A Court Trial (64-0412)

 

^E-1
And I hope to be back someday, if Jesus tarries. Now, I guess you
wonder why… Some one said the other day… I stood by a very famous
man. I love the man. There's no need for me to call, not to call his
name. He's my–one of my bosom friends: Oral Roberts. Oral come to my
meeting. Brother Jack Moore was along. He had a little ragged tent
setting up across the field over there on the–on the east side of
Kansas City, and I was over in a auditorium, something a little bigger
than this. He came over and stood on the sideline, said, "Brother
Branham, do you think God would hear my prayer?"
I said, "He'll hear anybody's prayer."
Now the man don't know what he's worth, building a fifty million dollar
seminary with a three million dollar office. I think that's a credit,
and a contribution to the faith of one single little Oklahoma boy for
God.

^E-2
Tommy Osborn, he was up there that night when that maniac run to the
platform in Portland, Oregon, to kill me. And he said, "You deceiver."
Said, "You…" Just called me everything, great big man. About fifty
preachers on the platform fled from him. He was an insane out of the
institution. Huge, big arms, stood six, nearly seven foot tall, great
big arms. I weighed a hundred and twenty-eight pounds.
He ran out on the platform, said, "Tonight I'm going knock you plumb
out in the middle of that place." I knowed better than to say anything
to him, and everybody scattered back. And I just stood still. Don't,
don't try to inject your own thoughts. If you do, you're going to be
lost. I just stood still, and I heard myself say this… That's the
Holy Spirit saying through my lips.
Remember, God only works through men. He chose man. He could have had
the Gospel preached through the stars, or through the trees, or through
the wind, but he chose man. That's what He has ever done, chose man,
revealing His secrets and His foreknowledge and stuff through His
servants the prophets, He said.
Now, the fellow was standing just a few feet from me, and he had
threatened what he was going to do. He looked like a Goliath. And there
the Holy Spirit said, "Because that you have challenged the Word of
God, tonight you'll fall over my feet."

^E-3
And now you can imagine a man, in that kind of rage, would think about
a man weighing a–about a hundred and twenty-eight pounds, to a nearly
three hundred pounds of–of like a mountain standing before you, what
he thought. He said, "I'll show you whose feet I'll fall over," and he
jerked back his big fist. I never moved, just stood there. And he
walked up to me, drawed back like this to hit me. And I heard myself,
nothing that I had to say at a all, said, "Satan, come out of the man."
No louder than that. And when he drawed his fist back, his hands went
up, his eyes pushed way out and went around and around, his tongue went
out and slobbers fell from his mouth. He turned around and around and
around, and fell down and pinned my feet to the floor.
And then here come the policemen out, and they was hunting for him. I'd
led those two police to Christ back there in the dressing room in this
big auditorium, and so… I think we had sixty some-odd hundred on the
inside, and pretty near twice that on the outside, and it pouring down
rain, them standing up and down the streets with umbrellas. And he held
me on the floor. And he said, "Is he dead?"
I said, "No, sir."
"Well," said, "is he healed?"
I said, "No, sir. He worships that spirit. You see? There's no way of
helping him at all until he gets that out of his head." I said, "But I
wish you'd roll him off of my feet so I he–I could move." See?

^E-4
Tommy Osborn saw that, and he went home and nailed hisself in a room
for three days. He drove all the way to Jeffersonville. And he come
down, a little nervous fellow, running around his car. He said, "You
think I got a gift of healing?"
I said, "Tommy, you look like a prosperous boy, and something that
would be a credit to the Kingdom of God." I said, "Tommy, don't do
that. Don't go to thinking about those things." I said, "You know God
called you to preach the Gospel. If he called you to preach the Gospel,
Divine healing's included in it." And he went up with Brother Bosworth.

^E-5
And the other day I stood and looked at his building, and oh, my, a
million and a half dollars or something in it. I looked over there at
Oral's standing there. I was waiting… I'd been up; Oral's so nice and
all of them showing me around, real nice brothers. And I stood there,
and I thought, "Think. I was on the field before they started. They
each one tell you that they caught the inspiration from that." I
thought, "I'd hate for them to come to my office. I got one little
typewriter setting in the end of a trailer. See? I'd hate for them to
see it." And I thought, "Lord, looky here. Look at this big building,
worth three million dollars, they say."

^E-6
And I thought, looked down the road, and I went and said, "The future
home of so-and-so: future home." And I thought… But I don't say this
in disregarding these brothers, but just what was said to me… I
thought, "Where's my future home?"
Something said, "Look up." So that's good enough for me. So I'll look
for mine up there. So I don't say that they won't be there too (You
see?), but that was just to encourage me. See? I wouldn't have sense
enough to know how to handle money like that. God knows that too. And
then, what if I had great big obligations like that? Do you think I
could come here to this place? You think I could hold a three-day's
meeting here like Brother Roberts, when Brother Roberts has to have
around ten thousand every day? Why, I'd go wild the first day to meet
that. See? I can hold a meeting where there's five people, or two
people, or one person, or go wherever He sends me. I have no need of
anything but more of Him. So that's what I want you to pray, that I'll
have more of Him, to know Him. The Lord bless you.

^E-7
Every crowd… Now, they have three classes of people: believers,
make-believers, unbelievers. You have it in every crowd. Jesus had it
in His. And I showed you the other night how He segregated them by
saying things and never explained it. See, He never said why they'd
have to eat His body, why He come–how He was to come down, same one
going up, when these people knowed He was just a man, had a bad name to
begin with. But He said it just to test their faith.
Those disciples never moved. They couldn't explain it, but look what
Peter said. "Lord, where would we go to?" See, they had seen the Word
of God for that day that was promised for them, vindicated.
They said, "We know that that is the source."

^E-8
Look at the Shunammite woman, the same way when she got the little boy
from the blessing of Elijah. She said, "Saddle me a mule, and don't you
stop till I bid you." See? And she went to the man of God, and he
didn't know. But she knowed if God could have that prophet to tell her
she would have a son, she could find out why God took her son. And she
was persistent in doing so. And you remember, she stayed with
her–her–her faith till she found out what was the–what caused it.
And Elijah went, not even knowing what he'd do, walked up and down the
floor, laid his body upon the baby, and it come to life.
See, it's because that people believe. They–they can't explain. No one
can explain God. But when you see God doing something in His Word that
He promised He would do it…

^E-9
Look at those drunken Roman soldiers on that day, just before the
crucifixion took place, sending Him out there and smacking Him on the
face, and the–and the cheeks, and things like… Said, "Now, if you're
a prophet, tell us who hit you." He knowed who hit Him, but He didn't
have to clown. See?
He just–He just did… He said, "Verily, verily…" St. John 5:19.
Now, listen, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing in
Himself; but what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son
likewise." Therefore, He never done one miracle until God showed Him by
a vision what to do, according to His own Words. "The Son can do
nothing in Himself." Not what He hears, but what He sees the Father
doing, that doeth the Son.
No prophet, no seer in the Bible ever done things at random. God shows
first. So no–no human flesh, not even the flesh of Jesus Himself can
glorify–it's all in God. God does the showing, the seeing. We just act
it out as He shows us and tells us. Each one of us does that.

^E-10
So may the Lord bless you now. And I'm going to ask you again this
afternoon as we read the Word… Now, you're such a nice people, I
could just stand and talk to you and talk to you. But I want to say
again: I am doing a discredit to the Message that God has given me by
just running here… We would've had five services, but I think we
couldn't get the auditorium, so we had to just make it four–here three
nights, and then a healing service. What… See, you don't even know
the first approach.
So maybe someday, if God willing, and the help of God and cooperation
of you fine people, I would like to come back and get all my brothers,
all of them together. We… It may sound a little funny, but, "Come,
let us reason together," saith the Lord. Let–let's just… See? But
that's… Until that time, if I don't get to do it, remember, when I
see you again on the other side of the river, God will witness again
that this is the truth I'm telling you. It's His Word.
Wouldn't I be a hypocrite? What a–what a–what would I have in store?
I've got a wife and some children at home, crying on the telephone
awhile ago, "Why don't you come on home?" But there's other children
that's sick and needy, there's other men's wives and husbands need
salvation. I can't do that if I expect to cross the river. See, over
there I'll set down and rest a little while then. Until then, I'm
getting old, and I can't–can't feel like I did when I was first
started years ago. But I–I just go anyhow–just go anyhow, because
this is the last opportunity I'll be able to do it in, in this life.
The other life, it won't require this.

^E-11
Let us stand now in respect of His Word, while we turn to Mark the 16th
chapter. Now, I'm going to begin to read from the 9th verse. Listen
closely, if you wish. This is the closing message. This, today, is the
closing message for this part of the campaign here. And it's… This
that I'm reading is the closing Word, the last things that Jesus said
to His church before He went away, the last Word, right immediately
after the resurrection. The 16th chapter of St. Mark, I'm going to
begin with the 9th verse.

