Godhead explained

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Well, now, our thought is this morning that... We don't want to take too much of your time but I got... I'm going to do a little studying, and then I'm going to get ready pretty soon to... I got to go to dinner today with some people, and I thought before too much gets piled in... There's a lady minister coming from up in here, Brother Jack Moore's sister, she wants to talk to me about women preachers. And I know she's to be in today, and I thought I'd get over here first.

2 And first thing I want you all to know (This is recording, is it, Leo?), first thing I want you all to know, see... And that's Sister Gibson and Sister Sewell and Sister Simpson, the question was asked me about water baptism, and I ... you want to know about. I would like for you all to know first, that I have ... my objective is not to try to show ... like you was some master mind or knowed more than somebody else. My objective is to try to explain to the best of my knowledge by the Scriptures what is right and wrong. And it's always been my objective to never compromise on anything that God has written, and never say it's right because somebody else says it's right. But it's got to be that way. Now, it might be this, that in the future if you'd listen to this tape that we're talking on, it might be good that I tell you the reason why. (Can you all hear me well enough?)

3 I think our heavenly Father has people made up in certain ways for his own benefit. Just like if we do things certain ways, different each time, because we have a purpose of doing it. Some time ago I was sitting down in the state of Kentucky talking to some of my brethren. When I go home and I can have a little time off from the meetings, there's usually great crowds piling in, see. And then I get so nervous, after all nights... See, you don't get no rest at all. They just come day and night. I get real nervous. Then I'll either pick up a fishing pole and go fishing, or if it's hunting season I'll get my rifle and go hunting.
Well, rifles is one of my favorite things to fool with, shooting targets. Brother Gene here and I, he's begun hand loading now and we just love to do it. And then I had a little ... what they call a model 75, a Winchester rifle 22. That's what I hunt squirrels with. Well, I hunt the squirrels at fifty yards, and at fifty yards... I keep messing with this little rifle till I can drive a tack with it at fifty yards. And the other day I put nine bullets in the same hole. Is that right, Brother Gene? At fifty yards with a 22 rifle. Well, all at once it went out.

4 And I usually ... if the squirrel is looking at me, I won't shoot him. If he's got his back turned to me, I won't shoot him. He has to be sitting so I can just see his eye. And if I happen to hit him low from the eye, or above the eye, I know there's something wrong with my rifle, see. I don't try to lie to myself. I just... And I don't take no more squirrels than what the law allows me to take, see, 'cause that's right. I'm a conservationist.
But I just ... I find one and he's too far away, I just let him alone. And if this one's too close to me, I'll back up to fifty yards. And I'll watch him go out and get a hickory nut and come back. If he's looking at me, I just let him alone. The next time he gets one... Maybe ten minutes later after he cuts that one through, he'll go get one. Maybe he's got his back turned. I wouldn't shoot him like that. So if he goes away, let him go. I'll hunt me another one, see, 'cause I missed...
And I love them. They're the best meat there is in the world. There's nothing to compare with a gray squirrel, especially when he's cutting beech, or hickory, or something like that.

5 So my rifle went out. Now a rifle is a strange thing to fool with. It's something that it takes the tension off of my nerves and things. Now, other people wouldn't give a care for it.
And I believe our gracious brother Oral Roberts, I think he plays golf, and so does our brother Billy Graham. They play golf. That'd get on my nerves, out there with them women half-dressed and things... I couldn't stand that, see. But now maybe them brothers... I don't mean they get out there for that purpose, see. No, because they're gentlemen. They're Christian brothers. But just to get out around there, I couldn't stand that, see. And playing golf, that seems to me like it's for women, or something. Hit a ball with a stick and run out there. Now, them brothers might think the same thing---sitting around, fool with an old rifle. Well, you know we're made up different.

6 And so this rifle, the least little vibration any way will throw it off. You can be shooting and driving a tack with it, and put your finger on the barrel, it'll just ruin your shooting, see. That's how accurate it has to be. Can't wrap your hand around the forearm---lay it level in your hand, and then... You say, "What's all this got to do with what we're asking you?" But I'm trying to get you to something first---have a background.

7 Now, one day it went out, and I'd done everything I knowed how to do to bring it back in again. I tried rebedding it. I tried tightening, loosening, and everything else. In a 22 you can't hand load it because the primer's in the hull and you have to take factory-loaded ammunition. Now, where we load the ones that's got the big shells, where we can knock the primer out and get a resizer and things, well, we can load that and keep changing powders, and grams, and weights of bullets, till we get it to where it'll shoot what it will shoot. Or either then we go into the bedding and so forth. Therefore we couldn't do it on that one. But I said, "Well, maybe I ruined the bedding. I'll send it back to the Winchester company."
I returned it in to the Winchester company, and they wrote me a letter which I keep for just a commemoration of it. They said, "Reverend Branham, this model 70 Winchester was not made to be a target gun," see. Said, "It'll group a inch ... seven-shot group, it'll group an inch at twenty-five yards." And said, "You'll never get it any better than that 'cause that's perfect for that type of gun---a inch at twenty-five yards." I knowed that was wrong. I'd done put nine shots, one hole in the other one, at fifty yards with it. And that was the Winchester company made it.

8 Now, looked like someone would say, "Well, if the engineers patent that gun and they ought to know what's in it, and if they made the gun, then why would you...?"
That's what my wife said to me. She said, "Billy, why would you fool with that gun, after the man who designed it, and made it and knows even how much gas is in every shell and every ring that's in it and everything else, how would you try to dispute their word?"
I said, "Honey, not long ago you were asking me a Bible question, and you had the answers in the back of the Bible. And you asked me, 'Did God give Abraham that ground that He promised him?'" Or she asked me, and I said, "No, He never gave him the ground." He promised it to him but he never possessed any of it. He never got it.
And so she said, "Oh, I got you on that one." She said, "Here's the answer. He did give it to him."
I said, "Turn to Acts 7. Not so much as a place to put his foot on." That's right, it wasn't given to him.
Now, see sometimes our written-out, man-answers can be wrong. And the man that makes the gun can be wrong. Because I already knowed I'd drove nine straight tacks into a piece of paper in the same hole at fifty yards with that gun. And they said if seven bullets cover ... you take an inch at twenty-five yards, half the distance, you'd never get it better. To me they were wrong, whether they are the masters of the gun or not, 'cause I knowed better, see.

9 And I sat down under a tree one morning---and Brother Wood and Brother Charlie, who hunts with me---and there was squirrels everywhere. Well, I'd shot at one a couple days before that and missed its eye. Hit way down on the cheek. 'Course killed as dead as if it hit him in the eye, but the gun was out, to me. It makes me nervous, 'cause if that gun's not perfectly in, it don't do me no good to go hunting, see, 'cause I don't hunt for the meat of it anyhow. I just hunt for sport.
And so I said, "That's..." I was sitting under a tree, a little leaning tree. I could go to it this morning, there in the mountains of Kentucky. And I was sitting back under that tree, listening to Charlie over here just banging away. They'd ... I don't care what end of the squirrel they shot, just so they shot squirrel. If their gun was grouping any way, just so it hit the squirrel. If it was in the hips, or in the mid-center, or anywhere it hit him, that was all right.

