Sermon Texts

An Absolute (63-1201M)



An Absolute (63-1201M)

 



 


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This Message by Brother William Marrion Branham
called An Absolute
was delivered on Sunday morning, 1st December 1963 at the Life Tabernacle in Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.A.
The tape, number 63-1201M,
is 1 hour and 17 minutes, and consists of 1 cassette. This message is available in book format (Volume 17, Number 1).

The text is provided courtesy of Voice of God Recordings, Jeffersonville Indiana
Voice Of God Recordings
P.O. Box 950, Jeffersonville, Indiana 47131 U.S.A.
Phone (812) 256-1177
Fax (812) 256-6187

The tape in RealAudio and MP3 (as linked above) is supplied by
Cloverdale Bibleway.





1 Doesn't that just do something to you? It certainly does. Let us bow now in prayer.
Lord, as it's been expressed to us in this lovely hymn, "How Great Thou
Art," and we think this morning what would we do if it wasn't for You.
And then when we think that You are so great, and then Your love
constrained You to be so mindful of us, then my soul can scarcely take
it in. It's true. I pray that You'll bless us today now as we further
go into the service, that You'd break to us the Bread of Life, which is
the revelation of Christ. For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.

3
Brother Ungren is a constant comer to the Tabernacle. And he lives in
Memphis, Tennessee, he and his mother, his wife. And the whole family
comes to the Tabernacle. And very seldom I get to hear him, because
it's always so busy, but this morning I was determined to hear him sing
this song. And he sings another one of my favorites, "Down From His
Glory." And them are my favorite songs. And I had the grand privilege
of meeting his father this morning, the first time I've ever had that
privilege, a fine man. And–and Brother Ungren, his father will–will
never go as long as his son lives, Morris, 'cause they certainly look
alike.
And I've… His wife, Brother Morris Ungren's mother, has just lived
these last fifteen years by the grace of God. She certainly has been a
great inspiration to me to see that; going through the dark hours that
she has, and yet holding onto God's unchanging hand. It expresses to us
the genuineness of Christianity, and the faith of those that believe
it. So I'm very happy for that this morning.

5
We just had a wedding downstairs. Two of my children got married, and
my children from the Tabernacle; our little Billy Simpson and the
little Myers girl, they been sweethearts for some time; Sharol, yes.
They were… They also are relative here, the little Sharol Myers is,
to Brother Ungren and them. So we are happy for them; I see they've
taken their place after getting married, go right back in the
auditorium of the church, and set down to listen to the service. Those
children have always had a deep place in my heart, because they're so
respective to the Word. They–they just love the Word. I don't think
that–that I call them my children, I don't think they're any better
than other children. But they just look to me, and I–I–I look to God
for them.

6
Little Billy wanted to get married, and then he was afraid he was going
to have to go in the army. And there was two or three of them in that
same condition. And those boys come over to me, and said, "Brother
Branham, we–we don't want to be shirkers or anything, but we would
like for you to ask God." And they give me the basis that they'd like
to stay away from the army, if they could; not because they didn't want
to defend the country in anything they could do. But the thing was,
that if they–if they went, they was going to get among the wrong type
of people out there in those (I don't know what you call it) PX's, or
ever what you call it, and then they get out there where those
half-nude women carrying on. That's no place for a Christian boy, and
so God granted their request.
And now, little Billy comes this morning to be married to this fine
little Sharol, so we're happy for them. And we wish them the very best
in God's Kingdom, for them.

8
And now, this has been a grand time for us. We got a nice Sunday School
class here this morning, a packed out church, so we are very happy. And
many times, ministers, it–it encourages us to see the people come and
hear you. 'Cause, you see, you don't like to speak to empty pews,
because they're… We'd speak just the same if there's one person here.
But yet it feels good when you think, "If this one misses it, the other
one will get it. You see?" And it makes it different, makes it
glorious.

9 And now, just in the interviews just now, this is, if we can run into them just fast.
I met Brother Boutliere when I come out, and I hadn't seen him since I been here. I said, "Where you been?"
He said, "Getting turkey dinner ready for them."
And so I was telling him I'd lost some. He said, "You?"
I said, "You haven't changed a bit."
He said, "Neither have you."
I
said, "That's really diplomacy." I said, "But, you know, I have. I've
went from a hundred and seventy, to a hundred and forty-five, so I sure
have changed." My suits all too little–too big for me. And someone
just got me one the other day, so I could wear it down here; one that
didn't hang off on the shoulders, and the waistline lap over.
But I'm–I'm trying to do my very best for Jesus Christ while I have a chance to do it. And your fine attendance…

13
I was telling in the room just now; I seen the great Holy Spirit remove
a cancer from a woman's body right in there. She's a–she's a woman
from Texas. And a lady set there, that I never seen a person more
nervous, a minister's wife, just a few moments ago. And the Lord showed
me a vision of her setting there, and I seen her. She called at New
York, and she wanted to slip up here. She had just one five-minutes,
then seen her husband suffering with an ulcer, and what caused the
ulcer was his interest in his wife. Almighty God, quietened that woman
setting there. She's setting, looking at me now. So… And also I want
to tell you, brother, your ulcer is finished. See? Yeah, you're going
to be well now and return into the work of the Lord.
Now, when you see something that the Lord does, you–you just can't
fill up on it. You just want to keep going, keep going, keep going,
keep going.

15
And now, last night we had a great prayer service, and that's good;
that's fine. Laying hands upon the sick, that's a good thing. That's
all it takes sometime. And then there's some that there's something
back there that they–they can't catch, and you've got to get that
person to find out what that is. See, there's something that's
hindering them, something laying in the way. And one little shadow will
vibrate it away.
Now, the little lady in there a few moments ago, she was so nervous, so
upset. Poor little fellow, she couldn't even get her breath. She was
just… [Brother Branham illustrates–Ed.] and just–just carrying on. See?

17
Now, the thing you have to do. Here's just a little inside. See? It's
catching her spirit. See? And then you are projecting to her your very
thought. See? And you change your thinking. See? Then when it does
that, then you can center her on Christ, and from there she can go on.
But you've got to change her way of thinking. See? She can't change it
herself. She just run in a whirl, and you've got to pick that up. Now,
there is a little something that give you some… Don't try to study
it; don't do it. Just believe it and go on.

18
How could that little baby, laying yonder in that mother's arms, had
been dead since nine o'clock that morning, and just way in the night
that night, where was that little spirit? You have to go find that
spirit and bring it back. And then when you see it on coming back, then
you can rise in the Name of the Lord and call it. See, then it'll
happen. But till you do that, you're just wasting your breath. See?
It's nothing–nothing so mysterious. It's finding God, to getting
yourself out of the way and letting the Holy Spirit use you to whatever
He wants to do. That's it. The main thing, of any gift, is getting your
own ideas away, and let Christ. Then whatever It said, if you want to
know whether it's Christ or not… Just a sensation, leave it alone.
But if it's just an emotion, leave that alone. But if it's written in
the Word, then it's God. Always judge everything that any spirit tells
you by the Word. The Word, don't never get away from that Word; if you
do, you're lost.

