memories, while the brother was talking, I couldn't keep my eye from that scene. And so, I want him to sing tomorrow night and ask him, if he will, before the message, "The Keys." And I want to preach on "The Keys To The Heart," the Lord willing, just before the healing service.
7 And while, this afternoon thinking in my hotel room, just a little text that fell on my heart that I have used before, but I thought it might be good tonight just to bring it up. See, after being in the room praying, coming to the pulpit here, praying for the sick under anointing of a vision, it's a different Spirit than preaching, see. It's all the same Spirit, but a different gift. And so, when you shake yourself around like that from one anointing to another, it's never got the value to it that would have if you just walked right in and start the prayer line. It's too flat that way when we have these little meetings. I like to preach to them about three nights and let them get their prayer cards and get them, hold them and wait and be in prayer and then start the healing service. Then you come right in, walk right in to the platform, go to praying for the sick.
8 But, now, many times you might wonder why we don't get too many. Well, it could be so that we could run a little longer in the prayer line, but there's another meeting coming. You don't have to put up with me like my wife does and my associate. It certainly is a wrecking thing. Now, anyone who knows the Scripture realizes that a man, a mortal man like we are, to have something in the line of supernatural certainly does take the life out of you.
9 You know what twenty minutes of preaching under inspiration tears you down. It's been tested. It tears more out of you in twenty minutes of inspirational preaching than eight hours with a pick and shovel. Twenty minutes. Think of the difference.
Then what about a vision. One vision will do more to you than two hours of preaching, see. Because it gets you to a place where there's no need of me trying to say that I do understand it, because I do not understand it and no one else does. Just something we have to say, "Lord, You're good to us and we thank You." That's about all we can say. There's no way to explain it. We just have to accept it.
10 Now, I want to read from St. Matthew's Gospel, the 12th chapter, 42nd verse. Very familiar little text, perhaps maybe your pastor has preached on it many times.
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
11 Jesus had just been called Beelzebub. His ministry had been questioned, and He had discerned their thoughts and knew what they were thinking. Isn't it wonderful and such a consolation to know tonight that He still knows our thoughts and what we're thinking? Your thoughts is louder in heaven than your voices on earth, for, "He is a discerner of the thoughts of the mind. His Word is sharper and quicker than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the thoughts of the mind." And He knows all things, therefore, He can deliver all things as God will permit.
Now Jesus said, "I do nothing except My Father shows Me first." And the Father would show Him things, and He would speak it.
John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
12 Did you ever stop to think what a privileged people we are of this day? Living in the closing of this world's history and living in a time that when all kinds of isms, and all different creeds, and all that's going on, and yet in the midst of it all, our God rides in on the waves, and confirms His Word right before us.
13 Mohammedans: they're the greatest religion in number in the world. Mohammedans outnumber Christianity about three times. Buddha worshippers are greater than Christianity; that's throwing in Catholic and all. Christianity is either the third or fourth place in the religions of the world. But there's not a one of them that can prove any more than just psychology of believing if ... well, Mohammed was a great man; he died and he's coming back again. But there was only One that ever said, "I have power to lay My life down and power to raise it up again." And then prove it after He's risen up.
John 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
14 There could be fiction stories and say, "Oh, well, He never rose." Sometime ago when Brother Reedhead ... (What's his first name?) [ Someone says Perris.] Perris, Perris Reedhead came to my house.
Now, Perris Reedhead is a Baptist. And he came to me and he said, "Brother Branham, knowing that you were a Baptist, you ought to know truth as the Baptist think it, you know." He said, "What's these Pentecostals got?"
I said, "The Baptism of the Holy Spirit."
He said, "I was called of God when I was about six years old." And he said, "I have went everywhere; my mother schooled me." And said, "When I got my degree, my bachelor of arts," said, "I thought I'd find Christ there. So when I got my doctor's degree, I thought I'd find Christ. When I got my LL.D., I thought I would find Christ." But said, "I've got enough degrees that I could almost plaster your wall with them." He said, "But where is Christ? I didn't find Him in any of it." Says, "Has the teacher's been wrong?"
I said, "As an illiterate person as myself, I certainly wouldn't want to say that the teachers was wrong. They told you truth, but not all the truth."
Christ doesn't lay in degrees; He lays in faith, believing Him in the Person Christ.
15 He told me a story of a Mohammedan that had been reared, I believe, in their missions. I think in Sudan missions (Wasn't that?), the great Sudan missions.
And this Mohammedan, on his road back, Brother Reedhead said to him, said, "Sir," going back after being educated for something another in India. Said, "You're going back to work in your nation as maybe a electrical engineer," or whatever he had taken. Said, "Why don't you take back with you a Lord Jesus instead of that dead prophet that you are worshipping?"
He said, "Kind sir," he said, "what could your Lord Jesus do for me any more than my prophet can do?" He said, "They both wrote books; we call ours the Koran, you call yours the Bible, and we both believe the books."
16 Why he said, "Mister", he said, "our Christ has raised from the dead and your Mohammed prophet is still in the grave."
He said, "Did he raise from the dead? I would like to see him." Oh, he said, "How do you know that He raised from the dead?"
Mr. Reedhead said, "He lives in my heart."
He said, "So does Mohammed live in my heart."
He said, "Well, we have joy of knowing it."
He said, "Now, Mr. Reedhead, Mohammed religion can produce just as much psychology as Christianity: That we can shout just as loud and scream just as loud, dance just as hard and everything as you can." He said, "But we Mohammedans are waiting to see you teachers prove that Jesus raised from the dead." He said, "Mohammed never promised nothing but life after death." He said, "But Jesus promised to His teachers that the works that He did, they would do also. We're waiting to see those works."
He said, "Well, maybe you're thinking about in the Scripture there of Mark 16?"
He said, "That's one place, yes, sir."
He said, "Well, the better teachers know that Mark 16 from the 9th verse on is not even inspired, so that..."
He said, "What kind of a book are you reading? All the Koran is inspired."
John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
17 And Mr. Reedhead said that he kicked the dust and changed the subject. That's right. Because that He knew just talking to the Mohammedan, he was defeated. He said, "And, Brother Branham, I'm here to find out something about God."
And there Morris ... or, Brother Reedhead has re... Perris Reedhead has received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and is preaching the Gospel with signs and wonders following his ministry because that he believed, was hungering and thirsting for righteousness. God said, "They shall be filled." The Word is true.
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
18 And Jesus in His teaching here, He just had a lot of criticism and they had been talking about Him as every time where the supernatural is done, there is a mixed multitude. When Moses did the supernatural, a mixed multitude went with him and it caused trouble. Always when the supernatural is done, a mixed multitude goes. This revival is going on now; there's a mixed multitude.
The historians said it wasn't a strange thing that Martin Luther could protest the Catholic church and get by with it, but to keep his head above all the fanaticism that followed the reformation.
So, you find it. But what does the bogus claim? It only proves that there's a real one somewhere. When you see someone mocking religion, just remember there's somebody got religion. When you see somebody pretending to have the Holy Spirit, there's somebody that's really got it. That's right.
19 When you go into India, you find all the clowns laying on the spikes and doing little things for money: that's clowns. Some honest person back in the interior there is really cutting himself and bruising himself to try to appease his gods.
And always that pro and con, false and true, day and night. And Jesus was the Light of the world when He was here. And He's the light of the world tonight. There's no other light that can lead you out of the shadows of death, but the blessed Lord Jesus.
