As the eagle stirs her nest and flutters over her young

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Bow our heads just a moment for prayer.
Gracious God, we are happy to be in Thy presence again this fine Sabbath afternoon to offer to Thee the expressions of our hearts through prayer. And we know that Thou does hear, and will answer every petition that we ask for, because we are asking this blessing in Jesus' name, that You will come to us today and comfort our hearts. Bless the sick and the needy. Heal them, Lord. Save the lost. Get glory unto Thyself, for we ask it in His name. Amen.
[Brother Vayle reads Deuteronomy 32:1-12.]
Give ear, O ... heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and ... the showers upon the grass:
Because I will publish the name of the LORD: and ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.
Do ye thus requite the LORD, O ye foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?
Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations, ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.
When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

2 Thank you, Brother Vayle. I would wish to say this afternoon, that the boys has just told me that they had run out of books and pictures. And they said that immediately after the service, if you wanted to have them, why, they would be taking the orders at the desk. We won't sell them on Sunday, I've never did that; but they run out a couple days ago, and so they didn't have too many with them. And the books is on press now, being ... that's on the printing press being printed. They'll be off in a few days. We would send them to you.
Now remember, tonight and immediately after the service, the evangelistic service this afternoon, that my boy Billy and the boys here will be giving out the prayer cards. Just remain in your seats after the service, you who want prayer cards. And then, to those who could not get in, they'll give out about fifty of them this afternoon, and then about fifty more tonight at six o'clock. So now, you who want a prayer card may have one, anybody that wants them.

3 Now, for a text this afternoon I wish to speak on the subject, "As The Eagle Stirs Her Nest And Fluttereth Over Her Young." This is rather an unusual subject, and my voice is not really up to par to try to speak on this subject, but I'm just trusting to God today for just a little evangelistic service. That God will teach us, maybe, something that we should know about His goodness and His care for His people. I'm so glad, once to know, that there is a real, true, and living God, who still lives and loves His people.
And now, our text this afternoon, "As A Eagle Stirs Her Nest."

4 I've often wondered why God ever likened His heritage unto eagles. And I, one day, begin to study about what was an eagle. And as living in the wilderness the bigger part of my life, and cattle ... and around eagles in the country where I range cattle, in Arizona and up into New Mexico and Colorado. I studied much about the eagle, his habits. And then one day I run onto this text, so I thought, "Why did He liken His heritage unto eagles?"
Then I noticed that there is about forty different types of eagles, forty different types. The word eagle means "a feeder with the beak, the mouth, that feeds with the mouth."

5 Now, how would He liken His heritage unto an eagle would be... You remember He said His people being eagles, especially His prophets. And then He likened Himself to an eagle. He's Jehovah Eagle, and we are His eaglets (the little ones), and how He feeds us with His own mouth. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." God feeds His eagles on ... by His Word, His spoken Word.
Now, I've had... Many times I've sat down and enjoyed a good steak or a good fish dinner or chicken, and enjoyed it; but never could I enjoy just like sitting down at Jehovah's table, and just let Him feed us on His good Word.

6 You know, it goes to the inside of us. And the church is starving today for some of that Word. There's nothing will take its place. Not nothing will take the place to the eagles, but the real food, eagle's food. And we are eagles, so we have to have eagle's food. Not social gatherings, not political speeches, or not some little stitch-and-sew party; but we need some eagle's food, fed from the mouth of Jehovah Eagle. That's why He likened us unto eagles.
Another thing is about the eagle: he's a special bird. He isn't like any other bird. The eagle is so strong, and he flies higher than any other bird that's known. There's no bird can stay with Him. You know, you see the hawk go up in the air; but if the hawk tried to follow the eagle, he'd disintegrate. The eagle is a far stronger bird. He can fly higher than any other bird there is, and that's the reason Jehovah likened us unto eagles. He just simply can lift up higher than the ordinary bird. I mean, I'm speaking about real eagles---Jehovah's choice.

7 And if he can fly high, what good would it do him to fly up there if he couldn't see where he was at when he was up there? So therefore, his eye is far better than any other bird there is on earth, is the eagle's eye.
Oh, I know they claim that the hawk has such an eye. My, he couldn't see with the eagle at all. He can't even compare with him in no way. The eagle's so much stronger, and he's so much more powerful built. He has to have a special build, or he could not stand it up there. You know, if he got up there into those realms, he has to be made ... his body has to be made up in order to stand those spheres that he's in. If another bird tried to follow him, and would get up into that place---even the hawk---he'd smother. He couldn't breathe. And I say this with respect, that's where we get today with a lot of hawks trying to follow the eagle.
They get up there and say, "Well, I can't stand this. This makes me nervous. Let me out of here." They can't even sit through one meeting. They just smother to death. They're not built right, they're not built for that atmosphere.

8 Someone said here not long ago... I was preaching, and there was a woman, while I was preaching, was weeping. And she got so full, till she just screamed out, "Hallelujah!" And I met that fellow, which was a Sunday school teacher, and he had a baseball team of the First Baptist Church in our city. He said, "Billy, I was enjoying that message, till that woman started crying." And he said, "Oh, it just made shivers run over my back."
I said, "If you ever got to heaven, you'd freeze to death." Oh, my, this is such a minor thing; but you have to be able to stand it. And God makes you up that way, if you're an eagle.

9 You know, if he got up there, and seen miracles happening and the signs and wonders of God being moved, and believe that the days of miracles would be past, he'd just disintegrate and fall out. That's what's the matter with a lot of people today. They claim to be eagles, but I wonder. I just wonder.
Now, he's got to be made up, his stature, his all, must be made to take care of the places that he's going to be. And when God borns a child into His family, that man has a make-up, something that can stand the supernatural, that can differentiate between the real and the unreal: the one who knows what real eagle food is.

10 Eagle food comes from the mouth of the feeder. Not some man-made theology, but from the mouth of the feeder, which is Jehovah Eagle---who feeds with His own Word!
And the eagle will never bring her babies anything that would hurt them. Oh, I just love that. God will never make a promise that He won't stand behind. And every eagle just loves to get ahold of that Word. He loves it, because it comes from the mouth of Jehovah Eagle. He loves to receive it.
Oh, I've seen the little ones waiting for mama to come up. And they'd all raise and hold their little mouth open. Ever what mama brought them, that's all right. And that's the way that a true believer is. No matter what Doctor Jones said or what anybody else said; if Jehovah put it in His Word, they believe it and receive it.

11 The scientist can say, "The days of miracles is past, and there is no such thing as divine healing. The Holy Spirit only fell on the hundred and twenty."
Oh, but when Jehovah said, "It's for you, and to your children, and to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call"; if they're called, they'll eat.