Now, my text this afternoon, I'm going to take out of here, "A Court Trial." Now, let us bow our heads.

^E-12
Our gracious heavenly Father, we ask You now to take Your Word, and as
we bring up this afternoon this trial of Thy Word, we pray that we'll
sense the Presence of the resurrected Jesus. May we not be so slothful.
And as You said to those when You talked to them on the road to Emmaus,
how that You spoke to them. And You told them that they were… What
was they worried about? What they so sad about? And they said that You
must be a Stranger. And told Him that Jesus of Nazareth, Who was a
prophet indeed…
And when they addressed You as a prophet, then it was just no more than
behooving that You should go to the Word, being a prophet, for the Word
comes to the prophet. Then You turned to them and said, "Fools and slow
of heart to believe, not to believe all that the prophets had said
concerning Christ: how He must suffer all these things that You've
said, and then enter into His glory." And beginning from the Old
Testament, way back at the beginning, He expounded to them what the
prophets had said about Himself. But then still they didn't understand.
But once inside the building, the doors closed, then You done something
just the way You did it before You were crucified, and then their eyes
were opened. You vanished quickly out of their sight. And they ran and
told these that they set at dinner–the supper, and upbraided them
because of their unbelief when You appeared into the walls, and told
them that they should've believed You–and the hardness of their heart.
And how these disciples rejoiced because You were made known. Because
You did something the same way that You did it before Your crucifixion;
they knew that was You, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
O God, please, today do it again. Come into our midst. And You promised
these things for the last days, and may our hearts not be so dull with
the–with modern theology and the things of the world that we'll fail
to see You. Open our understanding eyes, for we ask it in Jesus' Name.
Amen. Be seated.

^E-13
Now, I trust that the appearing of His a-vindicated resurrection this
week… What little that we have seen, you could at this time and this
stage, being your first time, be a little skeptic of it, because the
only thing you see is just the minor part. But it's never one time been
wrong in the tens of thousands times thousands of times. It's never
been wrong. How many here is a witness of that? Raise up your hands.
It's been… Never. No matter what nation, what place. It's never said
anything would happen, but what happened exactly that way. So nothing
can be that accurate but God alone. See? Certainly.
But 'course it's got to look shady. It has to be that way. So did it in
His day, and so forth. Even His birth and everything else looked shady.
God does that just to test the faith of His people.

^E-14
Now this afternoon I thought it would be no more than right, and after
His appearing before us and go through the building and discern the
thoughts of the heart… And I've only used three or four little
Scriptures with you, which God knows that all Scriptures join together.
There's not one error in any of it, not one contradicts the other one.
Now, people say it does. I've offered a year's salary to anybody will
show it to me where the Word contradicts Itself. It does not contradict
Itself. If It does, it's no good to me. It must be exactly the truth.
Now, God is going to judge the world by something. If He judges it by
the church, then what church? 'Cause one different from the other. But
He's going to judge it by Jesus Christ. The Bible said so, and Christ
is the Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God." He judged it in the days of Noah, and He judged it in the days of
Moses, and He judged it in every day, in His day, and even to this day,
by the same promised Word for that age. We either believe it or don't
believe It. But He's responsible to make His Word right.

^E-15
You know, in Matthew 12 there, it said that–that though He had did so
many things, yet the people could not believe. Because Isaiah says they
got hearts, they can't understand; eyes, that can't see; ears, that
can't hear. It had to be fulfilled. And so does this have to be
fulfilled, "to be heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God, false accusers, incontinent, and despisers of those that
are good; having a form of godliness and denying the power thereof,"
the power of the God that they have the form of.
What a saddening thing. What if that was you? Think of a man or woman
who can't believe that. What if that was you? Just think of it.
It–it's to be pitied, not to be scorned, but to be pitied. It
certainly is the truth.

^E-16
Notice now. Today I'm going to call what we'd call–for a few minutes
now before we pray for the sick, and we're going to try to be out of
here within the next forty minutes, if possible, but I want to have
just a little trial first. And now, the case is, today in this court
trial… Now, if you'll just listen closely, and keep in mind what I'm
trying to say, it won't be long. The case is the Word of God's promise
versus the world.
Now, a case cannot be called unless it's for some cause. You have to
present the case. And the case that's called in this courtroom this
afternoon… And I want you, every one, I charge you to listen to the
case. Now, the case is the Word of God's promises versus the world. The
case, and the cause for the indictment, is a breach of promise.
Can you hear me all right? Raise up your hands if you're… Around
everywhere now, you can hear? The–the indictment is a breach of
promise. God made a promise and didn't stick to it. God's Word made a
promise, so He's being–He's being brought in for a court case: breach
of promise.

^E-17
Now, the prosecuting attorney always represents the state, if I
understand the courts right. So the prosecuting attorney in this is
representing the world, and the prosecuting attorney is Satan. He
represents the world because the world belongs to him. And he's
representing the world, and he is their prosecuting attorney.
The Defendant in this case is Almighty God, the Defendant. And now, the
defendant always has a defense witness, and the defense Witness in this
case is the Holy Ghost. And now, we're going to…
And the prosecuting attorney also has some witnesses in the case; I'm
going to name them. And one of them is Mr. Unbeliever. The next one is
Mr. Skeptic, and the next one is Mr. Impatient. These are the ones that
is trying to get judgment against God. Now, we have the–all the–the
characters called in now, and we're in court so we're going to call the
court to order. All right. The alder–alder is…

^E-18
The court is called to alter–or order, and the prosecuting attorney
now is going to call his first witness to give witness. And his first
witness to the stand is Mr. Unbeliever, and his complaint is that God's
Word of promise is not altogether true. That's what his complaint is,
the first witness is. He claims that he is a believer, though he isn't,
but he claims he is. And he claims that he was 'tending, here some time
ago, a Holy Ghost (so-called) meeting where the people were laying
hands upon the people, and giving their Scriptural rights to do this,
reading out of Mark 16, where I just read. "They shall lay hands upon
the sick and they shall recover."
Mr. Unbeliever testifies, and he says that, "I had the hands of this,
what was called the Holy Ghost-filled preacher lay his hands upon me,
according to Mark 16, the promise that God made. And the man said he
was a believer, and many claimed to be healed. And he laid his hands
upon me, and that's been two months ago and nothing has happened.
Therefore the promise is not true." All right. We ask Mr. Unbeliever to
step down.

^E-19
The prosecuting attorney, Satan, calls his next witness. Next witness
stands up is Mr. Skeptic. Now, he testifies. He said, "I went to a
church. I was sick, and I went to a church that was supposed to have a
godly pastor in it that had faith in God's Word. And he had a–a little
cruse of oil setting upon his–on his desk, and all of his people that
come in there that wanted to be prayed for, he anointed them with oil,
reading the promise out of God's Word in James 5:14. Read the Word and
said, 'If there be any sick among you, let them call the elders of the
church. Let them anoint them in oil, and pray over them, and the prayer
of faith shall save the sick, and God shall raise him up. If they did
any sin it shall be forgiven him.'"
And now, he said, "I had this pastor, who I'd heard testimonies from
others, anoint me with oil, reading the Scripture to me out of God's
promise. And that has been over a month ago, and I'm still just as sick
as I was when he anointed me. Therefore…" That's his complaint. Let
Mr. Skeptic step down.

^E-20
And the prosecuting attorney, Satan, calls his–his next witness. His
next witness is Mr. Impatient. That's a rascal. See? Excuse that
expression. See? He just makes you–gets you so nervous you don't know
what you're doing. See? Mr. Impatient, He claims that he… One day
while reading the Bible… All these claim to be believers now… And
he–he claims that he was reading the Bible and he come across the
passage of Mark 11:22 and 23, where Jesus Himself made the promise
that, "If you 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 have said." And again He says, "If you, when you pray
believe that you receive what you ask for…"
Now, he says, "I have been crippled in my feet, lame in my feet for
some thirty years. And I accepted that promise five years ago and
nothing has happened since. I'm still just as crippled as I ever was."
Now, now the…?… done; he steps down.

^E-21
Now, the prosecuting attorney has to kind of show the case off. So the
prosecuting attorney, which is Satan, says to the public (See?), "These
people claim to be believers, and God is not justified in placing such
rashal promises in his Word when he doesn't back it up." See, he's
indicting God. "He put these promises in his Word for his believing
children. And his believing children stepped up here and testified that
they have accepted this claim that He has made in his Word to be the
truth, and they have no results from it at all." Therefore, he's
indicting God, trying to get a case against Him, to say that God has
put something in His Word for His believing children, and does not
stand behind what He promised.