20 And in all ages, God has had men, and He's had His ministry in every age. God is supernatural. And when God comes on the scene, supernatural takes place, for He is supernatural. And His people always look for Him in the supernatural. Because when they become sons of God, they become the nature of God. And in that, they pick up that believing Him by faith, they believe that what God says is the truth, no matter how contrary it may seem.
Like Abraham of old, he called those things that was not as though they were, because God said so. And as he got older, the baby was promised for twenty-five years. And the Bible said he got stronger all the time waiting for the promise because it would be a greater miracle. And we call ourselves the children of Abraham and can't wait overnight for God, if He doesn't perform an outstanding miracle on us.
Romans 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
21 That's why we don't catch what faith really is. Faith is something: it may not take place in your hand if it's crippled, may not take place in your eye if it's blind; but faith takes it's solemn stand in the heart, and from there you call anything contrary to what that faith says as though it was not.
22 But the mixed multitude... And Jesus said ... begin to speak to them of other ages, how that God down through the age has always done the supernatural. And He was referring back to the prophet, Jonah. Then He came down to the one that we wish to base these few thoughts around for the next fifteen to twenty minutes.
That was in the days of Solomon. In all ages when God sends a gift to the people and they refuse it, it only makes the people go into chaos. But, when the people believes and accepts what God sends them, it is a golden age for that people. When He said in His own ministry, "How oft would I have hovered you as a hen would her brood, but you would not." They didn't know their day. And I'm just wondering if we as America know our day of visitation.
Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
Luke 19:44 And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
23 And I might say this just now because the Holy Spirit seems to be putting it on my heart: Be careful; Satan will try to tell you of something great way off in another age to come, or another coming along of another revival, and you may be living in the last part of all you'll ever get. It may be now. It's always been that way. They come, and the revival is gone, and they don't know it. Myself, I believe we're at the end. I don't look for nothing else but the coming of the Lord. I believe that everything that He has promised in the Scripture has been fulfilled.
24 I believe we are getting our last call. That's the reason, tired and weary, I stand at the platform night after night. And you know it's not for money. It's not for popularity; I shun those things. But, it's because it's something in me is driving me, and I know it's the Holy Spirit, that the message combs through the country back and forth until every fish has been caught in the Gospel net.
25 Notice, if the people receive it, then there is a great revival and a great time of jubilee.
Now, He was referring to Solomon. God raised Solomon up as a type of Christ, a son of David, and gave him a gift. Oh, how all Israel rallied around that gift. How they loved that gift, because it come from God to them. And any gift is not given to a man only for service. He becomes a servant of the people to whom he preaches and ministers the gift which God has given him. It isn't for his benefit. It is for the people's benefit.
26 And God raised up Solomon and gave him a great gift, and the people all rallied around it---Pharisees, Sadducees, whatever they might be. And whether he come from a Pharisee group, or a Sadducee, or whatever denomination that it was, they with one accord all rallied around the principle: what God had did. And one told the other and another told another until all the passers-by begin to hear of it. And they took it off into their country.
27 Would it not be a wonderful thing if we, in the American church tonight, would only pass the good news from one to another like that? Would it not be wonderful if it didn't sweep from nation to nation of the goodness that God has showed us here? But we, oh, we're very clannish. It's not in our denomination, so we don't know whether it can be truth or not. God always picks an individual to work in, not a denomination. Tell me one time that God ever clanned off to a denomination. God in all ages has worked through individuals. Exactly.
28 And in all times and all history, God always raised up a man outside of the denomination and blessed that man and give him a ministry. Martin Luther, John Wesley, on down, just bring them down through the age. Someone outside of the church, because it gets itself to a clan like, and then God can't move in it no more. It gets callused, brings up its doctrine, and ends it with a period. "This is what we believe and nothing else." Your tables of doctrine would be all right if you'd end it with a comma. We believe this plus as much more as we can hear from God. That would be all right then. Then you'd be interdenominational. And, oh, how the people get... And that's the reason the message can't strike the place that it should strike.
29 And I was thinking there of how Jesus spoke of Solomon and how the people coming and going, hearing the message. And way down in the utmost parts of the known world, there was a little woman that was a queen---a pagan---way down in Sheba. And she heard... Everybody coming by said, "You should go up into Israel. Their God has raised them up a man with a great gift, and this gift works marvelous. It's a gift of discernment, and you should see it work."
30 You know the Bible said, "Faith cometh by hearing." And everyone going through, and watching this great miracle being done by Solomon on his discernment... Finally, the little queen begin to hunger. She wondered if that really could be true. Then somebody else come by. "Oh, you should see it. Oh, we've never seen anything like it. They've got a mighty God up there in Israel, and around this gift they're in one accord. No one says anything against it, but everybody believes it." Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful if the church could do that?
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
31 Then, notice, the little queen begin to hunger to see it. She wanted to see it. And you know, there's just something about the power of Almighty God that when the supernatural is done, every heart that's really right with God, longs to see it. Man is a supernatural being. He come from behind a dark curtain there. He's going out behind that dark curtain. He longs to look across the curtain and see from where he come and where he's going. It's only natural that a man would do that, because he longs to do it.
32 Here some time ago in California, I was sitting in a meeting disguised (That's right.), because a brother was preaching, and I was just sitting there dressed a little different. And I happened to be sitting by a Episcopalian minister.
And the minister on the platform, after he had spoke about a hour and a half, went back behind the curtains and the valet changed his clothes and come back out because he was perspiring. That's just what that Episcopalian minister wanted. He said, "He doesn't behave himself like a servant of Christ." Well, I didn't think it was too much myself, but I sure go take up for my brother on the platform.
I said, "I think he's all right.
He said, "Are you one of these?"
I said, "I don't belong to this church, no sir."
He said, "Do you know what?" He said, "Years ago..." I bet it wasn't a Episcopalian; it was a Presbyterian. He said, "We had the greatest churches on this west coast. We had the whole thing sewed down." And said, "That that cult of Christian Science come along." And said, "They broke up our churches." And says, "Looks like this fellow is going to break up the Christian Science."
Oh, I thought that was just a good place for me to put my little bit in. So, I said, "Sir, if you Presbyterians would have fed the children the bread of life, you'd still been the leading church; but if you won't do it, God's able of these stones to rise children unto Abraham. He will feed His church. He promised to do it."
Matthew 3:9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Luke 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
33 Oh, the great works of the living God. And then this little woman, after she'd been hearing about this, she thought she'd go see this for herself. That's a good way to find out. Don't take somebody else's word for it. Go find out yourself. Sit with an honest heart. Open up your heart and say, "Lord, now deal with me." And examine it by the Scriptures to see if it's right. And she decided to go, because the Word had been planted and she desired to see it.
I want you to notice: As it was with that little woman, so is it with every person that comes to God---it cost you a price. The first thing to begin with she was a woman. And she had to cross a desert, not in a air-conditioned Cadillac, or not in some great, beautiful plush car; but sitting on the back of a camel.
Look at the space between Jerusalem and the country she came from. It taken her at least three months to come to Solomon on the back of a camel. And we will hardly, in a nice car, drive a mile to get to prayer meeting. What a difference.
