Pardoned

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Let us remain standing just a moment for prayer. Let us bow our heads now.
Our Heavenly Father, we deem this such a great privilege to stand here among the saved, and can sing this glorious old hymn of the church, "Lord, I Believe." To see the faith of our fathers still living in the hearts of his children down through the ages, and as the song has just told us, we are on our way to Canaan's land. We pray, Father, tonight if there be some here who has not made that decision yet, that's not come to the place that they can just "only believe" the Word, I pray that this will be the night that they'll make that final say and accept Christ as Saviour and be filled with his Spirit.
We thank Thee for this group that's called the Full Gospel Businessmen, and for what it stands for--for righteousness. We're happy to know that in our land is men in the business world who takes time to serve You, to tell others, spending their money and their time to help others along the way, becoming citizens of the kingdom of God.

2 We thank Thee for our minister brothers here tonight, those who are holding the torchlight to show this darkened world there is a road that leads to glory; for every member of the church of the living God; and for those who have come in, Lord, newcomers. We pray now that as we endeavor to open the Word that You will divide it to the people as we have need of. And when the service is closed tonight and we go home, may there be newborn babes added to the kingdom. Or maybe there's someone here tonight, Lord, who's very sick and needs the touch of the Great Physician. May they receive it tonight. Grant it, Lord. And we'll humbly give Thee the praise. For we ask it in Jesus' name, thy Son. Amen.
You ... be seated.

3 It's... One of the greatest times of my life is when I get to stand before people to speak about the joy of my life, Jesus Christ, and what He means to me--and then to have the privilege of sharing this joy with someone else who has never had this joy. I was speaking the other day... I used to be a boy preacher (this is thirty-three years in the ministry), and I lived upon the reputation of a boy preacher. But now I've passed that time, and now I'm becoming the old preacher.
But each day He ... as the song said, "He grows still sweeter than He was the day before." As I begin to ... crossed over the halfway mark and looking towards the setting of the sun, Christ becomes more to me day by day. And when I have these privileges to stand before businessmen and women of the communities, and to speak to them about something that means more to them than anything in the world--and that is eternal life... I do not think there's anything any greater than the ... that I could think of, than eternal life.

4 When you're young you begin to think about... Well, as a boy you're playing cops, and the little girl is cutting paper dolls. After a while it's your education. And then, are you going to marry the girl with brown eyes or blue? And then the house is to be paid for, the children's to be educated, and where're you at?
But I'm so glad that there's something that's real after this is all over. Then you enter in to something that means more than these other things. Which ... they are ... they are essential. Certainly they are--who's going to be the mother of our ... and father of our children, and our homes and so forth, and the education of the children. But even that all perishes. It goes. But life eternal is the greatest thing I know of. It satisfied me when I was a young boy; it satisfies me now while I'm a middle-aged man; and I'm sure when the curtains are falling around my life I'll be happy to go meet the one that I've spent my life for.

5 Now to Brother Tony, the president of the chapter here, I'm happy to be here with him in fellowship tonight, with Brother Carl Williams and other chapter executives, or representatives, and with all you visitors with us. We're happy to be here.
One time I was speaking, I believe it was at Little Rock, Arkansas, in the Robinson Memorial Auditorium. And there'd been a man healed that had been several years on crutches, sitting on the street, selling pencils. And he could... Oh, just twisted, his limbs was paralyzed ... and get around. People felt awfully sorry for him.
One night he come into the meeting. And he got a prayer card, and got into the line and was healed.

6 And the next day he had his crutches on his back, walking up and down the street testifying. And I was trying to speak. And after awhile he raised up, and he said, "Brother Branham," he said, "I'm kind of at wits end." He said, "When I heard you speaking," he said, "I thought you were a Nazarene." That's what he was. And he said, "And then I seen so many Pentecostals around," he said, "somebody said you were Pentecostal. And then I heard you say that you were a Baptist--was ordained in a Baptist church." Said, "I get it all mixed up. What are you?"
I said, "Oh, that's easy. I'm a Pentecostal Nazarene Baptist, together."

7 When I come among the Pentecostal people a few years ago, which... The Lord sent me over, when He ordained that I should pray for his sick children. And the own denominational church that I was with at that time didn't believe much on praying for the sick, or divine healing. It was foreign to them. They told me I'd become a holy roller. Well, maybe I have become a holy roller. I don't know, but I'm awful happy, whatever I am. And someone said I'd lost my mind. I said, "Then just leave me alone because I'm more happier this way than I was the other way." So I just feel good this way. And I ... it's been joy unspeakable.
But when I come among the Pentecostal people, I thought there were only one group of them. And then come to find out, there's just about as many groups cut away in them as there was in the Baptist church that I came from. Then, I wouldn't take sides with any groups. I'd try to stand between all of them and say, "We are brothers," see. And that's been my attitude ever since--to see the great church of the living God united together in faith and prayer and effort.

8 And then when the Full Gospel Businessmen set up their organism (because they are not an organization; they're an organism), and that took in all groups. And it gave me a place, and they took me under their wing. And I'm very grateful for the opportunity to speak for the Christian Businessmen because there I can express my belief among all the groups at the same time. And it's been a great thing to me. And I belong to one organization--that's the Full Gospel Businessmen.
And to do that there is now in Africa, where we are planning going right away, down in South Africa, where the Lord gave us... One of the greatest meetings that I suppose He ever did give us was down in South Africa, where we saw thirty thousand blanket natives receive Christ as Saviour in one afternoon service. They registered thirty thousand.
The next morning, while Sidney Smith, the mayor of Durban, called me on the phone, which was at the meeting... (We had somewhat around 200,000 at the stadium, or the racetrack.) And he said, "Go to your window and look out the window." And there came seven van loads--and them great English trucks was practically almost across this room--full of crutches, and wheelchairs, and things that the people had laid on the day before. And they were walking behind the trucks, singing, with their hands in the air, the song that you sang a few moments ago. "Only believe, all things are possible."

9 And in my heart I said, "Lord, this will be a memorial day to me." And the few days ... the day ... I was only to be there three days. And that's where I'm returning back again now. And there three days, and I just don't know what all taken place. That come about by just one miracle the Lord did at the platform. Give a boy that was walking on his hands and feet like a dog, restored him to his right mind and straightened him up before the people. And the day before, those people had to be fenced off because they were having tribal war. And now they were at peace, walking with their arms around each other, singing, "Only believe, all things are possible."
I tell you, the grand old gospel, though in its simplicity, has never lost its power when preached in the simpleness of the resurrection of Christ. And it grows dearer to me each day.

10 And if you're a businessman here tonight, and you haven't come into any Businessmen's fellowship, let me recommend this Full Gospel Businessmen. You don't have to belong to any church, or ever church that you're in, it's perfectly all right. It has a title "Full Gospel Businessmen," but it don't have to be a full gospel man to do it. Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterians, even Catholic priests--whoever it is.
You know, I believe Jacob dug a well and the Philistines run him away from it. And I believe he called it "Malice", or something. And he dug another one and they run him away from that. And he called it "Strife." And he dug the third one, he said, "There's room for us all." So I think that's what this is--there's room for all of us here. And we'd be glad to have you in this Tucson area here to come in and fellowship with us.

11 And then don't forget the Phoenix meeting. And now I know we're not supposed to give advertisement from the platform here 'cause we've made that a policy. But being this is all connected with the Full Gospel Businessmen, I'm to have prayer for the sick and preaching four days prior to the meeting at the Ramada this coming December ... January the 19th to the 23rd. Four days ... I'll begin on the 19th, is that right? I begin on the 19th. And then I have four day's meeting.
And to you Tucson people, next Sunday night I'm praying for the sick over at the Assemblies of God, Grantway. Brother Arnold Mack's church. If there's someone sick and like to come in, I'll be speaking there, the Lord willing, next Sunday night, praying for the sick.

