Faith is our victory
You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net
1 It's a privilege to be here tonight, in the service of the Lord, but it's certainly a sad thing, that the people can't have a place to sit down after we have invited you to come, and then no place to sit down. And as I come up, just now, why, there were people around the windows and up-and-down on the streets, and so forth, and there's not even a place for them to get into the building, but it's just a little bitty church. And we never advertise it, even in the paper here, we just... Oh, some of our friends calling up on the telephone and talking about coming to be prayed for, and we told them just to come on. So the news just gradually gets started around; somebody come over from Louisville, and then tells somebody else and somebody. You know that's how it gets around.
I wanted to get the high school down here, but I couldn't get it on account of school being in, then we would've advertised it. Want the local people to know that we wasn't trying to push you away from it, but we just knew the room was very bad. So if we could've got the high school, we would've done so, but we couldn't.
2 So now, tonight will be the last night for the books in the back (Mr. Mercier and them has here), and the tapes, and so forth. And then, tomorrow morning is Sunday school, and immediately after the Sunday school takes their place, the Lord willing, I want to speak on evangelistic sermon tomorrow morning. That will begin at nine thirty, I think, isn't it, Brother Neville? At nine thirty, the Sunday school starts, and immediately after the Sunday school classes, we want to speak the subject of an evangelistic message, a call to the sinner.
And these nights, we've been mostly giving since last Sunday night, to the sick, and the needy, the afflicted. And then tomorrow night, we are going to try to (if we possibly can in any way), to take up all the prayer cards that's been given out, that every one that has come and got the prayer cards, after the message is over, if we have to let some back away, and then bring the others up, so we can get the prayer line going, we will be glad to do it. And the prayer cards for tomorrow night will be given out after Sunday school in the morning. Right after Sunday school, be about, perhaps eleven thirty, that the prayer cards will be given out, tomorrow. So you who have your loved ones, and so forth, that's coming to be prayed for, why, have them here about at least eleven thirty, if they can't be in for the morning message.
That is, if you have a place of worship that you've been going, why, we wouldn't pull away from there at all. We would just want you to feel just real free about what you were going to do.
3 I've been awfully busy today; and just a few moments ago, they come, said, "Well, if you'd go on down, you can start preaching right now"---was ... already the little tabernacle was filled up. So I just thought on a few verses I thought I would speak on tonight. And want to thank the Lord, first, for all that He has done for us. Those reports coming back from those that's been prayed for, and has been in the meetings, great things is taking place, just for this little place here. And no more than it's got to come up and be personally prayed for, but it seemingly that the people back in the audience are getting it better than they are up here on the platform. So we're glad for that. That's very fine to see them get it like that.
4 Now, tonight, I have chosen for a text, "Faith Is Our Victory." And I wish to read a portion of the Scripture found in I John, the 5th chapter and the 4th verse:
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Now, such wonderful words: "Our Faith Is The Victory." And now, speaking on victory, there has been many great victories won in this long stretch of years that humanity has been on the earth. I was reading the book on the surrender of Paris, that where, in this last ... the second world war, that when Hitler had been brought into Paris at the Arch of Triumph, they say that it was such a victory until it taken hours for those German soldiers marching the goose step, right through the Arch of Triumph, while Hitler stood at attention and the whole air was black above. The skies were shut off from airplanes moving over. Such a time of victory, that after they had won the war over France, and France had surrendered to Germany.
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 And then in London, England, I had the privilege once of seeing there at the conference, a movie picture of where that it'd been taken by the Russians, that when Berlin surrendered to Russia, and how that that great mammoth mass of military equipment, those great cannons that they had mounted onto these great tanks that could revolve around, just moved into Berlin, you could hardly see how any life could even exist. For mile after mile, and every one shooting just on precision shots, to where they'd just come up like a great swarm of locusts. And they just simply battered Berlin to the ground. And then they pulled off their tanks, and the infantry went in and mopped up, they sent and got Mr. Stalin. And when they flew him in by the plane, and it landed, all those Russian soldiers went down the street as that twist and a step as they make it, as a victor, the Russian victor sign. And how Stalin stood at attention while tens of thousands of soldiers marched through the streets of Berlin, when it laid in ashes.
And when the German women had been ravished in the streets, and the little killed and some of them burned, and so forth, but that was quite a victory for Russia.
6 Then I am told that Napoleon, the great victor of a day gone by... Some years ago, about five years, I had the privilege of stopping near Waterloo. And I picked a little book up there, and I was reading the life of Napoleon. He hated the French. He come over into France, born out on an island, and come to France to get even with them, but become a great conqueror. He was a gentleman to start with, but success went to his head. And it said that women, when they'd go to put their little babies to bed, that he was so feared (He put everything to death that didn't agree with him.), that the women instead of saying, "The old booger man's going to get you.", they would say, "Napoleon's going to get you." And the little bright eyed fellows would get their heads under the cover real quick, thinking of that great monster, Napoleon.
But you see, the victory that he won didn't last. He was a prohibitionist to start with, and died at the age of thirty-three an alcoholic. Victory of that type don't last, because it's not wrought right. You can never get good out of wrong. You've got to play the rule of the game, fair.
7 And anyone of you know that in Olympics or any other athletical exercises, no matter if you arrive first in the race, but if you haven't played the game according to the rules, you're disqualified. You have to play the rule right.
And that's the way it is with human life. You can't play the rules of the game of life, wrong, and expect to win. You've got to play it according to God's Word, and the purpose that you were brought here for.
8 Now, there is so many people that doesn't seem to have any kind of a purpose in life, especially in this day that we now live. People just seem to think that all they have to do is to keep up with somebody else, with the fashions of the world, and with the enticements that the world has given to them. Just like this: if you go to school and some of the little girls wear a certain little frock, or dress, or whatever you would call it, all the ambition the rest of the school has is to pattern after that girl.
Some of the women see on the television some certain lady come out dressed in a certain fashion, well, that's their ambition is to dress and to act like that. And that seems to be just about the limit of the American ambition: is to get a new job, or to get a raise in your salary, and to get a television, or a new car.
9 Let me say this: those things may be all right, but there's higher ambitions in the human life than those things. And Christians should set their affection on higher ambitions.
I think it would pay us all to sit down and wonder why we are here in the first place. And ever who was kind enough to bring us here, we ought to consider it, and ask Him what He would have us to do, the purpose of us coming to fulfill, what He has purposed for us. But we seem to be just wanting to keep up with the world.
Now, the Bible said that we can overcome the world. And how do we do it? Not by keeping up with the fashions of the world, but the Bible said that faith is the victory that overcomes the world.
Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
10 It reminds me of one time that... I don't like to say this word, but he was just a bum that came to the door. And he said, "Could you give me a sandwich?"
I said, "Certainly. Would you step in?" And instead of making him a sandwich, I thought I'd fix him something to eat. And fixed him up just about what I could around the place, and sat him down to eat. And while he was eating, I thought I would speak to him, seeing that he was a traveler, and I said, "Where did you come from?"
He just shrugged his shoulders a little and said, "No where."
I said, "Then, where are you going?"
And he stopped eating and looked up at me, and said, "No where." He looked around and swallowed a big bite, and he said, "Sir, just where my hat's resting, there's where I rest."