34 And a gift of God, most of the time, we say, "Oh, nonsense, nothing to it. Dr. Jones said so-and-so and that settles it." That's the reason we get nowhere. That's what's the matter with the world tonight. That's what's the matter with the church tonight. If it had only knowed its day.
35 Now, notice, in the desert in them days the children of Ishmael was there, and they were robbers. She had to think about that. She could have been robbed. So she said this, "I'm going up to see for myself, and if it is the truth, I'm going to support it with all I got." And she ladened her camels with gold and frankincense. She really brought an offering.
If it was truth, she wanted to support it. If it wasn't the truth, then she could bring her gifts back. But then what a shock that would have been for those Arabs in that day in the desert to have caught that little caravan coming through there with their little soldiers, and this little queen woman sitting up on top of a camel, and her little maids around her; just to rode in and shot them down and taken all that great treasure to themselves.
But if there is a hunger in your heart to see God, there isn't enough devils in all torment to keep you from seeing Him. He will make a way where there is no way. If you really want to see Him, and honest in your heart.
36 She had to think of those things. But when faith takes the preeminence, there is no more room for fear. They cast it away. She had one alternative: that was to see if that gift was right. So she ladened her camels with gold and costly things, and she got up on the camel and started. Perhaps traveling by night, being cooler across the great Sahara desert, as she come up through the sands. Oh, what a price. What a journey! But what an ambition tops it all, because in her heart there was something hungering and thirsting to find if there really was a God that could answer.
37 Now, she wasn't a Christian. She was a pagan. So she was coming up to find out about this God. It had been represented to her in a marvelous way: One who performs supernatural. So here she comes. And then when she got to the palace gate... She never come just to sit fifteen minutes and say, "I will watch and see how he goes on. If I don't like it, I will turn back." She unloaded the camels, fixed the tents and stayed till she was convinced.
Oh, if men and women would only do that instead of drawing your opinion and slipping out in a few minutes because the preacher said something that's a little different from your theology. If you'd just believe and sit there. God will reveal Himself to you. "Oh, I attended one night I didn't think much of it, so I just come away."
Not her. She said, "I'm going to see it through."
I like that: See it through, prove it. Find out whether it's the truth or not. If it's not the truth, have nothing to do with it. But if it is the truth, it's worth every ounce and every effort that we can put forth to serve the true and living God.
38 So she got up there, unloaded her camels. She came to stay till it was over. And I can see the little queen, as it was, on the first morning when the meeting was set, Solomon came out and took his seat. And while he was sitting there, they brought to him hard things. And I can see her as she stood back in the corner or somewhere in the great palace yard there, and Solomon sitting, and the people come. She seen the Spirit of the living God moving in human heart, and giving the discernment of right and wrong.
39 Oh, it must have thrilled her heart. She said, "The morning meeting was so great, I believe I will just stay till the evening meeting." So when Solomon sat again, and she seen the Spirit of God moving in that man, oh, it kept building more confidence and more confidence. And finally after a while, she was so convinced until she went and got her offerings and laid them down and presented herself. And here's what she said, "All that I have heard is the truth and more that I heard has been done." She stayed. What happened?
Jesus referred to that woman. Never had heard the Gospel before, but upon hearing, she come and examined it and found it to be so. So, Jesus said she will raise up in the day of the judgment and will condemn you bunch of self-styled, educated Pharisees who should have knowed different and has turned it down.
1 Kings 10:7 Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.
2 Chronicles 9:6 Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Luke 11:31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
40 I say this humbly as Christ's servant: I believe that the Hottentots in Africa will rise in the day of judgment and condemn this United States. For if the mighty preaching, and the mighty revivals, and the great signs would have swept Africa as it has this nation here, they would've repented a long time ago, and victory fires would be built on every hill.
But we stay home on Wednesday nights and the prayer meetings to watch some television program that we should not even let be turned on in our house. And in spite of all the things that's done, we wade right on into sin every day. "Denying! Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof."
2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
41 What will be in that day when that little queen rises up in this generation, when some won't come across the city or across the street to examine anything and see if it's right? If it is right, let's put our whole heart in it. If it's not right, have nothing to do with it. If it isn't the Word of God, then it's wrong. If it is the Word of God and His promise, God is obligated to His promise and He will keep every word that He said. Then if He does that to us, it shows that truly He has given to the church tonight gifts and callings and wonders, that He might bring Himself before the people.
42 He's healing. Every person in here is healed right now. The Bible says you are. Every sinner inside this door, and every sinner in the world is already saved and been saved since Jesus' death at Calvary.
You say, "Brother Branham, I was saved ten years ago." No, you accepted it ten years ago. He took away the sin of the world nineteen hundred years ago. But it's your personal faith in a finished work that brings the results. If you never accept it, you'll die and without mercy because you've judged the Son of God thus.
If you are sick tonight, "He was wounded for our transgressions, and with His stripes you were healed." It's a past tense. It isn't that I lay hands on you, or any other minister lays hands on you. It's your personal faith in a finished work that Christ has did. Certainly.
Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
43 In the Bible times when they seen this manifestation of Spirit, they laid people in the shadow of a fisherman who couldn't write his own name (Known as the apostle Peter), and they were healed. They believed it. There was nothing in that man that could heal them, for he was just a man. But the healing laid in their personal faith in Christ that was in the man.
Oh, God, grant tonight, is my prayer, that every person in here will see the Lord Jesus in His great power and His manifestation of His Spirit. And receive Him and be healed and saved, while we bow our heads just a moment for prayer.
Acts 5:15 Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.
44 I'm wondering tonight as we sit with our heads bowed in the presence of His majesty, could you be as that little queen? Could you show the simplicity? That woman had never read no scrolls of Scripture. She just had to believe a testimony, and taken her three months to get to it to find out whether it was true or not. There her heart was satisfied, and today she's immortal among men. She's in glory and will rise in the judgment, with the generation of people who has had the opportunity to receive it and did not.
What did Jesus say? "Verily, I say unto you that a greater than Solomon is here." And even tonight... And I say this with respects and with a humble heart. And I trust that you'll wait just a moment and don't think I'm sacrilegious by my remark. A greater is here among us tonight than there was who said the words, because it's a glorified Jesus. He said, "You might say something against the Son of Man and it would be forgiven you, but a word against the Holy Ghost when He comes to do the same thing, will never be forgiven in this world or the world to come."
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.
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Mark 3:28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
Mark 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
Luke 11:31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
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.
45 So, One that has been among us, died and rose again, is glorified in the presence of God tonight, comes back in the form of the third Person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, and dwells in us and moves and proves Himself to be the same Lord Jesus. "A little while and the world sees Me no more, yet ye shall see Me, for I will be with you, in you. The works that I do, shall you do also. More than this shall you do, for I go to My Father." I wonder in the light of this Scripture, if you've come tonight, if you're not a Christian, would you raise your hand and say, "Brother Branham, pray for me just now. I here want to raise my hands to Christ and say I haven't lived the right life. Be merciful to me, Lord Jesus."
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 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
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.
46 Is there a person in the buildings, anywhere in the overflows or anywhere just raise your hand, say, "Brother Branham, I'm not a Christian. Remember me; I want to get right. I come here tonight for a purpose. I come here, I heard about this as you've been preaching about a gift that the Lord God had given to the church. And I certainly don't want to be left out at that day. I don't want no trouble down at the river when I come down to the river. I want to be sure that I'm right. Remember me, Brother Branham, in your prayer." As you'll testify by raising your hand. Backslider, God bless you, lady. Someone else? Just a moment. God bless you, sir. God bless you, sir. That's good. Someone else? God bless you, lady. Bless you.