12 And now may the blessings of God rest upon you. And if you have your Bible, I would like to get quickly to the Word, because I know many of you work tomorrow. And I will speak to you tonight from a scripture that I want to read out of the book of Romans--Romans the 8th chapter. And we want to begin at the 28th verse and read down to 32nd verse inclusive. Romans 8:28:
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are ... called according to his purpose.
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and to whom he justified, them he also glorified.
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

13 May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Word. And now I want to speak on the subject of "Pardon." The Bible said here tonight, that He gave us all things. Well, we certainly could not speak on all things, but we will take one thing that He has give us, and that is pardon. And I think that's a glorious word--to be pardoned. Because we're all guilty of sin. We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God, and God through his Son has pardoned us from this guilt of iniquity and sin.

14 And a pardon reminds me of a story I read once of a ... in the Revolutionary War, I believe it was. There was a man--a soldier, footsoldier--that had did something that was... The courts had found him guilty and he was sentenced to be shot. I believe it was neglecting his post of duty in time of battle. And he was going to be killed by a firing squad.
And one fellow felt so sorry for this man until he finally made his way to the great President Lincoln. Lincoln being a Christian gentleman... They said he was riding up in his carriage when the messenger met him. And he fell upon his knees and said, "Mr. Lincoln, President of the United States, kind sir," he said, "I ask mercy for one, knowing that you are a Christian, and know that you have tenderness in your heart for the weary."
He said, "My friend was at the post of duty where he was stationed, but when the guns was roaring and the cannons firing he got scared and he left the post of duty. Mr. Lincoln, he didn't mean to do it. He's a good man. And now in a week from this day he must die by a firing squad. There's no way to save him except you'll sign his pardon."

15 Mr. Lincoln, with tears in his eyes, pulled a piece of paper from his brief and wrote on there, "I, Abraham Lincoln, pardon this man of such, and shall not die." And signed his name to it.
And the man gave him God's blessings and returned back to the prison and said to his friend, "I have your pardon." And he pulled it out upon a piece of paper and showed him.
And the man said, "Don't mock me. Here I'm fixing to die, and then come with such as that? I do not believe it. I just can't believe. That isn't so. Any man could sign his name Abraham Lincoln."
He said, "But this is the President's signature." Said, "You are pardoned." And he turned his back and walked away. And the man died under the firing squad.
And then here is a release from Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, to release this man; and yet they shot him. So it was tried in the Federal Courts, and here was the decision. A pardon is not a pardon unless it be accepted as a pardon.

16 So this tonight that I read that God gives us all things, and He gives us pardon, it's pardon to those who want to accept God's Word as pardon. But it only ... just to read it, it doesn't mean that you are pardoned. It means that you've got to accept it as your pardon, that God gave his Son to die in your stead--and then it's a pardon.
Released from guilt is what we wish to place on this. A pardon from God is a release from guilt. Not the turning away by a psychological doctrine of some sort that might, in some way, give you a little feeling that you have done what's right by joining church, or taking up some creed; but it's a release from your guilt by the power of Calvary. Something has released you. There's no more guilt. The Bible says, I believe in Romans 5:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

17 Now a man, when he is released from sin, man or a woman, there's no more desire in their heart to walk after the things of the world. He is freely pardoned and becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus. And his affections are set on the things that are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God. He's freely released. He doesn't have to have some priest to tell him, or some minister to tell him. He knows in himself that he is pardoned, because he's accepted it upon the grounds that God sent it to him through Jesus Christ. What a feeling it is to be free from sin!

18 I was told when the emancipation of the ... proclamation was signed for the slaves in the South, many years ago, that the set time that they were free was at sun up on a certain morning. And they all got out from the old plantation. And many of the young men climbed way to the top of the mountain because they could see the sun come up first; and then the older men, a little beneath that; and then the women and children at the bottom. And they were waiting a long time before daylight, 'cause slave belts, hard trials, had marked their life with sorrow, and they longed for that day that when they knowed that they were pardoned.
And the Emancipation Proclamation said at this certain day at sunup they are free. And they were longing to see that hour when the sun come up, so anxious till they climbed the mountains. Oh, if sinners tonight could only be that anxious to know that you're pardoned. You're pardoned the minute that you accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Then you are pardoned.
They said that the young men waited. And as soon as the sun began to shine in the east they screamed down to the older, "We are free"; and the older down to the women and children, "We are free, we are free."--because the sun was up.

19 Oh, when men had sold out to sin, and when the Son of God came up out of the grave that morning for our justification, I think it ought to be a scream across the nation, "We are free from sin and shame, freely pardoned by the bonds of Calvary." No greater thing could be given to the human race.
When man sinned in the garden of Eden he crossed a great chasm separating himself from the eternal one. Man at that time was eternal with God. He had no sickness, sorrow, or death. Man was not made to die. Hell was not made for man. Hell was created for the devil and his angels, and not for mankind--because they were created on earth to be sons and daughters of God. But when man sinned and stepped across the boundary line between right and wrong he separated himself from God, leaving himself no way back. He was totally lost. He could not come back because he had sinned.
But God, rich in mercy, accepted a substitute. Because He had said, "The day you eat thereof, that day you die," God's justice and his holiness requires death, because it's his Word. And He must keep his Word in order to be God.

20 And now the love that He had for the human race, and yet had to see them separated from Him; and the fellowship that He had with his children in the garden of Eden, and that heartbroken condition that He's had to be in all that time--because his Word said, "The day you eat thereof, that day you die." Then we can rely upon this: whatever God says is true. It must come to pass. God cannot take his Word back, see, because He's infinite, and He's eternal. And his first decision is all-time decision. He doesn't have to take it back because He learned more about it. He's infinite to begin with. And therefore when God says anything it's perfectly that way. It can never be changed because it's the perfect decision.
And then the way God acts upon the subjects that accepts his decision, it'll forever act upon every subject that accepts his decision that way. Therefore if He made a way for a man to be saved, the first way He made has ever remained the same way. If God promised healing to the sick upon faith to believe it, it ever remains that way. He cannot take it back, see. He must ever remain the same way.

21 Now, God accepted a substitute for the man in the garden of Eden, and that was the way of a blood sacrifice. Blood had to pay the price. And it's forever been the same. There has never been any other way or anything else that ever took its place. It was blood. The only way that God receives his children back is by this blood substitute. No other price can be paid. Nothing else will do. God's first decision is always perfect. And it's eternal. And we know that that's true because God can't lie and He cannot take his Word back. Since that time it's been God's only way and only place of fellowship with man.
Now the subject was...

22 Now the word death means separation. When we die this way it does not mean... Our physical death does not mean that we are dead. Jesus said, "He that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die." Now that death speaking of there is separation from the presence of God. But the physical death that we have to go through here, yet it is not death. We're still in the presence of God. We move from this place to a closer place with Him, in his presence. It isn't the death that we call ... death what we call it here.
Remember, He said to the girl that was ... died, Jairus's daughter, "She is not dead, but sleepeth." And they laughed Him to scorn (He ...), knowing that she was dead. That's their term, she was dead. But Jesus said, "She sleepeth." And He went and wakened her, and she came back to life.

