Scriptural Signs of the Time
You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net
1 ...and that's just going to be about thirty or thirty-five minutes. Shall we stand while we turn to St. Matthew 12, the 12th chapter of St. Matthew beginning with the 38th verse, while we reverently bow our hearts.
Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master we would see a sign from thee.
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and an adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and ... no sign shall be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
The men of Nineveh shall rise in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Let us pray.
Matthew 12:38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
Matthew 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
2 Lord, "behold" means look up to, pay attention. Let us remember tonight these words, that a greater than all is here: the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We ask this blessing, that He'll take these words and anoint them to the hearts of the people, that they might have faith, then show Himself alive as He promised to be. "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world," or the consummation. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
3 We will speak just for a few moments on "Scriptural Signs of the Time." Now, Jesus here was rebuking that generation because they had not believed his scriptural sign. Watch these Pharisees. They come to Him and said, "Master, we would seek a sign from Thee." Watch the blindness of them. The sign had already been done, and they didn't recognize it. Do you know, I believe that one day the rapture will take place, and people will know nothing about it? Jesus said in St. Matthew the 11th chapter, when John had come to, or, his disciples had come to see Him and they returned back, and He said, "What went ye out to see? A reed shaken with the wind, or a man in fine raiment? Or did you go to see a prophet?" He said, "I say a prophet, indeed. Now, if you can receive it, why, this is he who was spoken of by the prophet saying, 'I will send my messenger before my face.'"
Matthew 11:7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
Matthew 11:8 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
Matthew 11:9 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.
Matthew 11:10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Matthew 12:38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
Luke 7:24 And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind?
Luke 7:25 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts.
Luke 7:26 But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet.
Luke 7:27 This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
4 One day the disciples asked Him, said, when He was talking about He being the Son of man, he said, "Why is it then, that the scribe says that Elias must first come?" Now look. In Malachi the 3rd chapter, said that "I'll send my messenger before my face." Jesus referred to that scripture.
Not Malachi 4, now; that's another time, see. Malachi 3 was one time---"I send my messenger before my face." Malachi 4, when He comes, then the earth's going to be burnt, and the righteous walk out upon the ashes in the millennium. And we never did that after the coming of John. But it will be, after the coming of the last-day messenger that will return the hearts of the people back to the original gospel, the faith of the early fathers, the kind they had in the new church at Jerusalem. And that will be restored in the last days through the... It'll be in a minority group, but it will be just the same kind of a character as Elijah and John---both wilderness lovers, women haters, and so ... and denominational blasters. And they'll be just the same type of person, but have the truth---a-vindicated, identified truth. It's promised.
Malachi 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Malachi 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Malachi 4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.
Matthew 17:10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
5 Now, we know that Jesus turned and said to him, "Elias has already come and you didn't know it." Now, wouldn't it be very sad, one of these days, if we find the church over in the tribulation period?
Now, I'm not here to preach doctrine. I don't do that. I respect my brothers. But if you'll forgive me, let me just inject this just a moment. I---for myself personally---certainly I believe the church goes through the tribulation period; but not the bride. The bride goes home. See, God brings a bride out of a church, like He brought a nation out of a nation in Egypt, see. The bride...
That's the remnant of the woman's seed. The elected---that's his business where He puts the pattern. But the remnant is what's cut off from the pattern. The woman's seed goes into outer darkness. Right. But not the elected church. It's already judged and purified, because it's in Christ. It don't have to go through anything else. The others has to go through judgment because they wasn't in.
Matthew 17:12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
6 Now, one of these days that little minority... "As it was in the days of Noah [wherein eight souls was saved by water], so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man. In the days of Lot [wherein three souls were saved from fire], so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man." They're looking for a great big universal something, when it's not even in the Scripture, see.
One of these days they'll say, "Well, I thought the Bible said that the church would escape all of this." The bride escapes this. Just think. After Noah (as it was in the days of Noah)... Noah went in the ark and the door was closed. He went in on May the 17th and the door was closed, and never rained for seven days after he was in the ark. And they didn't know it. God closed the door.
Genesis 7:7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
Genesis 7:8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
Genesis 7:9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
Genesis 7:10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
Matthew 24:37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Luke 17:26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luke 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Luke 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
7 And one day the door of mercy'll be closed, and people'll go right on thinking they're getting saved, and preaching and so forth---and mercy has done been spurned its last time---and know it not until it's missing. Remember, there's hundreds of people missing every day that we cannot find or give an account for them, world over. "There'll be one in a field, I'll take one. One, two in a bed, and I'll take one." Universal. So it won't take very many to make that escape---raptured bride.
Remember the signs. Israel was always ... relied upon their signs, instead of intellectual speeches. They were supposed to... God sent them prophets. The prophets give signs. And signs ... always, when there's a sign (a scriptural sign), there's got to be a scriptural voice follow that scriptural sign. And it must all be scriptural, promised.
See, you get into a trend: like Luther on justification. That's what he knowed, that's all. They was satisfied, and went right down into their doctrine. Here come Wesley, with sanctification. Went right on a-past it. Then he organized. Along come Pentecost with the restoration of the gifts---and they organized. God moves right on, right straight on, all the time, see, for each day, each church age.
Matthew 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Luke 17:34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
Luke 17:36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
8 We have astounding picture there tonight, that's going in that book, of three years: how the Lord's let me draw it out on the blackboard, and show just how the church ages would fail and when; and how they would go up and down. And as soon as that was finished, that great angel of the Lord---that light---before practically as many people as sitting here, come right on the side of the wall, standing there (and people fainting), and drawed it right out with itself on the wall.
Three years later the moon darkened and went right out, just exactly in the day ... was before the pope---first pope---went to Rome. And when the church and ecumenical council is ready... Oh, brother, sister, don't let me get started on that. We're right here at the end, every sign, everything laying just right.
9 God gives signs, scriptural signs, scripture signs of a voice. Remember when Moses... What's a sign given for? It's to attract attention. A sign is to attract attention. Then if the sign doesn't have any voice, then the sign's not right. If the sign gives the same old ecclesiastical voice, that sign isn't from God. If that voice hasn't got a change... And that change must be scriptural sign, must be scriptural voice.
Say, for instance, the denominational voice followed a certain sign. God never sent that. We've had denomination all these years. It's got to be something different. It's got to be "thus saith the Lord" in the Scripture. God's got to promise it by the Word. And then a sign is to attract the people's attention to it. And then the voice follows the sign. That's the doctrine goes with it.
10 Jesus was a well-thought of man. He was a young rabbi, the prophet of Galilee. He ... when He was healing the sick and so forth, He was a great man. But one day He sat down, and He began to talk and tell them, "I and the Father are one." That was the voice that followed it. Oh, no. They didn't want that. They was ready for the sign; but the voice they didn't want. "When you see the Son of man ascending up from where He come from..." They couldn't see that at all, see. But when the voice began to follow the sign, they didn't want nothing to do with it. Always a sign and a voice.
John 6:62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
John 10:30 I and my Father are one.
11 Reason Moses took off his shoes, the sign attracted his attention. He looked over there and he saw that tree on fire. Now, he was a chemist. He was a great scientist. He was taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And they done things that we can't do today in science---built a pyramid, sphinx, had embalming fluid that we don't have, coloring that we don't have. It was greater a civilization, and more educated than we are today.
And Moses was a master over them. And when he saw that tree burning, with not burning down, no doubt but what he said, "My!" In his heart he might have said, "I'll go over and pick a few of those leaves and take them down to the laboratory, and see what chemical they're sprayed with." If he'd have done that, the voice would have never talked to him.
Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Exodus 3:3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
Exodus 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
Exodus 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
12 You can't figure God out. You've got to sit down by the side of Him, and talk it over. Take off your shoes, as it were. Lay down your education, look straight into his Word. Say, "I don't care what anyone else says, You've promised it here for this day, and it's the truth."