I said, "I see." I said, "How long have you been doing this?"
He said, "Oh, some twenty years or more." With no ambitions to better himself...
11 Now, that's just about the attitude of the people. Just what I call, "drifters, floaters." And the people who join the church is just about the same. I've often thought of floating, driftwood. A driftwood, it just hangs up in any kind of trash. That's just about the way that floaters does in the church or anywhere.
Now, you take on a stream, like the stream of life, and plenty of driftwood hanging up in every trash pile, and yet, the boat comes along made out of wood too. But if you notice, the wood is made and shaped out by a master who has built the boat. Not only is it shaped out, but it is guided by a master, and it is pushed by a power. And we're all made out of the same stuff. It just depends on how your ambitions run.
12 Are you willing to let the Master Craftsman make out of you that which He could use, and that which He could control, and that which He could power. If this certain little craft that's been made different and been crafted out by the Master's hand, should ever stick into some weeds along in shallow waters, there is a power behind it---a little boat that the Master can turn on and push it out into the deep waters again.
God wants to mold and make us what He wants us to be. But how can we do that ... or, how can God do that, when we won't even stand still for Him to do it. We want to be our own master. We want to think our own way of thinking. And many people come into the church, and join the church, and put their name on the book, and doesn't even consider what that church believes, or check up with that church: how they preach the Word of God, or whether they stand for the full Gospel or not, or just pick out a portion and add a creed; floating, drifting, never be able to amount to anything.
13 But let me tell you something tonight, you on the in and outside of this building: You're going to wind up at a destination one of these days that's going to be in the valley of the shadows of death. I would advise you at this hour, to prepare to meet the God that will have to meet you at that hour. You'll either meet Him as a masterpiece that He has worked on, or a floating piece of driftwood to go into your final destination. So don't you use this life just to drift around and float around, and get a better job, and to dress better, and to get a new television, or a better car. Life means more than that. Don't you try to use it just to say, "Well, if the rest of the them join church, I will too."
14 When you join church, you should first seek out, and find out what that church stands for. Is it just merely a place that the people go together for fellowship, or is it a place that preaches the Word of the living God, and stands for every principle that Jesus died for? You should do that. Just don't float in and go with the tide, because, "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, but few there'll be that'll go in thereat. Because broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many will there be go in." We've got to have a purpose of something.
Now, it wasn't so in days gone by or in this day, that when a man come to God, he had a purpose of doing it. If your purpose is just to drift with that congregation, or is it to look up toward God?
Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Matthew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
15 Daniel, when he was taken down into Babylon, though he was going away from his home, and he was going to have to be a slave to another nation of people... But Daniel purposed in his heart: No matter what they did to him, he wasn't going to defile himself with the Babylonian sin.
Oh, if we had more gallant men like that, that would purpose in your heart, "If I am a Christian, I'm going to find out every divine blessing that belongs to me and claim it. If the Bible teaches that I can receive the Holy Spirit, I'm going to stay on my knees till God gives me the Holy Spirit, and just not drift."
16 I was reading old Uncle Buddy Robinson's life's story sometime ago. And he was such a great man, and a loving man, and a man of faith. And he got to hungering for the Holy Spirit, because the Bible taught it. And it says, that one day he was plowing corn, and he stopped his old mule, Ellie, and got down in the corn row, and said, "God, if you don't give me the baptism of the Holy Spirit, when You come back to earth, You'll find my bones laying right here."
That's purposing in your heart. That's really getting to business. When you get that kind of a purpose in your heart, God's going to open the windows of heaven. Something has to take place. You've got to get to business with God, and have some purpose, and some gratitude for Him saving you.
17 And when Daniel had purposed in his heart, and the devil made him prove it, but we find out that it stood good in the face of a hungry lion. And a man that ever comes to God, and really down in his heart finds a settled faith, it'll stand good in the mouth of death, or in the mouth of sickness, in the mouth of sorrow; it'll stand good, for faith is the victory. You have overcome by your faith.
Abraham, just a man with no certain purpose in life, just with his father and his friends, coming down from Babylon, they settled in Shinar. And there they had the tower built and so forth. And one day, while Abraham was praying, no doubt, he prayed through, till he struck the hand of God. How did he do it? By faith.
Perhaps, he thought like this: "If there is a God, who made the ark and let Noah float through, He still lives today." Somewhere in the land of heathens where He was sojourning, he touched the hand of God. And in there, God gave him a revelation that there was a city whose builder and maker was God.
18 And we read that all Abraham's life, he was a pilgrim and a stranger to the world, for his one ambition was to find that city whose builder and maker was God. He struck something. He caught God, and a faith in that God, that he foresaw the New Jerusalem. And he put his pack on his back, and became a wanderer---not just floating about without any purpose; he had faith that there was a city whose builder and maker was God, an eternal city. He had a purpose in life to find that place.
And may I say here that one day when the battle was over, he met the King of that city. And He give him the communion---bread and wine; Melchisedec.
Oh, you can't purpose anything of God's promise in your heart, without finding the reality to it. If your soul has been tormented by sins, and doubts, and ups-and-downs, and flusterations, and there's something down in you that's telling you that there's somewhere you can overcome that, why do you float around then from church to church and from place to place? Just kneel down till you strike heaven, and as I said last night, "Go beyond the sound barriers." Then you'll have a purpose in life. You'll have a purpose in belonging to the church. You'll have a purpose in being baptized. You'll have a purpose in what you're seeking for.
Genesis 14:17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale.
Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
Hebrews 11:9 By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:
Hebrews 11:10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
19 Because we know that God is honest, and God is true, and God cannot lie. And if God placed that into Abraham's heart by His voice, His Word, then God has placed in before us in His Bible, and by the witness of the Holy Spirit, by the returning of the Holy Spirit in signs and wonders, that Jesus Christ still lives and is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Then why would we seek any longer after those things that we desire?
If you need, any need whatsoever that God has promised in His Bible, He's here tonight to meet that need. No need seeking farther. His presence is here. His Spirit is here, and He's willing, and ready, and longing to give to you that what you are so seeking for. Why would you wait any longer?
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
20 When you come to Him, don't come as a floater. "I'll go up and try it and see if it works." You'll never get no where, but when you come with this kind of a determination, that you have sold out lock, stock, and barrel... When you're tired of the world, and sin, and unbelief, and flusterations and doubts, and come to the living God with a anchor surely tightened in the Rock of Ages, the Holy Spirit's here to pull you into the presence of the living God, that will give you a faith that'll overcome anything there is in the world: sickness, disease, and even death itself.
You say, "You said death, Brother Branham." And that's what I meant. Death.
21 Was not it Lazarus, who was laying dead in the ground, and already corruption set in, when Jesus said to Martha, "Where have you buried him? And if you won't doubt, you shall see the glory of God."
"Did not I tell you not to doubt," He said to Jairus that night ... or, that day? "If you'll only believe, you can see the glory of God."
Then faith overcomes death. Faith is the victory over death. Faith is the victory over sin. Faith is the victory over sickness. Faith is the victory over worry. Faith is the victory over flusterations. Faith is the victory over the world.
