A Door In A Door (63-0223)

 

^E-1
God bless you, brother. I like to hear those reports of when souls get
saved. That's the–the main thing. And we're happy to be here and see
so many of our friends around from different parts of the country. And
this brother here is coming now to the city. I understand this morning
that his equipment's already unloaded here for a–for a great revival.
And I certainly pray, brother, that He'll give you a great revival, and
many souls here in this city.
And I'm glad this morning to see many of my minister friends. Brother
Outlaw there, I just noticed him when I raised up, from Phoenix. And
I'm very happy to see you down here, Brother–Brother Outlaw. You
brethren from Jericho coming up here to Jerusalem to visit us, we're
always happy to have them this morning. And so…

^E-2
And I got that one off up to Brother Williams' not long ago, up at
Phoenix. "You know," I said, "Tucson, I live here now, you know. So I
have to kind of hold up for this place (You see?), up on the mountain
here, and look down to Jericho and see our brethren. Why, we always…"
And Brother Carl was talking about so many coming a hundred miles from
Phoenix down here. How many's here from Jeffersonville, Indiana? Stand
up. All around, over here. That's about twenty-one hundred miles. Oh,
Carl…

^E-3
So glad to be here and enjoy this wonderful inside Sonshine. See, we
talk about this being the city of the sun. That's the outside. But, oh,
this inside Son, my, that's what I enjoy.
I've been enjoying these blessings this week, and attending the revival
of Brother Bethany here over at the First Assemblies of God. And I
certainly appreciate this gallant soldier of the cross, his fine
preaching. It's been so much to me this week. I said, "Brother Bethany
and I have many things in common, especially the way we part our hair,
Brother Bethany." It's so… Glad we can always recognize one another,
wherever we are.
So we are grateful for this opportunity to be here with Brother Tony. I
can't say that name, and so I just call him "Brother Tony." You excuse
me. They called Peter, "Peter," and Paul, "Paul," and so this is Tony.
I always tell them just to call me "Brother Bill." That's what I… I
like that name Brother Bill, or Brother anyhow, be associated
with–with you, to be a brother.

^E-4
Enjoyed that breakfast. The only thing, there wasn't enough molasses.
I–I–I run out. And I borrowed from my son, he–run out with him and
borrowed from the brother. He had an extra plate, and still I didn't
have enough molasses. You know, I'm a Baptist. I don't believe in
sprinkling. I like to really baptize them, and have plenty of–plenty
molasses. I got this sugar bowl, and isn't too much left in it. I had
to sugar them up a little, you know.

^E-5
Remember down in the south, down in, I believe it was Alabama, I was
with the Missionary Baptist people. I was down there holding a revival.
And I was in a little old screened-in porch on the outside. And there
was an old colored sister. She said… You know, I'd preached hard that
night, and I couldn't hardly get up the next morning. And she called
me, and I remember getting awake long enough to hear her say, "Hey,
parson." She said, "Honey, come on! I done cooked your flapjacks four
times already." Four times she cooked them flapjacks. I–I like them.

^E-6
Just a little story I know. We're just here in a fellowship, you know.
Old Brother Bosworth… How many ever knowed Dr. Bosworth? He was a
great old friend of mine. He said to me one time; he said, "Brother
Branham, you know what fellowship is?"
And I said, "I–I think so, Doctor."
He said, "It's two fellows in one ship." And so that's just near
everything, and so that's the way. That's close communion, close, not
closed, close communion with one another.

^E-7
Remember one day… Thinking about flapjacks–we call them flapjacks in
the south, Brother Bethany. So we… I was on a little fishing trip up
in northern New Hampshire. It's the home of them cutthroat and
square-tailed trout. And I'd had a little tent on my back. I'd packed
back about a day-and-a-half journey, where all the soft-footed fellows
couldn't get. So I was back there catching trout. Oh, what a time I was
having. A little pup tent… And the day before, a little hole of
water, oh, there was just fine big trout laying in there, and I was
just catching just as fast. And I'd catch one… If I killed it, then
I–I'd take it and eat it. But ordinarily, I'd turn him loose, if it
didn't hurt him too bad.
And I'd always catch my fly on a little bunch of moose willow behind
me. And I thought, "Next morning early I'm going to take my axe and go
down there and cut that moose willow down," 'cause I'd catch my little
Coachman in that–in that moose willow. So I got up early, and I
thought, "Well, I might catch a trout or two for breakfast." And I was
by myself. And I took my little old axe and went down and cut down this
little moose willow and caught me a couple of fish and on the road
back.

^E-8
And I heard a noise, and it was an old sow bear. The place was full of
them up there. It was a black bear. She had two cubs. And she'd got
into my tent, and they'd tore it down. There was nothing left. It was
just… It isn't what they eat; it's what they destroy. They just hear
anything rattle, they just jump on it, you know. And my old stove pipe
was beat up, and, well, nothing to do but go back.
And when the old sow mother bear saw me come up, she run off and cooed
to her cubs, and one of them come. The other one didn't come. Well, I
wondered why he didn't go. Well, I–I had an old rusty pistol laying
there in the tent, but the bear was on the pistol. So I wouldn't want
to shoot the old bear anyhow and leave two orphans in the woods. So
I–and I was sure… You take an old mother bear with some cubs, she'll
actually scratch you, you know. She-she kinda gets a little upset when
you go to think you're going to bother those cubs.

^E-9
So this little fellow was setting, and just a young tot of a bear,
looked to be–probably weighed twenty pounds, fifteen, twenty pounds.
Early–they'd just been out of hibernation a little while. And the
little guy had his back turned to me. He was just all humped up, like
that. "Well," I thought, "what's that little fellow so interested in?"
And the old mother bear and the other little cub was out there, and she
kept cooing to him, and he wouldn't pay a bit of attention to her.
I thought, "What's the matter with that little fellow?" And I got me a
tree in line where I could get into if she got after me. I thought,
"I've got to see what's got that little fellow so fascinated." Usually
they'll run. So I kept moving around, watching her, till I got around
sideways. And you'd be surprised what was happening.

^E-10
That little guy had got my bucket of molasses, and–and a little half a
gallon bucket full of molasses. And he'd got the lid off of it. And
they love sweet anyhow, you know. And he didn't know how to drink it.
So he just took his little paw and dipped it down in and licked, like
that, you know, when he brought it up. And he–he couldn't… I
hollered at him. I said, "Get out of there!" And he turned. He couldn't
get his eyes open, molasses in his eyes, you know, looking at me, you
know. And he'd sopped that bucket out just as clean as it could be.
And I just stood and laughed. And anytime then don't have a camera, you
know, to get that picture. And there he was. And after he got through
licking the, you know, the bucket out real good, he went over to the
old mother and little brother, and they licked him.

^E-11
And so I thought, "That's like a good old Pentecostal meeting, when we
get our hands in the honey jar plumb up to the elbows, and then go out
and tell somebody else, and let them lick awhile off of us, you know.
Just a licking good meeting, you know. That's what I thought that
little bear was having.
Now, there was no condemnation to him as long as he was licking
molasses, you know. So that's the way we feel in a good old fashion
meeting. There's no starch; there's no nothing, but just simply set and
lick. That's all.

^E-12
In the Bible, you know, the shepherd carried a scrip bag on his side.
And many times in there he would carry little bits of honey. And when
he got a sheep that was sick, the shepherd would go over and squeeze
out a little of this honey on a limestone rock. And the sheep like
something sweet too, you know. So he'd go over, the sheep would, and go
to licking on that rock. He was licking the honey, but while licking
the honey he got the limestone, and the limestone helped to heal him.
I've got a whole scrip bag full here of honey, and I'm going to put it
on that Rock, Christ Jesus, and you sheep just start licking now. I'm
sure it'll–it'll cure all of our ails if we'll just lick on the Rock
of ages, and He'll certainly take care of the rest. He is our Healer of
physical and spiritual discomforts. He is the Lily of the valley. And
in the lily we find opium, and opium settles all matters. It just puts
you in a daze, and that's the way the Holy Ghost comes. It puts you in
a carefree condition where you don't care who's setting around or
nothing about it. You got to let off the steam then; that's it.
Remember a little girl one time got filled with the Holy Ghost. She was
a little Methodist too. And she was giving a testimony. And I never
will forget the rude expression, no worse than what I make. And she
said, "Well, I want to praise the Lord for this Holy Ghost." She said,
"If it was any better, I'd bust."

^E-13
I like this Full Gospel Business Men convention and meetings. And you
know, I was ordained a few years ago, about thirty-five years ago in
the Missionary Baptist church. There I tried to be a loyal minister to
the Gospel, and to all that I knowed that was right, for years. And
then after the great vision came…
And I'd never heard of such a thing as Pentecost. I heard them say
there was a bunch of holy-rollers downtown, slobbering on the floor,
and everything. Well, I just never paid any attention to them. But when
God called me, I come among them, and I have just… Seemed like that
what was in my heart craving for something, it's just like fitting a
glove on a cold hand. I… It's just the right thing, and I have really
enjoyed it.

