The reaction to an action

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 I'm not worthy of that, but I'm certainly thankful to be here again tonight in this grand old Buckeye state, and for a preparation being made for another campaign. The memories of the last one still linger with me from down in Middletown. But tonight coming out here, I thought I'd never find the way. I just kept moving.
And we are anticipating this week for a great spiritual outpouring of God's blessings upon us as we humbly are waiting His coming. And now, we have six nights; this is Monday through Saturday.
And we were on a little rest period at this time, the party and I. And Brother Sullivan had sent for me to come up. And so we called him up and told him we'd like to come back up and meet some of these fine people again. And God has given us this grand privilege.
The boys are along, Leo and Gene. They're going to have the books and tapes, and so forth, as that's their line of the business, to take care of the customers that wants the books and tapes, and so forth.

2 And then, we thought we would have some healing services, or prayer for the sick---pray for them. And the Lord willing, we will begin our services of praying for the sick tomorrow night. We usually have to give out some prayer cards to keep the people kind of lined up and in order. And then again, I wanted to find out if that was kind of in the run of the people's minds. And I always like to come into the meeting and feel first, just what the Holy Spirit would have us to say or do, and then we can make announcements. And as I come up on the platform just now, with Leo and them, I just looked out and seen these ... a little boy here, and these ones in the wheelchair. And I looked around, and that feeling come to me that God would have us to pray for the sick.

3 And tomorrow afternoon, about... (What is your regular starting time? Seven-thirty?) Well, say about six or six thirty... Say, by six thirty anyhow, the boys will give out prayer cards for tomorrow night. And we will start praying for the sick. And the Lord willing, we will have six nights, or five nights of it, and we will be able to get through the entire group of people, to pray for all who comes, that wants to be prayed for, we will pray for them. And so, we will just take our cards and come as we're called.
And we are trusting that this'll not only be just the (as we call it down in Kentucky) a protractive meeting, but a old-fashioned revival meeting, right on these campgrounds here where, I understand, that many have cottages rented. And I think it would be good for prayer meetings to be going on all day long around here, just everywhere. For you cannot get anything from God until you get close to God.
You know, it's written in the Scriptures, "Draw nigh unto me and I will draw nigh unto you." And if we're here now for one sole purpose, that is to draw nigh unto God, let's do that with all that's within us: draw nigh unto God.

4 And I want to say this: that God will never hear your prayer as long as you hide iniquity in your heart. He will not do it. God will... The Bible said over in, I believe in I John 3, "If our hearts condemn us not, then we have confidence in God," that is if we don't have no condemnation in our heart.
I just went through an experience of that a few days ago. And I might just stop here to tell you about it, for we never want to be in any hurry. That's what one of the great ruins of our American heritage today, is we're trying to run over the top of everybody. Look like we're trying to run over the top of God, not waiting. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."

5 I've been going through some testings at home, and I've been called in to witness some things in a ... for a trial. And they'd comb me over and over and over, till I was just so tired; I ... looked like that the whole world was a poultice, pulling on top of my head.
I come home that morning and the wife said, "Well, how you doing?"
I said, "Honey, them things would drive a person out of their mind."
And so, I just sat down to eat dinner, and the phone rang. We have an answering service, and this was the private phone at the parsonage. So just then it rang, and she went in, answered it. She put her hand over the phone, she said, "Billy, them attorneys again."
"Oh," I said, "Honey, I couldn't stand it another afternoon," (about six or seven days of it then). I said, "I just couldn't stand it." And I got up from the table and went out the door. I said, "Tell them I'm not in here now," and went around behind the house.
I felt real bad. And I come back. And my wife is a whole lot better woman than I am a man. So when she come to the door, looking at me, she said, "Was that just exactly right, Billy?"
I said, "Sure." I knowed it wasn't already. But I wanted to make her think that my story would stick, so I said, "Yeah, I wasn't in here, just then."
She said, "But you were in here when they called."
I said, "Oh, it's all right."

6 And I went on out. There was one waiting, a man with a sick baby. All the way down to pray for that baby, I just felt awful. Then when I got down there to pray for the baby, Something said to me, "Why, you are a liar. And you mean that you're going to lay your hands upon this baby? This man's come for about four hundred miles for you to pray for this sick baby, and you just told a lie and had your wife to tell one." Then our hearts condemn us, you see. That was wrong.
So I said to the man, I said, "Mister, if you'll just hold your place, I will pray for your baby. But I'm not worthy to pray for your baby," I said, "because I've got something to make right before I pray for your baby." I said, "I done something that's wrong, and my heart's condemning me. And I've got to go make it right first."

7 And I took out down to the attorney's office, and knocked on his door, and he come to the door, said, "I thought you were gone."
I said, "I was only gone around behind the house while you were calling." And I said, "Sir, I tell you what I did." And I explained it to him. I said, "You all had me in such a fix," I said, "I just didn't know. You questioned me this way, 'Did they do this?' or, 'Did you see this?'" And I said, "I told you everything I knew, over and over and over." But I said... I told him I went to pray for a sick baby, and what happened.
And he said... Walked ... got up out of his ... the seat and walked around behind his desk, looking me right in the eye, put his hand over on my shoulder, reached down got my other hand; he said, "Brother Branham, I always had confidence in you, but I got more than ever now."

8 That made me feel good. Then I got in my car and went out to my little old cave where I go to pray. And I thought, "Now, if you've done wrong, go confess your wrong first, then come back to God." So I went out to my little cave, and I prayed all afternoon. And I told the Lord I was sorry I did that. I wasn't fit to pray for His people anymore. I couldn't have faith as long as I knowed I'd lied. And I said, "You forgive me, Lord, and give me grace, and I won't do it anymore."
I prayed till just long about time the sun was going down. It was a way back in the wilderness. And a creek run some three or four city blocks from where it's at, down into a valley. And I walked out; the foliage was heavy on the trees now. And I was standing on a great big rock after I come out of the cave. It faces the east. I always go out after I pray for a day or two, or hour or two, stand on this rock, and raise up my hands, and praise the Lord; for someday, I hope, even if I am in the grave, that when He comes, I will rise and see Him coming from the east.