23 Now, from Adam until now, man has tried to make his own substitute. He's tried his best to do something a little better than what God did it then. And that's just natural in man. Man is always trying to better something, to make it a different way. He wants to inject his own ideas into the plan of God. And that's why we stand tonight separated, the Christian people of the world, by barriers--by denominational barriers. We ... it does this because that man has injected his own ideas into God's plan. From Adam until now, as I've said, it's been that way.
Adam expressed man's thinking in the garden of Eden when he made himself a fig leaf apron to face God. It's something that he did himself. And from fig leaves he's tried education, powers, cities, idols, civilization, denomination. But it ever remains the same: God only accepts his subjects under the blood. And that's all.

24 Education has totally failed. The more educated we get the farther we get from each other. Denomination has totally failed. We draw lines and barriers, and each one trying to get that denomination higher than the other, and it breaks fellowship. Civilization has merely brought about confusion. Cities, powers, whatevermore, has all failed. And God's plan still remains the same: under the blood.
This blood must be a displayed blood. In the garden... Back in the time, rather, of Israel, when Israel had to kill the lamb and to place the blood upon the lintel and on the door posts, God required that. And that token must be there, no matter what other position them men might have showed that they were circumcised Israelites. They might have confessed that "We believe every word that Jehovah says." But that didn't expel it. They had to display that token. The blood must be shown. That's the way it is tonight. I believe that every Christian has to display the blood of Jesus Christ that's cleansed them from the things of the world, regardless.

25 Now in that time, the token must be on the door. It must be there, regardless of how religious the house was, how religious the people, how well they had brought up their children, how fine they attended church, how well they had displayed all the things that God had said. It still, at that last hour where it showed between death and life, the blood had to be displayed. And the blood showed that a innocent substitute had been taken in the place of the worshipper. And the chemistry of the blood, the red blood itself, was a sign on the door that this house was safe under the blood.
Now that was a type.

26 Now in these last days we are coming back again to the hour of God delivering his church. I believe it. And as certain as that blood had to stand for a memorial, so does the token have to be ... is required today. For ... now they could not take the chemistry of the blood of the Lord Jesus and place it upon every heart's door. But you see, that time an animal died, which was a lamb. And to show that the animal was dead, the blood was on the door. So the life that was in the animal could not come upon the worshipper, because the animal doesn't have a soul. So the life that was in the animal could not come upon the worshipper.

27 But today when the blood of God's own Son was shed at Calvary for our pardoning, and released... The life that was in that blood was God, Himself. And the Holy Spirit returns upon his church, upon his believer, and it's the token in these last days. And He'll pass over the man or the woman that's accepted the death of Jesus Christ as their substitute, and the Holy Spirit bears record.
You might say, "I've accepted it." And you still live in the world, you still live like the world. Then there's no evidence that that life was for you, until that evidence of the Holy Spirit has struck into your life. There's God's requirement: that every man or woman must have that evidence as a token in this last day. "When I see the blood..."

28 Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again of the water and of the Spirit, he will in no wise enter into the kingdom." Therefore it's been God's program all the time--blood.
It was blood in the Old Testament; it was blood in the New Testament. In the Old Testament was the chemistry, which was the type of the life that is to come. It showed that there was a substitute taken. But the worshipper went out with the same guilty conscience that he had when he come in and offered his lamb. But this way, when the worshipper, once purged from sin, has no more conscience of it, the thing is dead, passed away, and you've changed from death unto life. And you're alive again in Christ Jesus with eternal life, the Holy Spirit resting within you bringing forth the life of Jesus Christ again. For the Bible said, Hebrews 13:8, "He's the same yesterday, today, and forever."
God is waiting the hour to see his church come to that position--regardless of denomination, regardless of creed, color, whatever it may be--that his entire church would come to the place that they are displaying the token of the death of Jesus Christ. "For a little while," He said, "and the world sees me no more; yet ye shall see me: because I live, you live also. I'll be with you, even in you to the end of the world." Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.

29 I get among Christians sometimes who claim to be sainted men and women of God. They're ashamed of a testimony. They're ashamed to say, "Amen." They're ashamed to sing the songs of Zion. They're ashamed everywhere. I like to get among people who's not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Though it seems like heresy, but yet they're not ashamed. Something has happened, and it means more than life to them. It is life. It's life eternal because they have accepted God's substitute.

30 I like this kind of singing. When I was back there praying for some of the people a few moments ago that had been brought in ... and this not being a prayer service, just to speak, I was in there and I could hear the songs, the clapping of their hands. And we wondered... Some of them, even I seen them run up and down the floor--what they call dancing in the Spirit.
At first time I was a critic of that, when I seen the Pentecostal people dancing in the Spirit. And I thought, "What is this? It must be a bunch of nonsense." Then I got to reading the Bible. And I found out that when dancing in the Spirit... The devil copied it and put them out here with rock'n'roll and stuff; but the real genuine dance come from God. That's exactly. And always a dance was victory.

31 When David slew Goliath, and this little ruddy-looking boy come dragging ahead of this giant into the city, the people met him dancing. They had the victory. When Moses crossed the Red Sea by the power of God and took the children of Israel on the other side, Miriam picked up a tambourine, and all the daughters of Israel... And up and down the bank they went, beating the tambourine and dancing in the Spirit. If that isn't an old-fashioned Pentecostal meeting, I never seen one in my life. The trouble was with me, I didn't have enough victory. But when you finally get that victory, and the token of the blood of Jesus Christ comes upon you...

32 I remember David, the great psalmist of the Bible. When he had done something that ... this great thing, he was given Saul's daughter. And she was kind of a self-starched, self-styled, so-called believer. And the ark had been away from God for a long time--the visible presence of God, the pillar of fire hanging over this ark. The Philistines had come in and took it out under Saul's reign. And one day when David seen the ark coming back to the house of God David run out before the ark and he danced before the Lord, singing the praises of God; and Saul's daughter seemed to be very much embarrassed at that man's action. Her husband, her young, handsome husband had cut-up and misbehaved himself in her presence, the king's daughter. And David said, "If ... so much ... if you don't like that watch this a little while!" And around, and around, and around the ark he went again, dancing in the Spirit. And she was embarrassed. And God cursed that woman with a curse.
Oh, the victory through the blood of Jesus Christ! the token of the resurrection of Christ. His life lives within his church. There's no other way of fellowship under ... but under that blood. Our denominations will separate us, and one say, "That's nonsense." And one say this, that, or the other.

33 Pentecost was our pattern. No one will have to say but what ... or can say but what that the church was inaugurated on the day of Pentecost. And the same Spirit that came upon them on that day... Every time without fail, in the Bible, when the Holy Ghost came upon the people they acted the same way.
Let me say this, that in the heathen lands where I've had the place, the privilege, of travelling, and seeing blanket natives of the islands, and in the Hottentots, and see them stand there where you'd have to speak through an interpreter... Never heard the name of Jesus Christ in their life. But tell them the story and ask them to raise up their hands and receive God, they do the same thing you do right here when you receive the Holy Ghost. Shows that it's a universal thing. It's the power of Almighty God, the display of his token upon his children, whether they're red, black, white, or whatever they might be. It's the only place that fellowship is given.

34 Nimrod built a tower, and Nebuchadnezzar a city, and so forth. They go on down, through scientists and everything, but ever still remains that it was the blood that... God made his decision that it would be an innocent substitute would have to take the guilty man's place for pardon and it remains the same thing tonight. He never has changed it.
Job lived by it--Job the oldest book in the Bible. Though everything happened to that man yet he stood firm, because he knowed he had met Jehovah's requirements. He knowed it was right. Abraham, the same way. Many of them. Israel met only... There was only one place that Israel could have fellowship. That was under the shed blood. Men ought everywhere to worship in Jerusalem. Until there was a sacrifice there was no worship, and the sacrifice was blood.