Moses took off his shoes. Watch the voice that come from it. If it hadn't been a scriptural voice, Moses wouldn't have believed it. The sign attracted the attention. And the sign was to attract attention of the prophet.
A prophet himself is a sign. When God sends a prophet, look out: judgment follows it. It always has; it always will. There's no way around it. And it goes right over top of the people, and they never know it, until it's too far. No wonder Jesus said, "You build the tombs of the prophets, and whiten, and you're the one that put them in there. And as your fathers did, so will you." And they did it.
13 Now we see coming on the scene, now, we see Moses rising up here, and he seen that bush and he drew near. And a voice come from it, said, "Take off your shoes, for the ground on where you're standing is holy." He took off his shoes and knelt down.
And He said, "I'm the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." There come a scriptural voice. "And I remember my promise, and I see the afflictions of my people. I remember my promise, and I'm sending you down there to do it. And I'm making you as my voice, and I'll give you two signs. And one of them will be in your hand. And you'll take and turn a serpent into a, or a pole into a serpent." And the next thing is to put his hand in his bosom, and divine healing.
Said, "If they won't believe the voice of the first sign, then they will believe the voice of the second sign. And if they don't, take water out of the river, pour it upon the ground, and it will become blood."
That's ... their blood's already drenched in it then. Egypt is finished. We've had the first, and got the second. I wonder if the next isn't the drenching of the blood. Wonder where we're standing tonight. Voices and signs---God giving them signs. No. Just think of how, that the things that we've seen done---scriptural voices, interpretation.
Exodus 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Exodus 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
Exodus 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
Exodus 4:3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.
Exodus 4:4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:
Exodus 4:5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.
Exodus 4:6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.
Exodus 4:7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.
Exodus 4:8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
Exodus 4:9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.
14 Now, in this great glare that the people's laying in, their eyes glared out... "I belong to this, I belong to that." That has no more to do with God than nothing else. Not at all. God in every generation has sent his sign. Jesus said before his coming He would show signs, before his coming. People are always... Remember, to believe scriptural signs, they must be identified scripture sign.
God always... As I said last night, the church gets things mixed up and gone out. Then He anoints one person. Every man's different from the other. He anoints one. God is one. And so He anoints the person; He never did use a group. He always uses one, always has. He never changes his course. He uses one. And He sends that forth, preaches the message; it's rejected flatly. But all that will come, will come from that generation. First watch, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and then seventh; and then the bridegroom come. And we're in the seventh.
15 And we find these denominational churches running. And I was ashamed of these ... you Christian Businessmen the other night, putting in that book (the Businessmen's book) " Holy Father so-and-so." Don't you Pentecostal people know that we're not supposed to call any man "Father" on this earth? That shows that some kind of a glare has blinded your eyes. Yes. And don't you realize, them people ... the Bible said when the ... when this remnant, this sleeping virgin come up to buy oil, that they didn't get it? They might've danced in the Spirit, spoke in tongues. But I've seen devils do that. That ain't got nothing to do with it. I'm talking about the Holy Ghost, the Bible Holy Ghost.
Matthew 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
16 I've seen them carry on in the heathen fields: I've been seven times around the world, and all ... in all kinds of heathens, and around hundreds of thousands (many as 150,000 people, or 50,000 people gathered at one time); and find out that how that witch doctors and everything challenge you to it. You better know what you're talking about! Better not just have intellectual talk. You better be able by God to support what you're talking about, or don't get on that field there. They'll make you embarrassed.
17 But remember, our God is still the God of Elijah. He's still the God that He ever was. He's still the same God. He moves in the same cycle, He does the same thing, He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. I've seen them stand dumbfounded, paralyzed, and taken off the field. God still remains God.
Notice. Now, Jesus told us these things would take place in the last days, and we find them just exactly the signs of his coming. Everything... We all will agree that we're at the end of the world. But when it gives, comes down to the church, and the things He's going to do for the church---the body, the bride---in the last days, then we turn our nose up and walk away. See, it's just ... it's got to be that way. The world turns up their nose at that. They try to ignore it.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
18 Look at this here television program for... Too many Pentecostal people stay home on Wednesday night to watch "We Love Suzy," some immoral act of some woman married four or five times, or some man---and love that better than you do your Christ.
No wonder we can't have revival. No wonder there's not such a thing. When the love of the world is greater than the love of God that's in your heart... Oh, we can walk up and make a decision, put our name on the book, and go out and live with the world---that's what the world's wanting. That's what the church is wanting. It's wanting to maintain its confession and believe that it is a Christian, and live any way it wants to. Don't worry. You're going to get to do it, in the ecumenical council. They'll let you do anything you want to.
19 But remember, the bride will be a called-out, separated, and different, filled, Holy Ghost-born... Washed in the blood of the Lamb, she'll abstain from everything that's filthy around her husband. She's a chaste virgin, pure by the Word. The Word and her are the same as a man and his wife becomes one in union. So does the real genuine church of God. When it becomes in Christ, the Bible is punctuated with an "Amen," every promise.
Don't make any difference what the denomination says, the soul that's in the believer punctuate it, because it is the Word in him speaking out. The Word's sharper than a two-edged sword, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Bible said so. That's how it's vindicated and known.
Notice, my brother. Notice, it's too bad that we're ... don't see these things. Jesus spoke of them. He was their scriptural sign and they recognized Him not. He was exactly the scriptural sign. He told them He was. He said, "Search the scriptures. In them you think you have eternal life, and they are the ones that testify of Me. If I do not the works of my Father, believe it not."
John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
John 10:37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
20 Everybody's got his own private interpretation. Every denomination has these seminaries---hatch out a bunch of incubator preachers. I always felt sorry for an incubator chicken. It had no mammy. No matter how much it chirped, it wasn't mothered. That's the way these machines turn out you clergymen---sometimes knows no more about God than a Hottentot does about Egyptian knight, or a rabbit know how to put on snow shoes.
What we need is an experienced preacher that's been on the backside of the desert, till he stayed in that place under God, until the pillar of fire come down before him like it did Moses. And nobody can take that from him. He was there when it happened. Now that is true. Back to God, and back to his Bible.
2 Peter 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 Jesus said, "If you'd have knowed Me, you would've knowed my day." Everybody has their own interpretation. The Methodist has theirs. Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal---all the rest of them has their interpretation. But the Bible says that the Word of God is no private interpretation. What is the interpretation of it, then? He does his own interpreting.
He said, "Let there be light," and there was light. That don't need no interpretation. He said, "A virgin shall conceive," and she did. That don't need any interpretation. He said in the last days He'd pour out his spirit upon all flesh, and He did. That don't need no interpretation. It's already done, right in the face of the critics that said it couldn't be done. God did it anyhow, because He's interpreting his Word. He said it. "As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the end time when the Son of man is being revealed," and He did it. There's no need of any interpretation; it interprets itself.
All these promises that He made: He said, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do [the things that I do] shall he also." Don't need any interpretation. He just does it, that's all. If ... "I am the vine, and ye are the branches." The same life as in the vine is in the branches, the same branch that come forth on the day of Pentecost.
Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Joel 2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Luke 17:29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Luke 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Acts 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
22 I stood the other day and seen a mysterious sight. A good friend of mine, and a friend of Jack Moore, John Sharrit... The Lord blessed him the first part of the ministry. He had no children. Worked for twenty-five cents an hour, busting concrete on the street. He come to the meeting, the Lord blessed him. Got five children. Now he owns half of Phoenix, gives about two or three million each year to the Lord.
I was standing on his farm not long ago (one of them), where he had 1500 Mexicans, working steady; and a whole county of nothing but cotton, potatoes---county after county, he owns them himself. Fifteen years ago was getting a quarter an hour for breaking concrete. He trusted God.
23 I was looking at one of his trees, and it had so many different kinds of fruit on it. He has great citrus orchards. And I said, "Brother Sharrit, what about that tree there?"
He said, "Brother Branham, it's got all kind of fruit on it."
