Sermons A

A Absolute (63-0304)

A Absolute (63-0304)

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E-1
Thank you, Brother Hutchinson. Good evening to Houston. I certainly
deem this a great privilege of being here again tonight in Houston.
It’s been many years since I’ve had the privilege of being here, and
I’ve been setting, listening tonight to each of these speakers. And the
other day when I had arrangements made for something else, another
place, and I knew that those children were facing death, I thought if
something would happen to those children I would never forgive myself
of not coming here to give my opinion, and doing all that I could to
help this mother and father, and–of these children, and to do all that
I could for the saving of their lives.

E-2
And Houston has–is a memorial place to me. It holds many great
memories that I have cherished ever since I first made my visit here
many years ago, over here to the Herald of Faith: Brother Kidson, and
then down here to the auditorium, when I was here with Brother Raymond
Richey and the ministers of the city. And then, of course, Mr. Ayers,
Mr. Kipperman, the night that the camera proved that I wasn’t telling
anything that was wrong, it was truth. And when the mechanical eye of
the camera caught the vision of the–or not the vision, the reality,
the Christ that we preach and so love was with us, that He promised to
be with us. And the camera took His picture.

E-3
Many times I’ve said in times past, that that–I’d see that Light all
the time, but sometimes people would be a little skeptic of it (which
you could believe they could be that way), but that night it proved it.
That was the first time it was ever taken. Since then it’s been taken
several times, in Germany just recently coming down when the anointing
was, and when it went back again. And those things are not to magnify
some human being, but it’s to a-vindicate the Presence of Jesus Christ
among his people. And we believe that that same Lord Jesus is here
tonight to help us in this case.

And I believe that He’s more interested in it than we could be. And I
am certainly in sympathy with the parents of these children, and
shoulder-to-shoulder with every man and woman that’s trying to deliver
them from the jaws of death.

E-4
And now, I understand that this is not a revival meeting, but it’s just
a–a series of prayer meetings being held for these souls that’s laying
in the shadows of death. And so I’m late and I will not speak very
long, but I would like to draw a text, or a context, rather, from a
text that I would like to read in two places in the Scripture. And you
who have the Bibles, if you would turn with me for just a moment to the
book of Philippians the 1st chapter, and the 20th verse of the 1st
chapter of Philippians.

According to my earnest expectation and my
hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but… with all boldness, as
always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it
be… life, or death.

E-5 And then also in the book of Acts the 2nd chapter and the 30th verse. I might read the 25th through the 30th.

For David spake concerning him, for I foresaw
the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I
should not be moved:

Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

Because thou will not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.

Thou hast made known to me the way of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenances.

Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto
You of the patriarch David, that he’s both dead and buried, and his
sepulchre is with us unto this day.

Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that
God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins,
according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to set on his throne;

He seeing this before spake of the
resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did
his flesh see corruption.

E-6
Let us bow our heads just a moment for prayer. Our heavenly Father, we
are grateful to Thee for mercy. And that’s truly, Lord, why we are here
tonight, is to ask mercy. We would not ask this if we did not have
faith to believe that it would be granted to us. Men has flown across
the country, and prayers are going up everywhere to Thee that the lives
of these that we are earnestly interceding for tonight may be spared.
Lord, we would ask for strength for the mothers and fathers of these
young people.

And as we understand that this young man has turned his life to Thee,
and wants to serve Thee, and as we heard one of the speakers say, that
he wanted to become a minister of the Gospel, I pray God that You’ll
grant this opportunity to the young fellow.

Forgive us of our sins, cleanse our hearts from evil thoughts, and
whatever would be in our way that would hinder our prayer from being
answered for these people. As we have read Thy Word, we know both
heavens and earth will pass away but Thy Word shall not fail.

We pray that You’ll add to us by the Holy Spirit the context that would
take, that would be Your Divine will in this case now, as we’ve heard
the attorney and many speaking. And we pray that we will find just what
to do next. What is our next step to do? Lord, we’re here to do it.
Make it known to us, Lord, through Thy Word. For we ask it in the Name
of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus. Amen.

E-7
Reading these few verses, and I realize the occasion is great, because
it’s concern I would think… When I heard and got that mother’s
telegram, “What if that was my son setting in that row or my daughter?”
And I… We want to put everything that we can to it. And then some
might say, “Well, that was just a very small portion of the Word that
you read, Brother Branham.” Well, that may be true too. But, you see,
it isn’t the–the size of the amount of words, it’s what it means.
It’s–it’s just… What it is–it’s the promise of God. And I want to
draw from this night–from this text tonight, or for a text from this,
“A Absolute.”