12 So he has to be a special bird to take this food. And he has to be made up to go into those atmospheres. That's another thing about him. And then in order to get up there, he has to have strong wings. An ordinary bird, his feathers would fly out of him, 'cause he can't stand when he gets up there. But an old eagle can soar, where another bird can't get a hundred yards off the ground without flopping himself to death. You know that's right. Yes, sir. They'll just beat the air, and plunge (an old crane or something), bumping up and down and trying to ride the waves and staggering over; where a eagle just sets his wings and rides on the wind. It's feathers are strong: they don't move, they don't give. He just maneuvers his body, and he sails away.
That's the way every believer. He doesn't run from pillar to post and from place to place: a Methodist this week, and a Baptist next week, and one this week, and another one next week. He just sets his faith in God's eternal Word, and sails away, riding on the waves of the air.

13 Sometime ago, up in Colorado, I was hunting. It was early in the fall, and the snow hadn't got deep enough yet to run the elk herd down. And the rancher, he'd went on another section over on the west fork of the Troublesome River; I was on the east fork. We'd meet in about five days.
And I had some pack horses, so I was getting ... going to hunt an elk. Not so much as to hunt the game, but just to be alone with God. And it come up a storm, and it blowed and blowed, and I got in behind the trees. I was almost at timberline. Then it would come a rain and rain all the snow away, and then it'll come sunshine out. It's just stormy that time of year; and that's what runs the big animals down into the valley, where they're easier to hunt.

14 And then this storm come up, and I stood behind a tree until the storm was over. And then, when the storm was over, I come out and I begin to look. And the western part of the state, the big crevasses in the mountains, the sun was setting; and the reflection on the frozen evergreen made a rainbow across the valley.
Oh, my! The Bible said, "When the deep calleth to the deep..." You could see God there in the rainbow, that's a promise. Just get alone sometime with God and just see how close He is to you. He's in the atmospheres, He's in His bushes, He's in His flowers, He's in the air, He's in the rainbow, He's in His people, He's everywhere.

15 Notice. And as I looked at that, then I heard an old gray wolf howl back up on the hill; and the mate answered it down in the valley. My mother's a half Indian. And I tell you, the deep begin to call to the deep. My conversion didn't take that out of me.
And then I heard the elk herd bugling one to another. The storm had separated them. And I was just having a great time. I set my rifle against a tree; I run around and around and around the tree just as hard as I could go, to give vent to the feeling that was within me. I was alone with God! Wasn't nobody in thirty-five or forty miles of me, way up on the mountain, just having a wonderful time. And I thought, "O God, there You are in the elk herd; there You are in the wolf call; there You are over on the rainbow. You're everywhere! O Great Jehovah!" Around and around and around the tree I went again. If somebody would've come into the woods, they'd thought they had a maniac out there. But I didn't care, I was worshipping God. Didn't make any difference to me.

16 And then all of a sudden I was attracted to a little pine squirrel. I don't know what you all have them up here or not. He's a little fussy thing, about that long. Just make a lot of noise, the bluecoat policeman of the woods. And he got up on a little old stump, and all of the carrying on I ever heard: Chatter-chatter, chatter-chatter. I thought, "Well, I might've scared the little fellow, me carrying on the way I was." I thought, "Maybe I excited him." So I looked at him, and I said, "What you so excited about, little fellow?" And I noticed he wasn't looking at me. He'd cock his little eye and look down like that.
And I noticed coming out from under an old blow-down where a former storm had blowed some trees together: a big brown eagle had been forced down in there by the storm, and she was coming out. And I thought, "Oh, that's what he's scared about."

17 And this big eagle jumped up on there, and his great big gray-looking eyes looking around; and I thought, "God, why did You make me stop shouting just to look at that eagle? Could You be in the eagle?" Sure. And I watched that eagle as he sat on this big limb, and I thought, "Well, he's just a scavenger. There surely isn't any good in that fellow." And I wondered, "What makes You ... why did You stop me from shouting for? What lesson are You going to teach me now, Jehovah, about the eagle?"
Well, there's one thing I noticed: that he wasn't afraid, he wasn't scared. And I said to him, I said, "Old fellow, do you know I could take my gun and shoot you?" That never bothered him a bit. "Well," I thought, "why doesn't it bother you? Why ain't you all scared?" My rifle was setting against the tree. He knew that he could be in that timber before I could get that rifle in my hand. He knowed where he was standing.
Oh, I like that! Know where you're standing; know whom you have believed, and be persuaded He's able to keep that which you've committed to Him against the day. He knew right where he was.

18 And I thought, "Well, how do you know you could do it? What makes you so sure?" And I noticed him, every few seconds he was feeling those wings to see if everything was in good gear.
You know, that's it. If God give an eagle two wings to escape danger and he has to feel all the time to see if everything's in gear, what about the church of the living God that's got the Holy Ghost to pack you from danger? If the doctor says, "You're going to die with TB," just see if everything's in gear. Just see if you're still in fellowship, check up a little bit.

19 Oh, he felt his feathers all just right, and that little old pine squirrel was just a cursing him for all that was in him. And he never noticed that ... me so bad, he was watching that pine squirrel. He was getting tired of hearing him, that chatter-chatter, chatter-chatter just as hard as he could.
And I was admiring him for his bravery. All at once he got enough of it, and he just made a big jump like that; and flopped his wings about twice, he was already outside of the timber. And then, then I stood there and wept, as I watched him. He didn't flop one more time. He just knowed how to set his wings. And every time that wind would come, he'd lift up. And the wind would come up the canyon, he'd lift higher. He just knowed how to maneuver those wings. And I watched him till he become just a little speck. I wept like a baby.
I said, "That's it!" Oh, just know how to set your faith in the power of God. And when the Holy Ghost comes in like a rushing wind, ride on away from this great big chatter-chatter here, and a chatter saying, "The days of miracles is past, and there's no such thing as the baptism of the Holy Ghost." Just set your wings, and pay no attention to it, and ride away on it. Amen. Oh, Jehovah Eagle, flying high.

20 Another thing that the eagle does, if we notice how he would be likened unto God's heritage, he renews his youth. You know the Bible says he renews his youth. He's the only bird that there is that he can be almost gone, and he comes back to a young eagle again. Not in age, but just in action. Well, why would Jehovah liken us unto eagles then? When you're all down---as it would be said, "in the dumps"---then along comes a good revival and your youth's all renewed again.
Oh, I seen the old people with gray hair and whiskers all over their face just shout and praise the Lord like a little boy fifteen years old. Sure. I've seen people sitting bound in wheelchairs leap to their feet, and scream, and shout like ... why, they're renewed. Jehovah renews us. He renews our strength, He renews our health, He renews us all over. That's the reason He likened us unto eagles.
Another thing about an eagle, an eagle won't build her nest on the ground. An eagle builds her nest just as high as she can build it. She gets it out of the way of all of the predators, everything that would bother her. She builds her nest high, so nothing will bother her.