^E-22
Also he claims that–that He's unfair to make such a promise to people,
to His believing children, and is not able to back up what He said He
would do. Now, the prosecuting attorney is showing a hard case here
against the defendant. "He's not able to back it up, because we got
witnesses here that He does not stand behind the Word that He promised.
"Yet," the prosecuting attorney speaks on. The prosecuting attorney
says, which is Satan, "yet God promises that all things are possible to
believers. God says that in his Word."
The prosecuting attorney is–is sealing up his case now. See? He thinks
he's got it because the three witnesses have give witness, and give it
to the Scripture and has quoted the Scripture right, and everything the
way they–they've done it. And now the prosecuting attorney is also
sealing them little places that God promises that all things are
possible to them that believe.

^E-23
Yet, again, the prosecuting attorney speaks, Satan, and said, "God
promises to be alive after He has been crucified. Promises… He
promises He's alive yet. And also He promises in his Scripture, Hebrews
13:8, that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And He's
unable to support or back up what He promises." He's nailing it down
real tight so that there's not a–a chance to get out of it. "He's not
able to do it." God cannot keep His Word, in other words. "He claims
that He is alive from the dead. He claims also in John 14:12 that 'He
that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall he do also.' He hasn't
been able to support that."

^E-24
"He said also in the Scripture, 'Yet a little while and the world seeth
Me no more. Yet ye shall see Me, for because I live, you live also.'"
Notice, again, He claims then in Mark, the 17th chapter, speaking of
the days of Sodom, which we're now living, like it was in the days of
Sodom, that the scene of the world would be in the same position. And
if God would come down, being the Word manifested in flesh here on
earth, and would be able to do just the same things that–that–that
God did, which was a man in human form, which was called by Abraham,
"Elohim." And Jesus said, when the Son of man is being revealed in the
last days that He would reveal Himself in the same manner that was
taken in the days of Lot, giving the scene.
"He also promises that He would be with us, even in us, unto the
consummation, or the end of the world. And He also claims that both
heavens and earth will fail, but His Word will never fail."

^E-25
Now, I think the prosecuting attorney thinks he has his case pretty
well sealed up. He's got witnesses to prove that this Word is not the
truth. Now, you are both judge and jury this afternoon. You–your mind
is the jury, and your actions is the judge. You–your… Whatever your
jury's verdict is, you'll act out what your verdict is. See? You'll
have to do that, 'cause your actions speaks louder than your words.
See? That's right. You can say something, but if you don't mean it you
can't act it. See? Your actions will go louder than your words. Notice.
Now, let the prosecuting attorney step down. He's give–had his
witnesses and they've testified. The prosecuting attorney has placed
the Word out here and sealed It just the way he wants it, for he thinks
he's got the case completely sealed up now. So let the prosecuting
attorney and his witnesses step down from the stand.

^E-26
Now, we will call the defense Witness, the Holy Spirit. You know if
there's a defendant, there has to be a defense witness. So we'll call
the defense Witness to defend the Defendant, the Holy Spirit. The first
thing the Holy Spirit says when He steps up is this… He wants to call
the attention of the pros–to the prosecutor, the one that's trying to
try the case that's indicted, that the prosecutor has misinterpreted
the Word to the people, just like he did the first human being, Eve, in
the garden of Eden. He's misinterpreted the Word to the people, and the
Holy Spirit, the defense Witness, calls the attention to this.

^E-27
Notice. He said that the–the prosecutor has said that these promises
are to believers, and that believers is the only thing that the promise
is to, not to unbelievers and skeptics. The defense Witnesses claims
that God distinctly said that it was to believers, and calls the
attention that each one that testified in protest against the Word,
admitted that others claimed to be healed. See? So that throws him out
right now. See? But let's go on with the case a little while.
And the defense Witness should know whether they are believers or not,
because He is the One that quickens the Word. He knows whether they
believe or not. Don't you think so? He should know. He knows whether
they are believers or not, because He's the only one can put life in
the Word. Here would be my body standing here. Without a spirit, I'd be
dead. But it's only life can quicken this body to move. And it's only
the Holy Spirit that can quicken the Word. He's the only One that can
put it in action. And He ought to know whether they are believers or
not. And against their own testimony that they said others claimed to
be healed, and others claimed to see these things, but they didn't.
Now, I see his witnesses already condemned.

^E-28
But now, He quickens the Word. And again He wants to call the attention
of the word of the prosecutor, or the prosecutes that's in question. He
never set any certain time for this healing. He said, "The prayer of
faith shall save the sick. God shall raise them up." He said, "They
shall lay hands upon the sick," and He didn't say they'd jump up right
then and be healed. He said, "They shall recover, if they believe."
See? Misquoting the Word… See?
I think we got a good defense Witness. Now, there… He should know
whether they believe or not; He could say that. And He–He certainly
does correct the Scripture here, because the defense Witness always did
that. In the Bible terms, the Word always corrects Itself. And we find
that He said that Satan has misquoted the Word to that unbeliever, and
the unbeliever knowed no different. But the one that believed it knowed
just exactly what it said and held onto it. See, see? What their claims
was… They couldn't prove it, but they claimed it themselves, and they
was…

^E-29
Like we claim to be saved. They say, "Well, show me how you're saved."
My life proves I'm saved. The way I act proves whether I'm saved or
not. No matter how much I testify, about a year you'll know how I live,
whether I'm saved or not. Same way it is by healing. If you accept it
and believe it, you're going to act like it. There's going to be such a
change in you, there's nothing can take it out of your mind, no more
than your salvation. It's God's Word. You've got to accept it on the
same basis. By faith you are saved.
Jesus said to the woman that touched His garment, He said, "Thy faith
has saved thee." Now, I'm not a scholar by a long ways, but I have
looked up a few words. Now, that word there comes from the Greek word,
"sozo," which means "saved–just like materially saved, or spiritually
saved." You're saved, sozo. He saved her from a premature grave, just
the same as He saves you from hell. Sozo, the same Greek word is used.
Notice, "Thy faith has (sozo) saved thee from the sickness that you
had." Notice, same word every time.

^E-30
Again, calling the attention now, the prosecutor has misquoted the
Word. And God never said that they would jump up right quick as soon as
they had hands laid on them. But He said they that believe would
recover, that is, if he believes. It's only to believers.
And again, the–the defense Witness wants to call the attention to the
court this afternoon that God said that His Word was a Seed. The Word
is a Seed that a sower sowed. If this Seed falls in the right kind of
soil, that's got enough fertility in it to make this seed spring to
life, quicken it, it'll live.

^E-31
Now, when a man plants a seed… If you're a farmer, or know anything
about planting any seed, if you plant a seed today… Some corn, say,
you put it in your garden, and tomorrow morning you'd go out and dig it
up and look at it, and say, "Well, there's no difference in it." You
plant it back, and the next day you go back, look at it, and say,
"There's no difference in it." It will never come up. It can't do it.
When you dug it up, you spoiled the picture right there. You've got to
commit it to the earth. And then it's up to the earth to do the rest of
it. And every time that you look at your symptoms, testify about them,
complain about them, God can never heal you. You commit it to God and
believe His Word.
Sure it's a miracle. Whether it's sprouting, whether it's–whatever
it's doing, you don't care. God promised it, and potentially you have
your healing when you accept it. It's in seed form. [Brother Branham knocks on pulpit–Ed.]

^E-32
Or If I asked you for a oak tree and you gave me an acorn, potentially
I have an oak tree. And if I asked you for a ear of corn and you gave
me a grain of corn, potentially I have a ear of corn. Then I commit it
to the ground, and water it, and keep all the weeds away from it that
would draw the strength from the ground around it, keep the weeds out,
then it'll automatically grow, because it's committed and it's a
germitized seed. Now, if the seed isn't germitized, it won't. But if
the seed has the germ of life into it, there's nothing can keep it from
growing.

^E-33
Someone said, "What do you think about the resurrection?" Go out here
in the wintertime, pour a piece of concrete down in your yard, and
where's your thickest of grass next year when the spring comes? At the
edge of the walk. See, when that sunshine… And the world rocks around
into position with that sun again, there's no way at all to hide it.
Life finds its way. It winds its way under that concrete and so forth,
and comes right out to the end of the walk, and sticks its head up in
praises to Almighty God. The sun, s-u-n, controls all botany life. And
the S-o-n controls all Eternal Life, for Him, and Him alone, has
Eternal Life. Can't hide it. There's bound to be a resurrection. Don't
care where you're at, you're coming anyhow. See?
And you've got to get healed if you believe it and accept it. It's the
seed that a sower sowed, and it fell into the ground. And if it
comes… Some fell on rocks, you know; it didn't have no root. Some
fell on thorns and disappointments, and that choked it out. But some
went where there was no weeds, and thorns, and rocks.
Now, it depends on what you… If you let some unbeliever come to your
house, or–or some unbelieving person tell you, "Why, there's… That
stuff, that's no–there's no such a thing as that," you're letting
weeds come in. You resent that. Say, "God said so; that settles it. I'm
healed, because I believe it in my heart." That faith laying there, all
the unbelief taken away from it, it's got to bring it out. That's
right.