E-8
And I’ve chosen this text awhile ago setting in my motel room, because
I think that now we need something positive, some absolute that we can
hold on to and know that it’s true. In crucial hour like this we must
have something that we are positive that’s right, something that we can
hold to, to know whether the–how the case is going.

Now, according to–to Webster, “a absolute in itself is unlimited in
power and primarily is an ultimate.” And an “ultimate” is an “amen.”
It’s the absolute as what it… That’s the end. That’s everything. Now,
every great achievement that’s ever been in the world has been tied to
some sort of an absolute. You cannot do anything unless there’s
something that you can hold to.

E-9
When a young man is going to get married to a young woman, he must know
the character of this young woman. Or the young woman must know the
character of the young man, something that she can hold to. Will this
man be a just man? Will he make me the right type of husband? Will this
woman give to me in life what I–what I expect out of her, of loyalty
and so forth? And then it’s got to be somewhere that they can base
their–their vows upon, knowing that there’s something that will hold.
And that’s the reason we bring them to the church, and to the Word of
God, to get this absolute tied.

E-10
Now, Paul here, as we see, he had an absolute that he held to all his
life after his conversion. That was a Christ-centered life. And what a
place to have an absolute: a Christ-centered life. It was a different
life than what he had lived at one time. For he said, “The life that I
now live,” which was a different from what he had lived. And there come
a time that Paul had this experience that brought him to this decision.
For Paul was a great mighty man amongst the Jews and a–a great
theologian, but he wasn’t too sure of his standing.

E-11
But one day on the road down to Damascus a Light, Pillar of Fire, came
down from heaven. And Paul, being a Jew, was acquainted that this
Light, Pillar of Fire, had been the thing that had–the God that had
led his people out of Egypt. They had followed this Pillar of Fire. So
being a Jew, he said to Him quickly, “Lord, Who art Thou?” He knew Him
as Lord, but “Who art Thou?”

And the voice came back from the Pillar of Fire, “I am Jesus, and it’s
hard for you to kick against the pricks.” From that time on, Paul knew
that the Jehovah of the Old Testament was Jesus of the New. And he had
something that he could hold to, and that’s how he could write that
great book of Hebrews.

E-12
Now, if you–if in your life you have an absolute, you do things
ordinarily you would not do, especially if you have a God-centered
life. The God-centered life makes a person do things that ordinarily
they would not do: very odd, peculiar. Why is a Christian life so odd
and peculiar? It’s because that they are looking to God’s Word, which
is almost foreign to the world today.

Now, we have churches, and we have organizations, and we have religion,
oh, much of it around the world. In my seven times around, since I was
here with you at Houston, I’ve accumulated much knowledge on the gods
and the religions of this world. But that isn’t what I’m talking about.
I’m talking about an absolute connected with Christ.

Then it makes you a–a odd person. You do odd things. Your thinking is
altogether different than the thinking you once did, because you have
found something that you’ve anchored a faith in Someone that created
the heavens and the earth, that His very Word itself is creative, a God
Who spoke the world into existence, and there’s nothing too hard for
Him. So it makes you creative yourself, because you take His Word. And
a word is a thought expressed.

E-13
Now, Paul had got into that state to where that he had not a
theological experience altogether, but he had a personal witness. He
had met God and knew that he was called of God and–and nobody had to
tell him anything about it. He was absolutely sure that God still
remained God. If the world could just do that, and if this group
tonight setting here could just remember that God is still God, He’s
just as able to answer in this case as He is in a case of Divine
healing or anything else. He’s still God. And if we can build our
hopes, not only our–our hopes, but our positive thought upon what He
says, and we know that it is the truth…

E-14
And people act funny. They seem to just forget about the negative side
because they have found an absolute, because it’s the Word of God.
Jesus said, “Heavens and earth will pass away but My Word shall never
fail.” So if we’ve got the Word of promise, then there’s no failing to
it. It cannot fail. So I–I’m believing that that’s what the prayer
meetings here… The–the religious people of Houston are interested in
human lives. And that’s what we are gathered here for, is to–is to
call on a power that’s beyond all manmade laws and powers, something
Who can change the hearts of men like He did Pharaoh in Egypt. And
He’s–He’s God. And we must stop now looking at the–the negative side
and go to looking at the positive side.

E-15
And before you can have faith, you’ve got to have something to have
faith in. And what more can you trust faith in than you can in the Word
of the living God, what’s creative, the powers of the Almighty? What
more could we put our hopes in? Therefore it makes you look different,
act different. You are looking for God to fulfill His promise.