47 "I here will raise my hand, Brother Branham, to God." Now say, "Lord God, I've come maybe through the snow tonight as the queen come over the desert. Maybe this is my first night here. I've heard about these things. I want to know if it's truth or not. And I want you to pray, Brother Branham, that my heart will be humble, that I will be willing and able to receive the Spirit of Christ. Pray for me." God bless you.
48 Now, Heavenly Father, we ask for mercy for these who have raised their hands. Circumcise every heart now, and I might stand here hour after hour preaching, and yet one word from Thee, Lord God, would count more than all the preachers in the world could say in years. Just one word from You.
Oh, Lord, our hungry hearts do thirst as the hart panteth for the water brook; our souls thirst after Thee. Many coming in tonight raised their hands that they wanted to be remembered. God, I pray that You will give to them tonight the exceedingly abundance of Thy grace.
Psalm 42:1 To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
49 Bless every sick person in the building. And as I just said to them, I pray, Lord God, that it did not go over their head, but it went into the heart that they are already healed. Your power produced that in that all sufficient sacrifice at Calvary. There's where the purchase and power was given. And the great supreme sacrifice was made. And the requirement of an angry God was met. They're justified. The believer in accepting Your propitiation for his sins and his sickness.
O immortal and creator, stand near in these next few minutes, that Thy Word will not be found to be untrue, but that Thy Word might be made manifest.
50 O eternal, blessed God, hear the prayer of Your servant as I pray for this little group that's dared through the snowstorms tonight to come to the church hungering, and thirsting, and longing. They know they come from somewhere and they're headed somewhere.
O Lord, anchor every person's faith there in Calvary. And to our blessed Lord, when He was on earth and how He performed the miracles, and showed that He was the Messiah by discerning their thoughts---telling Philip where he was---and when He got Nathanael and how He told Nathanael that he was under a tree---told Peter his name. The woman touched His garment. The Samaritan woman couldn't understand who He was. She said, "I perceive that you are a prophet, but we know when the Messiah cometh, these things will be done." How she could say after that, "Come see the man that told me the things I've done. Isn't this the Messiah?"
Grant, Lord, that there will be the testimony of this church after the next few minutes.
John 1:42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.
John 1:48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
John 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
John 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
John 4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
51 Father God, take the words now and sanctify them and grant now that they'll become life in every heart. For if You stood here in the form of Your being, the people would have to have faith to get the benefits of Your presence.
When You come into Your own city, Capernaum, and to Nazareth, and to Galilee and around in many places; they said, "Oh, we heard You done it somewhere else. Now do it here." And many mighty works You could not do because of their sin, their unbelief. And we know that that's the original sin: is unbelief. And really the only sin.
Matthew 13:58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Mark 6:5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
Mark 6:6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
52 I pray, Father, that You will bless now as we commit ourselves to Thee. And this little gift that Thou has permitted me to have of... I pray that You'll just work extremely great tonight. And what good would it do, Lord, if somebody out there couldn't catch it right quick and believe?
May it thrill the hearts of ministers. May they rise and lift up them feeble hands that's been hanging down. May the church rejoice, for we know that Redemption is nigh. Mercy has revealed itself and next will be judgment for those who have spurned mercy.
Grant it, Lord, now we are in Thy hands in the name of Jesus Christ, be merciful to us. Amen.
53 Real slowly on this song. I love that. How many loves that song, "Saviour, Saviour, hear my humble cry, while on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by." No wonder old blind Fanny Crosby could write that. "Whom have I on earth beside Thee, or whom in heaven but Thee?" Let's sing it quietly and slowly and inspirationally to the Lord, now. All right, somebody can lead it for us.
Pass me not, O gentle Saviour,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by. (Now, quietly
and slowly now.)
Saviour, (in the Spirit of worship) Saviour,
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by.(Do you love Him?
Just raise up your hands. Slowly.)
Saviour ... (God's a Spirit and He longs to
be worshipped.)
Hear my humble cry;
While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by. (Now hum it slowly.)
54 Lord God, Thou seest the hands, the faces, knows the heart. Somewhere along, amongst these prayer cards, I got to call someone. They'll be called to the platform. And if it pleases Thee tonight to manifest the resurrection of Thy Son, the blessed Lord, to us, grant that these out there will not be passed by. May everyone receive the benefits of Thy atoning grace tonight, and Thy healing power. For we ask it in Jesus' name, for His glory. Amen.
Oh, I just love this kind of a meeting. Don't you feel just real scoured out like? Just something that just took all condemnation. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the flesh (what their eyes sees and their ears hear) but after the Spirit." The Spirit giveth life.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
55 Now believe Him tonight, friend of mine. How many was here last night? Let's see your hands. How many this is their first night? Let's see your hands. Oh, my. Then you last-nighters will just wait just for a moment. I'd like to talk to the ones that's here for their first time in the meeting.
My beloved friends, I do not claim to be a healer. If I said that, I would be telling something wrong. I'm just your brother. I do not heal the sick; I pray for the sick. God has already healed them. They've already been healed when Jesus died.
Now the only thing that God can do to make His Word real, is to get some good preacher who can preach the Word. That's the official and the initial way. "Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word."
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
56 If it was you trying to give a enemy, that's been your enemy... I've often thought, if God will forgive His enemy's sins, won't He heal His children's sickness? And then, if you'd place before your enemy, or whoever, and told them your word, and they didn't believe it, and walked away from it, that would settle it with you and I. But not God. He's not willing that any should perish. So He sends gifts into the church to make known His presence. And I believe that we have been a partaker in this last days in the past thirty, forty years, have been partaker of every spiritual gift that's recommended to us in the Bible that Jesus died for. I believe that this now is the end time.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
57 When Jesus was here on earth, He did not claim to be a healer. (Is there newcomers now?) He said, "It's not Me that doeth the works; it's My Father that dwelleth in Me." He doeth the works. St. John 5:19, He said, "The Son can do nothing in Himself, but what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son likewise."
And when He manifested Himself to Israel... First was to Peter and He give him his name. He didn't know him and never seen him before, but He told him who he was, and what his father's name was. How many you people believe that's the Bible? St. John the 1st chapter.
John 1:42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.
John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
58 When Philip got converted, he went and found a friend, Nathanael, under a tree. He told him, "Come see who I've found, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph."
He said, "Now, could there be any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
He said, "Come see."
On the road around, he instructed him, like your friends has you coming tonight. And when he got in the presence of our blessed Lord, he looked down and the Lord bid him, said, "Behold, here's an Israelite in whom there is no guile."
It's so surprising that he said, "Rabbi, when did You know me?"
He said, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you." What eyes! Thirty miles around the mountain.
John 1:45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
John 1:46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
John 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
John 1:48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
59 But He can see right down into your heart. He's omnipresent. Do you believe that? Omnipotent, infinite. Sure He is. He knows ... He knowed everything before the foundation of the world. He's all present, has all knowledge, all power. That proved that it was God in Him.
He said, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree, I saw you."
He said, "Rabbi, You're the Son of God. You're the King of Israel."
See, they had a spiritual conception. Oh, I wish we had just a few minutes here. Would you bear with me if I say I will watch the clock for about three to five minutes?