^E-14
When I come among the brethren I found that among them it was like we
Baptists; they were broke up in so many different organizations. My,
they were all different kinds. And some of them was riding a one-hump
camel, and some a two-hump, and some a three-hump, and some no humps at
all and… But you know, I thought, "I won't join any certain group,
because I'd be identified just with that certain group. So I'll just
stand between them and say, 'We're brethren.'"
I believe it was Jacob dug a well, and the Philistines run him away
from it. Now, best of my memory he called it "Malice," or something.
Then he dug another one, and he said the Philistines run him away from
it, so he called it "Strife." He dug another one. He said, "There's
room for us all." And that's what I believe. There's room for us all.

^E-15
And now, I… Only thing that I've joined since I've been in the full
Gospel move… I'm one of you, and I think it's the closest thing to
heaven that there is. If there's anything closer I'd try to find it.
But this is what I've found, and I like this, and I'll stay with this
till something better comes. And I'm looking for something better to
come. Like Peter said on the day of Pentecost, he said, "This is
that…" And if this isn't "that," then I'll keep this till "that"
comes. So I… Then I'll just hold on to this, 'cause this is very
good.

^E-16
And then I found out that this Christian Business Men, Full Gospel
Business Men, was standing kind of in the same way in the breach
between the great, fine, organizations of the churches, trying to–to
bridge a something that was–make fellowship, contending, not trying to
break up any of their organizations, or make all come into one, but
just to bring a fellowship. And that's the reason I joined. And it's
the only organization I belong to is this, this Full Gospel Business
Men, because it's trying to do what I think is a–would be a great
service to God and His church, to bring a feeling among us that we're
not separated. We are brothers, and we all received the same Holy
Spirit.

^E-17
Now, God give you the Holy Spirit; He give the next man the Holy
Spirit. Like the bunch of Branhams, I've got nine brothers, and there's
some fat and short, tall and slim, and I'm Mr. In-between. So
they–they different ones, some blond-headed, and some black-headed,
and some none at all. And so I'm still Mr. In-between. So… But in
there we–we are brothers. We used to get out in the–in the back yard
and fight one another. But when we got in the front yard and somebody
jumped on a Branham. Oh, oh. It was just too bad.
And so, that's the way I think we all should feel. You see? Sometimes
God does things that we–might not just seem just right in our eyes.
But yet, if it's God doing it, let's just say "Amen" to it. God does it
anyhow. See? And we are–are looking forward to a time that…

^E-18
I was setting in Brother Bethany's service last Sunday night, preaching
on the mark of the beast, and the man struck a keynote there that sent
my soul thrilling. He said that just down the road there's something
greater waiting, something on that order there, something that God's
fixing to do. I believe it too, to wind this thing up and send the
church into glory. How marvelous. Now let's not just be so slothful
now, that we'll…
Remember, God never changes His ways. He remains, because His Word…
He is the Word, and His Word cannot fail. He's infinite. Therefore if
God makes a decision on something, it must ever remain that way. He
can't go back and say, "I was wrong." See, I can do that. You can do
it. But God can't, because He's infinite. See? His first decision is
eternal.
When God gave man the best fortification He could have for His… To
bind him in, to close him in, God gave man His Word in the garden of
Eden, His Word. And Eve made that rashal, final, great–one of the most
rashal things she ever did, or ever could've done, was to reason with
God's Word. We don't reason; we just believe It. Now, God has never
appropriated anything else but believe His Word (That's right.) His
Word. We must stay behind It.

^E-19
Now just a little drop here. You know one day the Bible had foretold of
a great coming prophet that was going to gather Israel together. And
when He come, you know He passed right through the people and they
didn't know it? And then one day Jesus was speaking to His disciples,
said, "The Son of man's going up to Jerusalem…" and so forth.
They said, "Why did the scribes… (otherwise, the writers of the
Scriptures) Why did the scribes say that Elias must first come and
restore all things?"
He said, "I say unto you, truly Elias will first come. But I say that
Elias is already come and you didn't know it." See? He went right
through. They didn't know it: likewise the Son of man. They understood
He spoke of John the Baptist. Now see, he was just a crank down on the
river somewhere, a wild man trying to drown people in water, so forth,
a real strange message. But that was God's forerunner. And it went
through, and they didn't even know.

^E-20
Jesus came. I guess one third of the Jews never heard of John. I guess
when Jesus was on earth, not too many of the Jews, and one hundredth of
the population of the earth ever knew He was here. He was come and gone.
The church… You Catholic people, as well as you try to claim St.
Patrick… Anybody who knowed St. Patrick… He was about as much
Catholic, Roman Catholic, as I am. So… But look–look at Joan of Arc,
that sainted little girl who saw visions, and so forth. What did you
do? You burned her to the stake for a witch. She was gone before you
knowed she was a saint. See?

^E-21
You know what? Wouldn't that be horrible if… Jesus said, "As it was
in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man,"
wherein eight souls were saved by water. What if today the rapture
came, and He took two from Tucson, and one from Phoenix, and around the
world, as a universal rapture will be, and the ones that rises from the
dead will go to meet Him in the air and steal away, a mysterious thing?
And then one of these days judgment drops upon the earth.
You say, "Well, wasn't there supposed to be a rapture first?" It's
already come, and you knew it not. Think how many people will disappear
in the world today and there won't even be a word. You'll know nothing
about it. There'll be five hundred people in the world today will come
up missing, and you won't know nothing about it. We're living in a
terrific time. Let us have our lamps trimmed.
I don't say it'll be that way. I'm saying: what if it was? Then the
judgment strikes and the rapture's gone. See? He's already come, and
you knew it not.

^E-22
So when we gather in these meetings, let's gather, we–for one purpose,
that's to serve God. Let's put our lives to business. What good does it
do us to impersonate something? Why will we accept a substitute when
the whole skies are full of genuine Pentecostal power and blessings?
Why should we accept a substitute?
You won't exhaust God's blessings. Ask abundantly. Could you imagine a
little fish about half-inch long out there in the middle of the ocean
saying, "I'd better drink of this water sparingly. I might run out."
Now, that sounds silly. Well, it's more sillier than that to think you
could exhaust God's goodness.

^E-23
I… Looking awhile ago, an honor to see that aged man, Carl Williams'
father and mother, the first time I've had the privilege of seeing
them, as I know of, stand up. And think about eighty years old,
something like that, and how God has kept that old couple. They could
look like Carl's brother, not his father. And Tony said his mother got
out of the car out there, and slammed the door, and walked like a
little soldier across there. My, my. See? How good God has been to us.
Now, if you are not a… If you not a member of this Full Gospel
Business Men, you men… As a Baptist, I speak to you Baptists. As a
Methodist, I am a Methodist.

^E-24
And one time I was preaching down in Arkansas and I'd… Been an old
man on crutches and he had been healed. He sold pencils out on the
street. And he was standing up that night and he was just taking the
whole meeting. It was about, oh, I guess five or six thousand people
gathered there at the Robinson Memorial Auditorium, and he–at Little
Rock. And he said, "Praise God for healing me." You couldn't hardly
preach. And directly he stood up and said, "Hey, Brother Branham, I
want to say something to you."
Now, he was just having a gastronomical jubilee all of his own. So
he–he was just having him a good time. He had been healed and that
meant everything to him. And so he said, "You know…" Happened to be
he was a Nazarene. And he said, "You know, I heard you speak and I was
sure you was a Nazarene." He said… Then he said, "I also…" He said,
"Then I heard somebody say you was a Baptist." He said, "The–the most
of your people here is Pentecostal. I don't understand that."
I said, "Oh, that's very easy." I said, "I'm a Pentecostal Nazarene
Baptist." That's just–that's right. We are Christians, borned of His
Spirit, washed in His Blood, looking for the coming of our Lord. Lord
bless you.

^E-25
If you are a businessman or whatmore, let me say something to you. Come
in. Come fellowship. Don't only just fellowship with a bunch of men you
can shake their hands, but get what they got–the Holy Spirit. That
brings the real fellowship.
You know, you can't manufacture nothing. You're not asked to
manufacture anything. The church is not asked to produce or to
manufacture fruit. You're to bear fruit. See? You couldn't say–say to
a sheep, "Manufacture wool." Just let him become a sheep and he'll bear
wool. That's what the trouble of it is; we try to manufacture
something. Don't manufacture it. Be… Just get the inside right.
Could you imagine a black bird setting up there and putting peacock
feathers in his wings and saying, "See, I'm a peacock." He's trying to
put something in that never growed from the inside out. And we're
finding too much of that among our Pentecostal groups. Let's be real,
genuine, borned again Pentecostals. I say now it's the only thing that
I've ever found this side of heaven that give me the assurance that my
sins are gone, and I am borned of the Spirit of God. Then you have
something, an anchor in you, that holds.