And when difficulties arise like we have now, it is an anchor. It’s
something that–that holds you, something that you’re tied to. It’s a
promise that we have been tied to the Word of God. It’s just like the
anchor is the absolute to the ship in the time of storm. The ship can
be sailing the sea. The anchor is out in the front, it’s–it–it
rests… You people here in Houston, so close to the sea, see the ships
come in. And why carry this excess weight of this great mighty anchor?

E-16
But you see when the storms come, the–the raging storms that rips up
the sea, and could throw the vessel into the bank somewhere, and crash
it, or turn it over in the shallow waters… It gets out into the deep
water and lets down this great huge anchor, that’s so fixed that it’ll
drag on the bottom of the sea until it hooks into the top of some
unseen mountain. Then let those storms rage if they want to; it’s got
an absolute. The anchor holds somewhere yonder, but it’s–it’s tight.
As the ship and the waves whip around the ship, it’s got an absolute
because it’s tied. And that’s the way that a man is when he’s tied to
Christ and to His Word, and believes It. There’s an absolute there,
something that holds him.

E-17
An absolute is like the north star when you’re lost. When you’ve–when
you’ve lost your direction and you want to find your way back, the
north star is an absolute. Now there’s other stars, but they turn with
the world. As the world turns around them, the–it turns away from
them. And the… Did you know, the same morning star is the evening
star also, because the world’s just turned around. But there’s one star
that does not move, and it’s centered right in the middle of the earth.
And therefore, the–it’s a–it’s a sure star, If you know the north
star you can always find your way around. But, oh, that’s–when a man’s
lost, and he doesn’t know just which way to go…

E-18
Now, I know a Star. Oh, it’s more than a North Star. And to be tied and
see His Presence, no matter how you’re lost or where you are, you can
find your way back by His guidance. That’s His Word. It’s the way out
of all troubles; It’s the way to peace; It’s the way to success. It’s
the way to Life itself is to follow this Star, the Lord Jesus. And now,
if you are tied to that Star, the Holy Spirit is the Compass that’ll
only point to the Star. The Holy…

E-19
A compass, it is magnetized to that north pole. And the only way, no
matter how much jungle you’re in, or how deep the thickets are around
you, or how foggy it is at sea, that compass hand, you can turn it any
way you want to, and it’ll swing right back and point to the north star.

And when we’re in trouble and trusting Christ, there’s one thing sure:
the Holy Spirit will point us to the Word that’ll guide us to the North
Star, and to deliverance of everything we have need of. He is our
Absolute. To the man that’s lost in the wilderness, the compass is the
thing that guides him to the outward. When we’re in trouble, there’s
only one thing; it’s just as sure as the north star. As long as the
world stands in its position and turns around, the north star will
remain in its place.

E-20
And long as there is an eternity, Christ will ever be the Saviour, and
the way out of every problem, every difference, every trial,
everything. And therefore, we–we–when we’re tied to Him we don’t get
flusterated and all worked up like the world does. And oh, what will we
do about this? What will we do about that? We seem as if we’re not even
anchored. But a man who’s anchored his soul into Christ Jesus, his
trust there, knowing that when he asks the Father anything in His Name
Jesus said, “I’ll do it.” That settles it.

That–that settles it. It–It’s the amen; it’s the absolute; it’s the
ultimate. When Jesus said, “Ask the Father anything in My Name, I’ll
grant it,” now that’s an ultimate. That’s it. “Whatever you have need
of, when you pray, believe that you receive it; you shall have it.”
That settles it. That’s all of it (See?) if we’re really anchored and
believe it and we’ve made Him our Absolute. ‘Cause He does… He is the
Absolute that takes us from all fear. There’s no fear when you’re
really tied to the Rock of Ages.

E-21
There’s no fear to the sailor, how hard the ship’s being buffet by the
waves, as long as that anchor’s holding in the top of the mountain
yonder. Why, sure. He knows the ship’s going to stay up. It isn’t going
against some rocks somewhere. It isn’t going to get in some shallow
water and be turned over, because it’s got the absolute anchored in the
top of some mountain. And when a man can pray the prayer of faith and
anchor his soul yonder in the Word of God, where all heavens and earth
will pass away, but that Word cannot, there is no fear. Let them come,
say whatever they want to. Our faith is in God, God alone. We believe
it.

E-22
There was a time that when the table manners of this nation rested upon
the word of a woman. I believe her name was called Emily Post. Now, she
was the absolute to table manners. If Emily Post said, “Take and eat
your beans with your knife,” that was it. That was it, because she was
the absolute for table manners. If she said, “Drink your coffee out of
your saucer and sup it as you did,” no matter how sloppy it’d sound, it
was still the absolute. Everybody bowed to it because they taken her to
be the absolute of table manners. We’ve got to have an absolute no
matter what we’re doing. If we’re ever going to achieve anything, we’ve
got to have an absolute.