35 Today, yet as fully educated as the nation seems to be, and as highly cultured as they seem to be, and all of our scientific research to split an atom, and whatever takes place--to shoot a rocket to the moon, or send up a satellite or whatever it might be--all of our scientific research, all of our denominations, all of our education, all of our schools, has only got us further from God than they was at the beginning.
What it takes is a surrendered heart to the power of almighty God by his will, and the Holy Spirit will come as a token upon that person. "These signs shall follow them that believe." It ever remains the same. Christ said so. "Go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe." It's the manifestation of the Holy Spirit that God has accepted the worshipper, for the Spirit and life that was in Christ comes upon the worshipper.

36 Could you imagine a Jew in the old days under the shed blood? Here he comes down the road. It's the day of the atonement. He's going to make a sacrifice. He has a fine fat bullock. That's Jehovah's requirement. Or maybe we'd say he has a lamb, a fine fat lamb. It's going to be looked over by the priest to see if there's a blemish upon it. And then he goes to the place of worship. He realizes he's a sinner. He's did that which was wrong.
Now he lays his hands upon this sacrifice. By laying his hands upon the sacrifice he identifies himself with his sacrifice. And then when it's throat is cut, or its life is taken, his hands laid upon him, and his life is taken; and he feels the pain as that animal is dying, and the blood squirting out upon his hands; he realizes that that animal is taking his place. And there he goes back justified, because he's done exactly what Jehovah required him to do.

37 And that's the same thing it is with Christians today. It isn't signing a card that you'll come to Sunday School so many days, or so many Sundays in a year. It isn't taking a pledge that you won't drink no more for six months. It isn't that. It's laying your hands upon God's provided sacrifice, his pardon, the head of Jesus Christ, and feeling the tears of the flesh at Calvary; and then identifying yourself with Him in baptism, that as He died and rose again, so are you buried in his name to rise to newness of life, to walk as a new creature in Christ. When you do that with sincerity...

38 ... done this, Jehovah's bidding, and so he feels justified. Now, the Jew could be justified because he did what Jehovah bid him to do. Finally. That was right. Jehovah did that, and that was what He required. But finally that became a family tradition. It come atonement day and maybe the Jews had been doing what was wrong. He'd say, "Well, I believe it's atonement day. I'd better take my lamb down." See, it become a family tradition. They didn't go with it with sincerity; they just did it because the families had done it. "That's just the thing we should do. All the families do it, so we should do it too."
And that's just exactly where our Christianity's got. That's just exactly where our Pentecostal movements are coming to. It's a family tradition. See, we don't identify ourselves with our sacrifice, that we are dead with our sacrifice. We are ... we say, "Oh, we're Christians because I went and joined the church."
Joining the church is fine. But until you are identified, till you lay your hands upon Him, and you and He become one; until the Spirit of Christ becomes in you and you in Christ: until you become a son and daughter of God... There don't seem to be the sincerity that they ought to have. It becomes a ritual. Just the same as it is now. It's a ritual for people to become a Christian.

39 Here some time ago I asked a young lady in the prayer line, "Are you a Christian?"
She said, "Well, I'm an American, I'll give you to understand."
Now, like that had anything to do with it--an American. It's great to be an American, but that don't mean you're a Christian. You've got to be born again.
Another woman I asked, "Are you a Christian?"
Why, she was so put out, she said, "I give you the understanding I burn a candle every night."
Like that had anything to do with it. You've got to be identified with Christ and his life living in you. That's when you're identified with Christ, is when Christ lives in you. It isn't a ritual. It isn't belonging to church. That's all good. But you see, the real sincerity...

40 When we come to the healing services, if you'll notice on the discernment in the line, it's constantly "tell people to repent," see. You go to...
Our prayers has become a tradition. We kneel down at night and say, "Lord, bless So-and-so, and bless So-and-so, and do this, and help John, do all this." You make God a mascot, or you make Him some kind of an errand boy. "God, You do this, and You do this, and You do this..." That's not the way Jesus told us to pray. He said to pray like this: "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." But we try to order God what to do for us.
And that's the reason the church is cooling off. That's why the great revival that's just struck the land has put millions into the church. It's ... they have got to a place that they are using these experiences, and so forth, as a tradition; instead of being godly sorrowful, and letting the Holy Spirit do the work of his office within you, and creating in you a new life, and making you so hungry to go to church that you can't stay away from church. Then, that's what it is. Not to sign tickets and join and have ... so forth; it's to be ... have the life of Christ in you, that He just longs to go. There's something within you a-pushing you.

41 As I was saying to a young man yesterday in a talk, a little interview, I said I used to pass by a little spring when I was a game warden in Indiana. And there was ... it was always the happiest spring I ever seen in my life. Great springs in Indiana--they bubble up with that fine cold water, of limestone water. And one day I sat down by the spring to talk to it, just like I guess that Moses would've sat to the burning bush, to speak with it. And I said, "Little spring, what makes you so happy that you're bubbling all the time? If I come here in the winter time, you're bubbling. If I come spring, autumn, summer, whenever it is, you're bubbling. Is it because that maybe, perhaps, you're so happy that the rabbits come and drink out of you?"
Well, now, if he could talk, he'd say, "No, that's not it."
I'd say, "Well, maybe because deers come by and drink out of you."
He'd say, "No, that's not it."
I'd say, "Now, well, maybe it's because I come by once in awhile and drink from you."
"No, that's not it. I'm glad that they all come and drink, but that's not the reason that I'm bubbling all the time."
"Well, what makes you bubble like that? What makes you so happy? always gushing up?"
If he could talk he'd say, "It's not me. It's something behind me pushing me."

42 That's the way it is with a Christian experience. It isn't something that you're trying to work up; it's something behind working in you! It's eternal life that's moving up, gushing up. Like ... as He told the woman at the well, "It'll be wells of water springing up into eternal life." It's something within the worshipper when He's been identified with Christ because he knows that He is alive. But we don't want it to become a tradition.

43 When Israel got to a place that they made the commandments of God, with their sacrifices, a tradition, it was then that the mighty prophet Isaiah was sent by God to them with "thus saith the Lord." Somewhere, somehow, God always can put his hand on a man that's not afraid to strip down the thing. That's it. Somewhere, some place...
Isaiah rose up, if you'll read Isaiah 1. I got it written here. Isaiah told them, said, "Your sacrifices [that Jehovah required], has become a stink in my nose. I despise them and the fats of rams, and of heifers" and so forth. God despised them. The very thing that He commanded them to do. Because they made it a ritual, then God despised it because they made it a ritual.
And we can make the Word of God the same thing (right!) when we come to it as a tradition, as a ritual! We must come to it knowing it's a "thus saith the Lord." If God's promised it, God will stand by his promise. He's bigger than his promise. He's always been. "He's able," as Abraham said, "to perform that which He had promised to do." He's always able to do that, to keep his Word.

44 Now. Isaiah told them, said all these things that they had been doing, they had done it without sincerity. They had done it just because the rest of them was doing it. They had become ... doing it also because it was a requirement of Jehovah. And all the family did it, and the mothers did it, and the grandfathers did it. Why couldn't they do it?
Now we do the same thing. "My grandfather was a Presbyterian, so I'm a Presbyterian."
"My daddy was a Baptist, so I'm a Baptist," and so forth.
And, "My daddy was a Pentecostal, so I'm a Pentecostal." That isn't it.