21 Sometime ago, I was at Cincinnati, Ohio, to the big zoo there. I had my little girl, Sarah, and little Rebekah. And I had little Sarah, which was the younger, walking her along. And they had just captured a big eagle, and put it in a big cage. Well, I walked up. I heard all the beating and going on, and I walked down to show Sarah. I thought it was two birds fighting. But when I got down there, it was just one big eagle. He had no feathers, hardly, on the front of him. His face was all beat up. His wings was all beat out. And I watched the big fellow, how restless he was, with his wings out and them sore.
And he walked across to one side of the cage, and he'd get a big run, and he'd fly against that cage with all that was within him: only to butt his head against it, to fall back in the floor again. He'd lay there and shake his head a little, get up, and go back again. And he'd look out. And then he would run just as hard has he could, and beat his wings to rise, and hit against the iron bars and fall back again. I walked up close; I thought, "If I had a hack saw, I'd saw him out of there."
And as he laid there, and his great eyes looking towards heaven, the blue skies above him... He's a heavenly bird. He lives in the heavens. He was born to live in the heavens. That's his nature is to live high. And here he is with a cage over him, and he can't get up any more.

22 I thought that was one of the saddest sights I nearly ever seen. And walking away from there, the Holy Spirit seemed to say to me that afternoon sitting in the park, where I couldn't get it off of my mind... I wanted to buy the bird. Well, they wouldn't let me have him. I felt so sorry for him, but then the Lord spoke to me in this matter. "Here's a worse sight than that. There's men and women walking the streets, that was born to be sons and daughters of God, living below their privilege: beating their brains out in nightclubs and everything else, when they should be soaring the skies of God's great pleasure and power."
How they go from church to church, and from place to place, trying to join this, and say this creed, and repeat this prayer, and be baptized this a way---just beating their brains out. And they were born to be sons and daughters of God!
What a sad sight to see a man, made in the image of God to be a servant of God, to live as a son of God, walking down the street staggering under the influence of whiskey. To see a young man in his splendor and his graceful looks, to see him down on the street with a cigarette in his hand, with his arm around a half-dressed girl somewhere. A man born to be a son of God and living under His privileges, his soul bound in a cage of the devil's torment.
A young woman half-dressed, beautiful as she is (oh, all fixed up, and enough paint on her to paint a barn), out somewhere laying around in a roadhouse; when she was born to be a daughter of the most high God, and she's living under her privilege.

23 There's something in you that calls out. There's something in you that longs for God. And you try to satisfy that thirst that's in you. As David said, "As the hart thirsts after the waterbrook, so my soul thirsts after Thee, O God." And you try to satisfy that blessed holy thirst that God put in you to thirst after Him, and you try to satisfy it with the things of this world. The devil is trying to make you quench that thirst by serving him, when you're an eagle. You're born to be an eagle, and you have no right to try to quench that thirst with the things of the world. God gave you that holy thirst to thirst after Him. "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be filled."

24 Now, let's take notice to the eagle. The reason she doesn't build her nest on the ground is because that she's a heavenly bird, and she takes care of her young. She don't want them in danger, so she builds her nest just as high as she can go.
Last summer I was going to Tacoma for a meeting. I passed through Yellowstone. Watching, way up in the top of the canyon, I saw something up there; and it was right on a little short peak. And an eagle had her nest built.
And I called my wife, and my children, and give them the binoculars. I'd went down into the woods a piece, following a little old bear. And I said, "Look up here now at this. There is the eagle with her nest." What could get to her? Nothing. No serpent could crawl up that rock. No coyote could ever destroy that nest.
That's the way God builds His church for His eaglets, high above the ambitions of this world. She's got a high ambition: not to please men, but to please God. She's built high and safe.
Oh, how that mother eagle watches that nest. Oh, His eye is on the sparrow; and I know He watches me, He watches you. She watches that nest.

25 Now, when she goes to build this nest, she gets sticks and everything; and she puts them in, and weaves them around with briar vines, and it's all full of stickers. Now, she don't want her little ones to be on those stickers, so she makes the nest just as comfortable as she can for her brood. That's how God does His church. He tries to make it just as comfortable as He can.
Now, she goes out, and she gets sheepskin and she gets rabbit skin---that they eat. And she saves those skins up, and she takes that ... gets up in the nest. Oh, how I've watched them do it. And take their beak, and they push that in, that rabbit skin and sheepskin, push it in the nest, and make it just as cozy as it can be for her little ones.

26 That's the way God does for His church. Oh, when He knows that you're going to be born again, when He knows that you're making your mind up, sitting in your seat; He goes to fixing the nest right then, because He's got a convert coming. He's got a eaglet fixing to be born. Makes it just as cozy... And when the sweet Holy Spirit comes down pouring over your soul, the tears begin to fall for joy and you lift your hands and you say, "Oh, something has happened." Just as comfortable as it can be, that's the way God does that. He makes it that way.
Oh, in a revival when you're hearing the message go forth and you're so sick and tired of the world, after awhile then when you begin to say, "Oh yes, I see it," see, birth is beginning to set in. Jehovah gets a nest ready for His eaglet, so it'll be nice and soft, and you can walk around on those sheepskins and everything. It's wonderful.

27 And there's one good thing about the thing that we can so enjoy the comforts of the nest: This eagle's nest, it was made out of a lambskin---the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. God clothed His second Adam, not in the sheepskins from Eden, but the sheepskin of Calvary. Washed by the blood, and made comfortable by His presence, the sheepskin that we tread upon. How peaceful, how quietly, how sweetly, how humbly we should appreciate this wonderful soft walk that we're walking on.
How could some people make fun of it! But you know, it's said that "fools will walk with hobnailed shoes, where angels fear to trod." That's right. That's an old expression, but it's the truth. A fool will walk with hobnailed shoes, where an angel would fear to trod. Men will make fun of Christians under the Holy Spirit demonstration. They'll call the works of God "Beelzebub," when angels wouldn't dare to say one thing about it. [Break in tape.]

28 We're thankful to our Lord God for His goodness to His children, aren't we? How He deals with us in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform. Think of it. How easy He makes it for us to walk on. How bright He makes the path before us. We're sheltered by His blessed presence.
Remember, when the little eagle is born, the mother's over him with her wings spread. She's ready to protect him. When he's a young one, how she sits right there with that eye watching him in the nest, wherever he goes. Oh, of course if he'd step out of the nest, he might break his little neck; but she watches over him.

29 Aren't you happy that Jehovah Eagle watches over His little ones? Why, we would break our neck with the power of God, if it wasn't that Jehovah watched us and set our limits. He put our boundaries. That's what He said: "I will set a boundary, no man can pass it." So God, Jehovah God, the great mighty I AM, sets His boundaries and His love, and spreads out His wings over the top of His little eagles; and when He does, then there's no one or nothing can harm them. Aren't you happy about that?
Why, it's enough to set every soul afire with the power of the living God, to give the great praises to Jehovah. I think every person in the world ought to praise Jehovah for His goodness. How that when you were little bitty eaglets in the nest, not able to take care of yourself, not able to watch, yet you had Someone watching over you! Blessed be His holy name! How that Jehovah watches His little ones. His eye never leaves them. Day and night it's upon them to watch them and to shield them from wrong, and for ... from the harms and danger. Oh, how blessed we should think of that.