E-23
There was a time when Hitler’s word was an absolute in Germany. No
matter what anybody else said, Hitler’s word was an absolute. If he
said they die, they die. If he said they lived, they live. And if he
said, “We go to war,” “We do not go to war,” whatever we do, his word
was an absolute.

There was a time that when Italy had an absolute; that was the word of
their dictator, Mussolini. What he said do… They said his chauffeur
drove up one minute early to get him. He shot him. Why? He said, “I
don’t want you here one minute early. I want you here on the dot,
exactly time.” See, his word was absolute. All Italy bowed to it.

E-24
There was a time when Pharaoh in Egypt was an absolute. But you see…
But all these decisions that they made were manmade decisions, and they
all fell. Why? Because they were not in accordance with human… It
wasn’t in accordance with God’s Word for human life. I want that, I
hope, to anchor. If we expect to save human life, we’ve got to come in
accordance with God’s Word and God’s plan for human life. And the only
way you’re going to find this is to find it in His Word and believe it.

Now, so them Pharaohs… I was in Egypt not long ago, and I think they
had to dig twenty feet down in the ground to find the–the place where
Pharaoh was seated as a king of the earth. And great Herods and so
forth passing down along the line, we see where their kingdoms has
fallen and gone on. But there is one Kingdom that’s above all kingdoms.
It’s so high into the heavens till it’ll never pass away. And there
sets a King that when He makes His decision on anything and we believe
that decision, that is an absolute. It’s going to be that way
regardless of what anyone else says about it; it’s always.

E-25
Now, our Supreme Court, our Supreme Court, it–it is an absolute, the
end of all the trials. Now, we have to have it. Sometime we might not
agree with its decision, like they didn’t agree with Hitler’s and so
forth, but yet we’ve got to have this absolute. And the absolute of the
nation and trials is the Supreme Court. Our local courts can try
anything and pronounce this, but the Supreme Court rules over all. We
must have it. As a nation we must have its decision, because a nation
is tied to this absolute of the Supreme Court. All right. Everything
must have an absolute.

E-26
Did you know a common ball game has to have an absolute? Yeah. What is
the absolute of a ball game? An umpire. What if there is no umpire?
See, a umpire… No matter where you’re standing, what position you
look at, and you say, “It was a ball,” and he said, “It was a strike.”
Well, it… That’s what it was. It was a strike. Why? Because his word,
no matter what the bleachers said, what somebody else said, it’s a
strike because he called it a strike, and he’s the umpire. Now, what if
there was no umpire? There’d be such a fuss and everything in chaos
till you couldn’t have the ball game. Therefore, you’ve got to have a
absolute to have a ball game. It must be that way.

E-27
Now, there must be a–an absolute in a traffic light. A traffic light
is an absolute, rather, to traffic. What if there was no traffic light?
Or what if the traffic light was out and you run down the street? And
one fellow was coming this way and he said, “Now, I was here first.
I’ve got to get through there.” And said, “I’m late for work.” Talk
about a traffic jam, you’d really have it. But, see, the traffic light
settles… It’s the absolute. If the light is green: go. If it’s red:
stop. If there is no such a thing as a–a traffic light, then we’d have
traffic jams.

E-28
And that’s what’s the matter in the Christian faith today; we’ve got
too many traffic jams, everybody making their own absolute, when we’ve
got one Absolute and that’s the Word of the living God that settles it
forever, no matter what anyone else says. It’s almost gotten to a place
like it was in the days of Judges. Everybody has their own absolute,
but it all fails, like the Pharaohs and so forth. But God’s absolute is
His Word. He gives it, and heavens and earth will pass away, but It
shall never pass away. I like that.

Now, we haven’t got much time, so just–just look for a few moments to
a few people that did come into crisis, and of times where death was at
hand, like we’re standing tonight, and they took an absolute. Let’s
interview some of them.

E-29
Let’s go back to an old story that’s familiar to all of us: in the days
when sin had heaped into the world till God got sick and tired of it,
and the world was going to be destroyed. And God gave Noah an Absolute;
that was His Word. And no matter… That absolute was of the saving of
the people. Noah knew that the world was going to die. And God gave him
the Absolute, and that was His Word, now–to save His people from
death. Now, what was the Absolute to save people from death in Noah’s
time? Was the Word of God, that was the Absolute, no matter what
anybody else said, what science said, “There’s no rain up there. We can
shoot the moon with our instruments. There’s no rain there. How’s rain
going to come down?”

If God said that there would be rain fall, God can put rain in the
skies if He said so. Noah went right about his business, relaxed, and
preparing an ark for the saving of the people. For there was an
Absolute given to the people that they would be saved if they took
God’s provided way for this Absolute.