20
Now, 'fore we stay till noontime, just talking like that, let's just
turn over in the Bible and read some Scriptures here. And then we're
going to… I love God's Word. I know we all do. Now, didn't have…
I was going to preach, this morning, or talk, teach the Sunday school,
on the hidden mysteries of God since the foundation of the world being
revealed in Jesus Christ. And I didn't get a chance to run it all out.
I forgot about the wedding coming, so I–I maybe get that the next time
coming by.

22
Now, I'm going to read some out of three places in the Bible. The
first, I want to read from Philippians 1, the 1st chapter of
Philippians, beginning with the 19th verse, and reading also through
the 22nd.

For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,


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


For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.


But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I… choose I wot not.


23
Now, over in the Book of Romans. And we want to begin at the 8th
chapter of Romans and the 35th verse, to build on what I want to take
for a text.

Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? shall tribulations, or distress,… persecutions,… famine, or
nakedness,… peril,… sword?


As it is written, For my sake we are killed all… day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.


Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.


For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor
life, nor angel, nor principality, nor power, or things present, or
things to come, neither…


Or height,… depth, or any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.


24 In Acts 2 and the 30th verse…

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


Now, this is much Scripture, kindly going around from one place to
another in the Bible. But we know that if this much Scripture has been
read, we're going to find something in there that's going to–to help
us. Now, may God help us now, as I would like to take this subject this
morning, as the word of absolute: "An Absolute."

26
Now, we… When I was looking this text up, I went to the dictionary. I
thought, "What? I… Somebody keeps saying, 'That's absolute, the
truth. Absolute, this is it.'" I thought, "What is that word? What does
it mean: absolute?" And I went to the dictionary to find out what it
meant.
Webster says, "It is perfect in itself, unlimited in its power,
primarily an ultimate (See?): unlimited in its power, perfect in
itself, and it really is an ultimate," the word "absolute."
And I'd like to say this, and trust that you'll catch these words,
'cause I'm not a trained clergyman in the how to, and the psychological
way to bring a fascinating something that would hold the people. I…
The only thing I do is try to do the best that I can, on account of the
friends that Christ has give me, and I–I–I want them to see what my
thought is about Christ.

29
Now, every great achievement is tied to an absolute. You cannot run
life without having an absolute. You can't make an achievement without
it being an absolute, for it is the final tie post. It's the–it's the
hitch rack at the end of the journey. It's a place where you are tied
to something.
In the day that we're living in now, and everything is so breaking up,
so fragile and carried away, I think that this message would be a very
appropriate thing, especially to Christians when they are going through
their deep waters now. The Christian church is passing through the
deepest water it's had for the last two thousand years. Because we are
coming to a spot to where there's something presented to Christianity,
something they have to make a decision on, and I think that the
Christian church ought to have something that they know that they are
tied to, instead of just floating about like a leaf upon the water, the
wind… As the Bible said, "Carried about by every wind of doctrine."
The winds come and blow the little leaf this way, and then another wind
comes, the north wind, the south wind, the east wind, the west wind.
You'll never get anywhere; you're not stabled. The Christian life
should be a stabled life. It should be something that's–that's a
principle that–that you are tied to that is more than life itself.

31
And you must have something that you're tied to. Some people are tied
to their business. Some are tied to their families. Some are tied to a
creed. Some are tied to the army post. We have different things that we
are tied to. But I think, as a Christian, we ought to be tied where we
know is right. See? Because you might be tied to your family, and
your–your wife could leave you. You might be tied to the army, and you
might get killed. And you might be tied to any different things, and
it's got an end. But there's got to be a final tie post. There's got to
be somewhere that–that man has got to tie for his eternal destination.
Because if you're going to trust it in your work, when your work is
finished, it's done. When your family's taken, it's over.

32
But there's only one thing that I think is the final tie post. And I
believe that Paul had a tie post in his life here. And I'd like to–to
side in, if we'd call it that way, and speak on that tie post. He said,
"For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Now, Christ was Paul's
Absolute. It was his tie Post. It was his… It was the end of all
arguments. It was Christ, was his tie Post.

33
Paul didn't always have that tie Post. He used to be tied to the group
of the Pharisees. And he had to be trained and educated so that they
would accept him and let him tie himself to their post. But one day he
was on the road down to Damascus, and he met Jesus face to face. And
from there he cut loose from his Pharisaic tie post, and retied himself
again, that Jesus Who he knowed was crucified, died, and rose again.
Paul knew it because he met the Person. That changed him right there.
He was never the same from then on. He never just met a book. He never
just met a–a creed. He met the Person Jesus Christ. "Who are You,
Lord?"
He said, "I'm Jesus."
Let's think of that conversion for a few moments. I believe Paul was a
sincere man. Being that this is Sunday school, we want to teach it like
a Sunday school. Paul, I believe, was a deep, sincere man, and there
was–there was nothing about him that was any different from anyone
else.

35
All those prophets were men just like we are. The Bible said so: Saint
James 5, "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are (He had
his ups-and-downs, his ins-and-outs.), and he prayed earnestly it might
not rain."
And Paul was the same kind of a man like we are. He had his
flusterations, his doubt. And he was a honest man. He was going to one
of the finest sect of religions that there was in the world. And he was
becoming a teacher of that sect: taught under a great teacher,
Gamaliel, which was one of the most greatest teachers they had of the
day. His parents seen to it, seen that there was something in Paul's
life, and worked hard to send him away to school, that he might be
taught in all the laws of God. And with a deep sincerity he believed
every word of it.

37
And he had heard of this kind of a lower class of people, and how
there'd been a prophet, so-called, by His group, that had raised up in
Galilee, that was supposed to perform miracles and heal the sick. But
his–his sect that he belonged to would not accept this Man of being a
prophet, this Jesus of Nazareth, because He had not identified Himself
with them. So Paul couldn't go it, because his own sect of–of people
didn't believe in It. And they'd warned him against such.
And Paul, being honest, thought, "If this thing is not of God, and my
church says it's not of God, then there's only one thing to do, is get
rid of it." Said, "Get it out of the way, because it's a… It would be
a hindrance; it'd be a growth, a malignancy," against his sect of
believing. So he purposed in his heart that he would go out and cut
this malignancy, as he called it, or his church called it, away from
his fine Pharisee-ic group.

39
One day, with letters in his pocket from the high priest, to arrest all
those people that were in that condition, because that would been the
charge that Paul was set to… He was on his road down to a city called
Damascus. They'd them quietened down around in Jerusalem. So he had–he
had stoned Stephen, and Paul had him stoned, give witness and held the
coat. Now he'd go down here and do the same thing, and get rid of this
great hindrance.
But about… Must've been about noontime, around eleven, twelve
o'clock, he was stricken down. And when he did, he looked up, and there
was a Light standing before him, and a Voice coming out of this Light,
saying, "Saul, Saul (a question), why are you persecuting Me?" Now,
Paul knew, or Saul, rather, knew that his people had been following
that same Light since they come up out of Egypt. And if…
Did you ever see the Lamsa translation of the Bible, the old…
The–the old Hebrew sign of–of God is a triangle Light, more or less,
something like that, that the three attributes of God in one Godhead.
And this triangled Light, the three in One, being one God, was a–a
sign to the Hebrews of God, Light.