45 We come to the spot to where we realize that we have separated. We are separated from God. And we come upon the basis of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Under that blood--there's where the Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Pentecostals, can all meet on common grounds, regardless of tradition they ... or ritual. They can meet there under one common thing, and that's upon the blood of Jesus Christ.
Until the church gets back to a place, and away from its rituals and back to God's original plan--that men are born into the kingdom of God and not joined into the church... Then's the time that fellowship will reign everywhere, and the Spirit of the Lord will cover the earth like the waters covers the sea, when it comes to a place that men can forget their differences and come together in fellowship under the blood.
We cannot all come under the Baptist tradition, or the Presbyterian tradition, under the Methodist tradition, under the Pentecostal tradition. But we all can meet and fellowship under the blood of Jesus Christ because it's God's original plan. That's right. Amen. There's the pardoning.

46 A Methodist can look at a Baptist and hold his head sideways, and a Baptist'll look at a Pentecostal, a Pentecostal back at the Baptist--on their traditions. But when they meet under the cross where the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses all men from sin, he's a new creature in Christ Jesus. He's a brother! No matter what brand he's branded with, he's a brother. Because that's one ground that we can all meet on. It's God's way of doing it. These other things are man-made creeds injected into this. But God's original plan for pardoning is under the blood of Jesus Christ. That's God's plan of doing it, yes.

47 Traditions in them days--the great prophet cried out, and he said, "Your traditions are powerless. They stink before me. Have no faith in them." The people is offering these offerings without even having faith in what they're doing. Now let's just ask ourself the question. Isn't that something like today? As bad as we hate to say it, we've got to face facts somewhere. There's something wrong somewhere.
Why, this church ought to be a million miles up the road to where it is now. Jesus is waiting on his church to get ready. His bride has made herself ready. We got the potentials. The Holy Spirit is here! God is here! The power to heal the sick, the power to do all the things that Christ did! I've seen it demonstrated myself by the Holy Spirit. So the potentials are here.
What God's waiting for us to get away from is our traditions, and come back under the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ, and become the church of the living God--Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, whatevermore. "Whosoever will, may come and take of the waters of life freely." I believe that with all that's in me. We ... God has sent down the Holy Spirit to do that. But we with our rituals, without sincerity... We ... going is because it's a tradition, and because it's a ritual. We go without sincerity, without really sorrowfulness of sin.

48 I noticed the other night in that great famous meeting of one of our great renowned brothers in California... And I noticed at that meeting, as those people come down, young teenage children... I admired the brother for his great stand. Anybody would. If you're positioned to see what place he's taken in the last days, you will too. And as I noticed those people coming down to the altar to make a decision, girls chewing chewing gum, boys punching one another, people laughing--that isn't the way to come godly sorrowful! You must come under conviction! God, send us an old-fashioned Pentecostal Holy Ghost revival that will bring sin to the root and bring conviction to men and women.
Not to say, "I'll go back to the church and I'll renew my fellowship. I'll sign a card." That's all right. But you can join the Masons, Odd Fellows, and anything, and get the same results. But when you come under God's pardoning atonement of the blood of Jesus Christ there's got to be a sincerity set in there. God requires sincerity.
If it cost Him such a price to give his only begotten Son, how are we going to get by under a little laughing affair, and come join church, and make a decision card, and take it into the church, and whatever it might be. That's not God's requirement. "He that goeth forth sowing in tears will doubtless return again rejoicing, bringing with him precious sheaves." We need a sheave-bringing people.

49 I heard the great evangelist say one time, when I was attending one of his breakfasts... Picked up the Bible, and (I'd always admired him) he said, "Here is the standard! That's what God requires!" He said, "I'll go into a city, I'll have a revival." Said, "I'll have twenty or thirty thousand make the decision. I come back in about four or five years [or maybe two years]," and said, "I can't find fifteen or twenty." Said, "St. Paul went into a city and he made one convert. He come back in another year, he had thirty or forty from that one." Then he said, "It's the lazy preachers that sit with their feet up on the desk and don't go out to see the people."

50 I admire his courage for bawling out his brethren, and things, upon his conviction, but I'd like to ask him this question: "What preacher told that one back there under Paul, when there was no churches for him to go to?"
What was it? Paul taken him from a tradition, or signing a card, into the baptism of the Holy Ghost, when his soul was on fire for God. He had to testify and say things. His whole soul was a-burning with a flame of fire that God had put in there. What we need tonight is a sign that a man or woman is saved: watch them go after other souls as quick as they can.

51 He said one time that a bartender... A little boy come in and said, "Mr. Bartender?"
He said, "Yes, Sonny."
He said, "Your sign is down."
He said, "Well, thank you, Sonny." So he walked outside, and the little boy stood with his hands behind him, and the bartender looked up. And there was a great barroom on a big brass plate advertised. He took his apron and polished it. He said, "Sonny, you're mistaken. My sign's up."
He said, "No sir," said, "it isn't." Said, "I mean your best sign."
He said, "That's the best sign I got."
He said, "Oh no. Look, laying there." And there laid a drunk in the gutter. That was the best sign he had (yes, sir), when he seen a man under the influence of what he was selling on the inside.
And when we see a man under the influence of the Holy Spirit until his life's a-burning with old-fashioned Pentecostal fire, that's the best sign God ever had that that man is saved. Yes, sir. That's the best sign.
Now, how will that come about? Not by joining church; but by accepting his pardon through Jesus Christ, your innocent substitute.

52 No sincerity, no real sorrow for sin. He said He'd hide his face from their rituals. Their prayers were powerless. They prayed. Oh, sure. They went up there and said their prayers. They offered their sacrifice. It become a form.
Do you know in II Timothy, the 3rd verse, or the 3rd chapter of II Timothy, we are told the same thing, that we'd get in the last days? The Bible said: "Here in the last days, know this ... that the time would come when men would be heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, and despisers of those that are good, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For this is the sort that go from house to house, and lead silly women, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
Now, if the Bible predicts that the hour would come when the church would get in the same tradition they was there by their rituals... Here it is again, a traditional religion, powerless.

53 "Oh," they said, "them were communists." No, they wasn't. "Having a form of godliness..." They go to church, they join church, they try to make a long showing that they are ... go to church and things--and go out and live different. There's no fire in their soul. There's nothing--they're not interested in anybody else. "Everybody else can die and go if they want to. We feel that we're saved. Let the rest of them go."
That isn't real Christianity. Christianity is go after the lost! Go get that brother. Go do something about it! And we stand and fold our hands, even if we claim that we are saved, and see men and women dying on every hand. And the streets full of women going to churches with shorts and painted faces, and walking up and down the streets with cigarettes in their hands, and paint all over their face--it looks like foxes or wolves or something; and men walking up and down the street, joining churches and things like that. And call that Christianity and hold your peace?

54 What would St. Paul do if he walked in Tucson? Now I say they'd have him in jail before morning. That's right! Why? His soul would burn for God till he couldn't keep from doing it. Sure. But we join church. You see, our traditions has become a stink in the face of God.
What we need today is a prophet to rise on the scene with "thus saith the Lord" and strip those things to the bottom and say that they've become a stink. Our denominations has growed, and our churches are big, and they're finer than they ever was. We'd be a lot better off with a tin pan, standing on the alley again with a guitar; out there beating the drum, or something or other, with the real Pentecostal fire burning in our souls, than to sit in the great pews that we're sitting in today, dying!--and the world dying under our feet.
Yes, sir,

55 God has a pardon and that pardon's only through Jesus Christ. Education, tradition, denomination, or scientific--nothing will ever take its place. It's under that blood. It's under the tradition--not the tradition, but under the blood of Jesus Christ, God's provided way for sinners, the only way that we can ever meet. And I tell you, you take a Methodist, take a Baptist, and a Presbyterian, and a Lutheran, and a Pentecostal, and let each one come under that blood. They're brothers. There's no fussing about them then. No sir, they are brothers. They see everything alike.
But you let a Methodist get to fussing with a Baptist on the order of baptism. Let a Oneness fuss with a Trinity, a Trinity with a Oneness, and whatevermore. Watch the fuss and hair raise. But let them both come under the cross and watch what takes place. [Blank spot].
"... and shall be till I die. Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I'll sing this power to save; when this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave."