I said, "Well, it's got lemons, it's got..." I seen tangerines, tangelo. I seen lemons, grapefruit, and oranges. I said, "What kind of a tree is that?"
He said, "An orange tree."
I said, "Orange, with all them on it?"
He said, "Yes. That's grafted. It's pushed in there."
And I said, "Oh, I see. That's what you call grafting."
He said, "Yes, Brother Branham." He explained how they done it certain times of the year, how they grafted this limb.
I said, "Now, next year there won't be any tangerines, there won't be any tangelos, there won't be any fruit at all, but ... nothing but oranges."
He said, "Oh, no. No, no." Said, "The grapefruit will bring, the vine of the grapefruit will bring forth a grapefruit vine, a grapefruit. The tangerine will bring a tangerine. The lemon will bring a lemon."
"Well," I said, "what kind of a tree is that?"
He said, "An orange tree." He said, "But if that orange tree ever puts forth another branch..."
I said, "What will it bring?" He said, "An orange."
I said, "I see it." Oh, yes! Why? They're all citrus fruit.
24 We all claim to be in Christ. But when we come in there with a denominational creed, we live by it. That's right. But if that tree ever brings forth another branch, it'll be another book of Acts wrote behind it. It'll be like the first branch was that come forth. It'll be Holy Ghost-filled, Holy Ghost-inspired, Holy Ghost... There'll be no creed to it. It'll be the Word.
Many of you takes my tapes got the message on "The Bride Tree." The fruit's right at the top for the evening lights to ripen. Now. And the evening lights is ripening the fruit at this time.
25 Now, we find, they ought to have known Him; but they knew Him not. So is it in our time. They know Him not. Jesus here was referring (quickly now, so we get to the message), Jesus was referring back, and He'd been doing signs showing them that He was the Messiah, exactly what Messiah was supposed to do, doing the Messiahic sign.
Many of them we took last night believed it. We find out that the woman at the well, she wasn't educated, she was ill-famed. But as soon as she seen that sign she said, "Sir, I perceive You're a prophet. And I know that when the Messiah cometh and He'll do this."
He said, "I am He that speaks to you."
And when she went into the city of Sychar, and told them all the things that He had done, said, "Come see a man who told me what I've done. Isn't this the very Messiah?"
And the Bible said... He didn't do it any more, but they believed on Him, because of the testimony of a woman of ill-fame. Now, talk about rising in the days of Jonas and condemning this generation!
Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
John 4:7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
John 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
John 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
John 4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
John 4:27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
John 4:28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
John 4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
John 4:39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
26 Notice, we find out then, Nathanael, Peter, and others who believed. We see the blind Bartimaeus. We see little Zacchaeus in a tree, hid. "Jesus," he said, "He'll never see me up here."
And Jesus stood right under the tree and looked up, and said, "Zacchaeus, come on down."
He was the Word, and the Word discerns the thought that's in the heart. And the Pharisees and scholars of that day condemned it because it didn't have the polish and shine of ecclesiasm in it. It didn't have the educational standpoint that it should have. It didn't have the tinsel and the stuff that the ecclesiastic should have, a great big hood on, a turned-around collar, and something another, with some kind of ... words that could speak to be over the top of the common people's head. And the Bible said, "The common people heard him gladly." He spoke the common language. He lived a common man's life.
27 And we find out, that in doing this, we find what took place. Now, they could not believe it, and they said, "This man is Beelzebub. He's a foul spirit." In other words, "He's either got mental telepathy, or either he's got ... he's a fortuneteller of some sort, and anybody knows that that's of the devil, and it's impersonation." And so we find out then, that they condemned Him. Then he was standing here, said, "Master, show us a sign."
What did He turn to them? He said, "A wicked and an adulterous generation seeks after a sign." Now watch. "A wicked and an adulterous generation..." He was prophesying. He said, "And they will receive it," the wicked and adulterous generation. And if that ain't the generation we're living in, I don't know why.
Remember, all prophecy has a compound meaning.
Matthew 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
Matthew 12:38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
Matthew 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Matthew 16:1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
Mark 3:22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
Luke 11:15 But some of them said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub the chief of the devils.
Luke 19:4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.
Luke 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.
28 Get in Matthew there, the 3rd chapter, where it said, "Out of Egypt I've called my son." Run the reference back to it, you find out He was talking about Jacob, his son. But also, his greater Son, Jesus, He called out of Egypt.
Now, we find that in there a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and they'll get it. For the wicked and adulterous generation will see the sign of the resurrection. "As Jonas was in the whale's belly for three days and nights, so must the Son of man be in the heart of the earth." Then He'll raise up. It's been 2,000 years, and we've got another wicked and adulterous generation. And they're receiving a sign of the resurrected Christ alive among us, after 1900 years. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Matthew 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 16:4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
29 Jonah, we know him. We know he was a prophet. Many of them refer to him as some kind of a run-about. He wasn't. The footsteps of the righteous is ordered of the Lord. I was reading a book not long ago. He did go to Tarshish---started to it---instead of Nineveh. But that was all in God's plan. The footsteps of the righteous ... because sometime, evil befalls you or something.
It was so with Job. He wasn't... Job was the best man in the land in his day, the best man God could find. And yet, look what happened to him. He wasn't chastising him; He was trying him. He was proving to Satan He had somebody that would believe Him in the face of difficults.
So Jonah was the same thing. We find him on the road down to Nineveh, and he took a ship to Tarshish, and he... And the sea got up, and he was asleep. He told them, "Tie my hands and feet and throw me out, for I'm the cause of it." And when they throwed him out, a big whale was swimming around through the waters, prowling, and swallowed this prophet.
1 Kings 14:25 And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem:
Jonah 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
Jonah 1:4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
Jonah 1:5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
30 I remember not long ago in Louisville, Kentucky, where I used to live across the river in Indiana, they had a whale over there on a flatcar. Some little Ricky that had more intelligence than he knowed how to control, he said, "Now, you've heard the old fable of the whale swallowing Jonah." He got a baseball, took it back to the esophagus of the whale, and he said, "Looky here." Said, "A baseball won't even go through it." He said, "The old fable of Jonah being swallowed by the whale," he said, "just a fable."
That was too much for me to stand. I said, "Just a minute, sir." He was beginning to tell how impossible for a man to get into that throat. I said, "You failed to read the Scriptures, sir. And that is not a fable. It's the truth."
He looked at me and said, "Who are you?"
I said, "I'm Rev. Branham, from just across the river."
He said, "Oh, I see---a preacher who believes that."
I said, "With all my heart, with all my heart."
And he said, "Well, you know," he said, "looky here, sir. Not disputing---and I admire your stand and so forth---but," said, "scientifically," said, "you couldn't put a man's hand, hardly, in his throat."
I said, "Sir, you don't read the Scripture right. The Bible said this was a special prepared fish. God said He prepared a fish. He's a special. I believe what God says is the truth. This is a special." Switched his nose up and down with his glasses on, two or three times, and went on with his lecture, and everybody laughed. His special fish! God prepared a fish to swallow Jonah. My, I believe it with all my heart.
Now, we find out that on his... He swallowed him.
Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
31 Anything... A fish, after it eats, it goes right down to the bottom. Feed your little gold fish, and watch what happens. They go right down to the bottom of the little container you got them in, and rest their little swimmers on the bottom. Their little belly's full, so they're down there resting. So when this big fish swallowed Jonah, he must've went down to the bottom to rest, out of the waves and out of the storm.
He was looking around through the revival to see what he could find---the revival on the sea, you know, switching up and down, the wind---so he found this preacher and swallowed him, and went down to the bottom.
32 Now, here's Jonah down there in the belly of this whale with his hands and feet tied, laying in the vomit of the whale. Now, I've often heard people say, "I was prayed for last night, and my hand's no better. It's still crippled. I still have the stomach ache. My eyes---I don't see good yet." Oh, my! Then holler at Jonah? My! If anybody had a case of symptoms, he ought to have had it. If he looked this way, it was a whale's belly; that way was whale's belly; everywhere he looked was whale's belly. And his hands was tied behind him.