^E-26
Well, I didn't aim to take your–so much of your time. I know you got
to go. I–I'm kind of one of these here long-winded fellows. It takes
me about an hour to get started, and then I preach about two hours.
Then it takes me about three hours to get stopped. And so, I–I'm not
going to be that radical this morning though. So we appreciate your
coming.
And I'm living here in Tucson now, here in good old Jerusalem. And I'll
be down a time or two, Brother Tony, if the Lord willing, to help
around and attend all you all's revivals. To you minister brothers, I
never come here to build no church. I come here to help what's already
built, to put in my pull to everything that I can to help you brethren
to win souls here in Tucson, never to start a meeting nowhere, or not
'less it's a cooperative meeting or something that we could get
together. I never come to start no church. No, sir. We got plenty of
them. What we need is to pack them out with borned again Christians.
Yes, sir.

^E-27
So I'm here to put my shoulders to the wheel, and help in every way
that I can, and everywhere that I can, and every door that's open, to
give the testimony of the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
the filling of His Spirit that's kept me all these years. Now, lots of
times… I seen Tony awhile ago said, "I have to write down, Brother
Branham, what I wanted to say." So do I. You know when you get kinda
old, you don't think of just like you used to.
Someone said the other day, said, "Brother Branham, how old are you?"
"Oh," I said, "I passed twenty-five."
"How much?"
I said, "I passed it the second time." So I'm no more kid. That's the
reason we part our hair in the middle, brother. That's right. That's
right.

^E-28
Well, everybody love the Lord? Oh, wonderful. Now, let's lay aside
every little weight and every little care now. And I wonder, if it
wouldn't inconvenience too much now, being we've been setting a long
time, if we could just stand just a moment for prayer. And now, while
you're standing I'm going to read a chapter, or a verse, out of the
Bible, while you listen attentively, if you will. I'm going to read
from the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, beginning with the
14th verse of the 3rd chapter:

^E-29
With our heads bowed and our hearts, let us pray. Lord Jesus, we thank
Thee this morning, our gracious and noble God that brought again the
Lord Jesus from the dead, and has presented Him to us this morning in
the form of the Holy Spirit, that's wooing our hearts as for a close
walk with Him. That as we see the day drawing to a close… The day of
time is soon fading out now into eternity. We're nearing the shores. We
can hear the breakers. O God, this is a dangerous hour, as we read
here, this last church age, the Laodicea, where that we're nearing the
shore. And the riches and things of this world has blinded the eyes of
the people. Oh, we pray, God, that our anchor will catch ahold of the
Rock of ages, and wait for the dawn. Grant it, Lord.

^E-30
Bless this move of God called the Full Gospel Business Men's chapter.
We pray that You'll bless this certain chapter here at Tucson. May it
grow until this Ramada will have to take down these walls and spread
its tent to hold the born again Christians that will come in. Grant it.
Bless the brother that's coming with the revival with a tent, to the
city. May it be an instrument to help bring in souls to these churches
and into the Kingdom of God. Bless Brother Bethany up at the First
Assembly as he carries on his great work up there for the Kingdom of
God, Lord. How we pray that You'll continue with him and with the
churches throughout the country.
Now, as we wait upon Thee may the Holy Spirit give us the
interpretation, and bring the context of the text to light, for we ask
it in Jesus' Name. Amen. You may be seated.

^E-31
Did you ever stop to think just a moment that this could be our last
time ever meeting together? Do you know there may be some of us here,
if we come back again the next meeting day, we–be some of us missing?
We don't know what will happen. And then this may be our last time to
set in a group like this and associate, and eat together on this earth.
But remember, there is coming a time where we'll meet again at, not at
a–not at a breakfast, but at a supper, oh, where the great banquet of
God, and the marriage of the Lamb, and the great chairs are stretched
from sky to sky, and the redeemed of all ages set across the table from
one another. That'll be a glorious time. I'm looking for that.

^E-32
Now, I want to take a text this morning to speak to you, just for a few
minutes now. I won't hold you no longer than I possibly can. I want to
talk… I've got a few Scriptures and notes wrote here that I'd like to
speak from for a few minutes on the subject of "A Door In a Door."
Now, this is a very unusual setting that we see this morning in our
Scripture reading. It's unusual in many ways because it's… One of the
most pathetic Scriptures that there is in the Bible is this Scripture
here, for it's speaking of this age that we're living in. It's speaking
where in this age Jesus Christ has been put out of His own church and
standing, knocking at the door, trying to get back in. And richesness
and pleasures of the world has drove Him from the church, until the
church just becomes a lukewarm… It's a very pathetic picture. Of all
the other churches in the church ages… I just got through going
through them at my church. And returning back now, beginning the 17th,
to take the Seven Seals. And now, in this we find that all the other
churches in the church ages had accepted, but the last church age, the
Laodicea, Christ had been taken from the people. And they'd put Him out
of the church and He was trying to get back after being taken out,
knocking at the door. Become blind… Very unusual…

^E-33
But you know sometimes it's unusual things that God appears in. God
appears in the unusual because God is unusual. He does unusual things.
He appears at unusual times. And He's seen at unusual times, when times
you wouldn't think that you would–He'd be there, yet He's there. Very
unusual. "He works in mysterious ways," the Bible said, "His wonders to
perform." Therefore that makes Him unusual.
And that's the way… We get into a usual trend of things and we miss
God. It's the unusual that brings God many times, the unusual things,
something… We get so tied up into a certain creed, or something that
we're trying to serve, and then if everything doesn't come just
according to the way we think it should, then we–we offset it.
"It's–it's not–it's not of God." We make a mighty mistake.

^E-34
God shows Himself, and then hides Himself in the same thing that He
shows Himself in. See? He'll show Himself in something, and withdraw
and hide Himself. Like the seed, He shows Hisself in a pretty flower,
then He lets it rot. But He's hiding Himself in order to come forth
again. And God does it that way. He's very unusual–unusual times,
unusual ways, and sometimes little things.
We–we–we fail to find God many times because it's–we think it's too
small. I was thinking on that a few minutes ago when we were talking
about the smallness of the chapter, or the–that how small of crowd we
have. Now, it's been my privilege to speak to some great crowds.
Bombay, India, I had five hundred thousand in one meeting; Africa,
South Africa, about–maybe two hundred and fifty thousand at one
meeting. But where I've found the sweetest and blest of all was when we
had little cottage prayer meetings. God is in the unusual place and in
the unusual things.

^E-35
Reminds me, being that this Canadian here was speaking a few moments
ago about my fine friends from Canada. Some time ago the… King
George, that I had the privilege of praying for, as you know, that had
the multiple sclerosis… The Lord healed him. And he came to Canada
when he was suffering yet with this sclerosis. And he was a gallant
man. And all the schools turned out when he came down through
Vancouver, so that–that they could go out and take their… Give them
a little British flag, and–and–and wave to honor the King, the crown,
as he passed by.

^E-36
And a good friend of mine, Brother Ern Baxter, as we were listening to
it on the broadcast as it came through, him and his lovely queen
setting there… And we were setting in the room and I'll never forget
it. Ern got so overcome that he jumped up out of the chair and threw
his arms around me and started weeping. And I said, "What's the
excitement all about, Brother Baxter?"
He said, "Brother Branham, that's my king."
I thought, "If it could make a Canadian feel that way to know his king
was passing by, what ought it to do to a borned again church when Jesus
starts by?"
There, yet with his multiple sclerosis, set in his chariot (his
automobile), and set up straight, though he said he was suffering
terrifically from ulcers, and his back bothering him so bad.

^E-37
And the teachers turned all the little fellows out to go and wave these
flags. And after the–the parade was over, why, the children was
supposed to return to school. And as they returned, in a certain school
all come back but one little girl. And the teacher got alarmed when she
called the roll and the little girl wasn't there. So she said, "I must
go find her," and–and took the children. And in the streets they went
hunting for this certain little child. And after while the teacher
herself found the little fellow, standing by the side of a telegraph
pole, just crying her little heart out.
And as she was weeping, and… The teacher said, "What's the matter,
honey?" Said, "Did you not get to wave your flag at the king?"
She said, "Yes, I waved my flag at the king."
She said, "Did you get to see the king?"
"Yes, I–I–I saw the king."
"Well," said, "then what are you crying about?"
She said, "You know, I'm so little. I saw the king, but he didn't see me."
Now, that might be so with King George, or any other king, but it isn't
so with King Jesus. No matter how little a congregation He's give you
to pastor, how small the work seems to be just to speak to the milkman
or the newsboy; He'll see it. You can't do nothing for Jesus 'less He
knows it. You must remember; He knows every little thing you do, and
He'll give you all credit, for that's what you've been detailed to do.
No matter how small it is, do it anyhow. If you want to wave your
little flag, wave it. He's in that unusual thing. He might win a soul.

^E-38
I believe it was Dwight Moody. Or am I mistaken? It might not have
been. An old sister had a burden on her heart that she wanted to win a
soul to Christ. And she was a washwoman. Been a hundred and fifty years
ago, I guess. And she saved her money until she got three dollars saved
up, and she rented an old livery stable for a dollar for the week. And
she went down there and cleaned it out herself, and took her wash bench
and made a altar, and put a pulpit up, and–and suds still on the old
wash bench. And–and she got some tracts and begin to pass it out. That
was the early days here in America. And everybody would look at it,
throw it down.