10 And I said, "Well, now, that don't..." I just couldn't stand that. I was sat down there. I thought, "Just look at the fun them fellows are having." And they love to hunt just as well as I do, and they're both fine, good shots. They're dandy men, both of them Christians, filled with the Holy Ghost and just fine men, some of the highest caliber of men. And them brothers up there was having the most fun shooting squirrels. And there was squirrels jumping through the trees right by me.
Well, I said, "Then why would I do a thing like that? Sit here, and here I am sitting here crying, just tears running down my face. There they are, and here I can't even hit the target." I raised up and I said, "Heavenly Father, why did You make me like this? a little nervous, upset person. And then your grace has give me literally millions of friends, see." And I said, "Why would You make me a person like this?" And I started weeping right out loud then, sitting under a little leaning tree, right ... started up a mountain. And I knew soon those fellows would have their limit of squirrels and back. And there I was sitting there, just... Oh, I just didn't have the nerve to shoot at one of them, 'cause I was afraid I'd hurt him, you know, and they'd get away, see.

11 And I just ... and my gun, I'd for... A season isn't very long, and I'd been then for ... well, half the season was gone trying to get that rifle back. I sent the scope away and had it miked, and they said, "That scope is perfectly right." Well, I knew it was the rifle, 'cause it was throwing one one way, and one another. A scope hardly wouldn't do that. So I sat down there and I just wept.
And after sitting there a little bit, kind of held my head over, I heard Him speak to me. Now you all stood last night in the meetings, see how He could go out in the audience anywhere there, wherever He desired me, tell the people all about their conditions and who they were and where they come from, and what they had done, and what will be. Did you ever see it fail? Never fails. It can't, 'cause it's Him. Well, then, He was speaking to me. And He said, "I made you that way for a purpose."
And I said, "Why did You make me that way, Lord, for a purpose, to be nervous? And the only thing I have to relax me out of the meetings is come here and hunt. And You'd let me..." See, God makes everything work right for them that love Him, see. He wanted to tell me something. That's how that gun had to go out, to get this very thing to me.
He said, "Well..."
I said, "My gun," I said, "Lord, You're the only one could bring it in." I said, "You're the only one could help me, because the regular Winchester company says that it won't group but one inch in twenty-five yards, and, Lord, I know it..." I've shot at fifty yards and drove nine straight tacks, see. I knowed different from that.
He said, "That's the reason I made you that way." Said, "You see, I made you that way for a purpose."
Now, here's what it was, see. If I knew that it would drive a tack at fifty yards, I don't care who says anything different, I know it will do it, if it can get in the right condition---if the balance, the bullet, and all the ballistics of the gun, can be studied and fixed down---'cause it done it one time. If it done it once, it'll do it again.

12 Well, there's where He made known to me then, He made me that way on the account of the commission that He's give me for these days that I'm living in; that I just can't go to a denominational church and join up with one, when they'll just splatter, "Well, the church says this is all right and they accept this."
If Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever... If it drove the bullet there, it'll drive it again, I don't care what they say. See? There's got to be some way that He is the same person. He's the same thing. His power is the same. Now when you hit a place like this, Matthew 28:19, that you were asking me about this morning, Acts 2:38... Jesus commissioned his disciples here, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." Now, that's Mark 16 I'm quoting from. And now, that's when He commissioned them and He never mentioned how to baptize them there. Mark never wrote it down.
But Matthew said (in Matthew 28:19) He said---when He appeared to them, and so forth, and commissioned them to go to baptize---He said, "Go ye therefore ... teach all nations." And the right translation of that is, "... make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe whatsoever I have commanded."
And ten days later Peter said, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ."
Now, there's a straight contradiction.

13 Now, most people will say, "Well, my church teaches be baptized in the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. The seminary I come out of taught me that, so that's the way I'll do it." To me that's not right. I'm hitting over here and hitting over there. I'm making a forty-inch group. That ain't making the Scriptures right. It's got to zero. It's got to zero. Well, then, how's it going to zero when Matthew said baptize in the name of Father Son and Holy Ghost; and Peter said baptize in the name of the Lord Jesus; both of them disciples, one a scribe and the other one an apostle?

14 And then every person in the Bible was baptized after that was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And those who had already been baptized by John had to come and be rebaptized again in the name of Jesus Christ before they got the Holy Ghost.
Well, I said, "See, you're not zeroed there. There's something right." Now, if we believe the Bible to be God's infallible Word, we can't make it splatter all over a piece of paper and then be zeroed. Do you understand me? It's got to hit the target or it ain't hitting. If it's out, it's out.
Well, why did Peter turn around and do something Jesus told him not to do, and then God recognize it and give them the Holy Ghost? When Jesus said, "Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost," and Peter said, "No, baptize in the name of Jesus," now you can't make that hit the target, see. Now there's something wrong somewhere, sisters, see. Either one lied, or which one lied? Which one was it? Now to me that just won't work.
Just like it is about, is the baptism of the Holy Ghost evidence speaking in tongues, or is it not? Some says "Yes," and some says "No." What's the Scripture say about it? It's got to zero. I find there where some did speak with tongues and some didn't. Well, what is it?

15 Other outstanding question: Is women to be preachers? Yes, or no? Some place it says, "I'll pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." Another says, "I forbid ... not a woman to speak in the church even."
Now, that don't zero. It don't zero, so they... Just don't leave it like that because the seminary, the factory, said it was ... that's as good as you're going to get it. No, sir. No, sir. It's got to zero, or it is no good. Well, now if it zeroed for them, it'll zero for me. If it zeroed once and brought a results to claim the resurrection of Jesus Christ, with power and signs and miracles and wonders, it'll do it again.
Now somewhere we've got too much static on the barrel. See what I mean? This is a rude way to express it, about shooting a gun, but I'm just putting that for a base so you'll understand what I mean. There's static on the barrel somewhere. It's not bedded right; the powder's either too high or too low; or either one screw's tight and the other one's loose, or one's too loose and the other one tight. There's something wrong somewhere. [A man speaks to Brother Branham.] Yeah, it might be the guy behind the trigger, is right. But now, what is it then?
Now, if there is a contradiction in the Word of God so point blank as that is, then it's not the Word of the God that I know. If He can confuse Himself, and confuse his Word, and get confused Himself, He is not infinite. He's finite, like I am. Is that right? That Word either has to be right and every bit of it right and it's zeroed; or either it's not God's Word.

16 Now, many times people say, "Well, you see Peter was all excited when he said baptize in the name of Jesus, because, really, Matthew said exactly what Jesus said. We don't care what Peter said." Well, then, if Peter and Jesus wasn't in line with one another, then the rest of the Gospels might not be in line with one another. If one word of that contradicts the other one, then it ain't the Word of God of the God that I know.
(Someone says, "Maybe John made some mistakes.") Yeah, John might have made some. Which one was right? After all, I don't know whether Jesus said that or not, see? Matthew wrote it. Mark never said nothing about it, Luke never said nothing about it, and John never said nothing about it. But Matthew did. Well, then maybe all of Matthew's gospel was wrong, and Luke's... Well, then, which is right and wrong? See where you've got yourself? No, sir, it's all got to be right.

17 Then I wonder, why would God write a thing like that, let it be mixed up? Even Jesus thanked his Father that He'd hid this from the eyes of the wise and prudent and revealed it to babes such as would learn. Now it's done that to throw the wise off the track. But the book is a revelation.
Now, like when I go overseas and my wife writes me a letter---and I sit down---she says, "Dear Billy, I'm sitting here tonight, the children are in bed. I thought I'd write you a few lines to let you know what we did today and how we're getting along. We trust that God is blessing you." And all like that. Now, I'm reading off the lines what she's writing. But I'm so in love with my wife and she's so in love with me, no matter what I'd write, we can read between the lines what we mean.