42
And then when Moses met Him in the bush, then He said, "I AM," which
remains the same, three: yesterday, today, and forever, still the same
God. And Moses met Him in the burning bush. He was a Light. And when He
led the children of Israel out of the wilderness, He was the Angel of
the covenant that Moses by faith saw and forsook Egypt, esteeming the
reproach of Christ greater treasures than that of Egypt. By faith Moses
saw that that was Christ, the Anointing. And the Anointing was upon no
certain man, but It was in a form of a Pillar of Fire. See?
And then that same Anointing came down at His baptism and went into
Christ and dwelt in Him. John knew it was Him. He said, "Upon Whom thou
shall see the Spirit that led them out of Egypt into the wilderness,
and out of the wilderness into the promised land, upon Whom thou shall
see this triangle form of God coming down and remaining on, He is the
One that'll baptize with the Holy Ghost and Fire."

44
Now, Paul hadn't been privileged of seeing this yet. But just to make
it true to you, the Jews were so forbidden to bow before an idol or
anything like that… Now, when he saw this great Light, he knew that
that was the Lord. "Lord" means "ownership, control of." He–he
would've not called just anything "Lord," that staunched Hebrew, when
he knew that that was Spirit. But notice, he knowed that that same
Pillar of Fire had been the One that had led his people. And then he
comes back and said, "Lord, Who are You? Who are You? I want to know
Who You are? You met Moses in the name of I AM." But now stop there
with their thought, just a minute.

45
Jesus, when He was on earth, anointed with that that they saw, notice,
He said, "I come from God (the Spirit, the Light, the Pillar of Fire),
and I return to God." And He was made flesh in order to die for our
sins. Then after His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, after
He ascended up; on the forty days, he ascended up; and on the fiftieth
day He returned back in a form of a Pillar of Fire among the people,
and separated Himself like tongues of fire, and set upon each of them.
And then they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and begin to speak in
other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
See, God separating Himself… God first in a great Pillar of Fire, God
manifested in a human body, now God separating Himself among His
people. The Pillar of Fire breaking up, and setting upon each of them,
like forked licks of blazes, cloven tongues set upon them, forks of
fire, cloven tongues like fire set upon each of them. And they were all
filled with That, and begin to speak with tongues as the Spirit gave
them utterance.

47
Now, you see, we are not a divided people; we've got to be in unity,
because each one of us holding a part of God. And we must come
together, and then the Pillar of Fire is manifested in the wholeness in
the fulness of It. When His Church sets together in heavenly places,
then the fulness of the power of God is in His Church. Each one of us
holding spiritual gifts and spiritual offices, coming together, brings
that Pillar of Fire back again.
And Paul recognized that being the Lord, and he said, "Lord, Who are You, if I'm persecuting You?"
He said, "I'm Jesus, and it's hard for you to kick against the pricks."
And Paul was commanded to rise and go down in the street called
Straight. And there was a prophet there who came up by the name
Ananias, oh, saw a vision, and baptized him. And he was went down into
Arabia for three years to study the Scriptures to see about what this
Pillar of Fire was that appeared to him.

51
Now, we find that Paul, the rest of his life, had that for a tie post.
He had met God face to face and was commissioned by God. What a tie
post. What an absolute. That was the end of all arguments. That was the
end of everything for Paul. All strife, everything was gone. I don't
care what the Pharisees said, the Sadducees said, or anybody else; he
met God vindicated by the Word; that settled it. That was the rest of
his life. Because he had seen God manifested and had been proven to him
that it was God by the Word, and by the shape and form that He was in,
and by a audible Voice that spoke to him exactly what it was. Now, that
was a great thing. No wonder he could say before the–the Agrippa, "I
was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." He was tied to it. There
was something real, something that he knowed, something that nobody
could take away from him.

52
Now, today if we're trusting only in education, or a–a mechanical way
of–of education to explain the Bible, then we've only got it from a–a
mental conception. But no man has the right behind this pulpit to
preach the Gospel unless he has come face to face with It.
Like Moses on the backside of the desert, no matter how well he was
educated, whatever taken place, his fears and flusterations left
because he stood on a sacred ground with God that nobody could take it
away from him.

54
And every man or woman that has an experience with God, has met this
same Pillar of Fire upon the sacred grounds of your heart, there is no
theologian, no devil, no nothing, Paul said, "Nothing present, nothing
future, death, sickness, sorrow can separate us from that love of God
that's in Christ Jesus." It's a tie post. You know something happened.
No matter how much science raise up and says this, that, or the other,
you are tied. You and God become one. He's in you, and you are in Him.
"At that day you'll know that I'm in the Father, the Father in Me; I in
you, and you in Me." You are tied to Him.

55
And Paul had a–a Christ-centered life; It was a different life than he
once had. He once had an educational conception; but now he's got a
Christ-centered life, an absolute. No matter how much Agrippa could
say, "You–you've gone crazy, Paul. You lost your mind. You–you
studied too much."
He said, "I am not mad."
And then he got onto Agrippa to such a way till he said, "Thou almost persuadest me to be a Christian."
He said, "I wish you were, only besides these–as I am, but these bonds."
It makes you do things, when you get a Christ-centered life like Paul
had, ordinarily you wouldn't do. Now, look. Ordinarily, that man
trained in all of the–the Scriptures and things, ordinarily he
would've followed that line he was trained in. But when he become–and
made Christ his Absolute, his Ultimate, then there was a different
life. He did different. He done things crazy to what he once was
trained to do. And it'll do the same thing.

59
If the church would get away from that Council of Churches, and come
back and make God's Word their Ultimate, make God's Word their tie
Post, that would do it. But they're tying to a manmade achievement. And
it's bound to fall. Well, the Bible said they would do it. But there's
going to be a Bride that's been elected since the foundation of the
world, that's going to be tied to that tie post.

60
I can see eternity break, come down into time since Eden, and when It
did, there come a line of Blood all the way up unto Calvary; and from
Calvary tied with this line and goes on to the tie Post, Jesus. And
someday when He comes to claim His own, everyone that's tied to that
ultimate will be raised up into eternity. Why? They have been in
eternity all the time. They were predestinated in eternity. They are
part of God. They were in His thinking at the beginning. And when that
big rope is pulled of the line of Blood, that Token I was speaking of,
when it comes up from the earth, everyone that was included in that
Blood will be dropped right up into eternity again. But the only way
it'll be, will be tied to that Absolute, Jesus Christ. It's absolute.
Not an achievement of man; but God raised Him up from the dead, and He
is a Absolute. And we know He's alive, because here He is with us in
the power of His resurrection, doing the same thing He did when He was
here on earth.

