A Deceived Church By The World (59-0628M)

 

¹
Jesus Christ, His Son, and has given us all things freely in Christ…
We are grateful to Thee, Lord, for the privileges that we are granted
by this great supreme Sacrifice that Jesus gave for us at Calvary, that
it reconciled us back into fellowship and to favor with Thee, that we
might have this consolation of knowing that it's written, "If ye abide
in Me, and My Words in you, you can ask what you will and it shall be
done unto you." Now, we're grateful for this, and pray that You'll give
us faith to believe it with all that's in us.

²
Now, let us lay aside, Lord, every toil of the day, every care of this
life, all the way from the janitor to the pastor, that there would be
nothing in our minds now, but be waiting, listening reverently for the
Holy Spirit to speak to us, that we might accomplish something good, to
know more of Thee, by our gathering together. For, Lord, truly that's
why we come on this hot day. Speak to us through Thy living Word, and
let the living Word dwell in us and abide in us, that we might be
shaped and formed, not to the world, but be transformed by the renewing
of our spirit into the form of the Son of God.
Oh, our hearts tremble when we think, and the joy floods our souls to
know that we can be called sons and daughters of God. And we stand on
the very brim of His second coming, and all nations and kingdoms
quivering under our feet, all things of the world is vanishing, but
knowing that someday He shall come and shall take us to a Kingdom where
there shall never be an end, or, it'll never be moved. And to think
that we are now the–the subjects of that Kingdom O God, circumcise our
heart and ears today by–by the Holy Spirit, through the washing of the
water of the Word. For we ask it in His Name and for His glory. Amen.

³
I wish to approach the subject this morning. For I was going to speak
on something a little different if there was to be a healing service,
but we announced that the prayer cards to be give out at eight, till
eight-thirty or nine o'clock. And I just… Billy come up to the house
a few minutes ago and he said there was hardly anyone here, so he
didn't give out prayer cards. So we'll… I thought of taking this text
for a correction of the church. And I want to speak on the subject of
"A Deceived Church By The World." I wish to read some now out of the
Book of Judges the 16th chapter, beginning with the 10th verse.

⁴
Now, I wish to read, for a text for this subject, found over in the
Book of Revelations the 2nd chapter, beginning with the 21st and the
23rd verses.

May the Lord add His blessings to the reading of His Word.

⁵
Samson, great deal like the church, started off right. He started off
in the right direction. He started off and was called a mighty man of
valor. But he started out serving the Lord in keeping His Words and
doing His commandments. And that was somewhat like the church. It
started off on, as we would say, as a world expression, started on the
right foot, started to keep the commandments of the Lord. And as long
as Samson followed the Lord, the Lord used Samson.

⁶
For God can keep anyone and use anyone that will follow after Him, for
it's God's business. But when we turn to aside away from the things of
God, then God cannot use us any longer. When we'll walk steadfastly
after the commandments of God, when we'll stay in the pages of the
Bible and worship by the written Word, worship Him in the Spirit and in
the Truth of the Word, then God can use any individual. But when they
take a notion to turn aside after something else, then God cannot use
that person any longer.

⁷
So Samson makes a–a very outstanding representation of the church of
today. When the church started, God could use the church, for the
church walked diligently after the commandments of the Lord, kept all
of His judgments and His statutes, and done all of His commandments.
And God was with the church. But it seems to be that there is such a
weakening place amongst the church.

⁸
Remember, we are not on a picnic, but we're in a battlefield. Many
people just think that when they become a Christian that that's all
they need to do, that that settles it forever, as they are a Christian
and everything's going to come easy. Don't never get that in your head.
For I become a Christian to fight, fight the good fight of faith. I
become a Christian to get in the battle line. We are Christian
soldiers, and we got to be trained, and brought up, and know all the
techniques of the enemy, to know how to fortify, to know how to–to
fight the fight. And we can only do that as the Holy Spirit will reveal
it to us. We cannot take what some other nation tells us when we go to
war, some of their ideas. But we got to take our own ideas, the way the
Holy Spirit would direct us, and what ideas He would give us, because
He is the Commandering Chief of the army of the Christians.

⁹
Samson did good; he was a great man until he begin to–begin to kinda
(we would call it) scalawag around, until he begin to get off of his
own territory. And the church did run well and was all right until they
begin to get off of their territory. Samson begin to flirt, and he was
not flirting with Israelitish girls; he begin to flirt with a
Philistine girls.
And that's somewhat similar to what the church did. It never begin to
make love with its own; it got off after unbelievers and begin to flirt
with unbelievers. That's where we made our great, and one of the
greatest mistakes is when the church begin to do things that wasn't
right. It begin to keep, like Samson, bad company.

¹¹
Samson, as long as he was in the company of the Lord's people, he did
all right. But when he got to flirting with bad company, then he got in
trouble.
And that's the way it is with the church. When the church followed
reverently and daily after the leading of the Holy Spirit, God blessed
them, and miracles and signs and wonders followed the church. But when
it begin to keep bad company with the world… One of the worst things
it done, and the first things it done, it begin to organize, breaking
up fellowship amongst other believers, because they found out that
nations were organized. But this great Gospel is not dedicated to one
nation or one peoples. It's dedicated to "whosoever will, let him
come," all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. God never did intend
for us to draw a boundary line.