9 And I stood on this great huge rock and had my hands up praising God. And after I'd finished praising Him, I dropped my hands down; I said, "Lord, one day, Moses stood in the cleft of the rock and You passed by him." I said, "If You forgive my sin, and You're going to try me again, just pass by once more, Lord, to let me know that You've forgiven me, and that my iniquity's all gone, and I shall go then and pray again for the sick people."
You might not want to believe this, but at the judgment bar, you and I have to confess it again; you'll know it was true. There were... Just as still as it is in here, not no wind nowhere, and right over to my side, a little whirlwind caught into the bushes, and here it come, right along the side of the cave by me, and went off down through the woods. I wept like a baby with both hands up in the air. If our hearts condemn us not, then we have confidence in God.
But God will not answer us if there's something we're hiding in our hearts. So let's confess all our sins and wrongs, and trust God to pour out His Spirit in such a measure that there'll be a great spiritual outpouring in this old camp meeting grounds here, whatever it is, that sick people will be healed and sinners will be saved. I will be praying for you, and you pray for me; and together, God will bless us all.

10 And now tonight, I had to hurry and get here. We left a little later than we thought we were going to. And so, I've chosen for a text found in the book of I Kings, the seventeenth chapter and the fourteenth verse. I shall read it. And if I'd make a subject, I'd like to call it this: The Reaction To An Action---how you react on some action that you have taken.
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.

11 It must have been a hot weary morning. There'd been about three years there was no rain---not even the dew would fall from the heavens; the land was scorched; no food was raised. And it was a terrible time, hunger and death stalking the streets, people poverty stricken, no water. It was a reflection of sin and moral decay.
Just like we have today of our age of juvenile problems, and divorce problems, and all the crime that's done in our nation, it's a reflection of our moral decay.

12 No rain, and she must have prayed all night long.
Jezebel and her modern crowd had so socialized the religion, and brought the whole nation into idolatry. It was the time of Ahab's reign, the most wicked king that Israel ever had, for he was just a borderline believer.
And that's the most wicked person that there is, is a man or woman that professes Christianity, and just got enough of it to make them sick; to make them say, "I'd like to do that, but my religion won't let me do it. I shouldn't do it." That's the most miserable person I can think of. If that's all we had, we ought to bury that and go get something better.

13 And Ahab had knuckled down to his idolater wife and had brought all Israel into idolatry. And you'd say, "Then, Brother Branham, you compared it to today, to our nation." Yes sir. Our nation is greatly covered over with idolatry. We might not worship wooden animals and so forth, as we want to think of idolatry, but that's not all idolatry consists of. We sometimes make our automobiles, and our clothes, and the things that we do we put as idols. Anything between you and God is an idol. Sometime we make our churches idols. We should never do that. God is the only One we should worship.
The whole nation was governed, of course, by the rules and regulations of its king. And the king had said this was all right; it was modern. And all the people wanted to be modern, just like we are today.

14 We want to be modern. You could turn on your television, and you find some woman smoking a cigarette, said, "Be modern, use Certain-certain cigarette." The next place is drinking beer, and saying, "Be modern, drink so-and-so."
Well, we don't want to be modern; we want to be Christians. It's not the modernistic trend that we're trying to keep up with; it's going back to the old hewing lines of God's Word as Christians, and living like men and women was supposed to live by the order of Almighty God. Jesus said, "It's written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." We've got to live by the Word.

15 But today, we want to be modern like they were. And the government endorsed it. So does the government endorse it today. Why, a few years ago, twenty-five years ago, fifty years, if women walked on the street then dressed like they're dressed now, they'd put them in jail. But the government endorses it, and we want to be modern. I will say this with all respects to our government and our land: it is a work of the devil. It's the devil at work. I just believe in the old-fashioned, unadulterated Gospel truth of the Bible.
But drinking, used to be it was immoral among the people. And now, you find little bitty teen-aged children drunk. Card playing used to be wrong for the Christians. And now, millions of so-called Christians have entertainment in their churches playing cards, giving away little cars and so forth, bunco. It's all nothing but plain lottery. And it's wrong. And it's degrading to any nation, let alone a church of the living God.
But the king said it was all right in their day. So they took down the altars of God and put up the altars of Baal.

16 And today, we've took down the old fashioned banners of holiness and righteousness, and put up the modern trend of denomination. We belong to certain-certain great order. We call ourselves Christians, because we belong to a certain order.
That's not Christianity; Christianity is a borned again experience with God, being filled with the Holy Ghost, and cleaned up from a life of sin, and living clean and holy before God and man. That takes the sting of death away. Death becomes then a victory.

17 I was speaking with the wife this morning. I told her, I said... We was talking of death. I said, "Since I got saved thirty years ago as a boy, ever since then, it seems like I'm in a nightmare."
She said, "What do you mean."
I said, "In this life something happened down in me that makes me know that there's a land somewhere, and I'm shaking myself to wake up." Someday, death will wake me into His presence. Did you ever have a nightmare, and you wanted to get out of it, and you were jerking and jumping. You want to wake up because you know there's a reality somewhere that's far beyond that nightmare.
So is it to every Christian that's borned again, and always has been. Abraham and Isaac and them said they were pilgrims and strangers. They were seeking a city to come. They denied the way it was.