^E-39
She happened to be a Methodist. And so, they would throw–throw it
down. And the Methodists then were like Pentecostals has been: a bunch
of fanatics. They'd lay in the school houses, and fall out under the
power of God, and pour water on their face, and… Don't tell me; I've
been right in the meetings. See? And if they'd just let them alone,
instead of bringing them back, just let them go on, they'd have been
Pentecostals. You see?
But then, this poor old woman passing out these tracts, and, oh,
everybody would throw them on the street, and it was a… She was
standing crying because they rejected her, while she'd tried so hard to
bring a minister to the city to have a revival. And the minister was to
appear that night. She was going away. And there was a little old boy
with his daddy's (Down in the South, we call it galluses, you know)
suspenders on, ragged hair hanging down his neck, walked up and said,
"Hey, lady, what are you giving away?"
And she said, "It's a tract, honey." She said…
Well he said, "I can't read." Says, "What does it say?"
And said, "Well, we're going to have a meeting down at the old livery stable tonight."
He said, "Thank you. Can I have one?"
Said, "Yes." And he put it in his pocket.

^E-40
When the meeting took place that night you know who was there? Your
loyal old pastor and the lady. That's all that was at the meeting. A
gallant old soldier, whether there was one or a thousand, he took his
text, stood there and preached to the lady, just as loyal as he would
if he was preaching to ten thousand. Who staggered in the door long
about the beginning of the sermon but this little old ragged-haired
boy. That night he found himself at the altar. If I'm not mistaken,
that was little Dwight Moody, that sent a half a million souls to
Christ. See? Oh, my. How many big meetings and floweredly things that's
going on. See, God's in the unusual things. God appears unusual. You
want to remember that.

^E-41
Now, I can't think of the artist that painted this picture of Jesus
knocking at the door. He's some Greek artist. I just can't think of the
man's name at the time, but he'd spent practically a lifetime painting
this picture. And, you see, before it can be hung in the hall of fame
it has to go through the hall of critics first. Any great picture must
do that. It must face the critics.

^E-42
Oh, I wish I had the–the something that it takes to throw that before
this audience this morning. Do you realize, Pentecostal people, as we
cool off, that God's taking us through the hall of critics today? The
church has to go through the hall of critics before it can go in the
hall of fame as a bride. Sure. Can you stand it? Are you ready to come
up with the Scripture, and stand gallant to your testimony in the love
of Christ? Or are you taking back and going out with the world, like
the Bible said, "Demos forsaken me, loving this present world." There's
where the church is standing today: weighed in the balance. And that's
the reason it becomes Laodicea.

^E-43
This picture, as the artist painted it, when it went to the hall of
critics they could find nothing wrong. And finally a great critic came
up, and he said, "There's one thing wrong with your picture." He said,
"It's true, Jesus with the lantern in His hand, coming by night in the
darkness of sin. That's a good picture. His expression with the
expectations of somebody to come to the door when He's knocking," said,
"that's wonderful. And the look upon His face as He is longing to hear
from the inside… But, sir, there is no latch on the door. If He did
come, how could Jesus get in, because there's no latch on the door?"
"Oh," said the artist, "I painted it thus, for the latch is on the
inside. Jesus cannot come in just by His will; it's got to be your will
to let Him in." Lo, I stand at the door and knock. If any man will hear
My voice and come in–let Me in, I will come in and will sup with him,
and he with Me. That's the picture we're looking at now.

^E-44
What does a man knock on a door for? What makes a man knock at a door?
He's trying to gain entrance. He's trying to come in. There… Maybe
there's something he wants to talk to you about, or maybe he wants to
speak to you about some business or something. Or–or maybe he wants to
give you something. There's some reason, or he wouldn't be knocking at
the door. See? We'd only… The human decency would be only to open the
door and see what the person wants. That's only just the human thing to
do: open the door, ask the man, "Who are you? What do you want?"
He wants… Maybe he wants to visit with you, just to set down and say,
"I'm your friend. I'd like to speak with you just a while this
morning." Then set down, if he's a friend. Talk with him. If he's some
person that wants something out of you, you could talk it over. You
see? Many great people has knocked at doors down through life.

^E-45
Now, a whole lot of it depends, after you go to the door, who it is
knocking. You got to know who that is doing the knocking. But you
should at least go to the door. That's the only decent thing to do, is
find out who's there at the door. Go there if somebody's knocking, say,
"Who is it?" Open the door. "Who are you? What do you wish?" Oh,
many–many… It–it might be some great person. What if it's a great
person? It'd be a great honor to you if you opened the door for
somebody that was a great person.

^E-46
What do you think would've happened a few years ago when Adolf Hitler
was the Fuehrer of Germany? What do you think of a little fellow living
down in the alley, or down the street somewhere, if he heard a knock on
the door some morning, you know, and he went to the door, and this
little German footman standing there, and there stood Adolf Hitler
standing at the door? Why, he was the greatest man in Germany at one
time. See? Certainly. Why, he was a great man.
You know what that little footman would've done? He'd have almost
fainted. He would've stood at attention, throwed his German salute up,
said, "Great Fuehrer of Germany, enter into my humble home. Anything
here that you desire, anything that your servant can do, just let me
know. I'll gladly do it."
Oh, what a honor. You know what? Every newspaper in Germany would've
packed that article, of great Adolf Hitler going down to a–a common
soldier's house, and knocked at the door and asked for something, that
Hitler would ask a footman for something, would come to his home
and–and honor his home. Well, what a great thing that would've been.

^E-47
What in the… If you'd been a–in Italy and in the days of Mussolini.
And Mussolini was the dictator of–of–of Rome, of Italy. And what if
some poor person down on the street would've heard a knock at the door
some morning, and there stood Mussolini at the door? Oh, my. Their
hearts would've quivered. Well, "Great dictator, great honored sir,
enter into my home." Quivering and shaking, "What–what could I do? Is
there anything here that–that you would desire? Is there something
your servant could do for you?" Oh, it would've been a great honor to
any Roman to have had Mussolini at his house.

^E-48
Or what if the Queen of England today would come here into Tucson, and
land out here in an airport, and would come to one of our homes here,
one of our… We're just common people. And if the Queen of England
would come from England, all the way across the sea, land out here at
the airport–at the–at the airport and would be brought in by taxicab,
and come and knock at your door… And you, an honorable lady or
gentleman, would walk to the door and say, "How do you do?" And there
she stood there, just as an ordinary woman. And you'd say, "How do you
do? Who are you?"
"I am the Queen of England," and would identify herself.
Oh, my. What a honor, what a respect. Every newspaper through Tucson,
out through the United States… It'd be on national news that the
great Queen of England come all the way to Tucson, Arizona, and visit
you, a poor person. The dignity it would add to the Queen to humble
herself to come to my door or your door. Why, you know what you would
say? Though she's not–you're not under her domain, but yet she's a
great person. She's the greatest queen in the world when it comes to
national… She's the greatest national queen in the world.
Why, you'd have said, "Honorable Queen, enter into my home. If there's
anything here that you wish to take, anything you want to do, just make
yourself welcome." Why, sure. And all the papers would've packed it.

^E-49
Or even this morning, if our President Kennedy would come to your
door… Oh, you might disagree with him of politics, but still you
would let him in. Why? Not because he's maybe just a man, but it's
because who he is. He's the President of our United States. Yet we
would–might disagree with him (I would.) in politics. But yet,
you–you'd be honored to have President Kennedy to come to your door.
What if he made a special trip to come to your door? Why, it would be
on news everywhere. "The humble Mr. Kennedy, President of the United
States, flew to Tucson, Arizona, to come to John Doe's door." What a
great honor it would be to him, and what an honor to you. Why, you
would by no means turn him away. Certainly not. You'd certainly receive
him, 'cause he's a great man.

^E-50
But who's any greater than Jesus? And He's turned away from more doors
than all the dictators and kings and potentates of the world. Yes. "I
stand at the door, and knock: and if any man will hear My voice and
open the door, I'll come in, and will sup with him."
Oh, these little knocks that we get at the door. Many times Jesus
knocks at our heart's door. That's where the church is today. Those
little knocks, you feel it no doubt right now. What is it? It's Jesus,
trying to come in, gain entrance to your heart's door. He's got–wants
to talk with you a little while.
And if you would honor the President, what about Jesus? If you would by
no means turn away the President, how then could you turn away Jesus?
The President's just a man; he's got to die. But Jesus is your God.
He's your Judge. Not only that, but the same One is your Judge, is now
your Saviour.

^E-51
Now, the President might want to summons you to Army. He might summons
you to–to do something that would be horrible to do. He might summons
you, or take something from you, take your children or something to be
his servants, or something. He might do something like that. But Jesus
don't want that. He wants to give you something. That's the reason He
knocks. He's got something for you. There's nothing that could be
greater than what He's wanting to give you: the Holy Spirit. He's
wanting to give you Eternal Life.