He was in the whale's belly in the bottom of the sea, probably forty fathoms deep in the bottom of the sea. Now talk about symptoms! And then you called him backslid. But you know what he said? "They're lying vanities. I won't even look at them. But once more will I look to thy holy temple, Lord."
Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 2:4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
Jonah 2:8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
33 Now, Jonah knew that when Solomon dedicated the temple, he prayed and said, "Lord, if thy people be in trouble anywhere and look to this holy place, then hear from heaven." And he had that much confidence in the prayer of a man that backslid, that made a prayer! How much more... There's none of us in that condition tonight. There's none of us with that kind of symptoms. And then we look at our symptoms.
Why, if he could have that much confidence in the prayer of a man that backslid... And we're asked to look to heaven where Jesus sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high, in a temple not made with hands. He's expecting, in there, to intercede upon your confession. How much more should we ignore our symptoms! And, "Once more I'll look to thy holy promise, Lord." Oh, my! When we see God on the scene...
1 Kings 8:30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.
34 Now, we find out that Jonah... They said this whale carried him in there for three days and nights, took him all the way back down around, back-tracked the course, went over.
And now, the people of Nineveh were ... had become like they are in the rest of the world now. Their great commercial world... Their industry was fishing---all the men fished. And they worshipped idols. And the whale was the sea god. And one day about eleven o'clock, while they were all out there fishing, here come their sea god in, licked out his tongue, and the prophet walked off the gang plank. No wonder they repented!
See, that was a sign. That was a sign. What was the voice? What was the voice? "You see, boys, what I can do"? No. "Repent, or in forty days God'll destroy the place." Sign, and the voice, the voice that followed the sign---"Repent," he said.
Jonah 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 2:10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Jonah 3:4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Matthew 12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
35 And them people that didn't know right hand from the left repented at the preaching of Jonas, and a greater than Jonas is here.
And He said, "The queen of the south shall rise up in the ... her, with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and a greater than Solomon is here."
Now, when... In closing I say this: When God sends a gift to the earth, a sign-gift, and the people believe it, that's one of the most glorious ages people ever lived. But when He sends a sign and it's rejected, that generation goes into chaos. It always has. What if the people of America tonight would receive the sign of God in this last days?
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Luke 11:31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
36 Why, we're talking about going to Fort Knox, and moving the government down there, and digging down into the ground. Why, them Russian bombs goes maybe a hundred, two hundred yards down into the ground, and blow it for 150 miles. Why, the concussion would go plumb into the ... to the lava. You're not safe nowhere on this earth. There's only one safety: that's in the arms of Jesus Christ. He's our retreat.
But what if we denied, as Americans, and we all trusted in the gift that God give us, the Holy Ghost, in the last days? Why, every nation would fear us like they did in the days of Solomon. God gave Solomon a gift to know all. The whole church, everybody, believed it. That was a millennium for the Jews---that was the Old Testament millennium in the days of Solomon, a foreshadow of the millennium to come. The golden age of the Jews.
Notice, nobody started war with them. They feared them because they knowed their God was real, because they had Him in their presence. And the people was all of one heart and one accord. Why, the fame went everywhere. Everywhere, and you'd hear, "Oh, what a great thing, great God Israel has---the living God."
1 Kings 10:1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.
37 And his fame went way down into Sheba. Measure it on the map and see how far it is.
There was a little queen down there, that got to hungering in her heart for God. Every time she'd hear somebody (one of the caravans would come by), she'd say, "Have you been through Palestine?
"Yes."
"Tell me about that great revival they got going on up there."
And everybody'd say, "Oh, it's marvelous."
"Did you see it?"
"Yes."
"How is it?"
"Oh, that great God that they serve has come down, and living in one of his servants, and they made him king. Why he can discern, he knows the very thoughts that's in your heart. And you know, they say that God is the Word, and the Word is God. And the Word discerns the thoughts that's in their heart. And that man's wisdom exceeds anything you've ever heard of. He can discern, though, even the thoughts that you're thinking about. Oh, it's a wonderful revival they got up there."
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
38 And you know, faith cometh by hearing, hearing the Word of God, promise of God. And this little queen got to hungering, and she wanted to go to this revival. Now, she had a whole lot to confront her. Now, the first thing, she was a pagan. She'd have to go to her priest to ask if she could leave. She was a queen, she was a dignity and a celebrity.
Now, no doubt but what she went up to the high priest, and she said, "Great holy father, I understand that there is a revival up in Israel, and they're having a great time up there. And their God is living. And He's doing great signs and wonders that we never seen anything like it, or heard anything like it. Every caravan, I inquire. And they say it's wonderful. May I be excused from my denomination to go visit?"
I can imagine, "We're not cooperating in that meeting. So you'd better stay away from it," see. You know, men die; but not spirits, see.
Then we find out that, "No, you'd better stay away from it. We're not cooperating in that."
"Well, now look, holy father, I understand..."
"Now, looky here. If there was anything going on, it'd be going on among us. Our church would have it." Oh, my. "Here it is here. We'd have it right here."
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
39 I can hear that little queen say, rise up... I like her spunk. She raised up, said, "I've seen these idols standing here for years. I've heard you standing behind the pulpit and preaching about some god that was, some god that was, (my great-great-grandmother heard the same story.), and not being moving no time. They tell me they've got a living God that's living among them, something that's genuine. I want to see it."
"Now look. If you go, you know what you're going to do? You're associating yourself with a bunch of people, you know, they got all this opening Red Seas, and all that kind of stuff. Better not go up there, because if you do..."
"Well, I'm going anyhow."
"We'll take your name right off the book."
"Well, take it off the book!"
When a person goes to hungering and thirsting for God, there's no book in the world can hold them, because they're after a book.
"Take my name off if you want to. I'm going anyhow. I hear that that's a living God. It's got reality. I'm going to find out about it. So you just might as well get my name off of it."
40 Now, she had a lot to confront her.
Now, remember, she made up her mind. She got all the scrolls to read what Jehovah was. Now there's a smart woman. Don't go on somebody else's presumption; just go what the Bible says He is. Take what He says He is. Find out what He is, if He lives or not. Not what some scholar has said about it, but what He said, Himself, about Himself---what He promised. And she began to read.
Now, she had a real good idea. She said, "I'm going to pack up a lot of gifts, and I'm going to take it. And if it's the truth, I'll support it. If it isn't the truth, I can bring my money back."
She could teach Pentecostal people something---supporting radio programs that laugh at the very thing you believe in, and yet you support it. Let your... Well, I'll keep still on that. You know enough about that anyhow. That's your preacher's business. Notice. But that's a shame.
1 Kings 10:2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
41 She said, "If it isn't real, I'll bring my gifts back." So she packed them upon a camel.
Remember, look what confronted her. She had a long distance. You know how long it takes? She had to go by camel. You know how long it takes? It takes ninety days---three months---on the back of a camel. Not in an air-conditioned Cadillac. No, no. Three days, and the back of a camel. No wonder Jesus said, "She'll raise in the judgment with this generation and condemn it." There's people in Birmingham wouldn't walk across the street to see the same thing. Buses, streetcars, airplanes, and everything else in our day. No wonder when they rise up they'll condemn this generation! Yes, sir, for a greater than Solomon is here---the Holy Ghost Himself.
Notice,
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Luke 11:31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
42 we find out then, there's another thought. Looky now. Ishmael's children was on the desert, and they were fleet riders (my!) and robbers. Why, she had all that money on there. What her little band of eunuchs, guards that she had, and a few maids... They'd just cut ... chop them right down, take that treasure and go on like nothing.
But you know, there's something about when your heart begins to hunger to find the reality of God, there's no danger in the way. You don't see any danger. You don't see any failure. You say, "Well, will I get well?" There's no question in your mind. Genuine faith anchors itself. There's nothing going to move it. It stays right there. She never thought about the danger laid ahead.