18 We were going to the grocery a few weeks ago, and we noticed a woman with a dress on. It was the most uncommon thing we'd seen in a long time. So Meda said to me, she said, "Bill, what is the matter?"
I said, "Honey, here's what it is. We don't want to get accustomed to the world."
She said, "Well..."
Some people has said, and I've got letters, "You're going to ruin your ministry by making such remarks as you do."
I said, "If preaching the truth ruins a ministry, then it ought to be ruined." That's right.
She said, "Well, what makes Christians feel different?"
I said, "When I was in Sweden, or in Finland, the women in the bath house gave the man the bath. They were nurses, they said. That's their custom. When I was in Paris, all the rest rooms was both men and women, together. That's a custom of Paris. They think nothing of it." I made a mention to Dr. Munion over in ... when we were staying at the YMCA. And they wanted me to go down and take one of those saunas, which I thought was fine, but not with the women there.
And so, he said, "But Brother Branham," said, "those are wash women."
I said, "But it's not right."
He said, "What about your doctors examining your women over in America then?" See? So there you are, see. It's just six of one and half a dozen of the other. But it's the nation that you belong to and the customs. And when a man or a woman is borned again of the Spirit of God, they are born from a place that's holy, and this in not their home, and they are seeking a city to come, whose builder and maker is God. Your Spirit comes from above.
She said, "Then we're not Americans?"
I said, "We are as long as we're in the flesh."

19 But when we are born again, we are of heaven and of God, and we're citizens of the kingdom of God. And the Holy Spirit that dwells there that comes into you will make you act and look and think as it does in that nation where we're going to.
Sure, idolatry taken over. All the preachers under the great heavy load, the prophet said, give away, because the people demanded it. The people demanded it, and the ministry gave away to it.
That's the way it is today. Many good preachers bend under the load, because the congregation calls for it. They'll walk right out of his church. Many times, the great denomination, if they caught one of their ministers preaching against such as smoking and so forth like that, they'd excommunicate them. And the ministers has to bend under that load.
But there was one in that day didn't bend under the load. They hated him. But he's setting up on a mountain. God told him to go up there; He'd feed him with the crows and give him water to drink. But he wouldn't bow down to their modern trend. He still believed God was the same Holy God that made heavens and earth. I'm so glad that He's still got some today that believes the same thing. No matter what the world says, they still won't bow to the modern trend of modern religion; no social gospel for them men. They believe God's still holy. They believe He requires holiness, and He requires the new birth; He requires a separation from sin.
Oh, I know she hated him, but God loved him. And God was fixing to take His prophet off the mountain to bring him down into the valley.

20 And she must have been a good woman, or God would've never chosen her to entertain His prophet. Though she was a widow, and she must have been young; she had a young son. And she was a righteous person, or God would've never chose her.
But as she begin to come down, after years her husband being dead, the barrel begin to get low in meal. And of course, as a mother would, she would allowance herself so she could feed her little boy. Finally she begin to see that his clothes was getting threadbare. Her own elbows was perhaps through the sleeves.
Night after night, she could give him maybe one little corn cake and put him in the bed. And perhaps night after night, he'd wake up and say, "Mama, I'm hungry. Can't you fix me just a little to eat?" And maybe the next day, she would do without her own cake and give it to him. Death stalking at the door, no more meal after that was gone, no more oil to mix it with, and closer and closer death came as the barrel went down. Finally, maybe they got two cakes a week. Then it got down to just one more cake.

21 Isn't it strange how God does things? He will let us get right down to the last, the last mile of the way. You know, He likes to do that. He did it with the Hebrew children. He knew who He could trust, so He let them boys walk right up to the fiery furnace, till they could almost smell the fire, and He never moved. But when it comes time, He will move. He will move, but He waits till His own time. He wanted to see what kind of a reaction they'd have. He knew they'd made their stand.
And when He knows that you make your stand... He will let Satan take you to the last mile of the way. But just remember, He's still there. He wants to see if you really mean what you're talking about. "Oh, I believe God's a healer. Yes, I sure believe it." And the next day, you still got your pain. "Well, maybe I never got it." Sure you got it; He's just wanting to see how you're going to react on what you said. You say, "Oh, praise God, I believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit." The first little temptation comes along, you fly off like a buzz saw. He's trying to see your reaction on your action. He's trying to test you. "Every son that cometh to God must first be chastened, tested." Every child that comes to Him, He puts him through a test to see how he will act.

22 Anyone, a chemist, anyone else, will always test something. Great pipes... I used to work for a gas company. And they'd test those pipes by putting a plug in the end and a valve. And I don't remember now just how many hundred pounds of pressure they'd put on them pipes to see if there's a little sand hole that would blow. And if they could not stand the test, then it was throwed into the scrap heap.
And when you're put under a test, when you're fixing to be used for God for a testimony... Like the lady here in the wheelchair, the man, the little boy, some of you people out there, maybe you're Christians and wonder why you're put under this test. God's fixing to use your testimony, but He wants to see how you'll react, so He puts the pressure on. If you blow up, well then, He can't do nothing with you. But if you'll hold on, stand the test...

23 This little old woman, I can imagine seeing her that last night when she knowed there's just enough in that barrel---a handful of meal and a spoonful of oil---for one little cake for she and her son, and then she was to die, and he was to die. There's no more available anywhere.
And I can imagine, all night long as she walked over and patted his little bare skinny hands, and she looked at his little ragged nightshirt. And she'd hear him in his sleep turn over and say, "Mama, I'm hungry." But there was nothing to give him. Isn't it strange, when we have done all that we know how to do... And after she had prayed, and seen the end come...
Like some of you cancer cases here. You see it right at the end, and you wonder why.
She'd examined herself, "Lord, is there anything that I've left undone?"

24 God tests. Like Job, they accused him that he was a secret sinner. And Job was righteous. There was no man on earth like him. And yet, God let the devil take everything he had. And when they accused him of being a secret sinner, he knew that he was righteous before God. He knew he had done no sin. But God lets those things happen to see what you'll do.
You see, He and Satan had a proposition. Satan said, "I will make him curse You to Your face."
God said, "You can't do it."
And the test had to come. And your test comes, and my test comes. And we all go through those testings. The Bible said if we cannot stand that, it proves that we're illegitimate children: Our testimony was not right: we're not real children of God, but we become illegitimate; we're not the children of God. We just claim to be.