18 Well, that's the way the Bible's wrote---between the lines. You know many of my sermons, like of God turning Abraham and Sarah back to young people, you have to read between the lines to see what the Scripture says. You have to know. But it'll never get off the line, see. In between the lines will just bring the lines together and make it one big picture. Now, it's got to be a love affair with God before you can ever get it, because the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible; and the Bible said that it is of no private interpretation, but it's inspired.

19 Now, to your question. Have you got a Bible? Have you all got a Bible? Now first ... no, that's all right. You can mark it down. I'm going to give some illustrations, if you don't mind. And in this you'll see why. Now, I want to ask you sisters a question. I want you to be just as free as free can be. Now, stay on this subject on account of this tape, because... I mean that we could get off on initial evidence and everything else like that. We'll make another tape for that, see, sometime. But this we're talking about the water baptism.
Now, it looks like that Matthew and Peter, if they were shooting at the same target, they were way off the line somewhere.

20 Now, I'm going to take in my Bible and I'm going to read. And you sisters, if you want to read, you want the Bible or you want to mark it down or whatevermore, you do as you want to. And then I'm going to ... I'm going to get you ... I want you then to ... after you do this, write it down. And then if there's any questions, I want you to be sure and ask me now. Ask me, so that if any future time on this tape if somebody would have to ask you a question, you might be able to come back and explain it. Now, in order to straighten these people out and to get these two down right, I'm going to ... have to almost blend two subjects together.

21 Now, in Matthew 28:19, now, that's the last book of the Bible ... the last book of ... Matthew, last part of Matthew. Now, let's read the last verses, 18th verse: "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth."
"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." Well, wonder did He take all God's power then? For all the power both in heaven and earth is in Him then. "All the power in both heaven and earth is given unto me." Where is God at with his power? Now could Jesus lie? He couldn't lie. If He lied, then where are we?
Now remember, bear this in mind, that the church of the living God---not the denomination---the church of the living God is built upon spiritual revelation. Now you get that in St. Matthew 17, or St. Matthew 16 it is, where He said, "Who does men say I am?"
He said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," said Peter.
He said, "Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jonas. Flesh and blood [seminary, somebody else] never revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. Thou art Peter. Upon this rock I'll build my church."
Now, see, the Catholic says upon Peter. If that's so, then he backslid. All right, the Protestant said upon Jesus. But not to be different, but to make the thing straight, neither on Jesus nor upon Peter, but upon the spiritual revelation. "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven has revealed this to you."

22 Then the Word that's wrote in parables and everything else, can only be revealed; and the only truth will ever be known by it is the spiritual revelation. And if your revelation doesn't tie it together, then your revelation's wrong. See? It must blend... Like if you was putting a jigsaw puzzle together, and you didn't have anything on the side here to look what it was, you'd get the scenes all mixed up.
You'd say, "Well, I believe this goes here, I believe this goes there." That's the human mind. First thing you know your scene would be wrong. There'd be a cow picking grass on top of a tree, see. So it wouldn't work, see. But if you got something here to go by... Well, now, you say, "Oh, God revealed to me something." If it isn't according to this Word, and ties the Word together, then your revelation's wrong.

23 In the Old Testament, if a prophet prophesied, if a dreamer dreamed a dream, no matter how real it seemed, the first ... before the church ever would accept it, it had to be proven by the Urim Thummim. You know that---that breast plate of Aaron where the lights accepted it. Now, when that priesthood ended, the Urim Thummim went with it. But we got a new Urim Thummim. That's the Word of God.
And if your revelation doesn't tie... And you say "God revealed to me that I should be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost." If that don't tie in with the Word from Genesis to Revelation, and tie it together, then your revelation's wrong.
You say, "God revealed to me I should be baptized in Jesus' name." If it doesn't tie in with the Word, then the Urim Thummim don't back it up. No matter how real it seems, this is the authentic Word. This is God's Urim Thummim.
Now, "And Jesus..." Again I quote, repeat: "And Jesus came and spake unto them [the 18th verse] saying, All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: ... lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

24 Now, I want to ask you something now just... Now that's Matthew 28:19, the scripture you're asking me to explain, what we have in view here this morning. Now, let's read that careful, just don't run over it. Read it carefully. Now watch closely. "Go ye therefore ... teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son..." Not "in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Ghost." That's the way people baptize---baptize that way. That's not even scriptural. See, it isn't in the name of the Father, the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Ghost. That's wrong. That's not scriptural.
And it isn't the names of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It's in the name, n-a-m-e, singular. Name. Look, "in the name." All right.

25 Now, if there's anywhere that you don't understand... (I'm waiting for Sister Sewell there to find it. You got it there? Matthew 28:19, 19th verse.) Now, Sister Sewell, I believe you was the one was questioning it the strongest. Now, does that say, "In the names of the Father, the Son..."? It says, "In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son..."? No, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Not in the name, putting a name before each one, but just in the name of the Father, and of the Son and Holy Ghost. Now, we realize then there has to be one name there, 'cause it said one name.
Well, I want to ask you, which one of them names should we baptize in then? Now, is Father a name? No, so we couldn't baptize in the name of the Father 'cause Father isn't a name, is it? Well, in the name of the Son then, we'd say. Is Son a name? I'm a son, you're a son, he's a son. Son is not a name, is it? Well, Holy Ghost then. In the name of the Holy Ghost. Well, let's say in the name of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost, is it a name? No, that's what it is. We're all human. That's what it is. It is the Holy Ghost, but the Holy Ghost is not a name---that's what it is. We're all human, but that's not our name, see. No. There's three titles, then, isn't there?

26 Well, then, what kind of a thing have we got here, then? He said, "Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." Well, if Father is no name, and Son is no name, and Holy Ghost is no name, they're not names. So you couldn't use that for a name, 'cause there's no name to it at all to begin with. Now, you understand that? They are not names.
It's just like they call me "Reverend." Some people call me a prophet. Some call me a preacher. Well, now, yeah, I'm a father, I'm a son, I'm a human, but my name is William Branham. But reverend, prophet, or reverend, elder, and minister, that's titles that belong to me. Well, them belongs to many other also. Like soul, body, and spirit, that belongs to me, too. But it belongs to him, him, her, her, and all, see. It's all the same. See, it's titles but that's not my name. That's not your name. Soul, body, and spirit is not your name. That's what you are, but it's not your name.
You are a lady. You are a mother. You are a wife, a daughter. Yeah, all them things, that's just what you are. And say you ... I've always called you "Doctor." (You was a nurse.) Say you are a doctor. Well, you are a mother, too, but that's not your name. If I just wrote doctor, there's a lot of doctors. If I wrote nurse, there's a lot of nurses, see. But that's still not your name. So when anyone says they was baptized in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, if they'd only think, it's not even mentally right. The name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost...

27 It's just like the Catholic says eternal sonship, the eternal sonship of Christ. How can the word make sense? How can He be eternal and be a son? Son---that was born off of. Eternal---had no beginning or end.
If ... they say there's a eternal hell. The Bible said hell was created. Then how can it be eternal? There's no eternal hell. Hell was created for the devil and his angels, not an eternal hell. Everything begins, ends. Hell may burn for a hundred billion years, but it has to have an end, because everything begins, ends.
That's the reason we can't die, because we are part of God, offsprings of his, sons and daughters. We got eternal life, God's life. It never did begin, never will end. See.