30 Now, notice what takes place. Now, He says His prophets are what? Eagles. Now, what does the ... eagle does? He goes so high. Now, if he goes way up, he can see far off. And God's prophets went up, way back yonder twenty-five and three thousand years ago, and could see the condition of today.
Look what Paul did, that great eagle of the sky, when in II Timothy he said that the day would come when the church would be "heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, and despisers of those that are right. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." God's eagle going up to warn us about it.
How that Ezekiel, way back, and all the way back into the prophets. Saw the carriages jostling in the broad ways, Nahum, twenty-five hundred years ago. Saw the horseless carriages here in the broad ways.
How that all the prophets went far up and seen far off the things that were coming, and could forewarn His little eaglets of trouble.

31 How an old eagle will put her little ones down on the grass, and go up into the sky, and sit on the highest rock, and watch around to see if anything's going to happen. How the Holy Spirit, when a young eagle, a young Christian, is born, how He sits in the heavens and watches. Nothing can harm them. He watches. Nothing can bother the eaglets, because the old mother eagle's watching over it.
Now, there finally comes a time when this eagle begins to grow. And when this eagle begins to grow, then the mother of the eagle... She has seen all kinds of birds, and, now, how much different this eagle is from an earthbound chicken.

32 Now, a chicken is a bird too. A chicken's a fowl, just same as an eagle is. But what a difference! And the chicken don't know nothing about the heavenlies. It never was up there. And that mother eagle has determined that her little brood won't be like an earthbound chicken. She's going to see to it.
Oh, I like that. Although it is his denominational brother, but yet he hasn't been up there. He don't know what he's talking about. He can't stand the heavenlies, 'cause he's never been there. He knows nothing about it. Oh, my, certainly, he's never been up there.
They say, "There's no such a thing as the baptism of the Holy Ghost." How can he say it in a chicken's nest? He's not a eagle to begin with. When he said, "There's no such a thing as divine healing," why, he don't know nothing about it. He's never soared where the eagle has soared. He's never put God to a test. He's never been healed by the power of the Almighty God. Therefore, he doesn't know nothing about what he's talking about. He's just a-clucking. He don't know the cry of the eagle. Oh, what a difference there is.

33 Now, this old mother eagle's determined that her child ain't going to be like that. And I'm so glad that she is. Yes, sir. I'm glad that we don't have to hover down under something like that. "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." God's determined in every age He'll take His eagles out. Absolutely.
So there comes a time that this little eagle's just got it awful soft, walking around on sheepskins. Oh, he's just got the Holy Ghost, and he's just about to burn the town down. But you know what? He can't get ... he can't stay in that nest all the time. That's what's the matter with the Pentecostal church. It's staying too long in the nest!

34 So you know what happens? The old mother comes into that nest, and she takes that same beak that she daubed it all up with, and pulls every bit of that sheepskin out, every bit of that rabbit fur out, and throws the thing out of the nest. She makes the nest so miserable, till they can't even sit down.
You know, God knows how to make you willing to do things. That's happened to many of your families. Certainly it is. He just pulls all the soft pad out, so you walk on thorns. Every time he sits down, it's on a thorn; he jumps up. He becomes discouraged after a while. And I think, if there ever was a time that the Pentecostal church ought to be discouraged, is now. We've denominated ourselves, built great barriers of lines: one's Assemblies, and the other one's a Oneness, the other one is this, that, and the other one. And we just built such lines and barriers till there's stick-stick here, and stick-stick there. What's the matter? God's fixing to take us out of it. That's exactly what it is. Them little old eagles get tired sitting down on them thorns. Great revival going on: "Don't you do it, we're not cooperating." Try to stop an eagle one time.

35 Mama eagle knows what to do. So she throws all the packing out, so it'll make it rough, and he's willing to leave. You know, that works in many ways, if we had time to speak of it. Sometimes God has to take some ... one of your love ones away. Sometimes He has to cause sickness to hit you. The doctors say, "Well, there's just nothing more can be done." Sometimes God just took all the padding out of the nest. You believe it? Sure He does.
Oh, you say, "I've been strong and healthy all my life"; but the pad got out of the nest one day. You can't walk on that sheepskin all the time: you've never left the nest. You just can't stand around church, and shout and praise God and jump up and down and run around. There's work to be done!
So you know what that old mother eagle does? She comes down there and looks at those poor little fellows bouncing around. So she wants to show them how great she is. That's the only way she can get their attention. Maybe God had to let you take TB before He could get your attention.

36 Oh, you say, "I belong to the biggest church in this city. I've been a loyal tithe payer." That's good. "I've never did anybody any wrong, why should the Lord let me get sick?" Maybe He's just stirring your nest a little bit. He wants to show you how great He is.
You know, really, the little eagle has never seen mama. He's been so satisfied in the nest, he don't know how great she is. So you know what the eagle does? The mother eagle is far a bigger bird than the father eagle. A good sized bald eagle can spread fourteen feet from wing to wing. That's right. And you know, this little eagle has been down in this nest all the time, and so satisfied with just shouting and jumping and running around, until, you know, he's never knowed how big mama was that put him in that nest.
So God has to let sickness strike His church once in a while. He has to let a little depressing of the Spirit come, take a little of the joy out of the church, just to spread forth His wings and show you Who He is. So he begins to get, oh my, a sticker here, and a sticker there; and everywhere he sits is a sticker. Why, he's ready to get out of that nest.

37 So the big mama comes up there and spreads forth that great big wing. Oh, I've watched them. How mammoth she looked, far beyond the boundaries of the nest. Her nest is about eight or ten foot around, and her wings are fourteen feet. How she stands on that nest, and she screams to them little ones. And then, when the little ones look up, she spreads forth her great, mighty wings. She's trying to get them to have faith. She's going to do something with them.
And maybe, God might stir your nest, so He can spread forth His wings to show you how great He is. He wants to do something for you. He wants to show you: "How great Thou art, how great Thou art." And when we have to lay on our back and look up towards the sky, and to see Him spread His wings in the solar system, from sky to sky, to see those stars...

38 I had the privilege, sometime ago, to stand at the Mount Wilson Observatory and look through that microscopic glass. And they claim you could see 120,000,000 years of light space. Light travels 8,000 miles per second. And 8,000 miles per second and take 120,000,000 years of that. Why, you could run a row of nines around the world and couldn't break it down in miles. And what was there beyond that? Moons, and stars. How great Thou art! Get on your knees and look up one time. How great Thou art.
See what He's fixing to do? When His eagles get in that condition, He's fixing to stir the nest then. I think He's fixing to stir the Pentecostal nest.

39 So when the little eaglets... He does that to get their attention, when she's standing there with her wing, she's screaming. That's her word. She standing there, "Look up at me! See how great I am?"
When the doctor says there's nothing more to be done, then "How great Thou art." Look up this way. The doctor, you had him until he finished. That's all right. But now, "How great Thou art." Look up there. He's trying to get you out of that nest. Certainly He is.

40 Then what's next? Then the old mother, after the little eagles begin to look up and say, "Yes, mama, you are a great bird. I never knew you were so great. Oh, sure..."
And another thing the eagle has, as I said, it's feathers is so tight. If those feathers are not perfectly tight, tighter than any other fowl that there is, when they got way up there the wing feathers would give out: and down would come the eagle, and he'd perish. So those feathers are tight, really set in; because those little ones have to hold their feet in it, while she's taking a flight.
And then when you look and see how great this great mama eagle is, then you know what happens? The mother looks her little ones over. There's something wrong with them. They've got plenty of feathers, but there's too many loose feathers on them: just little old feathers that has to be taken out of there. You know what she begins to do? She begins to fan those big wings. And when she does, it's with such a force, till she blows all the loose feathers out of them little eagles.