¹³
But man wanted to be like, they compare, or to copy after, go like
the–the world does, say the things that they do, make a success the
way they were a success. We cannot never be a success doing anything
the world does. We can only be a success as we follow after God's
statutes and His way of doing things. We can never be by patterning
after the world. If the cigarette company has met their greatest
success by television, and the beer and the whiskey crowd has made
their great success through the contribution of television, that's no
sign that the church shall make its success by television. The success
of the church lies within the preaching of the Gospel, of the power of
God, and the demonstration of the Spirit. We cannot say because that
television done such-and-such for the cigarette company and the–and
the other companies… We do not have any Scripture to tare–try to
compare with them people. And as long as we do, we may draw great
numbers of people, but that's not what God ordained us to do. We think
because that we're all colors, flying high, great organizations,
causing great colorful things to take place, that it's a success. We
are dying daily on our feet, spiritually speaking. If we stood
ten-million strong this morning, and the Holy Spirit wasn't with us,
we'd do well to stand ten strong with the Holy Spirit with us. We
cannot compare with the world.

¹⁴
And one of the first things was the church begin to organize
themselves. The first organization was the Catholic church, and then
come the Lutheran church. When they organized in the Catholic church to
make it an organization, one day there was a cry, "The Philistines is
on thee, Samson," and Samson broke the cords of the bounds of the
Catholic church, and Martin Luther came forth with the organization.

¹⁵
Then they bound the church with another cord as Delilah did. And they
begin… Instead of having God-called men, men who were called by the
Holy Spirit, maybe didn't know their abc's, but they knowed Christ.
Then the church got stylish, and fashioned after the political
speakers. And they had to give their preachers doctor's degree,
everybody had to be a Doctor of Divinity. That was another cord to bind
the church. Men go off and study, each seminary tries to produce a
better scholar so that their churches can brag, "Our pastor is a Doctor
of Divinity." And what did they do, one try to have more knowledge than
the other one. Well, that doesn't mean anything in the sight of God.

¹⁶
And there's no need for any man to try to take his worldly knowledge
and ever please God with it. It's an abomination in the sight of God.
You'll never please God with the worldly ambitions and knowledge,
because it's enmity to God, says the Scripture. He cannot do it.
And each one tries to have all the knowledge. They know just what to do
and the words to say, and it becomes just a political speech in the
stead of a powerly demonstrated, Holy Spirit message that sinks to the
heart of men and discovers the sin. They're trained for political
talks, and we don't need that. Paul said, "The Word come to us, not
only… or, the Gospel in Word only, but through the power and the
manifestation of the Holy Ghost." That brought the Gospel,
demonstrating the powers of the Holy Ghost. But all these men go off to
seminaries and they learn great education, how they must stand before
the people, how they must present themselves, how they must dress, and
how they must act; they should never use the wrong grammar. Now, that's
all right for a political speech, but we're not after the enchanting
words of men. Paul said, "The Gospel that I preach didn't come like
that, but it come through the renewing of the–the Holy Ghost and the
power of demonstrations." Doesn't come by a right formed speech, that
your wisdom would be, or your trust would be in the wisdom of man. But
it come through the demonstrations of the power of the risen Christ.
That's the Gospel, "To know Him in the power of His resurrection."

¹⁸
Each one tries to think he's a little smarter than the other man, each
denomination. The Methodists will say, "We got the smartest men." The
Baptist will say, and the Church of Christ, and so forth, they all,
"We, we're the smartest. We… Our–our people, we don't let just the
ordinary men go out and preach the Gospel." But they handpick them. (O
God, have mercy.) Handpick them; if they're indocumated with their
certain doctrine, then they put them in the church. God can't touch him
in no way. I want somebody to preach to me that's been handpicked by
the Holy Ghost, God has raised up, not picked by men or denominations.
All knowledge… They say, "Oh, we know all about it," and some of them
doesn't know the first alphabet of the Holy Spirit. They deny It.

²⁰
It reminds me of a little book I read one day in California, about ten
years ago. I picked it up in an old bookstore. I forget who was the
author, just a little ten cent book, but it had some good sense to it,
though it seemed jokingly and cunningly. But I found something in there
that sounded like God to me. And one of the little stories started out
like this.
One morning in a great chicken pen, there was a certain little rooster
that thought he'd had all the knowledge that there was to be known. So
he flies up on a box and beat his little bill against the box four or
five times, flew back his little head, and crowed like you never heard
a rooster crow. And the others, he attracted their attention, and he
said, "Ladies and gentlemen of this chicken pen, I would like to speak
to you all this morning on some great educational program we have just
designed." Said, "I have required a lot of knowledge in my studying,"
as he pulled his little glasses over his bill. And he said, "I have
decided that we chickens can better ourselves by more knowledge.
Therefore, I can tell you that where, if we will dig and work in a
certain pen or hole, we'll find a certain vitamin that'll make us crow
better, prettier feathers. And, oh, I can tell you how we can en-better
ourselves in many different ways."