61
I'm tied to that ultimate. That's the end of all strife. I'm tied to
it. That's my life. I was a sinner when Christ saved me. I met
Something. And since That came into me, it's been–it's been different.
And I'm tied to it; everything that I am is tied right there. And then
God separating His life, and let me live in Him, and Him in me, then
we're tied. I…
It don't make any difference what others want to believe. To the
individual, you are tied to that. That's your ultimate. That's
the–that's the last word. And then if He is the Word, then This must
be the last Word. This must settle it. Whatever That says, That's that
scarlet thread. That is Christ. And anything contrary to That, I know
nothing about it. That's what we want to know, is what this Word says;
for I am tied to Christ, and Christ is the Word. You get it now?
And the portion of His Word that's 'lotted for this day, His Holy Spirit is here to manifest that portion of Word.

64
Just like it was back there at His birth. Isaiah 9:6, all down through
the Scriptures, everything was spoke of Him, it was fulfilled. Over in
the Book of Luke, we say it's–we see it that. And He was the end, He
was the–He was the end of the prophecy too, of Him. He fulfilled that,
the history, the songs, everything in the Old Testament that spoke of
Him, it was fulfilled right there. That become the Ultimate. That
become the tie Post of the Word of God for that age.
And the real borned again people of this age that's filled with the
Holy Ghost is the tie post of this Scripture that's got to be fulfilled
in these last days. They are the ultimate. It's God's ultimate, because
it's His Word; and the Word is Christ, the tie Post. There is no way to
get away from it, something that holds you.

66
As I said, it makes you do things that you ordinarily wouldn't do. It
made Paul do things he ordinarily wouldn't do. It made Moses do things
ordinarily he wouldn't do. It makes every man and woman do things they
wouldn't do ordinarily. It's something that you are–are centered to.
It's something… It's your stabilizer. It's like the… It's the
anchor to the ship. The ship is tied to the anchor in the time of a
storm. And if Christ is your Absolute, you are tied to Him. In time of
trouble, the ship, if you let it rock, it'll break against
the–the–the–the rocks. But what they do, they drop the anchor. The
anchor drags until it snags into the rock foundation. And the ship is
tied to the anchor. It's the absolute for the ship.

68
And a borned again Christian is tied to Christ, and the Bible is the
Anchor. It's the thing we're tied to. Let the organizations, let the
different thing, let the science, let the educators say anything they
want. As long as that Word says it and promise it, we're tied to That.
There's something won't let us move from it. That's right. A real born
Christian, they stay with that Word. If It says a certain thing to do,
and a way to do it, that's the way we must do it. No matter what
anybody else says, that's what God said. We are tied to That, a
Christ-centered life.

69
Christ again is like the North Star, you know, the world turns around.
And the stars, really, the one you see as the evening star is also the
morning star. The world just turns around to it. But it shifts away
from those stars, all but the North Star. Now, you can't set your
compass upon the evening star and get anywhere, 'cause the next
morning, what? You're in the evening star in the west, and the next
morning you're in the east. See, you can't do it. But you can set it on
the North Star (Amen.) and hold her dead center. You'll come out.

70
And that's what a Christ-centered life is. When you're lost, He is your
North Star. Then, if He is the North Star, the Holy Spirit is your
Compass, and the Compass will only point to the North Star. It won't
point to a creed or a denomination. It won't point to a sensation or
whatever it is. It'll hold steady to the North Star. He is your North
Star. When you're lost, you might shift with denominations and things
like that. But the Compass, the Holy Spirit, will point you right
straight to the Word, which is Christ, and hold you steady. Tie to
That.

71
What if there was no North Star, how would a man ever find his way on a
foggy sea? What if there was no Holy Spirit to direct you to the Word
of God, to manifest It and prove it, what would we do in this hour? The
Holy Spirit points only to the Word. "Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every Word." Not part of the Word, but every Word, all of
It. Every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, that's what a man
lives by. He's your Absolute in your life; He also is your North Star.
You know, we have to have something another to settle the end of strife.

73
You know, there was a time that when table manners rested upon what a
woman said. I believe her name was Emily Post. I may be wrong on that.
I think that's right: Emily Post. I don't care if Emily Post said,
"Pick up your knife and eat the–the beans with it," that was manners.
Why? She was the absolute of table manners. That's right. If she said,
"Eat them with your hands," you eat them with your hands. Why? This
nation made her the absolute to table manners. Yes, sir.
There was a time when Germany had a–an absolute, and that was Hitler.
It was an absolute. I don't care what anybody else said, when Hitler
said do it, you do it. You'd better. He's the last word. Hitler was.
There was a time when Rome had an absolute, and that was Mussolini, the
dictator. A man drove up one minute early for him, he shot him in his
car and jerked him out, said, "I never said a minute early; I said be
here on time." An absolute. Whatever he said, they had to do it. It had
to turn. He said he'd make the whole world turn by his word. It turns
by the Word of God…?…

76
There was a time when Egypt had an absolute. It was Pharaoh. I went
down to Egypt one time just to see those places. And you have to dig
down twenty feet to find the thrones that they set on, the emperor of
Rome; when I was in Rome and down in Egypt.
See, it all turned back to historical dust, because it was the wrong
kind of absolute. That's right. It's wrong. It failed. It was manmade
absolutes. And every manmade absolute and every manmade achievement
must go to dust. They must go to dust. It's the wrong kind, so it
fails.

78
Just think of our nation. When we get in trouble, if somebody does
something, and they try it here in maybe in a–a small court of the
city, some police court, then it goes on, on, and finally it comes to
the Supreme Court. Now, the Supreme Court is the nation's absolute.
That settles it. Now, in Canada, our friends from Canada can go from
Canada to the Queen. But in the United States, it's the Supreme Court.
That's the absolute. Sometimes we don't like their decisions, but we
have to listen to it anyhow. Yes, sir. We don't agree with it; we don't
like the decision sometime, but it's the absolute of this nation. The
nation's tied to it. It's the end of all arguments. When that Supreme
Court says, "You're guilty," you are guilty. We have to have it; we
don't, we don't have a nation. What if we didn't have anything like
that? Certainly. There is a absolute to everything.

79
There is an absolute in a ball game. That's the umpire. Right. And if
he says it's a strike, that's what it is. Don't care what you say, what
I think, the way I saw it, the way you saw it. It's what he said. It's
an absolute. If he says, "Strike," you have to agree with it, 'cause
that's the way it's going to be wrote up: "strike." What if there was
no umpire, now who would be right? One said, "It was a strike," the
another one said, "It was not no strike; it was a ball, it was a…"
Why, you'd have chaos. You wouldn't know what to do.

80
There's got to be somewhere that somebody's word is final. Amen. I feel
real good right now. Glory. Hallelujah. There's got to be something
that's final. I'm so glad of that. Oh, now, there's somebody who can
say it's sin or it's not sin. I'm so glad of that. I'm glad for an
absolute. No arguing, no need of arguing. The umpire said, "Strike,"
that's what it is; mark it up in your mind it's a strike and go on.
When God says anything, that's the way it is: no need of arguing about
it. That's what it is. He said so. That's the Christian's Absolute;
that is, if he is a Christian. God said, "Do it this way," that's the
way it's got to be done. No arguing, "Well," say, "it wasn't, it…"
Nor nothing about it… God said so; that settles it. That's the
absolute to the real believer. Yeah.