25 When they laugh at you when you receive the Holy Ghost, and you go back in the world with them, that shows you never got it. When you're testifying of your healing, knowing that God's done something for you, and your neighbors say, "You're crazy; you're no better off," you say, "Well, maybe I'm not," it shows you wasn't worthy of your healing to begin with. You stand on your testimony. Don't you give away, you stand right there.
Job said, "I know my Redeemer liveth, and at the last days He will stand on the earth. Though the skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I will see God." The lightnings flashed; the thunders roared. He held out to the end.

26 This little woman had done all she knowed to do, and yet, God kept silent.
But when real faith has caught the vision, it can keep silent and rest calmly, because it knows it's going to happen. Don't forget that. Faith will rest with perfect assurance. No matter what the storms are saying, how contrary it looks, faith rests with assurance. Faith can take its stand upon a rock, look into a grave or into the waters where a lovely little chunk of your own loving heart has been buried, and faith can look across the sea to Him that said, "I am the resurrection and life." Faith rests assurance.

27 We speak of faith; we talk of faith; and I wonder sometime if we know what we're talking about. I wonder if it isn't hope instead of faith. Faith doesn't move. No matter how contrary it looks, faith stays right there. It never moves.
When Moses was put into the bulrush in a little slimy ark, pushed out into the sea where the crocodiles were fat with children, the mother, Jochebed, with a faith resting assure that she was putting the proper child of God on the water, she pushed him right into the jaws of death, knowing that God could raise him back. Amen. That makes me feel religious. She knew God would take care of him. Though he didn't even have a name, God could give him a name. She pushed the sweetest little baby was ever in the world nearly, out into the jaws of death, knowing that she was following the instructions of Almighty God. And faith can rest assure that God would do something about it, for she knowed he was born a deliverer.

28 And if you're sure that you're borned of the Spirit of God, that you have the Holy Ghost, and the promises of God is yours, I don't care what the devil does, you can still rest assure. Faith takes its unmovable stand. Faith cannot rest upon the shifting sands of man's theology, but it takes its solemn stand on the Rock of Ages which is unmovable; there it rests with assurance. No matter what comes or goes, my faith holds. How sick I get, how contrary it looks, and how this is, my faith is anchored within the veil and nothing can move me.
Now, you can't bluff it; you've got to have it. You can't bluff it. Satan knows when you're bluffing, and he also knows when you've got it. Your heart condemns you not and you're a Christian, you have a right to every promise that God made in His book. It's yours. No matter what the consequences is and what the outcome, you don't look at that; you look at the faith that God give you to the promise. Then it stands there; nothing will move it.

29 How she must have felt: "I met every requirement Jehovah gave. I've met everything that God told me to do; and the barrel's down to one little handful of meal, and the cruse has just a spoonful or two of oil, enough to mix it." But God was sitting, and angels on every bedpost, watching to see how she was going to react.
If you're sure that it's God, and you've met every requirement that God required you to do, you've met every Scripture that you know; you love Him; you've been baptized; you've been filled with the Spirit; and you've got the assurance in your heart that God will do it, then just hang on. God will bring you through. He will never fail. Hold to it.

30 How it looked to that Christian woman... And there maybe Ahab in his palace, and Jezebel with plenty to eat... We wonder why the wicked prosper. David asked that once, but the Word came back, "Watch him at the end." Prosperity isn't a sign of God being with you. If that's so, our nation is blessed, the people are all Christians, and so was it in that day; prosperity then was vice versa.
This poor little woman as she looked at that little baby all night long. She couldn't sleep. First place, she was so hungry she couldn't sleep. And she knew that one handful of meal stood between her and death. What would she do? She couldn't stand it any longer. She was frail; she was walking, reeling as she walked. The little fellow crying for a mouthful of bread...
And yet, she was a Christian ... or, a believer in Jehovah, as we'd call Christian today. Loyal, proved that God selected her above all the other women. He selected her. Yet she done all that could be done.

31 Along towards daylight, the birds wouldn't even holler; they were all starved and gone. Day begin to break across the room. I can see her sitting in an old rocking chair, wringing her hands, the tears running down her cheeks as she looked. The little boy had spent a restless night: "Mama, can't you just find one little piece of bread? Papa was a good man. God taken him. What's the matter, mama?"
But the woman stood. She knew she'd met the requirements of God. She had one little handful of meal. She went in and took this little handful of meal out into the pan, and poured the oil into it, begin to mix it up.

32 Now, the meal was Christ. Christ is the meal offering. Any of you clergyman know that. When the meal was ground for the meal offering, it had to be ground with a certain burr; that every little burr had to grind the meal just exactly the same. Why? Because Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What He was then, He is tonight. What He is tonight, He will always be. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Now, the oil represents the Spirit. We know that by the Scriptures. That's the reason we anoint by oil.

33 When Elijah, one time at the school of the prophets, had come up there, and he sent some of them men out from the school, and they didn't know the difference between wild gourds and peas. Some prophets! But he picked a lap full of wild gourds and throwed them into the pot. And one of them screamed out, "There's death in the pot."
And Elijah said, "Don't get excited." He went and got a handful of meal, and throwed it into the pot, and said, "Eat." Why? When Christ is put in death, life comes in the stead of death.
Don't care how far you're gone, how low you're sunk, how immoral you are, how degraded you are, how sinful you are, when Christ comes into the heart, death fades away, and life comes into the same place. From death in the pot came life in the pot.
If the cancer's eat you up, if tubercular, your doctor has turned you down, nothing else can be done, let a handful of Christ come into you. Let Jesus, the same yesterday---not a handful of religion now---a handful of Christ, the Holy Ghost, come into your heart with genuine faith, and death will flee out; and life will take its place. The meal offering...

34 And the oil is the Spirit. Now, what is that? Christ is the Word. "In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God; and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us."
And the Spirit... Jesus told the woman at the well, said, "The time is coming when God seeks people that'll worship Him in Spirit and in truth." That's the Word with the Spirit. Some people has the Word, others has the Spirit. But when you get Spirit and Truth together, something's got to happen.