²¹
And the little pullets with their little red combs, they just cackled
and said, "Isn't he a darling?" And they certainly admired him. "Oh, he
is such a brilliant rooster." Reminds me of some of these here seminary
preachers: "Such a brilliant man. There's no need of us hanging around
with the rest the chickens; we all ought to go with him."
Well, before the little fellow got his speech finished, there was
another little chicken that didn't have such bright feathers, come
running in from the rest of the chicken yard, and said, "Boys, just a
minute. I just heard the latest bulletin on the radio. Chickens went up
four cents on the pound; we're all going to the slaughter tomorrow.
What good's your knowledge going to do?"
Brother, all the knowledge that we can accumulate, what good does it
do? We're six-foot of dirt. We're all dying by inches and by minutes.
Our knowledge means nothing. We want to know Him. But they do that.

²⁴
As I was remarking sometime ago about a certain little canary, and he
thought he knowed all the knowledge that–that need to be knowed, and
he knowed so much that he could tell all the rest the canaries about
the human beings. So he flies up on his cage and he begins to speak
about the human being, how he knowed all about them. And all of a
sudden, a professor from Purdue walked up and begin to speak some
high-polished words to him, and the little fellow batted his eyes and
turned his head. Now, he had eyes; he could see the professor. He had
ears; he could hear him. But of course he didn't know what he was
talking about. Why? He's got a canary brain. He's just a bird-brain.
That's all he's got. He hasn't got a human brain, so he can't think
like human beings.
And neither can a human being think like God. You're human, and all the
worldly knowledge is no more than a canary brain. All that you do, you
just hurt yourself with it. You've got to have the mind of Christ.

²⁶
The reason people go and join organizations, and substitute a handshake
in the stead of the new birth, they're trying to bypass the new birth.
They don't want the new birth. And they–they know we teach it in the
Bible, so they want to substitute something for it. And the Pentecostal
people are just as bad, trying to substitute something. They want it in
class. It must be just so classy, "We'll shake hands and join the
church, and be sprinkled or baptized," or something. They are afraid of
the new birth. I sometimes believe the Branham Tabernacle's getting
afraid of it.

²⁷
Now, we all know that a birth, I don't care where it is, or where,
whereabouts, it's a mess. If a baby's born on a shuck pile, on a hard
floor, or in a pink-decorated hospital room, it's a mess, anyhow. A
birth of a calf, birth of anything else is a mess.
And the new birth is nothing less than a mess. But people so starchy,
"We'll go over where they shake hands. We'll go over where they don't
bawl and cry, and beat on the altar, and cry out." You want to be too
human. What we need is birth, dying out, to bring forth Life.

²⁹
A seed, an old potato, a seed potato, you take that potato and put it
in the ground. Until you can have new potatoes, that old potato has to
rot. A corn cannot produce new life until it's rotten.
And a man or woman can never have new birth until their intellectuals
and their own self is rotten, dead, die out at the altar, and scream,
get all messed up to a place the starch gets out of your collar, and
you're borned again by the Spirit of God. I don't care if you squall,
speak in tongues, jump up-and-down, flop like a chicken with its head
off, you're bringing forth new Lifes. But we substituted something for
it; we want the classical way. Sure.

³¹
The other day, Friday, wife and I was going to the store. I don't mean
to harp on this. But as we went down the street, I just kept turning my
head one way for the other: naked women. I promised God when I was a
blind man, if He'd heal my eyes I'd look at the thing was right. I keep
a little cross hanging in my car. When I see such as that, I look at
the cross and say, "O God, that's my Refuge," as I looked at the cross.
I seen those women. Meda said, "We haven't seen one woman today that's
got on a skirt." And she said, "Bill, look at that woman there with
those little straps around the top of her body," and said, "you mean to
tell me that woman don't know that's wrong?" Said, "If she doesn't know
it's wrong, then she's out of her right mind."
I said, "Just a minute, honey. She is an American; she does as the Americans do."

³⁴
I said, "I was in Finland not long ago, sweetheart." And I questioned
there to a man that set me down, Doctor Manninen. And we were going to
the–the health bath, what's called the sauna, and they take you in and
pour hot water on, or water on hot rocks, and it just sweats you. Then
they make you jump in ice water, and then back out. Then you take you
into a room, and there's nurses in there, women who scrub the men (and
them naked), send them back into the pool. I wouldn't go in. And I
said, "Doctor Manninen, that's wrong."
He said, "All right then, Reverend Branham, that's wrong. Then how
about your American doctors that'll strip a woman naked and lay her on
the table, examine every sex organ she's got? How about your nurses in
the hospitals?"
I said, "Excuse me, Brother Manninen–Manninen, you're right."

³⁷
What is it? It's customs. When I was in Paris I could hardly believe
it, that the urinals for both men and women was the same one. I
couldn't understand it, that the restrooms was on the side of the
street for both male and female. I couldn't believe that when women
went to the beach to go swimming, a boy and his sweetheart, they had no
dressing rooms; they just took all their clothes to the last garment,
then turn their backs and put on a little strap and went swimming, but
it's so. They pay no attention to it. It's a custom of France.