John 11:34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
John 11:40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
22 You say, "John, when he wrote that, he did not have my troubles. He did not have to deal with the folk that I deal with. He did not have to go through the things that I do." That's right. He may not have had to deal with the same folk. He may not have had to overcome the same things, but he never excluded them. For he said this, "Faith is the victory that overcomes the world," the whole thing.
How is it? Get faith in it. Ride above it. When we have the written Word of God laying before us, and the Holy Spirit here performing and showing the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, with the divine promises written here, that "Whatsoever thing you desire when you pray, believe you receive it, and you shall have it," what do you have to do then? Have faith, not just floating faith, not just a make-believe faith, but a real faith.
Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
23 Now, faith is a conqueror; faith is an overcomer. It just isn't a peacemaker; it overcomes. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. What does it do? What is faith? What is to conquer? Conquer and victory is the same. To conquer, it means "to beat down, to override, to handcuff, to throw into prison." It means that the sin that once ruled you, you rule it now. It means that you have overcome it; you've whipped it. You're greater than it is. Oh, I feel religious right now.
Which was first, a sinner or a Saviour? A Saviour, for a Saviour is more powerful than a sin. Which was first, the healer or a sickness? It couldn't be a healer, unless it was over the sickness. It is a healer; it could conquer the sickness. And faith is the victory that overcomes every curse of the devil. Faith is the victory.
24 Faith in what? Not faith in your church, not faith in your creed, not faith in some man, but faith in Jesus Christ who made the promise. That's the victory. What is it? It is the victory. Say, "My arm's still crippled." But faith is the victory. "I still feel sick." But faith is the victory. Oh, it overcomes the world. When you can climb into God by prayer, until you see the thing conquered under you, there is nothing that can hurt you then. You've overcome. You've got fifty miles of elbow room. You're sailing free then.
You, who've been a drunkard and a slave to whiskey, you'll be the master over him then. That old devil of alcohol that made you drink, he's your master now; but when you get faith (I don't mean make-belief.), real faith, he's your servant then.
You who can't lay down tobacco, you women and men, when it comes to a place to where you can get to that spot, to where you have overcome it by faith, you'll master it then.
25 A little woman that's sitting present now, she has been at this altar time after time after time. A good woman, but she started smoking a long time ago, and she just couldn't overcome it. And she'd come up, and I would pray with her; and seemed like, she just couldn't overcome it. And the first thing you know, I told her here; I said, "There'll be danger down the road."
She said, "Brother Branham, I have cried; I have begged."
You see, just emotional, fighting the air. That won't do any good. And I'd get down and pray with her, and lay hands on her, and she'd go back, and a few days I'd meet her again, just knock you down with cigarette smoke, hands still brown.
And one night, down yonder, she went to a doctor, begin to get sick and wither away, till just a little spindly thing, and the doctor looked into her and he said, "Cancer, smoking cigarettes..." There she was laying there to die. Then she got down to business.
26 See, a drowning man will reach for a straw. Long as you can walk out of this church tonight and know you can go join the Methodist or Baptist, as long as you can sit in here, and say, "Now, I will just... I'm a good person. There's nothing wrong with me." You can't do nothing with you. That's right. But when you see your sins as God sees them in the light of His Bible, when you see you'll repent or perish, something will take place. You'll get to business.
Walk out of here and a smothering around your heart, the doctor back there will maybe raise up come up and look and say, "It's a heart attack." You'll get to business. That's when she had to get to business. And the woman's sitting looking at me now.
27 And Brother Roberson's back there, and Mr. Wood's here, Brother Wood sitting here somewhere, and I were going down hunting, I believe, somewhere in the truck. And the Holy Spirit seemed to move us to go way up through the Knobs to where she was. And when I got there, she'd had a dream, and when the Holy Spirit came into the room, and she got down to real business, she never smoked a cigarette from then on, and she's gained many pounds of weight, and they can't find a trace of the cancer. What is it? It's faith that overcomes. Why didn't it overcome when I was praying for her here? She was just fluttering around. But when the doctor says, "You've got cancer, and going to die," she got to business. That's the way it has to get.
When you get to business, why wait that long? Why not get down to business now? Put your faith in God. What if the woman had had her faith in me? It'd failed, because I'm a man. But when she changed her faith, not in the Branham Tabernacle, or in William Branham, or in anyone else, but placed her faith in Jesus Christ, then she got faith. She raised up above all the fears and doubts, and God healed her. And oh, she overcome. Faith is the victory that overcomes.
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
28 I've often wondered, "What does Christians want to flustrate themselves with them things, anyhow?" Men and women comes to me many times, and says, in their confessions and so forth, when I have those private interviews, and we meet them, make confessions of living immoral and all kinds, because they can't deny it. The Holy Spirit's right there. If they try to cover it up, it brings it right out for them. So they might as well tell it. If they try to get out, Holy Spirit stops them, says, "Just a minute, here's a certain, certain thing."
So when they come, they begin to tell me about the little things of the world, and I notice it amongst believers. You're going somewhere. What you drifting for? Get some ambition about you. Set your goal on Christ and quit tallying with the world.
29 You pick up a magazine, it'll say, "Now, the divine healers of this day, there is no such as divine healers." That'll put a doubt in your mind. Somebody get on the radio and say, oh, preach a pretty good sermon, but say, "The days of miracles is past." You'll support it. See, that weakens you. Sell out. Get right with God. Either be what you are or don't be at all. If God's Bible doesn't teach it, then get away from it. If it does teach it, stay with it.
30 It reminds me of this: For instance, what if we were going to take a little trip in thirty days from now to another land? And in this land, the climate was so wonderful, till we'd never come back no more. And over there we would never have to die or get old, but we would just be there forever. Could I imagine seeing you going around to the ten cent store buying up a lot of junk to take with you? You'd be trying to get rid of what junk you had. And when you just flustrate yourself with joining one church and then the other, you accumulate more junk. But if you'll think of where you're going, you'll get rid of a lot of that doubt and nonsense. You'll have real faith.
31 I say to people...
"Are you Brother Branham, that prays for the sick?"
"Yeah."
"Well, that's against my faith."
"Then you haven't got any faith. The Bible teaches it."
And now, many people come into the line, and they say, "Well, I've got all faith."
"Then what you doing up here?"
Oh, it isn't so. Real faith knows no defeat. It cannot be defeated. Even death, itself, can't defeat it. It knows no defeat. Trials know defeat, but faith knows no defeat. It cannot be defeated, and it is the only way that you can please God. "For without faith it is impossible to please God," said Hebrews 11.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
32 And in this place, could I imagine you going around, some of you slang-using Christians, using smutty dirty words, and yet belonging to church? Could I imagine you going over to another land, and then going around through America learning all the American slang that you could hear about? Certainly you wouldn't. The thing you'd be trying to do, would be learn a few words of that language over there. That's right. As much to say, "How do you do," anyhow. And I think it would behoove Christians, more today, if they were trying to learn some heavenly language, the praises of God, that we're going to sing over there and enjoy. And the people that does not believe in shouting, what would you do when you get over there? You'd be so out of place. Better get faith and overcome now, for faith is the victory that overcomes. No, you wouldn't be tagging little things like that; you'd be having victory.
You say, "How do I do it, Brother Branham?"