Did you know the entire body of Jesus Christ is revealed through revelation? Did you know the things that's written in the Word, you have to read the Bible in between the lines? It's a love story. You believe that?
John 1:48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
John 1:49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
60 Now my wife sitting over there, I love her. God knows that. And when she writes me a letter when I'm overseas, and she knows I'm tired and weary, she will sit down and, "Dear Bill, I've just put the children to sleep. And tonight I'm thinking of you and been praying for you." Now, that's what she's saying, but I love her so much and she loves me that I can read between the lines. I know what she really means, see. It's a love affair.
And if you love the Lord like that, you read the Bible not as a newspaper, not in some theological seminary interpretation of it; but as a love letter. The Bible said so. Now how many knows that? Some of you.
61 Well, Jesus said, "I thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast hid it from the seminary students---the wise and prudent---and revealed it to babes such as would learn." See it from the eyes of smart and educated. It's revealed to babes such as will learn.
Notice, when Job was in trouble and he was fixing to die---he thought. And the angel of the Lord came, and the Spirit came on the prophet, and the thunders roared, and the lightnings flashed. And he stood up and said, "I know my Redeemer liveth. And at the last days He will stand on the earth; though the skin worms destroys this body, yet in my flesh I will see God." You know where he was buried?
Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
Job 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Luke 10:21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
62 Along come Abraham. And when Sarah, his sweetheart, when she died, did you notice where he buried her? In the promised land, right with Job. When Abraham died, he was buried with Sarah. Abraham begot Isaac; when Isaac died, he was buried with Abraham. Isaac begot Jacob and he died down in Egypt, but made his prophet son put his hand on his hip, and said, "Swear by the God of Abraham, you'll not bury my bones down here." Why? What difference did it make where he was buried? They were prophets. Spiritual revelation.
Genesis 47:29 And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:
Genesis 47:30 But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.
Genesis 47:31 And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.
63 And when Joseph died, he said, "Don't you bury my bones down here, but someday God will visit you. You take my bones out of this Egypt, up yonder in the promised land and bury them." Why? Nothing wrote in the Word about it. But it was a spiritual understanding. They knowed that first fruits of the resurrection, that Redeemer that Job saw, would rise, and on Easter morning when He rose up, there come Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the saints that slept under the dust of the earth come out and went into the city and appeared to many.
Genesis 50:24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Genesis 50:25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
Matthew 27:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
64 Go ahead, have the world. Take all your unbelief, everything you want. Bury me safely in Jesus, for those that are in Christ will God bring with Him at His coming.
All the formal and the rituals and so forth, just give me the plain old Gospel just the way it's written. Let me believe it in the simplicity that it's wrote in, and believe it just as a child would believe it. God made the promise. God keeps His promise. Certainly He will! Every word, He keeps it. And He's got to.
65 And how He made Himself manifested there to the Jews, it was a spiritual revelation. And Nathanael saw it. Peter saw it. The apostles saw it. They said, "That's the Son of God." But what did the educated Pharisees and Sadducees say?
Now, I'm not trying to make crutches for my ignorance, but speaking... Education is a wonderful thing, but it's been the greatest hindrance the Gospel has ever had. There's never been a barroom that hindered the Gospel like a somebody that's got more education than they got common gumption to know how to control it. That's right. You get so educated, you know more than God knows about it. Just take it the way it's written and believe it. That's the way God wants you to do it.
66 Then, the Pharisees and Sadducees said, "That's a evil spirit. He reveals that by Beelzebub, the chief of the fortunetellers." Then He went up to Samaria, and a woman that had lived in ill fame, as we believe here in America. So, she went out to the well to get some water and there sat a middle-aged man. He was only thirty, but the Bible said He looked to be fifty. His work must have broke Him down. You believe the Bible says that? Sure it did.
Said, "You say you seen Abraham; you're not even fifty years old yet?"
And how long... And He said, "Before Abraham was, I AM." Sure He was. The [Gap in the audio.]
Matthew 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
Mark 3:22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
Luke 11:15 But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils.
John 8:57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
67 Called Jesus the Son of God. There, He was there at the well. And this woman said, "We have no such dealings. No, it's not customary for you Jews to ask Samaritans."
He said, "But if you knew who was talking to you, you'd ask Me for a drink." He was catching her Spirit. And that's why... Remember, He's never manifested now only to the Jews, this is the Gentiles ... or to the Samaritans. Which there's only three races on earth: Ham, Shem, and Japheth's people: Jew, Samaritan, and Gentile. Half Jew and Gentile makes a Samaritan.
John 4:9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
68 Now, watch. After close, and them three sons... He has to manifest Himself here. You notice Peter with the key? He opened it at Pentecost. He opened to Samaria at the house of Cornelius. And then she was opened to the world, see.
Jesus manifest Himself under a discerning spirit, telling the secrets of the hearts and where they'd've been---to the Jews; they believe. The others did not believe.
Now to the Samaritans, He said to the woman, "Go get your husband and come here."
She said, "I have no husband."
"That's right, you've got five, and the one you now live with is not yours." Watch what the woman said now, newcomer.
She said, "I perceive that You are a prophet. We know when the Messiah cometh He will tell us these things." She didn't know who He was.
He said, "I'm He that speaks to you."
She ran through the city and said, "Come see a man that told me the things that I've done. Isn't this the sign of the Messiah?"
John 4:16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
John 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
John 4:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
John 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
John 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
John 4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
John 4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
69 If that's the way He manifested Himself to the Jews... and forbid them to go to the Gentiles. How many knows that? "Don't you go to any Gentiles."
And He manifested Himself to the Samaritans. The Bible said in Hebrews 13:8, "He's the same yesterday, today, and forever." He's obligated to make the same manifestation to the Gentile, and this is the end of the Gentiles. We're at the end. Then God is here to prove that He is just... And if He will come and manifest Himself to His humble servants here tonight, for we all believe Him and love Him and accept it. May the Lord grant it.
Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
Matthew 10:6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
70 Last night I think we called first on card ... I believe we called from one to fifteen; is that right? All right, we taken the first fifteen last night; let's take the last fifteen tonight. That'd be eighty-five? What was that letter? I? eighty-five. Who has prayer card I-85? Raise up your hand [unclear words].
Billy give them out this afternoon. Just takes and gets up before you and mixes all the cards up. Gives them right out to ... no one knows where that prayer line is going to be called from right...? [Unclear words.] I start from somewhere.
Eighty-five? Raise your hand. All right. Stand right down here, lady. 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, on to a hundred. Stand up first. It's just a little, short ... then it's just a small space. It'll stand fifteen people.
All right. How many in here does not have prayer cards and you want the Lord Jesus to heal you, would you raise your hand? All over the building, anywhere.
How many has been in meetings before that knows that the Lord Jesus heals more out there in the audience than He does up here on the platform, many times. What is it now? I want your attention just a few minutes now.
71 What is this? What's it for? Who gets the benefit? It's the benefit whoever the Lord Jesus will reveal Himself. How many knows that the Bible said, "No man can come to me, except my Father draws him first."
All right, if you'll just be real reverent out there. Just be reverent, quiet, keep your place. Then God is able to reveal tonight here... And if He doesn't call you individually... How many knows that if He doesn't call you, that He's wanting to do for you the same things that He did here? Let's see your hands.