³⁸
In Africa women and men, young and old, no clothes at all, walking
through the prairies. Never knowed what a restroom was, or things, or
never went out of each other's sight. But they don't know the
difference. They don't know the different. But it's customs of nations.
But I said, "Honey, we are different, we're from another nation. We are
pilgrims and strangers here; that's what makes these things look so
wrong. For the Bible said, 'They that profess such, claim they show
that they are pilgrims and strangers, they are seeking a city to
come.'"

⁴⁰
A man or a woman in Italy, in France, in Africa, in any other nation,
that's ever borned again of the Holy Ghost, don't do those things. They
won't wear those clothes. They won't act like that, because they're of
another nation whose Ruler and Maker is God. We're from heaven. The
spirit that's within you motivates your life. If you are a American,
you'll do as the Americans do. If you are French, you'll do as the
French do, and criticize the other one. But if you are of God, you'll
do the way they do in heaven, because your Spirit comes from above and
It controls you.

⁴¹
A little something you might look at. In the Scripture those who sought
this new city acted different. They professed that they were pilgrims
and strangers. But on the side of Cain, they become fugitives and
renegades. But Christians were pilgrims and strangers. A fugitive has
no home; a renegade is a horrible person. But a pilgrim is something
real, and from a real land in another nation, trying to find his way
home, professing by his living that he has something that he's from
another country. There is the reason.

⁴²
But yet those people who do so, those people who wear those things…
Let me tell you. In South Africa, when I saw thirty thousand raw
heathens, naked, blanket natives, sixteen, eighteen, twenty year old
girls, boys with not one stitch of clothes standing there with mud in
their faces, and painted up, bones through their nose, and blocks of
wood hanging from their ears, and cross human bones or some bones in
their hair, animals' teeth hanging over them, naked as they come into
the world, and didn't know it. But when they received Christ, and fell
on their face and received the Holy Ghost, they got up and folded their
arms to hold shame to their bosom, as they walked away and found
clothes to put on. Why? They become pilgrims and strangers to this
world. Hallelujah. They were away from it. Yes, sir.

⁴³
Oh, yes, these people call themselves Christians. They belong to
churches. They go away and say, "We are Methodists. We're Baptists.
We're Pentecostals. We're Seventh-day Adventists. We're this, that, and
the other." That doesn't have one thing to do with it. Your spirit, the
life that's in you, motivates and tells what you are. Jesus said, "By
their fruit you shall know them."

⁴⁴
The church has become like Israel first. They seen all the heathen
nations having a king; God was their king. And they seen the heathen
nations having king, so they wanted to act like the heathen nations,
and they bought themself a king. And as they did it, they got in
trouble. Gradually it begin to come in. Gradually the world begin to
slip into them. Finally ended up in Ahab. One king coming just a little
closer to it, a little closer to it, and finally squeezed the life out
of them. And there they went. And when their real King come, they
didn't know Him.

⁴⁵
That's the same thing the church has done. It's adopted… Here you
are. It's adopted politics, educations. It's adopted organizations,
societies, big churches, highfaluting preachers. And when the real King
comes, they don't know Him, and they're crucifying the very Holy Ghost
that's their King. They don't know Him, but they laugh at Him and make
fun of Him. As they–Jews did their Messiah, the church is doing their
Messiah the same way. They don't know it. They haven't got the
spiritual insight, because they're so indocumated with their eyes and
what they see, great buildings, trying to compare with the world. We're
never exalt–exhorted to compare with the world. We're exhorted to
humble ourselves.

⁴⁶
And one is the majority in God. And today in the healing evangelists
out on the fields, there's such a competiting–competitors. One says,
"Well, bless God, I have so many thousand. I got a bigger meeting than
you have." What difference does that make? If we have one or one
million, what difference does it make? Are we true to God? Are we true
to His Word? Do we stand under test of the Holy Spirit? Is it true?
That's the main thing.

⁴⁷
But we compromise upon the Bible. A lot of our Pentecostal people, upon
the fundamental doctrines of this Bible, compromise. There's… I don't
want to hurt feelings. I'm in my own church, and I feel that I shoul–I
could do just what in my church, because I'm preaching the Gospel. But
there's tens of thousands of Pentecostal preachers knowed that there's
no such a thing in the Bible as the baptism in the name of "Father,
Son, Holy Ghost." I challenge the archbishop, or anybody, to show me
where anybody was ever baptized in the name of "Father, Son, Holy
Ghost." But they compromise, because the organizations has did so.
There's not one person in the New Testament, and for three hundred
years afterwards, by history, but what was baptized in the Name of
Jesus Christ. What is it? Organization. That's did it. Compromising…

⁴⁸
And today they've took all the street workers off the streets. They've
took the tambourine out of the church. They've taken all the glory out
of the church, and got seminary preaching, little old rooster-comb
preaching, all polished in society, and their women wearing shorts and
dresses that they're skinned into, and men smoking cigarettes, and
gambling and telling dirty jokes. It's a disgrace in the sight of God.
I know that's rough, but it's time somebody said something.
Compromising, giving in, acting like the world…
I don't care if I have to stand alone, with nobody but God alone, I'll
preach the truth of God's Bible and stand for it. If I die, I'll still
stand for the truth. Certainly. We want truth. I'll measure up not
according to the church, but according to the Word of God I want to
measure up.