35 And it was just a little bit, just a little bit, but it was all she needed. God, let this sink deep in the people's heart. You may be down to your last handful. I've heard people say, "I don't have very much faith, Brother Branham." But what's you've got, if it's real faith, mix it with God's Word. Look what it'll do. You say, "Well, Brother Branham, I've been to every doctor, been to the clinic. Oh, I've joined church for my sins, and I've done this." I can't help what all you've done, what little faith you... You got enough faith to be out here tonight, then mix it with the Word; get ready.

36 She stirred it up together. That's the only thing between her and death. That may be the only thing left for you tonight, between you and death, is what little spirit that you can muster up in your heart to believe it. Mix it with God's eternal Word. When she did, I can see her pull the little ragged curtain back and look in. The little boy's holding his little stomach. "Mother, mother, are you ready to cook the little cake?"
She'd say, "Yes, dear. Just wait a few minutes. Mother's mixing it up."
"Mother, break it in two, and you take half of it."
"Oh, honey, we will take care of that." She had the... What was it now? The Word and the Spirit mixed together.

37 And she went out into the yard to get... Did you notice, the Scripture says, "Two sticks." What is the two sticks? The cross.
Always, good hunters or woodsmen know that you... The way to keep a fire burning, is light it in the middle, two logs, lay it across and light it. All through the night, you can keep pushing the ends in as it burns.
And right in the center of the cross is where the sacrifice of God hung.
She went into the yard and she picked up the two sticks. And she looked up, the hot blistering winds, not a leaf on the tree, no grass in the yard. Where the old tree once stood, there's just two sticks left. She picked them up to go in to make it.

38 What is it? When self-sacrifice ... when you have mixed the Word with the Spirit, or the Spirit with the Word, and then ready to sacrifice yourself at the cross. You're ready to say, "Whether I live or die, Lord, I've done everything I know how to do, and I'm coming at the feet of mercy... Sacrifice my own believing... "I will not think of it anymore; I will not reason anymore. I'm casting out reasonings. I will just believe it, Lord, because it's Your meal and oil: Your Spirit, Your Word, Your truth. I'm throwing myself as a sacrifice on the cross." That's what it was speaking of.
She picked up the two sticks to go in for the sacrifice. When all this is completed...
"God's a very present help in the time of trouble. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like an eagle; they'll run and not be weary; they'll walk and not faint." Teach me, Lord, teach me, Lord, how to wait.

39 They that wait, don't be weary. If you've got the Word and the Spirit, and sacrifice your own belief, and laid it up on the cross, something's got to happen.
She started walking back. And about that time, she heard a voice. And as she turned to look, there was a kind looking old bald-headed gentleman standing at the gate with a long flowing whiskers. He said, "Would you fetch me just a little drink of water?"
Maybe on her lips, she was ready to say, "I just have a little bit." Water was scarce. All the springs was dry.
What was it? God works on both ends of the line. God had showed Elijah a vision, "Go down into the city, for I have commanded, not the ravens this time to feed you, but I've commanded a widow woman to sustain you," and took him to the poorest of the poors. "I've commanded a widow woman to sustain you." And she didn't even have enough meal in the barrel for her and her son to live that day. But, "I've commanded. I've ordained it." Blessed be the name of the Lord. When God ordains anything, it's got to happen. It'll be there; God will meet it. "I've commanded the widow there to take care of you, sustain you."

40 He gave him a vision. I can see him walking down the street. The Lord must have told him this: "There'd be an old woman---looking old; she's young. Her shoulders are stooped; her shoulders are ragged; her arms are out of her sleeves. She'd be out in the yard with two sticks in her hand. And, Elijah, you know what that means, what'll be in about eight hundred years from now."
And as he walked, he seen a woman. He leaned over the little fence and said, "Fetch me a little drink of water."
And she turned to say something, and she thought, "That's a kind old man. He speaks a little different from the ordinary men."
There's something about God's children that they know one another, something that's always been. They know one another. "My sheep know my voice," said Jesus. And then she looked, and she heard.
She looked at him; she said, "There must be something godly about that old man."
Said, "Fetch me a little drink of water."
She nodded her head; she would do it, and she started to go away. What? Then she heard the voice again. "And bring in your hand a little cake for me to eat, a morsel of bread."
And she said, "I have just enough for me and my little starving boy. And I'm out here getting these two sticks. I've just mixed it together, dressed it. And now, I've got these two sticks to make a fire to make the cake, and he and I will eat it and die."

41 Then she heard... She started to turn again, and she heard a voice saying, "But bring me one first."
What do we learn here? Seek ye first the kingdom of God. "How will I meet it?" I can't tell you, but you put God first. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these other things will be added."
"But bring me one first."
Look, she didn't have to go down and get her last penny; she had to go down and get her last piece of bread. She didn't have to go for this, or that, or maybe change doctors or so forth, some little insignificant thing; but she had to go to the only thing that stood between her and death, and her child. "Bring me a little cake first in your hand." I can see her nod her head, obedient. That's what God requires. You get the Word and the Spirit mixed together, self-sacrifice, obedience. When God's prophet says a certain thing, do it! Hold on to it!
She bowed her head, "Yes, sir." She starts on.
Then she heard the sweetest thing she'd ever heard, that all sufficient word that all of us listen for. For there come across that gate the blast from that prophet's voice; said, "For thus saith the Lord..." Amen. That's what we look to hear. "Thus saith the Lord, the barrel will not go empty, or the cruse will fail until the day that God sends rain on the earth." There it was. Amen.