41 If there ever was a time that mama eagle is sitting on the Pentecostal nest, it's today. There's too many loose feathers in the Pentecostal church. Oh, yes. You women, bobbing off your hair. That's not right. The Bible said that it's wrong! And get out on a afternoon and put them little bitty old short clothes on to mow the yard. It's wrong! It's a sin in the sight of God to do that!
And you say, "No, I don't wear shorts; I wear slacks." The Bible said, "A woman that'll put on a garment that pertains to a man, it's an abomination in the sight of God." God doesn't change! Too many loose feathers in the Pentecostal church. She's not ready to fly away yet.
Used to be it was wrong for holiness women, and women of the church, to wear manicure, or that stuff you put on your mouth and face. But you can't tell one from the other. What's the matter? Too many loose feathers! You know that's the truth.
That might make you sick.

42 Mama used to... We was raised up here in the mountains. We had to take old meat skins and boil them out and get the grease to make our corn pone, black-eyed peas, breakfast, dinner, and supper. And every Saturday night we'd have to take a dose of castor oil, before you go back to the school for Monday morning. I remember that as well... And I took so much of that stuff, I can't stand to smell it yet. And every time I'd start to mama, I'd start holding my nose; I said, "Mama, it makes me so sick."
She said, "If it don't make you sick, it don't do you any good."
So that's the way it is today! If old-time Bible teaching and preaching don't make you sick, it don't do you no good. It stirs up your spiritual gastronomics. That's true. Oh, yes.

43 And you women, that belongs to the church (Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness), you'll stay home on Wednesday night to hear this ungodly thing of "We Love Suzy" or ever what that is, instead of going to prayer meeting; and listen to that rascal (excuse me for saying it) Arthur Godfrey, Elvis Presley, and all of those ungodly things which is unbecoming to the church. You know that's right. Then you wonder why we can't take a flight. You wonder why God can't restore the gifts in the church. He ain't got nothing to restore to yet: too many loose feathers. Too many loose preachers, that won't preach the truth about it. Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, too. We need old-fashioned God-sent revival, and the Bible Holy Ghost back into the church, that cleans you from your soul outwardly.

44 You say, "I don't wear them things, lady ... or, Brother Branham. I don't wear them little short things." Look how you do wear though. Women going down the street with these little old sexy-looking clothes on. You know what you're going to do? You're going to answer at the day of judgment for committing adultery. The Bible said, "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already." What if you dress yourself like that? You might be as pure as a lily to your husband. But if that sinner looks upon you to lust after you, when he answers for adultery, you are the guilty one who made him do it.
You might not love me after this, but at the judgment bar... I don't want to be popular; I want to be honest!
Well, you say, "Brother Branham, they don't sell any other kind of clothes." But they still sell sewing machines and goods, so there is no need of trying to get out of it. That's truth.

45 Well you say, "you're picking on us women." All right. Mister, here you are. A man that'll let his wife put on a pair of those clothes and get on the street, or smoke a cigarette, that shows what he's made out of. There's not much man to him. That's exactly right.
Oh, the whole church needs a good old-fashioned fanning out! We've trusted too much in dancing, trusted too much in clapping our hands. I like that. Shouting, speaking with tongues, and running over the floor, that's good. I endorse every bit of it. I believe everything God wrote in the Bible is the truth. But, brother, if we don't live the life to compare with what we're doing, we'd better stop doing it till we get the right [unclear words]. That's right. The tree's known by the fruit it bears. Now, that's true, friend.

46 What does a mother say? "I don't like them little pin feathers. Let's get them out!" And she turns that little eagle around, and she takes that big wing and begins to flash it. And brother, when that wind from them wings hits them little loose feathers, feathers fly every way.
And when the church gets itself together, and bows its face in shame (as them little eagles squat down); I tell you, there comes a sound from heaven like a rushing, mighty wind, and it cleans out the church, every bit of it. It takes all the worldliness out of it, all the pin feathers out, all the loose feathers out. Where, if she put that little eagle out on it's flight with them feathers in, it'd break it's neck.

47 And if the church, under the conditions today, tried to make a flight into great gifts and things... You've had a lot of fanaticism. I'm thankful, it hasn't struck this country yet. This is a virgin territory. Ministers, I charge you in Jesus' name to watch that stuff---all kinds of little isms and sensations. Nothing will ever take the place of the Bible! Right. Stay on God's Word---don't you leave it. Stay there.
Now, they get around with all kinds of things, and call themselves Christians, believers. I don't say they're not a believer. The chicken is a bird too, but he's never been nowhere. He ain't got feathers enough to take him up there. And if he did, it would break his neck. You take an old rooster up with a eagle and drop him out of a plane one time. What if the eagle took him up there and shoved him off? He'd disintegrate in the air. That's the way with some of these old crowing roosters around that says the days of miracles is past and so forth. They know nothing about the power of God! Jesus said they didn't. Educated in the barnyard, they know nothing about the heavenlies where you have to trust God alone. Amen.

48 Notice, now there they are. And when she turns them around, and she shuffles them up real good, and them big wings begin to blow all the loose feathers out, and they get all the old feathers out; now she says, "Honey, come up here. See how big I am? Jump up on my wing, I'm going to give you a flight you never had before."
And that's the way God will do when He takes all the foolishness out of the church, when He takes all the worldliness out of the church. He'll give the church a flight somewhere, in spheres that they never knowed of. Why would you accept a substitute, when the Pentecostal skies are full of the genuine? Certainly. Why do you have to go after a sensation or some little ism, when the whole skies are cloudy with the Holy Ghost and real powers of God?

49 Then she spreads forth her wings. They know her voice. They climb up, and each little fellow puts his feet right down on them big strong wings. Why? They're really set in. He takes his little beak, and he takes ahold of the feather wing of the mother, then she takes them on her great big wings. Look at her. Oh, my! Them little eagles on there are no more than dots of dust on there.
Look at God, Who holds the moon up, the stars up: how much more can He hold you up! Look up and see how great and how powerful He is. What makes this universe set into space? On Jehovah's wing, it's no more than dust. That's all it is, just a little dust on His wing. How great Thou art, Jehovah Eagle; how great Thou art!
Then when He gets His big wings spread out, the little ones has all got a hold, said, "Sit still, children. I'm going to give you a thrill that you never had before. I'm going to make a real eagle out of you now."
She takes off from that nest. She's already up to begin with. Now, remember, they've never been out of that nest. They've looked up, they've looked at it, they've seen it far off; but they don't really know what it is yet. So she takes them on a... They have to hold on then. And she goes on, on, on, on, until she gets so high you can't even see her, hardly.
You know what she does when she gets up there? Shakes them off her wings. "Flop for yourself. You're eagles. You'll never fly any younger." Hallelujah! Sure. If you're sick, maybe God shook you off His wings to give you some flopping to do.