E-30
So after… Sometimes when we’ve accepted the absolute… I would like
to say this because of the parents of these children of what I want to
tell you just in a moment.

Now, if the… Sometimes when we have accepted it, we are put to trial
to see if we really believe it. We–we… God usually does that, and
God works… He cannot change His program because His Word is Himself.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us, the same
yesterday, today, and forever.” So it’s always God.

E-31
When He’s called upon a scene to act and the decision that He makes, He
has to ever remain with that decision. He cannot change it, because
He’s infinite. Now, I can change my decision, you can, because we’re
finite; therefore, we make mistakes. But God cannot change His
decision, because He’s infinite and His decision is perfect always. He
cannot say, “I was wrong here, and I’ll change My decision,” because
that would show God could change, and God cannot change. Neither can
His Word change. He’s the same always.

E-32
So God gave Noah a trial after accepting His Absolute. Noah went into
the ark. God shut the door behind him. No doubt they said, “Now, in the
morning there’ll be black clouds, and there’ll be thunder and
lightning, and the rains will fall.”

But you know, the next day the sun come up just as bright as it ever
did. I imagine the borderline believers, that said, “We’ll go up. The
old man could’ve been right about that. So maybe science was wrong,
that there–there could be some rain up there.”

But you remember, it’d never rained. But then the second day the sun
was just as bright as it always was. Third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and
even to the seventh day. But Noah had climbed up in the upper room so
he could watch the skies. And on that seventh morning, when there come
a time when people had refused God’s absolute way of salvation, of
saving of the lives of the people, the rains begin to fall and the
sewers filled up. And the–the boat begin to rise, and it took Noah and
them to safety. Sure, because they were trusting in God’s Word, the
Absolute, God’s Word of promise. No matter how bad it seems like and
how dark it gets, still believe your Absolute.

E-33
Moses, why, his–he had tried to save the life of those poor Hebrews,
and they were almost as bad off, or just as bad off, as these two
children are that we’re trying to save tonight. They were slaves, and
they killed them just at random, whenever they wanted to. And Moses
felt in his heart that that wasn’t the–the will of God. So he–he
tried to do it through education; he tried to do it through his own
efforts; and he found out that he miserably failed. He did something
himself that wasn’t right, because he took another man’s life. And that
was not right. Then he went into the wilderness and was there for forty
years.

But one day he was herding sheep on the backside of the desert and
there was a Light in a bush. And when Moses got near this Light, the
voice of God spoke to him out of this Pillar of Fire laying back in
this bush, and said, “Moses, Moses.”

And he said, “Here am I, Lord.”

And He said, “Take off your shoes, for the ground that you stand on is
holy. I have heard the groans of My people. I’ve heard their prayer
meetings. I’ve remembered that I made them a promise.” My, if that
oughtn’t to set the hearts of Christian believers afire tonight. “I am
God. I remembered I promised it.” How Scriptural that voice was. And He
said, “Moses, I’m sending you down there to deliver them.”

E-34
And Moses, ‘course as I’ve said at the beginning, when you take that
absolute of God, it makes you do things that–well, sometimes
ridiculous in the sight of the people. Could you imagine a man that had
run from the Egyptians, the next morning after seeing this absolute…
This Word of God spoke to him positive witness. Because it was the
Word, the promise was there. And a vindication of the great God of
creation how He performed a miracle in the–in the presence of Moses
and showed that He was a God of creation…

E-35
And Moses the next morning took his wife and set her on a mule with
a–the kid on her hip, and the–eighty years old, whiskers hanging to
his waistline, his bald head shining, with a crooked stick in his hand,
going down towards Egypt, shouting as hard as he could go.

“Where you going, Moses?”

“I’m going down to Egypt to take over.”

“Take over?” A one-man invasion… Why? He had an absolute. He had
something; he had the Word of God he could stand on. A man of eighty
years old with a mule and a stick in his hand. That’s all he had, like
a one-man invasion to Russia today. But he went down and took over
because he had a Absolute. He had talked to God. He’d heard the voice
of God. And he–the thing of it was, he did it. Right. Why? That was
with him all the days of his life. It was an Absolute.

E-36
No man has a right to climb into the pulpit to preach the Gospel unless
himself has treaded on those sacred sands, where no agnostic or
unbeliever can ever explain away the supernatural of God. Jesus would
not let His disciples preach. No matter how well they knowed Him, they
must go to the city of Jerusalem and there wait till they was endued
with power from on high. They must have that experience.