There's one thing she had---one objective. She had one thing she wanted to achieve, and her motives was right. So she went to reach it, for her heart was hungering and thirsting. "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." That's right.
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
43 Watch her now, as she starts out across the desert, probably traveling at night, resting in the daytime under some oasis, reading those scriptures. Finally she arrived at the porch of Solomon. When she did, out in the ... in the courts she unloaded her camels, and set up her tent.
Now she didn't come like some people. Some people today... She isn't a... Here's a 1964 version of it: "I hear they're doing the ... they say the Lord's doing this. I'll go down, and the first word said against what I believe, right out the door I'll go," see.
But not her. She brought the Word and sat down. She's going to stay there, until she was actually convinced. She wasn't going to check her own ideas. She was going to check the Word. So she went in. I imagine the first day, she sat down way back in the back. And the trumpets sound, the bells tolled out, and all the singers went to singing, the ark of the covenant was there at the place, and Pastor Solomon came out, sat down.
She said, "Now, I'll see whether God's in the man, or not."
So she watched, and every case begin to move. Oh, what a wonderful thing! Nothing was hid. So she got her prayer card, you know, and waited. So as it was, as she come up in the line finally... Day after day she waited. She grew more interest all the time, as the revival went on. My, her heart was hungering. After awhile, she got before Solomon. And the Bible said there wasn't nothing but what Solomon revealed to her---discernment.
1 Kings 10:3 And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not.
44 And yet here was Jesus standing, the God of Solomon (a greater than Solomon is here), and they said, "Show us a sign, Master."
A greater than Solomon is here. "And the queen of the south come from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, a greater than Solomon is here." And we've had 2000, yes, 2800 years since then, of Bible history. And tonight, a greater than Solomon is here with the promised Word of this day. And still we mope right along. No wonder she'll stand in the day of judgment and condemn Birmingham, United States, all the rest with her testimony; for her heart was hungering to see God, and she stayed till it was over.
Matthew 12:38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Matthew 16:1 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven.
45 What did she say then, after she'd seen the real thing happen? You know what she said? She... After Solomon revealed to her what was in her heart, why, she said, "All that I ever heard, and even more than the..." Why? It'd been done on her, then. She'd seen what somebody else had said about it, but it was her turn then. Her secret had been revealed to her, and she said, "It's greater." And she said, "Even blessed are the men that's with you, that sees this all the time. The men that stands here and sees these things all the time, blessed are they."
She'd seen the way he went up to the house of the Lord. She become a believer,
1 Kings 10:3 And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not.
1 Kings 10:4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built,
1 Kings 10:5 And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.
1 Kings 10:6 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.
1 Kings 10:8 Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
46 and promised to rise in the last days and condemn these generations. As it was in the days of Solomon, and as the days of Jonas and so forth---she'll rise in this day and condemn in the resurrection the people that's lived in this day, for a greater than Solomon is here.
The Holy Spirit, Himself, is here. The creator of the heavens and earth is here, identifying Himself with his people with the same kind of a gift, exactly like was in Christ, Him doing it; like was in Solomon, Him doing it; like was in the prophets, and Him doing it; like prophesied for the last days. We haven't had it for hundreds and hundreds of years. And as it was just before his first coming...
They had no discernment for hundreds of years, and there it come on the scene. And somebody introduced the Messiah, and promised the next thing coming right along---in the last days, as it was then. Here we are in the last days. Signs that He promised would happen: the world situation just the way it's supposed to be, the immorality of the world, and everything that we got---just in position---and the Holy Spirit right in the position doing exact... Oh, it's a wonderful thing, to know that we serve a real God.
47 I feel like telling something now. I've told it before, but I think I feel led to say it again. As everybody knows, I hunt, not so much for the game; I like to be in the woods. My mother was a half-breed, you know that. My mother was a half-Cherokee Indian. Her mother drawed the pension, see, in Tennessee. So now we find out that, in that, I love to hunt and my conversion never taken...
'Cause I ... my first Bible was the woods. I could see a flower, how it died. The little seed laid in the ground, and rotted. Everything was gone. But the next year... There was nothing you could find. You could take that handful of dirt to the laboratories, not a chemist in the world could find that germ of life in there. But it lived again when the sun come up. It lived again. That let me know there was a life, death, burial, resurrection.
48 I see the sun rise. In the morning it's a little baby born. At eight o'clock it starts to school. At around about ten o'clock it's out of college then. And then at noon time it's in its strength. Two o'clock, it's fifty-five years old. And then along about four o'clock, it's getting eighty, eighty-five. It's gone. It served God's purpose. But what? If it served God's purpose, is that the end of it? No. It rises up again the next morning to testify there is birth, life, death, resurrection.
But first thing, a seed planted in the ground, if it isn't germitized it will not come up. It's got to serve God's purpose in order to come up. And so do we. We are a germitized seed in the ground. We must serve God's purpose, or we'll never come up in that first resurrection. Come up for judgment in the last---just like a hybrid corn. It comes up long enough to take its judgment of the sun, and dies, and goes back and that's all of it. Exactly right. But the real seed leaves, lives again, produces itself.
49 Look at the sap in a tree. Before any frost falls or anything else, that tree, the... Some nature somewhere gets ahold of him, said, "Run down to the bottom of the tree right quick. Get down in the ground, 'cause there's a frost coming." And if it don't, it'll kill the tree. And hides down there until all the freeze's over, then comes right back up again. Some intelligence does it.
You know what intelligence that is? You explain that to me, what intelligence makes that tree go down, hide itself and come back up, and I'll tell you the intelligence that tells me who you are, and where you come from, what you've done, and where you're going. That's the same thing, 'cause it's the same God. Sure. Exactly. It's God that does those things. Now remember, friend.
50 One day I was a-hunting where I used to go hunting, up in the North Woods. Now, I hunted with a friend, and I loved to hunt with him. He's kind of a part of an Indian too. Burt Caul, and he's a fine man. The man might be sitting here now, for all I know. He comes down south here all the time. And he was a great hunter. Never had to worry about him, he wasn't going to get lost. We'd hunt together, and we knowed each other. But he was the cruel-heartedest man I ever met in my life. He would shoot fawns just to make me feel bad, 'cause I didn't like to see him kill little fellows.
It's all right to kill a fawn, now, if the government says so. I was game warden for years, and I'm still a conservationist. I believe in animals, and I believe in conservation. And let them just... If you let them keep on going on... They're put here to eat. If you don't eat some of them out, then they'll take a disease and die, or starve to death. But just what the law says, they know how to handle that. Let them take care of it.
But Burt would kill them just to be mean, just to see me feel bad about it. He used to say, he said, "Billy, you're a good preacher or ... a good hunter. But trouble of it is, you're too much of a preacher; you're too chicken-hearted."
And I said, "Burt, you're just cruel, that's all." And we'd go on.
51 One day I went up. I had to work late, and it was a little ... getting late in the season. And the white-tail deer---I don't know whether you have them here or not. Oh, my! You talk about Houdini being an escape artist, they're better than he. So, it was late in the season. They'd been shot at a few times. And we started one morning, about six inches of snow, started up across the Presidential Range. And we'd taken some... Always take hot chocolate and a sandwich. And about noon-time if we didn't get a deer, then we'd separate in the mountains, and come back, and get in some time nine or ten o'clock that night. If we got a deer we hung him up. We knowed where we were at, and we'd come back and get him.
So that morning we went up. And so, before I left he said, "Hey, Billy, I got something for you this year."
And I said, "What is it?
He reached down in his pocket, and pulled out a little whistle, something about the size of this. And he blew it, and it sounded like a fawn calling for its mammy---you know, the little baby deer calling for its mammy.
I said, "Burt, you wouldn't be that cruel, would you?"
He said, "Oh, you chicken-hearted preachers. You're all alike."