56 I give testimony tonight that the blood of Jesus Christ makes a Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, whatever he is, my brother. Yes, sir. There's something in fellow... because his spirit is a brother. He isn't a fusser and something or another; he's a brother in Christ. He believes every word that's in that Bible.
How can the Holy Spirit, who wrote the Bible, deny it? How can the Holy Spirit living in a man, say, "No, that was for the disciples."
Jesus said, "Whosoever will."
Peter said, "The promise is unto you, and to your children, them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." The Holy Ghost was for whoever God called.
And here He said, "Those who he predestinated he foreknew." He ordained and they accepted. "And no man can come to me," said Jesus, "except the Father draws him, and all that the Father has given me will come to me."

57 Do we come in a worked-up emotion? Do we come to join the church? Do we come because we don't want to go to hell? Or do we come because we love God, that gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall have everlasting life? Do we come because it's a love sacrifice that God gave to us that we might display it?
God hates a powerless religion. Their religion has no power. So what must He do to this day? He hates a... Every time in the Bible that God ever ... outside ... this side the Bible, every time there ever come a reformation, or a revival, it was backed with great signs and powers. When Luther came forth, when Wesley came forth, when all the reformers--Sankey, Finney, Knox, Calvin, whoever--where they come there was power demonstrated. Where God is He's supernatural. Where God displays Himself there's got to be supernatural.

58 Look at the Pharisees in that day who came to Jesus. And they talk about meekness and sweetness. Who was any sweeter than the old priest? Who was any greater than their priest? He comes to you when you're born. If there's a fuss in the neighborhood he comes and settles it. And he's always a peacemaker. He's a loving man. You know he is. When you're in trouble you can go to him--he helps you. What about a nice man?
Then speaking of this Jesus of Nazareth. This priest, we know who his father was. His father's father, his father's father. We got a school here that identifies him. Who is this Jesus of Nazareth? What school did he come from? What organization does He belong to? What does he do but always fussing?
What does He say about that gentle old priest of yours? "He's of the devil," Jesus said. "You're the ... the devil is your father and his works you'll do." Could you imagine? He went up in the temple, looked upon the people with anger, kicked over the sacrifices that Jehovah required, and screamed out, "It's written, my Father's house is made a house of prayer; and you've made it a den of thieves."
What would He do today if He come to our modern churches? There'd be some more table-moving! There'd be some more pew-jumping! Why, He'd tear it to pieces. Right. It would be the same thing. Don't you see, Jesus is very scriptural. He was the Word. He had not to write anything. He was the Word. He was the living Word. And the people failed to recognize it.

59 And how can a man today, upon the principles of what... Jesus promised these signs to all the world, and this blessing to all the world, and the Holy Ghost to fall just like it did in the beginning on whosoever God would call. How can a man call himself a Christian, and deny that Word, and say the Holy Spirit is in him? The Holy Spirit will punctuate every word of God with an "Amen." That's exactly right.
Oh, brother, our educational systems has drawed us away from it. And our denominations has separated us from one another and from Christ. But what ... they'll continue to do that. And you take a substitute ... any other thing is no more than fig leaves again. God rejects it. But when the church comes under the blood of Jesus Christ with the token of the Holy Spirit upon them, then you're going to see brotherhood again. You're going to see a church full of power. You're going...

60 God hates a powerless religion! It's got to be power! Certainly. It's a power to save a man from sin. It's a power that can do signs and wonders and miracles as Jesus Christ promised. They zeroed in on the Word of God back there and believed it, and it hit the target. You zero the same way on the Word of God, and it'll hit the target again. It's got to, because He's the same yesterday, today and forever. God don't like a powerless religion. God does not want that. God wants to perform. God wants to show Himself alive! Our very hopes is the resurrection. Is that right? Our hopes of life is resurrection! The resurrection of Jesus Christ.

61 You see, God wants to work in his church. Jesus said, "I'll be with you always, even to the end of the world. The works that I do shall you do also"; St. John 12:14, "The works that I do shall you do also; even more than this shall you do; for I go to my Father." Now the church tries to deny that, to get a way to get more members, to be more popular.
Now I want to ask you something. The ... God is trying to perform in his church, and the church is trying to perform by the creed. And the two can't work together! You've got to get rid of the creed and get Christ in! And how can you do it? When He sees the blood, when the blood has been applied with a sincere heart and a hand laid upon Jesus Christ, and a heart that's true before God to confess his wrong and be born of the Holy Spirit, then the works of God would follow, as He said it would do. Yeah, the church wants to perform through their creeds to see how many members they can get. God wants to perform through the power of the blood to get Christians borned again. That's exactly the difference of it.
To do this you must reject ... to do this they ... you've got to reject the Holy Spirit and his performing power to accept a creed. You have to see the truth before you can accept an error. If you're going to be a Christian you can't ... you have to walk over God's promise in order to get in error. Because there's a red light flashing before you all the time--"This is the Word."

62 You say, "Well that was for some other day." It's for today because Christ is the Word. Is that right? St. John I: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." And the Bible said: "He's the same yesterday, today, and forever." So if Christ is the Word, every promise is true, and it's the same yesterday, today, and forever. It has to be. It takes a borned again faith to believe it and make it operate. Just ... you can't do it with tradition. It won't work. You've got to come to that blood just as sure as anything.
After Israel told ...

63 after Isaiah told Israel that they had polluted their substitute by their traditions, there appeared another prophet (before we close). Another great prophet come on the scene, and that was John the Baptizer. Now. He pointed them to a Lamb that would take ... would do, not only for Israel, but all of Adam's fallen race. He said there was ... God was going to send a Lamb. And this Lamb would be for Gentile, Jew, and whosoever would come.
It wasn't very long until the Lamb was nailed to his altar cross. His blood was shed. The Holy Spirit came back. Now when the old animal lamb died, the spirit of the animal could not come back. So that blood was just applied to a nation. But now for all of Adam's race the Lamb of God that was shed, his blood, the token, came back in the form of the Holy Spirit to come upon the worshipper. Now that's what God requires. That's what they did at that day. And that's what they do today.
Now, if any person feels the weight of sin and you know that you're wrong, listen, there is pardon. And that pardon is through God's Lamb. Do you believe that? It's through the Lamb--through the blood of the Lamb.

64 I was told a little story once. It helped me a lot. There was a boy that was kidnapped in the early days. I suppose all of you has taken Bible history and taken the history of the church. And then I believe it was the Foxe... No, it wasn't. It was the Nicaea fathers, or, the life of St. Patrick. St. Patrick was... Actually that was just a name was given him. His name was Suscat. And he was kidnapped by a bunch of sea-rovers and was hired out to be a hog-raiser.
And this story goes that this kid was kidnapped and taken aboard of a ship, and he was working his way. And the old captain taken sick one day and was just about ready to die. And he was so sick, way out on sea, and the old fellow with his gray beard laying in his cabin. And he called his hands, his deck men, said, "Is there a Bible among you?" Said, "When I was a child I had Christian raising," and said, "I'm dying. And, men, I don't want to die like this." He said, "Have you got the Word of God? Any man here's got the Word of God?"