81
What if there wasn't something like that, where would we be? Would the
Methodists be right, Baptists, Presbyterian, Lutheran, or what would be
right? See, we'd have… That's the reason that you–you'd have chaos.
And that's the reason. They've turned loose of that absolute, that's
the reason they're straying with these other stars.
But there is an absolute. There has to be an absolute. There must be an
absolute. And there is an Absolute. That's the Word. And what others
say, it doesn't matter. Yes, sir.
Now, if we didn't have an umpire in a ball game, everybody'd be pulling
one another's hair, and fussing and fighting. See? That's the reason we
need a absolute in Christianity, stop this pulling hair, and fussing
and fighting. See? The Word said it, and that settles it. Don't take to
It or take away from It. Just leave It the way It is.

84
You know, there's an absolute to the traffic; that's the stop light, a
traffic signal. What if some morning it don't work? Oh, my. Did you
ever get in one of them? I have. No doubt, any driver has. What if that
stop light isn't working? Then everybody's fussing. They drive up
there, and one say, "I was here first," the other one say, "Let me tell
you something; I got to get to work." Oh, my. Them women swinging
pocketbooks, and men fighting with fists, and you talk about a chaos…
There has to be an absolute, something says, "This is right," and
that's it. When that light said, "Stop," it means stop. When it says,
"Go," it means go. If it isn't, you're in trouble.

85
And that's the way it is in Christian life. There's a stopping place,
and there's a going place. God's Word is that Absolute. That's Christ.
Yes, sir. If you…
If the traffic signals are not on, then we got a traffic jam. And I
think that's what we got up there in the religious pentagon today: a
traffic jam, of make-believers, unbelievers, and everything jammed
together. You just got a traffic jam. Why? They don't have no absolute.
One say, "Well, we're… We're the absolute." The other one say, "We're
the absolute."
God's the Absolute. He said, "Let every absolute otherwise than Mine,
be a lie. Mine is the Truth." So there's the Absolute to Christianity.
That's the end of all arguments. The Bible said so, that makes it
right. Yes, sir. There must be an absolute in everything.

88
Some just like the churches today, most the churches has their own
absolute. Each one has his own, something like the days of the judges,
every man done the way he thought was right. But that ain't right. See,
that's when God's Word and prophets wasn't in existence. The Word is
the Absolute. They had their own absolute. Each one says they are the
truth and the way, "We are the truth and the way."
But Jesus said He was the Truth and the Way: the Truth, Way, and Light.
Is that right? Well then, He is the Word, so there's the Absolute. And
the denominational absolutes, nothing to it; it's wrong, let it go.

90
Now, man does right in his own sight, but God's got a way for him to do
it. See, when God and His Word and His prophets were missing, every man
done just as he wanted to do.
And that's what's been in this day, each one says, "I–I belong to
this." Are you a Christian? "I'm Presbyterian." Are you a Christian? I
ask you. One girl said, "I give you to understand; I burn a candle
every night." Another man said in the prayer line, I asked him if he
was a Christian, said, "I'm an American. How dare you." Like that's got
anything to do with it? See, they're tied to a nation. The other one's
tied to an organization, dogmas.
But a "Christian" means "Christ-like." And only way you can be
Christ-like is for Christ the Word to be in you. That's the ultimate.
Yeah. I seen this before I was converted, and I'm glad God got ahold of
me before the church did. So I knew when I…

93
A fine Baptist minister, Brother Naylor (He's in glory today.), he come
down, he talked to me. And, oh, there's many people that talked to me
when I–I was trying to find God. The Seventh-day Adventist preacher
wanted me to join up with them and so forth. But I seen that if I was
going to be a Christian, I–I couldn't say, "Now, I am a Seventh-day
Adventist." Now, that's all right. "I'm a Baptist." It's all right
(See?), but I had to have something a little more sure than that. I–I
couldn't trust, because each one was wavering.
I thought, "There's somebody somewhere, you have to have something that's true, somewhere."

95
So I needed an absolute, so I took one, God's Word. So I read in the
Word that He is the Word, Saint John 1. "And upon this Absolute, I'll
build My Church." That's right, so I took Him at His Word. Revelation
22:19 said, "Whosoever shall take one word out of This, or add one word
to It…" That's the Absolute. That's the end of all strife. This is
the Absolute. "Whoever takes anything from It, or adds anything to It,"
God said, "I'll just take his part out of the Book of Life," so That
had to be the Absolute. And Jesus said that, "Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every Word." Then I knowed this "every Word" had to
be. Said, "Precept upon precept, and line upon line…" That's the way
It has to come, just as It's written.
Then He said, "If ye abide in Me (He is the Word.), My Words abiding in
you, you can ask what you will." I knowed then if Christianity was the
Word of God, and He was the Word, and by accepting the Word, the Word
lived through Him, then I know, "If ye abide in Me, and My Word in you,
ask what you will." And if you are in the Word and part of the Word,
you'll only ask what the Word tells you to ask. Know the day you're
living then and ask accordingly.
So therefore, back to the subject, makes… Talking now this
personally, but I'm tied. I am tied to Jesus Christ, to Him, by His
Word. He's my Absolute.
I found that all these denominations and things had their absolute. Each one, each one, they have their own absolute.

99
The Catholic, when that pope says something, that's it. That's the
absolute of the Catholic Church. I don't care what the priest says,
what the bishop says, what the cardinal says; when the pope says it,
that's it. That's the absolute. It's correctly.
In the Methodist church and many of the Protestant denominations, what
the bishop says, that's the absolute. That's all. What the creed says,
that's the absolute.
In the Pentecostals, it's what the general overseer says, whether you
can have this person for a revival or not. That's the absolute. You
disagree his words, you're kicked out of the organization. See, the
Word ain't considered at all. See? You get these absolutes, each one
having his own absolute.

102
But, you know, I don't say this sacrilegiously. I say it for truth. I
feel like that way Paul did, when he said in Acts 20:24, "None of these
things move me." "I'm determined to know nothing among you, but Jesus
Christ, and Him crucified." I'm not bothered about these absolutes,
whether it's the pope, bishop, or a general overseer, or–or a
counselor, or a system, or whatever it is; none of these things move
me. I don't care if they say, "Well, we–we won't co…" That don't
make a bit of difference. I'm determined to know nothing but Jesus
Christ, His Word made manifest among us. I'm tied to That. That's my
anchor. I've anchored in That.
"Since I…" Paul said, "Since I met Him on the road, I've turned around. I've… He straightened me out."
My, how He straightened me out. What a straightening He had to do on
me. But since He straightened me out, I got tied to It. I seen the Word
was Truth; everything contrary to It was wrong.

105
You know what? He had a purpose in saving me. He had a purpose in
saving you. And I'm determined by His will, to do His will. The reason
He done it, I don't know why He done it.
"Not add to It or take from It…" As I said, Revelation 22:19 said
don't do it. If He's our Absolute, it cannot be otherwise. There's no
way for it to be otherwise. He's got to be the Absolute, the last Word.
You know, there were millions in sin when I got saved. He had a purpose
in saving me. I'm the oddball amongst the brethren, many times:
believes in predestination, seed of the serpent, baptism in the Name of
Jesus Christ, and all these other things that seems to be… And the
visions, and the power of Christ returned back, and condemning
organizations and things. I'm the oddball, but He had a reason to save
me, a purpose for doing it. He saved me when there's millions of others
in sin, but He saved me for some reason. There were educated men, there
were smart men, there were theologians, there were bishops and doctors,
and so forth, in the field, when he saved me, but He saved me for some
reason.