^E-52
What if the President would say, "I'll make… I've come to take you,
and I have the authority to do so. And make you the President of the
United States." You're going to have to give it up sometime. What if
the Queen wanted to make you Queen of England, and you wear the crown.
It… You'd have to give it up. But Jesus gives us a crown of Life that
we never give up, incorruptible crown of His glory. We don't have to
give it up. He gives it to us. It's a blessing. It's the Holy Spirit
that He wants to crown our life with.
How could we be so indifferent to turn it away? What rashal things that
the church does. How rashal can the people get to make such a mistake
as to refuse to listen to that knock at the door. How–how insane it
would be for any man or woman present this morning to get away from
that knock: Eternal Life.

^E-53
And we look and see the clouds of judgment forming, to hear science say
it's three minutes till midnight. And practically two of those minutes
are gone; that was several years ago. And we see the church scattered.
We–we see everything going on the way it is, and denomination begin to
come denomination, the cooling off. And revival days just almost seems
to be over. We might as well face the truth.
Oh, we have a lot of noise, sure: beat the piano, jump up and down.
Women bob off their hair, and blue eyes, and carry on, and men letting
them do it. That's contrary to the Scripture. Such a sickening sight as
we even see on our streets today…

^E-54
I took my children yesterday… They wanted to go down to see the rodeo
parade go by. My little kids… My father was a rider, and I've–I've
done a little riding, and it's just in them to like horses. And they
wanted to see the horses. And when I stopped on the street I got sick
at my innermost being and turned back, to see how people today…
They're trying to live in the past, trying to live something that was.
We're in a changing world. It's constantly changing. In my country…
I'm a Kentuckian, you know, by birth. That's… All my people live
there, practically. And they have the Renfro Valley. They try to
imitate hillbillies, and–and burn kerosene lamps, and–and cook by–by
wood stove, and wear clothing like the–the early frontiers wore.
They're–they're in a changing world, trying to–to–to live in a–in
a… You're in a modern time, trying to go back and live to something
different that was. What makes a man do that? Because he's supposed to
do that.

^E-55
But then you try to bring them a Gospel that never changes, they don't
want that. They want something modern and up-to-date, somebody that'll
pat them on the back and let them get by just by joining church, and
living any way they want to. But when it comes to really go back to the
Gospel, they don't want it. And that very thing in them that hungers to
go back is the Gospel, and they try to satisfy it with taking the
natural things back, and refusing the spiritual things. See how the
devil vice versa's the–the Gospel to the people?
No disregards to my sisters, but if in the early days a woman would've
come through town like I seen some yesterday, with a pair of trousers
on… How the lady ever got into them is–looked like the skin was on
the outside. I wondered how the woman got her foot in them. Walking
down the street, when the Bible said she that'll put on a garment that
pertains to a man is an abomination in the sight of God.
And with that blue on the back of her eyes, if she'd have went through
a frontier town the old doctor would've put her in the hospital and
quarantined the town of a disease that a woman cankered before she
died. That's right. Such a disease…

^E-56
And then you try to go back and live something, then refuse the knock
of the old fashion Gospel of the Holy Ghost, and like it was on the day
of Pentecost with the same attributes that it had in it to cleanse us
and make us new creatures. We're living in the shadows, and the church
is in that Laodicean age, rich, have need of nothing.
Now, we Pentecostals can't holler too much at the Baptists and
Methodists, 'cause pot can't call kettle black, you know. So we're done
the same thing. Now, that's right.

^E-57
And "Lo, I stand at the door and knock, and if any man…" Now,
remember, the Bible said He was outside the church in this age, trying
to get in. Now, you can't dispute God's Word. See? He was trying to get
in, begging to come in. "If any man will open the door, and let Me in
(Oh.), I will come in and sup with him." See? He's got something He
wants to talk over with you, some business, or a plan of salvation. He
wants to speak to you. But maybe you've become so creeded and so hard,
indifferent, till you don't want to hear Him talk. That's right. "Lo, I
stand at the door…"
You say, "Oh, Brother Branham, now wait just a minute. I've already let
Him in." Well, maybe you did just that. But maybe that's all you did
do: just let Him in. You see, many people don't… They fear the very
thoughts of hell, and they know they're going there without Christ. And
they'll say, "Well, I let Him in. Sure, thirty years ago, twenty years
ago." But that might be just all you did.

^E-58
What if I come to your house, and knocked at the door, and you said,
"Step in, Brother Branham." I step in. "But you stand right here. Don't
you go to investing around, rooting around in my house." See?
Now, do you know inside the door of the human heart we got little
secret compartments? Oh, we don't want to admit it, but it's the truth.
Sure, we got little secret compartments. Yes, sir. We like to call…
We welcome Him in our heart, but we don't want to make Him our Lord. We
don't want to go to hell, so, "Jesus, You step in the door, so I won't
go to hell, but now, You can't be my Lord." Now, "Lord" is ownership.
That means when you let Him in as Lord, He controls everything. He's
home.
When I come to your house and I knocked at the door, if you don't want
me, say, "Get away from my door." I'd appreciate you more than if you'd
let me step in the door, and say, "Now don't go to rooting around. You
stand right there. Now, what do you want?" Would I feel welcome? Could
I explain my visit to you? Certainly not. And that's the way the church
is today, friend. That's the way the people are getting. "Come in,
Lord, but now that–that's all. Tell me what You want." See? Oh, no.
That's–that's where we get in trouble.

^E-59
We must welcome Him. "Lord, come into my house. If there's anything…
If there's anything in here that You want, help Yourself. I'm Yours;
You're mine. You honor me. The great King, the Creator of heavens and
earth has knocked at my door and I want You to come in, Lord. Lord, be
my lord. Take me. Do me anything You want to. Any bad thing that's in
me, discover every secret that's in my heart. Go in every door. Search
me out, Lord. See what's wrong with me. And whatever's wrong, show me,
Lord. Throw it out the door. I want You in here. I welcome You in to be
my lord. I haven't got that blessing, Lord. Clean me now."
If I can't make Him my full Lord, I'll never open the door to Him. If
He can't be Lord… I just don't want Him to be Saviour, if He can't be
lord. If I… Everybody wants a Saviour, but they don't want a Lord.
They want something that they can escape all the damnation of hell, and
then they can live any way they want to, do what they want to.

^E-60
You know, let's just walk around the building of the heart. Will you
stand me another ten minutes? Look. Notice. Let's walk around the heart
just a minute. The first thing as you go into the human heart, on the
right side as you go in, there's a little door there, and it's called
"my private life." Now, you don't want nobody fooling in that.
"Now, if I want to do anything, that's my business. I'll join church,
and I'll go down there. But, preacher, don't you tell me what I got to
do." Oh, yeah. See? "Now, I know the Bible says that, but I don't
believe it." Oh. See? Then you think Jesus would ever stay in a heart
like that? No, certainly not. He comes in to be Lord. He comes in…
He… That–and that–that private life, oh, that's a great thing. Now,
you know we want our own private life. "If we want a social drink with
the neighbor, that's our business. If we women would want to cut our
hair, that's what–that's our own American privilege. If we want to
wear shorts, that's our business. If we men want to take a sociable
drink, and if we want to let our wife do that, you ain't got no
business saying one word to us."
But the Gospel said, "Don't do it." Now, whose word's right. See? God's Word's right.

^E-61
Oh, sure, we want–we want Jesus. Certainly. We think we got Him, and
all like that. But I wonder if that rapture could pass, and we'd be
left alone one day, then wonder where it's all at–if it'd come by real
secretly, you know. And that's what it's coming, like a thief in the
night. You'll… Ninety-nine out of every half-a-million, every
million, will never know the rapture takes place. It'll be gone and
they won't even know nothing about it. Jesus said so. So that makes it
right. See? Certainly. It'll come like a thief in the night and be
stoled away.
Like that book I read one time. What was that guy? Romeo and Juliet, or
something like that. See? He come and got her at nighttime. That's the
way Jesus do. When the world's just lolling in sleep like the Bible
said, the Laodicean age, He'll slip in and get that bride.

^E-62
Then all them that's resurrected, down through them ages, have been
down the ages, they'll all go to heaven in the bride. Then the
judgments'll come. The church'll say, "Well, wait a minute. I thought
there was supposed to be a bride, a coming of the Lord and a bride."
It's been gone for a long time. You knew nothing about it. It come
secretly.
Why? We say, "Oh, I belong to the church. I'm Methodist; I'm Baptist;
I'm Pentecostal." That don't mean one thing to God. It's no more than a
doctor saying you got cancer; its advanced stage. And that–that don't
have nothing to do with the disease. That's just naming it. It's a
devil, cancer. If you'd say, "That's a dove. That's a buzzard. That's
a–some sort of a vulture." That–that–that ain't got anything to do
with what the disease. That don't cure it. That don't kill it. Just
says what it is.