65 Finally way back in the bunch of men, a little boy stood up and he said, "Sir, I have a Bible. I'm a Christian. I pack it with me."
He said, "Come here, Sonny." He said, "Do you mean you pack a Bible?"
He said, "Yes." Said, "My mother and father was Christians and I gave my life to Christ when I was just a teeny little fellow, and I've packed his Word with me wherever I go." Said, "I put it upon my heart and it's been in my heart."
He said, "Read me something out of there, son, before I die."
And the little fellow turned over to Isaiah 53 and 5 and it reads like this: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquity: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
And when he said that, the old captain said, "Can you read on?"
The little boy said, "May I comment here?"
And the old captain said to the lad, said, "Go ahead."
He said, "My Christian mother, before I was taken from her," said, "you know she used to read that scripture to me so much. And you know the way she read it?"
And the old captain said, "No, son, I'd like to hear the way your Christian mother read it."

66 She said ... he said, "Here's the way she read it: 'He was wounded for Willie Pruitt's transgressions, he was bruised for Willie Pruitt's iniquity: the chastisement of Willie Pruitt was upon him; and with his stripes Willie Pruitt was healed.' "
The old captain said, "I like that. I like that." Said, "Oh, if my name could only be read in there." Said, "Do you think you could do it, son?"
He said, "I'll try it." He said, "He was wounded for John Quartz' transgressions, he was bruised for John Quartz' iniquity: the chastisement of John Quartz' peace was upon him; and with his stripes John Quartz was healed."
With tears running down his beard, he said, "Fetch me my clothes. Jesus Christ has healed me. I give my life to Him," see.

67 Oh, friend, if you can only read your name in there. Oh, if I can read my name. "He was wounded for William Branham's transgressions, he was bruised..." Not the church, not this, not creed, but "He was bruised for my iniquity: the chastisement of my peace was upon him; and with his stripes William Branham was healed." Oh, if we can just read our name into scripture and really mean it. It's ... that's what does it. Read our name into it makes a receiving, a pardoning. For when we realize that "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquity...

68 Another thing, we find out in Hebrews 9:11, that pardoning produces purity, the worshipper having no more conscience of sin and has cleansed himself from dead traditions. When we really come under the blood we are cleansed from dead traditions. The scripture says so--Hebrews 9. Watch: "Cleanse your conscience from dead traditions."
Then, if you do that, forget that you are a Baptist. Forget you are a Methodist. Forget you are a Pentecostal, whatever you are. And forget those dead traditions and come to the blood. Come to that. Read your name in that and then do this. Then come to communion table. Then come and find out who's right and wrong, whether it's going to be a closed communion or not. See if you can shut your brother out. You can't do it. You just can't do it! There's something in you won't let you do it. There's just something, you see. Your name is read among those and you can't do it. It purifies you, it cleanses you.

69 Remembering Him as we kneel at the cross... Let him be a Catholic priest, Presbyterian, whatever he may be, let that man come as he reads his name in there: "He was wounded for this priest's transgressions. He was wounded for this Methodist, this Baptist, this Pentecostal, what ... wounded for our transgressions." My name, your name, whatever you are. Let us believe that. Not what the creed says; what the Word says. Then let us kneel down at the cross together--we're brothers.
Oh, yes, the traditions. We cleanse ourself then from all dead traditions. There could be forty state presbyters, there could be forty high priests, there could be cardinals, and bishops, and popes, everything else, hollering, "Get up from there! Don't pollute yourself."
But you've got your arms around your brother, right. There's something real. You've got pardon under the same atonement that He's pardoned by. You're brothers. It sticks closer than a brother. It's something about it that draws you so close to God. And when you draw close to God you draw close to each other. How can you hate your brother who you do see, or despise him, and say you love God who you have not seen? You become a liar, and the truth's not in you.
But when we come to a place where the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin, then we are brothers. Then there's no difference in us. Our little old brands that we've tacked on us don't mean a thing.

70 I remember there I passed the gate the other day and was referring to one of the brothers sitting here, where I used to herd cattle. And coming through there the ranger would mark those cattle as they went through in the spring round-up. And he watched. He never... They had all kinds of brands on them. But he never noticed the brand. He watched for the blood tag. And it had to be a thoroughbred Hereford or couldn't go on the Arapajo Forest, for the Hereford Association grazed there. It had to be a thoroughbred Hereford.

71 I think that's the way it'll be at the end-time. He won't say, "Are you a Methodist? Was you a Baptist?" That's the big question today. "What are you? A Methodist? Baptist?"
I say, "No."
"Well, what are you? A Presbyterian, Lutheran, Nazarene, Pentecostal?"
"No."
"What are you?"
"A Christian."
A Christian. The blood tag, see--under the blood. That means that every brother, sister, under that blood is my brother, sister. Very deep sincerity there before Christ, we--the priest, the preacher, or whatmore--lay our hands upon our sacrifice and say, "We're guilty sinners. We're not worthy of your mercy, O God. But You sent your Son to die in our place and we freely accept it."
Oh, we're brothers then.

72 All the old fussing is over, it's all gone. We're sincerely pardoned. You go pardoned and cleansed from sin, cleansed from tradition. Old things is passed away, old fusses is over. All the Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians are all cleansed by the same blood and we become brothers. Traditional fusses is over. Then, can fellowship here. And there only can we fellowship.
I've seen Presbyterians stand in these Full Gospel Businessmen's meetings speaking in tongues and shouting as hard as they could, and some of the most outstanding Presbyterians there is in the United States. Jim Brown--how many ever met him?--an outstanding Presbyterian. Stand here and dance in the Spirit, and speak in tongues, and carry on here--and a pastor of one of the most famous Presbyterian churches in the United States. Lutherans, Methodists, Pres... all together. What is it? They have come under the blood. There's no tags, there's no denominational barriers. We are one! We are Christians. We have things in common, yes.
Here not long ago

73 (in closing), there was a man and a woman, husband and wife, was separating. And they tried to make up. They went to a psychiatrist to find out if he could draw their minds together. But he couldn't. They went to everything that they could think of to try to stay together, but they just fussed and continually they were divided. And they just couldn't stand each other. And couldn't stand in each other's presence, and they'd go to fussing. So they decided they'd divorce. So they hired a lawyer to give them a divorce.
He said, "Well, now before we do it," said, "we'll sell the place." And said, "You all better go down and divide the spoils between you before you get the divorce and the place is sold."

74 So the husband and wife went together and they went to the home. And they went into the living room and she said, "I'm going to take this."
And he said, "I'm going to take this." And they fussed, and they stewed, and carried on with one another.
After awhile they said, "Well, I'll give you this if you'll take this."
"All right." That went on awhile.
Then they went into the parlor and different places, and into the kitchen and into the bedroom. They divided their spoils.

75 Then finally they remembered there was some stuff in the attic. So they went up into the attic and they pulled out an old trunk. And they began to lay out different things, say, "You can have this, and you can have this."
And finally both of their eyes fell on a certain little object and they both grabbed for it. And they looked at each other. What was it? A pair of little white shoes that had belonged to a baby that had deceased. It was part of both of them. There with their hands clasped like that over this baby's shoe... Really, who did it belong to? Whose was it? It belonged to both of them. They had things in common.
In a few minutes, as one looked to the other, tears began to run down their cheeks. What is it? They could divide everything else, but when they come till they had something in common--the child, and it was in heaven--then the fuss was over. In a few minutes they were in each other's arms, and the divorce was settled. Peace reigned.