108
And I see the Word is the Absolute, and I'm tied to It, and determined
I'll know nothing else but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. He had a
reason for it, and I'm determined to hold that reason. No matter what
anybody else says, I don't disfellowship them or discredit them, but I
know what I'm tied to. He wanted me like this. He had me like this. I
was made like that for a purpose. I had to be made up of all these
qualities, and so forth, and all these no-accounts, so He could dig it
out of me, put something in there, that was His Word. And I'm
determined I'll know nothing else but Christ.

109
Christ's death was an absolute. It was an absolute. It was the end of
all fear to them that was a-scared of death. His death is an absolute
then.
People fear death. Even Job feared death. But when he saw the vision…
He knew everything was gone: his family, his–his children. Even his
wife had turned against him, because his–his stench of his–of his
boils; he set out of his house on an ash heap, scraping his–his boils.
And his wife even said, "Why don't you curse God, and die the death?"
He said, "Thou speakest like a foolish woman." See?
Then when Elihu talked to him… Some of these days, I want to break that name down for you, Elihu, and show you it was Christ.
When he had this condition, and everything was gone against him, then
he saw the vision of the Just One. He wanted to find a Man Who could
stand in the breach for him, put His hands on a sinful man and a Holy
God, and stand in the way. And God let him see It four thousand years
away. It was his absolute. He raised up and shook hisself. Hallelujah.
When a man is scared of dying, raise up and shake yourself, look into the Word and see what the vision of God is.

114
He seen that vision; he said, "I know my Redeemer liveth, and at the
last days He'll stand upon this earth. And I'm tying myself to it.
Though the skin worms destroys this body, yet in my flesh shall I see
God, Whom I shall see for myself. I'm tied to it," he said. He saw it.
It was a promise of God.
He looked through the laws of nature. As I was telling you about the
continuity of the law of nature, the continuity of the Word, the
continuity of God's action, everything is continuity. He'd asked, in
Job 14. He said, "There's hope in a tree, if it dies; the flower if it
dies, and so forth." But said, "Man layeth down, and giveth up the
ghost; he wasteth away; His sons come to honor him; he perceive it not.
Oh," then he said, "if Thou will hide me in the grave, hide me away and
keep me in the secret place, till Thy wrath be passed." He was scared
of death.
But when he foresaw, being a prophet, saw the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, he screamed out, "My Redeemer liveth." Watch, he called Him,
"Redeemer." Watch. "I know my Redeemer liveth, and at the last days He
shall stand upon the earth; though after my skin worms destroys this
body, yet in my flesh I shall see God," God and the Redeemer was the
same thing: God and man made one. "I shall see God, Whom I shall see
for myself; my eyes will behold, and not another." Amen.
Not nobody else but that Redeemer, God, that's Who my eyes behold. He's
an Absolute. He's the Absolute. He takes all fears out of death. He
takes all fears.

118
In Hebrews the 2nd chapter, the 14th and 15th verse, watch… He took
the form of man to die like one, for all. He took the form of man. And
this Redeemer come down and was made man, so He could die, the one Man,
for all men. Oh, how did He do it? What did God become a man for? To
pay the penalty of man.
But on Easter morning He came forth with the keys of death, hell, and
the grave. Amen. God, Who could die on a cross, and the graves couldn't
hold Him; nothing, hell couldn't hold Him. Nothing could hold Him. He
rose. He had the keys. He arose, a Conqueror, because He conquered both
death, hell, grave. When He was on earth, He conquered sickness. He
conquered everything. He conquered superstitions. He conquered
everything there was to be conquered. And come out with death, hell,
and the grave, the keys jingling at His side; and ascended on High, and
gave gifts to men, and come back on the day of Pentecost and handed
them over to Peter, to the Church. Amen. He is our Absolute. All fears
of death… Because He lives, we live also.

120
Romans 8:1, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ." We find out… I believe that's Romans
5. We find out… And–and He is our justification. God raised Him up
on the third day to justify our faith, that we believe it. And He
raised Him up to justify our faith. What did He do then? He sent Him
back, the Justifier, because our faith believes it. The Holy Spirit,
Christ, come into it for our justification, because we have raised from
death unto Life. And now, we are sons and daughters of God, setting in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, justified us by His resurrection.
That give us justification, to know, with the–with the earnest of our
salvation within us now, the very Life of Christ pulsating in us. And
how then could we deny the Word? Which He is the Word that gives us
the–this assurance. The Holy Spirit is there. What is It? It's still
that North Star, the Christ is that North Star. And the Holy Spirit is
that justification that points the believer right straight to the North
Star. Right.

122
The Holy Ghost will always point to the Word. If It points to a creed
or denomination, it is not the Holy Ghost. He couldn't do that, point
away from His Word, when He died to confirm that Word and make that
Word a positive. Amen. He died so He could come, Himself, into that
Word. He is the quickening Life that makes that Word live again. That
was His purpose of dying, that He could still project Himself through
His Church, and make every Word, through every age, act just exactly
the way It's supposed to act.

123
He is the Dynamics of the mechanics. The mechanics of the Church, what
is it? Apostles, prophets, teachers, so forth. And He's the Dynamics
that works that. And it's worked by a certain dynamic which is called
like… He–He's the Fire that fires off the gas. He's the Fire that's
in the combustion chamber, that when the–the gas, the–the Word, is
poured over that combustion chamber, He's the One that sets Her afire.
He's the One that confirms it. He is the power of the resurrection. He
is God. He's–He's the Fire; that's what He is.

124
"Without controversy," said I Timothy 3:16, "great is the mystery of
godliness; for God was manifested in the flesh, seen of angels,
received up into glory." He was God, come to take the sinners' place.
Yes, sir. And when He, God, raised Him up the–on the third day, was
for our justification. Therefore, exalted at the right hand of the
Majesty on high, He is an Intercessor to make intercessions upon
our–for our weaknesses, as we confess it to Him and die out to
ourself, placing His Word back in us, the promise. And our faith makes
that Word live, because Christ is in us, the Quickener to the Word.
Mmm.

125
How I wish the church could see that; all arguments and strife would be
over. That would be the Supreme Court. That's the North Star.
Hallelujah. That's the end of all strife. That's the end of all
questions. That's the end of everything. "God said so," that's the
Absolute. Tie yourself to It. Paul said, "There's nothing present,
nothing future, death, sickness, nakedness, peril, nothing can separate
us from That." We've tied to an Absolute. Said, "For me to live is–is
Christ, and to die is gain." Nothing else holds but That there. That's
the Absolute.