42 Oh, it gets dark sometimes. Many times we think it's dark. You should follow us in the fields afar if you want to see what darkness means. We don't see darkness in America. We got plenty. It gets dark. But I know in our own way, in our categories, it looks dark. We think when we see people sick and dying, that is darkness...
Walk with me down through the streets of Calcutta. Watch them come through there with the big baskets, and pick up the dead by the hundreds, put them up on top of their head (Don't even know who they are.), walk over to the salamander and dump them in. At least when a man dies here, he has a religious funeral. There's a John 14 for him. But them people don't have a John 14; they don't have no obituary. They just dump them in and cremate them, get them off the street.
Dying, the mother's---their little babies there, and the bellies swelled out like that---mother so weak, she can't raise off the street, begging for a penny to save her child. And then look what we dump in the garbage can every Sunday. And then we think we have hard times. Oh, it may look hard. It is hard. But, friend...

43 One time there's a German painting called "The Clouds." It's a famous painting like the painting out there in California up at the cemetery there, Forest Lawn. It's so big, they had to build a building to put into it, maybe a half a million dollar building or more to put the painting in. It's one of the largest in the world.
Germany's got one; it's called "The Clouds." And when you're looking at it, way off as you come to it, it's a horrible looking sight. It's dreary. Oh, the clouds are beating together. And it looks like it's the most horrible thing for a person to look at: a weary, dreary day, the clouds all forming. But when you get real close to it, you find out it's angels' wings beating together, a rejoicing in the heavens.

44 We think we have it hard. And sometimes trials comes. I think of this woman in the wheelchair and these children. You out there with heart trouble, may be dead in a week from now, eat up with cancer, it may look awful dark, but if we will just keep coming closer to God to find out His purpose, it's the angels of God, ready to rejoice for a victory that God wants to give. Sometimes it's in disguisement.
There's sinners, perhaps, sitting here that think, "What would I do if I die tonight? What if this would be the last night I'm on earth? What then?" It may look dark, may look like you're going to die. Maybe you're here to be prayed for for your sickness, and you're still a sinner. You get right with God first. Say, "Why did I take this? I've got children at home." How do you know it might be angels' wings beating together, trying to get you close to God so you can be a real mother or dad to those kids, see.

45 It looks dark like it did for the little woman. But if you'll just take God's promise now, that "whosoever will, let him come and drink from the waters of life, the fountains of life freely..." Drink the water freely. It's for whosoever will. That might have been put upon you. You might have done that evil. You may feel condemned in your heart, you Christians now, on what I said a while ago, because something, iniquity lays in your heart.
Maybe it happened for a purpose to get you closer to God. That happened to me. My life has been different since I seen that. I thought I was just living fine. But I found out that let that God raise His hand one time, and Satan's got me. We're mortal. And it was just a blessing in disguisement. It makes me appreciate Him more now to know that He's loving, and willing to take us back.
If you're in that condition tonight, and you don't know God, and you've got condemnation in your heart---it looks awful dark for you and sickness and so forth---search out your heart now a minute while we have prayer and see if there's anything in there to condemn you, or to keep you from being healed, or keep you from going to heaven. If there is, let's move close to the altar then and find out if just ain't the angels' wings beating together. It isn't a dark picture; it's God trying to get you close to Him. He loves you and He wants you.

46 Let us pray while we bow our heads. Just before praying, may I ask if there would be... How many in this audience tonight would like to raise up their hands and say, "Brother Branham, remember me in prayer tonight. I, too, want to get close to God." Look at your hands, my, all over the building. "I want to get close to God. I need God. I need Thee, Oh, I need Thee. Every hour I need Thee. Bless me now, my Saviour; I come to Thee"
Have you done everything that you know how to do? If you have met every requirement, you've repented of your sins, you've been baptized, and you've done everything that you know to do, and still looks like God don't answer, now, I'm going to ask you, "Hold on." Just keep holding there; God's on the throne. He knows all about you. If you've got condemnation in your heart, you can think of something you've done that you ought not have done, some little iniquity, a little thing that you did that you should not have done, then I'd ask you to repent of it.

47 And sinner friend, if you've never accepted Christ as your Saviour, and you don't know Him as your Saviour, and you're here tonight, let me invite you to come. While we sing after prayer, I want you to come up here at the altar and stand here; and let me pray with you.
Lord, I don't know the hearts of these people. Thou knowest them. But "Thus saith the Lord, 'There is a fountain open in the house of God for uncleanliness and for sin, a fountain that sinners might plunge beneath it, losing all their guilty stain.'"
We are coming tomorrow night, Lord, to pray for the sick. There may be many in here tonight who's gathered for that hour. We wish to start right now to draw nigh to You. We want our hearts sprinkled, not with the ashes of heifers, but with the blood of Jesus that takes our sins away. We don't want our conscience seared; we want to come to the living God. We repent of our sins and our iniquity.
There's sinners, no doubt, in here tonight, Father, that doesn't know You, that may not be here tomorrow night. They may be gone. We pray, Lord, that this'll be a warning message, that they'll know that God has brought them here for a purpose, that He might bring them to Him.

48 Hear us, Lord, we can only speak the Word. Now, may the Spirit mix the oil with the Word, and may the sacrifice... There may be Christians here who's did wrong, say, "I feel ashamed to rise up and go to that altar." But may they look at the cross and see the shame that He bore: stripped His clothes, naked, beat Him, hung Him to a cross, and lifted Him up between the heavens and earth. May they themselves tonight be a self-sacrifice, to sacrifice their own pride and their own thoughts. To their members to be right with their God, come forward, stand, and ask God to forgive them...
Take all iniquity out of their hearts, cleanse them from all filthy thoughts, from all evil, from all temper, from smoking, drinking, whatever habits they have; cleanse them, Lord. Take the root of bitterness out that we might stand tomorrow night as a great unified group of people, watching for the Holy Ghost to pour out upon here and make the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk. May the sinner repent of his sins and her sins, come forward tonight, and confess it, that tomorrow they may be taken to this little river or somewhere here and baptized. Grant it, Father. Hear the prayer of Your servant.