Why, it's so simple, it's just... Now, at the meetings here, you wonder how to submit, here how... The people in the building, I do not know many. And in my meetings sometime, I know no one, even different languages. But how do I know it? Is to submit yourself. Just give yourself over to the Holy Spirit. Then it isn't you anymore; you don't know what you're going to say. You just let Him do the saying. It's so simple as this.
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
33 Many of you people have faith in your doctors (and you should have, if you've got a doctor). And now, when something gets wrong with you, you'll go to that old faithful doctor that you believe in. That's what you should do. That's good. And then, you submit your case to him. If he says you should go to the hospital, you don't do a thing but go home and pack up your clothes and take off to the hospital. Sure. You got faith in the doctor. And if he doesn't decide that you want to go to the hospital ... or, you should go, rather, he will write out a prescription and give you a sack full of pills. And you'll swallow them, and you don't know what's in those pills, but you've got faith in your doctor.
34 How about God? And you're scared to swallow some of the "gos-pills" that He gives you: "By His stripes you were healed. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world." Swallow it and see what happens. It's a confidence; you show what confidence you have in your doctor by taking His medicine, that you don't know what it is. You show your confidence in the doctor by submitting yourself to an operation. That proves your confidence in the doctor. But when it comes to Christ, you're scared to take Him at His Word. How is it? Faith is the victory.
You could submit your case to Jesus Christ tonight, just as you submit your case to the doctor. Give me anything you want to, Lord; You're the doctor on the case. Then you've got the victory. Then you got faith that overcomes. You'll never hunt another prayer line; you'll never hunt nothing else; you'll have it right there; it'll be all settled. You'll never jump from church to church to see if this one's got it, or that one's got it, they haven't got it. You've got it then. When you've got the faith, you have the victory.
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.
1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
35 I tell you what we need tonight in America, and what we need tonight here in this tabernacle, is to let Doctor Jesus come in and perform an operation on our faith. The doctor tells you you've got a little appendix, "It's all poison, it ought to come out. You've got this, that, or the other that's wrong: it's got to come out." Well, he takes it out so the rest of you can function right. And what's the matter tonight with our faith? We're afraid to let God take His operating Word, His knife, sharper than a two-edged sword and operate on us, and tell us that our little fandango, humbugging around is wrong, and we've got to turn loose every shadow, and sail towards God's eternal promise. Oh, if we will do that, Jesus will perform an operation upon our faith, taking away all the doubt, all the fears, and all the worry, all the sin, everything there is. And then, when our faith is clearly operated on, we come out a new creature. We're different then. We need an operation.
36 Can you trust Jesus Christ for that operation? Can you believe in Him? Can you say, "Lord God, at Thy Word, at Thy Word"? as the disciples said in Saint Mark 5, when they said, "We've seined all night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, Lord, at Thy Word, I will let down the nets," said Peter. "Lord, I am a fisherman; I know the signs when the moon's just right. I know when they're biting and when they're not. I know when they're in their schools and when they're not. Not only that, but I've seined all night, and here is a council of doctors here with me, Doctor Fishermen. And we know our trade, and we've searched this stream all night long and haven't taken nothing. But at Thy Word, Lord, I'll let down the net, because the Chief Surgeon said so. The Chief Doctor said so." And they enclosed such a multitude of fishes till their nets begin to break. Why? Faith is the victory. There might not have even been one fish in the water. But when God has made a promise, He will create fish and put them there.
Luke 5:5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
37 There may not be a chance for you to live; you may be dying with cancer; you may be bound to a wheelchair; you may be totally blind. I don't know what your trouble is, but if you'll take the Chief Doctor's prescription, "Whatsoever thing you desire, when you pray, believe you receive it. And you shall have it." And believe that that faith will overcome any difficult that there is. You may be so burdened with sin until your soul is as smutty as it can be. You may have tried to get rid of that ill temper, that slandering tongue, that gossip on the telephone. You might've tried every remedy you know how, but if you'll just let Jesus Christ come into you tonight, He will operate on your faith and give you a faith that'll climb beyond anything that the world can produce. Why? Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.
Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
38 How could you doubt, when Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, His presence here now, His great Holy Spirit in this building? The Word promised that "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." It was promised by the Lord. God has to keep His Word. Do you believe that? When He promised He'd do these things, God is solemnly obligated to do such. Now, I want you to think it over. If you have sin, if there's anything wrong in your life, I want you to think it over while we bow our heads, just a moment for prayer.
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.
39 Before we pray, I'd like to ask this question. I'd like to ask if there is a man, woman, boy, or girl that's in this building, that would say by an uplifted hand, "Lord, I just seemingly can't overcome. It seems like I know that I shouldn't do these things; I know I shouldn't do this and that, but I want you to operate on my faith right now, after this message. I want you to give me a complete checking over and operate on every little disease of my faith that would keep me from overcoming these things."
Hold up your hand to Him, will you do it? The Lord bless you. Place just full of hands. Let us "Lay aside every weight and the sin that does so easily beset us and run with patience this race that's been set before us, looking to the author and finisher of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ."
How many in here that's sick and needy, would raise up your hands, and say, "Lord, operate on my faith? I have need tonight, Lord." God bless you. Faith is the victory. How do we get faith? "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing the Word of God." Now, for you who are needy, so sinful, I cannot make an altar call to have you come up here to the altar, as a fashion of the Tabernacle is, because there's not even room. There are people that are standing around the walls. There are people that are over the altars here, and it's just a place where we can't do it. But I'm going to pray for you now, and you just submit yourself unto Christ, just at this hour, while I pray.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
40 Dear God, we would ask Thy divine mercy upon these waiting penitent souls, who believe that You are and a rewarder of those that diligently seek after Thee. And I would ask You to be merciful unto them, Lord, and whatever there is---the cancer of doubt, the cancer of temper, the malignancy of unbelief---take it out, just now, Lord, and give them the Holy Ghost. Fill their soul with Your goodness. Baptize them into Thy kingdom just now, as they have raised their hands in the confession of their faith. And asking Thee, O merciful God, to do this for them. For they have changed their thoughts of drifting around on the sea. They want to come into the dock, and be hewed out by the Master Builder, and made a new creature in Christ Jesus, and empowered with His Spirit, governed by His will. So give it to them just now, Father, as we humbly ask in Jesus' name, Thy Son.
And now, Lord, there was many hands who went up in the air ... or, that went up in the air. They realized that they had been from place to place, many of them. They have drove many miles across the states to get to such and such a person that prays for the sick. And they have come, maybe, a long ways down here, and I do appreciate that, Lord. What if they didn't believe in me as Your servant? Then they wouldn't come. I thank You for letting them have faith in my prayer.
41 Lord God, I sincerely pray for each one just now, that You, the great God of heaven, will move Your Holy Spirit into their life and will cut off every unbelief. Let them know that it's faith is the victory, not some person of earth, not some church, or some certain prayer from some man, which all helps, but faith is the victory.
We read of where Thy Son, our Saviour, went into His own country, and there were those who said, "Who is this fellow? Is not that the carpenter's son, do we not know him and his mother? Her name is Mary. And here is Jude and Joses, and his sisters?" And they were offended at Him. And He marveled at their unbelief and could do no mighty works.
Matthew 13:55 Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
Matthew 13:56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
Matthew 13:57 And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.