126
He is our Absolute because we have the assurance of the resurrection,
because He's raised in us. How do we know? He lives. He does exactly
here what He did when He was here on earth. He's the same Pillar of
Fire, we got the picture of there. He's the same one in the Church.
He's here today, and in this body He performs and acts exactly like He
did then.
If the life of a watermelon vine is put in a pumpkin, it'll never bear
another pumpkin; it can't, 'cause it'll be a watermelon, for the life
in it is watermelon. "And if My… Ye abide in Me and My Word's in you,
you ask what you will." You'll have watermelons. Amen. The Absolute, I
know it's Truth. I've tied my soul into that, and I know it's the
Truth. God's Word, He's our Absolute.

128
II Thessalonians the 2nd chapter, we read that we'll be caught up with
our loved ones to meet Him in the air. Oh, how my heart pulsates to
every Word in His Book, a "amen." God said, "We'll be caught up in the
air, to meet our loved ones." "Amen," said the Word down in my heart,
for the Word's in there.
"I've hid Thy Word in my heart, Lord, that I sin not against You. I
bind them upon my fingers, upon my bedpost. Thou art always before me.
I shall not be moved."
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I'll fear
no evil, for You are my Absolute. I'll go down through there, and
You'll pull me out, I go into the deep waters of my ship, You'll…
You're my anchor. Amen. You're behind the veil there. You're the One
that'll steer me through the storm. You're the One will be There, my
Anchor in glory, when I come down to the shadows of the valley, the
shadows of death. When I come down to the Jordan, when I have to cross
over, He is my Absolute. I'm tied to the resurrected One on the other
side; He'll pull me through the dangerous waters. "I'll fear no evil,
for Thou art with me." Amen. Let the storms rage, life, death, whatever
it is, nothing will…?… I'm tied to that Post.
That post holds. It holds within the veil. It anchored. It anchored
against God yonder. It anchored against my heart. The Holy Spirit is
what stirs me to that promise. "I AM," not "I will be, I was, I someday
will be." "I am the Resurrection and Life," saith God. "He that
believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in Me shall never die."

132
Let death do whatever it wants to, it'll never bother me. Because I am
persuaded. I am persuaded that even in sickness that might take me, or
in a bullet from a gun, someday might take me. I don't know what it'll
be. What difference does it make to me, "For me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain." Oh, my. Because I'm determined; I know Him setting
yonder across the river of death, where He'll pull me into His Presence
someday, justified by His righteousness, that I accepted of His death
upon the cross: God made flesh among us, still flesh in us, still
Spirit in our flesh. Amen.
He's my Absolute. He's my all. Anything outside of that, nothing in my
arms I bring. I know nothing else besides Christ and Him crucified;
don't want to hear nothing else but Christ and Him crucified. My heart
says "amen" to every one of His promises. That's why I know His Holy
Spirit is the Compass that guides me to the Word.

134
Never has one of them visions ever said anything to me but what was
right in the Word. Oh, that's where I got my assurance, brother. That
night when He told me about that, I've watched those visions. And I'll
call your attention, has that vision ever said anything was contrary to
the Word? Never a time has it ever been wrong. Why? It's God. That's my
tie post.
And I know, one morning in a vision I seen my loved ones across the
river yonder. It's there. I'm bound for that promised land. I got to
meet there someday. Yes, indeed.
He's my Absolute. He is my Sun. He is my Life. He's my tie post, my
North Star. He's all that I could ever think to be, He is that to me.
He's my Life.

137
Denominations, to me… Not hurting your feelings; I don't want to do
that. But the Word is like a two-edged sword; It can't push without
cutting (See?) especially when It's cutting in darkness. Notice,
denominations are like other stars; they shift with the turning of the
world. That's right. Every way the world goes, they let their women cut
their hair, wear shorts, and everything else; it just shifts from
Hollywood and everything else. But, oh, brother, That still remains the
Truth, that unmovable Word of the living God is still the Truth. It's
my Absolute. What It says is the Truth. Let the denomination shift
anywhere they want to. They want to discredit the Name of Jesus Christ
with a title, that's up to them. But to me, "There's not another name
under heaven given among men, whereby you must be saved." To me, that's
the foundation Word; there is where the cornerstone is. I don't want to
shift with no denomination.

138
I've got my Compass here within me; the Holy Spirit points me right
straight to the Absolute. "For both heavens and earth will pass away,
but My Words shall never pass away." And I've hid It in my heart, and
the Holy Ghost pointed me right to It. I'm determined to know nothing
else. That's my Absolute. Just let it be like that. That's the way I
want it. Oh, my. Now, brother, sister, make your Absolute in Him. Yes,
sir.

139
In the time of trouble I had here not long ago, lost wife, children,
everything. Somebody said to me, said, "Did you keep your religion?"
I said, "No, it kept me." See? See, I had an Absolute to know that
someday I'll see them again. Amen. I couldn't have made it if I
wouldn't have that Absolute. It made the difference in me, where I was
tied, because I knowed that I'd see them again.
Now by grace I am tied to Him That said, "I AM," not "I was." "I AM,"
ever–ever-present, omni–omniscient, omni–omnipotent, infinite, that
He is not "I was." "I AM," He's still the resurrection. He's still the
North Star. He's still everything to me.

142 Moses had an absolute. When he met that burning bush, that was an absolute to him. When Joshua, when Joshua…
Oh,
you know, sometime when you take an absolute, an absolute will lead you
to a paradox. That's right. Yes. A paradox is something that's real but
can't be explained. It's a paradox.
When Joshua standing there and seen he had need… God had commissioned
him to go over there and take that land, whip out all them people,
and–and put Israel in the land. And one day the armies got routed and
out in the country. And the–and the first thing you know, he knowed he
had them whipped, as long as he got them busted up. So when he did, the
sun was going down. And Joshua was tied to an Absolute, the Word of
God, the Creator. He was tied to a job he had to do. Amen.

145 Sometime it ain't pleasant to have to do it; you have to hurt feelings, cut and chop. But it's an Absolute.
He
had need. He said, "…?… Sun, you stand still, yonder. Moon, you
hang right there." And for twenty-four hours she stood still. Oh, talk
about a paradox. But he was tied to an absolute with a commission. Yes,
indeed, God had commissioned him.
John was sure he would see the Dove when It come upon Him.
When I seen that Pillar of Fire, like Paul on the road down to
Damascus, I knowed that was God's Absolute; there was coming a revival
was going to sweep the lands. I knowed It would forerun the second
coming of Jesus Christ, and I believe it yet today. It's my Absolute,
though it was a paradox. Sure, it was a paradox for a Pillar of Fire to
hang up there in the sky and papers and everything taking the picture
of It.

148
It was a paradox, the other day on March the 15th, or May the 15th, I
believe… no, March the 15th, this last year. When, three or four
months beforehand, "Sirs, What Time Is It?," said we'd go out there,
and seven Angels would meet, and come back and the–the Book of the
Seven Seals would be opened. And standing right there with Brother Fred
Sothmann, that just said, "amen" there, standing there by him, why, I
told them, "There'd be a noise that'd shake the country." And I said,
"It'll be there. It's THUS SAITH THE LORD." It's on tapes, tapes,
tapes, from Phoenix all the way around. "It's THUS SAITH THE LORD."