28 Now this is pretty strong, if you don't understand it. I'm afraid I'll get you out on a limb here somewhere. Like I was talking to clergymen... Now if you don't understand, you tell me, because usually you talk to clergymen like this, you see. But you women, you just asked me, and you're my friends.
All right now, I'm trying ... you're all educated, and you're all smart. And I don't want you to take this because Brother Branham said so. Now, I'm a human being. I want you to take the Word. And if you can find anybody that'll down that Word, you bring them to me. If you can find anybody that says there's a contradiction in the Word of God, bring him to me. It just won't be. There's no need of trying, 'cause it ain't there, see.

29 Now, how could anybody be baptized...? I want to ask you ladies something right now, and you men. How could anybody be baptized in the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost? How could you be baptized in the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost? Don't you see the bottom of it? There's no such a thing as the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost. That's titles, see?
Why don't you just say lily of the valley, rose of Sharon, morning star, Alpha, Omega? You could be baptized just as well saying, "I baptize you in the name of Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end." Be just as well---it's a title. "I baptize you in the name of the lily of the valley, the morning star, and the rose of Sharon." Be just the same, it's titles. But we know who it belongs to, but there could be a lot of morning stars, and lily of the valleys and rose of Sharons, see. So Father, Son, Holy Ghost, or human soul, body, and spirit, or whatever more you want to make it.
Now, there's something wrong here somewhere, isn't there? Now you see that something's wrong here. We can't understand it, then, let's say. Now, "Go ye therefore ... teach all nations." Now, you're a nice little audience, and I want to drill this so that you'll have a good understanding, see. 'Cause I don't know how many of my brethren might hear this tape.

30 I never unchristianize no man or person for their ideas of Scripture. I base it upon if they're saved they're trusting Jesus Christ, whether they are Catholic, Protestant, Jew, or whatever they are. You're saved because you're born of Christ.
But you've asked me a question, "Why, Brother Branham, would you baptize in the name of Jesus Christ?" All right. "And why would you disregard Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?" That's your question. And as your brother, and as a servant of Christ, I'm duty bound to answer you. All right.

31 Now, therefore when you find out here, to make this contradiction... Now, just ten days after this, after Jesus said this, Peter had the keys to the kingdom, Matthew 16, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I'll build my church," so forth. "And I say that thou art Peter, and I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom. Whatever you bind on earth, I'll bind in heaven. What you loose on earth, I'll loose in heaven."

32 Now, that same man that had the keys, turned right back around ten days after Jesus said this, and said, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." Did you ever stop to think that Jesus would give a man that would be that scrupled up, the keys to the kingdom? That would turn around and do vice versa what He said not to do? The God of heaven manifested in flesh, and would turn the keys over to a man that would make a mistake like that? The very first shot out of the box would do a thing like that? No. All right, now just... Now notice. He couldn't do that.

33 But why did He give them keys to Peter, then? He just plainly quoted it. "Peter, you never learned this from some church or some seminary, but it was a revelation that come from heaven, and upon this same revelation from heaven, to straighten out the Word of God, I'll build my church." He knowed Peter... He didn't know mathematics. Peter didn't know algebra, perhaps, or neither did he know geometry, or... I think it said that he was an ignorant and an unlearned man, according to Acts, the fourth chapter, or Acts, the third chapter, I believe. Said, "Perceiving that they were both ignorant and unlearned [He and John, as they healed the man at the gate called Beautiful], but taken notice that they'd been with Jesus."
So you see, He didn't lay it upon his seminary theology that He could reveal this to him. Not upon his seminary experience, because he had none. He doesn't yet today. But He reveals it, see, to the one that had the revelation of it. Therefore, He could trust it to Peter. He might not have been able to trust it to Matthew, or to John, or to the rest of them. But Peter had the revelation.

34 So then Peter turns around and says, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ [see], for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The promise is unto you..." The man that had the keys that unlocked the kingdom for the first time, turn it around and doing vice versa what Jesus said not to do. Now it's either he was wrong, he made a mistake, he didn't follow out our Lord's... ; or either he had a revelation of truth that the rest of them ... which was beyond what any of the rest of them had.

35 Now, let's just stop before we go back, just a minute. If it would've been wrong, why did God recognize it then, and command all the rest of them, down through the Bible, to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ? And every person in the Bible was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and every person, up to the organization of Catholic church, was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. At the Nicene Council they formed this baptism of Father, Son, Holy Ghost, making a triune God out of one true God, to bring in their trinity.

36 And as God in the beginning knowed that man would fall, therefore He could put him on free moral agency, knowing... Because He could display his attributes to be a father, to be a son, to be a healer, to be a saviour. How could He save, unless ... something lost? And in God was the attributes, before there even was an angel or a molecule or anything. God was by Himself alone; but He wasn't God, 'cause God is an object of worship. There was nothing for Him to worship ... nothing to worship Him. But his attributes displayed something and made an angel. Then He was God.
Then He made a man, give him free moral agency. He fell. Then when he fell, He become a saviour. In the fall he took sickness, so He become a healer. See? It's displaying God's attributes. See what I mean? Now, He also knowed that there had to be a lost people and a saved people. There had to be a false baptism and a... So He puts it here, again a tree of knowledge. Here's one, Acts 2:38; one, Matthew 28:19.
So how was it revealed to Abel? Abel, by faith, offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice. He didn't have no Bible to go by, so it must have been revelation to Abel. There was both boys. If God only requires a worship, then God was unjust to condemn Cain. Cain made an altar, built a church, worshipped, and made a sacrifice. Every religious thing that Abel did, so did Cain. Is that right? But Abel, by revelation, offered to God [if it's revelation, you walk by faith] a more excellent sacrifice. How did Abel know it, that it wasn't fruit of the fields that Cain offered? It was blood that brought them from the garden. Life was not in the fruit. Blood brought the life. It was revealed to him, a revelation. Here's the same basis He puts us on that He did on them back there---a revelation. Now there can't be a contradiction.

37 Now, you all wasn't always Christians. You were born sinners. I imagine as a little girl... I don't know whether you did or not, but I'm going to take all of us in the room, to make an illustration here now, so that you'll understand. When you were little girls, say you read love story magazines. Most all little girls do. Or any kind of a magazine. It wouldn't have to be a love story---any story, see. Nice. Could not have been one of these modern bookstand stories, but any story, even Romeo and Juliet, see. You read a love story. And I'm showing you this way now so that you can catch it in a parable.

38 If you picked up a storybook, and you read it, and it said, "John and Mary lived happy ever after," well, you get to wondering who's John and Mary. Who is John and Mary? Well, you just read the last words of the book, that said, "and John and Mary lived happy ever after." You begin to wonder, "Who is John, and who is Mary?" Is that right? Now there's only one way to find out who John and Mary was---go back to the first of the book, start reading. Is that right?
Well, now, this is the last chapter of Matthew. If the last book of Matthew, He said, "Go ye therefore ... teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost," and Father is no name, and Son is no name, and Holy Ghost is no name, who are they? Now let's take it this morning upon the same basis that we would to John and Mary. Let's go back to the first of Matthew and find out. Come back to the first chapter of Matthew, then. All right. See who John and Mary is, that lived happy ever after. (How much more time? All right.)