50 Well, them little fellows are just up there, just... What does she do, does she leave them? Oh, no. She just whirls off to one side and watches them. Oh, my, one looks over and says, "Look, John, what I'm doing." Oh, he's just flying right away. And mother eagle smiles as they're now becoming real eagles, can fly. They're out of the nest. They're out of the denomination, nominational shoes.
Denomination's all right, but being all bound down---you're up in the air above the nest now. You might have been born in a Pentecostal nest, or a Baptist nest, but you better get out of it right quick, see. Don't get out of your church, just get out of the nest. All right.

51 You get up there where you trust God: to believe Him for healing, believe Him for salvation, believe Him for the Holy Ghost, believe Him for everything! Trust Him. You're eagles. You're made ... you're a child of God. You believe like God does. You believe His Word, 'cause you've been feeding on His Word. You've been fed by the Holy Ghost, the Word; then you can fly.
Well, you know, she watched, because once in a while one gets out of order, kind of goes topsy-turvy. You know, gets to flipping around and can't get his balance back again. I sure believe in grace. Then mother, Jehovah Eagle, you know what she does? She flies right down and catches him on His wings and bears him right back to grace again. That's the way she does it, that's the way the mother eagle does.
Don't be scared to do some flopping, some trying, some pressing, taking God at His Word. You can't go wrong. You ain't going to hurt yourself. Say, "Well, He might let me hit the ground." Them little eagles don't worry nothing about it. They see mama all the time. So they're just having them a Pentecostal jubilee, just having a big time: flopping topsy-turvy, anything else ---they're just having a big time. Certainly

52 Then after they get close down to where they might hurt themselves... Mother eagle's watching and circling around them, all the time. Oh, I love that. She's just circling around. Then when she sees they might get hurt, they're getting too low so she can't pick them up, she raises her big wings, and she screams! Oh, did you ever hear an eagle scream? When she screams, all of them gives attention; and down are those little eagles, one, two, three, four. They just plop right on the wing, and catch themselves.

53 Oh, He'll bear thee up anytime, brother, don't you never worry. He'll watch you. He knows all about you, He loves you. You're His child. Don't be scared to trust Him. If He shakes you off out in the air, He's just giving you a solo flight. We're going to take a big one one of these days, go plumb into glory; so you better learn how to trust Him now while you can. You can't do it with all them loose feathers hanging around you. You better get down where the winds a blowing from heaven, shake all the things off of you: all the world, and all of the cares of the world, and all the love of the world out of you.
The Bible said, "If ye love the world, or the things of the world, the love of God is not even in you." How can you fly then? You can't even walk. You want to act like your barnyard brother down there, never got his feet off the ground. Might have flew up on a fence post somewhere. That's as high as he could ever get, the chicken.

54 You know, one time, a man, was told that he was setting an old hen. And he found a eagle's egg; so he thought, "I believe I will see what this will do." So he took the eagle egg, and he put it under the old hen. And then when that eagle hatched out with all them chickens, if he wasn't a funny looking little bird to all the chickens. That's about the way it is: He gets about one out of a setting. That's about the way you get them. They average about like that, one out of a setting.
And he's always a funny looking bird. Why, he's a different bird, he's not a chicken to start with. So then the old hen, she clucks; and he don't know nothing about the clucking of the hen. She gets out in the barnyard on a manure pile, and she begins to scratch. "Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck." He don't know nothing about that. He's an eagle. So he's made fun of! And all the little chickens said, "Look at that holy-roller. He ain't like us." All he was ever educated on was a manure pile somewhere of some seminary. Knows no more about God than a Hottentot knows about an Egyptian knight. That's right. All he knows is some manmade theology. He never did have to put God to a trust. "Cluck, cluck, cluck, better not go around them peoples. Cluck, cluck, cluck, days of miracles... There's no such thing as divine healing."

55 Like the old colored fellow once said about heartfelt religion. He was always happy; his boss said, "Sambo, I'd like to know what that heartfelt religion is."
He said, "It's good, boss."
"Oh," he said, "I don't believe there's anything like heartfelt religion."
He said, "Just one mistake you made. You don't know there's anything about heartfelt religion---as far as you know." Well that ... he knowed different.

56 An experience! God wants His church to be experienced with trusting Him and taking His Word. They're eagles. If they are eagles, they'll eat eagle food.
Now, eagles cannot eat a chicken's food. But a chicken can eat eagle's food. You see the hypocrite? That's right. A eagle can't eat what a chicken eats. But a chicken can eat what the eagle eats and eats what he eats too.
Like the crow and the dove in the ark. The crow can eat anything, but the dove can only eat grain. But the crow can eat grain, and eat off of a dead carcass too. That's the old hypocrite, that can go to church and pretend to be a Christian, go right out with the world, and say, "It don't condemn my conscience." Well, they got no more conscience than a snake's got hips. They don't know nothing about ... anything about conscience. How can they have it, when they ain't got it to start with?

57 My mama use to say, "You can't get blood from a turnip." And that's true.
I don't say that for a joke. This is no joking place. This is the Word. Souls are at stake. I say that to make it a point, to drive it home to you in a simple way so you'll understand it. Certainly. All right.
Then this little old eagle, he'd follow around. And the old mammy would get up there and scratch a little bit and say, "We're going to have a soup supper tonight. Just got to have it to pay off the pastor."
Said, "What in the world's this?"
"Well, I'll tell you. If you're not a Presbyterian, or a Baptist, or so-and-so, you're just a..."
"What's this?" He just couldn't understand the clucking of the hen. He was a different bird.

58 "No man can come to Me, except My Father draws Him. Those who He foreknew, He's called. Those who He has called, He hath justified. Those He has justified, He hath already glorified." What you scared about?
Don't be afraid to take that solo flight. Don't be afraid to put God at a test! If you're an eagle, you're not scared. If you're Abraham's seed (which is the only one that gets the promise, is the seed of Abraham), you call those things which were not as though they were---if God said so. Don't be scared, nothing to be scared of. You can't understand how all these socials, and parties, and picture show entertainments, and everything in the church, and ball games, and everything else to make money to pay the pastor. Never was intended! Certainly not. But you boil up some old rooster and sell it for about a dollar and a half a plate. You've turned the upper room into a supper room. That's right. You don't have to do that. Take God at His Word! He owns all things. Certainly.

59 But you can't do that on little creeds and loose feathers, little sensations. You've got to be absolutely a real made-up eagle with something inside of you that tells you that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever; that knows that He's standing omnipresent, and He watches over you, nothing can harm you.
No coyote can get you, there's nothing can harm. The angels of God are encamped about those who fear Him. Ten thousand may fall at your right hand, and a hundred thousand at your left hand, but it'll never come near you. He watches over His heritage day and night. "I, the Lord, have planted it. I'll water it day and night, lest some should pluck it from My hand." God's heritage, an eagle.