⁵⁰
But Delilah, did you notice, she knowed that Samson had a power. And
she didn't know where that power laid. She couldn't tell what that
power was, but there was some great power that Samson possessed, and
she wanted to find it. And, as Delilah, she kept wooing Samson after
her beauty. Oh, she dressed herself real sexy. And she walked before
him and she tee-heed like some of the little teen-agers of the day,
and–and so forth, and when you act like something another, a
striptease, trying to woo Samson to her.

⁵¹ That's the same thing the world's done to the church. "Now, where is your great power?"
"Well, if we'll organize, that'll break the power." The Catholic church done it.
"But the Philistines is on thee, Samson." And a Luther come out.
Then they organized again. "If you'll bind me with another cord, it'll hold me." So they did.
"And the Philistines on thee, Samson." What happened? Wesley came out and broke the cords.
"Now, you've deceived me all along. Don't you know I love you, Samson? All right, tell me the truth in your heart."
"All right, you bind me with another cord."
"All right, now we'll do that." What is that? That's the denominational cord.
"You
let me be free, that I ain't got no denomination. Then I tell you,
you'll have me broke." So out come the Pentecostals. Where's your
power? "Philistines be upon thee." And he broke the cords again.

⁵⁹
But now what happened? It's got the Pentecostals, the big Doctors of
Divinity for their pastors, some great man. They've got just as much
school and ritual as the Methodists or Baptists, or any of the rest of
them's got. Go into a church and you can't hear an "amen," just as cold
as a bunch of Eskimos right off the North Pole: cold, indifferent. "And
now the Philistines is on thee, Samson."
The Philistines is on thee, America. Where is that oneness of spirit?
Where is the oneness of Pentecost? The Assemblies of God, and the
United, and the Church of God, and this, that, the other, each one with
a different ism, this one with that, and this one with that. We're so
broke up till you can go into a city to hold a revival, if one church
sponsors it, the rest of them won't even attend. The Communists is upon
thee, America.

⁶¹
Where is our power? Where's our glory? What is it? Because we went
after a wisdom of men instead of the power of God. Why, they got… Our
preachers and things is so stiff and starchy, till they've organized us
till we're so starchy and stiff-necked, till people, you never hear a
shout in the church anymore. You never hear anybody cry. The mourner's
bench is put in the basement. There's no more glory in the church. All
we do is set back just as stiff as we can be. We're not free. We're
bound. The Devil, with his modernistic demons, has bound the church of
the living God. That's right. There's no more power in the church.
There's no more freedom. The people are so starchy and stiff. Why, the
God can come into the midst of Pentecostal people, and show that He's
God, and prove His signs of His resurrection; it don't even shake them.
Glory. Why, it's a disgrace. I walk across the country, God working,
performing signs, and people set, and, "Well, I guess that's all right.
Oh, I know it can be done." It doesn't move them. Why? They're bound
with Delilah, the world. They're in fetters.

⁶²
Now, they've even got them into, bound them into a confederation. "The
Philistines are on thee, Samson." What you going to do about it?
"Oh, we've got great denominations." Sure. "We have greater membership
than we ever had." But where's the Spirit? Where's the Holy Ghost?
That's what the Devil has done. It's wooed into the church. It kept
wooing the church, "Come to me; I'll give you a great big tabernacle
over here if you'll just do this. If you'll get rid of that fanatic
preacher you got, and get a man, a Doctor of Divinity that's got some
sense, we'll build a nice big classical church and we'll be like the
rest of them." Shame on you. Rather have a man that didn't know split
coffee from beans, but was filled with the Holy Ghost, that was
uncompromised, by the power of God.

⁶⁵
But it's got, oh, so starchy, till some poor saint can break through in
the meeting, and speak in tongues, or shout a little bit, or do
something, and the rest of them will all gander around and look. "What
was that? Well, wonder why? That must be a fanatic dropped in
somewhere." You know that's the truth. Some poor saint step in, get
happy enough to raise their hands, and cry, and praise the Lord,
somebody who'll holler "amen" to the preaching of the Gospel, and the
rest of them turn around and see what he said. That's Pentecostals.
What's the matter? You're patterning after the Methodists, after the
Baptists; they patterned after the Catholic; Catholic patterned after
hell. And all together, they're all after hell. Right.

⁶⁶
Delilah has wooed you into big churches, fine, educated ministers, take
the better class. "Well, you know, So-and-so down here is a
millionaire, if we could just get him to come into our congregation,
oh, my." If he isn't born again, then he doesn't deserve to be there. I
don't care if he's got a million dollars. If he owns forty Cadillacs,
whatever he's got, he's got to be borned again, come right down to a
new birth, and be regenerated by the Holy Ghost, and come out of there
in a new birth, snotting (Excuse me.), a-crying and screaming, and
carrying on like the rest of them do, and live a life afterwards to
prove he's got it. Amen. That's what you need.
"Samson, the Philistines is upon thee." The Communists is upon thee. The world's upon thee. The Devil's upon thee.