E-37
Moses, knowing that he was a prophet, knowed he’d been raised up for
this purpose, but without that personal contact, that Absolute,
something that proved to him that when he went down there he was going
to have deliverance for these people… He was never the same. He went
down there because he had the Absolute, and he did just exactly what
God told him to do. There was no fear in his heart when he throwed down
the serpents, or, the rods and they turned to a serpent. And the carnal
impersonators come up with their type of ministry and throwed down, and
done the same thing Moses had done, just exactly what God told him to
do… There’s nothing for him to do but stand still and see the glory
of God. Then we find out that God taken his serpent and eat up the rest
of them. That’s the way it’s done. He was positive that the God that
could tell him to do this, could take care of him in the bad situation.

E-38
Can’t we tonight, upon the basis of that young man giving his heart to
Christ, stand upon this absolute, that God can make the impossible to
be possible? He can change the hearts of judges. Why do we skip so
frantically about other things? Let’s take God first. Bring it back to
the promise. God promised it if–that–that He would do it.

So remember, Moses was always a different person because he took God’s
Word and believed It. And he had a promise vindicated to him. How many
could we call? We don’t have time.

E-39
In writing notes today, I was writing here of Daniel, how that it
was… What it was, it was a capital punishment for him to pray to–to
any other god. But he had been in connection with God and he knowed
that God was able to take care of him.

The Hebrew children, they’d be throwed into a fiery furnace and would
be burned with heat seven times hotter than the furnace had ever be
het. That… Hebrew children believed God. They said, “Our God is able
to deliver us from this furnace.” Why? They had had an Absolute. They
had the Word of God. And the God that could deliver them Hebrew
children from the death cell of a fiery furnace, how much more can He
deliver this little Jewish boy out here that’s laying yonder in a death
cell? How much more is He… And He’s still the same Jehovah God that
He always was.

We, like apostle Paul, can realize that same God lives today:
yesterday, today, and forever the same. Then Christians can hold to
God’s unchanging hand and change the whole situation. Prayer changes
things. That’s what we want to do.

E-40
How can we say about Joshua? How’s he going to cross the Jordan? Seems
like God was a strange military man, right in the month of April when
the waters was up like that. But He said to Joshua, “Take the ark and
go forward.” That’s all he had to do, and God moved back the Jordan and
made dry grounds, and they walked across and was delivered. How it
was… No wonder Joshua said, “For me and my house, we’ll serve the
Lord.”

How David, that great patriarch… How we’d like to speak about him. We
haven’t time. But, in many times, as we heard someone speaking a few
moments ago about David and his sin… But when all of it was forgiven,
when he was going to battle we call it in the world, “The chips were
down.” And the opposition was great. And David laid there under the
tree and sweated it out until he heard the sound going through the
mulberry bushes. Then it was different. David rose and went on, because
he had an absolute, that he knew that was God going on before him.

Can’t we pray a prayer of faith that’ll send God on to that parole
board down there? Sure we can. We believe that we can if we hold to
that absolute.

E-41
How Abraham called things that were not as though they were because he
had an absolute promise from God that God was going to give him
his–give him a child by Sarah. And when she was a hundred years
old–or he was, and she was ninety, he still didn’t stagger at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong, giving praise to God.
And we claim to be Abraham’s children, when Abraham…

When we’ve had the Bible wrote since the days of Abraham, and all the
witnesses that we’ve had behind, that Jehovah keeps His Word–that
Christ is the Son of God. He’s a Mediator between man and God. And
there’s no other mediator besides Him, and promising “If you ask the
Father anything in My Name, it’ll be granted…” And we claim to be the
children of Abraham, when Abraham called things that were as though
they were not, because he believed God. Absolutely. I believe it with
all my heart.

E-42
Paul was… Christ-centered life was his absolute; it tied him. Christ
was the Absolute of the resurrection, as we read here. He said, “God
swore by an oath to David that He would not leave His soul in hell.” A
oath is the end of all strife. And He swore that He would not leave His
soul in hell but would raise Him up. And therefore, He trusted God and
was crucified, died, rose again, and ascended into heaven because He
believed God.

How much more, as He setting the example, can we take the absolute? If
Christ could take it upon that one promise there, how much more can we
take it with thousands of promises? And with the Blood of Jesus Christ
there to cleanse our way and bring us across that great chasm of sin
that separated us of unbelief from God and bring us right into His
Presence to talk to Him, how much more could it be?

E-43
Yes, we’ve got to have an absolute. I’m thinking of one right now, as
in closing, would be George Washington. When America was young and we
were fighting for life, the life of this great nation that we have,
George Washington was a Christian. He was a believer. And down at
Valley Forge, I’m told that the American soldiers only had–about
one-third of them had on shoes, and the winter was cold and the zero
weather, and the river frozen and gorging over, and the British on the
other side, and the life of this little nation was at hand.