149
One day, standing there, picking the cockleburs off, or a little
bullheaders off of my legs, like it was, there that seven Angels broke
through from the sky and shook the place, till, rocks, weighing fifty
or sixty pounds, rolled down the hillside. There stood seven Angels
standing there, commissioned to go back and to bring these messages,
and said one by one they would meet and tell what happened. And it did
exactly that way. And when they ascended up on high, like that, went
thirty miles high in the air; and on the same day they took the picture
of It, science did, and went around the world. It's a paradox, but it
was an Absolute. It tied me tighter into Jesus Christ, winding my life
into Him. I know it seemed strange. It's always a…
It was a paradox for Paul to meet Jesus on the road to Damascus. It's a
paradox when God changes a black sinner's heart and washes it white in
His own Blood. It's a paradox. Certainly. Do you believe in paradox?
And that paradox, if it's according to the Word of God, it can be your
Absolute. Paul's conversion was a paradox, and become his absolute.

151
Remember here sometime ago, I was setting with an old druggist, and we
were talking in a little place. He said, "Brother Branham, I want to
ask you something." And he was a Baptist himself. He said, "Do you
believe in a paradox?"
I said, "Sure. Certainly do."
Said, "I wouldn't tell this to nobody else but you," said, "but I–I know you believe this."
He said, "During the time of the depression," said, "when they had to
have an order from the county to get medicine for the sick." And said,
"One day, I was setting back here in the drugstore." Said, "My son was
waiting on the customers." And said, "I seen a–a woman come in." Said,
"She was… You could see she was going to be mother right away." And
said, "The little thing could hardly stand up. And her husband poorly
dressed, both of them. And she leaned against the side of the counter.
And he went over and asked my son; he said, 'I've got a prescription
here from the doctor.' He said, 'Would you fill it for me and let me
take my wife on home?' He said, 'I tried to let her stand in that line.
Just look down the street there,' he said, 'it'll be four or five
hours.' And said, 'She's not able to stand now, you can see.'"

154
And the young fellow said, "Sir, I–I can't do that." He said, "I'll
have to have that order first," said, "'cause I–I can't do that. It's
just against the rules." And said…
His daddy said he was setting back there listening, see what the boy said. And he said, "Just a minute, son. What is that?"
And said he walked up there. And the old man, a real Christian, a real sainted old man, he said, "What is it, my good brother?"
And he said, "Sir," he said, "I'm… My wife, she's just ready
to–to–to deliver." He said, "I–I am… I got the order from the
doctor here, some medicine; she must have it right now." And said,
"I–I took her down to stand in the room there." And said, "I–I…
Look at this line," said, "I doubt whether I'd get in, this afternoon."
Said, "I just wonder if–if you could fill this for me?" Said,
"I'll–I'll stand down there; I'll–I'll get the money for you, the
order that the county pays for it."
"Why," he said, "certainly, sir, I'll get it for you." And just laid
the order down, went back. He said his boy went on back and started
waiting on somebody else.
Said, "The little lady watched out, two or three times. She just
standing there, and perspiration on her face, knew she was very sick.
And the brother standing there with his arms around her, you know,
saying, 'Just hold up, honey, now just a little longer.' Said, 'The
good druggist is going to get us some medicine.'"

160
He said, "I fixed up the medicine as quick as I could, and filled my
prescription." And said, "When I started to hand it in her hand," he
said, "Brother Branham, I looked and I was putting it in a nail-scarred
hand." He said, "I seen the thorns on His brow." He said, "I shut my
eyes, and I looked back." He said, "I realized right then, insomuch as
I had done unto the least of these 'My little ones,' it was done unto
Him.
Said, "Do you believe that?"
I said, "With all my heart, doctor, I believe every word of it."
What is it? He said, "Since then, Christ has been more to me. Because
doing that for that woman," said, "it was a paradox. There's no doubt
but what ordinary people wouldn't believe that," but said, "I thought
just tell it to you, because I know you've had them experiences."
I said, "Yes, sir. That's right," I said.

163
I remember when, Saint Martin, reading of him. When he was just a–a
boy, he was called of God. His people were pagans. And his father was
a–was kind of, oh, I don't know, I think a military man, and–and it's
right for their boys to follow them. He said… One day going through
the city there… I forget where it was now. And I think he was a
Frenchman. And he said that he was going through the gap; and there's
an old man laying there, freezing to death, very cold weather. And
people passed by, wouldn't give him nothing. And said he stood. And
people was absolutely professing to be believers, and would go through,
let the old man lay there. And he was begging for something to wrap him
in, said he was freezing to death.

164
And Saint Martin goes over there, before his conversion, now, took his
own coat, being a soldier, and cut it half in two and wrapped the old
bum up in it like that, put the other around him. People laughed at
him, said, "A funny looking soldier, with a half a coat on." See, it
makes you do things strange. There's something in him, that he believed
that there was a God.
That night, after he'd retired and slept a little while, woke up.
Somebody woke him up, and he looked, standing there by his bed, and
there stood Jesus wrapped in that other piece of coat. That was the
beginning of Saint Martin.
What was it? He had an Absolute, that God's Word is true. "What you do
to these My little ones, you do it unto Me." Brother, I'm tied to that
Absolute. And I know that each one of you…

167
Instead of having an altar call this morning, I think I'd like to have
a consecration call. Let's consecrate ourselves to this Absolute. Do
you believe the Word is God's Absolute? Do you believe He's the same
today that He ever was?
There's ministers in here, wouldn't you like to consecrate your lives,
just let's take an Absolute? What do we want today? What do we want
with a fellowship card or a credential? We want Jesus Christ. We're not
tied to a fellowship card. We're tied to the Word of God: Jesus Christ
the same yesterday, today, and forever. You believe that?
Let's just raise to our feet now and consecrate our lives over. I want
mine also. I'm tying myself afresh. I'm checking my knot's tied. I'm
checking my absolute. "Lord, if there's any thing in me besides Thy
Word take it out. I know nothing else but You. I want to know nothing
else but You." Now, each one, in your own way…

170
I've been talking to you through the week. I've told you the Truth. God
has confirmed the Truth. He's made it over and over, and over again.
You know what the Absolute is. Now, to you and I together, all you
women, all you men, boys, girls, whatever you are, let's… All you
choir, oh, all you people up here, everywhere together: down in the
basement, up in the balcony, around the walls, back in the wing,
wherever we are, let's take Jesus our Absolute, for we've got to come
to the valleys of the shadow of death. I know nothing else but Him.
He's my Absolute, because He's raised in my life and I know He's real.

171 Let's just raise up our hands now and pray. Let's make our consecration service.
Lord
Jesus, Your Word is from old. It's the beginning and the end. I now
with this congregation, consecrate myself anew over this pulpit today.
I ask for this church, the Life Tabernacle, for a consecration. Settle
all the differences; let it all be gone, bygones be bygone. Ministers
of the Gospel who's worried and thought something would take place. O
God, we tie ourself this morning to Jesus Christ the Word, and
determine to know nothing else but Christ and Him crucified. O North
Star, O Holy Spirit, O Compass of God, come now into every heart. And
we consecrate ourselves to You, through Jesus Christ's Name. Glory to
God. Amen. All right, Brother…?…

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