Matthew 13:58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
42 We realize no matter how great the person might be favored before You, yet our own faith is the victory. I pray, God, that You will let men out of this, and show Yourself here tonight, where faith is centered on the principles of the resurrection of our Lord. He is not dead, but He's alive forever more. And He made a promise, "I will be with you always, even to the end of the world." And we believe that He is here. And we pray, dear God, that tonight that He will show Himself visible, present, and may then, the Holy Spirit catch every heart, and perform the operation on the faith, so that they can overcome their sickness, and their afflictions, and their diseases; go out of here with a set faith; no matter if not one thing takes place, yet it'll create a faith that says it's done. That's the victory. It overcomes the world. For we ask it in His name and for His glory. Amen.
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.
Revelation 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
43 I just hardly see how I could call a prayer line, for that door is jammed into the street, and this is jammed into the street, and around the windows, and around the doors, and up here. I could try it, if you wish for me to. I could try to call a prayer line, but I will say this, after this thing I've preached conviction to myself.
I believe if you'll just be reverent, and just take all the faith that you've got, as human faith, and turn it over into the hands of God, and say, "Now, Lord, take my little that I got to give You, and let Your faith come to me." I believe that He will heal you, and let me call you right out from this platform without even you coming up here at all.
Could you believe that? But if you've got your prayer card, you hang onto it; we're going to use it any how. So we believe.
44 Now, I'd like... That's just now come to my mind. For Billy Paul told me just as we come in a few minutes ago, he gave out some prayer cards, yet, tonight. Because we'd taken up quite a bunch last night, and he said, "There was some in there, Daddy, that wanted prayer cards, and I gave them prayer cards."
I said, "That's all right."
He said, "But how are you going to call a prayer line?"
Then the crowd was back there; now they're all the way around the sides. So there's hardly a way to do it, to call a prayer line. What's the difference of you standing here, or sitting where you're at? But it's going to take some faith to do that. It's going to take your faith plus my faith, with God's faith; mix it together, and my faith and your faith will fade out, and God's faith will become predominate, and the work shall be done.
45 Just want to ask you this, upon these basis: "Do you believe this to be the Word of God?" It cannot lie then, if it's God's Word. It has to be truth. Then if it is God's Word, and it is true, then He's obligated to every word that He spoke in here. He's obligated to keep that Word.
Now, if you were sick and were dying with leukemia, or cancer, or whatever you had, tubercular, and you come up here, and brought all the ministers that we knew in the building, and bring them here and pray for them, every one of you, still, unless you, yourself, has got faith, it would not work, see. But if someone would be healed, perhaps that you'd notice, that God healed, or claimed they were healed, that would help your faith, because you would see they got healed.
46 In Durban, South Africa, recently, I was praying, and they brought one person to the platform. And you know the story; I have told it to many of you. How, that one woman was healed there, being a Mohammedan, and they just got so many out of each tribe, which some twenty tribes or more were there. And then when it come to a place to a boy that had been born stooped over that walked on his hands. And when the Holy Spirit begin to tell him, (He was a Zulu.), and when the Holy Spirit begin to speak, and tell that man (an African Hottentot, didn't even know which was right and left hand), and even told him who he was. They sat up, and the witch doctors stood spellbound. "What new thing is this?" they said. And the chiefs, that were being fanned with the fans, made the fans stop.
But it said, "In your hut where you live, there is a picture of my Lord, hanging on the wall." And his father and mother, way back in there with hundreds of thousands of people, raised up to testify the truth.
And said, "Now that, you've got a brother that was riding on a yellow goat or dog, and hurt his leg, and he walks on a crutch, and he's present at the meeting. But his faith, just now, has overcome, and he's healed." Because why? That shock of a white man, who could not even speak his language, could tell him who he was, and what had happened. What type of power was that?
47 And the boy heard that through the translator, and he threw down his crutches and here he come, running and jumping for joy. And when his brother, who could know not which was right and left hand, but thought I was trying to get him to do a dance, a native dance, seeing his brother running and jumping, it done something to him, and he passed the sin barriers of unbelief. And I looked back, and there was a vision that told him to stand on his feet; he was healed. And the boy, not even with an intelligence enough, with mind enough to know what I said, as the interpreter told him. He had a chain on his neck, and I got ahold of the chain, and said, "Jesus Christ makes you well; stand up."
That boy, who was born afflicted, stood to his feet; now only that, but in his right mind, the tears running down his black belly. And the glory of God fell over that place there, until twenty-five thousand raw heathens were healed at one time.
48 What did they do? The next morning, I was sitting in the window, after the mayor of the city had come, said, "Watch out that window; you've got a surprise."
And the next morning, here come seven big cattle trucks full of crutches and wheelchairs and things, walking down ... going down the street, with the people who was in them the night before, walking down the street, Zulus, and Songhai, and Bazutus, Kozatas, all the different tribes that was at war with one another, was at peace, hand to hand, singing, "All things are possible, only believe," in their own native tongue.
I raised from the window, and put my hands in the air, and answered back, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that would save a wretch like me."
It was a glorious sight, these eyes of mine nearly ever beheld, until I seen the Lord in the vision at the time.
49 What is it? It stirs something. Them people weren't floaters; they'd just never heard before. And when they heard, just with childlike simplicity, they just grabbed it. That's all there was; they didn't have to have any operation. They just saw it and went after it. It was theirs. There was nobody could tell them any different; they done seen it happen.
Now, if the Lord Jesus still lives, and is here in Jeffersonville, Indiana, in these United States of America, if He's just the same God was here the other night to give that blind preacher his sight... He's the same God that give that little leukemia child, dying, when the doctors, the next morning, pronounced her well.
50 Just recently... I've got the article of it right here, I believe, in one of these books, I'm not sure. I was just reading it the other day, and I think I placed it back in some of this stuff here. It might not be, I'm not sure. But I was reading an article from one of the pa... Here it is, right here. One of the papers, up here in Mich... or, up when I was on my last campaign up here, with a article in the paper, where there was a woman. It was at Burlington, Vermont. And she was all disappointed; she didn't get a prayer card from the boys, that day. And Gene and Leo, and Billy, and some will be here, that was there. And she was sitting way back, and all of a sudden, she wondered why she couldn't get in that prayer line. The first person come up, and it said, "You're Mrs. So-and-so, from a certain place, and something, something, taken place."
Right then, she broke through that barrier, she said, "I know that woman, and I know that's the truth."
No more than she'd thought that in her heart, till the great Holy Spirit called me around, and said, "Mrs. So-and-so, sitting here (way back, twice the distance of this building), the little lady on the end with the green dress on," said, "you're Mrs. So ... such a name." Said, "You suffer with epilepsy; you have four or five spells every day." And said, "Why..." She jumped to her feet; that was her. And she was so astounded, she didn't know what to do.
51 And said, "Not only that, but you're very upset, because your husband is in the Veterans Hospital, and they have removed practically all of his stomach, and now the disease has got into another part of his body, and there is no chance for him to live, says the doctors." And she, with tears running down her cheeks (as the paper explains), she raised her hands that that was the truth.