39 Now, I want to ask you sisters something as you look at me, you brethren. Who was the father of Jesus Christ? God was. Is that right? Was God his father? All right, sir. God is his father, we all agree upon that. I believe with all my heart that God is the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. All right. Now we're going to see if the Bible says that God's his father. Now, Jesus said, "Go ye therefore, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost." I'm laying these three record boxes out here. This is the Father, this is the Son, this is the Holy Ghost. (Now, you could see all right?)

40 Now, I'm just going to question you a minute, see if you listened what I said. Who is this over here? [Audience says, "Holy Ghost."] Who is this over here? [Audience says, "Father."] Who is this here? [Audience says, "Son."] Now, who is this? [Audience says, "Father."] All right. I just wanted to see if you really catch it clear now. Now, this is the Son of God, is that right? All right. Now this here is what? That's the father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that right? That was his father. I believe that He is the virgin-born, unadulterated Son of the living God.

41 God, our Father, which is the great Spirit that never ... He never had no form, even. You see, He was God. He was just ... He was before a star, or molecule, or atom, or anything else. He's God that covers all time, space. He's eternal. I believe that Jesus is the Son of the true and living God. And that's this person right here, that I got wrote on this box---Father. Is that right? And this is the Holy Ghost, and this is the Son.
Now, let us read Matthew 1. Now, we start off, "The book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac; ... Isaac begot Jacob; ... Jacob ... Judah and his brethren;" goes on down giving the genealogy. Now, to save our time, we'll come down, and the genealogy ends after "So all [from the seventeenth verse] ... so all the generations from ... all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; ... from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations."

42 Now, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: when ... his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together [Are you reading with me, Sister Sewell?], before they came together, she was found with a child of God the Father." Am I reading right? [Someone says, "No."] Oh, I made a mistake? Was found with child of who? [Someone says, "The Holy Ghost."] Well, I'll say. Now, who is his father? You said this was his father, and the Bible said this was his father. She was found with a child, not of God the Father. God the Father had nothing to do with it. It was a child of the Holy Ghost. Is that right?
Let's see if that still reads on right. Maybe we made a mistake. Nineteenth verse. "Then Joseph her husband, being a just man ... not willingly to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of God our Father." [Someone says, "No, ... is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost."]
Now, then which one of these is his father? Now if the Holy Ghost is his father, and Jesus said God was his Father, now, is He a bastard child? Could He be? Could both of these gods make one child? If it is, He was a bastard child. Illegitimate is a better word, but the very word means a bastard child. Well, then, if He is a bastard-born child, then where are we at in salvation? If God the Father was his father, and the Bible says the Holy Ghost was his father, then something's wrong again. Is that right? See? There's something wrong somewhere. Now, what are we going to do?

43 Are we worshipping an illegitimate-born child, by two different gods? One God was ... said was his father, and then the Bible said here (or the Word of God says) that the Holy Ghost was his father. And Jesus said God was his father, and other places in the Bible said God was his father, and calling Him the Son of God, God the Father---and now God the Holy Ghost.

44 Oh, poor, blinded trinitarian people! Why the word trinity don't even appear in the Bible, not from Genesis to Revelation. There's no such a thing. It's not three gods; it's three offices of one God. God the Father in a pillar of fire, God the Son made manifest in flesh to take away sin, and God the Holy Ghost in us now here. Sure. Sure. "I'll be with you, even in you," see. It's not three gods; it's one God.
Now look. You're going to have to admit that the Holy Ghost is his father. Is that right? Is the Holy Ghost his father? Does the Bible say so? Let me read it again. That's right. Well, then, if the Bible says that the Holy Ghost is his father, the Holy Ghost and God is the same person, or He had two fathers. Is that right? [Someone says, "You're going to do away with that trinity."] There, she has it right there. It's done flied away now. It never was so in the beginning. It never was so. See how it has to come by revelation?

45 Now, either God was his father or He wasn't his father. And the Holy Ghost was his father, or it wasn't his father, or the Bible tells a lie. So to make the revelation right, you see if Peter had the same revelation that I have of it. Now see, now, God the Father and the Holy Ghost is the self-same Spirit, or He had two fathers. He couldn't be conceived of God the Father, one spirit, and God the Holy Ghost, another spirit. Then He had two conceptions, see. So He couldn't be that way. Just couldn't actually be. Either one's right or the other one's right.
If there's three gods and these two gods... If there's two gods---one, God the Father, one God the Holy Ghost---which one of them really was his father, then? Question? [Someone says, "The Holy Ghost and God's the same."] Now you got it. There you are. All right, now that's one.

46 All right, now let's keep on reading. Now we're going to find out what Matthew 28:19 is. Now let me read this over again now, eighteenth verse: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When ... his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with a child of the Holy Ghost." All right. "Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, ... not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." All right, we make them two, then, have to be the same one.

47 All right. "And she shall bring forth a son, thou shalt call his name [What? That's this person, Jesus. All right.] ... call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Now this was all done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel [Is that right?], being interpreted ... God with us."
Now, what is the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost? [Someone says, "God."] No, God's an object of worship. What did He say his name shall be called? [Someone says, "Jesus."] That's right. What was his name? Emmanuel is the interpretation of "God with us," you see. That just means "God with us." See, that don't mean to say ... that'd be any kind of a god with us, you see. But this interpreted ... but what is the name of this God with us? [Audience says, "Jesus."] " His name shall be called Jesus."

48 Then when Peter said ... when Matthew said baptize them in the... Now who is Mary and John that lived happy ever after? You see who it is? When Peter turned around and said, "Baptize in the name ... Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ," well, he done exactly what Matthew... If he said, "Father, Son and Holy Ghost," it wouldn't even be mentally right.
Now, "Why do you baptize, Brother Branham, in the name of Jesus Christ?" Now, let us turn over here now and just watch. Now, who had the keys to the kingdom? [Audience says, "Peter."] Who was it spoke on the day of Pentecost, now, and said, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ?" [Someone says, "Peter."] All right. Then the key is, "What you bind in earth, I'll bind in heaven." Is that right? "What you loose in earth, I'll loose in heaven." Is that right?

49 Now, how many tribes are there of the earth? Three. Ham, Shem, and Japheth's people. Now, that's Jew, Gentile and Samaritan, see. All right. They all sprung up from them three sons, if... God forgive me saying, "If the Bible's right." 'Course all the earth was destroyed but them three boys. That's exactly where our generations spring from.
Now, three wise men came to see Jesus. The astronomy says that they followed three different stars, and these three stars came together and made the one star, see. And the three are one, always, see. Now, the three attributes of God makes one God. It's not God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It isn't three gods. Jesus ... Philip asked that question, said, "Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth." (John 14.)
He said, "I've been so long with you, Philip, and you don't know me?" He said, "When you have seen me, you've seen the Father."

50 Now, I was explaining this to some women one day, and one woman said, "Wait just a minute, Brother Branham." Said, "They are one. That's right." Said, "So are you and your wife one."
I said, "But they're a different kind of one."
And she said, "Oh, they're the same as you and your wife are one."
I said, "Oh, no, see." I said, "Do you see me?"
She said, "Yes."
I said, "Do you see my wife?"
She said, "No, I don't even know her."
I said, "Then Jesus said, 'When you've seen me, you see the Father.' So they are a different kind of one, see." I said, "You see me, but don't see my wife. But when you see Jesus, you see God." He manifested God. He was a virgin-born Son. And God the Father, which is a spirit, dwelt in Him.