What did he do? He was a Christian. He goes out in the nighttime and
kneels down in the snow, and prays until he was wet with snow water up
around his waistline. And he stayed there and prayed until he got the
absolute, the answer from God, that God was going to give him the
victory. And the next day at Valley Forge was nothing to him; he
crossed the Delaware, pushed through the ice with half dressed soldiers
half froze and their bare feet on the ground in the snow. And he took
it when three rifle bullets went through his coat. Why? He was trusting
in the absolute of an answered prayer. Amen. The very backgrounds of
our nation based upon such a thing.

E-44
What’s the matter with people today who claim to be Christians? Why are
we disturbed in an hour like this? Let’s not be disturbed. Let’s be
soldiers. Yes, sir. He prayed until he got that answer. Then no clouded
river, no bare-feet soldiers, regardless of the circumstance, they
could take it because God had said so. A bullet couldn’t even kill him
from an enemy’s rifle. Certainly. Why? He’d had a prayer meeting. He
got the answer.

E-45
How well it was one night when apostle Peter was in the jail and they
were going to kill him the next morning. He was going to die under
capital punishment, as this little Jew’s going to do now. But what did
they do? They did the same thing that we here in Houston are trying to
do. They formed a prayer meeting at John Mark’s house. While they were
praying, the Angel of the Lord went to the prison, and opened up the
prison bars, and opened the gates and beyond that, and led Peter out,
and come right down to the prayer meeting. I believe tonight that that
same God lives. If He isn’t the same God then there’s something wrong.
Certainly. What was it done? By a prayer meeting, by faithful
Christians who believed, and believed that God would deliver their
brother from capital punishment. Them were Christians who stayed all
night and laid upon their faces and cried out and prayed.

E-46
As I heard one of the ministers awhile ago saying he was going to cry
out all night long… The trouble of it is today, people let down. They
get tired, sleepy. They can’t even set through a ten-minute service
hardly. Well, it–it’s something wrong. If you love God, well–well, we
should be busy. It–it should be our–our hopes, our desires; it should
be everything that’s in us should be in the love of Christ. Amen. We
set so slothful. We set so unconcerned when the world’s dying under our
feet. That’s right. Men’s lives going out without God, and we set
so–so unconcerned about it. As long as we belong to the church, that’s
all we think that makes a difference.

E-47
I was talking about the coming of Christ a few weeks ago in a certain
church. And afterwards there’s a–someone met me in the back of the
church and said, “Brother Branham, you scare people to death.”

I said, “Why’d I do that?”

He said, “Well, you talking about the coming of Christ. I don’t want to
hear such things as that. I got a little boy here I got to raise. I got
a girl in school.”

“Why,” I said, “the coming of Christ is the most glorious thing I can think of.” Certainly.

See, the Bible said, “All those who love His appearing…” Oh, my, for
a day that when this old mortal will take on immortality, and
this–this pest-house that I live in will be changed in a moment, in a
twinkling of an eye, and a body like His own glorious body, it should
be the heart’s desire of the church. It should be every man and woman
on fire, preaching in the streets and everywhere else, trying to get
souls saved. Certainly.

E-48
I’m wondering if we’ve really tied to that absolute that we claim to.
Are we looking at the right morning star? If we’re just trusting in our
church and our denomination, our affiliation… As the world changes,
it changes with that, round and around. But there’s one star that never
change; there’s one thing that can never change; that’s God. God cannot
change; His Word cannot change; His Bible cannot change. And if a man
is borned of the Spirit of God with Christ in him, it punctuates every
promise with an “amen,” that it’s right. Certainly.

E-49
Oh sure, a prayer meeting is what we need. We must be Christians. All
Christians must use this same Absolute, the Word of God. God’s Word is
the Christian’s stay. Jesus said in His Word, “If ye abide in Me, My
Words abide in you, then you can ask what you will and it’ll be done
for you.” Think of it. What more of an absolute would you want? What
could you trust more in than something like that? “If ye abide in Me,
My Words abide in you, then ask what you will.”

Need to ask for God to work upon the heart of that judge or that parole
board, and get that little fellow out of that death cell. If we ask it
with faith, believing, in these prayer meetings, we’ll get it.
That’s… I just believe God like that.

E-50
I’m… My faith that I have in God, that’s why I’m here tonight. That’s
why I canceled out something else and got in here. And I got to drive
hundreds of miles tonight back to Tucson, Arizona, because I come to
put my faith with yours. That’s a man; it’s a soul laying yonder; it’s
someone in need. And we Christians have got to wake up to a reality to
real genuine faith. Tie it to the Word of God and plead that promise.
Yes, sir. Oh, my. “If ye abide in Me and My Word in you, ask what you
want.” And then again, “If the people that’s called by My name shall
assemble themselves together and pray, then I’ll hear from heaven.”
Prayer meeting, that’s it.