Just then in the vision, I saw him coming home. And I said, "Thus saith the Lord, don't you worry; He will be home well." And the next morning, when he was going in for an examination for surgery again, when that great lumps of Hodgkin's disease was breaking through his body, the doctors... He said, "I don't even feel any lump. And the doctors examining him, couldn't find any lump. Put him under x-ray and took every test, and he was perfectly well, and come home the next day, sound and well. Why? Faith is the victory. No prayer card, no hands laid on, no nothing, but faith is the victory that overcomes all. That's the way.
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
52 My last meeting in Chicago, there was a colored lady standing on the platform. I beg your pardon, I believe it was a white woman that was standing on the platform. And the night before, a little old Swedish woman was there, and Billy seen her reach down and put so much money into an offering for Brother Osborn for his African Black Gold call, his campaign. And Billy said to me, "How did that poor little woman, with the little spotted-looking dress on, how did she ever have that much money to put in that offering?"
And so when Billy started out, she said, "Give me a prayer card, honey."
Said, "I haven't got any more." He went over to Gene or Leo one, who was giving them out, and asked, they didn't have any more. So he said, "Sister, I will see you tomorrow night and give you one."
Said, "All right, honey." And goes up in the balcony somewhere, and sits down. I never knew of it.
53 Then when I come in on the platform that night, and one woman was on the platform; she was sitting up there, and she broke through that barrier into a place where God operated on her faith. There when she hit that spot, it said, "That little woman sitting way up yonder in that second balcony, second person in, with that little checkered dress on, her name is Mrs. So-and-so-and-so, and she's praying for her husband, who's a dispatcher on the railroad, deaf in one ear." And she almost fainted; she was a Lutheran. And when she got home... And the Lord said, "Thus saith the Lord, he's healed." When she got home, that night, he was standing at the door rejoicing. And at that very same minute, his ear come open when he was sitting on a seat at the dispatcher's office.
54 A colored woman sitting out there saw that and believed. And she was believing for her sister, who'd been ten years in a mental institution in Little Rock, in the insane asylum. And the Holy Spirit come to her, and told her who she was and who her sister was, and said, "She's been a raging maniac, butting her head against the wall for ten years, but 'Thus saith the Lord,' she's just been healed." And the next morning, when they went through the door, the matron found her standing at the door, begging to get out, in her normal right mind. She sent word to her sister in Chicago, and she screamed out, she said, "Merciful God, that's what was said on the platform last night."
She said, "Dear, I know you got no money, but I will send you a airplane ticket, right quick; get here; the meeting closes tomorrow night."
And the woman, who had been in a mental institute ten years, the very next night stood on the platform and give praise to Almighty God.
What was it? Her sister broke through that place of the things of the world. Things of the world don't only mean smoking, and drinking, and show running; it means unbelief. She broke through all of that till she found that her faith overcomes. She said, "If God can do that for that white woman, God can do that for me, a colored woman." God did it, and God will do it every time that our faith overcomes doubt. No matter how bad it is. Oh, He lives.
55 Is there any persons here, that happened to been in Chicago, that night, that heard the woman testify? Raise up your hands. Well, yes, look all around here. Sure there was. There a woman that had been in an institution all these years... What is it? Faith is the victory.
Now, if that same Jesus is here tonight, then if I can let my faith loose to His promise, then He will come right back and do the same thing, if you can let your faith loose to the promise. If He will do it to any of you, sitting out in that audience, will you believe He still lives? Is that the way He did when He was on earth? Is that the way the apostles did? Paul looked upon the man and so forth, and while Jesus told the woman at the well, while the woman touched His garment, went out and sat down. He turned around and said, "Who touched Me?" Didn't know who touched. So he said, "Who touched Me?" All denying it. He said, "But I got weak; virtue went from Me." And He looked around till He found the woman had it ... done it. She'd had a blood issue, and told her, "Your faith has got the victory."
Matthew 9:22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
Mark 5:30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
Mark 5:32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
Mark 5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Luke 8:45 And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
Luke 8:46 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
Luke 8:48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
56 What is it? He never said, "I healed you." He said, "Your faith has saved you." What did you do? You had faith that overcome, that subdued, that tramped down every doubt, for she said within her heart, "If I can touch His garment, I will be made well." Jesus had... She had to take that by something she thought in her own mind. Here's His own Word claimed that He'd be here in this day, and do the same that He did then. "A little while and the world won't see Me no more, yet you shall see Me. The works that I do, shall you do also, even more than this, shall I go to My Father. And you'll do more than this."
Here it is, we're living in this last day. Jesus is here. Let us pray, and let us believe, and you believe while I pray.
Matthew 9:21 For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
Matthew 9:22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
Mark 5:28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
Mark 5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Luke 8:48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
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.
57 Lord, here is a group of people, and You're a great God. We see in the Bible, where You healed the multitudes, where that in the journey of Israel, Moses, when they come out of the wilderness, there wasn't one feeble person among them. You're the great Doctor; You're the great Surgeon.
And now, Lord, let these people, who are here sick tonight in their body or in their soul, that they might just now commit their case unto Your hands, the great Physician. And operate on them, Father, to the extent that all their doubt would be taken away.
Now, Your Word said that You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. We pray, You use that for a knife, and bring that knife down and declare Yourself to be the same. "I will be with you, even in you." And then, Lord, when the people sees that You are here, may their faith climb above every disease that there is in the building---of sin or sickness---and be healed. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
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 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
58 Can you realize ... or, appreciate the position it puts me in? Now, looky here, there's at least two hundred and fifty people standing here---more than that, I guess. Yeah, I guess there is more. I don't know, but there's a big host of you I don't know. How many here, doesn't know ... you know that I don't know you, or don't know what's wrong with you? Raise up your hands. Just look here. Why, they're just everywhere. Sure, I don't, but He does.
Now, if you'll just submit yourself to Him, and let Him speak to you by the same faith that the woman had, will you believe Him? If anything is a proven fact, it's a proven fact.
59 If somebody come down here and said, "I have a cure for cancer." He took a cancer out here that was going into a bad condition, and took the doctors down there, and proved them that cancer could be cured. Everybody in the world would rush for that cure. Why, brother, I've seen Jesus Christ cure so many cancers, but yet He only asks one thing: if you'll believe. That seems to be the hardest thing. I seen Him open the eyes of the blind, make the crippled walk; I seen Him raise the dead up after they'd been dead, pronounced by the doctor. So many things, it would take ... I couldn't write volumes of books to tell what I have seen Him do, myself. And yet, it's so hard to get to believe.
60 Now, if all of you sick people in here... I want everyone just as reverent as you can. Now, I believe... I'm a great believer in emotion. I believe, anything hasn't got emotion is dead. If your religion hasn't got a little emotion about it, you'd better bury it, because... But there is times for all things.
If you come to me, and I could give it to you, and say, "Brother Branham, I want a hundred dollars." You'd come real respectful, and say, "Brother Branham, I'm desperately in need for a hundred dollars." And you know I had a hundred dollars in my pocket, and you believe that working on my sympathy that I'd give you that hundred dollars. Well now, you'd stand there reverently, expecting to receive it. Then when I give you that hundred dollars, you could just scream as loud as you wanted to. You got the hundred dollars in your hand, see. Now, but when you're coming, come with respect. Don't come screaming and asking me for the hundred dollars, or I might not understand you, see. But you come ask me, then when I give you the hundred dollars, then start screaming.