^E-34
Now, the defense Witness wants to call a few witnesses to the platform.
Would we have time to do it? The defense Witness wants to call a
witness now, His witnesses, as the prosecuting attorney called his
witness. The defense witness shall call first the prophet Noah. Let him
witness. "Noah, what do you have to say now this afternoon about it?"
He said, "I was–lived in a scientific age far beyond the scientifics
of this age. It had never rained upon the earth. God watered the earth
by–the vegetation and so forth, by springs which is beneath the earth.
But one day God came to me and told me that it was going to rain waters
out of the skies. I gave my message. And He told me to build an ark.
That I did, and said it was going to rain water out of the skies. And
Mr. Unbeliever, Mr. Skeptic, and all them fellows setting there, they
scoffed at me, and laughed at me for believing for such a miracle as
that, when scientifically proved there is no water up there."

^E-35
"They could shoot the moon; they could shoot the stars; they could do
things of that type." They built things then that we can't build today.
"So they proved scientifically there wasn't any rain up there." But
Noah said, "God told me it was going to rain, and I believed if God
said so, He's able to put water up there. So I pounded away. Mr.–Mr.
Unbelief scoffed at me. Mr. Skeptic doubted me. Mr. Impatience… I
pounded away till I built the ark. Every day they come by and said,
'Well, I guess it's going to rain today. Ha, ha, ha.'" See? Same way,
"I thought you was well. I thought you was going to get well. Where's
the rain at? You know, after all, prophet Noah, as you supposed to be
one, you said that…"
Now, remember, them's not… That–that's people that's pretending they
are believers. No, Mr. Unbelief and Mr. Skeptic, and those are. They
claim they're believers.

^E-36
"Well, prophet Noah, we always knowed you was a false prophet, 'cause
you've got foolish ideas that don't cope with science. It don't cope
with the modern trend. See, you–you don't cope with our pastors,
that… There's something wrong. We know that you're not really a
prophet, but you said it was going to rain. That was a month ago. No
rain yet."
Two years passed. "Hey, hey, prophet. I thought you said that God said so."
"He did say so."
"Well, two years has passed." Five years, twenty years, fifty years…
The ark's completed, Noah setting in the door. Here comes Mr. Scoffer,
Mr. Unbeliever, Mr. Skeptic, Mr. Impatient. "Well, now where is the
rain?"
"God said it was going to rain. He didn't say when. He said it was
going to rain. He didn't say when; He just said, 'It's going to rain.
Get an ark; you'd be safe in it. It's going to rain.' He didn't say
when it was going to rain. He said it's going to rain. And I've built
the ark."
"Well, it looks to me like, if you built the ark, and you've done your part, God will do His part."
"He will, but He didn't say when He would do it. He just said it's going to do it. It's going to rain."

^E-37
So, we find out, he said then, "Years passed, till 119 years, and just
lacking about seven days in being a hundred and twenty years. Mr.
Unbelief, Mr. Scoffer, all these others, Mr. Skeptic rather, and Mr.
Impatient, they all made fun of me, and everything, and said I was
crazy to believe such a rashal promise as that, that if God did promise
me that, He told something that wasn't true, and He wasn't able to back
up what He said. But I believed God and held steady." There you are. "I
believed Him. I held steady."
"And you know, one day they come up to laugh at me, and the door was
shut. They said, 'Well, the old fanatic went out there and shut the
door, I suppose.'"
"But I heard them, but I told them, God shut the door. No doubt that
the rain will fall today. That'll be it. The first day passed by; there
was no rain. Then they really scoffed at me. 'Telling God shut the
door. I don't believe such stuff as that. Noah shut the door hisself,
him and his sons.'" See, scoffer, unbeliever, skeptic…

^E-38
All right. It went on for a while. But on May the 17th, one morning, it
rained, and it–it absolutely destroyed all those people that was put
to a test against the Word of God, and saved those who believed God and
made preparations for it.
Noah said, "Let me test it." No, Noah. Step down. Let's call another
witness. We haven't got time this afternoon. Let's let the–the defense
witness now call the second witness. He'll call Abraham.
Abraham said, "I was just an ordinary man, a believer. And God spoke to
me by His Word, and said one day that I'd have a child by Sarah. Sarah
was sixty-five and I was seventy-five. I married her when she was about
sixteen years old; she was my half-sister. And she was sterile and I
was… She was barren and I was sterile. So there was no way for us to
have this child. And so we went on for years. But God promised it, and
we went down and got all the birdeye, and the pins and
the–everything–got ready for the baby, and made the little booties."
"And Sarah… And the first month passed by. I said, 'Sarah…' And you
remember, she's about twenty years apast menopause. See? And said,
'Now, Sarah is there any difference this last–these last twenty-eight
days?'"
"'No, no difference.' Well, I knowed we was going to have the baby
anyhow. And we went on and on, year after year, and I still believed
God."

^E-39
"Mr. Unbeliever, Mr. Skeptic, and Mr. Impatient tried their best to get
a way. They tried to tell me I was all wrong. 'Why, Abraham, you was a
successful farmer. You were a fine man. Everybody thought of you. But
you went off on the deep end. You're believing something that can't be
true. It's unscientific for an old man like you and an old woman like
Sarah to have a baby.'"
"But I believed God anyhow. It was twenty-five years later. He didn't
tell me when I was going to have that baby, but He said I would have
it. And I believed God, and counted anything that was contrary as
though it was not."

^E-40
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. No matter how
many scoffers said, "You're not. You can't be. It's impossible. Get
next to yourself. You're crazy." He said he grew stronger and stronger
all the time. That's what genuine faith does; it don't know no doubt.
But if you don't know that, you'll give up right quick. So, well,
Abraham, I–I think you would–you would make a very good witness.
"The Word doesn't say when I was going to have the baby–the first month–but it said we would have the baby."

^E-41
All right, let's call another witness right quick: Isaiah the prophet.
Let's ask him something. "Why," he said, "the Lord spoke to me one day
in prophecy. I was a–a prophet. Everybody knowed that what I said the
Lord honored, and they all believed me as a prophet. And one day there
come something rashal, and it said, 'A virgin shall conceive.' Well,
now, that was unusual." And it's usually in that unusual thing that God
works. See? It's too strange, like Joseph. He–he wanted to believe
Mary, but it was so unusual (You see?), too unusual.
So he said, "When I made that prophecy, everybody believed me. So every
young girl got ready, that was unmarried, got ready to have a
virgin-born child. Day after day, year after year, it passed on. And
then they begin to believe that I was a false prophet. But I know it
was the same God that had always made these promises, so I stayed right
with it." And it was some eight hundred years later before the baby
come, but a virgin did conceive. His Words come to pass.

^E-42
Quickly let's call another witness. Let's call Moses. "Moses, you were
born…" All prophets are predestinated; we know that: gifts and
callings without repentance.
"Jeremiah," the–God said, "before you was even conceived in your
mother's wombs, I knew you, and sanctified you and ordained you a
prophet to the nations." Jesus Christ was the woman's seed from the
garden of Eden, John the Baptist, seven hundred and twelve years before
he was born, Isaiah saw him and said, "He's the voice of one crying in
the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord." See, gifts and callings
ain't laying hands on one another; it's what God does. Born from birth
(See?), those gifts are right in you when you're born.

^E-43
Notice. Moses, born to be a prophet, and here he was out in the
wilderness after forty years of getting rid of his education that he'd
got down from Egypt. And yet, God appeared to him, and spoke in a sign
and in a voice, a Pillar of Fire, and a voice that was very Scriptural,
and said this, "I'm with you, Moses. You'll be My mouth."
And Moses said, "I complained. I–I didn't think that my mouth was
worthy. I–I stammer a little. I… My–my–my speech is not good."
"And God said unto me, 'Who made the mouth of man? And if you can't
believe that, I know Aaron can speak well, your brother. You be god and
let him be your prophet. Let him perform, and you speak the Word. And
I'll be in your mouth and speak the Word.'"
"Now, that's a pretty good setup. So away I went. Everybody laughed at
me because I was, right then, eighty years old. I had white beard
hanging way down like this. And I had my wife setting on a mule, and
the little Gershom on her side. And I was going down to Egypt, and my
eyes set towards heaven, and this old crooked stick in my hand, I was
going down to take over: a one-man invasion."
And the thing of it was, he did it. That's right. He did it with a
crooked stick, where he couldn't do it with an army. But God said so;
that settles it.

^E-44
"So when I first come before holy father Pharaoh (the pastor you know)
and performed the miracle that God told me to do, a sign with my hand,
or with a stick, you know Pastor Pharaoh down there, he didn't want to
cooperate with me to begin with. But when I had to force my way in to
get it, you know he kinda made–tried to make the work of the Lord look
shady. He said he had some magicians there could do the same thing. And
the carnal impersonators raised up to impersonate." That's just exactly
what Satan does in every move: carnal impersonators, somebody sees
something done, and somebody try to impersonate it.
"Well, then the carnal impersonators come up and turned those sticks
into serpents, just like I did. Pastor Pharaoh said, 'You see. It's
nothing but a magician, a souped-up magician.'"
And we've got the same thing here in scientific, so forth. We… Just
exactly. We got hospitals and things. Now, of course, I believe that.
That ain't what God said. Now, he said, notice, said, "We… He tried
to make it look shady on my part, but I was positive. I knowed that
voice that spoke to me was the written and spoken Word of God for this
age. So I just held steady, and He just shook them all away from me."
"He finally brought us to the mountain, where He told me after a long,
long time, not that day, but a long time afterward we finally come to
the mountain where He said, for a sign, I would return to this
mountain. I held steady."