⁶⁸
They go back and they see the Spirit of God perform miracles and do
things of His resurrection, what Jesus promised; they say, "You know, I
think Brother Branham's got a lot of mental telepathy. My pastor said
it was of the Devil."
You poor, hypocritical, deluded infidel, all polished up, you wolf in
sheep's clothes, Jesus said, "If you'd have knowed Me, you'd have
knowed My day." But you've got a bunch of Saul's that try to make you
like the rest of the world.
We want a bunch of men of God who don't compromise on the Word, but
preach the truth and stand on the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
But what has the world done? It shaved all your power off. You were
born Nazarite, Pentecost, but the world certainly shaved your power.
Now, it's just as starchy as the rest of them.

⁷²
What are we going to do? What's going to happen? There's one glorious
thing that I can think of to end this text. While Samson was bound…
We can't have a revival. Listen at our loyal brother, Billy Graham,
"Revival in our day." Listen at Oral Roberts scream, "Revival in our
day." Listen at the rest of them, "Revival in our day." How can we have
a revival when we're bound? We've bound the Holy Spirit with our
organizations and traditions, and we can't have a Holy Ghost revival.
Amen. I know that's scorching hot with the weather, but it's the truth.
How can we have a Holy Ghost revival when you're so bound and starchy?
"Form of godliness," the Bible said they'd have. "Form of godliness,
but would deny the power thereof." The power of what? The power of the
organization? The power of the world? The power of the church? The
power of the Holy Ghost. That's the secret place in the church. And
when the church adopts educated preachers, and big buildings, and
finery, in the stead of the old fashion Holy Ghost, they'd better be in
the mission again. Amen. True. How you going to have a revival of the
Holy Ghost, and people quench It and bound It and afraid of It? There's
where the trouble lies.

⁷⁴ "The Philistines is on thee." But the one blessed hope we have, while Samson was in jail…
What's
the first thing they done when they caught him? They bound him first.
They took his power away; they found his secret. They found your
secret. The world found your secret. Now, you women all bob your hair;
it goes like the world. You men all go and act like the world. It's all
right, tell jokes and dirty jokes, and go out and smoke a few
cigarettes, and run out with the neighbors' wives, and everything else
like that, a little sociable drink to hold your job. I'd rather lay on
my belly and eat soda crackers and drink branch water, and stay clean
and pure before God, than to compromise for any kind of a job. That's
right. True. Stay true to God.

⁷⁶
"Samson, the Philistines is on thee." Branham Tabernacle, worldlyism is
creeping in among you. What about it? Have you exposed your secret?
Have you exposed that secret that God give you when you were wallowing
there in the sawdust a few years ago? Have you let it creep out by
social, formal worship? What's happened to you? God can come down and
perform a miracle, and go right down through the audience, and tell
people the secrets of their hearts, and everything, and heal the sick
and afflicted, and do signs and wonders, and preach His Word as hard as
they can by the Holy Ghost, and people say, "Well, I guess that's all
right. We enjoy listening to it once in a while, if we're not too
tired." That's Branham Tabernacle. The Philistines is on thee.

⁷⁷
When, used to be when the preaching of the Word, and the old saints
with the tears in their eyes, would rise to their feet and walk,
sobbing, maybe not saying a word, just walking around, two or three
times, and set down, so filled with the Holy Ghost… The Word fed
them. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Philistines is on thee, Branham
Tabernacle. Philistines is on you, Pentecostal.
'Course the Philistines got you, rest of you, long time ago when you
organized yourself so tight, nothing could come in 'less you was a
Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, or something. You wouldn't
have nothing to do with the rest of them.

⁷⁹
So revival in our day? How can we have it when the regular revival
Giver is bound by the world? God won't come in where the world is; you
can just depend on that. You associate with the world, then it's–it's
all of it. When you let the world creep in, you go to acting like the
world, then you are finished. But when you'll cut loose every fetter
from the world and come to God, God will use you until you go to
flirting again.
Here's the only hope that I have this morning to wind up my message, is
this, "While Samson was bound, a new shock of hair growed out."

⁸¹
God, send us another church just before the end time, that the power of
the Holy Ghost can come into her in the demonstrations of the Spirit,
and Mark 16 can follow the church, Acts 2:4, Acts 2:38, all of it will
be following right along with the church. Signs and wonders accompanied
the apostles. Great signs of His resurrection accompany them. While
we're in prison, surely God's growing a crop somewhere, for the last
great kill. May it be you, my Christian friend here this morning; may
it be your strength has begin to grow. I pray that this message this
morning, and out into the land to where this will go, I trust that this
message will help bring the vitamin to your system that'll grow a
spiritual power back into your life again. Let us bow our heads and
pray.

⁸²
O Lord God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Author of
Everlasting Life, and the Giver of every good and spiritual gift, take
these words this morning and place them into the heart, and water them,
Lord. May the people pray over these things, seeing that the world has
wooed the church and has finally found its power, found its secret
place, found where its secret lies, and has shaved it off, has taken
the peoples that once shouted the victory, once had the victory, and
has shaved them off to staying home on Wednesday night to watch a
television program; taken the joy out of their hearts, and give them
more love for the world than they have for God; has give them more
world, for worldly, more desire for worldly entertainment than to have
the preaching of the Gospel. If there's not a great band and a lot of
carrying on, and whooping and carrying on, then they don't want the old
Gospel anymore, that brings tears of joy to the soul, that brings
Divine healing back, that restores the apostolic gifts to the church,
that brings in the risen Christ, the Messiah of this day.