51 Now a lot of trinitarian people try to say... I was debating it not long ago. I find out it don't do no good, because no man can come to God unless God foreknew him and called him before the foundation of the world. "All the Father has given me will come to me," said Jesus, see.
And this man tried to say... He was a trinitarian, extremely, and he stood up before the class and he said, "My precious friends," said, "Brother Branham is one of the finest fellows." See, you see right then I knowed there was some...
Jesus said, "You hypocrites, how can you say good things, for out of the abundance of the heart speaketh the mouth," see.
And so, just trying to find favor with the people, he said... This was a Church of Christ man, so-called Church of Christ. Of course they're against all the true teachings of the Bible, almost, and you couldn't call them... I don't mean to say anything against them people in there, but them ministers are, if you'll excuse the expression, "Like the Irishman's owl---all fuss and feathers and no owl." So that's just about the way it is, you see, just a... They haven't got nothing to stand on, so ... a modern Pharisee.

52 Now, he said, "But Brother Branham has been like a ... in this discussion," said, "wiggle out of everything like the worm in the lemon." But said, "I would like him to wiggle out of this one." (And of course all debaters hold the key note till the last part of it.) So then he said, "At the baptism in Matthew 3, the display of three persons, absolutely three distinct persons---the Son standing on the bank, the Holy Ghost like a dove in between them, God, the Father, speaking out of heaven."
I said, "Sir, is that your key note?"
He said, "I want to hear you wiggle out of that one."
I said, "Sir, you just wiggle back and read the scripture the way it reads." I said, "That's the only thing---you're just misreading the scripture to the people." I said, "That is thinner than the broth made out of the shadow of a chicken that starved to death." I said, "Why, you're just ... you're making it wrong, brother. You're misreading it to the people." And I said, "Now look here what the brother said."

53 Now, I'll take it like this, like these I got---Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Now this here will be the Holy Ghost. And that's wrote Son, this is wrote Father. Now watch how they read that. "When Jesus was baptized ... went straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens was opened unto him and he saw the Spirit of God like a dove descending ... and a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I'm pleased to dwell." I said, "See, three beautiful illustrations---the Son on the ground, the Holy Ghost like a dove in between, and the Father out of heaven speaking." See how the devil can stand there and deceive a person, if you don't have the revelation of God, if God isn't merciful to us? We ought to be thankful.
He made that say something it didn't say, just like Matthew 28:19, make it say something it don't say. He never said, "Baptize them..." He never said, "Baptize in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Ghost." He said, "Baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," which is Jesus Christ.

54 Now, let us take this illustration. Now, let's see. You're getting the scriptures wrote down, Matthew 3 there, last three or four verses. Now, [one of the ladies speaks] that's all right. She'll get them. You can study it when you get ... I'll give you the scriptures so you can study it alone. Now notice.
Now they say that was the Son standing on the bank; this is God the Holy Ghost, like a dove in between them; and God the Father was speaking out of the heavens. Now, it'd look like that would make that exactly three different voices and three different places. Now, notice.
Now, when Jesus was baptized...

55 Now we realize that heavens means above, the atmospheres, whatever it is, in the heavens. Now, "When Jesus was baptized, He went straightway out of the water, and, lo, the heavens was open unto him and he saw the Spirit of God..." I thought they said God was up in heaven speaking. "The Spirit of God like a dove..." The dove was God, see. We just got through it here. Holy Ghost and God is the same person, see---it's just a title to it, see. And he saw the Spirit of God. Not another God up in heaven speaking, but the Spirit of God was in the form of a dove. That was the Holy Ghost and it was God---the same thing, see.

56 The Spirit of God, like a dove, descended and a voice from heaven (which was above Him) saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am pleased to dwell." (Really, the right translation... They got the verb before the adverb, like all the foreign... "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am pleased to dwell in." Or, "whom I am pleased to dwell." "In whom I am pleased to dwell.") That was God coming into Jesus and in Him was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And there's your Father, Son and Holy Ghost: In the name of Jesus Christ.
Sure. Do you get it? There's no place in the Bible speaks of three gods. There's no such a thing. It's absolutely pagan. It come from pagan. Yes. It's just as bottomless as hell is, see. There's no such a thing.

57 It's revealed to those who God calls and is predestinated by his foreknowledge. "All my sheep hear my voice," see. Look at them Jews standing there, just as scholarly as they could be, and Jesus showing them He was Messiah by Messiahic signs. They said, "He's Beelzebub." How could...? They were blinded. Yeah, and a little ragged shepherd or a fisherman down on the river said ... they knew Him, see. He just ... God has a way of doing things and we just have to cope with his way. Just be thankful that your eyes could be open to see truth.
Now, I'll challenge anybody (not for fussing), that will come to me and sit down and show me trinity one time in the Bible where there's three gods. If you'll show me three gods, I'll show you we're in darkness, and pagans and heathens. There's only one God---God the Father. Truly, we believe in that.
He was up in ... above all. Over this mountain---when He descended on the mountain up there, why, even if as much as a cow touched the mountain, it had to be killed. God the Father. But He wanted fellowship back with his men. He's trying to get men back to the Eden place where he was lost, see.

58 Now the next thing He did, then God the Father overshadowed a virgin called Mary. And the hemoglobin (you know this by being a nurse), the blood cell comes from the male. Then, somebody said, "We're saved by Jewish blood." There's not one speck of the mother's blood in the baby. The baby lays in the blood of the mother, but the blood cell comes from the male sex. So He wasn't neither Jew nor Gentile; He was God. A creative blood---not by sex desire, but a creative blood. See what I mean? And then God's blood saved us, an unadulterated blood He created Himself.
I mean He changed his cast from God to man and came down, was born of a virgin, Mary; and the Holy Ghost---which is God, his Father, that overshadowed it---came down and spread his tent and dwelt with us in the form of a man. That's God the Son, the same God that was God the Father. "It isn't me that doeth the works. It's my Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works," see.
[Someone says, "Said, 'in me.'"] That's right. The Father that dwells, tabernacles, lives... "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am pleased to dwell in." Matthew 3, see. "In whom I am pleased to dwell. I am very pleased to dwell in this one." Dwell, that's to occupy, come in the house and live. "In Him was the fullness of the Godhead bodily," says the Scripture. That's right---the visible image of the invisible God. Now, there He is. Now, that's God the Father, God the Son.

59 And now, through breaking that blood cell... When the old priest in the Old Testament, of the old order... A sinner brought a lamb. He laid his hand upon the lamb, his throat was cut---because he'd sinned and this lamb died for his sins. Now, the reason... He went out, says Hebrews, with the same desire that he had coming in. If he committed adultery, he goes back out with the same desire. If he killed, he goes back out with the same desire, hatred. Because when that blood cell of the lamb was broke, that blood cell in the lamb was an animal's life. It could not come back and dwell in a human life because the animal life has no soul. But the human life has a soul. See?
Animal don't have a soul. It don't have to wear clothes and cover up its nakedness, and say bad words, and you know what I mean, see. They don't know it. They fell because they're under us, see. Human beings are above the animal life because they're a god of the animal life. That's right.
It was, in the beginning, because Adam named them and had power over them. In Genesis 1:26 he had dominion over all the earth. He was made in the image of God and was made to be a lesser god. Jesus said so. Said, "Did not your law say that you are gods? And if they call them gods who the Word of God came to [which was prophets], how do you condemn me when I say I'm the Son of God?" See, there you are.