52 So, we started up the hill. Along about eleven o'clock he... There was an opening about the size of this room, maybe a little larger. And we hadn't even seen a track. It was moonlight, and they was feeding at night, and they... And it's hard to find them. And they just stayed hid, stayed down ... and so ... under the brush, and back in the deep timber. And they'd paw down and eat moss, and forget it. So, then we would...
53 I come to this little opening there, and he sat down. I thought he was... There was a bank of snow there, a drift. I thought he was going in his pocket, like this, to get out this little thermos bottle, and take a drink of his chocolate; and we'd eat our dinner and then separate, and we'd go back across the ranges. He'd go one way, and me the other.
But when he did, I started to reach to get my sandwich 'cause I was getting a little hungry. I set my gun down against a tree, and reached back to my sand... And I looked at him. He looked up at me. And he had eyes just like a lizard, anyhow---you know, like women paint their eyes, that funny-looking dog-like look on them, and then, had all painted up like that? Well, that's the way his eyes looked---kind of like a lizard, kind of slant-like.
He looked up at me. And I thought "What's he got on his mind?" He reached down and brought out this little whistle. And I thought, I said, "Burt, aren't you ashamed of yourself?"
54 And he blew it. And when he did, just about thirty yards, or hardly so far, a big doe stood up.
Now, the doe is a mama deer. That was her baby calling. She ... he blew the whistle. She jumped up. Now, she wouldn't have done that by no means. She knew we were there; but her baby was in trouble. And he looked at me with them lizard eyes again. I seen him move the safety down on a 30.06 rifle. He was a dead shot. Oh, he was a good one. And he blew the whistle again, and that old mother deer walked right straight out in that opening.
Now, brother, that's unusual. They wouldn't do that. First thing, she wouldn't have got up. If she would, she'd have went the other way. And here she was---walked right out in the opening. And she knew we were there. And as soon as the safety clicked on that gun, she turned and looked right at the hunter. Instead of running, she just stood there, her big ears, her eyes wide open, her ears sticking up, and she was looking around.
55 What was it? She was a mother. That was her baby. Her baby was in trouble---the little fellow was crying like a little fawn. She wasn't a hypocrite. She wasn't putting on something. She was genuine. She was born a mother. That's what she was, a mother. And he leveled that gun down. I thought, "How can you do it? Burt, how can you?..."
56 I couldn't look at it. I turned my back. I thought, "Lord God, how can the man be that cruel-hearted," to blow that faithful heart of that mother looking for her baby, and coax her out there, deceive her, and bring her out there and then... I knowed he was such a dead shot he'd blow that sacred heart of hers plumb through the other side of her---and her a mother. She would actually come 'cause that was her baby.
And talk about a sign, that was one of it---of loyalty---because something was on the inside. She was a mother. And I turned my back. I said, "Lord God, how can a human being be that cruel, to do a thing like that?" And I waited, and I waited, and the gun never fired. I thought any minute I'd hear the gun go off and it'd ... I'd ... it'd... A 180-grain bullet mushroom would've blowed her heart plumb through her.
And I thought, "Well, why didn't it go off?" And I was standing this way with my eyes closed, praying. And when I turned my head to look, the gun barrel was going like this. And I looked at it a few minutes. He was wiggling his gun barrel. And he turned up and looked, and those lizard eyes... I took another look. The tears was rolling down his cheeks.
He threw the gun on the ground and said, "Billy, I've had enough of it. Lead me to that Jesus that you talk about."
What was it? Right there on that bank of snow I led that cruel-hearted man... He's a deacon in a church now. What was it? He saw something real, something genuine, something that wasn't some theology or some historical something. He saw God in reality. That's what brought him. Oh, how many in here would like to be the kind of ... much of a Christian as that deer was a mother? Sure, with a real experience in the face of death, I mean. Let us bow our heads.
57 Heavenly Father, the hour is late, and the people are attentive. They're nice and they're listening, this little story. Now Lord, if... I can remember that cold November day standing up there, and the winds kind of blowing across the mountains. I can see them glistening tears running down them bearded cheeks, when he held me by the leg and cried. Said, "Billy, you talked to me about some one that's love, and I see some reality here." There was something in that deer that drove her out there, Lord. There was a real motherhood in there. It was a real sign that there was genuine love in motherhood.
58 O God, let thy Word speak tonight, genuine, genuine Holy Spirit. Not something that's emotional, enthusiastic, which it is also; but something that's real by the Word made manifest, the Word sharper than a two-edged sword, and discerns the thoughts that's in the heart, which...
You identified all your prophets when You were on earth. You called them gods. You said, "You called those who the Word of God came to, gods. Then how can you condemn Me when I say I'm the Son of God."
Oh, Lord, the world knows its own. It's been blind all the years. I pray tonight, Father, that you'll open the eyes of people and let us tonight become real Christians and real believers; for a greater than Solomon is here, a greater than all the prophets is here. The Son of God, Himself, is here in the form of the Holy Ghost promising, "Yet a little while, and the world won't see me no more. The word 'cosmos,' the world order, won't see me no more; yet ye shall see me, for I will be in you, even to the end of the world." And Father, You say You're the same yesterday, today, and forever, and we know it is the truth. Oh, I pray God, that you'll have mercy tonight.
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
John 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
John 10:35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
John 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
59 And while we have our heads bowed, I wonder... Tonight with our heads bowed, would anybody that... Be honest with God now in his presence, before you've seen anything happen. But yet you know in your heart that you're not as much a genuine Christian as that deer was a mother. And the reason she was a mother is because she was born a mother. She couldn't help being that. She was born a mother.
And now, if you are not born... If you ain't got that same love for Christ---regardless of what anybody says, you believe Him: He's the same yesterday, today, and forever---and you'd like to have that kind of Christian love in you as that mother-love produced for her, would you (with your heads bowed, everybody now, and every eye closed) raise up your hand and say, "Pray for me, Brother Branham," and I'll certainly do it. God bless you, brother. God bless you. Oh, my. Look around on the floor, up in the balconies, all across...
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
60 Don't be ashamed. If you're ashamed of Him here, He said, "I'll be ashamed of you before the Father, holy angels." You're in his presence now. He's here. He's absolutely here.
The great Holy Spirit, that pillar of fire that was with Moses is right here. You remember, when He was here on earth He said, "I come from God, and I go to God." And He said that Moses forsook the treasures of Egypt, considering the (treasures) of Christ greater than all, the reproach of Christ greater than all the treasures of Egypt.
He went in the wilderness with Christ, and any Bible reader knows that that pillar of fire was the angel of the covenant, the Logos that went out of God, which was Jesus. And then, when He died, He ascended up into heaven.
And when He met Saul on the road to Damascus, He'd done turned back to the pillar of fire again. And He even put Paul's eyes out from his brightness.
Now he's here tonight, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Would you like to identify yourself before Him? Say, "Lord God, I haven't got that kind of an experience. I want to have it." I'm not asking you to come up here. I'm just asking you to raise your hand to Him, if you feel like that. Was there some that hasn't raised their hand? Raise your hands now. God bless you.
Mark 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
John 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
Acts 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Acts 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Acts 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
Acts 9:8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.
Ephesians 4:10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
Hebrews 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
61 Our heavenly Father, they're yours. Science says ... according to science we cannot raise our hand; gravitation holds it down. But there's a spirit in men and in women. And they... Another spirit come to them, which is the Holy Spirit, said "Raise up your hand." And they defied the law of gravitation and raised their hands towards God who made them. "I want to be a real Christian." Heavenly Father, I pray that you'll make each of them real Christians. Through Jesus Christ's name, they are yours, Lord.
How little did I know that day, that when that little deer walked out there on that field, it would be the cause of ... it was a sign. But Thou knowest all things. So I pray, Father, that You'll receive them now. They're trophies of the gospel. They're yours. You said, "No man can pluck them from my (heart), from my hand." And there You said, "All that is mine belongs to the Father. And no man can pluck them from his hand."