61 So let's come to God and ask Him to move His Holy Spirit inside the walls, outside the walls, wherever it may be; I don't care where you're standing. Wherever it is, I don't care. If it's across the country, and you're praying for somebody, He will move it.
And let's just see. God said, "Prove Me." That's a good way to prove whether God is God or not. "Prove me," saith the Lord. Now, if He is God, and we know He is, let's ask Him to do the things here tonight that He did, and then you won't have to come up here. And if it's done, at least three different people, across the building... If it happens if it strikes on people that I do know, I don't want to accept that as one, see. I want it on somebody that I do not know.
62 Now, as far as knowing diseases, there's only one person in here, that I know of, of any disease, and that's not a disease, that's my good and sweet little friend Edith Wright, sitting back there. I know her, she had suffered for years. We prayed for her, and she went out of pain then, has been for a long time, but the Lord has never delivered the girl from her affliction. I know what's wrong with Edith. Outside of that, I don't know anyone in here, what disease you have. But if you know me, then I'd rather it would be so that you'll see that it isn't me, that it's the Lord. Now you pray; I'll pray, and let's just believe the Lord.
And now, Sister Gertie, just as slow as you can, I want you to play, "The Great Physician Now Is Near, The Sympathizing Jesus."
63 I'm looking across here at Brother Banks Wood, a friend of mine. Any knows Brother Wood here at the Tabernacle, he's one of the trustees here, but he was formerly a Jehovah Witness. This was certainly a thing to him. But when he come to Louisville, and seen the Lord do something... He had a crippled boy, kind of an infantile paralysis had drawed his leg up. And he followed the meetings. I didn't know---never heard of him. But when he come up here... Somewhere I'd come back from overseas, from Sweden, sitting way back in the building that night, the Lord Jesus called to that boy, David, and healed him. And today, the boy hardly knows which leg it was, that was healed of, see. Oh, hundreds of things, if you just believe.
64 Now, one time I can think of, when I really asked for that, I remember it was... I see some Amish people, I believe, or either Mennonite, one, in the building, with the little ladies with their little caps on. That's just what caused me to think that. I was in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and there was a little Mennonite girl, who had received the Holy Ghost, or it might have been Amish; it was one of those people, either the Mennonite or the Amish. And she was a lovely girl, and she was playing, "The Great Physician Now Is Near, The Sympathizing Jesus." And there was a little baby, that had been brought into my arms, that was crippled. And when I prayed, the little baby was healed, and jumped out of my arms, and run down the platform, and the mother fainted. And the Amish or Mennonite girl knew the lady, and the Holy Spirit struck her, and she began to shout. And she raised up her hands and run away from the piano, and the piano never missed a note, playing, The Great Physician Now Is Near, The Sympathizing Jesus." Coming down through those aisles from everywhere, people were crowding over one another, and them ivory keys moving up-and-down, "The Great Physician Now is Near, The Sympathizing Jesus." And they laying in the floor, in the aisles overcome by terror of ... or, the Holy Spirit's presence. He still lives. He's still Jesus.
65 Now, let's just quietly hum that just for a minute, and then we will see what the Lord says. Everyone now settle yourself to faith, and begin to look this way, and believe with all your heart.
The great Physician now is near...
Lord Jesus, I pray that You'll grant these [unclear words]. [ Brother Branham prays quietly.]
....... heart to cheer,
Oh, hear the voice of Jesus.
Sweetest note in seraph song,
Sweetest............
Now, you sick people, just begin to move out all doubts. Many of you has never seen this before, say, "I believe it anyhow."
Jesus, precious Jesus.
[Brother Branham hums.]
66 I hope I'm not fanatical, but it just seems to me now, just like I go into my room, pull the door together, enter into a secret closet and close the door. I just close off all the audience from around now, see. "And pray to your Father, who seeth in secret, and He that seeth in secret shall reward you openly. Ask and it shall be given; seek, ye shall find; knock and it'll be open. For every one that seeketh findeth." Imagine Him here now, that you see on the picture there, the light, the halo. It isn't far. It's the discerner of the thoughts. It's Christ. "A little while... I come from God, and I will return to God." He did, went right back to what He was. When He comes again, He will be in a corporal body, like He was the Lord Jesus.
Matthew 6:6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Matthew 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
Matthew 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Luke 11:9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Luke 11:10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
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.
67 You might say, "Brother Branham, what are you doing?" Just getting myself yielded. Now, I'm just standing here. This is not a show now. No, sir. Don't you think that; you'd be on bad grounds. It's trying to press into somewhere. God's Word at stake. I've said that He was. What if it isn't? He always will keep His Word. I'm not afraid of that. Someone, somewhere will strike that hem of His garment.
The Bible said, "He is now (right now) a High Priest, that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities."
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.
68 You're looking at me so sincere, lady, sitting there with that blue dress on. I don't know you, I don't believe. I can't seem to get a contact, anywhere, with someone's faith. Maybe it would help... You have a need of God? If I'm a stranger, you raise up your hand. I don't know you, but you know me. All right. Have no idea what you're here for; I've never seen you in my life, as I know of. You probably been in my meeting somewhere. If the Lord Jesus will tell me what your trouble is, you believe it? You'd have to believe it, if it's the truth. And maybe that'll give faith to others to go to work, see. I don't know. I just seen you sitting there looking at me. You just haven't hardly taken your eyes from me. You're close.
This woman sitting in front here, I know her. These people here, I know. I didn't think I knew you. I don't, but He does. And if you have a need, just like you'd been standing on the platform. Yes. Now, if anyone can see... I hope you can. It looks to me that the woman is getting real dim, but something or other wrong: She has a skin disease. That's right. Raise up your hand, if that's true. It's on her body that doesn't show, but she has. That's correct, see. Just a contact. He said, "Look on us." And while they looked steadfast on them... Paul said, "I perceive that you have faith to be healed."
Acts 3:4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
69 How about the little lady sitting next to you? It kind of broke through a barrier to her, because she was praying also. I don't know you; we're strangers to one another. That's right? If the Holy Spirit will reveal to me what your trouble is, or what you're here for, or something in your life that you know I do not know, will you believe that, that that power, unseen force, comes from Christ? I want to ask you something: Right now, you have a feeling on you, real sweet, meek, humble feeling. If that's right, raise your hand. See, that's it. Right above you stands that light. And you're suffering with trouble from your feet and legs. That's right, isn't it? Wave that handkerchief to the people if that's right, so they'll see. I don't think you'll ever be bothered with it again.
What's doing that? What's... There's people I never seen in my life. What's doing it? That's two.
70 There's a young man sitting right next to the woman, right there now. And he started weeping as soon as that struck; it's something another about that woman. No, it's the young man, himself. He's bothered with his throat and head. That's right. I believe you're a stranger to me, young man? I never seen you. That's right. That's right. If that's right, raise up your hand.
There's three people sitting in a row; I never seen, no contact in my life, to those people. Will you believe?
Somebody in this direction, now, that's in here. How many's sick and needy in this direction? Raise your hands, every one in this direction, that's needy. Oh, it's just everywhere. All right. Now, just keep believing.