E-51
I believe in talking to attorneys and talking to lawyers, or judges, or
parole boards, or whatevermore. Now, that’s all right. But, brother, if
your hope isn’t tied to something than just the carnal man of mind,
mind of man, rather, you’ll sure be sadly disappointed. But if you can
tie your faith into such a place that you know, and stay there and pray
until God answers back, and you know you’ve got it in your heart,
something’s going to happen.

I’ve seen the dead raised from the funeral home; I’ve seen the–the
blind eyes come open, the deaf ears unstopped. I’ve seen cancer-ridden
cases of sarcomas-cancer, leprosy, healed by the power of the almighty
God, because they had faith to believe that that God Who made the
promise would be able to keep His promise. That’s real genuine faith
like Abraham had.

E-52
Tie to there, stay there and pray, not just get down and “God, deliver
the poor little fellow and send him home.” We’d all like that. But
let’s stay there until something happens. Oh, when something happens,
then that assurance could fall amongst this little handful of people
setting in this auditorium here tonight, could fall among us right
here, enough faith and power of God… If we could pray through till we
strike that home-line, till that Absolute comes down–that same Pillar
of Fire that was taken here in Houston by Ted Kipperman’s camera twelve
years ago…

He’s here tonight, just as great as He was then, to deliver that boy if
we’ll just believe it, because He’s the same yesterday, today, and
forever. I believe it with all my heart. That’s why I’m here to offer
my prayer with you all that God will spare their life. Then if you
could pray through until you’ve got a answer back, got the assurance
back, like Washington had, like John Mark had, like Daniel had, like
Moses had, till you’ve got an absolute, something that you know that
you can anchor to… “Then upon this absolute I’ll build My church,”…
and all the courts in the land cannot resist that. That’s right.

E-53
Upon that… The very God that could take a little hook-nosed Jew like
Paul, angry and going down there to put all the Christians to death
under capital punishment, and could change him and make him a lovely
Christian, that same God lives tonight, can change law to grace anytime
that He takes a notion to do it. Hallelujah. Going to call me a
holy-roller anyhow, so I might as well get started into it right now. I
believe that God. Amen. Yes, sir.

E-54
Then Mark 11:22, when you prayed through He said, “Verily, verily, I
say unto you, have faith in God. I say unto you if you say to this
mountain, ‘Be moved’…” When that absolute is come to you, when you’re
anointed with that Spirit that comes beyond all scientific control out
yonder… Before there was an atom or a molecule, that One that spoke
everything into existence… And when your soul is anchored to that,
there’s nothing can stop it. That’s right. “Say to this mountain, ‘Be
moved,’ and don’t doubt in your heart, but believe that what you’ve
said will come to pass, you can have what you’ve said.” If that ain’t
an absolute to hold to… Certainly it is. That’s right, an absolute.

E-55
Now a nation has a absolute; your home life has absolute, everywhere.
If it’s ever going to achieve anything, it’s got to have an absolute.
We appreciate this attorney. We appreciate, oh, all the other men–this
fine chaplain here from California… And what a marvelous message.
And–and our brother who tried to take the money and everything, to try
to help this poor woman and–and with her children to deliver them.
That’s all fine, and we appreciate that, and I’m for it.

But there’s one thing beyond that, friends, when we’re closing this
meeting tonight. We must tie it to an absolute, a prayer meeting before
God that’ll send the deliverance from the same Jehovah God. He’s just
as much God tonight as He was then. Hallelujah. Do you believe it?
Let’s stand up to our feet then, and tonight form a prayer meeting in
here until an absolute takes place. Raise up our hands before God; pray
till you strike home, until an absolute falls into your heart.

E-56
Lord God, send your Holy Spirit down and send, and free those children
yonder, Lord. They’re setting in the regions of the shadows of death.
Something’s fixing to happen, Lord, and we pray that these prayer
meetings will strike fire. I believe You, Lord. I’m accepting it and I
believe that you’ll deliver those children. Grant it, Almighty God. We,
Your church, ask it through Jesus Christ. Amen.

2 Comments

    • Praise The Lord.

      May His blessing stay with you till you meet There.
      I am very blessed this wonderful morning. My heart is burning with This Fresh Manner.

      I will talk about My Absolute all my way long to everybody here in Gatineau.
      Pray for me and if you could help with some books in romanian,arab and spanish, chinese and swahili, it will be great.
      Would like to begin a house meeting down here…Listening to The Voice of God with His Predestinated.

      Great Shalom. LOVE YOU.

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