^E-63
Just say… You say, "I'm–I'm a Christian. I'm a…" Only by
profession maybe. See, our–our lives speak so loud that our
testimony's not even heard, our lives, our action, our morals among us.
"They're going to have a revival over here."
"Who's having it?"
"The Baptists."
"Aw, we'll have nothing to do with that." And maybe God's got a message there for us.
"Who's having it?"
"The First Assembly, the Second Assembly, or the–or the Jesus' Name, or the–or the–the Church of God, or–or something."
"Oh, well, we–we–we're not in that group."
We are brethren. Dare anybody to separate the heritage of God? They got
the Holy Ghost like you got it, done the same things you did when you
got it. Sure. But you see why I like this Full Gospel Business Men? It
gives a avenue that I can express these things. See? Say, "This is it.
We are brethren." "We are not divided; all one body are we," (See?) as
the poet said.

^E-64
Now, that little door of my own–of my own private life. "Now, that's
all right. I'll be a member of your church. I'll join the Full Gospel
Business Men. But now, don't go to telling me I have to receive this
Holy Ghost and carry on like that." See? That's that own private life.
See? You'll never get the Lordship of Jesus doing that. He'll just turn
right around and walk out the door. What would you do in a case like
that, if somebody–if you went to a home, and they said, "Stand here at
the door. State your business."
Well, you'd say. "Thank you," turn out the door. So would Jesus.
Certainly. That's the reason the church is left setting cold (See?)
just the way it is.

^E-65
Don't let the Full Gospel Business Men ever get in that stage. When you
hear a message, and hear a knock, open up and say, "Lord, what is this
all about?" When you see a man… We have a lot of impersonators, but
when you see a genuine… What does an impersonator mean? What does a
bogus dollar mean, when you pick up a dollar that's bogus? It means it
was made off of a real one. There's got to be a real one to make that a
bogus. So there is a real Holy Spirit, real power of salvation, a real
God of love. Yes, don't take nothing less. No, sir. Don't do it.
All right, that private door… I'll have to hurry through these doors.

^E-66
There's a little door of pride too. Oh, my. That's a bad one. We'd
better not stay at that door too long. But you want to stand in that
old door, and say, "Now, don't you go to telling me nothing. (See?)
Why, I have my own pride." Certainly, but you shouldn't do it.
I preached here not long ago on the Lamb and Dove. And the Lamb… You
see, a lamb… A sheep, doesn't produce but one thing; that's wool.
That's what he produces. And he forfeits his rights. You can take a
sheep and throw him up, and put the–the–the shank hold on him like
that and shear him all over. He'll just lay there. He forfeits his
rights. After all, he growed the wool. It belongs to him, but he
forfeits it.
When you tell a man he's got to be borned again, he's got to be cleaned
up from a life of sin, he's–he's got to quit his lying, stealing,
cheating, and–and proselyting, and carrying on, boy, some of them blow
up like a balloon. Now, see, that's a goat. See? He'll kick up a storm,
but a real lamb will forfeit their right.

^E-67
I said to our ladies one time about… Not as I got against the ladies,
they're our sisters. But I'm zealous of this church. When I see the
worldliness like Sodom coming into it, then I have to cry out against
it. There's something inside that my heart bleeds and I cry out, "Don't
fashion after Marilyn Monroe, or some of these women there. Do like
Sarah in the Bible. See?"
Don't try to be Mr. Some–Something or other, run over the platform and
carry on, and–and try to dress like some bandbox, and…?… and
carry… Don't… We got too much Hollywood showmanism in Pentecost.
That's right. We need the Holy Ghost. Now, you might not love me; you
might not want me back again. But this is an opportunity to speak
truth, and this is truth. Try it. Find out if it's not so.
Some lady said, "It's my own American privilege."
I said, "But you'll forfeit that."

^E-68
Some time ago, wife and I were going to the grocery in Indiana, and we
seen a strange thing: a lady had on a skirt. It was very odd.
She said, "Honey, don't–don't them people sing in choirs?"
"Yeah."
"Well, why?"
I said, "Well, you see, honey, they–they're not of our Kingdom."
Said… I said, "Of our kingdom." I said, "No, I've been a missionary,
many times around the world. I find… I go into Germany, I find a
German spirit. I go into Finland; there's a different spirit. I go into
Australia; there's another spirit. I come to America; there's another
spirit. It's a national spirit; and all of them are of the devil. Jesus
said so. The kingdoms of this world is the devil's. He controls every
one of them. Now, Jesus said so. So you see, it's that national spirit."
"Well," she said, "aren't we Americans?"
I said, "No, sir. Potentially we are."
Said, "What are you?
I said…
"Well, shouldn't we do as Americans?"
I said, "No, not this drunken, brawling, disgraceful group. No, sir. We
are borned of a heavenly Spirit. We come from where pure, unadulterated
holiness, where Angels and righteousness is before God." I said, "We
live here as a nation, sure. That's right. This is our nation, what
we're here trying… But our… 'Thy Kingdom come, Thine will be done
in earth, as it is in heaven.' Therefore when we're borned of above,
and all the sin is moved plumb from across the chasm, it's the Spirit
of God that comes in, the Creator, into our heart, and He conducts our
character. We don't lie, steal, cheat. Honest, upright, walk like
citizens of heaven, for we are that, if we are borned of the Spirit of
God."

^E-69
And so many of us gets confused and–and just use little isms and
sensations and things and call that the Spirit of God. That's the
reason we're so scrupled up as we are today, the whole church system.
It's terrible. And in spite of all that, Jesus still stands at the
door, put out, but yet…

^E-70
One more door I'd like to open–the door of faith–then I'll close.
There's just about a dozen I got wrote down here, but I'm going to skip
them. The door of faith. You say, "Would you come down to the Full
Gospel Business Men?"
"The what?"
"The Full Gospel…"
"That's against my faith."
There's only one faith. That's right. "One faith, one Lord, one baptism." That's right.
"Why, that's against my faith."
Maybe you don't want Jesus to stand in that door of your faith. You've
got your faith built in some creed or some church, some denomination.
And that's where your faith is closed up to itself in a room. And you
wouldn't let Jesus come, which is the Word. "In the beginning was the
Word," said St. John 1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelled among us." He is the eternal Word.

^E-71
And you–your faith… It–it says that the days of miracles is past,
and there is no such a thing as speaking with tongues and prophesying,
and this nonsense that the church of the Pentecostals carry on today.
There's no such a thing as that. Maybe you let some creed hold back in
the door of your faith. If you'd open that door and let the Word of God
come in to be your Lord… "I don't care what the creed says. If the
Bible says so, You're my Lord."
You must be borned again, and when you're borned again, then you must
be filled with the Holy Ghost. No matter what creed, what is–nothing
about it. You say, "Well, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God." The
devil believes the same thing. You've got to be borned again.
Everybody's afraid of that new birth. Oh, I know you call yourself that
you've got new birth. But I think our lives sometimes speak so loud
that our testimony can't be heard. See?

^E-72
A birth is a mess, I don't care where it's at. Excuse this expression,
but if a birth is in a pigpen, it's a mess. If it's in a cow barn, it's
a mess. If it's in a hospital room, it's a mess. And if it's at the
altar, it's a mess. It'll make you rot in your own thinking. It'll make
you throw away everything that's… Things that you once cherished with
all your heart, you'll give it up to let that little still knock. I
don't care if it's a mission on the corner.
We people out here believe in big things, we Americans. We want big
hats, and–and big automobiles, and big denominations, more in the
creed and more in the denomination. All we want is big things; and
God's after small, still voice.

^E-73
A lot of racket and noise is what we want. A farmer took a wagon one
time and went out in the field. And when he did, it bumped and rattled
and made a lot of noise. When it come back it crossed the same bumps
and never even moved. It was loaded with good things.
We want the creed. "Our denomination's the biggest. We got this…
Glory to God, we beat this bunch over here. We beat this bunch over
here in paying money, and giving stars, and everything else of who'll
bring in the most to the church?" Nothing against that. That's all
right. But here's what I'm trying to say; that's not it yet. That's all
right to get people in church. Yes. But Jesus said when a man went out
and proselyted and brought in one, said, what'd he become? A twofold
child more of hell than he was when he started.