Jesus said in St. John 5:24, "He that heareth my Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life: and shall not come into the judgment, but has passed from death unto life." Lord, that's your Word. Now not them that makes-believe, but them that really believe have eternal life. They're yours, Father. I give them to You now. In Jesus Christ's name. Amen.
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
John 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
62 Now, be real reverent just a moment. Now it's just exactly time to close, but just wait just a moment. Before we do that, how many believes that Jesus Christ promised to be with us wherever two or three were gathered in his name? How many believes that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever? His ... He'd be... If He was here tonight, He would be just as He was then. He'd do the same thing. The Bible said that "He's the high priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities." Is that right? New Testament, Hebrews 3rd chapter: "...high priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities." Now have faith in God. Now just believe real, with all your heart.
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
63 And you out there now, that's out in this audience that doesn't ... that's sick... How many of you's sick? Raise up your hand. Just say, "I'm sick." Now just real low, real quiet now, everybody. Now you pray, say, "Lord Jesus, Brother Branham doesn't know me. But what he said tonight, 'A greater than Solomon is here,' and I know that that's prophesied to return; and it hasn't been in the world for hundreds, and hundreds, and thousands of years---but you promised it would return again in the last days according to Malachi 4; and promised in St. Luke 17, and all these other promises...
"You said it would be here when the Son of man revealed Himself, because it has to be the Word. Because
Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Luke 17:30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
64 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.' And the Word discerns the thoughts."
It was the Word in the prophets, it was the Word in the Son, it's the Word in you today. The Word. It's prophesied, promised. Although you find many impersonations, many carnal competitions, that doesn't take away from it---from the real. There's a real Holy Ghost, real God.
Now you believe with all your heart, and look this way to me and believe with all your heart. Say, "Lord God, I'm going to pray. And I pray that You will reveal to Brother Branham, and let me touch your garment, and you turn to him ('cause he don't know me) and tell me what my trouble is. And then I'll know that your presence is here."
65 Friends, you know what's the matter with the Pentecostal people? They've seen too much. An old salt, one day, was coming from the sea, and he found a writer going to the sea. And the old salt said to the writer, said, "Where goest thou, my good man?"
Said, "Down to the sea. Oh, I want to smell its salty brines. I want to see its blue skies, the white clouds, and sea gulls."
He said, "I was borned on it fifty years ago. I don't see nothing so attractive about it." That's it. He'd seen so much of it, till it become common.
That's what's the matter with us, people. We've seen so much of God. This church that's been called out of the denominational groups in the last days has seen so much of it, until it's become so common you just overlook it. Don't never let Christ become common to you, friend. Don't never do that. You just believe with all your heart, and all that's in you. Now have faith in God.
66 Now just pray, and let the Lord Jesus grant it.
Now you just touch his garment. I don't know... You touch him. He can be touched. [long pause] Just pray now. I don't say that He will do it. Just a moment would settle it all. You just kind of... Now it's a light. Don't nobody take a picture, a flash picture. Just be reverent.
Now here it is. It's over a woman sitting here looking at me, right here at the end. Right there. You believe me to be his servant, lady? I'm a stranger to you. You don't know me; I don't know you. But if God will describe to me (just like He did to the woman and tell her about her blood issue, or the woman had five husbands), if the Lord Jesus will provide that information to you through me, would you believe it with all your heart? You'll know whether it's the truth or not. All right. It's a bladder trouble. If that's right, raise up your hand. Now, that's exactly right.
Here, you sitting next to her---you was going to help her. You touched her with your hand. Now, you were kind. Now, you believe God can tell me what your trouble is? You believe that He can do it? High blood pressure. If that's right, raise up your hand.
Matthew 9:20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
Matthew 9:22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
Mark 5:25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
Mark 5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Luke 8:43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
Luke 8:48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.
John 4:18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
67 The man sitting next to her, do you believe, sir? Believe God can tell me what your trouble is? You know whether it'd be truth or not. Varicose veins. You believe? The little lady sitting there, kind of crying like, your trouble is nervousness. That's exactly right. Kind of shadowed---you get weak in the day-time. You think you're losing your mind. The devil tries to tell you that, but you're not. It's all over from tonight now. See, you've got the victory. It's left you. The black shadow that was over you has left you.
You was weeping there, sitting next to her, lady. It thrills you. Now, do you believe me to be his prophet, or his servant? That stumbles some people, you see. You ... I don't know you. We're strangers. You believe God can tell me what's your trouble? All right. You have heart trouble, kidney trouble, and you're anemia. If that's right, raise up your hand.
68 This little lady sitting here, kind of heavy-set, a red and dark striped dress on, she's praying. She wants to be called in this line. If that's right, raise up your hand, lady. You believe God can tell me what your trouble is? Your friend will be all right, the spiritual problem will be all right. And your female trouble will leave you, if you'll believe God with all your heart. Now, if that's right, raise up your hand. If that's what you was praying about, raise up your hand so that people can see what you're doing. Right? You just have faith in God.
Somebody back---you don't have to be sitting here on the front ---way back, believe with all your heart. Way back there, there's a woman. She's got a growth on her side. She's praying. She's going to miss it. Lord God, help me, I pray. Mrs. Goodman, you believe with all your heart that God will take that growth from your side? All right. Raise your hand way up so the people can see you. I'm a total stranger, never seen her. There she... Is them things right? Raise up your hand. All right.
69 A lady sitting over there, out towards the end there, she's suffering with a gall bladder trouble. And she's also ... she's got diabetes, heart trouble. Mrs. Otterville, believe with all your heart, lady, and you can be healed there.
Please don't move around, people. I ask you in Christ's name, don't do that. See, diseases go from one to another, see. Unbelief is the most horrible thing there is in the world. Just have faith.
There's a little lady sitting here praying about her husband. He drinks. That's right. You're praying that he'll stop drinking. Isn't that right? I don't know you. Got a prayer card? You don't have? You don't need one. Just faith that you got... You touched something. You're twenty or thirty feet from me. You touched the high priest.
70 Little lady behind there is praying about her husband, too, sitting behind her. That's right. Your husband's a nervous man---kind of a mental nervousness. He's missing right now. If that's right, raise up your hand. And you've got something wrong with your hand. You have allergy, or something or other. You touch stuff that makes your hands go bad. Isn't that right? Mrs. Patty is your name. You believe with all your heart? Now, if that's right, raise up your hand. Amen. I've asked you to believe.
What about this lady sitting here. You've got a mark on your face, like a little skin cancer. You believe me to be God's servant? You do? I don't know you. You're a stranger to me. That's not exactly what you're praying about. You're praying about a heart trouble that you got. That's right. Is that right? This lady sitting here. If you'll believe with all your heart, you can have your healing. Your husband got his last night, why not you? Ex-woman preacher. Now believe with all your heart, and you... Now you see, just so you'd know. You was kind of questioning in your mind, see. Now you're satisfied, aren't you? Raise up your hand if that's right. Have faith in God.
71 What do you think of that diabetes, sir, sitting here with your hand up? You believe that God can heal diabetes, and make you well? You do? All right, sir, God can heal you. You're a stranger to me too. If you'll believe with all your heart...
Man sitting there's got heart trouble, something wrong with his back. Mr. Easter, you was hurt in a train accident that caused that. If that's right, raise up. Jesus Christ will heal you and make you well. How many of you believe?
A greater than Solomon is here. You believe it? Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, swept plumb across the building. You believe now that He's here? He's right here now! That's reality. That's exactly what He said would take place. "These things that I do shall you also; more than this will you do, for I go to my Father."
One time a woman touched Him. He got so weak He said virtue went from Him. And He was the Son of God. I'm a sinner saved by his grace. "More than this shall you do." I know the King James says "greater," but in original it says "More than this shall you do, for I go unto my Father."