49 Now, I ask all that would like to be remembered that's got iniquity in your heart... First, I'm going to ask, while you are praying (everyone in prayer), if there be one here who has not yet become a Christian and would want to become a Christian now, that's ready to surrender it right now, that you've got just a little bit of Word mixed in this tonight, and a little Spirit has come to you and saying, "Child, if you die without me..."
Oh, the devil say, "You can't live a Christian life. (See) Well, you..." That teeny little feeling that you ought to make it, would you stand to your feet tonight, and say, "Pray for me, Brother Branham"? Just stand up to your feet. Say, "I will stand as a witness that I am a sinner, and I do ask God for mercy." Will you stand while we're waiting, anywhere in the building? Don't be ashamed. God bless you, sir. Just remain standing just a moment, if you will. God bless you, sir. Would there be others? God bless you, sir. That's right. Just remain standing a moment. God bless you back there, young lady. Someone else? God bless you, young lady. That's right, just stand up, all over the building.
Say, "Brother Branham, please remember me in prayer. I'm a sinner. I don't know God, but something is telling me in my heart, I've just received enough Word tonight and a little spirit's come into me. It may be the end of the barrel, but I'm walking out now. I'm stepping out here to make a confession, to say that I'm wrong and God be merciful to me. I want to wake out of this nightmare sometime to a life that's full of glory and eternal." Would there be others who would step out just at this time, would raise up your... Just raise up out of your seat, say, "I now, being a sinner, want to stand as a witness."

50 I'm asking now if any of the Christians that feel a condemnation, a little bitterness, while these are standing, to be remembered in prayer; I'm asking you, Christian, with iniquity... Don't be ashamed, God knows it. He's speaking to your heart. Would you stand up, say, "God, I'm not ashamed. I'm ashamed I did it." [Blank space on tape.] " I'm going to stand up; I ask You to forgive me. I want to be healed. I want to receive the Holy Ghost during this meeting. I want some blessing from You, and I feel that my heart's condemning me, that I am wrong. I did wrong. I took something. I said something. I've got iniquity; I'm going to stand for it." Stand up now. God bless you. God bless you. That's right. All around over the building. That's right. Stand, say, "I've got something that I want to confess that's wrong." You don't have to confess it to us; you confess it to God. Stand up.
The rest of you that feel there's something in your heart that would hide you from the blessings of God, something that... That little thing might stop this whole meeting. It might keep this woman from being healed in a wheelchair. It might help this little boy here, sitting over here crippled up, to walk.

51 Now, I wonder while you're on your feet, if you would... I know you're sincere. I know you are. And I want to pray for you personally. I don't get to do this too much, because it's all in healing service. I want you to walk out here and come right down here the side this altar, and stand here and stand here just a minute, let me pray with you, will you? Come right out now. Just move right out. That's it. Everyone of you, all, come right on out that's standing to your feet. Any that's done something that's wrong, got iniquity in your heart, or unconfessed sin, move right out.
Here comes a crippled boy moving his chair up here. I pray, God, my whole soul, heart, and body, that that man will be healed of his condition.
Come, move right out. That's it. Let us, the rest of us sing now as they are coming.
I need Thee every hour,
Most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine
Can peace afford.
(Won't you rise now, you that never stood up? Come.)
I need Thee, O I need Thee,
Ev'ry hour I need Thee!
O bless me now, my Saviour,
I come to Thee!
Now, let us bow our heads while we hum that. [Brother Branham begins humming.]

52 Penitent friend, I want you to come now with all that you've got. You've brought it to the cross. As His servant, I'm going to tell you, "Thus saith the Lord, 'He that will confess his sins shall have mercy; he that hides his sin, covers his sin shall not prosper. He that will ask for mercy will obtain mercy.'" Something spoke to you, and you come. It was the Holy Spirit. Now, I want you to ask Him just as...
I believe that you're already forgiven, sure. Sinners, your sins are gone. For when you stood to your feet, you made a testimony; you stood for Jesus; He will stand for you. "If you'll witness me before men, I will witness you before the Father and the holy angels." Them words cannot fail. They're God's words. Jesus is standing for you in the presence of the Father now. Your sin's under the blood.

53 Now, while we pray together, I want all the Christians that's on praying grounds to pray with us now.
Blessed Lord, here stands tonight a group of people that feels that they are wrong. Some of them have never accepted You as their Saviour until tonight. But they're standing, because they want to accept You. They want You to be merciful to them. And now, according to Your Word, You said, "No man can come to me except my Father draws him first." Then God has given to Christ these souls tonight as love gifts. "No man can pluck them from my hand, cause no man is as great as my Father." Now, they're Yours. "He that heareth my words and believeth on Him that sent me has eternal life, and shall never come to the judgment, but has passed from death unto life." Lord, they were Yours when You spoke to them; they were Yours before the foundation of the world. And tonight, the Gospel net has drawed them to You. They're Yours. Care for them, O Lord. We place them into Thy hands; tenderly, Lord, be merciful.

54 And here's some of Your children here that has iniquity in their hearts, or they've done something, they've said something that's wrong. And maybe by hearing my testimony tonight that I did something wrong, had to go make it right, they come too, Lord. Let the God that passed by in that little whirlwind, let Him pass over each heart here tonight, expelling their iniquity, washing them in the blood of the Lamb, renewing their faith and their spirit into the great fellowship of the Holy Ghost. Grant it, Lord. They're Yours. They stand penitent, making full confession before this audience of people, that they've been wrong, and they want to be right. And You said, "He that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out." We know that You're here, Lord, and will do it.
Now, while we're waiting and they got their heads bowed, I wonder how many in here has not received the Holy Ghost as yet, and would like to be remembered in prayer to receive the Holy Ghost, raise your hand? God bless you. There's an altar, I think, to the right. There's an altar prepared right here. I'm asking these that's standing here now, some of you there with the boy with the wheelchair, move right over to this altar, right to my right here. We're going to meet you there in just a few minutes. Move right around that way.