How many believes in their faith, if Jesus will appear tonight... Now, how can He appear? The Bible said He's the same. How is He the same?
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
72 I want to ask you something and I believe I mentioned it last night. How do you know what type of tree you're looking at? "By the fruit it bears," Jesus said. Is that right? If it's a apple tree, it has apples. It might have sycamore bark on it. But, if it's bearing apples, the life on the inside of it is a apple tree life. Is that right?
And if I told you tonight that the spirit of John Dillinger was in me, well, you'd expect me to raise back my coat and big guns and... I'd be a murderer. It'd be dangerous to be around me. What if I told you the spirit of some artist was in me? I'd take a great big canvas like that, stand back here with a brush and paint the ocean just as pretty for you, and catch them big licks of the waves, because his spirit is in me.
73 If I told you the Spirit of Christ was in me, then it ought to bear the same record of Christ. And if the Spirit of Christ is in you, it'll recognize it. "My sheep know my voice."
Now, you just believe. Remember I said there's nothing that I can do and there's no other man can do anything else but preach the Gospel and pray (That's all) unless God give him a sign to perform before the people.
What if Jesus was here tonight with this suit on He gave me? You walk up, say, "Lord Jesus, will You heal me?" You know what He'd say? "I've already done it. Can't you believe My word, what I said back there?"
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
74 If you was in a pawn shop and I redeemed you with a ticket---on a written ticket---that I have redeemed you, how can anyone else redeem you? How can I redeem you again when I've already redeemed you? The devil puts you in a pawn shop. God takes you out. And He's already did it. And the only thing you have to do is just walk out.
Now while they're lining up the people there, just you with prayer cards, come now 'cause it wouldn't be right to put any in the line that didn't have a card.
75 How many remembers the healing of Congressman Upshaw? I was just standing there talking like this when there's thousands of people standing there, and they was fixing to line up and I looked out. I seen an old man, and they'd bring him in a wheelchair. Oh, there was just wheelchairs all over the places in California. And I looked across and I seen a little boy playing on a haystack, and he fell and hit his back across ... over a frame, and it must have broke his back. I seen a doctor with little glasses hanging low on his nose (white mustache and white hair), working on him, but it was no good---too far gone. And I seen them boring holes in the house so that the people walking, it wouldn't vibrate on the floor. He was so bad. And that's the only thing I can say is what I'm looking at.
76 And just then, I seen there come a great man, a famous
speaker, and the vision left. And I looked around, and I couldn't find him. And they had just brought him in, I think, by a plane. And I said, "There's the old man sitting right there, now." And his wife is down with him... He's eighty-six years old, been in a wheelchair for sixty-six years. And there he was, bowing down. And you Baptist tonight, you surely ought to know him. He was the vice-president of Southern Baptist Convention.
So then, he said, "My son, how did you ever know that I fell on a hay frame?"
I said, "Sir, I didn't know."
He said, "It has to come from God, for that is the same type of doctor that operated on me, which is been gone for years." He said, "No minister anywhere..." Said, and they told me, said, "It's Congressman Upshaw."
77 Well, I didn't... He might've said somebody from India. I wouldn't knowed any different, because I didn't know no Congressman. And so Mr. Baxter said, "That's Congressman Willie D. Upshaw." I said I never heard of him.
So he said, "Will I be healed, my son?"
I said, "Sir, I don't know. The only thing I can say is what I see."
And I said, "Have you got the prayer line ready?"
And the boys down there said, "Just about." They started a woman up.
78 I looked out this way. Everybody had been there about a week. Everybody in one accord, all the doubts was gone away. And I seen a little doctor with a doctor's coat on, with tortoise shell glasses, hair combed back. Kind of little, flat, dark hair. Looks something like Brother Vayle here, but he had great big tortoise glasses on.
And he was looking down, shaking his head. And I described the doctor. I said, "He's just operated on a little colored girl for her tonsils, and he took them out, and it paralyzed the child."
Just then a way, way down in this section, down in this way, I heard somebody scream to the top of their voice, and here come a typical Aunt Jemima. Here she come, pulling a stretcher and a man trying to hold her stretcher back. She was just knocking ushers right and left.
79 She said, "Lordy, mercy, that's my baby." And she said, "That was the doctor man that operated on her." And so then, a big bunch of ushers caught her before she got to the platform. It wasn't right.
I said, "Now, look just a moment, Auntie." I said, "I could not heal your baby. If I could, I'd come down and do it; but I can't. It's your own faith that'll have to do it, or the child." I said, "But you way back through here, how did the Holy Spirit know that? Because you were over there believing."
She said, "My baby is laying here, parson, and it's been this way for two years."
I said, "That's the child."
She said, "Come, pray for it."
I said, "That wouldn't be right, Auntie. There's hundreds of people here holding prayer cards. And this is your first time in a meeting. You have no prayer card, you said." I said, "You just get down and pray, maybe the Lord will heal your baby."
80 And I said, "Bring this person." And they let the lady come up and I started to talk to the lady, and maybe people sitting right here was there that night. And when I started to talk to the lady, I looked back and I seen like a little streak---dark---and I kept watching it. Way down through the ... looked like an alley, this little Negro girl had a doll in her arm, rocking this doll, walking along. Oh, my. All the devils in torment couldn't stop it then. It was "thus saith the Lord."
I said, "Auntie, the Lord Jesus has made your baby well."
She said, "You mean my baby will be able to walk?"
I said, "It can now."
The little fellow raised up, said "Looky here, Mommy." And people began fainting around there. And we let the Mother take the baby by the hand, walk down through those long aisles, waving to the people.
81 And just as I turned, I seen the old Congressman in a brown pin striped suit on. He wore a blue suit with a red tie at the time. He was going right over the tops of the heads of the people. He was very southern hospitality, going along, going like this.
I said, "Congressman." (They run the address system to him quickly). And I said, "Haven't you got a brown pin striped suit?" He said, "My son, I just bought one yesterday."
I said, "Thus saith the Lord. It looks like that God would have healed you when you were about seventeen years old and your bones all young. Just wait till your eighty-six and then heal you." But I said, "He's healed you, Congressman."
He said, "Do you mean to say, my son, that I can rise from this chair?"
I said, "In Jesus' name, come here." And that man, being bound to his ... when they raised him up like President Roosevelt, with those great, big things over him (braces) and he walked. You know how he walked, if you knew him. And he threw those down, raised from his wheelchair, went to the platform and touched his toes like that. And stand up as a real man. And traveled the nation.
82 And in Billy Graham's meeting, he sat on the White House steps, singing, "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms." Jesus still lives and reins.
Because he believed! He's no respecter of persons. Just as real tonight as He was then. Only thing He's seeking for is to find someone who will have faith in Him.
All right, sir, you... Oh, excuse me. Here is the showdown. Here is the place where I'm going to be found a false prophet and God's Word unrevealed and be found in error, or it's going to declare it, that God still lives that reigns, that raised up Jesus from the dead.
Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
83 How many Christians are here? Let's see your hands. Real believers. Then it represents your Saviour. Now if Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and we are the vine---He's the branch---then the vine will have to bring forth the type of life that ... the branch, rather, will bring forth the type of life that's in the vine. Is that right?
He said, "The works, these things that I do shall you also." Did He say it? "A little while and the world (cosmos, that means "world order,") will see me no more, yet ye shall see me, for I will be with you, even in you to the end of the world." The believers will see Me.