⁸³
But as Israel was bound by–by their kings, that they could not follow
their real King, and their real King, when He came, they didn't
recognize Him, so is it today, O Lord, the King of glory has appeared
in the form of the Holy Ghost, and, Lord, they don't know it. They
don't recognize it. They're so organized so tight, that they do not
understand it, because it's not in their organization. Lord, this is a
work of the Devil that's done this to the people.
May the Samson of God, may the true in heart, those who are longing and
crying, and pleading and holding on, may they stay with it, Lord, until
this new crop grows out, until there comes forth again a joy in Zion,
and there comes forth a group that can recognize and understand, that
can see the Messiah and the hidden powers that's hid from the world,
that they will not understand now. Grant, Lord, that they'll see this.
For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.

⁸⁵ [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]

How I love Him.
Just send His power. They were in the upper chamber, all with one
accord. All the world had drained out of them. They were emptied up,
and the Holy Ghost came.
Today they say, "Come, join the church, put your name on the book, or
bow down and say, 'I confess Christ as the Son of God,' get up." The
Devil does the same thing. Certainly. The Devil was baptized when Judas
was baptized. The Devil went out and preached the Gospel when Judas
went out and preached the Gospel. But the Devil didn't get the Holy
Ghost. That's it. There's where the hidden power's at, that
resurrection, that know positive, beyond a shadow of doubt. Amen.

⁸⁷
He's here. That same Holy Ghost, that One was on the Messiah, is still
on His Church. He never leaves. "I'll be with you always, even in you
to the end of the world. I'll be there. The works that I do shall you
also. More than this shall you do, for I go unto My Father."
But the world compromises it, "Oh, those are days past." Just what the
Devil wants you to do. They want you to glamorize. God wants you
baptized. God wants you… You say, "Oh, I don't believe all that there
carrying-on." Go ahead and live, go ahead and live in your sin, live in
your sin. But until you rot, till you rot to your own ideas, till you
rot to your own fashion, and be regenerated again and borned again, and
that new Life will be altogether different from the one that went down.

⁸⁹
A grain of corn goes down yellow; it comes up green: goes down hard,
cased in, it comes up flexible and blowing with the wind. Oh, glory.
Hallelujah. When the winds begin to blow, the grain can't do nothing
but move itself, shift, but the little–the little blade flex and
rejoices, grows then, strengthens itself. It can never become a blade
until the corn is dead and rotten: not only dead, but rotten. Can't
come back no more, but life comes out of it.
As I said awhile ago, a birth is a horrible thing, filthy, dirty, the
filthiest of filth, but that's where life lays. When you reckon
yourself filthy, reckon your Methodist, Baptist and Pentecostal creeds
filthy, die out at the altar, then new Life comes in. The Holy Spirit
makes you in above that; you see God.

⁹¹
We shall see Him some glorious day. Someday beyond the reach of mortal
kin, we'll see Him. You believe that? Someday beyond the reach of
mortal kin, there waits for me a glad tomorrow.
I was standing up here on the corner last night, and thought I seen
little Rabbi Lawson. When he used to be down here, and reach around
with his old cane and pull me with his neck, around my neck with his
cane, up here to the pulpit, and sing that song, "There waits for me
a…" [Blank.spot.on.tape–Ed.]…?…

⁹³
Something happened. It taken the world out. I begin to see things
different. I've worried so much about the way these American people are
doing, constantly year by year, seeing women and men how they degrading
themselves and getting out into sin, till I almost had a breakdown two
or three times, worrying over it. Yesterday I said to God, "I'll not
worry no more. Your Word said it would be so, but I'll stand in the
breach and call against it, with all that's in me."

⁹⁴
The other day, standing up at Green's Mill, my cave, way back into the
wilderness, been praying all day. And about three o'clock the sun was
setting, and I was standing up there looking across, come out of the
cave, up on a big rock. And I was standing there, looking towards the
east, praising the Lord. And I could see the sun moving down in behind
the trees up on top of the mountain, as I looked across the canyon over
into the others, and a lot of foliage on, just as still as it could be.
And I said, "Lord, one day You hid Moses in the cleft of the rock, and
You passed by him because he was weary. But You passed by, he said it
looked like the back of a man." I said, "Hide me in the cleft, Lord."
About that time, over to one side of me, there come a little Wind
moving down through the bushes. It moved right along, come right down
by the side of me, a little Wind moving down, went down through the
woods. I stood there.

(What's going to happen? She's going to close, all these little wheels turning.)

⁹⁵ One of these days, one of these days in the low parts of my death hours, I look for Him to coming. That's right.

⁹⁶
The Lord Jesus, the blessed Driver of this chariot, the Pilot of the
old ship of Zion, the boat of Life, moving down through the building,
speaking, His Presence is here. The very Holy Spirit that raised Him
from the grave is here.
Being that they give out no prayer cards, is there anybody here who
come from out of town, that I don't know, that's here to be prayed for?
Raise up your hands, that I don't know. Raise your hands up; I don't
know.
You, you there, I believe the little fellow with the mustache back
there, somebody raised their hand back in that way. Yeah, you, did you
raise your hand? All right. Back there, you, sir. All right. You all
strangers to me? That Lord Jesus, the same Shepherd of the flock here?
You believe His promises is true? He anoints His church, and "The works
that I do, shall you also. Even greater than this shall you do, for I
go unto My Father. More than this." You believe that?