60 Puts a funny-looking life around one of them places, them incubator chickens. Around there, you don't know what in the world to do. The clucking of the hen, he don't understand that. "Why is it they don't believe in divine healing? They call themselves a church. They say they believe in God; why can't they believe He's all powerful? Here it said 'the promise of the Holy Ghost.' Look the way they did back there. They went into the world like a flaming fire: they healed the sick, they done miracles and signs, and they had joy and peace, they sealed their testimony with their life. Why don't this church do it? Yet they say they are the church of the Living God." The true eagle can't understand that.

61 But you know what? Something happened one day: an old mother eagle flew over the barnyard. And she turned, and she looked down. I'm so glad of that. She said, "There's my child." She turned again, and she screamed, "Honey, you're not a chicken ---you're mine!"
Oh, he understood that voice. Sure. Something had brought the results like the birth did at the day of Pentecost. Something had turned his attention upward. "I understand that call."
She screamed back, she said, "You're not a chicken. That's the reason you've never been satisfied. You wasn't born for a manure pile of the world. You're a heaven born bird. You're not bound by some creed and denomination. You got plenty of room, the heavens is yours."
Say, "You must be my mama. Mama, how can I get out of it?"
Said, "I'll tell you, son. Just give a little jump and try your wings once." That's all you have to do. Just take God at His Word, and step out on it one time. Yes, sir.
If you're all bound down, froze to death in some denomination, just take God at His Word and step out one time. Say, "I believe You, Lord! I heard a voice that spoke to me, saying, 'Come up higher.'" Take Him at His Word one time, see what happens.

62 Well, you know what he did, this little eagle? He made a big jump, and flopped his wings; he sat right on the top of the barnyard post, right in the middle of a denomination. That's as high as he ever got.
She's hollering, "Honey, you've got to jump higher than that or I can't get you, son."
"Well, I belong to the so-and-so, mama."
"You come out of that. Just jump again; flop your little wings, and I'll get you." Amen. And she made that big swoop.
And when he took that all-sufficient step---to say, "I'm no longer Baptist in denomination, I'm no longer Presbyterian, I'm no longer Pentecostal; but I'm Yours, Lord. Here I am, flopping with all that's within me."---she catches him, and away she goes to the heavens with her bird.
How high have you jumped? How much have you trusted? If you're God's eagle, you're ready to take Him at His Word. You're ready to trust in Him in the face of death or anything else. You're there to trust Him.

63 I've kept you too long. Let us bow our heads just a moment. The organist will get there, "My Faith Looks Up To Thee."
Little eaglet, that's been dissatisfied, now I'm not telling you to leave your denomination. If you're Baptist, remain a Baptist. If you're a Presbyterian, remain that. But what I'm trying to tell you to do, is step out on Jehovah's wings once. You're eagle. Your church don't believe in divine healing, you don't believe in the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you don't believe in this being born again---step out one time and find out the promise. Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he can't even understand the kingdom of God."

64 Now, with your heads bowed, I want to ask you something, sincerely. I know the message has been rude, but I'm trying to get a point over to you. I thought if I put it in a simple way like that, that God would make it known to you, that maybe He could reveal it in a child form. You ministers know what I'm talking about, and you old sainted people know what I'm talking about. I'm trying to tell these that's not far along, these youth, some of them not even in at all: have to come out of it. You want to trust God, then come on up a little higher, come up to a place to where He will catch you on His wings.

65 Now, if you're without Christ today, and you know that you've never been into the skies, out of the nest of your old denomination... Oh, you're having it easy, but lately there's been things happening. Would you like to come a little higher? God stirred up that nest so He could get you out of it. Do you understand what I mean? If you'd like for God to take you from the nest of unbelief and them doubts and fears that you have, would you just raise your hands to Him and say, "God, be merciful to me." Would you just raise up your hand? God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you, here. God bless you, brother, and you, brother, and you, and you, and you, sister, you, brother. Back and to the left, all you, sister, you, brother, you, brother, you, back there.

66 Now, floor to the right. God bless you, you. Yes, all around. The Lord be with you. God bless you, son.
The balcony in the back, now. Raise your hands, and saying, "God, be merciful to me. All my life..." God bless you, sister dear. God bless you, brother. God bless you, back there. Yes, all up and down the row, everywhere. Just raise your hand. He sees it. Certainly.
"All my life, Brother Branham ... I've been a church member for years; but I've always believed that there was something more than being a church member. Oh, I belong to the Assemblies. I belong to the Oneness. I belong to the Church of God. I belong to the Pilgrim Holiness, the Nazarene. I belong to the Baptist, the Methodist." Whatever it is, doesn't make a bit of difference. They're all just the same, just brands that you're wearing. You're a Christian at heart, not because you're in a denomination. "I've said some creeds. I was baptized a certain way. I studied theology."

67 I had a great teacher to tell me here a few weeks ago, or a few months ago, "I've got enough degrees to plaster your wall with it, Brother Branham, but where's Jesus in all of it?"
You don't know Jesus by having degrees, BA, bachelor of art; or you don't know Him by DD You know Him by receiving the person of Christ Jesus.

68 A man come to me not long ago and said, "Brother Branham [in an old junked truck]," said, "I was a rich man two years ago. I sold my car lot, I done everything---trying to find peace with God. I gave it to ministers." He said, "I went down to Billy Graham's revival. He told us to raise up our hands, and said we'd receive Christ. I did it. He told me it was over. But," said, "it wasn't, Brother Branham."
He said, "Then I went over to the Free Methodist, and they told me I had to get sanctified and shout, and then it would be over." Said, "I did, but it wasn't over." Said, "I went to a noted evangelist that you all know real well, one of the greatest in the Pentecostal field." Said, "They said I must speak with tongues; and if I didn't speak with tongues, I didn't have the Holy Ghost. So," he said, "I went in, the men worked faithfully with me, and I spoke in tongues. He told me it was over. But," said, "Brother Branham, it wasn't." Said, "What can I do? I'm just in a terrible place." Said, "I'm..."
I said, "How did it start?"
Said, "I was selling cars. My wife went down to the Pentecostal church. We were Lutheran." Said, "I went to church about twice in my life, and she went down and got the Spirit on her [that's the way he put it to me]." And said, "She come back and tried to get me to go. And I told her, 'Now, honey, you go ahead. I'll give you money to help your church; but not me, I'm not religious.'" Said, "That went on for about a year. One day," he said, "my wife, she belonged to the Church of God, and she went up into the ... up in Tennessee to a revival [this was at Minneapolis]." And said, "Went up there."
And said, "I was selling a car, and I come back in, and I had my coat on. It was summertime. I sat down by the fan." Said, "I thought, 'Wonder if I gave that lady the key to her car?' I reached in my pocket, and I pulled out a little ticket, and it said, 'Where will you spend eternity?'" Said, "It struck me." Said, "I said, 'Oh, well,' throwed it in the trash basket." Said, "Something said to me, 'You're past forty years old. That question must be settled: Where will you spend eternity?'" Said, "I picked it up, I looked at it. I threw it back; I picked it up again." And said, "Tears begin to run down my cheeks." Said, "Then I started hunting."