Matthew 9:20 And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
Matthew 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Mark 5:27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
Mark 5:30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
Luke 8:43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
Luke 8:46 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
72 Now do you believe that?
You believe his presence is here? Then why not lay your hands over on one another, you believers, and pray for your fellow man sitting next to you. Each one of you---lay your hands over on each other and believe with all your heart now, as you pray. Pray the way you do in church. Believe the way you've always believed. Now let that Spirit of God that made you a Christian be just as great and loyal to you as you're praying for that person, as that mother deer had in her being a mother---that loyal spirit of Christ that's here now, that the world don't believe. The world hates it. The world don't understand it. The Bible says they wouldn't.
The world knows its own; and God knows his own. God promised it. It's the truth. So help me, it's the truth: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Pray now.
John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
73 Lord Jesus, here lays some handkerchiefs laying here that's for the sick and the afflicted. Now I lay my hands upon them because we're taught in the Bible they'd taken from the body of Paul handkerchiefs and aprons. And unclean spirits went out of the people, and they were healed of diseases. Now we're not St. Paul, but You're still Jesus. And I pray that You'll honor these for these people that couldn't be to the meetings. May, when they're laid upon the people may it come to pass.
Like one of the writers said, when the ... when the Red Sea got in the way of the children of Israel, God looked down through that pillar of fire with angry eyes, and the sea got scared because it was standing in the way of the path of duty to believers. And the sea moved back, and the believers went over to the promised land. Lord God, look down through the blood of your Son, Jesus Christ, tonight, upon these handkerchiefs, upon these audience here, with their hands laying on each other, praying for each other. You said, "Confess your faults one to the other, pray one for the other that you may be healed, for the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much."
Exodus 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
Exodus 14:22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
Acts 19:12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
74 I pray God, as the confessed Christian tonight is praying for the person he has his hands on, may the power of the Holy Ghost come upon that person. May the Spirit quicken to them, Lord, the reality. May they not miss it, Lord. Let them not be like something that's going to miss it, Father. May Birmingham catch its vision, now, of the presence of the resurrected Jesus Christ. A greater than all the prophets, a greater than all the preachers, greater than all the popes, or the potentates, or whatever it might be---it's Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever, a-vindicating Himself in the last days by his promised Word. Grant it, Lord. I pray this faith, or, this prayer of faith for them, as they pray for each other. In Jesus Christ's name, we present it to you.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
75 Now, each one of you, as you... Got your hands on somebody? Now just close your eyes, and remember, the Christ that's promised this has come here and vindicated Himself. Yes, I seen a man healed right there with TB, sitting right back there in front of me. Now, if you just ... it's just going on everywhere, everywhere in the building.
Be sure ... if God... A man can tell me things; that don't make it so. But when God comes down and tells it, and vindicates it, and proves it's the truth: you disbelieve it, it's unpardonable sin. Jesus said it'd never be forgiven in this world or the world to come. The Scriptures promises this, and here it is vindicated right before you. People, in the name of Jesus Christ, receive Him while He's here, here in the presence of us tonight, while we're with Him. Will you believe it?
And all that truly does believe it, and accept Him as your Saviour or as your healer, will you stand to your feet to give testimony? "I'll stand as a testimony I truly believe, and I now accept my healing, my salvation, and all my needs in the presence of Christ. I now accept Him." My, look over the building. Almost all the congregation standing. Wonderful. That's beautiful. Now it's all over, if you believe it, if thou canst believe.
Matthew 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
76 Now, let us close our eyes, and raise up our hands and sing, "I love Him, I love Him because He first loved me." Let's give Him praise as we sing Him now, sing to Him these praises.
I love Him, I love Him
Because He first loved me
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary's tree.
Let's raise up our hands and say "Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord."
I love Him, (everybody) I love Him
Because He first loved me
And purchased my salvation
On Calvary's tree.
Now bow your heads just a moment. Piano, organist and pianist, go right ahead.
77 I wonder tonight, is your conviction still believing?
I wonder if you believe that the God who can tell me the secret in the heart to prove that... He don't have to do that now, but He said He would do it. When Jesus came the first time, He didn't have to heal, but He said He would do it. He did it that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. And He does it tonight because the prophets said He would, and Jesus said He would, too.
Now I wonder, if you who wants that love of God in your heart, like the mother deer had for her baby--- you want that love in your heart for Christ, and you believe He'd hear our prayer---would you come stand here while we pray for you, while we sing that once more? Just come right up here. You make a public confession then. Just walk right out and stand along here, if you believe that prayer, my prayer, will help you. You come right up while we sing this again.
I (now prove you love Him
by coming)love Him,
I love Him (God bless you)
Because He first loved me
And...............
Come down out of the balcony. We'll wait for you. If you're really sincere, come on.
............vation
On Calvary's tree.
There are people who are leaving the balconies, coming down. Everybody sing now. "I..." Just get right in the aisles, wherever, come right on.
Because He first loved me
Remember, the God that will meet you at the judgment has met you here in the church tonight.
........ my salvation
On Calvary's......
Matthew 8:16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:
Matthew 8:17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
78 I wonder if all the ministers here that's interested in lost souls, that still has the vision for people in need, if you'll walk up now among the people. All you ministers in here, every minister that believes that God will still save a sinner, you might see one of the greatest things happen just now you've ever seen. This is what the Holy Spirit likes.
I love Him.........
Now prove it, prove that you're interested. You love Him, you love Him, you love his children. Now, weave yourself right in among these people here, just come right on up and get among the people, right like this; and weave yourself right in, laying hands upon them. Come right up here. Now we're going to pray. I believe the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon the people tonight, right here in the audience.
... Calvary's tree.
Oh, how I love Jesus ...
Get in love with Him. You can read His Word and...
Oh, how I love Jesus
Oh, how.........
Now close the world away from you now. Close all the world away from you.
Because He first loved me.
Oh, how I love (wonderful)
Oh, how... ...
Now ministers, get someone in here. Ministers come right in. Move right in around the people.
Oh, how I love Jesus,
Because He first loved...
Now He's standing here. He knows everything that's in your heart. Don't you think He knows that? Right here. Wasn't no secret. He knows just what you're talk ... what you're needing.
79 Now let's bow our heads, each one, all over the audience, you that even couldn't get here. Now let's pray. Each one of you just confess all your wrong, confess all your unbelief.
Say, "Lord Jesus, maybe I belonged to church once. I went to church, but I never was satisfied. There was something or another... Oh, I might've ... I might've shouted, I might've spoke with tongues, I might've joined church"---all those things. They're fine. I have nothing against that. But that's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about love of God that's really down there. That's the Holy Spirit. That's it. If you want that, something that's real seasoned, that'll make the Word of God just live through you, and act through you, see... No roots of bitterness in the channel of ... Holy Spirit just flows right through you. That's what you want.
Now just bow your head, and reverently pray, and you ministers lay your hands upon them now.
80 Our heavenly Father, we're bringing to you tonight this audience of people, that stands here making confession---knowing that they've been wrong. There are, probably, motives and objectives too that's been wrong. But tonight they have come believing, believing that You will forgive every sin. Many of them's went to church for years. Many of them has done great charitable deeds. But Lord, tonight they are wanting the reality, they're wanting that sweetness, that something that they're lacking in their lives---that Holy Spirit of God that moves in the form of the Word. And your servants, the ministers, your servants has their hands laid upon them.
We're praying for them this prayer, and asking, Lord, that this'll be the time that---not no other way, but right down in their hearts---it'll one time forever, in your presence, be settled right now. May the Holy Ghost come into their lives just now, and make them sweetened, Lord, with the great honey of heaven, and give to them an experience that'll be an everlasting experience: that the great presence of the living God may come boldly into their lives, and will give to them that what they need just now.
Grant it, eternal God. They are yours. I present them to you as love gifts, and as a sacrifice as they're making here. And may the Holy Ghost just make it real to them now. God, grant it, in Jesus' name. Your pastor's going to pray.