^E-45
Let's just grab another witness right quick before we leave. Let's pull
up Joshua here. Joshua said, "Moses took one out of every tribe, every
denomination, and he sent us over to spy out the land. And when we got
there at the river and looked across there and seen those Amalekites,
and the Amorites, Perizzites, and whatmore," said, "they were giants."
Said, "They… People screamed out for fear. 'Well, we can't do that.
If we ever sponsor a meeting like that, our organization will turn us
out. We just can't do it. We–we can't have things like that; it's too
shady. See? We just can't. Why, it's impossible.' And when they come
back… Yet they had the evidence: brought back grapes from that
land…"

^E-46
And the trouble of it is, how can a man, or a church, or a denomination
that's ever tasted of the evidence that He is alive and then deny when
He's resurrected among us? How can you do it, Pentecost? You spoke with
tongues and interpret tongues, as you claim… And then, how could you
turn the very promised Word down for this age? Take part of It. You
said, "It's a good land. We have our idea…" It was a good land.
It–it's proven to be a good land. But that one bunch of grapes wasn't
all of it. All Palestine was full of it.
"We believe in speaking in tongues, and all these other miracles, and
things, and praying for the sick." And then when the promise comes up
here to something else, "As it was in the days of Sodom…"
Malachi 4 said just before the great time when the Gentile world will
be burned up, just like Sodom was burned, and then the righteous will
walk out upon the wicked, "I'll send to you Elijah, anointed with the
Spirit, and he will turn the hearts of the children back to the faith
of the fathers." Return back, always, each one of the times He comes,
that's what it was. And why can you doubt that when He brings Christ,
the promise, the prophets, the Word, and everything, and it perfectly
identifies it, and then turn back and say, "No, don't you cooperate
with that meeting. If you do, I'll give you your papers." If it be my
part, they could have their goatskins. My name is written on the Lamb's
Book of Life and every believer. See?

^E-47
So they come back, and Joshua said… When they all… I could stay
there a long time, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. So
Joshua said, "I stilled the people." Said, "I don't care how great they
seem to be, how much opposition, how much fanatically it seems.
Remember, God said when we were in Egypt, 'I have given you this land.
I give it to you. Now, you just go on in there and sweep it out, and
plaster the walls.'" And tell you, "Come in, and get you a Morris chair
and set down." And say, "I'll have the maids to fix the bed for you."
He don't do it that way.
You… Joshua was told by God, "Everywhere the soles of your feet
steps, that I've given you." Footsteps meant possession, and every
promise in the Book is to believers, but you got to make foot prints to
it. You got to fight every inch of the way. If you haven't got no fight
in you, then get out of the game.

^E-48
I went in here not long ago; I believe it was in this state, Georgia
Tech, or somewhere up there, was having a… I don't know. I'm wrong,
it might have been in the east. I went into a football stadium. I seen
a little–a little sign that always kind of inspired me. Had a sign up
over the door where I come out from dressing rooms. In there had a
sign, said, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size
of the fight that's in the dog."
That's right too. It ain't how much D.D.D., Ph.D., LL.D., you got. It's
how much of Christ that's in you. It's how much faith that's there.
It's not how much you can explain this, and explain that, and explain
this away. It's how much faith you got in God to believe that He tells
the truth. But that's up to you. It depends on what breed you are. If
you're Abraham's seed you do like Abraham does: call things that were
not as though they were.

^E-49
Now, Joshua said, "I stilled the people by telling them, 'Keep quiet.
God said so.'" God said it; that's true. But you know, they was only
two days from there; that's Kadesh-barnea. They was only two days they
would've been in the promised land. But Joshua said, "It was forty
years before we took the land. He didn't say when we'd take the land,
but He said… He let that old generation die off, them unbelievers,
and raised up another generation that believed. He didn't say when
they'd take the land, but He said they would take the land, and we took
it." I think he's a good witness. Don't you think so? Sure do. "We took
the land after so many years."

^E-50
Now, it's getting late. I… Just let me have one more witness. Can we?
I got a dozen wrote down here. We could call a hundred or two, but let
me just call one more. If you'll pardon me, may I be that witness? I'd
like to take the stand for Him. That days was back there. This is here
now. I know that would be their testimony, but let me take the witness
stand once.
Oh, my. I remember down there when I was a little boy. You've read my
life story. You know the story. I 'member on the river down there, when
I was a young Baptist preacher and was baptizing, near about ten
thousand people standing on the bank. And one afternoon, my first great
revival, somewhere around a thousand converts, and I was baptizing them
out there in the water. The seventeenth person I was leading out into
the water, I heard a noise, and I looked around. It was hot. It was on
June, 1933, at the foot of Spring Street, at Jeffersonville, Indiana.

^E-51
I was leading them out there, and the banks all up and down were just
crowded with people. I walked out with this little boy. I'd seen him at
the altar. I said, "Son, have you accepted Jesus Christ to be your
personal Saviour?"
He said, "I have." His name was Edward Colvin.
And I said, "Edward, do you know what I'm doing now?"
He said, "I do, Brother Branham."
I said, "I am baptizing you, showing to this audience out here that
you've accepted Christ as your personal Saviour. When I baptize you in
the Name of Jesus Christ, you take on His Name. You rise for a new
life. And when you leave here you're to walk a new life. Do you
understand that, Edward?"
He said, "I do."
I said, "Bow your head." I said, "Heavenly Father, as this young man
has confessed his faith in You, and as I was commissioned just to go
into all the world and preach the Gospel, baptizing them into the Name
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, commissioning them to believe all
things which You have taught, I therefore baptize thee, my beloved
brother, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
And as I laid him into the water, I come up; I heard something going,
"whoosh." I looked at the crowd, and I heard a voice saying, "Look up."
I thought, "What is that?"
Billy, here, his Mother, two or three years 'fore we was married; she
was standing there. I seen her face white. She had a camera in her
hand.

^E-52
"Look up." I heard it the second time. I was scared. I looked around,
the people standing there just looking just dumbfounded. I heard it say
again, "Look up." And when I looked here come that same Pillar of Fire
that led Israel through the wilderness, thousands of eyes looking at
it. Come right down to over where I was standing and said, "As John the
Baptist was sent forth to forerun the first coming of Christ, your
Message shall cover the earth and forerun the second coming of Christ."
That went into the newspaper on the Associated Press. Dr. Lee Vayle,
here this afternoon, picked it up plumb in Canada and around. "Local
Baptist preacher, while baptizing, a mystic light appears over him."
Right yonder in Dallas, Texas, or Houston, Texas, a few years ago, when
people doubted it, and I hardly knowed what to do… A fine Baptist
preacher wanted to debate with Brother Bosworth; there wasn't no such
as Divine healing. And when he lost the debate by one hundred percent,
he said, "Let me see this Divine healer come forth and perform."
I said… I come down. I was in the balcony. I said, "I am not a Divine healer, sir."

^E-53 [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]
"… Jesus. Yes or no. You can't answer it." Just one question, that
was all. "If He's Jehovah-jireh, He must be. If He isn't, He isn't a
Saviour, and you can't separate the Names. He's Jehovah-rapha, the
Healer, the same yesterday, today, and forever." That man could not
move, but stand there and stuttered. Many of you was there, I guess, to
hear it. So the debate was give to Mr. Bosworth, and he never even got
one point. And when it was… That was by officials of the city that's
not interested in either side, just knowing what the–the Scriptures
said.
And then he just kept saying, "Let him come forth." He didn't know I
was up there. And I was setting up there with my wife and little Becky.
She graduates this year from high school. I was setting there. She was
just a year old; I was holding her in my arms.
And he said, Brother Bosworth said, "I know Brother Branham's in the
meeting. If he wants to come dismiss it, all right." But said, "I…"
And everybody begin to look around. And there stood about so many
hundreds of people, thousands, about thirty thousand people. We'd been
having eight hundred all along, over at the Music House. And this the
people come in by planes, by trains, and every way.