60 Now, in this, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost... Now, after He dwelt in the pillar of fire, then came down and made Himself a body, brought Himself down a tent of human flesh and dwelt in it among us, God went... I Timothy 3:16: "Without controversy [Paul speaking], great is the mystery of godliness: for God was manifested in the flesh..." Creator became Saviour. In the great song that Booth-Clibborn wrote: "The great creator became my Saviour, and all God's fullness dwelleth in Him."

61 Now, notice. Father---then He was the Father, way above us. Couldn't even get around where He was at. Then He became Son and we could touch Him, feel Him. He was a man. And then He gave his life. That blood cell was broken by a cruel, sinful, Roman spear when it pierced his heart. And really a broken heart killed Him. His water and blood separated, grief. Broke the cell, of grief, because of the sin of the human race. Used to sing a little song: "Oh, what precious love the Father had for Adam's fallen race. Gave His only Son to suffer, and redeem us by his grace."

62 Now, there that blood cell was broke.
Now when we lay our hands by faith upon that trembling Lamb of God, feel his flesh quivering and shaking for us, and our hands become bathed with his blood, and our souls... The life that was in Him wasn't just a mere man, neither was it an animal. It was God. So that life comes back upon the sanctified one and becomes a son or a daughter, an offspring of God. See, the life of God. And we are sons and daughters of God through the breaking of that blood cell, Jesus Christ. Now what is it then? God is back in his people, fellowshipping like He did in the garden of Eden, see. There you are, sons and daughters. Isn't it beautiful? God back...

63 Now, we're going to finish the baptism and then I must go. Now, from that time, now the next time baptism is spoke of, Philip went down and preached to the Samaritans. Acts 8, I believe it is. Yeah, Acts 8. Seven, Stephen was stoned. I think it's Acts 8, that Philip went down and preached to the Samaritans. And they had all baptized, every one of them, in the name of Jesus Christ; but the Holy Ghost had fell on none of them yet.
Peter had the keys. He had to unlock to that generation. Then when he goes down... And the Holy Ghost had fallen on none of them yet, yet they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Peter went down, him and John, and Peter laid hands upon them and they received the Holy Ghost.

64 Now, then while Peter was on the house top one time, at Simon the tanner, he saw a vision. Because Cornelius was a Gentile... There's the Jew, Samaritan, now the Gentile. And Peter was on the house top, taking a little nap before dinner, while they was fixing dinner, and he seen a sheet being lowered down. All kinds of unclean, creeping animals from the earth was on it. And then when he did that, he heard a voice saying, "Rise, Peter, slay and eat."
He said, "Nothing's ever come in my mouth unclean."
Said, "Don't you call unclean what I call ... or, common and unclean what I call clean." See, that was the Gentiles.
And then when he come out of the vision there was two men standing at the gate, calling for him to go up. And the Spirit told him "Rise and go. Don't think about nothing, just go on with them." Went to the house of Cornelius. He gathered ... Cornelius was a centurion and he called all his band together.
And they were all in there, and Peter was explaining to them what had happened. And Cornelius told him that he had saw an angel that told him to go down and ask for one Simon, a fellow ... Simon the tanner's house. And while Peter was speaking these words the Holy Ghost fell on them which heard the Word. Peter said, "Can we forbid water, seeing that they have received the Holy Ghost like we did?" And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

65 Now, Acts 19, if you want... That's Acts 10:49 there, sister, if you're putting it down. Acts 10:49. All right. 10:47, on down to the end of the chapter, read it. And then when they come now to Acts 19, baptism mentioned again. Paul... Now, that makes everybody...
Now the only time baptism was ever rendered was by John the Baptist first. They were baptized over there. They, now ... but they wasn't baptized in the name of Jesus, because they didn't know who He was yet, see. No. But now when Jesus said in Matthew 28:19, "Baptize in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," and gave that expression to the man He gave the keys to, that had the revelation of what it was all about, revealed from heaven...

66 That's what you're getting right now, the revelation from heaven to straighten it out. It'll hit the target if you'll just stay right with it. It's zeroed all right. It hit it then. Peter had the vision that zeroed it. This does it too. It brings it right back in. The gun's shooting where it's supposed to shoot now, see.
Now, then, Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. Is that right? He was the Gentile ... because God sent him to the Gentiles. Now, everybody then was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Every one. The Jews, were they baptized in Jesus' name? Acts 2:38. Samaritans, Acts 8. Was they baptized in Jesus' name? All right. Gentiles? In Acts 10:49 they was baptized in Jesus' name, wasn't they?
Well, now, there was some more people running around there that isn't baptized in Jesus' name, yet they've been baptized. "I guess it'll be all right then. So just let them alone, 'cause they've been baptized. What difference does it make? Baptized by John." We want to see whether this is essential or not.

67 Acts 19, Paul having passed through the upper coasts of Ephesus, he found certain disciples. Now, there was a young Baptist preacher up there, and his name was Apollo, which was ... Apollos, rather. And he was a brilliant man. Now, Acts, the nineteenth chapter. And he was a brilliant man and he was proving by the Bible, like a real Baptist, that Jesus was the Christ, by the Bible. And they had a revival up there, great revival.
And Paul had been put in jail for casting out a devil, out of a fortune-teller. And so him and Silas... And one night they got to praying in there and singing hymns, and the Lord come down and shook the jail down. So, then, after he'd got delivered, and went out and took the centurion and baptized him and his wife, as Paul's custom... 'Course they was baptized in Jesus' name. And then, when they took him and his family out and baptized them ... and then Paul went on his way.

68 And he went over to Aquila and Priscilla, which were tent makers, friends of his, converts to Christ. And they had been attending this revival up here with these Baptists. (Eighteenth chapter is where you'd read that, just one chapter before.) So, then, Paul passed through the upper coast of Ephesus. He finds certain disciples. They were disciples. They were Baptists---fine preacher and everything, proving by the Bible Jesus was the Christ. And he said unto them, "Have you received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?"

69 Now, how you trinitarian brethren, sister, used to like to lay that into the Baptists, but I wonder if we can lay something back again. You like to say, "Now, you Baptists, I thought you said you received the Holy Ghost when you believed."
Paul said, "Have you received it since you believed?"
And these people were honest. They said, "We know not whether there be any Holy Ghost."
Now if it don't make any difference---after that---of baptism, water baptism, if it don't make any difference, then why did this apostle ask this question? Said, "Then to what were you baptized?"
Oh, they might have said this, "We've been baptized." They said, "We've been baptized unto John. And we're very well satisfied with it. The same man that baptized Jesus Christ, same holy water. Sure." If you was baptized by John, right in the same holy water Jesus was baptized with, you'd think it was pretty good, wouldn't you?