^E-74
We hear on the Billy Graham programs… Which nothing to say against
this great evangelist, certainly not. He's a man of God, and God's
using him. But where's he at? Down in Sodom. Do you remember the type?
There was two Angels went down in Sodom, a type that Jesus said would
be the same thing at His coming. But one stayed with Abraham, the
elected church, called-out. Watch what both Angels done, then you got
the message.
Isn't it a strange thing, of those two messengers–exactly what God
said in the last days–there's never been a man out there in that
field, of all the days of Moody, Sankey, Finney, Knox, Calvin, all the
way down, there's never been a one that had a name ending with h-a-m
(G-r-a-h-a-m) till this day. See the messenger to the church formal?
See, father of nations…

^E-75
Now, the church spiritual was not in there in the beginning,
Pentecostal type. Watch that messenger come to that church. He set and
talked to Abraham. He said, "Where is your wife, Sarah?" and called him
Abraham, which his name was Abram. Said, "Where is your wife Sarah?"
Her name was S-a-r-r-a, now it's S-a-r-a-h. He called S-a-r-a-h.
Said, "She's in the tent behind you–behind you."
He said, "I (personal pronoun) am going to visit you according to the
time of life." And Sarah… He said, "Why did Sarah laugh when I said
that?" There He is.
Why would it be? We got to have a spirit like that visit the church–a
spirit of prophetic, a spirit of discernment. And when it comes in, the
people refuse it. Why? It's the Laodicea. We're so documated with
creeds and things till we can't accept it. That's right. See? "I stand
at the door and knock. If any man hears My voice…"
"Oh, my faith don't accept the–those things."
Then you've got the wrong faith. The faith… You know, the real
genuine faith of God will punctuate every promise of God with an
"Amen," a genuine Holy Spirit. Because why? The Holy Spirit wrote the
Bible. It says so. Men of old, moved by the Holy Ghost, wrote the
Bible. See? Then how could the Holy Spirit be in you, and deny it?
Can't do it. Forms of godliness, the prophet said, and would deny the
power thereof to liberate men and women from sin and things of the
world. God have mercy on us. Oh. Some religious faith that you have
that denies the Word of God, get away from it. Let God's Word be right.
Yes, sir.

^E-76
Notice. He said, "Knowest thou not that thou art naked, miserable,
poor, wretched, and blind, and don't know it?" There's the miserable
part. Now, we're going to close. I want you to get this, "Don't know
it."
Now, if you seen a man coming down here at the main street, Stone
Street, or some of these main streets, and that man was so poor he
didn't have any clothes, and he was miserable, wretched, and no clothes
on, naked, or a woman completely nude, and blind, and didn't know it…
Now, if she knew it, or he knew it, they'd try to find somewhere to get
in, get some clothes. But when they don't know it, then you go try to
tell them, they say, "Mind your own business."

^E-77
Now that's exactly what Jesus Christ said that the Pentecostal church
would be in the last days: lukewarm, and would be rich. We're about as
rich as any of them. Used to be, when we was down in the mission, we
had salvation. Now, we've got up with the big ranks, like this, and
more numbers and great fine things. And where are we at? Just like the
rest of them. And Jesus said so.
But in the midst of all that, He continues to knock. "If any man
(individual) will hear My voice, and will open the door, I'll come in,
and I'll sup with him and he with Me." That's where we get. Naked,
blind, blind, Actually blind, spiritually blind, you couldn't tell them
nothing.

^E-78
You know, we was raised awful poor down in Kentucky. My grandfather was
a hunter, and a real well-known hunter. And he used to coon hunt. I
don't know whether you people out here… Not enough water in Arizona
to have coons, I guess, but they–they have a… Down there they had
coons. They hunted coons. How many knows what a coon hunter is? Well,
look at the Kentuckians in here. My. All right. Well, I feel like I
could take off my coat now and preach a little while. I was kind of
bound up a little, but I feel pretty good now. My.
How many knows what a straw tick is? Hm, hm. Why, Tony, thank you. I've
got back home at last. Yes, that's fine. My, cornbread, hominy grits,
under my black-eyed peas, and turnip greens, you ever eat any? Oh, my.
It's… Now, we're fine now. Yes, sir, that's good.

^E-79
And grandpa used to catch coons, and he would render the fat off of
them. And what they had a little can. We used to keep that little
baking powder can. Mom had one she cut biscuits with, the–with a
baking powder can. And she'd make them great big biscuits. You could
pick up the top and the bottom would drop off, and put sorghum molasses
in there, and a hunk of homemade butter, it was really good. It'd go
good right now. And I kinda got skimped up on my 'lasses this morning,
so you know something like that would really go good.
And mama used to take this coon grease and it–it was the cure-all at
our house that, and barbed wire liniment. And she… We'd get a cut and
they'd pour that old barbed wire liniment in us and turpentine. And
then when we'd get something wrong we'd take coon grease.
And we had one little room, and there was a loft. We had to go up a
stairs like this, a banister made out of saplings. And us kids would
sleep up there on a straw tick. And then above the straw tick was a
feather bed, feather tick. And then the clapboard shingles was put on
in the light of the moon, and so… It would make a hole and–and the
snow would blow through, so she'd put a piece of canvas over the top of
us to keep the snow from getting in our faces at night, this bunch of
little Branhams. And we'd be two at the foot, two in the head and two
in the middle. We just had all kinds of ways of sleeping, wallow in
there like little pigs and kept one another warm.

^E-80
Once in a while one of us would get out from under that canvas when the
cold wind was blowing, and we'd get a cold. And we'd get it in our
eyes, and you know that sticky stuff gets in your eyes. Mama called it
"matter." Said, "Get matter in your eyes." Well, I'd wake up at
morning, and mom would say, "Billy, come on down. Time to go to school."
And I'd say, "Mom, I got matter in my eyes. I can't see."
Humpy, my brother, he'd wake up. Edward was his name, and we called him
Humpy just for fun. And he'd say, "I got matter in my eyes."
I'd hear the old coon grease can hit the stove. She'd get it all thawed
out. Then mama would come up the steps, and she'd rub and massage those
eyes. And believe it or not, the matter would go out. The coon grease
was a cure-all for mattered eyes.

^E-81
I tell you; there's come a cold spell across the church, and coon
grease will never work. But Jesus said, "I counsel you to buy
eye-salve," the Holy Spirit. You're come–becoming so blind, the church
is, until it can't see God. It only sees its organization. It only sees
that what it can see in front of it. It never looks out yonder to the
soon coming of the Lord. Coon grease will never do that any good, but
the salve of the Holy Spirit will open your eyes, and you can realize
that the presence of Jesus Christ… And He's the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He is God, and He can salve your eyes with His Holy
Spirit.

^E-82
You'll forget whether you're a Methodist, or a Baptist, or a Oneness,
or a Twoness, or a Threeness, or Church of God, or a Nazarene, or a
Pilgrim Holiness. You'll be a Christian, borned again of the Kingdom of
God.
You'd be something… You won't have to try to say, "Well, I must do
this." There's something in you that propels you to do it. The
compulsion in your heart swings you to prayer. Love Divine flows into
your innermost beings until you can't set still. Prayer meetings just
flows from you, like the water from an artesian well.

^E-83
I used to pass… When I was game warden for several years, I'd pass by
a big old spring. And it would be bubbling up like that. I–I set down
by that spring one day, and I said, "What are you so happy about?" Oh,
the water was delicious. And I–I'd–I'd take a drink of water, and I
said, "What are you so happy about? Are you happy because that rabbits
drink from you?"
If he could talk, he'd have said, "No."
"Because deers drink from you?"
"No."
"Because I drink from you?"
"No."
"Why are you so happy? What makes you bubble like that?"
If he could've spoke, he'd have said, "It's not me bubbling, Brother
Branham. It's something behind me pushing me, making me bubble
constantly."
We drive ourselves to do things. But when the Holy Spirit is in there,
by Divine love we do it. "For me to live is Christ, and to die is
gain," said Paul. Sure. Now, let His salve anointing come to your eyes.

^E-84
In closing… I don't mean to hold you all here till you get so tired.
Be my first time, or second time with you. Forgive me if I've went too
long. Let me close then, saying this.
Down in the south, we had an old Pentecostal colored brother down there
that… He was really a real servant of Christ. There was a certain old
Negro sister that came to the church. And she was filled with the Holy
Ghost, and such a great character she was. And she had a husband; he
was a good old fellow. His name was… They called him Gabriel. We just
called him Gabe, for short.
And so, we could never get him to line up with the church. He–he just
didn't want to come to church. He said that… Oh, the boys down around
the poolroom where he hung out said that was a bunch of holy-rollers,
and nothing to them. And the only thing Gabe had to do was on Sunday
morning get his pool cue and go down to the poolroom or something,
and–and go run around with the boys.

^E-85
But his wife was a real devout saint. And she'd go to the church, and
she'd pray, and have the pastor and all to pray for Gabe, because
really down in his heart he was a good man. And he run a little
business down there, a little–on the corner, a little shoe-shine
business. He'd shine shoes and get enough money to play pool, why he
would play pool. So he just didn't want to line up with the Gospel.
And the pastor… Old Gabe liked to hunt a lot. So the pastor was a
hunter too, so he'd take Gabe and go hunting. So one day, after a
all-day's tramping through the wilderness and sloughs, they was on the
road home that afternoon. And–and they had so much game they could
just barely tote it: had the rabbits and the birds all over them, going
along. And they come around an old familiar path as they come up. Come
up the top of the hill and they went down into the little city down
there.