^E-54
And there's where I knew… All the Pentecostal groups come together
then. It'll take a persecution to run you people together. You'll never
believe it. But when that time comes… See, one thing they believed in
common, Divine healing, so the oneness, twoness, threeness, fourness,
and whatever it was, all come together. There they was.
And this man said, "There's nobody believes Divine healing but a bunch of holy-rollers."
Raymond Richey raised up and said, "What would you consider holy-rollers?" Said, "What would you consider sane people?"
He said, "Baptists."
He said, "All right, how many in this building now can show by a
doctor's certificate that Jesus Christ healed you while Brother
Branham's here?" And three hundred stood up. "Now, what about that?"
So he just got fighting angry. I thought I'd walk down. I heard the
Holy Spirit say, "Go down." I looked, and here was this Light hanging
right above where I was at.
I walked down there and I said, "If the gift is in question, that's
different. But I'm not a healer. God's the Healer." And I said, "If I
testify for God, God's obligated to testify for me."

^E-55
Now, the Douglas studio with the big cameras setting there, they
said… The minister said, "Take some glossies of that old man. I'm
going to skin him, and pull his hide off of him, and tack his skin on
my study door for a memorial to Divine healing." Could you imagine a
Christian saying that about another one? See, look, you're known by
your fruit. So and he took six glossies.
He put his fist up under Brother Bosworth's nose 'fore they started the
debate. He said, "Take it like this," and he took it. Brother Bosworth
just stood there. You know what? When he took that to the studio back
there to examine it, there wasn't one of them. Every one of them was
perfectly blocked out. God would not permit that infidel to put his
finger under a godly man's nose like that, have the pictures taken.

^E-56
And while I was standing there I said, "If there's a question about the
gift of God for discernment, that's promised Scripture. That can be
proved. That can be proved." But I said, "as for me being a healer, no,
sir. I am not a healer, sir."
He said, "As a man, I respect you. As a minister I don't think much of you."
I said, "I'll return the compliment." And so just went ahead like that.
So he said, "I'd like to see you perform. I'd like to see you hypnotize
somebody, and let me see them a year from today," started to turn
around.
I said, "If I speak for God, God's duty bound to speak for me." I no
more than said that, and here come that whirl again, right down in the
audience where it was; there come that Pillar of Fire down. And that
big studio camera now snapped the picture. George J. Lacy, the head of
the FBI for fingerprint and document took it. At midnight that night,
when they put it in, it was the only one that had a picture. You… How
many's got it on your shelves down in your homes? See? Hangs in
Washington, D.C., in the hall–hall of religious arts: the only
supernatural being was ever photographed in all the world's history.

^E-57
What is it? Watch it. Look at it this week. Look what it's done:
yesterday, today, and forever the same. If I had ten thousand tongues I
could not get through speaking for Him. Yes, sir.
My pastor said to me, back there, said, "Boy, you had a dream." No
matter what he had… I remember when I first started out and met you
people here in these countries. He told me, said, "The first gift will
be that you… The voice behind this will be, you put your hands upon
the sick and don't say nothing. It'll say what it is." How many
remembers that?
And I said, "Then it will come to pass…"
He said to me that night when He met me at Green's Mill, and He–I
asked Him about it, and He said, "That's the way it was in the early
days." Said our Lord, they did it the same way, and this is the hour
that this must be fulfilled.

^E-58
I know there's a lot of fanaticism in the world. I'm not responsible
for other men's testimonies. I only have to answer for mine. I'm on the
witness stand in a defense for God and His Word, that I know it's true.
And His Word… When I heard Him tell me that, I would not have
believed it if He hadn't showed me in the Bible that it's promised for
this day. How many remembers I told you it'd come to pass, He said that
I'd know the very secret of their heart? Raise up your hands. See? And
did it? It's thirty-three years later. It didn't happen right then; it
come into it like a seed growing. It's come up like His Word. And today
I am a witness that He lives. I'm a witness that He heals.

^E-59
Listen, we haven't got much time left, just for the prayer line.
Remember, I'm going to close the case and just leave it like this,
if… You can believe any witnesses you want to, but remember, your
mind is your jury. In every case there has to be a jury. And then the
way you act hereafter will pronounce your verdict. Now, we're going to
do just what the Bible said, lay hands upon the sick and they shall
recover, that is, the believers. "These signs shall follow them that
believe." Now. If you believe it… We believe it. Hundreds here could
stand, around over the nation…
Florence Nightingale, the late Florence Nightingale's great
granddaughter in London, England, laying… You seen her picture there
nothing but a shadow. Cancer had eat her up. You see her picture on the
next page?

^E-60
Look at Congressman Upshaw, in the wheelchair sixty-six years. Stood
there in California that night and come in, I was walked to the
platform.
I was standing there, and they started the prayer line. I said, "I see
a–a colored lady here before me. And she's got a little baby. There's
a doctor standing that's–that's operated on that baby, and it
paralyzed it. The doctor was thin. He was wearing tortoise-shell
glasses. And it paralyzed the baby. Way down on the outside there a
typical old Aunt Jemima, weighed about two hundred and fifty pounds,
here she come, knocking ushers every way, pulling that stretcher that
her baby was on, said, "Lordy mercy, that was my baby."
And the usher said, "You can't come in the line. You haven't a prayer card, lady."
I said, "Lady…"
She said, "I's going up there." And they couldn't hold her; she was too
big for them. So she's pushing right on through the line.
She went on up. And when she got there, almost there, I said, "Just a
minute, lady. If the Lord God could know what you was out that… I
said, "That's the baby all right." I said, "I cannot tell you nothing
about it." I said, "Only thing I know is just pray for the baby, and
I'll do that from right here." I said, "But I… Only thing I can say
is what I see."
She said, "That was about two years ago, sir." And she said, "My baby,
when they removed the tonsils it paralyzed the baby," and said, "it's
been paralyzed ever since."
I said, "Well, if your faith could touch Him to bring that down, why
don't you just set there and pray?" I turned around, and I said, "As I
was saying in my message…" I looked, and I seen going down through
the street, looked like an alley, a little colored girl, the same one,
with a doll on her arm, rocking it as she went along. I said, "Auntie,
God has heard your prayer. The baby's healed." Up got the baby, and
they had to quieten it. It was like a militia, and take that baby down
through the crowd like that.

^E-61
Just a few minutes I said, "I see an old man. He's on a haystack. Now,
he's a young boy. He fell and hurt his back." I said, "They had to bore
holes in the floor to keep his cot from vibration off the floor." A
bunch of believers, everybody in one heart and one accord setting
there, hundreds of times hundreds. And I said, "He becomes a great man,
a speaker of some sort."
And it left me, and I went on, started on. Just then Dr. Ern Baxter
found out, way back there in a wheelchair, a group way back in the
back. He said, "That was Congressman Upshaw. Did you ever hear of him?"
I said, "No, sir."
He said, "Back years ago he run for president."
I said, "I don't know him, sir." I said…
He said–said–said, "If I bring him… to show?"
And I said, "Who is he?"
He said, "He's setting right there."

^E-62
So they wheeled him up, his wife did, and he said, "Young man, how'd
you ever know me?" He said, "Dr. Roy E. Davis, the one that ordained
you in the Missionary Baptist Church, and–and he was the–the head
speaker for the Southern Baptist Convention." he said, "He was the one
sent me here for you to pray." Said, "I've been prayed for since I was
a little boy, but I always believed that God would heal me, 'cause I
took the right stand in the time of prohibition. I was… When liquor
was going to be brought in I was called one of the dry bones." He said,
"I lost the President of the United States because of my stand."
I said, "That's a gallant thing, sir." I said, "May the Lord bless
you." I said, "All right. Bring your first patient here, the first
person to come up." When I did, something happened to the lady, and it
told her about it. And I turned and looked again, and I seen that old
congressman with a pin-striped suit on, a red necktie, going down,
bowing himself like this to the people, just walking right across the
people. I said, "Congressman, Jesus Christ has honored you. You're
eighty-six years old now, but God has honored you. It looked like if He
was going to heal you, He'd have healed you when you was a boy, and
your bones was all brittle and all, you know, flexible and so forth." I
said, "It looked like He'd healed you then, but He's healed you now."
He said, "Do you mean I'm healed now?"
I said, "THUS SAITH THE LORD." I said, "If you've got a pin-striped
suit…" He–he was wearing a dark suit with a red tie on. I said, "You
got a pin-striped suit?"
He said, "Yes, sir. Just bought one the other day."
I said, "Rise up. Jesus Christ makes you whole." And how many knows it?
Testimonies, stood on the (Billy Graham's meeting) on the White House
steps and sang, "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms." Never went to
crutches or wheelchairs again as long as he lived.

^E-63
Jack Moore and I was down there in old Mexico that night where I had to
be let down over the wall. A little woman there, a little Mexican
Catholic… The night before that, I laid hands on an old blind man. He
got his sight. This little woman… They said…
Billy come to me; he said, "Daddy…"… I called the man "Manana,"
"manana" means "tomorrow"; he was so slow. He was giving out the prayer
cards, and Billy went with him to see he didn't sell one. So he said,
"He give out all the prayer cards." And said, "This little woman's got
a baby that died this morning." And it was nearly ten o'clock that
night, outside in that bullring, there in the–and the rain just
pouring down, some kind of a big, open field, like.