70 But remember, the keys was locked in heaven. Peter did it on the day of Pentecost. Yes, sir. Yes sir, see. It's a mystery. It's hid, now. "Whatever you bind on earth, I'll bind in heaven. Here's the revelation. It only can come through this revelation, see."
Paul said, "But that won't work anymore. Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?"
They said, "We don't know whether there be any Holy Ghost."
Said, "Then to what was you baptized?" Otherwise, "to ... how was you baptized?"
They said, "We've already been baptized. Oh, yes, sir. Yes, Mr. Apostle Paul, we've been baptized. We was baptized by John the Baptist, right there in the same holy water Jesus Christ was baptized in. If he was good enough for Jesus to be baptized, boy, I'm telling you, he's good enough for me. Hallelujah!"
If they'd have done that, they'd have never got it. But Paul said, "Have you received it since you believed?"
Said, "We know not whether there be any Holy Ghost."
Said, "Then to what was you baptized?"
They said, "Unto John."
He said, "John only baptized unto repentance, saying they was to believe on Him that was to come." That is, on Jesus Christ. And when they heard this, they were rebaptized in the name of Jesus Christ. That brings this group over to this group. And they laid their hands upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

71 Now, I'll tell you that every scripture in the Bible, every person in the Bible, was baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. I'll take any man, any historian, to this task: if you can show me one speck of Scripture where anybody was ever baptized in the Bible (new church, because they wasn't baptized in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament), where any persons was ever baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost---one place that that was ever called over them, Father, Son and Holy Ghost---then I'll compromise.

72 And if you ... and I'll show you... If you can show me one text of Scripture where anybody was ever baptized in the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost, or one speck of history where anyone was ever baptized ... until the ordaining or the setting in order of the Catholic church in AD 325... Three hundred and twenty-five years after the apostles, everybody continued baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost ... in the name of Jesus Christ until 325.
And then they made the organization, and in the organization ... which, the Catholic church is the mother of all organizations. God never did organize a church. But in there they substituted the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost, because the trinitarians... And then they had a great group that went rank in trinitarian, and a great group that went rank in unitarian---which both groups was wrong, see. And any person that's baptized using those titles of Father, Son, Holy Ghost, ignorantly, are admitting that they are Catholics and denying what the Bible says.

73 Now, my brethren, and you that listen to this tape, "I wot that through ignorance you do this." Don't just throw this away, these women, presenting this to you; but you owe it to yourself to sit down and study it and find out. If you're not ... if you're a child of God, surely you'll give it that much consideration.
The Word of the Lord came to the prophets in the old days. The reason they called them prophets is because they had the interpretation of the divine Word; because they were divinely sent, and the signs and wonders that followed them proved that they were. God has said in his Scripture, "If there be a prophet among you and if he says things and it's not right, don't come to pass, then don't fear him. But if it does come to pass, then you hear him for I am with him." And the very word prophet means a divine interpreter of the divine Word. The signs and wonders that makes the Word manifest is a sign that it came. Now, we believe that the gift of prophecy that ties the words together are the same...

74 Now, not long ago---and maybe the same man may listen to this tape some day---that this taken place. It was Brother Sism of the Oneness. Now many of you people listening to this would say, "Brother Branham is a Oneness." I am not. I think you're both wrong, both oneness and trinity. Not to be different, but it's always the middle of the road.
Like Isaiah said, Isaiah 35 said, "There shall be a highway." And you Nazarene brothers, and so forth, you say, "The grand old highway of holiness." I beg your pardon. It doesn't say the highway of holiness. It says, "There shall be a highway and [and is a conjunction], and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness." Not the highway of holiness. The way is in the middle of the road. Each side is where the off-falls is found. That's where you Oneness brethren went to on one side, trinitarian went on the other side, but the true message lays in the center of the road.

75 Now, watch here. If you'll understand now, I'm laying three things out. Now, I'm taking this to be what Matthew said, and to show you that both men said the same thing. But one, the trinitarian people through... I hate to say this, and don't want to say it, but I don't want to say "through ignorance," as the Bible said, but I mean that through misinterpretation... You can't make it run right, brethren. You'll never make it run right. It can't till you come back to the revelation, and then the whole Scripture runs right.

76 Now, look here, my sisters, and you brethren who are present: Matthew said, "Father, Son, Holy Ghost." Now if you'll go get the Emphatic Diaglott of the Greek interpretation (Original Greek interpretation from the Vatican---it happens to be that I have one; it's out of print now, I think.), or any Greek translation, the right translation to Acts 2:38... Peter said, "Repent every one of you and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." The King James version just said, "in the name of Jesus Christ"; but in the Emphatic Diaglott it says, "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
Now, when you Oneness brethren just baptize in the name of Jesus, there's just many Jesuses, but there's only... He was born Christ, the Son of God. That's his name, that's what He is. Christ means "the anointed one." Messiah, Christ. Now, Jesus, eight days later He was given the name Jesus, when He was circumcised. And He is our Lord. So He is our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what He is.
Now, so that you'll see that Peter had the revelation I'm trying to tell you, now look at these boxes on this side---Father, Son, Holy Ghost. That's what Matthew said. Ten days later Peter said, "Lord Jesus Christ." Now, see if these three titles isn't three names, or the one name of the three titles.

77 Now, look. Matthew said, "Father." Is that right? But Peter said, "Lord." Now David said, "The Lord said unto my Lord." Now they both said the same thing there, didn't they? "...Lord thy God is one God" is true. All right. Now, Peter said, "In the name of the Lord"; and Matthew said a title to that Lord, which was "Father." Lord is what He is. All right.
Matthew said, "Son." Who is the Son? "Jesus," said Peter. Is that right? All right. Now, and Matthew said, "Holy Ghost." Peter said, "Christ," which is the Holy Ghost, the logos that went out of God.
See, Father, Son, Holy Ghost is the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole thing, exactly---the Lord Jesus Christ. So them are titles and not... There you are.
I wish we had longer to go into it, but it's getting late. Can we pray just a moment?

78 Our heavenly Father, Thou does know that we're not trying to ... try to say something here to confuse anyone. Father God, we're trying to take confusion out of their minds. And no doubt but what there'll be lovely fine Christian brothers, ministers, trinitarian believers that will hear this. Our sisters may play it to their pastors. And I pray, Father, that You won't let my brethren think that I'm trying to act like a know-it-all or something. But, Lord, I am grateful that You give us the revelation of the Word.

79 And I've tried to be like a Christian brother to them, never mention it amongst the people, just go ahead, because, Lord, I believe they are your children. But they find these seemingly contradictions in the Bible, and they've made a great issue out of it. The Assemblies would not associate with the Oneness, the Oneness was called ... which we know now in hearing this meeting, fellowshipping with some of those brethren. And we do in every meeting.
But, Lord, we know they're all your children, but they made a great issue and pulled away and cut off. The Assemblies will have nothing to do with them, and they won't have nothing to do with the Assemblies, the Churches of God, and so forth. And each one, in doing so, Father, I realize they draw boundary lines and become stuck up and organized. And what did You do with both organizations? Laid them up on the shelf, and they're both dying, and practically dead.

80 Let honest-hearted people see, Lord. I cannot open their eyes. You're the only one can do that. I present your truth by a revelation of Jesus Christ, which ties the words together---God's Word---and make it the true Word. I pray that they'll not misunderstand, but will love You and serve You all the days of their life, and walk in the light. Grant it, Lord.
I pray for these women. And I pray that every one that sees this, will not cause them to be confused, but will cause them to be hungering and thirsting for more of God's revelations. Grant it, Father. I commit this to You now, and You do with it whatever seems good in your hands. In Jesus Christ's name. Amen.