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 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
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.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
84 So far as I know, this is the first time I've ever laid eyes on the woman, as far as I know. Are we strangers to one another? Do you know me? Oh, you've been in my meetings. But I mean, I don't you, as far as that. As far as I know, to see you or look at you, I couldn't tell you. You was at the Indianapolis meeting last summer in June. Well then, I'd have no way of knowing what you're here for.
If He will reveal it, will you believe Him with all your heart? Will the audience believe Him? Now here's another picture like the man and the woman at the well: our Lord and the woman of Samaria. Now, this woman could be standing here a critic. I don't know. She could be standing here a Christian. I couldn't tell you.
Oh, how many was at the Wednesday meeting to see that fellow that run to the platform? They thought it was a telepathy and there taken that trouble. There is one man back there was.
85 When he run up the platform, he put on his card, he told... He went to the platform and he said, "How do you do?"
And I said, "How do you do, sir?" He said... I said, "There's nothing wrong with you."
He said, "Yes, there is." I was tired, right at the end of the line. He said, "Yes, there is." Said, "Look on my prayer card down there."
I said, "I don't care what you got on your prayer card."
He said, "I got TB, I got, oh, all kinds of stuff." See, I caught it right then what his trick was. He said, "Well, look on my prayer card."
I said, "I don't know what you put on your prayer card, sir; I have no way of knowing that. But I do know there's nothing wrong with you, now."
And he said, "Well, what happened?"
I said, "I couldn't tell you. You might've just sat out there and got healed [unclear words].
He said, "So, that's the way it is, is it?" And then the Lord came with a vision.
86 I said, "Why has the devil put in your heart to lie before God?" I said, "What you put on your prayer card, you have right now." I said, "You're a preacher, and that man sitting right there with that gray suit on in the balcony is the one that was with you last night. And you sat in the room with a little green spread over a table, and you told your wife that you knowed it was a telepathy. And you got a card and come in here.
That fellow raised up there and said, "Brother Branham, that's the truth. I was right there with him."
I said, "Now, what was on your prayer card you have." He died about six months later with a cancer. Uh-huh, uh-huh.
87 How about the meeting with this fellow that hires this guy to come and (not bewitch. What do you call them fellows that goes to the camp and throw spells on people? You know make them bark like a dog?) ... hypnotism.
And I was praying for the sick, and I kept feeling that evil spirit somewhere. And usually have some of them sticking around, you know. So, if you keep the Christians praying to keep it down.
So, then, it kept getting worse and I looked over and I saw the vision. I said, "Why have you done that? Why did you listen to the devil?" I said, "Because that you've done that, you'll not move from your seat." And the man is still paralyzed. That's right. They led him out of the building that night.
He has wrote letters many times, "Can I come to the meeting?"
I said, "Repent before God; you brought that on yourself. I have nothing to do with it." That's right.
88 So be careful. We're not playing church. It's the Lord Jesus. Hundreds of those things. How about that official in Phoenix there on the police force? You probably read that in your paper. Went completely insane right in the meeting. Sat there, he thought he knowed ... he thought it was psychology, but he come to find out it was the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. That's right.
How they drug me over the top of him in mud and everything, out there trying to get me to even put my hands on him, like that. I said, "Sir, I have nothing to do with that. You did that..."
His wife said, "But, Mr. Branham, don't be heartless."
I said, "It isn't me; it's his own sin before God." Brother, he brought it on himself; I'm not responsible for that. I'm only responsible for believers.
God said, "Get the people to believe you, and be sincere, nothing will stand before the prayer." But an unbeliever, I have nothing to do with it. May be dead now for all I know. There's just hundreds of those things that happened.
Wished I could tell you of Africa, of India, how the witch doctors will sit on bo... And don't you think they don't come up. They certainly will. Never a time, never one time that it ever happened but what the Lord Jesus moves in on the scene. He's God. Certainly. Now, just be real reverent. Keep your seat.
89 Lady, if I could help you some way and if domestic, financial, sickness, or whatever it was, there'd be very little I could do. But I want to say this, that I will be sincere to try to help you if anything that you need help for.
But now, if it's something that comes through the atonement, it's a finished work. It'll be your faith. If God will reveal to me, anoint what you have on your heart, would you believe it was the same Lord that talked to the woman...? I'm not your brother, now. I'm just a man. But believe it was the same Lord that talked to the woman at the well, said He caught what her spirit was, and then told her where her trouble was. Would you believe it to be the same?
90 Now be reverent. You are suffering with an extremely nervous condition. Then you have something wrong with your leg, too, that you want me to pray for. That's right. Raise your hand if that's true. You got more than that that you want me to say. Just to help you: You've had an operation. That was in your throat. Course, I can see the scar. They took out a goiter. But here's something else that you can't see. They want to do something else to it, now. That's from the operation, adhesions has growed in there, and they want cut them loose. That's "thus saith the Lord." That's right, isn't it? If it is, raise your hand. Now do you believe? You do?
Do you believe out there? There's something about the woman. I want to talk to her just a minute because she's got something else wrong or something on her heart.
It's for somebody else. That's a man and he isn't here. I can't pick up his spirit anywhere. That's right. It's your husband. That's what you're praying for. If that's right, raise your hand. If God will reveal to me what's wrong with your husband, will you believe for him? It's his ear. That's right. Go believe now. It'll all be over, in the name of the Lord Jesus.
91 Do you believe with all your heart? Now, is it Brother Branham? No, sir. That's exactly what Jesus did when He was here on earth. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And He's here to declare Himself before the Gentile people just before His coming. Do you believe it?
If the Lord will tell me what's your trouble, will you believe Him, also? I want to get at least three people in the line. Three is a confirmation.
You're not here for yourself. You're here for somebody else. A relative, mother-in-law. And that is a mental case, insanity. That's right. Do you believe she will come out of it? If you believe, go and receive it just as you have believed and may the Lord grant it.
Revelation 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
92 Do you believe that God will heal you of that heart trouble? You do? All right. You can have it, see. Now, see, she never touched... What did she touch? She's thirty or forty feet from me, but what did she do, friend? You say, "Is that in the Scripture?" Absolutely.
A woman touched His garment, He said, "Who touched Me? I perceive that I've gotten weak." Or, virtue (which is strength) gone. How many knows that? If He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, could you touch Him now? How many of you believers that reads the Bible knows that the Bible said, "He's a high priest that can be touched by the feelings of our infirmities?" It's all Scripture.
Now, it's over, sister. You can go home now. Your faith has made you well. You don't need a prayer card; just a faith does it.
Matthew 5:30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Luke 8:48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
93 We are strangers to one another, lady? This is our first time meeting, I suppose? But God knows us both. We were born maybe miles apart and years apart, but God knows both of us. If He will reveal to me what you're here for, will you accept it? You know we're both going to stand in His presence one day. If I could help you and wouldn't do it, I'd be an awful person.
You truly believing with all your heart? You believe that stomach trouble will leave? You're awful sincere about that, son. It's over now. Go eat your supper now, and enjoy it. Nervous condition caused that. It's a peptic ulcer condition. Just don't doubt. Go on; you're going to get well.