⁹⁸
Did you raise your hand that you didn't know me? You believe God can
tell me what's in your heart, can speak to me just like He did the
woman touched His garment? You believe He's a High Priest that can be
touched by the feeling of our infirmities? If God will reveal to me
your conditions, will you believe me to be His prophet, believe that
His Presence is here and that's why He permits it? You're praying for
your wife. She's got a broken hip, dislocated hip. That's right. If
it's right, raise up. All right, go find her well. Amen.
What about you back there, the little fellow that raised up, that had
the mustache? You believe with all your heart? Do you believe God could
tell me your troubles? You believe your son will get all right? You do?
Got a boy; he's got cerebral palsy. That's right. You're not… It's
from Kentucky. If that's right, raise up your hand. I don't know you,
do I? If I do… Raise your hands like this, we don't know one another.
That's right. Trusting to God, do you believe? As you believe, find
your boy the way you believe. Just put you on your heart…?…

¹⁰⁰
Who was it here raised up their hands, that I didn't–didn't… Was it
you? All right, mister, do you believe me to be God's prophet? You do,
with all your heart? You don't have to get up, just stand right there.
All right, sir, what's your trouble, you've got sugar diabetes. And
it's bothering your foot. You're from Ohio. Your name's Mr. Miller. Go
back home and get well. All right, believe with all your heart. All
right.
You believe with…? If you can believe…
The lady setting here, did you raise your hand? Big lady, glasses on,
you believe with all your heart? You believe, lady? You believe me to
be God's servant? You do? All right, if God can tell me what's your
trouble, will you believe? Heart trouble. All right, raise up your hand
if that's right. All right.

¹⁰² The lady here next to you, raised up. Heart; but it's really your eyes. I know her. All right, if thou canst believe…
Back
there, the next man back there's got heart trouble too and a skin
disease. Do you believe that God will make you well? You do, sir?
There's a man back there somewhere, raised up his hands that didn't…
Mr. Schubert. All right, sir. All right, do you believe? It's for your
eyes also, isn't it? You're praying for your mother setting out there
also. If that's right, raise up your hand. We're strangers. Is that
right? Shake your hand, shake your hand to one another. All right,
that's right. If you can believe, you can receive.

¹⁰⁵
The risen Jesus Christ is in the building. He's the same One. What does
it do to you? Have you let the world sap all the strength out of you?
Glory. I want new birth. I want new Life. I don't care what plane It
comes on, if I have to be a holy-roller, anything. I don't care what
plane It comes on; I want the real Holy Ghost like is on me now. I want
to keep It. I'd rather have It than all the things of the world. Amen.
Do you believe? Do you believe He's here?
Lay your hands on one another then. Tell me one more thing He could do: nothing. Have faith now. Believe it's over.

¹⁰⁷
Lord God, Creator of heavens and earth, Author of Eternal Life, and
Giver of all good gifts, Thy Spirit is here so anointing, Lord, looks
like the building's a-breathing, moving back and forth. Why can't the
people understand it, Lord? Have they–have they associated with the
world so much, and got so cold and formal and starchy, till they can't
know You anymore? Lord God, may this power strike everyone, and every
sick person be healed, every sinner saved, and God get glory. Through
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I ask it. Amen.

¹⁰⁸
Do you believe it? Raise up your hands. Do you accept your healing? God
bless you. Now, go and find it just the way you believe, it'll be that
way. I see visions breaking over others. That's right. I got to come
back tonight.
If you don't believe now, you ain't going to never believe. That's
right. Jesus did it one time, and they said, "Thou art… We know when
Messiah cometh, He'll tell us this." She said, "I know the Messiah will
do that. But Who are You?"
He said, "I'm He."
Then she run into the city and said, "Come, see a Man Who knowed what I was and what I've done. Isn't this the Messiah?"
He said, "These things will form again in the last days. The Church
will be preaching the truth; it'll be standing on the Word. It'll be
you doing all the commandments of God. It'll not associate with the
world. And through there I'll move and do the same things."

¹¹²
But He said, "They'll be heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more
than of God, trucebreakers, false accusers, having a form of
godliness," very religious, going to churches. "Having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away."
You people, wherever you was in the church, that He called out just
now, the vision's gone from me. If–if that was truth, what I said, and
me being not knowing that to you, raise up your hands, ever who it was.
All over the church, every–everywhere. All right. See? Don't know
them, never seen them; but the Holy Spirit's here and He knows them.
Can't you see it's not me?

¹¹⁴
Listen. If He'll entrust me with that, He'll trust me with the truth of
the Word, because the truth can only come by the Word. Repent,
everyone, and be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, for the
remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,
for the promise is unto you and to your children, them that's far off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call." You believe it? There's
to be a baptismal service just in a moment.
Let's bow our heads. I'll ask the pastor to pray while they make ready
for the baptism. I think there's a baptismal service coming…?… All
right, sir.

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