^E-86
It was on Saturday and the sun was going down. And the pastor happened
to look around. He hadn't heard old Gabe say nothing for quite awhile.
And he watched around, and Gabe was looking over his shoulders towards
the–the sun setting as it was going across the western horizon. And
the pastor looked back, and he noticed Gabe wasn't saying nothing, but
looking back as he walked.
And so the pastor walked on for a few minutes, and after while a big
black hand laid on his shoulder. And when he turned in surprise, old
Gabe was looking him in the face with tears running down his cheeks,
dripping off like this. He says, "Pastor, in the morning you's going to
find me right up there at that mourner's bench." Said, "Then I's coming
right back from there and take a seat by the side of my faithful wife,
and there I's going to remain in that church until God calls me home."

^E-87
And the pastor, of course, turned around in amazement. He said, "Gabe,
I've wanted, and waited, and longed, and prayed for years for this." He
said, "Gabe, is it settled?"
He said, "Yes, Pastor, it's settled. But I wants that Holy Ghost too.
And I's coming up to the mourner's bench in the morning, and I's going
to get it or I's going to die right there."
He said, "Gabe, I appreciate this." Said, "But I want to ask you
something, Gabe. What sermon did I preach that inspired you to do this.
I'd like to know what sermon I preached, what I preached on. Or what
hymn did the choir sing that–that inspired you to make this great
decision, Gabe?"
And the old Negro looked at the pastor, and he said, "Pastor," he said,
"I sure appreciate every sermon you preached." He said, "I–I
appreciate everything that you've said, Pastor." He said, "And I
appreciate every fine hymn the choir sang." But said, "Pastor, it
wasn't that." He said, "You know, I was looking at that sun going down
yonder. Did you know that my and your sun too is going down? The light
of our body is leaving?"

^E-88
That's true. It's true here this morning, men. The sun's setting,
setting in your life and in mine, and it's setting on time in
civilization; she's finished. And He stands at the door, knocking,
longing, waiting. That little knock, something down in your heart that
says, "It's I. Open up now." That's Him. Gabe had listened to that, and
he turned around.
He said another thing. "Pastor," he said, "you know I'm a bad shot." He
said, "I couldn't hit nothing. You know I couldn't. And just looky here
at the game enough to last me and my wife all next week." And said,
"You know I can't hit nothing," but said, "He gave it to me." Said, "I
just happened to think; He must love me or He wouldn't be so good to
me."

^E-89
Did you ever realize that? In India today the little children, I know,
laying on the street, and their little bellies swelled up, their little
gums down like this, starving to death. The little mother begging to
take this one, and there's thousands more. Of a afternoon they come by
and pick up in the stretchers and things and take them to the
salamander and throw them in. There's no John 14. Eat anything, grass
from the ground, bark from the tree, or anything that they can do… We
rake off enough in our garbage cans to feed them.

^E-90
We sit here this morning paying about a dollar and a half for a little
bit of food here. And we got good clothes; we drive a nice automobile;
we live in a nice home. You businessmen here, your businesses are
plushing, as I hear you testify. God's good to you. Can't you realize
that? Why? He loves you. You know that? And that's the reason that
knock comes. "I stand at the door and knock, and if any man will hear
My voice and open the door, I'll come in to him, and sup with him, and
he with Me."

^E-91
Now, that still, little voice that knocks at your heart's door, it
might knock so many times till it may be very faint right now. But
let's just be honest, just honest with God and ourselves for just one
minute. That little knock way down there that said, "I better curb my
ways. I'd better be different. I'd better straighten up. I know there's
things in me. I'm… Look here, I examine my life with this Word and I
see I'm wrong in many things." Look around and see how good… It's His
goodness that knocks at the door.
No matter what we done, how much we've sinned, how much we turned it
away, how much we said later on we'll do it, He's still in the midst of
all of that, knocking. "And if any man or woman will just open your
heart, I'll come in and sup." Let's see what He wants this morning,
will you, while we bow our heads?

^E-92
Oh, my Jesus, I love thee, I love thee. Oh, for grace to love you more,
Lord. "What is that little something keeps telling me in my heart that
I must come a little closer to Jesus? What is that?" Do you want to
open the door to that this morning? Now, with every head bowed and
every eye closed, please, down in your heart be real honest just one
minute. You have such a little knock at your door. I'm going to pray in
just a moment. And sincerely you'd like to know what that little
mysterious something in your life is, that you'd like to let–let Him…
Would you want Him to come in this morning? Say, "Brother Branham, pray
that I'll have the faith and grace just to open my heart and let Him
come in. I want to know what this is knocking at my door. I know
there's something knocking there. Maybe it's a closer walk, maybe it's
a different ministry, maybe it's to surrender myself, maybe it's to
receive the Holy Spirit. Would you raise up your hand to God and say,
"Here I am, Lord." God bless you. That's it, oh, just everywhere. "I
have a little knocking at my heart's door." I guess sixty or seventy
percent of the people.

^E-93
With our heads bowed… Now, our heavenly Father, "There is a
fountain," as the poet said, "that's filled with Blood drawn from
Emmanuel's veins, where sinners plunged beneath the flood lose all
their guilty stains. That dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in
his day, and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away."
Now, Father, we're grateful for these people. And some of them may–no
doubt, has professed Christianity a long time, but they've got the–the
real conviction enough to raise their hands. What, Lord, if they didn't
even have the conviction to raise their hands? Then they're past
redemption. Think of that place, that a wandering soul could wander out
into darkness, and miserably blind and doesn't know it. And they hear
the knock of God, and grieve it so many times until finally it never
knocks again. And they pick up a creed or something, and live by it the
rest of their days, to find themselves disappointed at that day of the
judgment.

^E-94
I'm grateful, Lord, for these people who would raise their hands and
say, "Be merciful to me, Lord. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, and
reveal yourself to me today. And I'll give You my life. Here am I. If
there's anything in me that's not right, Lord… And I look at my own
life and I see that there is plenty that's wrong. Then take me into
Your great molding house and–and mold me, and take from me all that's
worldly and ungodly."
"And I thank You, Lord, that I haven't got to the place that I've
crossed that line that can–where you cross and can never return again:
grieve the Spirit of God the last time, and now there's no way at all
back." Like Judas Iscariot and them, sold his Lord for thirty pieces of
silver. And we do today, for popularity, and…?… cares of the world,
and religious organizations and denominations, and creeds we just sell
Him for anything.

^E-95
O Lord, have mercy to honest hearts. I plead for those, Lord. Oh, with
all that's in me, I ask for Divine mercy, and hear me, Lord, hear me.
And may this great desire, with faith to know that it's God that spoke
to their hearts… It's God that does these things. And may the heart's
door come open just now, and Jesus walk in and become Lord of the
situation, taking all the world out and making them new creatures in
Christ Jesus.
Heal those that are sick, Lord. Perceiving that there's so much
suffering, I pray for them, Father, that now the Great Physician will
touch their physical being also, and make it His home, His dwelling
place, where He can reach forth His hands just at the call, the little
light call of the heart. And the Great Physician is on the job. Grant
it, Lord. Hear us today. Bless all that's present. In the Name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we ask it. Amen.

^E-96
Now, with our heads bowed, real humbly, softly, let's sing this old
hymn of the church, "I love Him, I love Him, because He first loved
me." And believe now that what you have asked, that that little still
knock that was at your heart, Jesus will come in now. Quietly, as we
sing it:

^E-97
Now, with our heads bowed, you that want to accept Him as Lord in your
heart, "Lord, take away everything now. And from this hour I'm making a
consecration to You over this table, Lord, that I'll meet You again at
that great wedding supper. I'm consecrating my life to You this
morning, so help me, my Lord. If I haven't received the Holy Spirit
yet, I'm going to seek until the real Holy Spirit comes in and cleanse
my life, makes me a new creature in Christ Jesus. I promise You today,
Lord, as I make a consecration to You over this table. In the Name of
Christ I promise to do it, as I raise my hands." Now, you raise your
hands, and sing with your eyes closed now.

^E-98
Now, I want you to reach across the table and shake hands with
somebody. Say, "God bless you, pilgrim. Glad to be here with you this
morning." That's right. Everybody just mix up, Methodist, Baptist,
Catholic, Presbyterian. God bless you; God bless you. The messages
sometime are cutting and hard, and we don't… We want to feel good
about it. Now, God bless you, brother. God bless you. God bless you,
sister. God bless you, my brother, God be with you. God bless you.
Fine. Bless you, Brother Tony. Now, let us stand just a minute.

^E-99
With our hands and hearts to God, our Father, all–all creeds, all–all
now believing… Now, when you have prayed, remember Jesus said when
you pray believe that you receive what you ask for, and it shall be
given unto you. Do you believe it? Say, "Amen. I believe that I receive
that what I've asked for. I've consecrated my life to Jesus Christ. And
from this day henceforth… I really mean it, God; I'll walk before You
until it becomes such a reality till I'm hid altogether in Christ
Jesus."

^E-100
Now, is the song leader here? Let's start that gracious old hymn, "My
faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Saviour Divine." Wonder
if the sister on the piano would give us that key. How many knows the
hymn? Raise… Now, let's sing that to the top of our voice. "My faith
looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary." All together now.

Let's bow our heads now.

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