^E-64
And he said… And they brought me in to let me down some ladder steps.
Brother Jack Moore and them is here now; he was on the platform. Said,
"I got three hundred ushers standing there can't hold that woman." Said
she'd climb up over their shoulders, run between their legs. "And I
told her she couldn't get up here because she didn't have a prayer
card. We ain't got no more prayer cards."
She didn't care about that. She wanted to have hands laid on that baby.
She'd seen a Catholic man had been blind for twenty or thirty years
receive his sight by being prayed for. She…
And a rack of old garments… You think this is something? Oh, three
times this platform, stacked that high with just as far as you could
see with old shawls and hats. How they ever knowed who it belonged to,
I don't know. But they believed: simple child faith.

^E-65
So I said, well, I said to Brother Jack; he and I part our hair the
same, you know, so I said, "Brother Jack, she wouldn't know the
difference 'tween you and I. You go down there and pray for the baby."
And he said, "All right, Brother Branham." He started down; Brother
Jack's setting right there. So we was… He started… I started to
preach like this. And I looked, and I seen a little Mexican baby, a
little black-faced baby, standing here in front of me, just smiling.
Its little gums didn't have any teeth.
I said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Bring the baby here." I said, "Lord God, I don't…"
And she run up and had–with a crucifix in her hand, hollering,
"Padre," means "father." I said, "Stand up now." She had a little
blue-looking blanket, and a little baby, stiff, dead, laying on it, and
just soaking wet, her hair all down, pretty little lady, probably her
first baby, in her twenties, you know. And just holding down like this,
and I–I said, "I'll pray for the baby."
I laid my hands… They don't interpret the prayer. I said, "Lord God,
I only seen the vision; I don't know…" And about that time it let out
a kick, and begin screaming and crying, like that.
I said, "Brother Espinosa," to the–the chairman of the meeting, I
said, "Don't you just take that woman's testimony. You send a witness
to that to the doctor." The doctor signed a witness which appears in
the Men's "Voice of Healing." The baby died with double pneumonia that
morning at nine o'clock in his office, pronounced dead, no respiration.
It'd been laying in the rain all day dead, and was healed and is alive
today, as far as I know, living to the Kingdom of God.
And I have many things out of Africa, where I've seen thirty thousand
raw heathens give their life to Jesus Christ. God keeps His Word. He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever, as His witness.

^E-66 You are… Your mind is the jury, and your action is your judge. Now, bow your heads just a moment.
Lord
Jesus, the trial hasn't started. How many more could we call up here on
the platform. You said, "If–if they lay hands on the sick, they shall
recover." You said, "The works that I do shall you also." The woman
touched Your garment–You turned and told her what had happened.
And You keep all Your Words. There's none of them wrong. The wrong is
in the unbeliever, Lord. Mr. Unbeliever, he's the one that contaminates
the–the person, Mr. Skeptic, and that impatient one that can't wait
upon the Lord, and yet calling himself the seed of Abraham. Oh, Holy
Spirit, the defense Witness, You know who has faith and who don't. God,
I pray that You'll move back every unbelief this afternoon. And may the
great Judge of all the earth come forward now, the One Who wrote the
Word. He is the Word. May He come forward.

^E-67
And as these people pass through here to be healed this afternoon, may
each one of them make up their mind now. They're on trial. I'm laying
it right in their laps, Lord. Their mind is their jury. And the way
they act from here on when they pass through this line will prove what
they think about the Word of God. So grant, Lord, that this last
message that You preached to Your disciples when You commissioned them,
the last words that fell from Your sacred lips, "If they lay hands on
the sick, they shall recover."… That is believers. Last things You
said…
The first commission You ever commissioned man to do, Matthew 10, was,
"Heal the sick, cast out devils. Freely as you receive, freely give."
The last commission, "Go into all the world. Cast out devils, lay hands
on the sick. They shall recover." Lord, may the people realize that
that faith anchors, like it did to all these witnesses. They believe
it, no matter… Don't have to happen now, but what You said, You bring
it to pass. You said, "If you don't doubt in your heart, by and by it
shall come to pass." The seed has to grow. May the people see it and
understand, for we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.

^E-68
Are you a believer? Now, He keeps all of His Words. You believe that?
Now, real reverent, everybody, just a moment 'fore we call the prayer
line. We want order. Now, remember. Have you made up your mind? Have
you come to a verdict, jury? Raise your hands if you've come to a
verdict. Is God justified or not justified? Is His Word… Is He the
same yesterday, today, and forever, or is He not?
Now, if you raise your hand, pass through this line, then the way you
act from here out… Do you act like Abraham, or Mr. Unbeliever. See?
Mr. Skeptic? Mr. Impatient? Discard them. Believe Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, today, and forever.

^E-69
I'm a stranger to you. But now to let you know that He still is here,
and if you'll just accept His Word in your heart… Now, you might not
be able to do this. We have one of them in one generation. There was
one Moses. None of the rest of them didn't have to turn dust into
fleas, and so forth, and water into blood. There was one Moses. The
rest of them just believed what he said. See?
There was a group up there wanted to make an organization out of it,
Dathan and them, and God said, "Separate yourself from them," and the
world took them. See? And that was only a… That was a type of this,
being the antetype. The world gets them by and by. You see what happens
to every one of them. "But thou canst believe, all things are
possible." You believe that? Sure. All things are possible, if they
believe. All right. You pray. You put your faith in Almighty God.

^E-70
There was a question here that I wanted to say here. Yes. When your
neighbors see you, and the people that sees you come through this line
this afternoon, when they see you coming through this line, they will
know what your verdict is after you hear the way you act and the way
you testify. If the next time, you run to your pastor, "Oh, I didn't
get it. I want to try it again." See, you're digging up the seed. It
will never come to pass. See? Don't dig up your seed. Commit it and
leave it there. Forget about it. That's up to God. In your heart if you
can believe it, it'll happen.

^E-71
Do you believe that, sir, setting right there with that gray-looking
suit on, setting right back there looking at me? You believe that? Then
your nervousness left you. I never seen the man in my life. Are we
strangers, one to another, sir? That's right. That's what you're
suffering with. That you might know, me being a servant of God, the
woman setting next to you is suffering with stomach trouble. That's
right. You believe it? Raise up your hand that you believe you're
healed. Just have faith. The woman setting next to her's got heart
trouble. You believe that, that God will heal you? All right, sir. If
you believe it, you can have it. One setting next to her has female
trouble. You believe that God will heal you?
The woman setting next to that, the heavyset lady, she's got diabetes.
You believe God will heal you? The woman setting up there's got
something wrong with her… She's got–she's got female trouble setting
right up there on the end of the row. I believe that's her daughter,
setting right back from her there, has got some kind of a head trouble,
was caused by an accident. Is that right? Raise up your hands in the
balcony.
What is He? I'm His witness that He's alive. He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He keeps all His Words. "The works that I do, shall
you…"

^E-72
What did them people up in the balcony… Somebody else believe for a
minute. Now, do you want me point you some unbelievers? Might embarrass
you. How many's seen it done? It only does. You have to plant the wheat
and the weeds grow together.
All the people in this row here that's got prayer cards form… Wait let's just a minute.
How, many believing pastors is here this afternoon that's on–on trial
also, and you believe that Mark 16 is true? Raise your hands. All
believing pastors come here. If I leave here, and you see what's going
to take place this afternoon, and these people will be healed, then
some of them say… See, usually an evangelist with a little different
ministry that go in, he leaves the pastor flat before the congregation.
The congregation say, "Oh, if Brother Roberts comes back, Brother
Osborn, Brother so-and-so, or Brother Branham, or somebody, oh, he…"
Your pastor has the same right to this that I do, anybody else. See?
Your pastor's a man sent from God, the same as any other evangelist.
And I want the real God-fearing, believing pastors to come here and
stand with me just a minute. Walk up here just a minute. Form yourself
a double line right here. I mean men that's really believing now; don't
let unbelievers come. You'll hinder the sick. If you–if you judge this
Scripture right, and today while God has appeared to us here and showed
that He is on trial, and we have believed Him and know that He tells
the truth and is right… You believe it? Sure, if believe it. Amen.

^E-73 You believe that nervousness left you, sir, setting out there at the end? You believe that He makes you well? All right.
And
your stomach trouble, next to him, you believe that God will heal the
stomach trouble and make you well? If you believe that, you can have it
also.
Is this all the believing pastors there is in here today? All right, that's enough. One's enough.
Let all the people that's got prayer cards that believe Mark 16… Now,
remember, don't you come in if you don't believe it. See? Don't come up
here in that hypocrisy. See? That's worse than ever. If you don't
believe it, say, "No, I don't believe it." Go on with Mr. Unbeliever,
Mr. Skeptic, or somebody else.