55 I'm going to ask you that hasn't got the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and you'd like to receive the Holy Ghost, here's the time to start it. You're here on the campgrounds; you're here at a time to receive it. You know that no one will be in the rapture without the Holy Ghost. That'll be the sleeping virgin, that'll not... The rest of the dead live not for a thousand years.
That's it. Move right out this way, my friends. That's it, dad. All of you, come right along here. Take... Young fellow, push the boy there in the chair, will you, right over here. Right down through this way, all of you if you will, come right down through here now. Just to meet over here to give a little word of thanks to God for what He's done for you. Come right down this way.

56 Now, you that wants the baptism of the Holy Ghost, would you come up also? Come right over here. Stand up on your feet, say, "I'm in business, Brother Branham. I mean business with God. I've got a little Word in my heart tonight, and a little bit of Spirit that tells me that if I mix this promise of God with the Spirit that's telling me I can receive the Holy Ghost tonight, I'm coming to receive it." Is there enough Spirit in you to tell you that God will do it for you tonight? If there is, raise up your hand, if you believe you've got enough courage in you, there's enough Holy Ghost conviction, Spirit, telling you that tonight you can receive the baptism. If there is, come up here and let's have a word of prayer, and go over here so we can lay hands on you and pray. Don't you want to come? If you really want it, come now.
That's right. "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." The Bible said so. God can't fail His words. What are you doing now? You're making preparations. How long have you sought the Holy Ghost? A long time. Long time have you sought the Holy Ghost. And now, He's here tonight. What happened? Maybe you was down and just about ready to give up. But what's happened?

57 I want some of the cooperating ministers, if they will, go over with these people here to instruct them how to pray and give thanks to God. Some ministers here that knows God, any of you brothers here that knows God, come over there; four or five of you, go over there, and some of you stand right along in here with these here. We're going to pray for them.
How many of you here's Gospel ministers in the building, raise up your hands, Gospel ministers. We're not questioning your denomination; we want you here. Come here, all you ministers. We need you here. Here's the time. All of you Elijahs, come here. Here's the people that's mixed oil and the meal together. They're here to receive. They're here to get it. Let's come show that we have "Thus saith the Lord."

58 Do you believe the Holy Ghost is for you today? What did Peter say on the day of Pentecost? When they said, "Men and brethren, what can we do?", he said, "Repent every one of you and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you and to your children, and to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Is that right? Then you're here. What did they do in the Bible times? Laid hands upon them.
Now, we're going to pray for these people. All you ministers, standby and pray. Then we're going to take them over to the altars, and there, they're going to receive the Holy Ghost, every one of them. Do you believe that? There's six nights of this service. Don't you come from your knees till the Holy Ghost has baptized you, then there'll be a revival break out here. Don't... Really mean business. We've come to be in business now. We're going to do this. God promised it; the devil ain't going to rob us from it. We're going to stay here till it happens. That's right.

59 Now, let us bow our heads. All you Christians, pray for these here now, seeking the Holy Ghost, you ministers along the sides.
Father, these here are already confessed Christians. But they read in the Bible, that just those who had oil in the lamps went into the wedding supper. And they're coming tonight to receive the oil. They seen like a few moments ago, by having the meal already in the barrel, there was Spirit mixing around in there. They come for self-sacrifice, to feel the hot burning fires of the baptism of the Holy Ghost, that'll light up the cross of Christ in their hearts, and will fill them with power and glory, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Grant it, Lord.

60 Anointed ministers of God are standing by them. We are here, Lord, to pray the prayer of faith. We want to see a great revival break into this community and around here, that'll make every church a burning blaze.
And we've come tonight to You, Lord our God. We believe that You won't turn us down. May each of these, from this little boy and little girl, all the way to the oldest, receive the Holy Ghost. And as Christ said in the days gone by, as His servants, we say now, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Breathe upon them, Lord, the Spirit of life. May they go now and receive the Holy Ghost.

61 Now take to the right. Each one of you seeking the Holy Ghost, go right this way. Ministers are going with you to go over there and stay there until the Holy Ghost comes. I want to deal with the rest of the congregation just a minute. There'll be no prayers for the sick, just remember that. We're going to get things started right, then we're going to do right. It's going to come back there's something wrong; we want it right. Amen.

62 Go right this way, over there. Ministers, you instructors, go with them now. Purpose in your heart that you're not going to come off your knees if it takes from now till Saturday night. "How long shall I tarry?" Until you're endued. "How long is until?" Until you receive it.
How many personal workers is in the building that works ... women or men, raise your hands, would like to go with these people. Bless you, Sister Rosella. All right, would you go with them? Is someone else here, a good personal worker that would like to be standing present when the Holy Ghost fills someone. Would you like to do it? Any of you women, any of you men. You women go to the women, you men go beside of the men. Stand there. Be sincere. Drive at the devil, defeat him. He's a defeated person. Do you believe that? He's just a big bluff. He has no legal rights over us. We are free children, borned of the Spirit of God. We have a right to this. God's heritage, and we believe it.

63 Is there another in here that's a sinner that never come up, would raise up your hand, and say, "Brother Branham, remember me. I didn't even have the nerve to go. But pray for me that God will put such conviction on me that I will come the next time. Pray that God will spare my life, no accidents or nothing tonight, that I will be able to get out here again tomorrow night." Raise your hand. Any person that's got iniquity in their heart that they didn't come up, raise your hand. Be honest about that. Raise your hand, say, "Pray for me, Brother Branham." How many's sick and afflicted? Raise up your hand, say, "I come. I want to be prayed for. I want to be right."
All right. Confess all your wrongs now. You've got from now until tomorrow night about this time. God's going to do more healings in here, I believe, than He's ever done in this country. I believe it. Amen. The Lord bless you.
All right. Let us stand now when we sing.
I need Thee every hour,
Most............
Dear God, in the name of Jesus, I pray for these handkerchiefs, that You'll give unto them, O Lord, great power, and heal ever who these belong to. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
......oh, I need Thee,
The Lord bless you now.