69 I said, "I want to ask you, brother. What Billy Graham told you is the truth." And I said, "What the Free Methodist told you, to shouting and get sanctified, that's all right. What Oral Roberts told you, to speak in tongues for the Holy Ghost, that's right---and then it's not right. All those things are attributes of Christ. To receive Christ is to receive the Person, the Lord Jesus; then these other things will take place."
He said, "Well, you think I've ever done it? Or you think I could ever do it?"
I said, "You've already done it, brother." I said, "You were going down a road, hating religion, no religion at all; and you looked at this little sign, and something turned you. In two years, you've sought and hunted."
Said, "What happened?"

70 I said, "What is conversion mean? 'Turned around.' You were going one time without anything: hating God, hating religion, going on, ignoring it. All at once, right there at your desk, you turned back up the road: hunting God, seeking God. What happened? You was converted."
He threw his arms around me, started weeping, said, "Brother Branham, I've had it all the time."
I said, "That's right. That's exactly right."
Said, "You know..." He said "Well, I've went to all of them; and they told me I'd crossed the separating line. Said you was a prophet, you could tell me what was wrong."
I said, "You don't need a prophet. The Word settles that."

71 Friends, no matter what you've done, if you still haven't got that real trust and faith in God, that real something that's real in your heart, that you know you've met God on them sacred sands---where you can go right back there on the backside of the desert like Moses did, and meet Him there, and put your finger on the place where it happened---it won't work. If you think you've been there, and you still care for the world, you haven't been there. Your life proves it. Would you want to go there this afternoon, while we pray? If there's another one, raise your hand, say, "Remember me, Brother Branham."
God bless your hearts. That's good. God bless you. God bless you, back here, lady. That's right.

72 Now, excuse the rude way I had of bringing it, about these eagles, this afternoon. But I want to make it simple so you could understand it. Right now in His presence, you receive Him as your all-sufficient One. God will take care of you from this day on. If you'll just open up your hearts...
Now, don't say, "I have to shout." You might. Don't say, "I have to speak with tongues." You may do that. Don't say, "I have to dance in the Spirit." You may do that. Don't say, "I have to cry." But you may do that, and you might not. Receive Christ; then all the shouting, crying, speaking in tongues will follow that. But if you have that without Christ, you're only making a mock. Remember, you can have all the gifts and not have the giver. Get Christ first.

73 Now, there's at least seventy-five or a hundred hands has been up here this afternoon for that. All you saints of God, pray with me now, while we pray for these people.
Now, you that raised your hand, be expecting. What is it you feel in your heart? That's the fan. That's mother eagle's wings throwing all the world away from you, all the doubt. That's that ... like that rushing mighty wind that come down on Pentecost. It's telling you you're wrong. "Look up at Me, and see how great I am," it says. "Just look to Me. Look to Me ye ends of the world, and be saved." May you believe Him, right now, while we pray. Surely if He lets me stand here and know what I ... what He lets me know, He lets me know that what's needed here today.

74 Lord God, these are Yours. There's eagles sitting here. There's some of them with a lot of loose feathers, loose cares, people who are professing Christianity, that knows no more about the walk of the skies... The only thing they know is the cluck of the hen in the barnyard. The only thing they know, that they belong to some church, they put their names on books. Nearly a hundred of them has raised their hands off of this crude little message.
Almighty God, let them know that that what made them raise their hands is Jesus, the Mother Eagle, the Lover of the soul, that's fanning around over this little auditorium this afternoon, screaming: "You're not a chicken; you're an eagle. Haven't you seen My glory? Have not you looked up toward the skies to see the sunshine? Haven't you watched the rainbows? Haven't you seen My Spirit this week, moving in amongst the people with signs like's never been done? I'm soon coming. I'm making My last call. Come up out of it today! Fly up just a little higher! I'll catch you and bring you into spheres and experiences that you've never witnessed before."

75 Grant it, God. They're Yours. I can pray for them, but You have to do the work. And I'm sure, Lord, that if they're really eagles and have raised their hands, You'll give them the satisfying portion of their soul. Grant it, Father. They're Yours now; and You give them to Your Son as love gifts, and no man can pluck them from His hand. Though they turn topsy-turvy, as we said in the message. They might get this way, and some people think they're just a little bit of fanatic; but You'll never let them go wrong, if they're real eagles in their hearts. You'll bring them right back to the truth, right back to the grace of God again. Grant it, Father. They're Yours now.

76 Forgive me of the rude way that I have to express things, but I'm not an educated man, Lord. I'm just doing the best I can to represent a minister at the platform.
Now, they're Yours. Keep them under Thy guiding wing. May they be here tonight to see You spread forth Your great wings and make a scream. Watch the eaglets then, how they look up, listen at Mother talk back to them. Grant it, Lord. They're Yours in Jesus' name, Thy Son. Amen.

77 How do you feel? Wonderful? That was a rude way of expressing something. How many understands what I meant by it? Sure. I trust you do. Just some way to get it in simplicity to the hearts, so you won't miss it. See? God can tell you what I meant by it. See? I mean this: There's too much nonsense in the church, there's too much world got into the church.
But you know what? The Bible said that this church age would be like this, the Laodicean church age. But, it's nest stirring time; feathers are flying. God's getting His church ready for that flight she's going to take up yonder one of these days. I believe it with all that's in me. This great American nation is shook to pieces, nothing left but judgment. He's got eagles in here. He's trying to get them ready. God bless you.

78 Now, the boys are going to give out prayer cards in a few moments, just in a few moments.
How many loves the Lord? Say a great big hearty "Amen." [Congregation says, "Amen."] That sounds good. I love to hear that. I just ... I tell you, I feel real religious right now. I feel like I could do some shouting too, just feeling real good down in my soul. Oh, when I see people come, raise up their hands, old men, young men, young women---standing weeping, wiping the manicure, or what that stuff is, from their face with their handkerchief---it means that God's in the midst. That's right. He's here.

79 Now lady, I'm not making... That's all right, that has nothing to do with you. Remember this, but it isn't becoming to a Christian. That doesn't look like a sainted person of God. Let me just say this---not to be a joke, this is no place to joke. Just think of this, sister, you Christian sister that wears that make-up on your face. What's it for? To appear before men, not God. There was one woman done that in the Bible, one woman. You know who she was? Jezebel. You know what God did to her? Fed her to the dogs. So you see, if you wear paint, in God's sight you're just dog meat. And you know what it is? They call them wolves today. They go around a corner, "woot-woo!" Dog meat. Don't forget that. The hounds of hell's behind you! You better be careful.
Walk up before God as a real woman. Walk up there as a saint of God. Be ... put a little Acts 2 and 4 on you. It's good for you. A little John 3:16 goes a long way. That's God's make-up kit for all of us. Let's let our hearts be made up with that; not with creeds, denominations, swelled out, some big guy knows it all. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

80 Till I see you tonight, God be with you. Now, someone will... Brother Pittman will take the program from now on and will... How many promise to be praying for me tonight? I'm way late in my studies for our service tonight.
Billy and them will be giving out prayer cards to you that wants them in about two or three minutes. God bless you.