76 Brethren, let me say this to you tonight. We're not wanting you to join a church. But I'm asking you this, there's one thing that we have in common--that's Jesus Christ. He's in common with us. We can't all be Baptists, we can't all be Methodists, we can't all be Oneness, or Threeness, or whatever it is. We can't be that. But there's one thing we have in common. That's the pardoning offer of God, his Son, Jesus Christ. We have all things in Him. But that's the first thing for us to accept. Then we can get other things when we accept the pardon that God has offered us.
And that won't be through our educational systems, through our denominational system, but it'll be through the blood of Jesus Christ. We all can meet there under the cross and be one and have things in common. Do you believe that? Let us bow our heads just a moment while we pray. [A message is given from the audience.] Amen.

77 With heads bowed, surely hearts bowed, let's bow our hearts just a minute now with our heads, saying, "Lord, with my heart bowed now--with all of my tradition, am I right or wrong?"
Let the Holy Spirit search through the heart now. And if it's not just where it should be, and you would like to be remembered in prayer in the closing, that you know that we can all meet under one thing, the blood, the atonement... And when we do, then we're cleansed from all the things of the world. And you'd like to be remembered in prayer, would you let it be known by uplift your hand to God, say, "Re..." God bless you. Oh, my, the hands. "Remember me, Lord."

78 Do you realize that we haven't got many more days to stroll through this earth? You say, "Well, I'm young." I know ... I don't know, sister, brother. There'll be a many teenager die tonight across the world--hundreds of them. No, only thing you have is what breath is left in you. Will you at this time, say, "With my hand up, Lord God, I accept the pardon that You offered, the blood of Jesus Christ. Now let the token from the blood, the Holy Spirit, come upon me. I haven't received the Holy Ghost. I know it. And I want to receive that something that makes me feel the way you're talking about, that my sins are all gone; and the world, the love of the world, is passed from me, and I'm a new creature. I want to know that in my heart. And God, I'm not raising my hand to Brother Branham, but I'm raising it to You, and You know my heart."
And don't anyone look up. Let God see this alone. And say, "God, I want the token that the blood has been applied to me. And I want it." Raise your hand and say, "Pray for me, Brother Branham." Lord bless you. That's fine.

79 No matter what you are, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, it's for whosoever will. Now I have ... saying nothing against those churches, they're all right. But what I'm trying to say, that that won't save you, see. It's got to be God's pardon--pardoning grace. And it's only represented, not through a church, but through the blood of Jesus Christ. That's your substitute, when you can lay your hands upon Him and say, "Now I accept this substitute. God be merciful to me."
And maybe there may be church members here that has joined church, with all good sincerity. I believe that with all my heart, you joined with sincerity. But you say, "Brother Branham, really, my heart hasn't been cleansed from all these traditions and things. I believe if someone would speak against the very church that I ... if the Bible would even say, tell me, I can prove by the Bible that my church is wrong, I still couldn't accept it from my heart, I couldn't do it. But I want to. Pray for me." Would you raise your hand and say, "Pray." I'll do it. Yes, I sure will. God bless you. That's good. That's fine.
"I want to be able to accept everything that God said, just the way He did in his Bible. And I want the blood of Jesus Christ to come upon me."

80 And if the blood is applied, the token... See, there is a token given of the blood, and that's the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost, you know what it did to the people. And every time that it ever will come upon the people it'll do the very same thing. Peter said, "For the promise is unto you, to your children, to them that's far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call"--this same promise.
If ten cents is ten cents here, it's ten cents out there. It's wherever it's at, it's ten cents. If this is a dime in here, it's a dime in there. If this is a house here, it's a house there. And if this is the Holy Spirit that fell on the day of Pentecost, it's the same Holy Spirit today. And you have never found that experience. Accept it now while we pray, will you?

81 Our heavenly Father, knowing that the sun is swiftly going down, time shall be no more. One day the great archangel will step out on the scene of time, from out of eternity. And the trumpet of God shall sound and every man and woman will answer to what we know to be the truth, the Word of God. There's got to be some standard that God has to have here on earth that we are to be judged by. And if we took the standard of our church, our denomination, how far would we miss it! And which denomination would be right? Therefore we'd be confused. We wouldn't know what to do.
But there is a standard and that is your Word. And your Word said, "Except a man be born again he cannot even see the kingdom of God." In other words, he cannot understand it. He must accept it by faith and be borned again, and then he will understand it. "See" is to understand.

82 And we pray God, tonight, that many of those hands going up tonight all over the building, businessmen of the city, and women, boys, and girls, I believe with sincerity they raised their hand. Now they could not raise their hands unless there was a conviction. And the Holy Spirit by them has proved to them that they are wrong, and brought conviction, that they want to be right. And they raised up their hands to You, the great creator, knowing that they have to meet You some day. And they were sincere, I believe, Lord, and I'm interceding for each one. I trust tonight, Lord, as I pray, that not one hand that went up will ever be able to have rest until the Holy Spirit has filled their life. Grant it, Lord. I claim them for the trophies of Jesus Christ. Do it, Lord, I pray.
Save the lost,

83 fill those who have accepted Christ with the Holy Ghost. Pour it out upon their souls, Father. Get glory unto thyself. Jesus, You have said to us, "No man can come to me except my Father draws him first." And "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing of the Word of God." And now Word of God being preached, faith comes by hearing. And they have been drawn because the Bible said, "Those who he foreknew he predestinated." And those who He predestinated He called. And those who He called He gave eternal life.
And now, back in the beginning, before the world, You put their names upon the Lamb's book of life. And tonight the Holy Spirit has called. And they raised their hands. Now, Lord, give them eternal life. I ask it for the glory of God, that the Holy Spirit will come down in their hearts and circumcise them from all dead works and traditions. And give them free pardoning and fill them with his presence, that they might go forth from this day, in the hour of darkness, like it was in the days of Sodom when painted-faced women, immorality, shook the nations.
Oh, Lord God, may men and women go forth as burning blazes. May the Holy Spirit literally send holy fire upon them, Lord, until they'll be so filled with God's goodness and ... that they'll go forth to call every sinner they come in contact to the cross. Grant it, Lord, where they too can fall and find pardoning. Do that to the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostals, and all, Lord. Grant it. They're yours now. I commit them into your hands, that You will grant this to them. In Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

84 Do you love Him? This may be a little out of order. Just a moment. Let's sing this good old hymn. I love to sing. You know the... Sometimes in preaching you say things that cut, but there is a balm in Gilead, isn't there, that heals the soul? Let's sing this good old song, if you will. "I love Him, I love Him, because He first loved me." Do you know the song? Somebody now, lead it off for me.
I love Him, I love Him
Because He first loved me
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary's tree.

85 Now let's hum it. Now, while you're humming "I Love Him," how many Baptists are here? Raise up your hands. Presbyterians? Lutheran? Nazarene? Pilgrim Holiness? Pentecostal? My, ... at the people! All together. What have we done now when we've come under the cross, under the pardoning grace? We're all pardoned. Not by our church, but by Calvary. Let's just shake hands with the Methodists, Baptists, and Pentecostals now when we sing again.
I love Him, I love Him
Because He first loved me
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary's tree.
Now, we sing it so each one can hear it. Now let's just bow our heads and raise up our both hands to God. And with all of our heart, if we love Him, let's say so now.
I love Him, oh, I love Him
Because He first loved me
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary's tree.