^E-74
But if you're a genuine seed of Abraham, and you want to take your
stand, your verdict has been–has been met, and you want to show the
world that your verdict is met, that you believe that every Word Jesus
Christ said is the same, and the witnesses proved it to you this
afternoon that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, let those
who's got prayer cards here walk right down here and stop right here.
Now, just stand right there if you will, and form a line.
Let all that's in this section here that's got prayer cards turn and go
on around the back and fall in line right behind them on this side.
Now, let all that's–that's in this other sections over here turn and
go back to the wall. That way you could fall right in behind this line
here, come down. Let all that's in the balcony follow right behind
here. All you that's got prayer cards, to be prayed for, and made up
your mind your verdict is settled, it's done been reached, go towards
the wall and form a line coming right in behind here.

^E-75
Now, what did the Bible say? Let me read it again. A strange thing, it
just fell open to the place. I believe the Lord wants us to read that
again. See?

He did us the same way this afternoon; He's here. How many believes
that Christ and the Holy Ghost is–that the Spirit of Christ is the
Holy Ghost? Of course it is. There's no three or four gods. There's
only one God. There's three attributes of God: Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, but they're not three gods. That's heathen. See, there's only
one God, and that's attributes. God, the Father, was in the wilderness
as a Pillar of Fire. All right. God, the Son… God, the Father,
created a body which was God, the Son, and lived in the Son. See? God
was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. You believe that? If
you're a Christian you believe it.

^E-76
And then, "A little while and the world seeth Me no more." And now,
look. Jesus said, "I came from God, and I return to God." After His
death, burial, and resurrection, He ascended up. And when Saul of
Tarsus was on his road down to Damascus a big Light, Pillar of Fire,
came, struck before him. Is that right? What did it do? It struck him
blind. And when he raised up, he said… Now, remember, he's a Hebrew.
He knowed what that was, or he wouldn't have said, "Lord." "Lord, Who
are you?" He knowed that His people followed that Light, that Pillar of
Fire. It brought them out of Egypt. "Lord, Who are You that I
persecute?"
He said, "I'm Jesus. It's hard for you to kick against the pricks." It
was Him that come in as the Pillar of Fire that night and turned Peter
out of jail.
And now, look. If that same Spirit returns, won't it have the same
attributes that it had here? If it's the life… Well, what is this
Pillar of Fire that… Now, if I never see you men again, and you
people, my testimony's proven true. The Bible testifies of it.
Scientific world testifies of it. That George J. Lacy said, "I often
said it was psychology myself, Mr. Branham." But said, "I've had it
under ultra-ray and every kind of infrared and everything that I could
find. The light struck the lens, and this lens won't take psychology."
So if I live or die, it's true anyhow. The church knows it's true.
Science knows it's true. Now, what about you?

^E-77
Remember, it's not me; it's Him. It's not me. I'm nobody but just one
of you all. It's Him. He has to get somebody. Nobody's worthy of it,
but somebody has to do it. Remember, it's not a easy job. But it's a
glorious job to know that your Lord is here, and you can tell your
brethren the truth. But it's hard when they won't believe it. But that,
we all have to confront that.
Remember now. Now, you audience, are you all about lined up now? Looks
like they are. Now, if there's some in the balcony, follow right in
behind this line here.

^E-78
Now, remember, these are your pastors, men of God who believe God. Are
you believers? You stood here and make a testimony that you believe
this Mark 16 is true. All right. Now, the Bible said, "The prayer of
faith shall save the sick; God shall raise them up. If they lay hands
on the sick, they shall recover." Now, we're going to pray for you now,
while you're standing reverently, quietly.
And then, when you pass through here, that… Just like you was
coming… You'd confessed that you believed Jesus Christ to be the Son
of God. And then you go to the pool to be baptized, or the creek,
river, or wherever it's at. And when you're baptized, that's all the
preacher can do: preach the Word; you believe it; you're baptized for
the remission of your sins, rise up a new life. Then the way you act
from there on proves whether you really accepted Christ or not.

^E-79
Now, if you believe in Divine healing, and have accepted Him now as
your Healer, we're standing here to lay hands on the sick. The way you
act from the end of that line on, the rest of your life, will be the
judge, no matter what you say. See what I mean? And you're just as sure
to get well as you are to remain a Christian. How long are you a
Christian after that? As long as you believe. And you're healed as long
as you believe.
Notice. "These signs shall follow them that believe. In My Name they
shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues; they shall
take up serpents. If they drink a deadly thing it shall not hurt them.
They shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover."

^E-80
In the face of this, my mind reached a verdict about thirty-five years
ago. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. By believing Him,
He's identified Himself here this afternoon, infallible proof, a
miracle. Anything that's unexplainable is a miracle. To show, He does
every time.
You say, "Why don't you just…"
Did you know one woman touched His garment and He said, "I got weak."
How many knows that? Virtue's gone from Him. Now, He was the son of
God. How about me, a sinner saved by grace. See? But He promised it
would do it. See? It's His promise. He don't have to do it, but He
promised He'd do it.

^E-81
Now, do you believe that, all in the line, believe your mind has
reached that verdict? Now, it's going to be in your lap now. Your mind
has reached that verdict that you believe that Jesus Christ spoke these
Words? If you do, you in the prayer line, raise your hands. All in the
prayer line accept your healing upon the basis of this, that you
believe your pastors, and all of us, that we are serving the true,
living God, and that witness that you seen of Him this afternoon
identifies Him here with us, the One that made the Word, the same
yesterday, today, and forever. If you do, raise up your hand.
It's got to happen, just got to happen. I don't care who you are, if
you'll stay with that, it's got to happen. Just the same as it rains
come, just the same as Moses brought them out of Egypt, the same as the
virgin was–brought forth the Child without a earthly father, it'll be
the same thing, if you don't doubt it.

^E-82
Roy, come here now and take this. Sing "Only Believe." Just a minute
till we pray. Ministers, let's bow our heads, congregation, everywhere.
Our heavenly Father, the–the strain of this moment… We're wondering,
Lord, just how many really believes. The seed has been sown; the Word
has been read. Christ, the Holy Ghost, has appeared before us and
showed that that Life that was in this Light… And He was the Light of
the world. He's the Light now. He's the great eternal Light, and He has
appeared before us this afternoon and done just what He said He would
do in this generation. The Word's been thoroughly spoken; the Word's
been thoroughly identified, and the people now, if they just thoroughly
believe it with all their heart…

^E-83
We're praying for them, Father. Take all unbelief. May the men that
would witness against You this afternoon, old man Unbelief, Skeptic,
and Impatience, may he be cast from among us today. May he go into
outer darkness. May he leave this building that the great defense
Witness, the Holy Ghost, can quicken every Word as they pass by. Grant
it. May they go from here. Their mind has already passed the verdict,
and they're coming through. And now, Holy Spirit, quicken that Word to
them that the work is finished as soon as the last application has been
done by laying hands on the sick. Grant it, Lord. I claim every one of
their healings in the Name of Jesus Christ.

^E-84
Now, next thing to be done is laying on of hands. Just like the
ceremony for baptism, and you're buried with Him then, and you rise and
walk away into new life. You might not feel like it, but you believe
it. Just keep staying with it. Finally, after while, you find out you
got a new life. That's the same way it is here. It's the seed that's
sown. We're planting it now by laying hands upon you.
What are we doing this? Identifying ourself, like in the Old Testament
they laid hands upon their sacrifice to identify themselves. By faith
we lay our hands upon Christ to identify ourself with Him. Today we lay
our hands upon the sick to identify ourself with this Word. See? You
believe now, and the Lord will make you well.

^E-85
Now, Brother Borders is going to be singing quietly, and the organist
and pianist, and so forth, "Only believe, all things are possible, only
believe."
Just imagine now, Jesus coming down from that mountain. The other
disciples has failed upon an epileptic case, after He give them power
to cast out devils just a few days before that. It wasn't that they
didn't have power. But He said, "Your unbelief was the reason." But
when he come to Jesus he knowed he hit faith then. Now, believe with
all your heart now, while we quietly sing, "Only Believe." Brother
Borders. [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]

Now, let us sing it like this, all that does.

O God, in Jesus' Name heal these, Lord, that these handkerchiefs represent, for Your glory. Grant it, Lord

^E-86
You know what we have done? We have followed the commandments of Jesus
Christ. Now, are you still with your verdict? "I am healed. It's
impossible for me not to get well, because God made the promise. With
my dying lips, the last thing on my lips, 'I believe I am healed.'" Do
you believe it like that? "I believe it." God bless you, my brother,
sister.
Now, let us stand up to our feet just a moment. I don't know when it will be, I hope right away, but…

Let's bow our heads while we hum it. [Brother Branham begins humming–Ed.]
Till we meet. O God, let Thy Word be a Lamp now, what we have seen, and
heard, and read, and may it guide us to Your feet. May we ever remain
there, believing Your Word, everything that You promised. Grant it,
Lord.

Let us bow our heads now. Our most lovely brother, Brother Johnson, takes the dismissing prayer. God bless you, brother.

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