71 The man sitting looking at me, you must find Christ or die. Cancer would kill you. God's the healer.
This elderly lady, sitting here, right here on the seat. She suffers with a stomach trouble and arthritis. That's correctly. Do you believe it's done?
You looking around at her, you believe? You have a need of Christ? You believe me to be His servant? That growth that you want taken away, do you believe God would do it? I don't see the growth, but it's there. It's on your neck, in the back. Maybe if I tell you your name is Mrs. Welch, would you believe me then as you...? That's right, isn't it? All right. I never seen you in my life; you know that. You have faith in God.
72 There's a death sign over the little woman sitting there: cancer also. You believe, lady, that God will make you well? You do? Suffering with cancer, it's a black shadow hanging over you. I tell you now, it's gone---if you'll believe. I don't know the woman; I've never seen her in my life. I don't know any of these people, as far as I know. Will you believe?
I'm looking at a man; I don't guess I ever seen him before in my life. He suffers with a hernia. Do you believe the Lord will heal you, sir, of that hernia, and make you well? Your wife has a nervous and a weakness. Reverend Reed, that's your name. I don't know you. You're not from this country anyhow. You're from Ohio. That's correct. If that's right, raise up. It's all over now, for you and your wife both. Believe with all your heart. Can you now believe?
73 Way back down this line, back towards this way... Can't you see that light hanging right there? It's a woman suffering with a virus infection, right down on this line here. You're not from this city. You're from a place called Columbus, Indiana. Your name is Elisabeth. You live on a street called Ohio Street. Your number is 1932 Ohio Street. Go, believe; it's left you now. Have faith.
And now that Spirit moves; it goes this way over here to a man. There's some connection. No. He's from Columbus, and he suffers with an eye condition, and an ulcer. Do you believe the Lord Jesus will heal you, sir, make you well? And your little nephew sitting in front you there, your sister's child. It had some kind of a bone disease, and it won't eat now; it makes kind of like a complex to it. If you'll believe with all your heart, you may be made well. Have faith in God. How many of you believes now?
74 I see another shadow of cancer sitting there; if you'll believe with all your heart, sister, it shall be done. Is your faith passed that doubting line, now? How many believes your faith passed the doubting line? Raise up your hands. Then what's left but run free? It's all over.
These little girls, sitting here in the chair, I know you. I didn't know you from last night, but I do know you now. I learned of you today, from my wife. Your mother's name was Falkerson before she was married. And that's a disease that nobody knows nothing about it. Your fingers just get infection, and you get blood disease like, or something in your hands; and the first thing you know, your fingers come off and so forth, both you little girls. You're two beautiful little ladies; I know your mother. Your grandmother was healed one night, when I went to her twenty something years ago, with TB. That's right. Mrs. Falkerson. God, rebuke that devil that's hindering you beautiful little girls; may the power that raised Jesus from the grave, cast that thing away and never bother you no more. I say that on the authority of God's Word. You have to get angry with the devil. God gives us the victory; we've got it right now. "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even your faith."
1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
75 All you that believe that you're healed by His power, stand up on your feet and give Him praise, everywhere in the building. Raise your hands now, and let's praise Him. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your healing power. This is the faith that overcomes. The is the victory, even our faith. We now pronounce them healed in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grant it, Lord.
"I will praise Him," Gertie, "I will praise Him." Have you passed the barrier line?
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;
Give Him glory, all ye people,
For His blood has washed away each stain.
(All right. Come with it now.)
I will praise Him, I will praise Him,
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain:
Give Him glory, all ye people,
For His blood has washed away each stain.
76 Listen. I still believe, friends, that you can't climb into that place. I ain't going to let the devil defeat this type of a meeting. There's no reason for it. The Gospel has been preached, and Christ is here to confirm it. The devil's a liar. You're every one healed by Jesus Christ. Press out with that faith there; there it is; it's yours. Don't float any longer; be stabled on Calvary and give Him praise and glory. Tell Him you love Him; tell Him you appreciate Him, and pass that separating line, and God will heal you and make you well. Really mean it. Don't just say it; mean it from your heart and give Him praise.
I will praise Him, (From your heart,
now way up.) I will praise Him,
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;
Give Him glory all ye people,
(Give Him praise)
For His blood has washed away each stain.
77 What kind of stain? Stain of doubt. "I am now healed; by His stripes I am healed. I belong to the Lord; my diseases are gone. I will praise Him. I will praise Him. I will give Him glory. I will shout the victory. I will tell Him, I love Him. I believe Him. I am free." Hallelujah!
.................people,
For His blood has washed away each stain.
I will praise Him, I will praise Him,
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;
Give Him glory all ye people,
For His blood has washed (That's it;
break into it) each stain.
I will praise Him, I (Hallelujah, Hallelujah!)
Praise the Lamb for sinner slain;
Give Him glory all ye people,
For His (That's it.) has washed away each stain.
I will praise Him, (Just continual.
Washed in the blood.) ... Him,
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain;
Oh, give Him glory all ye people,
For His blood has washed away each stain.
78 Glory! Praise the Lord! Do you love Him? Praise Him! Praise Him! Glorious Christ, marvelous One, living, ever present now, the Jehovah God of the Old Testament present in this day. How wonderful and marvelous is His works. His signs and wonders are past finding out. Oh, how wonderful. Oh, He's glorious.
How many of you feel the presence of God, right now? Sure. Now let every doubt fade from you. You are healed. By His stripes, you are healed. It's over. Praise and give Him glory. The Holy Spirit's falling all around in the building. The great hailer of life circling the place. How wonderful. How we love Him.
And when the battle's over,
we shall wear a crown!
Yes, we shall wear a crown!
Yes, we shall wear a crown!
And when the battle's over,
we shall wear a crown
In the new Jerusalem.
Wear a crown, wear a crown,
Wear a bright and shining crown.
And when the battle's over,
we shall wear a crown
In the new Jerusalem.
Wear a crown, wear a crown,
Wear a bright and shining crown.
And when the battle's over,
we shall wear a crown
In the new Jerusalem.
79 This is, in my opinion, just like the Holy Spirit that fell on the day of Pentecost, that cut loose the fetters. I just happened to notice, standing here, in the meeting is a Mennonite brother. At Indianapolis, he'd come in and been having epilepsy for many, many years. And the Holy Spirit called him out in the meeting, I believe it was, and he's never had a spell of it. The Lord God healed him and made him perfectly well, a Mennonite preacher. Oh, isn't He wonderful? No one knows but those who have tasted His goodness, knows how good He is.
80 Now, friends, to my opinion, this is the old-time religion, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes into our midst and blesses us. We're so happy you're here. I believe that every person that's in divine presence is right now, if your faith is sunk all the doubts behind, you're free now. Just don't never claim any sickness from now on. Go on. You've committed your case to one doctor; commit it to Jesus now. He's operated on you and taken all the doubt away, so we can have it. The Lord bless you.
It's the old-time religion,
And it's good enough for me.
It's the old-time religion,
It's the old-time religion,
It's the old-time religion,
And it's good enough for me.
Makes me love everybody,
Makes me love everybody,
Makes me love everybody,
And it's good enough for me.
Oh, it's the old-time religion,
It's the old time religion,
It's the old-time religion,
And it's good enough for me.