94 If the Lord will reveal what your trouble, will you believe it with all your heart? Our first time meeting, but isn't He wonderful? You're aware that something is going on. And you know, standing before your brother wouldn't make you feel like that. If the audience can hear my voice yet, that light, that pillar of fire that led the children of Israel, that was made flesh and dwelt among us, come from God and went back to God. Met Paul on the road to Damascus, that Pillar of Fire that blinded him. The One, His pictures hangs in Washington, DC. We've got it here, it stands between me and this woman.
The woman's got a load of troubles on her heart. That's right. She's suffering with something severely. A bladder trouble. That's bad, isn't it, sister? Awful nervous. You got someone on your heart. You got domestic trouble in your home. That's where your heart is. That's your husband. Immoral act, another person. And the man's got cancer, do you know that? He's dying. He's a sinner. That's true. Go believing, now. May God grant it. Lord, God.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
Acts 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
Acts 9:8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
95 Do you believe, lady? I'm a stranger to you. I've never seen you in my life but... You believe that stomach trouble left you? You believe it with all your heart? You can have it.
I keep seeing in here a baby with a rupture. I can't tell... Here, it's laying on this lady's lap. All right, lady. God bless you. You caught His garment just then. The Lord be with you, lady. The baby was [unclear words].
If thou canst believe, all things are possible. Just believe. Now the baby's gone from before me.
Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
96 You are suffering with a extreme nervous condition. And the reason this nervous condition is rough, is because you've just gone through a time that women go through, called menopause. During the time of this menopause, you had a great struggle, an oppression of the enemy. You were prayed for during this time. And you got deliverance, but it's left you in a nervous condition. That's the truth.
Do you believe me to be God's prophet ... or, His servant? That's not all on your heart. You got something else. That's for a loved one. That's a sister. That sister isn't here. She's near a great lake. And the lake is Lake Eerie. And she's in a hospital. She's in Cleveland, Ohio. She's got cancer. The cancer is in the bowels. She's been operated on several times for it and is up for another operation. That's "thus saith the Lord." Believe now. May God grant your need.
97 I suppose we're strangers to each other, lady? Have we had three through the line yet? The Bible said, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established." Do you believe now? All your heart? Then what's left? Just your faith in Him. Your faith that says to the mountain that's before you, "Be thou moved and cast out of my way. Cancer you leave, blindness you leave, crippleness you leave. Be thou cast into the sea, for I'm moving on for the Lord Jesus." When you speak that word, something happens.
Do you realize that you're in the presence of the omnipotent God? That it's Him. The One that you'll stand before at the judgment. Did not He say, "If two or three will gather in my name, I will be in their midst." Then is His Word right?
Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
Matthew 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto 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 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
Mark 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
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.
98 Just a moment for this woman standing here. We got her up here. If we are strangers to one another, is that what's true? Perhaps this is our first time meeting? You was here last evening. You was sitting out in the audience. All right. Then I know nothing of you. You're a lot younger than I am and I've never seen you in my life. But if the Lord Jesus will reveal to me what you're here for, will you believe me to be His servant? Will the audience? Will it settle it forever? This woman and I here, both of us has raised our hands, we don't know each other. And here we are, standing here tonight, our first time ever meeting.
99 Now what could do it? Could I do it? It takes Deity to do it. Now you'll have to admit that it'll have to come through some supernatural power. Now it depends on what you think it is. If you think it's Beelzebub, then you get his reward. If you believe it's Christ, you get His reward. That's right. It depends on what you think.
And You in the audience keep praying. Oh, anything could just happen right now. You know, I'm sure, I pray that God has give me grace in your sight.
It just look like a mist in this building to me, because I'm just as shaky as I can be. Certainly I'm so weak, I can hardly get out of here. If one woman touched His garment and weakness went out of the Son of God, what about me, a sinner saved by grace?
100 A man born a virgin birth the only one ever in the world. And one woman touched His garment. Look what's happened tonight. What's doing this---what this woman? I know nothing about it. It'll have to take her own faith to do it. This is just a gift. I don't operate it; she does the operating. You do the operating. The woman done the operating.
Now in the big visions, God comes down and shows me all about some place to go and what to do and what'll take place. I tell the people just exactly. I'm forty-eight years old. Thousands times thousands and tens of thousands of them has happened. And not one time did ever one fail. Not one time the world over.
Go into countries and see the people and even know what their names are. I can't call their names. I can't speak it. I just spell it out. There it is, every time perfect. It's Christ manifesting Himself just before He comes in judgment.
101 Now, if the people can still hear. The lady must be very sick, because she's been in a doctor's care. And he's doing something about your arm, or it's wrapping something around your arm. It's for blood pressure. It's your blood pressure that's bad. That's right. And he's advising you, it's so bad till it's in a dangerous condition. That's right. That's "thus saith the Holy Spirit." He's advising you to do something in a ... I believe I hear him say, to go to Mayo. That's what he said. Do you believe that I'm looking at that pressure? It's two hundred and sixty: your blood pressure. Exactly right. But you're not from Minneapolis or Minnesota. You're from wooded country---flat, level, wooded country. You live near a place to where there's a lake. And the lake's in a odd ... Paw Paw ... Paw Paw Lake. And you're from Michigan. And you're near a city called Dowagiac. It's where you live. Your name is Evelyn Pierce. That's right. Now go and believe and be made well.
Let's say thanks be to the Lord Jesus and give Him praise. If thou canst believe, all things are possible.
Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
102 Now, I caught thinking: it was reading minds. Lady, put your hand on mine here just a minute. If the Lord will reveal to me what your trouble, will you believe me as His servant? This lady. God will restore your blood to you and that anemia condition will leave. You believe that? Then go on your road and rejoice and be made well for the glory of God. Believe with all your heart.
I don't know the woman. Just put your hand on mine, lady. If the Lord God will reveal to me, looking this way so you see it isn't telepathy, see. If He will reveal to me what your trouble, you'll know whether it's the truth or not, won't you lady? Sure. May He grant it.
The woman is shadowed with death. There's a black shadow hangs over the woman. She's got cancer. That's right. Do you believe He will heal you? Go, receive your healing then and be made well for the glory of God. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
103 Do you believe God will heal that heart trouble sitting there? Then go on your road shouting and praising God.
Now you had heart trouble, too. And you almost had arthritis. So, go on your road; Jesus Christ makes you well. Do you believe it?
What do you think, lady? Do you believe God will heal that back trouble sitting there? Well, go on your road and rejoice and say, "Thank you, Lord Jesus, for doing these great things."
You got a lady's trouble, you're nervous and got heart trouble. You believe God will heal you? Go on your road rejoicing.
How many wants to go on their road rejoicing, thanking God? Raise up your hands. Stand on your feet. (I Will Praise Him, I Will Praise Him.) Are you ready? Let us pray.
104 Lord God, creator of heavens and earth, author of everlasting life, giver of every good gift, Your Spirit is here, Lord. It's baptized the people in power and faith. I charge the devil. He's guilty and he's a bluff and we've called his hand. In Jesus' name, depart from every sick or afflicted person. For the glory of God, I ask this. And it shall come to pass, for God hath promised it.
I will praise Him, I will praise Him,
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;
Give Him glory all ye people,
For His blood can wash away each stain.
I will praise Him (Do you mean it?
Take my word as His servant. Raise
your hands, give Him praise; it'll go.)
Praise the Lamb for (Oh, He's here!
The Holy Spirit just moving over the
entire audience, baptizing them over
and over, finding a place to come in.)
For His blood can wash away each stain.